Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-02-06
CHAPTER XXXIII.
A Bellirerent German.

hall.
up there. menu he cried. catching in
slant sight of me, and pointing. "Get that
Johnny with the GIRL
AS they sprang eagerly forward over the
dead bodies littering the floor at the foot or
the stairs, Brennan scrambled unsteadily to
his feet and halted them with imper1ous
gesture.
Leave him alone!' he commanded. 'That
Is the commander of the confederate de-
tachment who came to our aid Inc
guerrillas have fed down the hallway ana
are most of them outside by now. Wayne,
he turned and glanced up at US. his face
instantly darkening at the tableau, klndiy
assist the ladies to descend; we must get
them out of this shambies.
He lifted them one by one and with cere-
monious politeness across the CHASTITY pie
Of dead and wounded men.
Escort them to the library" he suggest
ed. as l hesitated. THAT room will prob
ably be found clear.
was somewhat surprised that Bren-
nan should not have come person.
ally to the aid of his wife, but as ne
ignored her presence utterly at once Vi
fered her my arm, and silently led the way
to the room designated, the others folloW
ing as best they might The apartment
was unoccupied, exhibiting no signs OF tne
late struggle, and L found coIn LOT. .a W,
resting places for all. Miss Minor was YET
sobbing softly, her face hidden upon heE
mothers shoulder. and 1 felt constrained
to speak with her.
II shall go at once" ] said kindly, TO
ascertain all / can regarding lieutenant
Cation. and will bring you word
She thanked with glance OF her
dark eyes clouded with tears, but as L
turned hastily away to execute TINS err
rand Mrs. Brennan laid restraining hand
upon my arm.
captain Wayne" she said with much
seriousness, you are very unselflsh, pul
have been attended to; they may be far
more serious than you apprehend.
MY Wounds | almost laughed at the
gravity of her face, for although exhausted
| was unconscious of any injury. They
must be trivial indeed, for l was not even
aware i had any,
But you haver' she insisted, Der eyes
full upon me- your hair is fairly clothed
with blood. while your shoulder is torn and
bruised until it is horrible to look upon
AS l gazed at her, surprised by the anx-
iety she so openly displayed. l CHANGED to
behold myself reflected within a large mir
ror directly across the room. One glance
was sufficient to convince me her words
were fully justified. My remains of uni
form literally chung to me in rags. my bare
shoulder looked a confused mass of bat
tered flesh, my hair was matted, and my
face blackened by powder stains and
streaked with blood.
Il certainly do appear disreputable
enough" I admitted but / can assure you
it is nothing sufficiently serious to require
immediate attention. Indeed little water
is probably all 1 need. Besides, why should
l care-was it not all received for your
sake?
/ spoke the pronoun strongly she could
not well ignore my obvious meaning, nor
did she endeavor to escape the inference.
Her face, yet white from the strain of the
past few hours, became rosy in an instant,
and her eyes fell.
Il know" she answered softly. Per
haps that may be why am so exceedingly
,ir,rin CHI bn IaI
to-"
AS I stepped without. and closed the
door behind me, l was at once startled by
the rapid firing of shots from the rear of
the house, and the next moment / en-
countered the young, red-faced officer
hurrying along the hallway at the head of
a squad of federal cavalrymen. Recognize
ing me in the gloom of the passage he
paused suddenly.
Il owe you a belated apology, captain"
he exclaimed cordially. for having mis-
taken you for one of those miscreants, but
really your appearance was not fiattering."
Having viewed myself since within a
mirror" replied. Il am prepared to ac-
knowledge the mistake most natural one.
However, am grateful to be out of the
scrape, and can scarcely find fault with
my rescuers Five minutes more would
have witnessed the end
I'VE rode hard he said, land were in
saddle within fifteen minutes after the ar
rival of your courier. You evidently made
q hard fight of it; the house bears testi-
mony to a terrible struggle. We are re-
joicing to learn that Lieutenant Cation was
merely stunned; we believed him dead at
first, and he is far too fine a fellow to go
in that way
He is truly living. them" 1 exclaimed,
greatly relieved. Miss Minor, to whom he
is engaged, is sorrowing over his possible
fate in the library yonder. Could not two
OF your men assist him to her? She would
do more to hasten his recovery than any
one"
"Cartain1v was tho instant resnonse
'Haines, you and Mcdonald get the officer
out of the front room; carry him in there
where the ladies are, and then rejoin US
His face darkened as the men designated
departed on their errand.
Il really require all the force / possess"
he said doubtfully. ut seems impossible to
dislodge those rascals back yonder. What
we need is a field howtzer.'
Il have been wondering at the firing;
pretty lively, isn't it? Have some of those
fellows made stand?'
Eyes; quite a crowd of them have sue
ceeded in barricading themselves in the
| kitchen, and it is so arranged as to prove
an exceedingly awkward place to attack.
We have had three men hit already. in
spite of every precautlon, and am seeking
now to discover some means of forcing
their position from the hall. Their leader
appears to be a bullet-headed Dutchman
about as easy to manage as a mule.
The words aroused me to a possibility.
"a Dutchman you say? and in the kitch-
en-? Have you had a sight of the fellow"
Merely a glimpse, and that over a rifle
barrel He has round, dull face, with a
big fiat nose"
s,rhat idiot is my sergeant. lieutenant,
and supposes he is still fighting guerrillas.
The lieutenant looked at me in surprise,
then burst into a peal of laughter. We'll,
If that is true" he cried, Il most sincerely
hope you will call him off before he sue
ceeds in cleaning out our entire troop.
1 started down the hallway toward the
point of firing. There was sharp jog in
the wall leading to the kitchen door, and
as I approached it some soldiers stationed
there warned me to be careful.
THEY'RE perfect devils to shoot. sir said
| one respectfully, AN the Dutchman
fetches his man every time"
"Oh, it will b. all right, boys l replied
confidently. He'll know me-"
Before me as l stepped forth was double
| door Of oak, the upper half partially open.
Sergeant" / cried come out; the fight
| is all over"
For answer bullet whizzed past me,
chugging into the wall at my back, and /
| skipped around the corner with a celebrity
| of movement which caused the fellows
watching me to grin with delight.
| Find me white cloth OF some kind, l
demanded as soon as l reached cover, and
now thoroughly angered. ''t. e shall see If
| that wooden headed old fool knows the
meaning of flag of truce"
They succeeded in securing ME torn