Year: 1875

There was no chance The flood of
moonlight had swept so far towards my
hiding-plaee that only part of my body
was concealed by the barrel, and knew
discovery was inevitable, for the mans
horse stood in such a position that i'll
order to recover the reins he must have
trodden upon me; and there was no
earthly thing as far as the eye could
reach over tie plain, behind which a
man could hide. All, but what if he
should re-adjust his frcightl Can you
think how my heart pumped away at
the thought. You wonder what my
plan could be! had none, other than
the hope of having only one man to deal
with, if he went OH his way as he calcu-
lated The three ruffians were mounted
and all were about TO start, when the
woman ran out with some sort of a
blanket and muttered something about
covering the coffin. The man yelled out
for her to mind her own business and let
the thing alone.


She retreated with the cloth, but she
had accomplished her purpose. In lis
folds she had concealed bowie knife;
under its cover she had raised the lid
and the weapon fell inside, risking CIV
ing Inc cut as it fell upon me; but in
the mOmentary noise and confusion |
had got the weapon i'll my hand, and
with It's point raised the heavy lid of the
rough box the fraction of an inch so that
breathing was easy if my position was
cramped.


The three horsemrn spread out, remark
ing to each other: BEAT up the game
now speedily, before, by any miracle, he
gets into the wooded belt by Bngord's
Springs"


They continued to halloo at each 9th
cr for some time; their liberal potatiUns
surInounting their discretion.


"Dick," ;" they called back as they We're
driving off, "a cool twelve hundred a
piece; throw out yOur old shell and join
the hunt"


The driver mumbIed something, but
the whisky had thickened his speech so
that it was unintelligible to Inc.


If he did attempt to move the coffin,
| was lost


They kept within hailing distance for
the length of some three or more miles,
Dick smashing the heavy wagon along
at' a stunning gait; and expected every
moment that my shell would be iostled
out.


BY and by there was a shout off to the
right; a italy no" as if the huntsman
man had sighted the quarry. Nothing
but an unwarrantable amount of liquor
couldhave Influenced them to conduct
themselves as they did, for no sooner
had they called out from the right, than
Dick came to n sudden halt, leaped from
the seat, and ran off towards those who
were hallooing.


For one instant my heart stopped beat
ing at the thought of the hazard which
was about to run. The next moment
sprang from the coffin to the ground.
4 few Iightning-like strokes, and had
severed the traces, and the holdbacks of
the harness.


The whole scene is wildly pictured in
my mind. The moonlight prairie, the
little ravine towards which the rene
gades were dashing, the wagon standing
i'm the trail-then the rattling of the
falling thills reached the ears of the
party, and with a wild shout they turned
towards me- was on the horses back,
but boldly defined by the moonlight.
There was Il sharp report of two rifles.
] felt sting in my foot, another in my
shoulder, but the horse was unharmed
and the race of life bega2.


There was a disheartening disadvant-
age for me, for had no saddle, but was
riding for my life, and | held my steed
between my knees. and took the broad
trail with the fury of tornado. But
the issue would rest mostly with the
horses. knew nothing of the one
which rode; | knew nothing of those
that were pursuing me, excepting my
own white faced mare. She could run
like an antelope and out-wind a hurri-
cane.


On and on aai on my steed desper-
ately spurred with the point of my knife,
bore ahead, actually causing me to gasp
for breath; and not two hundred yards
in the rear rode my would d-be-murderers.


On the rolling prairie now, and my
animal took the declivities with plunge,
and the elevations with n sure fierce
stride-acroSs the brawlinS ford-but
crack came another rifle echo, and again
n stream of fire seemed to strike my
shoulder. They were closing in-closing
up. l could now make out only two
horseInen following. One of these had
discharged his rife ut me, the other |
knew was held in rest for them to come
just few yards nearer.


A momentary dizziness Topped Ine over





upon my horses neck. The rufflans
yelled triumphantly behind, but dis
tant echo brought me up, and giving my
poor beast stinging blow, emitted the
wild, long. fierce yell of the border ran
gers, and sped on again; but my horse
had that peculiar squirIn now and then
in his gait that told me he was faltering.


Again that echo reached me, swelling
out on the rising wind-it was the shrill
squeal of the fife and the rum-diddle um,
did-e e-um- m-dum- dun dun, of infantry re-
turning from some expedition to Fort
l..


Again sent out that long, wild, bor-
der veil. and l knew by the quicker
breathing of the fife, and the rapid pulls
ing of the drum, shat the soldiers had
broken into the ''double quick" in heed
of my cry.


A parting shot fired at random. and
the two desperadoes turned, but one of
them at least, | was not done with. l
called my horse with a peculiar whistle;
repeated and repeated it, and then 1
heard him crashing again in pursuit,
while his rider shouted and lashed him,
and tried to pull him round the other
way. For brief time the desperado
wrestled with the animal, lashed, goad-
ed and roared at her, but my incessant,
jerky whistle-call kept her mind and