Newspapers / Siler City Leader (Siler … / Dec. 4, 1886, edition 1 / Page 6
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BARTER. Give me the gold from off tliy hair. The rose upon thy ch eks that lies, Thy singing voice that everywhere -Makes laughter in the trembling air, The young joy in thine eyes." 'What w.n yon give to me, oh, say, Thou gray old man with restless wings, For love's entrancing mora of of May, ' For dawn and freshness of the day, And life that leaps and sings?" LoI I will make thy footstep3 slow , Across the flowers that bend and wave; And for thy gold will give thee snow. And silence for thy laughter low, Diu kueis, a grass-grown grave." . Boston Transcript. THE SERGEANT'S VOW. I had been waiting a week at Jeffer son for instructions hvm Washington. I had .written for permission to go to New Orleans, as I had relatives there with whom I wished to. pass the winter; but at the end of the week my hopes were all nipped m the bud by the fol lowing mi sivc: 1 1 Majors You will proceed at once to Fort Btet on; thence, with all possible dis .atch, to Ft nt Carson; and then-: e to Fort Kearney, at which posts you may pay off the enrolled men and officers, and also settle all duly au thenticated bills against th3 o ffice on account of provis oas, forao, camp and garrison stores, etc. It is particularly re mested that you wil be careful and exact in your return of esti mates tor the conm? winter months. Captain Goodwin will detail for you sueh escort as you may re mire, I have the honor to be, etc. , " ( t. P. Bowman, D. P. M. G. , Maior and Paymaster, U. S. A, To G. S. Cochrane. This did not reach me bv the hands of Captain Goodwin, however, whom I should have been happy to meet ; but by the hands of be gcant Janes Connover, who came with s:x n.en under his com mand, . to escort me on my way, if I deemed SJh escort su 1 cient. Goodwin, who was sick wit 1 fever and ague, wrote by the haud of his clerk: "I would send you more men; but, really I think more would be in your way. Ihere a;e no Indians on the trail oetwecn -ieueron ana stetson; ana cer tainly this escort is sufficient agdnt any ordinary highway interpolation. Ser ge., nt Lonnoier is not a very brilliant man ; nor is he over and above sociable but I have found him true as steel; and tne privates members or my own com pany whom I send with him you can rely upon in any emergencies. Only, they have tho common weakness. Don't give them too free a run at the whisky hnr.ilp I h V wnn t - hrpat faith mith you to get it; but if allowed full sway, they might get a drop two much for your own comf rt." And he wrote about other matters, but nothing more of his men. 7 After reading the letter I raised my eyes and met the jiaze of the Sergeant, who stood with his cap in his hand on the oppos te side of the small table. He started when I looked up, and I thought lie was-ashamed of having been caught staring at me so fixedly, But the flush quickly left his face, and he inclined his head another way. He wai a man of medium size tTfli xt heavily built, and evidently very muscu- lar. ln short, he was made for a fighter, andf.r one of those vaiuable fighters who possess siuouorn wm ana aoj;:a resolution ruth-jr than hot and impetuous pugnacity, -lie was not a man to ; eevt-r m . fprtnpnt' lint n. man Tvh; whpn fairly aroused, is to be feared. He was:j nn. f.r from fn-lV-tivP v..r. nf ftrt-A nml ! the strides upon h s foreaim showed that;! he had served four full terms of enlist ment previous to tho present. I went out with the fcergeant and : found the six men on the p azza stand ing at ease under arms. They were re lily fie look'u g fellows, and answered, re spectively, to the names: t:mith, Adams, Mealy. Oesau, Van Wirt, and Connolly. Smith was a i ankee ; Adams was an , ng- li hman, and had been in the Que jn s service a a dragoon; .Mealy and Uon-j nolly were Irishmen; Oesau was a Dutch -; man, and Van Wirt was a German. Aj wide rane of nationality for so small a squad ; but a fair samp;e of our army,! nevertheless; and, furthermore, six men of one nation could not have Lee l more free and pleasant Man w fcrp tnoe sixj Unlike their Sergeant, they were free and pleasant, and seemed to-be thank. ul for the privilege of tak ng the forest tramp with me; while 1, in turn, eave tin m to understand that I would do all I cou'ul to make them: comfortable. The squad had come with .good hories so the only preparations I had to make for the start were to get my own horses ready and draw my money. My estimates had been to the amount of $35,0C0, and this I must take in gold. I went to the bank with the sergeant and three s of thi men and got the money, which I took away in four small canvas bag?, weighing about forty pounds each, but at the hotel I packed the gold in a sort of pannier-saddle, a contrivance which I had invented myself, and in which I could so pack anywhere from one to four hundred pounds of gold that it would neither sway or jingle. In short, a lio se could bear in this saddle-pack a burd n of dead weight almost as easily, as he could bear a human rider. And I had a horse on purpose, for the work one that I' used for several years, and that understood his duty as though it had all been reasoned out in his mind. Bright and early on a clear, cool Octo ber morning we set forth from Je Person with three days' rations in our haver sacks, for Steton wa3 120 mile3 away and we would be doing well to make the trip within the time indicated. I rode in advance not because I desired it, but becnuse the others were inclined to fail to the rear. We were passing over a! narrow bridge just on the outskirts of Jefferson when we met two men and two boys driving before them a dr ve of cattle. I had met and gone clear of the herd without difficulty, and was think ng how I would like to take one of the fatter bullocks along with me, when an exclamation of anger arrested my attention, and turning in my saddle I discovered one of the oxen a wild, frolicsome thing had at tacked the sergeant's horse. It had been quickly done a frisk a leap a lunge of the great curving horns at the horse's side the rearing of the latter, and the consentient unseating of the sergeant. When Connover had regained his feet the, frolicsome bullock was away from his reach, but no: so the innocent drovers. Th' two men were near to gether and direct! v by his side as he grasped his sword -hilt and turned upon them. I did not think Connover would harm them; but they were terribly, frightened, nevertheless, and the younger f the two, who was a stout, fair-looking fellow, was the first to speak an intelli gent word (the sergeant hadutteiedohe or two oaths). ' "Excuse us, my good friend, I am por y truly sorry for this mishap, but I assure you it was no fault of ours. V ' As Sergeant Connover then stood his face was turn ei very nearly toward me, so that I caught nearly every line and sha e of expression upon his features. He had been terribly shaken and was exceedingly wrathf nl, but his wrath was in a gr ater part made of cnagrm at being unhor ed inso ridiculous a manner than from a mere attack of the bullock. A few seconds he glared into the face of the man who had spoken to him, and then, prefacing his remark with an oath of condemnation, he exclaimed;" , "If ye've got a Gpd ye'd better thank Him that Jem Connover don't owe ye mich of a grudge!" The man muttered something and passed on to attend to his cattle, while the Se gen ntpl iced his foot in the stir rups,' and as he did so he looked toward me. Onr vpa mof ', n n rl jioroin T saw Ti?m , v.o,,a i nnA ctn.f 4-1 v . i, .a done s me guiltv thing in thus looking i into the face of his superior officer. " j "If ve've sot a God. ye'd better thank j nira inat . em connover uon i owe ye , much of a grudge." ; Why did those words ring in my ear3, I anil f hn t.irnnrVi mir whnlp lAinor? Twenty times during that day f looked nnnn mvr Sprcrnnntwlum h Aid nntknnw it, and idied his face, apd each effort seemed to bring the last connection irdrer, without quite giving it into my hands. lie seencd to know that I had begun to feel an interest in his ante ce.ients, and toward the latter part of the day behived himself more as the officer of my esc rt ought. He asked me how I would like to have the guard dis posed, and very modestly gave me to un- derstand that my wishes would be held as law by them. I took this for. what it was worth, a d I knew very well what it I meant: There was an old association that he would not have raked up. That night found us at the foot of Brock's lountain, and - at the extreme , verge of- civili.atiou in that direction. Beyond here we were to take the old government-supply road a mere bridle p th w'nh which Connover and his two men were perfectly familiar, and we w ud not strike another settlement until near Stetson. I went to. sleep in my tent thinking of Sergt. Jamen Connover, and it must have been immediately after my waking senses that my dream senses took up the thread, and they took it up to some purpose. Hampered with ro ordinary routine oi system of circumlocution, bothered with no searching for connecting links or cor relative circumstances, they went back over the'years with a leap, and drew a picture for me as vivid and distinct as the original event had been just eighteen years before.!, I I was at Fort Snellin?: a Second Lieu tenant of Engineers, engaged in survey ing government lands, laying out roads, and so on, and among those detailed to assist me was a private of the name of James Connover. He got drunk while at work, and when I reprimanded him he used language so offensive and foul that I could not pass it by. I fact, if had been armed at the time I should have hot him, for his course was such "as to entirely place himself beyond tne react of forbearance. I reported him and he was flogged severely flogged so severel that I bore him no more grudge. Butht bore a grudsce toward me,. though. Ay while his back was bleeding and smart ing he hissed into my earsj: "If ye've got a God, be sure to him. jem Connovei swears that he don't give over this grudge till one of us diesj" ! I started out from my sleep and sat up. It had been a dream, andjyet not all a dream. All the while the scene wasbe ing repeated before me. I had been con scious that I lay there in my tent undei the old boulder of the Brock. I had sunk into a state where my mind was free to follow its own course, taking th single fact of James Connover for a point of departure, and thence jrunning back ward until he was met again. I remembered all now. Yes. Thif was the man who, eighteen years before, had cursed and swore and reviled me, and threatened all manner of violence: and his only provocation had been that had threatened to have h5m punished it he ever got drunk again; while on duty 'with me. ""' To be sure hel wss under tht influence of li uor at the time; but not so far gone but that he knew very well what he was doing ; because, after reach ing the fort, on our return, he made his boast that he had given the "shoulder pop" (so he called me) a j stomachf ul tc carry off, but he didn't believe I would dare to report him. But I did report h'm, and I gave his speech in full, and the resu't was that the ol$ Major ordered a court-martial, out from jthe sentence ol which the man came with a hundred lashes. j And nere x. was. with my old enemy for an escort! From that fargonetimi to the presentl had never seen nor heard of the man, and he had long ago passed entirely from my mind. ! Connover is I common name in the army; or, at least, I had happened tb hit quite a number oi enlisted men of that name ; so I had not connected the stout, I dark-browed, stocky Sergeant with the 'fair-faced lithe and youthful soldier who hac crossed my path at Snellihg. . A hasty review of the whole thing ! brought ;me to rather an j unpleasent un derstandiog of the present r situation. That Connover still borej a grudge waf very evident; and it was equally evi dent that hs meant to settle the accoun between us on this trip! I could no think there in the tent. (It was too nar row a space. 1 had arisen, and was upoi i tne point oi passing out. iwitn mv nisto ln mv nana, wnen l, neard a stealthy footstep at the entrance. ! Without nois' I sprang into a front com m and then crouched down upon my isaddle I had scarcely gained the positioi when the flap was thrown aside and t man looked in. Ah ! ihst be vond th fj e of the interloper wa an opening ai ! the end Of the mountain, and I CaUffh1 jMiuiiu tiuiufci, a piicii ui ciear BK.y It was the hard, bronzecl .face of - Johi Connover! I I held my pistol rea ly.for instant use expecting every moment; to see him leaj to the spread blankets. But he wa: very moderate. He putihishe .d furthe in, and .seemed puzzled. Jt was, o course, very dark in tliere, but yet hi could probably see that i he bed did no look as though there wfas a man in it Once I raised myjjistoLfull sure tha the man was after' my life, and fearfu that if I threw a chance' away he migh get the better of me; but I did not fire Something seemed to wiaisper in my ear "Hold on ! you've hit him once. Be sur you're in danger before you hit, hin again 1" and I lowered my pistol an watthed. lresently : ) , "Major!" came from his lips, care full; but earnestly. 'Major: Major Coch ranc?" . There was something in. the tone o that voice that gave me heart. It was sort of imploring, prayerful tone, as o one who has a great favor to ask. I de termined to answer him; but to be sun? I kept my pistol ready at hand. With a yawn, as though just startled from my sleep, I returned: "A-ah! Hello! Who's here P- - r "Ehl Down here? It's me, Major Sergeant Connover. I wa passing round back of your tent and thought I heard ve talking with yerself. So, thinkin ye'd be awake, and havin something I wanted particularly to say. I made bold to come around and look in. The fact , is Major, I couldn't sleep till Td set mat- I ters right." 3 By this time the fellow naa lurneu so that I could see that he had no weapon with him, and I began to think that I had been a little toD . fearful. However, I got up and stepped out into the centre of the tented area, and then said : "6o ahead, sergeant. I'm all atten tion." j Without further preliminaries he went oa; "Of course you know me?" "I think I have good reason to remem ber you, sergeant." "And you remember the last words I , ever spoke to you in the old years t" . "I have not forgotten them." "Well," he said, with a palpable burst of feeling, "them wo.ds have been haunt- , ing me ever since I met you at the hotel: in Jefferson. When I was ordered to re port to Major Cochrane I never thought of you. The old affair hid almost gone from my mind ; but when I saw your face I knew you, and when you looked up at me I was troubled. I hoped you might not remember me. If you did not -1 meant to hold my tongue. But I could't act hide myself. Hpwsumever, I held up till to night. But after we'd done sup per I kept watch of your movements, and made up my mind that you were going to look out for me. But, Major, don't let it go no further. I'm too old a soldier now not to know that the harm 1 sutlersd at Snelliug was of my own making. I don't bear the old grudge any longer, and I tell you the truth when I tell you that you did me a good turn that time. I know how I was going on, and I know that another officer in your place would have shot me. So, you will take my hand and cry quits of all old memories? " I never gave my hand to a man more readily, nor more cheerfully ; and I doubt if in all this Western wilds there was a more sociable and jolly party than we made on the following day. As an in dividual, I was particularly happy; for I am free to confess that ' the-e were a few moments of that first night in the wilderness freighted with about as much dreud and uneasiness as a man woul care to experience. But, as I remarked to the Sergeant on a former occasion : ' 'All's well that end's well." And our tramp of four weeks continued so pleasantly that the end might have been longer de ferred without complaint from us. Chicago Times. A Doz-Catchin? Canine The intelligence and sagacity of that tru est friend of man the dog have often been extolled, but Deputy Poundmaster Wilmer has & dog who, while exhibiting great sagacity, at the same time gives evidence of such heartless dedravity that he seems a living walking evidence of the truthfulness of theold proverb, "Evil communications corrupt good manners." This dog, which looks like a red Irish setter, but is claimed to be a shepherd accompanies Wilmer on his dog catching excursions, and so thoroughly understands the wishes and intentions of his master that whenever Wilmer points at a dog this wicked beast flies at it, and if able throws it down and holds it till Wilmer's assistant throws his net over it. If the dog 'wanted" is. too large to be thrown down this renesrade engages him in conversation, and if neces- sary picks a quarrel witn nun, distract ing "his attention till the fatal net ia thrown Portland Oregonian. Letter Mail Long Ago. The interesting PostMuseum at Berlin has lately received a noteworthy addition in the shape of a letter cover dating from last century. The letter was sent from Philadelphia to the great grand-father oi the late possessor of the cover. The cover bears the postmarks of Philadel phia, London, Calais, Brussels, the Hague, Amsterdam and Hamburg, so that the route adopted in those days wai evidently a very circuitous one. Th date of the misdve rs between 17C0 and 1789, but the sxtual year cannot be de termined, as t' e cover gives no date. The cost of transmission was no less thai five thalers twelve schilling of 3Ieck lenburg money, or eighteen mark niuetj pfennig of modern German money.
Siler City Leader (Siler City, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Dec. 4, 1886, edition 1
6
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