Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1894-02-17
THE SAME OLD STORY.
lie Was the Fifty Eighth Man who Had
Ridden That Horse.

shadow of a Virginia mountain. and
made one of those incoherent stops to
which through" trains are somewhat
given, the bushy-browed passenger
craned his neck out Of the window.
says the n. Y. Times, and tried to dis
cover what was the matter, with the
usual unsatisfactory result. His two
travelling mpanions-there were only
three in the compartment OF the
smoker--wished he wouldn't, as the
open window created draft, which
both objected to. They also objected
to the passenger. 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 nativi-
ty 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 inexpert guesser would have said
that An empty sleeve and a certain
martial air would have led the same
reckoner to conclude that he had also
borne arms for that section during the
time when the two sections were VISA
Wis with each other.
The man with the accent made an
observation about the brightness of
the moonlight which caused the elder
ly one to take look out of the VIM
dow.
why, hello!" he exclaimed as he sent
a glance AT the unclassilied memb Der OF
the party which might have meant
anything. Il think | know this place.
Why, of course; certainly | do. Yes,
yes; same place. Same old mountain;
looks as natural as it did thirty years
ago. And just such a night as this
when ] was here. All! I'll remember
that night if | forget my grandmoth-
err"
The younger man, who was student
of war history. became interested at
once. He put aside his yellOw-backcd
novel and prepared for "Reminiscences.
War of any kind seemed to be wholly
irrelevant to the man who had been
looking out of the windoW-he of the
accent and hat-but he had a bound
less curiosity. He closed the window
and listened. The narrator continued:
Il will tell you something about that
old Hill over there" he said "if you
care to listen. Ii 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 year
well. don't exactly remember the
lint tl.af a - -. !
then serving in the confederate cav
airy, Chamhllss' brigade ,Stuart's COM
mand. was on a scouting expedi-
ton that night, six Of Us in The party.
We had been riding all day, trying to
rejoin the command which had sud.
denly shifted its quarters. And | tell
YOU we were mighty tired when we got
upon the top of that plateau winch you
sec there, and concluded to camp for a
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 tarry very long, as the
enemy was all around us.
We'll, we picketed our horses, and
after stationing one man as sentry the
others stretched themselves upon the
SlpNlV lOl lew uONlS Slttls AZ
seems to me that had hardly dozed
of before we were aroused by the SEN
try. Come, wake up he said as he
hurriedly kicked one sleeper after an
other, the enemy is coming We
rubbed the sleep out Of our eyes and
listened. The tramp Of horses could
be distinctly heard in the dead stiffness
of the night, and looking down the road
in the direction of the sound we could
distinguish about a dozen horsemen
coming directly toward us.
when we saw that we were not very
greatly outnumbere we decided on
defensive policy. The road made a
sharp curve before reaching the top OF
the plateau. Just where it diyerged
was ledge Of rock, and behind this
we ranged ourselves and waited the
approach OF our friends They came
Gathering up the hill,and when within
about thirty PAGES, near enough to dis
tnguish their blue uniforms for we did
not want to make mistake, The SER
geant gave the order to fire Four OF
the men reeled out Of their saddles, one
horse dropped to his knees. pitching
his rider over his head, and the others,
thinking probably that they had run
against the picket line Of regiment,
turned and fled
That is. all but one did. He was
mounted oua powerful black horse, and
the animal, stung by a bullet, came
rushing directly toward US As he
leaped the ledge one Of our men made
a grab at the Bride and had bis cheek
laid open by > saber cut. Another who
threw himself az the rider. was carried
of his feet by the rush OF the madden
ed animal We sent several bullets
from our reyolvers after the pair, but
don't believe any hit. At any rate, they
both got away
The man with the bat had been
listening intently to the narrative and
would frequently nudge closer to the
speaker. He seemed several times on
the goint q intorrupting, but contained
himself AT this uoint he extended
bouy band to the old man. The latter
looked As i be had expected some lit