Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1920-01-16

1 Lie Ia Lie UCilCl tndl Sly was q ny
/ gress, never once arousing the faintest
/ suspicion in my mind. Nothing, then,
! I was convinced, short of death or dis
grace, could ever compel her to con.
fess the truth yet. Kirby might Sus-
pect might fear, but he had surely
| never learned who she was from her
lips-that she was Eloise Beaucaire.
j The conviction that this young wOm-
an was white, educated, refined, the.
daughter of good blood-no fleeing ne
gress, cursed with the black strain of
j an alien race, a nameleSS slave
brought to me sudden joy in discov
cry / made no attempt to conceal.
"Eloise Beaucaire, Eloise Beaucaire"
the name repeated itself on my lips,
as though it were refrain. l knew
instantly what it all meant-that some
divine. mysterious hand had led from
the very hour of my leaving Fort Arm
strong. and would continue to lead un-
til the will of God was done. Tt was
not in the stars of Fate that such vii
lainy should succeed; such sacrifice as
hers fail of it's reward.
Nevertheless, in spite of this re-
solve, and the fresh courage which had
been awakened within me by the faith
that from now on battled for the love
of Eloise Beaucaire, no immediate op-
/ pOrtunty for service came. cOult
only wait patiently, and observe.
/ was convinced that Kirby, what
ever might be his ultimate purpose
regarding the girl, had no present in
tention of doing her further injury. He
contemplated no immediate attempt at
forcible possession, and would be well
satisfied if he could only continue. TO
he was guarding against now, and
while they remained on board, was es-
cape or discovery.
1t was about the middle of the fol-
lowing afternoon when the Adventurer
poked her blunt nose around point Of
land and came into full view of the
sQualid hamlet of Yellow Banks. A
half-hour later we lay snuggled up
against the shore, holding position
amid several other boats made fast
to stout trees, busily unloading, and
their broad gangplanks stretching from
forward deck to bank. The roust-
abOuts began unloading cargo at once,
steady stream of men, black and
white, burdened with whatever load
they could snatch up, moving on an
endless run across the stiff plank, and
up the low bank to The drier summit.
1t CHANGED to be my good fortune to
escape this labor, having been detailed
by Mapes to drag boxes, bales and bar
rels forward to where the hCrryng
! bearers could grasp them more read
! lily. This brought me close to the for
ward stairs, down which the departing
passengers trooped, threading their in
secure way among the trotting labor
ers, in an effort to get ashore.
Reynolds troops, all militia, and the
greater part of them mounted, were an
extremely sorry-looling lot-sturdy
enough physically, of the pioneer type,
but bearing little soldierly appearance,
and utterly ignorant Of discipline. The
men had chosen officers from out their
own ranks by popular election, and
these exercised their authority very
largely through physical prowess.
We had an excellent illustration of
this soon after tying up at the landing.
A tall, lank, ungainly officer, with a
face so distinctly homely as to instant
ly attract my attention, led his com
pany of men up the river bank, and
ordered them to transport the pile of
commissary stores from where they
had been promiscuOusly thrown to a
drier spot farther back. The officer
was captain, to judge from certain
stripes of red cloth sewed ON the
shoulders of his brown jean blouse,
but his men were far from prompt in
Obeying his command, evidently hav-
| ing no taste for the job. One among
them apparently their rlngleader in
incipient mutiny, an outstanding bully
with the jaw of prize fighter, took it
upon himself openly to defy the officer,
exoaiming profanely that he'd be id
IL he ever enlisted to do niger work.
| The others laughed, and joined in the
revolt, until the captain unceremOni-
ously flung off his blouse, thus divest-
ing himself of every vestige Of rank.
and proceeded to enforce his authority.
1t was battle royal, the soldiers
crowding eagerly about, end yelling
encouragement impantially first to one
cOmbatant, and then another.
"Kick him in the ribs, Samw
"Now, Abe, you've got him-crack
the d--n cuss' neck"
'By golly that's the way we do it in
Of Salem"
"He's got yer now, Jenkins, he's cot
yer now-good boy, Abe"
Exactly what occurred / could not
see, but when the circle of wildly ex-
cited men finally broke apart. the big
rebel was lying fiat on his back in the.
yellow mud, and the irate officer was
indicating every inclination to press
him down out of sight.
"Hav yer he'd 'nough, Sam Jen-
iy;pc0,, he u1octiorod hrnathIncSlv