Cruel As The Grave

"The chapel has not turned around, Lyon; but the sun has. It is late in

the afternoon, and that is the declining and not the rising sun that you

see."

"Good gracious, Sybil! Have I slept so late as this? Why did you let

me?"

"Because I slept myself; we all slept; even to Captain Pendleton, who

must have been overpowered by sleep on his way to his horse; for I have

just found him lying among the gravestones."

"What? Who? Pendleton asleep among the gravestones? Say that again. I

don't understand."

Sybil briefly repeated her statement.

Lyon started up, shook himself as if to arouse all his faculties, and

then went and douched his head and face with cold water, and finally, as

he dried them, he turned to Sybil and said: "What is all this that you tell me? Where is Pendleton? Come and show

me."

Sybil led the way to the spot where their friend lay in his heavy sleep.

"Good Heaven! He must have fallen down, or sunk down here, within three

minutes of leaving the church!" exclaimed Lyon Berners, gazing on the

sleeper.

"Something must have happened to us all, dear Lyon. Do you remember how

unreasonably gay we all were at supper last evening? We, too, who had

every reason to be very grave and even sad? And do you remember the

reaction? When we all grew so drowsy that we could hardly keep our eyes

open? And then there was something else, which I will tell you of by and

by. And now we have all slept fifteen or sixteen hours. Something

strange has happened to us, Lyon," said Sybil, slowly.

"Something has, indeed. But now we must arouse Pendleton. Good Heaven!

he may have caught his death by sleeping out all night," exclaimed Mr.

Berners, as he stooped down and shook the sleeper.

But it was not without difficulty that Lyon succeeded in arousing

Captain Pendleton, who, when he was fairly upon his feet, reeled like a

drunken man.

"Pendleton, Pendleton, wake up! What, man! what has happened to you?"

exclaimed Lyon, trying to steady the other upon his feet.

"Too late for roll-call. Bad example to the rank and file," murmured the

Captain, with some remnant of a camp-dream lingering in his mind.

Mr. Berners shook him roughly, while Sybil dipped up a double handful of

water from a little spring at their feet, and threw it up into his face.

This fairly aroused him.

"Whew-ew! Phiz! What's that for? What the demon's all this? What's the

matter?" he exclaimed, sneezing, coughing, and sputtering through the

water that Sybil had flung into his face.

"What's all this?" exclaimed Lyon Berners, echoing his question. "It is

that we are all robbed and murdered, and carried into captivity, for all

I know," he added, smiling, as he could not fail to do, at the droll

figure cut by his friend.