The daily Alaskan., 1905-10-16
Fear of the Night

N
 away. Some bushwhacker may try to steal upon you, but there's not much chance of 1t. Don't get nervous and fire your musket in the air or call out. Don't shoot unless you see a man and unless that man is creeping up on you"
 No man knows whether he Is brave until he has been tested. Sometimes the test is not a fair one. It was not fair to test Williams bravery in this way. In a quarrel by daylight with a single man into whose eyes he could have looked he would have fought hard and had no fear in his heart.
 There was plenty for Williams to think of, and for a time he did not real ize the IonesOmeness of his position. Then 1t came with a long drawn gust which swept through the trees and left sort of wall in it's wake. The wall sounded like the sighs of a thousand wounded men lying on battlefield in the darkness, and 1t struck chord in the heart of the man gripping hls mus kct and peerlng about him. The bab- ble of the creek had had a Cheery sound at first. Up home on the old farm there was a creek that babbled just that way. He had gone down and bidden 1t goOdby before coming away. After that long gust of wind the creek seem- ed to change its notes, however. It scolded and complained. It fumed and fretted. It seemed to tell a story of a battle and Of a thousand men crawling down to drink of its waters and turn them to crimson.
 There was no walking to and fro. The man on post must simply stand there in the deep shadow under the beech tree and peer and listen and think and feel his nerves gradually be- coming raw. At the end of three-quar- ters of an hour the recruit felt his teeth clicking together. In scorn and indignation he gave himself a blow on the chin and forced his thoughts back homeward.
 What's that!'
 It was only coon or possum scam- pering over the dead leaves, but the noise was near by and sounded so like the footsteps of a man that the recruit felt hls heart freeze within him. By and by the animal uttered a sQueal and ran away and then be knew what 1t was, but be was all of q tremble and the sweat starting out oh hands and forehead. He sat down under his trem- bling legs and fought himself. A thousand recruits have done that same thing. but only q few have conquered. Let his nerves get the better of him in the lonely darkness, and his will must be of iron to chase away his fears. Imagination gets in its work after the first fright. Williams had no thought of running away. He could not have done so had he wished. The wind came again, telling of death and wounds and lone graves never to be resurreCted for all time. The coOns and possums rustled about, believing that he was asleep or had stolen away, and now and then a branch of tree sawed against another with mournful sound.
 Something stumbled along on the op- posite bank of the creek. It was only a sore backed horse which had been turned adrift from one of the armies as not worth the cost of the cartridge to shoot him, and the animal was browsing at the twigs and seeking to get down the bank to the water. To the recruit, crouching on his post, it was a bushwhacker prOwling about and trying to locate him and drive a knife to his heart. There were the fall ing of dead limbs, the rustic of dead leaves, the half moan, half sigh, high up among the treetops. A year later he would not have paid heed to one of these things, or, if be had, he would have reasoned them to a cause in fash
 They are creeping up on me-they are closing in-they mean to murder mer moaned the recruit as he hugged the ground and threw the cape of his overcoat over his head, as if that was a protection against bullet or bayOnet.
 After that he had no will. A child could have crept upon him and led him away captive. He wept and prayed. He groveled and moaned. A rabbit crept close to see what manner of thing that was on the ground, and, hearing long drawn sobs, the timid animal scurried away and wondered that 1t reached It's burrow without pursuit. The horse drank its fll and lay down with a groan. It had an intuition that some human being was near by, but !t would avoid rather than seek the pres ence of man and his inhuman ways. AS the minutes dragged along there were more groanings from the saving limbs, more gusts with their tales of war and suffering, more scattering and scurrying over the dead leaves. And a man and a soldier lay huddled up on the cold earth and listened and shiv- cred and wept and moaned. When the two hours had dragged themselves away the corporal came again with his relief.
 williams! Williamsr' be softly call ed as he reached the post.
 No answer.
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