Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1902-08-07

one had no weapon with me but
the &hrathknife | always carried in
my taof for II was Il tool of all work
hatcLrt. carving huifo, root digger and
half a dozen other things. 1t would at
least serve for self defense in hand
TO hand fight ana fights of this charac-
ter were almost unknown to us, thanks
TO the cncmy's objection to getting
within close reach of us. At the worst
| would have the honor and pleasure of
being present for duty should the af-
fair prove serious
My horse was as good rs the best,
so ! soon passed through the village
and gaIlopcd along the Richmond road,
for the hoOf prints in the dust showed
that the regiment had taken that route.
-urmcd though | was, my sense Of
cXhilaratiOn was intense. Over this
| same road had passed in other days the
patriot soldiers of two wars, even great
Washington himself. my regiment
was no longer at an out Of the way
outpost that had been held year only
to be told that it was not worth hold
| ing. We were now really in the enc
my's country and with q possibility of
| seeing service Of sufficient Importance
to be mentioned in the newspapers.
In fact, my head got so far into the
clouds that | neglected to keep my eyes
on the road, which is the worst blum
der of which a trooper can be guilty.
When | did chance to glance down.
ward, it was to discern that only
| few hOrscmCn had preceded me. 1t did
not take me long to learn that the few
| did not belong to the enemy, for on the
moist ground beside n small stream
| that crossed the road / saw the prints
| Of hOrscShoes and their nail heads.
| The encmy'S troop horses were unshod,
as a rule. | rode some minutes longer
and was suddenly stopped by famil-
| lar voice shouting:
"COme in here, ye little dhivil"'
Twas the voice of Sergeant Mick Nc
| Twyny, who had been detached, with
his platoon, to watch" n portion of
crossroad far to the right of the old
postroad. His platoon Of 16 men con-
sisted principally on this occasion of
his own gang. Birds of a feather
| flock together" But Brainard was also
! in it.
Somebody lend me a revolver mere
| ly as 4 matter of FORM" said |, "in
case anything may happen. | was in
the fort when the regiment came out.
| hadn't time to 90 back to camp for
my things, so l just came along on
general principles"
That's the thingw said Sergeant
Mick, with a tigcrish grin that was
meant for an approving smile.
The platoon seemed to me to be in
great luck. 1t was hot day; the men
were dismOuntcd and resting at ease,
their saberS strapped to the saddles, in
the shade on the edge of a forest in
front of which was an abandoned, bare
| plantation at least half a mile square.
| A gentle breeze from the northwest
| blew refrcshingly. The line between
! the open ground and the forest was
marked by a rail fence; how this had es-
| capped the campfircS of the hundreds Of
| thousands of northern and southern
| SOlultIS no ldu lIdlIDeu luc L CuIlisu-
! Ia was n mystery to me, except that 1t
! seemed a great way from the Rich
mOnd road, which had been the bone
| of contention.
Mick leaned upon this fence and
appeared to undergo a TRANSPORTATION,
for he looked intelligent and seemed to
have something on his mind besides
! liquor, tobacco and n desire to Snari at
some one. AS already intimated, my
! head had been in the clouds for an
hour, so pulled myself up sharp by
reminding myself that Mick, though n
sergeant and therefore my superior Off
Ger, was merely Summerton tough"
with all that the name implied. Be