ay consider a hecatomb necessary
for a cause, he regards one life sacrificed unnecessarily, as _murder_.
"Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm, is all unfit to live!" says one
of the old poet-philosophers. And are worms therefore never to be
trodden upon? Not so, by any means! The adverbial adjective "needlessly"
explains the broad distinction. Not one worm, even the creeping,
crawling and disgusting caterpillar, for cruelty or even for neglect:
millions of worms, whether caterpillar or human worm of the dust, for a
sacred cause and a great duty!

"Yes, come on around the house. The heat is not so great now, and we
_must_ see if there is anything living here," was the reply of Webster
to the last suggestion of Crawford; and they at once followed the yard
as closely round as the burning ruins would permit. They heard no
repetition of the sound; nor could they see any sign of human life.
Behind the house, hillward, stood a small barn and stables, while a
wood-shed and some other small outbuildings stood on the eastern side of
the enclosure. These had been nearly connected with the house by board
fences, and in two places those fences had taken fire and threatened to
carry the flames to the other buildings. But the evening had been calm,
and the fire had not run many yards along the fences before it became
extinguished for want of compelling wind and quick fuel.

A proposition from Webster that they should search the outbuildings for
the source of the cry, was negatived by Crawford, who thought it very
likely, after all his previous confidence, that some of the Confederate
troops, who had certainly held the woods at one time during the day,
might be located in the barn--not dangerous, perhaps, if undisturbed,
but very likely to be troublesome if two soldiers, one with one arm and
both on a very blind errand, should go stumbling about in the dark too
miscellaneously.

"Well," said Webster, "no doubt you are right, Jack, as you almost
always are. In that case we have nothing to do but to get back to camp
and look a little more closely after that shivered arm of yours, for
there is certainly no one near the edge of the fire."

"Hark!" said Crawford, as they started to retrace their stops around the
house, and move away. They were within a few steps of what appeared to
be a wood-shed, standing on the east side of the enclosure, and some
forty or fifty feet from the house. "Hark!"

"Well, what is it? I heard nothing!" said