eeded in getting into a sitting posture, and
the Japanese soldier attending him awoke out of a doze only to find his
revolver in the American's hands. But it was too late, for a shot
resounded at the same moment. Lieutenant Esher had brought his weary
brain to rest; his head toppled over and landed hard on the rocky
ground.

Thus died a real hero, and those were hard times when men of stout heart
and iron courage were sorely needed.

* * * * *

Opposite Hilgard, the center of the enemy's position in the Blue
Mountains, trenches had been thrown up, and the 28th Militia Regiment
had occupied them in the night of August 13th-14th. The Japanese were
apparently not aware of their presence, as the regiment had taken no
part in the fighting on the fourteenth. On the evening of the same day,
the 32d Regiment was pushed forward to the same position, while the
searchlights were playing over the plain and on the mountain sides, and
dazzling the eyes of the sentries who were keeping a sharp lookout for
the enemy from various ambushes. And whenever the beam of light landed
on dark shadows, which jumped quickly aside, flames shot out on the
opposite side and flashes of fire from bursting shrapnel drew trembling
streaks across the sky and lighted up the immediate neighborhood.

The wires which connected the headquarters with all the sentries and
outposts vibrated perpetually with the thoughts and commands of a single
individual, who managed this whole apparatus from a little schoolroom in
Baker City far behind the front, allowing himself scarcely a moment for
much-needed night-rest.

The 28th Regiment had thrown up trenches the height of a man in the hard
ground opposite the little town of Hilgard on the night of August
13th-14th. Now a company of pioneers was busy widening them and building
stands for the troops where they would be safe from splinters, for it
was highly probable that the assault on Hilgard would be undertaken
from here on the following evening. The covering for these stands was
made of thick boards and planks taken from a saw-mill near by, and over
these the dug up earth was spread. The enemy's attention seemed to be
directed elsewhere, for the reflections from the searchlights were
continually crossing one another over to the right. In this direction
music could be distinctly heard coming from Longworth's Division--a
lively march waking the echoes of the night with its clear full