The National tribune., 1902-07-17
THE NATIONAL WASHINGTON THURSDAY

! east. and at the next instant II HsuIe stoou
in the doorway. Perhaps he WAS blinded
by smoke. and by the glare from the now
| open window.
l shouted. Surrender, or you are dead
man.
But he did not surrender: he turned and
ran into the next room, York and | fol-
lowing: then he saw that the game was
up. and came into the hall.
| Il surrender to Federal authority" said
he; "and expect the treatment due to an
open enemy. Though but slight un-
meritablc man. yet am Capt. Owen, of
the Confederate army.
You don't remember a certain Capt.
Scranton!'
Remember? Not more than an eight
year-old horse,
And you don't remember Jones Ber-
wick?'
"Ah, I see voice. Berwick. I'm glad
to see you. What fate and metaphysical
aid hath sent you hther 10 my side!'
The hall was now filed with the troop
ers. Scranton's pride still struggled,
though he made ostentation of his wound
not yet healed; even when he faced Sho-
walter, his impudence did not desert him.
| My worthy host. L congratulate my
self on having known you. sir. Though
things without all remedy should be with
out regard yet | greatly grieve for hav-
ing been the innocent cause of this un-
seemly disturbance in your hospitable man
sion, sir"
Showalter gave him no reply.
Sergeant, have you left any men be-
low?" | asked.
"Yes, the horses are well guarded"
'See that your men-most of them-are
stationed properly. We may have more
work ahead, Is Loughlin seriously hurt?'
"Yes. and one more. What are we GO
ing to do with these?' he asked, pointing
to the wounded.
"You must decide; we ought to take
them with us, if they are able to ride.
Have you looked into the other roOm!'
"Yes. I've already detailed men to bury
him.
II think, Throop. that you ought to
send a man to White House for an am
buance. We've got to wait here awhile,
at any rate, to put this house in order
He detailed three men, and ordered
them to take our two uninJured prisoners,
as well as Scranton who was clearly able
to ride. to White House: then they We're
to bring back an ambulance. Meanwhile the
sentines below stood to their posts, and
| all others were busy, trying to set Sho-
walters house to rights. The wounded
| were removed, the dead was buried, and
the furniture, as far as possible, restored
to its place.
| In the afternoon a company of our cav
airy rode up from Lanesville: they had
taken ~ prisoners-gucrrillas, the Captain
| called them--each of whom claimed to be
an innocent nOn-combatant. This com
pany was ordered to bivouac at Showalter
for the night, and our fears were gone; no
gang of bushwhackers or hOme-Suards
would venture now to disturb US.
Just before nightfall, Rice, one of the
prisoners guard, walked up to the house.
"Owen has escaped he cried, even before
he had entered.
He told us that in hollow, where the
road ran through dense woods, his party
- hoo 81, ht- civ fnl M
The escort had scattered in fight. The
prisoners, one tied to each horse, behind
guard, made escape difficult; the pursuers,
however, had followed after Rice alone,
who was guarding Owen, and had over
taken him. They had released the
ridden away. Rice had received no ill
treatment except through the loss of his
arms and his horse.
"What did they say to you!' asked
Throop.
"Only one man in the bunch had any.
thing to say" responded Rice; land
could hardly understand him."
"What was he likeT'-this from Sho-
walter.
'He was Frenchified sort of a chap;
had a mustache and side whiskers. AS
near as | could make out. he wanted me
to tell you that he expected you to treat
his men well because he treated me WELL
(which way did they go?' / asked.
Straight south to the Pamunkey,' re-
piled Rice.
had expected this reply. Had it been
| different, | should have counselled imme-
date pursuit. but with the Pamunkey be
| hind them, Scranton and his gang could
defy us; they could ride into the Confed-
crate lines before we could cross the river.
| Owens escape would cause Gen. Meade
to storm. / was distressed for my own
part: knew not with what great cause,
but was soon to know.
| At night Showalter asked me into his
| own room, and | spent some hours with
him. He let me know that Owens hope
for ransom had not been ill-founded.
| 81 shall leave this country" said he.
''You surprise me, Captain"
"My willingness to burn this house was
not remarkable. The armies will not re-
turn to this district. l have no hope of
further usefulness here. L shall go
| North"
1 expressed regret Capt. Howe's atti-
tude toward me was very friendly; his
tones seemed to invite sympathy. l
thought that more was coming.
Owens escape" said he, sis not i'm
portant in itself, but it enables a greater
operator to play his part
81 have thought sometimes, Captain,
| that Scranton possessed some secret. po
litical or military, which Gen. Meade is
afraid Of"
| You are wrong as to that" he re-
turned; "yet not so very far off the track,
either. Owen is to be feared only as
Scherzer's tool. will tell you all know"
he continued, "for l think Gen. Meade
should be warned. From what you have
| told me, | infer that he already has a
strong reason for running Owen to earth,
but l doubt seriously that he knows the
whole case. York found those men out.
He knew almost at once, by some sort of
instinct, | suppose, that ScherZer is no
| servant. Did you never observe mystery
| in the relations of ScherZer and Owen?"
"Yes, sir; have. l was afraid of them
from the first"
"As l say, York found them out. That
boy is sharp customer He came to me
day by day telling me how they were act
| ing. Scherzer was playing a part. When
ever York saw them alone, which he man
| aged to do in his own way, their positions
were almost reversed. For my part,
never did have any confidence in that
Frenchman, or Austrian, or whatever he
| is. You can easily see that he belongs to
the upper class. Well, one day York saw
a letter. Now, those men never had any
notion that York could read; he always
spoke dialect in their presence. Nor in
deed, could York read this letter, for it
was written in a language he could not
understand. But there was an ornament,
or vignette, on the letter head; York de-
| scribed this ornament as almost a swarm
| of bees At another time the boy over
heard them talking about Max and again