The Guns of Shiloh

like were covered with snow. But Dick felt a wonderful thrill as he gazed upon the vast white wilderness. East and west, north and south he saw the driving snow and the lofty peaks and

he Rockies," said t

l suit their convenience. They could hide in the woods along the road an' pick us off as easy as I'd shoot a squirrel out of a tree. They'd like to have our arms an' our big coats. I tell you what, friends,

s, "an' it won't be stopped until the generals on both si

n' the rebel general with a hundred thousand men will be lookin' for that Yankee general with his hundred thousand. So there you are, an' while they're lookin' for each other an' then fightin' each other to a standstill, the robbers will be

with their calked shoes were swift of foot they made rapid progress. As they descended, the wind lower

ot snowin' down thar. Wait 'til we turn 'roun' this big rock. Yes, thar's Hubbard, layin' out in the valley without a drop of snow on her. It looks good, don't it, friends, with

le red building, which was the station. Dick sprang first from his horse, and leaving it to stand at the door, ran inside. A telegraph instrument was clicking mournfully in the corner. A hot stove was in another corner, and sitt

r the President of the United States and the other for the Secretary of War. They tell of a successful fight that w

who had come in behind Dick, "an' I've brought him an'

rument. But he stopped a m

off?" he asked as he lo

ly did," re

," said the boy. "To think of me, Jim Johnson, sendin

t, Jim, it's your cha

ment which now began to

it for answer

y the stove. Sergeant Whitley, who had tied the horses to hitching posts, came in, pulled up an empty box and sat down by him. Red Blaze slip

g in the telling. Colonel Newcomb's regiment, by the most desperate feats of gallantry, had beaten off at least ten thousand Southerners, and th

relaxed, and the needs of his body satisfied, felt like going to sleep. But he watched the boy

Washington," he said. "We

here for it,

feeling of comfort pervaded them. While they were waiting for the reply that they hoped would come from Washington, Dick Mason and Sergea

e ascribed to them such deeds of skill and valor that they were co

ergeant, "he would reduce these statements to mathem

ut that,"

them presently, br

ow, his face covered with black beard. They've been liftin' hosses an' takin' other things, but they're strangers in these parts. Tom Sykes, who was held up by them an' robbed of his hoss, says

arted v

the eastward of my home in Kentucky. He organized a band at the beginn

"But he can't play double all the time. That sort of thing will

troops, an' then when we wasn't suspectin' might have held up the whole town. I'll warn 'em. Thar ain't a house here that hasn't g

ey with strong emphasis. "In war you've got to watch, watch, w

tion," said Dick. "Maybe

d been in that position ever since they left him, and Dick knew that his eagerness to ge

sleepy, closed his eyes and saw again the vast rolling plains, the herds of buffalo spreading to the horizon, and the bands of Sioux and Cheyennes galloping down, their great war bonnets making splashes of color against the

just at that moment the te

htened up, and they, too, bent toward the key. The boy wrote rapidly, but the clicking did not go on long. When it ceased he straighten

ou, Mr. Mas

ded it and

John D.

your troops. Victory worth much to us. Read dispatch t

INCO

geant's teeth came together wit

t to the rest of you," said Dick, as he refolded the precious dispatch and put it

o waste," said

or, then to almost all of Hubbard and proceeded in a trot for the pass. They did not speak

laze? I hope not. It's important for us to get

ilin' up from the southwest, an' see that white mist 'roun' the highest peaks. That's snow, an' it'll hit the pass just a

ould be a proud moment for him when he put it in the hands of the colonel. He did not w

up on the slopes and then they naturally turned for a parting look at Hubbard in its valley, a twin to that of Townsville. It loo

the war would pass by the

ofs lashin' out everywhar, an' you can't tell what they're goin' to hit. Boys, we

st a year's standing, and they felt in return that he was one of them, a man to be trusted. They retained all the buoya

we'll have company. See that path, leadin' out of the west, an' runnin' along the slope. It comes into the main road, two or

of a big man, wearing a fur cap, an' there are others behin

p on his head and at least a dozen following behind. Do you think it likely, Re

d and it set his pulses to beating hard. He

eplied Red Blaze, "unless they make their hosses

e whip up a lit

the sergeant gave h

ean-" beg

de an attack upon the home of my uncle, Colonel Kenton, who is a Southern leader in Kentucky. He a

n' the sergeant have good rifles an' pistols, you have good pistols, an' we all have good, big overcoats. This is a lonely mounta

oss the pommel of his saddle. "They've got to follow straight behi

lness. He was fast becoming inured to danger. Owing to the slope they could not increase the speed of their horses greatly, but they were beyond th

sergeant, who unconsciously took command. "Suppose we st

hing to do,

eant! Sass 'em!

orward than the others. Dick saw Skelly and a score of men emerge into the road and come rapidly toward them. T

le, and with a steady hand ai

sharply, "and tel

pt Skelly, who, though stopping his hor

e're peaceful travelers. What bu

. Besides these ain't peaceful times an' we take the right

tones were shar

me!" he

msdell," replied th

ly, an' you're a mountaineer from Eastern Kentucky, claimin' t

exclaimed Ske

ned Dick, who rode

y. I saw you more than once before the war, and I know that you tried to burn down the house of Colonel

other side" this boy, too, was a lowlander and in a way a member of that vile Kenton brood. He hated him, too, because he

t your horses an' arms. We need 'em in our business. N

that the man who held the rifle aimed at his heart had nerves of steel, and he did not dare advance knowing that he

e knew well that it was no withdrawal. The mountaineers rode among some scrub th

t back with the dispatches to Colonel Newcomb as soon as

. "Lead on, Mr. Petty, and we'll cr

y held his cocked rifle in hand and he cast many backward glances. A great shout came from Skelly and his ba

r horses slip. I'll hang back just a little and send in a bullet if they come too

s my feelin's if anybody shoots at me. Them fellers are likely to do it, an' me

rom bushes by the side of the road. The sergeant raised his own rifle, longer of barrel than the average army weapon, and pulled the trigger. He had aimed at Skelly, but the lead

s now widened out with a few hundred yards of level space on either side of the road thickly covered with forest. The branches of the trees were bare, but the undergrowth was so dense that horsemen could be hidden in i

hot from the right whistled by them. Red Blaze, qu

did. Still it looks as if they meant to hang on an' likely we kin soon expect shots from the other si

nkled cheerfully out of

eem to take it e

ed in a run for your life you haven't noticed how dark it's gettin' up here on the heights an' h

was pouring down, and that all the peaks a

iles from it, inch by inch. Inside five minutes the snowstorm will be on us full blast, an' we won't be able to see more'n twenty yards away. An' that crowd that'

a shout behind them and saw the flash of a firearm in the white hurricane, but no bullet struck them, and th

eemed to Dick that the whole earth was blotted out by the white fall. He and the sergeant resigne

ight to his warm stable in Townsville, an' the two bundles of oats that I mean to give him. I reckon

l eyes twinkled i

inner," said Dick, "a

could, and, as Red Blaze said, their best, although it might be somewhat slow, was certainly better than t

The sergeant's ears had been trained to uncommon keenness by his life on the plains, and he c

fall, and they could get a long view back up the pass. They saw nothing there but earth and trees covered w

s in another half hour. But just you two remember that mebbe the nex

"and, Mr. Petty, Sergeant Whi

ode on, the whole village emerged into sight. There was the long train standing on the tr

d at a gallop. Dick saw Colonel Newcomb standing by the train, and springing from his horse he han

y, the engineer, who stood

ng were hurried into the coaches, a