Saint Mary's beacon., 1895-04-04

u
zona can illuminate. The officers,
soldiers and their amilies were
peacefully sleeping Not . sound
was heard except tha occasional cry
of coyote.
Three o'clock strnS and the sen.
tinel Of post No. | sttec the eall:
"No. /, three Geek, andslll's
well.'
4 slight pause 81 40. 2 res
pondsd:
NO. 2, three o'clock, and sll's
well.'
Then came long pause.
The sergeant Of the guard step
ped out of the guardroom and lis
tened.
THE sentinel on No. 3 must be
asleep he remarked. Bad husi-
ness for q sentinel guarding the
corral
Turning to No. 1 he commanded:
Start the call again
No. l obeyed. No. Q took it up.
But there again it ended. The ser
geant turned out patrol and
marched to the corral.
AS he approached the sentinePs
post in the moonlight he saw the
figure of No. 8 stretched out on the
ground. The position did not look
like that of sleeping man.
Double timev commanded the
sergeant.
And the patrol came down the
post at o run. As the men came
!. closer to the figure sight met their
eyes that froze the blood in their
veins. Lying face down on the
sand, his hand still grasping his
rifle, was their comrade, stiff and
cold in death, an Apache arrow
buried deep in his body.
Three sharp cracks Of the rifle,
the rattle of the long roll of the
drum soon brought the startled gar
rison.
Scouts were instantly sent out
and the plain thoroughly secured
but no Indian signs could be found
The next day, with muffied
drums, the membefs of the garrison
followed the body of their comrad'
to it's last resting place. With un
, covered heads, sorrowfully and re
verently, they listened while th'
post chaplain read the burial ser
vice. The military escort free
3 three rounds over the grave, and th'
bugler played the sweetest of al
calls, 'Taps-lights out - sleep.
Naturally q gloom was thrown owe
the whole post.
The soldiers gathered in smal
groups and discussed the perplexe'
question:
How could il have been done:
: The moon had been shining bright
ly, and there was no cover behin'
which an Indian could hide.
The searching parties came il
after fruitless hunts. Night came
There would be no lack Of vig;lanc
on the part of the sentinel on pos
No. 3. The moon was even brigt
ter than on the proceeding might
q and the objects on the plain coul
y be seen almost as distinctly as j
n the daytime.
" Each half hour the call of No.
was promptly answered BY the oth'
sentinels.
Q. Few expected . repetition OF Il
preceding nights attack. Grads
ally the garrison became silent an
: one by one the lights went on
Morning came and nothing hs
happened to disturb the peace
)" the fort.
". Several days passed and the po
settled down into its old ways, ar
the memory of the dreadful evel
d. was beginning to fade.
The officer Of the day was makiI
the inspection Of sentinels aft
midnight, and was approaching N
8, when the moon, which had be-
hidden behind . cloud, sudden
burst forth, revealing at the We
! feet of the officer the body Of t
) sentinel as before, completely piel
q. ed by an Indian arrow.
The alarm was quickly given, b
ID. in spite of the most careful scar
no trace of the assassin could
- found. A horror settled over
post. No one dreaded an enel
on O. they knew and could fight open
ion but against such ghostly attacks
one could defend himself.