The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1905-12-29
THE MASTER OF APPLEBY|
BY Francis Lynde.


spattered with the mud from m.
horses heels.
Twas touch and so. as / have said
the river was at hand. We came K
the RICH bank some hundred yard:
above the fording place, and lacking
Dicks example TO shame me to ths
drawer course, / fear L should have re-
coiled at the brink. But when the Lac
sent his horse without the missing of 6
bound far out over the eddying flood, ]
shook the reins on the sorrel's neck
gave him the word II shut my eyes.
After all, it was nothing worse than
a cold plunge, with a few pistol bullets
to spGtter harmlessly around us when
| we came up for air. Moreover, there
were the camp-fires of Davidson's mel
on the farther bank to encourage US;
and SO swimming aud 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 we'll born. AS it turned out.
General Dayidson's main calnp WIS q
good half-nile from the river in one of
the outfields of Appleby Hundred. So
it CHANGED there We're upon the spot
only brave Joe Graham and his fifty
rtflemen to dispute the passage of an
army.
What was done at Macgowan's Ford
in the gray of the morning of February
first, 1871, has become a page in our his
tory. But. / protest h not any of
the chroniclers do eyen-handed justice
to the little band Of patriot riflemen do
ing their utmost to hold a h~undred-to-
n c%utnumbering host in check.
Twas a fne 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 DOT 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
up on u 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 and spit fire; and
I do think if we had had our other $50
out OF hat back field on the manor
lands, we might at least have made the
wading redcoats hurry a little. Indeed.
as 1T was, the van of the guards broke
here and there, II we could hear
OfHara berating his men as only a
battle-mad Irishman can, with barney
ings n curses intermingled.
Having no firearms save our wetted
pistols, Jennifer and L crouched in COW
er, waiting to do what two %swordsmen
might when the blades length should
bridge the fast-narrowing distance be-
tween us and the advancing host.
'Twas in this little interval of forced
iaaeticn that we heard a most familiar
Vote Issuing from a clump of holly
iGst below IL covert; a voice lifted
nGW in ferNent pra Yer and again in
s%ersptGral anathe.aa IN the foe.
LIT God arise Y let Fills inimies
ststte,cd. Let them he the
c,lass Upon q thresaing floor
Tie sharp crack of the old borderer's
rifle filled the m~cnaentaIy pause, AND a
l~s.itisa Office. IN a %colonels uniform
sNSayea diualSeniy in his saddle and
plunged headiong in the stream.
.ssa-et Their, be as tho children of
Ansles before the Mighty One of
IFisei; make them and their princes
Ike Ores and Zceb; yea, make all their
p. III. es ike as Zeban and Zalmunna.
A'sHC = > wv lihC q
": eel, al.d as the stubble before tine
Ike as the fire that burnett up
wood, and as the flame that con-
the mountains.
Craci. went the ~long-barreled piece
a again an officer %hallooing on
his tiouhcej ing battalion bent to mis-
saddle horn and slipped into the turbid
flood.
My gorge rose. This picking off OF
officers has always seemed to me the
savaaest q. war barbaritics. How
Richard OWNED my thought and pur-
l know not; but when / would
Slipped down to Yeates' holly
he laid a OBTAINING hand on my
arm.
you like. but all war is that. When old
Eph's turn. comes, they will kill him as
relentlessiy as he is killing Them"
By this time the British vanguard
storlning ashore through the shall
lows below the tree fringe which served
cover for Graham's men. and the
kings muskets, silent hitherto, began
to roar and belch by platoon and volley
fire. Jenntfer craned his neck and took
q swift view OF the situation.
by the Lord Harry" he cried. "'tis
high time Joe Graham was getting his
lads In order for a foot race. Once those
fellows come ashore they'll play share
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 q belated retreat
We had tethered our horses in a
thicket OF scrub oak where they would
be out Of bullet reach until the enemy
gained the bank. AS I looked to make
OF them, the sorrel gave a shrill.
neigh to welcome the pounding Of hoofs
on the Appleby road. I made sure this
would be General Davidson bringing IN
the reserves; and so. indeed. It was;
but he came too late. O'Hara's men
were already climbing the bank; and
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.
IT'S our cue to u away" Dick
shouted, dragging me to my feet. ITO
the horses!"
But now we were too late. David
sons men were between us and the
grrsyh Hnoh Ethin1,n& ~ D,,l ,.~ 1919