The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1906-06-01
Behind the Sweet Peas
A STORY OF GRIM WAR
BY DAVID LOWRY.

oven. landing there. she strove to .,e-
sum her self-command. The clalnor OF
oat1le nlled the summer air.
infantry cavalry, artillery, swarmed
oWer the open space back of the woods.
lhey occupied all the ground; a vast
multitude blurred the slope. And
away below her a long, thin line of
ialht piue stretched far beyond the viii
rage. The line moved. but it re-
manned u~nbroken. 1t passed. fences,
swept through orchards. crossed the
run. us movements reminded the wild
ow or the ripple a strong breeze makes
IN growing grass. The blue line seemed
TO bow gracefully here and there as
grass dips and lifts it's head again,
Ihere was a faint simmer in the blue
line. AS 1t came nearer, it, too, paused
near q road behind a fence. Then 1t
tipped with fire. The sharp rattle Of
ears.
From that moment on the air vas
flled, the Widows ears were deafened,
with the merciless rain of lead and iron
that poured steadily. INCREASINGLY,
all that afternoon upon the ranks of
men sWaying, advancing and retreat
ING as they commended eel four miles
VI yum llldl OIdIh lIClCZ DlOOO
greedily.
Out of the dimness and vagueness Of
confused masses twisting in tangled
lines wherever she looked the widow
slowly discerned a stream of wagons re-
turning with the federal wounded. They
moved slowly at first: SO slow that the
road became blocked. Then the cries
n oaths of the suffering, the awful
groans and means of the dying drove
the widow into the farthest part of her
spring house in an ecstacy Of fear and
horror.
! Put the imagination Of a terror
stricken woman is greater than con-
temptation Of actual suffering. Soon
the widow emerged from the spring
as it was, Gods beautiful earth,
blasted, torn ruthlessly as it was by
wicked men, was a blessed relief from
the sensations she experienced While
seeking refuge in the earth.
SO, standing there in the door OF her
spring house with the eve ending
chill of fear at her heart now the Wild
ow Lacy looked and listened like one
in q day dream more frightful than a
nightmare.
She could hear ard distinguish voices
now as question n answer followed.
Vague apprehensions of defeat COM
municated themselves to the throng Of
iAS VII ~ 1OI0Moy 1lCdI llCl
house. A single expression aroused
her-"Battery B." With strained ear
she hung on the response that followed.
Captain Lacy's battery will be here
in an hour. Our orders are to remain
here and support him."
rs Lacy all right?"
The widow clinched her hands. Oh,
for the strength to pierce that crowd of
men n horses.
II was all right fifteen minutes
ago"
Jack-her son Jack was alive!
Suddenly q cannon shot fairly cut its
way through the throng, leaving
quivering mass lying on the ground
where sturdy. braYe men stood a mo-
ment before.
The widow was shading her eyes
with her hands trying to Danish the
horrible vision when the earth trem-
bled under the oun of horses hoofs,
and a battery crossed the slope like a
whirlwind. to be checked behind her
bank of sweet peas.
An officer rode rapidly along the edge
of the broad road. The way was now
clear. What eXpostulations and plead
ing and threats has failed to accom-
plish was accomplished only too we'll by
the shot that manned and killed scores.
The distance was not great. The Wild
ow beheld her son.
While the horses paved and snorted
the battery that had leaped up the hill
behind the sweet peas as IL sped there
by Jove sent shell after she'll into h
very midst of the ~confederates.
But long before the earth rocked I'M
der Battery B the Widows flying feet
carried her swiftly toward her son. A
trailing ine-or was it a rein?-caught
her foot. and she stumbled and fell.
When h sat up and looked around
her, she was shielded by a huge bowl
der. Its gray face rose out of the TN
erald green sward like a wall, behind
which she now covered, trembling.
quivering in every nerve.
The tops of distant hills were all
crowned with batteries. In every di-
rection as far as the eye could reach
the woods were f1ecked with flashes.
They leaped from the haze of low lying
slnokelike lightning. Straight across
great fields long lines of men moved un-
tied fire. Then The lines wavered,
swayed uncertainty and disappeared in
the woods from which they had
emerged.
They came out of the woods in even
lines; they sought cover again in rag
ged, disordered masses. Sometimes
they came again, advanced, were
torn apart and melted away in a haze.
The battle ragged all around her. AS
far as the eye could see the flash and
sound of bursting shells met the eye
and smote the ear. Gazing now Wild
eyed at the rain OF missiles tina filled
the air, shrinking, clinging to the rock
in the midst of hat chaos of terror
spreading sound unparalleled in his
tory, the widow stared as one >ho
saw not. who heard not; like one to
whom all sounds were a terror.
The struggle had been in progress
five mortal hours when a mass of men
and horses emerged from a fringe Of
woods just below her. The guns near
the Widows house belched fire, the
mass of men and horses advanced
steadily. Another and another mass
came after them until the entire slope
was covered. An arc Of fire from the
batteries above them smote the seeth-
ing. surging waves of humanity; men
and animals dashed against each other
in wild dismay, and the declining sun,
seen through a veil of smoke, seemed to
hang motionless in the west as the wa
vering. mutilated lines Of assault faded
away in a mist.
Then a silence, a grim silence as
fearful as the uproar of all the battle
sounds, fell IN tho scene The stiffness
was oppressive. Birds notes were
hushed, the shrilling of insects ceased.
All the earth was as silent as a burned