The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1906-05-11
CHAPTER III.

"HE young man rode long and
late that night. His way lay
always upward toward the
4 crests of the high mountains of
the Blue Ridge range.
The roads he traversed were scarcely
more than trails, too steep in their
ascent to have been travelled by. wag-
ons that might wear them into thor
oughfares. During the many hours Of
his riding he saw no sign of human
habitation anywhere and no prospect
OF finding food for himself or his horse,
though both were furnishing.
About midnight, however, he came
upon a bit Of wild pasture land on a
steep mountain side, where his horse
at least might crop the early grass Of
the spring. There he halted, removed
his saddle and bride and turned the
animal loose. saying:
poor beast! You will not stray far
away. There's half an acre Of grass
here, with bare rocks all around IL.
Your appetite will be leash enough to
keep you from wandering"
Then the young man-no longer a
captain now, but a destitute, starving
wanderer on the face OF the earth
threw himself upon a carpet Of pine
needles in little clump of timber,
made pillow of his saddle, drew the
saddle blanket over his shoulders to
keep out the night chill, loosened his
belt and straightway fell asleep.
Before doing so, however, faint with
hunger as he was and weary to the
verge of collapse, he had n little cere-
mony TO perform. and he performed it
In answer to a sentimental fancy. With
the point Of his sword he found an
earth bank free of rock and dug a
trench there. In it he placed his sword
in its scabbard and with its belt and
sword knot attached. Then, drawing
the earth over ii and stamping il down,
he said:
THAT ends the soldier chapter of my
life. | must turn to the work of peace
now. | have no fireplace over which TO
hang the trusty blade. 1t is better to
bury il here in the mountains, In the
midst of desolation, and forever TO for
get all that it suggests"
When he walked in the morning a
soaking, persistent, pitiless rain was
falling The young mans clothing was
so completely saturated that as he
stood erect the water streamed from
his elbows, and he felt ii trucking
down his body and his legs
This is pretty good substitute for
BATH" he thought as he removed his
garments and with strong nervous
hands wrung the water out of them as
laundresses do with linen.
He had no means of kindling a fire
and there was no time for that at any
rate. Guilford Duncan had begun to
feel the pangs not of mere hunger, but
of actual starvation-the pains that
mean collapse and speedy death He
| knew that he must find food for him
self, and that quickly. Otherwise he
/ must die there, helpless and alone, or
the desolate mountain side.
He might, indeed, kill his horse and
live for few days upon its flesh unit
/ Ii should spoil But such relief would
be only a postponing Of the end, anc
without the horse he doubted that he
could travel far toward that western
land which he had half unwittingly
fixed upon as his goal.
He was well up In the mountain:
now and near the crest of the great
range. The valley lay beyond, and ht
well knew that he would find no fooC
supplies In that region when he should
come to cross 1t. Sheridan had done 9
perfect work of war there, so devas
tating one of the most fruitful regions
on all Gods earth that in picturesque
words he had said, The crow that file.
over the valley of Virginia must car
ry his ratiOns with him"
In the high mountains matters were
not much better. There had been M
battling up there in the land of tn,
sky, but the scars and the desoIatior
of war were manifest even upon noun
tain sides and mountain tops.
For four years the men who dwell
in the rude log cabins of that frost bit
ten and sterile region had been serv
ing as volunteers in the army, fightins
for a cause which was none of their,
and which they did not at all under
stand or try to understand. The,
fought upon instinct alone. 1t had al
ways been the custom Of the mountain
jewellers to shoulder their guns and e,
into the thick of every fray which
seemed TO them In any way to threaten
their native land. They went blindly
they fought desperately, and they en-
dured mahfully. Ignorant, illiterate
abjectly poor, Injured to hardship
through generations, they asked n,
questions the answers to which the!
could not understand. 1t was enough
for them TO know that their native lane
was invaded 10y an armed foe. When
ever that occurred they were ready L