Waterbury evening Democrat., 1891-03-14

! feet away strange scene had presented itself. Prone on the ground, with his ! face to the earth, lay the figure of a ! man, while horse, with torn bridle and turned saddle, stood over him, sniff fing with distended nostrils the pros trate form of it's master. The animal i had not run away at Franks approach, but had permitted him to capture and caress him without sign of nervous ness. Having tethered the horse to a tree, Frank had turned his attention to the man, whom he found to be a young 1 Confederate cavalry officer, shot through i the leg and literally bleeding to death. It had not taken him long to fashion a rough tourinquet of leather strap i and piece of wood, and to revive tho wounded boy with water from g neigh boring creek; so when he had done all to make him comfortable, he had i mounted the horse and sped for assist { ance.
 1 And now he found himself, after hours of useless riding, cut of from further hope by this turbid stream. i A cold day in latter March had passed away; a pale and cheerless sun, that had cast no heat on the leaaess scenery, had sunk, and the darkness of a stormy | night was coming on rapidly. On the brink of the torrent he had refined up : his weary and undiscovered horse, and | by the light of day that yet fingered in the sky, had seen far away on the opposite bank ths indistinct outlines of ! a house.
 l Swim the river I must," he nut tered, "but death may be the pen- atty"
 i He knew that in his rear, the way they had marched, lay wastes of mo- rasses and dense pine woods, Inhabited only by the few wild animals civiliza- ! ton had driven to its recesses. As he looked anxiously at the house, the abode evidently of some planter, its out lines disappeared in the gathering gloom of night; but lights were begin ming to sparkle cheerfully through its many windows. Could those who were comfortably, perhaps luxuriously, seat ed within but know that there was Q fellow being on the eve perhaps of per ishing helplessly amid the dark flow of that deep roaring river! Again and again he hallooed loudly, but in vain.
 ''Ah, if should perish here-such . fate" thought he, shuddering. "To be cast drowned corpse on some lonely swamp, and to be found and stripped by some reckless woodsman who will never even send word of my fate to the dear ones at tMeltonburg."
 With brief invocation on his lips, he gave the horse the rein, and with Q fierce and angry snort the gallant beast plunged into the torrent. Floating roots and trunks of trees, the debris of the storm that had swept the land, struck rider and horse and forced them down the stream; but after twice near ly giving up the struggle, the horse gained its footing on the opposite bank and emerged from the flood, painting, snorting, dripping and trembling in every fiber.
 Leading the sturdy steed by the bridle, and caressing 1t the while, he made his way up the bank, and, guided only by the lights in the mansion, he groped his way onward. It was large house. The glowing warmth within shone through the curtains and bespoke com fort to the weary traveller, who could scarcely drag along his benumbed limbs. He boldly approached the door and knocked vigorously. A colored man-servant answered 'his summons, dnu bnOGuCT UO buk0 HIS horse to the stable, ushered the drenched visitor into a comfortable room, on whose hearth a big log-are was burning.
 As Frank stood reveling in the glow cratic old man entered, whose keen, be suave or irritable as occasion prompted.
 "Where are you from2'' he asked, ab- of anxious inquiry.
 Frank, shivering with cold, told hi1 story briefly and without comment. When he recited his adventure with the wounded youth in the forest, the hosts manner quickly changed. Moth. ing could be more urbane and agreeable than the tones in which he bade the young man welcome to his roof.
 "We must thank your accident for procuring us the pleasure of your visit in this lonely place." he said, with . sweet smile. 'And, If you will excuse me a few minutes I will see that q chamber is prepared for your occupa, ton. You will be glad to be rid of tha, dripping uniform"
 "But the poor lad. wounded in the
 woods," Frank said, anxiously. "We
 must lose no time in going to his relief. ?
 "Ah, that is already attended to. A
 party of my people, attracted by the
 firing, hastened to the spot and found
 him just as you left him. They brought
 him here an hour ago-doubtless you
 being ignorant of the country. wandered
 by more circuitous route."
 "And is he much hurt?' Frank asked
 greatly relieved by the information II
 did not strike him then as remarkable
 that his hosts people" should have
 been so fortunately successful in spot ting the whereabouts of the unfortun
 ate young man, though afterward! . events made the mystery clearer.
 "You certainly saved his hfe," the olt