Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1889-09-19

| M IN HNN Kansas.
M uN NU However, I'll
| - young officer wa
| 40 now sufficiently convalescer
EA n to mount his jet-black wa
Nv horse and ride about til
"S camp for exercise. He hope
soon to get himself into fighting trir
again. He was a jealous, courngeou
young soldier, and he could not endur
with patience his enforced inactivity.
Hearing that excellent wild frui
abounded in the woods about one mil
and half from the Federal camp
Hartwell determined to ride over an,
enjoy a delicious treat.
While riding leisurely along through
large canebrake, midway between
the camp and the woods to which h,
was bound, he was surprised and cap
tured by band of rough guerrilla
who had been accommodating the enc
my's position from safe distance.
The Union spies had reported only
that morning that there were no enc
mics within ten miles of their own
lines.
So Hartwell had ridden off alone.
never dreaming OF what was to befall
him. He had been riding carelessly
along, inadvertently whistling some
little tune heard at camp, and think
ing of the dear old mother far away in
Suddenly his horse was stopped, his
arms were pinioned to his sides by
brawny hands, while villainous, hard
ened countenances leered upon him.
Don't yer chip nary wold. or by ther
holy smokin' powers o t'other world
I'll send a bullet clean through yer
burned Yankee carcass" said one 10
bust guerrilla, holding an old musket
threateningly near the captive's hand
some head.
Hartwell was too completely sur
prised to frame an answer. The guer-
rillas surged about him wild with glee
over their great capture. A Yankee
officer was not picked up every day.
Their rejoicing, uncouth and profane,
rendered them for a short time in
cautious. The tramp, tramp of com
ing horsemen threw the jubilant band
of four guerrillas into considerable ex-
element. In moment every man
was quiet and on his guard Instinc-
lively, each rough fellow sought
musket or carbine, the rifed property
of some dead soldier.
Every eye was turned in the direc-
tion of the approaching riders. That
there were not more than two or three
could easily be told from the sounds
that the horses feet made on the hard,
Il 10 -nI ,.xo1 L. fI,n
Lieutenant Hartwell was for the mo-
ment forgotten. Were those riders
weare~s of the blue or the gray? The
tall, dense, intervening canes prevent
ed an answer to that mute question.
Three guerrillas had stationed them
selves behind clumps of vegetation
while the fourth held Hartwells horse
with his left hand, his right grasping a
carbinG.
1t was a favorable moment for Lieu
tenant Hartwell. He recognized it as
such. While the short absorption OF
the guerrillas' attention lasted, Hart
well, quick as wink, slipped from the
saddle, and, ere his captors were aware.
with far more agility than his weak
physical condition would seem to war
rant, he had darted off through the
towering canes, where horse could not
follow.
The gucrrillas, so absorbed in await
ing the approach of the invisible horse
men, did not for moment observe the
empty saddle. Then, with q smother
ed oath, the one holding the officers
horse struck him a severe blow to make
him stand aside The spirited animal
resented the blow, and with savage
lunge the bridle-rein was jerked from
the grasp of the irate man who wa!
thrown hardly to the ground, where
he lay half stunned as the Lieuten
ants fiery horse went tearing away
down the road.
Then the horsemen lode into view
An exclamation of rude pleasure fel
from the lips of the guerrillas. Tn,
grips on the carbines loosened. The,
recognized in the newcomers two O
| their own men, who were deserter
from Van Dorn's ranks, although the,
still wore the gray. These men were
soon informed of the capture and sud
den escape of tho Federal officer.
"Jes' plum like blamed Yankee,
remarked one of the newcomers
"They're all slicker n n eel; they'll an,
of EN- squeeze tn ough knot-hole e
they're gin half chance"
"Waal, / sartain believe yer" saiC
| the leader, who had menaced Hart
we'll: "but he KANT be fur off, boys
| Them Yankees KANT run through
cane-patch no better'n city gal kin
Let's be on his trail, an not stan hye
/ a-givin' sich chances ter beat we 'uns.
After hasty consultation it was de
cided to conceal the horses in grow
hard by, and every man enter the puT
suit, which they felt sure would lea
to the recapture of their escaped pris
oner. Striking into the cane brake
they were soon on the Lieutenant
track, which led through the intricacie
of the thicket.
Meanwhile, Arthur Hartwell wa
making gigantic strides through th
bosky brake, stumbling over clingin
vines, which were densely entangle
about the canes; splashing and dash
ing into hidden pools of stagnan
water; then out again and into anothe
worse than the first, despoiling tn
polish of his No. rs and ficking wit
clayey splashes his spotless uniform
His physical strength was not ads
auate to the demand which his reall
| desperate effort to escape enforced
Still, on he hurried.
The early autumn day was intensel
hot. The sun seemed TO bear a pal
ticular spite toward that SPOT, an