José — page 62: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

JOSE. | | 55 all was calm and motionless as nature itself. He concluded that his eyes must have been deceived in the uncertain starlight, and accordingly returned to his first position. He was on the point of directing his thoughts into a definite channel to avoid a relapse into his previous state of mind, when he heard footsteps approaching and recognized Green. “Ah, here you are. I have something to say to you before returning to my post,” he began, in his usual lively manner, though in a suppressed voice, “moreover it is distressingly lonesome to stand guard when we might go to sleep with as much assurance of safety as though we were in St. Louis. Some strange mystery surrounds this Mexican boy, Jose,” he continued, in a low tone. “Heaven alone knows what induced me to take such a shine to him from the start, but I would give a fortune to dis- cover his secret. When all were asleep I strolled about the camp, and I saw him standing guard like a veteran, gazing fixedly into the distance. I was about to go up to him and say something, when I saw him suddenly drop on his knees and clutch his rifle like a man in the depth of despair. ‘An out- cast—a homeless wanderer—friendless!’ I heard him moan, in Spanish; and sir, it was said in a tone that went straight to my heart. ‘Whither now? Away, away! why was I suffered to taste the delights of home, only to be turned out again!’ The Spanish is a wonderful language, Baumann; it seems to have been especially created to express the emotion of the heart. What in any other tongue would sound extravagant, is philosophy in Spanish even from the lips of a boy, and such a boy as he! Indeed, Baumann, he is unlike any other boy!” « Well?” Baumann asked. Eomichooks (E(0) im