Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1900-02-08
A Ride in the Night.
How the First Officer Receiyed
His Wound.

OV~V~VVV~VVvVV VVVVVVVOVVOOO
It was the evening of the first
day out. Behind us the sun had
dropped down below the sea, and the
steamship was plowing on steadily
into the east, where the darkness was
gathering fast. The first officer stood
with his back against the rail, lazily
watching the throng Of passengers on
the promenade deck. The whole
affair started with commonplace
Good evening"" 1t ended with the
following story:
Eyes, that was rather nasty cut at
the time," he began. 81 came by it
during the last hour of the ride, soon
after we had sighted the town lights,
and, strange enough, it wasn't from n
bullet at all-not one of them had
touched me all night-but it came
from the broken lantern OF the last
man that fell. AS the fellow pitched
from the saddle he swung his lantern
across him. and the glass of it struck
me in the face aud bust to pieces.
THAT was back in-no, it wasn't
either. Let's see, now, it was some
years after we stole that gunboat
told you of, but I've forgot en-
when that was, too. Well, it isn't of
much consequence, anyway. l was
one of the intelligence officers in the
service of the Indian government, and
just before sundown that evening the
colonel came up to me sort OF languid-
like, way he had when he didn't
want to let on he was excited. never
knew man that tried so hard to be
dignifed.
"'We've got important dispatches
to carry down to headquarters
tonight said he. See that the horses
iron shoes are replaced by the feathers,
anu be on hand yourself at 8 O'Clock.
The orders are that we've got to get
the papers through by daylight.
'We had other orders beside these,
sort of special orders that weren't
written down anywhere, but none of
us were likely to forget them, or we
didn't speak about them much among
ourselves. You see, the government
wanted those dispatches to go
through, and if man dropped out of
the running it was exceedingly
bad luck for him, that's all-the rest
of us couldn't stop.
''There wasn't any moon that night,
but the sky was clear, which was
good thing you see, for we only had
the stars to go by, and if we once get
Oft the track we'd go wandering round
the desert till We died. Prompt at 9
o'clock we started. There were IL
OF us. The colonel took the lead
he was an old hand at the game--and
l took up the rear guard behind. Be-
tween us rode the sergeant and nine
troopers. We passed the sentry Just
as taps was sounded in the stiffness.
Then we lit the lanterns, which we
carried on the end OF lances, swing
ing out slowly into the desert.
Nobody spoke word. There was
little draught of wind blowing in
from somewhere. and all around the
desert sort OF sneaked off into the
blackness and disappeared. 1t was
terrible quiet. The steady creaking
OF leather and the jangling of the bits
made it worse. The lanterns, too,
they made us all look funny. swing
ing gently at the end of the long poles
and throwing yellow discs of light
before the horses. The colonel had
notion about those lanterns. He said
the niggers could see us anyway, if
we showed q fare or not, and the
light kept the horses going steady I
could never quite make out whether
he was a genius or a jackass, as the
saying goes. but he being the colonel
didn't leave any room for argument
for me.
''We had logged along about an
hour or so, when of a sudden heard
a low rumbling from somewhere be-
hind us in the night. was just going
to speak of it when the colonel up
and hollers: "Now, boys, they're
after us. Put it to EN- And away
we went a-tearin' down the desert.
'tFor the first two miles we hit
terrible clip. The wind was sweepin'
past us like the rush of sudden
squall, and the lanterns were
a-bobbin' fit to die.
''By and by we come to slow up
bit for breathing spell, and the
rumbling grew palmer. l had turned
half around to take look at them
when flash of fire spat at me from
out the blackness behind, and 'ping!
by jove she whistled close. That