The National tribune., 1901-10-24

to Naught by Evacuating.
81 was right in his predictions. The
| thoughtful General had anticipated the
massing of the rebel artillery in front of
| The most advanced part of the line. Killed
guns had been quietly collected on the
bluff behind, and the storm of canister
from the rebel guns was Immediately an
swered by volcano of shells, which
dropped with great precision behind the
rebel works.
Now, will you be good?" exclaimed
Sherry, jubilantly, as the inside of the
rebel line was lighted by the baleful iIrc
of the bursting shells, and fragments of
the gun-carriagcs, with the garments car
ried on the limbers, rose high i'll the air.
You SOW canister and reap the wrath
of God. | only wish we were over there
TO help out those shells. | only hope the
ShcllS'll make SauSa ge-meat out o the
whole billing of you unSGnctited wheips.
As the internal crash died away into
occasional shots when the watChtul bat
tprymcn detected some movement among
the rebels, the town-clock i'll Savannah de
liheratcy tOllCd forth seven as calmly as
if marking the flight of peaceful hours for
the people, instead of recording an etern-
ity OF time, an age of anxiety, fierce pas
sion and pain, mutilation, suffering and
death for the thousands of strong men
struggling i'll the chill morasses and the
gloomy night for possession of the city.
The church bells began ringing for the
usual Monday evening services, and the
women and old men thronged thithcr to
send up fcrycnt prayers for deliyerancc
from battle, murder and sudden death.
Hear that clock sail Col. McGilii-
cuddy, pulling out his watch to compare
with it. Enough for n century has hap
pcncd since it last struck. The poet
says, We live in deeds and not in years.
a heap of fcLeIs heard it strike q that
didn't when it went T." commented
Shorty. Them shells struck their time
o day in great shape. Mighty fine work
that. Them battery boys are getting 50
they can shoot off gnats heel without
halming the gnat. Sometimes wish I'd
joined the artillery
'Dnc Of them church-belis over there
sends just like the one at home com
uCntcd 81, with memories Juggling at his
heart. 1t says Come to God. Come to
God just as plain
Under the cover of the Smelling the
work of making roadways across the
fields by laying down brush had been 90
ing on actively. Studying it through the
clear starlight ri said:
They're fixing to- reinforce us. Thcy
intcI,d we shall be the head of the spear
they punch Through the rebel lines"
We'll, let EN- start us as soon rs they
please I'd rather DO anything than lay
here on this damp bank with my feet
in the mud. Eve been in the water so
much that l feel I'm spreading out below
like one of them Expresses"
Goodness, don't" exclaimed 81. Eve
want some room aroIlnd here for the rest
of us. But I'm getting to feel rather
water-logged myself, Let's stir around,
and see if we can't find some way to get
across this canal"
The night air was crisp to freshness,
and after the excitement of the Smelling
they stiffened with cold in that dreary
cxpanse of mud and water all about them,
from which there was no escape.
The blankets on which they lay on the
wet bank were speedily soaked with
water Their feet were constantly in the
cold mud, and everything they touched
had a penetrating, damp chill. Pete and
Sandy were blue with the cold, and their
teeth chartered.
Wed better stir the boys up to some
thing" said 81. It'll just kill them to
lay still here all night, after they've been
so hot and tired. Them fellers over there
We got their bellies full o shooting for
while, and we can move around, | guess,
without much danger Les go and talk
to the Colonel about u bridge across the
canal"
Yes, Sergeant" answered the Colonel,
when 81 opened the matter to him. I've
thought out about bridging the canal,
and the Adjutant has gone back to su-
perintend the cutting of some logs and
stuff and incidentally to look after a Ger
tain precious demij0hn, the early history
of which ] do not know, but which mys
teriously appeared in my quarters the
day after the fall Of Fort McAllister. BY
the way" he continued, teasngly. Il
have been so very busy that | have never
Gen. Hazcn | would make. After we
get into Savannah | may have more leis-
urc."
Let me know before you begin, and
I'll get that dcmijOhn out of sight.
Colonel grinned Shorty. IT'S all that's
left now
We'll, not to change the subject. but
rather to continue what | was saying"
replied the Colonel las soon as the Ad-
jutant gets the stuff cut he will send it
forward, and you can begin building the
bridges. You'd better be picking out the
places"
Sandy" said 81, you and Pete might
slip across that log again, and work your
way out to the left, and see if you can
find any gates that'll open and drain that
field BE as still as cats, now, you
rebels over there"
ST and Shorty selected as the place for
the first bridge where the canal had been
narrowed two or three feet by the pro-
lection of the roots of a clump of brush
and saplings. These had been cut off
clearly a couple of feet from the ground
by the fearful blast of canister.
That's right in the range of a gun
over there" ST communed with Shorty,
"as is showed by the clean-cut-off it has
made of the brush. Didn't leave a stick
standing"
"AIcbbe the shells have knocked the
gun out siEce," suggested Shorty.
"Mebbe. Anyway, the gun was pointed
so that it went two feet above the bank,
and we can avoid it by scrouching down.
Best of all. that that's left standing and
behind which we can work. The roots
will make good foundation to lay the ends
of our stringeTs on. I'll go to that log
crawl down behind them bushes. You
stay on this side, and pass the logs over
to me. Keep the boys back here quiet,
and We'll build the bridge right under
the rebels noses without their knowing
it. If they shoot, don't let any of the
boys here shoot back, but let them on
the right wing answer, so that they'll
think that we're coming over there"
81 got down CD his hands and knees,
and crept across the log and back to the
cover of the stumps. He was now about
200 yards from the rebels, and the sounds
fro m behind their works came very plain
ly to him across the flooded field. They
were still engroSsed with repairing the
damage done by the shells and caring