Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-07-28

4ACIo a R&a4kh WaAh RstcstAt tilt way along the western wall until almost on line with the front piazza, where by flight of steps it was carried up to the level of the parade. Here he paused 0 moment to dust off his clothes and rearrange his belt and sword He stood leaning against the wall and facing the gray stone gable end of the row of old fashioned quarters that bounded the parade upon the southwest All was still darkness and silence.
 "Confound this swordr' he muttered again ''The thing made rattle and racket enough to wake the dead. Won der if I disturbed anybody at the colo nel's?''
 As though in answer to his sugges- tion there suddenly appeared, high on the blank wall before him, the refiec- tion of faint light Had little night lamp been turned on in the front room of the upper story? The gleam came from the north window on the side. He saw plainly the shadow of the pretty lace curtains looped loosely back. Then the shade was gently raised, and there was for an instant the silhouette of n slender hand and wrist and the shadow of n lace bordered sleeve. Then the light receded, as though carried back across the room, waned, as though slowly ex- tinguished, and the last shadows showed the curtains still looped back, the roll. ing shade still raised.
 ''l thought so" he growled. "One tumble like that is enough to wake the seven sleepers, let alone q lovesick girl who is probably drealaing over Jer- rold's parting words She is spirited and blue blooded enough to have more sense, too, that superb brunette. An, Miss Alice, wonder if you think that fellows love worth having? It is two hours since he left you-more than that and here you are awake yet-cannot sleep. want more air and have to come and raise your shade. No such warm night either" These were his refiec- tions as he picked up his offending sword and more slowly and cautiously now groped his way along the western terrace. He passed the TOW of bachelor quarters and was well out beyond the limits of the fort before he came upon the next sentry-No. 5-and recognized in the sharp Who comes there?" and the stern rattle of the bayonet as it dropped to tho charge the well known challenge of Private Leary, one of the oldest and most reliable soldiers in the regiment
 "All right on your post, Leary?" he asked after having given the counter sign.
 "All right, I think, sor, though if the captain had asked me that half an hour ago I'd not have said SO. It was so dark couldn't sec me hand aforc me face. sor, but about half past 2 l was walkin very slow down back of the quarters whin just close by Loot 'nant Jerrold's back gate seen somethin nov in. an as l come softly along it rig up, an sure 1 thought twas tho loot IT, ant himself. whin he seemed to catch sight O me or hear me. an he backed inside the gate an shut it. was sure twas he, he was so tall an slimlike, an so I nivcr said q word until I got to thinkin over il, an then l couldn't spake. Sure if it had been the loot'n- ant he wouldn't have backed away from q sintry-he'd "a come out bold an giv- en the cnuntersign-but l didn't think O that. It looked like him in the dark, an twas his quarters, an thought it was him until thought az in, m then, sor, 1 wint back and searched the yard. but there was no one there"
 ''Hm! Odd thing that, Lcary! Why didn't you challenge at first:"
 "Surc. sor, he lcpt inside the fince quick as iver we set eyes on each other He was bendin down, an 1 thought it was one of the hound pups when first sighted him"
 And he hasn't been around since:"
 ''No. sor, nor nobody till the officer of the day came along
 Chester walked away puzzled. Siblcy was quiet and orderly garrison. Night providers had never been heard from, especially over here at the south and southwest fronts The enlisted men 20 ing to or from town passed across the big high bridge or went at once tO their own quarters on the east and north. This southwestern terrace behind the bachelors row was the most seclud- ed spot on the whole post, so much so that when a fire broke out there among the fuel heaps one sharp winters night year agone it had well nigh enveloped the whole line before its existence was discovered. Indeed not until after this occurrence was a sentry posted on that
  had so little to do and was so compara- | lively sure to bo undisturbed that the old soldiers eagerly sought the post in | preference to any other and were given it as n peace privilege. For months re- lief after relief tramped around the fort and found the terrace post as humdrum and silent as an empty church, but this night No leaped suddenly into notori- | ety.
 Instead of going home. Chester kept | on across the plateau and took a long | walk on the northern side of the reser- | vation. where the quartermaster' stables and corrals were placed. He was affect | ed by q strange unrest. His talk with | Rollins had aroused the memories of | years long gone by, of days when he, too, was young and full of hope and | faith-aye, full of love-all lavished on one fair girl who knew it well, but gen. tly, almost cntreatingly, repcl,sd him. Her heart was wrapped up in another. the Adonis of his day in the gay old sea. board garrison. She was soldiers child. barrack born, simply taught, knowing little of the vice and tempta,
 tions. the follies and the frauds, of the | "hhIAiuS AiiS OI SANAAAAatiOh- A kpoN
 and gentle mother had reared her and
 been called hence. Her father. an off
 Ger whose saber arm was left ut MolinC
 del Rey, and whoso heart was crushed
 when the loving wife was taken from
 him, turned to the child who so resem
 bled her and centered there all his ro
 maining love and life He welcomed
 Chester to his home and tacitly favored
 his suit, but in his blindness never ssw
 how a few moonlit strolls on the olt
 moss grown parapet, n few evening
 dances in the casematcs with handsome l |.