The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1892-02-05

sentiment that something was wrong, but
what 1 could not tell. tangled that the
man, knowing it to be my first guard,
was inclined to take advantage of me. l
determined, if such was the case, l
would exercise my authority.
At about o'clock Mcdonald came to
me for permission to fetch a bucket of
water from the pump. gave him leave,
requesting him to be quick about it, as
the first post would sound in a few
minutes and would have to turn out
the guard. He promised he would be
back in a Tiff"
He did not come back in lift" At
$3.50 the post" sounded with no sign of
Mcdonald returning. Where had he
cone? Ordinarily it required but five
minutes to go to the pump and back,and
he had been away half an hour. There
was nothing to do but to turn out what
remained of the guard, and to vow
vengeance on the absentee on his return.
Ten o'clock and no Mcdonald. l was
obliged to relieve the sentry with the re-
naming man out of his turn. On enter
ing the guardrOom the man relieved
threw himself on the guard bed and was
soon snoring like grampus. l took up
book and tried to read. soon found
this impossible. McDOnald's absence
puzzled and worried me. felt inclined
to report the affair and have search
made for him. The man had so frc-
quently been in trouble that | hesitated
being the cause of his getting any fur
thtr punishment. So | resolved to give
him little more time to put in an APP
pearance.
got up to walk about and tried to
question the sleeper. Finally noticed
that the sentry had not been pacing his
beat for some time; he, l thought, was
taking too long rest III the sentry box.
| went out to see what was the matter
with him. Oh! horror! There was my
sentry stretched out on the ground on
his back fast asleep, his rifle three feet
from him. | kicked him to wake him
up, but to no purpose; he lay like log.
Then it dawned ON me that my whole
guard was drunk.
l did not know what to do. The only
thing could think of was to give the
alarm and have the guard relieved. But
here the difficulty arose. | would my
self be made prisoner and receive much
heavier punishment than the men for al
lowing liquor in the guarlrUom. l was
responsible for everything If 1 did not
report the state of affairs it would be
sure to be found out. as the colonel had
not yet come into barracks, and the or
derby officer must visit the guard that
night. quickly resolved to get this
man out of the way, post the remaining
one and trust to luck.
dragged him into the guardroom,
pitched him into corner and tried to
wake his cUmradc. He was in the same
condition. l could get no SENSE cut Of
him, but could tell by the strong smell
OF spirits that came from him that he
was us bad, if not worse than the other.
My last chance seemed to have slipped
away from me.
Here was IL pretty kettle of fish. Nc
Donald away, knew not where, leaving
me with two helpless, drunken wretches,
and no one on the post. Somebody must
90 on sentry to let the colonel in and
challenge the orderly officer. But vino
In sheer desperation / caught hold OF
rifle, and turning back the cuff OF my
great coat to hide the stripes, l went on
the post myself. After all hours pacing
to and fro, heard footsteps outside the
gate. challenged:
"lldlL! vino comes there?"
"Frlcud," was tine answer.
1t VAS the colonel. opened the gate,
and getting into the shadow of 1t to p. e.
vent INN from recognizing me, he'd it
open 10 let him pass III.
Everything all right, sentry?' said
he.
"All right, SIR replied, Disgusting
my voice lis well as could.
Good night, sentry, and happy New
Year To y H."
The same to you, Sir" answered,
devoutly wishing might have II happy
one, but had my doubts.
One danger passed. lie had not no
ticcd anything. But had greater one
staring me i'll the face, the orderly Off
Ger. He was certain to come, and it was
his duty to visit tine sentry and inspect
the guard. There was No telling ut what
time lie might come around. My only
chance lay in his coming late, So as to
give Mcdonald chance to come back
before his visit, or the others time to
sleep of the effects of their spree.
paced quickly to and fro, feeling like
criminal awaiting his time to be led
forth to the gallows. felt l did not de-
serve this. had always tried to do my
duty, and had become quite popular.
But now everything hld turned against
me. | would be sure To lose my stripes.
and the chances were would have u
serve term of imprisonment with the
wretches who had brought this trouble
ON me. If that happened | might say
goodbye to the commission.
1 was thinking this AMI good deal