The Courier of the OzarksDunn, Byron A. (Byron Archibald)
History
The Courier of the Ozarks
Dunn, Byron A. (Byron Archibald)
Missouri -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Juvenile fiction
This daughter, Agnes by name, was at this time about twenty, and was a
strikingly beautiful girl. Her lustrous hair, dark as midnight, crowned
a well-shaped head, which she carried as proudly as a queen. Her dark
eyes, lovely in repose, could with a languishing glance cause the heart
of the most prosaic of men to beat more rapidly; but in their depth was
a hidden fire which would blaze forth when aroused, and show the
tempestuous soul which dwelt within. She was above medium height, and
her body was as lithe and supple as a panther's.
In vain had her hand been sought by the beaux for twenty miles around.
When the war came, she told them no one need woo her until her beloved
Missouri was free of the Yankee foe, and he who did win her must be a
soldier, brave and true.
Some months before, Jerry's gang had been attacked and scattered, and
Jerry, his horse being killed, fled on foot. In his flight he came to
the Templeton house, his pursuers close behind.
He implored Agnes to save him, and this she did by secreting him in a
hidden closet behind the huge chimney. To the Federal soldiers in
pursuit she swore the guerrilla chieftain had passed by without
stopping. A careful search of the house revealing nothing, the soldiers
were forced to believe she told the truth.
Jerry was not only grateful to his fair preserver, but fell violently in
love with her. The rough guerrilla soldier was not the soldier of the
dreams of the proud, aristocratic girl. Concealing her repugnance to his
advances, she gently but firmly refused him, telling him her duty was to
her aged father. Jerry was so persistent in his advances that she
finally told him he must never speak of the subject again, or he would
be refused the house.
More than once did Jerry conceive the scheme of carrying her off by
force and marrying her against her will; but he became aware that the
girl possessed as fierce a spirit as his own, and if need were she would
not hesitate to plunge a dagger in his heart.
With the fires of unrequited love burning in his heart, he had to cease
his advances; but, like the silly moths that flutter around a candle, he
made every excuse to call at the Templeton residence. The girl warned
him by saying that by his course he was bringing not only danger on
himself, but on her father as well.
Jerry knew this, and the dastardly thought came to him that if the
Federals did make way with her father, Agnes, in her loneliness, might
come to him. It was a thought worthy of his black nature, but that he
madly loved the girl, there was no doubt.
The expedition against Jerry was well planned, but he got wind of it,
and scattered his force.
In a running fight that took place, Jerry captured two of Jennison's
men. These he calmly proceeded to hang, almost in sight of Templeton's
door, for the purpose of bringing down the wrath of Jennison on
Templeton's head. Only too well did the damnable plot succeed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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