Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1904-12-20
CHAPTER XIV

June heat of the Virginian summer sun.
Walter and Demon lay side by side in
huge tent near the palings with which
the railway station was fenced. De
mons wounds, though severe, had proved
to be not dangerous, and the doctor pro-
nounced him fairly on the road to recoy-
cry.
Walters case, however, was very Sc
rious one. The bullet had struck the I'M
fortunate man on the side of the fore
head. and had smashed clean away
portion Of the skull. Fortune, however,
was kind, and the brain itself had not
been injured except by a scratch or two
from the splintered bone.
The surgeon who had the case in hand
was surprised when he saw the yonng
man, for he found that there was a pre-
vious fracture of the skull on the spot
where the new wound supervened.
Walter, of course. was totally uncon-
scious, and remained so for days, the at
tendants being compelled to keep him
alive by liquid food poured between bis
lips, and nearly week elapsed before ne
gave signs of recovering consciousness.
Demon improved rapidly, and showed
the most assiduous attention to his for
mer opponent Had Walter been his
brother or his father, he could not have
devoted more care to him or expressed
greater grief for his stricken state.
One morning, as the surgeon was bath
ing and bandaging his wounds, Walter
opened his eyes and looked about him
with a vacant stare. At last he raised
his feeble hand to his eyes, but dropped
it again in moment and shook his head
YEARLY.
rs De Bardinot alive?" he asked, in
faint whisper; sis De Bardinot alive?
Surely you know him. He is captain in
the second battalion of the Nationals,
and he was with me when that villain
blew us up"
Demon looked at the doctor, and the
doctor looked at Demon.
II am afraid he is slightly delirious,"
said Demon. HE is mixing up some
thing with his present case"
HE is feyerish still" said the man of
science, "but he is not delirious. The
wound in his head may account for his
speech, but we shall know more about
that as We go on"
! Walter, finding that he received no
answer to his question, looked around
again with an expression of piteous
pain in his eyes. The objects which met
| his gaze were strange and unaccounta-
BILE to him evidently, for again he shook
| his head as if the task Of fathoming
the mystery were too great for him, and
then he dozed off to sleep.
| Another day passed like that. and an
| other night On the following morning
Demon was surprised to find Walter half
seated on his straw bed, supporting him
\ self painfully with one arm. Demon
jumped up, and finding an old knapsack,
covered it with his own blanket, and
! thus formed a support for Walter to lean
against.
Thank you," said Walter, weakly. 81
am so much obliged to you. Where
am IY'
''You are in the field hospital at Saw
age Station" replied Deno..
Savage Station? Savage Station?'
questioned Walter to himself. Il don't
know such a place-and-can you per-
haps tell me what has become of my
! friend, De BardinotT'
| de Bardinot?" asked Demon. ''Who
is hep
Don't you know?" exclaimed Walter,
with febrile excitement. "He commands
company of the Second National
/
with me in the Rue St Jacques"
II am afraid sou are not clear in your
mind" said Demon, shaking his head in
pity.
"Oh am perfectly clear" said Wal
ter. I'VE stormed the barricade, and we
took the house in which that villain, Rus
trome Parlowe lived. L had got into his
very room, and had just seen that Helene
was not there, and | was asking him
where she was, when the whole thing
blew up, and sent US sky-high, and re-
member no more"
Demon sat there for a moment or two
in a panied silence.
Il don't understand you," he said.
''You are speaking of some French place.
| We are in American Virginia"
IT also don't understand you," said
| Walter. 81 am the Honorable Walter
Glaydes, son OF Lord Yorley, and ] was
hurt in the Rue St. Jacques. All want
to know is, if my friend De Bardinot
is alive, and if that villain, Rustrome
Parlowe, is deadT
The surgeon had entered in the mean
time. and STOPPING over Walter, felt his
pulse.
81 must forbid all further conversa-
ton" he said. You have been excit-
| ing yourself. major"
'Major!" exclaimed Walter, in seem
ing astonislment
YES" interposed Demon. Surely you
know who you are. You are Major Jack
Adams, of the First Louisiana Battalion
of the Rebel army"
Il am Walter Glaydes." said Walter,
| pitifully, and the doctor again interposed.
Now. this win do" he said. Fur
Their we must not go. You must try to
not think. else we shall have you laid up
with brain fever"
A week passed, during which Walter
improved rapidly in health of mind and
body. He could rise from his bed and
| walk, and tue surgeon allowed him to sit
in the shade of a couple of great beech
trees which stood in the depot yard.
And the wounded soldiers, who had
heard the strange case of the rebel who
had a piece of his head shot away and
still lived came and looked at the man
who had had such a wonderful escape.
The sight Of their uniforms and a dog
/ en- wounded Confederates who were kept
as prisoners in the hospital helped much
10 restore the equilibrium or his bind.
| He soon remembered how he cams TO be
there. He remembered Helene's protec-
ton OF Demon and his fight with +he LAT
ter.
Then, tracing back incident by incident
and scene by scene light dawned upon
him through the darkness which hXd
shrouded bis past from him for years,
and be saw the sequence OF events clear
ly.
Yes, he was Walter Glaydes. Lord
| Yorley's son. and he had been wounded
in Paris trying TO drag his cousin Helene
out OF the clutches OF that villain. Rus
trome Parlowe, whom men knew as Jean
Tenure. He remembered it all as he
| thought over il. and it flashed upon
him that his wound there must have
smashed his memory out of his mind.
Then he remembered himself again as
Jack Adams, and he remembered Helene
Helene Lemure-growing from lovable
girlhood TO majestic wOmanhood. and
himself loving ber with all his heart and