The Washington weekly post., 1900-11-20
n Soldiers Wsfon.

the captain. She was a tali. dark-haired
woman. and the face bore smile. ls
seemed to me that l stood and watched
the horse for the next quarter OF an Hour
The animal chewed at the fence rah.
broke down a small bush with his hind
feet. and paved deep hole ia the EARN
In his impatlsnce.
As suddenly as the vision came Il was
slotted out. but II returned again. THIS
time the captain was mounted and II was
night. IL was the same horse. ana ne
wanted to speed too fast and was pulled
In. could not make out how followed
on. but follow ! did. and We had Just de-
scended Hill and were crossing a creek
by plank bridge when there came Fef'
fash, followed Dy the report Of q firearm.
and the captain threw Up his arms ana
lurched TO the right and fell out OF the
saddle. The horse sprang TO the left on
the bridge. which had no railing. landed
in the creek and went OF among the IN
derbrush I saw that the officer was be-
ing dragged along with his foot in the
stirrup. also saw the man WAC Rad
fred the shot. He was talL gaunt faced.
wlth long black hair and glittering black Z
eyes. and dressed In the rough clothes OF
a farmer. He locked the typical bush
whacker. He at once started after the
horse, and as he leaped from the end OF
the bridge To the earth below he struck
in soft soil and pitched forward on his
face though Up and of a minute later.
/ stood looking after hirn, when one or
my tent mates came In and aroused me
from my troubled sleep. He said / was
muttering and throwing my arms about
as he came in. at once related the dream
or vision to him. but neither OF us attach
ed any Importance TO il. One with fever
always has queer dreams and fancies.
A week had gone by and was all right
again, when / read In Washington pa
per of the singular disappearance OF a
captain in our brigade. l read this In
print instead Of hearing the news. While
regiments may be brigaded together, the
men are strange TO each other. Aside IRON
the movements Of regimental officers, one
seldom hears anything In a regiment out
side of the affairs of his own company.
This officer, so it was stated, had LETT
camp OH a certain afternoon on his horse
and had not been heard of since. My
vision came back to me so clearly, and
was so sure that IL furnished a elew.
that / reported to my captain. He rtdl-
culed the idea, but sent me to the colonel.
Ny statements were received with q
smile, but was given pass and note
to the brigadier general. He was a gruir
old dog, and he called me a fool before
/ had spoken ten words. When L had
given a close description OF the missing
officer, however, he began to listen, and
the result was that / went out with q
squad sent to search. We passed for two
miles over a road had never set foot on
before We came to a farmhouse l had
never seen In my waking moments. We
found the black-haired woman, and she
corrobOrated my story of the captains
arrival. She was widow, living with
her mother, and the captain had been
calling for many weeks, and IL was case
of love- 4 horse had gnawed a fence
rail; horse had paved up the earth; the
captains horse was bay. When we re-
turned to the bridge we found the marks
where the bushwhaeker had Jumped. We
found where the iron shoes OF the horse
had scraped the stones. and where he had
| clambered cut. In the woods, a mile
away, we found horse and rider. s.....-
The captain tad been shot through the
| body. He had been dragged by the stir
rup until his body had become entangled
| among the underbFush. The horse had
eaten every bush and limb within reach,
| but had been without water and was just
able to stand. His rider was probably
dead within five minutes after being shot.
| You may have made up your mind to
| hear that the assassin was also discov-
cred through my dream, but he was not.
/ | have always believed that IL was his
| hand which knitted the pickets but it Is
/ only my belief. No one charged with any
| of the crimes was ever brought to book
so far as / know. ! could have identified
the bushwhacker among thousand men.
but 1 never had the opportunity. A week
after the finding of the captains body
our brigade was marching and fighting
| forty miles away, and If the assassin was
a farmer living In the neishborhood Of
! his crimes he was safe from discovery.