The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1908-11-19

concealeu IOeman-Seemed 10 look into
his very face, into his eyes, int5 his
brave compassionate heart.
Is it. then. so terrible to kill an enc
my in war-an enemy who has sur
prised secret vital TO the safety of
ones self ard comrades--a enemy
more formidable for his knowledge
than all his army for its numbers Car
ter Druse grew deathly pale; he Shook
in every limb; he turned faint, and saw
the statuesque group before him as
black figures, rising, falling, moving
Gnsteadily in arcs of circles in a fiery
SKY. His hand fell away from his
weapon, his head slowly dropped I'M
til his head rested on the leaves in
which he lay. This courageous gentle
man and hardy soldier was nearly
swooning from intensity Of emotion.
1t was not for long; anocler moment
his face was raised from the earth, his
hands resumed their place on the rifle.
his forefinger sought the trigger; mind,
heart and eyes were clear, conscience
and reason sound. He could not hope
to capture that enemy; to alarm him
would be to send him dashing into his
camp with his fatal news. The duty
of the soldier was plain-the man must
be shot dead from ambush-without
warning. without a moments spiritual
preparation, with never so much as an
unspoken prayer be must be sent TO his
account But, no--there is hope; he
may have discovered neutrality-suspicious.
he Is but admiring the sublimity of
the landscape If permitted, he may
turn and ride carelessly away in the
direction whence he came. Surely 1t
viii be possible TO judge a. the instant
of his Withdrawing whether he knows.
1t may well be that his fixity o. atten-
tton-Druse turned his head and look
ed below, through the deeps of air
downward, as from the surface TO the
bottom of a translucent sea. He saw
creeping across the green moo low q
sinuous line of figures of men and
horses-some foolish commander was
permitting the soldiers to water their
beasts in plain view Of hundred sum-
mits,
Druse withdrew his eyes from the
valley and fixed them again upon the
group of man and horse in the sky, and
again it was through the sight of his
rifle. BY this time the asm was at the
horse. In his memory, as ii tLey were
a divine mandate, rang the words of
his father at parting: Whatever may
occur, do what you conceive to be your
duty" He was calm now. His teeth
were firmly but not rigidly closed; his
nerves were as tranquil as sleeping
babe's-not tremor affected any mus
Gle of his body; bis breathing, until
suspended in the act OF taking aim.
was regular and slow. Duty had con-
quered; spirit had said TO the body
Peace, be STILL" lie fred.
At that moment an officer of the Fed
eral force, who. in a spirit OF adventure
or in quest of knowledge, had left the
hidden biyouac in the valley, and, with
aimless feet had made his way to the
lower edge of small open space near
the foot of the cliff, was considering
what he had to gain by pushing his
exploration further As Il distance of
n quarter mile before him, but appar-
emily at a stones throw, rose from its
fringe of pines the gigantic face of
rock, towering to SO great a height
above him that 1t made him giddy to
look up to where its edge cut a sharp.
rugged line against the sky At some
distance away to his right it presented
a clean, vertical profile against back
ground of blue sky to a point half of
the way down, and of distant hills
hardly less blue, thence to the tops of
teh trees at its base. Lifting his eyes
to the dizzy altitude of its summit. the
officer saw an astonishing sight-a man
on horseback riding down into the val
ley through the air.
Straight upright sat the rider. In
military fashion, with firm seat in
the saddle, strong clutch upon the
rein TO hold his charger from too I'm
petuous a plunge. From his bare head
his long hair streamed upward, way
ing like a plume. His right hand was
concealed in the cloud of the horses
lifted name. The animals body was as
level as if every hoof-stroke encoun-
tered the resistant earth. Its motions
were those Of wild gallop, but even
as the officer looked they ceased. with
all the legs thrown sharply forward
as In the act Of alighting from leap.
But this was q flight
Filled with amazement and terror
by this apparation of a horseman in
the sky-half believing himself the
chosen scribe of some new apocalypse,
the officer was overcome by the inten-
sity of his emotions, his legs failed him
and he fell. Almost at the same in
slant he heard crashing sound in the
trees--a sound that dies without IN
echo, and all was still.
After firing his shot Private Carter
Druse reloaded his rife and resumed
his watch. Ten minutes had hardly
elapsed when a Federal sergeant crept
cautiously to him
did you fire." the sergeant wills
pered.
Yes
AT what"
"A horse. 1t was standing on yonder
rock, pretty far out. 1t Is no longer
there. 1t went over the cliff"
''See here, Druse," the sergeant said.
after silence, ''it's no use making
mystery. Eorder you TO report. Was
there anybody on the horse"
Yes
"Whof"
My father"
The sergeant rose to his feet and
walked away. Good God" he said
Chicago Chronicle.