human
Looks like Judgment morn or the fall of Babylon,
gpt
Or the destruction of Sennacherib,
human
For the angel of death spread his wings on the blast, And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed.
gpt
I should say he had a mighty strong breath, Monty, Shorty interrupted. He liked to break in on Monty's heroics.
human
Excuse me from havin' a 12pounder breathin' around me.
gpt
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, And their hearts but once heaved, and forever grew still,
human
I'll bet there wasn't much sleepin' around here while that shell'n' was goin' on, broke in Shorty again.
gpt
Except the sleep that has the sod for a coverlet and Gabriel's trumpet for a breakfast bell.
human
And there lay the steed, with his nostrils all wide, But through them there rolled not the breath of his pride; And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf, And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.
gpt
Poor horses, murmured Shorty.
human
I always feel mighty sorry for them. They hadn't nothin' to do with gittin' up this rebellion. We must go around and kill such as is alive, and put them out o' their misery.
gpt
And there lay the rider, distorted and pale. With the dew on his brow and the rust on his mail; And the tents were all silent, the banners alone. The lances uplifted, the trumpets unblown.
human
Serves 'em right, the yaller-bellied, clay-eatin' yowlers, said Shorty savagely, looking over the mangled corpses.
gpt
Pays 'em up for their murderin' abatis. We got it in this time worse on them than they did on us, though it'd take as much of this as'd make up several Counties to pay up for any one o' the good boys we lost yesterday. I hope they are all where they kin look down and see how we got it on the secesh hell-hounds. We'll do 'em up worse yit before we're through with 'em.
human
Our batteries are improvin' wonderfully, commented the more practical Si, studying the field.
gpt
They seem to've socked every shell in just where it'd do the most good. No shootin' at the State o' Georgy generally and trustin' to luck to hit a rebel. Every shell seems to've landed just where it was needed, and then 'tended to its business and busted. You don't see no signs of any strikin' a quarter of a mile away, nor a whole one layin' around anywhere. That's good gunnin', and I'm glad our old six-hoss thrashin'-machine done the biggest share of it. Our brigade has the best battery in the whole army.
human
The regiment will go on, reported Orderly-Sergeant,
gpt
Stay behind to bury the dead, grumbled Shorty.
human
Nice business that! Sextons to the Southern Confederacy. Hain't they got any niggers around here that they kin set at the work?
gpt
The artillery made the muss, and now the infantry's got to stay and clean up after it. That don't seem right.
human
Well, orders is orders, and got to be obeyed, said the Orderly-Sergeant, cutting short the discussion with the usual formulary of his class. An Orderly-Sergeant is robbed of one of the cherished privileges of the other enlisted men. He can not criticise or grumble, but must stop the others from doing so beyond a certain point, and his refuge must be the prompt assumption that the orders are all right, and must be executed cheerfully. And he has not the satisfaction of the officers above him in knowing the why and wherefore of the orders, and perhaps advising as to them. He is
gpt
The quicker we get at it, continued the Orderly,
human
They didn't think they were digging their own graves,
gpt
He digged a ditch, he digged it deep; He digged it for his brother, But for his great sin he fell in The ditch he'd digged for t'other.
human
Good, good, Monty, said Si.
gpt
That's the best thing I've heard you spout yit. Give us some more of it.
human
The rebel Solomon Grundy; Born in Georgia on Monday; Become a rebel on Tuesday; Run off from Buzzard's Roost on Wednesday; Got licked at Dalton on Thursday; Worse whipped at Resaca on Friday; Blown up by a shell on Saturday; Died and buried on Sunday; And this was the end of Solomon Grundy.