The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1894-04-19

| alarm ana mas gwen Unem their lnStruC
tions. Walsh it is who is now on look
ont. and he is peering away down south
ward so intently that some comrade il
prompted to call up to him in a low
tone:
''See anything?"
To which, without removing the glas.
from under his hat blim, the Irisl
trooper merely shakes his head
ANY more smokes? 2"
'Sorrs smoke have l seen at all. "
well, then, what in blazes are you
staring att"
How can l tell ye till I find out 20 is
the Hibernian reply, and this is enough
to send the corporal ON a climb. Drum
mond at the moment is again kneeling
by Wing, who has but just awakened
from fittul sleep, Miss Harvey being
the first to hear him stir and sigh.
Ruth and her sister, too, seem about
to withdraw, but Wing, whose voice is
woak now, begs them to remain.
Has anything been seen yet-back
on the trail-of rae Stoneman party P"
hs asks.
No, sergeant, replies Drummond,
but remember that we can only see
some six miles of the trail, after that
1t is lost in that tortuous ravine down
which we rode on the 'hase. Walsh is
up there on lookout, and I'll ask if he
;an see anything now," and calling to
one of the men Drummond bids him
inquire. All eagerly await the reply.
AT last it comes
"No dust on the back track, sir, but
something that looks like it far to the
south. We think it may be some of our
fellows coming back, but it is too faint
and far to make it out yet
The corporal is the speaker, his reso-
nant voice contrasting strongly with the
feeble accents of his immediate supe-
rior, the wounded sergeant.
Then have something that must
be told you. lieutenant, something Miss
Harvey already has an inkling of, for
she has met and known my dear moth
er. If this pain continues to increase,
and fever sets in, L may be unable to
tell it later. Some of the men thought
! had enlisted under an alias, lieuten-
ant, h1t they we're wrong. Wing is
my ii, -ltiul nl.le. My father was
CHEF officer OF The old Flying Cloud
in the days w.:n American clipper
shilj beat the world. The gold fever
seized him, tho h, and he quit sail
inf q 4 went - mining in the sarly
days o. - 'dncisc0. and there when
l was a IlCrle boy of l 0 he died, leaving
mother with not many thousand dol
lars to take care of herself and me-
You will have your brother to help
you were words he spoke the last day
of his life, and even then | noted how
little comfort mother seemed to find in
that fact. 1t was only a few months
after fathers death that Uncle Fred,
from being an occasional visitor, came
to living with us all the time-made
his home there, though seldom within
doors night or day He was several
years younger than mother. He was
the youngest it seems, of the family,
the baby, and had been petted and
spoiled from earliest infancy. l soon
found why he came. Mother was often
in tears, Uncle Fred always begging or
money. The boys at school !
twitted me about my gambler uncle,
though I've no doubt their fathers gam
bled as much as he. These We're just |
before the early days of the great war |
hat sprang up in 1861 and that we boys
'ut on the Pacific coast only vaguely
Sometimes Uncle Fred |
came home drunk, and I could hear
inn ~ ,,,l
vent from bad to worse, and one night
when l was just 13 l was awakened
rom sound sleep by her scream. In an
Instant l flew to her room, catching up
Is l ran fathers old bowie knife that
llways hung by my door. In the dim
light saw her lying by the bedside,
nan bending over and choking her.
With all my strength l slashed at him
ust as he turned. meant to kill, but
he turn saved him. He sprang to his
eet with an oath and cry and rushed
o the washstand. 1 had laid Uncle
reds cheek open from ear to chin.
1T was long before mother could
heck the flow of the blood. 1t sobered
i'm, OF course. and made him piteously
7eak. For days after that she nursed
nd cared for him, but forbade my en-
ering the room. Men came to see him
insisted on seeing him-and she
7ould send Inc to the bank for gold and
ay their claims and bid them 90.
It last he was able to walk out with
nat awful slash ON his thin white
ace. Once then he met and cursed
lie, but | did not mind-I had acted
My to save mother. How could sup
ose that her assailant was her own
rother? Then finally with sobs and
ears she told me the story, how he had
cen their mothers darling, how wild
nd reckless was his youth, how her
lother's last thought seemed to be for
i'm, and how ON her knees she, my
wn mother, promised to take care of
Dor Freddie and shield him from every
l. and this promise she repeated to me.
ldding me help her keepit and to con-
'al as far as could her brothers. mis- G
eeds. For few months things went !
little better. Uncle Fred got a COM
ission in California regiment toward .
le close of the war and was sent down .
nj |