The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-03-10
The Blank File

o the men had even begun to snore.
was just droppin off to sleep myself,
when a snorer at the other end O. the
tent sauddenly raps out an oath, and his
boot comes whizzin' down the gangway
" The next swab as plays me that
trick" he grumbles, will ave to take
off his toonik to me in the mornin'
What trick, chum?' I asks, chuckin
him back his boot.
Putin his icy cold foot on my face
he says, indignant.
1T didn't sound nice, some w, and my
cart commenced to beat a devils tar
too under the blankets. But nobody said
nothin', and if it admit been for the
thumpin of dozen gallant carts be-
sides mine you might ave card pin
drop.
Presently, owever the drummer who
slep next to the corpril calls out some
thin beneath his bedclothes.
What is 'tSticks" a-sayin'?' asks one
O. the men anxiously.
He's only talkin' in his Sleep says
the corpril.
q No, he amt pipes the boy in his
Ugh treble, but somebody's awalkin' in
hrs!
This statement was received with
most uncomfortable silence of several
minutes Then the man next to me be-
gins 'urriedly to scramble into his
trousers.
The kids quite right, he says, and
I know bloomin' well who the sleep
walker is.
"'Who?' inquiries a dozen voices at
once.
1.-The Blank File, says the man, and
he's lookin' for a sleepin billet that's
what he's a-doin' of. But he amt goin
to doss next to me- he says, and with
that he bolts out O. the tent.
I'm another minute there was nobody
SO far as we knew-left inside it. We
all wanted to keep the sentry comp'ny till
daylight
Mr. Pagett paused to refill his pipe,
an operation he effected with character
istic absent mindedness from my pouch
I feigned to be bordering his last words.
After such a night of horror" I haz-
arded 1.-The daylight must indeed have
been a welcome relief
He slipped the pouch, with charming
naivete, into his pocket. you mark time
a bit" he said; 81 'aven't finished with
that night of 'orror yet
I murmured an apology.
mo he continued. Before the sun
rose we were destined to ave another
scare, compared with which the others
were childs play. 1t was this way, look.
1.-The corpril was eXplainin' to Mr.. jan
naway, who 'ad come out of his quarters
In his pyjammers. that the men couldn't
sleep in the mimi tent on account of the
heat, and Jannaway was just beginnin'
to talk sarcaustic about girls school
afraid o. the dark, when the sentry drops
his rife with a clatter that brings all
our gallant hearts into our necks. His
teeth were rattlIn' in his cad like
boxful O. dice, you could ave Jung up
your coat and at on his eyes, and he
was pointin' to his front like a sign post
Shook by the wind. At first we thought
it was an applepletic fit, but after
bit we discovered that he was wishful for
US to look at the jackstaff.
1.-THE first glimmer o dawn was whit
enin' the eastern ORION, and there was
just light enough for us to see an ex-
tr'ordinry phenomenon that made even
a detachment o marines stare. There
wasn't air enough to chill your wetted
finger; 1t was a dead tropical calm; the
jack and its 'alyards lay alongside the
staff as if they were glued to it. Yet all
Of a sudden the long fold of bunting
stirred and the double lines twaged
against the pole like a plucked arp
string!
Five seconds later the thing 'appened
again, and then continued at perfectly
reg lar intervals. Not a SOUL as far as
we could see, was within ten yards of
that bewitched spar. Yet ore thing was
'alyards before cur very eyes!
Presently Jannaway clears his throat.
-" Am l goin' stark mad like the rest O.
YOU he asks 'uskily, or is there a bell
ringin' somewhere?
you might have stabbed the silence
which followed with a bayonit.
" There is a bell, sir says one O. the
men at length. "a big bell a-tollin. 1
should Judge 1t to be as far away as
Batavia, or p'r'aps Plymouth he says;
but in either case you may lay to it
that it's no earthly bell
That's enough says Jannaway,
stampn' his foot Il won't ave no more
of 1T. Color sergeant he says, as soon
as it's daylight fall the men in for bath
in parade. There's nothing like Sea dip
to steady the nerves And with that
he walks off into the middle O. the ISL
and.
The detachment strolled down to the
waters edge, while /, disbelievin' in
ghosts now that the daylight was comm !,
sat down and lit my pipe At first l
watched the sunrise and it seemed to me
that the day was gettin up with a most
dISreputahle black eye Across the red
an green an orange Inflammation of the
dawn was struck dark patch that in
the case of a pore soldier would ave got
MN confined to barricks for fortaie hit
But after bit my attention was at
peern under a great ledge O. rock a
couple o 'undred yards away. Presently
he stood up and beckoned to me-
Tell me what You see in there he
says, when I reached him
You ought to know 1 says, moppin'
my face, after I'd looked into the ole;
you We been starin' at it for the last five
minutes =
But l want to make sure, you inso-
lent Xagabone,' he says. our nerves
are all endWays, and pr'aps I've been
mistook'
" Very well, then, says I, its a rust
ea round shot mixed up with 'uman
skeleton '''' =
80 thought So he returns with .
sigh of relief. But since this island is
hoo-oorn baby, in a manner o. sneak
there ZINC
aps,' says I, after thinkin' ard
TOT TOT some moments, :they We're born with
the bloomin' baby.
You're fool, Pagett,' says he and
you better go and fall in with the
rest "-'n Tue
Now, as I was carryin' my wounded
ieeIln's back to my comrades. 1t sudden
~ struck me that the dawn wasn't
treakin as quickly as 1t usually does in
ihose latitoods. The black patch over
the days eye had covered the entire
t'ce Vi the eastern sky, and was spread
IN TO the zenith faster than the daylight
itself. 1t was plain, from the incessant
tWlnklin' that a tropical thunderstorm
was comm up with the sun, and YOU
may take my word for it that a bare
rock IN midocean amt the safest place
to see one from.
The detachment 'ad already undressed,
and were bein' mustered by the color
sergeant, so 1 slipped off my clothes
and joined them.
Before the muster was over the morn
in ,ad grown much dar.o,. a.. a.