Arizona republican., 1892-01-17

JuIuS Ol 'atutly SO, lHS sentry DelnH
 relieved every two hours, are able to get an hour or two of sleep, but for the 'non- com" this is out of the question. He has to post the sentries in their turns, attend to the gate and see to a hundred and one matters, more or less important, that helps to keep him employed.
 There is always something stirring till 10 or Il at night, but after that the time begins to hang very heavily. The only sounds that break the nocturnal silence are the steady tramp of the sen try at his post and the occasional snoring of the other members of the guard on the wooden guard bed.
 On this New Years evo all went well until in the evening, when, while parading the relief sentry prior to post ing him, noticed that instead of hold ing himself as soldier should on parade he appeared inclined to make light of the matter and was grinning all over his face. reminded him that he was on parade and not in the regimental can teen, and also that there was prisoners room in the vicinity. This little hint had the desired effect, inducing him to keep straight face.
 This incident, unimportant as it may appear, made me uneasy. had pre- sentiment that something was wrong, but what l could not tell. fancied that the man, knowing it to be my first guard, was inclined to take advantage of me. I | determined, if such was the case, would exercise my authority.
 At about 0 o'clock Mcdonald came to me for permission to fetch bucket of water from the pump to drink. l gave him leave, requesting him to be quick about it, as the first post" would sound in a few minutes and I would have to turn out the guard. He promised he would be back in tiff"
 He did not come back ina Tiff" At 9:30 the post" sounded with no sign of Mcdonald returning. Where had he gone? Ordinarily 1t 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 turn out what re- mained of the guard, and to VOW ven geance on the absentee on his return.
 Ten o'clocl; and no Mcdonald. I was obliged to relieve the sentry with the re- maining man out of his turn. On en- tering 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. l soon found this impossible. McDonald's ab- sence puzzled and worried me. felt in- clined to report the affair and have a search made for him. The man had so frequently been in trouble that I hesi- tated being the cause of his getting any further punishment. So l resolved to give him little more time to put in an appearance,
 l 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, thought, was taking too long a rest in 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 rife three feet from him. kicked him to wake him, 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 difficulty arose. l would myself be made prisoner and receive heavier punishment than the men for allowing liquor in the guardroom. 1 was re- sponsible for everything. If l 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 derly officer must visit the guard that night. l quickly resolved to get this man out of the way, post the remaining one and trust to luck
 I dragged him into the guardroom, pitched him into corner and tried to wake his comrade He was in the same condition. could get no sense out of him, but could tell by the strong smell of spirits that came from him that he was as bad, if not worse, than the other My last chance seemed to have slipped away from me.
 Here was pretty kettle of fish. Me Donald away, knew not where, leaving me with two helpless, drunken wretches, and noone on the post. Somebody must go on sentry 10 let the colonel in and challenge the orderly officer But who?
 In sheer desperation caught hold of a rife, and turning back the cuff of my great coat to hide the stripes, went on the post myself. After an hours pacing to and fro, heard footsteps outside the gate. challenged
 "Haltl who comes there?'
 Friend" was the answer.
 It was the colonel. Iopened the gate, ' and getting into the shadow of it to pre- vent him recognizing me, held it open to let him pass in.
 "Everything llright, sentry" said he.
 "All right, sir" 1 replied, disguising my voice as well as could.
 Good night, sentry, and a happy New . Year to you
 "The same to you, sir" l answered, devoutly wishing might have q happy | one, but I had my doubts.
 One danger passed. He had not no- ticed anything. But had a greater one staring me in the face-the orderly off cer He was certain to come, and it was his duty to visit the sentry and inspect | the guard. There was no telling at what time he might come around. My only chance lay in his coming late, so as to give Mcdonald chance to come back l fl