Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1881-02-10

the camp, WS io,VVV men s'e s,u.
bering, Is AsE q mile Of woods, fields
serve and tho enemy is a thin line OF
pickets-a man stationed here ana
there to give advance warning of any
Follow the relief and you will notice
how cautiously the men tread. The
dark line winds around through the
trees, fits across open spaces, and haits
here and there for Q moments relieve
the old picket. Musket-shot away are
the -pickets Of the enemy, and n loud
word may bring 'volley of bullets.
! The line might pass you twenty feet
away and you would hardly catch
sound. s.nE
Sit YOU here on this bank where you
can look down upon the picket-ayc. al
most touch him. A little creek runs be-
tween you. There is an open space OF
thirty feet, and all around IL are trees,
stumps, logs and brush. 1t would be n
lonely place in which to pass two long
hours even in times Of peace. There Is
a warning in the midnight breeze rs ID
rustles the branches, aud the waters OF
the creek have more than once been
colored with blood.
The lone picket takes his station un-
/ n
hardly make him out. As he finds him.
/ self alone his eyes are constantly search
ing the darkness in front, and his ears
catch every sound. They tell Of men
found asleep on picket. II must
be a strange man who could close his
eyes i'm sleep with the night wind whis-
pering in his ears: q" Beware! bewarcl
I In the bushes 10 the left is foe!" aud
the waters of the creek plainly saying
"Keep watch to the right! right! right!
right!''
That man has been in dozen battles,
and has been wounded three times.
Don't cali him coward, and yet he
trembles and turns pale before he has
been fifteen minutes alone. The skir-
mish line with its deliberate murder Is not
as bad a place as this. IL that man Is
dead when tho relief comes again IL will
be worse than murder. Call that bab-
bling creek company Hark hear what
it is saying to him, every word as plainly
spoken as if their language was the
same: ff...
"Look out! Look out. There Is
fierce-faced guerrilla crawling through
the bushes toward you! He has knife
in his teeth. and he is coming to assas-
sinate you'll"
Ii the creek did not say so, and IL tho
picket did not understand, why did no
give that sudden start and change his
position? Why does he kncel To get a
clearer look around him? Why does he
keep his eyes fastened upon that stump
until the intensity of his gaze brings our
every knot and splinter II fifty men
were asleep in that space and one other
were awake he would feel the loneliness
and danger. BY daylight a schoolgirl
might weave romance. from the bah
BILE of the waters. Harki IL there any
romance in thisp r1 vrto-
"Beware! beware! That man with
tangled hair, fierce eyes aud savage face
is still advancing! BE on your guard
watch hstenr' i~.R iFGr1s
CowardP Count the scars on his
body-look up his record! No, not
coward, and yet his pale face comes TO
you from the darkness almost like q cam
dies light. Ii it was fear, he would
crouch down. fit was cowardice. no
would hide or desert his post. No, tits
not fear, and yet he thinks II a feeling
unworthy Of him, and he braces against
it. He turns deaf ear to the Whisper
ings of the creek. He refuses 10 hear
the warnings of the breeze. You can
almost see him as he shuts his teeth
hard together and tries TO force his
thoughts into other channels. ~. .
"Look out! look out!" whispers tho
creek, but he refuses to hear.
Something is moving eSer the ground
behind him. You can see IL from where
you sit. 1t is something darker than
the dark ground beneath. Now IL
moves--now it halts-now its fierce
eyes almost light up the darkness as IL
makes out the muflled form Of the pick
ct leaning up against the tree.
MURDER Murder! Murder!" CUR
giles the creek. nI IS -
You hear it, but the picket is think
ing of home. A thousand miles away
is quiet farm house. II the same wind
blows there it kisses the apple blossoms
and lulls the wife and children to deep
err slumbers.
You see that dark something coming
nearer. 1t is creeping up behind him.
A tiger would rustic the leaves or snap
a twig, and his victim would have timc
to call Gods name before the spring.
This is human tiger. God put mercy
In his heart, but 1t was driven out by
hate. ' ri r7 ...ri.lt iH -
"save him! Save him!,' cries tho
You start at the call, bdtIhe does not
move. He is thinking Of The wife wboss
tears wet his cheek--of The curly heads
who cling to his arms-of the miles and
the dangers between him and them.
That something rises up behind him
That terrible knife Is transferred from
mouth to hand. -"
"Murder! Murder! Murder!" but Il
was done. Nota cry-not even q groan.
The dead sank down with only sigh.
The picture Of wife and children was
hardly hidden = between earth and
Heaven. no IItEW1 E'FE CU
"One lessI" Kissed the human tiger
as he peered into the blanched face, and
with q gurgle in his throat, as IL he had
Tapped at the hot blood flowing toward
the creek, he crcpt away to seek another
victim. F.H - ss
"This is war!" whispered the creek
as it shrunk away from the blood, and