The Sunday tatler and Jersey City express. (Jersey City, N.J.) 1883-1886, 1886-02-07


At the same moment the men outside,
becoming impatient at my delay, began
| pounding on the door, and as ] did not
answer, they burst ii open and rushed
/ into the room just as dropped from the
! piazza to the ground.
| They saw how things were at glance,
/ and the next moment the report of hsslf a
| d yen pistols rang cut. and as many bull
lets ratified around my head.
| Knowing it was impossible to get pos
| session Of my horse, l determined to go on
without him, and ran quickly around The
as | turned the corner of the Building
some one grasped me firmly around the
waisi, shouting:
Here he is-I'ye got hint"
"All tight; hold him till we get there
called Out voice.
struggled desperately to free myself,
but in vain. The fellow held me with a
grip of tenacity.
But did not waste much time in useless
exertion. succeeded, by mighty effort,
In freeing the hand 10 which held my
revolver. and with the butt of the weapon
/ struck the fellow a terrific blow upon
his head. He sank to the ground like a
log, and springing over his fallen body
ran on around to the rear of the house,
where came upon half dozen horses
already saddled and bridled and tied to A
number of hitching posts that had evil
IDENTITY been placed there for that purpose.
The moment / saw the horses deter
mined 10 mount one and ride away. |
Just had time to cut the halter aud spring
into the saddle when the rebels appeared
around the corner Of the building. They
discharged their pistols at me, but forlu
nately escaped snhurt
urged the horse 10 his best speed, and
he bounded swiftly away. Soon the clat-
ter Of hoofs told me was being pursued.
For more than a quarter Of an hour we
galloped on; then looking back over my
shoulder l discovered that my pursuers
were gaming upon me. AT the same;
moment u dull, roaring sound ahead broke
upon my ears.
The rebels now opened fire upon me,
but luckily for me they were too far
behind TO do any damage. Il was only
question of time, however, for saw that
| would eventually be run down. When
this occurred would be hanged at once
to the nearest tree as spy.
Still on aud on rushed my horse, and
each moment the dull, roaring sound
grew louder. What could it be-
In the next few minutes all was made
clear to me, for my horse had no. gone
but short distance further when our
progress was suddenly interrupted by a
river, the waters of which were rushing
and swirling madly on, and to my horror
saw that the bridge that spanned the
stream had been washed away by the
rapidly swelling current.
What was to dor To surrender tony
pursuers would be to seal my fate and to
attempt to swim the river wcu d likely
prove destruction. But while the first
was certain death, the second gave at least
one chance of success. / therefore deter
mined to risk crossing the river.
No time was to be lost. The rebels were
close upon me. Already they were nearly |
within pistol shot. They saw my predic;. (,
meDt and thinking they had me corneree,
began to shout d.risively.
I urged my trembling horse forward
He at first refused to obey, but by apply |
ing the spurs numerically succeeded in |
starting him, and the next moment, with |
wild snort, he sprang into the swiiling |
current. Instantly we were whirled be- /
meath the wafer, and was almost lost, |
but by mighty effort / kept the saddle,
and moment later we rose to the surface,
the horse striking out wildly for the other
shore.
/ shall never forget that night. We
were hurled rapidly down stream by the
avalanche of water, aud had all could |
possibly do to keep my seat in the saddle. |
from which if had been washed away |
this story W uld never have been penned.
BY great good luck my horse at last
gained the opposite bank, and fell ex-
hausted as soon as he drew himself up
out of the water. We were a long dis
lance below the place where we had
entered the stream.
knew was safe from the rebels, how
ever, for they would not dare to follow ne
through the mighty torrent of water, and
after long rest | mounted again and
started back toward the road, which
reached in safety, and arrived in the Union
lines at daybreak.