Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1875-10-14

lou see, about midnight some of our scouts
captured two of your men and brought
IN. IA into camp to our division commander
ahd, upon his questioning them pretty
sharply, they let out that you had left your
head-auarters that day. As quick as
nash 1t came into my mind that as your
headquarters were only twenty miles from
home. You were bound 10 See the wife and
children, If it were only for few minutes
did not let on what | thought aud deter.
mined that YOU might see them, if YOU
could get chance, without any hinder
ance IRON me- But the general was as
sihaft As l, aud turning rouud to me, said.
Colonel lie has gone to Jonesvllle. and as
You know that country thoroughly. | want
you 10 trap him."
81 was tremendously taken back at this,
/ ana replied. little saucily, General, YOU
don't want me TO take my whole regiment
to capture one man, do your" Yes. Sir"
! he blaZed out: take your whole regiment
II it is necessary" Then soitenlny u little,
and understanding how the land Law with
me. he went on: Colonel, trust you to
manage this thing as you think best. Ii is
OF great Importance To us TO get General
slaughter. lake a many men as are nee
essary, but / particularly desire you to
lead them IA person, aud that you start in
the morning as soon after sunrise as you
can despatch your breakfast"
'Of course there was nothing to be said
80 concluded that il the thing must be
done, 1t had better be done by an old friend
Ike myself than by one OF my captains,
/ who were all pretty rough fellows, aud
/ didn know you from Adam. Ii glimmered
on my mind at the same time that the gen
I cial thought so too. 80 early next muru-
iug started OF with twenty men, bound to
take you II could reached your planta-
tI"n (Which was about mile from Jones.
vile. stranger about eight O'Clock in the
morning. and placed nv men so As to COM
maud fall view of Of the house on every
side, with orders To let no one leave it,
Not soul was to be seen u:side and we
had moved 80 silently that | Ict confident
We should bag our game. Without stand
ins or ceremony. entered the house alone
aud proceeded TO the dining room. where
found the family around the breakfast Ia
Die. but bctraylng evident signs OF anxiety,
not"ithstandlnG their efforts 10 seem al
Case- There WAS one vacant seat which
revealed that you had been there, general,
though the crockcry had been removed
from before Il. Apologizi1g To your wife
| told Aer of my crrand, and giving her
ilint 10 say nothing that would put me on
your track, said that ~ knew the house
thoroughly would search IL myself. Co
met my eyes were Il trll-talc hair.rmptied
cOiir-cup and All unwa.hcd plate and knife
aud fork, which surmi-vd had been YOURS.
,o"ufmrd By these toscn> IN the impress
ION that You were IN the house, / run.
ma%cd IL from garrct to cellar, and had
Ju>i returned. after a irutlcss search. TO
the dining room. where your wife aud chill
drru slIl remained. when Big Jak your
family nlsgcr. came Ia from the outside
"S1r'aht, Massa George" says he; been
.ookin' io- de gin'ral: Guess he Amt here.
JI' come IN from JOnesyile way, and a.
| pass By de ole sohool-house / seed IN.
roam horse a-standn' tied TO 4 saplin' out
side. Guess he must be In dat school
house"
" on. vile looked thunderstruck at
Jakes treachery in putting me on your
tracks. and fairly boiled over. you la
iernal niSset." says /, take hdti aud |
gave him Nick that lifted him about
foot from the floor. Leaving the house |
d; a>hcd down toward the old school. house
BIDDING my men Ia follow. When | got
there. sure enough, there stood your roam
ready saddled. aud | misgaye that YOU
could not be far away. In minute we
were In the school-house. but could find
neither hide nor hair Of you. One of my
men pointed 10 rear window which was
hol>ted, and on looking out of ii We discov-
ed traces N footprints on the ground be-
meath. This convinced Us that YOU had
clam5ered out of the window and had
made Tor the belt Of woods that lay behind
the sch"ol-house. SO leaving five men TO
keep watch over the horse and the ap-
proaches To the school-hou~e in 'front.' |
took the rest Of the squad and hunted the
woods tor two mortal hours There wasn't
a tree in il that We didn't examine, and
- .rpF npb I It,
was up. At the school-house nothing had
trInspred in the mean time. and after
making successive circuits of one. two.
three, and four uile> around the vicinity
Tor several more hours, we rode back 10
camp a. empty a. we came. and with >tom-
ach, coniounded sight emptier. Now,
general, the conuudrum have to propose
Is, How in the deuce did YOU manage TO
get away: That's what's always puzzled
me.
The colonel had hardly ceased his reel.
tai when We were saluted by a peal OF
laughter from the hinder end of the car.
proceeding from a negro. whom had no
ticed when | had entered, leaning back in
the corner OF the seat with hi- head against
the car window, pillowed on AN Old ielt
hat OF prodisious size and apparently
slumbering He was stout. buriy fellow,
With hair cropped dangerously close to the !
scalp, and head as round and nearly as
small as Il cocoa a-nut set on the shoulders OF
Hercules. His face. which was guileless
of any yestige of hair except his eyebrows
bubbled over with merriment. and was
lighted up by the smallest aud sunniest
eyes and the largest ani whitest teeth | !
ever saw.
''Ha. ha! ha.' roared this ebony Her
cules. ''D.s yere nigger member dat kick
Wrli wall a.,
rubbing his fleshy part. Guy, twas just
like Il horse kicked me-"
why. Jake, you internal niger, is that
you:' said the colonel.
''Sartin.' said Jake. quite complinented
by the colonefs rather strong epthet- |
'Sartin. Massa colonel, Is dat niger But
say. Massa George. for sure how YOU kin
kick. | swan dis nigger was nebbsr so
'stonished in all his born days as he was
airIy dat morning" !
Here General Slaughter lnterposed,
Colonel let Jake tell you the story; he |
knows all about it.-Come jake tell Colo |
mel Hampton how you threw sand in his
eyes that morning"
Another seat was soon found for Jake |
among the party, and he began: You see |
Massa George. de gen'ral had been 10
home, nearly all DAT day. But in the morn
in welly airly, as was out a.feedin' de |
hosses. anodder nigger comes runnin' In |
to me al! out OF bref aud say he, Jake, |
dey're arter de gen'ral. That internal se-
cesh. Colonel Hampton, S comm hot foot
to s'round him; so you jis git him out de
ways quick as God A'mightyll let you" |
And den, Massa George. dat nigger wat
called you Internal secesh scooted away |
as II de old boy hisself was arter him. l |
knowed he told lie gospel trufe all de time,
and dat de gin'ral had got to git up an git
mighty Student So went to de house, |
and dere was de gen'ral eating his break
fas' wild his little three-year-Old daughter
on his lap, and one hand a-playin' wild her
long curls, and de boys a leanin' 'on de
back of his chair and Mrs. Central lookin'
welly bright and happy. was drefful sot
back. cause dat pictur couldn't last no
longer; but knOw'd all de same dere was
no time for fOolin', and tole de glnral
softly. SOS not to frighten de missus and