The Kentucky Ranger

by Edward T. Curnick

So they started down the road, past the negro cabins (all the slaves being sound asleep), and on to the barn. They went into the barn, and soon discovered the absence of the horses. The judge was a man of decision and courage. He said: "George, thieves have broken into the barn and stolen our two best horses. I do not believe they have been gone long. Run instantly and arouse Mose and some of the other slaves. Tell your mother what has happened, and say that we are going at once to follow the thieves. While you are gone I will get out Prince, Clay and Bess, and we will go after the villains."

George ran to do his father's bidding, and soon most of the whites and slaves on the place were informed of the theft, and were wild with excitement as a result.

In the meantime Wiles and Turner saw the lights in the house and were sure their deed was discovered. It was too late to return the horses to the barn, and they decided to carry out their first intention and ride them as rapidly as possible twenty-five miles down the river road, and there deliver them to a confederate, who would smuggle them to a horse dealer in Paducah. They put spurs to their horses and the noble brutes started down the river road at a fast gait. At the beginning the thieves had every advantage. They were mounted upon Judge LeMonde's fastest horses, and they had several minutes' start of their pursuers. So that they were more than a mile down the river road when the chase began.

"Ha! Ha!" laughed Zibe Turner, "I 'spects I'm ahead in dis race. De time befo' Velox passed me; but now I'm ridin' him, an' I'd like to see de debil hisself overtake me."

"We'uns air safe," said Wiles, "but we'uns must hold back our hosses sum, for we uns hev a good jaunt to take, an' it won't do to tire 'em out at fust."

Both acted at once on this sensible advice, and they brought the ready animals down to a moderate trot. It was now a little past midnight, and not a soul was to be seen on the road. A light breeze blew softly from the south, shaking the tiny forest leaves and blowing across the fields to welcome the coming footsteps of another day.

Though these bad men boasted to each other that they had the winning hand, there was some uneasiness in their hearts. They knew that this was the highest stake they had ever played; they were striking at the chief man of the county, and had stolen the best horses on his plantation. Should the heavy hand of justice smite them, it would be a stunning blow. The voice of conscience was not utterly dead, and it aroused fears in their hearts that they were not willing to acknowledge even to themselves; but, like many other desperate men, their very alarm occasioned a fiercer determination to show a bold front.

About two o'clock that morning honest David Hester, who lived about fifteen miles distant from Judge LeMonde, was awakened from his deep sleep by a pounding in his barn, which stood not far from his house. Honest David knew at once what was the matter,—his horse Jim was kicking in his stall. This valuable beast had a habit at irregular intervals of kicking and pawing in the barn. Once or twice his restless feeling had made him use his legs so vigorously that he was thrown in his stall; and if his owner had not come to his help, he might have been fatally hurt. This night Jim's knocking was specially violent. Farmer Hester at last arose and went to the barn to quiet the restless creature. Speaking kindly to him, he turned him into a box stall and returned to the house.

Just as he was entering the rear door he heard the sound of horses' hoofs some distance up the river road. His curiosity aroused, he decided to see who the early travelers were. He walked to the front yard and stood under a large lilac bush which was already covered thickly with leaves.

The horsemen came on quickly. The moonlight was not sufficiently clear for David to see distinctly; but he noticed that the rider nearer him was a short man mounted on a dark horse, and that the other was a larger man riding a lighter-colored horse having a white spot in its forehead. David did not recognize either the men or horses, but the suspicion flashed across his mind that the lighter-colored horse was Judge LeMonde's Dolly. However, he was not sure, and in a moment the men had ridden by.