Page:The Partisan (revised).djvu/95

 "It's a dog's life only, this scenting swamps for the carrion they had better keep&mdash;wearing out good legs and horses, and making soldiers do the duty of a hungry dog. Rot it, but I'll resist after this! Let them send others that are younger, and like it better. I'll give it up&mdash;I'll do no more of it."

"Say so to Huck, and lose command of the scouts&mdash;the best game thou hast ever played at, if the baggage-wagons speak true," was the reply. " What! shalt thou grumble to do what thou art best fitted for? What wouldst thou be after&mdash;what other service would please thee?"

"Thou mayst see me in a charge yet, Sergeant Clough," replied Travis, boastfully, "provided thou hast blood enough to stop until it's over. When thou hast seen this, thou wilt ask me no child's questions. What! because I am good at the swamp, am I therefore worth nothing on the highway? It were a sorry soldier that could not take clear track and bush and bog alike, when the case calls for it, and do good service in all. But thou shalt see, some day, and grow wiser."

"Well, thou dost promise largely, like an old debtor; but, to my mind, thou art just now where thou shouldst be&mdash;in the swamps; for, truth to speak, thou lovest them&mdash;thou lovest the wallow and the slough&mdash;the thick ooze which the alligator loves, and the dry fern-bank where he makes his nest; thou lovest the terrapin because of his home, not less than of the good soup which he gives us; and the ugly moccasin, and the toad, and the frog&mdash;the brown lizard and the green&mdash;the swamp-spider, with its ropy house and bagging black body&mdash;all these are favourites with thee, because thy spirit craves for thee a home like that which they abide in."

"It is a goodly place, with all that company thou speakest of: the air is pleasant to the sense, and the noises&mdash;there is no music like the concert the frogs make for one at sunset."

"Said I not? Why, man, thou quarrellest with kindness, when thou ravet at Huck for sending thee to the swamp. Thou wert feverish and impatient this morning until thou wert fairly in it, with its mud and water plashing around thee; and now thou art here, with the trees crowding upon us so thickly that the sun looks not