The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1886-01-01

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shadow and ours would be thrown up.
on the rude walls and cotton ceilings
OF the hut, making absurd, yet, under
tho circumstances. frightful carica-
lures Of human suffering. Only once
did he say anything worth while:
"Poor Parr! but I wasn't to blame"
Yes. poor Parr! but who was to blamep
1t was dreadful thing to believe
that murder could have been commit
ted there, among comrades whose
lives were in constant peril for a COM
mon cause, even il 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 stragglers was puzzled by ono
countenance, that Of q little Welsh-
man, we'll knit, about thirty, dark
complexioncd. and havinga pair of
black eyes, which even on ordinary
occasions were full of fire. But now
his eyes glowed like two burning
Goals and his cheeks were ashen white.
His manner and voice were agitated
in the extreme, and to every question
his answer varied but slightly from,
"Look ye, ah know nOthin' about it's
Tho dclirlOus fellows rawlings had
seemed strange, but now q suspicion
was growing that the man who did
the murder, if q murder was done,
was this Welshman, whose violent
temper and vindictivc nature were
known to us all
While the horrible thoughts sug-
gcstcd to my mind by all that had &C.
CURED on this stirring night were
crowding upon ME, another Sergeant
relieved me with orders to take tho
stragglcrs to the shantics, all but tho
Pennsylvania, who could not be re-
moved.
In a hollow place behind tho shan
ties burned the great fire where the
company's cooking was done. Its
glare was hidden from distant OBJ
servers, and the wind kept off bv the
shanties IN front and the ridge which
rose steeply behind. and at each end
was shaded by screens of laurel bushes
interlaced with pine branches. In the
open space before the prlght embcrs
that sparkled against a huge back
log, the men gathered to while away
the long evenings until the hour
came to ''turn in" for sleep. Many
of tho soldiers were stripliugs, not
yet out of their teens. But there
were some there in the groups that
used to stretch thcl feet into the ashes
before that fire who could no doubt
have told stranger tales than any they
told, had they been so inclined; half
grizzled waits from various parts of the
world veterans Of European. Asian and
African wars; sailors who had sailed
IN all the known seas-One of these
had made several slave voyages. an
other had been an accomplice in a IA
nous mutiny where the crew killed its
master and mates were running the
ship off to turn her into a pirate when
overtakcn and captured by an Amcri-
can man of-war. There were the fag-
ends of humanity enlisted for pclf and
from hatred of work, and associated
with honest and patriotic men. Like
some of the crusaders of old thew
were fighting for meat and drink, and
pay, in u glorious cause. Yet, mcr-
cenarics as many of these men were,
and frankly acknowledged themselves
to be, they were mostly brave and
were loyal to the flag they had chosen
to follow. And over lis all was Il cap
captain who was an earnest man in the
cause Of the Union, gallant and
skillful soldier, very pious withal, and
a great hater of intoxicating drink.
In front of the fire, within Il semi
circle formed by all of us at the shan
ties, lay PARIS body. dccently stretch
ed out on the blanket in which lie had
been brought across the bridge. Fifty
faces looked down upon their dead
comrades rugged face. Parr was q
finely shaped man with strong but
good features, and, in sailor fashion,
for he had been man-o'-war's man,
he wore q thick beard enclrcling his
throat from car to ear. the rest of his
face being shaved smooth. There was
no sign about him that We could see
of violent death. He was scarcely
even paicr than usual. The captain
ordered the stragglcrs placed IN the
front rank of the scmi-circle, and in
his Indignation burst into scatlling
harauguc against drinking.
The Welshman. however, drew the
covert scrutiny of all by his behavior.
He shook violently as his eyes search
ed all the faces about the ring, and
it was noticed that never once did he
let his turn toward PARIS body. But
while the captain was at the height of
his cloquencc, pointing to the lesson
of total abstinence to be drawn from
the tragical incident, one of the stray
glers, a very loquacious fellow, of an
cnvious mind and bitter dslikes, had
been uneasily watching the Welsh
man. Suddenly, as if by an instinct,
he rushed over to the body, and knccl-
ing down beside it, called the first
lieutenant's attention to something
under PARIS beard. 1t was three
cornered cash sinking deep into the
throat. AT the exposure of this
wound, now for the first time OBJ.
served. another of the stragglcrs, usu-
ally the sprightliest young fellow in
the company fell in a faint across the
corpse. The captain ceased his SER
mon and a whispered conference took
place among the officers
The stragglcrs were ordered to give
oNCA IlEAA u1uShCIS lOI IuSpCCIlOu. All
were found to be loaded, as usual at
such an outpost, and none had been
recently fired off. Barrels, and bayo-
nets too, shone like silver, without
stain, or rust, or flaw, on steel or
stock. The bayonet scabbards too
might have been examined, but somc-
how in the excitement this was over
looked. The delirious fellows arms
at the guard house bore the search
equally we'll. 1t was certainly mys-
ferrous. The eight sober stragglers
all agreed about one thing, or seemed
to agree about it. that they had drunk
liquor freely at the negro hut and had
then broken up into small parties with
no show of ill-will so far, but none APP
pcared to recollcct who constituted
the several parties, or when or how
Parr became separated from the rest,
or who had been last seen in his COM
pany. All but Parr had returned to
L,,t f<,,