nd plunged into the timber. It
was out of the frying-pan into the fire. He ran plump into a half-dozen
Confederate cavalrymen, guarding two Union prisoners. "Men, a Union spy
is escaping!" shouted Will. "Scatter at once, and head him off. I'll
look after your prisoners." There was a ring of authority in the
command; it came at least from a petty officer; and without thought of
challenging it, the cavalrymen hurried right and left in search of the
fugitive. "Come," said Will, in a hurried but smiling whisper to the
dejected pair of Union men. "I'm the spy! There!" cutting the ropes that
bound their wrists. "Now ride for your lives!" Off dashed the trio, and
not a minute too soon. Will's halt had been brief, but it had been of
advantage to his pursuers, who, with Nat Golden at their head, came on
in full cry, not a hundred yards behind. Here was a race with Death at
the horse's flanks. The timber stopped a share of the singing bullets,
but there were plenty that got by the trees, one of them finding
lodgment in the arm of one of the fleeing Union soldiers. Capture meant
certain death for Will; for his companions it meant Andersonville or
Libby, at the worst, which was perhaps as bad as death; but Will would
not leave them, though his horse was fresh, and he could easily have
distanced them. Of course, if it became necessary, he was prepared
to cut their acquaintance, but for the present he made one of the
triplicate targets on which the galloping marksmen were endeavoring
to score a bull's-eye. The edge of the wood was shortly reached, and
beyond--inspiring sight!--lay the outposts of the Union army. The
pickets, at sight of the fugitives, sounded the alarm, and a body of
blue-coats responded. Will would have gladly tarried for the skirmish
that ensued, but he esteemed it his first duty to deliver the papers he
had risked his life to obtain; so, leaving friend and foe to settle the
dispute as best they might, he put for the clump of trees where he had
hidden his uniform, and exchanged it for the gray, that had served its
purpose and was no longer endurable. Under his true colors he rode
into camp. General Forrest almost immediately withdrew from that
neighborhood, and after the atrocious massacre at Fort Pillow, on the
12th of April, left the state. General Smith was recalled, and Will was
transferred, with the commission of guide and scout for the Ninth Kansas
Regiment. The Indians were giving so much trouble along the lin