The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1891-07-21
"WHO COMES HERE?'
~Haltl Who comes here?''.

Advance one and give me the coun-
tersignIr si'; 'oe'Si ff ''f
It.was the relief going the rounds to
change the picxets, and was dropped
gut at post No. z. We had fought, Lee
an day long on the strangest battl lefeld
Of the whole warm the Wilderness.
From right to left flank, from front to
rear, we were helnmed in by forest and
Ehicket There were swaInps in which
lizards and serpents 'lurked, thickets in
which the coy whippoorwill built its
nest, dense spots of forest which seemed
never to have echoed the ring of the
woodman's AK
We. had fought from tree to tree, from
fhicket to thlcket, from glade to glade,
Pushing back the gray lines here, bafded
and compelled TO give ground at other
POINTS Lees lines barred the way.
Never a man in. his whole army whose
musket barrel was not hot that day
Never a man who did not feel that he
was fighting for the life of the Confed-
'eracy.
How the forest shook and trenbled as
the great guns sent their deadly missiles
crashing through the foliagei How the
thickets blazed up in flames, the severed
limbs crashed down, the sunny glades
turned dark as night with the powder
smoke settling over themi The dead
,outnumbered the bushes. The wounded
walled and cried as never heard them
before or after. There was something
90 somber-so grewsome-so unearthly
in fighting a foe unseen in the semi
darkness that the shouting and cursing
usually heard in the lines gave place to
Gilence and pale faces,
Darkness had come at last, and the
roar of battle had died away to a low
erowl Grant had failed to drive Lee.
We knew. that from flank to, flank. If
he could not force a passage through
those gray lines he could flank them.
Before the sun went down we knew that
he would do it. 1t was not yet night
when the movement began, but my divi-
sion would be one of the last to move.
and we must hold our ground and pre-
vent the Confederates from discovering
what was taking place. 1t was a Curl
ous coincidence of war that Lee was
also moving by the flank, both armies
marching in parallel lines from a battle
ield which had yielded neither victory
NOR defeat to either side.
Post No. was under a large tree on
the edge of thicket. To the south there
was a strip of open ground, then a
thicket, then an old field, in which stood
a log cabin. 1t was lonely place. well
away from the camps, the dead and the
dying, but | was glad to be alone. All
along the lines there was growing of
musketry; but this was but a bluff-a
bit of acting to cover the real design. /
had been nearly an hour on the post
without anything happening to alarm
me, when heard a person moving in
the thicket across the open strip,
Was it person? Riderless horses had
galloped about that day almost without
number: this might be one which had
Hound shelter in that thicket: 80
Rustlei Rustlel Stepi Stepf'
Il was a cautious movement. Who
ever it was hoped to reach me without
discovery, but there were dead leaves
under foot, and the thicket was dense. A
hare could not have moved without be-
traying its presence
Rustlei Rustlei
Kneeling down SO as to see under the
darkness, as it were, l suddenly made
ont black object against the dark back
ground 1t is neither horse nor mule; it
Is human being A scout from the en-
-e1ny's picket post. only a quarter of a
about to find succor? One of our own
scouts returning?
'tWho comes hereT
There is a silence of fifteen seconds
and then woman's voice answers:
Il can't find the placei 1t is sodark
can't find the plScei"
Ayl it was a woman's voice, and il
had a sob in it too. A woman there il
the darkness between the hostile lines
with powder smoke still in the air, with
stray bullets darting through she thick
cts with a whizz. as of some great insect
stirred to angeri -
ssWho COMES hereY
81 wish it wasn't SO dark ! am st
tired-so tiredr' And then she came
across the open strip toward me. max
ing no stop. never hesitating, walking
- straight up to me as if she could see a.
well by night as,in the sunshine of day.
al can't find the placer' she sobbed. Al
abe came to a stop within arms length.
.'Good God, womani but what ar,
Fou doing hereT Il gasped. almost terri
6ed at her presence =
'.Seei seer she replied, holding bun
= He out toward me-, Zone time ! saw;
ceautiful spot in the woods. and said tx
znyseH that if he died | would bury hin
4here, but can't find it--77Icsn, find itl'
-fsWhat It. woman2 What have yo,
got therer
.-sesi ssal Don't sbs afraid aE as1 y