Six hours before the occurrence narrated here, a solitary horseman, mounted on a strong charger, might have been seen galloping along the highways, and thridding the bridle-paths of the voting precinct, since famous as Crow Hide township. Except a brace of pistols attached to the pommel of his saddle, and a something in his deportment which said as plainly as words, "stand out of the way," there was nothing in the appearance of the cavalier to excite special wonder; yet he succeeded so well in drawing upon himself the attention of mortality thereabouts that there was scarce an inhabitant in all Crow Hide who had not obtained a glimpse of himself, or his foam-flecked steed, as they flashed by, convoyed by clouds of dust, and imprecated by all the choristers of the farm-yard. The windows of habitations along the route were thrown open ere the apparition was fairly in sight; children at play were attracted by the strange cynosure, and hurried to obtain counsel of parents regarding it; horsemen, who were met under whip and spur, drew rein suddenly, and gazed anxiously after their strange counterpart, and anon, as if slow in making up their minds at the object which hid him from view; and in fact it was as clearly apparent, to even such of the hogs and chickens as were not frightened out of their wits, that a seven days' wonder was being enacted in Crow Hide, as it was to more sentient creatures that the intangible something in the wind was not lawful subject for gossip. But if the majority were involved in doubt, and resolved to forget the incident as the most comfortable way of disposing of it, some there were who had cracked the conundrum, as was evident from their knowing deportment, their desire to avoid conversation on this topic, and finally, a disposition, plainly manifested, to convert the remainder of the afternoon into a holiday season. As the twilight hour approached, stables were visited, trappings placed in readiness, and all those indispensables of a scout's toilet which might be performed in secrecy, executed. These preparations required brief time, and within an hour after night had fallen, steeds were being caparisoned, riders were mounting in hot haste and moving off by clandestine routes, the roads were filling with cavalcades of armed men, who seemed bent on some undertaking of "pith and moment;" and all these movements proceeding with such secrecy that even the watch-dogs of the vicinity, though vaguely notified of the affair, hesitated to interfere. Though moving by different routes, the various squadrons seemed tending to a common rendezvous (located at a point on the outskirts of the settlement), a fact which was made further apparent by the constant recruits which were being added to each, at points where the highway was intersected by country-roads and by-paths.