St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1868-04-17

upwards out Ol your accIir~eu presence,
even through the roof of this desecrated
dwelling-eren M,0mgh tie rogtr' he re-
peated in Il yet louder tone, and looking
fixcdly into the eyes of the chief, '.and
bring down upon you the full punish
ment YOU deserve"
\ loud laugh from the guerrillas for a
moment drowned his voice, but needless
of :he interruption, he went on loudly,
tiuently, continuously. denouncing We
hemently southern slavery, the southern
cause, men, armies. and leaders. 1t was
at the beginning of this strange and ap-
parently insane outburSt, that the two
sisters, for the only time during that
scene, tuned their wondering faces to-
ward the captain In myself, momen-
tary astoni-hmcnt was followed 10y Il
shock a. ot Il galvania lie ~ If through
an instantaneous revelation from heaven,
| saw his object, and cursin9 myself for
the precious moments already lost, |
turned my attention to the immediate
execution of the conception his opening
words conveyed To me.
The roof OF the house was formed of
thin boards some four feet in length,
doubled and overlapping To prevent leak
age, and held i'll place, not by nails, but
by long poles laid along the outside.
Rapidly examining the roof. soon found
Il place where some warping or spring
ing of the pole outside enabled me to
slip the boards aside until | could yet
my arm through. when board after board
was quickly removed until the oprnin.
was largc enough To- allow me To pass
out, and still the tide of the captains
defamation flowed ON, louder and more
tiuently, and the hali-drunhcn guerriIlas
clapped their hand, and laughed and
stamped in huge enjoyment of what
seemed to them the most ridiculous of
tarceS.
Reaching the outside. was about to
risk Il leap from the low cave, into the
darkness, wien caught sight OF the
chimney outlined AGAINST the Ky. This
was built outside the house. OF sticks laid
like the los OF the house interloching AT
the corners, with the projecting ends al
lowed 10 remain; the whole securely
>mrtred with clay on the inside. and
having an almost REGULAR taper from the
ground upward. Cliuging 10 thc>, pro-
iecting corners. | descended almost a.
rapidly a. ii on a ladder Arrivir. at
the bottom. | paused moment and lis
tened Inside could It'll hear the cap
tain dccaimin- a. vrhcmrntiy as before.
and the rjbald laughter of hi auditors.
and outside could distinctly see the
watcher ;,t the one window in that eud
OF the house, gazing iutcntly at the
strange scene within. Even in that
brief moment, with death all around me.
| could not rcprc-s Il feeling of admra-
ton. almost amounting TO awe. tur that
man. who, with the fatal moose hanging
against his neck. utterly in the power OF
remorselcss murdercr>. with such won-
drrtul sct control sustained 80 unimtcr-
rupted 4 flow OF thought and speech;
with 4 well defined object in view, dis
PLAYING all the collcctrlncSs OF mind and
fertility of resource OF 4 trained lcgisla
tive debater spcakin. against time
Throwing myself flat ON the ground, |
crawled as rapidly as possible to the glr-
den fence and in its friendly shadow soon
reached the road in front of the house.
Here had expected to find Il sentinel,
but the closest scrutiny failed to detect
one, and quickly crossin" the road, with
an almost choking sense OF freedom, |
plunged into the dense forest on the 9th
cr side. Once under this cover | hur-
ried directly to the spot where we had
left our horses. They were both gone,
Some one or more OF :hc gucrrllIaS,
then, must be acquainted with our habits.
But however this might be, there wa, no
alternative but TO try 10 reach the post
on foot, and that, too, i'll the shortest
possible space of time; and nerving my
self for the hazardous run, | picked
nv way back toward the road at point
lower down than where ! had entered
the forest, | had almost reached the road
SIDE when my ear caught the sound OF
voices directly ahead and not far away.
one of them evidently Il ncgro's. Steal
ing to the edge of the wood. | could
dimly see Il man on horseback. His
companion | could not see. but soon
heard enough to satisfy me that the per-
SONS were the guerrilla sentry and one of
the negroes belonging to the place. The
| horseman was trying to make the negro
| tell what had become of old Harry. The
answers of the black | could not hear.
2 and in crouching and trying to steal
= closer my hand came in contact with 4
round club, evidently piece of cord
wood, dropped from some passing wagon
= four feet long, perhaps two inches diane
= ter, round, smooth and straight. My
decision was taken on the instant it was
; scarcely twenty feet feet from me to
1 where the guerrilla sat on his horse, his
: attention drawn to the negro on the 9th
: er side. Grasping the club firmly in
e beth hands | approached in a crouching
posture till within 4 step or two, and
! then rising, with single blow, delivered
. with all the energy my desperate purpose
= could command, brought the man to the
D ground. To seize the rcinS, spring into
| the saddle, and, with spurs buried in
a the horses fianks, plunge headong down
= the narrow road, was the work of an in
: stant. He was noble horse, and l had
= no mercy; and so down that broken and
dangerous road, in the thick darkness,
t we went like whirlwind. 1t was 4 ter
. rible ride but life worth half a dozen
2 of my own might be saved by speed, and
a | spared not horse nor self.
Y Half mile down the road, passing
: over some moist ground, l thought l
n caught the faint clattcr OF hoofs, but from
which direction could not tell Reach
t inc the summit of succeeding rise, |