| Show SERIA L T oft ry my lad Y ty af the north emma I 1 we e LOVE STORY sf A GRAY JACKET T by randiel h author vf tr when wilderness Wilder neWt was king illustrations BY ARTHUR B williamson copyright by A C mcclur A co ducted it at loners mal hall cadon 13 SYNOPSIS the story opens in a confederate tent at a critical stage of the civil war gen lee lea imparts to capt wayne an important messa message ge to longstreet Longa treet accompanied by sergt craig an old army scout wayne starts on his mission they get within the lines of the enemy and in the darkness wayne Is taken for or a federal officer and young ayoung a ayou nf lady on horseback Is given in his charge she Js Is a northern girl girl and attempts to escape one of the horses succumbs and cragg Cr aloes goes through with the dispatches while wayno wayne and my lady of the north are left alone they seek eek shelter in a hut and entering it in the dark a huge mastiff stacks wayne wa lie the girl shoots the brute just in arme time the tha owner of chehut the hut jed bungay and his wife appear arid and soon a party of hoT horsemen semen approach they are led by a man claiming to bo be red lowrie but who proves to be maj alai brennan a federal officer whom the union girl recognizes lie he orders the arrest of wayne as a spy and he Is brought before sheridan who who threatens him with death unless he reveals the secret message wayne believes edith brennan to be the wife of maj brennan ile he Is im rescued by jed bungay buns ay who starts to reach gen lee while wayne in disguise penetrates to the ball room beneath which ho he had been lm prisoner lie he Is introduced to a miss tinor minor and barely escapes abeln being unmasked edith brennan recognizing wayne says aya she will save sava him securing a pass through the lines they are confronted by brennan who is knocked senseless then bidding edith adieu wayno wayne makes a dash for liberty he encounters bungay they the roach reach the lee camp and are sent with reinforcements to join early CHAPTER continued with the ardor ardo of young manhood banho ad I 1 looked forward to the coming battle when I 1 knew the mighty armies of north and south would once again contest tor for the fertile shenandoah it was to be american pitted against american a struggle ever worthy of tho the gods slowly I 1 rode back bach down the files of my men marking their alignment and accoutrements with practised practiced eye smiling grimly as I 1 noted their eager faces war worn and bronzed by exposure yet re animated by hope of active service As I 1 watched them thus I 1 thought again of those many other faces who once rode as these men did now but bat who had died ford for duty even as these also might yet be called upon to die one hundred and three strong gay in bright new uniforms with unstained banner kissing the breeze above our proud young heads we rode hopeful ll 11 forth from charlottesville scarce three years before untried undisciplined cip lined unknown to place our lives willingly upon the scared altar of our native state what speechless years of horror those had been what history we had written with our naked steel what scones scenes of suffering and death lay along that bloody path we travelled today to day down the same red road our eyes still set grimly to the northward our flag a torn and ragged remnant barely forty men wore tho ID D between the crossed sabres fabres on their slouched brown hats in spite of all recruiting the alier ch eer in my heart was for the living the tear in my eye was tor for the dead colgate I 1 said gravely as I 1 ranged up beside him at the rear of the troop the men exceedingly well and do not appear to have suffered greatly because of short rations oh the lads are always in tine fine fettle when they expect a fight he answered his own eyes dancing as he swept them over that straight line of 0 backs inglis in his front scrap the better for being a bil hungry it makes them savage beats all captain caplain what foolish notions nations some of those people on the other side have of us southerners erners they seem to think we are entirely different from themselves yet I 1 reckon it would puzzle any recruiting officer up yonder to show a finer lot of fighting men than mian those fellows ahead there rode slowly forward to my own position tion at the head of the troop As 11 swung my horse into our accustomed position I 1 was too deeply burled buried in reflection to be clearly conscious of much that was occurring about me suddenly Bud denly however I 1 became aware that some come one nearly obscured by the cloud of dust was riding without the column in an ace once of military discipline not to be permitted in the state of mind I 1 was wan then in this discovery strangely irritated me sergeant I 1 questioned sharply of the rawboned raw boned trooper athe at the end of the first batoon pai pa oon toon what fellow la Is that riding out yonder its ther pesky little cuss as aa como come in with ye yesterday sir he returned with a grin hes confiscated a muel somewhat some whar nn an says bays hes a gain back hum long a 0 we uns curious to learn how jed had emerged from his hii arduous adventures I 1 spurred my horse alongside of him dim the little man bending forward dubiously as if fearful of accident was riding bareback on a gaunt long legged mule which judging from all outward appearances must have been some discarded asset of the quartermasters department going home jed I 1 asked as he glanced up and saw me I 1 aist as durn quick as 1 I kin git ho he returned emphatically by gum cap I 1 aint bin way from marlar long as aa this afore in twelve year reckon she thinks ive addled for good this time au ill be a up with some other mala critter lest I 1 git back mighty sudden won odd cap durn nigh as arnary bout some things as a muel he eyed his mount critically burned it if ever I 1 thought id git astraddle a 0 any four legged critter agin he said bald rubbing himself as it if in sudden and painful recollection of the past but I 1 sorto sort r picked up this yore yere muel down et ther corral an hes tow tew durn wore out a rodn things fer ou uns ter ever move often offen a walk I 1 sorter reckon its a heap easier a yero than ter take it abut all ther way ter thor ther mountings aoun tings it was long after dark the second day when thoroughly wearied we turned into an old tobacco field and made camp for the night to tight right and left of our position posit loi glowed the cheery fires telling where earlys command bivouacked bivouac ked in line of battle from the low range of hills in front of where we tested rested one could look across an intervening valley and see far off to the northward the dim flames wl ellch marked the position of the enemy down in the mysterious darkness between divided only by a swift and narrow stream were the blue and gray pickets the opposing forces were sleeping on their arms making ready for the death grip on the morrow A I 1 lay there thinking wondering what might be my fate before another nightfall seeing constantly in my half dreams dreama the fair face of a woman which made me more of a coward than I 1 had ever felt myself before I 1 was partially aroused by the droning tones of a voice closed close at hand lifting myself on one elbow I 1 glanced curiously around to see where it originated what was occurring clustered about a roaring fire of rails were a dozen troopers and in tho the midst of them occupying the post of honor bonor upon an empty powder keg was bungay enthusiastically reciting scott I 1 caught a line or two bat at once there rose so wild a yell within that dark and narrow dell As all the fiends from heaven tha fell had pealed the battle cry of hell and then the drowsy god pressed down my heavy eyelids and I 1 tell fell asleep CHAPTER the battle in the shenandoah to me it has always seemed ro re markab that after all my other battle expert experiences ances antl atam etam gettysburg the wilderness ay even including that first fierce baptism of fire at manassas no action in which I 1 ever participated should remain so clearly photographed upon memory as this last desperate struggle for supremacy in the shenandoah every detail of the conflict at least so far as I 1 chanced to be a personal ierson lers onal al participant rises before me as I 1 write and I 1 doubt not I 1 could trace today to day each step taken upon that stricken field tha reveille had not sounded when I 1 first awoke and rolling from my blanket looked about me already a faint dim line of gray heralding the dawn was growing clearly defined in the east and making manifest those heavy fog banks which hanging dank and low obscured the valley the tired men of my troop were yet lying upon the ground wrapped tightly in their blankets oblivious of the deadly work before them but I 1 could hear the horses already moving uneasily at their picket ropes and observed here and there the chilled figure of a sentry leaning upon his gun oddly distorted in form by the enveloping mist directly in advance of where we rested a long hill bill sloped gently upward for perhaps a hundred yards its crest topped with a thick growth of young oak trees yet seemingly devold of underbrush no troops were camped in ifa our immediate front and feeling curious to ascertain something of our fo formation mation as well as to ex amine the lay of the land between us and the position occupied by the enemy I 1 walked slowly forward unhindered until I 1 attained the crest the ios fog yet jet held the secrets of the tb valley safely locked within lla its brown hand and I 1 could penetrate none of its at it was van like gazing down from some headland into a silent allent sea but directly across from where I 1 stood apparently along the summit of another chain of low hills similar to those we ve occupied I 1 could perceive the flames of numerous camp fires leaping up into sudden radiance while chile against the brightening sky a great flag lazily flapped its folds to tho freshening breeze evidently our opponents were first astir and the headquarters of bome division of the enemy must be across yonder As I 1 gazed other fires burst forth to left and right as far as the unaided eye could carry through the gloom and I 1 was thus thua enabled to trace distinctly those advanced lines opposing us experience told me their position must be a strong one and their force heavy As I 1 turned to mark our own formation the roll of drums rang out while the quickening notes of the reveille sounded down the long lines of slumbering men life returned as it if by magic to those Toti motionless onless forms ind and almost in a moment all below me became astir and I 1 c could all id clearly distinguish the vardoui va rlou branches of the service as they stretched away commingled upon either cither hand we were evidently stationed close to the centre of our own position the intervening ter ground sloped so BO gently forward while tho the hill crest was so BO thickly crowned with trees it looked an idear position arp M which to advance in alne oa atack k upon my right there app appeared e ared a break in the solidity of our line but even as I 1 noted it wondering at the oversight the dense front of an infantry column debou debauched ched from a ravine and marching steadily forward filled the gap I 1 could distinctly mark the wearied manner in which tb the e men composing it flung filing themselves 1 prostrate on the v N t fill on foot and dying he reached our front hard ground the moment they were halted doubtless all through the long hours odthe of the black night they had been tolling on to be in time aides were galloping furiously now among the scattered commands the obscuring fog slowly rose from off the face of the valley but all the ce central n aral portion rema remained ine d veiled from view suddenly as I 1 watched the brown cloud beneath me was rent asunder h here ere and there by little spits of fire and it was curious to observe how bow those quick spiteful dartt darts of flame swept the full length of my vista I 1 could it was too far away but re realized that the opposing pickets piche id a s had caught sight of each other ou b h the gloom ther then a big gun boomed imort directly opposite me its flame seeming like a red hot knife rending t ie a mist this had barely vanished wl w ion a sudden cheer rang out u upon ori my ly lof lett rind ond I 1 turned turn ed in time t tin a to 10 beh be A althin I 1 scattered line of gray clad d infantrymen swarm down the steep slope into the valley with hats dr brwn wn low and guns advanced they plunged at a run into the mist an aal disappeared our skirmishers had ad gone go n no in the ball had ad opened I 1 had bad tarried long enough any moment now might br ng boots and saddles and if I 1 possessed poss ased the tha slightest desire for a breake at to fight on oil it behooved me to g st t back bach within our lines the memo y of that animated scene in front till still fresh upon me how bow quiet and c cr everything ery thing appeared don do n there in the hills what has become of bungey Gu Bu ngay nguy I 1 questioned of colgate was lying upon his back bach with eyes fastened on a floating cloud do you meau mean the 11 atle mountaineer who came in with Us last night I 1 nodded oh hla his mule boll ed cd at the first shot over yonder tender and the little fellow is after it iles hes dow a the field there somewhere t how time drag dragged gedl i the battery to left of us went into a action and began firing rapidly we bould mark the black figures of the c canno ono at the nearer guns outlined against the sky over ever tile the crest as ae thley moved quickly back and forth itrice f twice they bore motionless bodlos bodies toA 1119 rear and laid them down tenderly beyond the fierce zone of fire then the heavier pieces of artillery farther down the line burst into thunder and we silently watched a large force of infantry move slowly pas past t us up the long slope until they halted in line of battle just behind its summit the advanced files lying flat upon their faces an and peering over but no orders came for us nearly noon by the red sun alding 1 dang behind the drifting powder cloud the ever deepening roar of ceaseless contest had moved westward down don tile valley when an aldo aide wheeled ills his smoking hori horse se in front of the colonel spoke a dozen hasty words pointed impetuously to the left and dashed off down the line tho the men leaped to their feet in eager expectancy and as the fall in fall in there lads echoed joyously from lip to lip the kindling eyes and rapid movements voiced unmistakably the soldier spirit we moved westward down the long bare slope in the sunshine through a half dozen deserted desolate fields and along a narrow rocky defile leading into a deep revine at the mouth of the ravine Tavine we came forth into the broad valley and halted just in front of us scarcely a halt half mile distant were the fighting lines partially enveloped in dense smoke out from which broke patches of blue or gray as aa charge succeeded charge or the wind swept aside the fog of battle the tiring firing was one continuous crash while plunging bullets overreaching their mark began to chug into our own ranks dealing death impartially to horse and man the captain of the troop next mine wheeled suddenly a look of surprise upon his face and fell backward into the arms of one of his men with an intense scream of agony almost human the horse of ray my first sergeant reared and came over crushing tho the rider before he be could loosen foot from stirrup the lieuten ant colonel rode slowly past us to the rear his face deathly white ono arm dripping blood dangling helpless at his side this was the hardest work of war that silent agony which tried men iren in helpless bondage to unyielding discipline I 1 glanced anxiously along the front of my troop but they required no word from mo 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