Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1911-10-19
CHAPTER v.
A Disaster on the Road.


tect, and whatever of chivalrous feel
Ing l may have held toward her was
based upon nothing deeper than this
knowledge. She had come to us unde-
sired and In darkness, her form en-
Neloped In cavalry cloak, her face
ehrouded by the night. AS to wheth-
or she was young or old had scarce
means of knowing, saving only that
the tone of her voice and the graceful
manner OF her riding made me conf
dent that she had not lost the agility
of youth. But beyond this vague i'm
preston Ut was little more), and a
Meeting CLEAN Of the starlight in her
eyes as she faced me in anger, 1 was
as totally unaware of how she really
looked as though we had never met.
Her very name was unknown to me-
Who was this Major Brennan? Was
he father, brother or husband? and
was her name Brennan also? For
some reason this last possibility was
WY.
you ride as though born to the sad
de-" I said pleasantly; and although
I spoke low, we were so close to-
gether that my voice carried distinctly
TO her ears. 1--WE have been suff1-
oiently conoeited to suppose that to
be an accomplishment peculiar to our
Bouthern women"
Il have been accustomed to ride
since childhood" she replied rather
shortly, and was conscious of re-
Xtraint in her manner far from pleas
Ing. Yet I ventured upon one more
6Rort at conversation.
Us Major Brennan an oflcer on
Sheridan's staff2"
II was not aware"-and / could not
mistake the accent Of vindictiveness
In her voice-"that prisoners were
obliged to converse against their
WILL
Il ask your pardon, l am sure" 1
returned soberly. But my question
was not altogether an idle one. l
have CHANGED to meet several of
General Sheridan's staff, and thought
possibly Major Brennan might have
been Of their number. Seeing that
we must associate for time, I nat
rrally felt 1t would prove pleasanter
FOR both Of us If we might discover
some mutual tie"
There was no response.
The road we were following here
took a sudden trend downward, and
we could tell from the sharper ring
of the hoofs. and the splitting of flinty
sparks beneath US, that we were
among rocks once more Then our
horses suddenly splashed into water,
Isnd held them up long enough to
drink. felt thirst strongly myself.
land slipping out of the saddle filled
Emy canteen
Would you care for drink" l
asked, stemming the stream to reach
her side. and holding the vessel with
in easy grasp of her hand
actually believe her first impulse
was to refuse haughtily this profrered
'civility from an enemy of her coun-
try, but the deep sense of need con-
quered her to accept the offering. An
other hill followed, and then another,
and finally we swept swiftly down a
long slope densely bordered by trees
and with irregular piles of rock up
rearing ugly heads on either hand
caught swift glimpse of rough
log house on the right so set back
among trees that l half doubted it's
real existence, when-there was
slip, the crunching of stone, long
stumble forward that fairly wrenched
my hand loose from the woman's rein,
and then, hopelessly struggling to re-
gain his feet, my horse went down
with crash, head under, and l was
hurled heavily forward upon my face.
Craig, startled at the sudden crash be-
hind him, spurred back to learn the
full extent of my disaster BY this
time l had regained my feet.
I'm all right. l think, sergeant
said hastily, "but the sorrel has brok-
en- her neck"
He began to swear at our Ill luck,
but stopped him with gesture he
knew better than to ignore.
Enough of that" I commanded,
sternly. bad fortune is seldom bet
tered by hard words First of all,
help me to drag this dead body out OF
sight"
On one side of us the bank fell away
with such precipitancy that when we
once succeeded in dragging our load
to the edge, we experienced no diff
Guilty In sending 1t crashing down
ward. The body plunged through the
thick underbrush at the bottom of the
toggre, where knew 1t would be com.
pletely hidden. even in the glare of
daylight, frofl the spying eyes Of any
troopers riding hard upon our track.
AS we rapidly worked on this disa-
greeable task, thought and planned;
two horses and three riders-one of
these woman In need of protection
"a dispatch to be delivered by day
light, at all hazards. 1t was indeed
a difficult proposition, and l saw only
a single possible solution. One of our
number must press on; two of US
must remain behind, Which one?
what two? II I rode with the dis