The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1896-10-09

breast. A touch upon the trigger, and
all would have been well with Carter
Druse. At that instant the horseman
turned his head and looked in the di-
rection Of his concealed foeman-
seemed to look into his very face, into
his eyes, into his brave, compassionate
heart.
Is it, then, SO terrible to kin an
enemy in war-an enemy who has sur
prised a secret vital to the safety OF
ones self and comrades-an enemy
more formidable for his knowledge
than all his army for its numbers?
Carter Druse grew deathly pale; he
shook in every limb, he turned faint,
and saw the statuesque group before
him as black figures, rising, falling,
moving unsteadily in arcs of circles in
a fiery sky. His hand fell away from
his weapon, his head slowly dropped
until his face rested on the leaves in
which he lay. This courageous gen.
tleman and hardy soldier was nearly
swooning from intensity of emotion.
1t was not for long; in another mo-
ment his face was raised from the
earth, his hands resumed their places
on the rifle, his forefnger sought the
trigger; mind, heart and eyes were
clear, conscience and reason sound.
He could not hope to capture that
enemy; to alarm him would be to send
him dashing into his camp with his
fatal news. The duty of the soldier
was plain: the man must be shot dead
from ambush-without warning, with
out moments spiritual preparation,
with never SO much as an unspol1en
prayer he must be sent to his account.
But, no--there is hope; he may have
discovered neutrality-suspicious. he is but
admiring the sublimity of the land
scape. If permitted, he may turn and
ride carelessly away in the direction
whence he came. Surely it will b.
possible to judge at the instant of his
withdrawing whether he knows. 1t
may well be that his fxity of atten-
ton Druse turned his head and
looked below, through the deeps Of
air downward, as from the surface to
the bottom of translucent sea. He
saw creeping across the green meadow
sinuous line of figures of men and
horses--some foolish commander was
permitting the soldiers to water their
beasts in plain view from a hundred
SUBMITS!
Druse withdrew his eyes from the
valley and fixed them again upon the
group of man and horse in the sky,
and again it was through the sight of
his rifle. But this time the aim was at
the horse. In his memory, as if they
were divine mandate, rang the words
of his father at parting: Whatever
may occur, do what you conceive to
be your duty" He was calm now
His teeth were firmly but not rigidly
closed: his nerves were as TRANQUIL as
sleeping babes-not q tremor af-
fected any muscle of his body; his
breathing, until suspended in the act
of taking aim, was regular and slow.
Duty had conquered; spirit had said to
body: 'Peace, be still" He fred.
At that moment an officer of the
federal force, who, in spirit of adj
venture or in quest of knowledge, had
left the hidden bivouac in the valley,
and, with aimless feet, had made his
way to the lower edge of small open
space near the foot of the cliff, was
| considering what he had to gain by
| pushing his exploration further. At a
distance of quartermile before him,
but apparently at q stones throw, rose
from it's fringe of pines the gigantic
face of rock, towering to SO great a
height above him that it made him
| giddy to look up to where its edge cut
| sharp, rugged line against the sky.
At some distance away to his right it
presented a clean, vertical profile
against background of blue sky to a
point half of the way down, and of dis
tant hills, hardly less blue, thence tc
the tops Of the trees at its base. Lift.
ing his eyes to the dizzy attitude of its
summit, the officer saw an astonishing
sight-a man on horseback riding
down into the valley through the air
Straight upright sat the rider, in
military fashion, with firm seat in
the saddle, q strong clutch upon the
rein to hold his ch~~oo~ from too i'm.
petuous plunge. From his bare head
his long hair streamcd upward, wnv-
/ ing like plume, His right hand was
concealed in the cloud of the horse s
lifted name. The animals body was
as level as if every hoof-strolse en-
countered the resistant earth. Its mo.
tions were those of wild gallop, but
even as the officer looked they ceased,
with all the legs thrown sharply for.
ward as in the act of alighting from O
leap. But this was flight
Filled with amazement and terror
by this apparition of a horseman in
the sky-half believing himself the
chosen scribe of some new apocalypse,
the officer was overcome by the in,
tensity of his emotions; his legs failed
him and he fell. Almost at the same
instant he heard crashing sound in
the trees-a sound that dies without
an echo, and all was STILL
After firing his shot, Private Carter
Druse reloaded his rifle and resumed
his watch. Ten minutes had hardly
passed when q federal sergeant crept
cautiously to him.
did you fire9" the sergeant
pered,
YES"
cat whatPn
"a horse. 1t was standing on yon
der roclS-pretty far out It is no long
CT there. 1t went over the cliff"
"Sce here, Druse, the sergeant said
after silence, tits no use making Z
mystery. Iorder you to report. Was
there anybody on the horsep"
ssYes."
"Who?"
"My father"
The sergeant rose to his feet anC
walked away. GOOD Godr' he said
Tales of Soldiers and Civilians.
The ordinary tests employed by
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