Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1890-01-17

condition Of agitation as he had shown
and the state OF collapse that he had now
reached impressed painfully the Others
Neither Ingersoll nor Talbot had the
same faith as Crane, ani they wrestled
with the case little, but found no rational
way to account for it. Speculate as they
would upon the possibilities Of things that
might make this appearance, they could
find 10 natural explanation, and were
forced upon the conclusion that they were
il the presence of the supernatural For q
tiIne-they never knew how long-they
remained thus fascinated by the strange
scene, and then there was sudden
change. There arose eouimotion. The
company OF speetres lost its relation of
harmony For the orderly measured
movements and sense Of dignity of the
prieStess, OF whatever she was, there was
substituted an air of alarm, and the
decorous demeanor of the semicircle Of
spectres lapsed as if under all impulse Of
dismay. They swept swiftly out Of the
open space il which they had displayed
themselves, into holes, crannies, or
crevices of the wall; and their departure
was more surprising even than the irst
appearance for our friends had only
time to observe this effect of connection
and CONSERVATION, and, 10! they We're gone.
The officers themselves seemed to re-
cover the power of speech at the same
time.
''If they are ghosts said Ingersoll, who
was not entirely sure but that Crane and
the people We're riglt-'if they are ghosts
why should they skedaddle in that way7"
Yes; what should they fear7" said Tai
bot. Il never heard that ghosts feared
anything but daylight; ard certainly they
were frightened, and there is no daylight
now"
No" said Ingersoll "but there is
moonlight enough for US to move by. Let
us get away, because, if they are not
ghosts"
Eyes; if they are darkies ON voudoo
spree"
"They may have been frightened by the
coming of things that ought to ffighten us
also"
As this was said, aud they got the half
paralyzed Crane on his feet, their ears were
filled with noises that were Enthusiastically
military-the word of command, the
hurried movement of horses, the jangle of
arms. From the windows just above, and
very near them, substantial figures point
ed long arms at them in rather ghostly
way, but at the end OF each arm was very
unghostly revolver, aud the whole room
filled up in minute with Confederate cav
airy.
They drew their swords, stood upon their
defence, aud were saluted with the sha rp
and peremptory demand, Surrender
There never was more complete surprise.
If the ghosts, OF whatever the things were
that they had seen, had been planned TO
paralyze their perceptions while the enc
mys men crept down under them, the sur
prise could have been more successful, and
Talbot was for a moment inclined to the
fancy that that was the truth OF the case.
But here they were caught, surrounded,
and cut off by force Of cavalry so large
and SO ready thai there was not even a
chance to fight, and they accepted their
fate.
Ingersoll and Talbot made out from What
they heard in the course of the next half
hour, as the enemy's fellows talked among
themselves, that this cavalry had been en-
canped on the high ground back of the
river at daylight; that they had seen the
lights, had heard the voices from the ruin,
and had recognized in all this q voudoo
Ii light; that the colored people of the coun
try round had gathered to celebrate the
strange rites of snake worship which their
ancestors had brought from Africa, and
that the cavalry had stolen down to sur
prise the darkies, and had thus caught tho
prisoners by accident. There was not any
consolation in this, but they could not re-
prosch themselves for the failure to under
stand the singular scene they had witness
ed, because neither of them had ever had
much experience of the ways of Southern
darkies. But Ingersoll and Crane felt
much worse over their capture than Tai
bot did for his part, as they had good rea'
son to. He had been on perilous service
under orders, aud was captured while On
duty; they hal left the lines On lark dur
ing the day, and were taken while absent
without leave. They did not know how
they would be carried on the rolls, and
they gnawed their hearts in silence as they
lay for half an hour under guard. They had
been promptly robbed as soon as taken,
for their horses were superior to any in the
cavalry, and were confscated for that rea-
son; and troopers, under the pretence oil
searching for arms, had taken their watches
and money, for all had been done SO sud
denly that they had not even had the
thought to resort to the ordinary soldiers
device of hiding their valuables. Prepar-
ations were made about half past two to
send the prisoners to the rear under guard,
as the cavalry were about to GO forward,
and then there was another sudden
change.
With q sudden effect like that OF an ex-
plosion, there was rattle Of guns in
half dozen points at once, all around the
outside of the ruin, and the drums sounded
that quaint, halflilting, rapid movement,
the advance in double quick time. Our
fellows hearts were in their throats as the
cavalry fellows stopped and looked each
other in the face, and wondered what this
might mean. They did not wonder long.
Some of the cavalry outside saw infantry
in motion, saw what infantry it was, and
put spurs to their horses. Others caught
at this hint, and there was general ske-
daddle in the dim light, and in five min
utes the ruin was in possession of the lost
brigade
The brigade had come on slowly through
the early night, when the commander dis
covered that BE had been left, and made
long halt without fires on the road half
mile above the ruin, because the fellows
in advance discovered that there was q
cavalry camp on the road ahead of them,
and the time had been employed in the
endsavor to find another road leading to
the river They did not know how much
cavalry there vas and supposed that they
had gotten in bet ween the advance guard
aud the main body Of some rebel division
on the march.
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