Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1908-11-13

The sergeant,s shot.

/ of the year 1861 a soldier lay in a
clump of laurel by the side of road
in western Virginia. He lay ut full
upon his toes, his head upon his left
/ forearm. His extended right hand
loosely grasped his rifle But for the
somewhat methodical disposition of his
/ limbs and a slight rhythmic movement
+ of the cartridge box at the back of his
/ belt, he might have been thought to be
dead. He was asleep at his post of
4 duty. But, if detected, he would he
dead shortly afterward, that being the
/ penalty of his crime.
The clump of laurel in which the
! criminal lay was in the angle of a road
4 which, after ascending southwark
steep activity to that point, turned
! sharply TO the west, running along the
summit for perhaps 100 yards. There
/ ii turned southwark again and went
zigzagging downward through the for
/ est At the salient of that second an
/ gie was a large fiat rock iutting from
the river TO the northward. overlooking
the deep valley from which the road
assembled. The rock capped q high cliff
4 stone dropped from its outer edge
would have fallen sheer downward
| 1000 feet to the tops of the pines. The
angle where the soldier lay was on an
other spur of the same cliff Had he
been awake he would have commanded
view not only of the short arm of the
road and the jutting rock, but of the
entire profile of the cliff below it.
No country is so wild and difficult
but men will make it theater of war :
concealed in the forest at the bottom
of that military rat-trap, in which half
a hundred men In possession of the ex-
| its might have starved an army to sub
mission, lay five regiments of Federal
infantry. They had marched all the
| previous day and night and were rest
ing. At nightfall they would take to
the road again, climb To the place
where their unfaithful sentinel now
slept, and. descending the other slope
of the ridge fall upon camp of the
enemy 1T about midnight. Their hope
was to surprise it. for the road led to
the rear of it. In case of failure their
position would be perilous in the ex-
treme.
The sleeping sentinel in the burnh of
laurel was a young Virginian named
Carter Druse. He was the son OF
wealthy parents. an only child, and
had known such ease and cultivation
and high living as wealth ana taste
were able to command in the mountain
country of western Virginia. His home
was but few miles from where he
now lay, One morning he had risen
from the breakfast table and said
quietly: Father. Union regiment
has arrived at Grafton. ! am going
TO join IT,"
The father lifted his lconine head
looked mp at the son a moment IN ST.
lence, and replied: Go. Carter. and
whatever may occur. do what you con
ceive TO be your duty Virginia, t.
which you are traitor, must get on
without you. Should we both live to
|
Their of the matter. Your mother. as
the physician has informed you, in In
a most critical condition: at the best
she cannot be with us much longer
than a few weeks, but that time il
precious 1t would be better not t.
j disturb her"
SO Carter Druse, bowling reverently
to his father, who returned the salute
with n stately courtesy which masked
a breaking heart, left the home Of his
childhood to go soldering by con.
science and courage, by deeds Of devo.
ton and daring, he soon commended
himself to his fellows and his officers
and it was to these qualities and to
some knowledge of the country that he
owed his selection for his present per
ilous duty at the extreme outpogt New
. ertheless, fatigue had been stronger
. than resolution, and he had fallen
asleep What good or bad angel came
, In dream to rouse him from his state
OF crime who shall say? Without 4
movement. without a sound. In the pro
found silence and the languor OF the
late afternoon. some invisible messen
ger Of fate touched with unsealing fin
ger the eyes If his consciousness
whispered into the ear Of his spirit thu
mysterious awakening word which nc
, human lips have ever spoken no hu
man memory has ever recalled. liz
! quietly raised his forehead from hi.
, arm and looked between the masking
J stems of the laureIs, instlnctlyely clos
ing his right hand about the stock al
, his rifle.
His first feeling was keen artist,
delight On a colossal pedestal. tn,
elf, motioness at the extreme edge 81
: the Gaping rock and sharply outlined
J against the sky, was an equestrian
! statue OF impressive dignity. The fig
! ure Of the man sat the figure Of tn,
: horse, straight and soldierly. but Will
! the repose Of the Greclan god carved
In the marble which limits the sugges