Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-06-11
CHAPTER TX.

FRANK MEETS AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE.
Heaven aid me. Where am 1 now?-
o which way shall turn?"
The speaker was Frank Besant-the
scene, the bank of a swollen stream
once u mere mountain torrent, but now
rushing river of muddy waters.
Many things had happened since the
fall of Fort Donelson. First AID fore
most the hero of that splendid victory,
Ulysses Grant, for disobcdicncc of or
-ders, had fallen under the cloud of Hal
ieck's di~0lcasure andbeen peremptorily
ordered to t,In over the command to
General c. 2. Smith. man of high
military capacity, but brief career.
Poor fellow! His was not soldiers
EEL death on the battlefield, mid clang of
arms and roar of guns, but the wound
which laid him low-the mere scratch
of Il rusty nail stepping into boat
after the fall OF Fort Donelson-was
already sapping his vital forces.
Frank 5 regiment was again on the
march to join Buell. at Nashville, with
Frank acting Captain of his com
pany and al assurance that his appoint
mcnt would be soon confirmed.
Yet here he was in as hard strait as
man ever found himself.
The day had been one of strange adj
venture to him. A band of the enemy
had been sighted at dawn. like them
selves moving in southerly direction
to join their army, and Franks COM
pany had been dcployed Us skirmishers,
when, with rush, there had sprung
from ambush on the flank two troops
of Confederate cavalry, that sought to
cut off their retreat. 1t had been a mad
eecal, and most of his men had fought
= IL
our hero had been ridden down by a
hOrseman, and had fallen stunned and
senscless to the ground, and when he
had recovered his wits sufficiently to
gaze around, the tide of battle had
swept away, and not oven a sound Of
firearms gave him signal where were
friend or foe. He had risen and shaken
himself, and found to his delight that,
though bruised in body, no bones were
broken. Bat he was not alone. A few
feet away Il strange scene had presented
itself. Prone on the ground, with his
face to the earth, lay the figure of
man, while a horse, with torn bride
aud tnrned saddle, stood over him, sniff
fng with distended nostrils the pros
trate form of it's master. The animal
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
tree, Frank had turned his attention to
the man, whom he found to be a young
Confederate cavalry officer. shot through
the leg and literally bleeding to death.
1t had not taken him long to fashion
rough tourinquet of a leather strap
and piece of wood, and to revive the
wounded boy with water from neigh
boring creek: SO when he had done all
to make him comfortable, he had
mounted the horse and sped for assist
ance.
And now he found himself, after
hours of useless riding, cut off from
further hope by this turbid stream.
A cold day in latter March had passed
away; a pale and cherries sun, that
had cast no heat on the leaf1ess scenery,
had sunk, and the darkness of 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 the indistinct outlines of
"a house.
''Swim the river must" he mutt
tered, but death may be the PEN
atty"
He knew that in his rear. the way
they had marched, lay wastes of mo-
RAISES and dense pine woods, inhabited
only by the few wild animals civiliza-
ton had driven to it's 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