Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1904-06-14

sponded, with moist grin, parting the
bushes. II warn gwinter curry no
Britisher hosses long! 'Twarn' no use'n
'em wallopin' me-meh hides tougher'n
whit leather"
'"They let you go?"
He threw back his head like a bay
Ing hound and laughed loosely.
Norm! Dem squinch eyed scoun'ls
nuvver let nuttin' go. l KEEP meh eyes
skunt en- TUX ter de bresh dis ve'y
mawnin' slicker'n er weasel Creased
lightnin couldn't ketch me! Whut yo'
dom heah, Mis' Anne? Whar yo'
been?"
"At Burwell's."
"Yo' jes' ride lickety cut down dar
ergain. OATS de bes' place. 'Speck
Mars John be down dar 'treckly."
For a fortnight Burwell's heard the
grind and rush of the armies SO near.
At length this lulled. CORVALLIS had
withdrawn sullenly into Yorktown.
Then in early September momen-
tous message flew from lip to lip.
Washington was coming! The wary
commander in chief, pretending plans
against New York, had led Sir Henry
Clinton to recall part Of his force from
the Chesapeake and then, turning 'front.'
had marched with speed for Virginia,
where CORVALLIS lay with all his army
In the elbow of the bay, leisurely forti-
flying.
Back of this swift march Of 400 miles
lay vital tidings. A new French fleet
was on its way to the Chesapeake.
Lafayette drew his troops between the
British and retreat into the Carolinas.
The patriot army was Fastening down
upon them from the north. Would
Clinton scent danger and send ships to
snatch CORVALLIS from the closing
jaws, or would the French fleet come
In time to block the sea way out?
But Virginia knew nothing Of this at
first. She only knew that Washington
was coming.
One night Anne was awakened to an
unusual sight. Out on the jasper col
ored river came a succession of huge
barges, and from them, above the plash
of oars and creak Of cordage, rose the
hum Of a multitude. She leaned far
from the window to listen. How like
phantom shadows the bristling floats
swept past! "What can it be?" she
cried.
"'Tis the French, come in the fleet of
De Grasse," said Mr.. Burwell. at
must now be at anchor in Hampton
Roads, Thank God! Thank God!'
There was thrill of rejoicing in his
tone, but Anne's heart beat painfully.
Hope and help were come to her land
to Virginia the beautiful, the tragic, the
tender. The first promise Of this help
had come to it when strong arm called
to counsel and counsel to strong arm
and both feared to answer. And he
who bore that message? Denied by her
lips that called to him, dishonored by
her hand that ached for touch Of him,
what thought now had his heart for
her?
The dark shapes passed on to the
notch Of Jamestown island that night
and disgorged an army. Silently they
fled up Archer's Hope creek and drew,
with Lafayette's troops, the fatal Gordon
about Yorktown. !.
The fleet that brought them lay in
the river mouth below, and when the
British ships which CORVALLIS had
been promised hove to that same day,
with fourteen hundred guns, De
Grasses watchful frigates battered
them away.
The would be rescuers sailed back,
and CORVALLIS woke to find himself
entrapped.
On the day Washington's allied ar
niles marched into Williamsburg, Anne
stood with Colonel Tillotson on the
steps of the capitol to see them pass
The Continentals were ragged, worn
with painful marches in heat and rain
with stained rags covering old wounds
but with the unquenchable resolve in
their faces Rochambeau's French were
uniformed in white, with rose colored
facings, eager, debonair, carrying gold
wrought standards that caught the sun
Anne watched through smarting eyes
Somewhere, waiting these, among those
other troops lying painting against the
hills nearer Yorktown, was the one
face Which meant the whole wharf.-the
whole world-to her.
Steadily, under the enemy's fire, bat.
teries rose along the parallels. From
one to another Of these rode Knox
placing his gunners, his round, jovial
face creased in smiles, in his element
at last And these gunners for five
days, from sunrise to sunset, hurled
iron and flame upon the defenses.
The inner parallels crept toward the
river bank, tightening the line. Here
their advance was stayed by redoubt
on the high bank, thirty feet above the
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