Terre Haute Weekly Gazette, Terre Haute, Vigo County, 27 January 1887 — Page 12

THE BED ACORN.

BY JOHN M'ELIiOY Aulltov of "AndersonvilleEta

(Copyrighted by National Tribone Publishing Co^ and published by arrangement with thew.1

CHAPTER IX. ON THE MARCH.

The regiment made its first step on Kei lucky soil with a little bit of pardonable ostentation. Every one looked upon it as the real beginning of its military career. When the transport was securely tied up at the •wharf the colonel mounted his horse, drew his sword, placed himself at the head of the regiment, and gave the command "Forward." Eleven hundred superb young fellows, marching four abreast, with bayonets fixed and muskets at "right shoulder shift," strode up Che bank after him and went into line of battle at the top, where ho made a short, soldierly speech, the drums rolled, the colors dipped, the men cheered, and tho band played "Star Spangled Banner" and "Dixie."

Three years later the two hundred survivors of this number, returning from their "veteran furlough," without a band and with their tattered colors carefully cased, came off a transport at the

Bame

place, without uttering

word other than a little grumbling at the trouble of disposing of some baggage, marched swiftly and silently up th*s bank, and disappeared before any one fairly realized that they wero there. So much had time and war taught them. "Now our work may be said to be fairly begun," said the colonel, turning from the contemplation of his regiment and scanning anxiously tho tops of the distant line of encircling hills, as if he expected to see there signs of the Confederates in strong force. All the rest imitated his example, and studied UrtPhorizon solicitously. "And I expect we (ball have plenty of it!" continued the colonel. "No doubt of that," answered tho major. "They say the Confederates are filling Kentacky with troops, and going to fight for •very foot of tho old dark and bloody ground. think we will have to earn ail we get of it." "To-day's paper's report," joined in Surgeon

Denslow, "that Gen. Sherman says it- wtfl take 200,000 troops to redeem Kentucky." "Yes," broke in tho colonel testily, and fiie same papers agree in pronouncing Sherman crasy. But no matter how many or how few takes. That's none of our affair. We've got 1,100 good men in ranks, and we're going to do all that 1,100 good men can do. God Almighty and Abe Lincoln have got to take care of tho rest."

It will be seen that the colonel was a very practical soldier. For days the regiment marched steadily on through the wonderfully lovely Blue Grass region, toward the interior of the state, without coming into the neighborhood of any organized body of the Confederates.

The turnpike, hard and smooth as a city pavement, wound over and around romantic bills—hills crowned with cedar and evergreen laurel, and scarred with cliffs and caverns. It passed through forests, aromatic with ripening nuts and changing leaves, and glorious & the colors of early autumn. Then its course would traverse farms of gracefully undulating acres, bounded by substantial stone walls, marked by winding streams of pure spring •water, centering around great roomy houses, with huge outside chimneys and broad piazzas, and with a train of humble negro cabins in the rear. The horses were proudstepping thoroughbreds, the women comely and spirited, the men dignified and athletic, and all seemed well fed and comfort-able. The names of the places alohg the route recalled to Harry's memory all he had ever read of the desperate battles and massacres and singls handed encounters of Daniel Boone and his associates with the Indians in the early history of the country.

At last the regiment halted under the grand old beeches and hickories of the famous Camp Dick Robinson, in the heart of the Blue Grass region. In this most picturesque part of the lovely Kentucky River valley they spent tho bright days of October very delightfully.

Nature is as kindly and gracious in central Kentucky as in any part of the globe upon which her sun shines, and she seemed to be on her best behavior, that she might duly impress the northern visitors.

It was tho very poetry of soldiering, and Harry began to forget the miseries of life in »camp of instruction, and to believe that there was much to be enjoyed, even in the life of an enlisted man.

There was enough excitement in camp to prevent any danger of ennui. The probability of battle gave the daily drills an interest that they never could gain in Ohio. The native Confederates were numerous and defiant, and kept up such demonstrations as led to continual apprehensions of an attack. New regiments came in constantly, and were received with enthusiasm. Kentucky and East Tennessee loyalists, tall, gaunt, long haired and quaint spoken, but burning with enthusiasm for the government of their fathers, flocked to the camp, doffed their butternut garb, assumed the blue, and enrolled themselves to defend the Union.

At length it became evident that the Confederate "Army of Liberation" was really about crossing the Cumberland mountains to drivo out the "Yankees" and recover possession of Kentucky for the southern Confederacy.

Outposts were thrown out in all directions to gain the earliest intelligence of the progress of the movement, and to make such resistance to it as might be possible. One of these outposts was stationed at Wildcat Gap, an inexpressibly wild and desolate region, sixty miles from Camp Dick Robinson, where the road entering Kentucky from Tennessee at Cumberland gap crosses the Wildcat range of mountains.

One day the startling news reached camp that an overwhelming Confederate force under Gen. Zollicoffer was on the eve of attacking the slender garrison of Wildcat gap. The "assembly" was sounded, and the regiment, hastily provided with rations and ammunition, was hurried forward to aid in the defense of the threatened outpost.

Nature, as if in sympathy with the gathering storm of war, ceased her smiling. The blue, bending skies were transformed into a scowling, leaden-visaged canopy, from which fell a chill, incessant rain.

When the order to prepare for the march came Glen, following the example of his comrades, packed three days' cooked rations in his haversack, made his blankets into a roll, tying their ends together, threw them scarf fashion over his shoulder and took his accustomed place as file closer in the rear of Us company. Ho was conscious all the time, though he suffered no outward sign to betray tho fact, that he was closely watched by the boys who had been with him in western Virginia, and who were eager to see how he would demean himself in this new emerfiencr.

xie was shortly ordered to assist in tbs iaspection of cartridge boxes and the issuing of cartridges, and the grim nature of the errand they were about to start on duly impressed itself upon his mind as he walked down the lines in the melancholy rain, examined each box and gave the owner the quantity of cartridges required to make up tho quota of forty rounds per man.

Those who scrutinized his face as he passed slowly by saw underneath the dripping eaves of his broad brimmed hat firm set lines about his mouth and a little more luminous light in his eyes. "Harry Glen's screwing his courage to the sticking point. He's bound to go through this time," grid Kent Edwards.

"Harry Glen's bound to go through this time." The hospital steward approached, and laid: "Captain, the surgeon presents his compliments and respects that you send four men to convey your First Lieut. Pancake to comfortable quarters which have been prepared for him in the hospital barracks. His rheumatic trouble has suddenly assumed an acute form—brought on doubtless by a change in the weather—and he is suffering greatly. Please instruct tho men to be very careful in carrying him, so as to avoid all unnecessary pain, and also all exposure to tiie rain. Ho will have a good room in the hospital, with a fire in it, and every attention, so that you need have no fears concerning him." "I never had," said Kent, loud enough to be heard all over the right wing of the company. "I have," said Abe. "There's every danger in the world that he'll get well"

Away the regiment marched, through the dismal rain, going as fast as the heavily laden men could bo spurred onward by the knowledge of their comrades' eminent need.

For three weary, discouraging days they pressed onward through the dispiriting rain and over all the exhausting obstacles. On the morning of the fourth they reached the foot of the range in which Wildcat Gap is situated. They were iparching slowly up the steep mountain side, their soaked garments clinging about their weary limbs and clogging their footsteps. Suddenly a sullen boom rollod out of tho mist that hung over the distant mountain tops.

Every ono stopped, held their breaths, and tried to check the beating of their hearts, that they might hear more.

They needed not. There was no difficulty about hearing the succeeding reports, which became every instant more distinct. "By God, that's cannon!" said the colonel. "They're attacking our boys. Throw off everything, boys and hurry forward I"

Overcoats, blankets, haversacks and knapsacks wero hastily piled, and the two most exhausted men in each company placed on guard over them.

Kent and Abe did not contribute their canteen to the company pile. But then its weight was much less of an impediment than when they left Camp Dick Robinson.

They employed the very brief halt of the regiment in swabbing out the barrels of their muskets very carefully, and removing the last traces of moisture from the nipples and hammers. "At last I stand a show of getting some return from this old piece of gas. tube for the trouble it's been to me," said Kent Edwards, as he ran a pin into the nipple to make assurance doubly sure that it was entirely free. "Think of the transportation charges I have against it, for the time I have lugged it around over Ohio and Kentucky, to say nothing of the mantial labor and the mental strain of learning .and practising 'present arms,' 'carry arms,' 'support arms,' and such other military monkey shines under the hot sun of last summer 1"

He pulled off the woolen rag he had twisted around the head of the rammer for a swab, wiped the rammer clean and bright and dropped it into the gun. It fell with a clear ring. Another dexterous movement of the gun sent it flying into the air. Kent caught it as it came down and scrutinized its bright head. He found no smirch of dirt or dampness. "Clean and' clear as a whistle inside," he said, approvingly. "She'll make rrftisic that our secession friends will pay attention to, though it may not be as sweet to their ears as 'Tho Bonnie Blue Flag.'" "More likely kick the whole northwest quarter section of your shoulder off when you try to shoot it," growled Abe, who had been, paying similar close attention to his gun. "If we'd had anybody but a lot of mullet heads for officers we'd a' been sent up here last week, when the weather and the roads were good, and when we could've done something. Now our boys'llbe licked before we can get where we can help 'em."

Glen leaned on his musket, and listening to the deepening roar of the battle, was shaken by the surge of emotions natural to the occasion. It seemed as if no ono could live through the incessant firing, the sound of which rolled down to them. To go up into it was to deliberately venture into certain destruction. Memory made a vehement protest. He recalled all the pleasant things that life had in store for him all that he could enjoy and accomplish all that he might be to others all that others might be to him. Every enjoyment of the past, every happy possibility of the future took on a more entrancing roeeateness.

Could he give all this up, and die there on the mountain top, in this dull, brutal, unheroic fashion, in the filthy mud and dreary rain, with no one to note or care whether he acted courageously or otherwise?

It did not seem that he was expected to fling his life away like a dumb brute entering the reeking shambles. His youth and abilities had been given him for some other purpose. Again palysving fear and ignoble selfishness tugged at his heartstrings, and he felt all his carefully cultivated resolutions weakening. "A sergeant must be left in command of the men guarding this property," said the coloneL "The captain of Company A will detail one for that duty."

Capt Bennett glanced from one to another of his five senreants. Harry's heart gave a

swift* leap with hope that he might be ordered to remain behind. Then the blood crimsoned his cheeks, for the first time since the sound of the firing struck his ears he felt that every eyo in the company was upon him, and that his ignoble desire had been raad by all in his look of expectancy. Shame came to spur up his faltering will. Ho set his teeth firmly, pulled the tompion out of his gun'and flung it away disdainfully, as if he would never need it again, blew into the muzzle to see if the tube was clear, and wiped off the lock with a line white handkerchief—one of the relics of his bygone elegance—which he drew from the breast of his blouse. "Sergt Glan—Sergt. Glancey will remain," Baid the captain, peremptorily Qlancey, the captain knew, was the only son and support of a widowed mother. "Now, boys," said the colonel in tones that rang like bugle notes, "the time has come for us to strike a blow for the Union and for the fame of the dear old Buckeye state. I need not exhort you to do your duty like men I know you too well to think that any such words of mine are at all necessary. Forward I quick time! ®arch!"

The mountain sides rang with the answering cheers from a thousand throats. The noise of the battle on tho distant crest was at first in separate bursts of sound, as regiment after regiment came into position and opened fire. The intervals between these bursts he^ disappeared and it had pow become a steady roar.

A wild mob came rushing backward from the front. "My God, our men are whipped!" exclaimed the young adjutant in tones of anguish. "No, no," said Capt. Bennett, with cheerful confidence. "These are only the camp riff-raff, who run whenever so much as a cap is burst near them."

So if, proved to be. Thero were teamsters upon their wheel-mules, cooks, officers, servants, both black and white, and civilian employes, mingled with many men in uniform, skulking from their companies. Those were mounted who eould seize a mule anywhere, and those who could not were endeavoring to keep up on foot with the panic stricken viders.

All sieified wild with one ilea: To get as far as possible from the terrors raging around the mountain top. They rushed through tho regiment and disordered its ranks. "Who are you a-shovin', young fellowsay!" demanded Abo Bolton, roughly collaring a strapping hulk of a youth,^who, hatles* and with his fat cheeks white with fear, came plunging against him like a frightened steer. "Oh, boys, let me pass, and don't go up there] Don't! You'll all be killed. I know it. I'm all th» one of my company that got away—I am, rtally. All the rest are killed." "Heavens! what a wretched remnant, as the dry goods man sqjd wheu the clerk brought him apiece of so ago as all that the burglars had left of bj? stock of broadcloth," said Kent Edwar/ "*Vs too bad that you were allowed to get away, either. Yatfm net a proper selection for a relic at all, and you give a bad impression of your company. You ought to have thought of this and staid up there and got killed and let some better looking man got away, that would have done the company credit. Why didn't you think of this?" "Git!" said Abe, sententiously, with a twist in the coward's collar, that, with the help of an opportune kick by Kent, sent him sprawling down the bank. "Capt. Bennett," shouted the colonel angrily, "fix bayonets there in front and drive these hounds off, or we'll never get there."

A show of savage looking steel sent the skulkers down a side path through the woods.

The tumult of tho battle heightened with every step the regiment advanced. A turn iD the winding road brought them to an open ing in the woods which extended clear to th» summit. Through this the torrent of noise poured as when a powerful band passes the head of a street. Down this avenuo came rolling tho crash of thousands of muskets fired with the intense energy of men in mortal combat, the deeper pulsations of the artillery, and even the fierce yells of the fighters, as charges were made or repulsed.

Glen felt the blood settle around his heart anew. "Get out of tho road and let the artillery pass! Open up there for tho artillery!" shouted voices from the rear. Everybody sprang to the side of the road.

There came a sound of blows rained upon the horses' bodies—of shouts and oaths from excited drivers and eager officers—of rushing wheels and of ironed hoofs striking fire from the grinding stones. Six long bodied, strong limbed horses, their hides reeking with sweat, and their nostrils distended with intense effort, tore past, snatching after theni, as if it were a toy, a gleaming brass cannon, surrounded by galloping cannoneers, who goaded the draft horses on with

IBB GAZETTE TERRE HAUTE, INDIANA, THURSDAY, JANUARY 27,1887

blowB

with

the flats of their drawn sabers. Another gun,with its straining horses and galloping attendants, and another, and another, until six great, grim pieces, with their scores of desperately eager men and horses, had rushed by toward the front.

It was a sight to stir the coldest blood. The excited infantry boys, wrought up to the last pitch by the spectacle, sprang back into the road, cheered vociferously, and rushed on after tho battery.

Hardly had the echoes of their voices died away, when they heard the battery join its thunders to the din of the fight.

Then wounded men, powder-stained, cams straggling back—men with shattered arms and gashed faces and garments soaked with blood from bleeding wounds. "Hurrah, boys!" each shouted with weakened voice, as his eyes lighted up at sight of the regiment, "We're whipping them but hurry forward! You're needed!" "If you ain't pretty quick," piped one girlfaced boy, with a pensive smile, as he sat weakly down on a stone and pressed a delicate hand over around red spot that had just appeared on the breast of his blouse, "you'll miss all the fun. We've about Hckcd 'em already. Oh!

Abe and Kent sprang forward to catch him, but he was dead almost before they could reach him. They laid him back tenderly on the brown dead leaves, and ran to regain their places in the ranks.

The regiment was now sweeping around the last curve between it and the line of battle. The smell of the burning powder that filled the air, the sight of flowing blood, the 6houts of the fighting men, had awakened in every bosom that deep-lying killing instinct inherited from our savage ancestry, which slumbers—generally wholly unsuspected—in, even the gentlest man's bosom, until some accident) gives it a terrible arousing.

Now the slaying fever burned in every souL They were marching with long quick strides, but well closed ranks, elbow touching elbow, and every movement made with even more than the accuracy of a parade. Harry felt himself swept forward by a current as resistless as that wi'h sets over Niagara.

Tbev onme ai^®1^ little hill, and saw a

oank of sm«M itdicating where the line of battle was. "Let's finish the canteen now," said Kent. "It may get bored by a bullet and all run out, and you know I hate waste." '.'I suppose we might as well drink it," assented Abe—the first time in tho history of the regiment, that ho agreed with anybody. "We may n't be able to do it in ten minutes, and it would be too bad toVe lugged that all the way here, jbst for some ono olse to drink."

An aide, powder grimed, but radiant with joy, dashed up. "Colonel," ho said, "you had better go into line over in that vacant spaco there, and wait for orders but I don't think you will have anything to do, for tho general believes that the victory is won, and the Confederates are in full retreat"

A in ok a he a the .10 of battle, and a band stationed upon a rock which formed tho highest part of the mountain, burst forth with the grand strains of tho "Star Spangled Banner."

The artillery continued to hurl screaming shot and shell down into the narrow gorge, through which the defeated Confederates were flying with mad haste.

.. CHAPTER X.

THB MOUNTAINEER'S RBVKNOE. Harry Glen's first feeling when he found the battle was really over, was that of elation that the. crisis to which he had looked forward with so much apprehension, had passed without his receiving any bodily harm. This was soon replaced by regret that the longcoveted opportunity had been suffered to pass unimproved, and still another strong sentiment—that keen sense of disappointment which comes when we have braced ourselves up to encounter an emergency, and it vanishes. There is the feeling of waste of valuable accumulated energy, which is as painful as that of energy misapplied.

Still further, hs felt sadly that the day of his vindication had been again postponed over another weary period of probation.

All around was intense enthusiasm, growing stronger every instant. It was the first battle that the victors had been engaged in, and they felt the tumultuous joy that the first triumph brings to young soldiers. It was the first encounter upon tho soil of Kentucky it was the first victory between tho Cumberland mountains and the Mississippi river, and the loss of the victors was insignificant compared .with that of the vanquished.

The cold drench from the skies, tho dreary mud—evon the dead and wounded—were forgotten in the jubilation at tho sight of the lately insolent foe flying in confusion down the mountain side, recking for nothing so much as for personal safety.

The ban'd continued to jj^y patriotic airs and the cannyn to thunder long after the last Confederate had disappeared in the thick woods at t!:a bottom of the gloomy gorge.

A detail of men and some wagons wero sent back after tho regiment's baggage, and thQ, rest of the boys, after a few minutes' survey of the battlefield, were set to work building fires, cooking rations and preparing from the branches and brush such shelter as could be made to do substitute duty for the tents left behind. little as was Harry's normal inclination to manual labor, It was lees than ever now, with these •motions struggling in hJa rttnd, sad leaving his comrades hard at work, ho wandered off to where Hoosier Knob, a command ing eminence on the left of the battlefield, seemed to offer the best view of the retreat of the forces of Zollicoffer. Arriving there, he pushed on down the slope to where the enemy's line had stood, and where now were groups of men in blue uniforms, searching for trophies of the fight. In ono place a musket would bo found in another a cap with a silver star, or a canteen quaintly fashioned from alternate staves of red and white cedar. Each "find" was proclaimed by the discoverer, and he was immediately surrounded by a group to earnestly inspect and discuss it. It was still the first year of the war the next year "trophies" were left to rot unnoticed on the battlefields they covered.

Harry took no interest in the relic hunting, but walked onward toward another prominence that gave hopes of a good view of the Confederates. The glimpses he gained from this of the surging mass of -fugitives inflamed him with the excitement of the chase—of the most exciting of chases, a man hunt. He forgot his fears, forgot how far behind he was leaving all the others, and became eager only to see more of this fascinating sight. Before he was aware of it, he was three or four miles from the gap.

Hero a point ran boldly down from the mounUiia into the valley, and ended in a bare kiiob that overlooked the narrow creek bottom, along which the beaten host was forging its way. Harry unhesitatingly descended to this, and stood gazing at the swarming horde below. It was a sight to rivet the attention. The narrow level spaco through which the creek meandered between two parallel ranges of heights was crowded as far as he could see with an army which defeat had degraded to a demoralized mob. All semblance of military organization had well-nigh disappeared. Horsemen and footmen, infantry, cavalry and artillery, officers and privates, ambulances creaking under their load of wounded and dying, ponderous artillery forges, wagons loaded with food, wagons loaded with ammunition, and wagons loaded with luxuries for the delectation of the higher officers—all huddled and crowded together, and struggled forward with feverish haste over the logs, rocks, gullies and the deep waters of the swollen stream, and up its slippery banks, through the quicksands and quagmires which every passing foot and wheel beat into a still more grievous" obstacle for those that followed. Hopelessly fagged horses fell for the last time under the merciless blows of their frightened masters, and added their great bulks to the impediments of the road.

The men were sullen and depressed—cast down by the wretchedness of earth and sky, and embittered against their officers and each other for the blood uselessly shed—oppressed with hunger and weariness, and momentarily fearful that new misfortunes were about to descend upon them. In brief, it was one of the saddest spectacles that human history can present: that of a beaten and disorganized army in full retreat, and an army so new to soldiership and discipline as to be able to make nothing but the worst out of so great a calamity—it was a rout after a repulse.

Nearly all the passing thousands were too much engrossed in the miseries of their toilsome progress to notice the blue-coated figure on the bare knob abovo tho road. But the rear of the fugitives was brought up by a squad of men moving much more leisurely and some show of order. They did not plunge into the m&< of men and nnimiiq and vehicles, and struggle with them in the morass which the road had now become, but deliberately pickcd their way along tho sides of the valley, where the walking was easier. They saw Harry, and understood as soon as they saw, who ho was. Two or three responded to their first imnulse. and raisins

their guns to tneir shoulders, ilred at him. A bullet slapped against tho rock upon which he was partially leaning, and fell at his feet I Another spattered mud in his face, and flew away, singing viciously.

At the reports the fear-harassed mob shuddered and surged forward through its1 entire length.

The companions of those who fired seemed to reproach them with angry gestures, pointing to the effect upon tho panicky mass. Then tho whole squad rushed forward toward the hill.

Deadly fear clutched HtfH^ Glen's heart as the angry notes of the bullets jarred on his senses. Then pride antt tho animal instinct of fighting ror life flamed upward. So swiftly that ho was scarcely conscious of what he was doing ho snatched a cartridge from tho box, tore its end between his teeth, and rammed it home. He replaced the ramrod in its thimbes with one quick thrust, and as ho raised his eyes from the nipple upon which he had placed the cap, he saw 'that the Confederate squad had gained the foot of the knoll and started up its side. He raised the gun to flre, but as ho did so he heard a voice call out from behind him: "Skeet ouien thar I Skcet outenthar: Come up heah, quick!"

Harry looked in the direction of the Voice. Ho saw a tall, slender, black haired man standing in the woods at the upper edge of the cleared space. He was dressed in butternut jeans, and looked so much like tho Confederates in front that Harry thought he was one of them. The stranger noticed his indecision, and called out again still more peremptorily "Skeet outen thar, I tell ye I Skeet outen thar! Come up heah. I'm a friend—I'm Union."

His rifio came to his face at the same instant, and Harry saw the flame and. white smoke puff from it, and the sickening thought flashed into bis mind that the shot was fired at him, and that ho would feel the deadly ball pierce his body. Before he could more than formulate this he heard the bullet pass him with a screech and strike somewhere with a plainly sharp slap. Turning his head he saw tho leading Confederate stagger and fall. Hairy threw his gun up, with the readiness acquired in old hunting days, and fired at the next of his foes, who also fell. The other Confederates, as they come up, gathered around their fallen comrades.

Harry ran back to wher^ho stranger was as rapidly as the clinging mud and the steep hillside would permit him. "Purty fa'r shot that," said the stranger, setting down tho heavy rifle he was carefully reloading and extending his hand cordially as Horry came panting up. "That's what 1 call mouty neat shooting—knock yer man over at 150 yards, down hill, w^th that ols smoothbore, and without no rest The oldest han' at the business couldn't've done no better."

Harry was too much agitated to heed the compliment to hie markmanship. He looked oack anxiously and asked: "Aro they'coming on yet?" "Skacely they hain't," said the stranger, with a very obvious sneer. "Skacely they hain't comin' on no more. They've hed enuff, they hev. Two of their best men dropt inter blue blazes on the Arst jump will take all the aidge off ther apatite for larks. I know tel." "But they will come on. They'll pursue us. They'll never lot us go now," said Harry, reloading his gun with hands trembling from tho exertion and excitement

He was yet too young a soldier to Under stand that his enemy's fright might be greater than his nwn. "Nary a time they wont," said the stranger derisively. "Them fellers are jest like Injuns: they're red hot till one or two gets knocked over, an' then they cool down mouty suddent Why, me an' two others stopt the whole of Zollicoffer's army for two days by shootin' the officer in command of the advance guard jest ez t&ey war a comin' up the hill this side of Barboursville. Fact! They'd a' been at Wildcat last Friday ef we hedn't skeered 'em so. They stopt an' hunted the whole country round for bushwhackers afore they'd move ary other step." "But who are you?" asked Harry, looking again at bis companion's butternut garb.

I'm called Long Jim Fortner, an' I've the name o' bein' the pizeneit Union man in the Rockassel mountains. Thar's a good s'tifikit o' my p'litical principles (pointing with his thumb to where lay the men who had falle? under their bullets). Harry looked again in that direction. Part of the squad were looking apprehensively toward him, as if they feared a volley from bushwhackers concealed near him, and others wero taking from the bodies of the dead the weapons, belts and other articles which it

WAS

not best to leave

for the pursuers, and still others were pointing to the rapidly growing distance between them and the main body, apparently adjuring haste in following.

The great mental and bodily strain Harry had undergone since he had first heard the sound of cannon in the morning at the foot of Wildcat should have made him desperately weary. But the sight of the man falling before his gun had fermented in his blood a fierce intoxication, as unknown, as unsuspected before as the passion of love had been before its first keen transports thrilled his heart. Like that ecstacy, this fever now consumed him. All fear of harm to himself vanished in its flame. He had actually slain one enemy. Why not aiJother? He raised his musket The mountaineer laid his hand upon it "No," he said, "that's not the game to hunt They'll do when thar's nothin' better to be hed, but now powder an' lead kin be used to more advantage. Besides they're outen range o' your smooth bore now. Come.

As Fortner threw his rifle across his shoulder Hairy looked at it curiously. It had a long, heavy, six-sided barrel, with a large bore, double triggers and a gayly striped hickory ramrod in its thimbles. The stock, of fine, curly rock maple, was ornamented with silver stars and crescents, and in the breech were cunning little receptacles for tow and patches and other rifle necessaries, each closed by a polished silver cover that shut with a snap. It was evidently the triumph of some renowned Kentucky gunsmith's skill.

The mountaineer's foot was on the soil he had trodden since childhood, and Harry found it quite difficult to keep pace with his strong, quick stride. His step landed firm end sure on the sloping surfaces, where Harry slipped or shambled. Clinging vines and sharp briers were avoided without an apparent effort, where every one grasped Harry or tore his face and hands.

The instinct of the wolf or the panther seemed to lead Fortner by the shortest courses through the pathless woods to where he came unperceived close upon the flank of the mass of harassed fugitives. Then creeping behind a convenient tree with the supple lightness of the leopard crouching for a spring, he scanned with eager eyes the mounted officers within range. Selecting his prey he muttered: 'Taint him, but he'll hev to do, this time."

The weapon rang out sharply. The stricken

v,

officer threw up ms sword arm, ois Driarc aim clutched his saddle pommel, as if resisting the fc attempt of death to tmhorso him. Then the muscles all relaxed, and he foil into the arms of those who had hurried to him.

Hairy fired into the moss the next instant a few random shots replied, and anotbei'jijppetus of fear spurred the mob onward,

Fortner and Harry sped away to an- *'4^-. other point of interception, whero the same Sump* scene was repeated, and then to another, and then to a third, Fortner muttering after shot his disappointment at not finding the one whom he anxiously sought.

When they hurried away the third fa'm« they were compelled to make a wide circuit, for the little valley suddenly broadened out into a considerable plain. Upon this the long drawn out lino of fugitives gathered in a compact, turmoiling mass. "That's Little Rockassel ford," said Fortner, pointing with his left band to the baso of the mountain that rose steeply above the farther sidEf of the commotion. "That's Rockassel mountain runnin' up thar inter the clouds. Tho Littk) Rockassel river runs round bite foot That'a what's a-stoppin' 'em. They'll Lev a tumble time gjttin' across hit. Hit's mouty hard crossm* at enny time, but hits awful now, fur the Rockassel's boomin'. The big rains hev sent her up kitin', an' hit's now breast deep thar in the ford. We'll git round whor we kin see hit nil." [ZV CentHWtd.)

THE GARFIELD MEMORIAL. 'J

Statement *f

the

Present Condition of the Work.

[Special Correspondence. 1

5

Cletkiand, Jan. 18.—During the obsequies of President Garfield the movement to erect a memorial to him met with great success. On the corners of the streets subscription booths were erected, and'thousands of dollars were raised in this manner, the donations being in the most part dimes and quarters. The banks Opened

Up subscription lists and issued certificates for amounts of two dollars and upward. An organization was effected, and the association was duly incorporated under the title of "National Garfield Memorial association."

In a few months $136,000 was raised and deposited in the banks afc •per cent, interest. Plans and designs wero then solicited, &Dd soon the rcoms of the executive committee were flooded with the designs of thentost noted artists" of Europe and America. JPhe design of Mr. George Keller, of Hart^prd, Conn., was accepted and the prize awfifcied him. fc' 0

The contract for the mason work wa£ let for $100,000. The excavation was madfb in the fall of 1885, and the work began early in the following spring. -..By the time the winter set in this bad l|gj|jjg.'6ftmpleted, and it is now awaiting the rwt^RSSsniemorial stands upon the highest Oleyittflln ipi 'Lake, yiew cemetery, and when cdiad|nibeda suj of the city can be hadfrom thcTifcrv original plans called for a struefcure high, but the committee, find trig tE funds would be inadequate for the-tapper completion- of the structure, decided^ lreduce the height sixty-eight feet. This efa^bge gave rise to a great many vague rumo&«is to the solidity of the structure, and manywere the ugly changes made against the exeqative committee but as the true condition ofififogs became known the charges were grawii$ly withdrawn.

It is proposed to finish the chapel on a grand and elaborate scale. From the beautiful, Mosaic floor to the arched ceiling above it is sixty feet. The dome will be supported by four polished Scotch granite columns. In the center, on an elevated dais, will stand a fine statue of President Garfield! Various kinds of marble and hard wood will be used, while richly stained windows of a historical nature, and constantly burning lights of rich hues, will lend enchantment to the scene. Spiral stairs will lead to the tower.

Mr. Keller, the architect, is in Europe mairing all the contracts for the interior work. All work has now been suspended on account «f the severe weather, but will be resumed with energy in the spring. From presentjindications it would appear that the finishing touches will bo made early in the year 1888.

Meanwhile the body of President Garfield lies in tho general receiving vault in the cemetery. On a dais at the end of the vault rests the huge bronze casket which is to be his last covering. The caskets have already been changed three times since tho arrival of the body here but when the government withdrew the guards, some months ago, the bronze casket was opened for the last time. Previous to the withdrawal of the guards it was customary for the commanding officer, On assuming his duties every three months, to open the casket and view the remains. The last time it was opened they say that the remains were in a remarkable state of preservation. Two private watchmen constitute the guard over the vault at night.

Two silk flags hide the bare stone wall, and fall in graceful folds over the ends of the casket. The only floral decoration is a bouquet of fresh cut flowers, placed upon the casket every morning by order of Mrs. Garfield, who is now residing at the old home in some thirty miles east of here.

Frank J. Mabtim.

COL. MATTHEW QUAY,

Chosen to th« United States Senate by Pennsylvania.

One of the most pleasant faces that will be seen in the new United States senate is that of Matthew Quay, who has been elected by the Pennsylvania legislature. Col. Quay is a short, rotund fellow, about 46 years of age.

His face is plump and round, and his blue eyes light up his countenance whenever anything occurs to please him. Ho ha* a son, named for his old friend, ex-Gov-ernor Curfcin, who is now at the West Point military academy. Quay is an inve'.erate fisherman, and spends

COLONKL quay. whole days during the summer, at Atlantic City, alone in a boat, with enly his fishing rod and bait as companions.

He is a very astute politician, having taken his first leesons from Governor Curtin, for whom he was private secretary. But. when 'Curtin and Simon Cameron fell out some time after, Quay cast his lot with the latter. At one time his great personal popularity was seriously threatened by Chris Magee, of Pittsburg, but Quay's proverbial good fortune carried him safely through when, the issue was made, as his election to the United States senate shows.

It has bjen discovered that the weight of cotton has been increased by dishonest southern dealers by salting it,