The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1898-12-01
A FILE Of lnFAuTRYWEN.
For Three Years. During the At Home in Shelter
Tent and Abroad with Three Days Ratons
and Forty Rounds Of Ammunition"
ninsher- of THE NATIONAL Trrnuxr.
By JOHN McELRoY.


81 may as well confess that I'm not s
IA terrible hurry for the Yankees to lose
| Memphis" s i the one of the crowd
| who h~d not before spoken. with our
cotton and quiaile smuggling, aud oui
underground possofIicc route. we've got
a better tlli ~ here than the chances arc
well have any place else. I'm satisfied
10 let we'll enough alone"
That's SO. Hush. | thought | heard
footsteps"
20, hats nothing; there's fellow
outside there wi d a gun hunting for
something for his supper. He don't
| amount 30 aay thiaE."
"All risht, Levi; The first thing, let's see
the letters you brought"
| This precipitated crisis. Bronson had
prepared some dummy letters, to resemble
loutwardiy those he had taken from the
Hebrews person, but naturally they
would not stand The test of opening. Levi
| became intensely agitated. lie h@d
simply been instructed to go ahead in his
meeting with the men as he had been il
! the habit OF doing, and no hint was given
him Of the point at which it was intended
| 10 make the Interference.
| Levi tried TO turn the attention of his
confederateS in some other direction, and
| began feeble, diSiointed inquiries about
| cotton. He might have known that a
man waiting in eager anticipation of 4
letter is as little likely to be led off into
| the discussion of irrelevant topics as ore
with toothache or in love. One of them
speedily brought the conversation back to
| the original point with:
Yes, as you say; cott0n'S going up
| like a kite, and it'll do no harm to hold
all that we can, if it S put in some safe
place. But let's see the letters and then
Wen talk further. We've got plenty oil
| time"
| Levi fumbled nervously over his make
believe missives, racking his brains for
| some expedient to delay their production.
| Never very trustful of him, his com
| panionS now conceived the direst sus-
pIclons from his unaccountable conduct.
What the devils the matter with the
blasted Jew, anyway" said one OF them,
grasping him roughly by the shoulder,
while the others whipped out their re-
volverS and cooked them.
Lets kill him right here, if he fools
with u.s." said they
Drop them pops this minnit, or III let
| daylight through the whole lot on ye."
yelled Stock, from his leafy covert, not
10 yards away. Looking up, the as
tonished smugglers saw Stock drawing
a fine bead On one of them, but before
they could determine which one it was
| that he most nenaced O'Neil shouted
CLOSE in on 'em, b'ys" and the whole
squad came up with a rush. Two of
them stood still, threw down their re-
voivers, and raised their hands in token
! of surrender. The third started to run,
but he had scarcely gone a ROD when
Stocks rife cracked sharply, and the
man dropped with a bullet through his
shoulder.
Bronson ran up to the fallen man, and
as he recognized his face by the aid of "A
rift OF light through an Opening in the
trees, he exclaimed in surprise 20 Walter:
81 declare, if it isn't Dick Morgan again"
Walter mounted one OF the horses and
went TO a neighboring farmhouse, where
he secured wagon TO take the wounded
man into the city. lie next gall0ped back
TO the picltetS, and informed the officer
in command of what had happened. A
company was Immediately sent out to
guard the cotton until it could be brought
in the next day oy the Quartermaster's
teams, and Walter returned with orders
TO O Neil TO come in Hith his prisoners as
soon as the company arrived TO relieve
him.
When they came in again the officer
of the pickets informed them that the
letters they had sent to Headquarters
were found to contain very valuable in