The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1902-05-16

ana youu nave thought Sne was
Christmas tree rocking horse for all the
ugliness she showed then.
Pretty soon Jeb rode her up to where
we We're standing and dismounted.
Then he stood with one arm over her
neck while he scratched her jaw with
the other hand, and all the time she
stood like a kitten, winking and blink
ing at the boys as though she would
like to give them the laugh if she knew
how.
'Who owns herr" asked the parson.
"You do, Jeb. You've earned her."
said old Mac, and he walked away with
a scowl on his face.
Well, Jeb was delighted, and he lis
tened with amaZement when we told
him what q circus we'd been having.
1t was plain that he did not believe all
of it, and presently he led her away
to the stable, took the saddle off and
tied her. There was only a pole be-
tween the horses, and Jeb hadn't got
/ half way back to where we were sit
ting when there was the worst racket
in that stable you ever heard. You'd
have thought the rebs were after us for
| the noise and tumult. The horses
neighed and squealed, and you could
hear boards splintering and timbers
falling, and the devil was to pay.
BIazes had kicked herself loose, laid up
| two horses, SCARED for life half dozen
more and paved her way right through
the back of that place to liberty. She
was pointing for home, too, when Jeb
saw here.
"Here, your he yelled, and she stop
| ped and waited while he went up and
caught her.
We fixed up the stable, but we passed
a unanimous resolution that BlaZes
couldn't tarry there any more, so the
parson took her about twenty rods
away and tied her to a fence. Then he
gave her some oats, and you'd have
thonght she was the three graces rolled
into one, she was SO quiet. But it did
not last long.
She finished her oats, and maybe
she got tired or thirsty or something.
Anyhow she pulled away one section
of the fence and broke loose from that
and then she started for the stable
| again. Some of us heard the horses
| squealing and kicking, and we went
down to see what was the matter, and
I'm blessed if BlaZes wasn't trying to
eat them. She'd reach in and take q
mouthful of loose flesh, set her teeth
on it and pull, and then when the horse
| she was biting kicked she'd wheel and
kick too. After that we made Jeb tie
her with a chain and always to some
thing that she could not pull apart.
There wasn't thing that lived that
could get within reach of her, except
Jeb, without being hurt but she never
| tried to injure him. and | never saw q
man so fond of anything as he was OF
Blazes. She ruined ten horses, kicked
one mule to death and another one so
that we had TO kill him, and she tore
all the clothes off a negro who tried to
feed her one day, but it got to be an
old story after awhile, and we didn't
pay much attention.
Nobody will ever forget the first time
she was seen in fight. You'd have
thought she was human from the sense
she showed and fiend incarnate from
the way she fought. Our company had
been out on q sortie, and we were on
our way home. everybody giving Jeb
and Blazes a wide berth, for she'd kick
and bite everything in reach on the
road as well as in the stable, when we
came upon Il detachment of Confeder-
ate cavalry between us and home.
They had more men than we did, but
there was only one thing to do, and
that was to charge, and we did it.
Old Mac gave the word, and we
started, yelling like so many devils, in
tending to cut our way through and
keep right on. l was abreast of Jeh
when we got the word. and l never
saw anything made of flesh and blood
do what Blazes did then. Jeb couldn't
hold her any more than you could hold
a cyclone, and she ran like a streak
of lightning. In the thirty or forty
rods between us and the Johnnies she
got more than two rods ahead of the
rest of us, so she struck the line first.
I'll bet she covered thirty feet at every
jump, and finally she took an almighty
on top of a Johnny and his horse,
knocking them both down as easy as
she would blade of grass.
You should have seen her then. She
reared and plunged. struck with her
fore feet, kicked with her hind ones,
and she used her teeth like a tiger.
Shed grab Johnny's horse by the
throat and tear out a chunk of flesh:
she'd seize man by the leg or the
arm and pull him out of the saddle
and trample upon him quicker than,
you could knock him out with a saber,
and every time she had a chance she'd
jump into the air and land right on
top of horse and rider and then bite
and tear and strike her way through
or past the next one she met. | don't
see how .Ieb ever stayed on her back,
but he did, and he came out without
scratch too, Nobody ever made fun
of Blazes after that brush, but her
greatest fight was her last one.
Wed been out on a scouting and for
aging expedition and were on our way
back when we had that set-to. There
were only ten of us, and we thought
we had got past the point where we
were likely to fall in with any John
nies when we saw a full company of
J Confederate cavalry come over the
top of a knoll not a quarter of mile
| away. They saw us. too, and they