The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-10-02

denly formed plan of escape took ac
/ tive possession Of his mind.
With b-t . moments consideration
he seized his gun and ran straight Cor
the British Sailboat. AS he sped along
! he stopped as much as he could, in or
der TO hide behind clumDs of palmetto
and patches of tall marsh grass. The
alert soldiers soon saw him, however,
ana the one nearest him yelled for him
to stop. Instead of obeying the order,
Rose Tedoubled his effort to reach the
beat.
Bang! went the Briton's gun, and it's
hall sang in the grass close to Roses
legs All the men and the officer now
gave chase to the flying boy, who,
" hen he reached the creek, plunged III,
holding his gun SO that the lock was
out of the water and swan to the boat
Out .Ot breath, and terribly excited,
! Rose scrambled aboard, first tumbling
his gun over the gunwale to the bottom
of the boat.
1t was now work for dear life. Rose
was a clever sailor, and knew just how
! to go at the business in hand. He haul
| ed in the little anchor and Sprang to the
/ sail, looSed il, grabbed the tiller and
/ 5Ot into the breeze. Meantime on came
the now thoroughly alarmed officer and
men, shouting, shooting. painting, ges-
! ticulating.
The breeze was fresh and favorable.
1t took the sloop's sail with a vigorous
| sweep. She leaned low and Sprang along
! beautifully. Rose had lest mis- hat and
his hair was all diSheVeled: the per-
sI.iration poured down his face. On
came the soldiers. and at the waters
edge they lost some time in confused
running back and forth. Then, by order
OF their commander, they fell to re-
loading their empty guns. Every min
ute. every second was precious to the
brave boy.
Fortunately for him army muskets in
/ those days were but rude weapons with
a very short range. Two hundred yards
could not be accurately shot over with
them, and already the swift little boat
was d good hundred yards out and fly
ing down the creek to the broad arm of
the river nearby.
'Firei" cried the officer.
a volley ratified spitefully; but not a
bullet struck the heroic boy. One vent
through the sail, two hit the boat Then
the soldiers ran frantieally along the
shore until they reached impassable
mud. Here they were compelled to stop
and give over the chase.
Rose knew every waterway in all that
region, and seeing the lnasts of the
British fleet, he took a course to avoid
the vessels. But in doing this he pres
emily teE into cross channel which
lest him the breeze. and he had to row
for more than mile
Meantime the firing had been heard
on board the fleet, and the nearest YES
sci sailed w and tried to discover the
cause. 1t was too late Rose made ms
way to Savannah. and was afterward
in the thick of the fight when the town
fell into the enemy's hands. Nor did
he give up, even then. With his father
he went away as a private in the little
patriot army, and served until the fuc-
cessful close of the glorious war. Ills
life was long and happy one. and al
though he never became q distinguished
man, he enjoyed to the end of his days
the esteem and respect of all who knew
him. He often told the story substan-
italy as l have written it.
MAURICE THOMPSON.