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The Burial of the Guns-Part7_Thomas Nelson Page(1853-1922)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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one with a paper in his hand, approached the fire beside which the officers

sat still engaged.



"What is it, Harris?" said the Colonel to the man with the paper, who bore

remnants of the chevrons of a sergeant on his stained and faded jacket.



"If you please, sir," he said, with a salute, "we have been talking it over,

and we'd like this paper to go in along with that you're writing."



He held it out to the lieutenant, who was the nearer and had reached forward

to take it. "We s'pose you're agoin' to bury it with the guns," he said,



hesitatingly, as he handed it over.

"What is it?" asked the Colonel, shading his eyes with his hands.



"It's just a little list we made out in and among us," he said,

"with a few things we'd like to put in, so's if anyone ever hauls 'em out



they'll find it there to tell what the old battery was, and if they don't,

it'll be in one of 'em down thar 'til judgment, an' it'll sort of ease



our minds a bit." He stopped and waited as a man who had delivered

his message. The old Colonel had risen and taken the paper,



and now held it with a firm grasp, as if it might blow away

with the rising wind. He did not say a word, but his hand shook a little



as he proceeded to fold it carefully, and there was a burning gleam

in his deep-set eyes, back under his bushy, gray brows.



"Will you sort of look over it, sir, if you think it's worth while?

We was in a sort of hurry and we had to put it down just as we come to it;



we didn't have time to pick our ammunition; and it ain't written the best

in the world, nohow." He waited again, and the Colonel opened the paper



and glanced down at it mechanically. It contained first a roster,

headed by the list of six guns, named by name: "Matthew", "Mark", "Luke",



and "John", "The Eagle", and "The Cat"; then of the men, beginning with

the heading:



"Those killed".

Then had followed "Those wounded", but this was marked out.



Then came a roster of the company when it first entered service;

then of those who had joined afterward; then of those who were present now.



At the end of all there was this statement, not very well written,

nor whollyaccurately spelt:



"To Whom it may Concern: We, the above members of the old battery known,

etc., of six guns, named, etc., commanded by the said Col. etc.,



left on the 11th day of April, 1865, have made out this roll of the battery,

them as is gone and them as is left, to bury with the guns which the same



we bury this night. We're all volunteers, every man; we joined the army

at the beginning of the war, and we've stuck through to the end;



sometimes we aint had much to eat, and sometimes we aint had nothin',

but we've fought the best we could 119 battles and skirmishes



as near as we can make out in four years, and never lost a gun.

Now we're agoin' home. We aint surrendered; just disbanded,



and we pledges ourselves to teach our children to love the South

and General Lee; and to come when we're called anywheres an' anytime,



so help us God."

There was a dead silence whilst the Colonel read.



"'Taint entirely accurite, sir, in one particular," said the sergeant,

apologetically; "but we thought it would be playin' it sort o' low down



on the Cat if we was to say we lost her unless we could tell about

gittin' of her back, and the way she done since, and we didn't have time



to do all that." He looked around as if to receive the corroboration

of the other men, which they signified by nods and shuffling.



The Colonel said it was all right, and the paper should go into the guns.

"If you please, sir, the guns are all loaded," said the sergeant;



"in and about our last charge, too; and we'd like to fire 'em off once more,

jist for old times' sake to remember 'em by, if you don't think no harm



could come of it?"

The Colonel reflected a moment and said it might be done;



they might fire each gun separately as they rolled it over,

or might get all ready and fire together, and then roll them over,



whichever they wished. This was satisfactory.

The men were then ordered to prepare to march immediately, and withdrew for



the purpose. The pickets were called in. In a short time they were ready,

horses and all, just as they would have been to march ordinarily,



except that the wagons and caissons were packed over in one corner by the camp

with the harness hung on poles beside them, and the guns stood



in their old places at the breastwork ready to defend the pass.

The embers of the sinking camp-fires threw a faint light on them



standing so still and silent. The old Colonel took his place,

and at a command from him in a somewhat low voice, the men, except a detail



left to hold the horses, moved into company-front facing the guns.

Not a word was spoken, except the words of command. At the order



each detachment went to its gun; the guns were run back and the men

with their own hands ran them up on the edge of the perpendicular bluff






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