Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1893-12-29
The Same old story


those incoherent stops to which Through"
trains are somewhat given, the bushy-
proved passenger craned his neck out of
the window and tried to discover what was
the matter, with the usual unsatisfactory
result. His two travelling companions
there were only three in the compartment of
thes moker--wishedh he wouldn't las the open
windows created draught, which both OBJ
iected to. They also objected to the pas
senger He affected a riot-provoking style
of headgear, which the elderly man in the
corner eyed with exceeding disfavor. His
accent was worse than his hat. Putting
the three together, his curiosity, hat and
accent the geographical problem of his ma
tvity was as simple as the mere adding
of them together
The elderly passenger was as easy to
classify. There could have been no doubt
that he was from the South-the most in
expert guesser would have said that. An
empty sleeve and a certain martial air
would have led the same reckOner to con-
clude tn at he had also borne arms for that
section during the the time when the two
sections were vis-a-vis with each other.
The man with the accent made an OBJ
servation about the brightness of the moon
light, which caused the elderly one to take
a look out of the window.
"Why, hello!n he exclaimed, as he sent
a glance at the unclassiiied member of the
party which might have meant anything.
~ think | know this place. Why, of
course, certainly | do. Yes, yes, same
place Same old mountain, looks as nat
ural as it did 30 years ago. And just's such
a night as this when | was here. All. I'll
remember that night if | forget my grand
mother"
The younger man, who was a student of
war history, became interested at once.
He put aside his yellow-backed novel and
parpared for Renaissance. War of any
kind seemed to be wholly irrelevant to the
man who had been looking out the win
dow-he of the accent and bat-but he
had a boundless curiosity. He closed the
window and listened. The narrator con-
tinued:
IL will tell you something about that old
hill over there" he said "if You care to
listen 1t is doubtless very nice old hill
when you come to know it well, but |
made its acquaintance under very trying
circumstances. That was in war times
in the ycar-wel, | don't exactly rcmem-
Der the date, but that does not signify. |
was then serving in the Confederate caval-
ry, Chambliss' brigade, Stuart command.
| was on a scouting expedition that night,
six of us in the party. We had been rid
ing all day, trying to rejoin the command,
which had suddenly shifted its quarters.
And | tell you we were mighty tired when
We got on top of that plateau which you
see there, and concluded to camp for few
hours, for our horses did not look as if
they could carry us another mile without
rest. We knew that it was not safe to tar
ry very long as the enemy was all around
us.
"Well, we picketed our horses, and after
stationng one man as sentry the others
stretched themselves upon the ground for
a few hours sleep. 1t seemed to me that
| had hardly dozed off before we were
aroused by the sentry. Come, wake up,
he said, as he hurredly kicked one sleeper
after another, the enemy is coming We
rubbed the sleep out of our eyes and listen
ed. The tramp of horses could be dis
tinctly heard in the dead stiffness of the
night, and looking down the road in the
direction of the sound we could distinguish
about dozen horsemen coming directly
toward us.
"When we saw that We were not very
greatly outnumbered we decided on a de-
ItlSlNt DOlltN. llt ludu lINNlN a Nllhl l.
curve Just before reaching the top of the
plateau. just where it diverged was a
ledge of rock. and behind this We ran yed
ourselves and waited the approach of our
| friends. They came gathering up the hill,
and when within about 80 PAGES, neal
enough to distinguish their blue uniforms
/ for we did not want to make a mistake
| the sergeant gave the order to fire. Foul
| of the men reeled out of their saddles, one
! horse dropped to his knees, pitching his
/ der over his head, and the others, think
ing probably that they had run against the
picket line of a regiment, turned anC
fed.
"That is, all but one did. He was mount
ed on a powerful black horse, and the ami
NAL. stung by bullet, came rushing di
rectly toward us. AS he leaped the ledg'
one of our men made a grab at the bridl
and had his cheek laid open by sabre cut
Another, who threw himself at the rider
was carried off his feet by the rush of tn
maddened animal. We sent several bul
let's from our revolvers after the pair, bu
| don't believe any hit. AT any rate the
both got away"
The man with the hat had been listen
ing intently to the narrative, and woul
frequently nudge closer to the speaker. ii
seemed several times on the point of inter
rupting. but contained himself. At thi
point he extended bony hand to the oil
man. The latter looked as if he had eN
pected some little attention of that sort
and took il without a word.
Il am said the listener emotionallA
81 am that mantle man who rode tn
black horse that night"
The other said inscrutably, what a r.
markable meeting-a very remarkabl
meeting, time, place, everything, and the
those two talked about things till the ne2
station was reached and then the hero {
the black horse babe his whilOm enemy
touching goodbye.
The old man was silent for a long tim
after he had, left. There seemed to
something or his mind which perpleXe
him. FinallJ he fished out a noteboo
! from his pocket, and after studying il
pages for long time he replaced it, DIRE
a deem sigh. and said:
s.Do Won know, that is the forty-eight
man | have discovered who rode that pa
ticular horse"
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