The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-31
ONE SOLDIERS HORSES.
He Had Several. but Misfortune Pur.
sued Them

From the Louisville COurier-Journal-
During the discussion about long walk1
the other night an old soldier who hap
pened TO be in the crowd related IN
amusing experience he had during ths
war. we had been riding hard all one
day" he said, land our horses be-
gan 70 get 80 hot that the sweat ran
OF them in streams We finally came
20 small branch, and we all stopped
long enough to let the horses drink !
like the rest rode my horse into the
branch 3s far as ne could go and turned
the bride loose. The animal seemed
10 be almost famished. and 1t seemed
that he would never get through drink
ing. All OF a sudden, and Just as / was
about 10 speak 10 some one behind
me. my horse gave a lunge forward and
feil nat iQto the water. / did not have
time 10 see what was the matter, for
/ also fell fiat into the creek, but when
1 gained my feet I saw that the animal
was dead IL just occurred to me then
that / had done wrong TO let him drink
SO much water while ne was hot. Well
the worst part of the matter was thar
! had to walk, there were no spare
horses along with us. / took my fine
saddle from the animals back, put IL
on my shoulder. and started out TO walk
! tell you / was glad when the regiment
stopped that night and pitched camp I
was almost worn out, and / was thinking
Of the walking that ! had TO do the next
day.
Morning came and I started out with
my saddle on my shoulder. walked
nearly all day and was about TO drop
when ! saw a young man and his sweet
heart driving a fine animal down the
road. ! hated to do it, but ! stopped
them and told them that l must have
their horse. The girl began 10 cry. and
the young man TO plead with me, hut
when l looked down at my sore. bleed
ing feet 1 repeated my demand for the
horse. As they did not seem to be in
clned to obey me- / whipped out my
knife, cut the harness from the animal.
put my saddle on it and rode OFF When
! had gotten a good distance away l
looked back and saw the young couple
still sitting I'm the buggy, and the girl
was still crying. When we went into
camp again that night, / felt much
better than / did the night before, and I
chuckled 10 think how slick | got hold
of horse. The next morning when we
were about 10 start / went over after
my horse, but what was my surprise
to find that the animal was gone. The
owner of the animal had evidently fol-
lowed us to camp, and had stolen 1t
back. There l was again condemned TO
saddle and a heavier heart. 1 walked
all that day, and, gentlemen, believe
A would have ridden a COW had one come
across my path. That night l did not
sleep so well. and l dreamed all night
OF beautiful steeds and rocky roads.
suppose II was about noon the next
day when we passed a farm house, and
out IN the field ! saw pair Of the larg-
est, uGliest and most gaunt looking
mules that l had ever seen before. As
! had made up my mind to ride a COW If
/ saw one, these mules began to look
really beautiful to me, and L decided
right there that / would catch and ride
one Of the animals If l had to whip the
farmer and his whole family. / Jumped
over the fence and began to catch one
OF them. but they started off in a dead
run to the other side of the field. ! was
determined not to give up the chance
to ride and I went in hot pursuit of the
frightened animals, After a long time
finally caught one of them and put my
saddle on it at once. l thought 1 would
not mount the animal until 1 got out
of the field, so / let down some bars and
went out into the road. When reached
the road l started to mount the animal
but l saw right there that the worst
part of the affair was not yet over. After
Juggling away and nearly wearing myself
out ] finally got on top of the mule, but
ii was not intended that / should stay
there very long. When the mule felt me
on his hack-and l am certain that he
had never been ridden before--he gave a
loud yell, bumped up his back and threw
his feet into the air at the same time 1t
is useless TO say what became of me-.
landed in a lot of blackberry bushes.
and by the time ! got out of them the
mule, saddle and all were gone. The regi-
ment was a long way ahead Of me and 1t
took fully two hours of hard walking to
catch them l began to think my luck
would never again come my way, but l
was finally furnished with one of the best
animals in the regiment"