The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1884-07-03

had been trained to Just this kind of
work. Like horses / had read of in
/ Arabia, he would take his course for his
masters habitatiOn, let it be where it
/ would. The man with whom / had
traded was one of the gang, and there
must have been another at the
/ stable of the inn Mt Clayville who
had given my horse something to make
him sick. These thoughts only passed
| through my mind with hghtning-like
| rapidly, but they were systematically
arranged as they came, and knew that
| had been trapped, and that the animal
\ was bearing me to the haunt of the rob-
/ bers. For a moment there was a de-
| sire to 90 on and meet the rascals, but
| that would only be madness. l must
\ get out of the saddle somehow.
la! the opportunity presented itself
| Ahead 1 saw n stream of water
withdrew my feet from the stirrups and
| placed my hand upon the pommel. One
/ more leap and the horses feet touched
the pebbly shore. With a sudden spring
/ / lifted myself clear of the saddle, and
as the beast few from beneath me /
| dropped into the brook without hurt of
any kind. As quickly as possible
/ scrambled up the bank, and when /
! reached the wood l stopped TO consider
The horse had stopped on the opposite
/ side of the stream as though looking for
| his rider, and for a moment | thought
! Of firing a pistOl-ball at him. However,
| did not waste my powder and in a
| little while the animal turned and trot-
/ ted of and was soon out of sight.
Now, what should | do? Or course
| must got out of the wood; and to do
that safely must 90 back by the way
we had come. L looked to my pistols
and started. The sun gave me my di-
Iection, so / could make no mistake.
\ By-and-by heard the tread of horse
ahead, and as quickly as possible 1
/ found shelter behind huge pine tree.
! The horse came along within a hun
dred yards of me. The horscman was
my honest countryman who feared
might be rObber, and the horse was
/ the one l had owned an hour before.
/ The animal still f0amed at the mouth,
| but cantercd along without apparent
| trouble. So the "pisOn" had not been
50 very deadly; and, moreover, the
| punching in the gullet had not been
without its effect Surely the plan had
been a cute one, and the game had
been adroitly played-only L had
| CHANGED to gain one effective play be-
/ fore their game could be finished
L remained behind the tree until the
/ horseman disappeared and then moved
| on again. Had l been nearer to the
rascal / might have intercepted him,
but rs it was the thing could not well
be done. l hurried forward with all
possible speed, and in little while
after L reached the highway l had the
1 good fortune to be Overtaken by a man
in n wagon. When first hailed him
he draw a pistol, and seemed disin-
IralTF uf.n
| he recognized me as one whom he had
seen on the road beyond Clayville the
day before, and finally pulled up and
| addressed me. 1 soon convinced him
that was an honest man, and he took
! me in. He was bound TO BOoneton,
and was glad that he had found safe
company; but did not tell him what l
had discovered. 1 explained the fact of
my being afOOt by telling how my
horse had failed me by the wayside.
reached Booneton by the middle of
the forenoon, where l found two
shrewd, intelligent-loOking officers, to
whom communicated my secret, and
1 together we laid plan for finding the
robbers. On the following day we. dis
/ guiscd ourselves and proceeded to that
point in the road where the trained
horse had turned of into che wood, but
we found nothing. On the avt lay We
went again, and this time we had the
good fortune to meet my honest-lo look
ing hOrse-trader astride of the very an
imal that had carried me to the brook.
He did not recognize me, and readily
stopped when my companions halted
him; and, as may be supposed, we
captured him without much trouble.
At first he expressed much surprise, but
when he came to recognize me he
ceased his railing and protested n will
ingncss to go with us where we pleased.
We carried him to BOoneton, and while
the officers were taking him into the
tavern / took good care that his horse
was safely housed in the stable. The
fellow gave his name as Mark Sackett,
and swore that he knew nothing of any
robbers or anything of that k nd. and
touching the affair of the horse, he de-
clarcd that that was something which
he could not explain. He said that he
saw me when l was carried into the
woods, and as the horse had left with
him began to revive he had mounted
and followed me. Beyond this we could
get nothing from him.
But / had an idea of my own. l be-
lieved that if there was haunt of rob
| bcrs anywhere in the wood, the pris-
| oner's horse would take us there. and
when | cave my opinion to the officers,
they jumped at the conclusion. 1t was
now only an hour past noon, and in
less than an hour we had twenty men,
we'll mounted and well armed, ready to
follow us. The black horse was led out,
saddled and bridled, and l took my
seat upon his back, and he behaved
well rs he started Off In fact, he
seemed to like the company OF
the other horses, and to be proud OF
leading them. When VIC reached the
wood | gave him the rein, and he turned
off just where he had turned with me
before; but he did not dash away this
time as he had done on that former
occasion. Being in the society of steady
| horses seemed to sober him down, and
he led the way as a well-disposed pio-
neer should.
On by the very path 1 had been be-
fOre-across the brook where | had
made my leap-and then away through
the dark, deep VIC I'd beyond. BY and
by we came to another stream, upon
the opposite side of which arose a high
perpendicular bluff, and it appeared 10
us that there could not possibly be any
passage that way. But the black horse
pushed into the stream, and when he
reached the other side he walked down
few rods in the shallow water, and
then turning to the Fright he entered 8
narrow pass which had been before in.
visible.
A little way through this curious pas.
sage, and we came into a deep, circular
basin or hollow, walled in upon all sides
by an almost perpendicular bank, and
here, sitting beneath some small trees,
we found six men. They started uE
when they saw us, but as our pistols
were quickly out they did not offer re,