Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-04-21

ness existing between the irregulars, '' who were practically bushwhackers and guerrillas, and the Federal cavalry. No | prisoners were taken on either side. If i Federal detachment was cut off, never a man returned to his lines. If cou- rier was captured, he was shot in his tracks or hung to the limb of a roadside tree. There was no more mercy shown on the other slde. The capture of an armed man in citizens dress or half uniform meant that he had only 1 5 min utes to live at the furthest. If he claimed to belong to Mosby's band, he courted death the sooner. Men who fell in fight went down to be buried there.
 Custer with his troopers found Uncle Ben eagerly awaiting them. The old man was given seat in an ambulance, and within a few minutes the general had heard his story. The order was given to pnsh on at faster pace, and the command reached Rest Haven just as the prisoners had been placed under guard. A surgeon accompanied the col umn. and while he was busy dressing Kenton' s wounds General Custer was holding an interview with Marian Per cy. The result of this was an order that the dead woman and the wounded man should be taken back to the Federal lines-the one for burial, the other for proper medical treatment. Whatever Marian wished to take away would be transported for her, and the place would be abandoned.
 Steve Brayton had come out of the hoyA ho ho1 hoped to be. Although frankly acknowl- edging himself an escaped prisoner and now again captured by the enemies of his cause, every Federal who understood how he had fortified the camp and de- fended it to save wounded and almost helpless fellow Confederate insisted on taking him by the hand and rendering him hearty congratulations. Even General Custer himself did not withhold a word of praise after learning from Marian and Kenton of Brayton' s bray cry and self sacrifice.
 "Waal, gineral, I dunno about all this, replied Steve, with a good deal of embarrassment. Reckon I was the means of gittin that Yank into the Con- federate service, and now it looks as if l " do lLC Ol SIll1I llIlI Oub anu myself along with him. We uns hev been Griv outer the southern army by that fout up at the camp, and if yo' uns don { take keer of us l reckon we uns will hev to hunt a cave sumwhar and hide away till the war is over.'
 The packing up had been accom- plished, and the dead woman was about to be carried out of the house when the burial party was driven in by strong force of Confederates. Ike Baxter had galloped into the Confederate lines, only five or six miles away, with information that speedily sent two companies of cav airy down the road as a re-eutorcement.
 One of these was Captain Wyle's, and he smiled gIimly as he recalled the cir cumstances of his last ride over this highway.
 Ike Baxter had come into camp on a previous occasion to report that Kenton and Brayton were hiding out near Rest Haven, and that he had been nearly killed by Uncle Ben while trying to fol- low him to the hiding place of the fugi- tives. Captain Wyle would wash his hands of the affair. but detachment was sent away with orders to hunt down and bring in the prisoners. eve Bray ton might be brought i.. Ut he very we'll knew that Kenton would not be, whether found wounded and helpless or not. After the detachment had accom- plished its work he would seek a meet ing with Marian Percy, but not before. She could not hold him responsible for the action of others
 As the Confederates came down the road in pursuit of the burial party Gus ter ordered forward three or four com panies, and the pursuers became in turn the pursued. But not for long. A heavy force of troopers in gray were coming up, and even child could have told what that look on General Custer's face portrayed. For long weeks he had tried to bring on a cavalry fight. The hour had comet