The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-10-06

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A dark December night-dark as tn
grave-a moaning storm, which CONCEAL
ones breath, freezes the blood in one
veins aud stirs up whole mountains o
snow In front of it-heaven and eartl
amalsamated in an endless fog, an un
limited darkness. nowhere broken by s,
much as a twinkle Of light.
Inside, in the officers room, the lieu
tenant on guard lies dreaming on tn,
leather couch A sudden noise Of heav,
steps The sergeant stands before him.
well, what is itT'
Il have to report to your honor tina
the cold is still increasing. The Their
mometer has gone down to 20 degrees
below zero"
whats to be done, brother?" the lieu
tenant yawns. "As it is, the sentrieI
are relieved every hour"
AT your honor's service-but it's get
ting rather difficult at post s. The me1
Just came back sweating as II they had
been in vapor bath-they had to wade
in snow up to their hips"
Post s was situated on q distant re-
doubt, which served as a powder maya
zine. Directly in front of 1t was the
river, now frozen to its lowest depths,
which, on the other shore, gradually
turned into series of swamps. The
latter were bounded for miles around by
thick, undergrown woods.
"Well, they'll have to be patient To-
night, that's ALL" said the officer. "Haye
you anything more to reportT
Nothing, your honor"
"You may 60, then"
In the mems room there was good
deal of noise. The relieved sentries had
come back; they were stamping the snow
from their waterproof boots, shaking it
off their sheepskin coats and disentan-
Cling their bashliks from their ears and
neCks.
swell, brothers, how do you like this
weather?' asked one of the soldiers, a
thickset fellow with bright eyes and .
gr.n on his good natured face.
",yait till you're frozen--you won't feel
like laughing them" growled another as
he hung his heavy sheepskin on hook.
The others had approached the table,
where one of their comrades sat read
ing aloud from a small volume entitled
Soldier Life" The men formed circle
around him, their eyes fixed intently upon
the lips of the reader, from which issued
detached words:
"And-then-they- through-with
-such-a-maneuver"
As the newcomers stepped into the cir
Gle of light thrown by small lamp shad-
ed by tin reflector the reader stopped
as it bad outsider" he asked.
''Vassli Petrovitch almost got frozen
at post 6--thc storm is awful-it even
fills the sentry box with snow. You can't
get away from it,
"WilI you stop talking?" cried the SER
geant, looking up from his guardbook.
"That's no more than your duty. It's
what you swore to DO"
The men remained silent. Nothing was
heard but the roaring of the storm out
side.
"What was that?" said one of them
suddenly in low yoice-"yonder, from
across the river?"
"What was it,"
Don't you hear 1t, brothers? It's
wolves"
The men looked at each other. Then
one of them said derisively: evolves?
Nonsense. 1t was nothing but the storm"
But the first speaker insisted: ut was
the bowling of wolves; nothing else. They
are on the other side of the river, oppo-
site the powder redoubt."
That was where post stood. Who
was the next to relieve him?
All looked at Pankratieff, young re-
crut. who rose from his seat with a look
of dismay.
The men laughed, as il to Danish their
own fears.
"You had better look out-the wolves
will tear you to pieces"
One of the fellows went down on all
fours, showed his teeth and approached
the recruit, uttering low growl.
At this, however, the sergeant started
mp angrily.
"Be quiet" he shouted, "or you'll be
sorry! A nice way, this, to behave on
gunrd, Quick, get the next relief ready"
The soldiers wrapped themselves in
their sheepskins and bashliks and seized
their muskets. Their faces had grown
graver as the foremost threw open the
door. They were met by cloud of whirl.
ing snow and an icy temperature as they
stepped out. To their eyes, dazzled by
the light, the darkness outside seemed
impenetrable.
They CROPPED their way out, bending
forward and bracing themselves against
the storm and disappeared in the gloom.
Halt! Who goes there?"
From somewhere in the moat the voice
of post 5 came Que Of the darkness,
hoarse and indistinct, for the snow dust
filled the mouth of every one who at
tempted to call or shout.
The sentries were exchanged in silence,
The one relieved groped and waded
away with the others through the storm.
The young recruit remained behind alone
at post 5.
He entered the sentry box, which at
least sheltered him from the tempest, il
not from the cold Inside he sat down
and set his musket by his side in the deep
snow, which had drifted in through the
door, and listened in silence to the chaos
Of sounds outside in the darkness.
What were they doing at home now?
There was snow, plenty of snow there,
too in the lonely village of the steppe.
The low cabins would be buried in it.
1t was hard work to dig passage from
the door to the street and keep it open.
Well. what of that? Snow keeps you
warm. And what happy time they are
having in the village now, in the winter
i