Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1891-03-11
The Col. Of the Fourth
A Story of the Late War.
ny ezRHHRp pIosAx.

q keen glance of criticism, as he looked
to the trappings of the horse allotted
him, frightened the girth of the saddle, !;
adjusted the stirrup-leathers and
mounted. !.
"Shalse!'' he said, laconically, steppingl
up to Franks side and stretching forth
u big, brown, SCARED hand, whose
horny cuticle would have puzzled thei
modern philosopher Of palmistry.
Frank grasped the proffered hand
with eagerness. Each read In the
others eye true patent of nobility.
my names Dick Swayne," the
brawny young farmer exclaimed.
"What's your'n?"
"FranlI Besant."
No time nor need of further words.
Swayne sprang to the saddle and led
the way at brisk gait, half-trot, half
canter, which the horses seemed to
take of their own accord. From the
start the roads were execrable, If you
could dignity by the name of roads tho
thin beaten tracks which lay across the
wooded ridges, and which never
seemed to turn aside for any obstacle
less formidable than q precipice, now
climbing till the horse had literally to
scramble for q footing, now speeding
over declivities so steep that Frank,
with all his skill in craftsmanship, ex-
pected to find himself flying over the
beasts cars at every step he took.
"Ketch hold o. the pommel o yer sad
die ef yer mus claw onter suthin',
young Teller; fur tibet mares mouth
amt no hitchin' post" Swayne ad-
monished his companion, as they
reached tho top of an unusually steep
ascent.
Frank accepted the reproof grace
fully.
Its the most villainous road ever
travelled in my life-but say, friend
Dick, are these poor beasts to keep this
pace up much longer? 1t seems to me
as though they'd drop in their tracks If
we don't ease 'em up q bit; why, we
must have put dozen miles between us
and the camp already"
Dick grinned.
Saddles gettin' kim o. hot2" he
queried. oval, we'll hev ter take a
spell O. rest daown i tn dip yonder, fur
thar's slxeary stretch o. kentry before
us which it won't do ter travel over
with winded hosses."
"You mean that there is danger of
falling into the hands of the enemy"
'Taas, the meanest, bloodiest, dog
gonedest kim O. an enemy, too. Hev
yer never heerd tell ov the gorillas?"
1.-THE guerrillasl What, have you
them in this part of the Statep"
"Hev we9 Why, they swarm over
the hull kentry. Wait till we tether
the bosses under the walnuts yonder
an I'll tell yer what they've done to me
an mine"
They rode slowly to the clump of
trees, where they dismounted.
"You stretch yer legs a bit, Frank,
while tend to the CATTLE" the farmer
said, taking at the same time from his
pocket a handful of rolled tobacco
leaves, which it were indeed a compli-
ment to call cigars, but which Frank
found on a further acquaintance were
moro palatable than their appearance
seemed to justify.
Swayne evidently believed that mer-
ciful man is mcrciful to his beasts. It
was an interesting sight to watch the
tender care he took of them, to see him
strip their saddles off, cut whisps of
long grass and rub them down till they
We're as dry as when they left the stable
in the morning. Not till they were
quite cool did he lead them to the little
stream and let them drink their I'LL OF
the clear water; and then from his sad
dle-bags he took few handfuls of oats
and gave them to them. But it was not
until they had eaten this and he had
hobbled their forelegs and allowed
them to crop the scant grass that he
thought of his own and his companion's
, comfort.
"Now, mate, let's squat here an take
q bite ourselves" Saying which, he
flung himself upon the turf and brought
from one of his capacious pockets roll
of greasy paper, which contained sew
eral hugo slices of bacon placed no
over-temptingly between thick chunks
of hard, dry hominy cakes. In vair
Frank tried to tempt him with the con
tents of his own saddle-bags, the young
Missourian declaring that hog ant
hominy was the only food for man.
They had dispatched of their hast.
meal and lighted the long, ungainl.
cheroots, when Frank reminded hi
companion of his promise to tell hin
about the guerrillas.
"Wal, mate, thar amt much ter tell
leastways amt got the gift O. the gal
ter make q long story out ont; blu
when the war broke out folks took thi
!. side an tibet, jess es Their inclination
led 'em. Father an was fur tn
Union; and mos gin'rally our neighbor
t was seceshes. We lived in a lon
II farmhouse, tol'ble well-to-do, an, e
. we was in the minority, went abou
u our own bizncss without interferir
= VII folks. Mos of the young Teller
roun' us jined the gorillas, an the
set up a cry es those es was not fur 'er
was agin 'em an gev father notice te
leave the kentry. But the ole man wa
true grit. He jess tole 'em thar was
leaden welcome fur every secesh c
- crossed his threshold in anger. They
done some fearful things, them gorilla
hed-strung a neighbor o. our'n ter
y branch o. one o. his own apple trees al
n 4 u Il