Litchfield enquirer., 1872-12-05
uch another as Williams has in his

such another as Williams has in his 1 hand e
 I took it, just to explain the matter to him, when thought struck through my mind like flash of lightning
 s.Saved, by God P exclaimed. ''Who's got that bullet of thesaddle g "What bullet ?'' "Gerald s,-1ny cousins"
 "Oh! tGentleman Jacks affair. The doctors got it. ?
 i "Where is he ?" | "Dont know.-quarters think" | "No, he's come into town; saw him on the road as we came by" sped on into the town, leaving them to think what they pleased; and spent more than two hours finding the doctor At last caught him. In another minute We were riding full gallop to his quarters. l He had the bullet,- "a little bruised and singularly fiattened, and blunted at the point must have been just spent when | 1t struck
 then went to the sergeant who had charge of the nineteen rounds of ammu- milton that were found in Gerald's pouch. About midnight I cOntrived to find him, and after some little delay I got posses sion of them.
 then returned to the doctor, and we compared the nineteen bullets with the | one found in the saddle. I then ran to telegraph to the headquarters in Cal cutta, to my lieutenant in charge of the magazines.
 After an hours waiting, ringing at the bell an answer came that the night-watch- man would fetch the lieutenant. I then sent message No. l. Examine the books, and see the date on which the last ammunition was sent for the use of the 10th Dragons; find the same parcel, and carefully remove one cartridge from each of twenty packets, selected at random; take out bullets, and remove plugs; and No. in base of cup of bullets.
 The answer came back that he under stood, and would rouse up the people to do it.
 After an hour and half. the answer came back,-
 ''All the bullets are numbered 5, with a dot on the right" then sent message No. g.
 Examine what cartridges bear the No. 2 with dot on the left, and report to whom issued, and when,-report quick ly-a man life depends on speed" | Again waited another hour. No an- | swer came.
 It was getting late,-half past two; at four the parade would take place. urged more speed.
 The reply came:- "We have ten men at work breaking 1 open barrels, and searching No No. ? yet found.'
 l At last 1t came,-
 'One barrel Mo- in store; the rest of the same shipment was damaged and use- less, and sold in bulk to native dealers for value as old metal at one of the clear ance sales some time ago." had learnt all could. Ispurred back to camp with the bullets, from which had never parted, in my pouch. shall nev- CT forget the scene. In the middle of the camp the men were drawn up in three sides of of square /; in 1 the centre of the square were the trian- gles, with Gerald lashed to them. I saw them as came down the hill take off his 1 jacket and lash his wrist. sped on. I could see the old colonel, with the paper in his hands, standing alone, and then I saw nothing more, for dip in the road concealed them; as I rose again to the crest at less than quarter of @ mile, saw a woman rush in from between the the ranks towards the triangles, holding something in her hand. darted on, and rushed into the square, but just in time to seize the farrier's arm as the lash was descending, and to see that the woman was my sister, and that she was being led away between two sergeants.
 ''Stop, colonel, for the love of God!' I l cried, with my hand still grasping the far rier's arm; '' have evidence to prove the man not guilty" then showed the colonel the bullet that had come from the saddle and the others from the pouch, and pointed out to him | that while one was marked No.2, the oth- CTS were all marked No. 5, with dot I assured him, on my honor as an officer | and a gentleman, that It was impossible that No. 2 bullet could by any chance get into a packet of No. bullets. He was only too glad to hear me, and agreed to postpone the execution of the sentence till further orders from the general of his 1 division.
 I've heard some shouts, and I've seen some displays of enthusiasm in my time, but never shall forget the shout that rose the minute that the colonel had pro- nounced that the execution of the sen- tence on Corporal Ashton would be post poned until further orders. The men had been standing at ''atten- tion, many of them with the tears rolling down their cheeks, but when they heard postponed" they broke ranks, rushed up to the triangles, cut the the lashings, broke 1 the cat, screamed, shouted, danced like | madmen.
 ''Three cheers for Gentleman Jack ,snd his wife! Again! again! boys!"
 Officers and all joined in for few min utss. There stood the old gray headed l colonel in the midst of @ scene that out | bedlamed Bedlam. l As for me was like man in dream: felt hundred hands grasping mine. I had my sister sobbing in my arms, and then heard the colonel say to the bugler, Sound the assembly" What change! in less than a minute I stood by the fallen triangles in the centre of three lines of living statues. Not a sound: not a movement.
 Major Jackson, reform your column, and break of the men" said the colonel; and then walked away with myself and my sister.
 'sBut what did your sister do there?" 1 Well, she had promised Gerald that he should not rufEer the disgrace of the lash; {; and had, during the hour thought she was fooling with the doctor, managed to get hold of his bottle of prussic acid, and had rushed out with half of it for him and half for herself; and her appearance had so thoroughly surprised every one that she had reached the triangles, and almost raised it to his lips, when the doctor re- cognizing his own blue bottle, struck her hand violent blow, and dashed 1t on the ground, besides disabling her from get ting her own share.
 'tAnd how did the affair end? was the general of the division satisfed?' I don't think he would have been with that evidence alone, and so we went about to hunt for more. I begged that, as we had found so much, Gerald might be per- mitted to accompany party of search, under guard, to find the missing tiger.
 We went there, Meggie insisting on join ing us. All the officers of duty went, and about half the men, Gerald then pointed | u~,ok whoro ha ho1 o1 or<l