Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1872-06-19

sentries must be at the end Of their beats
with their backs still turned and . clear
two hundred yards between them. Then
at word from him. all the party sprapg
forward as noiselessly as possible, were
soon beyond tho sentries aud up to the
bank Of the ditch itself.
There. a few yards 10 front of them.
looming ou. .gsins. tho dark sky, rose
the towers Of the fort. and at their feet
the ditch of unknown depth. A glance
revealed the true state Of affairs. The
Hanking bastiOns had been sadly pounded
by the heavy guns, and IN some parts the
curtains between had been entirely de-
molished, and crumbed down, till the de-
bris gave an easy ascent from the waters
edge.
As the bank of the moat had been
little raised, it afforded cover and shelter
on its outer side. Here Parker aud his
men lay down concealed. Norval ar
ranged his apparatus for the cast. Un-
winding his line from the stick, and fas-
tcning the end around his body, he hung
it 10 loose coils on his right arm, and took
the plummet in his right hand. Then,
uoiselessly eros sing the pathway
on the bank, be stole down to
the waters edge, and threw the plummet
sufficiently high to insure good arc and
straight fall. 1t carried with it coil after
coil and fell in the very middle of the
ditch. 1t dropped with sharp plash, it
made but slight noise-not moro than
fair-sized fish would make as he snap.
} ped at fy-yet that noise sounded on
alarm on the dull ear of night. Instant.
ly all was life. The sentries started out
of their half.slceping stroll and fred of
their matchlocks; the guards spraug tc
the battlements and blazed away in the
direction from which the sound had come
The sentres ou the glacis followed sui
without aim or object. Norval, the in
slant he made his cast, spraug across the
bank, and was lying concealed beside
! Parker, Slowly raising his head owe
the bank, ne could see the guards hurry
ing to and fro along the ramparts, run
down the slopng debris to the brink o
the water, and there standing aghast
: But there was nothing to be seen
I nothing to account for the noise. Th,
sound was not repeated. There was ev
> identity nothing astir. So the firing grad
uall ceased. the men returned to thei
I posts, or their slumbcrs, and Norva
9 heard on the ramparts an occasiona
laugh, as the joke was passed along, "Ka
G Ii muchia tha :" C"It was only 6sh.")
u That danger passed, it remained t
y draw out the line with its register float
= and to make good the retreat. But Nor
= val waited till all was perfectly quiet be
7 fore he stirred from his lain. He waited
g 1T seemed hours--when the gongs j
y the camp began to sound eleven. "No'
for it," he thought, 'or shan't be bac
II by midnight" So he crept up the ban
= again, across the path and down the 9th
C er side close to the water, where tn
+" grass was longer and helped to concea
e him as he lay at full length on the brink
d Then began the work of drawing in tn
n line. He noiselesslv wound it round an
y round his chest until he held the cork j
n his hand. He forgot himself for mc
t, ment, and in turning less cautiously tba
k usual his foot touched the water. Agai
.. all were on the qui oiue on the walls br
e nothing seemed to come of it so the SCI
tries contented themselves with I'll
IS thought, There goes that fish again
IS But it brought Norval back to his formC
=. pr udence more slowly and silently b
J. gathered round him the few feet of lin
IS that remained.
st At last all was done, and the plumm
t. was in his hand. He now cIawlcd baC
to Parker, touched hln, the signal WI
es passed to the men and the retreat bega
,t This was a delicate affair. They no
" had the enemy, already startled, bchir
Of as well as in front. The slightest sour
ID would have betrayed them and all migl
" have been undone. One by one the
at crept along, until they were within son
.e fifty yards of the onemy's sentries. No
Of Norval. who was in advance, pulled ul
r. all closed in; not word was uttere
". With bated breath they waited till Il
ty sentries had met and parted, and we're
re the extreme end of their beat again tn
he they rose to their feet and with STINT
/, taneous spring, made for the lanter
nd which had been placed by agreement
wv guide them back to the battery, and we
Oh again safe and sound within their o
ok lines.
ID. There was Major Jones, only too eae