New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1895-02-13

epOC4dl Aut5 VI pIOI0CtluS tu0 11u6, dU
once assumed that some one was trying
to cut the wire. He put spurs to his
horse and called out: p"
Halt, there! Throw up your hands
and surrender. or I II shoot
The only response was swish from
whip which came down evidently on
horse's back, and the dark mass be-
fore him vanished around the bend in
the road. The corporal dashed on, but
before he could get around the bend the
object had turned again. He could hear
the rafting of wheels and sounds of a
horses hoofs digging into the road at
a gallop. Whoever was behind that
horse must be driving at frightful
pace, for urging his own beast to his
best he seemed to lose rather than gain
ground. Coming to a straight piece of
road, he could again see the object be-
fore him, but in the darkness it was
simply a darker spot than it's surround
ings. Suddenly the ears of the corporal
caught a sound that filled him with as
tonishment 1t was a voice urging for
ward the horse he was chasing. Rati-
gan had supposed that whoever was try
Ing to escape was man, yet this voice
was different from a mans tones. It
sounded like that Of child or a woman.
The corporal was puzzled. Then it sud-
denly occurred to him that perhaps he
was chasing Betsy Baggs
Now, the corporal was as conscien-
tious a man as there was in the Army
Of tho Cumberland and one of the
most gallant, but when the suspicion
fell upon him like a chill that he was
brief period he had been with her, had
thrown a strange spell over him he
ceased to urge his horse with the same
pressure as before. In the midst Of the
chase there had come contest within
his own breast between two conflicting
emotions. IT Betsy Baggs were in front
Of him, what would be the result if he
should catch her? He must turn her
over to the military authorities, and the
chances were she would be executed for
a spy On the other hand, supposing he
permitted her to escape, he would be
liberating an enemy far more danger
GUS to the army in which he served
than a dozen batteries. In short, he
would be traitor to his comrades and
his cause.
Miss Baggs, for it was she, had pass
ed many pickets, had experienced many
lucky escapes. She had browbeaten Off
GERS and had cozened soldiers. She had
gone through a dozen places where
man would surely have been arrested.
And now, after passing so many dan
gers, on the very eve of success, she sud.
denly found herself in the most critical
Of all the situations she had ever been
placed in.
Meanwhile the long legs of Bobby
Lee were getting over the ground at
an astonishing pace It was not the tri-
angulation of a former race for sport
with Corporal Ratigan, but the quick,
short jumps of race for life. And
Bobby seemed to know the stake. New
er in his former flights had his ears been
turned back SO eagerly to catch the low
tones OF his mistress. Never had there
been SO much feeling in that mistress
voice. 1t was: go on, Bobby! Good
old horse. Get up On, OH, on! That's
dear boy. It's life and death with me,
Bobby, a continued stream Of broken
words and sentences, all of which Bobby
seemed to understand and act upon as if
he had been human being.
The fugitive knew that the chase
could not be long one. Her crazy We
hlcle was like rotten hulk in storm
without sea room. To the north was
the Tennessee river, and no means of
crossing. Ahead was Chickamauga
creek, but between her and it lay the
scattered forces of the left wing Of the
Union army. She knew the ground
well and had as good a knowledge of
the positions Of the troops as one could
have of all army constantly changing.
The point from which she had started
was half a mile west of Rossville on
the Lafayette road. A mile of chasing
had brought her near a fork, the left
road leading across Chickamauga creek
by Dyer's bridge, the right leading di-
rectly south. She determined to take
the left hand road, intending, if she
should succeed in reaching Dyer's mill,
about a mile from the creek, to strike
ford some distance below that she re-
membered having once crossed.
These possibilities flashed through
her mind like messages over a telegraph
wire while the thud of hoofs and the
gathering Of her pursuer's swinging sa-
Der were sounding in her ears.
"On, on, Bobby; for heavens sake,
so on!'
Would it not be best for her to leave
her horse and buggy in the road and
take to tho woods? No. They would
mark the point where she had left them.
But her pursuer would not know which
side Of the road she had taken, and
there would be an even chance that he
would follow on the wrong side. Some
thing must be done; the race could not
last forever; the man behind seemed to
be gaining, and then the dread Of COM
ing upon a Union camp! --~..
She was about to bring her horse to
stand and jump from her buggy when
the clatter behind her-Ratigan had
turned a slight bend in the road-sound-
ed SO loud, SO near, that instead Of doing
SO she gave him cut with the whip.