Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1845-04-03

ed on my horse to pursue 1t. Inc deer
had staggered a. my fire, but was not
so badly wounded as ] supposed, and
led me off, until it suddenly occurred
to me that | might get lost, and |
reined up; but | soon found that this
sober second thought had come too
late; and that | was already out OF my
latitude. / wandered about nearly all
day, though taking care not to 60 very
far in any one direction, before came
across anything which promised to set
| me right again. lat last came upon
Wagon trail, and felt relieved, for
knew it must take me to some point
where ! could get information. The
trail was narrow, leading through scrub
by thckets; and l was riding along
slowly, looking down, in the hope of
detecting the tracks of some of your
horses, when the violent shy ingeof my
horse caused me to raise my eyes
And, by George! it was enough to have
'stampeded' regiment of horse! On
the left of the trail stood a very tall
skeleton-like figure, dressed in skins;
one foot advanced, as if he had stopp
ed in the act of stepping across it, ard
a long heavy gun, just swinging down
to the level, bearing on me. Ofcourse
my heart leaped into my throat, and my
flesh shrank and crept. Before | could
think Of raising my gun, my eyes met
those of this strange !igure;and such
eyes, Surprise at their cold,unnatural
expression, suspended my action, bur-
ming with chill singular brilliancy,
in deep-sunken sockets, they looked as
if they never had winked. Dwelling
steadily upon my face for a moment,
they seemed to be satisfied, and the
gun was slowly thrown back upon his
shoulders; and plucking at along girls
ly beard, with an impatient gesture
with his bony hands, the figure made
a stride across the trail, and without
speaking word plunged into the
thicket. | was soconfounded by this
curious dumb show, that he was near
" concealed in the brush before |
found my tongue to shout to him to
stop; but he kept on, not even turning
his head. Twas provoked, and spurred
my horse in after him, as far as | could
penetrate, but he kept on, and | lost
sight of him in moment, and whether
he can talk at all or not is more than |
can tell"
"Did you look at his feet, Henry"
interrupted one ofthe party. 81 ex-
pect it was old
'Never mind what you expect
hear me out" he continued. 81 fol-
lowed the trail, which wound about, it
seemed to me, towards all the points
Of the compass, for an hour or more;
when at last it led me out into prai-
RE, which thought recognized. |
stopped, and was looking around to
make out the landmarks, when horse
with saddle on burst from the woods |
behind me, and tore off across the prai-
RE, as If he too had seen the devil"
"What color was hei" exclaimed
half-a-dozen voices in breath.
s'He was too far off for meto distin-
guish more than that he was a dark
horse-say about as much so as mine.
| could distinguish the pummel Of the
saddle and the stirrups hying!"
'sStoner's horse was a dark bay,''
was ouzzed around the table, each look
ing seriously in the neighbours face.
"Yes!" said the Squire, rising and
stepping uneasily to the window
Stoner's horse was 2 good deal Ike
yours; he must have got away from
him, and that is what detains him
But then the nag was very kind crea-
ture,- and we'll trained. I wonder it
should have behaved sop
"Don't believe 'bay' would have
done it, Squire said one of The men.
"Something's gone wrong, l think
Was the bride down, Mr.. Henry"
SIT was too far off for NE to tell. |
followed in the direction the horse took,
and soon found myself here, and ex-
pected to End it here tool"
"No! Stoner's is beyond here, ''said
the Squire. "That wagon trail you
were turning and twisting about in, is
a road had opened to number O.
board-trees we cut and rived out there;
you might have followed it for hours
and not been more than mile or so
from the place you started from. That
ghost Of yours, blythe way, may be
some crazy fellow, who has wandered
off into these parts, with mischief in
him! Did you hear no gum"
81 thought ] did-about an hour af-
ter parting with that man, or devil, or
whatever he was--but the sound was
so faint and distant, that for fearI might |
be mistaken, did not go to it; and the !
road turred SO often, | could not tell
whether it wasin the direction he went
off or not. -
Here the 'sdriver' 'interposed, saying
that he had heard rifle about that