Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-01-25


shots came; Crowf0ot reeled in front Of
me, and somehow checked his horse. I
saw him no more. l1Qext moment We Were
| upon the group with our pistols.
Forward. meni bon't stop to fghtv'
roared Miller. as he got clear. A rifle was
fired 80 close to my head that the flame
burned my back hair. and my ears rang
high and dashed dbmn man. In few
seconds was fairly out Of the scrimmage.
How many Of my comrades had gone
down I knew not nor beside whom I was
hole: his stumbled, tie man pitched for
ward and was left behind. Then heard
shot. the clatter ofihnother falling horse.
the angry yell of another thrown rider.
On we Went-the relics of US. NOW we
rushed out of the pine forest into broad
moonlight. and say two riders between
me and the lieutenant-one man almost at
my shoulder and another gailoplng ten
yards behind.
Bader and Absalom Gray were nearest
me. Neither spoke a word till we struck
upon a space of sandy road. Then could
hear, far behind the rear man, sound Of
galloping on the hard highway.
Bader.
.'Many?" He Stacked speed. and we
listened.
"Only one," cried Miller Hes coming
fast"
The pursuer gained so rapidly that we
looked to our pistols again. Then Absalom
Gray cried:
TITS only horser' So
In few moments the great gray of
fallen Corp. Crowfoot overlook US, went
ahead and Stacked speed by the lieutenant.
down" shouted Miller. let ~ last man
mount the gray!"
Suddenly the hoofs of Crowfoot's gray
and the lieutenant's bay Numbered upon
plank road whose hollow noise, when we
all reached 1t, should have been heard affair."
1t took us through wide orchard lands into
a low-lying mist by the banks OF great
| marsh, till we passed through that fog
| strobe heavily up slope, and saw the
simmer of roofs under the moon. Straight
| through the main street We pounded along.
Whether 1t was wholly deserted l know
not, but not human being was In the
| streets, nor any face visible at the black
windows Not even Cog parked. no.
| ticed no living thing except some turkeys
| roosting on a fence and d white cat that
| sprang upon the pillar Of a gateway and
thence to a tree.
| Some of the nc uses seemed Ia have l'een
rGlIed by L cannonade. l suppose 1t was
| one of the places almost Destroyer in Will
oughby's recent raid. Here we numbered,
expecting ambush and conflict every mo-
| ment, while the loneliness of the street i'm
| posed on me such sense as might come OF
galloping through a long cemetery Of the
dead
Out of the village we went off the planks,
again upon sand 1 began to suspect that
l was losing a great deal of blood. My
bTdHl Was Oh IRE WITH WHITING tHoUSHAS
and wonder where all was to end. Out OF
this daZe l came in-amazement to find that
we were quickly overtaking our lieutenants
thoroughbred. Had he been hit In The fray
and bled to weakness? l only know that,
still galloping while We gained, the famous
horse lurched forward, almost turned a
somersault, and fell on his rider. STOP
the paper!" shouted Bade".
We drew rein, turned, disInounted, and
found Miller's left leg under the big bays
shoulder. The horse was quite dead, the
riders long hair lay OH the sand; his face
was white under the moon!
We stopped long enough to extricate him,
and he came to his. senses just as We made
out that his left leg broken.
Forward" he groaned. What in
thunder are you stopped for? Oh. the dis
In attending to Miller We had forgotten
| the rider, who had been long gradually
dropping behind. Now. as we galoped
away--Bader. Absalom Gray, myself and
Crowfoots riderless lrorse-I looked behind
| for that comrade. but he was not to be
seen or heard. We three were left of the
eleven. :sF-
From the loss of so many comrades the
Importance of our mission seemed huge.
With the speed, the noise, the deaths, the
strangeness of the ga3lop through that for
saken village, the wonder how all would
end, the increasing belief that thousands of
lives depended on our success, and the
longing to win. my brain was wild.
A raging desire to be first held me, and
SaiopeQ as IL IN Il dream ri
Bader led; the -rifierless gray Numbered
beside him; Absalont rode stirrup. to stirrup
with me; ne was a veteran of the old war
Where it was that. his sorrel rolled over I
do not remember at all. though perfectly
remember how Absalom sprang up. stag
gered. shouted. MY foot is spra.ned!' and
fell as 1 turned to look at him and went
racing on.
Tfen 1 heard above the sound of our
I COTS the voice OF the veteran of war.
Down as he was, his spirit was unbroken.
In the favoIite song of the army hts voice
rose clear and gay and piercing:
'Hurrah for the Union!
Hurrah, boys, hurrah
Shouting the battle cry Of freedom!"
We turned our heads and cheered him as
! we flew, for there was something indescrib-
ably inspiring in the gallant and cheerful
Tilt of the fallen man. 1t was as If he flung
Us, from the grief of defeat, soul uncon-
querabie; and 1 felt the life in me strength
ened by tine tore.
Old Bader and for it! He led by hun
dred yards, and Crowfoot's gray kept his
stride. Was I gaining on them? How was
it that could see his figure outlined more
clearly against the horizon? Surely dawn
was not coming oni
No; looked around on a world Of naked
pc ach orchards, and cornfields ragged with
| last years stalks. all dimly lit by moon
| that showed far from midnight; and that
faint light on the horizon was not in the
east, but in the west. The truth flashed on
mel was looking at such an illumination
of the sky as would be caused by the camp
fires of an army.
THE missing brigadev' I shouted.
'Or a southern division!' Bader cried
Come on?'
"Cone on!" 1 was certainly gaining on
him, but very slowly. Before the nose of
my bay was beyond the tail of his roam,
the wide iluminations had become more
distinct; and still not a vidette, nor a pick
ct, nor sound of the proximity Of an
army.
Bader and I now rode side by side, and
Crowfoot's gray easily kept the pace NV
horse was in plain distress, but Baders was
nearly done.
Take the paper, ADAM" he said: my
roam won't go much farther Goodbye
youngster. Away you go!' and 1 drew now
quickly ahead.
Still Bader rode on behind me- In a few
minutes he was considerably behind. Per-
haps the sense of being alone increased my
feeling of weakness. Was 1 going to reel
out of the saddle? Had 1 lost SO much
bcod as that? Still 1 could hear Bader
riding on. I turned to look at him. AL
ready he was scarcely visible. Soon he
dropped out of sight but still 1 heard the
laborious pounding of his desperate horse
My bay was gaspng horribly How far
was that family yellow sky ahead? 1t
! might be two, it might be five miles. Were
Union or southern soldiers beneath it?
Gould it be conceived that no troops of the