Ligonier Banner., Volume 15, Number 14, Ligonier, Noble County, 22 July 1880 — Page 3

£ ;/ ] { he Ligoniev Lanner, ) N : B ey oo 3 J. 3. STOLL, Editor and Prop’r. ! LIGONIER, : & : INDIANA, o BLUE-FLAGS. ' | - (FLEUR-DE-LIS.) : - 'What sweet rebellion in thy blood, - ..My June, hath bid thee raise !/ " Thy royal standards by the wood : And through the meadow ways? * What stir of passion, darling sprite, - Spredd these blue banners: to the light? - Past lily buds and arrowy blades The glorious pageant Hies; In sunny shallows, reedy shades, Unnumbered blossoms rise. Bysrocky coast, in salty hight, ! Thy banners glitter in the light. v ~ Wrought of warm noons and morning dew, And painted from thé-skies, _ Say bave they not the very blue Of Maiden Marian's eyes? Ah, June, thy tiags are not so blight As those blue banners in the light! —Elen M. Hutchinson, in Harper's Magazine. ‘; o e e it o TR = - “WATCH THE BOX.” - : The 6:20 evening train, No. 39, was’ over an hour late that night. * Cause enough, Heaven knows. For twelve hours the storm had raged and now instead of showing any signs of breaking . Y . g ST the rain came down in torrents from the inky sky and the thunder rolled ominotsly overhead. A bad storm to drive an engine through, as anybody would have known and the wonder is that No. 39 was not three hours late instead of one. Old Duke Granger, the trustiest; nerviest engineer on the road, rounded the curve just below Red Ra-

~vine station at twenty-six minutes past seven. 1 breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the headlight cut a hole in the darkness. ' The station bridge might ~ bave given away in a storm Tike that and I was beginning to get nervous over this thought. v Somg¢how everything made me nervous. that night. It.-was just the kind of weather when = things look all out of gear, any way. | . Then, "I suppose, the knowledge of that money package being due and fail- " ing to come on the 11:30, as it should have done, had its effect on me: Ididn’t relish the idea of keeping %13,000 in i cash until the next day. Eldridge & Ricketson had ¥een down themselves to meet the morning train and if the pack--age had come I could have turned it over t,(\_thcm at once and that would have béen the end of the matter. But it didn’t eome. That’s. a way. things have ini-this world, when you most want em. | o : ' " There wasn't a soul at the statien that night except myself, and there were only two passengers who got off the train. . lispeak of 'em that way not meaning to 'be disrespectful, or make light of solemn things; only its habit, I ~ suppose; for most people would say sthere was only one passenger that got oft at Red Ravine, seeing that the secend of ’em was carried out of the express car in a wooden box. : Usually, when a body was coming on I got word beforehand, but this one took me quite by ‘surprise, and added not a little to ~the nervoushess I already felt. . . “Whoisit?" 1 asked as the box was carried into the-station. .

- The passenger who had got off the train and who was a stranger to me, answered my inquiry, . *'The: body is that of my sister-in-

law,”’ said he. * She was the neéice of # "Thomas Eld"ridge—;doubtless you know him. Her death was very sudden. She - is to be buried in Mr. Eldridge’s lot here.” : : ~ : - “Then I suppose the body -is to be left in my charge until to-morrow,” said I. L g ~ *“Xes,” answered the stranger. ‘Do you.suppose that I can get to Mr. Eldridge’s myself to-night?" ‘“Well,” I replied, ‘“it’s a good four miles, and in such g storm as this——"’ L¢P wait until to-morrow,” interrupted the stranger. ¢‘There is some sort of a hotel here, isn't there?”’ ;

¢“Yes, a good one. You'll have to

foot it, though; butit’s onlya matterofa quarter of a mile, and you can’t miss

. your way, for the road up the hill leads - straight to the house.” . : Here I made my way out to the platform again and made my way .on the ‘express car where the money package, - which all along I had secretly hoped wouldn’t come, was dﬁlivered to me by -the messenger. As he gave it to me he - .said: **You'll want to keep a sharp eye on that, Billy. There's enough in it to make one of yvour Red Raviners put a bullet through your head and never ‘give vou the chance to object.”’ - ¢“TI'll look out for the Red Raviners and the package, too,” said I, .confidently enough. Butif the truth had been told I didn’t like the suggestion which -the messenger had made. The train moved off quickly and I swung my lantern, as was my habit, by - way of bi(ldﬂngﬁfood night to Luke Granger. Then I went into -the station house with the little package clutched tightly under my rubber coat, .expecting’ to find the man there who had come on with the body. But he .had gone, being anxious, no doubt, to ‘et to the hotel as quickly as possible. - No. 89 was the last train which stopped - at Red Ravine until 6:10 the next morn.ing. So my work for the night ‘was done and I had only to lock up the doors, see - that thi'nfswere all right about the place and Bit down to my ‘newspaper it the littlfe room which served as my sleeping quarters. : . Twenty years had passed since I first found- myself installed at Red Ravine as telegraph’ opevator in the: railway station. - Being content ‘with the hum- ¢ drum sort of life and faithful to my duties, I had come by degrees to attend to all the work which the place required.: That is, I was the ticket agent, baggage-master.and keeper of the station, besides acting for the express company and continuin% my charge of the telegraph key. These combined labors made it pretgy close work for me, but they all yielded a very ~comfortable income; and as I was troubled with no unsatisfied ambitions. I counted myself well fixed. As I have _intimated, Islept in the station, partly ito keep guard on the company’s propterty and partly. from choice; béing a bachelor and without ‘kin, I had nothing to attract me elsewhere. My duties had grown a part of second nature and Ihad lived in the little town so long that the younger generation had come -to speak of me as ¢ Old Billy.”” That

was, I suppose, because my hair was getting gray and my joints a little stiff. The Red Ravine station was a wooden building, about forty feet long and twenty feet wide. It was divided into two compartments, the larger one being for freight and. baggage and the smaller one. ror passengers. My own little room was only a piece partitioned off from the freight: quarter, and ten feet square .and connected by a door with a box of an office in the passenger’s room, which served both for selling tickets and holding the telegraph key. In this latter department, also, was placed the old-fashioned: iron safe, in which I locked up my valuable express packages when any happened to come to Ked Rayvine.. The village, 1 ought to explain, had grown up entirely through the influence of the great iron works of Eldridge & Ricketson. There were rich beds of ore afew miles to the north, and these as well as the foundry, which employed 400 or 500 hands, were controlled by the firm I have mentioned. There had been some trouble at the works recently—a strike or something growing out of delay in paying the men their wages. This is how it happened that the $13,000 money package came into my keeping for a night. o Well, when I had made all snug about the station and got off my wet clothing, I sat down comfortably with pipe and newspaper to enjoy my customary reading. T'he storm outside continued to rage more and more fiercely, but within things were cozy as could be. I had a blazing fire in the stove, a cheerful light, an easy chair, plenty of good tobacco—the only luxury in which I was really extravagant—a fresh newspaper and a bottle of good Holland gin, wherewith to make my regular nocturnal toddy. Certainly these were pleasant surroundings for an old fellow like me, and as a rule they yielded as much solid comfort as a 2 man has a right to expect in this world. © But that night things seemed all out of geer. as I have said. My pipe didn’t soothe me as was its wont; try as I might I ceuldn’t get interested in the newspaper; an uncomfortable feeling of dread—a feeling that some shadowy but horrible thing was about to happen—possessed my mind and even when I had mixed up a toddy considerable stronger thsn usual it tailed to bring the relief I had hoped for. . : e

‘lt all comes of that pesky money package,’’ Imuttered to myself. ‘¢ Why ‘couldn’t it have got here on the 11:30 and saved me the job of keeping it here over night?”’ : . Just at this moxr@nb came a terrific clap of thunder and a flash of lichtning vivid enough to make the lamp dim. I had locked up the package in the safe and put the key—there was no combination lock—in my pocket. ‘But I haa not the largest faith in the security of the old safe. It had occurred to me often that a person could open it even if he wasn’'t a skillful cracksman. It ‘was my custom to leave my door open betwéen my little room and the ticket oftice, so that if Red Ravine was called on the telegraph key I could hear it. The instrument had been clicking away ‘at a great rate forithe past hour; but as it was'none of my business I had paid no attention to what was going on’over the wires. I judged now from the ‘nearness of the lightning and the jerky sounds of the instrument that the storm ‘was playing the mischief with the messages. I passed into the ticket office, ~where a light was left burnihg, and stood for some time thinking 'leether the money package would be less ex“posed in the safe than it would be under ‘the mattress ~of my bed, and I finally concluded that the latter place would 'be hardest for any possible thief to reach. So I took out the heavy brown envelope and stowed it away under the mattress. Then 1 took a second glass of toddy, which was usually against my Irule,'b\'lt which I thought the circum- - stances warranted. -

Once more I sat down to my newspaper and pipe, but with no better success than before. The storm seemed now to have centered right over the little station. Peal after pea?of thunder rent the air and the lightning played about the sky like phosphorus on an inky background. If you have ever chanced to be in a telegraph oftice during a thunder storm, you may have seen the electricity dash down the wires in a way to make timid people nervous. Even veteran operators, like myself, wouldn’t want to undertake to receive that sort of message. I wastempted to close the key, but the meaningless ticking had a sort of fuscination for me in the mood I then was. It was like the incoherent mutterings of a mania¢c where now and then, at long intervals only, could one distinguish a word or sentence. Maybe the extra allowance of toddy had made me more imaginative than usual, and given a 'weird coloring to my thoughts; for listening to the rapid eclick-click, I remember of fancying that some gpirithand had got hold of the key and was pouring out a wail of woe over the wires. .

I was 100 restless to sit still and too nervous to go to bed. . Besides, even if 1 hadn’t been so upset in my mind, it is doubtful whether I could have slept through such a storm as that. ' To occupy myself about something I relighted my lantern, went into the freight room, examined again the bolts of the doors and the fastenings of the windows and returned to the room more worried and upset than ever. ‘Just as I was éntering my own nest the light of the lantern fell squarely on the wooden box. Oddily enough, until that moment I had forgotten all about the dead young woman. Thinking so steadily of the $13,000 had, I suppose, driven the box out of mind. Buwt I can’tsay it was any comfort to have it brought back now; for a corpse is never the most cheerful of company, and, feeling as I did then, I would a great deal rather have had no company at all. It must have been the imp of the perverse, 1 suppose, that impelled me, after the box hatl been brought back to my mind, to leave the door open so that I could sit- and stare at it with morbid curiosity! As I have already said, my sleeping apartment was partitioned off from the freight room and was connected with the latter by a door. The bodv had been placed in such -a position that when this door was open the head of the box was in sight. Two or three times I gotup to shut the door, but some strange fatality drove me back to my chair and chused me to keep in

view the box with its sad freight. All this time the storm raged; the thunder discharged its mighty batteries, the lightning flashed and the mad ravings of the telegraph continued. Icaugﬁt my hand trembling as I tried to refill my pipe. Nervousness, no doubt; but possibly an observer might have thought old Billy was frightened. - I had just risen to wind the little clock on the shelf, when suddenly out of the hitherto meaningless ticking of the instrument sharply and distinctly came to my ears these sounds: e

which inspoken words meant, ¢ Watch

- I started as if a charge of electricity had shot through my frame. I could fairly feel my face growing white. I stood motionléss, clutching the back of the chair, and with my eyes riveted in a vacant stare at the table in the telegraph office. ' I knew this was no work of an excited imagination.. The words to my practiced ear, were as plain as if shouted in clarion tones. There had come no call for Red Ravine and the message ended without signature or mark, but abruptly, as it had begun. More than that, it was not the writing of any operator on any section of the line. I would have sworn to that with as much positiveness as you would to the tones 'of a voice with which you are familiar. In the dot and dash alphabet we learn to distinguish who is handling the keys almost with as much accuracy as others distinguish handwriting. And in all my experience I had never heard the sounder click off a message like that. ' : o

While I stood dazed and almost paralyzed (for you must remember that old Billy’s nerves were strung to a terrible pitch that night) the rapidand unintelligible click-click was, resumed as if a demon had again got hold of the key. It was fully five minutes before 1 mustered courage enough to pass into the ticket office and sit down by the table. Not once had I turned back to look at the-box. Almostat the instant of my sitting down at the table the clicking stopped short, as it had done before, and then these words were repeated: Walch the box. - Every dot, every dash, every letter, every word, came with such horrible distinctness, that iv seemed to send a sharp pain tingling through my ears. It was like the loud whispering of some ghostly voice. Then again, broke out the jargon of sound that turned the clicking into meaningless confusion. I sprang up from the table and with the now strengthened conviction that it was no delusion, no faney, but that the sound had come plainly over the wires I felt my courage returning and resolved to heed the mysterious warning. The rolling of the thunder and the mad roar of the storm no longer depressed me. I stepped boldly back into my own room and rested my eyes unflinchingly on the mysterious box.. What was its mysterious freight? Why had the phantom of the storm sent those startling words over the wires? What unknown hand had reached out from:the very lightning itself to warn me of some impending danger? These questions rushed through my mindas I felt the dread fear disappearing and found myself of a sudden growing strangely calm. - - The clock struck ten. I turned to the shelf and with a hand that nolonger trembled inserted the key and wound it composedly. Would it be the last time that I should perform that simple task? No matter. Happier than most men. because content with my humble lot, it should neverbe said that old Billy flinched in the face of duty. For that night it was my duty—my one sacred, all-important duty—to guard the treasure left to my keeping. And guard it 1 would while life remained. ' When I had finished winding the clock I took down from the shelf an old ruasty pistol which had lain for years undisturbed. It was not loaded, nor had I either powder or bullet anywhere in the station. But the weapon was an ugly looking one and carried a sort of silent force in case of too aggressive zirFument. After examining the rusty loek I put the pistol on the table, made a frésh glass of toddy, drank it,, lighted my pipe and —closed the door that opened into the frei%ht-.room. Now that I was thoroughly myself again 1 found it easy enough to shut out the sight of that ominous oblong box. o ' : It was not until tke clock struck again —that is eleven—that I made up my mind to go to bed. - All that time the storm held on, although the thunder had began to rumble more distantly. I threw off my coat and slippers, put out the li¥ht in the ticket oftice and turned that in my sleeping room down to a low flame. Then I é’rew the money package from uader the mattress and pinned it securely to my woolen shirt under my, vest. This done, and the table so placed that I could reach both the lamp and the pistol, I opened the door into the freight room some three or four inches and then threw myself upon the bed. Just as my head touched the pillow the instrument, which had grown quiet now, clicked . off for the third time, loudly, distinetly, slowly, its words of warning: Watch the box ! o

This time the warning wasnot heeded. I had not gone to bed to sleep, but for the very purpose of watching the box. Standing as it did, with the head close to the door, and therefore close to the box. itself, the hed afforded the best point from which to keep an eye on the suspicious freight. - Had my faith in the telegraphic clicking been less, or had my own sense ‘of great responsibility deserted me for a single moment, I should have certainly given up the job of watching as foolish, and in that case it is not likely that this narrative would ever have been written. But I believed in the thrice-repeated message and I did not let drowiiness overcome patience. Twelve. one, two—how very slowly the hours seem to drig themselves. The low flame of the lamp went out as the oil ran dry. What. a relief it was to heatr the clock strike! At last, somewhere about midnight, the storm had broken. 1 could. see the stars as they came through the window in the freight room, which was on a line of vision with the box. How strangely still it seemed after the mighty roar of the storm and the sharp elap of thunder! Not a click from the instrument now. Not a sound save the sturdy ticking of the clock. Still I lay listening, watching, with faculties all alert ‘ang my eyes always on the oblong box. ; A i‘;t:tle past two—perhaps ten min-

!utes. The silence almost painful in its |profoundness. " Nothing but the ‘ticktick of the clock, which, to my =ager ear, had taken on| this sound, which it kept, repeating over and over: ‘Watch—the—box! ~ Watch—the—box!’ - - e What was that? = ‘ - Not the clock, not the telegraph in{strument. No, it was the sound as of ll the grating of iron. ' Faint, very faint, | yet still andible to my ear! Breathing | regularly and deeply, as one’ breathes in sleep, I lay and listened. Another interval of silence and tßen the grating sound cat e{again,' this time a strifle louder than before. The light of the stars shining through the window 1 made the objects in the freight-room just }'visible.. Almost, simultaneously with | the second gratingnoise I saw the cover |of the wooden box| rising slowly from ( the end furtherest | removed from the ( bed. I could féel my heart thumping l away like a sledge hammer, but I continued to‘breath heavily and to watch { keenly. " Gently #nd noiselessly’ the | cover ‘was _'presse?l upward until it ' reached - an. angle| which completely ! shut out from my'wjilew the window be- | yond. A moment [Jater the figure of a | man came out of thie shadows. while the | box-cover was let k()wn as noiselessly ias it had been raisefl. - ‘ ] _ This, then, was the burden ofthe box. l This was the meaning of the mysterious | warning which the sounder had spoken.. | With cat-like tread the figure moved toward the doorof my bed-room. Still ' Ilay as in deep sledp. On the thresh- | old the figure pausedl and in a moment | later a single ray of; light like a silver | thread pierced the darkness and fell | upon the bed. Luckily it did not strike | my face and in an instant I closed my 1 eyes. As I had anticipated, the ray of | light was well directed toward my pill low and by th'e‘sens% of feeling I knew {it rested a moment on my face. Satisfied that I was in ’itleep slumber, the figure, still with cat-like tread, glided | through the bedroom and into the i_» ticket-office. My engs were wide open | again by this time. |'The light from the t dark lantern had increased, but its rays | were now turned toward the safe. Ob- { viously the robber believed the treasure ]»thatthe sought was there. I waited until he had knelt down to examine the { lock, and then, with |steps as noiseless|ly as his own, I slipped from the bed { and toward the half-opened door. So intent was he in examining the safe that it was not until I was within i reach of him that he heard me. He sprang to his feet, bringing the glass of | the lantern full into my face and reachl ing for his revolver, which he had laid | upon the top of the safe. But he was | too late. With the-rusty old pistol, held by its long barrel, 1 dealt him a crushing blow on the head just as. his { fingers grasped his own weapon. - He { fell heavily, without uttering a groan. | The lattern was extinguished as it fell { and with trembling j,gngers I struck a imatch and lighted the lamp in the of- | fice. As its rays fell upon the upturned face of the robber, I saw' that blood was flowing from the wound I had infticted, and I saw, too, that his face was delicate in its outlines and intelli- ! gent in expression., I had notimeto po- | tice more, forl felt, now that the danger was past, the need of aid. So, after binding the unconscious man’s feet and arms and bathing his head in cold water, I pulled on my boots and overcoat and started in hot haste for the hotel. - Half-way on the road I met a covered carriage, drawn by one horse. I took it to be the turn-out of Matthews, the hotel proprietor, and, wondering what he could be out for at that hour, Ishouted his name: I gotnoresponse. Then I cried out at the top of my voice: ¢ I've killed a burglar dé%n at the stafion!”’ : - Whoever was in the carriage must ‘have heard me but the horse only quickened his sharp trot and disappeared in the darkness. - : - They give me a great deal more credit, the people . of Red Ravine, for that night’s adventure than I deserve. And I do not blame them for laughing how things came out. For when a party of us got back to the station my unconscious Burglar had disappeared and the tracks next morning showed that the covered carriage which I had met on the road-had drawn up at the platform. ‘Who was in it? Well, I couldn’t swear, but I have a notion that it contained the gentleman who had come on with the dead body. At all events, neither he nor the body was ever seen in the town again. I had the satisfaction of delivering the money package safely to Eldridge & Rickeston, but the check they | gave me was not really merited. For what would have happened had it not been for the mysterious message which no man sent? £ ;

A Chase for an Eloping Sweetheart,

' Yesterday morning an eloping couple arrived in this city. On the same train was a pursuer who had followed the fugitives for four days and nights, but without their knowledge. John W. Brack and Miss Elizabeth Morgan, both of Jasper County, Mo., were betrothed amtl the time set for their marriage was last Friday night. On- the same day a rival, Thomas Fremont, induced the expectant bride to elope with: him and they took the train south. The rightful claimant took the train in hot, pursuit. He followed them for four days and nights without sleeping and at Marshall took the same traih with the eloping couple for this city. On arriving here they - engaged rooms at the Pacific House, but they had been hardly shown to their rooms when their pursuer, at tended by a policeman, put in an appearance. Thomas Fremont proposed to leave the decision to the lady. After some hesitation, and with a show of great regret at taking leave of the man with whom she had eloped, she made her decision in favor of the gentleman to whom she was first engaged and decided to cast her destiny and fortune with Mr. Brack. Mr. Fremont, the disappointed eloper, relinquished all claims to. the lady and took his leave. Accordmgly, and. as a happy finale to the episode, Mr. John W. Brack and Miss' Elizabeth Morgan were united in the legal -bonds of matrimony at the Pacific House yesterday morning.—Shreveport (La.) Standard. Lifan g

—Little bowls cut from solid ice, are a nice invention for serving raw, oysterg. o b eey

3 | Hor Ponng Beaders. ' »FOURTH OF JULYY | : A jolly procession cama ‘down the ‘broad ) street, : . Hi! ho! hippetty ho! The xilarchi.ng‘; and tramping of twelve little oty e " Hi!ho! hippety ho! The ﬂla)llg at:f the head was the ‘‘red white and e, - : o S And the s'mldiers came marching behind, two - and two, ; | Hi! ho! hippetty ho! The drum and the tifée made a terrible noise, And likewise the six young American boys, | Hilho! hippetty hol ; * ; I i ¢ b 4 The people they fled in great terror before, ' |- Hil hol hippetty ho! : B The boys followed aitér, and shouted hurrah! . Hi! ho! hippetty ho! ; Hurrah -fof' the glorious Fourth of J\lly! - Hurrah f:)r the ‘‘red, white and blue,” is the Cryi | pt S | Hilho! hippetty hot - : They charged down the street, while of hearing bereft ... : ThQP{"f’l”“" went. tumbling around right and eft, | : ) : Hi! ho! h'ippett_y ho! Ar They siwepgt all before them, they carriedthe Lodaytii S : : | Hi!ho! hippetty ho! : : As they hT\'eA done—do now—and - will dg alway, : : i~ Hi! ho! hippetty ho! : ; l—Laura Ledyard, in Wide-Awake.| . e . TWO GUNPOWDER »TORIES. - The readers of St. Nicholuswho were interested in the account of ¢ The Coolest Man in Russia,” priated in the number for January, 1878, may like to hear of- another exploit which, for pluck and daring, fully equaled that of the young Russian oflicer. This incident occurred \in 1847, during our war with Mexico, and the hero of it.was a boyish Yankee sergeant, named Kenaday, then about nineteen years old. In seeking to capture the City of Mexico, the American army was obliged to take first the town of Churubusco, about six miles from the city. After that, the main approach was by a large causeway, with a ditch on each side, and, at ome place, a fortified bridge. So the American forces, under General Worth, had to gain the bridge and fight upon the causeway; and, at one point in the battle, the General found himself separated from a part of his troops, whom he wished to rejoin. .

In the middle of the caushway, among other wreck, stood a baggage-wagon, on fire, and, as the Genem& and his staff approached the blazing ¢art, they suddenly discovered that it was laden with gunpowder! They drew up \Vi‘th a start, and waited results very anx? iously. In a moment, however, Sergeant A, M. Kenaday, then of the Third U. S. Dragoons, motioned to three of his comrades, and without a word the four braye men dashed on to the wagon. - Although they could not tell how soon one of the powder boxes might explode, these men determined to clear a passage for their chief. The gunnybag covers of the hoxes were smouldering, and some of them were already aflame, but Kenaday and another soldier mounted ‘into the midst of the. blazing boxes, and fell to work in dead earnest—quickly tossing ‘them one: by one to the two other troopers, who as quickly rolled them into the wet and muddy ditch. Each wooden case, moreover, weighed about seventy pounds, so that to empty the cart was no light labor. | Ll T

Within a few minutes, the cover of the wagon had burned entirvely off, and the gallant four, almost exha*usted_with heat and exertion, were soon after stopped by General Worth, iwho rode up to the wagon and ordered them out. This command was in§tan_tly obeyed, and then the General and -his staft spurre%their ‘horses and made a rush past th€é wagon at full gallop, while the Sergeant and his comrades followed at a pace that soon put them out of danger.. - 'But they had not yet caught up with the General's party when they heard a loud report behind, and, looking back, saw no trace of the wagon, even, when the smoke had cleared. It had been blown to atoms by the few cases of powder which they had left in it. : ~And this was not the only act of bravery pérformed that day by the young Sergeant, for later in the same afternoon le joined- in the famous charge, led by General (then Captain) Philip Kearny, on the San Antonio gate of the City of Mexico. In this reckless. onset, twenty resolute dragoons cut their way into "the ¢ity = through six thousand of the enemy’s! panic-stricken soldiers. General Scott, the American Command-er-in-chief, said it wasthe bravestcharge he had ever seen’ or read of, and a full account of it may be found in almost every history of the Mexican War. : Very different from the young Sergeant’s powder-exploit, but quite worthy to be ranked with it for courage and self:sacrifice, was the other deed I have to tell about. This time, the -act of bravery was performed by a girl instead of a boy, and the powder, instead of making the danger, was the very thing which she risked her life to save. And the heroine of this story belonged not to an invading party. but to a small garrison who were besieged and making a desperate defense. This is the way it happened:: ; Among the important border outposts of the Americans, during the war of the Revolution, was Fort Henry, situated on a bank of the Ohio River, near Wheeling Creek. In 1777, it was suddenly attacked by a band of Indians under the gommand of Simeon Girty, a white man and a Tory, noted for his cruel - hatred ' toward the Americans. The Indiaj;s num_heredfnea{‘ly five hundred, but the garrison in the fort were only forty-two, and, soon after the siege began, some thirty of these were caught in an ambush outside of the fort and slain. Only twelve men were now left to Colonel Shepherd, the American commander; but all these were good marksmen, and knowing that surrender meant death for their wives jand children as well as for themselves, they: resolved to fight to the last. .. ... . . But; alas! bravery availed them little, for it was not long before the little stock of powder in the fort was almost exhausted; and only a few charges remained to each man. - Fo

In despair, the Colonel ecalled his brave little band together, dnd told: them that at a house some sixty yards outside of the fort, which their enemies had not yet dared to approach, there. was a keg of gunpowder. Whoever should try to bring it into the fort would be in peril of his life from the

rifles of the Indians. He had not the heart to order any man to such a task, but the powder was their only hope, - and, therefore, it was his duty: to ask ifany one of them was brave enough to . volunteer the undertaking. ew o 4 Instantly, .three or four young men avowed themselves ready, but only cne man could be spared. And while they were generously disputing among themselves for the perilous errand, Elizabeth. Zane, a ' girl- of seyventeen, approached the Colonel and begged that she ‘might be allowed “to go for' the powder. Heér request was ~ promptly -refused, -but she persisted earnestly, even against the remonstrances and entreaties of her parents and friends. In vain, they pleaded and reasoned with her, urging more than ouce that a young man would be more likely to succeed, through his power of rununing swiftly. 'She replied that she knew the danger, but that, if she failed, her loss would not be felt, while not a single man ought. to be spared from the little "garrison. - Finally, it was agreed that: she should make’ the first trinl. . = e e e

“'When all was réady, the gate opened and Elizabeth walked rapidly acrgss the open space toward the house where the powder was “stored. Those inside the fort could plainly see that the eyes of the Indians were upon “her, but, either from curiosity or- mercy, .they allowed her to pass safely and to. enter the house. . S e

-~ Her friends drew a breath of relief, and, watching even more ansiously for her re-appearance, saw her come out sood, bearing "the powder in a tablecloth tied around her waist. = But this time the Indians suspected her burden, and in a moment more, as she was. hastening toward the fort, they sent after her a shower of bullets and arrows. These all, . however, swhistled by her harmless, and“with wild, startled eyes; but an undaunted heart, she 'spedy oh with her treasure through the deadly missiles, until\at last she bore it in triumph inside the gate.- . By the aid of the powder and the enthusiastic eourage which Elizabeth's self-sacrifice inspired,. the little garrison was enabled to hold out until relief came to them. And so this noble act of a young girl saved the lives of all within the fort, and vanquished its five hundred dusky assailants.—Si. Necholas.