The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-11-27

of forest without the least idea of his
whereabouts. To make his situation still
more forlorn, it was night and a DRILLING
rain was falling, wetting him thoroughly
and chilling him to the bone.
As soon as he thoroughly appreciated
the situation, he set about to find his com
rades This he soon discovered was no
easy task, and it was near morning when
he finally came out of the woods in the vi
cinity OF the house which had served Gen
eral Hooker as headquarters. Imagine his
astonishment and dismay to find the To-
cality deserted by the Union army, for this
was the night of May 3, 1868, and Hooker
had already rctreated beyond the Kappa.
hammock
After time, the truth dawned on
Blake. and he hurried to the river, which
was reached in the gray light of morning.
Then his dismay was increased to discover
the rain Had 50 swollen the river that he
could not cross at the fords. He set out
to find pontoon bridge, if possible, but
the last Federal was supposed to have
reached the northern shore, and no bridges
were TO be discovered.
Then it was that Blake saw escape was
impossible, and he considered capture Ger
tain. In no way delighted at the thought
of spending weeks or months in Libby
prison or Andersouville, he was trying to
devise some scheme of avoiding capture,
when he came to Il spot where an engage
ment had taken place the previous day.
There were many dead soldiers lying on
the ground, and the features of Confed-
crate who lay stretched ON his back attract
ed Blakes attention. To his profound
astonishment, he saw the man was almost,
if not quite, the exact double of himself.
1t gave him Il shock at first, for it was as
if he had seen himself lying dead.
As he looked at the corpse, bright
thought came to him, and he muttered:
an do it, and take the chances! / may
be able to fool them until can slip away
and rejoin my comrades"
Immediately he dragged the body into
a thicket, and there exchanged clothes
with the dead man, or, rather, he appro-
priated the outer garments of the othei
and threw his own away. Then he dragged
the body to the river and thrust it int
the swollen tide, which soon swept il
away.
Some hours later, falling in with Q
squad of southern skirmishers, he wa
shrewd enough to feign he was somewha
dazed from the effect of the wound on hi
head. When he was questioned, he acteC
as if slightly deranged, declaring himsel
General Lee.
As natural result, he was sent to tn
hospital, where his wound received atten
ton. In his pockets, or in the pockets o
the dead Confederate's clothes, he foun
several letters addressed to George Hatton
Those letters were from a sweetheart q
HattOn's, and they revealed the fact tina
the dead man had belonged to Hoke's brt
gade
In a short time he seemed to recove
from the wound, and then he said he wa
George Hatton, although protesting
have lost his memory to great extent
The hospital doctor said that was ma
ural result of such wound, but his men
DRY would gradually return to him.
In the course of short time, BlaB
found himself serving in Hoke's brigad
although he was constantly on the on
look for an opportunity to escape and r.
turn to the northern army. He receive
two or three appealing letters from MAJ
st. Orme, Hatton's sweetheart, and tia
were 80 full of love, tenderness and sole
tude that he thought it cruel to ever i
the girl know of her lovers death,
How was this to be prevented? !
length, wild scheme entered his hea
He would write to her in Hatton's stea
anu she NOulu never hllON Nuc hlllcItht
He was aided in this by a half finish,
letter in the dead soldiers handwritin
which he carefully Initiated
His first letter was short, but he told h
how he had been wounded on the he's
and his memory had almost entirely fail'
him 50 far as events before the battle we
concerned He said he could not r mel
Der if he had possessed picture he
but If such were the case it was lost al
he urged her TO send him one.
The next letter from the girl contain
miniature Of her, and he was immediat
ly impressed by the sweetness of her fa'
1t was absolutel ythe face of his ideal, Al
his heart beat in his bosom with quic
ened measure as he gazed earnestly at
little picture. Suddenly, by an impu.
mat seemed other than his own, he press
his lips to the miniature, and from tn
moment he was madly in love with I
dead soldiers sweetheart, the girl he h
neye; seen.
Somehow, Paul Blake's desire to esca
and rejoin the Federals waned rapidly, a
in his heart there actually grew SYM
thy for the south, the land that was
dearly loved by this sweet and beauti
girl he now longed but feared to see.
wondered If she would be deceived OF
she would read the truth in his face.
Months went by, and the correspondel
continued, while Blake's love increa'
constantly until he literally adored Ma
st. Orme Her letters gave him inform
tion concerning Hatton's former home a
the people the dead man had known IN
he finally believed he could return to Il
spot in Hatton's place and appear so tn
oughly familiar with everything that
one would suspect him. Hatton, Il
Blake. had been an orphan, which wor
make it all the easier for the latter shot
he ever venture to visit the uufortuni
soldiers home.
Sc. Paul Blake fought through the
mainder of the war as southern soldi