[Mailany-main] ose of recollectio

[Miracle G. <cy...@ja...>]

On of the captain's I was compelled to give a sorrowful assent. I
recognized that my speculation was in arrears, as it were, and that it
would never figure up a profit. "Therefore, next day I divided my few
personal effects between the captain and the noble men who had risked
their lives for an idea; who had seen the tragedy played out and the
curtain rung down to my last appearance, as it were. And, with the few
dollars which alone remained of the fortune which I took with me to
Texas, I mounted my horse and started northward, to join that noble army
of martyrs, that brotherhood of sufferers, that fraternity of the
busted, whose members are legion, and who are known as '_Ex-Texans_.'"
The hilarity of the camp that evening under the foot-hills will never be
forgotten by those of us who composed the happy number, and who listened
with streaming eyes and aching sides to the narrative of our unfortunate
guest. He told his story with a directness and simplicity of narrative,
with a gravity of countenance and plaintiveness of voice, which
heightened the humor of the substance. Never did the stars, which have
seen so much of human happiness, which have listened to so much of the
rollicking humor of those who were fashioned for laughter, looked down
upon a jollier camp. Long after our guest had ended his narrative and
was apparently sleeping in happy forgetfulness of his Texas speculation,
succeeding pauses of silence would come roars of laughter. The
remembrance of the humorous tale banished sleep, and, even after slumber
had fallen on us all, fun still held possession of our dreams. For Dick,
starting from sleep in a nightmare of hilarity, roared out: "_Luff her
up, luff her up, or the colonel is busted!_" Ay, ay, thank God for l