title: Murder in the Seventh Cavalry
author:  Robert Broomall 
description: Robert Broomall has authored a number of previously published novels. Besides writing, his chief interests are history and travel. The idea for Murder in the Seventh came from research he did on Custer for another book. "There's something compelling about Custer and the Seventh," he says. "Once you learn a little bit about the subject, you can't stop." Bob is a U.S. Army veteran and graduate of the University of Maryland. He works as a technical writer at Aberdeen Proving Ground and lives in Bel Air, Maryland, with his wife Sharon.
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  A Horseman in the Sky  
    
  
  
  This page copyright © 2001 Blackmask Online.
  
  
  
  
  
  http://www.blackmask.com
  
  
  # A Horseman in the Sky
  
  
  ### Ambrose Bierce
  
  
  
  
  
  This page copyright © 2001 Blackmask Online.
  
  
  
  
  
  http://www.blackmask.com  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  One sunny afternoon in the autumn of the year 1861, a soldier lay in a clump
  of laurel by the side of a road in Western Virginia. He lay at full length,
  upon his stomach, his feet resting upon the toes, his head upon the left
  forearm. His extended right hand loosely grasped his rifle. But for the
  somewhat methodical disposition of his limbs and a slight rhythmic movement of
  the cartridge-box at the back of his belt, he might have been thought to be
  dead. He was asleep at his post of duty. But if detected he would be dead
  shortly afterward, that being the just and legal penalty of his crime.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The clump of laurel in which the criminal lay was in the angle of a road
  which, after ascending, southward, a 