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THE WAR LIBRARY.
19
not escorted the girl to the Federal camp.
Then he would have to seek her in another
Baa of the country—the district where she
ad lived since girlhoo
His first move was to £0 back to the Union
my.
oie reported in person to General Cox,
who assured him that: the next great battle
would not be fought for some days.
Both armies were gathering strength for
the desperate struggle.
Hood was determined to win or lose under
the walls of Nashville.
‘homas now had command of the entire
Union army, Schofield having joined him
shortly after the battle of Franklin.
Sherman was to sweep through Georgia,
thence into Virginia, and join Grant before
Richmond, and Thomas was to annihilate
001
That was the grand project.
Sherman had confidence in the Rock of
Chickamauga.
He had seen him tried.
The result of that confidence was not dis-
appointment.
Thomas was remounting his cavalry, and
organizing and fitting hisarmy for the con-
est.
-Hood had fortified, and his foa would be
compelled to assume the offensive.
He confidently expected to wipe out at
Nashville the stain of the defeat at Frank-
in.
He might yet march to the Ohio over the
fragments of Thomas’ army, and his stars
and bars might be flaunted in the face of the
radiant Queen City of the West.
While these ornate plans were revolving
in the brain of the Confederate er, an
while Thomas was quietly getting ready for
victory,a man whom we have met before
was searching the quountains of Middle
Tennessee for a pur
He was not alone, for “twelve determined
fellows rode at his back.
It was not Mably, who with his guerrillas
had been sent back to ravage the Union dis-
tricts after Franklin; nor Busby, whom we
shall soon encounter on the same mission,
but Colonel Brashear, the Confederate lion,
who had violated his oath.
Buck Grady had not uttered an untruth
when he told Mountain Carl that the colonel
was hunting Kate Kingford.
One of the first places he visited was the
little mountain cabin; but, while it
evidences of having been lately inhabited,
the girl was not found there.
He was forced to seek a new trail; and,
vowing to find Kate if he had to ransack
every mountain cave and turn every cedar
thicket inside out, he and his men rode off
We left her in company with six loyal
women at her cabin when Weldon Drake de-
parted to obtain news of the late battle.
The capture of the young scout has al-
ready been witness
The women waited anxiously for his re-
turn, but he came nét.
The sun came up and reached the merid-
ian, to sink westward once more.
The shadows deepened, and the night came
en.
Hetty Webster’s face grew pale, and she
crept to Kate’s side for words of cheer which
she was certain to receive.
Weldon did not come.
An accident had certainly befallen him.
and this was the time when ever vestige of
hope fled from Hetty Webster's hear
be terrors of that long night of ‘watching
pen cannot describe,
Kate Kingford stood guard before the
little cabin, armed with a musket anda re-
volver.
She was one of the true heroines of the
great civil war.
ylight was creeping from her couch
like a drowsy person when a quick footstep
on the trail startled the girl, nnd the next
moment, before she coul halt any one, a
boy, half scared and out of breath, stopped
before her.
It was fome moments before the youth
could tal
When K found his | tongue, he told the
girl that a company errillas was ap-
proaeling the cabin, Si ntly with the in-
ntion of surprising its inmat tes.
This was terrible news.
What was to be done?
Kate roused her friends, and soon a little
council was held in the dark c
Flight was determined on.
Silently, and with their hearts in their
throats, the women crept forth and tied.
Kate knew all the trails that ran near her
ome.
She had been the guard; she must now be
the guide.
The escape had not been effected a moment
too soon.
The guerrillas came upon the cabin as the
boy had predicted, but the birds had flown.
‘here were curses not loud but deep; but
the situation could not be better
t The fleclared that some person. had_ be-
raye
ola Union boy had outwitted them—
that was all.
This band was not led by Colonel Brash-
ear.
He did not enter the district until several
assed.
Kate Kingford and her associates had
found another hiding place.
we have already mentioned, there were
numerous caves among the hills.
Some of these were hidden away almost
beyond the ken of the keenest mortals,
others were known only to the skulking
wolf and the sly fox.
Danger had rendered the hunted Unionists
or the mountains as keen-eyed as wolf and
They had discovered caves until the mo-
ment of peril entirely unknown.
It seemed as though the hand of Heaven
directed their feet during those perilous
da;
Th one of those Kate Kingford and her
friends had taken refuge.
It was situated near the foot of a rugged
hill, whose sides were covered with a dense
growth of stunted cedars and other mount-
ain bushes.
This cave was quite large, and capable of
holding many person:
glo was well Ventilated and not at all
ele 1e boy who had warned them had follow-
ed them to the new retreat where he had
proved useful in many ways.
<ate kept up the hearts of all.
The youth nad brought them the good
news of Hood's repulse at Franklin, aud in
the midst of their perils they were enabled
to rejoice over a grand Union victory.
Kate, the boy who was called Jack Bedloe,
and Hetty took turns at standing guard in
ass not far from the mouth of the cavern.
<ate was generally on duty @ part of the
night.
This was the most dangerous hour, and she
had taken it at her own request.
Through the silent watches of the night
the brave girl guarded the post with the
heroism of a maiden of olden times.
The fox’s tread among the crinkled leaves
did not escape her ear, nor the faint stir of
the boughs overhead.
“Kate?” suddenly whispered a voice, so
close one night that she started, and tried to
discern the speaker" 8 shape.
“Kate, are you awake?" repeated the
same voice, after an interval of silence.
“Tamawake. Jack, isit you?”
A figure rose from the ground at her very
feet, as it were, and she saw the little Union
hero who had been of such great service to
them
“ Tre’ s here at last, Kate,’’ continued Jack.
“T always said he had the scent of a fox.’
*“ He?—whom
“Colonel Brashear.”
“Great Heaven!” ejaculated the girl, in-
voluntaril recoiling. “T don’t know why
he should hunt me.’
“You will probably discover if he finds
ou. That’s my opinion,” said the boy.
“ Where is he »
“Not far off.””
“T thought you were asleep.”
“What ‘Tight have I to sleep when such
fellows as Mably, Busby and Colonel Brash-
ear are abroad among these mountains?
Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, I
heard you, say once, and believe it is.
Jack Bedloe’s hand clutched Kate’s arm as
he uttered the warning wo
The twain listened Side. by side for a mo-
men
“ By Jove! no more noise like that,” saida
voice not far awa. “We can’t be far from
the nest. Ifwe biunder along we'll find it
empty as usual, Silence now all of you, and
follow me.’
Kate Kingford could hardly keep back an
exclamation.
“T know that voice,” she whispered. “It
belongs to the red-bearded man I shot when
I was chas
Yes, Colonel Archy Brashear was the
speaker, and his words were addressed to
e men by whom he was followed
The situation of the fugitives was now
critical in the extrem
It was evident from the colonel’s language
that he knew he was near Kate’s. hiding :
pla
The girl and Jack listened fora moment
longer, and then crept back to the cave.
A few whispered words served to rouse
the women there, and escape now filledteach »
mind.
Kate Kingford knew why Archy Brashear
was 80 near, but the others could not under-
stand why he should leave the Confederate
army to play hunter among the mountains,
his cavern willnot escape our hunters,”
said Kate, addressing her companions.
“ “What Colonel Brashear would not discover
his guides will see. We must flee again!”
ur trust is all in you, Kate,” said Mrs.
Webster. ‘Let us outwit this band of wom-
au-hunters. We are ready to follow you.”
CHAPTER XX.
* THE END OF A PARTISAN.
iw Noiselessly the Union women ‘crept from
Concealment within its depths was not to
be thought of any longer.
They were compelled to glide along the
fox trails with the starry canopy of the
heavens overhead.
»y Kate and the boy as before, the
devoted little band soon found themselves
some distance from the cave.
Colonel Brashear and his men were heard
no longer, and the women were breathing
{ree once 1 more. Still the danger was not
i
Captain Mably and his peerrilla associate,
Busby, were somewhere in the district tak-
ing vengeance on the Umonists for the re-
puise at Franklin.
It was notimprobable that Kate and her
friends might encounter oue of these two
marauding bands.
The women shuddered when they can-
vassed such a possibility.
hey knew that insult and indignity
would follow capture.
The fugitives did not halt until they
found themselves about two miles from the
cave.
They were between two densely cedared
hills, and on ® mountain road, none of the
best, for it was cumbered with bowlders of
various sizes, behind which human beings
could crouch and be concealed.
It was a wild, strange region, rendered
more gloomy than usual by the hour and
the dim light of the lamps that twinkled in
esky.
Kate bade her friends remain among the
rocks, while she and Jack reconnoitered
their surroundings.
cane girl I herself went back toward the
to if they had_ been followed,
while the. boy glided ahead to spy in that
direction.
Jack Bedloe was, as we have already
mentioned, a boy of courage and devo-
ct
‘ie had suffered in common with many
other loyal Tennesseans during the war,
Captain Busby’s band had hanged his fa-
ther, driven his mother into exile, and burn-
ed their once happy home.
Although quite young, he had seen sery-
ice, having borne a musket with the courage
of a veteran through the battle of Resaca,
after which engagement he was refused per-
mission to serve longer i in the ranks because
of his youth.
“You can’t prevent me from fighting for
the old flag in Tennessee!"’ was his exclama-
tion, when the refusal just mentioned was
bore to his ears. ‘tI will go back to the
mountains, but they shall constitute Jack ,
Bedloe’s post of duty.”
The boy had kept his word, and before
mauy days he was wanted by the guerrilla
leaders almost as badly as they wanted
Mountain Carl.
Jack had proved of great service to the
seven fugitive women since joining them,
and he now resolved to lead them, with
Kate's assistance, to ultimate safety.
e boy was on the alert as he crept down
the lonely trail and rounded a bend which
completely hid the fugitives from his gaze.
On, on he went, his ears trained to catch
the slightest sound, and his fingers at the
trigger of the rifle firmly clutched and
ready for service at a moment’s warning.
He did not see the men who had heard his
tread among the frosted leaves that lay here
and there along the p
Dark fellows | they rere, veritable mount-
ain brigands, ready to Pounce like pasles
upon man, iwoman or boy if their hearts