White Cloud Kansas chief. [volume] (White Cloud, Kan.) 1857-1872, 1858-06-10

OOlne alCeI US may Ialtnfully defend thai
independence which is bought at the prics
of blood and tears. You know not vet
Mike-none but those who are welded
can know-the rapture of meeting aftel
a long absence; nor can you know how
bitter it is to turn away from the fair faee
of loving wife, and undergo the agony
of long separation, perhaps an ever.
lasting one. The last time visited nv
home, oh how the memory of it clings
to me now J The very sunlight as il
came down from heaven seemed to fall
around my homestead with softer light
than elsewhere. My life was like a dream
of boyhood realized. But the summons
came to part, and more reluctantly than
ever / tore myself away. Sad and gloomy
presentiments filled the hearts of both OF
us. Alas we met no more on earth i
Three months from that time, having
solicited furlough, / sped homeward,
with joyful anticipations. 1 found my
house in ashes, my children motherless,
my fond, my gentle wife slept the long
sleep that knows no waking !! Driven
from her burning house on a cold night
of rain and winter, after having given
birth to my youngest child, she was seized
with fever that carried her to the grave.
She died-died calling upon my name
died clinging to the last to a hope that
would yet stand beside her and hear her
last prayer and close her eyes in peace.
l found my children-too young to know
their loss-houseless dependents upon the
charity of strangers. Think you that l
can forgive these wrongs-that they can
be blotted from my brain, or cease to
burn and rankle in my heart? Think
you that wife so kind, so gentle. whose
love was the world in which | delighted
to dwell, can so soon be forgotten AS
God hears me, / will not rest until my
sword is red with the blood of her de-
stroyer!'
Never before had Allscot seen Conyers
so completely mastered by fierce and vim
dictive passions. His bosom heaved with
tumultuous emotions, and his face be-
came livid with rage, while his dark eye
cleaned like diamond. His voice grew
hoarse and hollow, and his utterance was
choked by the eagerness with which he
painted for vengeance. Allscot looked
upon him with sentiments approaching
to awe, while the storm of passion shook
his frame and fixed its impress upon his
features.
Ordinarily as playful in temper as a
child, and of gay and cheerful DISPOSE
ton that approximated to levity, one
would scarcely have dreamed that beneath
so quiet and gentle an exterior, there
slumbered deep and volcanic passions
Usually, his features wore an almost fem
mime softness and gentleness of express
sion. Even in the wild and bloody melee,
where the most inhuman passions are
called into exercise, his features bore no
trace of cruel or vindictive feelings. His
dark, bold, lustrous eyes, fringed by long
sheltering lashes, might indeed fash with
a somewhat intenser light in full view of
the conflict, but his finely chiseled fea-
lures were as inexpensive of ferocity,
and as unmoved by angry emotions, as
the calm marble fresh from the hands Of
the sculptor.
Capt. James Conyers, to whose COM
pany of dragons Michael Allscot was
attached, was one of that band of partisan
leaders by whose skill, energy, and irwin
chile irmness, the country was redeemed
from the iron yoke of the invader. His
and kindness of heart, with
his reckless and almost desperate exhibit
tons of courage, had rendered him the
darling of " Marion's Brigade "a name
which was applied to the bold followers
of the willy partisan, whether their num-
bers amounted to ten or a thousand men.
In those moments Of gloom and 6espon-
dency, when the sufferings and restitution
of their families, Joined to their own pri-
vations and tolls, caused the stout hearts
of the soldiers to sink in dismay, he stood
forth as the ministering angel of the camp,
and infused into their Respondent souls
the courage and the invincible frmness
and spirit which shone on his own I'M
clouded brow. A bold and dashing SOL
der, shrinking from no danger or toll,
confident and sanguine when Others around
him were almost driven to despair, ever
foremost in the fo-ay and last in the re-
treat, he won the heart of every soldier
in the brigade" and was regarded as
the right hand of the army. A dexterouS
and fearless horseman, scarcely equalledl
indeed by the sanguinary Tarleton in this
manly accomplishment, his position as
Captain of the dragons gave him ample |
to display to "the brigade
his qualities to the best advantage; and
often when defeat seemed inevitable, and
The battle appeared lost beyond redemp-
ION, from some unexpected quarter of the
field he burst into view with his troop |
following at his heels, and bore down
With his undaunted troopers like q hurTi- |
zane upon the enemy, and by single
reckless and impetuous charge broke their
;erried ranks, and in moment retrieved
he fortunes of the day. Well known
among the minions of the British King,
IS 1.-the handsome horseman." his terrible
iaring caused the enemy to quake at
whatever point he made his appearance.
The Bayard of the partisan brigade, his
heart was stranger to fear, and his rep |
ntation to reproach. Such was the man
whose lips had Just uttered solemn oath |
10 pursue to the death an enemy who had
him beyond forgiveness.
"And who is he, Captain 20 asked