Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1905-12-29
THE MASTER OF APPLEBY|


the rlgn DdHk some nunJIeu y&EOS
above the fording place, and lacking
Dicks example to shame me to the
drawer course, j fear / should ave re-
coileG at the brink. But when the lad
sent his horse without the missing of a
bound far M over the eddying food, l
shook the reins on the ~sorrel's neck,
gave him the word and shut my eyes.
After all. it was nothing worse than
a cold plunge, with a few pistol bullets
to spatter harmlessly around us when
we came ur for air. Moreover, there
were the camp-fires of Dayidson's men
on the farther 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 1t turned out,
q General Daytdson's main camp was a
good half-miie from the river In one of
the outflelds OF Appleby Hundred. SO
It CHANGED there were upon the spot
only brave Joe Graham and his fifty
rihemen to dispute the passage of an
army.
What was done at M~acgowan's Ford
in the gray OF the morning OF February
first, 1881, has become a page In our his
tory. But / protest hat not any Of
D lhE IL = tO Z Vi ~ ~
TO the little band OF patriot rihemen do
ing their utmost to hold a h~undred-to-
one outnumbering host in check.
Twas a nne sight. be the onlooker
whig or tory. The guards. left by the
fiery Irishman, 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 a
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 I'm midstream held
straight across instead OF bearing to
the right IS the ford an, a shout went
up on our side and the fifty FASTENED
up from the forehead as one man to
face the enemy squarely.
Now it was that the brown -barreled
rifles began to crack n 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 redcoats hurry a little. Indeed.
as ii was, the van OF the guards broke
here and there, and we could hear
O'Iiara berating his men rs only a
battle-mad Irishman can, with barney
ings and curses intermingled.
Having no firearms save u wetted
pistols, Jennifer and / crouched in COW
err, waiting 10 do what two ~swordsmen
might when the blades length should
bridge the fast -narrowing distance be-
tween us and the advancing host,
Twas I'M this little interval of forced
inaction that we heard a most familiar
voice issuing from a clump of holly
just below u covert. a voice lifted
now in ferycnt prayer n again in
scripturGl anathema on the foe.
Let God arise and let His inimies
be soattered. Let them be the
chaf upon a threshing noor'-F
The sharp crack of the old borderer's
rifle flied the momentafy pause, and a
British officer IN a coloners uniform
swaScd drunkenly In his saddle and
plunged heaG!cng in the stream.
Let them he as the children of
Amalek before the Mighty One OF
~Tsrael: make them and their princes
Ike CIeb and Zeeb. yea. make all their
phases like as Zebah and Zalmunna.
q my God. make them like unto a
...e,L, and is the stubble before the
wiaG, like is the fire that burnett. up
the wool and as the flame that CON
sumeth the mountains.
Crack. went the long barreied piece
agrin, aud again an officer ~hallooing on
his ioundeiing battalion bent to mis-
sadG.. sc-a and slipacd into the turbid
foed.
Ny gorge rose, TITS picking of of
| cI.ccrs has always seemed to me the
saNcgest u war s barbaritles. How
RiCLard dlvired my thought and pur-
pose, / know not; but when | would
! have slipped down to Yeates' holly
bush he laid 4 Ge.a.s!ng hand on my
arm.
Let be." he said. It's murder, If
yoL ike, but all war is mat. When old
Eph's tusn comes. Trey will kill him as
reieIftisssiy DIS he is killing them.
BY this time the British vanguard
was storming ashore through the shall
lows below the tree fringe which served
as cover for Graham'5 men, and the
kings alusisets, silent hitherto. began
to roar and belch by platoon and volley
fire, Jennifer raned his neck and took
a swift view OF the situation.
by the Lord Harry" he cried. It's
high time Joe Graham vas getting his
lads In order for a 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 rs TO do what two men
can to cover a belated retreat"
\ We had tethered u horses in a
thicket OF scrub oak where they would
be Il OF bullet reach until the enemy
gained the bank. AS I looked to make
| sure OF them, the scrrel gave a shrill
/ AiCiSh w WNtNVtt lilC ROdiANitt6 VI iV0AN
on the Appieby road. / made sure this
would be General Davidson bringing In
the reserves; and so. indeed. IL vas
bat he came too late. O'Hara's men
were already climbing the bank: n
Joe Graham was rallying his little COM
pany for flight in the face OF an onset
that made the tree fringe sing with
musket balls.
TITS our cue to run away" Dick
shouted. dragging me 10 my feet. TO
the horses!"
But now we were too late. David
sons men were between us and the
scrub oak thicket, and we must walt
till the column swept by.
Dick swore fervently and put his
face to the foe and his back
to a tree. Whereupon l
dragged him down as promptly as he
had just now dragged me up, telling
him his hroadsword would make but a
poor SHIFT parrying musket balls.
What followed after was over and
done with In a dozen fiuttering heart
beats. Seeing the case was desperate,
General Davidson gathered Graham's
Atty into his flying column. logged his
rear into the retreat, and was pitched
out or his saddle by a Tory rifle bullet
whilst he was doing II, And when the
way 70 our horses was clear .of the
Galloping Carolinians. and we would
have run to mount ride after them,
the swarming redcoat van was upon US
Up with o and out OF this." cried
~Jennffer. setting me the example,
We must cen gailop as we can,