The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1893-05-30
wounded ma

"Her scorn and contempt drove me into
the army. She told me she had always
loved you the better and added that she
now hated me That is all. | enlisted to
be killed"
d you, you deserve itp' cried the
helpless soldier as he sank back supinely
For some moments all was silent save the
steady beating of the rain. Then Walker
said:
81 am going to try to find an AK and cut
that tree. The surgeon can fix you up, and
you may pull through AS for me, I'll fight
it out till dropped by a rebel bulletp
He turned and disappeared in the thicket
More than an hour passed before he re-
turned, darkness having fallen. He called
to the wounded soldier and Marion an
swered When he came up, he had an ak,
and he began on the log Immediately.
The darkness, however, was battling, and
he could not see where to place his blows
effectively. This delayed and bothered him
for hours, but he finally succeeded in cut
ting the tree and dragging it from the leg
of the friend he had betrayed. Then he
lifted Jack Marion in his arms and sought
to carry him from the thicket
The night was murk with driving rain
and the tangled thicket almost impossible.
For hours Walker staggered aimlessly on
with his burGen, now and then pausing to
rest. Not many words passed between the
two, for Marion was i'm "A semiunconscious
state the most of the time.
1t was near morning when Walker reeled
out of the woods and came to the river.
Then cry of despair broke from his lips,
for the flocd had swept away two-thirds of
the pontoon bridge
Jack" said Walker as he put down his
burden, we're left | don't know how you
feel, but have no fancy for rebel prison.
There is only one chance for us, and that is
TO get out of this locality, find some dead
Johnnies and swap clothes with them. If
it works, you will go to the hospital, and
you can tell any kind Of a story you please.
I'll risk but can lie my way through,
though may have TO sack rebel musket
till l can give them the slip"
When Lee advanced to the attack on the
following morning, he was astonished to
discover the Federal troops had retreated
beyond the swollen river. As Walker had
predicted, Jack Marion was picked up and
sent to the hospital. He did not have to
make an explanation, for he was delirious
and remained so for long time. When he
recovered he found he was minus an arm
and aleg. He was shrewd enough to still
keep up pretense of craziness, and when
Lees army moved northward in June he
was left at Il pleasant farmhouse, where hC
was tenderly cared for.
Rob Walker carried IA Confederate mus.
ket for a time, but he finally escaped into
the Union lines. There he found he was
branded as deserter, which forced him tC
enlist in new company and under a false
name, He fought bravely through the rest
of the war, continually courting death, but
coming out unscathed in the end.
But the shameful brand of deserter was
on his name, and when he appeared at his
old home not even his wife would listen tC
his story. So he turned away and only
came back when death had fastened its re
| lentless grasp upon him. His wife had
cared for him during his last moments, but
no one knew the whole truth, and he filled
an unhonored grave.
Jack Marion knew Rob Walker still
lived. Having no friends or relatives fol
whom he cared, and not daring to remain il
/ the same country with the woman he loved
as she was the wife of another, fancyinl
/ himself physical wreck that must be re
pulsive in any woman's eyes, Jack Marion
went to Australia There he became sheer
/ rancher, Mt which business he prospered
| and grew wealthy.
| After long years he wondered if Rob and
Agatha were still living, and a great long
/ ing led him back to his old home. He Wis
/ tied the cemetery and Robert Walkers
/ grave, and then he crossed the stream and
[ raped at Agatha's door
Some words of her dying husbands de