National Republican., 1883-04-12

risks, the bushes bordering the passage at the
| crest of the slope were violently agitated,
| and mounted confederate officer leaped his
horse into the open space.
Rowland's piece came to his shoulder quick
as thought, as he had drawn IL on many deer
| in the far off north, but before no pulled the
/ trigger he looked over at me for permission to
speed the death shot. II was a splendid
proof of the power Of discipline and self con-
| troll and IL was also Providential dispense
tion to the confederate, for Rowland never
missed.
In an instant score Of thoughts swepped
across my mind We were not there TO kill,
| necessarily, but to observe. To shoot would
reveal our presence and perhaps defeat our
| own object One mans life Md not affect
the struggle. Itlooked too much like assassin
alton and then, he was q splendid specimen
of physical manhood, and If gave my con-
sent to his taking off l should regret it for
ever. think it was the latter sentiment
which influenced the negative shake of the
head by which l telegraphed to Rowland
my desire that he should remain unharmed
If that officer is yet alive and remembers the
incident, he may now know why the
Yanks" " he met that day gave him his life
All at once the thought occurred 10 me: "Why
can't we take him prisonerP
The horse upon which he sat with the grace
of an accomplished equestrian was a magnif-
icent black, deep in the chest and light of
limb as q gazelle. Not more than twenty
five yards away, while invisible ourselves we
had view of them which enabled us TO take
in every detail. The horseman was looking
intently along the road TO our rear, as if he
momentarily expected the appearance of a
union column swinging around the curve. In
his right hand he held a cooked navy rovol-
yer, while his left clutched tho bride by
which the beast was governed.
With the above mentioned thought fore
most in my mind, 1 called to Rowland:
Shoot the horse" and at the same time
slowly raised my carbine selecting the broad
breast of the animal as the best target.
At that moment the officer caughta a glimpse
OF the movement or the flash of the sun on
the piece, and bent forward for better view,
at the same time raising his revolver, with
the muzzle bearing directly on tho position l
occupied. Before q further motion could be
made the sharp crack of Rowlands rife
parted the air and the noble animal dropped
as IL struck with sledge hammer. His
rider was entangled in the furniture of the
saddle, and appeared to be partly under him.
Forward, boys!" l yelled, "and bring
him in !"
We were all four in tho road, dashing
madly toward the struggling group, when out
of the bushes came the head Of u confederate
cJlumn.
Into the brush, every man Of youp 1
shouted, rendered almost speechless by this
unexpected change in the situation. And as
we dived into the shrubbery half dozen bull
lets clipped the leaves about us. At the same
time rattle Of musketry from the right and
rear announced that Capt. ID. had found some
thing sufficient to make report upon. Our
chief concern now was to get out. This we
did before the advancing confederate skirmish
line, and upon reaching Our own weak force
we found the right, which was composed of my
own company, furiously engaged with the
confederate left, and being rapidly outnanked.
Before any damage had been done, however,
the woods were swarming with a body of our
own troops, who came from none of us
knew where, and we were relieved and or
dered back to the regiment When we had
placed about a hundred yards between our
selves and the relieving force, who were get
ting into line of battle, n halt was ordered for
the purpose of counting noses and locating the
missing.
"Therell be hell to pay here in minute"
said the captain of the other company.
Hadn't we better get little further to the
rearP
The words had scarcely passed his lips when
the firing opened with crash, and n storm
of bullets came whistling and kissing through
the forest. 1t is hardly necessary TO say that
the form Of calling the roll was temporarily
dispensed with and we made all the haste
consistent with dignity to get out of range.
it, and were Immediately surrounded by an
inquistive crowd, who insisted upon being
made acquainted at once with all the particu-
lars of the adventure.
Five men missing, sir" reported the or
derly sergeant, with a deferential salute to
the captain, who was assisting us in disposing
of n lemonade concocted from two shriyeled
lemons which had found in my haversack-
the last lemonade of the season, by the way,
until we reached the James river, more than a
month afterward.
Any of them killed that you know of GER
tainlyW inquired the captain.
"One, sir little Miller. Shot through The
head. / have his money and some letters we
found in his pocket"
Poor fellow! his troubles are ended. I'll
write to his mother by the first mail that
goes out. Tell the boys to get what rest they
can; think we will have more to do yet be-
fore night"
lay down in the shade of bush and was
soon involved in an able.boded nightmare
in which / struggled desperately to escape
from the hoofs of a gigantic black horse with
green main and red legs. Just as he had
seized me by the shoulder with his cleaning
white teeth, each one foot in length, and
was giving me violent shaking came out
of the deafness of sleep undergoing an actual
shaking at the hands Of the captain, while in
my ears the roar Of the fight mingled with
the clash of arms and accouterments and the
ominous order: Fall in Fall limp J.R.
OwENToN, KY.-Dr. /. +. Mundy saws: al
have found Browns Iron Bitters one of the
best tonics and prescribe it frequently"