Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1888-07-27

again. At last l gave it up. ga
pretty way to treat me-" | grum-
bled, "after taking care Of him 80
longw | vowed that if ever |
should see him again he should tell
me whether he had really left any
thing, and what it was.
News came of terrible fighting at
the front. Stragglers, broken
down horses, wagons, ambulances
from which now and then CHASTITY
face would look out, kept going by
day after day for several days.
The yard, the barn, the kitchen,
were full of men. The first day
they drank up all the water in the
well. Then regiments marched by
almost as fast as when they were
making their forced march South.
They passed on by the house, but
stopped on the crest of the hill up
the road. There they began to dig
with spades and shovels, and the
next morning when | looked out
there was a long line of forts, and
the Yankee flag flying above them,
and, great heavens ! the black
mouths of cannon frowning direct
ly down at us.
While / was looking | heard
something rattle far down the road.
1t sounded like emptying barrel
of stones into another barrel. Then
another rattle, mingled with a con-
slant dull booming. All the morn.
ing the sounds kept coming nearer,
till at last l could distinctly hear
the loud reports Of cannon and of
muskets all fred at once. l noticed
great stir in the forts above
Horsemen were galloping back and
forth; new guns were every mo-
ment thrusting ont their ugly
mouths, and men were marching
and couhtermarching, l could
hear their officers shouting gibber-
lsh at them, which they must have
been Indian or Chinese to under
stand. Then more soldiers passed
the house from the South, tired,
dusty, grimed, some of them run
ming, some wounded and tottering
along slowly. All passed in a
steady stream behind the forts.
Suddenly a horseman dashed up
to the house-he was all dust and
dirt, and his horse was covered
with foam. He threw himself from
the saddle and came up on to the
veranda.
Good gracious the captain.
"Come away from here at once,'
he SAID. "Our men are retreating;
we are going to make a stand be-
hind the works. You are directly
in range. Be quick the fire is liza
BILE to open at any moment"
Then there was scramble TO
snatch few things. One took a
lamp, another pitcL =, another a
photograph album. 1t seemed as
if everybody took the most useless
thing to be found. All except me
were hurrying down the walk to
the gate; stayed behind. The
captain tried to make me hurry
He was stamping up and down on
the veranda and through the hall,
almost crazy at my delay.
"Come, be quickw he said, as
sharp as If he were the general
himself.
"Captain-" said, hesitating.
"What is lt?" he asked, impa-
tiently.
"The hostage"
"What hostage ~
"That you left when you went
away; couldn't find it. Must we
leave it,"
He looked at me q moment as ii
he thought had lost my senses
then he burst into laugh.
never could stand TO be laughed
at, and just then 1t was particular
ly obnoxious. / made up my mind
that he should tell me what l had
hunted for, and tell me there and
then.
"Never mind that" he said, see
ing that | was irritated. "Saye
yourself and 1t will be in no es-
pecial danger.
"I'll not leave it, whatever it is,"
| said, resolutely.
"Come, come this will be a
battle field in a few minutes"
81 won't stir step till you tell
me what | want to know"
"Nonsense," he said, severely.
The more severe his tone, the
more resolute | became. l stood
stock.still.
"For Heavens save" he urged,
becoming really frightened "the
gunners are standing with the
lanyards in their hands ready to
hre.n
"Let them fre.p folded my
arms.
A volley sounded a short dis
tance down the line of forts to the
west. The captain tried to seize
my wrist.
"Do come," he pleaded.
"Tell me what was the hostage"
l said, stubbornly.