The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1875-09-24
THE LONE CABIN,
A WILD RIDE FOR LIFE.


l had ridden hard and fast, and was as
tonished to find myself coming into strag-
CLING settlement On the course which |
should have taken there was nothing of the
sort. Somewhere l had crossed the rgh.
trail and taken the wrong one. Almost
any traveller in the border sections would
have been glad to thus stumble upon a
place for food and refreshment. Not so
with myself. In the breast pocket of my
coat carried five thousand four hundred
and ninety odd dollars, United States mon
ey. l had received this amour. from Maj.
Gen. L. Nj. Lacey, and it was to be carried
through to Fort l., and placed in the
hands of Col. Asa f. Southard, to defray
necessary army expenses.
''Get through at your best gait, CaTnes,"
said the Major, 1.-The money is long since
overdue, and Southard's rather irascible
temper must have been tried to the utmost.
You know how the soldiers get to growing
ii uncle is at all delinquent in paying up.
Ride Ia careless manner, but be careful.
don't think that any one dreams of the
arrival of this money-save, of course, the
mail agent and the clerk who delivered me
the packages"
l was directed over an unfamiliar section,
hence my losing of the right route. | con-
sidered it my safest plan, so long as | had
blundered upon the verge of the settle ment,
to boldly enter and rest as an ordinary
traveller would do. Should push hurried
ly ON, | might, by that very act, excite sus-
picion.
There were only two men in the barroom
when | entered--the landlord and the
hostler. Under his familiar cordiality the
landlord furtivelv eyed me in a manner
that made me wish that | was done with
my job, but / reassured myself with the
thought that it was the Consciousness of
the responsibility reposing upon me. Be-
fore | had finished my supper two nole
travellers rode up, called out for the host
Ter, and ordered drinks, or rather one of
them came i'll with the orders, and the
other threw himself down on a bench OUT
side and began loading a huge pipe. Stroll
ing carelessly about the room, | managed
to glance out of the window. My heart
leaped into my throat, for in the man outs
side | recognized-from description of
l.im-Bill Wolf, one of the most desper-
ate characters that ever figured i'll the
nails of border ruffianism. There was the
huge red moustache, the thick, hairy throat,
and the shoulders hunched up around his
head, suggesting the shape of mammoth
clam-and The voice with deep down in
tonation like the plop, plop, plop of the
water hurriedly leaving jug. If the de-
scription of the notorious renegade is incle-
gan', it has the merit of truthfulness, and
must, therefore, be excused.
l. "Oub thiOuSh Will supper III 10TH,
but whatever appetite l might have felt
on my entrance into the inn, had vanished
with my discovery. After time the other
fellow came i'll, baving been out, he said
TO look after the animals, and they also or
dered supper. Now was my time to leave
which did in careless manner passing
some commonplace remarks with the two
men as | crossed the aim, smoky bar-room
As they seemed TO take no notice of me what
| felt m with h.r,ac hot
| should make safe transit. 1t was quite
duSkish outside, but the hostler was fitting
about the stables with his lantern, which
emitted but a little more effulgent light
than a white beam would have done, but
he graciously brought out my steed at the
order. and mounting, | thankfully trotted
away. The moon--a little passed full
would make her debut in something more
thau an hour after sunset, and | pushed
along at q smart tIot SO as to get well out
upon the plains aud into the right trail be-
fore that time. The animal went along at
an assuring gait, and | was feeling infinite
ly relieved at my providential escape from
contact with the desperate characters
whom had left at the settlement, when
my acute, trained, ever alert ears detected
the sound of swift riding. In which direc-
ton? From behind me, as the mildly float
ing breeze blow from that quarter. The
face of the prairie in this section wa lit
tie rolling, but not so as to afford and shell
ter, and not shrub or bush dotted the ex-
panse for miles. .
| drew up my horse one moment to Hs>
teu. No chance travellers ever rode like
that. 1t meant pursuit. ...-.-a..
| gave my steed a CALLING lash, and she
broke into convulsive gait, hove her body
up with one or two plunges, stumbled,
going down from her knees to her nose
and pitched ne literally heels over head
For an instant | was paralyzed with as
tonisbment, the next | seized the bit to
fetch up the fallen animal, which bad in
the meantime undergone a strange meta
morphosis. She had lost her white face
on or in the grass, and, passing my hand
between her eyes, found the hair was wet.
In an instant L was examining the white
teges my horse had been peculiarly
marked with white legs and face, and |
found these sticky with whitewash. What
then? Simply, my trappings had been
transferred to another animal gotten up to
exactly represent mine in the evenig. This
discovery brought appalling iuterpreta-
ton of the on-coming borsemen. ! gave
the horse the whip as soon as his unstable
legs were well under him, and sent him a
securing on ahead while l ran off to the
right, making for a little hollow, dry ravine
Here, to my profound astonishment, dis
| covered lone cabin, or hut, about the
dimensions of an ordinary country log
house, and, impulsively dashing up to
this, gave rapid succession of knocks.
A shrinking, pale and covering woman
opened it.
"What is it ?'' was her first question,
noticing my breathless haste.
Had | stopped for moments reflection
upon the strangely isolated position of the
, cabin, | should not have passed in by her
with the explanation
.'ls there any chance to hide here-my
horse has thrown me, and l believe a par
ty of desperadoes are close up with me-
| noticed that the moon was coming up
dry and red in the east, when she mechan-
ically closed the door behind me before
had finished my explanation.
''No, no; there is no place." she gasped,
her quick ear now catching the sound of
the coming horsemen. This is all the