The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1885-04-29

70 the shanties. The lntO&lcal ec
man fell TO ibe ground ashe nearet
the guardhonss with an attack o
mania a potu. He was rawboned
generally well.behaysd Pennsyl
yaaIan. We carried him in ant
laid him on the hard bunk, mad'
Of pine,bark with a blanket spteac
on il. The excitement Of finding
the dead body Of Parr, who wal
well liked in the company, hac
sobered all Of the slragglers bn! The
Pennsylvania, and had made
them cautious as to what they sale
that could have any bearing on
PARIS death The body had been
stumbled on 10 the dark by Lhelieu
tenant when on the other side OIL
the river near the outlet to The
ravine, az he was returning from
the uegro.hut with the nine scape
graces be had met there. Before
the body had been carried far, II
had been examined in the light Of
a pickot-fre and no wound or trace
Of violence could be found.
What was the connection be.
tween the shot at 6 o'clock and
PARIS doalh2 Had the enemy had
anything to do With it, more than
one shot would have been heard,
for all the stragglers were armed,
and, drunk as they may have been
at the time, or rather because they
were drunk, there would have been
a lively fusilade. But all agreed
that there was but one shot.
The Pennsylvania writhed in
delirium on the bunk, and was
held down by three or four men,
He appeared to have no intsres! in
aught but the hObgoblins and
creeping things that assaulted him
in his fancy. But he had semi.
rational moments, when be would
sit up and carry on a conversation
with himself in muttered incoher.
ent tones not easy to understand.
And whenever he spoke we listen.
ed, as If for a revelation. Our only
light in the hut was from a single
candle set into the socket Of a buy.
Onet stuck in the earlhcn floor
From time to time he would force
himself out Of the strong hand:
that wore holding him, aud, as he
swung biz arms mournfully about,
his shadow and ours would be
thrown upon tho rude walls and
cotton ceiling of the hut, making
yet, under the circpmslan.
ces, frightfal Caricalures Of human
suffering. Only once did he say
anything worth while: "Poor Parrl
but | wasn't to blame" Yes, poor
Parrl but who was to blame2
1t was q dreadful thing to be.
lieve that murder could have been
committed there, among comrades
whose lives were in constant peril
for common cause, even if done
in a drunken brawl. But there
was no certainty that all of the
nine had been much in liquor. As
| scanned the faces of the other
l was puzzled by one
countenance, that of a little Welsh
man, well knit, about thirty, dark
and having a pair
Of black eyes, which even on ordin-
airy occasions were full Of fire. But
now his eyes glowed like two burn
ing Goals and his cheeks we're ash.
en- white, His manner and voice
were agitated in the extreme, and
10 every question his answer var.
led bat slightly from: "Look ye, an
know nolhin' about it," The de.
.iriOus fellows rawlings had seemed
strange, but now a suspicion was
growing that the man who did the
If a murder was done, was
his Welshman, whose violent
emper and vindictive nature was
known 10 us all,
While the horrible thoughts Sug.
yested to my mind by all that had
on this stirring night
we're crowding upon me, another
sergeant relieved me with orders to
AXE The stragglers to the shantieS,
Ill but the Pennsylvania, who
could not be removed.
In the hollow place behind the
'hanlies burned the great FIRE where
he company's cooking was done.
Its glare was hidden from distant
Observers, and the wind kept of by
he shanties in front and the ridge
which rose steeply behind, and at
zach end was shaded by screens of
laurel bushes interlaced with pine
branches. In theopen space before
-hn hr;nh. L. ~