, 1862-01-25
A Startling Adventure.

In the summer of 1915 l was travelling on
business in the western part of Tennessee. That
portion of the State which lies between the Ten
nessee and the Mississippi was at that time wild
and dreary forest No roads-nothing but horse
paths through the woods; and the only marks
to guide the traveller upon his journey were the
"blazes" and "notches" upon the trees. l was
dressed in true backwoods fashion, and l rode
fiery mustang with name and tail as white as
snow, beautiful arched neck and an eye like az
eagle. He was perfect beauty and as feet as
the wind. Across his back l had thrown a pair
of saddle bags, containing on one side dozen
'pones' of corn bread and piece of bacon, and
to balance them there was pile of rocks in the
other end in the shape of two thousand dollars
in gold, which l had collected and was trans
porting to bank in Kentucky, to be disposed of
for eastern exchange. Two large wooden stir
ups hung dangling from my saddle, and the hol-
sters in front contained two beauties, in the shape
of enormous pistols. Over these, to keep them
dry, were the squirrel-skin covers.
l had been riding for several hours, swimming
the rivers that crossed my path, snuffing in the
rich perfume of the forest flowers, watching the
squirrels playing about in the tree-tops, and lis
tening to the music which issued from the throats
of the thousands of bright-winged songsters with
which the woods abounded | had not seen a
solitary human being since morning, and night
was rapidly approaching indeed, it had already
begun to grow dark, and l made up my mind that
| would have to camp out for the night. | was
boxing around to select some good place, when
I was startled by the neighing of horse ahead
of me, and presently saw two men approaching
me on horseback. They were rough looking fell
lows, dressed in hunting shirts, with squirrel skin
caps on their heads. | did not like their looks,
and, unseen by them, drew up my pistols, and
cooking, replaced them in the holsters, and cast
ing my eye forward, saw one of the men make
motion did not like l resolved that if they
proved to be what l suspected, l would give them
a hard fight, and die bravey
"Pshaw what fool l was !" thought I, as
they rode up and babe me good evening. We
conversed for a few minutes, when one of them
said:
"My yOungster, what have you got in your sad
dlebags that rattles so ?"
"Nas," replied
Nails !" said he "Eh, Bill, let's examine the
article and see !" and he caught hold of my horse
by the bit.
Quick as thought drew my pistols, and point.
ing muzzle to each of their hearts, said:
Gentlemen, make motion to draw weap-
on, and that motion seals your fate !"
They were completely taken by surprise, and
wheeling their horses around struck off into the
forest. After getting few rods off, one of them
raised his fist in threatening attitude l drew
the trigger of my right hand pistol, and the vii
lains arm fell upon the saddle and uttering a
yell of agony they darted into the woods 1 re-
loaded my pistol, struck my spurs into my horses S
sdes and after ten miles of the fastest riding
ever experienced, reached a log house, where
put up for the night.
Two years after the incident just noted took
place l was travelling down the Mississippi in an
old-fashioned boat, when my attention was at
tracted to an individual on board whom thought
l had met before, but where, l could not tell.
was determined to follow him up and see if we
could not call to mind where we had met, and un-
der what circumstances. At last found an op-
portunity to get look at him, as he was seated
on an old barrelhead earnestly engaged in a
game of seven up stepped up, and looking
over his shoulder, perceived that two fingers of
his right hand were missing. The game pro-
gressed, until, in an exciting moment, he arose,
and shaking his fist in the face Of his opponent,
in answer to some remark of the latter concern
ing the game, exclaimed:
8" swear you lie I"
placed my hand upon his shoulder and
turned him around:
All ha !" exclaimed l, eve have met befoIe!'
White as a sheet, and hoarse with passion, he vo-
ciferated:
Yes, VIC have met before, in the woods of
Tennessee, ard have sworn that you shall die |!
Take that"
And the wretch attempted to draw a pistol
from his coat, but the trigger caught in the rag
ged lining of his pocket-it went off, and he
rolled off into the muddy waters of the Missis-
sppi corpse.
TD-p.,-cxy WorrrrI Acp O,r ;nfanov ;o full of