The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-04-15

smiths hammer upon the anvil; 1t mad
the same ringing quality. He wonder
ed what it was, and whether immeas-
urably distant or near by-it seemed
both It's recurrence was regular, but
as slow as the tolling of death knell.
He awaited each stroke with impa-
thence and-he knew not Why-appre-
hension The intervals of silence grew
progressively longer; the delays be-
came maddening. With their greater
infrequency the sounds increased in
strength and sharpness. They hurt
his ear like the thrust of knife; he
feared he should Shrek. What he
heard was the ticking of his watch.
He Enclosed his eyes and saw again
the water below him. If l could free
my hands, he thought, L might throw
off the moose and spring into the
stream. BY diving 1 could evade the
bullets, and, swimming vigorously,
reach the bank, take to the woods, and
get away home. My home. thank God,
is as yet outside their lines; my wife
and little ones are still beyond the sin-
vader's farthest advance
AS these thoughts, which have here
to be set down in words, We're flashed
into the doomed mans brain rather
than evolved from it, the captain nod
/ ded to the sergeant. The sergeant
/ stepped aside
| Peyton Farquhar was a we'll do
planter, of an old and highly respected
Alabama family. Being a slave owner,
and, like other slave owners, a politi-
clan, he was naturally an original
| GO sci ,ic,f n n,
the Southern cause. Circumstances of
an imperious nature. which it is I'M
necessary to relate here, had prevented
him from taking service with the gall
liant army which had fought the dis
astrous campaign ending with the fall
of Corinth, and he chafed under the
! inglorious restraint, longing for the re-
| lease of his energies, the larger life
, of the soldier, the opportunity for dis
/ tinction. That opportunity, he felt,
would come, as it comes to all in war
time. Meanwhile he did what he could.
No service was too humble for him to
perform in aid of the South, no adj
venture too perilous for him to under
take if consistent with the character
of a civilian who was at heart a SOL
dier, and who in good faith and without
least a part of the frankly villainous
dictum that all is fair in love and war.
One evening while Farquhar and his
wife We're sitting on a rustic bench
near the entrance to his grounds,
gray-clad soldier rode up to the gate
and asked for a drink of water. Mrs
Farquhar was only too happy to serve
him with her own white hands. While
she was gone to fetch the water her
husband approached the dusty horse
man and inquired eagerly for news
from the front.
THE Yanks are repairing the rail-
roads, said the man, land are getting
ready for another advance They have
reached the Owl Creek bridge, put it
in order, and built a stockade on the
north bank. The commandant has is
sued an order, which is posted every
where. declaring that any civilian
caught interfering with the railroad,
its bridges, tunnels, or trains, will be
summarily hanged. I saw the order"
How far is it to the Owl Creek
bridge?" Farquhar asked
About thirty miles,
rs there no force on this side the
creek?"
Only picket post half mile out.
on the railroad, and a single sentinel
at this end of the bridge"
suppose a mana civilian and stu
dent of hanging-should elude the
pic.et post and perhaps get the better
the of sentinel said Farquhar, smiling
what could he accomplish"
The soldier reflected 4 was there
a month ago" he replied. Il observ-
ed that the flood of last winter had
lodged great quantity of driftwood
against the wooden pier at this end