Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1879-08-07

ISOJity 1CluASu- ~
"Well, it amt nutllin' to weep
over, l was Citing purity tired
of this thing, anyhow 2
i had a fair look at the mans
face,and | found something there
to puzzle and startle me. One
Eday / had picked up the daguer-
reotype of a man dressed in cit
izen's clothes. 1t seemed to be
that of a farmer, but the face
was one to. be remembered. AS
Iisat I'M the open door of the old
house, carbinc across my knees,
and looked into the face Of our
lprisoner, it came to me all at
once that it was bis face / had
seen in the picture. There was
great change in some particu-
lars, but yet LIE confidently IN
quired: est - en
"Did you ever have your pic
ture taken by 10 Of 7 Lynch
burg?' s9<s45i
"Yes,'' he replied.
"Was the case made of red
noroeco?" 80
3 s4t was.ss d
Then the picture / had found
in camp must have been stolen
from his house by foragers and
thrown away. The man looked
at me if ready to answer fur
ther questions, but / had none to
put just then. | was wondering
at the curious coincidence, when
he sat up on his bed, looked me
square in theleye, and said:
81 am Dan Vernon, the bush
whacker, and i killed one Of
your men last night before turn
| ing n,hcrep' l.l 8d1si.i..E e a's1
7Dan Vermont I repeated af-
| ter him m,,,,~o,n c,o,,. oro
| 4 eyes. 1t Is a good joke on
| your comrades, who took me for
a scrub soldierr' a Z 3aat
| / was so taken by surprise
that L could not utter a word.
He was as cool as ice, however,
land he continued.
"It would give Sheridan great
Joy to string me up or see me
shot, but my time hasn't come
yet.o j shall be going pretty
soonl"W sso~ 95 a1 f
Now, that was pretty cool talk,
considering that | was there to
guard him and had my carbine
ready for shot, with fifty COM
rades within hail, but he went on:
81 have my rife under the
straw, and could have shot you
long ago. / didn't want to, how
lever. / feel good-natrlred this
morning, and you need fear no
harm" :"
"One cry from me will alarm
the whole post, " | managed to
remark.
"Poohl Let's hear you yell
out once~
Our eyes met. There was
nothing malicious in his, but
they put a strange spell on me.
His voice, too, had a strange
tender influence, and when he
asked me to toss him my canteen
Iof water and haversack of food
/ obeyed without the least hesi-
tation. He drank from the can
teen andAas he .chewed, away AT
the food lie feniaEked:
"This is pretty good fare for a
hungry man. AS 1 can't stay
here TO eat it all up ] shall beg
the favor of carrying the rest
with me. ~s3tss ss
/ lie was looking into my. eyes,
and / could not force my lips to
Hoffer word of objection.
81 heard that Sheridan has of
fered a reward for me, but no
one will ever earn it," he said, as
he drank again. *
He was not fifteen feet from
my carbine, and ] was thinking
how surely / could hit him, when
our eyes met andShe saida
"If you want to shoot me blaze
away, but l tell you can't hit me"
s We looked at each other for
half a minute, and I felt my car
bine slipping from my grasp to
the ground outside. My fingers
had no strength to hold it. Dan
laughed in a dry way and said:
"Why don't you shoot?"
|. s@sYou shall never leave this
place aIivele | said in answer,
but i hardly recognized my own
voice.
s'Poohl" he carelessly replied,
81 am ready to leave now! / win
go out this door here and you
shall sitltight where you are!"
Nl ] was looking full at him, and
to save my life I couldn't move
either hand or foot. Each limb
felt as numb as if asleep.
'Well, old boy, good bye to
you," said Dan as he picked up
his rife from the straw, and in
another minute he was out of
sight. / was sitting there, mouth
open and eyes fixed on vacancy
when a comrade came down from
the pickot-post, shook me and
cried out: - -
"a nice man you are, fast o.
sleep and your prisoner gonel