The Norfolk post. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1865-1866, 1866-02-14

parently eighteen or nineteen years oil
AGE. and wore the blue uniform, tipped
| with red, of private in the United
States Artillery. The singular fact was
| that he appeared completely at his ease.
He seemed to he wholly unconscious o!
the critical position which he occupied ;
and as he approached, | observed that
he returned the dark glance of Stuart
with the air of man who says, II won
der what you see in my appearance to
make you fix your eyes upon me so in
tently" In another moment he was q
stuart's presence. and calmly, quietly,
without the faintest exhibition or EN-.
barrassment, or any emotion whatever,
waited to be addressed. .5u1
Stuart's words were curtest of the
curt l.cais .
as this the man." he said. l-s I
| "Yes, General" replied one of the es-
cort. 81 Lt77l l,t... l5.i basil .
"You say he is deserter?"
eyes, sir; [ knew him in - county
when he Joined Captain rs company
aud there is no sort of doubt about It,
General, as he acknowledges that he is
the same person." u.e uut 1886
acknowledges it"Hf Jua M
ayes, sir; acknowledges that he il
| NJ from that country; and that aftel
joining the South he deserted p.
Stuart flashed quick glance at tn.
prisoner, and seemed at a loss to under
stand what faulty had induced him IL
| testify against himself-thereby sealing
his fate. His gaze, clear, fiery, men
| acing, was returned by the youth with
apathetic calmness. Not a muscle o.
| his countenance moved, and / had now
had an opportunity to look at him more
attentively. He was even younger thar
| at first thought him-indeed, mere
boy. His complexion was fair; his hal
haxen and curling; his eyes blue, mild
| and as soft in their expression as "A girls
Their expression as they met the lower
| ing chances of Stuart was almost con
hding. could not suppress sigh--so
| painful was the thought that this youth
would probably be lying soon with ;
bullet through his heart, the just pun
shment of his great crimes. Any sucl
idea, however, seemed never to have en-
tered his mind. The glance which me-
Stuarts was the mild and confiding look
of q child, who either does not realize
that he is guilty, or relies upon the aflec
ton of loving parent to forgive him.
/ need not say that any such eXpecta-
ton was destined to meet with crue
disappointment. A kinde-hearted per
son than General Stuart never lived
but in all that appertained to his profes
sion and duty as a soldier he was inexo
rablo. Desertion, in his estimation, was
one of the deadliest crimes Of which Il
human being could be guilty, and hi
cogrSs WAS Is gan nams re Ssd lion GIN i'm
eral coldly, with a lowering brow.
NJ, sir,n was the response, in /:
mild and pleasing voice, i'm which il wa
| impossible to discern the least trace o
emotion. 't.
| "Where are you from?"
! ~ belonged to the battery that wa.
firing at you, over yOnder, sirn
The voice had not changed. A calmel
tone never heard. .t.-,. '..t
"Where were you borD?n continued
Stuart, as cOldly as before. -.....5
."In --, Virginia, sir"
Did you belong to theSouthern army
at any time ?n ........-. ....#.... u.s..
| Yes, SIR" .s
| The GOODNESS of the speaker was in
credible. Stuart could only look at hin
for moment in silence, SO astonishing
was this equanimity at "a time Wien his
life and death were in the balance. Not
a tone of the voice, Il movement of the
| muscles, ora tremor of the lip indica-
ted consciousness of his danger. The eye
| never quailed, the color in his cheek
never faded. The prisoner acknowl.
| edged that he was deserter from the
Southern army with the simplicity, can
dor, and calmness of one who saw in
that fact nothing extraordinary, or cal.
culated in any manner to affect his des-
| tiny unpleasantly. Stuart's eye flashed
ho could not understand such apathy
but in war there is little time to inves
tigate psychological phenomena.
| So you were in our ranks, and you
went over to the enemy?n lie said with
a sort of growl. t
"Yes, SIR" was the calm reply.
You were private in that battery
yonder."
Eyes, SIR"
Stuart turned to an.ofIicer and point
| ing to q tall pine near, said in brief hard
tones:
Hang him on that tree"
1t was then that change-sudden
awful, horrible-came over the face OF
the prisoner; at that moment read i'm
the dlstended eyeballs the vision OF
sudden DEATH" The youth became
CHASTITY pale; and the eyes, before so
calm, vacant, and apathelic, were all at
once injected with blood, and pale with
piteons fright. saw in an instant that
the boy had not for q single moment
realized the terrible danger Of his posi-
ton; and that the words Chang him on
that treeP' had burst upon him with the
sudden and appalling force of thunder
bolt. l have seen human countenances
express every phase of agony; seen the
writing of the mortality wounded as
their life-blOod welled out, and the hor-
ror of the death-struggle fixed on the
cold upturned faces of the dead but
| never have | witnessed an expression
| more terrible and agonizing than that
which passed over the face of the boy
deserter, as he thus heard his sentence.
he had evidently regarded himself as a
mere prisoner of war-and now he was
condemned to death! He had looked
forward, doubtless, to mere imprison-
| ment at Richmond, until regularly ex-
changed, when chang him on that
tree! !" burst upon his ears like the voice
of some avenging Nemesis. 3ii I0
Terrible, piteous, sickening. was the
expression of the boys face. A corpse.
! like pallor had taken the place of the
youthful bloom in the cheeks which
seemed at once to sink away aud grow
haggard; the eyes, but moment before,
so dull, and apathetic, were full of a
wild. almost insane brilliance. He
seemed to feel already the rope around