The daily Alaskan., 1904-06-30
IN THE DARKNESS
Lcopyright. lgos. by c. D. Lswls.l

attack of nerves" now and then, even up to the colonels, but as for being downright scared I had a couple of experiences l will tell you about. If 1 hadn't been alone at the time ! should have probably been drummed out of the army for cowardiGe There was one thing I dreaded more than a battle, and that was standing on picket alone at night
 On the night l have in mind l was stationed about twenty rods north of log cabin occupied bs a farmers fam ily, and the Confederate picket was supposed to be about the same dis tance on the other side. l was not on the highway, but in a fringe of bushes along one line of an old field. It was darklsh night in autumn, with a breeze kicking up a shlndy all around, and when I was told to fall out at Post No. 6 and keep my eyes and ears open got homesick at once.
 The first thing I did was to move along the fringe about thirty feet and then lie flat down. could see out across the field in the direction of the house and the Confederate picket, though but dimly. There was no light in the house, and no sounds came from 1t.
 I hadn't been on post thirty minutes when I had regular attack of nerves" I didn't realize 1t until l found myself chattering and trembling and half crying, and then I got up and kicked myself and did some tall swear ing. I fully realized that l had to break the spell or bolt, and there was a hard fight before I got the better of my nerves. l was feeling much easier and was thinking of going back to the spot where was first posted when l suddenly caught a sound which jump ed my heart into my mouth and shook me from head to foot with a chill.
 I saw a figure and knew that some one had stood within arms length Of me. but had my life depended on 1t ] could not have raised a finger. 1 choked up and CaspeI for breath, and it seem cd as if l waited for hours to be at tackled. IL slowly dawncd upon me as I waited for a blow that 1t was wo mans figure, and after making half a dozen efforts to do So ] managed Go ask who was there and what wns wan2d.
 It was well for that womau-for woman ft was-that 1 was muevveG by my fears. There was a spring within a few feet of me, though l had not been told of 1t, and she had come down from the house for water for one of her sick children. She did not know the exact location of the post and Instead of making her presence known and escaping all peril she had come silently along and escaped death simply because was unneryed.
 When I came to discover who it was in front of me I was that weak that I had to sit down on the groml, and the woman went back to the house trembling in every limb. 1 never should have got over the remorse of it if I had shot her down in the dark ness. nor could I have hoped that her children would ever have forgiven me.
 At another time about year later, I had a post in an old cotton field. It wasn't open ground as much as 1t was bushes. and along the south front of 1t was a fallen tree. Here was the post. and crouched down behind the tree, with my head just above It. could sean the ground between the | Confederates and my burrow.
 After I had been on post about half an hour the night thickened up witt a sort of mist until I could not have seen man ten feet away. Then rose up and took seat on the log and lighted my pipe, and had worn away an hour of my time when my heart suddenly gave a jump and began to tremble.
 had neither seen nor heard any thing to alarm me, and I couldn't make out why I should be knocked over that way all at once I didn't stop there very long to think the matter over, however. On the contrary, l slipped backward of the log into a tansle of bushes and briers, and there I meant to remain until I heard the tramp of the relief. Lee might be advancing with his whole army to make an at tack, but l wasn't going to leave my shelter to try and drive him back. Nerves? You may be certain that l had 'em. trembled like a leaf, and I'm telling you that had to hold on tC my chin to stop the clicking of my teeth I wouldn't run away, but in, stlnct told me that I was in deadly peril, and the fact that could neither see nor hear it made matters far worse for me.
 Without fully realizing what l was doing got my musket around and rest ed the barrel on the log and made ready to fire.
 I sat there looking over the log, but not able to see five feet into the mist, when something slowly rose up be, tween me and the sky. I didn't say Co myself that 1 would fire I didn't even know that l had fired until got fNp kick md the rppOrt of the muSket