The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1901-03-29

you anu Will HISS our dinner.
"Do you know" said she, g begin
to hope that Tarleton will not overtake
Morgan at all? 1t would be an awful
scene, and perhaps some of the rebels
are good men after ALL"
Perhaps -
Couldn't the war be ended in some
way without more years of fighting-by
some sort of compromise? Suppose each
side should give up a little"
"We might make the proposition,
you and l, to congress and the king"
Don't jest. I'm in earnest.
'Then I'm afraid there's no chance
for compromise, and there hasn't been
for four or five years Either we go free
or we donot. You English like to boast
of your courage and tenacity, and we
make the samo boast of ourselves. 1t
has to be fought out to the end, win or
lose. -
81 am sorry"
She spoke truthfully, for she looked
her Sadness but the wind soon blew it
away, bringing back the sparkle to her
eyes and the rose flush to her cheeks.
We stopped about noontime to rest, and
Old Put made use of the opportunity to
hunt for green grass, stopping at times
to look benevolently at us and to indi-
cate that his state of mind was content
We were both hungry. but we had
nothing better to do than to watch Old
Put nibble for his dinner, which he did
very industriously until l called to him
and told him it was time to start.
Julia again refused to mount the
horse, and we strolled ON together 1 felt
safe now, and, coming to cabin whose
owner had been bold enough to remain
and guard his own, offered to trade
him the fine British coat wore for any
coat of his own, however old, provided
itwould hold together on my shoulders
He produced the coat and made the
trade, by which he was q great gamer,
and asked me no questions, differing
therein from the country people of the
northern regions through which 1 had
campaigned so long. Moreover, he look
ed very curiously at the tall girl with
me.
"You are American, he said to me
just before we started
Eyes.
"The lady looks English. !"
"She is English. -
1T is very strange"
"You are right 1t is strange
Such were my thoughts as we walked
away The man who seemed to live
there alone, half hunter, half farmer,
stood in his cabin door and watched us
until we passed out of sight.
prevailed upon the girl to ride for
awhile, but after an hour on horseback
she dismounted again, saying that she
preferred to walk. About the middle of
the afternoon we met farmer who con-
firmed my belief that Morgan had pass
ed on toward the Broad river, though
he knew nothing of Tarleton An hour
later as we were passing through thick
woods some one cried out to us to halt
l almost sprang up in my astonishment,
and the girl uttered a little cry of fright
for neither of US supposed any one to be
near, having seen nothing and heard
nothing, and Old Put, suppose, was
tired or dreaming.
"Stop," said to Julia. "It may be
friends -
Two men ON horseback came from
position among the dense trees They
were dressed i'll rough homespun gray
and looked like Americans, the two
facts together inducing the belief that
they were militia scouts of Morgan's.
"An American and his lady," said
the foremost to me. You are soldier,
are you not?''
Eyes" / replied.
"And on the way to Morgan, too, 1
take it Keep straight to the northwest,
and you will overtake him. We are
good patriots too"
"Thank you, said morgan seems
to keep good watch. l hope that we
will overtake him before nightfall "
He h.d ridden very close to me.
81 don't think it. my fine fellow"
he said 1--WE will take good care of
Doth you and the lady, for we are Iarle-
tom S scouts, not Morgan's."
I saw then that the appearance and
manner of the men had deceived me,
but no thought of surrender to them en-
tered my mind. 1 snatched at my pistol.
y
ther, saw the movement, and, drawing
his own weapon, we fired almost at the
same time saw him reel in his sad
die, but not fall, and was conscious
of thrill of pain in my head, followed
by heavy, crushing sensation, as if ]
had been struck by hammer. l stag
gered, falling to the ground upon my
hands and knees. Consciousness left me
entirely for a few minutes and then
came back dimly, just enough for me
to dream and to create events for my
self.
In this dream 1 saw girl with tawny
gold hair and blue eyes raise pistol
and fire at the second man, who had
drawn cavalry saber. The man, shout
ing with pain, dropped his saber, clap
ped his other hand to his shoulder and
galloped after his comrade, whose horse,
frightened by the shots, was running
away with him. Both disappeared in
the wood, and the girl, who stood for
a minute or two watching, the empty
pistol in her hand, seemed to feel sure
that they would not come back, for she
rushed to the wounded man on the
ground and raised his head in her arms.
watched her with a curious inter-
est, this blond girl who had been so
bitter of speech and yet SO much the
master of herself. The man had risen
to his knees once, but had fallen back
from weakness. His eyes closed almost,
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