The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1894-04-27

too close to him to escape. SpflnB1ng
forward, he seized her by the shoulders,
lifted her from the ground, and with
a mighty effort he flung her clear of the
road. AT that point the ground sloped
sharply away toward ravine, and as
the woman struck the earth with stun
ming force she rolled over and over un-
til she finally brought up against bush
80 feet away.
de Lawd furgive me, but couldn't
dun help it'll" groaned Uncle Ben as he
continued his way. ''Dey's arter Miss
Sunshine, an dey's arter me, an dey s
arter Mars Kenton, an de good ole mis-
sus am lyin dead in de house, an what s
gwine to becum of US all dunnol"
With eyes fastened on the pathway,
with teeth hard shut, with words of
prayer rising to his lips and q constant
struggle against the feeling of despair
seeking lodgment in his heart, the
faithful old slave pressed on, mile
after mile, and suddenly found himself
confronted by party of horsemen in
blue uniforms. The goal had been won.
and as he realized it up went went his
arms, and he sank down on the icy road.
Runaway darky, but he isn't pur-
sued that can see, observed the cap
tain of the troop as he ordered halt.
"Some Of you men liven him up with
sip of whisky"
A sergeant dismounted and put a
flask to Uncle Ben's lips and forced
some of the contents down his throat.
In couple of minutes the old man sat
up and looked around.
'fWere you running away" asked
helcaptain as he rode closer.
"Whar- whar' Mars Custerf' gasp
ed Uncle Ben in reply.
General Custer? Oh, he's some
miles away. Did you want to see himf"
"Miss Sunshine dun wants him, sab
wants him to cum quick! De gorril-
las an de sojers am up dar tryin to burn
de house an kill eberybody!"
Uncle Ben was SO overcome that it
took 10 minutes to get his story straight.
The troopers mum bered only about half
company and had been sent out to in
tercept Confederate mail courier who
was expected to enter that valley
through Hempstead's gap, three miles
away. The captain wrote a note and
sent it off to the Federal lines by cou-
rier, but could do no more in the matter.
Uncle Ben was given some rations to
make a breakfast of, provided with a
blanket by kind hearted trooper and
instructed to wait for the force which
would be sure to come up within two
or three hours.
Let us anticipate their coming. As
the fusillade had drawn no reply from
the fort, the enemy at length concluded
that its defenders had been disabled.
They also realized that tho sounds Of
battle might reach Federal ears and
| bring up force to the rescue, and it
| was therefore decided to advance upon
| tho camp without further loss of time.
| As Brayton had predicted, they formed
| on the open ground to the south. The
1 entire force formed in two lines for
/, charge, and as movement or two
showed that they were about ready to
| advance Steve quietly remarked:
II dunno whar Jeff Davis bought this
yere carbine, but it was mighty cute
trick in him. She 8 good for t&ven shots
as fast as kin pull trigger, and that
means that sumbody's goin to git hurt.
| Yo' I'm hold yo'r buckshot till they git
on this side of that bush. How yo' feel
in, Yankf"
FAN right"
"Of co'se yo' ar. Yo' ar lookin jest
as natural as an ole hat! Yere they
cunt"
| With a chorus of yells that would
have done credit to war party of Paw
nees, the enemy broke cover and ad
yanced at run. They were hardly in
| tho open before Steve began blazing
away. His fire was fast and doadly,
but it did not check them. 1t was only
when Kenton, who was coolly waiting
for them to pass the bush, let fly both
barrels into them at just the right range
for buckshot TO do its best that the
charge was broken, and every man on
his feet sought safety in precipitate re-
treat.
"That is awful" whispered Kenton
as the smoke blew away and gave them
clear sight of the ground.
LANDS, but we uns hev licked the
hull southern confeds1acy!" answered
Steve.
At first sight it seemed as if half the
charging force had been wiped out,
but after a moment some of those who
had fallen began to creep away to the
shelter of the rocks and bushes. They
were allowed to do this without moles-
tation. Five remained there in plain
sight, however, and not one of them
would ever stand on his feet again.
There was no further movement for half
an hour. The besiegers realized that
they were not strong enough to carry
that fort, even though it held only two
\ .,-..-....-.-
49, ssa