The National tribune., 1904-01-07

well, Squiress can / depend on you"
The old man hesieated; he knew not the
scope of the dentana
Morgan read his reluctance; he believed
that the negro had fears Of committing
dent anxiety in regard to the march had
betrayed his thosgiA
Uncle Squir& il I win give you my
word that we are not going against your
people, will you sstand by me? Yon sag
that don't Jock strong; and I'd like to
have yon in reach II anything happens to
me-" Morgan really felt no weakness as
yet, but he knew hew to get the old man.
'You not asgvine to tuhn off an go up
de country, sahr' ,i
"No, not foot. II Stuart will let MS
alone, that's all we ask. And I'llttell you
another thing. The Colonel wants to
keep you, at least for a while; 'but.i You
promise to stay by me, he'll take your
woodland then iii see that you are not
troubled with a guard" ss.l,...
Cou'sc, Mahs Dan, | gwine to STAN
by yon, sab, an do all / kin to hep you,
sab; Gaze de good book hit say everybody
mus stan togetheh In de time o. trouble,
Mahs DAN"
'"Well. then, it's bargain. and want
to ask you now just. one thing. Don't
speak to Barney unless he speaks to you
first" t-fr. Z
dat don't huht my feelin's, Mahs Dan.
I dess ben a-lookin' at dat boy, an ben
a-sayin' to myself dat eff you too prond to
speak to po' Confeddick niggeh, you kin
dess up an go to de debble.p 80 ss$se =
Again they were marching, and rapidly.
Even IL Squire had not had perfect con-
fdence in Juniors assurance that no evil
was intended against Stuart's people,
when the North Anna. hadabeen put be-
hind them all fears were gone; and he
now supposed that these troopers were
merely on a raid against some railroad,
and when he heard the whistle of q loco
motive, he felt that the mystery was
solved.
A mile or two below Federick's Hall,
Dahlgren's command tore up track, cut
telegraph wires. captured the court-mar-
tial OF A. z. Hills corps, and then pushed
on south.
And to. Squire the purpose Of the move
ment was now made clear, even from the
speech Of the troopers--the column was
marching on Richmond!
In darkness, under the falling rain and
snow, Dahgren urged on. The roads, bad
enough before, became streams OF water;
the column of 500 stretched out for miles !;
every prisoner who had the desire, escaped
and it may be questioned whether the
romantic leader, from the moment when
black night fell upon him with Storm had
any further hope. His own memoranda
contained the item that his command must
be in position south OF the city at 10
O'clOck Of the following day; yet the col
umn was laundering along quagmires Of
roads, in Egyptian darkness struggling,
broken-down handful Of men, led by an
uncertain guide, with great river to
cross il possible, and yet 40 miles! Surely.
his stout heart must have failed even then
OF hope. Yet he kept ON.
Before midnight the South Anna was
crossed. At 2. o'clock, the rain showing
m n hof mt To Fo{S
halt; the column was no longer column;
his men must be allowed to- close up.
Ever since crossing the railroad, old
Squire's ractical mind had regarded the
march as folly ahelexpected every man to
be killed or taken.9 The negro had heard
loud boasts from the mens they would
take Richmond: some OF them said they
would destroy it. laughing uproariousiy;
the prisoners in Belle Isle should be freed;
JEFF Davis and everybody else should be
hanged. Occasionally one would strike up
the. 'cldvtune to the wfiworls, f'We'll
hang JeH Davis to sour apple treeW
and perhaps there were some green re-
.crults who believed they stood chance
or seeing the execution OF the Confederate
President; but all this had been at the
first. before the dark night and the rain
and the mud and the cropping; now there
WAS, no cheer, nothing but dependency
and WEAKNESS. stsaag los
!. Yet the morning brought the renewal of
hope: at least to the men, for off leftward
c0uid be heard the sounds OF cannon: was
not fitzpatrick clearing the way into Rich
mond?
But Dahlgren? Whatever he may have
felt, he still acted as though he were
ma rching on to success. Whether by nc
cident or design, the road that Barney had
taken In the dark night, was not the road
to the, good ford at Columbia, and Dahl
gren ordered him to lead to the nearest
place where the river could be crossed. . =
- The column approached Dover Mills AT
10 O'Clock, the moment when it should
have appeared south Of the city-a posi-
ton not possible now to reach in safety.
give what time you may.
Dahlgren soon learned that at Dover
Mills, or anywhere near by, no crossing
OF the James was practicable except by
boats, and he turned upon his guide and
accused him Of trea cherry.
Yon declared to me. that you could
cross here. What have you to say for
''Co'nel, swain to God dat I ben
acrawst sheah befo'e now, sab; ben
waded Rcrawst sheah, and up higheh. and
down loweh. an / amt give it up yet,
sab. We can go on down dis side. sab.
and know / can find place to git
acrawst."
Then lead on, and I'll swear to you
Inat II you DO net speedily guide me to a
ford. I'll hang you and leave your car
cass for the birds to pick"
Barney, led on, down the James. Capt.
Mitchell was commanded to take a hun
dred men and follow the tow-path of the
canal, conveying the ambulances, the pris-
oners, and the crowds of slaves who
sought freedom under the protection of
the force. 80.
Dahlgren's words to Barney had reached
SQuire's ears; they had been heard by
many. Morgan beckoned to Squire to
come nearer.
Colonel" said the Lieutenant. ST
seems that Barney refuses to recognize
Squire"
"What do you know about this river.
old MANI" asked Dahlgren, oblivious for
the moment to everything but the neces-
sity for a ford.
!" Mahsta, L don't know noth'n', sab:
amt nuvveh ben heah befo'e."
What do you know about that man?'
pointing to the guide, now some yards
at the front. f
Squire feared that Barney was in peril.
yet his fears were not commensurate with
the reality OF the danger. The old negro
had heard too many unexecuted threats to
allow him to give complete faith in this
terrible menace; yet he feared, for there
was in DahlgreH's voice and feature and
manner a Dreadful compound of resolu-