I
went back to the tent fur my six-shooter--Bill
arter me;--fur ef it ain't the dooty o' every
Christian to extarminate them warmints o'
Mexicans, I'll be drummed out of the army
to-morrer.

"Wall, young genl'men--we tuck our pistols, and
slow and quiet we moved to whar we seed the two
Greasers, as they call 'em. On they kim, creepin'
to'ard my Major's tent, an' at las' one o' 'em
raised the canwas a bit. Bill levelled his
rewolver in a wink, an' fired. You shud ha' seed
how they tuck to their heels! yelling all the way,
till wun o' em' dropped. The other didn't stop,
but just pulled ahead. I fired arter him wi'out
touching him; but the noise woke the Major, an'
when he hearn wot the matter wor, he ordered the
alarm to be sounded an' the men turned out. 'It's
a 'buscade to catch us,' he says, 'an' I'm fur
being fust on the field.'

"Bill an' I buckled on our cartridge boxes, caught
up our muskets, an' were soon in the ranks. On we
marched, stiddy an' swift, to the enemy's
fortifications; an' wen we were six hundred yards
distant, kim the command, 'Double quick.' The sky
hed clouded up all of a suddent, an' we couldn't
see well where we wor, but thar was suthin' afore
us like a low, black wall. As we kim nearer, it
moved kind o' cautious like, an' when we wor
within musket range, wi' a roar like ten thousand
divils, they charged forred! Thar wor the flash
and crack o' powder, and the ring! ping! o' the
bullets, as we power'd our shot on them an' they
on us; but not another soun'; cr-r-r-ack went the
muskets on every side agin, an' the rascals wor
driven back a minnit. 'Charge bayonets!' shouted
the Major, wen he seed that. Thar wos a pause; a
rush forred; we wor met by the innimy half way;
an' then I hearn the awfullest o' created
soun's--a man's scream. I looked roun', an' there
wos Bill, lying on his face, struck through an'
through. Thar wos no time to see to him then, fur
the men wor fur ahead o' me, an' I hed to run an'
jine the rest.

"We hed a sharp, quick skirmish o' it--