One of the Missing is based on a federal sniper named Jerome Searing, who is trapped under a collapsed outpost, staring down the barrel of his own gun which is apparently cocked.
Bierce gives us a realistic description of Searings strengths and weaknesses. We are told that he is ‘an incomparable marksman, young, hardy, intelligent and insensible to fear.’ Unlike Farquhar he has joined the army but their missions are similar; as he does ‘not serve in the ranks’ but ‘he may perform services for which no provision is made in orders and army regulations.
At the beginning of the story Searing is sent out to spy on the movements of the confederate army. We get a strong sense the he is in his element as he stealthily crept through the forest. This is emphasised by the effective simile ‘his pulse was as regular, his nerves were as steady as if he was trying to trap a sparrow.’ Bierce is also realistic in how he portrays Searing’s callousness. This is shown when he considers firing on the retreating confederates, calculating ‘where he could plant his shot with the best hope of making a widow or an orphan or a childless mother – perhaps all 3.’ Later in the story when he is trapped under the debris of the outpost, he is again shown to be insensitive as he recollects, with some amusement an occasion when ‘in a moment of mental abstraction he had clubbed his rifle and beaten out another gentleman’s brains.’ These references give us a realistic view of Searings outlook and attitude. We are also told that he is someone who thinks that it is the ‘business of a soldier to kill’ and feels that for a good soldier killing should be a ‘habit’. This reminds us of the attitudes of the federal soldiers in An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge although it is probably fair to say that these soldiers are more neutral and less callous than Searing. Once again Bierce emphasises the extent to which war can destroy someone’s humanity.
