CORPORAL SWEENEY,
DESERTER
"I'LL be gettin' five years—five years at least."
The surging fear became fixed in these words, and they, in turn, swung in with the cadenced tramp of Corporal Sweeney, the other prisoner, the sentry, and the young lieutenant along the Chien-men Road toward the American camp and the guard-house. As the refrain rolled itself over in the brain of the corporal, he discovered that he was muttering it aloud when the other prisoner said explosively:
"I know you will, and so will I; but, by , I'm going to make a run for it!"
"You're the silliest fool in Peking if you do," replied the corporal. "An' where would you be after runnin' to? No place to"
He checked himself and turned his head. The sentry and the lieutenant were
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