The National tribune., 1901-06-06


seshers, you jes' go up dis road till you
gets to de top of de hill, or darabOuts, den
lay down de fence on de right, an go in
de con field, wild de con dun shucked, an
right Ober de hill dar's de house. But
min what Is don tOle yOu bout de sesh-
ers, for dey's g7vine ter shoot de fuSt fank
dey sees; kase dey dun toP old missus so
not mon hour ago"
The chance to get plenty OF forage and
a remount was too tempting to resist; so,
thanking our cOlored friend for his in
formation, we turned our horses heads in
the direction Of the plantation which prom
ised to yield such good results in the way
of forage.
After travelling about a mile. instead Of
a half, as told us by the darky. we came
to the hill, and to the right of the road
saw the con field" as the darky said
we would. Dismounting we pulled down
the fence and rode in. We ranged our
selves in line of battle, and cautiously
advanced to the brow of the hill, where we
saw before US, but a short distance away,
large, white plantation house and a
number of outbuildings and darky-cabins
grouped together as was the custom in
slavery days in the South.
AS the colored man had said, we be-
held squad of II or - rebel cavalrymen
lOunging about the place, their horses tied
to the fences and to an old Virginia wag-
on, that stood in the yard. We were un-
observed up to this time, and raising a
yell we charged down upon our unsuspect-
ing foe. The Johnnies, when they discov-
cred us, started for their horses, discharg-
ing their carbines as they ran and mount
ing their horses dashed up the road, no
doubt believing that half OF Sherman's 8
army was right after them.
Our party did not fire a shot. ! could
not, and the rest did not have time, as
it required all their efforts to manage
| their uEtamed steeds, which were unused
| to the noise and din OF battle.
| Most of the boys went to the stables to
secure fresh and better horses, while I
turned my attention to matters Of vastly
more interest to me-SOmething for my
| self and the boys of my company to eat.
Il went to cabin and asked an old fel-
| low who stood outside of the door if he
had any hams. "LOr' bress yer, massa,
| rund away when you all cum'd Ober de
hill" Looking in at the door | said,
What's that under the bed, there, in that
box?" | saw nothing, not even the box
L had mentioned, but knew pretty well
| where such things were kept, and ven-
| tured this remark to see whether there
was anything concealed under the bed.
why, sho' 'nOugh," replied the negro
''dar is one OBJ de hams under dar, what
dem seshers left, and I'd be powerful glad
to give it to you"
While l was waiting for him to bring
out the ham a young black fellow came
| up to me with a sack of cOrnmcal and
said, Here, Massa Yank, is de con meal
you sent me to fOtch."
Put it in the sack" said. He did so
and Immediately disappeared around the
| corner OF the house. Some soldier had sent
the darky after the meal, and seeing me
and not being able to distinguish one Yam.
kee from another, he thought | was the
one. Well, | got the meal and the other
| fellow got left.
By this time l had my old blind horse
pretty well loaded with hams, bacon, corn
meal and sweet potatoes, and withou,
waiting for the others, who were still
busy, l Started for the main road, down
which | went, leading my horse by the
rope. / continued on this road for mile
or so, when | was brought up standing by
a shot from rebel cavalry picket, who
sent several shots after me; but either he
was very poor marksman or | was an
expert dOdger-at any rate, none of his
bullets hit either me or the horse.
l reached my regiment at IL O'Clock
that night, and when / rode into camp
midst the glare of the blazing pine-knot
l was given rousing welcome by the
hungry boys.
/ (To be continued)