Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1897-02-03

Jimmy to himself, repeating the words
over and over, but somehow they seem
ed to convey little meaning to his par
tially-stupefied brain. Give minutes
after twelve" he reiterated, and closed
his tired eyes for a second until he
could comprehend what he was saying
to himself; when he opened them and
stared again at his watch he was start
led nearly out of his wits. At first he
thought the minute hand had dropped
ten minutes. 1t was now a quarter
after twelve. In that seeming second
he had been asleep ten minutes, stand
ing with the watch in his hand. 1t
frightened him to think that this was
possible; he imagined that under such
circumstances a man would have fall
EN-. If, with his back against the tree,
he could sleep as comfortably as lying
in his own bed at the farm, what might
not happen before his long four hours
watch was over? If he could only pace
up and down, he might keep himself
awake, but to stand there like statue
the very thought made him shudder.
| The safety of an army probably de-
pended upon his vigilance. He must
keep awake at all hazards, for the
army's sake. IL not for his own. He
| knew that the penalty of sleep was
| death. Il must keep awake; l must
keep awake" he kept repeating to him
self; then he was astonished to hear
his father say: Come, Jimmy, 1t is
time to get up; this will never do, you
know" He saw the kindly face of the
old man before him.
ut isn't daylight yet, father" he said
and as he spoke he saw above him the
clear starlit sky, and he gasped, 81
have been asleep again"
With trembling hands he took out the
silver watch. Actually the bright star
seemed to have shifted in the sky. He
rubbed his eyes two or three times be-
fore he could persuade himself that the
watch was not playing tricks with him.
1t was seven minutes to l o'clock.
Il have been asleep for nearly three
quarters of an hour" he said with hor-
ror, as he placed the watch In his vest
pocket again. He picked up his gun
with a bayonet on the end of it, and
swung it backward and forward from
| hand to hand to keep himself awake;
all at once he missed 1t, and 1t fell clat-
tering among the dead leaves at the
foot of the tree. He picked it up quick
~ and stood, at once all alert, at the
foot of the tree to listen. Nothing but
tile deepest stiffness surrounded him.
He leaned the gun against the tree and
moved his arms up and down. lie
blinked at the stars, and the movement
of his arms seemed to become more and
more mechanical, until at last a wagon
half-laden with new-made hay drove
up beside him, and he saw his father on
the load driving the horses.
Come, Jimmy" he said, this is the
last load, and it looks like rain"
Il don't see, father, how am to stand
sentry and load hay at the same time,
replied Jimmy.
oh" said the old man, its quite
easy. You may as well be doing that
as moving your arms up and down"
Jimmy saw there was truth In this,
and noticing the haycocks beside him
he took pitchfork in his hand and dug
it deep into the understanding hay.
The pitchfork sank down through the
hay and struck something; then wagon
and haycock both disappeared, aud
Jimmy found himself trying to eXtrl-
cate the point Of his bayonet from one
of the gnarlcd roots of the tree. He
was in despair.
II may as well lie down and be shot
for it," he said dismally. II can't keeE
awake IL | am to stand STILL"
He looked again at his watch. 1t was
twenty minutes past one. He had some
thought of saving himself by rushing
into camp and crying that he heard
some one coming through the wood, but
he knew that would be treachery tC
comrades, all of whom were doubtless
sound asleep. So he set his ingenuity
to work to keep himself awake HI
needed a sharp lesson, he told himself
and so he prepared one.
Searching his pockets, he found {
piece of string. He made a loop will
: II which he put round his wrist; then
over the lower branch of the tree, ht
: wrapped the unlooped end of the strni