The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1912-01-27

by longer masquerade. and | felt tn
| eXpressibie shame at being thus at
| tired. Neither pass nor uniform
would suffice TO get me safe through
those outer picket lines and II should
fall IN the attempt. or be again made
| prisoner. | vastly preferred meeting
| my fate clad in the faded gray OF my
own regiment With odd sense OF re-
| l'ef ! hastily stripped of the gorgeous
trappings. flung them in the ditch be-
side the road. and pressed on. leeiing
| like a new man.
here. and for more than an hour I
,ramped steadily along. never meeting
person or being startled by q sus-
pfcious sound. Then. as | rounded .
low eminence ! perceived before me
| the dark outlines Of trees which marked
the course OF the White Briar. while
directly In my front. and half OBJ
| scured by thick leaves OF the under
brush. blazed the red glare OF q fire
] knew the stream we'll. its steep
banks OF percipitate rock. Its rapid.
swirling current which. | was we'll
aware. / was not a sufficiently expert
swimmer to cross. Once upon the
other bank I should be comparatively
safe, but to pass that picket post and
attain the ford was certain to require
all the good fortune / could ever hope
for
But despair was never for long my
comrade. and | had learned how de-
termination opens doors to the coura-
geous-it Is ever he who tries that en-
tiers In. 1t took me ten minutes. pos
sibly, creeping much Of the way like
wild animal over the rocks. but at
the end Of that time had attained a
position well within the dense thicket.
and could observe clearly the ground
before me and some OF the obstacles
to be overcome.
AS | supposed. it was cavalry out
post; could distinguish the crossed
sabers on the caps OF the men. al
though 1t was some time before | was
able to determine positively where
their horses were picketed. There
must have been all OF twenty in the
party. and | could distinguish the lieu
tenant in command. a middle-aged
man with light-colored chin beard.
seated by himself against the wall OF
small shanty Of logs. pipe In his
mouth and an open book upon his
knee. His men were gathered close
about the blazing fire. for the night
air was decidedly chill as 1t swept
down the valley: number were
sleeping. few at cards. while little
ward me. yet almost within reach OF
my hand. were idly smoking and dis.
cussing the floating rumors Of the
camp. managed to make out dimly
the figure Of man on horseback be-
yond the range of flame. and appar-
entity upon the very bank OF the
stream. when some words spoken BY
an old gray beared sergeant interested
me.
Bob" he said to the soldier lOung.
ing next him. "whut wus it thet stan
officer sed ter Their leftenant? I didn't
The man. a debonair youg fellow.
stroked his little black mustaches re-
fectively.
"Ther cove sed as how Coles d.
vision wud be along here afore- day
light, an tibet our fellers wud likely
be sent out ahead Of EN-"
"Whar be they a goin'?"
1.-THE leftenant asked him, an the
cove sed as II wus gineral advance
to meet OIL Hancock at Minersville."
"Thet's good 'nough. lads" chimed
in the sergeant, shaping his knee 1T
means a dance down the valley after
Early. I'm a guessin' we'll have q
bang-up OIL fight fore three days
more"
"Pervidin' alters tibet Their Johnnies
don't skedaddle fust." commented an
other, tartly "Whut in thunder Is
Their matter with them hosses?" he
asked suddenly. rising and peering
over into the bushes beyond the hut.
where a noise of squealing and kick.
ng had arisen.
"Oh, the bay Ally is probably over
he rope agin," returned the ser
,eant. lazily sit down. Sims. an be
easy; you're not on boss guard ter
hight"
II know thet." growled the soldier.
but tibet thar kid Is no
rood, an ! don't want my boss all
BANGED up just as we're goin' on
faint no sOrter way ter
hitch EN- anyhow. to picket rope:
uins more bosses than Their Rebs
lew"
tTO BE CONTINUED.b