Page 26

By Jack Joseph Smith

Prankster's Dream of a Gallant Death A Rememberance of the Blackman He was sitting on a rock in front of a cave. His cave. It was twenty feet or so from the top of a dark green, black aqua like, mountain. He had rocks strapped to his chest, and then enough iron mask covering his face, secured also by wire twist turned at the back of his head. He had plates too on his shins, but his hands were bare holding two long barreled western pistols. HE had been firing them through the afternoon and just Like the movies, they never ran out of bullets; the Eight men below, with whom he was engaged in battle did not wear uniforms, but as yet in his dream their faces had not been seen. The rocks around him had been chipped by the firing and his mind had been hammered through the day, but not blown away. HE breathed deep, And stayed steady on his rock seat he saw and felt himself so beautifully entranced upon.

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

This page opens a dreamlike western siege scene in which Prankster appears masked and armored on a mountain above eight unseen enemies.

Its imagery is part movie, part fever vision. The corrected transcript makes the fantasy more theatrical and armored: rocks are strapped to his chest, plates cover his shins, and the pistols never run out of bullets.

Claude

Headed 'Prankster's Dream of a Gallant Death / A Rememberance of the Blackman,' the opening of the masked-siege fantasy. He sits 'on a rock in front / of a cave. His cave,' near the top of a 'dark green, black aqua like, mountain,' armored in strapped rocks, 'enough iron mask / covering his face,' shin plates, but 'his hands / were bare holding two long barreled / western pistols.' The dream is half movie - 'just Like the movies, they / never ran out of bullets' - against 'the Eight / men below' who 'did not wear uniforms' and whose faces 'had / not been seen.' His mind is 'hammered through the day, / but not blown away,' and he stays 'beautifully entranced upon' his rock seat. This reading is provisional because the page transcript sits in the 'mixed' OCR quality band.