Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1894-08-04

81 ""o ''hiSheh anu neipleSSI The re-
port OF every musl,et reached her ears.
ana now and then as the firing died
away little her heart stood still at the
thought that kenton and his comrade
had been captured by those who thirsted
ior their lives. She could only weep and
pray as the hours dragged away. Hope
came to her only when she heard the
clatter of iron hoofs on the frozen road
and looked out to behold the two COM
panies OF Federal cavalry sweeping up
the highway to the rescue. Uncle Ben
had been IN time, and she murmured,
God bless him. as she realized what
1t meant. The dead guerrillas Law in
plain sight as the troopers pushed on,
and she shuddered as she realized what
might have been. The dead were for
gotten for moment in her anxiety for
the living. There had been no firing for
the last 10 minutes. Had the camp been
captured? Had help come too late? She
stood In the open door and held herself
on her feet while she listened. A sud-
den crash of musket,y told her what she
was yearning to know. The Federal
! troopers had attacked, and they were
strong enough to beat off or annihilate
the besiegers. Half an hour later she
was crying and sobbing and saying to
| the men who bore the litter:
Carefully now! Bring him right in
this way! l am SO glad! l was afraid
that he was dead!'
The prisoners were confined in the
barn. Of the entire force not one had
escaped except Ike Baxter, and that
only because he was absent. There were
dozen or more dead men to bury, and
after awhile detail was sent back to
perform the work. A dozen dead, but
| no wounded. If you were in the valley
that winter, you will recall the bitter
ness existing between the irregula1s, ~
who were practically bushwhackers and
guerrillas, and the Federal cavalry. No
| prisoners were taken on either side, If
a Federal detachment was cut off, never
a man returned to his lines. If a 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 side. The capture of an
armed man in citizens dress or half
uniform meant that he had only Is 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 i'll an ambulance,
and within few minutes the general
had heard his story. The order was
| given to push 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
affair greater hero than he had ever
hoped to be. Although frankly acknowl-
edglng 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-
Tended 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 brav-
cry and self sacrifice.
WAL, gineral, I dunno about all
this, replied Steve, with good deal
of embarrassment. Reckon was the
means of gittin that Yank into the Con-
federate service, and now it looks as if
was the means of gittin him out and
myself along with him. We uns hev
heen Griv outer the southern army by
that fout up at the camp, and if yo' uns
don't take keer of us 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 a 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 reinforcement
One of these was Captain Wyle's and
he smiled g1imly as he recalled the cir
cumstances of his last ride over THU
highway.
| Ike Baxter had come into camp on
previous occasion to report that Kentor
and Brayton were hiding out near Res
Haven, and that he had been nearly
killed by Uncle Ben while trying to fol
low him to tine hiding place of the fugi
tives. Captain Wyle would wash hi
hands Of the affair, but a detachment
was sent away with orders to hunt dowr
and bring in the prisoners. Steve Bray
ton might be brought in, but he very
we'll knew that Kenton would not be
whether found wounded and helpless o.
not. After the detachment had accom-