this tangerine"s--I mean mandarin"s--name was Wu Ti Ming, an" he"d been a high mucky-muckraker in his day, which was two or three hundred years back. But the Emprer caught him deep in some sort o" graft an" _took away his b.u.t.ton_ an" all o" his dough.
""Lord!" says Buck when we come ter this, "don"t that prove what heathens c.h.i.n.ks is? Only one b.u.t.ton ter keep on their clothes with, an"
the Emprer he kin take it away! What did this here Judge Ming do then, John? Use string or pins?" This here John didn"t seem ter savvy, but he said that the mandarin took on so fer his b.u.t.ton an" his loss of pull in the ward that it was sure sad ter see, an" by an" by the Emprer got busy again with him an" had him finished up fer keeps; had him die the "death of a thousand cuts," says John. It sounded fierce ter me, but Buck he says:
""Pshaw! Anybody who"s been shaved reg"lar by them lady barbers on Fourth Avenyer would "a" give the Emprer the merry ha-ha----"
"After Ming was cut up they took the remains of his corpse an" planted him in this here graveyard up the road; but he wouldn"t stay planted an"
began doin" stunts at night, "topside walkee-walkee" an" a-huntin" fer his lost b.u.t.ton. He"d used ter have the whole country scared up, but fer the last twenty years he"d kep" right quiet an" had hardly ever come out; but now sence the foreign devils come (ain"t that a sweet name fer us?) he"s up an" at it again worse than ever, an" the heathens is on their ear. Fer four nights now they"d seen him, wrapped in a blue robe, waitin" an" a-huntin" behind tombstones an" walkin" round an" round the graveyard lie a six days" race fer the belt at Madison Square. John had jus" seen him on the wall, an" that was why he come chargin" down the road like forty cats.
""Will Mr. Ming"s sperrit walk till he gits that b.u.t.ton back?" Buck asts. John says: "Sure."
""Well," says Buck, "why don"t yer give him one?"
""No can give. Only Emplor, only Son of Heaven give."
""Well, look here," says Buck, "we sand rabbits ain"t no sons of Heaven, but I"ll be darned if we couldn"t spare a b.u.t.ton ter lay the ghost of a pore busted police-court judge, who"s lost his job an" his tin, if _that"s_ all he wants back. What time does he come out at, John? Could we see him ter-morrer night?" "Sure could we," says John; "he"ll show us the way, but he won"t wait with us; he"s bad enough fer his."
"So Buck takes John an" goes back ter the guard shack, as it"s most time fer relief, an" after I got back we told John ter git the hook, an" we talked things over, an" Buck he was just wild ter see if he couldn"t lay that Chino ghost. His talents was achin" ter git action on him; anythin"
like that got up his s.p.u.n.k. Says I:
""Maybe Ranch kin help. We"ll tell him ter-morrer after guard mount.
It"ll take his mind off Daggett."
""No, yer don"t," says Buck. "Don"t yer dare tell him. He"s nervous as a cat over the pup as it is, an" this spook business is awful skeery; I"m feelin" woozy over it meself. I"m all off when it comes ter ghosts--that is, if it"s a real ghost. And things here in Pekin" is so funny the odds is all in favor of its bein" the sure thing. I ain"t afeard o" no kinds o" people, but I sure git cold feet when I"m up against a ghost.
Wouldn"t that jar youse? An" me a soldier; when it"s a soldier"s whole business not ter _git_ cold feet. But I"m bound I"ll have a show at that ol" spook even if it _does_ skeer me out o" my growth. Only don"t yer dare tell Ranch."
"Nex" night, right after eleven o"clock rounds, me an" Buck slipped outer our blankets, sneaked out past the guard, an" met John, who was waitin" fer us in the road jus" beyond where the last sentry woulder seen him. It was cold as git out. Jus" the same kind o" early cold as to-night, an" John"s teeth was chatterin" like peas in a box--he was some loco with skeer, too, you bet.
""Which way?" says Buck, an" John spouts a lot o" dope-joint lingo an"
takes us up a side alley, where there"s a whole bunch o" Chinos waitin"
fer us, an" they begun a kowtowin" an" goin" on like we was the whole cheese. Turned out that John had jollied "em that the Melican soldier mans was big medicine an" would make Judge Ming quit the midnight hike an" cut out scarin" "em blue. That jus" suited Buck; he was all there when it come ter play commander in chief. He swelled up an" give "em a bundle o" talk that John put in Chino fer "em, an" then finished up by showin" "em a b.u.t.ton--a ol" United States Army bra.s.s b.u.t.ton he"d cut off his blue blouse--an" tol" "em he was goin" ter bury it in Ming"s grave so as ter keep him bedded down.
"An" them simple idiots was pleased ter death, an" the whole outfit escorted us over ter the graveyard, but they shied at the gate (Lord, I hated ter see "em go--even if they _was_ heathens!), an" let John take us in an" show us where ter wait. He put us in behind a pile o" little rocks in about the middle o" the place near where Judge Ming hung out, an" then retired on the main body at the double, leavin" us two in outpost alone there together. I hadn"t never been ter a Chino buryin"
ground before, an" night time wasn"t extree pleasant fer a foist introduce. There was a new moon that night--a little shavin" of a thing that hardly gave no light, an" from where we was there was a twisty pine tree branch that struck out right acrost it like a picture card--two fer five. The graveyard was all dark an" quiet, with little piles o" rocks an" stone tables ter mark the graves, an" a four- or five-foot wall runnin" all round it; an" somehow, without nothin" stirrin" at all, the whole blame place seemed chock full o" movin" shadders. There wasn"t a sound neither; not the least little thing; jus" them shadders; an" the harder yous"d look at "em the more they seemed ter move. It was cold, too, like I told yer--bitin" cold--an" me an" Buck squatted there tight together an" mos" friz. We waited, an" we waited, an" _we waited_, an"
we got skeerder, an" skeerder, an" _skeerder_, an", gee! how we shivered! Every minute we thought we"d see Judge Ming, but a long time went by an" he didn"t come an" he _didn"t_ come. There we set, strung up tight an" ready ter snap like a banjo string, but nothin" ter see but the shakin" shadders an" nothin" ter hear--nothin" but jus" dead, dead silence.
"All of a suddent Buck (he kin hear a pin drop a mile away) nearly nips a piece out"n my arm as he grips me. "Listen!" says he.
"I listened an" listened, but I didn"t hear nothin", an" I told him so.
""Yes, yer do, yer bloke yer," he whispers, "Listen. Strain your years."
"Then way off I did begin ter hear somepin". It was a long, funny, waily cry, sort o" like the way cats holler at each other at night. "Oh-oo-oo, oh-oo-oo!" like that, an" it come nearer an" nearer. Then all of a suddent somepin" popped up on the graveyard wall about a hundred yards away--somepin" all blue-gray against the hook o" the moon--an" began walkin" up an" down an" hollerin". I knew it was sayin" words, but I was so far to the bad I didn"t know nothin" an" couldn"t make it out. I never thought a feller"s heart could bang so hard against his ribs without bustin" out, an" me hair riz so high me campaign hat was three inches off"n me head. I hope ter the Lord I"ll never be so frightened again in all my livin" days. I set there in a transom from fear an" friz ter the spot. I don"t know nothin" o" what Buck was doin", as my lamps was glued ter the spook. It jumped down from the wall, callin" an"
whistlin" an" begin runnin" round the little stone heaps. I seen it was comin" our way, but I couldn"t move or make a sound; I jus" set. All of a suddent Buck he jumps up an" makes a dash an" a leap at the spook, an"
there"s a terrible yellin" an" they both comes down crash at the foot of a rock pile, rollin" on the little pebbles; but Buck is on top an" the spook underneath an" lettin" off the most awful screeches. Gosh, they jus" ripped the air, them spooks" yells did, an" they turned my spell loose an" I howled fer all I was worth. Then Buck, he commenced a-yawpin" too, but me an" the spook we was both raisin" so much noise I didn"t savvy what he said fer some time. Then I found he was cussin" me out.
""Come here, you forsaken ---- ----," he howls. "Quit yellin"! I say _quit yellin"_! Don"t yer see who this is? Come here an" help me."
""You think I"m goin" ter tech that Ming spook?" I shrieks.
""You miser"ble loony," he yells back, "can"t yer see it ain"t no Ming?
It"s Ranch!"
"Well, so it was. It was Ranch skeered stiff an" hollerin" fer dear life at bein" jumped on an" waked up in the middle of a graveyard that-a-way.
Pore ol" feller had had Daggett on his mind, an" went sleepwalkin" an"
huntin" wrapped in his blanket.
""An"," says Buck ter me, "if youse hadn"t been in such a dope dream with skeer, you"d "a" sensed what he was a-yellin". He was callin"
"Oh-oo-oo, oh-oo-oo, here Daggett! Here, boy!" an" then he"d whistle an"
call again: "Here, Daggett! Here, Daggett!" That"s how I knew it was Ranch; an", besides, he told me onct that he sleepwalked when he got worried. But you, you white livered--" an" then he cussed me out some more.
""Smarty," I says, "if yer knew so blame well it was Ranch, why did yer give him the flyin" tackle like yer done an" git him all woiked up like this?"
""Well," says Buck sort o" sheepy, "I was some woiked up meself, an"
time he come along I give him the spook"s tackle without thinkin"; I was too skeered ter think. Hush, Ranch. Hush, old boy. It"s jus" me"n Bill.
n.o.body shan"t hoit yer."
"We comforted pore ol" Ranch an" fixed him up, an" then when he felt better told him about things--all but how Daggett was et--an" I wrapped his blanket around him an" took him back ter quarters while Buck went a-lookin" fer John an" his gang.
"He found "em about half a mile off, in front of a Mott Street joss house, all prayin" an" burnin" punk an" huddled together, skeered green from the yellin"s they"d heard. Buck, he give "em a long chin-chin about layin" the ghost, an" how Judge Ming wouldn"t never come back no more; an" then he dragged "em all back (they pullin" at the halter shanks with years laid back an" eyes rollin"), ter him bury his United States b.u.t.ton on Ming"s rock pile. He dropped it in solemn, an" said what the c.h.i.n.ks took ter be a prayer; but it was really the oath he said. Buck havin"
onct been a recruitin" sergeant, knew it by heart all the way from "I do solemnly swear" ter "so help me, Gawd." Buck says I oughter seen them grateful Chinos then: they"d "a" give him the whole Chino Umpire if they could. They got down an" squirmed an" kissed his hands an" his feet an"
his sleeve. They wanted ter escort him back ter camp, but he bucked at that, an" said no, as he was out without pa.s.s an" not itchin" fer his arrival ter be noticed none.
"After that we took toins watchin" Ranch at night, an" got him another mutt ter love, an" he didn"t wander any more, so Judge Ming seemed satisfied with his United States b.u.t.ton, an" kep" quiet. But them c.h.i.n.ks was the gratefullest gang yer ever seen. They brought us presents; things ter eat--fruit, poultry, eggs, an" all sorts of chow, some of it mighty funny lookin", but it tasted all right; we lived high, we three.
The other fellers was wild ter know how we woiked it. An" I tell yer I ain"t never been skeered o" ghosts sence--that is, not ter speak of--_much_!"
Bill, paused, drew a long breath, and looked at the clock. "Gee!" said he, "most nine o"clock. I got ter go over ter K troop ter see Sergeant Keefe a minute--I promised him. Adios, fellers. Thanks fer the smokin"."
"Keep the change, hombre. Thanks for yo" tale," shouted Whitney after him as he disappeared down the hall.
"Well!!" said Stone, and looked at Hansen.
"Well!!" responded Hansen. The big Swede shook with laughter. "Iss he not the finest liar! Yess? I wa.s.s in the Fourteenth myselluf. That wa.s.s my company--Chay. He wa.s.s not even the army in then--in nineteen hund"erd."
"Yes," said Stone, "I knew, but I wasn"t goin" to spoil his bloomin"
yarn. I happened to see his enlistment card only this mornin", and the only thing he was ever in before was the Twenty-third Infantry after they came back from the Islands. He"s never even been out of the States."
"But where did he get it from?" asked Whitney. "His imagination is equal to most anything but gettin" so many facts straight. Of co"se I noticed things yere an" there--but the most of it was O. K."
"I tell you," said Hansen, grinning, "he got it from an old Fourteenth man--Dan Powerss--at practice camp last Chuly. He an" I wa.s.s often talking of China. He wuss in my old company an" wa.s.s then telling me how he an" the other fellerss all that extra chow got. I tank Bill he ha.s.s a goot memory."
"But the nerve of him!" cried Whitehall, "tryin" ter pa.s.s that off on us with Hansen sittin" right there."
"It iss one thing he may have forgot," smiled Hansen.
"Well, who cares anyway?" said Stone. "It was a blame good story. An"
now clear out, all of you. I want to hit the bunk. Reveille does seem to come so early these cold mornin"s. Gee! I wish I knew of some kind of b.u.t.ton that would keep _me_ lyin" down when Shorty wants me to get up an" call the roll."