nand gently on the rein of the animal. The trained beast yields kindly to his touch; and, putting the rowels into his side, Garfield takes a zigzag course across the cotton-field. It is his only chance; he must tack from side to side, for he is a dead man if they get a steady aim upon him.

"He is riding up an inclined plane of about four hundred yards, and if he can pass the crest, he is in safety. But the gray fellows can load and fire twice, before he reaches the summit, and his death is a thing certain, unless Providence has more work for him to do on this footstool. Up the hill he goes, tacking, when another volley bellows from out the timber. His horse is struck, a flesh wound,

but

Scat

the noble animal only leaps forward the faster. tering bullets whiz by his head, but he is within a few feet of the summit. Another volley echoes along the hill when he is half over the crest, but in a moment more he is in safety. As he tears down the slope, a small body of mounted blue-coats gallop forward to meet him. At their head is General Dan McCook, his face anxious and pallid. 'My God, Garfield!' he cries, 'I thought you were killed, certain. How you have escaped is a miracle.'

"Garfield's horse has been struck twice, but he is good yet for a score of miles; and at a breakneck pace they go forward through ploughed fields and tangled forests, and over broken and rocky hills, for four weary miles, till they climb a wooded crest, and are within sight of Thomas. In a slight depression of the ground, with a group of officers about him, he stands in the open field, while over him sweeps the

storm of shotted fire that falls in thick rain on the high foot-hill which Garfield is crossing. Shot and shell and canister plough up the ground all abou Garfield; but in the midst of it he halts, and with up lifted right arm, and eyes full of tears, he shouts, as he catches sight of Thomas, There he is! God bless the old herc! he has saved the army!'

"For a moment only he halts, then he plunges down the hill through the fiery storm, and in five minutes is by the side of Thomas. He has come out unscathed from the hurricane of death, for God's good angels have warded off the bullets, but his noble. horse staggers a step or two, and then falls dead at the feet of Thomas."

Garfield's terrible ride saved the army of the Cumberland from remediless disaster.

Another incident illustrative of his life-long independence in standing for the right, befriending the down-trodden, and assailing slavery, was his refusal to return a fugitive slave. One of his staff told the story thus:

"One day I noticed a fugitive slave come rushing into camp with a bloody head, and apparently frightened almost to death. He had only passed my tent a moment, when a regular bully of a fellow came riding up, and, with a volley of oaths, began to ask after his nigger.' General Garfield was not present, and he passed on to the division commander. This division commander was a sympathizer with the theory that fugitives should be returned to their masters, and that the Union soldiers should be made the instru ments for returning them. He according'y wrote a

mandatory order to General Garfield, in whose command the slave was supposed to be hiding, telling him to hunt out and deliver over the property of the outraged citizen. I stated the case as fully as I could to General Garfield, before handing him the order, but did not color my statement in any way. He took the order, and deliberately wrote on it the following endorsement:

"I respectfully but positively decline to allow my command to search for or deliver up any fugitive slaves. I conceive that they are here for quite another purpose. The command is open, and no obstacles will be placed in the way of search.'

I

"I read the endorsement and was frightened. expected that, if returned, the result would be that the general would be court-martialled. I told him my fears. He simply replied: "The matter may as well be tested first as last. Right is right, and I do not propose to mince matters at all. My soldiers are here for other purposes than hunting and returning fugitive slaves. My people, on the Western Reserve of Ohio, did not send my boys and myself down here to do that kind of business, and they will back me up in my action.' He would not alter the endorsement, and the order was returned. Nothing ever came of the matter further."

In the beginning of our story, we learned that one of Garfield's first teachers told him (patting him on the head), "You may make a general, if you learn well." He did not understand the meaning of it at the time, but he knew all about it afterwards. Nor is it difficult to understand how his early

opportunities to study human nature, his ability to read character, his tact and experience in disciplin ing and drilling a large school, fitte him for a suc cessful general.

CHAPTER XXIV.

TOP OF THE LADDER.

N the summer of 1862, leading republicans of the nineteenth Ohio congressional district nominated Garfield to represent them in congress. They regarded him as the man above all others in the district qualified to succeed Joshua R. Giddings, of whom they were justly proud. Giddings was superseded four years before by John Hutchins, with whom the republicans were not satisfied. The movement for Garfield was undertaken without his knowledge. He was at the head of his command in Kentucky. The knowledge of his great abilities, and his military fame, led to his nomination. At first he thought he must decline the honor, and fight out the battles of his country. He was very popular in the army, both with officers and soldiers, his pay, too, was double that of a congressman, and he was poor and needed the greater salary, and there was no doubt that the highest honors awaited him should he continue on the field until the end of the war. The reader can readily see that to accept the nomination in these circumstances, was an act of great self-denial. But President Lincoln signified his desire for Garfield