Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 13.djvu/475

 474 Southern Historical Society Papers.

admiration, a dark bay mare I think, glossy as satin, and graceful as a young antelope. Seeing my eyes fixed upon her, he informed us she had belonged to Colonel Rhett, of South Carolina, whom they had captured a few days before.

" I don't believe you," I said, "though it is handsome enough to have belonged even to Colonel Rhett."

"You South Carolina women are the very devil to whip," he remarked, not so irrelevantly as it seemed. "You ain't scared a bit."

Scornful silence met this observation, but he meandered on, his comrades doing the indoor work the while, which, I presume, they " pooled " afterwards.

" You hadn't ought to kept them two Rebs here so long," (alluding to our cavalry friends who had so luckily departed). " We came after them."

"And after watches," I could not help adding, but he smiled serenely.

" Oh, well ! We must make the thing pay somehow."

Poor fellow! how little he dreamed that the " pay " for this little diversion would be his life.

The sun was setting when the horrible comedy ended, and the order to mount was given. Somehow the matches had gone out which were thrown on beds and into closets. But they imagined and hoped that a dozen incipient fires had been left burning which would effectually destroy what could not be carried off. So mounting in hot haste, as they had come, the dreaded enemy fled away through the falling twilight to death and destruction.

A few miles off they were intercepted by a half-dozen "home- guards " led by a disabled Confederate officer. A skirmish ensued, and the " big blonde " dragoon was wounded John Miller, of the One Hundred and First Ohio cavalry. He and a comrade made their way across the river to a farm-house, and there stopped, unable to proceed. Captain C. kept them in view, while the others were followed and dispatched by his men. Only one escaped to tell the tale, the young sergeant. About the same hour that he had talked with us, so careless and free, the next evening, he was shot by general orders at the headquarters of Kilpatrick's command, stationed in Chapel Hill. They had violated the truce of ten days which was in force previous to Johnston's surrender, and thus was the punishment of the only survivor.

Captain C. traced his two men to their lurking place. In the dim