The Shasta courier., 1866-03-03
THE CONDEMNED SENTINEL.

cold, stormy night, in the month of
March, 1907, Marshal Lefebvre. with twenty
seven thousand French troops, had invested
Dantzic. The city was gnrrlsoned by seven
teen thousand Russian and Prussian soldiers !;
together with twenty or thirty thousand we'll
armed citizens, presented nearly double the
| force which could be brought to the assault,
| So there was need of the utmost vigilance on
the part Of the sentinels for desperate
sortie from the garrison, made unawares.
may prove calamtous
| At midnight Jerome Dubois was placed
/ upon one of the most important posts in the
advance line of pickets, it being upon mar.
row strip of land raised above the marshy
fat, called the peninsula of Nehrung. For
more than an hour he placed his lonesome
beat without hearing anything more than
the moaning of the wind and the driving Of
the rain. At length however, another sound
broke upon his ear. He stopped and listen.
ed. and presently he called, Who's there ?'
The only answer was moaning sound
He called again, and this time he heard
something like the cry of child and pretty
soon an object came towards him from the
darkness. With quick emphatic move
ment he brought his musket to the charge,
ordered the intruder to halt.
Mercy ~ exclaimed a childish voice.
Don't shoot me / am Natalie. Don It
you know me?'
:" Heavens!' cried Jerome, eevating the
muzzle of his piece. ''Is it you, dear
child :"
'Yes; and you are good Jerome. Oh,
you will come, and help mamma! Come,
she is dyingl"
ltwas certainly Natalie, little girl only
eight years old, daughter of Lisette valiant.
| Lisette was the wife of Pierre valiant, a
sergeant in Jerome's own regiment, and was
with the army in the capacity of nurse.
"Why, how is this, my child ?" said
Jerome, taking the little one by the arm.-
"What is it about your mother?"
",Oh. good Jerome, you can hear her now.
IIark -
The sentinel bent his ear, but could hear
only the wind and the rain.
Mamma is in the dreadful mud" said
the child, land is dying She is not far
away. Oh, l can hear her crying"
By degrees Jerome gathered from Natalie
that her father had taken her out with him
in the morning, and that in the evening
when the storm came on, her mother came
after her. The sergeant bad offered to send
a man back to the camp with his wife; but
she preferred to return alone, feeling sure
that she should meet with no trouble. The
way, however, had become dark and un-
certain, and she had lost the path, and
wandered off to the edge of the morass,
where she had sunk into the soft mud.
"Oh, good Jerome cried the little one,
seizing the mans hand, cant YOU hear
her? She will die if you do not come and
help her ~
At that moment the sentinel fancied he
heard the wall of the unfortunate woman
What should he do? Lisette, the good, the
beautiful, the tender-hearted Lisette, was
in mortal danger, and it was in his power
to save her. 1t was not in his heart to
withstand the pleadings of the child He
could go and rescue the nurse, and return to
his post without detection. At all events.
he could not refuse the childish pleader
''Give me your hand, Natalie. I'll go
with ycu."
With cry of joy the child sprang to the
soldiers side; and when she had secured
his hand she hurried him along towards the
place where she had left her mother. 1t
seemed a long distance to jerome, and once
he stopped as though he would turn back
He did not fear death but he feared dis
honor.
''Hark ~ uttered the child.
The soldier listened, and plainly heard
the voice of the suffering woman calling for
help. He hesitated no longer. On he hast
ened, through the storm, and found Lisette
sunk to her armpits in the soft morass.-
Fortunately tuft of long grass had been
within her reach. by which means she had
held her head above the fatal mud. It was
no easy matter to extricate her from the miry
pit. as the workman had to be very careful
that he did not himself lose his footing. At
length, however, she was drawn forth, and
Jerome led her towards his post.
ssWho comes there ?' cried a voice from
the gloom.
Heavensl' gasped Jerome, stopping and
trembling from head to foot.
g Who comes there?" repeated the voice.
Jerome heard the click of musket lock
and be knew that another sentinel had been
stationed at the post he had left. The relief
had come while he had been absent
g Friend, with the countersign - he
answered, to the last call of the new senti.
nel
He was ordered to advance, and when he
had given the countersign he found himselfin in
the presence of the officer of the guard. In
a few hurried words he told his story: and
had the officer been alone he might have
allowed the matter to rest where it was;
but there were others presents and when
ordered to give up his musket he obeyed
without murmur, and silently accompan-
led the officer to the camp, where he was
put in irons.
On the following morning Jerome Dubois
was brought before a court. martial under
charge of having deserted his post. He con-
fessed that he was guilty, and then permis-
sion was granted him to tell his own story.
This he did in few words; but the court
could do nothing but pass sentence of death
but the members thereof all signed petition
praying that Jerome Dubois might be par
doned and this petition was sent to the gen.
eral of the brigade, and through him to the
general of division, by whom it was endors.
ed. and sent up to the marshal.
Lefebvre was kind and generous to his
soldiers almost to fault; but be could not
overlook so grave an error as that which had
been committed by Dubois The orders
given to the sentinel had been very simple;
and foremost of every necessity, was the
order forbdding him to leave his post until
properly relieved. To certain extent the
safety of the whole army rested upon the
shoulders of each individual sentinel and
especially upon those who at night were
posted nearest the lines of the enemy.
Il am sorry :" said the gray haired old
warrior as he folded up the petition and
handed it back to the officer who had pre-