"Yes...but how old are you, Chris!"

"Ah'm twenty. You're older than me, ain't yer?"

"I'm twenty-two."

They were leaning against the wall of their barracks, looking up
at the brilliant starry night.

"Say, is the stars the same over there, overseas, as they is
here?"

"I guess so," said Andrews, laughing. "Though I've never been to
see."

"Ah never had much schoolin'," went on Chris. "I lef school when I
was twelve, 'cause it warn't much good, an' dad drank so the folks
needed me to work on the farm."

"What do you grow in your part of the country?"

"Mostly coan. A little wheat an' tobacca. Then we raised a lot o'
stock.... But Ah was juss going to tell ye Ah nearly did kill a
guy once."

"Tell me about it."

"Ah was drunk at the time. Us boys round Tallyville was a pretty
tough bunch then. We used ter work juss long enough to git some
money to tear things up with. An' then we used to play craps an'