Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1867-01-30

room were we'll covered with wood-cuts cut
from that journal. Portraits of noted generals
and statesmen, k1aves and politicians. with
bounteous illustrations of battles and skirmshes,
from Bull Run number one to Dinwiddie Court
House. Aud the simpie-heaIted corners and
goers of Springfield looked upon, wondered
and admired these pictorial descriptions fully
| as much if they had been the masterpieces
of Yvon Vernet.
A billiard table, old and out of use where
caroms seemed to have been made quite as
often with lead ivory balls, stood in the
centre of the room. A dozen chairs filed up
the complement OF the fuxniture. The appear
ance OF the party of men assembled there,
| who sat with their slovenly shod feet dangling
| over the arms of the chairs or hung about the
porch outside, was in perfect harmony with the
| time and place. All of them religiously obey
ed the two aforementioned characteristics OF
the people of the city-their hair was long and
| tangled, and each had fulfilled the most ex-
| halted requirement of lazness.
| | was taking mental inventory of all this
when cry murmur drew my attention to
the outside of the house, when l saw Wild
Bill, riding up the street at a swift galop. Ar
rived opposite to the hotel, he swung his right
| arm around with circular motion. Black
Nell instantly stopped and dropped to the
ground as If a cannon ball had knocked life
out of her. Bill left her there, stretched upon
the ground, and joined the group of observers
| on the porch.
" Black Nell hasn't forgot her old tricks"
said one Of them.
"No," answered the scout "God bless
her she is wiser and truer than most men l
know That mare will do anything for
me. Won't you Nelly ?"
The mare winked affirma,ively the only eye
We could see.
| {" Wis, !" continued her master q" why,
she knows more than judge. FL bet the
drinks for the party that she'll walk up these
steps and into the room and climb upon the
| biliiard-table and lie down."
| The bet was taken at once, not because any
one doubted the capabilities of the mare. but
| there excitement in the thing without ex-
| ercise.
Bill whistle1 in low tone. Nell instantly
scrambled to her feet walked toward him, put
her nose atfectionately under his arm, followed
him into the room and 10 my eXtre Won
derment climbed upon the billiard-tabe, to the
extreme asto nlshment OF the table, no doubt,
for it groaned under the weight of the four
legged animal and several of those who were
| simply biturcated, and whom Nell permitted
to sit upon her. When she got down from
the table. which was as graceful performance
as might be expected under the circumstances,
Bill sprang upon her back, dashed through the
high wide doorway, and at single bound
cleared the flight of steps and landed in the
middle OF the street. The scout then dis
mounted, snapped his riding-whip, and the
noble beast bounded off down the street, rear-
ing and pungng to her own intense satsac
ton. A kindly-disposed individual, who must
have been a stranger, supposing the mare was
running away, tried to catch her, when she
stopped, and as if she resented his imperti
nence, let fy her heels at him and then quietly
trotted to her stable.
- Black Nell has carried me along through
many d tight place." said the scout, as We
walked toward my quarters. " She trains
easier than any animal | ever That trick
of droppiag quick, which you saw, has saved
my life time and again. When | have been
out scouting on the prarer or in the woods
have come across parties of rebels, and have
dropped out of sight in the tall grass before
they saw One day gang of rebs who
had been hunting for me, ana thought they
had my track, halted for half hour within
fifty yards of Nell laid close rab-
bit, aud didn't even whisk her tail to keep the
flies off, until the rebs moved off, supposing
they were on the wrong scent. The mare vii!
come at my whistle and follsr me nbout just
like dog. She won I mind any one else, nor
! allow them to mount her, and will Kick
harness and wagon all ter peces ef you try to
hitch her in And she's right, kernei,
added Bill, with the enthusiasm OF "a true lover
too NOBLE beast to be degraded by such tog-
gerry. Harness mules and oxen, but give
boss a chance ter run"
| had a curiosity, which was not an idle one.
to hear what this man had 10 say about his duel
with Tut. and asked him:
Do you not regret killing Tut You
surely do not Ike to kill men ?'l
=. As ter killing men," he replied, g new
er thought much about it. The muss OF the
men | have killed 1t one OF t'other OF Us,
and at sich times you don e stop to think; and
what's the after 1t S ali over? As Tor
Tut, had rather not haze killed him, for |
want ter settle down quiet here now. But
thars been hard feeling between US d loaS
while. | wanted ter KEEP out of that hg INT
but he tried to degrade me, and couldn t
stand that, you know, TOR am lighting
man you know"
cloud passed the speaker face for a
moment as he continued
" And there was cause of quarrel between
US which people round here don't know about.
One of had to die and the secret died
, with him"
why did you not wait to see If your
} ball had hit him? Why did you turn round
} so quickly
The scout fixed his gray eyes on mine estrik-
t ing his leg with his riding-whip, as he an
swered
% kne,o he was dead man. l never miss
a shot. | turned on the crowd because | was
8 sure they would shoot me if they saw him
f fall"
:. The people about here tell me you are
quiet civil man How is It you get into
A these fights ~
e D-d if can tell" be replied, with puz
= zled look which at once gave place to proud
defiant expression as he continued-'' but you
n know a man must defend his honor"
e Yes" L admitted, with some hesita ton
remembering that was not in Boston bu,
' on the border, and that the code of honor anC
mode of redress differ slightly in the out
q place from those of the other.
e One of the reasons for my desire to make
= the acquaintance of Wild Bill was to obtain
o from his own lips true account of some o
# the adventures related of him IG no
z AN easy matter. 1t was hard to overcome
t, the resicence which makes men VINO have
: lived the wild mountain life, and which wa
$ one of his valuable qualifications as a a scout
r Finally he said
< 81 hardly know where to begin. Pretty
near all these stories are true. | was At 1T al
the That affair of my swimming tn
river took place that long scout cf min
: when l was with the rebels i've months, whel
l was sent by General Curtis 10 Prices army
); Things had come pretty close at that time
and 1t wasn't safe to 60 straight inter thei
IS lines. Every body was suspected who cam
Is from these parts. So started off and wen
:, way up to Kansas City. l bought a hors
there and struck out onto the plains, and the
e went down through Southern Kansas int
- Arkansas knew a rebel named Baraes, VIII
ID was killed at Pea Ridge He was from nea
=, Austin in Texas. So | called myself h
Ia brother and enlisted in a giment OF mount
70 ed rangers