The Advocate and news., 1899-02-01


either Of those Kentucky bays, the doc
tor said: "Go again. Only ride slowly
and mount and dismount only at the
back porch, where you have only to
lower yourself into saddle. Be sure to
avoid any shock or jar, then you're all
right"
Hannibal and Mrs. Winn's domestic
were the only persons besides Barclays
orderly to see the start, but had the do
mestic herself been alone it would have
been sufficient to insure transmission Of
the news. First she told her mistress
Latershe learned from Hannibal that
the captain was going out TO stables
next morning the same way and had
ordered coffee to be ready at reveille
This, too, was conveyed to Laura, and
that evening she sent for the veteran
stable sergeant Of the troop to which
her husband was temporarily attached
and asked him if Robin Hood, q pretty
little chestnut she used to ride, was
still in the stable. He was, and would
Mrs. Winn be pleased to rider The
sergeant would be glad TO see the lady
in saddle again. Her handsome side.
saddle was, with her bride, always
kept in perfect order, but for several
months Mrs Winn had taken no exer-
oise that way.
"I'm going to ride at reveille, ser
geant," she Confded TO the faithful sol.
dier. Its so long since mounted
wish to try once or twice when people
can't see me-" And Sergeant Burns
had promised that as soon as the sentry
would release him after gun fire Robin
Hood should be on hand. He'd be proud
TO come with him himself
True to his word, Burns was mp at
4:15. Robin was groOmed and fed and
watered and saddled in style and ready
TO start the moment the sentry was re.
Eeved by the morning gun fire from the
imposition Of the order to "allow no
horse to be taken out between taps and
reveille, except in the presence of
commissioned officer or the sergeant Of
the guard. " The sight that met the
sergeant's eyes as he cartered around
back Of the row OF officers quarters
leading Robin by the rein, was one he
never forgot
With palIid face, down which the
blood was streaming from a cut at the
temple, Captain Barclay was seated on
the steps striving to bind a handker.
chief about his lower leg. Old Hann1
bal, forgetful Of the dignity Of the OLD
Dominion, was actually running down
the back road in haste, it seemed, to sum.
mon the doctor. On the porch amid
some overturned chairs two athletic,
sinewy young men were graphing, one
Of them, Lieutenant Brayton, almost
lifting and carrying the other, Lieuten-
ant Winn, toward his own doorway,
both ashen gray as to their faces, both
fearfully excited, both struggling hard,
both with painting breath striving to
speak with exaggerated calm.
On this scene, wringing her hands,
sobbing with fright and misery, fitting
first to Barclays side, then back toward
her straining husband, saying wild and
incoherent things to both, was Laura
Winn. Burns had the frontiersman' 9
contempt for q chimneypot hat, and
never seemed one SO incongruous as
this--her riding headgear which in the
midst of her wailings Mrs. Winn clasp.
ed to her heaving breast. To make mat
ters more complicated, the neighbor.
hood was waking up, domestics and
"strikers' were gazing from back
porches farther down the row, and
Blythe's big hounds had taken to bark
ing furiously, until that bulky and be-
wildered soldier himself came forth,
damned them into their kennel, then
hastened in CONSERVATION to the aid Of
Barclay. BY this time, too, Winn had
succeeded in making his wife hear him,