Si and Shorty fixed up their fire again, rearranged their scattered cedar boughs, and did the best they could with their torn blankets.
Si found that a mule's hoof had landed squarely on his tin plate, mashed all future usefulness out of it, and stamped his letter to Annabel into unrecognizability.
He threw the rent fragments into the fire, sighed deeply, and crawled under the blankets with Shorty, just as three sounding taps on the bass-drum commanded silence and lights out in the camp.
CHAPTER IV. THE SUNSHINE OF LIFE
SI FEELS ONCE MORE THAT LIFE IS REALLY WORTH LIVING.
THERE come times in every man's life when he feels himself part of the sunshine that illumines and warms the earth:
The lover, after he has won his best girl's consent.
The candidate, after he has been elected by a big majority.
The valedictorian, after his address has been received with bursts of ringing applause.