Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1899-06-02
IN THE TREE,

..-... nut on nlllSlue. lnere were
.-..-. trees around the hut and in the
a..r.. were long stretches of vine
-.r.. where men and women once sang
..t..y worked
NV the women were working alone
slv. .r the presence of few half
r.wu youths and crippled old men
And the women did not sing as they
worked They wept sometimes but
more ..ten they looked silently and
vud.riu.ly off into the west. where
,a- ,sv line was broken by the crum-
Iu- ia,tions Of a ruined castle
u- beyond the castle was the sea and
t-r.Ii the sea was-they knew not
what Strange lands where men and
7.r-a- went To come back ne more
This was the picture that came to the
mind IT the man in the tree.
Hrt one cannot sit with a cramped
.,- and dream Of distant things for
.u. 81 the man in the tree moved and
-.- picture under the sunny sky gave
tac, To another. which was more i'm
Mediate and more distinct.
~.raliug out before him and under
heath was a wooded valley with a hill
t-vui Down into this valley a hun
ly-l yards to the right dipped a trail.
Yesterday it had been a mere mule
,'a half closed by underbrush but
INV it was clearly defined. The bushes
aai been broken off, bent over and
tu,h-l aside, while the tramp of many
.--t had ground to powder the weeds
anil Grass
A. distance of perhaps half mile
nj and below him the trail trav-
,,,ei IN open space As he looked at
tai, .pening in the screen of green he
saw figures crossing it. They stood out
sharp and distinct in the bright sun
u.lt They were men with guns Few
o. them wore coats Many of them We're
tlr- from the waist up. Their faces
We're dark almost black at that dis
lance but their chests were white.
What fine targets they made, those
white chests
The man in the tree picked up the
slim barreled rife which had been rest
in. across his bent knees. He raised the
n.ht slide and squinted through it I'M
u, he could see the steel pick on the
md Of the barrel outlined against the
white flesh of a figure in the sunlighted
gap Of the trail.
\ little tongue of fame darted from
The muzzle of the rife. One of the fig
rIrs in the green frame stumbled and
fell
The man in the tree laughed softly
ami patted the stock of his rife.
sui the men with guns streamed
along the trail. Aha! They are run
Ming They will soon begin to run the
other way. Just wait until the trenches
get the range. A white back makes as
ale target as a white chest.
But hour after hour passed and the
human current did not ebb
We're they hours or only minutesr
What was happening up on the hillsideY
The man in the tree turned to see.
Far mp behind him on the crest was
square Init. with a matched roof 1t
looked like a dovecot, but it was not.
Il was a blockhouse. What was taking
Place there he could only guess. He
saw IN irregular line of dark tignres
scramhln. up the hill, some of them
falling To rise no more. Why did not
tl- r-st 20 back? Now they swarmed
about the building How their guns
,.4.s,d'
"Caraio," The red and yellow FLAG is
down
Then the man in the tree looked into
the heart Of things and saw his fate
I4~,- half naked pigs who fought like
devils they would not be driven back.
H. was cut off. To the right to the
LIFT Ia front behind-they We're there.
tL-~- men with guns who fired and ran
forward, and fired and ran forward
again
The picture of the faraway hut on
The hillside, the women and the vine
yag1- came once more, and the man III
t-e r~r lowed his head and wept.
II PASSED He looked again down the
hillside. Not alone on the trail but IN
1aly .,urr places the figures moved
now
The man in the tree frightened the
F'ap which passed under his arms and
al mi the tree. He fitted the rifle
F..s r his shoulder and peered out
11'r, 'a- leaves. There was big tel
low t'a something red sewed to his
shirt Probably an officer. S-r-r-r
!aat must have gone too high. S-r-r-r
Dust little to the left Sr-r-rl Tha'
Went TILE He's down. Very busy wal
he man in the tree.
N.t too busy, however, TO note thu
approach Of little squad of men wh'
'".I.i ana looked up into the tree
ami l.W and then fired into the dens'
foliage f the branches.
The man in the tree laid his riff
carefully across his knees and reached
lL'9 -a- leaves above him. He brough
Town -Iurd water bottle, held it T.
I.' rar and shock it, From the poke
o' his blue and white cotton blouse h
-'-el .Ut a piece of dry black bread
MS meal ended. he threw the empt
s1-'4 from him and began to count tn
cartridge clips still remaining in b
mo-. dos tres, quatro- -Christi
'ly 20 more shots, and then-wh,
U--A 'l" war would be at an end Il
VIE man in the tree. 1t remained bl
u- Think you, good ST. Jose, wi
watches over the vineyard folk at hon