Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1901-11-28
CHAPTER XXI.
A STERN CHASE.

III A tant. The place was of tot
great Importance for the guer
rtllas to dare enter, and if we coul(
reach 1t before they could catch us we
should be safe.
How much is your horse worth?''
asked the blacksmith
"A matter O. saxty dollars"
IF you kill him by hard driving, I'll
give you hundred, and if you get us
to Decherd before the outlaws can
catch us I'll make 1t hundred more"
"Weel, moo, l don't want to be hard
on mon flyin for his life and wimmen
folk too. I'll do the best l can and ask
no money"
With that he belabored the poor
horses TANKS with the stump of his
whip and sent him galloping onward.
There were no springs to the wagon,
but we valued our lives too well to
draw rein at rut or stone. At one part
Of the road feared that if we did not
check our pace we would break a
wheel and be left with no means to
get on save our legs. cautioned the
driver to slacken his pace; but, hearing
or fancying he heard the Gathering Of
horses hoofs behind, without word
from me he applied the lash. Now we
bounded into the air and now we were
tossed together like dice in box.
Git oop, We critter!" cried the black
smith, mingling Scotch and Tennessee.
Don't We know ye're graggln bonny
leddies fyin for their lives?" And
down came the butt of the whip. 1t
was narrowing to see horse forced to
give his life to save ours, but our stu
alton was too critical to warrant any
slackening of speed. Jack, who of all
our force was usually most frightened
at danger ahead and would fight it
most vigorously when face to face with
1t, for once acted in reverse. at seeing
the poor brute making leaps that were
killing him.
Stop beating that horse, you BRUTE"
she cried, cor I'll beat your And she
sprang forward to seize the whip. l
caught her in my arms. She looked up
into my face and burst into tears.
Whether it was wholly sympathy or
oyerstrained nerves did not know;
probably both. At any rate. protect
ed her from the joIting by keeping her
in my arms, while she hid her face so
that she could not see the suffering
horse.
Jack" said Buck, you're nothin
but a baby"
Shut up, yo' little niggerw she cried.
could not repress smile at the re-
tort, seeing which, Jack realized the
absurdity Of 1t all and broke into a
laugh, while the tears continued to run
down her cheeks.
Won't yo' let me support yo' against
the jolting" asked Captain Beaumont
ruefully.
"Yo'" Do yo' suppose I'd let yo'
touch me? Yo' shot my best friend"
do yo' dislike me fo' shooting-a
robber?" asked her admirer sadly.
II hate yo'."
Beaumont settled down in corner Of
the wagon in dependency. After
awhile Jack slid down beside him,
whereupon he suddenly lighted up and
took as much interest in our flight as
any one Of the party.
We were wild looking load to the
few people who passed us. Whenever
we saw farm wagon coming or going
we would shout to its driver to get out
Of the way. They must have supposed
our horse to be a runaway, for every
one quickly turned aside. There are
pictures of that ride which can see
today, SO wildly were they stamped
on my memory. An old man with his
hands on the handle of his plow gaped
through iron trimmed spectacles, a wo-
man in a check gown and sunbonnet
stopped trimming plants in her gar
den and stood with the shears In her
hand to cape at US as If we were
party of witches who had lit on the
EARTH from the moon and were making
ready to take to the sky again. Ne
groes, children. country lads. faced the
road AZ we passed and stood wonder
stricken till we were out Of sight.
Coming to rise in the ground where
we could look to our rear for perhaps a
mile, We were terror stricken to see a
man shoot around a bend in the road at
q gauop. In moment another follow
ed. We could not see If there were
any more. for we passed over the sum-
NIT. Not far below a milestone told
us that it was one mile to Decherd.
"One mile to their two. Can we not
do 1t, driver? asked quickly.
The only answer was another "Git
oop" and renewed hammering on the
horses rump. The eyes of all were
strained to the rear, watching to see
just what chance there was from time
to time between life and death, while
examined the cafbines, which we had
taken care to bring with us, to discov-
er If they were in good condition. At
every rise we could see either one or
more men coming like the wind. They
had evidently caught sight of us and.
were strainiDg every nerve to catch us
before we reached Decherd. I told the
to lay 1t on hard, well
moving that between us and our pur-
suers was only the life of his horse.
he was raising his whip when the
horse stumbled and fell, pitching most
If us out of the wagon, fortunately on