The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1897-02-12

gun came 30 bis shoulder with a snap,
tho tEreo movements perfect, while
the other fellows Of the squad we're
eluggishly coming 10 n port, q present,
a carry everything but a right shout.
der.
"Fix-bay.o.nelsl" Wilson's was
fixed with the rapidily and precision
OF un expert.
well" said the little lieutenant
under his breath, az he turned away
with a kind Of puzzled twinkle in his
eye.
Wilson was put TO duty the next
day, and caught commanding officers
orderly tho first time ho went on
guard. All Of uswho occupied bunksin
the old-tlmers' squad room lad 70 con.
Tess that Wilson was o. line soldier
% We had ever seen.
Mono Of us ever asked him what
outht no had been in before no came to
our layout as a recruit Wilson was
very quiet man, we'll oducated-we
used TO SEQ him reading queer.looking
books Ia foreign languages, az ho lay
on his bunk on rainy aitornoons-and
wo didn't care to bother him with
questions. 1t was none Of our bust.
ness, anyhow. A young Whelp Of a
rookie was watching Wilson daddyack
his cartridge belt one day. and, like
the pup that he was, he said so that
the other fellows in the room could
hear him:
"Oho, but hasn't Wilson done that
a lot o times before, I'd just like to
knowp
One OF as reached over, caught the
cub by the scruf Of the neck and
dropped him over the bannisters Of
the doubledecker quarters. Wilson
said nothing, although there was an
odd sort Of CLEAN in his black eyes.
There were no illusions to his past
after that, you can bet.
Fort Candy is o beautiful, gloomy
post. II is at the mouth Of the Colum-
bia River, under the shadow of the
mountain that forms the extremity of
Cape disappointment. Oh, but the
Pacific batters wildly, wildly at those
black rocks. In the quarters we could
always hear the roar of the sea. The
sound used to break some of us up
little, kind of, ct night, after the
lights went out. / don't know why.
The sea is mournful, anyhow, think.
A hundred salmon fishermen from As.
toria and II Waco got upset and
drowned on that wicked Columbia bar
while we were there.
Well, anyhow, Wilson used to spend
nearly all of the time that he wasn't
on duty down by the sea. he had a
big dragon tattooed on his knottY left
arm, and a barkentine in three colors
on his breast. Besides, he knew a
great deal about japan and South
America, as some of us found out
without being inquisitive, and we
knew that he had been to sea. When,
how, or in what capacity, we had no
idea. But he vas fond of the sight
OF the sea. Only once in q while did
he join in the football game with the
gang on the parade ground. When
he did, he always kicked a goal. On
pay days some Of us used to go across
the trail from the post to II Waco,
three miles awsy-and there were
lot of ugly looking black bears on that
trail, too, / can tell you-and-well,
we'd load up on Jawbones's barbarous
Siwash whisky. Jawbones was the
half breed Siwash who sold it. Will
son never went along with us. He
didn't drink. We kind o liked him
for that, too, for, with big heads and
sore stomachs, we were all swearing
off every pay day-after our money
was spent at JawbOnes's.
No, Wilson put in his off duty time
tramping through the pine and spruce
forests along the beach, with q stick in
his hand, always alone. One day the
tide rushed in suddenly and caught
him at the foot of the cape. He had
to climb the 60O.foot rock, which was
almost perpendicular. / wouldn't
have tried it for million, even to save
myself from drowning. He smiled a
little when / told him so. He's been
sloft on ships, you know.
Well, this is the finish. It has been
long time in coming, but you had to
understand what manner OF man Will
son was.
One bright day the sentry up at the
lighthouse yelled down to the sergeant
OF the guard that an American man
of-war was coming over tho bar. Can.
by is a saluting station, so that men
of-war are always reported by the
guard. Wilson was walking number
one post, in front of the guard house,
and he repeated the lighthouse sen.
try's call to the sergeant inside. When
the old guard was marched of, re.
lieved by the new one, Wilson went
up to the lighthouse with one of us to
have look through the glass; at the
man 'of.war. He grew little pale as
he made her out through the coast
guards binocular, but said nothing.