The daily Alaskan., 1907-01-11
STORY OF A
 BLOCK HOUSE

] obliged to protect long lines of rail road over which they received theij supplies. The vulnerable points wer
 the bridges. near which the bluecoat built blockhOuseS similar to those useC ! by our ancestors 10 defend themselves | against Indians.
 One afternoon force of Confederate cavalry attacked one of these posts. The blockhouSe was built on the riy CT bank at the north entrance of the bridge, the rear being protected by the river. running some forty feet below A single company commanded by captain constituted the bridge guard From his loopholes he surveyed the ConfederateS. who. diSmOunted, were advancing in line of battle, and his heart sank within him at seeing q force three times that of his own, Fortunately they had no artillery. while the Union troops had two small how, itzerS.
 Time and again the sOutherners as. Saulted, and every time they were driven of. But at last the defenders. who had been for a week begging for q new supply of ammunition, saw that within a few hours what powder and ball they had would be exhausted.
 There was n boy in the command who had run away from home and enlisted at the age ot fifteen He was fond of the water. and his captain had noticed him often rowing Skiff he had pressed into his own service Taking the boy o a back opening. the captain said to
 i'm;
 Go to your skin; pull down the river 70 where it is crossed by the bridge next below. There you will find three companies. You must row around the bend but re-enfOrcements can cut across and reach Us within half an hour. Tell the commanding officer to come at once or We will lose the bridge"
 But will not the enemy see me and pick me otr:'
 You can hug this shore till you get down to tue bend. when you must pull across to the point on the other bank. For i've minutes you will he exposed to their fire. and there are nine chances in ten that they will hit you"
 "I sec
 Catching up a rope. the captain low cred tue boy tu a point some ten feet below. where le struck steep path leading down to the waters edge The captain saw him get into his boat. but lost him at once under tue over hanging trees. Then he waited breath. lesSly till the skin shot out from the oauk's protection To make the turn h he river scarcely had The boy ap. Deared thlu bits oJ spray broke all about him. bullet taps un the wafer.
 Hes halfway over" exclaimed tue captain. talking to himself Su loud that he could be heard above the cracking of rifles. But they're getting his range. Heavens. Hes hit No; only scratched. Hes at il again Good Lord. There goc> an oar lies luSt. He cant pull with ole oar. And the lrm has been hit. Hes biudju%>it up with his handkerchief. By thunder he's padilnG. some of the shots are beginning to fall short. Hit again, It's al up with him. No: hes on his knees again paddIiug for dear life. Twenty more strokes, and hell hr be. hind the point. There he goes. EIur raL,'
 Then tha captain ran to the front oT the blocEhouSc to >er a long brown. dusty looking line advancing for an other attack.
 ",iivr il tr rru. hoy~." he said. "If We can keep 'rm orr for an hour the bridge Fl br saved. and we'll escape a southern prison"
 Thr attack wa> rrpul>rl. but when the next one was made lhr I.nioniSts saw something that made their hlOoh run cold. A single man appeared roll. ing bale If hay. It was. to set on fro and burn ,hr blockhuu~c. He was partially protected by his bale and diff tirult to reach with a bullet. Directly behind him waS another man rolling another bale. Then a thirl and a ;ourth-iud"cl. d long lnr-cHrh man roIling his bale The Union sBIrpShoot ,rS picked of the first mau and the second. The third pushed on. The fourth fell. The urih fell The sixth ;eemeI to bear charmed life and with the third was getting dangerously near he blockhouse. The hay rollers came 90 f4st that. though more than three quarters of them were put out of the ace, number were now within twen- tr wards. and one man hud come so near that no rifle could reach him. He vas cutting th" ropes that held the hay together. Thea comrade left his own balc and joined him.
 The captain strained his eyes across the bridge and saw the head of a col umn Of bluecoats coming on trOt.
 Water" he shouted. Some of you men 90 down to the river in the rear md get water in your CanteenS, There was little else for the purpose.l If VIC can keep the flames or for few min utes we'll save the fort.
 But there was no need of water. The