Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1903-05-22
CHAPTER NV. [Continued)
Captain r. A. Mitchell,
Author Of chattanooga" "ChickamaugA," Etc.

CHAPTER NV. (Continued).
NlSht attacks always occur tust be-
fore dawn. and felt confident that we
should hear from the guerrillas, If at
all, between and 3 o'clock in the
morning. At awoke the command
and issued our remaining ration. II
was eaten ravenously. and when the
last morsel had been consumed l told
all to be ready at the slightest sound.
l was going down to the unlighted fire.
and In case they heard me hammering
the percussion powder they would
know had heard the enemy approach
Ing. Then. taking Jacks revolver, l
sailed forth.
l passed down to my firewood, in
spected it to see that it was all right,
then went on farther, crawling on my
stomach and listening. Noticing what
In the darkness supposed to be log,
l resolved to crawl up behind it for
concealment. On reaching it l raised
my head and looked down into the face
OF dead man. 1t was the body of one
Of the guerrillas We had shot during
the day. This uncanny object, encoun-
tered Mt dead of night, startled me.
There were the CHASTITY skin, the sunken
cheek. the open mouth. while the eyes
were staring up ut the heavens as IL
they saw wonders hidden from the liv-
Ing. l drew back. A consciousness of
the horrors that awaited US struck me
like gust of cold wind. Perhaps be-
fore morning Helen Stanforth or Jaque-
line or little Buck or all of US would
be lying stiff and stark like that dead
guerrilla.
Then a greater strength, a daring, q
cunning never before felt welled with
in me. I crawled on till came so near
the guerrilla camp that 1 could have
thrown a stone into 1t. They had no
fire, and this in itself was suspicious.
thought heard a voice. but 1t was
doubtless some animal or bird giving
q note Of warning to its mate. I lis
tened, but could hear nothing whicli1
knew to be human. At last sat down
on a rock and began what to me SEEM
ed an endless vigil.
; 1t was perhaps an hour after that I
heard unmistakable sounds Of the guer.
rIllas. could see nothing, though I
could hear voices, and voices at that
time Of night meant mischief. Darling
back to my wood. set the paper of
gunpowder on the rock under the dry
grass, keeping little in reserve, and
got stone ready to use for hammer,
then listened for sign Of advance. I
had not long to wait. A man must
have stumbled. At any rate, 1 heard
something which convinced me the enc
my was coming. and, laying on my
and brought 1t down.
Horror Of horrors! The grass WINS
blown away without being kindled.
The last chance was gonel 1t was
dark as pitch; not even q ray Of moon
light to protect US against the coming
cutthroats.
Wait bit. There are several spears
Of grass smoldering. a spark on the
end Of each. I gather them and put
the ember ends into the hollow of my
hand, where I hold the reserve gun
powder. A flash-a mere bit Of fame
no bigger than a pea! nurse 1t and
put more grass with 1t, shove It all
under the wood. and beautiful bright
fame shoots up that gladdens my
heart. A joyful shout from the fort
sends a pleasant thrill through every
fiber in my body.
Ping! A bullet within an inch Of my
nose. l dart away into the darkness
and in another minute am In the for
tress
had scarcely got behind the breast
works when the glare of the burning
wood showed me half a dozen men
dashing up to the fire, and I knew they
would try to scatter it.
"When l count three, fire into the
crowd. One. two. threev'
Four bullets fed at the little knot of
men below. We could not see who was
hit, but all turned and started down
the declivity. though one man dropped
before he had gone a dozen yards. We
lost no time in reloading and had a
new charge ready in every piece before
seeing any signs of their return. But
Buck, who took more time and made
more fuss about his work than all the
rest together. had scarcely rammed his
charge home and fixed the percussion
cap on the nipple when three men
made q dash at the fire. Two of them
reached it and began to kick vigorous
~. l took deliberate aim at one of
them and shot him through the head.
My gun had scarcely cracked when
Helen let drive at the remaining man.
He staggered, but kept on kicking at
the fire.. I snatched Bucks gun and
finished him, dropping him on the burn
ing brands. The third man, who had
started forward several times and
each time turned back, got out of sight
as quickly as possible.
Look a. darv cried Ginger. pointing
to the east.
turned my head, and there above
the horizon was the faintest trace Of
dawn.