The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1905-12-01
InE! MASTER OF APPLEBY|
~ Francis Lynds.

scis Lynde. ----}
infer and l were both present at this
installation of the new field commander;
1T was here that we both had oul
: first sight of Nathaniel Greene, the
: Hickory Quaker
! Now the historians, as is their wont,
have pictured Greene the general to the
{ complete effacement of Greene the man,
! and 1T is in my mind hat you may like
to see the new commander as we saw
{ him, making his first inspection of
Horatlofs Gates poo shadow of an
army on tina dismal December day in
Charlotte.
In years he was 40; and as weight
goes he was a heavy man, pressing
hard fifteen stone with the knuckle of
it under his w%aistcoat. None the less,
though his great bulk made him sit
MS horse more like a farmer than a
soldier, he had the muscular shoulders
and arms of the anchorsmitlls, to
which trade he had been bred.
The hint of grossness which his fig
ure gave was not borne out by his face.
Like my Lord CORVALLIS his eyes
We're Womnnish large, and nose and
mouth and the lift of the brow We're
cast Ina mold to match; yet there was
that in his face which made it the mask
OF a soul thoughtful n serene: and
his ruddy complexion and fair hair
gaye him a look of openness that a
dark man is like to miss.
A skilled soldier, with a good prom
Use OF strenuous patience, was my sum-
ming up OF him, and Dick saw him as
I did, though with more prophetic
eye.
III will make his mark, Jack, look
you;not in stubborn in-fghting at the
II t@ pnf1 ~ ,,,ry L. 49, 49,.
IN q brilllant dash, like u colonel, but
in his anchorsmith's way-a heat
ats time, n a blow at a time" said
Jennifers and I nodded.
Stirrup to stirrup with the new COM
mander as he passed down the line
rode Dan Morgan, big, strong, MASTER
full. handsome, the very pick and choice
of leaders for his rough and ready rifle
men. Like o of his men, he scorned
to wear a uniform, appearing on parade
as in h field. in a neat fitting hunting
shirt of Indian-tanned buckskin with
fringlngs of the samoa costume that
set off his gigantic figure as no tailor
fine coat could have set it off.
When he pulled his horse down to
make it keep step with the sedater
pacings of the generals, we could hear
him declaring, with an oath, that his
Eleventh Virginia alone would give a
good account OF. all the tories between
the Catawba ard the Broad; and when
the cayalcade passed the rifle corps, the
men flung their hats and cheered their
Header in open defiance of all discipline.
ALI me! they tell me that in after
years this stout Daniel, the Lion
bearder," as we used to dub him, be-
lcame a doddering old man, even as thy
old tale-teller is now: that he put off
az his FOSTERING ways and might be
found n Lords Day shouting, no
curses, as of yore, blu psalm tunes, in
the church whereof he was a pillar!
But twas the other Daniel we knew;
the bluff, hearty man of his two hands.
who could pumlnels the best boxer in his
own regiment of fistcuffers; who could
(out-course, out-bufret and out-drink
the hardest frontiersman on the bor-
der.
Next conspicuous in the generals
suit was our colonel, the pink of light
horse commanders, with only Harry
Lee in all the patriot rank and file for
his peer. It's a thousand parties that
William Washington, .the Marcelluss of
the army" has q to suffer the eclipse
which must dim the luster Of
all Who walk in the shadow
of a greater of the same
name. For surely there never was q
finer gentleman, a truer friend, a no.
bier Patriot, or, according to his oppor-
tunities, an ADLER office than was orr
vi
But this is all beside the mark, you
will say; and you will be chaing rest
ively to know how Dick and I had come
together Al this troop of Colonel Wash
fington's; to know this In a word and
to pass on at a gallop to the happenings
can see o turning the page impa-
tiently. wondering where and when
and how this tiresome old word-spin-
ner will make an enc
AS Margery had promised, 1 passed
out of my garnet prison out Of door
on the memorable evening of October
IA to find the British gone from Char
iotte n the town juhilant with patri-
otto joy.
Having nothing to detafn me, and
being bound in honor by the wish of
my dear lady not to follow and give
myself up to the retreating British
general. l took horse and rode to Sails
bury, where / had the great good for
tune to find Dick, already breveted a
captain in Colonel Washington's COM
Inand, hurrying his troop southwark to
whip on the British withdrawal.
Here was my chance to drown heart
lburrings in an onsWeeping tide of ac-
Ition, n then and there became a
Igentleman volunteer in Dicks COM
pany. asking nothing OF my dear lad
save that 1 might ride at his stirrup
and share his hazards.
Touching the hazards, there were
plenty of them In the seven weeks pre-
Iceding and the month or more follow
Ing U new generals coming to take
the field, as you may know in detail IL
you care to follow the gallopings of
Colonel Washington's lighthouse troop
through the pages Of the histories. But
these have little or naught to do with
my tale, and I pass them by with the
word you will anticipates; that in all
the ashes and forays and brushes with,
THE enemy,s fQraging parties and put
posts. no British or Tory bullet could
find Its billet in the man who was
enamored of death.
AS for my most miserable entangle-
ment, the lapse of time made 1t neither
better nor worse, nor greatly different;
and there was little in all the skirmish-
lings and gallopings to beat on the
still fiercer wild beast OF starved love,
THAT gnawed at me day and light.