The weekly Oskaloosa herald. [volume] (Oskaloosa, Iowa) 1855-1885, 1875-03-18
THE LONE CABIN,


astonished to find myself coming into a
struggling settlement. On the course
which should have taken there was
nothing of the sort Somewhere had
crossed the right trail and had taken the
wrong one. Almost any traveller in the
border sections would have been glad tc
thus stumble upon place of food and
refreshment. Not so with myself. Ii
the breast pocket of my coat | carried
five thousand four hundred and ninety
odd dollars, United States money | had
received this amount from Maj Gen. T
NJ. Lacey, and it was to be carried through
to Fort L, and placed in the hands
of Col. Asa +. Southland, to defray neces
sary army expenses.
sect through at your best gait, Carnes,
said the Major, "the money is long since
overdue, and Southard's rather irasiblt
temper must have been tried to the ut
most. You know how the soldiers get tc
growing if uncle is at all delinquent in
paying up. Ride in a careless manner
but be careful l don't think any one
dreams of the arrival of this money
save, of course, the mail agent and clerk
who gave me the packages"
L was directed over an unfamiliar sec
ton, hence my losing the right route.
considered it my safest plan, so long as
had blundered upon the verge of the set
tlement, to boldly enter and rest as an or
dinary traveller would do. Should | pusl
hurriedly on, might, by that very act
excite suspicion.
/ rode up to the tavern and entered
there were only two men in the bar-roon
the landlord and hostler. The land
lord furtively eyed me in manner tha
made me wish was well done with my
job, but reassured myself with tn,
thought that it was the consciousness oi
the responsibility reposing on me tina
caused his glances to disturb me- Before
| had finished my supper two more travel
ers rode up, called out for the hostler
and ordered drinks, OF rather one of then
came in with the order, and the othe
threw himself down on a bench outsid,
and commenced loading huge pipe
Strolling carelessly about the room, man
aged to glance out of the window. NJ,
heart leaped. into my throat, for in tn,
man outside, l recognized-from de
scription of him-Bill Wolfe, one of tn
most desperate characters that ever fgur
ed in border rufianism. There was tn
huge red mustache, the thick, hair,
throat, and the shoulders hunched VI
around his head, suggesting the shape O.
mammoth clam, and voice with deel
down intonation like the plop, plop, plo]
of water hurriedly leaving jug. If tn
description of the notorious renegade i
inelegant, it has the merit of truthfulness
and must therefore be excused.
went through with my supper il
form, but whatever appetite l might hav
had on my entrance into the inn, had van
ished with my discovery. After a tim
the other fellow came in, having been out
he said, looking after the animals, anc
they also ordered supper Now was m,
time to leave, which | did in careless
manner, passing some commonplace re
marks as | crossed the dim, smoky bar
room, with the two men. As they seem
ed to take no notice of me whatever,
felt my spirits rise with hopes that
should make safe transit. 1t was quit
duskish outside, but the hostler was fit
ting about the stable Nth his lantern
which emitted but little more effulgen
| light than white bean would have done
but he graciously brought out my hors
at the order, and mounting, l thankful,
trotted away. The moon-a little pas
full-would make her debut in somethin,
more than an hour after sunset, and
pushed along at a smart trot so as to ge
well out upon the plains and into tn
right trail before that time The anima
went along at an assuring gait, and l wa
feeling infinitely relieved at my providen
tial escape from coming in contact witt
the desperate characters whom | had lef
at the settlement, when my acute, trained
ever alert ears detected the sound of swif
riding. In which direction? From be
hind me, as the mildly floating breez
blew from that quarter The face of tn
prairie in this direction was little roll
ing, but not so as to afford and shelter
and not shrub or bush dotted the eX
panse for miles,
drew up my horse one moment to lis
ten. No chance travellers ever rode lik
that. 1t meant pursuit.
l gave my steed CALLING lash and sh
| broke into convulsive gait, hove he
body up with one or two plungcs, stumb
led, going down from her knees to he
nose, and pitched me literally heels owe
head. For an instant | was paralyze,
with astonishment, the instant / seizet
the bit to bring up the fallen animal
which had in the meantime undergone
strange metamorphosis. She had lost he
white face on or in the grass, and passin.
my hand between hereyes, found the hal
was wet. In an instant | was examining
her white legs-my horse had been pecu
liarly marked with white legs and face
and found these sticky with whitewash.-
What then? Simply, my trappings hat
been transferred to another animal, gotter
up to exactly represent mine in the even
ing. This discovery brought an appall
ing Interpretation Of the on-coming horse
men. gave the horse the whip as soor
as his unstable legs were well under him
and sent him securing on ahead, Will,
l ran of to the right, making for little
hollow near dry, shallow ravine. Her,
to my profound astonishment ! discover
ed lone cabin, or hut, about the dimen
sions Of an ordinary country log-house
and impulsively dashing up to this, gave
rapid succession Of knocks on the door