San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-04-23
CAPTURED A YANKEE.

night with murmuring wind abroad in the
pine tops and with multitudes of owls having
q kind of Walpurgis entertainment down IN
the bottom. There were no lights in the great,
rambling log farm house The family sat in
the open gallery until what they called good
| dark" and then went unostentatiously to bed,
as became people who were astir before day
every morning.
"Old man Boone" the head of the house
hold, had been excused from service because
the Confederacy had no great need OF SO
many pounds avoirdupois in any one indl-
vidual For the first time in his life this
worthy gentleman had cause to bless his pom
derosity, which saved him from hardships
and dangers innumerable. Concluding, like
Falstaff, that the better part OF valor was
discretion, he remained valiantly at home,
sitting most of the time in capacious arm
chair, and thus added more pounds to his
weight and more objections to his availability
| as a soldier.
jim and John, the boys were at home
one of them on furlough and the other on
sick leave They had been silent for long
| time, and the old man had begun to express
| his thoughts in various inarticulate sounds,
! apparently proceeding from the remote
depths of his head, when suddenly he started
| up exclaiming:
well, them owls does out boot creation to-
night"
! The three listened silently. Wild boots, in
all degrees of sarcastic emphasis varied with
| frequent bursts of fendiSh laughter, were
making night musical The woods seemed to
| be alive with their wicked mirth and to re
| sound with screams, and shouts, and cries OF
rage and pain.
"Worsen a camp meetin'," finally assented
Jim, whose religious education had been neg
Iected.
Ever hear a owl with SIGH a voice as
thats" queried the old man. "If that owl
could be ketched, it could be learned to talk. "
One voice had separated itself from the
| others, and was certainly giving vent to
some very unowlish shouts, but they followed
! so rapidly on one another and were so con-
fused and intermingled by the thousand
| echoes sent back from the adjacent hills that
for several minutes the listeners remained
under the impression that they were listening
to the solo performance of some talented owl
At last, however, the grand orchestra down
in the bottom was silent for moment, and
out from the woods, away over the ridge
came wild, prolonged shout:
"Hallo-o-or'
Somebody, by NedT exclaimed the old
man, growing pale in the dim light.
Must be somebody lost" said Jim. Make
| a torch, John, and less go'n see."
IL say go'n see" calculated the old man.
| nervously "Bushwhackers, ! bet"
Come, father" said John, the practical
bringing out two bundles of fat pine splinters
You reckon bushwhackers are a goin'
| through the country yellin' for all that's out
| like that fellow They'd be pretty fools if
they did"
"Wha-what you goin' to do, boysr asked
the old man tremblingly. He was not afraid,
he was only nervous, and he always shook
| when he was nervous.
Coin up the road with the torches, father,
and shout to that Teller till he'll know where
to come, if he is lost"
The old man stood thinking, with his hands
J in his pockets If be remained there, the
bushwhackers might surround the house and
kill him while Jim and John were gone. No
| doubt this was a lure to draw all the men
away from the house.
Il guess III go with you, boys" he said in
agonized tones, dragged hither and thither by
his sense of duty and his fear of consequences
| They won't be SO likely to attack US if they
see me-"
NO" said Jim, soberly, they'll think it's
a regiment 20 infantry"
| With which pleasantly the three set out,
Jim and John carrying the great flaming
pine torches, and the old man waddling
along in the rear with his usual elephantine
motion The torches cast weird shadows up
and down the road, dancing and lodging as
the boys moved and the wind famed the
flame. Every moment the old mans eyes
grew more prominent, and his breath came
more quickly. He was certain that every
great tree by the roadside was an ambush
from which they would be fired on when they
came into convenient range. He mentally
pictured the surprise of the neighbors when
somebody should come upon the three dead
bodies the next day, and wondered gloomily
what they would do for a suit in which to
bury him. And under the influence of these
pleasant reflections his knees smote together
as he walked.
Suddenly new thought struck him with
the force Of a thunderbolt. Jim and John
were holding the torches high above their
heads and were shouting with all the strength
OF two very vigorous pairs Of lungs, but while
they walked in the shadow, beneath the
torches, the old man got the full glare of ,the
light upon his portly figure, as though this
were an illumination or torchlight procession
gotten up for his exclusive benefit. What O
target was presented by that extensive form.
PalIld and shaking, he came TO a halt.
: "BoySp' said he, family. "Boys!"
The vociferous duet suddenly stopped, and
r the boys looked back at their father, who
was Involuntary drawing back into the
! shadows
Boys, I'm kinder tired. You ali 20 n UT