River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1881-02-03

a serious and pressing one. The I'M
known marksman was never known to
miss; and all that any of us ever saw
of him was the puff of smoke from the
muzzle of his weapon.
One afternoon Fred Bolton came to
my tent was surgeon to our compa-
N.Y. in state of such manifest dis
composure that at first thought either
the colonel had been killed or the mys-
FERROUS sharpshooter captured. 1t
turned out to be quite another matter,
however.
what do you Think" he began, in
an excited undertone. "Whose house
do you suppose is a mile off there, on
our left?" And without giving me time
to hazard a guess he went on: "The
Capels, as sure as you sit there. And
whom do you suppose | saw? Miss
Rosalind herself, as Pm living sjnnerl
She rode up ON horseback just as was
palavering at the front door for pro-
vender BY iove, she's more divinely
handsome than everl And, oh my
wig, didn't she give me rating thought
Whewp
"What did she scold you about?r de-
manded l, amused.
For being a Virginian and, and
lighting on the northern side. | tell
you she made me feel like born
sneak and blackguard. A little more
and | believe | should have rated
again, and joined the johnny Rebs. If
| were a man, said she i would make
it my business to catch such features
as you and hang you II ' opin-
ion if few hundred W. III like her
were to enlist on her SD should be
thrashed out of our Doc month,
but luckily there's not woman
like her on the planet.
You'd better look t, or she'll
make conquest of you in more ways
than one" said l, laughing. "By the
way, this news would interest Camlion.
Does he know"
"No, and | don't mean to tell him,
returned Bolton rather sharply; and
after sitting a few minutes longer he
got up and left me in apparently no
very good humor.
That same evening, however, ne APP
peared again, this time In preoccu-
pied mood, and with his pipe in his
mouth. The conversation presently
turned upon the ever active sharp
shooter, and after few remarks had
passed Bolton suddenly exclaimed;
give made up my mind to kill that
fellow, and I've thought of a way how
it may be done. guess Pm as good a
shot as he is, and if can get Il sight of
so much as a square inch of him, he's
settled" He then went on to unfold
to me his scheme, which appeared feas-
able, though there were certain obsta-
cles in the way. After we had discuss
ed it for awhile he said:
"Do you know why | want to shoot
him?"
From patriotic motives, ! trust, was
my reply.
That's very well so far as it goes but
there's something else. | believe |
know who he is-or what he is at all
events. | believe he's the man whom
Rosalind Capel means to marry. From
something she said to-day I'm certain
she knows him, and that there's some
thing more than ordinary between
them. And l don't intend that she
shall marry him if can help it."
/ did not much like this attitude of
Belton's, and l told him so; but he
took my structures in such i'll part that
for the present judged it best to say
no more. Plainly, he was in love with
Miss Capel. l devoutly wished thNt
she was out of the way, but before.
breakfast time next morning was des-
tined to hear of her again. 1t was
about the hour of sunrise when Camii-
on, who had been out on picket duty
during the night, entered my tent, his
face flushed, and his blue eyes kindled
with repressed excitement.
II have 50 Niss Capel," he said,
going to the !,o.nt at once, as his custom
was "There was an alarm at my out
post two hours ago, and one of my men
fired We heard something fall, went
out and found a rider entangled with
his horse, which was shot dead. / knew
her in a moment, though she wore
mans clothes-a blouse and high boots.
She had lost her way, and had Stun
bled on us in the darkness. Their
house is near here, she says. 1t was Il
narrow escape; if she had been killed,
| could not have borne it! | wish this
war were over"
"Was she armed?" / inquired, feel
ing more uneasy than | cared to con-
feSS.
"No. Why should she, poor girl?
She had been TO see some friends OF
theirs somewhere up the country. |
gave her a man to see her safe home"
He had spoken the latter sentences in
a low voice; now he looked suddenly
up and said with deepest emphasis: 81
would give my life to know that she
loves me still as | love herl She did
love me once, There no other woman
in the world for me-"
"You must bear in mind that she's
a red-hot rebel" | ventured to remark.
"On the contrary, she's more than
half inclined to our side" returned
Camllon eagerly. "She tod me almost
as much. In her heart she loves the
union best"
This unlikely assertion increased my
misgivings tenfold; but before | could
make up my mind what to say was
summoned to attend another victim Of
our mysterious enemy on the opposite
bank. The man was MORALLY wound
ed; but before he died he was able to
state that he had seen his executioner
"a young fellow, with dark blue
Jacket or shirt, who parted aside the
bushes and looked across at him, the
smoking rifle in his hand.
eff anyone with a good aim had been
with me" added the poor chap, 'we'd
had him spotted then, sure -
They were his last words. But 1t was
not the first time the terrible sharp
shooter had been said to have shown
himself under similar circumstances;
but it set me to thinking again of Bel
toms scheme of the night before.
At 5 o'clock that afternoon, the Of
ficers and non-commissioned officers
of our company were summoned to
meet the colonel; | was also present.
| As anticipated, it was Belton's scheme
that was the subject of discussion; the
| long and short of it was as follows: A
volunteer was to be found to show him
self on the bank and take the enemy's
fire. Bolton meanwhile was to conceal
himself close at hand, and rs soon as
the young fellow in the straw hat"
peered out of his ambush to see the
effect of his shot, Bolton was to put a
Minnie ball through his head. II ere
were only three things that might in
terfere with the successful prosecution
of this plan; the lack of volunteer
prepared to meet slmOst certain death;
the possible omission on the enemy's