Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1916-10-18
Was 1t the
Guardian Angelo
b. r. A. mitchell

Percival and Arnold Stewart, broth
ers. enlisted when the pan-European
war broke out In regiment of tn
fantry and crossed the channel into
Belgium. That was when the Ger
mans were driving the allies south.
ward, aud it was expected that they
would drive right through Paris.
One evening. when the Germans
were pushing the allies toward Lille.
the regiment with which the Stewart
brothers served made stand The
Stewards we're In the same company
and fought shoulder to shoulder. Per.
cival was two years older than Arnold
and kept an eye on his brother. dread
ing every instant to see him fall to the
ground. Presently. true enough. wha,
he feared came TO pass. Arnold fell
literally torn to pieces by a bursting
shell
Maddened al the sight. Percival
pushed forward. but the stand of the
British was only temporary one. and
the order was given to fall back. The
young soldier, exasperated at not be
ting permitted to wreak his vengeance
on those who had killed his brother
refused to retreat end. remaining be-
bind. continued to FIRE at the enemy
But presently, seeing blood on one Of
his hands. he knew that he had been
hit and followed his comrades.
By this time darkness had fallen.
and Stewart saw the retreating Brit
ish line through the cleaning. They
were to make a lengthy retreat this
time. for the French were being push.
ed back rapidly. and the British. who
were on their flank. had a greater dis
lance than they 10 60 to keep the
alignment Percival was marching
some 800 yards behind them. The
enemy on that part OF the field had
thrown forward skirrn!shers to harass
their retreat
Percival trudged along. following the
men ahead Of him. at times trying to
catch up with them He had been
shot In the arm, but fortunately the
0NhS<s A11 Gtt eNSa tAA- tpt IA AAA,
case he would have bled to death
His mind was on the brother he had
lost and neither his condition nor his
surroundings engaged his attention.
Stragglers were hurrying past him.
and he was passing stragglers. The
former were in better condition than
he. and the latter were mostly more
severely wounded. But there was one
who neither seemed to gain nor lose on
PercivaL He was In Percivars rear
and couple of yards behind him How
Percival became conscious OF the mans
presence he did not know. for be heard
no sound coming from his follower He
was simply conscious that some one
was behind him Turning. be saw
through the darkness what appeared
TO lie person. Whether be was old or
young. soldier or citizen. Stewart could
not tell He only knew that some one
was there
The soldier trudged on. OF. rather.
staggered on. for by this time he was
very weak from loss Of blood Now
and again a bullet whistled past him.
sent by some skfrmisher. but none
came dangerously near him. Twice
during the retreat he looked back and
both times saw his shadower In the
same relative position as before. Once
when he turned fash from distant
cannon slightly increased his vision.
and he saw the person behind him q
trife more clearly.
For an instant there was fash Of
JOY In his heart. for from the glimpse
he got OF the persons face 1t seemed
TO be that OF his brother, Arnold. But
he had seen his brother blown to
atoms. and he knew this could not be-
Nevertheless. from the time of this In
Simultaneous view he became impressed
that there was some connection be-
tween this figure and Arnold
Presently. when the skirmish line
was passing so near the British line as
to harass them with scattered shots.
the Englishmen sent back small
force to drive back their followers
This line passed Percival, dashed In
among the German skirmishers and
drove them back upon their own main
force.
PercivaL who was now safe with his
own comrades. looked for the man who
had been trudgfng behind him. He had
vanished
On reaching the British lines Stewart
found himself among those who had
been near him on the retreat
"Who was the fellow behind your
asked a man who had Travelled near
him
Directly in my rearr
Yes"
Did you see any oner'
Il did. and he got between you and
German just In time to save you from
a bullet The German was about to fire,
but lowered his piece There wasn't