Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-01-17
CHAPTER VI.
TCIIAHOMA.

COlOnel MaynaTu was OruerSu 10 push forward down the road from Manches- ter toward Tullahoma in order to test the truth of Jakey Stacks information. Jakey begged permission to go with him, but the colonel told him that he had better go back to his father and sister Jakey argued that he could as we'll return from Tullahoma if they should reach it, and, if not, from any point where they might halt The colo mel at last consented, and as they rode off he remarked to the members of his staff, using the conventional military phrase for announcing a staff officer in orders, "Gentlemen, this is Jacob Slack, volunteer aid. de- camp to the colonel commanding the -th cavalry brigade, and will be obeyed and respected as such. " The announcement, couched in these terms, so delighted Jakey that he came we'll nigh losing his balance and falling off old Toms back and getting himself tramplcd on by the rest of the staff. But after the first furry he made a most efficient id-de-camp-that is, if riding close beside the colonel and being always ready for an order which was never given constitutes a good staff officer
 About noon the Notifications around the town of TullahOma suddenly appear ed before them. Though it was plain now that they were not to be defended. the advancing force half expected to see a cloud of smoke burst from them. But they were silent and impotent, without troops to man them.
 Dashing from the edge of tho wood, Colonel Maynard, followed by Jakey and the rest of the staff, rode over the intervening space, and ill a few min- utes wero climbing the Slanting sides of tho carthworks A point had been gained which, wiaelOut the previous ma neuvers, would Nave cost thousands of lives. Even Jak,y Slack, who can hard ly be called an educated soldier, eXpe- rienccd a certain comfort on riding un- opposed over brpastworks so formidable. Once within them, he got off his horse, and seeing q big siege gun from under which the carriage had been burned climbed on to it and sat a-straddle, way ing his hat and cheering as vociferously as if the victory had been exclusively l due to his own genius.
 His hilarity was suddenly quenched by the colonel. who, riding up to him, told him that the brigade was ordered | forward in pursuit of the retreating enemy, and that he must go back to l his father and sister. Jakey begged hard to go on, but his appeal was unavail- ing. His brief dignity must be resigned. | From aid e-camp on the staff of the colonel commanding the -th brigade, "to be obeycd and respected as such, '' he must be reduced to the level of a small boy.
 The colonel gave him hug before parting and told him that he would send a trooper with him to see him safe ly on his way. Had Jakey been Q sol dier his action on this occasion would havo been considered by any court mar tial rank mutiny.
 "D'y' think hain t nobody nohow
 Didn't I go with y last summer tel Chattanooga when y war nuthin but {
 scout? IN didn't I stay in jail with y
 IN now yer talkin bout sendin Q sojel
 with me fo' a nurse. :"
 All right. Jakey. Go it alone if yor
 prefer it.''
 The colonel rode away, and Jakey
 shorn of the plumage he had worn sr
 becomingly for a whole half day, pro
 ceeded on his return journey. He frs
 inquired the most direct route to Hills
 boro, and having been directed to it h.
 set off at brisk trOt. He had eatel
 nothing since early morning and wa
 ravenously hungry. At farmhouse b, l hn
 and good feed for Tom. Then the ol,
 woman who furnished them gave hin
 a kiss and started him again on hi
 journey.
 Jakey had not gone far before h
 came to a road connecting Hillsbor
 with tho MacMinnville branch of tn railroad at a place called Concord. Tn , road on which he was travelling forke- ! into the other at an acute angle, the tw running nearly parallel for Q short dis } tance. Looking ahead toward the fork he saw a rig which struck him at ono
 as being astonishingly familiar. It wa } none other than the rawboned horse an paint bereft buggy he had seen severa l times before. As it drew near, Jake could see some one in the buggy. an uC WdS HOt lOLS III AIOOShA1IlS tLlO Pt culiar dress of Miss Betsy Baggs. 3 Hello, Miss Bags! Whar v goil at?" he called.
 Never a word spoke Miss Bags. Sh t sat bolt upright in her buggy, regard T ing the boy fixcdly as Bobby Lee triar
 gulated onward. As she passed sh
 turned her head slowly, keeping he spectacles on Jakey with an unearthl , stare. There is something superstition s in all human beings and especially i
 boys. Something like a shiver ran dow
 Jakey's back at sight of this singula person. who knew him perfectly, yt c who passed him, her head turning m'
 chanically, without uttering worC y For moment he was tempted to beliey
 that Miss BagSs had perished, and thi n was her ghost going to seek rest i I some other land than war scared Ter