Show a ar c ay CHAPTER XII cont continued aued I 1 am glad to meet yoi oi you have come here to ask s some ome favor of me in what way can I 1 serve our poor distracted country 9 I 1 am not ting alms my bus bust ness Is of a personal cordei I 1 have a duty to perform yo i may be shock ed at first but later on will thank me for it Mst mysterious erious words lil III e hese ally caught and held the attention of the heiress of lyndhurst Is it anything about my father has he been injured 9 fhe phe ed quickly remembering that the squire went away before colonel john s horse was brought around oh no what I 1 have to tell aoi oi t concern sq lire granger I 1 believed it my duty to expose an im poster I 1 am at a loss to comp bhend ma da dane daie ie you have been fortunate in hav ing a guard thrown around bour our love ly place how it comes I 1 do not krow then her quick eyes noted the rosy blush that flashed over mol mot lie lies s countenance but sometimes it pays to have a friend or it may be a lover among the yankee officers proceed looking at the card miss stevens ah ahl that was my name once Is the name I 1 am known by among johnston s officers sad was the day I 1 ever changed it to Rid ridgeway geay ridgeway 7 echoed mollie contrell con troll ing her voice with an effort though she could not help her cheeks from turning very white yes mrs john ridgeway we quarreled several years ago and sepa rated our hatred is as hot as our love was aas strong you see we e espouse different sides of the great family quarrel you are shocked at my dis closure mibs Granger 7 9 not shocked only surprised be cause he he canie came here as a bache lor returned mollie bravely these men are all gay deceivers my dear cooed the artful schemer having sent the poisoned arrow home CHAPTER hlll battle smoke mollie asked no questions desired no proofs but changed the subject and for a short time carried on her side of a lively conversation on the prospect of sherman being caught in uch a trap as napoleon entered at moscow at length the visitor took her leave satisfied that she had accomplished her work when alone mollie gave way to her feelings it m was as not that she cared tor for john ridgeway Pidge way she declared to herself again and again but her pride was tumbled she would keep the secret tor for the thet present because it shielded lynd durst but toward the man who aho had narried married her to save his life she meant to present a freezing manner to cut him with her scorn after all it was diamond cut dia mend mond she had wedded for a mercenary motive at the command of her father and why should not he be granted the privilege of a I 1 atle deception when his ife was at stake unaware of the havoc being made with his good name at lyndhurst fol col john galloped to the city and reported it deac quarters some urgent work was placed in his hands tor for the confederates around the city were nere already opening heir campaign of annoyance and en bunters with their flying squadrons au be counted on as of hourly oc currence sh the sold er who had once minted such a fearful pic ure of the var since come true every word of it that his envious rivals for honors called him crazy had conceived an ardent admiration for the man we have known as colonel john and rec ree zing his worth as a valiant sol iler and a dare devil leader did not hesitate lesl tate to place in his charge such a om mission as he would hive trusted ew men with ridgeway recognized the gravity of his charge he knew that whether he s siccle sic cee el ef or tailed failed when the bugles sounded the tia return he would coma back with a diminished abst 0 4 not that he faltered he was made of the ste n material of which heroes are com composed nosed sich s ich heroes as proved their desperate vilor under the stars and str pes under the stars and bars of whom poets sing as they did of the immortal six hundred dragoons in the awful chaice at balaklava BalaU ava so colonel john at the head of his d amounted men rode out of atlanta that borning In trusted with aith a dan grous duty the confederates having eNacia emaciated ted atlanta had hastened to bocc apy such positions in th vicinity where chev co ild best annoy the federals thus r any hi Is were v ere crowned with their batteries and the flag of the south floi floa ed proudly in tull full view of the federal camp is ts it if daring the nen rien of sherman to actual hostilities A confederate battery possessing guns of more than the ordinary call her ber tor for thes das had taken up its position upon a certain ertain rise of ground a rough hillside as it were and from this coign of vantage seemed able to drop their shells into the union camp sith destructive results the confusion of the first night and the many desperate scenes hourly occurring in the georgia city had kept sherman from paying his respects to this particular fortress until he him self saw a shell from it explode among the tents of an indiana regi ment then and there he decided that the enemy must be displaced from that position before the day grew old no matter what the cost immediately upon leaving sherman the colonel sought the quarter where the main body of his regiment had encamped he addressed his men and every soldier knew what was the nature of the desperate mission tha now en their attention not a man an flinched pad they had followed their beloved 11 t 96 t r N elwa leader into the jaws of death during many a previous battle and the pros hect of immediate glory was as enough to set their blood to biotin rioting madly their advance was hidden for a time by a projecting spur along which the blue line crept ike a great snake winding toward the rough ele from whence came the thun der of heavy artillery that sent their destructive missiles whirling through space to explode with deadly effect in the federal camp when the spur ceased to conceal their movements further a halt was made until every straggler had gain ed his position colonel john again addressed them in his own peculiar way ay and not one among them but who burned with patriotic zeal at hearing his words then a shout burst forth a mighty sound as of the hurricane tearing through the mountain passes a flood of blue coats sprang into view like the ocean bursting its barriers they spread out right and left scattering so that the enemy might do lesa less terrible execution with their great guns should these be depressed in time to bear upon the advancing host across the level ground they sped the confederates above amazed at first when this unexpected picture was presented to their view hastily prepared to give them a warm recep tion and before the federals had gone more than halt half m vay ay to the foot of 01 the hill the entire battern was roar ing out its angry defiance while the crackling of smaller arms sounded line ime a fierce accompaniment men fell here and there not a shot was ass fired in return it would have been i seless ind md beside these men had reason to save their ammunition until the fight reached close quarters when every discharge would tell the blue line reached the foot of the hill it began to vanish as though swat lowed up in some great bank of fog soon not a racing blue coat was to be seen upon the level below onh a few dead or wounded remained in view ah all what was that clambering like a goat up the face of the height a reckless soldier eager to win the praise of his colonel he was not alone a second a third a dozen ten dozen were clam clarn bering upward almost in a line lin 4 hued with the same grand rt elre and colonel john led them al at ueless Uto elesa were vere the great guns now since they could not be turned upon the tigers in blue who came swarming up the rocks as though each man wera imbued with the fires of banatt als cisa the rattle of small arms began to be heard it was not all on one sije now those who scaled the heights hilt el long enough to fire into the faces of their foes and then continued their way vay upward to complete the wort worl with vath the ba babone baone one the defenders of the battery were not lacking in numbers of braver doubtless many at af them had per participated in some such simi lar desperate a assa lit in past battle where here the northern and southern heroes measured their strength th that brave brane southern amrit v wa a sho shon n on every battlefield of the civi yar var the world never produced better than flew to the defense of dixie land over the crest rolled the line in ir blue and there they met he defene ers of the battery the earth fairly tremble 1 with the thunder as the big guns were dis charged and more than ne darin climbing over the rough ram parts was vas blown to atoms by the dis charge As more of the federals clambered into view and joined in the melee it assumed all the properties of a fierce battle slowly the confederates fell back before such a fierce onset human na ture could not hold out against it they knew they were t r eaten but seeing a regiment regime tit hurrying to their assistance kept up the fight with a dogged persistence colonel ridgeway deliberately deli bentely turn ed the battery so that it faced the other way and when the regiment in gray came within the line such a storm of shot and shell burst upon i them that in a trice as it were their shuddering ranks had been pierced again and again and demoralized by what they believed to be a destruct tive fire from their friends they fell back bach in contusion confusion seeing this the confederates 0 on n the hill gave up all hope of success they threw themselves over the ramparts ramparts 0 the fort and scattered down the hillside like a coey of alarmed part ridges already a column was on the way nay to reinforce ridgeway and his its men he was the hero of the hour colonel john had not come out un scathed by any means several bul but lets had cut his garments in their passage for he had been a cons ous object to the sharpshooters in gray who crouched aloft waiting to cut down all who wore the blue and it was aas almost a miracle how he ever came out of the engagement alive one bullet had done a little serious damage but this adventure loving soldier laughed and thanked his lucky stars it was no worse to be continued |