Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1885-11-12
A North Carolinian Mail. Rider.

"A North Carolinian Mail Rider.
August Atlantic.-The mail.rider
was a lean, sallow, sinewy nan
mounted on a sorry sorrel nag, who
proved, however, 10 have blood ir
her, and to be d fast walker and full.
OF endurance. The mail.rider wa tao.
turn, a natural habit for q man who
rides alone the year round, over o
lonely road, and hasnothing whatever
TO think Of He had been in the war
sixteen months, in Hugh Whites reg.
iment-reckon you've heerd OF HIM?
Confederate"
"Which?''
WAS he on the Union or Confeder.
ate slider"
"Oh, Union"
Were you in any engagements?"
"Which?"
"Sid you have any fghting?"
Not reglar."
What did you do?"
"Which?"
What did you do in Hugh Whites
regiment
On, Just cavorted round the noun.
tains."
You lived on the country"
"Which?"
Picked up what youcould find, corn,
bacon, horses?"
That's about so. Didn't mae
much difference which side was round,
the country got cleaned out"
"Plunder seems to have been the OBJ
iect?"
"Which2"
You got a living out OF the farm
ars9'
You bet"
Our friend and guide seemed to have
been n ~jayhaWker and mountain
marauder-on the right side. His at
tachment to the word which pre-
vented any lively flow ofcOnversation,
and there seemed to be only two
trains OF ideasrunning in his mind; one
was the subject OF horses and saddles,
and the other vas the danger of the
ford We were coming to, and he exhib-
tied Il good deal OF OF ingenuity in en-
deaNOrlng TO excite III alarm. Here
turned to the ford from every other
conversational excursion, aud after
every silence. Il do knows there's
any great danger; not if you know
the ford. Folks is carried away
there. The Foe gets up sudden
There's been right smart rain late
Iy. II you're afraid you can git
set over in a dugout, and I'll take
your horses across. Mebbe you're
used TO fordiug. It's a pretty bad
lord for them as don't know it. But
you'll get along, if you mind your eye.
There's some rocks you'll have to
look out for. But youll be all right,
if you follow me-
Not being very successful III raising
an interest in the dangers OF his ford,
although he could not forego indulging
a malicious pleasure i'll trying to make
the strangers uncomfortable, he finally
turned his attention to trade. This
boss OF mine, ~ he said, is just the
kind OF brute-beast you want for this
country. Your hOsses Is too heavy.
HOwNy swapfOr that one O'yOurn?'
The reiterated assertion that the
horses were not ours, that they were
hired, made little impression on him.
All the way to Burnsville he kept re-
curing to the subject OF a trade, The
instinct OF swap was strong in him.
When we met a yoke OF steers, he
turned round and bantered the owner
for a trade Our saddles took his
fancy. They were of the army pat
tern, and he allowed that one of them
would Just suit him. He rode a small
fiat English pad, cross which was
flung the l. 5. mail pouch, apparently
empty. He dwelt upon the fact that
his saddirwas new and ours were old,
and the advantages that would ac-
crUe to us from the exchange. He
didn't care il they had been through
the war, as they had, for he fancied
an army saddle. The Friend answer
ed for himself that the saddle he rode
belonged to distinguished Union Gen
eral, and had bullet in it that was
put there by a careless Confederate in
the first battle OF Bull Run, and the
owner would not part whit for mon
ey. But the mail-rider said he didn't
mind that. He wouldn't mind swap
ping his new saddle formy old one and
the rubber coat and leggins. Long be-
fore we reached The tord we thought
we would like to swap the guide, ever
at the risk OF drowning. The ford was
passed III due time, with no inconven-
fence save that OF wet feet, for the
stream was breast high to the horses;
but heing broad al / swift and full Of
sunken rocks and slippery stones and
the crossing tortuous, it Is not a ford
to be commended. There is a curious
delusion that a rider has in crossing u
swift. broad stream. 1t is that he Is
rapidly drifting up stream, while in
fact the tendency of the horse is
to go with the current.