Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1905-06-15
THE MASTER OF APPLEbY;
BY Franci
d sukeys mouthful o lead to CHI;

on. !"
l said l had come as near my exit a
time on two before. though always IN
fair fight; and therupon was whelmed
in an avalanche of questions such as
only simple hearted folk know how to
ask.
When had sufficiently accounted for
myself, Captain Forney-he was the
timber backed young fellow had rid
den behind gripped my hand and gave
me Il hearty welcome and congratula-
ton.
My father and yourN We're handfast
! friends, Captain Ireton More than that
I've heard my father say he owed yours
somewhat on the score of good turns.
/ I'm master clad I've had a chance to
even up a little; though as for that. we
should both thank the Indian At
which he looked around as one who
calls an eye-muster and marks miss
4 ing man. Where is the chief, Eph-
I rain this to the grZZled hunter who
was methodically reloading his long
4 rifle.
He's back yonder, gathering in the
/ hair-ciop | reckon. Never You mind
about him, Cap'n. He'll turn up when
he smells the meat a-cooking, imne-
\ jitly. if not sooner
Here as | imagine, I locked all the
! questions that lacked answers: for
I Captain Foiney took ii in hand to fit
them out With expications
lis mc;lnoola the Catawba." he
/ said zone of the friendlies. He was
out a-seoutiis last night and came in
an hour before daybrek With the news
/ that Colonel carleton WAS set upon
4 hanging a spy of ours. From that to
/ our little adjustment
II see said l. wanting space to
/ turn the memory leaves. This Cataw
4
/ tain Forney laughed. God He only
knows an Indians age. But Cncanoola
/ has been a man grown these fifteen
years or more. ] can recall his coming
To my fathers house when | was At a
little codger'
At that, remembered. too; remem-
bered tail, straight young savage, as
handsome as a figure done in bronze,
who used sometimes to meet me In the
lonelier forest wids when l was afraid
of him. how once | would have shot
him in tit of boyish race aiNipathy
and sudden fright mad he not flung
away his irelock and stood before me
defenseless.
Also, recalled a little incident of the
terrible scourge in 90 when the black
pox bade fair to blot out this tribe of
the Catawbas; Low when my father
had found this young savage lying in
7
10y All his tribesmen. he had saved his
life and earned an Indian friendship.
II know this Cncanoola, ] said.
My father befriended him in the
plague of 60, and Was never sorry for
it, as | believe Then would ask If
these Catawbas had ranged themselves
on the patriot side question which
led the young militia captain to give
me the news at large while his border
ers We're breaking camp and making
their hastN preparations for the days
march.
" 'Tis liberty or death With us now;
We've burnt our bridges behind u.s..
he said. when he had confirmed the
tidings / had the day before from
Father Matthew. ".And since here i'm
Carolina we have to fight each man
against his neighbor, tbs like to go hard
with us, lacking help from the North"
Measured by this mornings work.
Captain t'ornev, these irreguars of
yours seem We'll able to give a good
account of themselves" l ventured.
He shook his head douhtfully. He
was but a boy in years, but war is a
shrewd schoolmaster and this youth,
like many another on the fighting from
tier. had matriculated early.
You've seen us at our best" he
amended. I'VE can ambush like the
Indians, fire a volley Yell, charge-and
rum away.
What's that we're saying, young
ster?" The grizzled hunter had fin
ishoa reloading his rifle, and. lounging
in earshot With all the freedom of the
border, would take the captain up
sharply on this last.
You heard me, Eph Yeates," replied
my Noun, captain, curly.
The old man leaned his rifle against
a tree. spat on his hands cut n clumsy
caper in air. and gave tongue In a yell
that should have been heard by Tarle-
tons men at Appleby.
by the eternal coonskins' | can
gouge the eye out of airy man that says
Ilph Yeates carnt stand up fair and
square and whop his weight in Wild
cats; and l can do it now. if not soon
err" he shrlled Come on you
pap eating apron stringed French
dadded
Where the blast of vituperative insult
would have spent itself in natural
course we We're not to know for in the
midst another of the borderers. a why
little man in greasy deerskin, came up
behind the capering ancient, whipped
AN arm around his neck. and in Il
trice the two went down, kicking.
scratching. buffeting and mauling, as
/ like 4 pair of battling bobcats as We're
ever seen.
For moment / thought my young
finish, but ne did not At his order
some of the others pulled the twain
apart reluctantly, l fancied; and when
the thing was done the old man caught
up his rifle and STROBE away in black
est wrath without a look behind him.
Captain F'orney shrugged and spread
his hands as his French father might
/ have done.
Nov YOU know wherein his weak
l. Ipc taip IIei Ina n
There goes MS true a man and as keen
a shot as ever pulled trigger. Let him
I fight his ONE NAY, and he'll take cover
1 and name his man for every bullet in
his pouch But as for yielding to de-
cent authority. or standing against
/ trained troops in open field He
shrugged again and turned TO tighten
I his saddle girth.
Il see said L. Then | asked him
/ for his plans and intendings. and was
4 told that he and his handful We're
a march to join General Rutherford.
4 who was gone to the Forks of Yadkin
4 to break up some Tory embodiment
thereaLopits.
You have your work gu. out to
dodge the British light-hors Captain
Forney. said l.; Gaping the venture
/ by telling him what little he knew of
/ Tarleton's disposition, and also of the
Indan-armng plot l had overheard.
We'll dodge the redcoats. never you
4 fear: were at our best in that" he re-
joined, rather carelessly. And as to
the Cherokee upstirring, that's an old
story. The kings men have tried it
i twice and they have not yet caught
Jack SeNier or Jimmie Robertson
anapping. Ease your mind on that
score, Captain Ireton. and come along
with us. if you have nothing better to
do. | can promise you {. hard living,
and hard fighting enough to keep it in
: lnl n ton