The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1888-03-07

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that the mystery would not occur again,
and the picket line was formed for the
third night
When the relief came on the third
morning the man under the oak was
again missing and his gun lying broken
on the ground. What was to be done?
The mystery must be solved in some
way. Sergeant Brown volunteered to
take the dreaded post on the fourth
night and promised to solve the mys-
terry. He was tall, well-formed man,
giant in strength and a stranger to
fear. Promptly at eight O'Clock that
night he took his position under the old
oak, whose branches seemed to hang
lower, as though they would envelop
the spot in still deeper mystery. The
men and officers of the company felt
confident of Sergeant Browns ability
to penetrate the mystery, which had
cost us three good men, and were eager
for morning TO dawn. AT last the relief
came, and every mans face banched
when it was learned that Sergeant
Brown had disappeared. His gun was
there, bent and broken, and there were
signs of desperate struggle between
the two or more men, but nothing to
tell the story of his fate.
Bushwhackers, federal scouts, wild
animals, everything was suggested
which was believed possible to account
for the disappearance of the four men.
The matter soon became the one topic
of conversation in the army, and by the
officers of our regiment it was reported
to General Bragg. He ordered that
! five or more men be stationed at this
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sectly quiet, keep a careful lookout and
discover, if possible, the fate of the alb
sent men.
/ was one of the five detailed by our
captain for the duty. We stationed
ourselves in small circle within the
shadow of the oak, and stood like so
many statues during the long night.
Once we heard a noise like some man
or beast creeping through the dense
underground toward US. The noise
stopped suddenly; a moment later it
was heard receding, and that was all.
When we were relieved the next morn
ing the mystery was as great as ever.
The captain ordered us on duty again
the following night, and we then agreed
upon different plan. One man was
stationed on the post, three of us
climbed up among the lower branches
of the big oak tree, while the fifth man
was stationed behind a clump of bushes
twenty yards away. 1t was bright
starlight night and moving objects
could be discerned at a distance of
several PAGES.
Not sound broke the stiffness until
near midnight, when myself and COM
panions in the tree distinctly heard the
sound of something moving stealthily
toward the man standing beneath us.
Once we got glimpse of giant form
moving slowly forward with almost
noiseless tread.
The decoy picket evidently had not
heard the noise, as he remained motion
less. When within ten feet of the man
under the tree the mysterious being
suddenly sprang forward with the
agility of a cat and our comrade was
borne to the ground in an instant. Our
first thought was to leap to the ground
and rescue him, but we determined to
await developments, in the hope of
learning the fate of the four missing
men.
The mysterious being was man, or
rather giant, roughly clad and wear
ing long, unkempt beard and hair. He
seemed to be unarmed save his enor-
nous strength, but with a cord our
comrade was bound and gagged before
he could make an cutlery. The giant,
who had uttered no word, then gave
grunt of satisfaction and, lifting the
helpless soldier to his shoulder, started
away at rapid pace. Dropping to the
ground, we were joined by the other
member of our squad, and the four of
us started in pursuit of the mysterious
stranger. Half a mile up the side of
the mountain the giant stopped, pushed
aside a small clump of bushes and en-
tered cave. We soon followed eau
tiously. for as yet he had not discovered
that we were following him. Along a
narrow passage-way, distance of one
hundred feet, we walked in complete
darkness when, turning suddenly to the
left, we found ourselves at the door of
large rock chamber lighted by a
single talow candle.
On the floor, bound hand and foot
and gagged, lay our missing COM
panions, while their captor stood near
the light rubbing his hands, his face
distorted with horrible grin of salts
faction. He discovered us at the same
instant llldl we CONeTeu hin WIFI our
muskets, and for several moments we
stood without uttering word. One
look at the wild, blood-shot eyes of our
captive told us that he was maniac,
and we determined not to harm him.
He made no move, and while three of
us kept him covered with our guns the
other cut the cords which bound our
companions. Then we approached
the wild-eyed being, and, after long
and desperate struggle, five of us were
able to bind him securely. Our late
captive comrades had all been captured
in the same manner by this mountain
giant, and had been lying bound in his
cave without food or drink.
We reached camp with our prisoner
shortly before daylight and the mystery
which had awed the entire army was
solved.
Next day some of the people living
in the neighborhood came to camp and
identified our captive. His name was