The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1875-03-26
THE LONE CABIN.

THE LONE CABIN.
had ridden hard and fast, and was
astonished to find myself coming into a
struggling settlement. On the course
which I should have taken there was
nothing of the sort. Somewhere I had
crossed the right trail and taken the
wrong one. Almost any traveller In the
border sections would have been glad to
thus stumble upon place for food and
refreshments. Not SO with myself. In
the breast pocket of my coat I carried
five thousand four hundred and ninety
odd dollars, United States money. ]
had received this amount from Mai. Gen.
=. III. Lacey, and it was to be carried
through to Fort Il, and placed in the
hands of Col. Asa F. Southland, to defray
necessary army expenses.
Sect through at your best gait,
Carnes," said the Major, Z" the money
Is long since overdue, and Southland S
rather irascible temper must have been
tried to the utmost. You know how the
soldiers get to growing if uncle is at all
delinquent In paying up. Ride in a
careless manner, but be careful I 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.
was directed over an unfamiliar sec
ton, hence my losing of the right route.
considered it my safest plan, so long as
/ had blundered upon the verge of the
settlement, to boldly enter aQd rest as an
ordinary traveller would do. Should I
push hurriedly on, might, by that very
act, excite suspicion.
There were only two men in the bar
room when entered the landlord and
the hostler. Under his familiar cor
diaity the landlord furtvely eyed me in
a manner that made me wish was well
done with my job, but reassured myself
with the thought that it was the con-
sciousness of the responsibility reposing
upon me that caused his chances to dis
turb me. Before had finished my sup
per two more travellers rode up, called
out for the hostler, and ordered drinks,
or rather one of them came In with the
orders, and the other threwhimsef down
on bench outside and began loading a
huge pipe. Strolling carelessly about
the room, managed to glance out of the
window. My keart Ieaped into my
throat, for In the man outside-I recoc-
nized-from description of him-Bill
WoH-one OF the most desperate char
acters that ever figured in the annals OF
border ruffanism. There was the huge
red mustache, the thick, hairy throat,
and the shoulders hunched up around
his head, suggesting the shape of a
mammoth clam-and the voice with q
deep down information like the plop,
plop, plop of water hUmriedIy leaving a
Jug. IF the description of the notorious
renegade is inelegant, it has the merit of
truthfulness, and must. therefore, be
excused.
went through with my supper IN
form, but whatever appetite might
have felt on my entrance into the inn,
s1a6 cIak,6
. time the other fellow came Ia, having
been out, he said, to look after the ami
mails, and they also ordered supper
Now was my time to leave, which / did
In careless manner, passing some COM
monplace remarks with the two men as
crossed the dim, smoky bar-room. As
they seemed to take no notice of me
whatever, / felt my spirits rise with
hopes that should make safe transit.
1t was quite duskish outside, but the
hostaer was Aitting about the stable with
his lantern, which emitted but little
more effulgent light than white bean
would have done, but he gTacioualy
brought out my steed at the order, and,
mounting, / thankfully trotted away.
The m0on-a little passed full-would
make her debut in something more than
an hour after sunset, and pushed along
1t smart trot so as to getwel out upon
the plains and into tha right trail before
that time. The animal went along ct an
assuring gait, and was feeling infinitely
relieved at my providential escape from
contact with the desperate characters
whom had left at the settlement, when
my acute, trained, ever alert ears de-
tected the sound of swift riding. In
which directions From behind me, as
the mildly floating breeze blew from. that /
quarter. The face of the prairie In this
section was a little rolling, but not so is |
to afford any shelter, and not shrub or
bush dotted the expanse for miles.
I drew up my horse one moment to
listen. No chance travellers ever rode |
like that. 1t meant EsGreseit.
gave my steed q CALLING lash and she |
broke into convulsiye gait, hove her
body up with one or two plunges, STUN
bled, going down from her knees TO her
nose, and pitched me literally heels over |
head For an instant i was paralYxed
with 7stonishment, the next Z seized the
had in the meantime undeEgone strange
metamorphosis. 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 I was examining
the white legs-1ny horse had been pecu-
liar1y marked with white legs and face
and / found these sticky with whitewash.
What tl1en2 Simply, my txAppsngs had
been transferred to another animal, gotten
MP to exactly represent mine IN the even
ing. This discovery brought an app Ksau !
ing interpr tation of the on-coming horse
men. I gave the horse the whip as soon
as his unstable legs were well under him, |
and sent him q securing on ahead. while /
i nan oR 70 the right making for little |
hollow near shallow, dry fAviEle. Here
60 my profound astcniahnaent discov-