Page 68 - Among the camps, or, Young people's stories of the war

111 don’t see how anything- can swim when it's as dry as

it is around here," said a fellow in gray.
A man in blue handed him his canteen, which he at once
accepted, and after surprising Evelyn by smelling it— which
she knew was dreadfully bad manners— turned it up to his
lips. She heard the liquid gurgling.

A s he handed it back to its owner he said: “ Yank, I'm
mighty glad 1 didn’t shoot you. I might have hit that can­
teen." A t which there was a laugh, and the canteen went
around until it was empty* Suddenly Kittykin from her high
perch gave a faint “ M ew," which said, as plainly as words

could say it, that she wanted to get down and could not
E velyn’s big brown eyes filled with, tears. u I want my
Kittykin/ 1 she said, her little lip trembling.
Instantly a dozen men unbuckled their belts, laid their
guns on the ground* and pulled off their coats, each one try.
ing to be the first to climb the tree. It was, however, too

large for them to reach far enough around to get a good
hold on it, so climbing it was found to be far more difficult
*
O
than it looked to be.
“ W hy don't you cut it down ?" asked some one.

But Evelyn cried out that that would kill K ittykint so
the man who suggested it was called a fool by the others.
At last it was proposed that one man should stand against
the tree and another should climb up on his shoulders, when
he might get his arms far enough around it to work his way

up* A stout fellow with a gray jacket on planted himself