Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1910-01-19

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Plunging his arm into the sack, he
drew out the United States flag. At
sight Of this the corporal shouted,
"Spies-traitorsr' and danced about
wildly.
1t was useless for us to try to ex-
plain to the Infatuated man, and. to
tell the truth. we were too badly
frightened to give good account Of
ourselves.
I'm going to carry you to General
Beauregard's headquarters" the cor.
poral said. "and you'll be shot as
Spies"
We believed him. 1t was not, there
fore, with very good spirits that we
started on our march to General Beau
regards headquarters.
We wished to throw our sacks away,
but our captors would not allow 1t, 90
we plodded along, our loads on our
backs and the corporal constantly
threatening to thrash US for our allow.
ness.
We turned out Of the turnpike into a
crossroad. l ventured to ask how far
General Beauregard's headquarters
were and received cur on the side OF
the head from the corporal. asked
the other soldier II he would not carry
my sack behind him on his horses
back little way. believe he would
have done so If the corporal had not
forbidden 1t.
Just as we reached the top Of a long
hill and was about to drop from ia
dgue / saw that we were near our
journeys end. In front of us was
large building which before the days
Of railroads had been roadside inn.
Two guards slowly marched back and
forth before the tumbledown steps
that led to the porch, which extended
across the front Of the house and
which was now crowded with sol
diers. apparently couriers and order
lies.
As we reached the porch the soldiers
began to rally the corporal upon his
"baby prisoners" He made no reply.
but stalked pompously through the
open door after instructing his com
panl0n TO hold us.
This was a useless instruction. We
needed no holding except as we were
receiving from the floor Of the porch
upon which we had fallen completely
exhausted and where we remained I'M
til the corporal came out to summon
US to the presence Of General Beaure
gard.
Bring the Sacks" yelled the corpo-
raj as we started In without them.
am certain that no murderers ever
went to receive sentence Of death with
weaker knees than we had as we were
pushed into the presence Of General
Beauregard.
1 had my eyes shut, but opened
them when heard low, kindly voice
saying, well, my boys, what Is the
| troubleT
/ saw seated at little pine table n
dapper little man In a gray uniform.
with small mustache and imperial and
kind looking brown eyes. He was
smiling straight into my eyes, and be-
| fore l knew what I was doing l was
smiling, too, and thinking that our
lives were safe In the hands Of man
who could smile like that.
Behind the general several men were
busily engaged in writing, and scat
tered around the room were officers
whom I took to be members Of the
staff
Every one was smiling In the pleas
ATTEST way. In fact, the only i'll ma
tured man In the room was the cor
poral who had brought US in.
"Well, WELL" the general repeated,
"what Is the trouble?"
| The corporal began to answer, but
| the general said: Il have had your
story. Now / want the boys side"
| Jack was much encouraged. He STEP
ped forward and told a straightfor-
ward story Of the way In which we
had been arrested and Of the cor.
porals brutal treatment of us.
Shameful said the general as he
looked at the corporal with angry
eyes. Then, turning to Jack again, be
said kindly, "Now tell me where you
| got the flag and other things"
I'VE got them from General Buffers
abandoned camp on Shippers farm =
said Jack promptly.
what! Are you telling the TRUTH
excitedly asked the general as he
jumped up and walked around to
where we were standing. At the same
time the room was filed with the
sound Of rafting swords as the officers
approached.
Eyes, sir, l am telling the truth"
Jack answered proudly, looking the
general straight in the eyes. Contin-
uing, he told the whole story from be-
ginning to end, not forgetting the din
ner we had eaten In General Buffers
Kitchen tent.
General Beauregard held whisper
ed consultation with the officers pres
ent, and they soon hurried out. Turn
ing to the corporal, the general said:
''In view Of the important information