The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1894-12-18

bar, and by cutting q hole through the
| flooring we left only the ceiling between
them and us, so we could hear distinct
ly everything they said Fortunately
/ the affair occurred too late to bring out
a big crowd, and only a few of the near
neighbors, attracted by the report, had
come in. They decided that we were
| too well armed to assault us in our
rooms, especially as we were on our
guard, but thought the best idea would
4 be to attack us when we came down, as
we would have to do or starve. With
this idea, one of them commenced bor-
ing holes in the stairway casing, pre-
sumably to shoot through Naturally
we prepared to go out the window.
The bed was one of the old fashioned
roped kind, and removing the rope from
: this and blowing out our light we laid
the bedclothes on the roof, removed
our boots and carefully crawled to the
far end of the piazza. The noise in the
barroom seemed to have drowned any
noise we made and our only fear was
of some one coming out. Tying our ri
fles and other things into two bundles,
Dick lowered them, and then we all
/ slid down the corner post and put for
the woods. There we finished dressing,
and Dick and / then went to the stable
for our horses. The clouds had been
| breaking away for some time, and the
moonlight made us so conspicuous that
we had to watch the shadows as we
lodged across the open space. We had
little trouble in finding our horses. and
/ started out, each leading two, in adj
vance AS my head horse approached
the threshold of the door his sharp
hoofs came down upon fiat stone with
loud chatter. l expected every mo-
ment to see the hotel door open, but
they either did not hear or thought it a
common noise in the stable.
Fearing a repetition of the alarm,
ripped up an old blanket, and muff1ing
the horses hoofs we led them out
where the others were waiting, trying
to account for our long delay. Then all
commenced arranging their things on
their saddles. l finished first, and
mounting my horse, with my rifle on
my knee, placed myself as a scout TO
\ NetNOtl hnG nObCA. OOlAOoo bIe&0 4 tAACiA
! felt comfortable for the first time that
night. 1t was well did, for no sooner
had l mounted and my horse moved a
few steps away than one of the other
horses sounded neigh that roused ali
1 the occupants of the house we had left.
1 Flinging open the door so that the light
fell full upon me, some one yelled,
]
''They are getting awayi" and emptied
his revolver at us. We could hear the
bullets sing about us, bat no damage
was done, and as the others were ready
Bob called to me to pull out. This /
would have been glad to do, but my
horse refused to bulge step. think
he was dazzled by the flashes from the
revolver. l never thought of dismount-
ing, but receiving another salute open
ed up with eight of my heavy cartridges
at the doorway. When finished, it was
vacant. / heard the bottles break as the
balls went crashing into the woodwork
of the bar. Dick in the meantime had
ridden back to see what the trouble was
and was firing his A rife as fast as he
could. L. L. was certainly being
walked up You could see lights appear
ing all along the street. But no one
came our way ON account of the bullets.
/ think the people thought we were the
/ landlord s party in the woods attacking
the unruly guests.
One fellow l shall never forget He
came out of the house and was just
aiming to fire as shot. He made per
feet picture of the tragic as he gave a
little spring, his rife fell to the ground
and soon he himself staggered into q
sitting posture. had hit him in the
shoulder. A second later 1 saw flash
from the barn and felt burning sensa-
ton in my neck. Jabbing my spurs into
my horse, to my glad surprise he start
ed on run after the others. Dick lost
no time in following. We found Will
son suffering from a severe wound in
the cheek. A ball had glanced from a
tree and cut him quite badly. My neck
had just a scratch.
Wepushed the horses along at a sharp
gallop for some distance, in spite of the
mud, and then halted for a consulta-
ton. 1t was perfectly silent in the
woods l advised going on to Id.
Dick, however, raised objections, say
ing there were lots of short cuts by
which the L. L-ites could get ahead
of us, especially as they had fresh horses,
and they would certainly try to, He
knew of an old claim up a creek which
the road crossed little way ahead
where we would be perfectly safe, if we
could throw them off our trail. This we
decided to try. When we arrived at the
creek, Dick sent Bob and Wilson up the
creek, telling them to keep in the water
all the time The creek was one of those
shallow, rapid streams common to the
section, and the directions were not
difficult to follow. Having started them,
he and l crossed the creek and contin-
ued on the road for nearly mile.
Then we came to a rocky ridge. Riding
to the top of this, we followed it until
we reached the creek, about half a mile
below our first crossing. We continued
up to the roadway and over the SAME
route again, and at last ON and after our
friends Thus we left plain trail go
ing along the road from the creek
should the searching party examine our
tracks.
As we turned ON up the creek
thought / heard voices back of MS, but
was not sure. We hurried along, the
rushing of the water drowning the rat
tie of our horses hoofs against the
stones. 1t was some time before we
overlook Bob and Wilson, and all were
feeling tired out, horses and men, when
Dick led the way up the bank. through
the redwoods, to our goal.
We found there fair cabin. Tether-
ing our horses, we went inside and
built a big fire of dry wood, and arrang-
ing our saddles and helmets lay down
to rest. How we did sleepl 1t was
broad sunlight and a gorgeous day when
at last we awoke. After wash in the
creek, had it not been for Wilson's
cheek. it would have been hard to real
i2e that our previous evenings expert
ence was more than dream. The horses
were feeding on the rich bottom grass,
and this reminded us that we had moth
ing to eat. To shoot would attract at
tention. and although we had seen deer
about we left them alone.
Bob's ingenuity came to our rescue.
He had noticed several covey Of quail
in and about the clearing, which on his
approach scurried through gap in Q
thicl1et. Acting ON this idea, he con
structed fence in shape of V, and at
the apex fixed a cage trap, SO that by
pulling a string it locked the quail in.
We went out as heaters and soon had a
fine covey running along his new road
way, and when he sprang the trap we
were possessed of over 20 fine quail
These we broiled, and no one objected
because they had not been hung up two
weeks before.
We rested all day undisturbed and re-
tired to another nights rest Getting
up early the next morning, we ate q
breakfast of cold quail and started foI
Id. When we came to the road, II