Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1899-04-20
IN THE TREE.

IN THE TREE.
The man in the tree was thinking.
Way off under sunny sky was
squalid hut on hillside. There were
orange trees around the hut and in the
distance We're 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 few half
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 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 ont before him and under
meath was a wooded valley with hill
beyond Down into this valley hun
dred yards to the right dipped trail.
Yesterday it had been a 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 tIav-
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 chests
The man in the tree picked up the
slim 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 rife. 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 Ahal 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 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 hillside
The man in the tree turned to see
Far up behind him on the crest was
a square hut, with a thatched roof 1t
looked like doveeot, but it was not
1t 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 backg Now they swarmed
about the building. How their guns
smoked
"Carajor' 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 fired 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.
1t 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 tightened 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 a big fel-
low with something red sewed to his
shirt sleeve. Probably an officer. S-r-r-r
That must have gone too high. S-r-r-r
Just little to the left. S-r-r-ri That
went true. He's down. Very busy was
the man in the tree.
Not too busy, however, TO note the
approach of little squad of men who
stopped and looked up into the trees
and now and then fired into the dense
foliage of the branches.
The man in the tree laid his rifle
carefully across his knees and reached
into the leaves above him. He brought
down gourd water bottle, held it to
his ear and shock it. From the pocket
of his blue and white cotton blouse he
fished out piece of dry black bread.
His meal ended. he threw the empty
gourd from him and began to count the
cartridge clips still remaining in his
hat
''Uno, dos, tres, quatro-- Christii"
Only 30 more shots, and then-why,
then the war would be at an end foi
the man in the tree. 1t remained but
TO die Think you good st. Jose, whc
watches over the vineyard folk at home
heard that prayer or did the guns make
tco much noise2
On came the squad. The leader was
tall and fair. He wore blue shirt with
rhevrons on the sleeve and stripe
which had once been white down the
outer trousers seam. He was making
straight for the tree in which sat the
man with the rife
At d distance of 100 feet the man in
the tree had brought the pick on the
end Of HE rifle down SO that it's top jnsf
reached the space between the blue eyes
Of the man on foot His last shot should
be fancy one
Two Of the squad eyed tree to the