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diff --git a/19999.txt b/19999.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c675b5f --- /dev/null +++ b/19999.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9012 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Drummer Boy, by John Trowbridge + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Drummer Boy + +Author: John Trowbridge + +Release Date: December 3, 2006 [EBook #19999] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DRUMMER BOY *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +made from images produced by the North Carolina History +and Fiction Digital Library.) + + + + + + + THE + + DRUMMER BOY + + + + by + + J. T. TROWBRIDGE + + + + NEW YORK + HURST & COMPANY + PUBLISHERS + + + + J. T. TROWBRIDGE SERIES + UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME + By J. T. TROWBRIDGE + + Coupon Bonds. + Cudjo's Cave. + Drummer Boy, The. + Martin Merryvale, His X Mark. + Lucy Arlyn. + Father Bright Hopes. + Neighbor Jackwood. + Three Scouts, The. + + _Price, postpaid, 50c. each, or any three books for $1.25_ + + HURST & COMPANY + Publishers, New York + + + + + CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I. Frank at Home 5 + + II. Off to the War 12 + + III. Under Canvas 21 + + IV. The old Drummer and the new Drum 32 + + V. Fun in Camp 41 + + VI. Breaking Camp 51 + + VII. Through Boston 59 + + VIII. Annapolis 71 + + IX. Thanksgiving in Camp 81 + + X. Frank's Progress 89 + + XI. A Christmas Frolic 93 + + XII. The Secessionist's Turkeys 105 + + XIII. The Expedition Moves 118 + + XIV. The Voyage and the Storm 125 + + XV. Hatterns Inlet 134 + + XVI. How Frank lost his Watch 143 + + XVII. In which Frank sees strange Things 151 + + XVIII. Bitter Things 161 + + XIX. Seth gets "Riled" 170 + + XX. Sunday before the Battle 178 + + XXI. Up the Sound 187 + + XXII. The Attack of the Gunboats 194 + + XXIII. The Troops disembark.--The Island 201 + + XXIV. The Bivouac 206 + + XXV. Atwater 212 + + XXVI. Old Sinjin 219 + + XXVII. The Skirmish 225 + + XXVII. Jack Winch's Catastrophe 231 + + XXIX. How Frank got News of his Brother 238 + + XXX. The Boys meet an old Acquaintance 248 + + XXXI. "Victory or Death!" 255 + + XXXII. After the Battle 261 + +XXXIII. A Friend in need 268 + + XXXIV. The Hospital 273 + + XXXV. Conclusion 279 + + + + + FRANK MANLY, THE DRUMMER BOY. + + + I. + + FRANK AT HOME. + + +One evening, in the month of October, 1861, the Manly family were +gathered together in their little sitting-room, discussing a question of +the most serious importance to all of them, and to Frank in particular. +Mrs. Manly sat by the table, pretending to sew; but now and then the +tears rushed into her eyes, and dropped upon her work, in spite of all +she could do to keep them back. Frank watched her with a swelling breast, +sorry to see his mother so grieved, and yet glad in one little corner of +his heart; for, although she had declared that she could not think of +granting his request, he knew well, by those tears of hers, that she was +already thinking of granting it. + +"A pretty soldier you'll make, Frank!" said Helen, his elder sister, +laughing at his ambition. "You never fired a gun in your life; and if you +should see a rebel, you wouldn't know which end of the gun to point at +him, you'd be so frightened." + +"Yes, I know it," retorted Frank, stoutly, determined not to be dissuaded +from his purpose either by entreaties or ridicule; "and for that reason I +am going to enlist as a drummer boy." + +"Well," exclaimed Helen, "your hands will tremble so, no doubt you can +roll the drumsticks admirably." + +"Yes, to be sure," replied Frank, with a meaning smile; for he thought +within himself, "If she really thinks I am such a coward, never mind; +she'll learn better some day." + +"O, don't go to war, dear Frank," pleaded, in a low, sweet voice, his +younger sister, little Hattie, the invalid, who lay upon the lounge, +listening with painful interest to the conversation; "do, brother, stay +at home with me." + +That affectionate appeal touched the boy's heart more deeply than his +mother's tears, his elder sister's ridicule, and his father's opposition, +all combined. He knelt down by little Hattie's side, put his arms about +her neck, and kissed her. + +"But somebody must go and fight, little sister," he said, as soon as he +could choke back his tears. "The rebels are trying to overthrow the +government; and you wouldn't keep me at home--would you?--when it needs +the services of every true patriot?" + +"Which of the newspapers did you get that speech out of?" asked Helen. +"If Jeff Davis could hear you, I think he'd give up the Confederacy at +once. He would say, 'It's no use, since Young America has spoken.'" + +"Yes; like the coon in the tree, when he saw Colonel Crockett taking aim +at him," added Frank: "says the coon, 'Don't shoot! If it's you, colonel, +I'll come down!' And I tell ye," cried the boy, enthusiastically, +"there's something besides a joke in it. Jeff'll be glad to come down out +of his tree, before we hang him on it." + +"But if you go to war, Frank," exclaimed the little invalid, from her +pillow, "you will be shot." + +"I expect to be shot at a few times," he replied; "but every man that's +shot at isn't shot, sissy; and every man that's shot isn't killed; and +every man that's killed isn't dead--if what the Bible says is true." + +"O my son," said Mrs. Manly, regarding him with affectionate earnestness, +"do you know what you say? have you considered it well?" + +"Yes," said Frank, "I've thought it all over. It hasn't been out of my +thoughts, day or night, this ever so long; though I was determined not to +open my lips about it to any one, till my mind was made up. I know five +or six that have enlisted, and I'm just as well able to serve my country +as any of them. I believe I can go through all the hardships any of them +can. And though Helen laughs at me now for a coward, before I've been in +a fight, she won't laugh at me afterwards." But here the lad's voice +broke, and he dashed a tear from his eye. + +"No, no, Frank," said Helen, remorsefully, thinking suddenly of those +whose brothers have gone forth bravely to battle, and never come home +again. And she saw in imagination her own dear, brave, loving brother +carried bleeding from the field, his bright, handsome face deathly pale, +the eyes that now beamed so hopefully and tenderly, closing--perhaps +forever. "Forgive my jokes, Frank; but you are too young to go to war. We +have lost one brother by secession, and we can't afford to lose another." + +She alluded to George, the oldest of the children, who had been several +years in the Carolinas; who had married a wife there, and become a +slave-owner; and who, when the war broke out, forgot his native north, +and the free institutions under which he had been bred, to side with the +south and slavery. This had proved a source of deep grief to his parents; +not because the pecuniary support they had derived from him, up to the +fall of Fort Sumter, was now cut off, greatly to their distress,--for +they were poor,--but because, when he saw the Union flag fall at +Charleston, he had written home that it was a glorious sight; and they +knew that the love of his wife, and the love of his property, had made +him a traitor to his country. + +"If I've a brother enlisted on the wrong side," said Frank, "so much the +more reason that I should enlist on the right side. And I am not so young +but that I can be doing something for my country, and something for you +here at home, at the same time. If I volunteer, you will be allowed state +aid, and I mean to send home all my pay, to the last dollar. I wish you +would tell me, father, that I can have your consent." + +Mr. Manly sat in his easy-chair, with his legs crossed, his hands pressed +together, and his head sunk upon his breast. For a long time he had not +spoken. He was a feeble man, who had not succeeded well in the business +of life; his great fault being that he always relied too much upon +others, and not enough upon himself. The result was, that his wife had +become more the head of the family than he was, and every important +question of this kind, as Frank well knew, was referred to her for +decision. + +"O, I don't know, I don't know, my son," Mr. Manly groaned; and, +uncrossing his legs, he crossed them again in another posture. "I have +said all I can; now you must talk with your mother." + +"There, mother," said Frank, who had got the answer he expected, and now +proceeded to make good use of it; "father is willing, you see. All I want +now is for you to say yes. I must go and enlist to-morrow, if I mean to +get into the same company with the other boys; and I'm sure you'd rather +I'd go with the fellows I know, than with strangers. We are going to +befriend each other, and stand by each other to the last." + +"Some of them, I am afraid, are not such persons as I would wish to have +you on very intimate terms with, any where, my child," answered Mrs. +Manly; "for there is one danger I should dread for you worse than the +chances of the battle-field." + +"What's that?" + +"That you might be led away by bad company. To have you become corrupted +by their evil influences--to know that my boy was no longer the pure, +truthful child he was; that he would blush to have his sisters know his +habits and companions; to see him come home, if he ever does, reckless +and dissipated--O, I could endure any thing, even his death, better than +that." + +"Well," exclaimed Frank, filled with pain, almost with indignation, at +the thought of any one, especially his mother, suspecting him of such +baseness, "there's one thing--you shall hear of my death, before you hear +of my drinking, or gambling, or swearing, or any thing of that kind. I +promise you that." + +"Where is your Testament, my son?" asked his mother. + +"Here it is." + +"Have you a pencil?" + +"He may take mine," said Hattie. + +"Now write on this blank leaf what you have just promised." + +Mrs. Manly spoke with a solemn and tender earnestness which made Frank +tremble, as he obeyed; for he felt now that her consent was certain, and +that the words he was writing were a sacred pledge. + +"Now read what you have written, so that we can all hear what you +promise, and remember it when you are away." + +After some bashful hesitation, Frank took courage, and read. A long +silence followed. Little Hattie on the lounge was crying. + +"But you ought to keep this--for I make the promise to you," he said, +reflecting that he had used his own Testament to write in. + +"No, you are to keep it," said his mother, "for I'm afraid we shall +remember your promise a great deal better than you will." + +"No, you won't!" cried Frank, full of resolution. "I shall keep that +promise to the letter." + +Mrs. Manly took the Testament, read over the pledge carefully, and wrote +under it a little prayer. + +"Now," said she, "go to your room, and read there what I have written. +Then go to bed, and try to sleep. We all need rest--for to-morrow." + +"O! and you give your consent?" + +"My son," said Mrs. Manly, holding his hand, and looking into his face +with affectionate, misty eyes, "it is right that you should do something +for your family, for we need your help. Your little sister is sick, your +father is feeble, and I--my hand may fail any day. And it is right that +you should wish to do something for your country; and, but that you are +so young, so very young, I should not have opposed you at all. As it is, +I shall not oppose you any more. Think of it well, if you have not done +so already. Consider the hardships, the dangers--every thing. Then decide +for yourself. I intrust you, I give you into the hands of our heavenly +Father." + +She folded him to her heart, kissing him and weeping. Frank then kissed +his sisters good-night, his resolution almost failing him, and his heart +almost bursting with the thought that this might be the last evening he +would ever be with them, or kiss them good-night. + + + + + II. + + OFF TO THE WAR. + + +It was a calm, clear October night. The moonlight streamed through the +window of Frank's room, an he lay in bed, thinking of the evening that +was past, and of the morning that was to come. Little Willie, his younger +brother, was sleeping sweetly at his side. He had heard his sisters come +up stairs and go to bed in the room next to his; and they were conversing +now in low tones,--about him he was sure. + +Would he ever sleep in that nice warm bed again? Would he ever again fold +dear little Willie in his arms, and feel his dewy cheek against his own, +as he did now? What was the future that awaited him? Who would fill his +mother's place when he was gone from her? He had read over the prayer she +wrote for him; it was still fresh in his thoughts, and he repeated it now +to himself in the silence of the moonlit chamber. + +When he opened his eyes, he saw a white shape enter softly and approach +his bedside. There it stood in the moonlight, white and still. Was it a +ghost? Was it an angel? Frank was not afraid. + +"Mother!" + +"Are you awake, my darling?" + +"O, yes, mother. I haven't slept at all." + +"I didn't mean to awake you, if you were asleep," she said, kneeling down +beside him. "But I could not sleep; and I thought I would come and look +at you, and kiss you once more; for perhaps I shall never see you in your +bed again." + +"O, mother, don't talk so. I hope I shall be spared to you a long, long +time yet." + +"I hope you will; but we must think of the worst, and be prepared for it, +my son. If it is God's will, I can give you up. And you--you must make up +your mind to brave all dangers, even to die, if necessary. It is a great +and holy cause you are engaging in. It is no gay and pleasant adventure, +as perhaps you think. Are you sure you have thought of it well?" + +"I have," responded Frank. "I am going; and I am going to do my duty, +whatever it is. For a few minutes after I came to bed, thinking of what +you had said, and of leaving you, and of"--here he choked--"I was almost +sorry I had said a word about going; it looked so dreary and sad to me. +But I said my prayers, and now I feel better about it. I don't think any +thing can shake my resolution again." + +"If it is so," replied his mother, "I have nothing more to say." And she +kissed him, and gave him plentiful good advice, and finally prayed with +him, kneeling by his bedside. + +"O, don't go, mother," said Frank; "it is such a comfort to have you +here! May-be it is the last time." + +"May-be it is, my son. But I must bid you goodnight. You must sleep. See +how soundly Willie is sleeping all this time! He don't know that he is +losing a brother." + +After she was gone, Frank felt more lonesome than ever, the house was so +silent, the moonshine in his chamber was so cold. But he hugged his warm +little brother close to his heart, and cried very softly, if he cried at +all. + +I do not know how much he slept that night. No doubt his excited thoughts +kept him awake until very late, for he was fast asleep the next morning +when Helen came to call him. + +"Hurrah!" he exclaimed, starting up; "fight for the old flag!" for he was +dreaming of a battle. "Hallo!" he said, rubbing his eyes open. "That you, +Helen?" + +"A wide-awake drummer boy you are," she replied, with her usual +good-natured irony. "You'll have to rouse up earlier than this, I tell +you, if you ever beat the reveille for the soldiers." + +"So much the more reason why I should have a good nap in the morning, +when I can," said Frank. + +"Well, lie and sleep, if you want to," she added, with a touch of +tenderness. "I thought I'd let you know breakfast was ready." + +But Frank was wide awake enough now. He felt there was something great +and grand in the day before him, and he was anxious to meet it. He was up +and dressed in a minute. He threw open his window, and looked away +towards the city, which lay dim and strange in the beautiful mists of the +morning, with the crimson clouds of the sunrise lifting like curtains +behind it. And the far-off roar of the rumbling streets reached his ear, +inspiring him freshly with hope and action. + +All the family were at breakfast, except Hattie, the sick one, when Frank +came down stairs. Even Willie had crept out of bed before him, wondering +what made his brother sleep so long that morning. And now he found the +little fellow dividing his attentions between his breakfast and his toy +gun, which had acquired a new interest in his eyes since Helen had told +him Frank was going to the war. + +"I'm going with my bwother Fwank," he declared, shouldering arms over his +johnny-cake. "And if any body--any webel"--breathing earnestly--"hurt my +bwother Fwank, me shoot 'em me will!" + +"Yes," remarked Helen, "you and Frank will put down the rebellion, I've +not the least doubt." + +This was meant for a sly hit at Frank's youthful patriotism; but Willie +took it quite seriously. + +"Yes," he lisped; "me and Fwank--we put down the webellion. Take +aim!"--pointing his toy at his father's nose. "Fire! bang! See, me kill a +webel." + +"How little the child realizes what it is to fight the rebels," said his +mother, with a sigh. + +"I'm afraid," said Helen, "Frank doesn't realize it much more than Willie +does. He has just about as correct a notion about putting down the +_webellion_." + +"Very likely," said Frank, who had learned that the beat way to treat a +joke of this kind is always to humor it, instead of being offended. For a +joke is often like a little barking dog--perfectly harmless, if you pass +serenely by without noticing it, or if you just say, "Poor fellow! brave +dog!" and pat its neck; but which, if you get angry and raise your stick, +will worry you all the more for your trouble, and perhaps be provoked to +bite. + +There was a silence of several minutes--Willie alone manifesting a desire +to keep up the conversation on war matters. He stuck his johnny-cake on +the end of his gun, and bombarded his mother's coffee-cup with it; and +was about to procure more johnny-cake, in order to shell the sugar-bowl, +which he called "Fort Sumter," when Helen put an end to his sport by +disarming him. + +"I want father to go to town with me, to the recruiting office," said +Frank; "for I don't suppose I will be accepted, unless he does." + +That sounded like proceeding at once to business, which Mr. Manly never +liked to do. He was one of those easily discouraged men, whose rule is +always to postpone until to-morrow what they are not absolutely obliged +to do to-day. He waited, however, as usual, to hear what his wife would +say to the proposition, before expressing himself decidedly against it. +Fortunately, Mrs. Manly had energy and self-reliance enough for both. + +"If you are still firmly resolved to go, then your father will go with +you to the recruiting office," she said; and that settled it: for Frank +was resolved--his character resembling his mother's in respect to energy +and determination. + +Accordingly, after breakfast, Mr. Manly, with frequent sighs of +foreboding and discouragement, made a lather, honed his razor, and shaved +himself, preparatory to a visit to town. Frank, in the mean while, made +ready for his departure. He put in order the personal effects which he +intended to leave at home, and packed into a bundle a few things he +purposed to take with him. An hour passed quickly away, with all its busy +preparations, consultations, and leave takings; and the last moment +arrived. + +"Say good-by twice to me," said Hattie, the little invalid, rising up on +her lounge to give him a farewell kiss. + +"Why twice to you?" asked Frank. + +"Because," she answered, with a sad, sweet smile, "If you do come home +from the war, perhaps you won't find me here;" for the child had a notion +that she was going to die. + +"O sissy," exclaimed Frank, "don't say so; I shall come back, and I shall +find you well." + +"Yes," replied Hattie, sorry that she had said any thing to make him feel +bad; "we will think so, dear brother." And she smiled again; just as +angels smile, Frank thought. + +"Besides, this isn't my good-by for good, you know," said he. "I shall +get a furlough, and come home and see you all, before I leave for the +seat of war with my regiment." Frank couldn't help feeling a sort of +pride in speaking of _his regiment_. "And may-be you will all visit +me in camp before I go." + +"Come," called his father, at the door; "if we are going to catch this +car, we must be off." + +So Frank abbreviated his adieus, and ran. + +"Wait, wait!" screamed Willie, pulling his cap on "Me go, me go!" + +"Go where, you little witch?" cried Helen. + +"Me go to war, along with my bwother Fwank. Put down webellion," pouted +the child, shouldering his gun, and trudging out of the door in eager +haste, fearing lest he should be left behind. + +Mrs. Manly was parting from her son on the doorstep, putting back a stray +curl from his cheek, smoothing his collar, and whispering, with wet eyes +and quivering lips, "My child, remember!" + +"I will--good-by!" were Frank's last words; and he hastened after his +father, just pausing on the next corner to look around at the faces in +the door of his home, and wave his hat at them. There was Hattie, leaning +on Helen's arm, and waving her handkerchief, which was scarcely whiter +than that thin white face of hers; and there was his mother gazing after +him with steadfast eyes of affection and blessing, while her hands were +fully occupied in restraining that small but fiery patriot, Willie, who, +with his cap over his eyes, was vehemently struggling to go with his +bwother Fwank. + +This was the tableau, the final picture of home, which remained imprinted +on Frank's memory. For the corner was passed, and the doorway and windows +of the dear old house, and the dearer faces there, were lost to sight. He +would have delayed, in order to get one more look; but already the +tinkling bells gave warning of the near approach of the horse-car, and he +and his father had no more than time to reach the Main Street, when it +came up, and stopped to take them in. + +In but little more than an hour's time, by far the most important step in +Frank's life had been taken. He had enlisted. + +"Well," said his father, after Frank, with a firm and steady hand, had +written his name, "it is done now. You are a brave boy!"--with a tear of +pride, as he regarded his handsome, spirited young volunteer, and thought +that not many fathers had such promising sons. + +While they were at the recruiting office, one of their neighbors came in. + +"What!" he exclaimed, "you here? on business?" + +"Patriotic business," replied Mr. Manly, showing his son with a fond +father's emotion. "He has volunteered, neighbor Winch." + +"And you give your consent?" + +"I do, most certainly, since he feels it his duty to go, and his mother +is willing." + +Neighbor Winch stood speechless for a moment, the muscles of his mouth +working. "I have just heard," he said, in an agitated voice, "that my son +John has enlisted _without_ my consent; and I have come here to ascertain +the fact. Do you know any thing about it, Frank?" + +"I suppose I do," replied Frank, with some reluctance. "He enlisted three +days ago. He wanted me to go with him then; but I----" + +"You what?" said neighbor Winch. + +"I couldn't, without first getting permission from my father and mother," +explained Frank. + +"O, if my John had only acted as noble a part!" said the neighbor. "It's +a bad beginning for a boy to run away. He has nearly broken his mother's +heart." + +"Well, well, neighbor," observed Mr. Manly, consolingly, "reflect that +it's in a good cause. Jack might have done worse, you know." + +"Yes, yes. He never was a steady boy, as you know. He has set out to +learn three different trades, and got sick of them all. I couldn't keep +him at school, neither. Of late nothing would do but he must be a +soldier. If I thought he'd stick to it, and do his duty, I wouldn't say a +word. But he'll get tired of carrying a gun, too, before he has seen hard +service. Where is he? Do you know, Frank?" + +"He is in camp, in the Jackson Blues," mid Frank. "I am going as drummer +in the same company." + +"I'm glad of that," replied Mr. Winch. "For, though he is so much older +than you, I think you always have had an influence over him, Frank--a +good influence, too." And the neighbor took the young volunteer's hand. + +Frank's eyes glistened--he felt so touched by this compliment, and so +proud that his father had heard it, and could go home and tell it to his +mother and sisters. + +Neighbor Winch went on: "I want you to see John, as soon as you can, +Frank, and talk with him, and try to make him feel how wrongly he has +acted----" + +Here the poor man's voice failed him; and Frank, sympathizing with his +sorrow, was filled with gratitude to think that he had never been tempted +to grieve his parents in the same way. + +Mr. Manly accompanied his son to the railroad depot, and saw him safely +in the cars that were to convey him to camp, and then took leave of him. +The young volunteer would have forgotten his manhood, and cried, if the +eyes of strangers had not been upon him; even as it was, his voice broke +when he said his last good-by, and sent back his love to his mother and +sisters and little Willie. + + + + + III. + + UNDER CANVAS. + + +The cars were soon off; and the heart of Frank swelled within him as he +felt himself now fairly embarked in his new adventure. + +Soon enough the white tents of the camp rose in sight. The Stars and +Stripes floating under the blue sky, the soldiers in their blue uniforms, +the sentinels with their glittering bayoneted guns pacing up and down, +and above all, the sound of a drum, which he considered now to be a part +of his life, made him feel himself already a hero. + +Several other recruits had come down in the train with him, accompanied +by an officer. Frank was a stranger to them all. But he was not long +without acquaintances, for he had scarcely alighted at the depot when he +saw coming towards him his neighbor and chum, Jack Winch, in soldier +clothes--a good-looking young fellow, a head taller and some two years +older than himself. + +"Hello, Jack! how are you?" + +"Tip-top!" said Jack, looking happy as a prince. + +The officer who had brought down the recruits went with them to the +quartermaster's department, and gave orders for their outfit. When +Frank's turn came, his measure was taken, and an astonishing quantity of +army clothing issued to him. He had two pairs of drawers, two shirts, two +pairs of stockings, a blouse, a dress coat, an overcoat, a cap, a pair of +shoes, a pair of pantaloons, and a towel. Besides these he received a +knapsack, with two blankets; a haversack, with a tin plate, knife and +fork, and spoon; and a tin cup and canteen. He had also been told that he +should get his drum and drumsticks; but in this he was disappointed. The +department was out of drums. + +"Never mind!" said Jack, consolingly. "You may consider yourself lucky to +draw your clothes so soon. I had to wait for mine till I was examined and +sworn in. The surgeons are so lazy, or have so much to do, or something, +it may be a week before you'll be examined." + +Frank was soon surrounded by acquaintances whom he scarcely recognized at +first, they looked so changed and strange to him in their uniforms. + +"How funny it seems," said he, "to be shaking hands with soldiers!" + +"These are our tents," said Jack. "They all have their names, you see." + +Which fact Frank had already noticed with no little astonishment. + +The names were lettered on the canvas of the tents in characters far more +grotesque than elegant One was called the "Crystal Palace;" another, the +"Mammoth Cave;" a third bore the mystical title of "Owl House;" while a +fourth displayed the sign of the "Arab's Home;" etc. + +"My traps are in the 'Young Volunteer,'" said Jack. "We give it that +name, because we are all of us young fellows in there. You can tie up +here too,"--entering the tent,--"if you want to." + +Frank gladly accepted the proposition. "How odd it must seem," he said, +"to live and sleep under canvas!" + +"You'll like it tip-top, when you get used to it," remarked Jack, with an +air of old experience. + +Frank made haste to take off his civil suit and put on his soldier +clothes. Jack pronounced the uniform a splendid fit, and declared that +his friend looked "stunning." + +"But you must have your hair cut, Frank. Look here; this is the fighting +trim!" and Jack Winch, pulling off his cap, made Frank laugh till the +tears came into his eyes, at the ludicrous sight. Jack's hair had been +clipped so close to his head that it was no longer than mouse's hair, +giving him a peculiarly grim and antique appearance. + +"You look like Sinbad's Old Man of the Sea!" exclaimed Frank. "I won't +have my hair cut that way!"--feeling of his own soft brown curls, which +his mother was so fond of, and which he meant to preserve, if only for +her sake. + +"Pshaw! you look like a girl! Come, Frank, there's a fellow in the 'Owl +House' that cuts all the hair for our company." + +But here an end was put to the discussion by some of the boys without +crying, "Dinner!" + +"Dinner!" repeated Jack. "Hurrah! let's go and draw our rations." + +Three or four young volunteers now came into the tent, and, opening their +haversacks, drew forth their tin plates, knives and forks. Frank did the +same, and observing that they all took their tin cups, he took his also, +and followed them, with quite as much curiosity as appetite, to the +cook-shop, where a large piece of bread and a thick slice of boiled beef +was dealt out to each, together with a cup of coffee. + +"How droll it seems to eat rations!" said Frank, on their return, seating +himself on his bed,--a tick filled with straw,--and using his lap for a +table. + +The bread was sweet; but the beef was of not quite so fine a quality as +Frank had been used to at home and the coffee was not exactly like his +mother's. + +"Here, have some milk," said Jack. "I've an account open with this +woman"--a wrinkled old creature, who came into the tent with a little +girl, bearing baskets of cakes and fruits, and a can of milk. + +"No, I thank you," said Frank. "I may as well begin with the fare I shall +have to get used to some time, for I mean to send all my pay home to my +folks except what I'm actually obliged to use myself." + +"You'll be a goose if you do!" retorted Jack. "I shan't send home any of +mine. I'm my own man now, ye see, and what I earn of Uncle Sam I'm going +to have a gallus old time with, you may bet your life on that!" + +Frank drew a long breath, for he felt that the time had now come to have +the talk with his friend which Mr. Winch had requested. + +"I saw your father, this morning, Jack." + +"Did ye though? What did the old sinner have to say?" + +"I don't like to hear you call your father such names," said Frank, +seriously. "And if you had seen how bad he felt, when he spoke of your +enlisting----" + +"Pshaw, now, Frank! don't be green! don't get into a pious strain, I beg +of ye! You'll be the laughing-stock of all the boys, if ye do." + +Frank blushed to the eyes, not knowing what reply to make. He had felt no +little pride in Mr. Winch's responsible charge to him, and had intended +to preach to his more reckless companion a good, sound, moral discourse +on this occasion. But to have his overtures received in this manner was +discouraging. + +"Come," continued Jack, taking something from the straw, "we are soldiers +now, and must do as soldiers do. Have a drink, Frank?"--presenting a +small bottle. + +"What is it?" Frank asked, and when told, "Brandy," he quickly withdrew +the hand he had extended. "No, I thank you, Jack, I am not going to drink +any thing of that sort, unless I need it as a medicine. And I am sorry to +see you getting into such habits so soon." + +"Habits? what habits?" retorted Jack, blushing in his turn. "A little +liquor don't hurt a fellow. _I_ take it only as a medicine. You mustn't +go to being squeamish down here, I tell you." And Jack drank a swallow or +two, smacking his lips afterwards, as he returned the cork to the bottle. + +By this time Frank's courage was up--his moral courage, I mean, which is +more rare, as it is far more noble, than any merely physical bravery in +the face of danger. + +"I don't mean to be squeamish," he said; "but right is right, and wrong +is wrong, Jack. And what was wrong for us at home isn't going to be right +for us here. I, for one, believe we can go through this war without doing +any thing that will make our parents ashamed of us when we return." + +"My eye!" jeered his companion; "and do you fancy a little swallow of +brandy is going to make my folks ashamed of me?" + +"It isn't the single swallow I object to, Jack; it's the habit of +drinking. That's a foolish thing, to say the least, for young fellows, +like you and me, to get into; and we all know what it leads to. Who wants +to become a tobacco-spitting, rum-drinking, filthy old man?" + +"Ha, ha, ha," laughed Jack; rather feebly, however, for he could not help +feeling that Frank was as much in the right as he was in the wrong. "You +look a long ways ahead, it seems to me. I haven't thought of being an old +man yet." + +"If we live, we shall be men, and old men, too, some day," said Frank, +without minding his sneers. "And you know we are laying the foundations +of our future characters now." + +"That's what your mother, or your Sunday school teacher, has been saying +to you." + +"No matter who has said it. I know it's true, and I hope I never shall +forget it. I mean to become a true, honest man if I live; and now, I +believe, is the time to begin." + +"O, no doubt you'll be great things," grinned Jack. + +The tone in which he said this was highly offensive; and Frank was +provoked to retort,-- + +"You don't seem even to have thought what you are going to be. You try +first one thing, then another, and stick to nothing. That's what your +father said this morning, with tears in his eyes." + +Jack turned red as fire, either with anger or shame, or both, and seemed +meditating a passionate reply, when some of his companions, who had been +eating their rations outside, entered the tent. + +"Come in, boys," cried Jack, "and hear Frank preach. You didn't know we +had a chaplain in our company--did ye? That's the parson, there, with the +girl's hair. He can reel you off sermons like any thing. Fire away, +Frank, and show the boys." + +"Yes, steam up, parson," said Joe Harris, "and give us a specimen." + +"Play away, seven," cried Ned Ellis, as if Frank had been a fire-engine +of that number. + +These, together with other facetious remarks, made Frank so ashamed and +confused that he could not say a word. For experience had not yet taught +him that even the most reckless and depraved, however they may laugh at +honest seriousness in a companion, cannot help respecting him for it in +their hearts. + +"You needn't blush so, young chap," said tall Abram Atwater, a stalwart, +square-shouldered, square-featured young man of twenty, who alone had not +joined in the derisive merriment. "It won't hurt any of these fellows to +preach to them, and they know it." + +Frank cast a grateful look at the tall soldier, who, though almost a +stranger to him, had thus generously taken his part against some who +professed to be his friends. He tried to speak, but could not articulate +a word, he was still feeling so hurt by Jack's ingratitude. Perhaps his +pride was as much wounded as his friendship; for, as we have hinted, he +had been a good deal puffed up with the idea of his influence over Jack. +This incident, as we shall see, had a bad effect upon Frank himself; for, +instead of persevering in the good work he had undertaken, he was +inclined to give up all hope of exerting an influence upon any body. + +In the mean time Jack was washing down the sermon, as he said, with more +brandy. + +"'Twas such an awful dry discourse, boys;" and he passed the bottle +around to the others, who all drank, except Abram Atwater. That stalwart +young soldier stood in the midst of the tent, straight and tall, with his +arms calmly folded under his blue cape (a favorite attitude of his), and +merely shook his head, with a mild and tolerant smile, when the liquor +was passed to him. + +Such was the beginning of Frank's camp life. It was not long before he +had recovered from his confusion, and was apparently on good terms with +his messmates. He spent the afternoon in walking about the camp; watching +some raw recruits at their drill; watching others playing cards, or +checkers, or backgammon; getting acquainted, and learning the ways of the +camp generally. + +So the day passed; and that night Frank lay for the first time +soldier-fashion, under canvas. He went to bed with his clothes on, and +drew his blanket over him. It was not like going to bed in his nice +little room at home, with Willie snuggled warmly beside him; yet there +was a novelty in this rude and simple mode of life that was charming. His +companions, who lay upon the ground around him, kept him awake with their +stories long after the lights were out; but at length, weary with the +day's excitement, he fell asleep. + +There,--a dweller now in the picturesque white city of tents gleaming in +the moonlight, ruggedly pillowed on his soldier's couch, those soft brown +curls tossed over the arm beneath his head,--the drummer boy dreamed of +home. The last night's consultation and the morning's farewells were +lived over again in the visions of his brain; and once more his mother +visited his bedside; and again his father accompanied him to the +recruiting office. But now the recruiting office was changed into a +barber's shop, which seemed to be a tent supported by a striped pole; +where, at John Winch's suggestion, he was to have his hair trimmed to the +fighting-cut. The barber was a stiff-looking officer in epaulets, who +heated a sword red-hot in an oven, while Frank preached to him a neat +little sermon over his ration. Then the epaulets changed to a pair of +roosters with flaming red combs, that flapped their wings and crowed. And +the barber, approaching Frank with his red-hot sword, made him lie on his +back to be shaved. Then followed an excruciating sense of having his hair +pulled and his face scraped and burnt, which made him move and murmur in +his sleep; until, a ruthless attempt being made to thrust the sword up +his nostrils, he awoke. + +Shouts of laughter greeted him. His companions had got up at midnight, +lighted a candle, and burnt a cork, with which they had been giving him +an artificial mustache and whiskers. He must have been a ludicrous sight, +with his countenance thus ornamented, sitting up on his bed, rubbing his +eyes open, and staring about him, while Winch and Harris shrieked with +mirth, and Ned Ellis flapped his arms and crowed. + +Frank put up his hand to his head. O grief! his curls had been mangled by +dull shears in the unskilful hands of John Winch. The depredator was +still brandishing the miserable instrument, which he had borrowed for the +occasion of the fellow who cut the company's hair in the "Owl House." + +Frank's sudden awaking, astonishment, and chagrin were almost too much +for him. He could have cried to think of a friend playing him such a +trick; and to think of his lost curls! But he had made up his mind to +endure every thing that might befall him with unflinching fortitude. He +must not seem weak on an occasion like this. His future standing with his +comrades might depend upon what he should say and do next. So he summoned +all his stoutness of heart, and accepted the joke as good-naturedly as +was possible under the circumstances. + +"I wish you'd tell me what the fun is," he said, "so that I can laugh +too." + +"Give him the looking-glass," cried Jack Winch, holding the candle, while +Ellis stopped crowing, to bring a little three-cornered fragment of a +broken mirror, by which Frank was shown the artistic burnt-cork work on +his face. He could hardly help laughing himself at his own hideousness, +now that the first disagreeable sense of being the sport of his friends +had passed. + +"I hope you have had fun enough to pay for waking me up out of the +queerest dream any body ever had," he said. And he told all about the +barber, and the epaulets that became roosters, and the red-hot sword for +a razor, etc. Then, looking at himself again in the piece of glass, he +called out, "Give me those shears;" and taking them, he manfully cut off +his mutilated curls. "There, that isn't exactly the fighting-cut, Jack, +but 'twill do. Now, boys, tell some more of those dull stories, and I +guess I can go to sleep again." + +And he lay down once more, declining to accept an urgent invitation to +preach. + +"There, boys," said stout Abram Atwater, who had sat all the time +cross-legged, a silent, gravely-smiling spectator of the scene, "you +shan't fool him any more. He has got pluck; he has shown it. And now let +him alone." + + + + + IV. + + THE OLD DRUMMER AND THE NEW DRUM. + + +As yet, Frank had no drum. Neither had he any scientific knowledge of the +instrument. He was ambitious of entering upon his novel occupation, and +was elated to learn, the next morning, that he was to begin his +acquaintance with the noble art of drumming that very day. + +"The sergeant is inquiring for you," said Abram Atwater, with his mild, +pleasant smile, calling him out of the tent. + +Frank, who was writing a letter to his mother, on his knapsack, jumped up +with alacrity, hid his paper, and ran out to see what was wanted. + +"This way, Manly," said the sergeant. "Here's the man that's to give you +lessons. Go with him." + +The teacher was a veteran drummer, with a twinkling gray eye, a long, +thick, gray mustache, and a rather cynical way of showing his teeth under +it. He had some drumsticks thrust into his pocket, but no drum. + +"I suppose," thought Frank, "we shall find our drums in the woods;" into +which his instructor straightway conducted him in order to be away from +the diversions and noises of the camp. + +Frank was disappointed. The veteran gave him his first exercise--on a +board! + +"I thought I was to learn on a drum," he ventured to suggest, looking up, +not without awe, at the bushy mustache. + +"You don't want a drum till you know how to drum," said the veteran. + +"But I should think it would be better----" + +"Wait!" lifting his drumstick. "Do you understand what we are here for?" + +"To learn to drum," replied Frank, in some astonishment. + +"To learn to drum," repeated the veteran, a curious smile just raising +the corners of that grizzled mustache. "You understand correctly. Now, am +I your teacher, or are you mine?" + +"You are mine, sir," answered the boy, still more amazed. + +"Right again!" exclaimed the professor. "That's the way I understood it; +but I might be wrong, you know. We are all liable to be wrong--are we +not?" + +"Yes, sir." + +Frank stared. + +"Good again! But now it is understood correctly; I am your instructor, +and you are not mine; that is it." + +Frank assented. + +"Very well! Now listen. Since I am to give you lessons, and you are not +to give me lessons, you will follow the method I propose, and excuse me +if I decline to follow your method. That is reasonable,--isn't it?" + +"Certainly, sir," murmured the abashed pupil. + +"The point settled, then, we will proceed," said the veteran, with the +same incomprehensible, half-sarcastic, half-humorous, but now quite +good-natured smile lighting up his grim visage. + +"But before we proceed," said Frank, "may I just say what I was going +to?" + +The old drummer lifted both his sticks, and his eyebrows too (not to +speak of his shaggy mustache), in surprise at the lad's audacity. + +"Do you want me to report you as insubordinate?" he asked, after a pause, +during which the two regarded each other somewhat after the fashion of +two dogs making acquaintance--a tall, leering old mastiff looking surlily +down at the advances of an anxious yet stout and unflinching young +spaniel. + +"No, sir," answered Frank. "But I thought----" + +"You thought! What business have you to think?" + +"No business, perhaps," Frank admitted, confronting the weather-beaten +old drummer with his truthful, undaunted, fine young face. "But I can't +help thinking sir, for all that." + +"You can help expressing your thoughts out of season, though," said the +veteran. + +"I will try to in future, sir," answered Frank, laughing. + +At the same time a smile of genuine benevolence softened the tough, +ancient visage of the veteran; and they proceeded with the lesson. + +After it was over, the teacher said to the pupil,-- + +"Now, my young friend, I will hear that observation or question of yours, +whatever it is." + +"I think I have answered it for myself," said Frank. "I was going to say, +I should think it would be better to learn to drum on a drum; but I see +now, if I get to roll the sticks on a board, which is hard, I can roll +them so much the better on a drumhead, which is elastic." + +"Right, my young friend," replied the veteran, approvingly. "And in the +mean time, we avoid a good deal of unpleasant noise, as you see." For he +had other pupils practising under his eye in the woods, not far from +Frank. + +"And I should like to ask--if I could have permission," began Frank, +archly. + +"Ask me any thing you please, out of lesson-hours." And the old drummer +patted the young drummer's shoulder. + +Frank felt encouraged. He was beginning to like his teacher, +notwithstanding his odd ways; and he hoped the old man was beginning to +like him. + +"I want to know, then, if you think I will make a drummer?" + +"And what if you will not?" + +"Then I shall think I ought to give up the idea of it at once; for I +don't want to be second-rate in any thing I once undertake." + +"And you have been just a little discouraged over your first lesson? and +would be willing now to give up?" + +"No, sir. I should feel very bad to be obliged to give up the drum." + +"Very well. Then I can say something to comfort you. Stick to it, as you +have begun, and you will make a drummer." + +"A first-rate one?" Frank asked, eagerly. + +"First-rate, or else I am no judge." + +"I am glad!" and the delighted pupil fairly jumped for joy. + +From that time the two got on capitally together. Frank soon become +accustomed to the veteran's eccentric manners, and made great proficiency +in his exercises. And it was not long before the hard-featured old +drummer began to manifest, in his way, a great deal of friendly interest +in his young pupil. + +"Now, my boy," said he one day, after Frank had been practising +successfully the "seven-stroke roll," greatly to the satisfaction of his +instructor,--"now, my boy, I think you can be safely intrusted with your +comrade." + +"My comrade?" queried the pupil. + +"I mean, your better half." + +"My better half?" + +Frank was mystified. + +"Yes, your wife." And the grizzly mustache curled with quiet humor. + +"I must be a married man without knowing it!" laughed Frank. + +"Your ship, then," said the veteran, dryly. "Come with me." + +And conducting Frank to his tent, he took from one side an object covered +with a blanket. + +"My ship!" cried Frank, joyfully, already guessing what treasure was now +to be his. + +"Your sword, then, if you like that name better. For what his sword is to +a hero, what his ship is to a true sailor, what a wife is to a true +husband,--such, my young friend, to a genuine drummer is his drum." + +So saying, the veteran threw aside the covering, and presented to his +pupil the long-coveted prize. The boy's eyes shone with pleasure, and (as +he wrote that evening to his parents) he was so happy he could have +hugged both the old drummer and the new drum. + +"I selected it for you, and you may be sure it is a good one. It won't be +any handsomer, but, if you use it well, it won't be really much the +worse, for going through a campaign or two with you. For it is with drums +as it is with the drummers; they grow old, and get some honorable +scratches, and some unlucky bruises, and now and then a broken head; but, +God prospering them, they come out, at last, ugly to look at, perhaps" +(the veteran stroked his mustache), "but well-seasoned, and sound, and +very truly at your service." + +Frank thought be saw a tear in his twinkling gray eye, and he was so much +affected by it, that he caught his hand in both of his, exclaiming, +"Bless you, dear sir! Dear, good sir, God bless you!" + +The old man winked away the moisture from his eye, smiling still, but +with a quivering lip, and patted him gently on the shoulder, without +saying a word. + +Frank had the sense to perceive that the interview was now over; the +veteran wished to be left alone; and, with the new drum at his side, he +left the tent, proud and happy, and wishing in his heart that he could do +something for that singular, kind old man. + +As Frank was hastening to his tent, he was met by one of the captains in +his regiment, who, seeing the bright beaming face and new drum, accosted +him. + +"So, you are a drummer boy--are you?" + +"Yes, sir, I am learning to be one," said Frank, modestly. + +Now, these two had seen each other often in camp and the captain had +always regarded Frank with a smile of interest and kindness, and Frank +(as he wrote home) had "always liked the looks of the captain +first-rate." + +"I saw you, I think, the day you came here," said the captain. "You had +some curls then. What has become of them?" + +Frank's lip twitched, and he cast down his eyes, ashamed to betray any +lingering feeling on that subject. + +"The boys cut them off in my sleep, sir." + +"The rogues!" exclaimed the captain. "And what did you do?" + +Frank lifted his eyes with a smile. "I partly finished them myself--they +had haggled them so; and the next day I found a man to cut my hair +nicely." + +"Well, it is better so, perhaps: short hair for a soldier. But I liked +those curls. They reminded me of a little sister of mine--she is gone +now--," in a low, mellow tone. "Are you attached to any company?" + +"I am enlisted in the Jackson Blues." + +"What is your name?" + +"Frank Manly, sir." + +"Are you any relation to Mrs. Manly, of----?" + +"She is my mother, sir," said Frank, with proud affection. + +"Is it possible! Mrs. Manly's son! Indeed, you look like her." + +"Do you know my mother, sir?" + +"My lad," said the captain, "I used to go to school to her. But, though I +have heard of her often, I haven't seen her for years." + +"I shall write to her, and tell her about you," said Frank, delighted. +"She will be glad to hear that I have found so good a friend." + +"Ask her," said the captain, "If she remembers Henry Edney, who used to +go to school to her in ----. She will recollect me, I am sure. And give +my very kind regards to her, and to your father; and tell them I regret I +didn't see you before you enlisted, for I want just such a drummer boy in +my company. But never mind," he added quickly, as if conscious of having +spoken indiscreetly, "you will do your duty where you are, and I will try +to do mine, for we must have only one thought now--to serve our country." + +They separated, with more kind words on the captain's part, and with +expressions of gratitude on the part of Frank, who felt that, to +compensate him for John Winch's treachery, he was already securing the +friendship of a few of the best of men. + +You may be sure the boy wrote to his mother all about the interview, and +told her how sorry he was that he had not enlisted in Captain Edney's +company; not only because he liked his new friend's kindness and affable +manners so well, but also because there existed in the ranks of the +Jackson Blues a strong prejudice against their own officers. Captain ---- +was almost a stranger to his men, and seemed determined to continue so. +He seldom appeared amongst them, or showed any interest in their welfare. +He had never once drilled them, but left that duty entirely to the +sergeant. They consequently accused him boldly of laziness, ignorance, +and conceit--three qualities which men always dislike in their superiors. +How different was Captain Edney! + + + + + V. + + FUN IN CAMP. + + +Frank now practised his lessons on his drum, and was very happy. He had +passed the surgical examination a few days after his arrival in camp, and +been duly sworn into the service. This latter ceremony made a strong +impression on his mind. He stood in the open air, together with a number +of new recruits, and heard the Articles of War read; after which they all +took off their caps, and held up their right hands, while the oath was +administered. + +One day, on returning to camp after his lesson in the woods, he was +astonished to see Jack Winch, with his cap off, his fighting-cut +displayed to all beholders, and his fist shaking, marched off by armed +soldiers. + +"What are they doing with Jack?" he hastened to inquire of Abram Atwater, +who stood among his comrades with his arms composedly crossed under his +cape. + +"He is put under guard," said the tall, taciturn soldier. + +"You see," cried Joe Harris, coming up, "Jack had tipped the bottle once +too often, and got noisy. The sergeant told him to keep still. 'Dry up +yourself,' said Jack. 'Start,' says the sergeant; and he took hold of him +to push him towards the tent; but the next he knew, he got a blow square +in the face,--Jack was so mad!" + +"Come, boys," said Ned Ellis, "Le's go over and see how he likes the +fun." + +The proposal was accepted; and presently a strong deputation of the Blues +went to pay a visit to their disgraced comrade. Arrived at the guard +tent, a couple of sentinels crossed their bayonets before them. But +although they could not enter, they could look in; and there, seated on +the ground, they saw Jack, in a position which would have appeared +excessively ludicrous to Frank, but that it seemed to him too pitiful to +behold any comrade so degraded. In consequence of his continued fury and +violence, Jack had been secured in this fashion. Imagine a grotesque +letter _N_, to which feet, arms, and a head have been added, and you have +some idea of his posture, as seen in profile. His knees were elevated; +forming the upper angle of the letter. The lower angle was represented by +that portion of the body which forms the seat of the human animal. The +arms were passed over the upper angle, that is, the knees, and kept in +their place by handcuffs on the wrists, and by a musket thrust through, +over the arms and under the knees. + +"Can't you untie them iron knots with your teeth, Jack?" said Joe, +meaning the handcuffs. + +"How do you like the back to your chair?" said Ned. + +"Let's see ye turn a somerset backwards, Jack." + +And so forth. But Frank did not insult him in his disgrace. + +Winch was by this time sufficiently sobered and humbled. He destroyed the +symmetry of the _N_ by doubling himself ingloriously over his knees and +hiding his face between them. + +"Got the colic, Jack?" asked Harris--"you double up so." + +Winch glared up at him a moment,--a ludicrous picture, with that writhing +face and that curious fighting-cut,--but cast down his eyes again, +sulkily, and said nothing. + +"Come away, boys," whispered Frank. "Don't stay here, making fun of him. +Why do you?" + +"Jack," said Ellis, "we're going to take a drink. Won't you come along +with us?"--tauntingly. + +And the Blues dispersed, leaving poor Jack to his own bitter reflections. + +He had learned one thing--who his friends were. On being released, he +shunned Harris and Ellis especially, for a day or two, and paid his court +to Frank. + +"I am going to tell you something, Frank," said he, as they were once at +the pond-side, washing their plates after dinner. "I'm going to leave the +company." + +"Leave the Blues?" said Frank. + +"Yes, and quit the service. I've got sick of it." + +"But I thought you liked it so well." + +"Well, I did at first. It was a kind of novelty. Come, let's leave it. I +will." + +"But how can you?" + +"Easy enough. I am under age, and my father 'll get me off." + +"I should think you would be ashamed to ask him to," Frank could not help +saying, with honest contempt. + +Jack was not offended this time by his plainness, for he had learned that +those are not, by any means, our worst friends, who truly tell us our +faults. + +"I don't care," he said, putting on an air of recklessness. "I ain't +going to lead this miserable dog's life in camp any longer, if I have to +desert"--lowering his voice to a whisper; "we can desert just as easy as +not, Frank, if we take a notion." + +"I, for one," said Frank, indignantly, "shan't take a notion to do +anything so dishonorable. We enlisted of our own free will, and I think +it would be the meanest and most dishonest thing we could do to----" + +"Hush!" whispered Jack. "There's Atwater; he'll hear us." + + * * * * + +At midnight the drummer boy was awakened by a commotion in the tent. + +"Come, Frank," said some one, pulling him violently, "we are going to +have some great fun. Hurrah!" + +Frank jumped up. The boys were leaving the tent. He had already suspected +that mischief was meditated, and, anxious to see what it was, he ran out +after them. + +He found the company assembled in a dark, mysterious mass in the street +before the row of tents. + +"Get a rope around his neck," said one. + +"Burn the tent," said another. + +"With him in it," said a third. + +"What does it all mean?" Frank inquired of his friend Atwater, whom he +found quietly listening to the conspirators. + +"A little fun with the Gosling, I believe," said Atwater, with a shrug. +"They'd better let him alone." + +"The Gosling" was the nickname which the Blues had bestowed on their +captain. + +After a hurried consultation among the ringleaders, the company marched +to the tent where the Gosling slept. Only Atwater, Frank, and a few +others lingered in the rear. + +"I hope they won't hurt him," said Frank. "Ought we not to give the +alarm?" + +"And get the lasting ill-will of the boys?" said Atwater. "We can't +afford that." + +The captain's tent was surrounded. Knives were drawn. Then, at a +concerted signal, the ropes supporting the tent were cut. At the same +time the captain's bed, which made a convenient protuberance in the side +of the tent, was seized and tipped over, while tent-pole, canvas, and +all, came down upon him in a mass. + +"Help! guard! help!" he shrieked, struggling under the heap. + +At the instant a large pile of straw, belonging to the quartermaster's +department close by, burst forth in a sheet of flame which illumined the +camp with its glare. + +The boys now ran to their tents, laughing at the plight of their captain, +as he issued, furious, from the ruins. Frank began to run too; but +thinking that this would be considered an indication of guilt, he +stopped. Atwater was at his side. + +"We are caught," said Atwater, coolly. "There's the guard." And he folded +his arms under his cape and waited. + +"What shall we do?" said Frank, in great distress, not that he feared the +advancing bayonets, but he remembered John Winch's arrest, and dreaded a +similar degradation. + +"There are two of them," said the half-dressed captain, pointing out +Frank and his friend to the officer of the guard. + +In his excitement he would have had them hurried off at once to the +guard-tent. But fortunately the colonel of the regiment, who had been +writing late in his tent, heard the alarm, and was already on the spot. +He regarded the prisoners by the light of the burning straw. Frank, +recovering from the trepidation of finding himself for the first time +surrounded by a guard, and subject to a serious accusation returned his +look with a face beaming with courage and innocence. The colonel smiled. + +"Have you been meddling with Captain ----'s bed and cutting his tent +down?" he asked. + +"No, sir," said Frank, with a mien which bore witness to the truth. + +"Do you know who set that fire?" + +"No, sir." + +"What are you out of your tent for?" + +"I came to see the fun, sir. If it was wrong I am very sorry." + +"What fun?" + +"The boys were going to have some fun; I didn't know what, and I came to +see." + +"What boys?" + +"All the boys in our company." + +"Which of them did the things your captain complains of?" + +"I don't know, sir. They were all together; and who tipped the bed, or +cut the ropes, or set the fire, I can't tell." + +"It seems they were all concerned, then." + +"No, sir, not all. Some did the mischief, and the rest looked on." + +"Did this person with you do any of the mischief?" + +"No, sir; he was with me all the time, and we kept out of it." + +"How happens it, then, that only you two are caught?" + +"All the rest ran." + +"And why didn't you run?" + +"We had not been doing anything to run for," said Frank, with convincing +sincerity. + +Atwater was then questioned, and gave similar answers. + +"Captain ----," said the colonel, "I think it is evident these are not +the persons who are most deserving of punishment. This boy, certainly, +could not have been very deeply concerned in the assault, and I am +inclined to place entire confidence in his story." + +The captain himself appeared not a little ashamed of having accused one +so young and ingenuous as the drummer boy. The prisoners were accordingly +released, and the investigation of the affair was postponed until the +morrow. Returning with Atwater to their tent, Frank could not repress the +joy he felt at their fortunate escape. But Atwater took the whole affair +with astonishing coolness, exhibiting no more emotion at their release +than he had betrayed at their entrapment. + +"What a fellow you are!" said Frank, staying his enthusiastic step, while +his companion, with slow and stately pace, came up with him. "You don't +seem to care for any thing." + +"Those that care the most don't always show it," said Atwater, +laconically, as they crept back into the tent. + +All was hushed and dark within; but soon they heard whispers. + +"Abe! Frank! that you?" + +And they soon found that the tent was full of the fugitives, awaiting +their return. + +"What made you let 'em catch you? How did you get off?" were the first +eager inquiries. + +Dark as it was, Frank thought he could see Atwater shrug his shoulders +and look to him for the required explanation. For Abram was a fellow of +few words, and Frank was glib of speech. + +So Frank, seated on his bed, related their adventure, to the great +delight of the boys, who bestowed the warmest praises upon them for their +spirit and fidelity. They had stood their ground when deserted by their +companions; and, although they had told the truth about the whole +company, they had not inculpated individuals. Thus Frank, as he +afterwards learned with pleasure, had by his courage and truthfulness won +both the confidence of his officers and the good will of his comrades. + +The next day the company was called to an account for the offence. In +reply to the captain's charges, the sergeant, acting as spokesman for the +rest, stated the grievances of the men. The result was, that the captain +received directions to exercise his company in the colonel's presence; +and, complying reluctantly, demonstrated his own inefficiency in a manner +which elicited the merriment of spectators, and even provoked the colonel +to smile. + +Soon after, in order to get rid of so incompetent an officer, and at the +same time punish the insubordination of the men, it was resolved to +disband the company. Thus was afforded to Frank the opportunity, which +seemed to him almost providential, of joining Captain Edney's company, +and to John Winch the desired chance to quit the service, of which he had +so soon grown weary. + +At this time the boys' fathers came down together to visit them. John had +written home a pitiful letter, and Mr. Winch went to see about getting +him off. + +But Jack was no sooner out of the service than he wished to be in again. +Frank, Atwater, and several others, had joined Captain Edney's company, +and he determined to follow their example. + +"O John!" groaned Mr. Winch, in despair at this inconstancy, "when will +you learn to be a little more steady-minded? Here I have come expressly +to plead your cause, and get you off; but before I have a chance, you +change your mind again, and now nothing can persuade you to go home." + +"Well," said John, "I didn't like the company I was in. I'm satisfied +now, and I'm going to serve my country." + +"Well, well," said Mr. Winch, "I shall let you do as you please. But +reflect; you enlist with my consent now, and you must dismiss all hope of +getting off next time you are sick of your bargain." + +"O, I shan't be sick of it again," said John, as full of ambition as he +had lately been of discontent and disloyalty. + +In the mean time Frank made the most of his father's visit. He showed him +his new tent, his knapsack and accoutrements, and his handsome drum. He +introduced him to the old drummer, and to Atwater, and to Captain Edney. +The latter invited them both into his tent, and was so kind to them that +Frank almost shed tears of gratitude, to think that his father could go +home and tell what a favorite he was with his captain. Then, when +dinner-time came, Frank drew a ration for his father, in order that he +might know just what sort of fare the soldiers had, and how they ate it. +And so the day passed. And Frank accompanied his father to the cars, and +saw him off, sending a thousand good wishes home, and promising that he +would certainly get a furlough the coming week, and visit them. + + + + + VI. + + BREAKING CAMP. + + +Frank was disappointed in not being able to keep that promise. An order +came for the regiment to be ready to march in two days; in the mean time +no furloughs could be granted. + +"I am sorry for you, Frank," said Captain Edney; "and I would make an +exception in your case, if possible." + +"No, I don't ask that, sir," said Frank, stoutly. "I did want to see my +folks again, but----" He turned away his face. + +"Well," said the captain, "I think it can be arranged so that you shall +see them again, if only for a short time. You can warn them in season of +our breaking camp, and they will meet you as we pass through Boston." + +This was some consolation; although it was hard for Frank to give up the +long-anticipated pleasure of visiting his family, and the satisfaction of +relating his experience of a soldier's life to his sisters and mates. He +had thought a good deal, with innocent vanity, of the wonder and +admiration he would excite, in his uniform, fresh from camp, and bound +for the battlefields of his country; but he had thought a great deal more +of the happiness of breathing again the atmosphere of love and sympathy +which we find nowhere but at home. + +The excitement which filled the camp helped him forget his +disappointment. The regiment was in fine spirits. It was impatient to be +on the march. Its destination was not known; some said it was to be moved +directly to Washington; others, that it was to rendezvous at Annapolis, +and form a part of some formidable expedition about to be launched +against the rebellion; but all agreed that what every soldier ardently +desired was now before them--active service, and an enemy to be +conquered. + +The two days in which time the regiment was to prepare to move, became +three days--four days--a week; unavoidable obstacles still delayed its +departure, to the infinite vexation of Frank, who saw what a long +furlough he might have enjoyed, and who repeatedly sent to his friends +directions when and where to meet him, which he found himself obliged, +each time, to write in haste and countermand the next morning. Such are +some of the annoyances of a soldier's life. + +But at length the long-delayed orders came. They were received with +tumultuous joy by the impatient troops. It was necessary to send the +ponderous baggage train forward a day in advance; and the tents were +struck at once. All was bustle, animation, and hilarity in the camp; and +a night of jubilee followed. + +The drummer boy never forgot that night, amid all his subsequent +adventures. While his companions were singing, shouting, and kindling +fires, he could not help thinking, as he watched their animated figures +lighted up by the flames, that this was, probably, the last night many of +them would ever pass in their native states; that many would fall in +battle, and find their graves in a southern soil; and that, perhaps, he +himself was one of those who would never return. + +"What are you thinking about, my bold soldier boy?" said a familiar +voice, while a gentle hand slapped him on the back. + +He turned and saw the bushy mustache of his friend and master, the old +drummer, peering over his shoulder. + +"O Mr. Sinjin!" said Frank. (The veteran wrote his name _St. John_, but +every body called him _Sinjin_.) "I was afraid I should not see you +again." + +"Eh, and why not?" + +"Because we are off in the morning, you know, and I couldn't find you +to-day; and----" + +"And what, my lad?" said the old man, regarding him with a very tender +smile. + +"I couldn't bear the thought of going without seeing you once more." + +"And what should a young fellow like you want to see an ugly, battered, +miserable old hulk like me, for?" + +"You have been very kind to me," said Frank, getting hold of the old +man's hard, rough hand; "and I shall be sorry to part with you, sir, very +sorry." + +"Well, well." The veteran tried in vain to appear careless and cynical, +as he commonly did to other people. "You are young yet. You believe in +friendship, do you?" + +"And don't you?" Frank earnestly inquired. + +"I did once. A great while ago. But never mind about that. I believe in +_you_, my boy. You have not seen the world and grown corrupted; you are +still capable of a disinterested attachment; and may it be long before +the thoughtlessness of some, and the treachery of others, and the +selfishness of all, convince you that there is no such thing as a true +friend." And the old drummer gave his mustache a fierce jerk, as if he +had some grudge against it. + +"O Mr. Sinjin," said Frank, "I shall never think so and I am sure you do +not. Haven't you any friends? Don't you really care for any body? Here +are all these boys; you know a good many of us, and every body that knows +you half as well as I do, likes you, and we are going off now in a few +hours, and some of us will never come back; and don't you care?" + +"Few, I fancy, think of me as you do," said the old man, in a slightly +choking voice. "They call me _Old Sinjin_, without very much respect," +grinning grimly under his mustache. + +"But they don't mean any thing by that; they like you all the time, sir," +Frank assured him. + +"Well, like me or not," said the veteran, his smile softening as he +looked down at the boy's face upturned so earnestly to his in the +fire-light, "I have determined, if only for your sake, to share the +fortunes of the regiment." + +"You have? O, good! And go with us?" cried Frank, ready to dance for joy. + +"I've got tired, like the rest of you, of this dull camp life," said the +old drummer; "and seeing you pack your knapsack has stirred a little +youthful blood in my veins which I didn't suppose was there. I'm off for +the war with the rest of you, my boy;" and he poked a coal from the fire +to light his cigar, hiding his face from Frank at the same time. + +Frank, who could not help thinking that it was partly for his sake that +the old man had come to this decision, was both rejoiced and sobered by +this evidence of friendship in one who pretended not to believe there was +such a thing as true friendship in the world. + +"I am so glad you are going; but I am afraid you are too old; and if any +thing should happen to you----" Frank somehow felt that, in that case, he +would be to blame. + +The old man said nothing, but kept poking at the coal with a trembling +hand. + +"Here, Old Sinjin," said Jack Winch, "have a match. Don't be _singin'_ +your mustaches over the fire for nothing;" with an irreverent pun on the +old man's name. + +"Mr. Sinjin is going with us, Jack," said Frank. + +"Is he? Bully for you, old chap!" said Jack, as the veteran, with a +somewhat contemptuous smile, accepted the proffered match, and smoked +away in silence. "We are going to have a gallus old time; nothing could +hire me to stay at home." For Jack, when inspired by the idea of change, +was always enthusiastic; he was then always going to have a gallus old +time, if any body knows what that is. "Here goes my shoes," pitching +those which he had worn from home into the fire. + +"Why, Jack," said Frank, "what do you burn them for? Those were good +shoes yet." + +"I know it. But I couldn't carry them. The other boys are burning up all +their old boots and shoes. Uncle Sam furnishes us shoes now." + +"But you should have sent them home, Jack; I sent mine along with my +clothes. If you don't ever want them again yourself, somebody else may." + +"What do I care for somebody else? I care more for seeing the old things +curl and fry in the fire as if they was mad. O, ain't that a splendid +blaze! It's light as day all over the camp. By jimmy, the fellows there +are going to have a dance." + +John ran off. Old Sinjin had also taken his departure, evidently not +liking young Winch's company. Frank was left once more to his own +thoughts, watching the picturesque groups about the fires. It was now +midnight. The last of the old straw from the emptied ticks had been cast +into the flames, and the broken tent-floors were burning brilliantly. +Some of the wiser ones were bent on getting a little sleep. Frank saw +Atwater spreading his rubber blanket on the ground, and resolved to +follow his example. Others did the same; and with their woollen blankets +over them; their knapsacks under their heads, and their feet to the fire, +they bivouacked merrily under the lurid sky. + +It was Frank's first experience of a night in the open air. The weather +was mild, although it was now November; the fires kept them warm; and but +for the noises made by the wilder sort of fellows they would have slept +well in that novel fashion. The drummer boy sank several times into a +light slumber, but as often started up, to hear the singing and laughter, +and to see Atwater sleeping all the while calmly at his side, the wakeful +ones making sport and keeping up the fires, and the flames glittering +dimly on the stacks of arms. The last time he awoke it was day; and the +short-lived camp-fires were paling their sad rays before the eternal +glory of the sunrise. + +The veteran Sinjin beat the drummer's call. Frank seized his drum and +hurried to join his friend,--beating with him the last reveille which was +to rouse up the regiment in the Old Bay State. + +After roll-call, breakfast; then the troops were drawn up under arms, +preparatory to their departure. A long train of a dozen cars was at the +depot, in readiness to receive the regiment, which now marched out of the +old camping-ground to the gay music of a band from a neighboring city. + +After waiting an hour on the train, they heard the welcome whistle of the +engine, and the still more welcome clang of the starting cars, and off +they went amid loud cheers and silent tears. + +Frank had no relatives or near friends in the crowd left behind, as many +of his comrades had, but his heart beat fast with the thought that there +were loved ones whom he should meet soon. + +But the regiment reached Boston, and marched through the streets, and +paraded on the Common; and all the while his longing eyes looked in vain +for his friends, who never appeared. It seemed to him that nearly every +other fellow in his company saw friends either on the march or at the +halt, while he alone was left unnoticed and uncomforted. And so his +anticipated hour of enjoyment was changed to one of bitterness. + +Why was it? His last letter must have had time to reach his family. +Besides, they might have seen by the newspapers that the regiment was +coming. Why then did they fail to meet him? His heart swelled with grief +as he thought of it,--he was there, so near home, for perhaps the last +time, and nobody that he loved was with him during those precious, +wasting moments. + +But, suddenly, as he was casting his eyes for the twentieth time along +the lines of spectators, searching for some familiar face, he heard a +voice--not father's or mother's, or sister's, but one scarcely less dear +than the dearest. + +"My bwother Fwank! me want my bwother Fwank!" + +And turning, he saw little Willie running towards him, almost between the +legs of the policemen stationed to keep back the crowd. + + + + + VII. + + THROUGH BOSTON. + + +If ever "bwother Fwank" felt a thrill of joy, it was then. Willie ran +straight to his arms, in spite of the long-legged officer striding to +catch him, and pulling down his neck, hugged him, and kissed him, and +hugged and kissed him again, with such ardor that the delighted +bystanders cheered, and the pursuing policeman stepped back with a laugh +of melting human kindness. + +"He's too much for me, that little midget is," he said, returning to his +place. "Does he belong to you, ma'am?" addressing a lady whose humid eyes +betrayed something more than a stranger's interest in the scene. + +"They are my children," said the lady. "Will you be so good, sir, as to +tell the drummer boy to step this way?" + +But already Frank was coming. How thankful he then felt that he was not a +private, confined to the ranks! In a minute his mother's arm was about +him, and her kiss was on his cheek, and Helen was squeezing one hand, and +his father the other, while Willie was playing with his drumsticks. + +"I am all the more glad," he said, his face shining with gratitude and +pleasure, "because I was just giving you up--thinking you wouldn't come +at all." + +"Only think," said Helen, "because you wrote on your letter, _In haste_, +the postmaster gave it to Maggie Simpson yesterday to deliver, for she +was going right by our house; but Dan Alford came along and asked her to +ride, and she forgot all about the letter, and would never have thought +of it again, I suppose, if I hadn't seen the postmaster and set off on +the track of it this morning. She had gone over to her aunt's, and I had +to follow her there; and then she had to go home again, to get the letter +out of her other dress pocket; but her sister Jane had by this time got +on the dress, in place of her own, which was being washed, and worn it to +school; and so we had to go on a wild-goose chase after Jane." + +"Well, I hope you had trouble enough for one letter!" said Frank. + +"But you haven't heard all yet," said Helen, laughing, "for when we found +Jane, she had not the letter, she had taken it out of the pocket, when +she put the dress on, and left it on the bureau at home. So off again we +started, Maggie and I, but before we got to her house, the letter had +gone again--her mother had found it in the mean time, and sent it to us +by the butcher boy. Well, I ran home, but no butcher boy had made his +appearance; and, do you think, when I got to the meat shop, I found him +deliberately sawing off a bone for his dog, with your letter in his +greasy pocket." + +"He had forgotten it too!" said Frank. + +"Not he! but he didn't think it of very much importance, and he intended +to bring it to us some time during the day--after he had fed his dog! By +this time father had got news that the regiment was in town; and such a +rush as we made for the horse-cars you never did see!" + +"But Hattie! where is she?" Frank asked, anxiously. + +Helen's vivacious face saddened a little. + +"O, we came away in such a hurry we couldn't bring her, even if she had +been well enough." + +"In she worse?" + +"She gets no better," said Mrs. Manly, "and she herself thought she ought +not to try to come. Maggie Simpson offered to stay with her." + +"I am so sorry! I wanted to see _her_. Did she send any message to me?" + +"Yes," said his mother. "She said, 'Give my love to dear brother, and +tell him to think of me sometimes.'" + +"Think of her sometimes!" said Frank. "Tell her I shall always think of +her and love her." + +By this time Captain Edney, seeing Frank with his friends, came towards +them. Frank hastened to hide his emotion; and, saluting the officer +respectfully, said to him, with a glow of pleasure:-- + +"Captain Edney, this is my mother." + +Captain Edney lifted his cap, with a bright smile. + +"Well," he said, "this is a meeting I rather think neither of us ever +looked forward to, when we used to spend those long summer days in the +old schoolhouse, which I hope you remember." + +"I remember it well--and one bright-faced boy in particular," said Mrs. +Manly, pressing his hand cordially. + +"A rather mischievous boy, I am afraid I was; a little rebel myself, in +those days," said the captain. + +"Yet a boy that I always hoped much good of," said Mrs. Manly. "I cannot +tell you how gratified I am to feel that my son is entrusted in your +hands." + +"You may be sure I will do what I can for him," said the captain, "if +only to repay your early care of me." + +He then conversed a few moments with Mr. Manly, who was always well +satisfied to stand a little in the background, and let his wife have her +say first. + +"And this, I suppose, is Frank's sister," turning to Helen. "I should +have known her, I think, for she looks so much as you used to, Mrs. +Manly, that I can almost fancy myself stepping up to her with my slate, +and saying, 'Please, ma'am, show me about this sum?'" + +Frank, in the mean time, was occupied in exhibiting to Willie his drum, +and in preventing him, partly by moral suasion, but chiefly by main +force, from gratifying his ardent desire to pound upon it. + +"And here is our little brother," said the captain, lifting Willie, +notwithstanding his struggles and kicks, and kissing his shy, pouting +cheeks. "He'll make a nice drummer boy too, one of these days." + +This royal flattery won the child over to his new friend immediately. + +"Me go to war with my bwother Fwank! dwum, and scare webels!" panting +earnestly over his important little story, which the captain was obliged +to cut short. + +"Well, Frank, I suppose you would like to spend the rest of the time with +your friends. Be at the Old Colony depot at five o'clock. +Meanwhile,"--touching his cap,--"a pleasant time to all of you." + +So saying, be left them, and Frank departed with his friends, carrying +his drum with him, to the great delight of little Willie, whose heart +would have been broken if all hope of being allowed to drum upon it had +been cut off by leaving it behind. + +"Mrs. Gillett has invited us to bring you to her house," said Mrs. Manly. +"I want to have a long talk with you there; and I want Mrs. Gillett's +brother, the minister, to see you." + +Frank was not passionately fond of ministers; and immediately an +unpleasant image rose in his mind, of a solemn, black-coated individual, +who took a mournful satisfaction in damping the spirits of young people +by his long and serious conversations. + +"You needn't strut so, Frank, if you _have_ got soldier clothes on," +laughed Helen. "I'll tell folks you are smart, if you are so particular +to have them know it." + +"Do, if you please," said Frank. "And I'll tell 'em you're handsome, if +you'll put your veil down so they won't know but that I am telling the +truth." + +"There, Helen," said Mrs. Manly, "you've got your joke back with +interest. Now I'd hold my tongue, if I was you." + +"Frank and I wouldn't know each other if we didn't have a little fun +together," said Helen. "Besides, we'll all feel serious enough by and by, +I guess." For she loved her brother devotedly, much as she delighted to +tease him; and she would have been glad to drown in merry jests the +thought of the final parting, which was now so near at hand. + +They were cordially received at Mrs. Gillett's house; and there Mrs. +Manly enjoyed the wished-for opportunity of talking with her son, and +Willie had a chance to beat the drum in the attic, and Mrs. Gillett +secretly emptied Frank's haversack of its rations of pork and hard tack, +and filled it again with excellent bread and butter, slices of cold lamb, +and sponge cake. Moreover, a delightful repast was prepared for the +visitors, at which Frank laughed at his own awkwardness, declaring that +he had eaten from a tin plate so long, with his drumhead for a table, +that he had almost forgotten the use of china and napkins. + +"If Hattie was only here now!" he said, again and again. For it needed +only his invalid sister's presence, during these few hours, to make him +perfectly happy. + +"Eat generously," said the minister, "for it may be long before you sit +at a table again." + +"Perhaps I never shall," thought Frank, but he did not say so lest he +might hurt his mother's feelings. + +The minister was not at all such a person as he had expected to see, but +only a very pleasant gentleman, not at all stiffened with the idea that +he had the dignity of the profession to sustain. He was natural, +friendly, and quite free from that solemn affectation which now and then +becomes second nature in ministers some of us know, but which never fails +to repel the sympathies of the young. + +Mr. Egglestone was expecting soon to go out on a mission to the troops, +and it was for this reason Mrs. Manly wished them to become acquainted. + +"I wish you were going with our regiment," said Frank. "We have got a +chaplain, I believe, but I have never seen him yet, or seen any body who +has seen him." + +"Well, I hope at least I shall meet you, if we both reach the seat of +war," said the minister, drawing him aside. "But whether I do or not, I +am sure that, with such a good mother as you have, and such dear sisters +as you leave behind, you will never need a chaplain to remind you that +you have something to preserve more precious than this mortal life of +ours,--the purity and rectitude of your heart." + +This was spoken so sincerely and affectionately that Frank felt those few +words sink deeper into his soul than the most labored sermon could have +done. Mr. Egglestone said no more, but putting his arm confidingly over +the boy's shoulder, led him back to his mother. + +And now the hour of parting had come. Frank's friends, including the +minister, went with him to the cars. Arrived at the depot, they found it +thronged with soldiers, and surrounded by crowds of citizens. + +"O, mother!" said Frank, "you _must_ see our drum-major, old Mr. +Sinjin--my teacher, you know. There he is; I'll run and fetch him!" + +He returned immediately, dragging after him the grizzled veteran, who +seemed reluctant, and looked unusually stern. + +"It's my mother and father, you know," said Frank. "They want to shake +hands with you." + +"What do they care for me?" said the old man, frowning. + +Frank persisted, and introduced his father. The veteran returned Mr. +Manly's salute with rigid military courtesy, without relaxing a muscle of +his austere countenance. + +"And this is my mother," said Frank. + +With still more formal and lofty politeness, the old man bent his martial +figure, and quite raised his cap from his old gray head. + +"Madam, your very humble servant!" + +"Mr. St. John!" exclaimed Mrs. Manly, in astonishment. "Is it possible +that this is my old friend St. John?" + +"Madam," said the veteran, with difficulty keeping up his cold, formal +exterior, "I hardly expected you would do me the honor to remember one so +unworthy;" bending lower than before, and raising his hat again, while +his lips twitched nervously under his thick mustache. + +"Why, where did you ever see him, mother?" cried Frank, with eager +interest. + +"Mr. St. John was an old friend of your grandfather's, Frank. Surely, +sir, you have not forgotten the little girl you used to take on your +knee and feed with candy?"--for the old man was still looking severe +and distant. + +"I have not forgotten many pleasant things--and some not so pleasant, +which I would have forgotten by every body." And the old drummer gave +his mustache a vindictive pull. + +"Be sure," said Mrs. Manly, "I remember nothing of you that was not kind +and honorable. I think you must have known who my son was, you have been +so good to him. But why did you not inform him, or me through him, who +_you_ were? I would have been so glad to know about you." + +"I hardly imagined that."--The old cynical smile curled the heavy +mustache.--"And if I could be of any service to your son, it was needless +for you to know of it. I was Mr. St. John when you knew me; but I am +nobody but Old Sinjin now. Madam, I wish you a very good-day, and much +happiness. Your servant, sir!" + +And shaking hands stiffly, first with Mrs. Manly, then with her husband, +the strange old man stalked away. + +"Who is he? what is it about him?" asked Frank, stung with curiosity. +"Never did _I_ think _you_ knew _Old Sinjin_." + +"Your father knows about him, and I will tell _you_ some time," said +Mrs. Manly, her eyes following the retreating figure with looks of deep +compassion. "In the mean time, be very kind to him, very gentle and +respectful, my son." + +"I will," said Frank, "but it is all so strange! I can't understand it." + +"Well, never mind now. Here is Captain Edney talking with Helen and Mr. +Egglestone, and Willie is playing with his scabbard. Pretty well +acquainted this young gentleman is getting!" said Mrs. Manly, hastening +to take the child away from the sword. + +"Pitty thord! pitty man!" lisped Willie, who had fallen violently in love +with the captain and his accoutrements. "Me and Helen, we like pitty man! +We go with pitty man!" + +Helen blushed; while the captain, laughing, took a piece of money from +his pocket and gave it to Willie for the compliment. + +Frank, who had been absent a moment, now joined the group, evidently much +pleased at something. + +"The funniest thing has happened! A fellow in our company,--and one of +the best fellows he is too! but I can't help laughing!--he met his girl +to-day, and they suddenly took it into their heads to get married; so +they sent two of their friends to get their licenses for them, one, one +way, and the other another way, for they live in different places. And +the fellow's license has come, and the girl's hasn't, and they wouldn't +have time to go to a minister's now if it had. It is too bad! but isn't +it funny? The fellow is one of my very best friends. I wrote to you about +him; Abe Atwater. There he is, with his girl!" + +And Frank pointed out the tall young soldier, standing stately and +taciturn, but with a strong emotion in that usually mild, grave face of +his, perceptible enough to those who knew him. His girl was at his side, +crying. + +"How I pity her!" said Helen. "But he takes it coolly enough, I should +think." + +"He takes every thing that way," said Frank; "but you can't tell much by +his face how he feels, though I can see he is biting hard to keep his +heart down now, straight as he stands." + +"I'll speak to her," said Helen; and while Frank accosted Atwater, she +made acquaintance with the girl. + +"Yes," said the soldier, "it would be better to know I was leaving a wife +behind, to think of me and look for my coming back. But I never knew she +cared so much for me; and now it's too late." + +"To think," said the girl to Helen, "he has loved me all along, but never +told me, because he thought I wouldn't have him! And now he is going, and +may be I shall never see him again! And we want to be married, and my +license hasn't come!" And she poured out her sorrows into the bosom of +the sympathizing Helen, with whom suffering and sympathy made her at once +acquainted. + +Just then the signal sounded for the train to be in readiness to start. +And there were hurried partings, and tears in many a soldier's eye. And +Frank's mother breathed into his ear her good-by counsel and blessing. +And Atwater was bidding his girl farewell, when a man came bounding along +the platform with a paper in his hand--the marriage license. + +"Too late now!" said Atwater, with a glistening smile. "We are off!" + +"But here is a minister!" cried Helen,--"Mr. Eggleston!--O, Captain +Edney! have the train wait until this couple can be married. It won't +take a minute!" + +The case of the lovers was by this time well understood, not only by +Captain Edney and Mr. Egglestone, but also by the conductor of the train +and scores of soldiers and citizens. An interested throng crowded to +witness the ceremony. The licenses were in the hands of the minister, and +with his musket at _order arms_ by his right side, and his girl at his +left, Atwater stood up to be married, as erect and attentive as if he had +been going through the company drill. And in a few words Mr. Egglestone +married them, Frank holding Atwater's musket while he joined hands with +his bride. + +In the midst of the laughter and applause which followed, the soldier, +with unchanging features, fumbled in his pocket for the marriage fee. He +gave it to Mr. Egglestone, who politely handed it to the bride. But she +returned it to her husband. + +"You will need it more than I shall, Abram!"--forcing it, in spite of +him, back into his pocket. "Good-by!" she sobbed, kissing him. "Good-by, +my husband!" + +This pleasing incident had served to lighten the pain of Frank's parting +with his friends. When sorrowful farewells are to be said, no matter how +quickly they are over. And they were over now; and Frank was on the +departing train, waving his cap for the last time to the friends he could +not see for the tears that dimmed his eyes. + +And the cars rolled slowly away, amid cheers which drowned the sound of +weeping. And the bride who had had her husband for a moment only, and +lost him--perhaps forever,--and the mother who had given her son to her +country,--perhaps never to receive him back,--and other wives, and +mothers, and fathers, and sisters, were left behind, with all the untold +pangs of grief and anxious love in their hearts, gazing after the long +swift train that bore their loved ones away to the war. + + + + + VIII. + + ANNAPOLIS. + + +And the train sped on; and the daylight faded fast; and darkness shut +down upon the world. And still the train sped on. + +When it was too dark to see any thing out of the car windows, and Frank +was tired of the loud talking around him, he thought he would amuse +himself by nibbling a little "hard tack." So he opened his haversack, and +discovered the cake, and bread and butter, and cold lamb, with which some +one who loved him had stored it. He was so moved by this evidence of +thoughtful kindness that it was some time before be could make up his +mind to break in upon the little stock of provisions, which there was +really more satisfaction in contemplating than in eating any ordinary +supper. But the sight of some of his comrades resorting for solace to +their rations decided him, and he shared with them the contents of his +haversack. + +The train reached Fall River at nine o'clock, and the passengers were +transferred to the steamer "Metropolis." The boat was soon swarming with +soldiers, stacking their arms, and hurrying this way and that in the +lamp-light. Then the clanking of the engine, the trembling of the +steamer, and the sound of rushing water, announced that they were once +more in motion. + +Frank had never been on salt water before, and he was sorry this was in +the night; but he was destined before long to have experience enough of +the sea, both by night and by day. + +When he went upon deck the next morning, the steamer was cutting her way +gayly through the waters of New York harbor,--a wonderful scene to the +untravelled drummer boy, who had never before witnessed such an animated +picture of dancing waters, ships under full sail, and steamboats trailing +long dragon-tails of smoke in the morning air. + +Then there was the city, with its forests of masts, its spires rising +dimly in the soft, smoky atmosphere that shrouded it, and the far, faint +sound of its bells musically ringing. + +Then came the excitement of landing; the troops forming, and, after a +patriotic reception by the "Sons of Massachusetts," marching through the +city to the barracks; then dinner; and a whole afternoon of sight-seeing +afterwards. + +The next day the regiment was off again, crossing the ferry, and taking +the cars for Philadelphia. From Philadelphia it kept on into the night +again, until it reached a steamer, in waiting to receive it, on +Chesapeake Bay. + +The next morning was rainy; and the rain continued all day, pouring +dismally; and it was raining still when, at midnight, the boat arrived at +Annapolis. In the darkness and storm the troops landed, and took up their +temporary quarters in the Naval Academy. In one of the recitation halls, +Frank and his comrades spread their blankets on the floor, put their +knapsacks under their heads, and slept as soundly after their wearisome +journey as they ever did in their beds at home. Indeed, they seemed to +fall asleep as promptly as if by word of command, and to snore by +platoons. + +The next morning the rain was over. At seven o'clock, breakfast; after +which the regiment was reviewed on the Academy parade. Then Frank and a +squad of jovial companions set out to see the town,--taking care to have +with them an intelligent young corporal, named Gray, who had been there +before, and knew the sights. + +"Boys," said young Gray, as they sallied forth, "we are now in Queen +Anne's city,--for that, I suppose you know, is what the word Annapolis +means. It was the busiest city in Maryland once; but, by degrees, all its +trade and fashion went over to Baltimore, and left the old town to go to +sleep,--though it has woke up and rubbed its eyes a little since the +rebellion broke out." + +"When was you here, Gray?" asked Jack Winch. + +Gray smiled at his ignorance, while Frank said,-- + +"What! didn't you know, Jack, he was here with the Eighth Massachusetts, +last April, when they saved Washington and the Union?" + +"The Union ain't saved yet!" said Jack. + +"But we saved Washington; that's every where admitted," said Gray, +proudly. "On the 19th of April the mob attacked the Sixth Massachusetts +in Baltimore, took possession of the city, and destroyed the +communication with Washington. You remember that, for it was the first +blood shed in this war; and April 19, 1861, takes its place with April +19, 1775, when the first blood was shed at Lexington, in the Revolution." + +"Of course I know all that!" said Jack, who never liked to be thought +ignorant of any thing. + +"Well, there was the government at Washington in danger, the Eighth +Massachusetts on its way to save it, and Baltimore in the hands of the +rebels. I tell you, every man of us was furious to cut our way through, +and avenge the murders of the 19th. But General Butler hit upon a wiser +plan, and instead of keeping on to Baltimore, we switched off, seized a +ferry-boat on the Chesapeake, just as she was about to be taken by the +secessionists, ran down here to Annapolis, saved the city, saved the old +frigate 'Constitution,' and, with the New York Seventh, went to work to +open a new route to Washington. + +"Our boys repaired the railroad track, which the traitors had torn up, +and put in shape again the engine they had disabled. We had men that +could do anything; and that very engine was one they had made,--for the +South never did its own engine-building, but sent to Massachusetts to +have it done. Charley Homans knew every joint and pin in that old +machine, and soon had her running over the road again." + +"How far is it to Washington?" asked Frank. + +"About forty miles; but then we thought it a hundred, we were so +impatient to get there! What a march we had! all day and all night, the +engine helping us a little, and we helping the engine by hunting up and +replacing now and then a stray rail which the traitors had torn from the +track. A good many got used up, and Charley Homans took 'em aboard the +train. It was on that march I fell in with one of the pleasantest fellows +I ever saw; always full of wit and good-humor, with a cheery word for +every body. He belonged to the New York Seventh. He told me his name was +Winthrop. But I did not know till afterwards that he was Theodore +Winthrop, the author; afterwards Major Winthrop, who fell last June--only +two months after--at Big Bethel." + +"It was a North Carolina drummer boy that shot him," said Frank. +"Winthrop was heading the attack on the battery; he jumped upon a log, +and was calling to the men, 'Come on!' when the drummer boy took a gun, +aimed deliberately, and shot him dead." + +"I wouldn't want to be killed by a miserable drummer boy!" said Jack +Winch, envious because Frank remembered the incident. + +"A drummer boy may be as brave as any body," said Frank, keeping his +temper. "But I wouldn't want to be even the bravest drummer boy, in a bad +cause." + +"And as for being shot," said Gray, "I think Jack wouldn't willingly +place himself where there was much danger of being killed by any body." + +"You'll see! you'll see!" said Jack, testily. "Just wait till the time +comes." + +"What water is this the town fronts on?" asked Frank. + +"The Chesapeake, of course! Who don't know that?" said Jack, +contemptuously. + +"Only it ain't!" said Gray, with a quiet laugh. "This is the River +Severn. The Chesapeake is some two miles below." + +"There, Jack," said Ned Ellis, "I'd give up now. You don't know quite so +much as you thought you did." + +"What a queer old town it is," said Frank, generously wishing to draw +attention from Jack's mortification. "It isn't a bit like Boston. It +don't begin to be as smart a place." + +"Of course not!" said Jack, more eager than ever now to appear knowing. +"And why should it be? Boston is the capital of Massachusetts; and if +Annapolis was only the capital of this state, it would be smart enough." + +"What is the capital of this state?" asked Gray, winking slyly at Frank. + +"Baltimore! I thought every body knew that," said Jack, with an air of +importance. + +This ludicrous blunder raised a great laugh. + +"O Jack! O Jack Winch! where did you go to school?" said Joe Harris, "not +to know that Frederick is the capital of Maryland." + +"So it is! I had forgotten," said Jack. "Of course I knew Frederick was +the capital, if I had only thought." + +At this the boys laughed louder than ever, and Jack flew into a passion. + +"Harris was fooling you," whispered Frank. "Annapolis is the capital. +Gray is taking us now to see the State House." + +"Ha, ha, ha!" Winch suddenly burst forth. "Did you think I didn't know? +Annapolis is the capital; and there's the State House." + +"Is it possible?" said Gray. "The rebels must have changed it then, for +that was St. John's College when I was here before." + +The boys shouted with merriment; all except Jack, who was angry. He had +been as fickle at his studies, when at school, as he had always been at +every thing else; never sticking long to any of them, but forever +beginning something new; until, at last, ignorant of all, he gave up, +declaring that he had knowledge enough to get through the world with, and +that he wasn't going to bother his brain with books any longer. It added +now to his chagrin to think that he had not education enough to prevent +him from appearing ridiculous among his mates, and that the golden +opportunity of acquiring useful information in his youth was lost +forever. + +Meanwhile Frank's reflections were very different. Gray's reminiscences +of April had strongly impressed upon his mind the fact that he was now on +the verge of his country's battle-fields; that this was the first soil +that had been wrested from the grasp of treason, and saved for the +Union,--that the ground he stood upon was already historic. And now the +sight of some negroes reminded him that he was for the first time in his +life in a _slave state_. + +"These are the fellows that are the cause of this war," said Gray, +indicating the blacks. + +"Yes," said Winch, anxious to agree with him, "it's the abolitionists +that have brought the trouble on the country. They insisted on +interfering with the rights of the south, and so the south rebelled." + +"We never interfered with slavery in the states where it belonged," said +Frank, warmly. "The north opposed the extension of slavery over new +territory, and took the power of the government out of the hands of the +slaveholders, who had used it for their own purposes so long; and that is +what made them rebel." + +"Well, the north is partly to blame," insisted Jack, thinking he had Gray +on his side. + +"Yes; to blame for letting the slaveholders have their own way so long," +said Frank. "And just as much to blame for this rebellion, as my father +would be for my conduct, if he should attempt to enforce discipline at +home, and I should get mad at it and set the house on fire." + +"A good comparison," said Gray. "Because we were going to restore the +spirit of the constitution, which is for freedom, and always was, though +it has been obliged to tolerate slavery, the slaveholders, as Frank says, +got mad and set Uncle Sam's house afire." + +"He had heard somebody else say so, or he wouldn't have thought of it," +said Jack, sullenly. + +"No matter; it's true!" said Gray. "The south is fighting for +slavery,--the corner-stone of the confederacy, as the rebel +vice-president calls it,--while the north----" + +"We are fighting for the Constitution and the Union!" said Jack. + +"That's true, too; for the constitution, as I said, means freedom; and +now the Union means, union _without_ slavery, since we have seen that +union with slavery is impossible. We are fighting for the same thing our +forefathers fought for--Liberty!" + +"They won liberty for the whites only," said Frank. "Now we are going to +have liberty for all men." + +"If I had a brother that was a slaveholder and secessionist, I wouldn't +say any thing," sneered Jack. + +Frank felt cut by the taunt; but he said, gayly,-- + +"I won't spoil a story for relation's sake! Come, boys, politics don't +suit Jack, so let's have a song; the one you copied out of the newspaper, +Gray. It's just the thing for the occasion." + +Franks voice was a fine treble; Gray's a mellow bass. Others joined them, +and the party returned to the Academy, singing high and clear these +words:-- + + "The traitor's foot is on thy shore, + Maryland, my Maryland! + His touch is on thy senate door, + Maryland, my Maryland! + Avenge the patriotic gore + That stained the streets of Baltimore, + When vandal mobs our banners tore, + Maryland, my Maryland! + + "Drum out thy phalanx brave and strong, + Maryland, my Maryland! + Drum forth to balance right and wrong, + Maryland, my Maryland! + Drum to thy old heroic song, + When forth to fight went Freedom's throng. + And bore the spangled flag along, + Maryland, my Maryland!" + +"That's first rate!" said Frank, who delighted in music. "Gray altered +the words a little, and Mr. Sinjin found us the tune." + +"Frank likes any thing that has a drum in it," said John Winch, +enviously. "He'll get sick of drums, though, soon enough, I guess." + +"Jack judges me by himself," said Frank, gayly, setting out to run a race +with Gray to the parade-ground. + + + + + IX. + + THANKSGIVING IN CAMP. + + +St. John's College stands on a beautiful eminence overlooking the city. +The college, like the naval school, had been broken up by the rebellion; +its halls and dormitories were appropriated to government uses, and the +regiment was removed thither the next day. + +"You will be surprised," Frank wrote home, "to hear that I have been +through the naval school since I came here, and that I am now in +college." + +Few boys get through college as quick as he did. On the following day the +regiment abandoned its new quarters also, and encamped two miles without +the city. In the afternoon the tents were pitched; and where was only a +barren field before, arose in the red sunset light the canvas city, with +its regular streets, its rows of tent doors opening upon them, and its +animated, laughing, lounging, working inhabitants. + +The next morning was fine. All around the camp were pleasant growths of +pine, oak, gum, and persimmon trees, and now and then a tree festooned +with wild grape-vines. Near by were a few scattered ancient-looking +farm-houses, with their out-door chimneys, dilapidated out-buildings, +negro huts, and tobacco fields. There were several other regiments in the +vicinity,--two of Massachusetts boys. And there the New York Zouaves, in +their beautiful Oriental costumes, were encamped. Frank climbed a tree, +and looked far around on the picturesque and warlike scene. The pickets, +which had gone out the night before, now returning, discharged their +loaded pieces at targets, the reports blending musically with the near +and distant roll of drums. + +"What is the cheering for?" asked Frank, as he came in that day from a +ramble in the woods. + +"For General Burnside," said Gray. "All the troops rendezvousing at +Annapolis are to be under his command, to be called the Coast Division. +It is to be another Great Armada; and our colonel thinks we shall see +fighting soon." + +This good news had made the regiment almost wild with joy; for it desired +nothing so much as to be led against the enemy by some brave and famous +general. + +Frank loved the woods; and the next day he induced his companions to go +with him and hunt for nuts and fruits. Although it was late in autumn, +there were still persimmons and wild grapes to be had, and walnuts, and +butternuts. But Frank had another object in view than that of simply +pleasing his appetite. Thanksgiving day, which is bred in the bones of +the New Englander, and which he carries with him every where, was at +hand, and the drummer boy had thought of something which he fancied would +suit well the festal occasion. + +"What are you there after?" said John Winch, from a persimmon tree; +"filling your hands with all that green stuff. Come here; O, these little +plums are delicious, I tell you." + +"These grapes are the thing," said Harris, from another tree. "I'm going +to eat all I can; then I'm going to get my pockets full of nuts and carry +back to camp." + +Frank busied himself in his own way, however, and returned to camp with +his arms loaded with evergreens. + +"What in time are you about?" said Winch, as Frank set himself +industriously to work with twigs and strings. "Oh, I know; wreaths! Boys, +le's make some wreaths. Give me some of your holly, won't you, Frank?" + +"Yes," said Frank, "take all you want to use. I shall be very glad to +have you help me." + +"Will you show me how?" + +"Yes," said Frank; "sit down here. Bend your twigs and tie them together, +in the first place, for a frame. Then bind the holly on it, this way." + +"O, ain't it fun?" said Winch, with his usual enthusiasm over a new +thing. "When we get these evergreens used up, we'll get some more, and +make wreaths for all the tents." He worked for about ten minutes; then +began to yawn. "Where's my pipe? I'm going to have a smoke. How can you +have patience with that nonsense, Frank? What's the use of a wreath, +anyhow, after it's made? Girl's play, I call it." + +And off went Winch, having used up a ball of Frank's strings to no +purpose, and leaving his wreath half finished. + +But Frank, never easily discouraged, kept cheerfully at work, leaving his +task only when duty called him. + +Thursday came,--THANKSGIVING. A holiday in camp. The regiment had made +ample preparations to celebrate it. Instead of pork and salt junk, the +men were allowed turkeys; and in place of boiled hominy and molasses, +they had plum pudding. And they feasted, and told gay stories, and sang +brave songs, and thought of home, where parents, wives, sisters, and +friends were, they fondly believed, eating turkey and plum pudding at +the same time, and thinking of them. There was no drill that day; and no +practise with any drumsticks but those of the devoted turkeys. + +One of the most pleasing incidents of the day occurred in the morning. +This was the presentation of wreaths. Frank had made one for each of the +company tents, and a fine one for Captain Edney, and one equally fine for +Mr. Sinjin, the drum-major, and a noble one for the colonel of the +regiment. He presented them all in person, except the last, which he +requested Captain Edney to present for him. The captain consented, and at +the head of a strong delegation of officers and men, proceeded to Colonel +----'s tent, called him out, and made a neat little speech, and presented +the wreath on the end of his sword. + +The colonel seemed greatly pleased. + +"I accept this wreath," he said, "as the emblemof a noble thought, which +I am sure must have inspired our favorite young drummer boy in making +it." + +Frank blushed like a girl with surprise and pleasure at this unexpected +compliment. + +"The wreath," continued the colonel, "is the crown of victory; and we +will hang up ours, my fellow-soldiers, on this memorable Thanksgiving +day, as beautiful and certain symbols of the success of BURNSIDE'S +EXPEDITION." + +This short speech was greeted with enthusiastic applause. Frank was +delighted with the result of his little undertaking, feeling himself a +thousand times repaid for all his pains; while John Winch, seeing him in +such high favor with every body, could not help regretting, with many a +jealous pang, that he had not assisted in making the wreaths, and so +become one of the heroes of the occasion. + +That evening another incident occurred, not less pleasing to the drummer +boy. With a block of wood for a seat, and the head of his drum for a +desk, he was writing a letter to his mother, by a solitary candle, around +which his comrades were playing cards on a table constructed of a rough +board and four sticks. Amid the confusion of laughter and disputes, with +heads or arms continually intervening between him and the uncertain +light, he was pursuing his task through difficulties which would have +made many a boy give up in vexation and despair, when a voice suddenly +exclaimed, with startling emphasis,-- + +"Frank Manly, drummer!" And at the same instant something was thrown into +the tent, like a bombshell, passing the table, knocking over the candle, +and extinguishing the light. + +"Well, that's manners, I should say," cried the voice of Seth Tucket, a +fellow, as Frank described him, "who makes lots of fun for us, partly +because he is full of it himself, and partly because he is green, and +don't know any better." Tucket muttered and spat, then broke forth again, +"I be darned ef that pesky football didn't take me right in the face, and +spatter my mouth full of taller." + +"Well, save the _taller_, Seth, for we're getting short of candles," said +Frank. "Here, who is walking on my feet?" + +"It's me," said Atwater. "I'm going out to see who threw that thing in." + +"You're too late," said Frank. "Strike a light, somebody, and let's see +what it is. It tumbled down here by my drum, I believe." + +There was a general scratching of matches, and after a while the broken +candle was set up and relighted. + +"I swan to man," then said Tucket, "jest look at that jack-of-spades. He +got it in the physiognomy wus'n I did. 'Alas, the mother that him bare, +if she had been in presence there, in his _greased cheeks_ and _greasier +hair_, she had not known her child.'" + +These words from Marmion, aptly altered to suit the occasion, Seth, who +was not so green but that he knew pages of poetry by heart, repeated in a +high-keyed, nasal sing-song, which set all the boys laughing. + +"A pretty way, too, to _turn up_ Jack, I should say," he added, in +allusion to the candlestick,--a _turnip_, with a hole in it,--which had +rolled over his cards. + +In the mean time, Frank and Jack Winch were scrambling for the missile. + +"Let me have it," snarled Jack. + +"It's mine; my name was called when it was flung in," said Frank, +maintaining his hold. + +"Well, keep it, then!" said John. "It's nothing but a great wad of +paper." + +"It's a torpedo! an infernal machine!" cried Tucket. "Look out, Manly! +it'll blow us all into the next Fourth of July." + +Frank laughed, as he began to undo the package. The first wrapper was of +brown paper with these words written upon it, in large characters:-- + + "FRANK MANLY, _Drummer_. + _Inquire Within._" + +Beneath that wrapper was another, and beneath that another, and so on, +apparently an endless series. The boys all gathered around Frank, looking +on as he removed the papers one by one, until the package, originally as +big as his head, had dwindled to the dimensions of his fist. + +"It's got as many peels as an onion," said Tucket. + +"Nothing but papers. I told ye so!" said Jack Winch. + +But Frank perceived that the core of the package was becoming +comparatively solid and weighty. There was certainly something besides +paper there. What could it be? a stone? But what an odd-shaped stone it +was! Stones are not often of such regular shape, so uniformly round and +flattened. He had almost reached the last wrapper; his heart was beating +anxiously; but, before he removed it, he thought he heard a peculiar +sound, and held down his ear. A flush of delight overspread his +countenance, and he clasped the ball in both hands, as if it had been +something precious. + +"O, boys!" he exclaimed, looking up eagerly for their sympathy, "where +_did_ it come from? Atwater, did you see any body?" + +Nobody. It was all a mystery. + +"Boys, it's for me, isn't it?" said Frank, still hugging his treasure, as +if afraid even of looking at it, lest it should fly away. + +"Come, let's see!" and Winch impatiently made a snatch to get at it. + +Atwater coolly took him by the arm, and pulled him back. Then Frank, +carefully as a young mother uncovered the face of her sleeping baby, +removed the tinsel paper, which now alone intervened between the object +and his hand, and revealed to the astonished eyes of his comrades a tiny, +beautiful, smiling-faced silver watch. + +"O, isn't it a beauty?" said Frank, almost beside himself with delight; +for a watch was a thing of which he had greatly felt the need in beating +his calls, and wished for in vain. "Who could have sent it? Don't you +know, boys, any of you?" he asked, the mystery that came with the gift +filling him with strange, perplexed gladness. + +"All I know is," said Tucket, "I'd be willing to have six candles, all +lit, knocked down my throat, and eat taller for a fortnight, ef such a +kind of a football, infernal machine,--_watch you call it_,--would only +come to me." + +"Frank'll feel bigger 'n ever now, with a watch in his pocket," said the +envious Jack Winch, with a bitter grin. + +All had some remark to make except Atwater, who stood with his arms drawn +up under his cape, and smiled down upon Frank well pleased. + +Frank in the mean time was busily engaged in trying to discover, among +all the papers, some scrap of writing by which the unknown donor might be +traced. But writing there was none. And the mystery remained unsolved. + + + + + X. + + FRANK'S PROGRESS. + + +So passed Thanksgiving in camp. + +The next day the boys, with somewhat lugubrious faces, returned to their +hard diet of pork and hominy, heaving now and then a sigh of fond +remembrance, as they thought of yesterday's puddings and turkeys. + +And now came other hardships. The days were generally warm, sometimes hot +even, like those of July in New England. But the nights were cold, and +growing colder and colder as the winter came on. And the tents were but a +thin shelter, and clothing was scanty, and the men suffered. Many a time +Frank, shivering under his blanket, thought, with a swelling and homesick +heart, of Willie in his soft, warm bed, of his mother's inexhaustible +store of comforters, and of the kitchen stove and the family breakfast, +those raw wintry mornings. + +From the day the regiment encamped, the men had expected that they were +soon to move again. But now they determined that, even though they should +have orders to march in three days, they would make themselves +comfortable in the mean while. They accordingly set to work constructing +underground stoves, covered with flat stones, with a channel on one side +to convey away the smoke, and a deeper channel on the other for the +draft. These warmed the earth, and kept up an even temperature in the +tents all night. + +I said Frank sometimes had homesick feelings. It was not alone the +hardships of camp life that caused them. But as yet he had not received a +single letter from his friends, and his longing to get news from them was +such as only those boys can understand who have never been away from home +until they have suddenly gone upon a long and comfortless journey, and +who then begin to realize, as never before, all the loving care of their +parents, the kindness of brothers and sisters, and the blessedness of the +dear old nest from which they have untimely flown. + +Owing to the uncertainty of the regiment's destination, Captain Edney had +told his men to have all their friends' letters to them directed to +Washington. There they had been sent, and there, through some +misunderstanding or neglect, they remained. And though a small mail-bag +full had been written to Frank, this was the reason he had never yet +received one. + +Alas for those missing letters! The lack of them injured Frank more +deeply and lastingly than simply by wounding his heart. For soon that +hurt began to heal. He was fast getting used to living without news from +his family. He consoled himself by entering more fully than he had done +at first into the excitements of the camp. And the sacred influence of +HOME, so potent to solace and to save, even at a distance, was wanting. + +And here begins a portion of Frank's history which I would be glad to +pass over in silence. But, as many boys will probably read this story who +are not altogether superior to temptation, and who do not yet know how +easy it is for even a good-hearted, honest, and generous lad sometimes to +forget his mother's lessons and his own promises, and commence that slow, +gradual, downward course, which nearly always begins before we are aware, +and from which it is then so hard to turn back; and as many may learn +from his experience, and so save themselves much shame and their friends +much anguish, it is better that Frank's history should be related without +reserve. + +In the first place, he learned to smoke. He began by taking a whiff, now +and then, out of the pipe of a comrade, just to be in fashion, and to +keep himself warm those chill evenings and mornings. Then a tobacco +planter gave him, in return for some polite act on his part, a bunch of +tobacco leaves, which Frank, with his usual ingenuity, made up into +cigars for himself and friends. The cigars consumed, he obtained more +tobacco of some negroes, addicted himself to a pipe, and became a regular +smoker. + +Now, I don't mean to say that this, of itself, was a very great sin. It +was, however, a foolish thing in Frank to form at his age a habit which +might tyrannize over him for life, and make him in the end, as he himself +once said to John Winch, "a filthy, tobacco-spitting old man." + +But the worst of it was, he had promised his mother he would not smoke. +He thought he had a good excuse for breaking his word to her. "I am +sure," he said, "if she knew how cold I am sometimes, she wouldn't blame +me." Unfortunately, however, when one promise has been broken, and nobody +hurt, another is broken so easily! + +Ardent, sympathetic, fond of good-fellowship, Frank caught quickly the +spirit of those around him. He loved approbation, and dreaded any thing +that savored of ridicule. He disliked particularly the appellation of +"the parson," which John Winch, finding that it annoyed him, used now +whenever he wished to speak of him injuriously. Others soon fell into the +habit of applying to him the offensive title, without malice indeed, and +for no other reason, I suppose, than that nicknames are the fashion in +the army. To call a man simply by his honest name seems commonplace; but +to christen him the "Owl" if his eyes are big, or "Old Tongs" if his legs +are long, or "Step-and-fetch-it" if he suffers himself to be made the +underling and cats-paw of his comrades,--that is considered picturesque +and amusing. + +Frank would have preferred any of these epithets to the one Winch had +fastened upon him. Perhaps it was to show how little he deserved it, +that he made his conduct appear as unclerical as possible--smoking, +swaggering, and, I am sorry to add, swearing. Imbibing unconsciously the +spirit of his companions, and imitating by degrees their habits and +conversation, he became profane before he knew it,--excusing himself on +the plea that every body swore in the army. This was only too near the +truth. Men who had never before indulged in profanity, now frequently let +slip a light oath, and thought nothing of it. For it is one of the great +evils of war that men, however refined at home, soon forget themselves +amid the hardships, roughness, and turbulence of a soldier's life. It +seems not only to disguise their persons, but their characters also; so +that those vices which would have shocked them when surrounded by the +old social influences appear rather to belong to their new rude, half +barbarous existence. And we all know the pernicious effect when numbers +of one sex associate exclusively together, unblessed by the naturally +refining influence of the other. + +Such being the case with men of years and respectability, we need not +wonder that Frank should follow their example. Indeed, from the first, we +had but one strong ground of hope for one so young and susceptible--that +he would remember his pledges to his mother. These violated, the career +of ill begun, where would he end? + +Here, however, I should state that Frank never thought, as some boys do, +that it is smart and manly to swear. Sometimes we hear a man talk, whom +the vicious habit so controls that he cannot speak without blasphemy. +With such, oaths become as necessary a part of speech as articles or +prepositions. If deprived of them they are crippled; they seem lost, and +cannot express themselves. They are therefore unfit for any society but +that of loafers and brawlers. Such slavery to an idle and foolish custom +Frank had the sense to detest, even while he himself was coming under its +yoke. + +Here, too, before quitting the subject, justice requires us to bear +witness in favor of those distinguished exceptions to the common +profanity, all the more honorable because they were few. Although, +generally speaking, officers and men were addicted to the practice, the +language of here and there an officer, and here and there a private, +shone like streaks of unsullied snow amid ways of trodden mire. Captain +Edney never swore. Atwater never did. No profane word ever fell from the +lips of young Gray. And there were others whose example in this respect +was equally pure. + +Fortunately, Frank was kept pretty busy these times; else, with that +uneasy hankering for excitement which possesses unoccupied minds, and +that inclination to mischief which possesses unoccupied hands, he might +have acquired worse vices. + +No doubt some of our young readers will be interested to know what he had +to do. The following were some of his duties:-- + +At daybreak the _drummer's call_ was beat by the drums of the guard-tent. +Frank, though once so profound a sleeper, had learned to wake instantly +at the sound; and, before any of his comrades were astir, he snatched up +his drum, and hurried from the tent. That call was a signal for all the +drummers to assemble before the colors of the regiment, and beat the +reveille. Then Frank and his fellow-drummers practised the _double-quick_ +for two hours. Then they beat the _breakfast call_. Then they ate their +breakfast. At eight o'clock they had to turn out again, and beat the +_sergeant's call_. At nine o'clock they beat for _guard mounting_. Then +they practised two hours more at _wheeling_, _double-quick_, _etc_. They +then beat the _dinner call_. Then they had the pleasure of laying aside +the drumsticks, and taking up the knife and fork once more. After dinner +more _calls_ and similar practice. The time from supper (five o'clock) +until the beat for the evening roll-call (at eight), the drummers had to +themselves. After that the men were dismissed for the night, and could go +to bed if they chose,--all except the drummers, who must sit up and beat +the _tattoo at nine_. That is the signal for the troops to retire. Then +come the _taps_ (to extinguish lights), beat by each drummer in the +company, going down the line of tents. + +There were other calls besides those mentioned, such as the company +_drill call_, the _adjutants call_, to _the color_, _etc._, all of which +were beat differently; so that, as you see, the drummer boy's situation +was no sinecure. + +He found his watch of great assistance to him, in giving him warning of +the moment to be ready for the stated calls. Although evidently a new +watch, it had been well regulated, and it kept excellent time. The secret +donor of this handsome present was still undiscovered. Sometimes he +suspected the colonel, sometimes Captain Edney; then he surmised that it +must somehow have come to him from home. But all his conjectures and +inquiries on the subject were alike in vain; and he enjoyed the exquisite +torment of feeling that he had a lover somewhere who was unknown to him. + + + + + XI. + + A CHRISTMAS FROLIC. + + +Christmas came. The men had a holiday, but no turkeys, no plum puddings, +except such as had come to individuals in private boxes from home. The +sight of these boxes was not very edifying to those who had none. Frank, +who was once more in communication with his friends, had expected such a +box, and been disappointed. + +"You just come along with me, boys," said Seth Tucket, "and we'll lay in +for as merry a Christmas as any of 'em. It may come a little later in +the day; but patient waiters are no losers,--as the waiter said when he +picked the pockets of the six gentlemen at dinner." + +"What's the fun?" asked the boys, who were generally ready for any sport +into which Seth would lead them. + +He answered them enigmatically. "'_Evil, be thou my good!_'--that's what +Milton's bad angel said. '_Fowl, be thou my fare!_'--that's what I say." +From which significant response, followed by an apt imitation of a +turkey-gobbler, the boys understood that he had some device for +obtaining poultry for dinner. + +It was a holiday, and I have said, and they had already got permission +to go beyond the lines. There were some twenty of them in all, Frank +included. Tucket led them to a thicket about two miles from camp, where +they halted. + +"You see that house yonder? That's where old Buckley lives--the meanest +man in Maryland." + +"I know him," said Frank. "He's a rebel; he threatened to set his dog on +us one day. He hates the Union uniform worse than he does the Old +Scratch." + +"He has got lots of turkeys," said Ellis, "which he told the sergeant +he'd see die in the pen before he'd sell one to a Yankee." + +"I know where the pen is," said John Winch; "he keeps 'em shut up, so our +boys shan't steal 'em, and he and his dog and his nigger watch the pen." + +"Well, boys," said Seth, "now the thing is to get the turkeys. As rebel +property, it's our duty to confiscate 'em, and use 'em for the support of +the Union cause. Now I've an idee. I'll go over in the woods there, and +wait, while one of you goes to the house and asks him if he has got any +turkeys to sell. He'll say no, of course. Then ask him if you may have +the one out in the woods there. He'll say there ain't none in the woods; +but you must insist there is one, and say if 'tain't his you'll take it, +and settle with the owner when he calls. That'll start him, and I'll see +that he goes into the woods fur enough, so that the rest of you can rush +up, grab every man his turkey, and skedaddle. Winch 'll show you the way; +he says he knows the pen. 'Charge, Ellis, charge! On, Harris, on! Shall +be the words of private John.' But who'll go first to the house?" asked +Seth, coming down from the high key in which he usually got off his +poetry. + +"Let Frank," said Harris; "for he knows the man." + +"He? He dasn't go!" sneered Jack. "He's afraid of the dog." + +This base imputation decided Frank to undertake the errand, which, after +all, notwithstanding the danger attending it, was less repugnant to his +feelings than more direct participation in the robbery. + +Seth departed to ensconce himself in the woods. Frank then went on to the +secessionists house, quieting his conscience by the way with reflections +like these: It was owing to such men as this disloyal Marylander that the +Union troops were now suffering so many hardships. The good things +possessed by traitors, or by those who sympathised with traitors, were +fairly forfeited to patriots who were giving their blood to their +country. Stealing, in such a case, was no robbery. And so forth, and so +forth--sentiments which prevailed pretty generally in the army. Besides, +there was fun in the adventure; and with boys a little fun covers a +multitude of sins. + +The fun, however, was considerably dampened, on Frank's part, as he +approached the house. "Bow, wow!" suddenly spoke the deep, dreadful tones +of the rebel mastiff. He hated the national uniform as intensely as his +master did, and came bounding towards Frank as if his intention was to +eat him up at once. + +Now, the truth is, Frank was afraid of the dog. His heart beat fast, his +flesh felt an electric chill, and there was a curious stirring in the +roots of his hair. The dog came right on, bristling up as large as two +dogs, opening his ferocious maw, and barking and growling terribly. Then +the fun of the thing was still more dampened, to the boy's appreciation, +by a sudden suspicion. Why had his companions thrust the most perilous +part of the enterprise upon him, the youngest of the party? It was mean; +it was cowardly; and the whole affair was intended to make sport for the +rest, by getting him into a scrape. So, at least, thought Frank. + +"But I'll show them I've got some pluck," said something within him, +proud and determined. + +To fear danger is one thing. To face it boldly, in spite of that fear, is +quite another. The first is common; the last is rare as true courage. The +dog came straight up to Frank, and Frank marched straight up to the dog. + +"Even if I had known he would bite," said Frank, afterwards, "I'd have +done it." For he did not know at the time that this was the very best way +to avoid being bitten. The dog, astonished by this straightforward +proceeding, and probably thinking that one who advanced unflinchingly, +with so brave a face, without weapons, must have honest business with his +master, stepped aside, and growlingly let him pass. + +"Where's your master?" said Frank, coolly, to an old negro, who was +shuffling across the yard. "I want to see him a minute." + +"Yes, massa," said the black, pulling at his cap, and bowing +obsequiously. + +He disappeared, and presently "old Buckley" came out, looking worthy to +be the dog's master. + +"Perhaps," thought Frank, "if I treat him in the same way, he won't bite, +either;" and he walked straight up to him. The biped did not bark or +growl, as the quadruped had done, but he looked wickedly at the intruder. + +"How about those turkeys?" said Frank. + +"What turkeys?" returned the man, surlily. + +"It is Christmas now, and I thought you might be ready to sell some of +them," continued Frank, nothing daunted. + +"I've no turkeys to sell," said the man. + +"But you had a lot of them," said Frank. + +"I had fifty." Buckley looked sternly at Frank, and continued: "Half of +them have been stolen by you Yankee thieves. And you know it." + +"Stolen! If that isn't too bad!" exclaimed Frank. "I am sure I have never +had one of them. Are you certain they have been stolen? I heard a gobbler +over in the woods here, as I came along." + +"You did?" said the man. + +Frank thought it only a very white lie he was telling, having heard, at +all events, a very good imitation of a gobbler. He repeated roundly his +assertion. The man regarded him with a steady scowling scrutiny for near +a minute, his surly lips apart, his hands thrust into his pockets. Frank, +who could speak the truth with as clear and beautiful a brow as ever was +seen, could not help wincing a little under the old fellow's slow, +sullen, suspicious observation. + +"Boy," said the man, without taking his hands from his pockets, "you're a +lying to me!" + +"Very well," said Frank, turning on his heel, "if you think so, then I +suppose it isn't your turkey." + +"And what are you going to do about it?" said the man. + +"The federal army," said Frank, with a smile, "has need of that turkey. I +shall take him, and settle with the owner when he turns up." + +And he walked off. The man was evidently more than half convinced there +was a turkey in the woods--probably one that had escaped when a part of +his flock was stolen. + +"Toby," said he, "fetch my gun." + +The old negro trotted into the house, and trotted out again, bringing a +double-barrelled shot-gun, which Frank did not like the looks of at all. + +"There's some Yankee trick here," said the secessionist, cocking the +piece, and carefully putting a cap on each barrel; "but I reckon they'll +find me enough for 'em. Toby, you stay here with the dog, and take care +of things. Now, boy, march ahead there, and show me that gobbler." + +The old negro grinned. So did his master, in a way Frank did not fancy. +It was a morose, menacing, savage grin--a very appropriate prelude, Frank +thought, to a shot from behind out of that two-barrelled fowling-piece. +But it was too late now to retreat. So, putting on a bold and confident +air, he started for the woods, followed by the grim man with the gun. + +His sensations by the way were not greatly to be envied. He had never +felt, as he afterwards expressed it, so _streaked_ in his life. By that +term I suppose he alluded to those peculiar thrills which sometimes +creep over one, from the scalp to the ankles, when some great danger is +apprehended. For it was evident that this man was in deadly earnest. +Tramp, tramp, he came after Frank, with his left hand on the stock of +his gun, the other on the lock, ready to pop him over the moment he +should discover he had been trifled with. No doubt their departure had +been watched by the boys from the thicket, and the unlucky drummer +expected every moment to hear the alarm of a premature attack upon the +turkey-pen, which would, unquestionably, prove the signal for his own +immediate execution. + +"He will shoot me first," thought Frank, "to be revenged; then he'll ran +back to defend his property." + +And now, although he had long since made up his mind that he was willing +to die, if necessary, fighting for his country, his whole soul shrunk +with fear and dread from the shameful death, in a shameful cause, with +which he was menaced. + +"_Shot, by a secessionist, in the act of stealing turkeys._" How would +that sound, reported to his friends at home? + +"_Shot while gallantly charging the enemy's battery_." How differently +that would read! and the poor boy wished that he had let the miserable +turkeys alone, and waited to try his fortunes on the battle-field. + +However, being once in the scrape, although the cause was a bad one, he +determined to show no craven spirit. With a heart like hot lead within +him, he marched with every appearance of willingness and confidence into +the woods, regarding the gun no more than if it had been designed for the +obvious purpose of shooting the gobbler. + +"When we come in sight of him," said Frank, "let me shoot him, won't +you?" + +"H'm! I reckon I'll give you a shot!" muttered the man, with darkly +dubious meaning. + +"I wish you would," said Frank. "Our boys have two cartridges apiece +given them every day now, and they practise shooting at a target. But as +I am a drummer, I don't have any chance to shoot. There's your turkey +now." + +In fact an unmistakable gobble was just then heard farther on in the +woods. + +"May I take the gun and go on and shoot him?" Frank asked, with an +innocent air. + +And he stopped, determined now to get behind the man, if he could not +obtain the gun. + +The rebel laughed grimly at the idea of giving up his weapon. But the +sound of the turkey, together with the boy's cool and self-possessed +conduct, had so far deceived him that he no longer drove Frank inexorably +before him, but permitted him to walk by his side, and even to lag a +little behind. + +"Gobble, obble, obble!" said the turkey, behind some bushes, still +several rods off. + +"Yes, that's my turkey!" said the man, ready enough to claim the unseen +fowl. + +"How do you know he is yours?" asked Frank. + +"I know his gobble. One I had stole gobbled jest like that." And the +secessionist's stern features relaxed a little. + +Frank's relaxed a little, too; for, serious as his dilemma had seemed +a minute since, he could not but be amused by the man's undoubting +recognition of _that_ gobble. + +"All turkeys make a noise alike," said Frank. + +"No they don't, no they don't!" said the man, positively,--no doubt +fearing a plot to get the fowl away from him, and anxious to set up his +claim in season. "I reckon I know about turkeys. Hear that?"--as the +sound was heard again, still at a distance. "That's my bird. I should +know that gobble among five hundred." + +Frank suppressed his merriment, thinking that now was his time to get +away. + +"Well," said he, "unless you'll sell me the bird, I don't know that +there's any use of my going any farther with you." + +He expected a repetition of the refusal to sell, when he would have the +best excuse in the world for making his escape. But Buckley was still +suspicious of some trick,--fearing, perhaps, that Frank would run off and +get help to secure the turkey. + +"We'll see; we'll see. Wait till we get the bird," said the man. "You've +done me a good turn telling me about him, and mayhap I'll sell him to you +for your honesty. But wait a bit; wait a bit." + +They were fast approaching the bushes where the supposed turkey was. + +"Quit, quit, quit! Gobble, obble, obble!" said the pretended fowl. + +"He _must_ know now," thought Frank, with renewed apprehension; but he +dared not run. + +In fact, the old fellow was beginning to see that his recognition of +_his_ gobbler had been premature. A patch of blue uniform was visible +through the brush. The rebel stopped, and drew up his gun. As Hamlet +killed Polonius for a rat, so would he kill a Yankee for a turkey. +Click! the piece was cocked and aimed. + +"Here, you old clodhopper, you; don't you shoot! don't you shoot!" +screamed Seth Tucket, rushing wildly out of the bushes just as the rebel +pulled the trigger. + + + + + XII. + + THE SECESSIONIST'S TURKEYS. + + +In the mean time the boys watching from their ambush, and seeing that the +rebel had gone off with Frank, but left his dog and negro behind, armed +themselves with clubs. When all was ready, Winch gave the word, and +forward they dashed at the doublequick, clearing more than half the space +intervening between them and the barns, before they were discovered by +the enemy. Then the dog bounded out with a bark, and the old negro began +to "holler," and the rebel's wife and daughter ran out and screamed, and +an old negress also appeared, brandishing a broom, and adding her voice +to the chorus. + +At this moment the report of a gun came from the direction in which the +secessionist had gone off with Frank. + +John Winch heard it, just as the dog met the charging party. Who was +killed? Frank or Seth? John did not know, but he was frightened. He had +come for fun and poultry, not for fighting and bullets. Neither was he +particularly ambitions to be bitten by that monstrous dog. He lost faith +in his club, and dropped it. He lost confidence in the prowess of his +companions, and deserted them. In short, Jack Winch, who had been one of +the most eager to engage in the adventure, took ignominiously to his +heels. + +He reached the thicket before venturing to look behind him. Then he saw +that his comrades had frightened away the negro, beaten back the dog, and +taken the turkey-pen by storm. He would now have been but too glad to +join them; but it was too late. Having accomplished their undertaking, +they were returning, each bringing, pendent by the legs, a flopping fowl. + +It is better to be a brave man than a coward, even in a bad cause. +Fortune often favors brave men in the wrong in preference to aiding +cowards in the right, for Fortune loves not a poltroon. John Winch felt +at that moment that nobody henceforth would love or favor him, and he +began to frame excuses for his shameful conduct. + +"Hello, Jack Winch," cried Ellis, coming up with a turkey in one hand +and a chicken in the other, "you're a smart leader--to run away from a +yelping dog like that!" + +"Coward! coward!" chimed in the others, with angry contempt. + +"I sprained my ankle. Didn't you know it?" said the miserable Jack, with +a writhing countenance, limping. + +"Sprained your granny!" exclaimed Harris. "I never saw a sprained ankle +go over the ground as fast as yours did, just as we came to the dog." + +"Then I heard the gun," said Jack, "and I was afraid either Seth or Frank +was shot." + +"Woe to the man of turkeys if they are!" said Joe, twisting the neck of +his fowl to quiet it. "We'll serve him as I am serving this hen." + +The boys hastened to a rendezvous they had appointed with the absent +ones, followed by Jack at a very creditable pace, considering his +excruciating lameness. + +As yet, neither Frank nor Seth had been shot. The charge of buck shot +fired from the rebel fowling-piece had entered the bushes just as the +blue uniform left them. But the secessionist cocked the other barrel of +his piece immediately, with the intention of making up for the error of +his first aim. + +"Shoot me," shouted Seth, "and you'll be swinging from that limb in five +minutes!" + +The man hesitated, glancing quickly about for those who were expected to +put Seth's threat into execution. + +"I've twenty fellows with me," added Seth, "and they'll string you up in +no time, by darn!" + +The secessionist was not so much impressed by the rather slender oath +with which Seth clinched his speech, as by the sharp and earnest tone in +which the whole was uttered,--Seth walking savagely up to him as he +spoke. All the while, the alarm raised by the negro, and the dog, and the +women, was sounding in the man's ears. + +"They're after my turkeys! This is your trick, boy!" and he sprang upon +Frank, lifting his gun as if to level him to the earth. + +But Seth sprang after him, and seized the weapon before it descended. +That green down-easter was cool as if he had been at a game of ball. He +was an athletic youth, and he readily saw that Buckley, though a sturdy +farmer, was no match for him. He pushed him back, shouting shrilly, at +the same time, in the words of his favorite poet,-- + +"'Now, if thou strik'st him but one blow, I'll hurl thee from the brink +as far as ever peasant pitched a bar!'" + +This strange form of salutation astonished the rebel even more than the +rough treatment he received at the hands of the vigorous and poetical +Tucket. He saw that it was no time to stay and parley. He knew that his +turkeys were going, and, muttering a parting malediction at Frank, he set +off at a run to protect his poultry-yard. + +"Now's our time," said Tucket, starting for the rendezvous, and striking +into another quotation from his favorite minstrel, parodied for the +occasion. "'Speed, Manly, speed! the cow's tough hide on fleeter foot was +ne'er tied. Speed, Manly, speed! such cause of haste a drummer's sinews +never braced. For turkey's doom and rebel deed are in thy course--speed, +Manly, speed!'" + +And speed they did, arriving at the place of meeting just as their +companions came up with the poultry. + +"Hello, Jack!" said Frank; "what's the matter with you?" + +"He stumbled over a great piece of bark," Ellis answered for Winch. + +"Did you, Jack?" + +"Yes!" said Jack, putting on a look of anguish. He had not thought of the +bark before, but supposing Ellis had seen such a piece as he spoke of, he +accepted his theory of the stumbling as readily as the rebel had +recognized in Seth's gobbling one of his own lost turkeys. "And broke my +ankle," added Jack. + +"What kind of bark was it? do you know?" said Ellis. + +"No. I was hurt so I didn't stop to look." + +"Well, I'll tell you. It was the dog's bark." And Ellis and his comrades +shouted with laughter, all except poor Jack Winch, who knew too well that +no other kind of bark had checked his progress. + +Then the turkey-stealers had their adventure to relate, and Frank had his +amusing story to tell, and Tucket could brag how near he had come to +being shot for one of Buckley's gobblers, and all were merry but Jack, +who had brought from the field nothing but a counterfeit lameness and +dishonor, and who accordingly lagged behind his comrades, sulky and dumb. + +"He limps dreadfully--when any body is looking at him," said Harris. + +"Nobody killed, and only one wounded," said Frank. + +"The sight of old Buckley coming with his dog would be better than a +surgeon, to cure that wound," said Tucket. "You'd see Winch leg it faster +'n any of us--like the old woman that had the hypo's, and hadn't walked a +step for twenty years, and thought she couldn't; but one day her friends +got up a ghost to scare her, and she ran a mile before they could ketch +her." + +Do you know how these jokes, and the laughter that followed, sounded on +the ear of Jack Winch? Even the bark of the rebel mastiff was music in +comparison, and his bite would have hurt him less. + +"By the way," said Seth, "the old skinflint will be after us, sure as +guns. Hurry! or we'll hear--'The deep-mouthed bull-dog's heavy bay +resounding up the rocky way, and faint, from farther distance borne, the +darned old rebel's dinner horn.' Give me that chicken, Ellis. And, boys, +we must manage some way to smuggle these fowls into camp. I can carry +this chicken under my coat; but how in Sam Hill you'll manage with the +turkeys, I don't see." + +"I know," said Frank, always full of invention. "If nobody else has a +better plan, I've thought of a good one." + +Several devices were suggested, but none met with general approbation. +Then Frank explained his. + +"Cover up the turkeys with evergreens, and we will go in with our arms +full, as if we were going to make wreaths for the regiment." + +This plan was agreed upon, and shortly after the adventurers might have +been seen returning to camp loaded down with boughs and vines. Jack alone +came in empty-handed. Frank had no turkey, and so he threw down his load +outside the tent, where any one could examine it. + +It was not long before the owner of the turkeys made his appearance, +carrying to headquarters his complaint of the robbery. Unfortunately, +Frank was not only known as a drummer boy, but he wore the letter of his +company on his cap. Besides, his youth rendered his identification +comparatively easy. As might have been expected, therefore, he was soon +called to an account. Captain Edney himself came to investigate the +matter, accompanied by the secessionist. + +"That's the boy," said Buckley, with determined vindictiveness, when +Frank was arraigned before him. + +Frank could not help looking a little pale, for he felt that he was in a +bad scrape, and how he was to get out of it, without either lying or +betraying his accomplices, he could not see. He did not care so much +about himself, but he would not for any thing have borne witness against +the others. He had almost made up his mind to tell a sturdy falsehood, if +necessary,--to stoop to a dishonorable thing in order to avoid another, +which he considered even more damaging to his character. For such is +commonly the result of wrongdoing; one step taken, you must take another +to retrieve that. One foot in the mire, you must put the other in to get +that out. + +However, the drummer boy still hoped that by putting a bold face on the +matter, and prevaricating a little, he might still keep clear of that +thing he had been taught always to abhor--a downright untruth. + +"This man brings serious charges against you, Frank," said Captain Edney. + +"I should think it was for me to bring charges against him," replied +Frank, trying to look indignant. + +"Why, what has he done to you?" The captain could not help smiling as he +spoke, and Frank felt encouraged. + +"He's a rebel of the worst kind. He is always insulting the federal +uniform, and he seems to think that whoever wears it is a villain. He +threatened to set his dog on me the other day, and to-day he was going to +knock me down with his gun." + +"What was he going to knock you down for? You must have done something to +provoke him." + +"Yes, I did!" said Frank, boldly. "I went to his house, and asked him, in +the politest way I could, if he would sell us fellows a turkey. I might +have known that it would provoke him, for he has been heard to say he'd +rather his turkeys should die in the pen than that a Union soldier should +have one, even for money." + +It was evident to the secessionist that instead of making out a case +against the boy, the boy was fast making out a case against him. In his +impatience he broke forth into violent denunciations of Frank, but +Captain Edney stopped him. + +"None of that, sir, or I'll send you out of the camp forthwith. He +says,"--turning to Frank,--"that you decoyed him into the woods while +your companions stole his turkeys." + +"Decoyed him?" said Frank. "He may call it what he pleases. I'll tell you +just what I did, sir. He said he hadn't any turkeys. So I said, 'Then the +one I heard in the woods, as I came along, isn't yours--is it?'" + +"Had you heard one?" + +"I had heard a noise so much like one,"--laughing,--"that he himself, +when he heard it, was ready to swear it was his gobbler." + +"And was it really a turkey?" + +"No, sir. It was Seth Tucket hid behind the bushes." + +Frank was now conscious of making abundant fun for his comrades, who all +crowded around, listening with delight to the investigation. Even Captain +Edney smiled, as he gave a glance at the green-looking, seriously-winking +Seth. + +"So it was you that played the gobbler, Tucket," said the captain. + +"I hope there wan't no great harm in't ef I did, sir," replied Seth, with +ludicrous mock solemnity. "Bein' Christmas so, I thought I'd like a +little bit of turkey, sir, ef 'twant no more than the gobble. And there I +was, enjoying it all by myself, hevin' a nice time, when this man comes +up and lays claim to me for his turkey." + +This sober declaration, uttered in a high key, with certain jerks of the +arms and twists of the down-east features, which Seth could use with the +drollest effect, excited unrestrained mirth among the men, and made the +officer's sword-belts shake not a little with the suppressed merriment +inside. + +"What do you mean by his claiming you?" asked the captain. + +"He told Manly I belonged to him, and that some thieving Yankee had +stolen me." said Seth, with open eyes and mouth, as if he had been making +the most earnest statement. "Now I'll leave it to any body ef that's so. +And I guess that's about all his complaints of hevin' turkeys stole +amounts to; for ef he can make a mistake so easy in my case, he may in +others. Though mabby he means I stole the _gobble_ of one of his +turkeys. I own it's a gobble I picked up somewheres, but I didn't know +'twas his." And Tucket drew down his face with an expression of +incorruptible innocence. + +"Well, boys," said the captain, silencing the laughter, "we have had fun +enough for the occasion, though it _is_ a merry Christmas. No more +buffoonery. Tucket. Were you aware, Frank, that it was Tucket, and not a +turkey, in the bushes, when you took this man to the woods?" + +"I rather thought it was Tucket," said Frank, "though the man stuck to it +so stoutly that 'twas his gobbler, I didn't know but----" + +"Never mind about that." The captain saw that it was Frank's object to +lead the inquiry back to the ludicrous part of the business, and promptly +checked him. "What was your motive in deceiving him?" + +"To have a little fun, sir." + +"Did you not know that there was a design to rob his poultry pen?" + +Frank recollected his momentary doubts as to the good faith of his +companions, when the dog assailed him, and thought he could make that +uncertainty the base of a strong "No, sir." + +"But you know his pen was robbed?" + +"No, sir, I do not know it----," Frank reflecting as he spoke, that a +man cannot really _know_ any thing of which he has not been an +eye-witness, and comforting his conscience with the fact that he had not +_seen_ the turkeys stolen. + +"Now,"--Captain Edney did not betray by look or word whether he believed +or doubted the boy's assertion,--"tell me who was with you in the woods." + +"Seth Tucket, sir." + +"Who else?" + +"O, ever so many fellows had been with me." + +"Name them." + +And Frank proceeded to name several who had really been with him that +morning, but not on the forage after poultry. On being called up and +questioned, they were able to give the most positive testimony, to the +effect that they had neither stolen any fowls themselves nor been with +any party that had. In the mean time the sergeant and second lieutenant +instituted a search through the company's tents, and succeeded in finding +a solitary turkey, which nobody could give any account of, and which +nobody claimed. This the secessionist identified; averring that there +were also a dozen more, besides several chickens, for which redress was +due. But not one of them could be discovered, perhaps because they were +so skilfully concealed, but more probably because those who searched were +not anxious to find. + +Captain Edney accordingly paid the man for the loss of the single turkey, +which he ordered sent immediately to the hospital. He also told the +secessionist that he would pay him for all the poultry he was ready to +swear had been appropriated by the men of his company, provided he would +first take the oath of allegiance to the United States. This Buckley +sullenly refused to do, and he was immediately conducted by a guard +outside the lines. Seth Tucket followed at a short distance, saying, as +he put his hand in his pocket, as if to produce some money, "Say, friend! +better le' me pay ye for that gobble I stole. Any thing in reason, ye +know." + +But Buckley gave him only a glance of compressed rage, and marched off in +silence, with disappointment and revenge in his heart. + + + + + XIII. + + THE EXPEDITION MOVES. + + +Frank won the greatest credit from his comrades by the manner in which +he had gone through the investigation. And the fowls, which those who +searched could not discover, found their way somehow to the cooks, and +back again to the boys, and were shared among their companions, who had +a feast and a good time generally. + +But when all was over, and the excitement which carried Frank through +had subsided, and it was night, and he lay in the darkness and solitude +of the tent, with his comrades asleep around him,--then came sober +reflection; and he thought of the poor man who had lost his turkeys, and +who, for one, had got no fun out of the business; and he remembered that +he had, to all intents and purposes, lied to Captain Edney; and he knew +in his heart that he had done a dishonest thing. + +Yes, he had actually been engaged in stealing turkeys. He was guilty +of an act of which, a few weeks before, he would have deemed himself +absolutely incapable. All the mitigating circumstances of the case, which +had lately stood out so clear and strong as almost to hide the offence +from his moral vision, now faded, and shrunk away, and the wrong itself +stood forth, alone, in its undisguised ugliness. + +"What is it to me that the man is a secessionist? That doesn't give us +the right to rob him. He is not in arms against the government; and we +don't know that he assists the rebels in any way, either by giving them +information or money. Perhaps he had good reason to hate the Union +soldiers. If he had not before, he has now. I wish I had let his turkeys +alone." + +These words Frank did not exactly frame to himself, lying there in the +dark and silent tent; but so said the soul within him. And the next day +the culpability of his conduct was brought home still more forcibly to +his conscience by the receipt of a box from home. It contained, besides a +turkey, pies, cakes, apples, and letters. And in one of the letters his +mother wrote,-- + + "I hope these things will reach you by Christmas, and that you will + enjoy them, and share them with those who have been good to you, and + be very happy. We all think of the hardships you have to go through, + and would willingly give up many of our comforts if you could only + have them. We shall not have any turkey at Christmas--we shall all + be so much happier to think you have one. For I would not have you + so much as _tempted_ to do what you say some of the soldiers have + done--that is, steal the turkeys belonging to the secessionists. If + there are rebels at heart, not yet in open opposition to the + government, I would have you treat them kindly, and not provoke them + to hate our cause worse than they do already. And always remember + that, whatever the government may see fit to do to punish such men, + you have no right to interfere with either their private opinions or + their private property." + +Why was it that the contents of Frank's Christmas box did not taste so +good to him as he had anticipated? Simply because he could partake of +neither pie nor turkey without the sorry sauce of a reproving conscience. + +He thought to atone for his fault by magnanimity in sharing with others +what he could not relish alone. He gave liberally to all his mates, and +carried a large piece of the turkey, together with a generous supply of +stuffing, and an entire mince pie, to his old friend Sinjin. + +Now, Frank had not, for the past month, been on as good terms with the +veteran as formerly. The meeting with Mrs. Manly in Boston seemed to have +awakened unpleasant remembrances in the old drummer's mind, and to render +him unpleasantly stiff and cold towards her son. He had received the +thanksgiving wreath with a very formal and stately acknowledgment, and +Frank, who knew not what warm torrents might be gushing beneath the stern +old man's icy exterior, had kept himself somewhat resentfully aloof from +him ever since. But he still felt a yearning for their former friendship, +and he now hoped, with the aid of the good gifts of which he was the +bearer, to make up with him. + +"I wish you a merry Christmas," said Frank, arrived at the old man's +tent. + +"You are rather late for that, it seems to me," replied Sinjin, lifting +his brows, as he sat in his tent and looked quietly over his shoulder at +the visitor. + +"I know it," said Frank. "But the truth is, I hadn't any thing to wish +you a merry Christmas with yesterday. But this morning I got a box by +express, full of goodies, direct from home." + +"Ah!" said the old man, with a singular unsteadiness of eye, while he +tried to look cold and unconcerned. + +"Yes; isn't it grand? A turkey of my mother's own stuffing, and pies of +her own baking, and every thing that's splendid. And she said she hoped +you would accept a share, with her very kind regards. And so I've brought +you some." + +The old man had got up on his feet. But he did not offer to relieve +Frank's hands. He made no reply to his little speech; and he seemed not +so much to look _at_ him, as _through_ him, into some visionary past far +away. Perhaps it was not the drummer boy he saw at all, but fairer +features, still like his--a sweet young girl; the same he used to trot +upon his knees, in those unforgotten years, so long ago, when he was in +his manhood's prime, and life was still fresh to him, and he had not +lost his early faith in friendship and love. + +There Frank stood, holding the cover of the Christmas box, with the good +things from home upon it, and waited, and wondered; and there the old man +stood and dreamed. + +"Please, sir, will you let me leave them here?" said Frank, ready to cry +with disappointment at this strange reception. + +The old man heaved a sigh, brushed his hand across his eyes, and came +back to the present. He stooped and took the gift with a tremulous smile, +but without a word. He did not tell the drummer boy that he had, in that +instant of forgetfulness, seen his mother as she was at his age, and that +his old heart now, though seemingly withered and embittered, gushed again +with love so sorrowful and yearning, that he could have taken her son in +his arms, even as he had so often taken her, and have wept over him. And +Frank, in his ignorance, went away, feeling more hurt than ever at his +old friend's apparent indifference. + + * * * * + +And now matters were assuming a more and more warlike appearance. For +some time Frank's regiment had been out on brigade drill twice a week, +and he had written home a glowing description of the scene. But an +incomparably grander sight was the inspection and review of the entire +division, which took place the last week of December. The parade ground, +comprising two thousand acres, at once smooth and undulating, was +admirably fitted to show off, with picturesque and splendid effect, the +evolutions of regiment, brigade, and division. Thousands of spectators +flocked from Annapolis and the vicinity, in vehicles, on horseback, and +on foot, to witness the display. + +Frank was with his company, carrying his knapsack, haversack, tin cup, +and canteen, like the rest, and with his drum at his side. He could not +but feel a pride in the grand spectacle of which he formed a part. At +eleven o'clock, Brigadier-General Foster, commanding the department in +Burnside's absence, passed down the line, accompanied by a numerous +staff, and followed by the governor of the state and members of the +legislature. They inspected each regiment in turn; and many were the +looks of interest and pleased surprise which the young drummer boy +received from officers and civilians. + +The reviewing party then took its position on the right, the words of +command rang along the line, and regiment after regiment, breaking into +battalion column, filed, with steady tramp, in superb, glittering array, +to the sound of music, past the general and his assistants. No wonder the +drummer boy's heart beat high with military enthusiasm, as he marched +with his comrades in this magnificent style, marvelling what enemy could +withstand such disciplined masses of troops. + +And now the fleet of transports, which were to convey them to their +destination, were gathering at Annapolis. The camp was full of rumors +respecting the blow which was to be struck, and the troops were eager to +strike it. + +So ended the old year, the first of the war; and the new year came in. It +was now January, 1862. + +On the 3d, the regiment was for the first time paid off. Frank received +pay for two months' service, at twelve dollars a month. He kept only four +dollars for his own use, and sent home the remaining twenty dollars in a +check, to be drawn by his father in Boston. It was a source of great +pride and satisfaction to him that he could send money to his parents; +and he wondered at the greedy selfishness of John Winch, who immediately +commenced spending his pay for pies and cakes, at the sutler's enormous +prices. + +On the 6th, the regiment broke camp and marched to Annapolis. There was +snow on the ground, which had fallen the night before; and the weather +was very cold. The city was a scene of busy activity. The fleet lay in +the harbor. Troops and baggage trains crowded to the wharves. Transport +after transport took on board its precious freight of lives, and hauling +out into the stream to make room for others, dropped anchor off the town. + +After waiting five hours--five long and dreary hours--at the Naval +Academy, our regiment took its turn. One half went on board an armed +steamer, whose decks were soon swarming with soldiers and bristling with +guns. The other half took passage in a schooner. And the steamer took the +schooner in tow, and anchored with her in the river. And so Frank and his +comrades bade farewell to the soil of Maryland. + +The excitement of these scenes had served to put Frank's conscience to +sleep again. However, it received a sting, when, on the day of leaving +Annapolis, he learned that the secessionist whose turkeys had been +stolen, had, in revenge for his wrongs, quitted his farm, and gone to +join the rebel army. + + + + + XIV. + + THE VOYAGE AND THE STORM. + + +On the morning of the 9th of January the fleet sailed. + +Frank was on board the schooner towed out by her steam consort. + +Although the morning was cold and wet, the decks of the transports were +crowded with troops witnessing the magnificent spectacle of their own +departure. + +Just before they got under way, a jubilant cheering was heard. Frank made +his way to the vessel's side, to see what was going on. A small row-boat +passed, conveying some officer of distinction to his ship. Frank observed +that he was a person of quite unpretending appearance, but of pleasant +and noble features. + +"Burnside! Burnside! Burnside!" shouted a hundred voices. + +And in acknowledgment of the compliment, the modest hero of the +expedition stood up in the boat, and uncovered his high, bald forehead +and dome-like head. + +The rowers pulled at their oars, and the boat dashed on over the dancing +waters, greeted with like enthusiasm every where, until the general's +flag-ship, the little steamer Picket, took him on board. + +And now the anchors were up, the smoke-pipes trailed their cloudy +streamers on the breeze, flags and pennants were flying, paddle-wheels +began to turn and plash, the bands played gay music, and the fleet drew +off, in a long line of countless steamers and sailing vessels, down the +Severn, and down the Chesapeake. + +All day, through a cold, drizzling rain, the fleet sailed on, the +transports still keeping in sight of each other, in a line extending for +miles along the bleak, inhospitable bay. + +The next morning, Frank went on deck, and found the schooner at anchor in +a fog. The steamer lay alongside. No other object was visible--only the +restlessly-dashing waters. The wild shrieking of the steamer's whistle, +blowing in the fog to warn other vessels of the fleet to avoid running +down upon them, the near and far responses of similarly screaming +whistles, and of invisible tolling bells, added impressiveness to the +situation. + +At nine o'clock, anchors were weighed again, and the fleet proceeded +slowly, feeling its way, as it were, in the obscurity. There was more or +less fog throughout the day; but towards sundown a breeze blew from the +shore, the fog rolled back upon the sea, the clouds broke into wild +flying masses, the blue sky shone through, and the sunset poured its +placid glory upon the scene. + +Again the troops crowded the decks. The fleet was entering Hampton Roads. +Upon the right, basking in the golden sunset as in the light of an +eternal calm, a stupendous fortress lay, like some vast monster of old +time, asleep. Frank shivered with strange sensations as he gazed upon +that immense and powerful stronghold of force; trying to realize that, +dreaming so quietly there in the sunset, those gilded walls, which seemed +those of an ancient city of peace, meant horrible, deadly war. + +"By hooky!" said Seth Tucket, coming to his side, "that old Fortress +Monroe's a stunner--ain't she? I'd no idee the old woman spread her hoop +skirts over so much ground." + +"You can see the big Union gun there on the beach," said Atwater. "To +look at that, then just turn your eye over to Sewell's Point there, where +the rebel batteries are, makes it seem like war." And the tall, grave +soldier smiled, with a light in his eye Frank had seldom seen before. + +The evening was fine, the sky clear, the moon shining, the air balmy and +spring-like. The fleet had come to anchor in the Roads. The bands were +playing, and the troops cheering from deck to deck. The moonlight +glittered on the water, and whitened the dim ships riding at anchor, and +lay mistily upon the bastions of the great slumbering fortress. At a late +hour, Frank, with his eyes full of beauty and his ears full of music, +went below, crept into his berth, and thought of home, and of the great +world he was beginning to see, until he fell asleep. + +The next day the fleet still lay in Hampton Roads. There were belonging +to the expedition over one hundred and twenty-five vessels of all +classes, freighted with troops, horses, forage, and all the paraphernalia +of war. And this was the last morning which was to behold that +magnificent and powerful armada entire and unscattered. + +At night the fleet sailed. Once at sea, the sealed orders, by which each +vessel was to shape its course, were opened, and Hatteras Inlet was found +to be its first destination. + +The next day was Sunday, January 12. The morning was densely foggy. +Frank, who had been seasick all night, went on deck to breathe the fresh +sea air. The steamer, still towing the Schooner, was just visible in the +fog, at the other end of the great sagging hawser. And the sea was +rolling, rolling, rolling. And the ship was tossing, tossing, tossing. +And Frank's poor stomach, not satisfied with its convulsive efforts to +turn him wrong side out the night before, recommenced heaving, heaving, +heaving. He clung to the rail of the schooner, and every time it went +down, and every time it came up, he seemed to grow dizzier and sicker +than ever. He consoled himself by reflecting that he was only one of +hundreds on hoard, who were, or had been, in the same condition; and when +he was sickest he could not help laughing at Seth Tucket's inexhaustible +drollery. + +"Well, try again, ef ye want to," said that poetical private, addressing +his stomach. "Be mean, and stick to it. Keep heaving, and be darned!" + +Stomach took him at his word, and for a few minutes he leaned heavily by +Frank's side. + +"There!" he said to it, triumphantly, "ye couldn't do any thing, and I +told ye so. Now I hope ye'll keep quiet a minute. Ye won't? Going at it +again? Very well; do as you please; it's none o' my business--by +gosh!"--lifting up his head with a bitter grin; "that inside of me is +like Milton's chaos, in Paradise Lost. 'Up from the bottom turned by +raging wind and furious assault!'--Here it goes again!" + +Frank had been scarcely less amused by the misery of Jack Winch, who +declared repeatedly that he should die, that he wished he was dead, and +so forth, with groanings unutterable. + +But Frank kept up his courage, and after eating a piece of hard bread for +breakfast, began to feel better. + +Towards noon the fog blew off, and the beach was visible on the +right,--long, low, desolate, a shore of interminable sand, over which the +breakers leaped and ran like hordes of wild horses with streaming tails +and manes. Not a sign of vegetation was to be seen on that barren coast, +nor any trace of human existence, save here a lonely house on the ridge, +and yonder a dismantled wreck careened high upon the beach, or the ribs +of some half-buried hulk protruding from the sand. + +On the other side was an unbroken horizon of water. Numerous vessels of +the fleet were still in sight And now a little steamer came dashing gayly +along, hailed with cheers. It was the Picket, General Burnside's +flag-ship. + +In the afternoon, more fog. But at sunset it was clear. The wind was +light, blowing from the south. But now the ocean rolled in long, enormous +swells, showing that the vessels were approaching Cape Hatteras; for, +whatever may be the aspect of the sea elsewhere, here its billows are +never at rest. + +So the sun went down, and the night came on, with its cold moon and +stars, and Hatteras lighthouse shot its arrowy ray far out across the +dark water. + +The breeze freshened and increased to a gale; and the violence of the +waves increased with it, until the schooner creaked and groaned in every +part, and it seemed as if she must break in pieces. Sometimes the billows +burst upon the deck with a thunder-crash, and, sweeping over it, poured +in cataracts from her sides. Now a heavy cross-sea struck her beams with +the jarring force of an avalanche of rocks, flinging more than one +unlucky fellow clear from his berth. And now her bows went under, sunk by +a weight of rolling water, from which it seemed for an instant impossible +that she could ever emerge. But rise she did, each time, slowly, +laboring, quivering, and groaning, like a living thing in mortal agony. +Once, as she plunged, the great cable that united her fortunes with those +of the steamer, unable to bear the tremendous strain, snapped like a wet +string; and immediately she fell off helplessly before the gale. + +The troops had a terrible night of it. Many were deathly sick. Two or +three broke their watches, besides getting badly bruised, by pitching +from their bunks. Frank would not have dared to go to sleep, even if he +could. Once, when the ship gave a lurch, and stopped suddenly, striking +the shoulder of a wave, he heard somebody tumble. + +"Who's that?" he asked. + +And the nasal sing-song of the poetical Tucket answered, "'Awaking with a +start, the waters heave around me, and on high the winds lift up their +voices; I depart, whither I know not; but the hour's gone by when +Boston's lessening shores can grieve or glad mine eye.'" + +And Tucket crept back into his bunk. + +"We're all going to the bottom, I'm sure," whined John Winch, from the +top berth, over Frank. "I believe we're sinking now." + +"Well," said Frank, "the water will reach me first, and you'll be one of +the last to go under; you've that for a satisfaction." + +"I believe that's what he chose the top berth for," said Harris. + +"How can you be joking, such a time as this?" said John. "Here's Atwater, +fast asleep! Are you, Atwater?" + +"No," said the soldier, who lay sick, with his thoughts far away. + +"Ellis is; ain't you, Ellis?" And Jack reached to shake his comrade. "How +can you be asleep, Ned, when we're all going to the bottom?" + +"Let me alone!" growled Ned. + +"We are going to the bottom," said Jack,--the ship just then rolling in +the trough of the sea. + +"I can't help it if we are," replied Ellis, sick and stupefied; "and I +don't care much. Let me go to the bottom in peace." + +"O Lord! O Lord! O Lord!" moaned Jack, in despair, feeling more like +praying than ever before in his life. + +Tucket had a line of poetry to suit his case:-- + +"'And then some prayed--the first time in some years;'" he said, quoting +Byron. And he proceeded with a description of a shipwreck, which was not +very edifying to the unhappy Winch: "'Then rose from sea to sky the wild +farewell,'" etc. + +"I never would have enlisted if I was such a coward as Jack," said +Harris, contemptuously. + +"I ain't a coward," retorted Jack. "I enlisted to fight, not to go to sea +and be drowned." + +"Drownded--ded--ded--dead!" said Tucket. + +"O, yes," said Harris, "you are mighty fierce for getting ashore and +fighting. But when you were on land you were just as glad to get to sea. +Now I hope you'll get enough of it. I wouldn't mind a shipwreck myself, +just to hear you scream." + +Then Tucket: "'At first one universal shriek there rushed, louder than +the loud ocean,--like a crash of echoing thunder; and then all was +hushed, save the wild wind, and the remorseless dash of billows; but at +intervals there gushed, accompanied with a convulsive splash, a solitary +shriek--the babbling cry of private Winch, in his last agony!'" + +After this, conversation ceased for a time, and there was no noise but of +the storm, and the groanings of the ship and of the sick. + +Frank could not sleep, but, clinging to his berth, and listening to the +shock of billows, thought of the other vessels of that brave fleet, +scattered and tossed, and wondered at the awful power of the sea. + +Then he remembered the story Corporal Gray had that day told them of the +great Spanish Armada, which sailed in the days of Queen Elizabeth to +invade England, and was blown to its destruction by the storms of the +Almighty; and he questioned within himself whether this proud expedition +was destined for a similar fate. Already he seemed to hear the +lamentations of those at home, and the frantic rejoicings of the rebels. + +The next morning the wind lulled; but the sea still ran high. The sun +rose upon a scene of awful grandeur. The schooner was sailing under the +few rags of canvas which had withstood the gale. The steamer was nowhere +in sight; but other vessels of the shattered fleet could be seen, some +near, and some half below the horizon, far out at sea. The waves, +white-capped, green-streaked, ceaselessly shifting, with dark blue +hollows and high-curved crests all bursting into foam, came chasing each +other, and passed on like sliding liquid hills, spurning the schooner +from their slippery backs. + +"'Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean! roll! ten thousand fleets sweep +over thee in vain!'" observed Tucket, coming on deck with Frank, and +gazing around at the few tossed remnants of the storm-scattered +expedition. + +Wild and terribly beautiful the scene was; and Frank, who had often +wished to behold the ocean in its fury, was now sufficiently recovered +from his sickness to enjoy the opportunity. Nor was the wondering delight +with which he saw the sun rise out of the deep, and shine across the +tumbling yeasty waves, at all diminished by the drolleries of his friend +Seth, who kept at his side, saying the queerest things, and ever and anon +shouting poetry to the running seas. + +"'Though the strained mast should quiver as a reed, and the rent canvas +fluttering strew the gale, still must I on; for I am as a weed flung from +the rocks on Ocean's foam to sail, where'er secession breeds, or +treason's works prevail,'"--added Seth, altering the verse to suit the +occasion. + +The fleet had indeed been rudely handled in that rough night off the +cape. But now sail after sail hove in sight, all making their way as best +they could towards the inlet. This some reached, and got safely in before +night. Others, attempting to enter, got aground, and were with difficulty +got off again. Some anchored outside, and some lay off and on, waiting +for morning, to be piloted past the shoals, and through the narrow +channel, to a safe anchorage inside. + + + + + XV. + + HATTERAS INLET. + + +But what a morning dawned! Another storm, more terrible than the first, +had been raging all night, and its violence was still increasing. And now +it came on to rain; and rain and wind and sea appeared to vie with each +other in wreaking their fury on the ill-starred expedition. + +Tuesday night the storm abated, and Wednesday brought fair weather. The +fleet in the mean time had suffered perils and hardships which can never +be told. Many of the transports were still missing. Many were at anchor +outside the inlet, waiting for pilots to bring them in. Some had been +lost. The "City of New York," a large steam propeller, freighted with +stores and munitions of war, had struck on the bar, and foundered in the +breakers. The crew, after clinging for twenty-four hours in the rigging +to avoid being washed off by the sea, which made a clean breach over her, +had been saved, but vessel and cargo were a total loss. Frank had watched +the wreck, which seemed at one moment to emerge from the waves, and the +next was half hidden by the incoming billows, and enveloped in a white +shroud of foam. + +The schooner had escaped the dangers of the sea, and was safe at last +inside the inlet; as safe, at least, as any of the fleet, in so +precarious an anchorage. + +There was still another formidable bar to pass before the open waters of +Pamlico Sound could be entered. The transports that had got in were lying +in a basin, full of shoals, with but little room to swing with the tide, +and they were continually running into each other, or getting aground. +Nor was it encouraging to see bales of hay from one of the wrecks lodge +at low water upon the very sand-bar which the fleet had still to cross. + +Frank and his comrades took advantage of the fair weather to make +observation of the two forts, Hatteras and Clark, which command the +situation. These were constructed by the rebels, but had been captured +from them by General Butler and Commodore Stringham, in August, 1861, and +were now garrisoned by national troops. They stand on the south-western +limb of one of the low, barren islands which separate this part of +Pamlico Sound from the Atlantic. Between two narrow sand-spits the tides +rush in and out with great force and rapidity; and this is the inlet--a +mere passage cut through into the sound by the action of the sea. + +As the schooner was being towed farther in, some men in a boat, who had +been ashore at Fort Hatteras, and were returning to their ship, came +alongside. The party consisted of some officers belonging to a New Jersey +regiment, together with a boat's crew of six men. + +"Throw us a line," they said; "and tow us along." + +A line was flung to them from the schooner; but they had some difficulty +in getting it, for the waves were running high in the channel. Pending +the effort, the tiller slipped from the hands of the officer who was +steering; a heavy sea struck the boat on the quarter, and she capsized. +Boats were lowered from the schooner, and sent to the rescue. It was a +scene of intense and anxious interest to Frank, who was on deck and saw +it all. The men in the water righted the boat several times, but she +filled and capsized as often. One officer was seen to get his feet +entangled, sink with his head downward, and drown in that position before +he could be extricated. He was the colonel of the regiment. The surgeon +of the regiment also perished. All the rest were saved. + +The drowned bodies were brought upon deck, and every effort was made to +bring back life into them; but in vain. And there they lay; so full of +hope, and courage, and throbbing human life an hour ago--now two pale, +livid corpses. The incident made a strong impression on Frank, not yet +accustomed to the aspect of death, which was destined to become so +familiar to his eyes a few days later. + +Still the dangers and delays that threatened to prove fatal to the +expedition were far from ended. It seemed that the rebels were the +enemies it had least to fear. Avarice, incapacity, and treachery at home +had conspired with the elements against it. Many of the larger vessels +drew too much water for the passage into the sound, and were wholly unfit +for the voyage. + +"The contractors," said Burnside, "have ruined me; but God holds me in +his palm, and all will yet be well." + +With nothing to distinguish him but his yellow belt, in blue shirt, +slouched hat, and high boots, he stood like a sea-god (says an +eye-witness) in the bows of his light boat, speaking every vessel, and +inquiring affectionately about the welfare of the men. + +Storm succeeded storm, while the fleet was yet at the inlet; many days +elapsing before the principal vessels could be got over the "bulkhead," +as the bar is called, which still intervened between them and the sound. +To add to the sufferings of the troops, the supply of fresh water gave +out. Much of that with which the transports had been provided by +dishonest or imbecile contractors, had been put up in old oil casks, +which imparted to it a taste and odor far from agreeable. But even of +such wretched stuff as this, there was at length none to be had. + +"We had ham for dinner yesterday," wrote Frank; "but as we had nothing to +drink after it, we thought we should die of thirst. I never suffered so +in my life; and O, what would I have given for a good drink out of our +well at home! We were as glad as so many ducks, this morning, to see it +rain. O, it did pour beautifully! I never knew what a blessing rain was +before. I went on deck, and got wet through, catching water where it +dripped from the rigging. But I didn't care for the soaking--I had filled +my canteen; and I tell you, that nasty rain-water was a luxury." + +The noble-hearted general was grieved to the soul by the sufferings of +his men. Neither day nor night did he seem to desist for a moment from +his efforts to atone, by his own vigilance and activity, for the culpable +inefficiency and negligence of others. He hastened to Fort Clark, where +there was a condenser for converting salt water into fresh, and attended +personally to putting it into operation. By this means a miserably meager +supply was obtained,--enough, however, together with the rain that was +caught, to keep the demon of thirst at bay until the water vessels could +arrive. + +Ten days elapsed after the schooner entered the inlet before she was got +over the bulkhead into the open sound. And still ten days more were +destined to slip by before any general movement against the enemy was +attempted by the fleet. In the mean while the troops confined on +shipboard resorted to a thousand devices for passing away the time. There +was dancing, there was card-playing, there was singing; and many new +games were invented for the occasion. Frank learned the manual of arms. + +Something else he learned, not so much to his credit. Before saying what +that was, I wish to remind the reader of the peculiar circumstances in +which he was placed--the tedious hours; the hardships, which he was glad +to forget at any cost; the example of companions, all older, and many so +much older than himself; and, not least by any means, his own ardent and +susceptible nature. + +One day he joined his comrades in a game of bluff. Now, bluff is a game +there is no fun in unless some stake is played for. The boys had been +ashore, and gathered some pebbles and shells from the beach, and these +were used for the purpose. Frank had great success. He won more shells +than any body. In the excitement, he forgot his thirst, and all the +accompanying troubles. He forgot, too, that this was a kind of gambling. +And he was so elated, that when somebody proposed to play for pennies, he +did not think that it would be much worse to do that than to play for +shells and pebbles. + +Unfortunately, he was still successful. He won twenty cents in about an +hour. He did not intend to keep them, for he did not think that would be +right. "I'll play," said he, "and let the boys win them back again." But, +at the next sitting, he won still more pennies; so that he thought he +could well afford to play a bolder game. His success was all the more +gratifying when he considered that he was the youngest of the party, and +that by skill and good fortune he was beating his elders. + +One day, after he had won more than a dollar,--which seems a good deal of +money to a boy in his condition,--he began to lose. This was not so +amusing. He had made up his mind that when his winnings were gone, he +would stop playing; and the idea of stopping was not pleasant to +contemplate. How could he give up a sport which surpassed everything else +in the way of excitement? However, he determined to keep his resolution. +And it was soon brought to a test. + +The luck had turned, and Frank found himself where he began. If he played +any more, he must risk his own money. He didn't mind losing a few +pennies,--that was nothing serious; but the boys were not playing for +simple pennies now. + +"I believe I've played enough, boys," said he, passing his hand across +his heated brow, and casting his eyes around at objects which looked +strange to them after their long and intense application to the cards. + +"O, of course!" sneered Jack Winch, who was watching the game, "Frank'll +stop as soon as he is beginning to lose a little." + +Jack was not playing, for a very good reason. He had spent nearly all his +money, and lost the rest. He had lost some of it to Frank, and was +consequently very desirous of seeing the latter brought to the same +condition as himself. + +The sneering remark stung Frank. He would gladly have pleaded Jack's +excuse for not playing any more; but he had still in his pocket over two +dollars of the money he had reserved for himself when the troops were +paid off. And it did seem rather mean in him, now he thought of it, to +throw up the game the moment others were serving him as he had been only +too willing to serve them. + +"I'm not afraid of losing my money," said he, blushing; "but I've had +enough play for one day." + +"You didn't get sick of it so easy when the luck was on your side," said +Harris, who had lost money to Frank, and now wanted his revenge. + +"For instance, yesterday, when the Parrott was talking to the boy," said +Seth. + +The Parrott he spoke of was one of the twelve-pound Parrott guns the +schooner carried; and the boy was the _buoy_, or target, in the water, +at which the gunners had practised firing round shot. Frank remembered +how all wanted to put aside the cards and watch the sport except +himself. At another time he would have taken great interest in it, and +have been on hand to cheer as enthusiastically as any body when the +well-aimed shots struck the water; but his mind was completely absorbed +in winning money. There was no such noble diversion on deck to-day; and +it was only too easy to set? his real reason for getting so soon tired +of bluff. + +"That's right, Frank; stop! Now's a good time," said Atwater, who watched +the game a good deal, but never took a hand in it. + +"Well, I shan't urge him, ef he's in 'arnest," said Seth; "though he has +kep' me at it a darned sight longer 'n I wanted to, sometimes, when 'twas +my tin 'stid of his'n that was goin' by the board. Stop where ye be, my +bold drummer boy; keep yer money, ef ye've got any left; that is the best +way, after all. 'I know the right, and I approve it, too; I know the +wrong, and yet the wrong pursue,'" added Tucket, dealing the cards. + +No doubt he meant to give Frank good advice. But to the sensitive and +proud spirit of the boy, it sounded like withering sarcasm. He couldn't +stand that. + +"I'll play fifteen minutes longer," said he, looking at his watch, "if +that'll please you." + +"A quarter of an hour!" said Harris, contemptuously. "We'd better all +stop now, and come at it fresh again, by and by." + +The proposition was acceded to; for what could Frank say against it? He +had not the courage to say, "Boys, I feel that I have been doing wrong, +and I mean to stop at once;" but he thought it more manly to play once +more, if only to show that he was not afraid of losing. "And perhaps," he +thought, remembering his former luck, "I shall win." + + + + + XVI. + + HOW FRANK LOST HIS WATCH. + + +Play again he did accordingly; and, sure enough, he won. He brought +Tucket to his last dime. The poetical and philosophic spirit in which +that good-humored young man contemplated his losses, was worthy of a +better cause. + +"'Fare thee well, and, if forever, still forever fare thee well,'" he +remarked, staking the said dime. And when it was lost,--for Frank "raked +the pile,"--he added, pathetically, going from Byron to Burns, "'Fare +thee weel, thou brightest, fairest; fare thee weel, thou last and +dearest! Had we never loved sae kindly, had we never loved sae blindly, +never met, or never parted, I had ne'er been broken-hearted.' Boys, I'm +dead broke, and must quit off, without some of you that are flush will +lend me a quarter." + +"Ask Frank," said Ellis; "he's the flushest." + +So Frank lent Seth a quarter, and with that quarter Seth won back all his +money, and, in the course of two more sittings, cleaned Frank out, as the +phrase is. + +Then, one would say, Frank had a valid excuse to retire, if not before. +He had risked his money, and lost it. Certainly nothing more could be +expected of him. Seth grinned, and Jack Winch rubbed his hands with +delight. + +But now _Frank_ was not content. His heart was gnawed by chagrin. He +had not really wished to stop playing at all; for the sense of vacancy +and craving which always, in such natures, succeeds the cessation of +unhealthy excitement, is misery enough in itself. But to have left off +with as much money in his pocket as he began with, would have been +felicity, compared with the bitter consciousness of folly, the stinging +vexation and regret, which came with his misfortunes. + +"I'll lend ye, if ye like," said the good-natured Seth--perhaps in return +for the similar favor he had received; or rather because he pitied the +boy, and meant to let him win back his money; for, with all his mischief +and drollery, this Tucket was one of the most generous and kind-hearted +of Frank's friends. + +The offer was gladly accepted; and Frank, praying Fortune to favor him, +made a promise in his heart, that, if she would aid him to recover his +losses, he would then bid farewell forever to the enticing game. + +But the capricious goddess does not answer prayers. On the contrary, she +delights to side with those who need her least, spurning away the +supplicants at her feet. + +Frank borrowed a quarter, and lost it immediately. He borrowed again, +determined to play more carefully. He waited until he had an excellent +hand, then staked his money. + +Tucket and Ellis did not play; and the game was between Frank and Harris. +Both were confident, and they kept doubling their stakes, Frank borrowing +again and again of Seth for the purpose. He held four kings, the +strongest hand but one in the game. He knew Harris's style of playing too +well to be much daunted by his audacity, not believing that he held that +one stronger hand than his. + +"I'll lend ye as long as ye call for more," said Seth; "only, seeing +you've borrowed already more'n I've won of ye, s'posin' ye give me some +security?" + +"I've nothing to give," said Frank. + +"There's your watch," suggested Winch, who had had a glimpse of Joe's +cards. And at the same time he winked significantly, giving Frank to +understand that his antagonist had not a hand of very great strength. + +Thus encouraged, sure of victory, and too much beside himself to consider +the sacred nature of the object he was placing in pawn, Frank handed over +his watch to Seth, and received from him loan after loan, until he was +eight dollars in his debt. Seth did not like to advance any more than +that on the watch. So the critical moment arrived. Frank, with flushed +face and trembling hands, placed his all upon the board. Then Harris, +showing his cards, with a smile, swept the pile towards his cap. + +"Let me see!" cried Frank, incredulous, staying his arm until he could be +sure of the cards. + +His flushed face turned white; his hand fell upon the bench as if +suddenly palsied. + +"Two pairs of aces! that's what I call luck, Joe," said Winch, scarce +able to restrain his joyous chuckling. + +Frank looked up at him with wild distress and kindling fury in his face. + +"It was you, Jack Winch! You made me----" + +"Made you what?" said John, insolently. + +What, indeed? He had by looks, which spoke as plainly as words, assured +Frank that Harris held but an indifferent hand; whereas he held the best +the pack afforded. By that falsehood,--for, with looks and actions at +your command, it is not necessary to open your mouth in order to tell the +most downright, absolute lie,--he had induced Frank to play on boldly to +his own ruin. + +But was he alone to blame? Even if he had told the truth about Joe's +hand, ought Frank to have been influenced by it? He had no right to that +knowledge, and to take advantage of it was dishonest. + +No doubt Frank himself thought so, now he reflected upon it. To accuse +Jack was to confess his own disingenuousness. He was by nature as fair +and open as the day; he despised a base deception; and it was only as an +inevitable consequence of such wrong doings as lead directly to +faithlessness and duplicity, that he could ever become guilty of these +immoralities. + +Such is the vice of gambling--a process by which men hope to obtain their +neighbors' goods without yielding an equivalent for them; and which, +therefore, inflames covetousness, and accustoms the mind to the +contemplation of unjust gains, until it is ready to resort to any unjust +means of securing them. Do you say there are honest gamblers? The term is +a contradiction. You might, with equal consistency, talk of truthful +liars. To get your money, or any thing else, without rendering an +equitable return, is the core of all dishonesty, whether in the gamester, +the pickpocket, the man who cheats in trade, or the boy who robs +orchards. And a conscience once debauched by dishonest aims, will not, as +I said, long scruple at unfair means. + +Singularly enough, Frank was more abashed by the betrayal of the unfair +means he had attempted to use, than he had yet been by any consciousness +of the immorality of the practice which led to them. He could not say to +Winch, "You told me I was sure of winning, and so deceived me." He only +looked at him a moment, with wild distress and exasperation on his face, +which quickly changed to an expression of morose and bitter despair; and +dropping his head, and putting up his hands, he burst into irrepressible +sobs. + +"My watch! my watch that was given to me--" and which he had so +ignominiously gambled away. No wonder he wept. No wonder he shook from +head to foot with the passion of grief, as the conviction of his own +folly and infatuation burned like intolerable fire in his soul. + +"Dry up, baby!" said Jack, through his teeth. "There comes the captain." + +Baby? Poor Frank! It was because he was not altogether given over to +recklessness and vice that he cried at the thought of his lost watch, and +of his gross ingratitude to the unknown giver. Still he felt that it was +weak in him to cry. He who risks his property in order to get possession +of another's should be philosopher enough to take with equanimity the +loss of his own. + +"Don't be childish, Frank; don't be silly!" said his friends. + +And, indeed, he had the strongest reason for suppressing his sobs. +Captain Edney was approaching. He was the last person to whom he would +have wished to betray his guilt and misfortune. He loved and respected +him; and we fear most the disapprobation of those we love and respect. +Moreover, through him the heart-breaking intelligence of her son's evil +courses might reach Mrs. Manly. But no doubt Frank's chief motive for +concealing the cause of his grief from Captain Edney was the suspicion he +still entertained, notwithstanding that officer's professed ignorance of +the entire matter, that he was in reality the secret donor of the watch. +So he choked back his sobs, and pretended to be assorting some pebbles, +which the boys used as counters, especially when certain officers were +passing, who would have reproved them if they had seen money on the +board. And Captain Edney, whether he suspected any thing wrong, or not, +walked on; and that restraint upon Frank's feelings was removed. + +But having once controlled the outburst, he did not suffer them to get +the better of him again. With a look of silent and sullen despair, he got +up, and went to his bunk, and threw himself upon it, and, turning his +face to the wall, refused to be comforted. + +It was the wooden wall of the ship's timbers--the same he had looked at +in sickness, in storms at sea, by day, and at night by the dim light of +the swinging ship's lanterns; and when he lay calmly at rest, in the palm +of God, amid the convulsions and dangers of the deep, and when, in the +tediousness of long, dull days of waiting, he had lain there, and solaced +himself with sweet thoughts of home. + +But never had the ribbed ship's side appeared to him as now. And yet it +was the same; but he was not the same. He was no longer the bright, +hopeful, happy boy as before, but miserable, guilty, broken-hearted. And +as we are, so is the world to us; the most familiar objects changing +their aspect with every change in the soul. Does the sunshine, which was +bright yesterday, look cold to-day? and is the sweet singing of birds +suddenly become as a mockery to the ear? and the faces of friends, late +so pleasant to see, have they grown strange and reproachful? and is life, +before so full of hope, turned sour, and vapid, and bitter? O, my friend, +I pity you; but the change, which you probably think is in the world, is +only in yourself. + +"The parson seems to have fallen from grace," said John Winch, +sarcastically. + +"Hold your tongue!" said Atwater, sternly. "You are all more to blame +than he is. Of course, a boy of his age will do what he sees older ones +do. It's a shame to get his money and watch away from him so." + +And the honest fellow went and sat by Frank, and tried to console him. + +"Go away! go away!" said Frank, in his anguish. "Don't trouble yourself +about such a miserable fool as I am. I deserve it all. Let me be!" + +Atwater, who was sadly deficient in what is called the gift of gab, had +no soothing words at his command, full as his heart was of compassion. +And after sitting some time by the unhappy boy, patting him softly on the +shoulder, he arose, and went away; concluding that his absence would be a +relief to one so utterly miserable. + +Then Seth Tucket came, and took his place. + +"That's always the way with bad luck, I swan," he said, sympathizingly. +"Misfortunes always come in heaps. It never rains but it pours." + +"I wish you'd let me alone!" said the boy, peevishly. + +"That's fair, I swan!" said Seth. "But le' me tell ye. Ef I hed won the +watch, I'd give it back to ye in a minute. But Harris is the winner, and +I've only the watch now to show for my money. But here's a half dollar to +begin again with. You know what luck is at cards,--how it shifts, now +this way, now that, like a cow's tail in fly-time,--and I hain't the +least doubt but with that half dollar you'll win back all your money, and +your watch too." + +The offer was kindly meant; and it encouraged a little spark of comfort +in Frank's heart. To win back his losses--that was his only hope. He took +the money, silently pressing Seth's hand. After that he struggled to +forget his grief in thoughts of his former good fortune, which he +believed would now return to him. + + + + + XVII. + + IN WHICH FRANK SEES STRANGE THINGS. + + +In this frame of mind, Frank went on deck. He saw the old drum-major +coming towards him. Being in any thing but a social mood, he tried to +avoid him; and turning his back, walked away. But the veteran followed, +and came to his side. + +"Well, my young man," said the old cynic, exhibiting a little agitation, +and speaking in a hurried tone, unusual with him, "I hear brave tidings +of you." + +His voice sounded harsh and sarcastic to the irritated boy; and, indeed, +there was resentment enough in the veteran's breast, as well as a bitter +sense of injury and disappointment, as he spoke. + +Frank, nursing his sore heart, the wounds of which he could not bear to +have touched by the most friendly hand, compressed his lips together, and +made no reply. + +"So you have been really gambling--have you?" added the old man, in tones +of suppressed emotion. + +"That's my business," said Frank, curtly. + +He regretted the undutiful words the instant they escaped his lips. But +he was too proud to ask pardon for them. As for the old man, he stood +silent for a long time, looking down at the boy, who looked not up again +at him. And there was a tremor in his lip, and a dilatation in his eye, +which at length grew misty with a tear that gathered, but did not fall. +And with a sigh, he turned away. + +"Well, be it so!" Frank heard him say, as if to himself. "I thought--I +hoped--but no matter." + +He thought--he hoped--what? That his early faith in love and friendship, +which had so long been dead, might be raised to life again by this boy, +for whom he had conceived so singular a liking, and who, like all the +rest, proved ungrateful and unworthy when the hour of trial came. + +Alas! such is the result of our transgressions. Once having offended our +own souls, we are quick to offend others. And vice makes us irritable, +ungenerous, unjust. And not a crime can be committed, but its evil +consequences follow, not the author of it only, but also the innocent, +upon whom its blighting shadow falls. + +"Frank, if you want some fun!" said an eager whisper, with a promise of +mischief in it; a hand at the same time twitching the boy's coat. + +It was Ned Ellis, who had come for him, and was hastening away again. +Frank followed--all too ready for any enterprise that would bring the +balm of forgetfulness to his hurt mind. + +The boys entered the hold of the vessel, where, in the hush and +obscurity, a group of their companions; stood or sat, among the barrels +and boxes, still as statues, until they recognized the new comers. + +"All right! nobody but us," whispered Ned, clambering over the freight, +accompanied by Frank. + +"Come along, and make no noise, if you value your hides," said Harris. +"Here, Frank, is something to console ye for your bad luck." And he held +out something in a tin cup. + +"What is it?" said Frank; "water?" + +"Something almost as good," said Harris. "It was water the boys came down +here in search of; and they've tapped five barrels of sirup in the +operation, and finally they've stuck the gimlet into a cask of--taste +on't." + +Frank knew what it was by the smell. It was not the first time he had +smelt whiskey; or tasted it, either. But hitherto he had stopped at the +taste, having nothing but his curiosity to gratify. Now, however, he bad +something else to gratify--a burning thirst of the body, aggravated by +his feverish excitement, and a burning thirst of the soul, which demanded +stimulus of any kind whatsoever that would allay the inward torment. + +And so he drank. He did not love the liquor, although the rank taste of +it was ameliorated by a liberal admixture of sirup. But he felt the +internal sinking and wretchedness of heart and stomach braced up and +assuaged by the first draught; so he took another. And for the same +reason he indulged in a third. And so it happened that his head began +shortly to swim, his eyes to see double, and things to look queer to them +generally. The dim hold of the vessel might have been the pit of +darkness, and the obscure grinning faces of his comrades might have been +those of imps therein abiding, for aught he knew to the contrary, or +cared. He began to laugh. + +"What's the matter, Frank?" + +"Nothing," he said, thickly; "only it's so droll." And he sat down on a +cask, laughing again with uncontrollable merriment--at nothing; an +infallible symptom that a person is either tipsy or a fool. But Frank was +not a fool. _Ergo:_ he was tipsy. + +"Get him up as quick as we can, boys," he heard some one saying, "or else +we can't get him up at all." + +"Better leave him here till he gets over it," said another. "That'll be +the best way." + +"Who'd have thought a little dodger like that would upset him?" said +somebody else. "By George we'll all get found out, through him." + +"Whads mare?" said Frank, meaning to ask, "What is the matter?" but +somehow he could not make his organs of articulation go off right. "'Zis +wachecall drung?" (Is this what you call drunk?) + +"Can ye walk?"--He recognized the voice of his friend Tucket.--"It's too +bad to leave him here, boys. We must get him to his berth 'fore he's any +worse." + +"Zhue, Sef?" (Is it you, Seth?) Frank, with the help of his friend, got +upon his feet. "No, I don' breeve I'm drung; I be bernaliddlewile;" +meaning to say he did not believe he was intoxicated, and to express his +conviction that he would be better in a little while. + +Seth repeated his first inquiry. + +"Izzindee! I kung wong!" (Yes, indeed, I can walk.) And Frank, as if to +demonstrate the absurdity of the pretence, went stumbling loosely over +the freight, saved from falling only by the assistance of his friend. + +"Here's the ladder," said Tucket; "now be careful." + +"'M I goung upthlarer, or am I goung downth larer?" (Was he going up the +ladder or was he going down the ladder?) + +Tucket proceeded to show him that the ladder was to be ascended; and, +directing him how to hold on, and how to place his feet, boosted him +gently, while a comrade above drew him also gently, until he was got +safely out. + +"I did that perrywell!" said Frank. "Now lemme hell Sef!" (Now let me +help Seth.) "You're a bully fellel, Sef. I'll hellup ye!" + +"Thank ye, boy," said Tucket; indulging him in the ludicrous notion that +_he_ was helping _his friends_. "Much obliged." + +"Nod tall!" (Not at all,) said Frank. "Bully fellels like youme +mushellpitchuthth." (Must help each other.) "You unstan me, Sef?" + +"Yes, I understand you. But keep quiet now, and come along with me." + +So saying, the athletic soldier threw his arm affectionately around +Frank, hurried him away to his bunk, and tumbled him into it without much +ceremony. + +Not unobserved, however. Captain Edney, who had had an anxious eye on +Frank of late, saw him retire to his quarters in this rather suspicious +manner. + +"What's the matter with him?" he inquired of Seth. + +"Nothing very serious, I believe, sir," replied Tucket, with the most +perfect seriousness. "A little seasick, or sunthin of the kind. He'll git +over it in a jiffy." + +The waves were not running sufficiently high in the sound, however, to +render the theory of seasickness very plausible; and, to satisfy his +mind, Captain Edney approached Frank's bunk, putting to him the same +question. + +Frank replied in scarcely intelligible language, with a swimming gaze, +tending to the cross-eyed, at the captain, "that there was nothing in +partiggler the mare with him, but he was very busy. + +"Busy?" said Captain Edney, severely; "what do you mean?" + +"Not busy; but _busy, busy_!" repeated Frank. + +"You mean dizzy?" + +"Yes, thad's it! bizzy." He had somehow got _boozy_ and _dizzy_ mixed +up. + +"What makes you dizzy?" + +"Boys gimme some drink, I donowat." + +"The boys gave you some drink? You don't know what?--Tucket," said +Captain Edney, "what's all this? Who has been getting that boy drunk?" + +Seth perceived that any attempt to disguise the truth would be futile, +except so far as it might be possible by ingenious subtleties to shield +his companions. The alarm, be believed, must have reached them by this +time, and have scattered the group at the whiskey barrel; so he answered +boldly,-- + +"The fact, sir, is jest this. We've been about half crazy for water, as +you know, for the past week or two; and men'll do almost any thing for +relief, under such circumstances. It got rumored around, somehow, that +there was plenty of water in the vessel, and the boys went to hunting +for't, and stumbled on the quartermaster's stores, and tapped a few +casks, I believe, mostly sirup, but one turned out to be whiskey. Dry as +we be, it's no more'n nat'ral 't we should drink a drop, under the +circumstances." + +"Who tapped the casks?" + +"That's more'n I know. I didn't see it done," said Seth. + +"Who drank?" + +"I drinked a little, for one; jest enough to know 't wan't water. + +"And how many of you are drunk?" demanded Captain Edney. + +"I a'n't, for one. But I believe Manly is a little how-come ye-so. I'll +say this for him, though: he had nothing to do with tapping the casks, +and he didn't seem to know what it was the boys gin him. He was dry; it +tasted sweet, and he drinked, nat'rally." + +"Who gave him the whiskey?" + +"I didn't notice, particularly," said Seth. + +His accomplices were summoned, the quartermaster was notified, and the +affair was still further investigated. All confessed to having tasted the +liquor, but nobody knew who tapped the casks, or who had given the +whiskey to Frank, and all had the same plausible excuse for their +offence--intolerable thirst. It was impossible, where all were leagued +together, and all seemed equally culpable, to single out the ringleaders +for punishment, and it was not desirable to punish all. After a while, +therefore, the men were dismissed with a reprimand, and the subject +postponed indefinitely. That very afternoon forty barrels of water came +on board, and the men had no longer a pretext for tapping casks in the +hold; and a few days later was the battle, in which they wiped out by +their bravery all memory of past transgressions. + +And Frank? The muss, as the boys called it, was over before his senses +recovered from their infinite bewilderment. He lay stupefied in his bunk, +which went whirling round and round with him, sinking down and down and +down, into void and bottomless chaos, where solid earth was none--type of +the drunkard's moral state, where virtue has lost its foot-hold, and +there is no firm ground of self-respect, and conscience is a loosened +ledge toppling treacherously, and there is no steady hope to stay his +horrible whirling and sinking. Stupefaction became sleep; with sleep +inebriation passed; and Frank awoke to misery. + +It was evening. The boys were playing cards again by the light of the +ship's lantern. The noise and the glimmer reached Frank in his berth, and +called him back to time and space and memory. He remembered his watch, +his insolent reply to his old friend Sinjin, the scene in the hold of the +vessel, the sweet-tasting stuff, and the dizziness, a strange ladder +somewhere which he had either climbed or dreamed of climbing; and he +thought of his mother and sisters with a pang like the sting of a +scorpion. He could bear any thing but that. + +He got up, determined not to let vain regrets torment him. He shut out +from his mind those pure images of home, the presence of which was +maddening to him. Having stepped so deep into guilt, he would not, he +could not, turn back. For Frank carried even into his vices that +steadiness of resolution which distinguishes such natures from those of +the Jack Winch stamp, wavering and fickle alike in good and ill. He +possessed that perseverance and purpose which go to form either the best +and noblest men, or, turned to evil, the most hardy and efficient +villains. Frank was no milksop. + +"O, I'm all right," said he, with a reckless laugh, in reply to his +comrades' bantering. "Give me a chance there--can't you?" + +For he was bent on winning back his watch. It seemed that nothing short +of the impossible could turn him aside from that intent. The players made +room for him, and he prepared his counters, and took up his cards. + +"What do you do, Frank?" was asked impatiently; all were waiting for him. + +What ailed the boy? He held his cards, but he was not looking at them. +His eyes were not on the board, nor on his companions, nor on any object +there. But he was staring with a pallid, intense expression--at +something. There were anguish, and alarm, and yearning affection in his +look. His hair was disordered, his countenance was white and amazed; his +comrades were astonished as they watched him. + +"What's the matter, Frank? what's the matter?" + +Their importunity brought him to himself. + +"Did you see?" he asked in a whisper. + +They had seen nothing that he had seen. Then it was all an illusion? a +fragment of his drunken dreams? But no drunken dream was ever like that. + +"Yes, I'll play," he said, trying to collect himself thinking that he +would forget the illusion, and remembering he had his watch to win back. + +But his heart failed him. His brain, his hand failed him also. +Absolutely, he could not play. + +"Boys, I'm not very well. Excuse me--I can't play to-night." + +And hesitatingly, like a person who has been stunned, he got up, and left +the place. Few felt inclined to jeer him. John Winch begun to say +something about "the parson going to pray," but it was frowned down. + +Frank went on deck. The evening was mild, the wind was south, the sky was +clear and starry; it was like a May night in New England. The schooner +was riding at anchor in the sound; other vessels of the fleet lay around +her, rocking gently on the tide--dim hulls, with glowing, fiery eyes; and +here there was a band playing, and from afar off came the sound of solemn +singing, wafted on the wind. And the water was all a weltering waste of +waves and molten stars. + +But little of all this Frank saw, or heard, or heeded. His soul was rapt +from him; he was lost in wonder and grief. + +"Can you tell me any thing?" said a voice at his side. + +"O, Atwater," said Frank, clutching his hand, "what does it mean? As I +was playing, I saw--I saw--every thing else disappeared; cards, counters, +the bench we were playing on, and there before me, as plainly as I ever +saw any thing in my life----" + +"What was it?" asked Atwater, as Frank paused, unable to proceed. + +"My sister Hattie." then said Frank, in a whisper of awe, "in her coffin! +in her shroud! But she did not seem dead at all. She was white as the +purest snow; and she smiled up at me--such a sweet, sad smile--O! O!" + +And Frank wrung his hands. + + + + + XVIII. + + BITTER THINGS. + + +Atwater could not have said much to comfort him, even if he had had the +opportunity. Some young fellows who had heard of Frank's losses at bluff, +and of his intoxication, saw him on deck, and came crowding around to +have some jokes with him. Atwater retired. And Frank, who had little +relish for jokes just then, went below, and got into his berth, where he +could be quiet, and think a little. + +But thinking alone there with his conscience was torture to him. He +turned on his bed and looked, and saw Atwater sitting in his bunk, with +a book in his hand, reading by the dim light. The card-playing was going +on close by, and jokes and oaths and laughter were heard on all sides; +but Atwater heeded no one, and no one heeded him. + +Only Frank: he regarded the still, earnest soldier a long time, silently +admiring his calmness and strength, so perfectly expressed in his mild, +firm, kindly, taciturn face, and wondering what book he had. + +"What are you reading, Atwater?" he at length asked. + +"My Bible," replied the soldier, giving him a grave, pleasant smile. + +Frank felt pained,--almost jealous. I can't tell how it is, but we don't +like too well the sight of our companions cheerfully performing those +duties which we neglect or hate. Cain slew Abel for that cause. + +"I didn't know you read that," said Frank. + +"I never have too much. But my wife----" The soldier's voice always sunk +with a peculiarly tender thrill whenever he spoke of his bride of an +hour, or rather of a minute, whom he had wedded and left in such haste. +"She slipped a Bible in my knapsack unbeknown to me. I had a letter from +her to-day, in which she asked me if I read it. So I must read it, and +say yes, if only to please her. But the truth is," said Atwater, with a +brightening eye, "I find good in it I never thought was there before." + +Frank had no word to answer him. Conscience-stricken, sick at heart, +miserable as he could be, he could only lie there in his berth, and look +at the brave soldier, and envy him. + +He remembered how, not long ago, when his mother's wishes were more to +him than they had been of late, he had desired to read his Testament for +her sake, but had not dared to do so openly, fearing the sneers of his +comrades. And his mother, in every letter, repeated her injunction, "My +son, read your Testament;"--which had become to him as the idle wind. For +never now, either by stealth or openly, did he read that book. + +Yet here was this plain, honest soldier,--many called him dull,--for whom +a word from one he loved was sufficient; he took the book as if that word +were law. And the looks, the jests, which Frank had feared, were nothing +to him. + +Ashamed, remorseful, angry with himself, the boy lay thinking what he +should do. A few bitter moments only. Then, opening his knapsack, he took +out his Testament, and sitting in his bunk so that the light would shine +on the page, opened it and read. His companions saw, and were surprised +enough. But nobody jeered. What was the reason, I wonder? + +And this was what Frank read. Written on a blank leaf, with a pencil, in +his own hand, were these words:-- + + _"I do now solemnly promise my mother and sisters that, when I am + in the army, I will never be guilty of swearing, or gambling, or + drinking, or any other mean thing I know they would not approve of. + And I do solemnly pledge my word that they shall sooner hear of my + death than of my being guilty of any of those things._ Frank Manly." + +And beneath those words were written these also, in his mother's hand:-- + + _"O heavenly Father! I beseech Thee, help my dear son to keep his + promises. Give him strength to resist temptation. Save him, I pray + Thee, from those who kill the body, but above all from those who kill + the soul. If it be Thy gracious will, let him pass safely through + whatever evils may beset him, and return to us uncontaminated and + unhurt. But if this may not be, then, O, our Saviour! take him, take + my precious child, I implore Thee, pure unto Thyself. And help us all + so to live, that we shall meet again in joy and peace, if not here, + hereafter. Amen._" + +Frank did not turn that page, but sat looking at it long. And he saw +something besides the words there written. He saw himself once more a boy +at home, the evening before his enlistment; pencil in hand, writing that +solemn promise; his mother watching near; the bright face of his sister +Helen yonder, shadowed by the thought of his going; the little invalid +Hattie on the lounge, her sad face smiling very much as he saw it smiling +out just now from the flowers in the coffin. + +He saw his mother also, pencil in hand, writing that prayer,--her +countenance full of anxious love and tears, her gentle lips tremulous +with blessings. He saw her come to his bed in the moonlight night, when +last he slept there with little Willie at his side, as maybe he will +never sleep again. And he heard her counsels and entreaties, as she knelt +there beside him; and felt her kisses; and lived over once more the +thoughts of that night after she was gone, and when he lay sleepless with +the moonlight on his bed. + +But here he was now--not away there in the room at home, but here, among +soldiers, on shipboard. And the pure, innocent Frank of that night lived +no more. And all those promises had been broken, one by one. And he knew +not what to do, he was so miserable. + +Yet--the sudden thought warmed and thrilled his breast--he might be pure +as then, he might be innocent as then, and all the stronger for having +known what temptation was, and fallen, and risen again. And he might keep +those promises in a higher and nobler sense than he dreamed of when he +made them; and his mother's prayer might, after all, be answered. + +"Frank," said the voice of Captain Edney. He had come to visit the +quarters of his company, and, seeing the boy sitting there so absorbed, +his young face charged with thought and grief, had stopped some moments +to regard him, without speaking. + +Frank started, almost like a guilty person, and gave the military salute +rather awkwardly as he got upon his feet. He had been secretly dreading +Captain Edney's displeasure, and now he thought he was to be called to an +account. + +"I have something for you in my room," said the officer, with a look of +serious reserve, unlike the cheerful, open, brotherly glance with which +he formerly regarded the drummer boy. + +Frank accompanied him, wondering what that something was. A reproof for +his drunkenness, or for gambling away the watch, he expected more than +any thing else; and his heart was heavy by the way. + +"Did you know a mail came on board to-day?" said the captain, as they +entered his stateroom. + +Frank remembered hearing Atwater say he had that day got a letter from +his wife. But his mind had been too much agitated by other things to +consider the subject then. + +"No, sir, I didn't know it." + +"How happens that? You are generally one of the most eager to receive +letters." + +Frank hung his head. What answer could he make? That he was intoxicated +in his berth when the mail arrived? A sweat of shame covered him. He was +silent. + +"Well, well, my boy!"--Captain Edney patted him gently on the +shoulder,--"you are forgiven this time. I am sure you did not mean to +get drunk." + +"O, sir!" began Frank, but stopped there, over whelmed by the captain's +kindness. + +"I know all about it," said Captain Edney. "Tucket assures me that he and +the rest were more to blame than you. But, for the sake of your friends, +Frank, take warning by this experience, and never be betrayed into any +thing of the kind again. I trust you. And here, my boy, are your +letters." + +He put half a dozen into Frank's hands. And Frank, as he took them, felt +his very heart melt within him with gratitude and contrition. He was not +thinking so much of the letters as of Captain Edney and his watch. + +"Forgive me; forgive me!" he humbly entreated. + +"I do, freely, as I told you," said the captain. + +"But--the watch you gave me!" + +"Dear boy!"--the captain put his arm kindly about him,--"haven't I always +told you I knew nothing about the watch? I did not give it to you, nor do +I know what generous friend did." + +"It is true, then?" Frank looked up with a half-glad, half-disappointed +expression. He was disappointed to know that so good a friend was not +the donor of the watch, and yet glad that he had not wronged _him_ by +gambling it away. "Then, Captain Edney, I wish you would tell me what to +do. I have done the worst and meanest thing. I have lost the watch." + +And he went on to relate how he had lost it. Captain Edney heard him with +deep concern. He had all along felt a sense of responsibility for the boy +Mrs. Manly had intrusted to him, as well as a genuine affection for him; +he had therefore double cause to be pained by this unexpected +development. + +"Frank," said he, "I am glad I did not first hear this story from any +body else; and I am glad that the proof of your thorough repentance +accompanies the confession. That breaks the pain of it. To-morrow I will +see what can be done about the watch. Perhaps we shall get it again. +To-night I have only one piece of advice to give. Don't think of winning +it back with cards." + +"Then how shall I ever get it?" asked Frank, in despair. For he did not +wish his mother to know of the circumstances; and to buy the watch back +when he was paid off again, would be to withhold money which he felt +belonged to her. + +Captain Edney could not solve the difficulty; and with that burden upon +his mind, Frank returned to his bunk with his letters. + +He bent over them with doubt and foreboding. The first he selected was +from his mother. As he opened it, his eye caught these words:-- + + "... He says that you beat some of the worst men in the regiment at + their own vices. He says you are generally smoking, except when you + take out your pipe to swear. According to his account, you are one of + the profanest of the profane. And he tells of your going with others + to steal turkeys of a secessionist in Maryland, and how you got out + of the scrape by the most downright lying. He gives the story so + circumstantially that I cannot think he invented it, but am compelled + to believe there is something in it. O, my child, is it possible? Ill + as your sister is, to hear these things of you is a greater trial + than the thought of parting with her so soon. Have you forgotten your + promises to me? Have you forgotten----" + +Frank could read no more. He gnashed his teeth together, and held them +tight, like a person struggling against some insupportable pain. His +sister so ill? That was Hattie. He saw the name written farther back. "He +says,"--"according to his account,"--who was it sending home such stories +about him? He glanced up the page, until his eye fell upon the name. + + "_John Winch_----" + +O, but this was too much! To be accused of swearing by _him_! To be +charged with stealing by one who went with him to steal, and did not, +only because he was a coward! Frank felt an impulse to fall instantly +upon that wretched youth, and choke the unmanly life out of him. John +was at that moment writing a letter under the lantern, probably filling +it with more tales about him;--and couldn't he tell some great ones +now!--grinning, too, as he wrote; quite unaware what a tiger was +watching him, athirst for his blood. + +Yes. Winch had got letters to-day, and, learning what a lively sensation +his stories of Frank created, had set to work to furnish the sequel to +them; giving interesting particulars up to latest dates. + +N. B. He was writing on the head of Frank's drum, which he had borrowed +for the purpose. He had written his previous letters on the same. It was +a good joke, he thought, to get the boy he was abusing to contribute some +needful assistance towards the work; it added a flavor to treachery. But +Frank did not so much enjoy the pleasantry. He was wild to be beating the +tattoo, not on the said drum, but on the head of the rogue who was +writing on the drum, and with his fist for drumsticks. + +But he reflected, "I shall only be getting deeper into trouble, if I +pitch into him. Besides, he is a good deal bigger than I,"--a powerful +argument in favor of forbearance. "I'll wait; but I'll be revenged on him +some way." + +Little did he know--and as little did Winch surmise--how that revenge was +to be accomplished. But it was to be, and soon. + +For the present, Frank had other things to think of. He read of Hattie's +fading away; of her love for him; and the tender messages she +sent,--perhaps the last she would ever send to him. And he remembered his +wonderful vision of her that evening. And tears came to cool and soften +his heart. + +And so we quit him for the night, leaving him alone with his letters, his +grief, and his remorse. + + + + + XIX. + + SETH GETS "RILED." + + +There is in the life of nearly every young person a turning-point of +destiny. It may be some choice which he makes for himself, or which +others make for him, whether of occupation, or companion, or rule of +life. It may be some deep thought which comes to him in solitary +hours,--some seed of wisdom dropped from the lips of teacher, parent, or +friend, sinking silently as starlight into the soul, and taking immortal +root there, unconsciously, perhaps, even to himself. Now it is the +quickening of the spirit at the sight of God's beautiful universe--a +rapture of love awakened by a morning in spring, by the blue infinity of +the sky, by the eternal loneliness and sublimity of the sea. Or, in some +moment of susceptibility, the smiles of dear home faces, the tender trill +of a voice, a surge of solemn music, may have power over the young heart +to change its entire future. And again, it is some vivid experience of +temptation and suffering that shapes the great hereafter. For the +Divinity that maketh and loveth us is forever showering hints of beauty +and blessedness to win back our wandering affections,--dropping cords of +gentlest influences to draw home again all hearts that will come. + +Then the spirit of the youth rises up within him, and says,-- + +"Whereas I was blind, now I am beginning to see. And whereas I was weak, +now, with God's help, I will strive for better things. Long enough have I +been the companion of folly, and all the days of my life have I been a +child. But now I perceive that I am to become a man, and I will +henceforth think the thoughts and do the deeds of a man." + +Such an experience had come to Frank; and thus, on the new morning, as he +beheld it rise out of the sea, his spirit spake unto him. + +He answered his mother's letter, confessing that his conduct had afforded +only too good a foundation for Jack's stories. + +"The trouble, I think, is," said he, "that I wrote my promises first +with _a pencil_. They did get a little _rubbed out_ I own. I have since +taken _a pen_, and written them all over again, word by word, and letter +by letter, _with ink_. So you may depend upon it, dear mother, that not +another syllable of my pledge will _get blurred_ or _dimmed_, either on +the _leaf of my Testament_; or on the _page of my heart_. Only _believe +this_, and then you may believe as much as you please of what J. W. +writes." + +Not a word to the same _J. W._ did Frank say of the base thing he had +done; and as for the revenge he had vowed, the impulse to wreak it in +tigerish fashion had passed like a night-fog before the breezy purity of +the new life that had dawned. + +In a couple of days Frank had mostly recovered his equanimity. The loss +of the watch was still a source of anxious grief to him, however; less on +his own account, let me say, than for the sake of the unknown giver. Nor +had he, as yet, found any opportunity to atone for his rudeness to the +old drum-major, who had lately, for some cause, gone over to the other +wing of the regiment on board the steamer, so that Frank yearned in vain +to go to him and humbly beg forgiveness for his fault. + +"What has taken Mr. Sinjin away?" he asked of his friend, the young +corporal. + +Gray shrugged his shoulders, and looked at Frank as if he had a good mind +to tell a secret. + +"How should I know? He's such a crotchety old boy. I don't think he could +account for his conduct himself. He asked permission to remove his +quarters to the steamer, and got it; pretending, I believe, that he could +have better accommodations there." + +"And _I_ believe," said Frank, "that you know more about it than you +will own." + +"Well, I have my suspicions. Shall I be candid with you, Frank? and +you'll forgive me if I hurt your feelings?" + +"Yes," said Frank, anxiously. + +"Well, then," said Gray. "I suppose you know Sinjin had taken a great +fancy to you." + +"I thought at one time he liked me." + +"At one time? I'll wager my head he was liking you the most when he +appeared to the least--he's such a queer old cove! I've heard he was +disappointed in love once, and that some friend of his proved traitor to +him; and that's what has made him so shy of showing any thing like +affection for any body. Well, he heard of your gambling, and went to talk +with you about it, and you said something to him that wounded him so I +think he couldn't bear the sight of you afterwards." + +The boy's heart was wrung by this revelation. What reason, he demanded to +know, had Gray for thinking thus? + +"Because I know the man, and because I know something which I think you +ought to know." Gray drew Frank confidentially aside. "He may +anathematize me for betraying his secret; but I think it is time to do +him justice, even against his will. Frank, it was Old Sinjin who gave you +the watch." + +Frank's heart leaped up, but fell again instantly, convulsed with pain +and regret. + +"Are you sure, Gray?" + +"Sure as this: I was with him when he bought the watch in Annapolis. I +helped him to do it up in the wrappers. And it was I that pitched it into +the tent at you Thanksgiving-day evening. That is being pretty +sure--isn't it?" + +"And he knows that I lost it?" said Frank. + +"He had just heard so when he went to speak with you about gambling." + +"And I told him it was none of his business," said Frank, remorsefully. +"O, he will never forgive me now; and who can blame him? Good old man! +dear, good old man! My mother told me to be always very kind to him--and +how have I repaid his goodness to me!" + +It seemed now that the boy could not control his impatience until once +more he had seen his benefactor, confessed all to him, and heard him say +he was forgiven for his unkindness and ingratitude. + +But the old drummer still remained on board the steamer. And Frank had +only this faith to comfort him--that if his repentance was sincere, and +he henceforth did only what was right, all would yet be well. + +The next morning he was viewing the sunrise from the deck, when Seth +Tucket came to his side. + +"'Once more upon the waters! yet once more! and the waves bound beneath +me as the steed that knows his rider--welcome to their roar!' Only they +don't bound much, and they don't roar to-day," said Seth. "The boys have +found out it's Sunday; and as we're to have a battle 'fore the week's +out, they seem to think it's about as well to remember there's a +difference in days. How are you, Manly?" + +"Better," said Frank, with a smile. + +"Happy?"--with a grimace meant to be sympathizing, but which was droll +enough to be laughable. + +"Happier than I was," said the drummer boy. "Happier than I've been for a +long time." + +"What! not happier, now you've lost every thing, than when you was hevin' +such luck at play?" + +"I wasn't happy then. I thought I was. But I was only excited. I am +happier now that I've lost every thing; it's true, Tucket." + +"Well, I swan to man! I thought you was mourning over your luck, and I +was bringing ye sunthin' to kind o' cheer ye up. Glad to hear you've no +need. Fine day, but rather windy. Wonder what's the time!" + +So saying, Seth drew out the watch, and regarded it with provoking +coolness. + +"I'm plagued ef the darned thing hain't run down! Say, Frank, ye couldn't +think of throwin' in the key, too--could ye? I can't wind her up without +a key." + +Frank choked a little, but his look was cheerful, as he put his hand in +his pocket, and, without a word, delivered over to the new owner of the +watch the key also. + +"Thank ye; much obleeged;" and Seth "wound her up" with extraordinary +parade. Then he shook it, and held it to his ear. Then he said, "All +right! she's a puttin' in again, lickety-switch! Good watch, that." Then +he set it "by guess." Then he was returning it to his pocket, when a new +thought seemed to strike him. + +"What do ye do for a watch-pocket, Frank? Gov'ment don't provide +watch-pockets, seems." + +"I made one for myself," said Frank. + +"Sho now! ye didn't, though--did ye? What with?" + +"With a needle and thread I brought from home, and with another old +pocket," said Frank. + +"Well, you air the cutest! Say, what'll ye tax to make me one? I don't +care to hev it very large; a small watch, so." + +A dry proposal, that. It was not enough to furnish watch and watch-key; +but Frank was required also to provide a watch-pocket. + +"What do ye say?" asked Seth, with a shrewd squint. + +"I'll make you one for nothing," said Frank. + +"Come, by darn!" exclaimed Seth; "none o' that, now!" + +"None of what?" + +"You're a-trying my disposition!"--And, indeed, Tucket was visibly moved; +there was a tear in his eye--a bona fide tear. "I've a good disposition, +nat'rally; but I shall git riled ef you say much more. I've got your +watch, and that's all right. I've got the key, and that's all right, too. +But when you talk of makin' a watch-pocket for nothin', I tell ye a saint +couldn't stand that." + +Frank, who thought he had learned to know pretty well the man's oddities, +was puzzled this time. + +"I didn't mean to offend you, Tucket." + +"No, you didn't. And now see here, Manly. We'll jest compromise this +matter, ef you've no 'bjection. I've no watch-pocket, and you've no +watch. So, s'posin' you carry the watch for me, and tell me what time it +is when I ax ye? That won't be too much trouble--will it?" + +"Are you in earnest?" asked Frank. + +"Yes, I be, clean up to the hub. The truth is, I can't carry that watch +with any kind o' comfort, and I'm bent on gitt'n' it off my hands, ef I +hef to throw it overboard. Here! It's yours; take it, and be darned!" +said Seth. + +"I was going to propose to you,"--stammered Frank from his too full +heart,--"to take the watch, and pay you for it when I can." + +"Ez for that the pay's no consequence. I was more to blame than you; and +the loss ought to be mine." + +"But----" insisted Frank. + +"No buts! Besides, I never make bargains Sundays." And Seth turned away, +abruptly, leaving the watch in Frank's hand. + +The boy would have called him back, but a rush of emotions--joy, +gratitude, contrition--choked his voice. A dash of tears fell upon the +watch as he gazed on it, and pressed it, and would have kissed it, had he +been alone. It was his again; and that, after all, was an unalloyed +satisfaction. He could lie awake nights and study days to devise means to +reward Seth's generosity. And he would do it, he resolved. And Mr. Sinjin +should know that he had recovered the prize, and that he held it all the +more precious since he had found out the giver. + + + + + XX. + + SUNDAY BEFORE THE BATTLE. + + +Frank was leaning over the rail of the schooner gazing down at the +beautiful flashing water, and thinking of home. It was Sunday there, too, +he remembered; and he could almost hear the sweet-toned bells solemnly +chiming, and see the atmosphere of Sabbath peace brooding over field and +village, and feel the serious gladness of the time. The folks were +getting ready for church. There was his father, shaved and clean, in his +black stock and somewhat threadbare, but still respectable, best coat. +And there was Helen, bright and blooming, with her bonnet on, and with +her Bible and question-book in her hand, setting out for the morning +Sunday-school. His mother was not going to meeting; she was to stay at +home with Hattie, and read to her, or, what was better, comfort her with +affectionate, gentle, confiding words. But Willie was going with Helen, +as he seemed anxious, by strut, and hurry, and loud, impatient talk, to +let every body know. And Frank wished from his heart that he could be +with them that day; and he wondered, did they miss him, and were they +thinking of him, far off here in Carolina waters, alone in the midst of +such crowds of men? + +"Wouldn't I like to be in that boat, boys!" said Ellis. "Don't she come +dancing on the waves!" + +"She's pulling towards us," said Atwater. "I believe they're coming +aboard." + +"O, Atwater!" cried Frank, as the boat drew near. "There's a face there I +know! One you know, too!" And he clapped his hands with joy; for it was a +face he had seen in Boston, and he felt that it came with news from home. + +The rare brightness kindled in Atwater's eyes as he gazed, and remembered. +The boat came alongside, and hailed the schooner. And a man in the bow, +as it rose upon a wave, seizing hold of the ladder of tarred rope, +stepped quickly upon it, and came on board, cordially received by Captain +Edney, who appeared to have been expecting him. + +"It's the minister that married Atwater!" the rumor ran round among the +troops. "What's his name, Frank?" + +"His name's Egglestone," said Frank, his heart swelling with anxiety to +speak with him. + +The minister had come on a mission of Christian love to the soldiers of +the expedition; and having, the day before, sent word to Captain Edney of +his arrival, he had in return received an invitation to visit the +schooner and preach to the men this Sunday morning. + +A previous announcement that religious services would probably be held on +board, had excited little interest; the troops surmising that the +chaplain of the regiment, who had never been with them enough to win +their hearts or awaken their attention, was to rejoin them, and preach +one of his formal discourses. + +But far different was the feeling when it was known that the "man that +married Atwater" was to conduct the exercises. Then the soldiers +remembered that they were New Englanders; and that here also God's +Sabbath shed its silent influence, far though they were from the rude +hills and rocky shores of home. + +'Tis curious how a little leaven of memory will sometimes work in the +heart. Here was half a regiment of men, who had come to fight the battles +of their country. As with one accord they had left the amenities of +peaceful life behind them, and assumed the rugged manners of war. Of late +they had seemed almost oblivious of the fact that God, and Christian +worship, and Christian rules of life were still in existence. But to-day +they were reminded. To-day the child was awakened--the child that had +known the wholesome New England nurture, that had sat on mother's knee, +and had its earliest thought tuned to the music of Sunday bells; the +child that lay hidden in the deep heart of every man of them, the same +lived again, and looked forth from the eyes, and smiled once more in the +softened visage of the man. And the man was carried back, far from these +strange scenes, far from the relentless iron front of war, across alien +lands, and over stormy seas,--carried back by the child yearning +within,--to the old door yard, the village trees, the family fireside, +the family pew, and the hushed congregation. + +It was Mr. Egglestone's aim, in the beginning of the sermon he preached +that morning, to remind the soldiers of their childhood. "It is a +thought," he said, "which almost moves me to tears,--that all these hardy +frames around me were but the soft, warm, dimpled forms of so many +infants once. And nearly every one of you was, I suppose, watched over by +tender parents, who beheld, with mutual joy, the development of each +beautiful faculty. The first step taken by the babe's unassisted feet, +the first articulate word spoken by the little lisping lips,--what +delight they gave, and how long were they remembered! And what thoughts +of the child's future came day and night to those parents' breasts! and +of what earnest prayers was it the subject! And of all the parents of all +those children who are here as men to-day, not one foresaw a scene like +this; none dreamed that they were raising up patriots to fight for +freedom's second birth on this continent, in the most stupendous of civil +wars. + +"But Providence leads us by strange ways, and by hidden paths we come +upon brinks of destiny which no prophet foresaw. Now the days of peace +are over. Many of you who were children are now the fathers of children. +But your place is not at home to watch over them as you were watched +over, but to strive by some means to work out a harder problem than any +ever ciphered on slates at school." + +Then he explained to his audience the origin of the war; for he believed +it best that every soldier should understand well the cause he was +fighting for. He spoke of the compact of States, which could not be +rightfully broken. He spoke of the serpent that had been nursed in the +bosom of those States. He related how slavery, from being at first a +merely tolerated evil, which all good men hoped soon to see abolished, +had grown arrogant, aggressive, monstrous; until, angered by resistance +to its claims, it had deluged the land with blood. Such was the nature of +an institution based upon selfishness and wrong. And such was the bitter +result of building a LIE into the foundations of our national structure. +Proclaiming to the world, as the first principle of our republican form +of government, that "all men are created free and equal," we had at the +same time held a race in bondage. + +"Neither nation nor individual," said he, "can in any noble sense +succeed, with such rotten inconsistency woven into its life. It was this +shoddy in the garment of our Goddess of Liberty, which has occasioned the +rent which those needles there"--pointing to some bayonets--"must mend. +And it is this shoddy of contradiction and infidelity which makes many a +man's prosperity, seemingly substantial at first, promising warmth and +wear, fall suddenly to pieces, and leave his soul naked to the winds of +heaven." + +It was not so much a sermon as a friendly, affectionate, earnest talk +with the men, whom he sought to counsel and encourage. There was a +melting love in his tones which went to their inmost souls. And when he +exhorted them to do the work of men who feared God, but not any mortal +foe, who dreaded dishonor, but not death, he made every heart ring with +the stirring appeal. + +Then suddenly his voice sank to a tone of solemn sweetness, as he said,-- + +"Peace! O, my brothers! struggle and violence are not the all of life. +But God's love, the love of man to man, holiness, blessedness,--it is for +these realities we are created, and placed here on this beautiful earth, +under this blue sky, with human faces and throbbing human hearts around +us. And the end of all is PEACE. But only through fiery trial and valiant +doing can any peace worth the name come to us; and to make the future +truly blessed, we must make the present truly brave." + +Before and after the discourse the men sang some of the good old tunes +which all had been familiar with at home, and which descended like warm +rain upon the ground where the scattered seed of the sermon fell. + +The services ended, Mr. Egglestone went freely among the soldiers, and +conversed with any who wanted to have speech of him; especially with +Atwater; whose wife he had seen a few days before leaving Boston, where +she came to see him, having learned who he was, and that he was about +departing for the army in which her husband served. + +After long waiting, Frank's turn came at last. They sat down on a bench +apart; and the clergyman told him he had lately seen his mother, and that +she had charged him with many messages. And one was a message of sorrow. + +"She had heard unwelcome news of you," he said, holding the boy's hand. +"And she wished me to say to you what I could to save you from what she +dreads most--what any wise, loving mother dreads most for her child. But +is there need of my saying any thing? By what your captain tells me, and +still more by what your face tells me, I am convinced that I may spare my +words. You have had in your own experience a better lesson than any body +can teach you. You have erred, you have suffered. And"--he took a letter +from his pocket--"I have something here to make you remember what you +have learned--I think, for always." + +Frank had listened, humbly, tremblingly, full of tears which he did not +shed for the eyes that were about them. But now he started, and took the +letter eagerly. "What's it? any bad news?" for he felt an alarming +presentiment. + +"I do not think it is bad. If you had seen what I saw, you would not +think so either." Mr. Egglestone's manner was exceedingly tender, and his +voice was liquid and low. "All is well with your folks at home; both with +those who are there as you left them, and with the one whose true home is +not there any longer, but in a brighter land, we trust." + +"O!"--it was almost a cry of pain that broke from Frank. "Hattie?" + +"Yes, Frank; it is of Hattie I am speaking. She has passed away. I was +present, and saw her depart. And she was very calm and happy, and her +last look was a smile, and her last words were words of hope and love. +The letter will tell you all about it. I recall one thing, however, which +I will repeat, since it so nearly concerns you. They were speaking of +you. And she said, 'Maybe I shall see him before any of you will! Yes!' +she added, her face shining already like a spirit's with the joyful +thought, 'tell him how I love him; and say that I shall be with him when +he does not know!' And I am sure that, if it is possible for souls that +have escaped from these environments of flesh to be near us still, she +will often be near you, loving you, influencing you. Perhaps she is +present now, and hears all we say, and sees how badly you feel, and +thinks you would not feel quite so badly if you knew that she is happy." + +Frank would have spoken, to ask some earnest question which arose in his +heart; but his feelings were too much agitated, and he could not trust +his voice. + +"We will believe such things are true of our lost ones," Mr. Egglestone +said, with a parting pressure of the boy's hand. "For, with that faith, +we shall surely try so to live that, when they approach us, they will not +be repelled; and thus we will be guarded from evil, if not by any direct +influence of theirs, then by our own reverence and love for them." + +With this he took his leave. And Frank crept into his bunk, and turned +away his face, before he dared to open and read his mother's letter. + +In that letter there were no reproofs for his misconduct. But in place of +such his mother had written the simple story of Hattie's death, with many +affecting little details, showing her thoughtful tenderness for all, her +cheerful sweetness, and her love for Frank. Then followed affectionate +messages from them at home, who were very lonely now, and longed to have +him with them--all which had a power beyond any reproaches to win the boy +back to that purity of heart and life which belonged to his +home-affections, and was safe when they were strong, and was imperilled +when they were forgotten. + +"O, to think," he said to himself, "only this morning I was imagining how +it looked at home to-day--and it is all so different! I am gone, and now +Hattie is gone too!" + + + + + XXI. + + UP THE SOUND. + + +So passed that Sunday, memorable to the expedition; for it ushered in the +battle-week. + +Besides the transports and store-ships belonging to the coast division, a +squadron of United States gunboats, under command of Commodore +Goldsborough, had rendezvoused at the inlet. These were to take care of +the rebel fleet, attend to the shore batteries, and prepare the way for +the operation of the land forces. + +All the vessels destined to take part in the advance were now over the +bulkhead, in Pamlico Sound. On Monday, the sailing vessels were hauled +into position, each astern of its steam-consort, by which it was to be +towed. Sixty-five vessels of various classes were to participate in the +movement; while upwards of fifty were to remain behind at the inlet, +holding in reserve sixty days' supply of stores for the entire +expedition. + +The stay at the inlet had occasionally been enlivened by the arrival of +refugees, white and black, from the coast of North Carolina. Some of +these were citizens escaped from the persecutions meted out by the rebels +to all who still remained loyal to the old flag. Some were deserters from +the confederate army, in which they had been compelled to serve. Others +were slaves fleeing from bondage to freedom. + +Again, on Monday, a sail-boat hove in sight, and, being overhauled by one +of the gunboats, proved to be loaded with these fugitives. They were +mostly negroes; two of whom were bright, intelligent boys, who gave such +evidence of joy at their escape, of loyalty to the Union, and of a +thorough knowledge of the country, that Flag-officer Goldsborough +retained them for the information they might be able to give, while the +rest were sent ashore. + +And now, general orders were read to the troops, announcing to them that +they were soon to land on the coast of North Carolina, and reminding them +that they were there, not to pillage or destroy private property, but to +subdue the rebellion, and to maintain the Constitution and the laws. + +Monday and Tuesday were occupied with preparations. But early Wednesday +morning--more than three weeks after the arrival of the expedition at the +inlet--the signals to weigh anchor and set sail were given. + +Commodore Goldsborough's gunboat took the lead. Other vessels of the +naval squadron followed. Then came the transports--a goodly spectacle. + +"''Twere wuth ten years of peaceful life, one glance at our array,'" +observed the poetical Tucket. + +Each brigade formed three columns of steamers and sailing vessels in tow; +and brigade followed brigade. The shallow water of the sound was scarcely +ruffled by a breeze. It lay like a field of silver before the furrows of +the fleet. The tall, taper masts of the schooners pointed like needles to +the sky under which they moved. The aisles between the three columns of +ships were unbroken through the whole length of the fleet, which extended +for two miles over the surface of the sound, and advanced with such slow +and uniform motion, each vessel keeping its position, that now all seemed +moving as one, and again all seemed at rest, with the waters of the sound +flowing past their steady keels. + +As yet, the destination of the fleet was unknown. As it proceeded at +first southward and westward, the rumor grew that Newbern was to be +attacked. But it was only the course of the channel which thus far shaped +its course; and after a few zigzag turns, the cause of which was +inexplicable to the green ones, ignorant of the shoals, it began to steer +due north. Then all doubts with regard to its destination vanished. + +"Roanoke Island, boys! Roanoke Island!" was echoed from mouth to mouth on +board the schooner. + +The day was beautiful--only a light breeze blowing, and a few light +clouds floating in the blue ether. And now the vessels at the inlet began +to sink below the horizon; first, the hulls, then the decks disappeared; +and lastly, spars and rigging went down behind the curve of the sphere, +and were visible no more to the clearest glass. + +At the same time emerged in the west the main land of North Carolina. At +first, tall cypresses rose to view, growing as it were "out of a mirror." +Then appeared the long swampy shores, lying dim and low, with here and +there a miserable fish-house, the sole trace of human habitation. + +At sundown the fleet was within ten miles of Roanoke Island. The signal +from the flag-ship was given, at which the vessels of each brigade drew +together, the clank of running-out chains sounded along the lines, the +anchors plashed, and the fleet was moored for the night. + +As yet there were no signs of rebels. What the morrow, what the night, +might bring forth was all uncertainty. The night set in dark enough. But +soon the sky cleared, the moon came out resplendent, and the stars looked +down from their far eternal calm upon the evanescent shows of mortal +conflict--the batteries of the rebellion yonder, and here the fleet, no +more than the tiniest shells to those distant, serene, awful eyes of +Deity. And Frank looked up at the stars; and the spirit within him said, +"They will shine the same to-morrow night, and the next night, and +forever; and whether there is war or peace, whether victory comes or +defeat, and whether thou, child, art living or art dead, they know not, +they change not, neither do they rejoice or mourn." And the thought sank +deep into the heart of the boy as he retired to his bed, and closed his +eyes to sleep. + +A sharp lookout was kept for the rebel gunboats all night, but they never +made their appearance. The next morning the weather was heavy--promising +rain. At eight o'clock, however, the signal to weigh anchor--the Union +Jack at the foremast, and the American flag at the stern--was telegraphed +from the flag-ship, and repeated by the flag-ship of each brigade. Again +the fleet got in motion, approaching the entrance to Croatan Sound. The +water was shoal, and progress was slow, and soon it came on to rain. It +was a dismal day; rain on the decks, rain on the water, rain on the +marshy shores of the main land, and over the forests beyond, where the +ghosts of blasted trees stretched their naked arms despairingly to the +dripping clouds. And now a low swampy point of Roanoke Island pushes out +into the dim water, under a veil of rain. + +At about noon, most of the vessels came to anchor. But some of the +gunboats advanced to the entrance of Croatan Sound, and reconnoitred. The +rebel fleet was discovered, drawn up in line of battle on the west side +of the island, awaiting the conflict. A fog coming on, active operations +against the enemy were postponed, and the gunboats, withdrawing also, +came to anchor for the night. + +During the day, several of the armed steamers, which had served as +transports, prepared to cooperate with the naval squadron in their true +character as gunboats; the troops on board of them being distributed +among other vessels of the coast division. Among the steamers thus +cleared was the schooner's consort; and thus it happened that Mr. Sinjin +returned to his old quarters, to the great joy of the drummer boy, whose +heart burned within him at the thought of meeting his old friend once +more, after their unhappy parting. + +They met, indeed; but the schooner was now so crowded, and such was the +stir on board, that Frank scarce found an opportunity to offer the +veteran his hand, and get one look out of those serious gray eyes. + +The drummers being assembled, the surgeon came to them, and gave each a +strip of red flannel to tie on his arm as a token, at the same time +informing them that, when the troops landed, they were to go with him and +help carry the wounded. + +"This begins to look like serious business, my boy," said the old +drummer, kindly, as he stooped to assist Frank in tying on his badge. + +His touch was very gentle. Frank's breast began to swell. But before he +could speak the old man had disappeared in the crowd. + +"He don't know yet that I know he gave me the watch," thought the boy, +"and he wouldn't look and see that I have it again." + +Then he regarded the red token on his arm, and remembered that they all +had other things to think of now. + +Picket-boats were out in advance all night, at the entrance to Croatan +Sound, in the darkness and fog, keeping watch for the enemy. No enemy +appeared. Towards morning, however, the fog lifting, two rebel steamers +were seen hastily taking to their heels, having come down in the +obscurity to see what they could see. + +It was Friday, the 7th of February. The morning was beautiful; the +sunrise came in clouds of glory; there was as yet no taint of battle in +the purity of the air. It was a lovely day for a sea fight. Frank climbed +into the rigging to observe. + +At ten o'clock Goldsborough's gunboats could be seen making their way, +one by one, cautiously, through the narrow channel between marshy islands +into Croatan Sound. There were nineteen of them. The gunboats of the +coast division followed, six in number. The S. R. Spaulding, to which +Burnside had transferred his flag, next went in, making signals for the +transports to follow. + +Far off a gun was heard. It was only a signal fired by a rebel steamer to +announce the approach of the squadron; but it thrilled the hearts of the +troops waiting to go into battle. + +An hour later another cannon boomed, nearer and louder. It was a shot +tossed from the commodore's flag-ship at the rebels, who promptly +responded. + +The flag-ship now hoisted the signal,-- + +"THIS DAY OUR COUNTRY EXPECTS EVERY MAN TO DO HIS DUTY." + +From ship to ship, from man to man, from heart to heart, thrilled the +electric message. It was greeted by cheers and the thunder of guns. This +was at half past eleven o'clock. + + + + + XXII. + + THE ATTACK OF THE GUNBOATS. + + +The spars of the transports were beginning to be thronged. Corporal Gray +brought up a glass to Frank. + +"O, good!" cried Frank. "Is it yours?" + +"No; it belongs to Mr. Sinjin." + +"Did he send it to me?" + +"Not he! But he had been casting that sharp eye of his up at you, and I +knew what he meant when he said, 'Corporal, there's a good lookout from +the masthead, if you'd like to take a glass up there." + +"Did he really mean it for me, after all my bad treatment of him?" said +Frank. "Bless his old heart!" + +With his naked eye for the general view, and the glass to bring out the +details, Frank enjoyed a rare spectacle that day. Roanoke Island and its +surroundings lay outspread before him like a map. On the west of it was +Croatan Sound, separating it from the marshes and forests of the main +land. On the east was Roanoke Sound, a much narrower sheet of water; +beyond which stretched that long, low, interminable strip of land which +forms the outer coast, or seaboard, of this double-coasted country. Still +east of that glimmered the blue rim of the Atlantic, a dozen miles away. +At about the same distance, on the north, beyond Roanoke Island and the +two sounds each side of it, opened the broad basin of Albemarle Sound, +like an inland sea. The island itself appeared to be some twelve miles in +its greatest length, and two or three in breadth, indented with numerous +creeks and coves, and forming a slight curve about Croatan Sound. It was +within this curve that the naval battle took place. It had now fairly +begun. + +At noon the flag-officer's ship displayed the signal for closer action, +and the engagement soon became general. + +The enemy's gunboats, seven in number, showed a disposition to fight at +long range, retreating up the sound as the fleet advanced--a movement +which soon brought the latter under the fire of a battery that opened +from the shore. + +The air, which had previously been perfectly clear that morning, was now +loaded with clouds of smoke, which puffed from a hundred guns, and +surging up from the vessels of the squadron, from the rebel gunboats, and +from the shore battery, rolled away in broken, sun-illumined masses, +wafted by a light northeasterly breeze. + +The soldiers in the rigging of the transports could see the flashes burst +from the cannons' mouths, the spouted smoke, the shots throwing up high +in air the water or sand as they struck, or coming skip-skip across the +sound, the shells exploding, and the terrible roar of the battle filled +the air. + +For a time the fire of the attack was about equally divided between the +rebel steamers and the fortification on the island. It was soon +discovered, however, that boats had been sunk and a line of piles driven +across the channel abreast of the battery, to prevent the farther advance +of our gunboats in that direction. Behind those the retreating steamers +discreetly withdrew, where they were presently reenforced by several +other armed vessels. The gunboats made no attempt to follow, but took +positions to give their principal attention to the battery. + +The fire from the shore gradually slackened, and thousands of hearts +swelled anew as the hour seemed at hand when the troops were to land and +carry the works at the point of the bayonet. + +Burnside paced the deck of the Spaulding, keeping an eye on the fort, +watching the enemy's shots, and looking impatiently for the arrival of +the transports. At length they came crowding through the inlet, dropping +their anchors in the sound just out of range of the fort. Seen from the +gunboats, they were a sight not less astonishing than that which they +themselves were coming to witness. Troops, eagerly watching the conflict, +crowded the decks and hung upon the rigging like swarms of bees. Ropes, +masts, and yards were festooned with the heavy, clinging clusters, which +seemed ready to part and fall with their own weight. The effect of the +picture was enhanced by the mellow brilliancy of the afternoon sky, +against which the dark masses were clearly defined, and by the perfect +tranquility of the water, like a sea of glass mirroring the ships and +their loaded spars. + +The gunboats sent to the ships the roar of their artillery, and the ships +sent back the chorus of thousands of cheering voices for every well-aimed +shot. + +Frank was in the rigging of the schooner, watching the fight, making +drawings to send to his mother, and talking with his comrades, among whom +Sinjin's glass passed from hand to hand. + +"I tell ye, boys!" remarks Seth Tucket, "this is a leetle ahead of any +game of bluff ever I took a hand in! The battery is about used up. S'pose +you look at your--my--our watch, Frank, and see how often the darned +rebels fire." + +"Once in about ten minutes now," Frank informs him. "O! did you see that +shell burst? Right over one of our gunboats!" + +"She's aground," says Gray, with the glass. "She can neither use her guns +nor get off! A little tug is going to help her." + +"Bully for the tug!" says Jack Winch. + +"Hurrah! hurrah!" ring the deafening plaudits from the ships. + +"What is it?" is eagerly asked. + +"The battery's flag-staff is shot away!" shouts Frank at the top of his +voice. "Hooray!" + +"Some think the flag has been hauled down, to surrender the fort, but +it's a mistake," declares Gray. "See! up it goes again on a piece of the +pole! And the guns are at it again." + +"Where's Burnside?" asks some one. And Tucket quotes,-- + +"'O, where was Roderick then? One blast upon his bugle horn were worth a +thousand men!'" + +"He is sending off a boat to the shore yonder, to look for a +landing-place. We'll be going in there soon, boys!" + +The boat approaches a cove called Ashby's Harbor, taking soundings as it +nears the land. On board of her is one of the negro lads, who fearlessly +pilots her towards scenes familiar to his days of bondage. + +"They'd better keep their eyes skinned!" says Tucket. "There's rebels in +the mash there, I bet ye a dollar!" + +The officers of the boat land safely, and reconnoitre. As they are +reembarking, however, up spring from the tall grass a company of rebels, +and flash, flash, goes a volley of musketry. + +"I wish somebody had took me up on my bet," says Tucket; "'twould have +been a dollar in my pocket." + +"They're off; nobody left behind; nobody hurt, I hope," says Gray, +watching the boat. + +"Look, boys! the rebels works are afire!" is now the cry. + +Flames break through the smoke, and the firing slackens on both sides for +a short time. + +"It's only the barracks, probably, fired by a shell," says Gray. "They've +no idea of surrendering. They hold out well!" + +The battery is completely enveloped in black smoke, out of which leaps +the white puff of the cannon, showing that the gunners are still at work. + +"See! the gunboat that was aground is getting off! that's a brave tug +that's handling her!" cries Frank "O!"--an exclamation of surprise and +wonder. For just then the gunboat, swinging around so that she can bring +her guns to bear, lets fly her broadside, dropping shot and shell right +into the smoking battery. + +"It's about time," says Jack Winch, "for us boys to go ashore and clean +the rebels out. I'm a gitting tired of this slow work." + +"You'll get ashore soon enough, and have enough to do when you get +there," says Atwater. "There are strong batteries towards the centre of +the islands, that'll have to be taken when we go in." + +"Abe's afraid," mutters Jack to some comrades near him. "Did ye see him, +and Frank, and Seth Tucket, reading their Testaments?" + +"It was the 'Lady of the Lake' Seth was reading," says Harris. "He +carries it in his pocket, and pitches into it odd spells." + +"Winch don't know the Lady of the Lake from the Bible!" chimes in +Tucket's high nasal voice. + +"Yes, I do, too! The Lady of the Lake, that's one of Bryon's poems! +S'pose I don't know?" + +"O, perfectly!" sneers Ellis, amid the laughter Jack's blunder elicits. +"And no doubt you'll soon find out who the cowards are among us, if you +don't know already." + +"What's that, afire, away up the sound, close into the main land?" asks +the phlegmatic Atwater. + +"I swan, ef 'tan't one of the rebel steamers! She's got disabled, and +they've run her ashore. She's all a sheet of fire now!" + +"What's that saucy little tug around here for?" + +"Burnside's aboard of her. He's coming to see if we're all right. We +shall land soon," says Gray. + +"See!" cries Frank; "our gunboats are shelling the shore, to make a +landing-place for us. I wouldn't like to be in the woods there!" + +"I guess Frank wouldn't!" observes Jack. "But I would; I'd like no better +fun than to rush right in and skedaddle the rebels with the bayonet; +that's the way to do it!" + +"The woods are afire! Our shells have set them afire!" cries Ellis. +"Look! there come the rebel steamers again, down the western shore. They +think they can get down at us, now our gunboats are busy off there." + +"When the cat's away the mice will play," says Tucket. "But the kittens +are after 'em!" + +"There goes Burnside's tug to see what the row is!" + +"The battery scarcely fires at all now," says Frank, looking at his +watch. "It's twenty minutes since it has fired a shot." + +"There goes one! And see! the gunboats are fighting each other now like +mad--again!" cries Gray. "They're all so wrapped in smoke you can hardly +see one of 'em."--Bang, bang, bang!--"Isn't it grand?" + +"A shell burst right over Burnside's tug!" exclaims Frank. "It burst, and +sprinkled the water all around it!" + + + + + XXIII. + + THE TROOPS DISEMBARK.--THE ISLAND. + + +At four o'clock the last of the transports had entered the inlet, and +rejoined the fleet. Soon after commenced preparations for the landing of +the troops. The boats were lowered and manned, and the soldiers, +descending from decks and spars, began to crowd into them. Knapsacks were +left behind; the men taking with them only their arms, overcoats, +canteens, haversacks, and cartridge-boxes, with three days' rations of +pork, beef, and hard bread, and forty rounds of ball cartridges. Down +both sides of the vessels they passed, in rapid regular files, pouring +into the boats. Their guns were taken as they stepped upon the stairs, +and passed down to them as soon as they were embarked. Some took places +at the oars; the rest filed in fore and aft. It must have been an amazing +spectacle to the enemy to witness these stirring and formidable +preparations for finishing the work the gunboats had begun. The troops +were jubilant, and eager for battle. + +As fast as the boats were filled, they pushed from the stairs to make +room for others, and lay upon their oars watching for the signals. These +were telegraphed from the flag-ship of each brigade. At the instant, the +boats swarmed the water in miniature fleets, with oars flashing, flags +flying, and arms gleaming in the sun. Rowing to the flag-ship, or steamer +detailed for the purpose, they attached themselves under her stern in two +lines as they arrived, each boat taking the painter of the one behind it +Then, at a signal whistle, the steamers started for the shore, each +towing its double string of boats. + +In the mean time the fight between the fleet and the battery was +continued,--rather languidly, however, on the part of the battery; and a +couple of light draught gunboats, running in close to the shore, +continued shelling the woods about Ashby's Harbor, to cover the landing +of the troops. + +When the steamers towing in the boats had arrived as near as the depth of +water would permit, the signal whistles were sounded, the painters were +cast off, the lines of boats broke simultaneously, the rowers took to +their oars and pulled with all speed for the shore. As soon as the prows +struck, the men jumped out, dashing through mud and water to the land. +Many did not wait for the boats to get in, but, in their eagerness to +follow their comrades, leaped overboard where the water was up to their +waists. Some got stuck in the mire, and were helped out by those who came +after them. Six thousand men were thus thrown upon the island at the +first disembarkation; while the remainder of the troops on the transports +watched the brilliant scene, and cheered lustily when they saw the flag +of the Union waving on the shore. + +Frank's regiment was not yet disembarked. The boys were still in the +rigging, following with eager eyes the movements of the boats. An +exciting incident added interest to the scene. Before the boats landed, a +body of rebels in ambush, waiting to receive them, were betrayed by the +gleam of their muskets. A shell dropped discreetly into their +hiding-place, by one of the gunboats, sent them scampering, and the +troops landed without opposition. + +"It's our turn now, boys!" cried Tucket. And they slipped from the +rigging, impatient to leap into the boats, and be put ashore. "I tell ye, +won't it feel good to straighten out a fellow's legs once, on dry land!" + +The men were generally of Seth's opinion; their long confinement on +shipboard having become exceedingly monotonous and tiresome. + +Frank was with his company. They loaded the boats to the gunwales. The +water was still smooth, save where it was broken into waves and whirling +eddies by the sweep of oars. The men shouted joyously, and waved their +caps. Frank stood in the bow, and swung his cap with the rest. But +looking back across the shining wakes at the forsaken schooner, a feeling +of sadness came over him--a feeling of regretful memory, as of one +leaving home. + +There she lay, motionless; hull and spars painted dark against the sunset +sky; her rigging, to the finest cordage, traced in exquisitely distinct +lines upon that shining background--a picture of exceeding loveliness and +peace. + +As the boats swept down towards the shore, and the schooner seemed to +recede into the flaming west, the network of cordage became black cobwebs +on the sky, then melted away and vanished altogether. At the same time, +the water, which the boats had troubled, grew smooth again, reflecting +the sunset glow, with the sombre hull and ebon spars painted upon it, +until Frank saw the spectre of a double ship suspended in a double +heaven. + +And as the last view of the schooner was all beautiful, so his last +thoughts of her were all tender. He remembered no more against her the +hardships of the voyage, the seasickness, the two gills of water a day. +But that she had borne them faithfully through storms, that whether they +slept or waked she had not failed them,--this he remembered. And his +sister's death, and all his sufferings and errors, and the peace of soul +which had come to him at last, were associated now and henceforth, with +his memory of the ship swimming there in the illumined horizon. Only for +a brief interval, like a wind that comes we know not whence, and goes +again we know not whither, touching us with invisible perfumed wings, +these thoughts swept over the boy, and passed as quickly. And he turned +from gazing after the schooner to face the scenes before him. Nearer and +nearer drew the boats to the island. Its woods and shores lay cool and +tranquil in the evening light, and the troops there, half-hidden by the +tall grass and the trees, were tinted with a gleam of romance. + +It was now fast growing dark. Clouds were gathering in the sky. From +their edges the last hues of the sunset faded, the moon was hid, and a +portentous gloom fell upon the waves. The cannon were still thundering at +intervals. The shells flew screaming through the air, and fell bursting +on the fort or in the woods. It was now so dark that the flash of the +guns had become lurid and sharp, and the meteoric course of the +projectiles could be traced by their fiery wake. + +Amid this scene the boats entered the cove, and as the prows struck, or +before, the excited soldiers leaped out, regardless of mud and water. + +"Shouldn't wonder if somebody got a wet foot," said Tucket, in the midst +of the plunging and plashing--himself in up to his hips. "'A horse! a +horse! my kingdom for a horse!' Here, Manly, take a grip of my coat tail. +I'm longer legged than you." + +"I'm all right," said Frank. "I've no gun to carry, and I can get along." +And he floundered on as fast as the deep, clinging ooze would permit. + +"This is what they call the sacred soil!" observed Harris. "Just the +thing, I should say, to breed rattle-snakes and rebels." + +"I swan to man!" chimed in Tucket's voice from a distance,--for his long +legs had given him an advantage in the general race,--"there ain't no +shore after ye get to't. It's nothin' but salt ma'sh, all trod to pudd'n' +by the fellers that have been in ahead of us. I thought we was to be +_landed_; 'stead of that, we're swamped!" + +The men pushed on, through marsh and swamp, sometimes in mire and water +knee-deep, and now in tall, rank grass up to their eyes; the darkness +adding to their dismal prospect. + +"By Grimes!" mutters Jack Winch, "I don't think an island of this kind is +worth taking. It's jest fit for secesh and niggers, and nobody else." + +"We must have the island, because it's a key to the coast," says Frank. + +"I wouldn't talk war, if I couldn't carry a gun," retorts Jack, made +cross by the cold and wet. + +"Perhaps before we get through you'll be glad to lend me yours," is +Frank's pleasant response, as he hastens forward through grass which +waves about his ears or lies trodden and tangled under foot. + +"The gunboats have stopped firing," observes Atwater. + +In fact, both gunboats and battery were now silent, the former having +drawn off for the night. + + + + + XXIV. + + THE BIVOUAC. + + +"There's a good time coming, and near, boys! there's a good time coming, +and near!" sings out Tucket, holding his head high as he strides along, +for he has caught a sight of fires beyond, and the company are now +emerging upon a tract of sandy barrens, thinly covered with pines. + +A road runs through the island. The advance of the column has already +taken possession of it. Skirmishers have been thrown forward into the +woods, and pickets are posted on the flanks. + +The troops prepare to bivouac for the night. Fires are kindled, and soon +the generous flames blaze up, illumining picturesque groups of men, and +casting a wild glare far into the depths of the great, black, silent +woods. The trees seem to stand out like startled giants, gazing at the +unusual scene; and all above and around the frightened shadows lurk, in +ghostly boughs, behind dark trunks, among the deep grasses, and in +hollows of the black morass. And the darkness of the night overhangs the +army like a vast tent, sombrely flickering. + +A dry fence of cypress and pine rails is, without hesitation, +appropriated to feed the fires of the bivouac; and the chilled, soaked +soldiers gather around them to get warm and dry. + +"My brave fellows," says Captain Edney, passing among them, "do the best +you can for yourselves for the night. Try to keep warm, and get what rest +and sleep you can. You will need all your strength to-morrow." + +"To-morrow," observes Winch, with a swaggering, braggart air, "we're +going to give the rebels the almightiest thrashing they've had yet! To +wade in their blood as deep as I've waded to-night in this mud and water, +that's what'll just suit me!" + +"The less blood the better, boys," says Captain Edney. "But we must be +prepared to shed our own to the last drop, if need be, for we're bound to +sweep this island of every traitor to his country, before we leave it. +Make up your minds to that, boys!" + +There is that in his tone which promises something besides child's play +on the morrow. He is calm, serious, spirited, resolute; and the hearts of +his men are fired by his words. + +The troops are full of jest and merriment as they kick off their shoes, +and empty the water out of them, squeeze their dripping trousers, and, +lying on the ground, toast their steaming legs by the fires. + +"I say, le's have a gallus old time to-night, to pay for our ducking," +suggests Jack Winch. "I don't want to sleep." + +"You ought to be off in the swamps, on picket duty, then," says Harris. +"Let them sleep that have a chance. For my part, I'm going to take the +captain's advice. There's no knowing what sounds will wake us up, or how +early." + +"The sounds of muskets, I hope; and the earlier the better," says the +valiant Jack. "Dang that shoe! I believe I've roasted it! Bah! look at +Abe there, diving into his Testament, sure's you live." + +And Winch, perceiving that Atwater paid no attention to the sneer, flung +his shoe at him. The soldier was reading by the light of the flames, when +the missile came, striking the book from his hands. + +"Shame, shame!" cried Frank, indignantly. "Jack Winch, that is too mean." + +"O, you go to"----France,--only Jack used a worse word,--"with that red +rag on your arm! I don't have any thing to say to non-combatants." + +Frank might not have been able to stifle his indignation but for the +grave example of Atwater, who gave no more heed to Jack's shoe than he +had given to his base taunt, but, silently gathering up his book again, +brushed the sand from it, found his place, and resumed his reading, as +composedly as if nothing had happened. Neither did Frank say any thing. +But Ellis, near whom the shoe had fallen, tossed it back with a threat to +consign it to the fire if it came that way again. + +"Wonder if my pocket-book got wet any," said Harris, taking out his money +and examining it. + +"O, you feel mighty proud of your winnings!" said Jack, who seemed bent +on picking a quarrel with some one. + +"Yes, I do," said Harris. "I'm just so proud of it as this,"--reaching +something towards the drummer boy. "Here, Frank, is all the money, I +believe, that I've won off you. We're going into a fight to-morrow, and +nobody knows how we shall come out of it. I want to stand right with +every body, if I can." + +Frank was too much astonished to accept the money. He seemed to think +there was some joke in it. + +"I'm in earnest," insisted Harris. "The truth is, I've been ashamed of +winning your money, ever since. You didn't mean it, but you've acted in a +way to _make_ me ashamed." + +"I have! How?" Frank was more amazed than ever. + +"Because you gave over play, though you had a chance to try again, and +acted as if you had got above such foolish things. It's time we all got +above them. You're a good-hearted fellow, Frank,--you've shown that,--and +nobody shall say I've robbed you." + +Frank took the money with a heart too full for thanks. He thought Harris +a fellow of unexampled generosity, never considering how much his own +example had had to do with bringing about this most gratifying result. + +Atwater stopped reading, and looked over his book at Harris with a smile +of pleasure and approval clear as daybreak. But the silent man did not +speak. + +"Well! the idea of a battle makes some folks awful pious all at once!" +was Winch's comment. + +Nobody heeded him. As for Frank, with triumph in his heart and money in +his fist, he ran barefoot to where Seth Tucket lay sprawled before the +blazing rails, feeling of his stockings, to see if they were dry enough +to put on. + +"Hello, young chap! how goes it? 'Stranger what dost thou require? Rest, +and a guide, and food and fire.' Get down here and have a toasting. It +comes cheap." + +Frank sat down, and began counting the money. + +"What's all that?" demanded Seth. + +"All I owe you, and a little to spare!" cried Frank, elated. + +"Sho, ye don't say! See here, Frank! I never meant you should trouble +yourself about that. I'm all right, money or no money. I'm an independent +sort of nabob--don't need the vile stuff. 'Kings may be great, but Seth +is glorious, o'er all the ills of life victorious!' So put it away, and +keep it, Frank." + +But when the drummer boy told him how he had come by the money, and that +it was his wish to settle his accounts before the battle, Tucket screwed +up his face with a resigned expression, and received back the loan. + +A great weight was now lifted from Frank's mind. The vexing problem, how +he was to retain the watch and yet satisfy Seth's rightful claims, was +thus happily solved. He could have danced for joy, barefooted, in the +grassy sand. And he yearned more than ever now to see Mr. Sinjin, and +make up with him. + +A few rods off, in the rear of the soldiers' bivouacs, the old drummer +could be seen, sitting with a group of officers around a fire of their +own. His stockings were hung upon the end of a rail, and he was busy +roasting a piece of pork on the end of a stick, held out at arm's length +to the fire. Frank saw that it was no time to speak with him then; so he +returned to his place, and sat down to put on his shoes and join those +who had not yet been to supper, over their rations. + + + + + XXV. + + ATWATER. + + +As the evening wore on, Atwater was observed sitting apart from the rest, +unusually silent and grave even for him; gazing at the fire, with the +book he had been reading closed and folded thoughtfully between his +hands. + +Now Frank, following his example, had lately formed the resolution to +read a little in the Testament every night,--"if only for his mother's +sake." But to-night his Testament was in his knapsack, and his knapsack +was on board the schooner. + +"I'll borrow Atwater's," he thought; and with this purpose he approached +the tall private. + +"Sit down here, Frank," said Atwater, with a serious smile. "I want to +talk with you." + +It was so extraordinary for the phlegmatic Abe to express a wish to talk +with any body, that Frank almost felt awed by the summons. Something +within him said that a communication of no trivial import was coming. So +he sat down. And the tongue of the taciturn was that night, for once in +his life, strangely loosened. + +"I can't say it to the rest, Frank; I don't know why. But I feel as if I +could say it to you." + +"Do," said Frank, thrilling with sympathy to the soldier's mysterious +emotion. "What is it, Abe?" + +For a minute Atwater sat gazing, gazing--not at the fire. Then he lifted +from the book, which he held so tenderly, his right hand, and laid it +upon Frank's. And he turned to the boy with a smile. + +"I've liked you from the first, Frank. Did you know it?" + +"If you have, I don't know why," said Frank, deeply touched. + +"Nor do I," said the private. "Some we like, and some we don't, without +the reason for it appearing altogether clear. I liked you even when you +didn't please me very well." + +"You mean when----" began Frank, stammeringly. + +"Yes, you know when. It used to hurt me to see and hear you--but that is +past." + +"I hope so," said Frank, from his heart. + +"Yes. And I like you better than ever now. And do you know, Frank, I +don't think I could say to you what I am going to, if you hadn't been in +trouble yourself, lately? That makes me feel I can come near you." + +"O! are you in trouble, Abe?" + +"Yes,"--with another mild, serious smile. "Not just such trouble as you +were in, though. It is nothing on my own account. It is on _hers_." And +the soldier's voice sunk, as it always did, when he alluded to his wife. + +"You have heard from her?" asked Frank, with sympathizing interest. + +"Nothing but good news; nothing but good news," said Atwater, pressing +the pocket where his letters were. "I wish you could know that girl's +heart. I am just beginning to know it. She has blessed me! She is a +simple creature--not so smart as some; but she has, what is better than +all that, a heart, Frank!" + +Frank, not knowing what else to say, answered earnestly, that he was sure +of it. + +"She has brought me to know this book," the soldier continued, his +features tremblingly alive with emotion. "I never looked into it much +before. I never thought much about it--whether it was true or not. But +whether it is true or not, there is something in it that reaches me +here,"--laying his hand on his heart,--"something that sinks into me. I +can't tell how. It gives me comfort." + +Frank, still not knowing how to reply, murmured that he was glad to hear +it. + +"Now, this is what I have been wanting to say to somebody," Abram went +on, in a calm but suppressed voice. "I am going into battle to-morrow. +Don't think I am afraid. I have no fear. But of one thing I am tolerably +certain. I shall not come out of that fight unhurt." + +The smile which accompanied these words, quite as much as the words +themselves, alarmed Frank. + +"Don't say that!" he entreated. "You are a little low-spirited, Abe; +that's it." + +"O, no! I am not low-spirited in the least. My country demands +sacrifices. I, for one, am willing to die." This was said with singular +calmness and cheerfulness. But the soldier's voice failed him, as he +added, "It is only when I think of her----" + +Frank, powerfully wrought upon, endeavored in vain to dissuade his friend +from indulging in such sad presentiments. + +"Well, we will hope that they are false," said Atwater, but with a look +that betrayed how thoroughly he was convinced of their truth. "If I go +through safely, then we can laugh at them afterwards. But much may happen +in these coming twenty-four hours. Now, I am sitting here with you, +talking by these fires that light up the woods so. To-morrow night, this +which you call me,"--the soldier smilingly designated his body,--"may be +stretched upon this same earth, and you may talk in vain--it cannot +answer you." + +"We don't know,--that's true," Frank agreed. "But I hope for the best." + +"And that may be the best--for me. God knows. And for her, too,--though I +dread the stroke for her! This is what I want you to do for me, Frank. If +I fall,--_if_ I fall, you know,--you will write to her. Send back to her +my last words, with the book she gave me, and her letters. You will find +them all in this pocket, here. Will you?" + +Frank could not refrain from tears, as he made the promise. + +"That is all," said Atwater, cheerfully. "Now, my mind is easier. Now, +whatever comes, I am ready. Stay with me, if you like, and we will talk +of something else. Or shall we read a little together?" + +"I'd like to read a little," said Frank. + +And he opened the book to these words:-- + +"'Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the +soul.... Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall +not fall to the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your +head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; ye are of more value than +many sparrows.'" + +"How came you to read there?" said Atwater with a smile. + +"I don't know," said Frank. "But it seems meant for you--don't it?" + +"Yes, and it somehow makes me happy. Go on." + +And Frank read,-- + +"'Think not I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, +but a sword.'" + +"That is for both of us, for all of us, for all our people to-day," said +Atwater. "I believe it is the struggle of Satan against Christ that has +brought on this war. To attempt to build up a nation on human +slavery--that is Satan. And I believe, wicked as we are at the north too, +that the principle of freedom we are fighting for is the opposite of +Satan. And whoever brings that into the world, brings a war that will +never cease until the right triumphs, and the wrong ceases forever." + +Frank was astonished. He had never suspected that in this stiff, reserved +soldier there dwelt the spirit which, when their tongues are loosed, +makes men eloquent. + +Atwater had roused up, and spoken with earnestness. But his glow passed, +and he said quietly,-- + +"Go on." + +"'A man's foes shall be they of his own household.'" + +There Frank stopped again, this time of his own accord. The words struck +him with peculiar force. + +"That is true too," said Abram; "of the nation, for a nation is a +household; and of many, many families." + +Frank studied the words a moment, and, after a struggle with his +feelings, said in a hushed voice,-- + +"Did you know, Abe, I've a brother in the rebel army?" + +"I did not know. I have heard you have one somewhere in the south." + +"Yes, you have heard Jack twit me about my secesh brother. And I have +been obliged to own he was a--traitor. And since I left home my folks +have had a letter from him, in which he wrote that he was on the point of +joining the confederate army, and that we would not probably hear from +him again. So I suppose he is fighting against us somewhere." + +"Not here, I hope," said Atwater. + +"As well here as any where," said Frank. "I always loved my brother. I +love him still. But, as you say, wicked as we are, Christ is in our +cause, and----" Frank read,-- + +"'He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and +he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me.'" + +"And I," said the boy, lifting up his face with a patriotic, even a +religious, fervor in it, "I love my country, I love the cause of right +and freedom, better than I love my brother!" + +"With that true of us, with that love in our hearts," said Atwater, "we +can dare to fight, and whatever the result, I believe it will be well +with us. See what the book says." + +And Frank read on. + +"'He that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that looseth his life +for my sake shall find it.'" + +"That is enough," said Atwater. "I can bind that sentence like an armor +around my heart." + +"What does it mean?" + +"It means, I think, that though wickedness triumphs, it triumphs to its +own confusion, for it has no immortal life. But even the death of a saint +is victory." + +After that the soldier seemed inclined to relapse into revery. Frank +thought he did not wish to talk any more; so he gave him back the book. +Abram put it in his pocket, and took the boy's hand. + +"Good night, Frank," he smilingly said. "We shall see each other in the +morning." + +"Good night, Abe." + +Frank left him. And Atwater, stretching himself upon the ground, put his +arm beneath his head, and with the fire-light on his placid countenance, +dismissed all worldly care from his mind, and slept peacefully. + + + + + XXVI. + + OLD SINJIN. + + +At the foot of a pine tree, on a pillow of boughs, lies the old +drum-major. The blaze of the bivouac fire covers him with its glow as +with a mantle. But his face looks haggard and care-worn, and his grizzled +mustache has a cynical curl even in sleep. + +At a sound he starts, opening wide those watchful gray eyes an instant, +then closing them quickly. It is a footstep approaching. + +Stealthily it comes, and passes by his side. Then silence--broken only by +the crackle and roar of the flames. At length one eye of the sleeper +opens a little, and peeps; and as it peeps, it sees, sitting on the pine +roots, in the broad fire-light, with his cap before his eyes shading +them, and his eyes fixed wistfully on him, Frank, the drummer boy. + +The eye that opened a little and peeped, closes again. The old fellow +begins to snore. + +"Poor old man!" says the boy to himself; "how tired he looks. And to +think I have done so much to hurt his feelings! I wish I could tell him +how sorry I am; but I must not wake him." + +Again the ambushed eye opens, and the little corner of the sleeper's soul +that happens to be _not_ asleep, reconnoitres. Frank is sitting there +still, faithfully watching. A stream of electric fire tingles in that +misanthropic breast, at the sight. But still the old man snores. + +"I may as well lie down and go to sleep too," says Frank. And, very +softly, so as not to awaken Mr. Sinjin, he lays himself down by his side, +puts his cheek on the pillow of boughs, and keeps perfectly still. + +The heart of the veteran burns within him, but he makes no sign. And +now--hark! Patter, patter, patter. It is beginning to rain. + +This, then, is what the dark canopy meant, hanging so luridly over the +fire-lit forest. Patter, patter; faster, faster; dripping through the +trees, hissing in the fire, capering like fairies on the ground, comes +the midnight rain. + +Sinjin thinks it about time to wake. But Frank is stirring; so he +concludes to sleep a little longer, and see what he will do. + +Frank takes some pine boughs, and lays them carefully over the old man, +to shelter him from the rain. Hotter and hotter glows the old heart +beneath; melt it must soon. + +"There!" says Frank in a whisper; "don't tell him I did it!" + +He is going. Old Sinjin can sleep--or pretend to sleep--no more. + +"Hello! Who's there?"--awaking with amazing suddenness.--"That you, +Frank? What are you here for at this time of night?" + +"O, I'm a privileged character. They let me go around the camp about as I +like, you know." + +"How long has it been raining? And how came all this rubbish heaped over +me?" + +The pattering becomes a rushing in the tree-tops, a wild sibilation as of +serpents in the fire, and a steady rattling and whizzing in the swamps. + +"Well, well! this won't do, boy! Come with me!" + +They run to the shelter of a huge leaning trunk and crouch beneath it. + +"You're not so used to these things as I am," says the old man, shielding +the boy with his arms. + +"Let me bring some boughs to throw over you!" cries Frank. + +"No--sit still! You have heaped boughs enough on me for one night!" + +"Were you--awake?" + +"One eye was a little awake." + +"And you saw!" + +"I saw all you did, my boy!" + +Frank knows not whether to be happy or ashamed. Neither speaks. The storm +is roaring in the trees. The water drips and the spray sifts upon them, +At length Frank says,-- + +"I wanted to tell you I have the watch again, and I know who gave it to +me, and I think he is one of the best old men in the world. And I wanted +to say that I am very sorry for every thing I have said and done that was +wrong." + +The bosom of the lonely old man heaves as he answers, "Don't, my boy! +don't say you are sorry--I can't stand that!" And he hugs the boy close. + +"But why didn't you want me to know you gave the watch?" + +"Because I am such a foolish old fellow, and have forgotten how to treat +a friend. For twenty years and more I have not known what it was to have +a living soul care for me." + +"O, it must be so hard for you to be alone so! Have you no sisters?" + +"Sisters! I would tell you of one so proud, and rich, and in fashion, +that her great house has no room in it for a rusty old brother like me!" + +Frank thought of his own sisters--of Hattie, who was gone, and of Helen, +who, though she should wed a prince, would never, he was sure, shut her +doors against him; and he was filled with pity for the poor old man. + +"But you must have had friends?" + +"I had one, who was a fast friend enough when he was poor and I had a +little property. But I became responsible for his debts, which he left me +to pay; then I was poor, whilst he grew rich and hated me!" + +"Hated you?" + +"Of course! We may forgive those who wrong us, but not those we have +wronged. He never forgave me for having been robbed by him!" And the old +man's voice grew hard and ironical at the recollection. + +"Why didn't you ever get married?" asked Frank. "You have one of the +best, biggest hearts in the world, and you ought to have loved somebody +with it. Didn't you ever?" + +The spirit of the old man shrank sensitively within him for a moment. +Then he said to himself, "He will know of it some day, and I may as well +tell him." For the heart that had been frozen for years this youth had +had power to thaw. + +"I never loved--any woman--well enough to marry her. But there was once a +little girl that I had known from her cradle--for I was many years older +than she. I used to pet her, and tell her stories, and sing and play to +her, until I became more bound up in her than was very wise for one who +was not her father or her brother. Well, she got to be of your age, and +still ran to kiss me when I came, and never guessed what was growing up +in my heart and taking possession of me, for it was stronger than I, and +stronger than all the world. I saw her fast becoming a woman, and forgot +that I was at the same time fast becoming an old man. And one day I asked +her to marry me. I did not mean then, but in a few years. But she did not +stop to hear my explanations. She sprang from me with a scream. And that +ended it. She could never be to me again the innocent pet she had been, +and as for being what I wished--I saw at once how absurd the proposal +was! I saw that from that time she could regard me only with astonishment +and laughter. I was always extremely sensitive, and this affair, with the +other I have told you of, proved too much for me. I fled from society. I +enlisted as a drummer, and I suppose I shall never be any thing but a +drummer now. And this, my boy, is the reason I was never married." + +Drearily sounded the old man's voice as he closed. + +"It is all so sad!" said Frank. "But ought a man to do so, because he has +been once or twice deceived? I have heard my mother say that as we are to +others, so they will be to us. If we are generous, that excites them to +be generous; and love calls out love." + +"Your mother says that?" replied Mr. Sinjin in a low voice. "Ah, and she +says true! If one is proud and reserved, he will find the world proud and +reserved: that I know! Because two or three failed me, I distrusted every +body, and was repaid with distrust. O my boy, do not do so! Never let +your soul be chilled by any disappointment, if you would not become a +solitary and neglected old man. Better trust a thousand times, and be +deceived as often, better love a thousand times in vain, than shut up +your heart in suspicion and scorn. Your mother is right, Frank,--in that, +as in every thing else, she is perfectly right!" + +"It isn't too late yet--is it?--to have friends such as you like. I am +sure you can if you will," said Frank. + +"You have almost made me think so," answered the old drummer. "You have +brought back to my heart more of its youth and freshness than I had felt +for years. I want you to know that, my boy." + +Frank did not understand how it could be, and the old man did not inform +him. It was now very late. The rain poured dismally. Frank lay nestled in +the old man's bosom, like a child. For a long time he did not speak. Then +the veteran bent forward so that he could look in his face. The boy was +fast asleep. + +"How much he looks like his mother! Her brow, her mouth! God bless the +lad, God bless him!" + +And the old man sat and watched whilst the drummer boy slept. + + + + + XXVII. + + THE SKIRMISH. + + +The night and the storm passed, and day dawned on Roanoke Island. + +No reveille roused up the soldiers. Silently from their drenched, cold +beds, they arose and prepared for the rough day's work before them. + +The morning was chill and wet, the rain still dripping from the trees. +Far in the cypress swamps the lone birds piped their matin songs--the +only sounds in those dim solitudes, so soon to be filled with the roar of +battle. + +Ten thousand men had been landed from the fleet; and now ten thousand +hearts were beating high in anticipation of the conflict. + +The line of advance lay along the road, which run in a northerly +direction through the centre of the island. Across this road the rebels +had erected their most formidable battery, with seemingly impenetrable +swamps on either side, an ample space cleared for the play of their guns +in front, and felled trees all around. + +General Foster's brigade took the advance, having with it a battery of +twelve-pounders from the fleet, to operate on the enemy's front. General +Reno followed, with orders to penetrate on the left the frightful lagoons +and thickets which protected the enemy's flank. A third column, under +General Parke, brought up the rear. + +General Foster rode forward with his staff into the woods, and made a +reconnoissance. The line of pickets opened to let the brigade pass +through. Not a drum was beat. Slowly, in silence, occasionally halting, +regiment succeeded regiment, in perfect order, with heavy muffled tramp. + +Along the forest road they passed, the men laughing and joking in high +spirits, as if marching to a parade. The still, beautiful light of the +innocent morning silvered the trees. The glistering branches arched +above; the glistening stream of steel flowed beneath. Wreaths of vines, +beards of moss, trailed their long fringes and graceful drapery from the +boughs. The breeze shook down large shining drops, and every bush a +soldier touched threw off its dancing shower. + +"'And Ardennes waves above them her green leaves, dewy with nature's +tear-drops, as they pass,'" remarked Seth Tucket. + +"Come, none o' your solemncholy poetry to-day," said Jack Winch. "I never +felt so jolly in my life. There's only one kind of poetry I want to hear, +and that's the pouring of our volleys into the rebels." + +"The pouring of their volleys into us ain't quite so desirable, I +suppose," said Harris. + +"There wouldn't be much fun without some danger," said Jack. + +"If that's fun, I guess Winch 'll have fun enough before we're through +with this job," remarked Ellis. + +"What a long road it is!" cried Jack, impatiently. + +"We'll come to a short turn in it pretty soon," said Atwater, +significantly. + +"Well, Abe has spoken!" said Jack. "His mouth has been shut so tight all +along, I didn't think 'twould open till the time comes for him to cry +quarter." + +"Atwater means to let his gun speak for him to-day," said Harris. + +"What do we go so slow for? Why don't we hurry on?" said Jack. "I want to +get at the rebels some time this week. I don't believe they----" + +He was going to say that he didn't believe they would wait to fire a +shot. But even as he spoke the confutation of his opinion resounded in +the woods. Crack--crack--crack--went the rebel muskets; then followed a +volley from the troops in advance. + +"Why didn't you finish your sentence, Jack?" said Harris, with a smile. + +"They're at it!" whispered Jack, in a changed voice. + +"A little skirmishing," said Atwater, quietly. + +Crack, crack, again; and--_sing!_--came a bullet over the heads of the +men, cutting the leaves as it passed. + +"Too high," laughed Gray, coolly. + +"Halt!" come the command, which John Winch, for one, obeyed with amazing +promptness. + +"Hallo, Jack!" said Ellis; "who taught you to halt before the word is +given?" + +"Are they going to keep us standing here all day?" said Jack, presently. + +"He's as wide awake now to be on the move as he was to stop," laughed +Harris. + +"Well," said Jack, nervously, "who likes to stand still and be shot at?" + +"There's no shooting at us," replied Harris. "When it comes to that, +we'll see the fun you talk about." + +Fun! Jack's countenance looked like any thing but fun just then. + +He gained some confidence by observing the officers coolly giving their +orders, and the men coolly executing them, as if nothing of importance +had happened, or was expected to happen. + +Captain Edney deployed his company, pressing forward into the swamp. +Bushes and fallen logs impeded their progress; the mud and water were in +places leg-deep; and the men were permitted to pick their way as best +they could. Suddenly out of a thicket a bullet came whizzing. Another and +another followed. One tore the bark from a tree close by Captain Edney's +head. + +"Keep cool, boys!" he said; "and aim low." + +He then gave the order, "Commence firing!" and the front rank men, +halting, poured their volley into the thicket--their first shot at the +enemy. Whilst they were reloading, the second rank advanced and delivered +their fire. + +"Don't waste a shot, my brave fellows!" cried the captain. "Fire wherever +you see signs of a rebel. Always aim at _something_." + +This last order was a very useful one; for many, in the excitement of +coming for the first time under fire, were inclined to let off their +pieces at random in the air; and the deliberation required to take aim, +if only at a bush behind which a rebel might be concealed, had an +excellent effect in quieting the nerves. + +Yet some needed no such instruction. Atwater was observed to load and +fire with as steady a hand and as serene a countenance as if he had been +practising at a target. Others were equally calm and determined. There +were some, however, even of the brave, who, from constitutional +excitability, and not from any cowardice of spirit, exhibited symptoms of +nervousness. Their cheeks paled and their hands shook. But, the momentary +tremor past, these men become perhaps the most resolute and efficient of +all. + +Such a one was Frank; who, though in the rear of the regiment, with the +ambulance corps, felt his heart beat so wildly at the first whiz of a +bullet over his head, that he was afraid he was going to be afraid. + +Was Jack Winch another of the sort? It was pitiful to see him attempt to +load his piece. He never knew how it happened, but, instead of a +cartridge, he got hold of the tompion,--called by the boys the +"tompin,"--used to stop the muzzle of the gun and protect it from +moisture, and was actually proceeding to ram it down the barrel before he +discovered his mistake! + +"Take a cartridge, Winch!" said Captain Edney, who was coolly noting the +conduct of his men. + +So Jack, throwing away the stopper, took a cartridge. But his hand shook +_around_ the muzzle of the gun so that it was some time before he could +insert the charge. He had already dodged behind a tree, the men being +allowed to shelter themselves when they could. + +"Dry ground is scarce as hen's teeth!" remarked Seth Tucket, droll as +ever, looking for a good place to stand while he was loading. + +"Fun, ain't it?" said Ned Ellis, who had sought cover by the same tree +with Winch. + +He stood at Jack's left hand, and a little behind him. Jack, too much +agitated to respond to the unseasonable jest, threw up the barrel of his +piece, in order to prime, when a bullet came, from nobody knew where, +aslant, and put an end to jesting for the present. + +Jack felt a benumbing shock, and dropped his gun, the stock of which had +been shivered in his grasp. At the same instant Ellis dropped his gun +also, and threw out his hands wildly, exclaiming,-- + +"I am shot!" + +And both fell to the ground together. + +"That's what ye call two birds with one stun!" said Tucket, a flash of +ferocity kindling his face as he saw his comrades fall. "Pay 'em for +that, boys! Pay 'em for that!" + +And hearing the order to charge the thicket, he went forward with a yell, +taking strides that would have done credit to a moose in his own native +woods of Maine. + +Ellis had by this time got upon his feet again. But Jack lay still, his +neck bathed in blood. + + + + XXVIII. + + JACK WINCH'S CATASTROPHE. + + +Several companies were by this time engaged driving in the rebel +skirmishers, and three or four men had been disabled. + +It was impracticable to take the stretchers, or litters for the wounded, +into such a wilderness of bogs and thickets; and accordingly the most +forward and courageous of the carriers leaped into the swamps without +them. + +As soon as Frank heard that some of his company had been wounded, all +sense of danger to himself was forgotten, and no remonstrance from his +friend the drum-major could prevent his rushing in to assist in bringing +them off. + +Finding that the boy, whose welfare was so precious to him, could not be +restrained, Mr. Sinjin plunged in with him, and kept at his side, +scrambling through mud and brush and water, and over logs and roots, in +the direction of the firing. + +They had not gone far when they met a wounded soldier coming out. His +right hand hung mangled and ghastly and bleeding at his side. A slug from +a rifle musket had ploughed it through, nearly severing the fingers from +the wrist. + +"Ellis!" cried Frank--"you hurt?" + +Ned swung the disabled and red-dripping member up to view, with a sorry +smile. + +"Not so bad as might be!" he said, with a rather faint show of gayety. +"Jack has got it worse." + +"Jack who?"--for there were several Jacks in the company. + +"Winch," said Ellis, whilst the old drummer was binding up his hand to +stop the blood. + +"Is he killed?" asked Frank, with a strange feeling--almost of remorse, +remembering his late bitter and vindictive thoughts towards John. + +"I don't know. We were both hit by the same ball, I believe. It must have +passed through his neck. It came from one side, and we tumbled both +together. What I tumbled for, I don't know. It didn't take me long to +pick myself up again!" + +"And Jack?" + +"There he lies, with blood all over his face." + +"And nobody caring for him?" + +"The boys have something else to think of!" said Ellis, with a pallid +smile. + +Mr. Sinjin, having tied up the wound, directed him how to find the +surgeon. And Ellis, in return, pointed out the best way to get at Jack. + +The company had advanced, driving the rebel skirmishers before them, and +leaving Winch where he had fallen. Frank and his companion soon reached +the spot. There lay the hapless youth under the roots of the tree, the +left side of his face and neck all covered with gore. + +"Jack!" cried Frank, stooping by his side, and lifting his arm. + +No answer. The arm fell heavily again as he released it. + +"Dead!" said the boy, a sudden calmness coming over him. "We may as well +leave him where he is, and look for others." + +"Not dead yet," said the more experienced Sinjin, feeling Jack's heart, +which was beating still. In corroboration of which statement Winch +uttered something between a gasp and a groan, and rolled up horrible +eyes. + +Frank was standing, and the old man was trying to find Winch's wound, in +order to prevent his bleeding to death while they were carrying him out, +when the report of a rifle sounded, seemingly quite near, and a bullet +passed with a swift vehement buzz close by their ears. At the instant +Frank felt something like a quick tap or jerk on his arm. He looked, and +saw that the strip of red flannel, which betokened the service he was +engaged in, and which should have rendered his person sacred from any +intentional harm, had been shot away. A hole had been torn in his sleeve +also, but his flesh was untouched. + +The old drummer looked up quickly. + +"Are you hurt?" + +"No," said Frank, feeling of his arm while he looked around to discover +where the shot came from. "It must have been a spent ball; for, see! it +fell there in the water!"--pointing at a pool behind them, the surface of +which was still rippling with the plunge of the shot. + +Winch gave another groan. + +"The wound must be an internal one," said Sinjin, "for he is not bleeding +much now." + +Frank assisted to lift him, and together they bore him back towards the +road. It was a difficult task. Frank had neither the stature nor the +strength of a man; but he made up in energy and good will what he lacked +in force. Very carefully, very tenderly, through bogs and through +thickets, they carried the helpless, heavy weight of the blood-stained +volunteer. + +"Frank! is it you?" murmured Winch, faintly. + +"Yes, Jack!" panted the boy, out of breath with exertion. + +"Am I killed?" articulated Jack. + +"O, no!" said Frank. "You've got a bullet in you somewhere; but I guess +the surgeon will soon have it out, and you'll be all right again." + +"O!" groaned Jack. + +Just then there came another rifle-crack, not quite so near as before, +and another bullet came with its angry buzz. It cut a twig just over Mr. +Sinjin's head, and grazed a cypress tree farther on, at a point +considerably lower, and with a downward slant, as the mark revealed. + +"Another spent ball," said Frank. + +But the old drummer shook his head. "Those are no spent balls. Some +murderous rebel is aiming at us." + +"How can that be?" + +"I don't know. And our best way is not to stop to inquire, but to get out +of this as soon as possible." + +"Frank!" groaned the burden they were bearing. + +"What, Jack?" + +"Forgive me, Frank!" + +"For what?" said Frank, cheerily. + +"For writing home lies about you." + +"They were not all lies, I'm sorry to say, Jack. But even if they were, I +forgive you from my very soul." + +Jack groaned, and said no more. Assistants now came to meet them, and +Frank, who was almost exhausted with the fatigue of bringing his comrade +so far, was relieved of the burden. The road was near, and Jack was soon +laid upon a stretcher. + +"Frank!" he gasped, rolling his eyes again, "don't leave me! For God's +sake, stay by me, Frank!" + +So Frank kept by his side, while the men bore him along the road to a +tree, where the surgeon had hung up his red flag, and established his +hospital. + +Ellis had just undergone the amputation of his mangled hand, without once +flinching under the surgeon's knife, and he remained on the spot to +encourage Winch. + +"If I die," began Jack, stirring himself more than he had been observed +to do before. "Frank, do you hear me?" + +"What is it, Jack?" asked the sympathizing boy. + +"If I die, don't let me be buried on this miserable island!" + +"But you are not going to die," said the surgeon, kindly, cutting away +the clothes from his neck. + +Mr. Sinjin assisted, while Frank anxiously awaited the result of the +examination. The surgeon looked puzzled. There was blood, but not any +fresh blood--and no wound! Not so much as a scratch of the skin. + +Jack in the mean time was groaning dismally. + +"What are you making that noise for?" exclaimed the surgeon, sharply. +"There isn't a hurt about you!" + +"Ain't I shot?" cried Jack, starting up, as much astonished as any body; +for he had really believed he was a dead man. "I was hit, I know! and I +swooned away." + +"You swooned from fright, then," declared the indignant surgeon. "Take +the fellow away!" + +Jack, however, gratified as he was to learn he was not killed, testily +insisted that a bullet had passed through him, adducing the blood on his +face as a proof. + +Thereupon Ellis broke into a laugh. + +"It takes Jack to make capital out of a little borrowed blood. I know +something about that. When my hand was ploughed through, I slapped it +against his face; and down he went, fainting dead away." And, +notwithstanding the ache of his wound and his weakness, and the scenes of +horror thickening around, Ned leaned back against the tree, and laughed +merrily at what he called Jack's "awful big scare." + +Frank felt immensely relieved, at first, on learning that Jack was not +killed; then immensely amused; and, lastly, immensely disgusted. He +remembered the severe struggle it cost to bring him out of the swamp, the +rolled-up eyes, the lugubrious groans, and the faintly murmured dying +request to be forgiven. And in the revulsion of his feelings he could not +help saying, "Yes, Jack, I forgive ye! and if you die, you shan't be +buried on this miserable island." + +He was excited when he uttered this taunt, and he was sorry for it +afterwards. Seeing the craven slink away, conscious of the scorn of every +body, he felt a touch of pity for him. + +"Jack," said he, with friendly intent, "why don't you go back and wipe +out this disgrace? _I_ would." + +"Because," snarled Jack, goaded by his own shame and the general +contempt, "I'm hurt, I tell ye! _internally_, I s'pose,"--for he had +heard Mr. Sinjin use the word, and thought it a good one to suit his +case. And he lay down wretchedly by the roadside, and counterfeited +anguish, while the fresh troops marched by to the battle. + +A fiery impulse seized the drummer boy. He glanced at his torn sleeve, +from which the badge had been shot away, and thought there was something +besides accident in what appeared so much like an omen. If it meant any +thing, was it not that his place was elsewhere than in the ambulance +corps? + +He turned to Mr. Sinjin, and asked to be excused from going with the +stretcher. And Mr. Sinjin, who prized the boy's safety too highly to wish +to see him go again under fire, was only too glad to excuse him, never +once suspecting what wild purpose was in his heart. + +The battle was now fairly begun. The rebel battery had opened. The +continual rattle of musketry and the thunder of heavy cannon shook the +island. The regiments in line in front of the cleared space before the +battery, returned the fire with energy, and the marine howitzers also +responded. Soon a shell from the enemy's work came flying through the +woods with a hum, which increased to a howl, and burst with a startling +explosion within a few rods of the hospital. Nobody was hurt; but the +incident had a very marked effect on Jack Winch. He got better at once, +and moved to the rear with an alacrity surprisingly in contrast with his +recent helplessness. + + + + + XXIX. + + HOW FRANK GOT NEWS OF HIS BROTHER. + + +Frank was already moving off quite as rapidly, but in the opposite +direction. He plunged once more into the swamp, and returned to the spot +where Jack had fallen. The battle was raging beyond; the troops had +passed on; the ground was deserted. But there lay Winch's gun; with his +cartridge-box beside it. Near by was Ellis's piece, abandoned where it +had fallen. There, too, lay the red badge which had been shot from +Frank's arm. He picked it up, thinking his mother would like to have him +preserve it. + +Then he slipped on the cartridge-box, and took up Winch's gun; for this +was the resolution which inspired him--to assume the poltroon's place in +the company, and by his own conduct to atone for the disgrace he had +brought upon it. + +But the gun-stock was, as has been said, shattered; and Frank could not +have the satisfaction of revenging himself and his comrades for Winch's +cowardice with Winch's own gun. So he threw it down, and took up Ellis's, +which he found ready loaded and primed. + +While he was examining the piece, he remembered the shots which he had +taken for spent balls, and bethought him to look around the woods in the +direction from which they had come. Raising his eyes above the +undergrowth, he beheld a singular phenomenon. + +At first, he thought it was a wild animal--a coon, or a wildcat, coming +down a tree. Then there were two wildcats, descending together, or +preparing to descend. Then the wildcats became two human legs clasped +around the trunk, and two human arms appeared enjoying an equally close +hug above them. The body to which these visible members appertained was +itself invisible, being on the farther side of the trunk. + +"That's the chap that was shooting at us!" was Frank's instantaneous +conviction. + +And now he could plainly discern an object slung across the man's back, +as his movements swung it around a little to one side. It was the +sharpshooter's rifle. + +Frank was so excited that he felt himself trembling--not with fear, but +with the very ardor of his ambition. + +"Since he has had two shots at me, why shouldn't I have as much as one at +him?" + +To disable and bring in the rebel who had shot the badge from his +arm--what a triumph! + +But he was not in a good position for an effective shot, even if he could +have made up his mind to fire at a person who, though without doubt an +enemy, was not at the moment defending himself. It seemed, after all, too +dreadful a thing deliberately to kill a man. + +Frank's excitement did not embarrass his faculties in the least, but only +rendered them all the more keenly alive and vigilant. It took him but a +moment to decide what to do. Through the swamp he ran with a lightness +and ability of which in calmer moments he would have been scarcely +capable. The exigency of the occasion inspired him. Such leaps he took +over miry places! so safely and swiftly be ran the length of an old mossy +log! so nimbly he avoided the undergrowth! and so suddenly he arrived at +last at the tree the rebel was descending! + +For he was a rebel indeed. Frank knew that by his gray uniform and short +jacket. He had been perched in the thick top of a tall pine to pick off +our men during the skirmish. It was he who had taken the bark from the +tree near Captain Edney's head. It was he who had basely thought to +assassinate those who were carrying away the wounded. And now, the +advancing troops having passed him, he was taking advantage of the +solitary situation to slip down the trunk and make his escape through the +woods. + +Unfortunately for him, he could not go up and down trees like a squirrel. +He proceeded _hugging_ his way so slowly and laboriously that Frank +reached the spot when he was still within a dozen feet of the ground. +Hearing a noise, and looking down over his arm, and seeing Frank, he +would have jumped the remainder of the distance. But Frank was prepared +for that. + +"Stop, or I'll fire!" + +Shrill and menacing rang the boy's determined tones through the soul of +the treed rebel. He saw the gun pointed up at him; so he stopped. + +"What's wanting?" said he, gruffly. + +"I want you to throw down that rifle as quick as ever you can!" cried +Frank. + +"What do you want of my rifle?" + +"I've a curiosity to see what sort of a piece you use to shoot at men +carrying off the wounded." + +And the "grayback" (as the boys termed the rebels) could hear the ominous +click of the gun lock in Frank's hands. + +"Was it you I fired at?" + +"Yes, it was; and I'm bound to put lead into you now, if you don't do as +I tell you pretty quick!" + +"I can't throw my gun down; I can't get it off," remonstrated the man. + +"You never will come down from that tree alive, unless you do!" said +Frank. + +"Well, take the d----d thing then!" growled the man. And unclasping one +arm from the tree, while he held on with the other and his two legs, he +slipped the belt over his head, and dropped the gun to the ground. "If it +had been good for any thing, I reckon you wouldn't be here now, bothering +me!" he added, significantly. + +"No doubt!" said Frank. "You are brave fellows, to shoot out of trees at +men carrying off the wounded. Wait! I'm not quite ready for you yet." + +And he stood under the tree, with his musket pointed upwards, ready +cocked, and with the point of the bayonet in rather ticklish proximity to +the most exposed and prominent part of the rebel's person. + +"Ye think I'm going to stick here all day?" growled the desperate +climber. + +"You'll stick there till you throw me down your revolver," Frank +resolutely informed him. + +"How do you know I've got a revolver?" + +"I saw your hand make a motion at your pocket. You thought you'd try a +shot at me. But you saw at the very next motion you'd be a dead man!" + +"You mean to say you'd blow my brains out?" + +"Yes, if your brains are where my gun is aimed, as I think the brains of +rebels must be, or they never would have seceded." + +Frank's gun, by the way, was aimed at the above mentioned very exposed +and prominent part. + +"Grayback" grinned and growled. + +"Come, my young joker, I can't stand this!" + +"You'll have to stand it till you throw down that revolver!" + +"I'm slipping!" + +"Then I'll give you something sharp to slip on!" + +The man felt that he had really betrayed himself by making the +involuntary movement towards his breast-pocket, which Frank had been too +shrewd not to notice. The cocked gun, and bayonet, and resolute young +face below, were inexorable. So he yielded. + +"Don't throw it towards me! Drop it the other side!" cried the wary +Frank. + +The revolver was tossed down. Then Frank stepped back, and let the man +descend from his uncomfortable position. + +"Boy!" said the man, as soon as his feet were safe on the ground, and he +could turn to look at his captor, "I reckon you're a cute 'un! A Yankee, +ain't ye?" + +"Yes, and proud to own it!" said Frank. "Keep your distance!"--as the man +made a move to come nearer--"and don't you stoop to touch that gun!" + +"Look here," said the man, coaxingly, "you'd better let me go! I'm out +of ammunition, and can't hurt any body. I'll give ye ten dollars if you +will." + +"In confederate shinplasters?" + +The rebel laughed. "No, in Uncle Sam's gold." + +"You don't place a very high value on yourself," said Frank. "You are too +modest." + +"Twenty dollars!"--jingling the money in his pocket. "Come, I'm a +gentleman at home, and I don't want to go north. Well, say thirty +dollars." + +"If you hadn't said you were a gentleman, I might trade," said Frank. +"But a gentleman is worth more than you bid. You wouldn't insult a negro +by offering that for him!" + +"Fifty dollars, then! I see you are sharp at a bargain. And you shall +keep that revolver." + +"I intend to keep this, any way," said Frank, picking it up. "And the gun +that shot at me, too," slinging it on his back. + +The rebel, seeing his determination, rose in his bids at once to a +hundred dollars. + +"Not for a hundred thousand!" said Frank, who was now ready to move his +prisoner. "You are going the way my bayonet points, and no other. March!" + +The rebel marched accordingly. + +Frank followed at a distance of two or three paces, prepared at any +moment to use prompt measures in case his prisoner should attempt to turn +upon him or make his escape. + +"How many of you fellows are hid around in these trees?" said Frank. + +"Not many just around here--lucky for you!" muttered the disconsolate +rebel. + +"Is that your favorite way of fighting?" + +"People fight any way they can when their soil is invaded." + +"What are holes cut in the pine trees for,--foot-holds for climbing?" + +"Holes? them's turpentine boxes!" said the man, in some surprise at +Frank's ignorance. "Didn't you ever see turpentine boxes before?" + +"Never till last evening. Is that the way you get turpentine?" + +"That's the way we get turpentine. The sap begins to run and fill the +boxes along in March, and when they are full we dip it out with ladles +made on purpose, and put it into barrels." + +"O, you needn't stop to explain!" cried Frank. "Push ahead!" + +And the rebel pushed ahead. + +It was a moment of unspeakable satisfaction to the drummer boy when he +had brought his prisoner through all the difficulties of the way to the +road. There he had him safe. + +He was now in the midst of shocking and terrible scenes, but he heeded +them not as much as he would have heeded the smallest accident to a +fellow-creature a few hours before. Already he seemed familiar with +battles and all their horrors. Men were hurrying by with medical stores. +The wounded were passing, on stretchers, or in the arms of their friends, +or limping painfully, ghastly, bleeding, but heroic still. They smiled as +they showed their frightful hurts. One poor fellow had had his arm torn +off by a cannon ball: the flesh hung in strings. Some lay by the +roadside, faint from the loss of blood. And all the time the deadly, +deafening tumult of the battle went on. + +To guard his prisoner securely was Frank's first thought. But greater, +more absorbing even than that, was the wild wish to see the enemies of +his country defeated, and to share in the glorious victory. + +"Frank Manly! what sort of a beast have you got there?" cried a soldier, +returning from the action with a slight wound. + +Frank recognized a member of another company in the same regiment to +which he belonged. + +"I've got a sharpshooter that I've taken prisoner." And he briefly +related his adventure, every word of which the rebel, who rather admired +his youthful captor, voluntarily confirmed. + +"It's just as he tells you," he said, assuming a candid, reckless air. "I +am well enough satisfied. If your men are equal to your boys, I shall +have plenty of company before night." + +"You think we shall have you all prisoners?" inquired Frank, eagerly. + +"This island," replied the rebel, "is a perfect trap. I've known it from +the beginning. You outnumber us two to one, and if the fight goes against +us, we've no possible chance of escape. We've five thousand men on the +island, and if we're whipped you'll make a pretty respectable bag. But +you never can conquer us,"--he hastened to add, fearing lest he was +conceding too much. + +"Can't, eh?" laughed Frank. "Where's the last ditch?" + +"Never mind about that," said the prisoner, with a peculiar grin. + +By this time several other stragglers had gathered around them, eager to +hear the story of the drummer boy's exploit. + +The rebel had looked curiously at his youthful captor ever since he had +heard him called by name. At length he said:-- + +"Have you got a brother in the confederate army?" + +Frank changed color. "Why do you ask that?" + +"Because we have a Captain Manly, from the north somewhere, who looks +enough like you to be a pretty near relation." + +Frank trembled with interest as he inquired, "What is his given name?" + +"Captain--Captain _George_ Manly, I'm pretty sure." + +"Yes, sir,"--and sorry tears came into Frank's eyes as he spoke,--"I +suppose I must own he is my brother." + +"Well, you've a smart chance of meeting him, I reckon,--if, as I said, +your men are equal to your boys. For he's fighting against you to-day, +and he's one of the pluckiest, and he won't run." + + + + + XXX. + + THE BOYS MEET AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE. + + +Frank was anxious to inquire further concerning his apostate brother; but +at this moment one of Foster's aids came up, and saw the prisoner. + +"Where did you find that fellow?" The story was quickly told. "Well," +said the officer, "you've taken the first prisoner to-day." + +He then turned to question the captive, who seemed inclined to talk +freely about the position and force of the confederates. + +"I'll take this fellow in charge," he said, perceiving that it was in his +power to give valuable information. "Come, too, if you like." + +"I thank you; I want to join my company," said Frank. + +"You'd rather do that than come and see the general?" + +"I can see him any time when he wants me, but we don't have a fight every +day, sir." + +"Well, he shall hear of you. Can I do any thing for you?" + +"If you please, you may take this gun that I have captured; one is enough +for me." + +The officer took it, saying, as he turned to go,-- + +"A spirited boy, and as modest as he is brave!" + +In the mean time Frank's comrades in the fight were cutting their way +through a thick swampy jungle in the direction of the enemy's left flank. + +Relieved of his prisoner, his ardor inflamed rather than quenched by the +evil tidings he had heard of his brother, he followed in their track, +passing directly across the fire of the battery. + +The hurricane of destruction swept howling over him. The atmosphere was +thick with smoke. Grape-shot whizzed through the bushes. The scream of +rifled shot seemed to fill the very air with terror and shuddering. Right +before him a shell struck a forest tree, shivering limbs and trunk in an +instant, as if a bolt from heaven had fallen upon it. He felt that at any +moment his tender body too might be torn in pieces; but he believed God's +arm was about him, and that he would be preserved. Deep and solemn, happy +even, was that conviction. A sense of the grand and terrible filled him; +the whole soul of the boy was aroused. He was not afraid of any thing. He +felt ready for any thing, even death, in his country's service. + +The mud was deep, and savage the entanglement of bushes on every side. +But the troops, breaking through, had made the way comparatively easy to +follow, and Frank soon overtook the regiment. + +Great was Captain Edney's surprise at sight of him, with a gun in his +hand and with the glow of youthful heroism in his face. + +"What are you here for?" + +"To beg permission to take Winch's place in the ranks." + +"Your place is with the ambulance corps." + +"I got excused from that, sir. I am not strong enough to carry heavy men +through the swamps," said Frank, with a smile. + +"But strong enough to take a man's place in the ranks!" said Captain +Edney. + +"I would like to have you try me, sir." + +You may know that Captain Edney loved the boy to whom he gave so many +words and such serious thought at a time of action and peril. Perhaps he +had heard of Winch's pusillanimity, and understood the spirit which +prompted Frank to fill his place. Certain it is he saw in the lad's eye +the guarantee that, if permitted, he would give no cowardly account of +himself that day. So, reluctantly, dreading lest evil might happen to +him, he granted his request; and with a thrill of joy, Frank sprang to +Atwater's side. + +"I'm here, old Abe!" + +"I'm glad--and sorry!" said Abe. + +The company had halted, awaiting the movement of the troops in front. + +"We are getting into a splendid position!" said Gray, who had passed +through the undergrowth to reconnoitre. "We're fairly on their flank, and +not discovered yet!" + +"How far did you go?" asked Captain Edney. + +"To the clearing, which is just there where the woods look lighter. I +could see the guns of the battery blazing away, and rebels in the woods +supporting it. They're too busy to notice us." + +"We're discovered, though!" said Captain Edney as a bullet came chipping +its way among the twigs above them. + +"The sharpshooters are after us!" said Gray, gayly. "And now we're after +them!" + +The order was given to advance. The men dashed forward through the +bushes. They soon made the clearing, and marching along its edge, opened +fire by file upon the battery and the rebels in the woods. + +"You do well, Frank!" said Atwater, seeing his young companion coolly +loading and firing at his side. + +"It's a perfect surprise to them! they didn't think we could do it!" +cried Gray, elated. "Lively, boys! lively." + +The firing, regular at first, running along the line from right to left, +soon became a continual rattling, each man loading at will, and firing +whenever an enemy's head showed itself. + +"There! I popped you over, you sneaking rebel!" cried Seth Tucket, +watching the effect of his shot. "Take the fellow next to him there, +Harris! behind that stump!" + +"Let him put up his head a little higher!" said Harris, taking aim. + +He fired. The rebel dropped, not behind the stump, but beside it. + +"You've saved him!" shouted Tucket. "That'll pay for Ellis and Jack +Winch!" + +The fire of the enemy in the woods was soon concentrated on Captain +Edney's company, which happened to be most exposed. + +"Fire and load lying!" rang the captain's voice through the din. + +Frank saw those next him throw themselves down behind a fallen tree. He +did the same. The trunk presented an excellent rest for his musket, and +he fired across it. But when he came to load, he found difficulty. He had +been exercised in the manual of arms, yet the operation of ramming the +cartridge while on his back was beyond his practice. Give him time, and +he could do it. But he felt that time was precious, and that every shot +told. + +He glanced at Atwater, resting on his left side as he brought his gun +back after discharging it; taking out his cartridge; then turning on his +back, holding the piece with both hands and placing the butt between his +feet; and in that position, with the barrel over his breast, charging +cartridge, drawing rammer, and so forth. + +All which the tall soldier performed scientifically and quickly. Yet +Frank saw that it took even him much longer to load lying than standing. +What, then, could he hope to do? + +What he did was this. He deliberately got upon his feet, and with the +balls singing around him, proceeded unconcernedly with his loading. + +"Down!" called Atwater to him; "down! You're making a target of +yourself!" + +Frank resolutely went on with his loading. + +"Down, there! down, Frank!" shouted Captain Edney. + +Frank shouted back,-- + +"I can't load unless I stand up, sir!" + +"Never mind that! Down!" repeated his captain, peremptorily. + +"I've got my cartridge down, any way," said Frank, triumphantly, dropping +again behind the log. + +"Why don't you obey orders?" cried Gray. + +"The orders were to load and fire, and I was bound to obey them before +any others!" said Frank, preparing to prime. + +Just then Atwater, who was again on his back, suddenly dropped his piece, +which fell across his left arm, and brought his right hand to his breast. +The movement was so abrupt and unusual it attracted Frank's attention. + +"Are you hit, Abe?" + +And in an instant he saw the answer to his hurried question in a gush of +blood which crimsoned the poor, brave fellow's breast. + +"It has come!" said Atwater. + +"How could it--and you lying down so!" ejaculated Frank. + +"I don't know--never mind me!" replied Abe, faintly. + +Then Frank remembered the mysterious shots aimed at him and Sinjin in the +woods, and the subsequent solution of the mystery. He looked up--all +around--overhead. + +"What's the trouble, Manly?" screamed Tucket. "What do you see?" + +"There!" Frank shouted, pointing upwards; "there! the man that killed +Atwater!" + +And in the branches of a tree, which stood but a few paces in front of +them, he showed, half hidden by the thick masses, the figure of a rebel. + +The sharpshooter was loading his piece. Frank saw the movement, and would +have hastened to avenge the death of his friend before the assassin could +fire again. But he was out of caps, and must borrow. Tucket's gun was +ready. + +"'Die thou shalt, gray-headed ruffian!'" + +Seth shouted the words up at the man in the tree, and lying on his back, +brought the butt of his gun to his shoulder, aimed heavenward, and fired. + +Scarce had flame shot from the muzzle, when down came the rebel's gun +tumbling to the ground; pursued out of the tree by something that +resembled a huge bird, with spread wings, swooping down terribly, and +striking the ground with a jar heard even amid the thunder of battle. + +It was the rebel himself. + +"'Rattling, crashing, thrashing, thunder down!'" screamed Seth Tucket, +his ruling passion, poetry, strong even in battle. + +The man, pitching forwards in his fearful somerset, had fallen within a +few feet of Frank. The boy recovering from his astonishment at the awful +sight, felt a strange curiosity to see if he was dead. + +He looked over the log. There lay the wretch, a hideous heap, the face of +him upturned and recognizable. + +Where had Frank seen that grim countenance, that short, stiff, iron-gray +hair? Somewhere, surely. He looked again, trying to fix his memory. + +"I swan to man, ef it ain't old Buckley!" + +Seth was right. It was the Maryland secessionist whose turkeys the boys +had stolen, and who, in consequence, had made haste to avenge his wrongs +by joining the confederate army. + +A strange, sickening sensation came over Frank at the discovery. Thus the +evil he had done followed him. But for that wild freak of plundering the +poor man's poultry-yard, he might be plodding now on his Maryland farm, +and Atwater would not be lying there so white and still with a bullet in +his breast. + + + + + XXXI. + + "VICTORY OR DEATH." + + +Where all this time was the old drum-major? He too had disappeared from +the ambulance corps to assume, like Frank, a position of still more +arduous service and greater danger. + +Shortly after Frank left him, word came that the battery of +boat-howitzers, which, from a curve in the road that commanded the rebel +works, had been doing splendid execution, was suffering terribly, and +getting short of hands. It must soon withdraw unless reinforced. But who +would volunteer to help work the guns? + +The old man had been familiar with artillery practice. At the thought of +the service and the peril his spirit grew proud within him. But his heart +yearned for Frank. + +"Where is Manly?" he inquired of Ellis. + +"I believe he has gone into the fight with our company," said the wounded +volunteer. + +The truth flashed upon the veteran. Yes, the boy he loved had gone before +him into danger. He no longer hesitated, or lost any time in getting +leave to report himself to the commander of the battery. + +"What can you do?" was the hurried question put to him, as he stood in +the thick powder-smoke, calmly asking for work. + +Just then, a gunner was taken off his feet by a cannon-ball. + +"I can take this fellow's place, sir," said the old man, grimly. + +"Take it!" replied the officer. + +The wounded sailor was borne away, and the old drummer, springing to the +howitzer, assisted in working it until, its ammunition exhausted, the +battery was ordered to withdraw. + +During the severest part of the action Mr. Sinjin had observed a person +in citizen's dress, with his coat off, briskly handling the cannon-balls. +Their work done, he turned to speak with him. + +"You are a friend of my young drummer boy, I believe," said the old man. + +"Yes, and a friend of all his friends!" cordially answered the +white-sleeved civilian. + +"You can preach well, and fight well," said the veteran, his eyes +gleaming with stern pride. + +"I prefer to preach, but I believe in fighting too, when duty points that +way," said Mr. Egglestone,--for it was he, flushed and begrimed with his +toil at the deadly guns. + +Even as they were speaking, a cannon-ball passed between them. Mr. +Egglestone was thrown back by the shock of the wind it carried, but +recovered instantly to find himself unhurt. But where was the old +drummer? He was not there. And it was some seconds before the bewildered +clergyman perceived him, several paces distant, lying on his face by the +road. + + * * * * + +The howitzers silenced, it was determined to storm the enemy's works. + +Frank afterwards had the satisfaction of knowing that it was in part the +information gained from the prisoner he had taken that decided the +commanding general to order a charge. + +Frank was with his company, where we left him, when suddenly yells rent +the air; and, looking, he saw the Zouaves of Parke's brigade dashing down +the causeway in front of the rebel redoubt. + +They were met by a murderous fire. They returned it as they charged. As +their comrades fell, they passed over them unheedingly, and still kept +on--a sublime sight to look upon, in their wild Arab costumes, shouting, +"Zou! zou!" bounding like tigers, clearing obstructions, and sweeping +straight to the breastwork with their deadly bayonets. + +"What is it?" asked Atwater, faintly. + +"Victory!" answered Frank; for the firing ceased--the enemy were flying. + +"That's enough!" And the still pallid face of the soldier smiled. + +Victory! None but those who have fought a stern foe to the bloody close, +and seen his ranks break and fly, and the charging columns pursue, ranks +of bristling steel rushing in through clouds of battle smoke, know what +pride and exultation are in that word. + +Victory! Reno's column, that had outflanked the rebels on the west side, +fighting valiantly, charged simultaneously with the Zouaves. The whole +line followed the example, and went in with colors flying, and shouts of +joy filling the welkin which had been shaken so lately with the jar of +battle. Over fallen trees, over pits and ditches, through brush, and bog, +and water, the conquering hosts poured in; Frank's regiment with the +rest, and himself among the foremost that planted their standard on the +breastwork. + +There were the abandoned cannon, still warm and smoking. There lay a +deserted flag, bearing the Latin inscription "_Aut vincere aut +mori_,"--Victory or death,--flung down in the precipitate flight. + +"They couldn't conquer, and they didn't want to die; so they split the +difference, and run," observed Seth Tucket. + +There too lay the dead and dying, whom the boastful enemy had forsaken +where they fell. One of these who had _not_ run was an officer--handsome +and young. He was not yet dead. A strange light was in his eyes as he +looked on the forms of the foemen thronging around him, saw the faces of +the victors, and heard the cheering. Success and glory were for +them--for him defeat and death. + +"Lift me up," he said, "and let me look at you once." + +They raised him to a sitting posture, supported partly by a gun-carriage, +and partly by the arms of his conquerors. And they pressed around him, +their voices hushed, their triumphant brows saddened with respect for the +dying. + +"Though we have been fighting each other," he said, solemnly, "we are +still brothers. God forgive me if I have done wrong! I too am a northern +man,--I too----" + +As he spoke, a figure in the uniform of his foes sprang through the crowd +to his feet. + +"O, my brother! O, my brother George!" + +It was Frank Manly, who knelt, and with passionate grief clasped the hand +that had clasped his in fondness and merry sport so often in the happy +days of his childhood, when neither ever dreamed of their unnatural +separation and this still more unnatural meeting. + +"Frank! my little brother! so grown! is it you?" said the wounded +captive, with dreamy surprise. + +"O George! how could you?" Frank began, with anguish in his voice. But he +checked himself; he would not reproach his dying brother. + +"My wife, you know!" was all the unhappy young man could murmur. He +looked at Frank with a faint and ever fainter smile of love, till his +eyes grew dim. "I am going, Frank. It is all wrong--I know now--but it is +too late. Tell mother----" + +His words became inaudible, and he sank, swooning, in Captain Edney's +arms. + +"What, George? what shall I tell mother?" pleaded Frank, in an agony. + +"And father too," said the dying lips, in a moment of reviving +recollection. "And my sisters----" But the message was never uttered. + +"George! O, George! I am here! Don't you see me?" + +The dim eyes opened; but they saw not. + +"Carry me up stairs! Let me die in the old room--our room, Frank." + +It was evident his mind was wandering; he fancied himself once more at +home, and wished to be laid in the little chamber where he used to sleep +with Frank, as Frank had slept with Willie in later days. + +"Kiss me, mother!" The ashen face smiled; then the light faded from it; +and the lips, grown cold and numb, murmured softly, "It is growing +dark--Good night!" + +And he slept--the sleep of eternity. + +When Frank rose up from the corpse he had mastered himself. Then Captain +Edney saw, what none had noticed before, that blood was streaming down +his arm--the same arm that had been grazed before; this time it had been +shot through. + +"You are wounded!" + +"Yes--but not much. I must go--let me go and take care of Atwater!" + +"But you need taking care of yourself!"--for he was deadly pale. + +"No, sir--I--Abe, there----" + +Even as the boy was speaking he grew dizzy and fell fainting in his +captain's arms. + + + + + XXXII. + + AFTER THE BATTLE. + + +It is over. The battle is ended, the victory won. The sun goes down upon +conquerors and conquered, upon the living and the dead. And the evening +comes, melancholy. The winds sigh in the pine-tops, the sullen waves dash +upon the shore, the gloom of the cypresses lies dismal and dark on +Roanoke Island. + +Buildings suitable for the purpose, taken from the enemy, have been +converted into hospitals, and the wounded are brought in. + +There is Frank with his bandaged arm, and Ellis with his stump of a hand +bound up, and others worse off than they. There is the surgeon of their +regiment, active, skilful, kind. There, too, is Mr. Eggleston, the +minister, proving his claim to that high title, ministering in the truest +sense to all who need him, holding to fevered lips the cup of medicine or +soothing drink, and holding to fevered souls the still more precious +drink. + +There is Corporal Gray, assisting to arrange the hospital, and cheering +his comrades with an account of the victory. + +"The rebels ran like herds of deer after we got the battery. We tracked +'em by the traps they threw away. Guns, knapsacks, coats,--they flung off +every thing, and skedaddled for dear life! We met an old negro woman, who +told us where their camp was; but some of 'em had taken another +direction, by a road that goes to the east side of the island. Our boys +followed, and found 'em embarking in boats. We fired on 'em, and brought +back two of their boats. In one we got Jennings Wise, of the Wise Legion, +that we had the bloody fight with flanking the battery. He was wounded +and dying. + +"But our greatest haul was the camp the old negress pointed out The +rebels rallied, and as we moved up, fired upon us, doing no damage. We +returned the compliment, and dropped eight men. Then more running, of the +same chivalrous sort, our boys after them; when out comes a flag of truce +from the camp. + +"'What terms will be granted us?' says the rebel officer. + +"'No terms, but unconditional surrender,' says General Foster. + +"'How long a time will be granted us to consider?' + +"'Just time enough for you to go to your camp to convey the terms and +return.' + +"Off went the rebel. We waited fifteen minutes. Then we pushed on again. +That movement quickened their deliberations; and out came Colonel Shaw, +the commander, and says to General Foster,-- + +"'I give up my sword, and surrender five thousand men!' For he didn't +know some two thousand of his force had escaped. What we have got is +about three thousand prisoners, and all their forts and quarters, which +we call a pretty good bag." + +The boys forgot their wounds, they forgot their dead and dying comrades, +listening to this recital. But short-lived was the enthusiasm of one, at +least. Scarce was Gray gone, when Frank saw four men with a stretcher, +bringing upon it a grizzled, pallid old man. + +"O, Mr. Sinjin! O, my dear, dear friend! You too!" + +"Is it my boy?" said the veteran, with a wan smile. "Yes, I too! They +have done for me, I fear." + +"But nobody told me. How--where----" The boy's grief choked his voice. + +"An impertinent cannon-ball interrupted my conversation with Mr. +Egglestone," said the old man, stifling his agony as the men removed him +to a cot. "And took a--" he groaned in spite of himself--"a greedy +mouthful out of my side--that's all." + +Frank knew not what to say or what to do, he was so overcome. + +"There, my boy," said the old man, to comfort him, "no tears for me! It +is enough to see you again. They told me you were hurt--" looking at the +lad's disabled arm. "I am glad it is no worse." And the wan veteran +smiled content. + +Frank, with his one hand, smoothed the pillow under the old gray head, +struggling hard to keep back his sobs as he did so. + +"Who is my neighbor there?" Mr. Sinjin cheerfully asked. + +"Atwater," Frank managed to articulate. + +"Is it? I am sorry! A bad wound?" + +"The bullet went through a Bible he carried, then into his breast, beyond +the reach of surgery, I am afraid," Mr. Egglestone answered for Frank. +"He lies in a stupor, just alive." + +"Poor fellow!" said Mr. Sinjin, feelingly. "If Death must have one of us, +let him for once be considerate, and take me. Atwater is young, just +married,--he needs to live; but I--I am not of much account to any body, +and can just as well be spared as not." + +"O, no, O, no!" sobbed Frank; "I can't spare you! I can't let you die!" + +"My boy," said the old man, deeply affected, "I would like to tarry a +little longer in the world, if only for your sake. You have done so much +for me--so much more than you can ever know! You have brought back to my +old heart more of its youth and freshness than it had felt for years. I +thank God for it. I thank you, my dear boy." + +With these words still ringing in his ear, Frank was taken away by the +thoughtful Mr. Egglestone and compelled to lie down. + +"You must not agitate the old man, and you need repose yourself, Frank. +I fear the effects of all this excitement, together with that wound, on +your slender constitution." + +"O, my wound is nothing!" Frank declared. "See that he and Atwater have +every thing done for them--won't you, Mr. Egglestone?" + +The minister promised, and Frank endeavored to settle his mind to rest. + +But he could not sleep. Every five minutes he started up to inquire after +his friends. Hour after hour passed, and he still remained wakeful as a +spirit doomed never to sleep again. His wounded arm pained him; and he +had so many things to think of,--his suffering comrades, old Buckley +shot out of the tree, his rebel brother, his folks at home, and all the +whirling incidents and horrors of that dread day. + +So he thought, and thought; and prayed silently for the old drummer +groaning on his bed of pain; and pleaded for Atwater lying there, still, +with the death-shadow he had foreseen darkening the portal of his body. +And Frank longed for his mother, as he grew weary and weak, until at last +sleep came in mercy, and dropped her soft, vapory veil over his soul. + + * * * * + +The thrilling news of the victory came north by telegraph. Then followed +letters from correspondents, giving details of the battle, when, one +morning, Helen Manly ran home in a glow of excitement, bringing a damp +and crumpled newspaper. + +"News from Frank!" she cried, out of breath. + +In a moment the little family was gathered about her, the parents eager +and pale. + +"Is he living? Tell me that!" said Mrs. Manly. + +"Yes, but he has been wounded, and is in the hospital." + +"Wounded!" broke forth Mr. Manly in consternation; but his wife kept her +soul in silence, waiting with compressed white lips to learn more. + +"In the arm--not badly. There is a whole half column about him here. For +he has made himself famous--Frank! our dear, dear Frank!" And the quick +tears flooding the girl's eyes fell upon the paper. + +Mrs. Manly snatched the sheet and read, how her boy had distinguished +himself; how he had captured a rebel, and fought gallantly in the ranks, +and received a wound without minding it; and how all who had witnessed +his conduct, both officers and men, were praising him; it was all +there--in the newspaper. + +"What adds to the romance of this boy's story," said the writer in +conclusion, "is a circumstance which occurred at the capture of the +breastwork. Among the dead and wounded left behind when the enemy took to +flight, was a rebel captain, of northern parentage, who came south a few +years ago, married a southern belle, became a slaveholder, joined the +slaveholders' rebellion in consequence, and lost his life in defence of +Roanoke Island. He lived long enough to recognize in the drummer boy +_his own younger brother_, and died in his arms." + +Great was the agitation into which the family was thrown by this +intelligence. + +"O that I had the wings of a dove!" said Mrs. Manly. "For I must go, I +must go to my child!" + +Pride and joy in his youthful heroism, pain and grief for the other's +tragic end, all was absorbed in the dreadful uncertainty which hung about +the welfare of the favorite son; and she knew that not all the attentions +and praises of men could make up to him, there on his sick bed, for the +absence of his mother. + +The family waited, however,--in what anguish of suspense need not to be +told,--until the next mail brought them letters from Mr. Egglestone and +Captain Edney. By these, their worst fears were confirmed. Exposure, +fatigue, excitement, the wound he had received, had done their work with +Frank. He was dangerously ill with a fever. + +"O, dear!" groaned Mr. Manly, "this wicked, this wicked rebellion! George +is killed, and now Frank! What can we do? what can we do, mother?" he +asked, helplessly. + +While he was groaning, his wife rose up with that energy which so often +atoned for the lack of it in him. + +"I am going to Roanoke Island! I am going to my child in the hospital!" + +That very day she set out. Alone she went, but she was not long without a +companion. On the boat to Fortress Monroe she saw a solitary and +disconsolate young woman, whose face she was confident of having seen +somewhere before. She accosted her, found her going the same journey with +herself, and on a similar errand, and learned her history. + +"My husband, that I was married to at the cars just as his regiment was +leaving Boston, has been shot at Roanoke Island, and whether he is alive +or dead I do not know." + +"Your husband," said Mrs. Manly,--"my son knows him well. They were close +friends!" + +And from that moment the mother of Frank and the wife of Atwater were +close friends also, supporting and consoling each other on the journey. + + + + + XXXIII. + + A FRIEND IN NEED. + + +At Roanoke Island, a certain tall, lank, athletic private had been +detailed for fatigue duty at the landing, when the steamer from the inlet +arrived. + +Being at leisure, he was watching with an expression of drollery and +inquisitiveness for somebody to tell him the news, when he saw two +bewildered, anxious women come ashore, and look about them, as if waiting +for assistance. + +Prompted by his naturally accommodating disposition, and no less by +honest curiosity, the soldier stepped up to them. + +"Ye don't seem over'n above familiar in these parts, ladies," he said, +with his politest grin. + +"We are looking for an officer who promised to aid us in finding our +friends in the hospital--or at least in getting news from them," said the +elder of the two,--a fine-looking, though distressed and careworn woman +of forty. + +"Sho! wal. I s'pose he's got other things to look after, like as not!" +And the soldier, in his sympathy, cast his eyes around in search of the +officer. "Got friends in the hospital, hev ye?" Then peering curiously +under the bonnet of the young female, "Ain't you the gal that merried +Atwater?" + +"O! do you know him? Is he--is he alive?" By which eager interrogatives +he perceived that she was "the gal." + +The droll countenance grew solemn. "I ain't edzac'ly prepared to answer +that last question, Miss--Miss Atwater!" he said, with some embarrassment. +"But the fust I can respond to with right good will. Did I know +him!"--Tears came into his eyes as he added, "Abe Atwater, ma'am, was my +friend; and a braver soldier or a better man don't at this moment exist!" + +"Then you must know my boy, too!" cried the elder female,--"Frank Manly, +drummer." + +The soldier brightened at once. + +"Frank Manly! 'Whom not to know argues one's self unknown.' Your most +obedient, ma'am,"--bowing and scraping. "Your son has attracted the +attention of the officers, and made himself pop'lar with every body. +Mabby ye haven't heerd----" + +"I've heard," interrupted the anxious mother. "But how is he? Tell me +that!" + +"Wal, he was a little grain more chirk last night, I was told. He has had +a fever, and been delirious, and all that--perty nigh losing his chance +o' bein' promoted, he was, one spell! But now I guess his life's about as +sure's his commission, which Cap'n Edney says there ain't no doubt +about." + +"So young!" said Mrs. Manly, trembling with interest. + +"He's young, but he's got what we want in officers--that is, sperit; he's +chock full of that. I take some little pride in him myself," added the +private. "We was almost like brothers, me and Frank was! 'In the desert, +in the battle, in the ocean-tempest's wrath, we stood together, side by +side; one hope was ours, one path!'" + +"This, then, is Seth Tucket!" exclaimed Mrs. Manly, who knew him by his +poetry. + +"That's my name, ma'am, at your service!" And Seth made another +tremendous bow. "But I see," he said, "you're anxious; ye want to git to +the hospital. I tell ye, Frank'll be glad to see ye; he used to rave +about you in his delirium; he would call '_mother! mother!_' sometimes +half the night." + +"Poor child! poor, dear child!" said Mrs. Manly. "I can't wait! help me, +sir,--show me the way to him, if nothing more!" + +"Hello!" shouted Seth. "Whose cart is this? Where's the driver of this +cart? It's been standin' here this hour, and nobody owns it." He jumped +into it. "Who claims this vehicle? 'Who so base as would not help a +woman? If any, speak! for him have I offended!' Nobody? Then I take the +responsibility--and the cart too! Hop in, ladies. Here's a board for you +to set on. I'll drive ye to the hospital, and bring back the kerridge +before Uncle Sam misses it." + +The women were only too glad to accept the invitation, and they were soon +seated on the board. Seth adjusted his anatomy to the edge of the +cart-box, and drove off. But he soon stood up, declaring that a hungry +fellow like him couldn't stand that board,--he was too sharp set. + +Mrs. Manly did not venture to ask again about Atwater,--what he had +already said of him having gone so heavily to the poor wife's heart. But +she could inquire about the old drum-major, who, she had heard, was +wounded. + +"Old Sinjin? Wal! I'm in jest the same dilemmy consarning him as Atwater. +They've both been sick and at the pint of death ever sence the fight. Now +one of 'em's dead, and t'other's alive. A chap that was at the hospital +told me this morning, 'One of them sickest fellers in your regiment died +last night," says he; 'I don't know which of 'em,' says he. And I haven't +had a chance yet to find out." + +"O, haste then!" cried the young wife. "May be my husband is living +still!" + +"Shouldn't wonder the least might if he is," said Seth, willing to +encourage her. "For he has hung on to life wonderfully; he said he +believed you was coming, and he couldn't bear the idee of dying before he +could see you once more. Old Buckley's bullet has been found, you'll be +pleased to know." + +"Old Buckley? Who is old Buckley?" + +"The Maryland secessionist that shot your husband, and that I brought +down from the tree to pay for it. He never'll git into another tree, +without his soul goes into a gobble-turkey, as I should think it might, +and flies up in one to roost!" + +"And the bullet!----" + +"As I was going to tell ye, it's been found. It went through the Bible +that you gave him (and that Frank's preserving for you now, I believe), +and lodged in his body, the doctor couldn't tell where. But one night Mr. +Egglestone,--the fighting minister, you know, that merried you,--he was +bathing Abe's back, and what did he find but a bunch, that Abe said was +sore. 'Doctor!' says he, 'I've found the bullet!' And, sure enough! the +doctor come and cut out the lead. It had gone clean through the poor +feller,--into his breast, and out under his side!--Hello!" said Seth, "I +shall hev to turn out and wait for that company to march by. I swan to +man ef 'tain't my company,--or a part on't, at least! They're drumming +out a coward, to the tune of the _Rogue's March_!" + +The women were all impatience to get on; and Mrs. Manly felt but the +faintest gleam of interest in the procession, until, as it drew near, in +a wretched figure, wearing, in place of the regimental uniform, a suit of +rags that might have been taken from some contraband, with drummers +before and fixed bayonets behind, she recognized--Jack Winch! + +"Wal!" said Seth, "I'd ruther go into a fight and be shot dead than go +out of camp in that style! See that label, 'COWARD,' on his back? But he +deserves it, ef ever a chap did!" + +And Seth, as he drove on, related the story of Jack's miserable boasting +and poltroonery. Much as she pitied the wretch, Mrs. Manly could not help +remembering his treachery towards her son, and feeling that Frank was now +amply avenged. + + + + + XXXIV. + + THE HOSPITAL. + + +Let us pass on before, and take a peep into the hospital. There we find +Ned Ellis, playing dominoes with one hand, and joking to keep up the +spirits of his companions. There lies Frank on his cot, with blanched +countenance, eyes closed, and pale lips smiling, as if in dreams. Of his +two friends, Atwater and the old drummer, only one, as Seth Tucket said, +remains. One was carried out last night--in a coffin his cold form is +laid--life's fitful fever is over with him. + +And the other? Very still, very pale, stretched on his narrow bed, no +motion of breathing perceptible, behold him! What is it we see in that +sculptured, placid face? Is it life, or is it death? It's neither life +nor death, but sleep, that dim gulf between. + +Mr. Egglestone, who has been much about the hospital from the first, +enters with a radiant look, and steps lightly to Frank's side. + +The drummer boy's eyes unclose, and smile their welcome. + +"Better, still better, I am glad to see!" says the minister, cheerily. + +"Almost well," answered Frank, although so weak that he can hardly speak. +"I shall be out again in a day or two. The fever has quite left me; and I +was having such a beautiful dream. I thought I was a water-lily, floating +on a lake; and the lake, they told me, was _sleep_; and I felt all +whiteness and peace! Wasn't it pretty?" + +"Pretty, and true too!" said the minister, with a suffusing tear, as he +looked at the pale, gentle boy, and thought how much like a white +fragrant lily he was. "I have news for you, Frank. The steamer has +arrived." + +"O! and letters?" + +"Probably, though I have none yet. But something besides letters!"--Mr. +Egglestone whispered confidentially, "Atwater's wife is here!" + +"Is she? Brave girl!--O, dear!" said Frank, his features changing +suddenly, "why didn't my mother come too! She might, I think! It seems as +if I couldn't wait, as if I couldn't live, till I see her!" + +"Well, Frank," then said the minister, having thus prepared him, "your +mother did think--your mother is here!" + +At the moment, Mrs. Manly, who could be no longer restrained, flew to the +bedside of her son. He started up with a wild cry; she caught him in her +arms; they clung and kissed and cried together. + +"Mother! mother!" "My child! my darling child!" were the only words that +could be heard in that smothering embrace. + +Mr. Egglestone turned, and took the hand of her companion, who had +entered with her, and led her to the cot where lay the still figure and +placid, sculptured face. O woman, be strong! O wife, be calm! keep back +the tears, stifle the anguish, of that heaving breast. + +She is strong, she is calm, tears and anguish are repressed. She bends +over the scarcely breathing form, gazes into the utterly pallid face, and +with clasped hands in silence blesses him, prays for him--her husband. + +For this is he--Abe Atwater, the shadow of death he foresaw still +darkening the portal of his body, as if hesitating to enter, nor yet +willing to pass by. And the face in the coffin outside there is the face +of the old drummer, whose soul, let us hope, is at peace. One was +taken--will the other be left? + +The eyes of Abe opened; they beheld the vision of his wife, and gladness, +like a river of soft waters, glides into his soul. O, may it be a river +of life to him! As love has held his spirit back from death, so may its +power restore him; for such things have been; and there is no medicine +for the sick body or sinking soul like the breath and magnetic touch of +love. + +Frank meanwhile was lying on his bed, holding his mother's hands, and +drinking in the joy of her presence. And she was feeding his rapture with +the tenderest motherly words and looks, and telling him of home. + +"But how selfish I am!" said Frank, "How little you could afford to +leave, and come here! I thought I was going to be a help to you, and, the +best I can do, I am only a trouble and a hindrance!" + +"I could not stop an instant to think of trouble or expense when my +darling was in danger!" exclaimed the grateful mother. "I feel that God +will take care of us; if we are his children, he will provide for all our +wants. Will he not, Mr. Egglestone?" + +"When I have read to you this paper," replied the minister, "then you can +be the judge. I was requested to read it to Frank as soon as he was able +to hear it--after his friend's death." + +"Is it something for me? Poor old Mr. Sinjin!" exclaimed Frank. "He died +last night, mother. But he was so happy, and so willing to go, I can't +mourn for him. What is the paper?" + +"A few nights ago he requested me to come to his side and write as he +should dictate." And the clergyman, seating himself, read:-- + + "'The Last Will and Testament of Servetus St. John, + commonly called Old Sinjin. + + "I, Servetus St. John, Drummer, being of sound mind, but of body fast + failing unto death, having received its mortal hurt in battle for my + country, do give and bequeath of my possessions as follows:-- + + "'_Item._ My Soul I return to the Maker who gave it, and my Flesh to + the dust whence it came. + + "'_Item._ To my Country and the Cause of Freedom, as I have given my + last poor services, so I likewise give cheerfully my Life. + + "'_Item._ To Mehitabel Craig, my only surviving sister after the + flesh, I give what alone she can claim of me, and what, as a dying + sinner, I have no right to withhold, my full pardon for all + offences. + + "'_Item._ To my present friend and comforter, Mr. Egglestone, as a + memento of my deep obligations to him, I give my watch. + + "'_Item._ To my fellow-sufferer, Abram Atwater, or to his widow, in + case of his decease, I bequeath the sum of one hundred dollars. + + "'_Item._ To my fellow-sufferer and dearly beloved pupil, Frank + Manly, I give, in token of affection, a miniature which will be + found after my death. + + "'_Item._ To the same Frank Manly I also give and bequeath the + residue of all my worldly possessions, to wit:--'" + +Then followed an enumeration of certain stocks and deposits, amounting to +the sum of three thousand dollars. + +The will was duly witnessed, and Mr. Egglestone was the appointed +executor. + +Frank was silent; he was crying, with his hands over his face. + +"So you see, my young friend," said Mr. Egglestone, "you have, for your +own comfort, and for the benefit of your good parents, a snug little +fortune, which you will come into possession of in due time. As for the +miniature, I may as well hand it to you now. I found it after the old +man's death. He always wore it on his heart." + +He took it from its little soiled buckskin sheath, and gave it to Mrs. +Manly. She turned pale as she looked at it. Frank was eager to see it, +and, almost reluctantly, she placed it in his hands. It might almost have +passed for a portrait of himself, only it was that of a girl; and he knew +at once that it was his mother, as she had looked at his age. + +While he was gazing at the singular memento of the old man's romantic +and undying attachment, Mrs. Manly looked away, with the air of one +resolutely turning her mind from one painful subject to another. + +"I wish to ask you, Mr. Egglestone, what disposition has been made +of--I had another son, you know." + +He understood her. + +"I trust," said he, "that what Captain Edney and myself thought proper to +do will meet your approval. After the battle, the wife of Captain Manly +sent a request to have his body forwarded to her by a flag of truce. We +consulted Frank, who told us to do as we pleased about it. Accordingly, +we obtained permission to grant her request, and the body of her husband +was sent to her." + +There was for a moment a look, as of one who felt bitter wrong, on Mrs. +Manly's face; but it passed. + +"You did well, Mr. Egglestone. To her who had got the soul belonged the +body also. May peace go with it to her desolated home!" + +"Mother!" whispered Frank, gazing still at the miniature, "tell me! am I +right? do I know now why it was the dear old man thought so much of me?" + +"If you have not guessed, my child. I will tell you. Years ago, when I +was the little girl you see there, he was good enough to think _I_ was +good enough to marry him. That is all." + +Frank said no more, but laid the picture on his heart,--for it was his, +and the dearest part of the dear old man's legacy. + + + + + XXXV. + + CONCLUSION. + + +After a long delay Captain Edney came; apologizing for not appearing to +welcome his drummer boy's mother and his old schoolmistress before. His +excuse was valid: one of his men, S. Tucket by name, had got into a +scrape by running off with one of Uncle Sam's carts, and he had been to +help him out of it. + +He found a new light shining in the hospital--the light of woman's +influence; the light of life to Frank and his friend Atwater, nor to them +only, but to all upon whom it shone. + +Mrs. Manly remained in the hospital until her son was able to travel, +when leave of absence was granted him, and all his friends crowded to bid +him farewell, as he departed in the boat with his mother for the +north--for home! + +Of his journey, of his happy arrival, the greetings from father, sister, +little brother, friends--of all this I would gladly write a chapter or +two; but he is no longer the Drummer Boy now, and so our business with +him is over. And so he left the service? Not he. + +"I'm to be a Soldier Boy now!" he declared to all those who came to shake +him by the hand and hear his story from his own lips. + +His wound was soon healed, and he hastened to return to his regiment; for +he was eager to be learning everything belonging to the profession of a +soldier. It was not long, however, before he came north again--this time +on surprising business. Captain Edney, who had won the rank of Colonel at +the battle of Newbern, had been sent home to raise a regiment; and he had +been permitted to choose from his own company such persons as he thought +best fitted to assist him, and hold commissions under him. + +He chose Gray, Seth Tucket, and Frank. Another of our friends afterwards +joined the regiment, with the rank of First Lieutenant; having quite +recovered from his wound, under the tender nursing of his wife. + +With his friends Edney, Gray, Tucket, and Atwater, Frank was as happy as +ever a young officer in a new service could be. He began as second +lieutenant; but---- + +But here our story must end; for to relate how he has fought his way up, +step by step, to a rank which was never more fairly earned, would require +a separate volume,--materials for which we may possibly find some day in +his own letters to his mother, and in those of Colonel Edney to his +sister Helen. + + * * * * + +Some extracts from a letter just received from the hero of these pages +may perhaps interest the reader. + + "I cannot tell you, sir, how much astonished I was on opening the + package you sent me. I don't think the mysterious bundle that + contained the watch dear old 'Mr. St. John' gave me surprised me + half as much. I had never seen any _proof-sheets_ before, and hardly + knew what to make of them at first. Then you should have heard me + scream at Gray and Atwater. 'Boys,' says I, 'here's a story founded + on our adventures!' I sat up all that night reading it, and I must + confess I had to blush a good many times before I got through. I see + you have not called any of us by our real names; but I soon found + out who 'Abe,' and 'Seth,' and 'Jack Winch,' and all the other + characters are meant for. I have read ever so many pages to 'Seth' + himself, and he has laughed as heartily as any of us over his own + oddities. We all wonder how you could have written the story, giving + all the circumstances, and even the conversations that took place, + so correctly; but I remember, when I was at your house, you kept me + talking, and wrote down nearly every thing I said; besides which, I + find there was a good deal more in my journal and letters than I + supposed, when I consented to let you have them and make what use of + them you pleased. Little did I think then, that ever such a book as + the 'Drummer Boy' could be made out of them. + + "You ask me to point out any important errors I may notice, in order + that you may correct them before the book is published. Well, the + night the row was in camp, when the 'Blues' cut down the captain's + tent, the company was ordered out, and the roll called, and three + other fellows put under guard, before Abe and I were let off. I might + mention two or three similar mistakes, but I consider them too + trifling to speak of. There are, besides, two or three omissions, + which struck me in reading the wind-up of the story. 'Jack Winch' + went home, and died of a fever within a month. If it isn't too late, + I wish you would put that in; for I think it shows that those who + think most of saving their lives are sometimes the first to lose + them. + + "You might add, too, that 'Mr. Egglestone' is now the chaplain of our + regiment. We all love him, and he is doing a great deal of good here. + I have put the 'Drummer Boy' into his hands, and I just saw him + laughing over it. If every body reads it with the interest we do here + in camp, it will be a great success. + + "There is another thing--but this you need not put into the book. + With the money my dear old friend and master left me, I have bought + the house our folks live in, so that, whatever happens to me, they + will never be without a home.... + + "In conclusion, let me say that, while you have told some things of + me I would rather every body should forget, you have, on the whole, + given me a much better character than I deserve. + + "We are already beginning to call each other by the names you have + given us, and I take great pleasure in subscribing myself, + + "Yours, truly, + + "FRANK MANLY." + + + + + * * * * + + + Reasons why you should obtain a Catalogue of our Publications + + _A postal to us will place it in your hands_ + + +1. 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