Thomas County cat., 1890-09-04


dim and ghostly sentinels Of plutonia'
, shore.
The shadow Of . dream without it
silence. The never-ceasing wash Of tn
waves upon the strand, the crash ant
grinding Of the ice foes, the signing o
the wind in the tree-tops, and the bay
ing of wolves in pursuit of prey, lent ,
demoniac reality to the picture.
The interior of the block-house pre-
sented scene in strong contrast to tina,
without. By the light of fire of resin
Gus pine women were knitting, children
sleeping peacefully on blankets or bear
skins. while men smoked and told
stories of adventure or speculated on
the probabilities of the future if the
royal troops should or should not come
to their relief
81 wish it was Colonel Washington
and his rangers instead of them sassy
red coats that was coming. The grass
wouldn't grow under his feet.
''Mind, don't tdoubt that we can whip
the Frenchmen ourselves, and then I
vote that we go and hunt up the En-
glish troops and lick them for not getting
here in time" This suggestion was
favorably received, the popular belief
being that one ranger was a match for
three Englishmen.
81 served under johnson at Crown
Point" continued the speaker, a
weather-beaten and soldier-like man.
General Dieskan commanded the
French and Indians, and, if we had
been English troops, led by thick
headed English officers, wouldn't be
here to tell the story. As it was, we
fell into an ambuscade and the advance
guard was thrown into confusion. John
son said he was wounded, but he wasn't
hurt bad enough to stop him from run
ming away. But we didn't miss him,
for Lyman was there, cool and quiet as
If he didn't think it was much Of
shower after all. The Indians were
firing under cover. and the Frenchmen
coming on in line of battle with bay
onets at the charge. It was ticklish
moment; but Lyman called to the
stragglers to drop, and the front rank
fred over them. It was the French
mans turn then. Then Charley Sell
wyn gathered up the stragglers and
charged the Indians in the woods, driv-
ing them out and piling them on to the
French, while our main body poured
volley after volley into the struggling
mass. But Dieskan was lion. and he
few around among his men, and while
the Indians skulked to the rear, firing
at US as they went, he got his regulars
into order and led them to the charge
himself, shouting: I'm avanJ, mes en-
fans! Vive le Francep The men took
up the cry, and came on shouting: 'Vive
le Francer
"But we stood firm; our front rank
knelt, the second stopped and the
third fred over their shoulders, and
poured storm of bullets into them at
short range. Their front rank and most
of the second fell in piles. Dieskan
himself staggered, ran few PAGES,
calling to his men to follow, and
tumbled head first on the ground, which
was wet with blood. Then the French
line wavered, and Lyman led US to the
charge. The French tried to rescue
their leader, but our boys, firing as
they advanced, drove them back, and
George Marden captured two of their
cannon and turned them on their
owners. Then they began to break,
and although they kept up a running
fight for awhile, they finally gave it up.
We took lot of prisoners and boat
loads Of arms, and Lyman said we had
gained great victory and that King
George would thank us for it."
"But he didn't, did he. Jabe?' asked
one of his listeners.
"No, nor Lyman either; but he made
runaway johnson a baronet, as they
call it, and sent him lot of gold and
silver clothes, and called him the hero
of Crown Point" added Jabe, with a
smile that proved that he appreciated
the royal sagacity, though not in q way
to flatter his majesty.
Tell US, Jabe," said q woman with q
child in her arms which bore a strong
resemblance to the orator and was
making silent but effective efforts to
reach him, tell us how Master Marden
got that Indian boy that follows him
about like his shadow"
Well, you see, there was two OF
them;" said Jabe, transferring the in
FAINT to his own broad bosom, where it
presently fell asleep. ''After the bat
tie I've been telling you about, Marden
chased the Indians until it was too dark
to see them, and on his way back to
camp he found two young half-breeds, a
boy and girl. They might be twins,
they were so like in features, size and
every thing. The boy had been hit by
a bullet, and his sister was trying to
bandage his wound with leaves and
strips from her blanket. Our boys
haven't much love for the redskins, but |
the look that the girl gave Marden out |
Of her big black eyes melted his heart
like lump of sugar, and he gave orders
to bring the boy along. We made a
kind of stretcher with our rifles and ,
coats and laid him on it, the girl
walking beside him, holding his hand /
and saying few words in French now !
and then almost in whisper, but it !
seemed to help him to bear the pain. (
We brought him into camp and the sur
geon-he was French prisoner