LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1823, 24 December 1879, Page 3

LITERATURE.

THE MAN WHO WAS KICKED. (From the New York “ Sun.”) I first saw Davia at H Academy, whan, at the beginning of the Spring term in 1860, ho sidled into the farther end of a seat to lean against the wall. He was then about twenty-seven years of age. A tall, gaunt awkward man, clad in a faded, ill fitting suit of homespun, and walking with an undecided, hesitating gait with his bead thrown forward, and one uncertain hand helplessly rubbing a receding chin, was the figure presented as he went out cf the ball at the close of prayers. Infirmity of purpose was written aT over him. He had an air of being old without ever having been young. His face was long, with large features, high cheek bones, a long nose, prominent mouth, and a receding chin, from which a straggling whisker protruded a certain way, as though in doubt whether to grow longer or disappear altogether. It was a very weak face, with an infirm quiver of the hardly closed lower lip, and vacillating, half timid eyes of a very pale blue. Its weakness and indecision might have been comical had not an expression of earnestness and seriousness made it pathetic Bis speech was hesitating and appealing, as though craving constant indulgence for his temerity when speaking at all. Tet there was such assurance of his hearers’ sympathy and help, that it generally carried its point. From the time when Davia first sidled into the seat and leaned against the wall for support, he continued leaning, only exchanging the wall for his classmates, or indeed any one who would carry his weight. No sooner did his support give way in one direction than ho transferred himself to another, and leaned all the harder. During the years of his academical life his manners retained their primitive rusticity, despite the constant attrition to which they were subjected at the hands of his fellows. His taste in dress took no turn for the better : his bearing and gait changed not an iota; and when he set out on foot for the hill region whence ho came, he seemed exactly the same old young man that had sidled in npon ns three years before. A short time afterward I learned that he wan teaching the school of his native village. It turned out. however, that he carried his habit of loaning even with him there. He asked the advice of his pnpila as to what ho should do so frequently that they took advantage of his weakness to do pretty much as they pleased. They barred the master out, refused to attend recitations, save at their own pleasure, and otherwise enjoyed themselves to snob an extent that the trustees felt compelled to demand bis resignation on the ground of lack of government. After that he went into the country and taught a district sohoo], boarding round among the pupils. It was while thus engaged that he became temporarily resident in the family of a small farmer, possessed of a grasping, quest ionablo character, and several daughters for some time in the matrimonial market. These latter were thin, sharp-faced, managing maids who partook of the unattractive characteristics of their sire. The most unattractive, perhaps, of them a.U set her eyes upon Bavin, in lack of better material, and actually became his wife before that hesitating person had decided what to do in the matter. After this he drifted ont of my knowledge, and his memory, with that of other associates, rapidly merged into the sere and yellow leaf of r< collection. In the Sumner of 1871 I was one of a semi official prospecting party in Western Dakota We intended to penetrate the Indian country as far as the f-'ouci River, near the British line returning by way of the Black HiEs, if circumstances permitted. The dozen men constituting the party were all heavily armed, and we had, by way of impediment, three mule waggons The day before wo started from the smj.'l own which, for the fortnight previous, had been our headquarters, a tall, round-shouldered man sauntered into the camp, and leaning against a waggon-wheel, look kindly but inquiringly about. He wore a long coat of alpaca, of ecclesiastical cut, and a wideawake hat, fustian tronse-s, and low gaiters tied with a string. His face was long, and its features large, and a retreating mouth, almost destitute of teeth, gave'a greater prominence to a rather elongated nose. He carried a black silver headed stick, and altogether he was a curious mixture of the clerical with the rustic. After being made the butt of considerable ridicule, he expressed, in a hesitating way, his desire to go to the Black Bills, and when I returned to camp toward evening, I found the stranger added to the pirty as the guide, philosopher, and friend of one of the mule teams. A glance at the awkward figure was enough. It was Davis How he came there was told in a single one of his hesitating sentences. 1 Yon see, Mrs Davis left me, and took np with s neighbor of ours, I suppose I was

too slow for her. But I thought it might mako her uncomfortable to have mo living so close by ; so I came west. • Further conversation revealed the fact that he had tramped most of the way, and that all his earthly posses slons were wrapped In the flaming handkerchief whioh he brought into camp later in the evening. It woe apparent from the first that the characteristics that had made Davis a conspicuous figure in academical days, had not forsaken him as he had grown older. He began leaning from the moment he came into oamp. After futile attempts upon myself, he transferred his weight to a man from Kentucky—a demonstrative devil-may-care fellow, who was his opposite in every respect. The first day’s drive, too, revealed the fact that, whatever may have been his capabilities as a district school teacher, they did not sssist him in the driving of mules. More than once he involved the loaders in a hopeless tangle with the wheel animals, and his complications with the harness were a pathetic mixture of helplessness and ignorance. As to hia helplessness it was unique and complete in its way He seemed utterly incapable of doing anything without advice and assistance.

*lt is, perhaps, needless to say these characteristics, however original and amusing in themselves, were not snch as to elevate their possessor in the esteem of the party. In leas than a week from the day of the departure the man from Kentucky had warned Davis not to come near him again at the risk of being cripp’ed for life. At the end of a fortnight, I grieve to say, he had been kicked by au irascible member of the party, and the propriety of deserting him on the plains had been seriously discussed. Ha’dly a man spoke to him, and he seemed a very par'ah in the camp. - After we had been three weeks out, there were not wanting signs of the proximity of host’L) Sioux. Signal smokes were seen in the evening, and small clouds of dust low down upon the horison indicated the prepresence of scouting bands. In the midafternoon of a sunny Sunday, as we were slowly ascending a low ridge in the prairie the advance scout came galloping in with a ba'l through h:'a arm, and a moment later a yelling band of Sionx began to circle about the train. To dismount and form the three wagons into a triangular barricade was the work of but a few minutes. Most of the men knew their danger and how to meet it. The Sioux [were in large force, and narrowed their circles in the assurance of an easy victory. Their bullets began dropping in almost immediately. In three minutes after the bsll opened, several of the animals had been kill-d, and Johnson, our leader, Jay under a waggon with a bullet through his head. As I said, all the party were heavily armed. But I should have excepted Davis, who not only was unarmed, but from his general character was deemed quite capable of grovelling in the dost at such a time. In the hurry of the moment ho had been lost sight of and now, when he slipped forward to possess himself of the dead man’s gnn, the man from Kentucky told him, with an oath, to drop it or give it to some oen who would use it. Davis did not drop it, however, but took hia station at the rear end of one of the waggons. In a moment more the spirally decreasing circle of savages broke suddenly, and swept in a wild charge toward the train. And as we turned toward the point of attack to see two of the advancing warriors drop to the quick report of Davis’ rifle, I think surprise aid astonishment would have rendered ns incapable of resistance, had not the Indians swerved from their course and began circling again, as they did. But the man who has turned the attack never stirred from his post. His slouching aspect seemed somehow to be shaken off, as he stood there erect and firm as a rook. His infirm under lip closed up like a steel trap into a hard, straight line. His pale blue eyes wore a cool, decided look. The man from Kentucky looked at him a moment, and went back to his post with a mattered, • Well, I’ll be blanked !’ The guide tying his wounded arm in a sling, said he’d * give it up ’ The whole party breathed freer. Rut the whistling of bullets and the yells of the Sioux continued. In a short time the canvas tops of the waggons looked like gigantic sieves. The circles of the savages widened only to contract again- Whenever a reckless brave approached within fair range, the sharp crack of the Winchester from the rear of the waggon sent a ball Into hia painted body. There was no random firing from that rifle ; every shot brought its man. The repeated charges of the Sionx grew leas frequent from the fact of the loss of two or three of their number every time under the deadly aim of those pale blue eyes. It was after the fifth or sixth charge of this kind that the man from Kentucky expressed the unanimous sentiment of the party when ho said : * Hadn’t yer better get farther under cover, Davis ? It’s party open thar.’ But Davis shook his head without changing his position. The evening wore slowly sway. The minutes went by to an accompaniment of shot and shell. Some r f the animals were lying dead beside the waggons. Tho spokes of the wheels and the beds of the vehicles were riddled and splintered with bullets Charge after charge had been repulsed. Three men were lying badly wounded inside the triangle. The victims of the deadly Winchester formed a straggling line almost from its muzzle to the circleof the discomfited but not defeated Sioux beyond. Its owner had hardly spoken a word in all that time, but had stood there like a statue of Fate. Night rame on, and a low moon wrapped the landscape in dusty orayocs. The lavages retained their circular guard, prepared to renew the attack on the morrow. Shadowy forms crept wearily through the tall grass and dragged away the dead. The wounded began to plead piteously for water, and there was none to give. It was a call of this kind from the man who had kicked him from his place at the camp Are a few days previous, that Davis left his post to come forward and ask if no water was to be had. He was told that there was none ; that the nearest water was a small pond at the foot of the ridge, just within the surrounding circle of Sionx. Takipz a bucket from the waggon, Davis said quietly, “ I'll get some.” Not a man of the party spoke. Everybody realised that something heroic was about to be done. Good God ! to go to tho pond was to go to almost certain death. And no one bade him stay. I think everyone was impressed with the fact that it would be useless.

We crept back to onr posts in silence. Even the wounded ceased their moans. We watched the tail figure striding straight through the shadows till it was lost in the gloom. Then came an interval of silence—awful, appalling—broken at last by a shot and a wild chorus of yells In a moment all the demons of the prairie seemed let loose. Shot followed shot. The howls had something exultant In them. -i Through the gloom there came a shadow—a tall, figure running, with a bucket in its hand. Following close behind a myriad of dusky forms, with gleaming knives and clubbed guns. Then our work began. A continuous sheet of fire belched from the waggons, and turned the howling Sioux back on their trail. In a moment more Davis staggered into the triangle with a bucket half filled with water in his band. The man from Kentucky left his post to grasp hla hand In a grip that would have crushed weaker bones. ‘Mr Davis,’ he said, ‘yor a man as this party is proud of ’ The bronzed men crouching behind the waggons turned in their places to smile assent. But t .e hero who had run ihat gauntlet of fire simply placed the bucket beside the man who had kicked him, and quietly went back to hia post The Sionx, exasperated by their defeat, kept up a desultory fire through the long grass. Just before dawn they charged again. But the Winchester a’ono killed threehravesbe'orethe waggons were r ached, and it was converted into a olnb wielded by a giant When the morning came the Sionx were found watching our movements from a safe distance over the prairie. Evidently the fight was costing them too dear. It was determined by the party, in view of the probability of the Sionx being reenforced during the day to beat a retreat The man from Kentucky harnessed Mr Davis’ mules with hia own hands ; but when he came to hand the reins to their powdergrimed owner, it was found that he was in no condition to receive them. Ho had been wounded id half a dozen places, and the slow hemorrhage had robbed him of his strength. We lifted him tenderly into the waggon and began onr march The Sionx circled about us, but kept well out of range. By midday they had disappeared. It was about this time that the man from Kentucky, who

had been Intently watching the patient for some time, brought his waggon to a sadden halt. Gathering about him we found Davis with his eyes turned to the sky, and a grayish hue stealing over his face. A minute after he reached his hand out to grasp the Kentuckian’s, and so journeyed out into the infinite solitude. We rode in silence. When the shadows of the evening came we dug a rude grave In the prairie and buried Davis out of sight. The man from Kentucky framed his epitaph when he said :—“He didn’t seem of much account at first, but he loomed up powerful toward the last. ”,