Under Fire: A Tale of the Shenandoah Valley — page 73: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

66 THE PURSUIT AND RESULT. CHAPTER XII. THE PURSUIT AND RESULT. We took occasion to remark in the preceding chap- ter that there were a good many loyal adherents of the Southern cause who did not seem to be profound- ly impressed with Colonel Trafton’s personal valor. We may say tight here that these same critics always claimed to be much mystified as to how the officer in question attained his rank. | Those who claimed to know, averred that it was all owing to the influence of ex-Senator McVane. Colonel Trafton and his five men spurred forward at a rapid pace. _ They were well mounted and armed. ‘Ah!’ muttered the colonel, ‘‘if I can only over- take that fellow, I shall seize the opportunity of settling old scores for good and all. I can easily see that Bertha thinks more of him than she dares to’ confess. I feel he is a dangerous rival, in spite of the _ fact that he is a Yankee.”’ As the party reached the brow of a small hill, they had a good view of the road for some distance ahead. Not a quarter of a mile away, they saw a single horseman, in Union blue, trotting along the turnpike. ams) orward, boys; there’ s our man!”? With a half-uttered cheer, they dashed at a break neck pace down the gentle declivity and into the road. Captain Royal Chetwood heard the clatter of the horses’ hoofs when they struck the stony road. Turning in his saddle, he perceived the gray coats, and quickly discerned that he was in a ticklish posi- tion. Capture seemed almost certain. ‘comicbooks.co