Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1888-05-31

IHE PICKET COUNTED NLNE.-At
the sun went down and darkness to
gan to creep over the face Of the eaEt!
the angry artillery died away and III,
crackle OF musketry was less splteiGl
For a while the lighting on the ex.
treme right hung on. 70 settle th,
question of who should occupy the
old earthworks, but al length dead
silence tell upon the whole field
Silence No II was silence coa.
pared to the awful roar Of the long
afternoon, but it WAS a silence broken
by the screams and groans and prayers
OF wounded men-by the movements
OF wagons and artillery-by the sub,
daea voices Of 75.c9n rasa as they
camped for the night without fire, and
anxious!y debated the chances for the
morrow.
The sergeant marches of to the lett
at the head Of a half dozen men.
He drops man at Post No. !, and
gives him whispered instruction. 1t
Is the same at posts :. ), I. etc, until
the last man has been stationed.
There must be vlgilant, wskeful
men between friends and foes while
the long night wears away.
Post No. 6 is under a great beech
tree. Shot and shell have SCARED
and riveu its trunk, and shot aud shell
have scattered and riven Its thick
limbs. a quarter Of century hence
this tree will bear witness 10 the ter
rlble struggle OF to-day.
From this tree TO the edge OF that
thicket, and the countersign is JUS
tice,' whispered the sergeant, and as
ne passes on the picket takes up his
beat. lie counts as he passes them
by-one, two, three, four, five six,
seven. eight. What? Corpses! They
are lying on the grass so near the path
he travels that he can touch anv OF
them with his foot. There are others
to the right aud left, farther away.
1t was here that the enemy charged a
battery-here our heroes rallied to
preserve It. Grape-shot and canister.
bullet and bayonet, found victims
there. Some lay as ii asleep, worn
out with the tremendous conflict
others raved aud prayed and cursed
ODD "ld nan before death released
them from their sutferings.
The picket counts them them as be
walks, and sigh escapes his lips
Tomorrow night some sentinel may
number his mutilated corpse with
others on the same meadow. To.
morrow night the autumn winds may
vainly seek to rouse him from his
death sleep.
From tree 10 thicket ana turn
From tEicket to tree and turn. He
must watch and listen and be Oh his
guard, but by and by he finds time to
count again. One-two-three-tour
- five six - seven eight zine
What He counted only eight be
fore Was he mistaken, or can the
dead of the battlefield creep and
crawl ? Six seven eight--nIne
Yes, there are nine In the darkness
ne had made a mistake. Nine Well,
what matters one more or one les-
corpse upon field of battle2
To the tree and turn. To the thick
ct and turn. AZ be heads for the tree
again the ninth corpse assumes a sit
ting position and looks after him. A
moment later it struggles W, and a
figure goes creeping after the picket
The grass on the meadow is thick and
matted. His FOOTBALLS give out no
sound. Softly-softly-silent as the
shadow of death-creePing-creeping
and now he is close upon the lone
picket. There is a gleam Of steel in
the darkness-a swift aud powerful
blow, and be who was placed to watch
will watch no more.
Through the gaps the spies will
pour in and skulk about the camps. a
regiment will De silently advanced 20
the key position the ghouIs will scent
plunder and creep up to rob the dead
The picket had counted. seven
eight-nine"
There is no missing corpse. The
number has been made goodl-U,trou
Free Press.