The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1891-05-02

give them horses and the adj
mirable project had fallen through.
Now Colonel Hopkins had never beer
satisfied with this arbitrary Judgment,
and asked General Thomas to approve
of his trying the experiment at his own
expense, and an assent being readily
accorded, little band of ten mounted
sharpshooters' formed an effective arm
of the regiments usefulness.
One summers day Major Besant found
himself in command of two companies
-Fulton's and Gregory supported by
the corps d elite, on a march through a
rugged country in pursuit of band of
guerrillas whose attacks on detachments
on foraging and other expeditions had
been peculiarly annoying. His guide
was stalwart young negro, who pro-
fessed to be familiar with the mountain
Businesses, among whose recesses these
irregular combatants made their haunts.
The afternoon was well advanced when
they reached a spot where the road
branched in three directions-one to the
ately across a dense woodland as the
guide declared that these three paths
concentered again into one main thor
oughfare some five miles further on,
and that the forest was very likely
covert in which to find the human game
they were hunting, Frank resolved to
divide his force into three parties; so he
dispatched Charlie and his men on the
right, Gregory and his on the left, while
he rode with the sharpshooters on the
middle road.
For a time nothing distracted their
attention, but suddenly the Majors ear
caught the sound of cry that might
have been made by some forest bird Or
beast, but which, under the circum-
stances, was, to say the least, suspicious
1t came from the right, the direction
that Fulton and his company had taken.
''Dismount your men and let them
follow me, Ferguson, Frank ordered
the officer of the sharpshooters, as he
threw himself from his horse and
dashed up the wooded incline.
cit was nothing but a hawk or wild
cat, Ferguson cried, as he gained his
side.
But as he spoke a rif1ebu]]et whistled
by his head and buried itself in the
trunk of a hemlocl1.
';Quiclz, boys, to the trees!' Frank
shouted as he set the example by plac-
ing himself behind a massive oak.
1t was a curious duel which followed,
where neither ombatant could see the
other. Every time a leaf on the hill
moved a bullet sped from the rifle Of
one of the sharpshooters to the spot:
and every time that the smallest piece
of soldiers uniform displayed itself
beyond the wooden barrier, it was the
target for a half score of shots. Now
and then, in a spirit of bravado, some
man would stick his cap out at the end
of his gun barrel, and in an instant it
was riddled with bullets.
eve can't go on at this little game all
day, boys,'' Besant said to the men
nearest to him. ''I've half mind to
charge the skulking scoundrels.
.tsIt would be certain death, but we
are ready, sir, if youg give the word," was
Ferguson's reply.
Just then a ringing fusil1ade sounded
ILL Cllc (lLoUdlCC, OllsS w ClC(l NY d Wiley VI
rif1e-shots.
''Captain Fulton has struck the main
body of them," Frank said. guessing at
the situation of affairs, which after
wards proved he was right. land these
fellows are but the outposts. Captain
Gregory must have heard our firing be-
fore this, and if there is any way across
1,11 1S., will Io rrv141
us-then we shall have them front and
rear"
A pistol-shot from the man who had
been left in charge of the horses
warned them that there was danger
there, too.
1t was now nearing six o'clock, and
though night in that summer season
was not due for three long hours, it
was quite dark, for a fearful storm was
hanging over the wood It had been
gathering the whole afternoon, but
now it was come. Fierce clouds, black
and purple, rolled over the heavens,
massing in smoke-like density. Then
binding sheet of flame, followed by a
crash of thunder so terrific that the
puny reports of the rifles seemed but a
mockery of the warning elements.
Then a deep, sullen roar that appeared
to shake the earth itself. The screams
of birds and cries of beasts, and the
crash of falling timber were the only
sounds heard now besides the artillery
of Heaven, for friend and foe alike had
crept to the shelter of the neighboring
rocks. Tall trees were torn up by the
roots and hurled to the earth like leaves
in an autumn breeze, and all the while
the deafening thunder never ceased to
roll, and not one drop of rain. But now
the clouds burst and the deluge was
upon them, not in fierce sp]ashes, but
in sheets of water, that crushed to the
earth all living things they reached.
And when the fury Of the tornado
was spent it seemed quite natural to
Frank that the half-dozen figures OF
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