Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-09-08
BOOK III
copyrirh, W N. pobb..Merrm Company

CHAPTER ~
TIE PITCHED forward. ana was
i i quicker than Ensign shipp. set
him on my knees and the surgeon poured
little vatered brandy down his throat
Paul. l said to him.
stand backr ordered the surgeon. as
wcman followed their children, crowding
the room.
do you know him, JszarreT' asked
! croghsn.
ITS Madame de Ferrier's child"
mot the baby used TO see at De
chaumonts? What's he doing at Fort
Stephenson"
The women made up my bunk for Paul
and laid him In II. Each wanted to
take him to her care. The surgeon sent
them to the cookhouse to brew messes
for him and stripped the child. finding q
bullet wound In his side. Probing brought
nothing out, and l did not ask a single
question. The child should live. There
could be no thought Of anything else
While the surgeon dressed and bandaged
that small hole like a sucked-in mouth
saw the boy sitting on saddlebags be-
hind me, his arms clipping my whist,
while we threaded bowers OF horse paths
had not known how I wanted boy to
were so confident and full OF Jokes: they
had children behind theml
He was burning with fever His eyes
swan In II as he looked at me. He could
not eat when food was brought to him,
but begged for water, and the surgeon
allowed him what the women considered
reckless quantities. over stockades came
the August rustic Of the forest. Morning
bird voices succeeded TO the cannon's
reverberations.
The surgeon turned everybody out but
me, and looked in by times from his hos
pital OF British wounded / wiped the
boys forehead and gave him his medi.
cine, tanning him all day long. He lay
in stupur. and the surgeon said he was
going comfortably and would suffer little.
Once in awhile he turned up the corners
OF his mouth and smiled at me, as II the
opiate gave him blessed sensations.
asked the surgeon what l should do in
the night IL he came out Of II and wanted
to talk.
LET him talk" said the Doctor, briefly.
." Paurs little hands were scratched, and
there was a stone brulse on the heel he
pushed from cover OF the blankets. His
small body, compact of so much manli-
ness, was fine and sweet Though he
bore no resemblance to mis- mother, it
seemed to me that she lay there for me
W Atiut anu lHt SudhBS was iO hiOiS ga
astounding miracle than the change of
baby to boy.
l had him all that night for my OWL
putting every other thought out of mind
and absorbing his presence. His fore
head and his face lost their burning heat
with the GOODNESS of dawn, which blew
our shaded candle, flowing from miles
of fragrant oaks.
He awoke and looked all around the
cabin. ! tried TO put his opiate into his
mouth, but something restrained me.
held his hand to my check.
II like YOU" he spoke out. Don't
you think my mother is pretty?'
said 1 thought his mother was the
most beautiful woman in the world. He
curled up his mouth corners and gave
me blue-cycd smile.
MY father is not pretty. But he is a
gentleman of France"
Where are they, Paul7"
He turned a look upon me without an
swering.
Paul" said. brutally, tell me whert
your father and mother are"
He was SO far gone that my voice re-
called him. He simply knew me as a
voice and a presence that lie liked
with poor old Ernestine," he answered.
And where is poor old Ernestine?"
He began to shake as IL struck with a
chill. l drew the blanket closer.
Paul, you must tell me-"
He shook his head. His mouth worked
and his little breast went into convul-
sions.
He shrieked and threw himself toward
me. MY pretty little mother"
held him still in tight grip. MY
darling-don't start your wounds!
could have beaten myself but the
surgeon afterward told me the child was
dying when he came into the fort About
dawn, when mems Lives sink to their
lowest ebb with night, his sank away.
smoothed his head and kissed and quieted
him. Once he looked into space with
blurred eyes. and curled up his mouth
corners when / am sure he no longer
saw me.
Thus swiftly ended Pauls unaccount-
able appearance at the fort. Ii was like
the falling of slain bird out of the sky
at my feet. The women were tender with
his little body They cried over him as
they washed him for burial. The chill
dren went outside the stockade and
brought green boughs and August wild
flowers, bearing the early autumn colors
OF gold and scarlet. With these they
beddcd the child In his plank cof1n, un-
afraid OF his waxen sleep.
Before Croghan went TO report to his
General, he asked me where we should
bury the little fellow.
''In the fort, by the southern block
house. / answered. LET Fort Stephen
son be his monument. II will stand here
forever The woods around II will be
trampled by prowling savaSes. and later
on by prowling white men. Within, moth
ing will obliterate the place. Give a
little fellow a bed here, who died between
two countries, and win never be a cit
izen of either"
There the child's bones rest TO this day.
The town OF Fremont In the Common
wealth of Ohio has grown up around
them. Young children who climb the
grassy bastion, may walk above his head.
never guessing that a little gentleman NJ
France, who died like a soldier of his
wound. lies deeply Graded there.
Before throwing myself down in the
dead heaviness which results from con-
tinual loss OF sleep. questioned the
wounded British soldiers about Paul.
None OF them had ever seen him. straR-
Cling bands OF Indians continually toinsd
their force. captives were always a pos
sibility in the savage camp. Paul might
have been taken hundreds Of miles away.
But ! had the padlocked book, which
might tell the whole story. With des-
perate haste that could hardly wait 10
open the lids, took II out, wondering Al
the patience which long self-restraint had
bred In me. was very tired, ana
stretched my arms across the pillow
where Paul's head had lain, 70 rest ona
Instant But I must have slept, NV
hand woke hrst and feeling itself empty.
GRAINED At The hook II xgaa -. ...-s