The Statesmen Snowbound | Page 5

General Hood had been
killed; and in a minute or so two of our officers dashed out of the
timber, coming my way, riding for dear life, and nearly trampling me.
Meanwhile, the battle seemed to be raging all around me. Most of the
heavy fighting that day was done in the woods, and the losses were big
on both sides. Well, I dragged myself to a little clump of sassafras, not
caring much whether I lived or died, I was that played out, and my leg
burning and stinging just as though it was being touched up with a
red-hot poker. I had been there about fifteen minutes when a blue-coat
rose up in front of me--right out of the ground it seemed--and says,
very fierce, 'You're my prisoner!' He was a young fellow, about my age,
and didn't look at all dangerous. I just wished that leg of mine had been
all right, I would have given him his money's worth, I tell you! But it

wasn't any use. I couldn't stir for the misery.
"'You're my prisoner,' he says again, louder'n before.
"'All right,' says I, 'I'm willing,' seeing there wasn't anything else to say,
and putting a free and easy face on it.
"'Get up, then, and come along with me,' says he. I pointed to my leg,
and tried to grin. He saw the curious way it was lying--all twisted
up--and the big red splotch on my trousers, and says, as if imparting
information, 'You're hurt, man, badly hurt. Keep perfectly still,' which
seemed to be unnecessary, as that was the onliest thing I could do
anyhow. 'I'll get you out of this. Now, brace up,' and he knelt down, and
held out his canteen. I tried to take it, but the effort was too much for
me. 'Poor chap, he's gone,' I heard him say, and then I faded away.
When I came to--a minute later it seemed to me--I was in a Yankee
hospital; a big tent full of men groaning and dying, and doctors running
this way and that with bottles, and bandages, and knives; and the
cussing, and the screaming, and the smells! It makes me sick to think of
it, even now. It was hell! I know you don't want to hear about the time I
spent there, and in another place like it, tossing and groaning through
the long days and nights; and when I got nearly well again, about my
life in prison, and my parole. Nathan fixed that, and I walked out a free
man, limping a little, just as I've done ever since. Nathan hadn't
forgotten the Reb he had taken prisoner, and when I went back to Pine
Bluff, poorer'n a rat, and no prospects to speak of, he gave me my start
in life. He sent me with a letter to his folks in Illinois, and when I got
there they gave me work to do, and treated me like one of their own.
They certainly were white to me. When Nathan came home after the
war, he cal'lated that Illinois was too far east for him, so after a few
years we packed up our duds, and 'migrated out to Montana. There
we've been ever since. That's my story, and it ain't a very startling one
after all, is it?"
"And it is true--every word of it," said Senator Bull warmly. "Sammy
has stuck by me through thick and thin. I don't believe I could have
made out without him. As a mine boss, store keeper, deputy sheriff, and
Indian fighter, we swear by him out our way. There is a fellow,

gentlemen, who calls a spade a spade, and oftener than not a damned
spade!"
"Don't take my character away, Nathan," expostulated Mr. Ridley
humbly; "give me a show. I'm an old man now, and all I've got left is
my good name, and a little something in the savings bank. Don't be
hard on me."
"Sammy," continued the Senator, unnoticing, "could have gone to
Congress if he had cared to. The Democrats were after him only year
before last. Their man won out hands down. Sammy declined the
nomination. And that's the only thing I have against Sammy Ridley. He
is a Democrat. It's born in him, just as some folks inherit a taste for
liquor, and others come into the world plumb crazy, and are satisfied to
stay that way all their lives. However, it is not as bad as it seems. They
do say out in our country that the firm of 'Bull and Ridley' is bound to
get there, because when the Republican party is in the saddle, and
there's anything to be had, it's 'Bull and Ridley,' and when the
Democrats are on top, it's 'Ridley and Bull,' and