The Indianapolis journal., 1903-05-06
tinder-box to have sight of his compass


needle.
South and by east he announced; that
will mean Beattie's ford. take It."
/ objected. Twill be Macgowan's, more
likely"
Having this uncertainty to resolve. we
must hang upon the skirts of the British
advance till we could make sure, and this
proved TO be most perilous business. Yet
by riding abreast of the moving main we
did resolve the uncertainty; heard the or
derS passed from man to man, and later
saw small feinting detachment split on
to take the road for Beatties, whilst the
main body held on for Macgowan's; all this
OF the dawn by some of Tarletons men.
Then. l promise you, my dears. 1t was
neck or nothing, with the devil to take the
hindmost. Away we sped toward the near
by river, spurring our wearied beasts as
men who ride for life, with dozen troop
ers SO close upon us that when / glanced
over my shoulder the foremost of the red
coat riders was having his face well be-
spattered with the mud from my horses
heels.
;, Twas touch and CO. but happily. as l
nave said, the river was at hand. We came
TO the high bank some hundred yards above
the fording place, and lacking Dicks ex-
ample to shame me to the braver course, L
fear L should have recoiled at the brink.
But when the lad sent his horse without the
missing of a bound far out over the eddying
HOOD, L shook the reins on the sorreFs neck,
gave him the word and shut my eyes.
After all, 1t was nothing worse than a
cold plunge, with a few pistol bullets to
spatter harmlessly around us when we came
up for air. Moreover, there were the camp
fires of Davidsons men on the further bank
to encourage us; and so swimming and
wading by turns we got across in time to
give the alarm.
AS you would guess there was a mighty
stir on our side of the river when we had
splashed ashore and got our news well born.
AS it turned out. General Davidson's main
camp was a good half-mile back from the
river in one of the outfields of Appleby Hun
dred. So 1t CHANGED there were upon the
spot only brave Joe Graham and his fifty
rlnemen to dispute the passage OF an army.
What was done at Macgowan's ford in the
gray of the morning of Feb. /, 17Sl, has be-
come page in our history. But 1 protest
that not any of the chroniclers do even
rifiemen doing their utmost to hold a hum
dred-to-one outnumbering host in check
Twas fine sight be the onlooker Whig
or Tory. The Guards, led by the fiery Irish
man. O'Hara, took the water first, the men
crowding shoulder to shoulder to brace
against the sweep of the current which. on
the western side of the stream, was little
less than q mill-tail for swiftness After
them came the foot and horse in solid
squares, and always with more to follow.
None the less our little handful did not
blanch; and when the Guards in midstream
held straight across instead of bearing to
the right as the ford ran, shout went up
on our side and the fifty FASTENED up from
the forehead as one man to face the
enemy sQuarely.
Now il was that the brown n-barreled
rifles began to crack and spit fire; and do
think If we had had our other $50 out of
that back field on the manor lands, we
might at least have made the wading red
coats hurry little. Indeed, as it was, the
van of the Guards broke here and there,
and we could hear O'Hara berating his men
only a battle-mad Irishman can, with
blarneyings and curses intermingled.
Having firearms save our wetted pis-
tolls. Jennifer and 1 crouched in cover. wait
ing to do what two swOrdsmen might when
the blades length should bridge the fast
narrowing distance between us and the ad-
vancing host.
Twas in this little interval of forced in
action that we heard most familiar voice
issuing from clump of holly just below our
covert; a voice lifted now in fervent prayer
and again in Scriptural anathema on the
foe.
Let God rise and let His inimies be
scattered Let them be as the chan
upon a threshing floor
The sharp crack of. the old borderer's rifle
filled the momcntary pause, and British
officer in colonels uniform swayed drunk
emily in his saddle and plunged headlong in
the stream.
"'Let them be as the children of Amalek
before the Mighty One of Israel; make them
make all their princes like as Zebah and
Zalmunna. - o my God, make them
like unto a wheel, and as the stubble before
the wood. and as the flame that consumeth
the mountains
Crack! went the long-barreed piece again,
and again an officer hallooing on his fioun-
dering ba attalion bent to his saddle horn and
slipped into the turbid flood.
My gorge rose. This picking off of officers
has always seemed to me the savagest Of
thought and purpose. know not but when
1 would have slipped down to Yeatess holly
bush he laid OBTAINING hand on my arm.
like. but all war is that: When old Ephs
turn comes, they will kill him as relent-
lessly as he is killing them"
BY this time the British vanguard was
storming ashore through the shadows be-
low the tree fringe which served as cover
for Grahams men, and the kings muskets.
silent hanerto tine TceY eegan % TO roar and oelch 10y by
neck and took swift view Of the situa-
ton.
'By the Lord Harry he cried, "'tis high
time Joe Graham was getting his lads In or
der for foot race. Once those fellows come
ashore they'll play hare and hounds with US
to the Kings taste. Keep your eye on the
nags, Jack. 1t may chance us to do what
two men can to cover belated retreat"
We had tethered our horses in a thicket
of scrub oak where they would be out of
bank AS 1 looked to make sure of them
the sOrrel gave a shrill neigh to welcome
the pounding of hoofs on the Appleby road.
/ made sure this would be General David
son bringing in the reserves; and so. in
deed, it was; but he came too late OHara's
men were already climbing the bank; and
Joe Granam was rdllylnS MS little company
for flight in the face of an onset that made
the tree fringe sing with E1usket balls
''Tis our cue to run away" Dick shouted
dragging me to my feet. ITO the horsesr'
But now were too late. DavidsOn's men
were between us and the scrub oak thicket
and We must wait till the column swept by
Dick swore fervently and put his face to
the foe and his back to a tree. Whereupon
/ dragged him down as promptly as he had
just now dragged me up, telling him his
broadsword would make but a poor shift
parrying musket balls.
What followed after was over and done
with in a dozen fiuttering heart-beats See
son gathered Grahams fifty into his flying
column, fiogged his rear into the retreat
and was pitched out of his saddle by Tory
rife bullet whilst he was doing it, And
when the way to our horses was clear of the
galloping Caroinians, and we would have
run TO mount and ride after them the
swarming redcoat van was upon u.s.
up with you and out of this" cried Jen-
infer, setting me the example. 1--WE must
cen gallop as can. Quick. man.
But in the gathering and the retreat our
old sharpshooter under his holly bush had
again, chanting his terrible imprecations on
the enemy.
Dick saw the meaning in my look and to-
gether we pounced to drag the old man out
of hiding. When we burst down upon him.
Yeates had his face to his piece and was
drawing a bead on stout man in cooked
hat and plain regimentals, whose horse was
lows; no less a figure, in truth, that my
Lord CORVALLIS himself, cheering his men
on to the attack.
We had scarce made out the old hunters
target when the rife spat fire, the curvet-
ing charger reared In its death plunge and
-fch a m y II tr-oh htaf