The daily Alaskan., 1915-08-06
WHO COMES
 HERE?"
 By M QUAD CopyrIght. 1915, by the Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate.

all day long on the strangest battle field of the whole war-in the Wilder ness. From right to left flank, from front to rear, we were hemmed In by forest and thicket. There were swamps in which lizards and serpents lurked, thickets in which the coy whippoor- will built Its nest, dense spots of for est which seemed never to have echoed the ring of the woodman's aX.
 Post No. [ was under q large tree on the edge of Q thicket. It was lonely place. we'll away from the camps, the dead and the dying, but was glad to be alone. had been nearly an hour on the post without anything happen ing to alarm me, when l heard q per son moving in the thicket across the open strip.
 Rustic, rustic! Step, step! It was a cautious movement. Whoever 1t was hoped to reach me without discovery, but there were dead leaves underfoot, and the thicket was dense. A hare could not have moved without betray- ing its presence.
 "Who comes hereT
 There Is silence for fifteen seconds, and then a woman's voice answers:
 "I can't find the place! It's so dark can't find the placer
 Aye, it was q wOman's voice, and 1t had a sob in 1t, tOo-a woman there in the darkness between the hostile lines with powder smoke still in the air, with stray bullets darting through the thlckets with q whiz as of some great Insect stirred to anger.
 "Who comes here|
 'I wish 1t wasn't so dark! l am so tiredT'
 And then she comes across the open strip toward me, making no stop, neV- CT hesitating, walking straight up to me, as if she could see as well by night as in the sunshine of day.
 q can't find the placer! she sobbed as she came to a stop within arms length.
 Good God, woman, what are you do- ing here?" l gasped. almost terrified at her presence.
 "See! see!' she replied, holding a bundle out toward me. "One time l saw a beautiful spot in the woods and said to myself that if he died would bury him there, but I can't find it-I can't find itP'
 "What is 1t, woman2 What have you got there?
 See! See! Don't be afraid. He's dead. He can't speak or move. Take him."
 She put a bundle into my arms, and I cried out and let my musket fall. It was the body of baby about year and a half old Dead? Yes-dead from a cruel bullet which had pierced Its little body and left great wound, which looked horrible to me ill the dim light; dead and cold and bathed in it's own blood-dead for hours! And when I reached out and touched the shawl or wrap worn by the mother my fingers burned at the feel of blood!
 Was 1t your baby? Did you live in the cabin beyond the thicket?" l asked, still holding the little corpse.
 He was so happyw she said as she patted the little bare head with a motherIy hand. And was so hap py tool He won't ever laugh and crow again, will he? I've got to find that beautiful place and bury him, haven't I? And you'll help mel Yes; I know you will, for you don't swear and curse at me-"
 She had lost her mind. Think of it. an insane mother wandering over a bloody battlefield with her dead child in her arms! She had but one idea to bury 1t in dell which she had once visited and remarked Its beauty, a dell in which Federal and Confederate were doubtless then burying their own dead.
 knew not what to do. l could not leave my post, and did not want her to go wandering farther. l was trying to soothe and quiet the woman when she suddenly cried out:
 "Ah, it's not so dark now, and l can find the placeI I'll go on ahead and dig the grave, and you follow on with the baby. Poor babyI He won't know that he is buried, will he? l can find the place, and you
 Come back! Come backT called to her as she fled away in the dark ness, but she was 200 feet away as she answered me:
 "I'n find the place! Poor, poor babyw
 And when the relief came l told the story and pointed to the bundle rest ing on the ground beside me.
 God pity herr whispered the ser geant as he lifted his cap.
 God pity herr" echoed all the oth- CTS as they stood uncovered around the poor little corpse.
 Time meant human lives that night Grant was moving by the flank. Lee was moving by the flank to match him. The morrow was to witness moro slaughter - make thousands of other widows and orphans.
 Dig here" said the sergeant and