Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-04-10
II,Opyri1hf 1851

been shot down, and everything seemed readv
Ior tne departure. But a member of the guard
rushed In and reported something to the officer
Ia charge OF the preparations which seemed to
Interest him very much, he FASTENED away
holidays have arrived. In a short time the
substance OF the report was generally knOWn
and everybody was interested. 1t was a
AS already stated, there were no rebels i'm the
Tort, and no rebel soldiers in its immediare
Hieinity, out the pay was covered with craft of
the water-llne. The beach of Sulliyan's Island
was crowded The sand hills OF Morris Island
were black with men, and the naked eve could
0lscern CROWDS OF people on the housetops in
charleston The whole city has turned out 10
see the evacuation. Small boats and canoes
crowded round the fort, and ventured nearer
than the larger vessels They carried many
former friends OF the soldiers who were an xious
70 say good-by To the discounted Yankees whom
they knew. Sellman was on post on the wharf
as pom pous as ever, and yelling occasionally
. GU keep back nit dat boat oder shall fire
But In spite OF his threat and the very belserent
atttnde which he assumed, with his arms ..to
port, the boats came nearer and nearer by i'm
perceptiole and perhaps involuntary advances.
'front.' rank OF them was. Seliman was 1,earIv
frantic, and began to tnterlard his ENGLISH
Win German expletiyes. which sounded very
mucn IKE swearing. Ii matters had Continued
as they were much longer somefbino in
ine soldiers anatomy must have rupt1red.
fortunately, MS eye, which had ceased to con-
template the horizon ever since the small
boats had ventured inside the prescribed lin,
Us, fcSttV upon lamlllar ngure one of tho
boats. lie stared at it until he was satisfied
with Its identity, and then quietly sent the re-
port already referred 10 to the officer of the dav
Iho object was a man named Delane He vas q
North C2F34inian by birth, q blacksmith Inv
trade, anu 44ad been a soldier in the same COM
pany as the sentinel. But a short time before
the company left Fort Moultrie he became con.
WINGED that IL was his duty to 60 with his STATE
and as he was some distance away he decided
10 start a little ahead OF her. So, being oniy a
soldier, and consequently debarred from ten
der1ng his resignation in q dignified manner
ike "A com miSstoned deserter, he quietly ahan-
aoned the service one night and became an
ordinary deserter. He had now entered the
service OF South Carolina, and wore a gray mi.
forrE, and no doubt wanted to fiaunt il in the
faces o. bis old comrades before they departed
lCr the cold North.
LASSOING A DESERTER,-ALMOST.
Meantime Lieutenant Norman ]. Hall had
taken birds-eye view Of the situation He
recognized Delane in q boat with four or five
others about forty feet from the wharf. All oul
DO as were burned or riddled with shot anc
the icrty feet of blue water between DelanS
and his wouid-be captor was q perfect barrier
Al least SO thought Delane. Lieutenant Hall
however, thought otherwise. He was from
michigan, and had learned To throw the lass<
In his youth. So he retired within the fort pro
cured a suitable rope and prepared lasso, and
then sauntered In listless, careless mannel
towards the wharf But Delane had taker
fright Whether the sudden change in tn.
sentinefs oemeanox had aroused his suspicioni