The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1878-09-20
Selerf Story.
THE CONDEMNED SENTINEL

A cold. stormy night in the month of
March, 1897, Marshal Lefebvre, with
twenty-seven thousand French troops,
had invested Dantzic. The city was
garrisoned by seventeen thousand Rus
sian and Prussian soldiers, and these,
together with twenty or thirty thou
sand well 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 un-
awares, might prove calamitous.
At midnight Jerome Dubois was
placed upon one OF the most important
posts in the advance line of pickets, it
being upon a narrow strip of land
raised above the marshy fiat, called the
peninsula of Nehrung. For more than
an hour he paced his lonesome beat
without hearing anything more than
the moaning of the wind and the driv
ing of the rain. At length, however,
another sound broke upon his ears.
He stopped and listened, and presently
he called:
"Who's thereg'
The only answer wac a moaning
sound.
He called again, and this time he
heard something like the cry of child,
and pretty soon an object came before
him out from the darkness. With q
quick, emphatic movement he brought
his musket to the charge, and ordered
the intruder to halt.
"Mercyl" exclaimed childish voice
''don't shoot mel I am Natalie. Don't
you know me?"
"Heayensln cried Jerome, elevating
the muzzIe of his piece. "Is it you,
dear childi"
"Yes; and you are good Jerome.
Oh, you will come and help mamma
Come, she is dyingw
1t was certainly Natalie, little girl
only eight years old, daughter of Lis
eta Valiant. Lisetta 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 cbildl" said
Jerome, taking the little one by the
arm. "Wha: is it about your motherg
''Oh. good Jerome, you can hear
now. Harkl"
The sentinel bent his ear, but could
hear only the wind and the rain.
"Msmma is in the dreadful mud,
said the child, "and is dying. She !,
not far away. Oh, can hear hel
crying"
By degrees Jerome gathered from
Natalie that her father had taken hel
out with him in the morning, and thai
In the evening when the storm came
on, her mother came after her. The
sergeant had offered to send a man
back 70 the camp with his wife; but
she preferred to return alone, feeling
sure that she should meet with nc
trouble. The way, however. had be
come dark and uncertain, 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, ''can't
you hear heri 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 dot Lisette.
the good, the beautiful, the tender
hearted Lisette. was in moral danger.
and it was in bis power to save her. 1,
was not in his heart TO withstand the
pleadings of the child. He could 20
and rescue the nurse, and return to his
post without detection. At all events
he could not refuse the childish plead
er.