In Spite Of Foes Or Ten Years' Trial Author:Charles King IN SPITE OF FOES; OR TEN YEARS TRIAL By GENERAL CHARLES KING, U. S. V: CHAPTER I : THE sunshine of a glorious autumn morning was slanting along the valley of thz Pawnee, throwing bold shadows into the flats and lighting the landscape for miles with crimson and gold. The dew, sparkling on the wild bullberry bushes, on tufted buffalo-grass and tin... more »y flowerets, mantled the bluffs with diamonds, and was still so strong as to defy its one enemy, - the sun god. The frost had smitten the scant foliage on the banks of the winding stream and the leaves had donned their glorious hues, setting forth their richest color, as the swan reserves its song, to meet the universal conqueror. The mist rose sloivly from the silent, shallow pools, and from distant village and from the neighboring heights the smoke of chimney or, OR camp-fire soared straight to the skies. It was a morning to send the blood leaping through young veins and to brighten the eye of age,-a morning in which all nature seemed to rejoice and all mankind to thank God for the joy of living. Yet, in the midst of a scene of such peace and healtll. and hope there stood, alone, . . . a man still j. lc i, fr o g m whose face hope, peace, e17en heslth app rcndy, h ad fled, and whose attitude was one df u, tter grief and dejecticn. He was leaning against a branching willow, gazing into the depths of the broad pool of the Pawilee, just above the rapids, with God alone knows what thoughts seething through his brain, when the silence of the morning was broken by sudden, stirring sound. Close at hand, from the willo vs across the stream, there rang out, loud and clear, the call of a cavalry trumpet, followed almost instantly by the appearance of half a dozen horsemen moving at steady walk from a break in the timber and descending the gentle slope to the ford. Foremost rode a po verfully built soldier in the field uniform of the United States Horse. Behind, side by side, came two younger soldiers, all three evidently officers then followed a brace of troopersorderlies or grooms-and a jaunty lad with the yellow braid and glistening trumpet slung from the shoulder...« less