Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1863-07-15
III REVENGE.
BT RUFUS HARE.

We met in the beginning Of the action, 7
and my enemy, Richard Withcrs-he, a reb-
el, I, a a.Fcderalistl he, on foot, I, mounted.
Il matters not now ,rLy hated him with the
fercest wrath Of my nature The heart
knoweth its own bitterness" and the details,
while most painful to me, would be Of trilling
interest to you. Suffice it that our feud was
not a political one. For ten years we were
tie closest intimates that the same studies, the
same tastes and the same aims could make
Us. was the elder of the two and the strong
er, physically; but we were both students
comparatively friendless, as the world takes
it, and had no near relatives. Young. soli-
-tary, and visionary, as we were, it is hard to
make YOU understand what we were to each
other. Up to the period Of our estrangement
working together, eating together, sleeping
together, can safely say that We had not a
JOY or a grief, not a pleasure or a vexation
that we did not share with an almost bOyish
single-heartedness. But one day changed all
We arose in the morning dear friends and lay
down at night bitter foes. I was man ot
extremes; I either loved or hated with the
whole strength of my heart The past was
forgotten in the present The ten years oI
) kindness, of congeniality, of almost womanly
tenderness were erased, as with sponge
We looked each other in the face with angry,
searching eyes-said but few words (our
rage was too deep to be demonstrative) and
parted Then in my solitude I dashed my
clenched hand upon the Bible and vowed pas
sionately;
4 may wait ten years, Richard Withers
I may wait twenty, thirty, If you wiIl but
sooner or later I swear shall have my re-
vengeI"
And this was the way we met.
wonder if he thought of that day when
he laid his hand or my bride rein and looked
up at me with his treacherous blue eyes.
scarcely think he did, or he could not have
given me that look lie was beautiful as q
girl; indeed the contrast Of his fair aristocrat,
( ic face, with its regular outline and red, curv.
ing lips, to my own rough dark exterior might
have been partly the secret Of my former at,
traction to him. But the loneliness Of an an.
gel, if it had been his, would not have saved
him from me then. There was pistol in hi,
hand, but before he had time to discharge i
I cut at him with my sword, and as the line
swept on, like gavering wave, saw hin
stagger under the blow, throw up both arms
and 60 down in the press Bitterly as ha
ted him, the vision of his ghastly, agonizeC
face haunted me the long day through.
You all remember how It was at Freder
icksburC. How we crossed the river at tn,
wrong point, and under that raking fire Of tn,
enemy, were so disastrousIy repulsed.
It was sad mistake, and fatal to many
brave heart. When night fell lay upon tn
field among the dead and wounded. I wa
comparatively helpless. A ball had shivere,
the cap of my left knee, and my shoulder wa
laid open with sabre cut The latter bic,
profusely; but by dint of lnotting my hand
kercbief tightly about it I managed t.
staunch it, in a measure. For my knee
could do nothing. Consciousness did not for
sake nc, and the pain was intense; but from
the means and walls of the men about me,