The National tribune., 1901-01-17

ant to Shad that he determined to make
sure by counting them, and arithmetic
above 10 was rather hard work for Shorty
He counted carefully, and was astOnished
to find that he made out %. He rubbed
his eyes and counted again. and made out
I6. lie went over them again, and found
a. This was getting exciting. He
reached up into the pine tree above him
and pulled off a twig for every steer he
saw. and the twigs certainly numbered "a
I'm little stiff in the joints when it
comes to figures" he communed with
himself, but I'll bet a doubloon to a plea
yune there's 10 cattle over there. That's
- more'n Shad needs to stand pat with
the Quartermaster, but that's his look
! out If he stood to lose the price of q
! good farm by being 30 short, he may gain
a house and lot by having p ahead. Ill
debate this after | drive 'em in
The bright sky suddenly became over
cast, as is frequent i'll the mountains. Lit
tie wisps of mist foated about. The cattle
stopped feeding, shifted, gave low bellows,
and began to gather more cOmpactly.
Shorty started to follow the path skirt
| ing around to his left. to round them up
and start them on. He saw coming ont
| of the haze another man. dressed in blue,
and riding a horse. Naturally, Shorty S
| first thought was that it was one of his
comrades, who had also come across the
| SlEdSSltGS. IHtti He UlDEt
| and saw that he was none of his detach-
meHt. Then it occurred to him that pos
| sibly it was n man from some other de-
| tachment that happened to be in the neigh
| borhoOd, and hopes of a surplus of % for
| Shad began to fade. He looked the man
over carefully. He was riding a McClel-
Ian saddle, and was in complete blue,
from cap to boots. but there was some
thing about him that betrayed he was not
| a 'pinn SnIIinp n botx- oil
ragged and dirty mans uniform got, yet
| there was always something about him
| that showed he was a soldier. and not q
| camp-fOllower who had picked up cast-off
bits of uniform and put them on. In
some indcscribable way he looked and act
ed as if he belonged to the uniform, and
| the uniform belonged to him, and that it
| had been reduced to its present condition
on his body and no other.
| Shorty had thoughtlessly come away
without any arms. but the newcomer
showed none. and Shorty thought he
would advance and investigate him. The
man caught sight of him in the indistinct
haze of the woods edge. and called out:
Hello, Todd. Did We pick up any
mop
The voice and intonation were so I'M
mistakably Southern that the truth began
| to dawn on Shorty. This was one of a
gang of cattle-thieves. of the guerrilla ele-
ment, who dressed themselves up in cast
| off clothes found around abandoned
| camps and watched an opportunity to run
off cattle. He had not expected that any
had been left in this desolated country.
He initiated his questioner's tones in his
| reply:
No; they uns's We gathered all the bal
! ance up, an gwine on"
WALL" drawled the other. ''We'uns
rter to be satisfied with last nights work.
Biggest haul, by long odds, weuns ever
| made, an come so unexpected. Reglar
windfall. | hadn't no sort o idee that
any Yankee cattle was comm along this
don't hit?"
While the man was talking Shorty had
jumped from his saddle, and cut straight
young hickory, nearly an inch in diameter,
and Topped off its top after he remounted.
Both were now riding slowly toward one
another, the rebel looking over the cattle.
and gloating on the wealth that had ac-
crued to him and his companions.
Il 'spect we'uns'd better tote the crit
tiers over ter Buckalew's Cove at onct."
continued the rebel. This is too monty
close to the big road fer sich Il passed..
They're gettin restless. anyway. They
smell a storm. We'Unsd better skeet
round hathaway, an begin pressing EN-
over toward the Buckalew road"
As they came nearer. Shorty saw that
while the man carried no gun, there was
the unmistakable hump of Il navy reyol-
yer under the faded blue overcoat. Shorty
was riding quick, springy young horse,
and he grasped his hickory pole lance
fashion. and decided what he should do
when the recognition came, as it must
come within a few seconds.
'Reub and Ike must be comm up this
way bout now" continued the rebel. look
~ a n a.1 DC. 10