An', at any
rate, win or lose, I assures Enright his efforts will be regyarded.'
"Old Man Enright takes his seegyar out of his mouth an' rouses up a
bit. He's been wropped in thought doorin' the argyments of Boggs an'
Thompson, like he's tryin' to remember a far-off past. As Thompson
makes his appeal, he braces up.
"'Now that Dan an' Texas has ceased buckin',' says Enright, 'an'
each has all four feet on the ground, I'll try an' recall them
details. As I remarks, its towards the close of the Mexican War.
Whatever I'm doin' in that carnage is a conundrum that's never been
solved. I had hardly shed my milk teeth, an' was only 'leven hands
high at the time. An' I ain't so strong physical, but I feels the
weight of my spurs when I walks. As I looks back to it, I must have
been about as valyooable an aid to the gov'ment, as the fifth kyard
in a poker hand when four of a kind is held. The most partial an'
besotted of critics would have conceded that if I'd been left out
entire, that war couldn't have suffered material charges in its
results. However, to get for'ard, for I sees that Nellie's patience
begins to mill an' show symptoms of comin' stampede.
"'It's at the close of hostil'ties,' goes on Enright, 'an' the
company I'm with is layin' up in the hills about forty miles back
from Vera Cruz, dodgin' yellow fever.
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