Why, sir,
General Early exploded. People who have heard him swear for years and
who know what an artist he is in swearing, heard him then utter swear
words that they had never heard before, words invented on the spur of the
moment, and in the heat of passion, words full of pith and meaning."
"And that was all, I suppose?"
"Not by any means, sir. General Early picked two sharpshooters and sent
them with another copy of the dispatch. They passed the place of the
first hold-up, and next the ravine without seeing anybody. But as they
were riding some distance further on both of their horses were killed by
shots from a small clump of pines. Before they could regain their feet
Dick Turpin came out and covered them with his rifle--it seems that he
had one of those new repeating weapons.
"The men saw that his eye was so keen and his hand so steady that they
did not dare to move a hand to a pistol. Then as he looked down the
sights of his rifle he lectured them. He told them they were foolish to
come that way, when the two who came before them had found out that it
was a closed road. He said that real soldiers learned by experience,
and would not try again to do what they had learned to be impossible.
Pages:
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297