The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-07-16

HE GAZED AT THE PICTURE.
of forest without the least idea of his
whereabouts. To make his situation still
more forlorn, it was night and drizzling
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 il 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 10
cality deserted by the Union army, for this
was the night of May 8, 1868, and Hooker
had already retreated 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 10 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 Andersonville, he was trying to
devise some scheme of avoiding capture,
| when he came to n spot where an engage
ment had taken place the previous day.
There were many dead soldiers lying on
the ground, and the features of n Confed-
crate who lay stretched on his back attract
cd Blake's attention. To his profound
establishment, he saw the man was almost,
If not quite the exact double of himself.
1t gave him "A shock ut first, for it was as
II he had seen himself lying dead.
AS he looked at the corpse, II bright
thought came to him, and he muttered;
"I'll do it, and take the chancesl / 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 other
and threw his own away. Then he dragged
the body to the river and thrust it into
the swollen tide, which soon swept it
away
Some hours later, falling in with n
squad of southern skirlnishers, he was
shrewd enough to feign he was somewhat
dazed from the effect of the wound on his
head. When he was questioned, he acted
as II slightly deranged, declaring himself
General Lee.
As natural result, he was sent to the
hospital, where his wound received atten-
ton In his pockets, or in the pockets of
the dead Confederate's clothes, he found
several letters addressed to George Hatton.
Those letters were from a sweetheart of
Hatton's, and they revealed the fact that
the dead man had belonged to Hoke's bri
gade.
| In short time he seemed to recover
from the wound, and then he said he was
George Hatton, although protesting to
| have lost his memory to n great extent.
| The hospital doctor said that was nat
ural result of such wound, but his mem
Dry would gradually return to him.
In the course of II short time, Blake
found himself serving in Hoke's brigade,
although he was constantly on the out
look for an opportunity to escape and re-
turn to the northern army. He received
two or three appealing letters from Mary
b. Orme, Hatton's sweetheart, aud they
were SO full of love, tenderness and sOlici-
tude that he thought 1t cruel to ever let
the girl know of her lovers de?'h.
How was this to be preyntedi At
length, "A wild scheme entered his head
He would write to her in Hattons stead,
He was aided in this by half finished
letter in the dead soldiers handwriting,
which he carefully initiated
His first letter was short, but he told her
how he had been wounded on the head
and his memory had almost entirely failed
| him SO far as events before the battle were
| concerned. He said he could not r'mem-
Der II he had possessed picture her,
but II such were the case it was lost, and
he urged her to send him one.
The next letter from the girl contained
a miniature Of her, and he was immediate
| ly impressed by the sweetness of her face
1t was absolutely the face of his ideal, and
his heart beat in his bosom with quick
ened measure as he gazed earnestly at the
| little picture. Suddenly, by an impulse
that seemed other than his own, he pressed
his lips to the miniature, and from that
moment he was madly in love with the
dead soldiers sweetheart, the girl he had
never seen.
| Somehow, Paul Blake's desire to escape
and rejoin the Federals waned rapidly, and
In his heart there actually grew sympa-
thy for the south, the land that was SO
dearly loved by this sweet and beautiful
girl he now longed but feared to see. He
wondered II she would be deceived, or IL
she would read the truth in his face.
Months went by, and the correspondence
continued, while Blakes love increased
constantly until he literally adored Mary
st. Orme. Her letters gave him informa-
tion concerning IIatton's former home and
the people the dead man had known until
he finally believed he could return to that
spot In Hatton's place and appear so thor
oughly familiar with everything that no
one would suspect him. Hatton, like
Blake, had been an orphan, which would
make IL all the easier for the latter should
he ever venture to visit the unfortunate
soldiers home.
So Paul Blake fought through the re
mainder OF the war as a southern soldier,
receiving honorable mention twice for
bravery, but failing TO obtain a commits
sion OF any sort When the cause of the
south was defeated and the struggle was
ended, he found himself In position that
| filled him with delight and dismay. lie
had not ventured to visit Mary on fur
Tough, but now he must either 20 to her at
once OF Immediately give up all hope of
ever seeing her.
His decision was soon made; he would
venture 1t, no matter what the result. As
he approached the home of Mary st. Orme,
! his feelings may be better imagined than
described. How would she receive him9
The question was soon answered. She
threw herself into his arms, literally faint.
ing with joy. Later, she said he had
changed some, but was still her own true
lover.
Within "A month, Paul Blake married
Mary st. Orme. OF course his conscience
troubled him some, but her attraction for
him was simply irresistible, and there was
no turning back then.
For more than 20 years Paul Blake lived
as George Hatton, and not even his wife
knew or suspected the truth. -Four chill
dren were born to them, and their lives
passed as smoothly as soft flowing
stream Blake had no desire to revisit his