Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1890-04-23


with his pointed helmet. He nigh
meet a band Of laborers. Laborer
who. as soon a. they spied lost Prus
sian--a defenseless Prussian-woul'
certainly kill him like mad dog
massacre him with their pitchforks
and spades, and scythes and shovels
They would mash him to a jelly. the,
would make mince meat Of him, will
all the brutality of m exasperated
vanquished people.
Or supposiug he came upon tn
rancs-tireurs A set of madmei
without law or discipline who woulc
be ready to shoot him down for fun
to while away an hour, and laugh a
the figure he would cut. And h
pictured himself standing with hi
back against the wall, with the muz
zles Of dozen guns pointed at him
he could really almost see the little
round black holes watching him.
Or he might even meet the whole
Of the French army itself. The ad
vance guard would certainly take hin
for q spy-for a cunning and intrepit
scout who had come out by himself t.
reconoitre-and they would fire at him
He fancied himself standing in the
middle of field, he could hear the
irregular shots of the soldiers crouch
ing in the brushwood, and felt the
bullets entering his flesh, as he fell
riddled like sieve with shot. He
sat down again in despair. He could
see no way out of his difficulties.
1t was quite dark by this time
The night had fallen dumb and black
He sat quite still, trembling at every
slight unknown sound that reached
his ear in the darkness. A rabbit,
squirting down on the end of his bur.
row, almost put Walter Schnaffs to
fight. The owls screeching tore his
very soul with sudden rights that
were as painful as wounds. He open.
ed his google eyes to their widest ex-
tent. and peered into the darkness
and every moment he fancied he heard
footsteps near him.
After suffering all the tortures ofthe
damned for interminable hours, he saw
the sky beginning to tighten through
the branches overhead. A feeling of
immense relief came upon him his
limbs lost their stiffness his heart
beat more quietly his eyes closed.
He slept.
When he awoke the sun was high
in the sky, he guessed it was about II
o'clock. Not a sound disturbed the
dull silence of the fields and Walter
Schnaffs began to feel the pangs of
hunger. He yawned, his mouth water
ed as he thought of the soldiers rations
Of good sausage; and he had a gnaw-
ing pain at his stomach. He got up
and walked few steps his legs trem-
bled under him, and he sat down
again. to collect his thoughts For
two or three hours he sat there weigh.
ing the pros and cons, changing his
mind every moment, downcast and
unhappy, pulled in every direction by
conflicting arguments.
AT last he fixed upon one plan that
seemed to him sensible and practic-
able. This was his plan: To watch
till one of the villagers should 60 past,
alone and unarmed, and without any
tool that could be dangerous, and 60
out and meet him, and put himself
into the villagers hands, making him
understand that he surrendered.
He took off his pointed helmet,
which might have betrayed him, and
cautiously put his head out of the
ditch. Not a solitary creature was TO
be seen on the horizon. Here on the
right little village sent the smoke
up from its roofs into the sky-the
kitchen smoke There on the left he
could see a grand castle, hanked with
towers, at the end of an avenue of
trees. He waited there till the even
ing. 1t was a painful time. He saw
nothing but flights of crows.
Night came upon him. He lay at
the bottom of the sheltering ditch, and
slept u feverish sleep haunted by
nightmare-the sleep of famished
man. The dawn rose again over his
head. He returned TO his post and
watched. But the country lay desert.
ed and empty as it had done the day
before; and new fear entered into
the heart of Walter Schnaffs, the fear
of dying of hunger. He could see
himself lying at the bottom of the
ditch, on his back, with his eyes shut
and beasts-all kinds of small animals
would come round his dead body,
and devour it, attacking every part
at the same time. creeping inside his
clothing to bite his cold skin and
great crow would come and pick out
bis eyes with its sharp beak.
Then he lost his head altogether,
fancying he was going to faint away
from weakness, and never be able to