The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1889-12-06

man S tracks, TO 1all In MS TURN.
With the ruined guns lay the ruined
interchangeable the wreckage, under it
ani atop of it; and back down the road
ia ghastly procession-crept on hands
and knees suchIof the wounded as were
able to move. The colonel-he had COM
passionately sent his cavalcade to the
right about-had to ride over those who
were entirely dead, in order not to crush
those who were partly alive. Into that
hell he TRANQUILITY held his way, rode up
alongside the gun, and in the obscurity
of the last discharge tapped upon the
cheek the man holding the rammer, who
straightway fell, thinking himself killed.
A fiend, seven times damned, sprang out
of the smoke to take his place, but
paused and gazed up at the mounted Of
ticer with an unearthly regard, his teeth
flashing between his black lips, his eyes
fierce and expanded, burning like Goals
beneath his bloody brow. The colonel
made an authoritative gesture and point
ed to the rear. The fiend bowed in token
of obedience. 1t was Capt. Coulter.
simultaneously with the colonel's ar
resting sign. silence fell upon the whole
field of action. The procession of missiles
no longer streamed into that defile of
death; the enemy also had ceased firing.
His army had been gone for hours, and
the commander OF his rear guard. who
had held his position perilously long in
hope to silence the Federal fire, at that
strange moment had silenced his own.
81 oe I L.. e
authority" thought the colonel, face
tiously, riding forward to the crest to see
what had really happened.
An hour later his brigade was in biv-
ouac on the enemy's ground and its idlers
were examining, with something of awe,
as the faithful inspect a saints relics, a
score of struggling dead horses and three
disabled guns, all spiked. The fallen
men had been carried away, their crushed
and broken bodies would have given too
great satisfaction.
Naturally the colonel established him
self and his military family in the plan
tation house. 1t was somewhat shat
tered, but it was better than the open
air. The furniture was greatly deranged
ttLSt DiOhSI. AAC w Stllo anu CclllllSS
were knocked away here and there, and
there was a lingering odor of powder
smoke everywhere. The beds, the closets
Of women's clothing, and the eupboards
were not greatly damaged. The new
tenants for night made themselves
comfortable, and the practical efface-
ment of Coulter's battery supplied them
with an interesting topic.
During supper that evening an orderly
of the escort showed himself into the
dining room and asked permission to
speak to the colonel.
"What is it, Barbour" said that officer
pleasantly, having overheard the re-
mark.
Colonel there is something wrong in
the cellar; I don't know what--some-
body there. Twas down there rumaging
about"
81 will go down and see," said staff
officer, rising.
$50 will l." the colonel said; ''let the
others remain. Lead on, orderly"
They took candle from the table and
descended the cellar stairs, the orderly
in visible trepidiation. The candle made
but feeble light, but presently, as they
advanced, its narrow circle of illumina-
ton revealed a human figure seated ON
the ground against the black stone wall
which they We're skirting, it's knees ela-
waited, its head bowed sharply forward
The face, which would have been seen
in profile, was invisible, for the man was
bent so far forward that his long hair
concealed it; and, strange to relate, the
beard, of much darker hue, fell in a
great tangled mass and lay along the
ground at his feet. They involuntary
paused; then the colonel, taking the
candle from the orderly's shaking
hand, approached the man and at
tentively considered him. The long
dark beard was the hair of woman
dead. The dead woman clasped in her
arms dead babe. Both were clasped in
the arms of the man. pressed against his
breast, against his lips. There was blood
in the hair the woman; there was blood
in the hair Of the man. A yard away lay
an infants foot. 1t was near an irregular
depression in the beaten earth which
formed the cellars floor-a fresh excava-
ton with a convex bit of iron, having
jagged edges, visible in one of the sides.
The colonel held the light as high as he
could. The floor of the room above was
broken through, the splinters pointing
at all angles downward.
''This casemate is not bomb proof"
said the colonel, gravely. 1t did not oc-
cur to him that his summing up of the
case had any levity in it,
They stood about the group awhile in
silence; the staff officer was thinking of
his unfinished supper, the orderly of
what might possibly be in one of the
casks on the other side of the cellar.
Suddenly the man whom they had
thought dead raised his head and gazed
TRANQUILITY into their faces.
The staff officer drew back pace, the
orderly two PAGES.
"What are you doing here, my MANI"
said the colonel, unmoved.
''This house belongs to me, sir" was
the reply, civilly delivered.
''To you? Who then are-were these?"
"My wife and child. Colonel, am
Captain Coulter. Ambrose Bierce in
San Francisco Examiner.
The Chinese Oficial Gazette.