The daily Alaskan., 1915-08-10
WHO COMES HERE?"
 By M. QUAD Copyright, 1915, by the Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate.

u4lGIu1t " It'll AAG ANhLA slEaAlr
 Advance one and give the counter, sign"
 It was the relief going the rounds to change the pickets, and I was dropped out at post No. '. We had fought Lee 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 uX.
 Post No. ' was under a large tree on the edge of thicket. It was u lonely place, we'll away from the camps, the dead and the dying, but l was glad to be alone. l had been nearly an hour on the post without anything happen ing to alarm me, when l heard a per son moving In the thicket across the open strip.
 Rustic, rustic! Step, step! 1t was a cautious movement. Whoever it was hoped to reach me without discovery, but there were dead leaves underfoot, and the thlcket was dense. A hare could not have moved without bctray- ing its presence.
 "WhO comes herG|
 There Is silence for fifteen seconds, and then womans voice answers:
 'I can't find the place! It's so dark I can't find the pIacew
 Aye, it was a woman's voice, and It had q 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 thickets with q whiz as of some great insect stirred to anger
 "Who comes here"
 q wish 1t wasn't so dark! I am so tiredw
 And then she comes across the open strip toward me, making no stop, ncy- 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 place" she sObbed as she came to a stop within arms | length.
 Good God, woman, what are you do- ing here2" gaspcd almost terrified at her presence.
 "Sce! Scc!" she replied, holding a bundle out toward me. "One time l saw beautiful spot in the woods and said to myself that if he died would bury him there, but l can't find it-I can't find it!'
 "What is 1t, woman? What have you got there?"
 "See See! Don't be afraid. He's dead. He can't speak or move. Take him."
 She put q bundle into my arms, and I cried out and let my muskct fall It was the body of q baby about year and q half old. Dead? Yes-dgad from a cruel bullet which had pierced | its little body and left a great wound, which looked horrible to me in the dim light; dead and cold and bathed in its own blOod-dcad 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 thickCt| asked, still holding the little corpse.
 "He was so happyp she said as she patted the little bare head with a motherly hand. And I was so hap py too! He won't ever laugh and crow again, will he? I've got to find that beautiful place and bury him, haven't I2 And you'll help mel Iesi 1 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 it in dell which she had once visited and remarked its beauty, dell in which Federal and Confederate were doubtless then bulying their own dead
 knew not what to do. l could not leave my post, and l 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 place! I'll go on ahead and dig the grave, and you follow on with the baby. Poor baby! He won't know that he is buried, will he? l can find the place, and you'-
 Come backI Come back" l called to her as she fled away ill the dark ness, but she was 200 feet away as she answered me:
 "Tu find the place! Poor, pooI babyP'
 And when the relief came I told the story and pointed to the bundle rest ing on the ground beside me.
 "God pity her." whispered the ser geant as he lifted his cap. l uC.d ,,i4-, borIp ocb0a5 oil +1a Of