The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1912-06-20

fires vhat kept me back more'u the
pickets. fer thar wasn't Q place but
what vas lit up. Thar Was sure aOune
sOrter movement eOin' On thar. but !
couldn't make head ner tail to It 'cept
that all them troops that I cav vas
Darchin' west"
Then Rosecrans spoke
This looks decidedly serious to ~.
gentlemen. and ! feel suAcient faith
in Sergeant Kings report to act imme-
diately upon It u II BE- true that
Johnston Is massinx against our rteht
and has left the ford At COultsr's un'
guarded. this Offers - an opportunity
for Q countermarch II Ws only move
swiftly enough Hand ne the maps.
major.
II am fully aware OF the danger IN.
volved In dividing our force In ths
presence Of the enemy" he said at last.
lifting his eyes to the faces anxi0usy
watching him. ''but to my mind ~
peril will be even greater II we pes'
nit the enemy to carry out their pres
ent plans unchecked II At this june
ture we can only strike unexpectedly
in their rear We shall win. The aid
of surprise will be with Us. and It h
worth much to an army Just to feel
that they are ON the aggressive. Smiley,
ride to McGirth and Williams; tell
them to mass their briEades opposite
Minersville and to hold the ford At all
cost; explain the situation to them
fully. Wyatt. have Colts brigade sta.
toned in reserve in the hills back Of
the town. Now. Parker. Seaman. Just
and Shea. start the remainder Of our
troops on forced march to Couitefs
ford. Let there be no delay. not even
to cook rations. Wilson win move nrsi
with the cavalry. to be Immediately
followed by sheridan's brigade. These
will proceed by the river road. while
the others will follow the ridge a. rap
idly as they can be made ready. Fur
ther orders will reach them at Coul.
ter's That is all. gentlemen"
Rosecrans. the major. the scout Dan
iels and myself were left alone in the
room. The generals glance fell upon
me.
DO you need rest. sergeantr
NO. SIR"
"Glad Of that. as require your serv.
ices. There Is no battery cnn assign
you to mt present. but | Judge from
your story that you ride well and you
should know the country thoroughly
between the Landing and Salters
creek. am going to appoint you
Temporarily on my stan with the rank
Of lieutenant and place you In COM
mand of the advance scouts. Major.
see that Lieutenant King is furnished
with q suitable uniform and a good
horse and that be and his command
get away Mt once"
Twenty minutes later I was galior-
ing down the river road with nm odd
following at my heels. r.
There were twenty all told. excep.
tionnIiy we'll mounted. I observed at q
glance. There was, to be sure. sem
blance OF uniform, but exhibiting
marks Of rough service. and represent
ative Of every department, 10 that no
two men appeared similarly attired.
They had sturdy and resOlute fighting
appearance that pleased me- Perhaps
a dozen were Enthusiastically OF the
mountain white type-gaunt unshav-
en-. slow of speech. their keen. restless
eyes searching every covert for pos
sibie enemy In ambush. The others
we're mostly young. reckless looking
fellows. picked from the ranks of va.
rtous organizations because too rest
less for the discipline of regular com
mand felt a hope that l might be
retained in command and thus given
opportunity to test their mettle.
Daniels" l said. drawing back my
horse dill rode beside him. this looks
an odd command given me. What are
they-enlisted menT'
"Some of EN- are" be answered
slowly. shifting his eyes over the rab-
BILE behind. but ther mountain men
mostly are Jus volunteer scouts. pick
ed up we're In ther deestr1ct cause they
know their way round l reckon may
be it's tough lookin' outfit from a So
jerin' pint o view. but thar's some
dern good scouts a-ridin' thar benin
yer. That yaller headed Teller thar has
been mostly my partner lately. Hes
Irish. name Con OBrien: deserted
twice from ther Ninth Illinois cavalry,
but since they put him scoutin thar
amt no job too blame hard fer him ter
tackle. | tell ye. ieftanant. scouts Is
born. not made"
How long have you been at IT."
"Oh. mostly since the war begun.
started In with Buell. in Kentucky
You came from up there!'
He looked at me almost suspiciously.
Then his eyes shifted to the scene in
front
Il reckon l was born bout ten mile
FROM yere. over yonder on ther east
ridge" His eyes narrowed. a new
light visible within their depths. 1t
WINS jist ter git buck we're with stch
an outfit Us this yere ahind me thet
made me sojer." he Acknowledged
slowly. Il got some private work ter