The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1875-03-06
From Peterson's Journal
THE LONE CABIN.
A Ta,c Of BORDER Life.

should have taken there was nothing OF The
sort. Somewhere l 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 refresbment. Not so
with myself. In the breast pocket OF my
coat carried five thousand, four hundred
money. | had received this amount from
Mai General T. Nj. Lacy, and it was to
be carried through to Fort L., and |
placed in the hands of Colonel Asa f.
Southland, to defray necessary army eX-
penses
SECT through at your best gait, Carnes, |
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
if uncle is at all delinquent in paying up.
Ride in 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"
i was directed over an unfamiliar section,
hence my losing of the right route. ! con
sidered it my safest plan, so long as | h I'd
Numbered upon the verge of the settlement
to boldly enter and rest as an ordinary trav
eler would do. Should lpush hurriedly on,
might, by that very act, excite suspicion.
There were only two men in the bar
room wien / entered F.; the landlord and the
hostler. Under his fan iliar cordially the
landlord furtively eyed me in a manner
that made me wish ] was well done with
my job, but l treasured myself with the
thought that ii was the consciousness of the
responsibility rep ,sing upon me that caus-
ed his glances to disturb me. Before had
finished my supper two more travellers rode
up, called out for the hostler and ordered
drinks, or rather one of them came in with
the orders and tn other threw himself
down on on bench outside and began
loading huge pipe Strolling carelessly
about the room, | managed to glance out
of the window My heart leaped into my
throat, for in the man outside recognized
from description of him-Bill Wolf
one of the most desperate characters that
ever figured in the annals of border ruff
fianism. There was the huge red NOUS
tache, the thick, hairy throat, and the
shoulders hunched up around his head, sug-
costing the shape of a mammoth clam
and the voice with deep down intonation
like the plop, plop, plop of water hurriedly
leaving a jug. If the description of the
notorious renegade is inelegant it has the
merit of truthfuness, and must, therefore,
be excused.
went through with my supper in form,
but whatever appetite might nave felt on
my entrance into the inn had vanished with
my discovery. After time, the other fell
low came in, having been out, he said, to
look after the animals, and they also Or
dered supper. Now was my time to leave,
somc Ala afarmRga n wifi PagsS1
men as l crossed the dim, smoky bai room.
AS they seemed to take no notice of me,
whatever faIt INV cr;-;te Woo It'll. hope
that should make safe transit. 1t was
quite duskish outside, but the hostler was
fitting about the stable with his lantern,
which emitted but little more efful gent
light than white bean would have done,
but he graciously brought out my stecd at
the order, and, mounting, ! thankfully
trotted away. The moon-a little past the
full-would make her debut in something
more than an hour after sunset, and |
pushed along at smart trot so as to get
well out upon the plains and into the right
trail before that time. The animal went
ins.i.o,y renewed at my providential es-
cape from contact with the desperate char
acters whom l had left at the settlement,
when my acute, trained, ever-alert cars de-
tected the sound of swift riding. In which
direction ? From behind me, as the mildly
floating breeze blew from that quarter
The face of the prairie in this section was
little rolling, but not so as to afford any
shelter, and not shrub or bush dotted the
expanse for miles. l drew up my horse one
moment to listen. No chance travellers
ever rode like that. 1t meant pursuit.
l gave my steed CALLING lash and she
broke into convusive gait, hove her body
up with one or two plunees, stumbled, GO
ing down from her knees to her nose, and
pitched me literally heels over head. For
an instant was paralyZed with astonish-
ment, the next sieZed the bit to fetch up
the fallen animal, which had in the brief
mishap undergone a strange metamorpho-
sis. 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 was examining the white legs
my horse had been peculiarly marked with
white legs and face--and l found these
sticky with whitewash. What then Sim
ply, my trappings had been transferred to
another animal. gotten up to exactly repre-
sent mine in the evening. This discovery
brought an appalling Interpretation of the
oncomng horsemen. gave the horse the
whip as soon as his unstable legs were well
under him, and sent him securing on
ahead, while ran off to the right, making
for little hollow near a shallow, dry ra-
vine. Here to my profound establishment
j discovered lone cabin, or hut, about
the dimensions of an ordinary country log
house, and impulsively dashing up to this,
gave a rapid succession OF knocks. A
shrinking, pals and covering woman open
ed it.
"What is its' was her first question, no.
tcng my breathless haste.
Had stopped for moments reflection
upon the strangely isolated position of the
cabin, l should not have pushed in by her
with the explanation =
as there any chance to hide here-my
horse has thrown me and l believe party
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 mo, before ]
had finished my explanation.
''No, no; there is no place" she gasped,
her quick ear now catching the sound OF
the coming horsemen. "Ths is all the
room there Island there's neither cellar
nor attic"
"But this ?" exclaimed, ,ushing for a
dark object in the corner.
''Its coffin" was her quick response
'but there's no other chance-they are
turning up to the dsor-get in"
had hardly time to place myself in this
receptacle for the dead, when hoarse
voce-one that knew by description which
had had of it, called OUT
''Here you, Dick"
The woman threw her apron over hei
head and opened the door.
"Where's Dickr"
''He hasn't come back yet" returned the
woman.
"Oh, he ain't-Jen, hev yer hurd horse
80 by, tonight"
Yes, only little while ago-a small
manp'
"Yes-driying like the devil"
IL guess" she said, and then paused
"you can hear the horse now feigning tc
listen.
But Bill Wolf must have been of sus
picious nature. heard him leap from hi
horse and strike with jarring PUNK upor
Al. .oI A aunnldarinn Ara Daa hurni a