The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1900-02-22
A Ride in the Night.

"a Ride in the Night, !:
How the First Officer Received z
His Woynd. z
S>>>~>>>>>e>>>>>>s>~>>~>~S
1t 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 a commonplace
..Good evening" It ended with the
following story:
.sYes, that was rather nasty cut at
: the time" he began. 81 came by it
during the last hour of the ride, soon
I after we had sighted the town lights,
and, strange enough, it wasn't from a
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 lanteSn
across him, and the glass of it struck
me in the face aud bust to pieces.
'ssThat was back in-no, it wasn't
either. Let's see, now, it was some
years after we stole that gunboat I
told you of, but I've forgotten
when that was, too. Well, it isn't of
much consequence, anyway. 1 was
5ne of the, Intelligence officers in the
service Of the Indian government, and
I 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. l never
knew man that tried so hard to be
dignifed.
z. 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 be on hand yourself at 9 o'clock.
The orders are that we've got to get
the papers through by daylight.
eve had other orders beside these,
sort of special orders that weren't
3 written down anywhere, but none OF
Z us were likely to forget them, or we
didn't speak about them much among
s ourselves. You see, the government
s wanted those dispatches to go
through, and il a man dropped out OF
the rnnning-well, it was exceedingly
bad luck for him, that's all-the rest
Of us couldn't stop.
'There wasn't any moon that right,
but She sky was clear, which was q
good thing you see, for we only had
the stars to 60 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
s. of us. The colonel took the lead
s he was an old hand at the game-and
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 sof lances, swing
ing out slowly into the desert.
ssNobody spoke word. There was
Q little draught of wind blowing ii
from somewhere, and all around ths
desert sort OF sneaked off into tht
blackness and disappeared. It wa:
terrible quiet The steady creakine
OF leather and the ianglipg of the bit
made it worse. The lanterns, too
they made US all look funny. swing
ing gently at the end of the long pole
and throwing yellow discs of ligh
before the horses. The colonel had
notion about those lanterns. He sai'
the niggers could see US anyway,
we showed fare or not, and tn
light kept the horses going steady:
could never quite make out whethe
he was genius or jackass, as tn
saying goes, but he being the colone
didn't leave any room for argumen
for me.
eve had logged along about a
hour or so, when of sudden hear
low rumbling from somewhere be
hind us in the night. I was just goin
So speak of it when the colonel u
and hollers: '.Now, boys, they'r
after us. Put it to 'em.' And ava
we went a-tearin' down the desert.
~, '.For the first two miles We hit
terrible clip. The wind was sweepir
past Us like the rush of a sudde
snusll and the lanterns wel
a-bobbin' fit to die.
s.By and by we come to slow up
bit for breathing spell, and th
rumbling grew palmer. I had turne
half around to take look at the
when fash of fire spat at me fro
ont the blackness behind, and ping
by love she whistled close. Ths
started us off again a-whoopin'.
..At the next breathing spell tt
sergeant was hit. He held on gran
for upward Of half mile; but SOC
he turned to wabbling, and grippir
to the saddle, and grunting softly.
was enough to turn g man sick to 81
the poor fellow fightin' that way whe
there wasn't any use, for we all kne
what he was comm to, and so did b
s'Then all at once his lante1
sweeped downward to the groun
and my horse jumped him. None
us looked back-we knew enough n
to-but We rode like fury to get o
of earshot before theyfound him.
ssThat was the first of 'el
The bullets kept a-whizzing by wit
out bit of let-up. The gang "
strainin' crazy mad to catch us.