The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1905-11-24
THE MASTER OF APPLEBY|
BY Francis Lynde.


and it was here hat we both had our
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 that you may like
to see the new commander as we saw
him, making his first inspection Of
Horatio's Gates poor shadow of an
army" on that dismal December day in
Charlotte.
In years he was 40; and as weight
hard fifteen stone with the knuckle of
1t under his waistcoat. None the less,
though his great bulk nae him sit
his horse more like a farmer than a
soldier, he had the muscular shoulders
and arms of the anchorsmiths, to
which trade he had been bred.
The hint of grossness which his fig
ure ave was not borne out by his face.
Like my Lord Corvallis his eyes
were Womanish large, and nose and
mouth and the lift of the brow were
cast in a mold to match; yet there was
that in his face which made it the mask
Of a soul thoughtful and serene; and
his ruddy complexion and fair hair
gave him a look of openness that q
dark a 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
l did, though with more prophetic
eye.
He will make his mark, Jack, look
you;not In stubborn mitigating at the
barrier. mayhap, like Dan Morgan. nor
In G brilliant dash. like our colonel, but
in his own anchorsmith's way-a heat
at a time, and a blow at a time" said
Jennifer: and / 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 inc ready rifle
men. Like most of his men, he scorned
TO wear a uniform, appearing N. parade
as in the field, in a neat fitting hunting
shirt Of lndian-tanned buckskin with
fringings of the same-a costum 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 heal
him declaring, with an oath, that his
Eleventh Virginia alone would give a
good account of all the tories between
the Catawba and the Broad; and when
the cavalcade passed the rifle corps, the
men, flung their hats and cheered their
leader in open defiance OF all discipline.
ALI me! they tell me that in after
years this stout Daniel, the "Lion-
b%earder," as we used to dub him. be-
came a doddeling old man, even as thy
old tale-teller is now; that he put off
all his roistering ways and might be
found amy Lords Day shouting. no
curses, az of yore. but psalm tunes, in
the church whereof he was a pillar:
But twas the other Daniel w knew:
tine bluff, heart man 0s itis two hands.
who could punmel the best boxer in his
own regiment of fistcuffers: who could
o~ut-course, out-buffet and out-drink
the hardest frontiersman on the Dor
der.
Next conspicuous in the generals
suit was our colonel. the pink of light
horse commanders. With only Harry
Lee in all the patriht rank and file for
MS peer: Ills q thousand parties tina
William Washington. INT MaT1ellus O:
the army has haG To suffer the eclipse
which must diL the !uster of
all who walk in the shadow
name. For surely there never was a
inner gentleman, a truer friend, Il no
bier patriot. or, according to his oppor-
tunities, an ADLER officer than was our
beloved colonel OF the light dragons.
But this is all beside the mark, you
will say; and you will be chatting rest
lively to know how Dick and 1 had come
together in this troop of Colonel Wash
ington's; to know his in a word and
to pass on at a gallop to the happenings
which followed. Nay. In fancy's eye 1
can see you turning the page impa-
tiently, wondering where and when
and how this tiresome old word spin
ner will make an end.
AS Margery had promised, 1 passed
out Of my garnet prison and out of door
on the memorable evening of October
IA to find the British gone from Char
lotte n the own jubilant with patri-
otto joy.
Having nothing to detain me, and
being bound in honor by the wish of
my dear lady not to follow and give
myself up to the r%etreating British
general, I took horse and rode to Sails
bury, where l had the great good for
tune to find Dick, already breveted u
captain in Colonel Washington's COM
mand. hurrying his troop southwark to
whip on the British withdrawal.
Here was my chance to drown heart
burnings in an onsweeping tide of ac-
ton, and then and there I became a
pany, asking nothing of my dear lad
save that I might ride at his stirrup
and share his hazards.
Touching the hazards, there were
plenty of them in the eve weeks pre-
ceding and Ii month or more follow
Ing u new generals coming to take
the field, as you nay know in detail if
YOU care to follow the gallopings OF
4 Colonel Washington's lighthouse trooL,
through the pages of the histories. But
these have little or naught to do with
my tale. and 1 pass them by with the
word o will anticipates; that in all
the dashes and forays and brushes with
the enemy's foraging parties and out
posts, no British or Tory bullet could
find Its billet in the man who was
enamored of death.
AS for ny most miserable %entansle-
ment, the lapse of time made it neither
better o worse, nor greatly different;
and there was little in all the skirmish-
ings and gallopings to beat off the
bandog of conscience, or that other and
still fiercer Wild beast of starved love
that gnawed at me day and night.
Though the hope for some easement
would now and then lift its head. 1 was
reminded daily that hope itself was
Hopeless: and when the days length.
Tened into weeks and the weeks into
months, bringing no salVing for thu
double hurt, I knew that time coulc
only make me love Margery the more;
that there be wounds that heal, ant
Others that open afresh at each remem.
brance of the hand that gave them.
One grain of comfort I had In al
these drearN weeks Twas whilst w
We're quartering In Charlotte, and I hat
CHANGED to fall upon the half-bloot
Scipio who had been left by Gilber
!. Stair to be the; caretaker of the de.
serted town house.
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