Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-11-28

l1IUtll6E . dkOulLOu luCO oNcI UtlUI6 utE
and the determination to save littlo Hal
strong within her. A jagged stone cut
her bare foot, but could not stay her
even for an instant. Now she saw the
roofs of her fathers house illuminated
by the spreading fire, and now again
the shells went whistling over her head.
Rabbits and squirrels skurried madly
past her, escaping from the advancing
troops. She heard the sound of many
footsteps and the sharp banging Of the
Federal rifles. On the rising ground be-
fore the house black figures hurried to
and fro-the van of Buffers army. But
she did not stop. What were the enemy
to her when Hal was missing--wound-
ed by a chance bullet perhaps and dying
in the fields?
With a roar the house caught fire,
and a shower Of sparks scared into the
air and fell among the trees. A bullet
pinged not a foot away from Nell, but
+, she heard it not.
"Hall Brother Hall' was the song
her heart sang, and she needed no 9TH
er sound.
A branch, shorn off from it's parent
tree, crashed down upon the heroic
child and bore her to earth. She crawl
ed from beneath it, her shoulder bruised
and torn and with sharp pains in her
ankle that told of a serious strain. She
could run no longer, but limping was
still possible; SO onward she limped.
At last the lawn was reached, and
Nell felt a heavy hand descend upon her
aching shoulder.
"Hold hard there!' cried a voice.
"What in heavens name are you doing
here?"
The child looked up into a rough,
bearded face, begrimed with powder,
yet not unkindly.
"The babyv' she whispered hoarsely.
' "I've come back for Baby HAL"
The bearded man let the sword which
he carried fall back into it's sheath.
"Oh, you've come back for the baby?
Come back through the shells and bul-
lets, Ell? My girl, you're a regular Joan
of Arc"
"No, sir, I'm a Confederate. And
please, won't you help me to find baby"
The big soldier caught Nell up in his
arms.
"Why, your poor little foot's cut, F"
he cried, "and your shoulders bleeding
too. This is awful"
Don't mind my shoulder, Mr.. Yam
kee. Let me find baby"
The Federal officer put his spare hand
to his mouth by way Of a speaking
trumpet and shouted in stentorian tones
From the right came an answering
hail, and a soldier came running out of
the darkness.
"We found a colored girl and a baby
over there, sir, he said. "The girl had
been knocked down by some burning
timbers from the barn."
Two minutes later Baby Hal was
cooling, just as if nothing had happened,
upon Nell's lacerated shoulder. Poor
Phoebe, badly though not dangerously
hurt, told how in flying blindly from
the Federals she had been struck and
disabled by a falling beam.
As the story spread among the Fed
eral soldiers they gathered around Nell,
cheering her so loudly that Aunt Dru-
silla, sitting disconsolately upon her
stump in the woods, heard the uproar
and wondered what it meant.
Not long had the honest old negress
to wonder, for presently there marched
through the woods a guard Of honor
surrounding the Federal officer who car
ried both Nell and the baby in his
strong arms.
"Oh, chile, chile!" cried Aunt Dru-
silla as she gave Nell her very heartiest
hug. "Yo' done give me a pow'ful scare.
But it's all right now, bress de Lawd,
an dem dar Yankees amt so bad after
all. Chicago Inter Ocean.