The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-01-10
THE SAME OLD STORY.
He Was the Fifty-EiEhth Man Who
Had Ridden That Horse.

When the train rolled under the shadow
of a Virginia mountain and made one of
those incOherent stops 10 which through"
trains are somewhat given, the bushy-
brOwed passenger craned his neck out Of
the window and tried 70 discover what was
the matter, with the usual unsatisfactory
result His two travelling companions
there were only three in the compartment
Of the smoker-wished he wouldn't. as the
open windows created a draught, which
both objected to. They also objected TO
the passenger. He affected a riot-provok-
ing style of headsear, which the elderly
man in the corner eyed with exceeding dis
favor His accent was worse than his hat.
Putting the three together, his curiosity.
hat and accent, the geographical problem
Of his nativity was as simple as the mere
adding of them together
The elderly passenger was as easy to
classify. There could have been doubt
that he was from the SOuth-Jhe most in
expert guesser would have said that An
empty sleeve and certain martial air
would have led the same reckoner to con-
clude that he had also borne arms for
that section during the time when the Two
sections were vis-a-vis with each other
The man with the accent made an OBJ
servatiOn about the brightness of the
moonlight, which caused the elderly one
to take look out of the window
'Why, hello,'' he exclaimed, as he sent
a glance at the unclassihed member OF
the party which might have meant any
thing. Il think l know this place. Why,
Of course; certainly 1 do. Yes; yes; same
place. Same old mountain; looks as nat
ural as il did thirty years ago. And just
such a night as this when ] was here. Al.
III remember that night if L forget my
grandmother.
The younger man. who was student Of
war history, became interested at once
He put aside his yellOw-backed novel and
prepared for a "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 bOundleSS curiosity. He closed the
window and listened. The narrator con-
tinued
I will tell you something about that old
hill over there he said. ''if you care to
listen. 1t is doubtless a very nice old Hill
when YOU come to know IL we'll, but I
made its acquaintance under very trying
circumstances. That was in war times
in the year-wel. L don't exactly remember
the date, but that does not signify. l was
then serving in the confederate cavalry,
Chamblss's brigade, Stuart's command. I
was on scouting expedition that night.
six OF us in the party. We had been riding
all day, trying TO rejOin the command,
which had suddenly shifted its quarters
And tell you we were mighty tired when
we got upon the top Of that plateau which
you see there, and concluded 10 camp for
a few hours, for our horses did not look
as II they could carry us another mile
without rest. We knew that il was not
safe to tarry Ions, as the enemy was ali
around US.
Well. we picketed our horses. and after
stauonlng one man as sentry the others
stretched themselves upon the ground for
a few hours sleep. IL seems to me that
L had hardly dozed of before we were
Tome,
he said, as he hurriedly kicked one sleeper
after another, the enemy is coming. We
rubbed the sleep out of our eyes and
distinctly heard in the dead stiffness OF the
night and looking down the road in he
direction of the sound we could distin-
guish about dozen horsemen coming di-
when we saw that we were not very
greatly outnumbered we decided on a de-
fensve policy. The road made a sharp
plateau. Just where IL diverged was a
ledge of rock, and behind this we ranged
friends. They came Gathering up the hill,
and when within about thirty PAGES near
enough TO distinguish their blue uniforms.
the sergeant gave the order to fire -Four
of the men reeled out of their saddles, one
horse dropped TO hts knees, pitching his
rider over his head, and the others. think
ing probably they had run against the
picket line of a regiment turned and fed.
THAT is, all but one did. He was mount
ed on a powerful black horse, and the
animal. stung by a bullet, came rushing
directly toward US. AS he Ieaped the ledge
one Of our men made gran at the bride
and had his cheek laid open by a saber
cut. Another who threw himself al the
rider was carried off his feet by the rush
of the maddened animal. We sent several
bullets from our revolvers after the pair,
but L don't believe any hit. At any rate
they both got away"
The man with the hat had been listening
intently TO the narrative, and would fire.
quently nudge closer to the speaker. He
seemed several times on the point of IN
terrupting, but contained himself. At this
point he extended a bOny hand 10 the old
man. The latter looked as if he had eX-
pected some little attention of that sort.
and took il without a word.
Il am" said the listener, emOtionaliy:
Il am that mantle man who rode the
black horse that night"
The other said, inscrutably, what a
markable meeting-a very remarkable meet
ing time place. everything and then those
two talked about things until the next
station was reached, and then the hero of
the black horse babe his whilom enemy
touching gOOd-by.
The old was silent for a long time
after he had left. There seemed to be
something on his mind which perplexed
him. Finally he fished out a notebook from
his pocket, and after studying its pages for
long time he replaced it. drew deep
sigh. and said:
do YOU know that is the ffty-eighth
man l have discovered who rode that par
ticular horse."-N. Y. Times