Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1900-03-14
A Ride in the Night.
How the First Officer Received
@ - HIS Wound.


3 Hrs Wound. g
Seo~ueeeHe9eSeeeueee
It was the evening Of the first
day oft. Behind us the sun had
dropped down below the sea, and the
steamship was plowing on steadily
into theSeast, where the darkness was
gathering fast. The first officer stood
with his back against the rail, lazily
watching the sthrong of passengers on
the promenade deck. The whole
affair started with a commonplace
{ Good evening" 1t ended with the
following story:
..:Yes, 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 o
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 and bust to pieces.
.sThat was back in-no, it wasn't
either. Lets see, now, it was some
years after we stole that gunboat I
told you of, but I've forgotten
when that was, too. Well, tisn't of
much consequence, anyway. I 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. I never
knew man that tried 50 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,
an I be on hand yourself 'at 9 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
y wanted those dispatches to go
through, and if man dropped ont of
the running it was exceedingly
bad luck for him, that's ali-the rest
Of us couldn't stop.
.sThere wasn't any moon that night,
but the skyswas clear, which was
good thing you see, for We only had
the stars to go by, and if we once get
off the track we'd go wandering round
the desert till we died. Prompt at 8
o'clock we, started. There were IL
of us. The colonel took the lead
he was an old hand at the game-and
I 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. It was
terrible quiet. The steady creaking
of leather and the iangling 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 q
notion about those lanterns. He said
the niggers could see us anyway, if
we showed fare or not, and the
light kept the horses going steady. L
could never quite make out whether
he was genius or jackass, as the
saying goes. but he being the colonel
didn't leave any room for argument
for me.
eve had logged along about an
hour or so, when of sudden l heard
low rumbling from somewhere be-
hind us in the night. I was just going
to speak of it when the colonel up
aud hollers: CHOW, boys, they're
after us. Put it to 'em.' And away
we went a-tearin' down the desert.
s.For the first two miles we hit a
terrible clip. The wind was sweepin'
past US like the rush of a sudden
sauall, and the lanterns were
a-bobbin' fit to die.
tfBy and by we come to slow up a
bit for q breathing spell, and the
rumbling grew palmer. I had turned
half around to take a look at them
when flash of FIRE spat ct me from
out the blackness behind, and ping!
by jove she whistled close. That
started us off again a-whoopin'.
sat the next breathing spell the
sergeant was hit. He held on grand
for upward of half q mile; but soon
he turned to wabbling,, and gripping
to tue saddle, and grunting softly. 1t
was enough to turn man sick to see
the poor fellow fghtin' that way when
.thereswssn't any use, for we all knew
:whatShe was comm to, and so did he.
f.Then all at once his lantern
! { sweeped downward 70 the ground,
! md my horse jumped him. None of
|; ;aus looked back-we knew: enough not
to-rbut we rode like fury to |.et out
Of earshot. before they found him.
Z: s.That was. the, : first, of 'em.
s The bullets kept a-whizzing by with
out o bit OF let-up. The gang was
4 strainin' crazy mad to catch us. It
s had come downsto solid business now.
Each man was riding for himself So
alEthrough the night We tore on down
} the vast. stretch of desert, with the
rush Of. the niggers behind us, and
nothing bat, the .blnekness ahead.
And the lanterns were always swaying
and bobbing up and down, with the
light circles dancing on the sand.
ii they had only yelled now and then
,twould have been easier. But they
didn't, and we listened TO the hard
breath Of the horses and the singing
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