The Billings gazette., 1899-03-17
IN THE TREE.

The nan in the tree was thinking.
Way off under sunny sky was {
suualid hut on hillside There wer.
orange trees around the hut and in the
distance were long stretches of vine
yards where men and women once sang
as they worked
Now the women were working alone
save for the presence Of a few hall
grown youths and crippled old men.
And the women did not sing as they
worked. They wept sometimes. but
more often they looked silently and
wonderingly off into the west, where
the sky line was broken by the crum-
bling bastions of ruined castle.
Off beyond the castle was the sea and
& beyond the sea was-they knew not
what Strange lands where men and
youths went to come back no more.
This was the picture that came to the
mind Of the man in the tree
But one cannot sit with a cramped
leg and dream of distant things for
long. So the man in the tree moved and
the picture under the sunny sky gave
place to another, which was more i'm
mediate and more distinct.
Spreading out before him and under
meath was wooded valley with hill
beyond. Down into this valley hun
dred yards to the right dipped trail.
Yesterday it had been mere mule
path half closed by underbrush, but
now it was clearly defined. The bushes
had been broken off, bent over and
pushed aside, while the tramp of many
feet had ground to powder the weeds
and grass.
At distance of perhaps half mile
beyond and below him the trail trav-
ersed an open space. As he looked at
this opening in the screen of green he
saw figures crossing it. They stood out
sharp and distinct in the bright sun
light. They were men with guns. Few
of them wore coats. Many Of them were
bare from the waist up. Their faces
were dark, almost black at that dis
tance, but their chests were white.
What fine targets they made. those
white chestsl
The man in the tree picked up the
aim barreled rife which had been rest
ing across his bent knees. He raised the
sight slide and squinted through it un-
til he could see the steel pick on the
end Of the barrel outlined against the
white flesh of figure in the sunlighted
gap of the trail
A little tongue of fame darted from
the muzzle Of the rifle One of the fig
ures in the green frame stumbled and
fell
The man in the tree laughed softly
and patted the stock of his rife.
Still 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
fine a target as white chest
But hour after hour passed and the
human current did not ebb.
Were they hours or only minutes
What was happening up on the hillside2
The man in the tree turned to see.
4 Far up behind him on the crest was
square hut. with thatched roof. It
looked like dovecot, but it was not
It was blockhouse. What was taking
place there he could only guess. He
saw an irregular line of dark figures
scramblng up the hill. some of them
falling to rise no more Why did not
the rest go back? Now they swarmed
about the building. How their guns
smoked!
"Carajo!' The red and yellow flag is
down
Then the man in the tree looked into
the heart of things and saw his fate.
These half naked pigs who fought like
devils, they would not be driven back.
He was cut off. To the right, to the
left, in front, behind-they were there,
these men with guns who fred and ran
forward, and fired and ran forward
again.
The picture Of the faraway hut on
the hillside. the women and the vine.
yards came once more, and the man in
the tree bowed his head and wept.
It passed. He looked again down the
hillside. Not alone on the trail, but in
many other places the figures moved
now
The man in the tree frightened the
strap which passed under his arms and
around the tree. He fitted the rife
stock to his shoulder and peered out
under the leaves. There was big fell
low with something red sewed to his
shirt sleeve Probably an officer. S-r-r-rl
That must have gone too high. S-r-r-r!
Just a little to the left. S-r-r-rl That
went true. He's down. Very busy was
the man in the tree
Not too busy. however, to note the
of little squad of men who
stopped and looked up into the trees
md now and then fred into the dense
foliage of the branches
The man in the tree laid his rife
,nrofnl1v acr0aa his knooa and rsached