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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/35207-8.txt b/35207-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d9d3b11 --- /dev/null +++ b/35207-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10396 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Courier of the Ozarks, by Byron A. Dunn + +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 Courier of the Ozarks + +Author: Byron A. Dunn + +Illustrator: H. S. De Lay + +Release Date: February 7, 2011 [EBook #35207] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COURIER OF THE OZARKS *** + + + + +Produced by David Garcia, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + + + + + + + + + THE COURIER OF THE OZARKS + + THE YOUNG MISSOURIANS SERIES + + BY BYRON A. DUNN + + AUTHOR OF "THE YOUNG KENTUCKIANS" SERIES + + + WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS + BY H. S. DeLAY + + CHICAGO + A. C. McCLURG & CO. + 1912 + + Copyright + A. C. McCLURG & CO. + 1912 + + Published September, 1912 + + W. F. HALL PRINTING COMPANY, CHICAGO + + + _To the Loyal Men of Missouri, who as members of the militia + did so much to save the State to the Union, this book is + dedicated. History gives them scant notice, and the Federal + government has failed to reward them as they deserve._ + + + + +[Illustration: "Follow the colors," he shouted.] + + + + +PREFACE + + +During the year 1862, after the capture of Island No. 10 and New Madrid, +no large armies operated in Missouri; but the State was the theater of a +desperate guerrilla warfare, in which nearly or quite a hundred thousand +men took part. It was a warfare the magnitude of which, at the present +time, is very little known; and its cruelty and barbarity make a bloody +page in the history of those times. + +This book is a story of this warfare. It is a story of adventure, of +hair-breadth escapes, and of daring deeds. In it the same characters +figure as those in _With Lyon in Missouri_ and _The Scout of Pea Ridge_. +It tells how our young heroes were instrumental in thwarting the great +conspiracy by which the Confederate government, by sending officers into +the State, and organizing the different guerrilla bands into companies +and regiments, was in hopes of wresting the State from Federal control. + +As in former books, history is closely followed. + + BYRON A. DUNN. + Waukegan, Illinois. + _August, 1912._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +I BRUNO CARRIES A MESSAGE + +II AN INTERNECINE WAR + +III A MYSTERIOUS COMMUNICATION + +IV MOORE'S MILL + +V A FIGHT IN THE NIGHT + +VI KIRKSVILLE + +VII POINDEXTER CAPTURED + +VIII LONE JACK + +IX CAPTURED BY GUERRILLAS + +X THE GUERRILLA'S BRIDE + +XI THE STORY OF CARL MEYER + +XII THE NEWS FROM CORINTH + +XIII PORTER CAPTURES PALMYRA + +XIV TEN LIVES FOR ONE + +XV A GIRL OF THE OZARKS + +XVI A WOUNDED CONFEDERATE + +XVII TRAILING RED JERSEY + +XVIII LIVE--I CANNOT SHOOT YOU + +XIX MARK HAS A RIVAL + +XX CAPTURING A TRAIN + +XXI THE OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAINS + +XXII MARK CONFESSES HIS LOVE + +XXIII INTO THE LION'S MOUTH + +XXIV PRAIRIE GROVE + +XXV CALLED TO OTHER FIELDS + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +"Follow the colors," he shouted. + +"Halt the advance. Ambuscade!" gasped Harry. + +Down the street they rode at full speed. + +"You pretend to be men and call this war?" + +To catch the rider as he reeled from the saddle. + +Her revolver was pointed at his breast. + +He was looking into the muzzle of a revolver. + +An old man leaning on a staff. + + + + + +THE COURIER OF THE OZARKS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +BRUNO CARRIES A MESSAGE + + +"Down! Bruno, down!" + +These words were uttered in a guarded whisper by a boy about seventeen +years of age, to a great dog that stood by his side. + +At the word of command, the dog crouched down, his whole body quivering +with excitement. His master gently patted him on the head, and +whispered, "There, there, old fellow, don't get nervous. Our lives would +not be worth much, if we were discovered." + +The boy was lying full length on the ground, concealed in a dense +thicket, but from his point of vantage he had a full view of the road +which ran a few yards in front of him. This road ran north and south, +and nearly in front of where he lay another road entered it, coming in +from the west. + +The cause of the dog's excitement was apparent, for coming up the road +from the west was a large body of horsemen, and a motley troop they +were. They were mostly dressed in homespun, and armed with all sorts of +weapons, from cavalry sabers to heavy knives fashioned out of files by +some rude blacksmith; the army musket, the squirrel rifle, and the +shotgun were much in evidence. + +As the head of the column reached the north and south road the leader +called a halt, and looked up and down the road, as if expecting some +one. He did not have long to wait. The sound of the swift beating of +horse-hoofs was heard from the south, and soon three men came riding up. +One, a man of distinguished looks and military bearing, was a little in +advance of the other two. As he came up, the leader of the little army +saluted him awkwardly and exclaimed, "Glad to see you, Colonel. What +news?" + +"Glad to see you, Captain Poindexter," replied the Colonel. "I see you +are on time. As for the news, all goes well. Within a week all Missouri +will be ablaze, and the hottest place for Yankees in all Christendom. +How many men have you, Captain?" + +"About five hundred, and more coming in all the time." + +"So that is Jim Poindexter, the bloody villain," muttered the boy +between his set teeth, and nervously fingering his revolver. "How I +would like to take a shot at him! But it would not do. It would be +madness." + +The next question asked by the Colonel, whose name was Clay, and who had +been in the State for the past two months promoting the partisan +uprising, was, "Where is Porter?" + +"At Brown's Springs. I am to join him there tonight. But he was to meet +me here with a few followers, knowing you were to be here." + +"Good! I will be more than pleased to see him," answered Colonel Clay. +"But I thought he was farther north." + +"Most of his force is," answered Poindexter. "But he promised to meet me +at Brown's Springs with five hundred followers. We have our eye on +Fulton. My spies report it is garrisoned by less than a hundred men. +Fulton captured, I can supply my men with both clothes and arms, and +then Jefferson City next." + +"Jefferson City?" asked Colonel Clay in surprise. "Do you look that +far?" + +"Yes. Thanks to the Yankee Government, there are not over five hundred +soldiers in Jefferson City. Fulton once taken, the boys will flock to +our standard by thousands, and Jefferson City will become an easy prey." + +"Accomplish this, Poindexter," cried Colonel Clay, "and Missouri will be +redeemed. All over southwestern Missouri the boys are rallying and +sweeping northward. The object is to capture Independence, and then +Lexington. This done, we will once more control the Missouri River, and +the State will be anchored firmly in the Southern Confederacy. Then with +your victorious legions you can march south and help drive the Yankee +invaders from the land. Poindexter, Missouri can, and should, put fifty +thousand Confederate soldiers in the field." + +Poindexter shrugged his shoulders. "Colonel, not so fast," he exclaimed. +"I could not drag my men into the regular Confederate service with a +two-inch cable. Neither do I have any hankering that way myself. The +free and easy life of a partisan ranger for me." + +Colonel Clay looked disgusted. "Captain," he asked, "don't you get tired +of skulking in the brush, and waging a warfare which is really contrary +to the rules of war of civilized nations? There is little honor in such +a warfare; but think of the honor and glory that would await you if you +could free Missouri, and then help free the entire South. Why, it is not +too much to say that the star of a general might glisten on your +shoulder." + +A look of rage came over the face of Poindexter. "If you don't like the +way we fight," he growled, "why are you here, urging us to rise? If we +can free this State of Yankees, we will accomplish more than your armies +down south have. We prefer to fight our own way. Here, I am a bigger man +than Jeff Davis. I fight when it suits me, and take to the brush when I +want to. If you have any thoughts of influencing me or my men to join +the regular Confederate army, you may as well give up the idea. As for +the rules of civilized warfare, I don't care that," and he snapped his +fingers contemptuously. + +Colonel Clay concealed the indignation and disgust which he felt towards +the fellow, and said: "While we may not think alike, we are both working +for the same cause--the liberation of our beloved Southland from the +ruthless invasion of the Yankee hordes. If you can accomplish what you +think, surely the South will call you one of her most gallant sons. +Neither should we be too squeamish over the means used to rid ourselves +of the thieves and murderers that have overrun our fair State." + +"Now you are talking," exclaimed Poindexter, with an oath. "If Porter +comes--and he should be here by now--we will discuss the situation more +thoroughly; but the first thing for us to do is to capture Fulton." + +"Are you sure," asked Clay, "that your plans will not miscarry? Mr. +Daniels, one of the gentlemen here with me, informs me that that +regiment of devils, the Merrill Horse, is only a few miles to the west. +May they not interfere with your plans?" + +At the mention of the Merrill Horse, Poindexter's countenance took on a +demoniac expression. Striking the pommel of his saddle with his clenched +hand, he hissed: "I will never rest until I shoot or hang every one of +that cursed regiment. But you are mistaken in thinking the force west +consists of the entire Merrill Horse. Only part of the regiment is +there; the rest is up north. The force west is about five hundred +strong. I have given out the impression that I am making for the woods +which skirt Grand River, to join Cobb. Every citizen they meet will tell +them so. Little does Colonel Shaffer, who is in command, think I have +slipped past him, McNeil believes Porter is up around Paris--the most of +his force is--but he is to join me here with a goodly number. Ah! here +he comes now." + +Down the road from the north a party of horsemen were coming at a swift +gallop. They rode up, and salutations were spoken and hands shaken. + +A look of passion came into the face of the watching boy, and again he +fingered his revolver. Even the dog partook of the boy's excitement, for +his whole body was quivering. + +"Quiet, old boy, quiet," whispered the boy. "No doubt you would like to +tear the bloody monster to pieces, and I would give ten years of my life +for a shot, but it will not do." + +The boy was now listening intently, trying to catch every word that was +said. + +"Mighty glad to see you, Jo," Poindexter was saying. "How many men have +you at Brown's Springs?" + +"About four hundred when I left; but squads were coming in continually. +I count on six hundred by night." + +"Good! Then we will swoop down on Fulton tonight." + +"Don't know about that," answered Porter. "Many of the boys have ridden, +or will ride, fifty miles to join us. Their horses will be tired. +Tomorrow will be all right. How is everything?" + +"Splendid," answered Poindexter, rubbing his hands. "Not over a hundred +soldiers in Fulton. The only drawback is that there is a Yankee force of +about five hundred a few miles to the west, part of them the Merrill +Horse." + +"The Merrill Horse! The Merrill Horse!" cried Porter with a dreadful +oath. "I thought they were north. They are surely giving me enough +trouble up there." + +"About four companies are down here, under the command of +Lieutenant-Colonel Shaffer," answered Poindexter. "They have been trying +to find me for the past week. But they haven't found me yet," and he +chuckled. "The fact is," he continued, "I have fooled them. Shaffer +thinks I am making for the woods along the Grand River, to join Cobb. I +skipped past him last night. By this time he is making for the Grand +River as fast as he can go. No trouble from him in our little business +with Fulton." + +"Don't be too sure," exclaimed Porter. "Shaffer is about as sharp as the +devil; but I trust you are right." + +The conversation now took a general turn, Colonel Clay going over the +ground, telling them what was being done, and what he hoped would be +accomplished. "As for me," he said, "I must be across the river by +tomorrow. Everything depends on the movement to capture Independence and +Lexington. Then, if you gentlemen are successful here, and capture +Fulton and Jefferson City, our brightest hopes will be fulfilled. I must +now bid you good-bye. May success attend you." + +The Colonel and his two friends rode back towards the south, from whence +they came. Poindexter watched them until they were out of sight, and +then, turning to Porter, said: "What do you think, Jo? The Colonel +wanted me and my men to join the regular Confederate army." + +"Humph!" sniffed Porter, "I reckon you jumped at the chance." + +"Not much; but he did more. He mentioned that I was not conducting this +blood-letting business strictly on the rules of genteel, scientific +murder." + +"I reckon, before we indulged in a necktie party, he would want us to +say, 'Beg pardon, sir, but I am under the painful necessity of hanging +you,'" replied Porter, indulging in a coarse laugh. + +"I told him," continued Poindexter, "we fought as we pleased, and asked +no favors of General Price, Jeff Davis, or any other man. As for the +Confederate service, none of it for me." + +"They have offered me a colonelcy, if I take my men down into Arkansas," +answered Porter. "If it gets too hot for me here I may go. You know +there is a price on my head. But I must go, or my boys will be getting +uneasy. Join me at the Springs as soon as possible." Thus saying, he and +his party rode away. + +Poindexter ordered his men to fall in, and they followed Porter, but at +a more leisurely gait. + +When the last one had disappeared, the boy arose and shook himself. +"What do you think of that, Bruno?" he asked, patting the dog's head. +The dog stood with hanging head and tail, as if ashamed he had let so +many of his enemies get away unharmed. He looked up in his master's face +and whined at the question, as much as to say, "I don't like it." + +"Well, my boy, there is the Old Nick to pay. Both Porter and Poindexter +on the warpath. Fulton to be attacked, and not a hundred men to defend +it. Shaffer with the boys miles away. How are both to be warned? We must +see, old fellow, we must see. There is no time to lose." + +Thus saying, the boy hurriedly made his way back through the woods where +in a hollow in the midst of a dense thicket a horse stood concealed. +Those who have read "The Scout of Pea Ridge" will readily recognize the +boy as Harry Semans, and Bruno as his celebrated trained dog. After the +battle of Pea Ridge and upon the dissolution of the company of scouts +under the command of Captain Lawrence Middleton, Harry had returned to +Missouri, and become a scout for the Merrill Horse. The Merrill Horse, +officially known as the Second Missouri Cavalry, was a regiment composed +of companies from Missouri, Illinois, and Michigan. + +It can safely be said that no other regiment in the Federal army ever +saw more service in fighting guerrillas than did the Merrill Horse. From +the very first of the war their work was to help exterminate the +guerrilla bands which infested the State. The name "Merrill Horse" +became a terror to every bushwhacker and guerrilla in Missouri. No +trail was so obtuse, no thicket so dense that members of that regiment +would not track them to their lair. A true history of the Merrill Horse, +and the adventures of its different members, would read like the most +exciting fiction. + +When Harry reached his horse he stood for a moment in deep thought, and +then speaking to Bruno, said: "Yes, old boy, you must do it. I know you +can, can't you?" + +Bruno gave a bark and wagged his tail as if to say, "Try me." + +Tearing a leaf from a blank book, Harry wrote a brief note to Colonel +Shaffer, telling him what had happened, and begging him to march with +all speed to Fulton. This note he securely fastened to Bruno's collar +and said, "Bruno, go find Colonel Shaffer and the boys. You know where +we left them. Go." + +For a moment Bruno stood and looked up in his master's face, as if +undecided. + +"Go and find Colonel Shaffer. Go," Harry repeated, sternly. + +The dog turned and was away like a shot. Harry gazed after him until he +was out of sight, then patting the glossy neck of his horse, said, "Now, +Bess, it's you and I for Fulton; the machinations of those two +archfiends, Poindexter and Porter, must be brought to naught." + +Harry believed he would have no trouble in reaching Fulton, as the +guerrillas were generally quiet near a place garrisoned by Federal +troops, therefore he took the main road, as he was desirous of reaching +Fulton as soon as he possibly could. He had not gone more than two miles +when he met two men, rough-looking fellows, whom Harry had no desire to +meet, but there was no way to avoid it, except flight, so he rode boldly +forward. + +Harry was dressed in the homespun of the country, and had all the +appearance of a country bumpkin. As to arms, none were visible, but +stowed away beneath his rough jacket was a huge navy revolver, and Harry +was an adept in the use of it. + +"Hello, youn' feller," cried one of the men. "Whar be yo' goin' in sich +a hurry? Halt, and give an account of yo'self." + +"Goin' to Fulton, if the Yanks will let me," drawled Harry. "Whar be yo +'uns goin'?" + +"That 's nun yo' business. Air yo 'un Union or Confed?" + +"Which be yo'uns?" + +"Look heah, young feller, nun of yo' foolin'. I reckon yo' air a Yank in +disguise. That 's a mighty fine hoss yo 'un air ridin'. 'Spose we 'uns +trade." + +"'Spose we 'uns don't." + +During this conversation Harry's right hand was resting beneath his +jacket, grasping the butt of his revolver. + +"I reckon we 'uns will," jeered the fellow, reaching for his pistol. + +Quick as a flash Harry had covered him with his revolver. Fortunately +for him, the two men were close together. "Hands up," he ordered. "A +move, a motion to draw a weapon, and one or both of you will die. It +don't pay to fool with one of Porter's men." + +The hands of both went up, but one exclaimed, "One of Porter's men? Be +yo' one of Porter's men? We 'uns are on our way to join him. We 'uns +heard he was at Brown's Springs." + +"Yo 'uns will find him thar. I am taking a message from him to a friend +in Fulton. Yo 'uns can lower your hands. I reckon we 'uns understand +each other now." + +"We 'uns certainly do," said one of the men, as they dropped their +hands, looking foolish. + +"Wall, good-bye; may see yo 'uns in Fulton tomorrow." And Harry rode +off, leaving the men sitting on their horses watching him. + +"Ought to have shot both of them," muttered Harry, "but I cannot afford +to take any risks just now." + +Harry had no further adventures in reaching Fulton, and at once reported +to Captain Duffield, who was in command of the post. + +Captain Duffield listened to Harry's report with a troubled countenance. + +"A thousand of the devils, did you say?" he asked. + +"Yes, and more coming in every hour." + +"And I have only eighty men," replied Duffield, bitterly. "If they +attack before I can get help, there is no hope for us." + +"Colonel Shaffer is a few miles to the west with about five hundred +men," replied Harry. "If they do not attack tonight, as I do not reckon +they will from what Porter said, he may be here in time to help. I have +sent him word." + +"Sent him word? By whom?" asked Outfield, eagerly. + +"By my dog," and Harry explained. + +As Duffield listened, his countenance fell. "I see no hope from that," +he said. "It is preposterous to think that a dog will carry a message +for miles, and hunt up a man." + +"If you knew Bruno, you would think differently," replied Harry, +smiling. + +"I can put no dependence on any such thing," said Duffield. "My only +hope is getting word to Colonel Guitar, at Jefferson City. If I get any +help, it must come from him. God grant that Porter may not attack +tonight." + +"I think there is little danger tonight, but they may be down in the +morning," said Harry. "Do you think Guitar can reinforce you by +morning?" + +"He must; he must. I will send a message to him by courier mounted on +one of my fleetest horses." + +"Bess is about as fast as they make them," replied Harry. "I know the +country. I will go if you wish." + +Duffield looked at him a moment doubtfully, and then said, "You may go, +as you can tell Colonel Guitar all you have told me. But I will send one +of my own men with you." + +Captain Duffield wrote two messages, giving one to Harry, and the other +to the soldier who was to accompany him. + +"If you have trouble," said Captain Duffield, "for the love of Heaven, +one of you get through, if the other is killed. The safety of this post +depends on Colonel Guitar receiving the message." + +"It will go through, if I live," calmly replied Harry, as he carefully +concealed the message in the lining of his coat. + +To Harry's surprise, the soldier detailed to go with him proved to be a +boy, not much older than himself. He was mounted on a spirited horse and +his manner showed he was ready for any kind of an adventure, no matter +where it might lead. + +The shades of night were falling when Captain Duffield bade them +good-bye, and they rode away and were soon lost to view in the dusk. + +Captain Duffield stood looking after them, and then said to one of his +lieutenants, "I don't know what to make of that boy. He told a straight +story, but his thinking that dog of his would take a message to Shaffer +is a little too much to believe." + +But Captain Duffield soon had other things to think about. Reports began +to come in from other sources of the gathering of the guerrillas at +Brown's Springs, and their number was augmented to two thousand. He +posted his little force in the best manner possible to resist an attack, +and with an anxious heart, watched and waited through the long hours of +the night; but to his immense relief, no attack came. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +AN INTERNECINE WAR + + +After the battle of Pea Ridge, the Confederate Government had no regular +organized troops in Missouri. General Sterling Price, with his Missouri +regiments, which had enlisted in the Confederate service, was ordered +east of the Mississippi. But there were thousands of State troops that +had followed Price, and although they refused to enlist in the regular +Confederate service, they were, at heart, as bitter towards the Union as +ever. These men found their way back home, and although thousands of +them took the oath of allegiance to the Federal Government, the majority +of them were not only ready, but eager, to ally themselves with some of +the guerrilla bands which were infesting the State. + +The Federal authorities, knowing that Price, with his army, had been +ordered east, thought that the Confederates had given up all hopes of +holding the State, and that the fighting was over, except with small +guerrilla bands, that could easily be kept in check. Therefore, the +great majority of the Federal troops in Missouri were withdrawn to swell +the armies of Buell and Grant. + +The Confederates now thought they saw their opportunity. Numbers of the +Confederate officers secretly made their way into the State and +commenced to organize the disloyal forces, co-operating with the +guerrilla bands. Among these officers was Colonel Clay, who appeared in +the first chapter. + +This movement was so successful that during the summer of 1862 it is +estimated that there were from thirty to forty thousand of these men +enrolled and officered. Places of rendezvous were designated, where all +were to assemble at a given signal, and, by a coup-de-main, seize all +the important points in the State which were feebly garrisoned. Then +they were to co-operate with an army moving up from Arkansas, and the +State would be redeemed. + +It was a well laid plan, but fortunately it was early discovered by +General J. M. Schofield, who was in command of the Department of +Missouri. How General Schofield first received his information will be +told hereafter. + +General Schofield frantically appealed to Halleck for aid, and then to +Washington, but he was answered that owing to the great military +movements going on, not a regiment could be spared. + +General Schofield, thus left to his own resources, rose grandly to the +occasion. He would use the Confederates' own tactics. So he ordered the +entire militia of the State to be enrolled. Thousands of Confederate +sympathizers fled the State, or took to the bush. During the summer of +1862 between forty and fifty thousand loyal State militia were +organized. Thus the whole State became one vast armed camp, nearly forty +thousand men on a side, arrayed against each other. + +It was father against son, brother against brother, neighbor against +neighbor. The only wonder is that owing to the passions of the times +there were not more excesses and murders committed than there were. + +During the year 1862 there were at least one hundred and fifty +engagements fought on the soil of Missouri, in which the numbers engaged +varied from forty or fifty to five or six thousand. In these engagements +General Schofield says the Union troops were successful in nine out of +ten, and that at least three thousand guerrillas had been killed, +wounded, or taken prisoners, and that ten thousand had fled the State. + +This terrible warfare between neighbors receives scant mention in +history, but in no great battles of the war was greater bravery shown, +greater heroism displayed, than in many of the minor engagements fought +in Missouri. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A MYSTERIOUS COMMUNICATION + + +In the month of May, 1862, a young Federal officer reported in St. +Louis, and found himself without a command, and without a commission. +This officer, Captain Lawrence Middleton, had greatly distinguished +himself during the first year of the war on the staff of General +Nathaniel Lyon. After the death of Lyon he was commissioned a captain by +General Fremont, and authorized to raise an independent company of +scouts. With this company he had rendered valiant service in the +campaign which ended with the battle of Pea Ridge. + +Many of the acts of Fremont, and a number of commissions which he had +granted, had been repudiated by the Government, and thus Middleton had +found himself free. But he had no intention of remaining inactive, his +heart was too much in the cause. If no other field was open, he would +enlist as a private soldier. But there was no need of that, he was too +well known. Though young, scarcely more than eighteen, he had rendered +services and performed deeds which made his name known throughout the +State. He had thwarted the machinations of Frost, Price, Governor +Jackson, and other disloyal leaders in their efforts to drag Missouri +out of the Union. + +While Lawrence was undecided just what to do he met Frank P. Blair, who +was overjoyed to see him. He had been Blair's private secretary during +the troublesome months before the opening of the war, and a lieutenant +in one of his regiments of Home Guards. + +Blair, who had been appointed a brigadier general in the Federal army, +had been at home on business, and was about to return to his command. + +"Never better pleased to see anyone in my life," said Blair, nearly +shaking Lawrence's arm off. "Oh, I've kept track of you, you've been +keeping up your reputation. But what are you doing in St. Louis? I +thought you were with Curtis." + +Lawrence told Blair of his predicament,--that he was now without a +command or a commission. + +"Good!" cried Blair, shaking Lawrence's hand again. "I was about to +write to Curtis to see if I could not get you away from him. I will see +that you are commissioned as captain, and I will detail you on my staff. +I need just such fellows as you." + +"I couldn't ask anything better," said Lawrence, "and, General, I thank +you from the bottom of my heart. It is more than I could have possibly +hoped, more than I deserve." + +"Too modest, my boy. If you had your deserts, you would be wearing a +star on your shoulder, as well as myself. I am a little selfish in +asking you to go on my staff. I want you." + +So it was all arranged, and Lawrence went to see his uncle and tell him +of his new position on Blair's staff. This uncle, Alfred Middleton, was +one of the wealthiest citizens of St. Louis, and an ardent secessionist. +Now that Lawrence was out of the army, he was in hopes that he would +stay out, and he showed his disappointment in his face. He had also been +greatly worried of late. His only son was with Price, and it was a sore +spot with him that the Missouri Confederate troops had been ordered +east, and not been left to defend their native State. + +In fact, the Confederates of the State felt that they had been deserted +by the Richmond Government, and bore Jeff Davis and his cabinet no great +love. + +"I am sorry, Lawrence," said his uncle, sadly. "I was in hopes that as +long as you were out of the army you would stay out. Why will you +persist in fighting against those who were your friends? Your whole +interest lies with the South." + +"Uncle, please do not let us discuss that question again," replied +Lawrence. "You and I are both firm in our belief, and no amount of +discussion will change either." + +Mr. Middleton sighed, but did not resume the subject. That Lawrence, +whom he looked upon almost as a son, should take up arms against the +South was to him a source of endless regret. + +The next two or three days were busy ones with Lawrence. The new +arrangement had one drawback, it would separate him from Dan Sherman, +who had been a lieutenant in his company of scouts, and the two were +inseparable. Dan would not hear of parting from Lawrence; he would go +with him if he had to go as his servant. + +"I can never consent to that, Dan," said Lawrence. "I had rather tell +Blair I have reconsidered his proposition and cannot accept." + +"You'll do no such thing," retorted Sherman. "I will try and behave +myself, but I feel that something will happen, and we will not be +separated." + +Something did happen, much quicker than either one expected. Something +which entirely changed the calculations of Lawrence. It was to be some +months before he saw service with Blair. + +Lawrence and Dan were passing a newspaper office, before which a large +crowd had gathered, reading the war bulletins. They told that Halleck +was tightening his lines around Corinth and that the place must soon +fall; and that McClellan was well on his way towards Richmond. + +It was curious to watch the faces of those who read. The countenances of +those who were for the Union would brighten when anything was posted +favorable to the Union cause, and now and then a cheer would be given. + +The iron heel of the Yankees was on St. Louis, and the Confederate +sympathizers dare not be so outspoken, but when anything favorable to +the South was posted their eyes would flash, and their countenances beam +with joy. + +And thus the crowd stood and read, once friends and neighbors, but now +ready to rend each other to pieces at the first opportunity. + +Lawrence mingled with the crowd, and as he read he felt a bulky envelope +thrust in his hand and caught a glimpse of a dusky arm. He glanced at +the address and then turned to see who had given it to him, but could +not. He glanced at the envelope again. Yes, it was for him. In bold +letters was written, "For Captain Lawrence Middleton. Important." + +The writing was strange to Lawrence, and making his way through the +crowd he sought a private place where he could see what had so +mysteriously come into his possession. As he read, a look of surprise +came over his face, and then his countenance grew stern and grim. +Carefully he read the document through from beginning to end. It was +signed "By One Who Knows." There was not a mark to tell who was the +writer. The writing was strong and bold, and possessed an originality of +its own, as if the writer had put much of his own character in it. +Lawrence sat and pondered long. He looked the manuscript over and over +again to see if he could not discover some private mark, something that +would identify the writer, but he found nothing. + +"Strange," he muttered, "but if Guilford Craig was alive I would swear +he was the writer of this. Who else would write me, and me alone, and +give such important information? Who else could obtain the information +contained in this letter? Yet Guilford is dead. Benton Shelly was seen +to shoot him. There were those who saw him lying on the ground, still in +death, his bosom drenched in blood. But his body was not found. +Guilford, Guilford, are you still alive? But why do I indulge in such +vain hope that he is alive? The proof of his death is too plain. This +letter must have been written by another, but who? Who? And why send it +to me?" + +The letter was, in fact, a full and complete _exposé_ of the plans of +the Confederates. It told of the conception of the plot; who was +carrying it out; of the hundreds who had taken the oath of allegiance in +order that they might work more securely, and that many had even +enlisted in the State militia, so that when the supreme time came they +could desert: the time set for the uprising was the last of July or else +the first of August, by which time they hoped to have at least forty +thousand men enrolled. + +"Blair and Schofield must see this, and no time lost," said Lawrence to +himself as he placed the communication carefully in his pocket. + +Blair was soon found. After carefully reading the letter he said, "I am +not surprised. I warned the Government of the folly of removing so many +troops from the State. But who could have written this?" + +"If Guilford Craig was alive there would be but one answer," replied +Lawrence. "As it is, it is a mystery." + +"Let us see Schofield at once," said Blair. "There should be no time +lost." + +Repairing to the headquarters of General Schofield, they were readily +admitted. General Schofield was the chief of staff to General Lyon at +the time of the battle of Wilson Creek, and, of course, knew Lawrence +well. "Glad to see you, Captain," said the General. "Curtis has written +me of your good work. You are not with him now, are you?" + +"No, you know the commission I held was granted by Fremont. The +authorities at Washington declared it illegal." + +"Ah, there was a large number of those commissions. I must see what I +can do for you." + +"I thank you, General, but General Blair has just done me the great +honor of appointing me on his staff." + +"General Blair, as well as yourself, is to be congratulated," answered +the General. + +Blair now spoke. "General, our business with you is very important. +Captain Middleton, please show the General the communication you +received." + +Lawrence handed the General the mysterious message and Schofield read it +with a darkened brow. + +"Who wrote this?" he asked, abruptly. + +"General, I do not know." + +"Then it may be a fake, a joke. Someone may be trying to scare us." + +"General, it is no joke, the proof is too positive," replied Lawrence, +earnestly. + +"That is so," answered the General. "It also confirms rumors I have been +hearing. There has been unusual activity among Southern sympathizers, +all over the State, yet outside of the guerrilla bands there have been +no hostile demonstrations. This must have been written by someone deep +in their counsels." + +"General, do you remember Guilford Craig?" + +"Remember him! Indeed, I do. Can I ever forget what he and you were to +Lyon?" + +"If Guilford Craig had not been killed at the battle of Pea Ridge I +would be positive the communication came from him. But the handwriting +bears no resemblance to his." + +"Are you certain he was killed?" + +"The proof seems positive, but his body was not found," answered +Lawrence. + +Schofield sat for a moment in silence, and then suddenly said to Blair, +"General Blair, I have a great favor to ask of you." + +"What is it, General? Any favor I can give you will be readily granted." + +"That you relinquish your claim on Captain Middleton, at least, until +this crisis is over, and let me have him." + +Blair looked surprised, but no more so than Lawrence. + +"You know," continued Schofield, "there is no one who can help me more +just now than Captain Middleton. No one who understands the work before +me better. This Guilford Craig, as you are aware, was a curious +character. To no one would he report but to Captain Middleton. This +_exposé_, coming to Middleton, instead of to me, leads me to believe +that Craig was not killed, as supposed, but in some way got off the +field, and for reasons, known only to himself, remains in hiding. +Judging the future by the past, if he is alive, and has more information +to impart, it would be given only through the same source. For these +reasons I would like to attach Captain Middleton to my staff." + +"General, your reasons are good," replied Blair, "and it shall be for +Captain Middleton to decide." + +"Where I can do my country the most good, there I am willing to go," +answered Lawrence. + +So it was decided that for the summer Lawrence should remain with +General Schofield. The words of General Schofield had also given +Lawrence hope that Guilford lived. But as weeks and months passed, and +no other communication came to him, he again looked upon Guilford as +dead. + +Hopeless of getting relief from the Federal Government, General +Schofield entered upon the gigantic task of organizing the militia of +the State. In this Lawrence was of the greatest service, and through a +system of spies and scouts he was enabled to keep General Schofield well +informed as to what was going on in the State. + +In helping organize the militia, Lawrence had many adventures and many +hair-breadth escapes, and by his side always rode the faithful Dan +Sherman, and together they shared every danger. + +By the last of July, as has been stated, there were nearly one hundred +thousand men arrayed against each other. It was a partisan warfare on a +mighty scale, and the storm was about to burst. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +MOORE'S MILL + + +We left Harry Semans and his young companion just starting on their +lonely ride to Jefferson City, a distance of twenty-seven miles. The +soldier with Harry proved rather a garrulous youth. He said his name was +David Harris; that he belonged to the Third Iowa Cavalry; was a farmer +boy, and rather liked the service. "It's exciting, you know," he added. + +"Very much so at times," dryly answered Harry. + +"Say, what makes you dress like a blamed guerrilla?" suddenly asked +Dave. "You are a soldier, aren't you?" + +"I am a scout," replied Harry. "I dress like a guerrilla because I have +to pretend to be one about half the time. Just before I reached Fulton +today I passed myself off as one of Porter's men. It saved me a +dangerous encounter, perhaps my life." + +"Gee! it must be exciting," said the boy. "I wish I was a scout." + +"Couldn't be one," laughed Harry. "Your Yankee brogue would give you +away. I notice you say 'keow' instead of 'cow' and 'guess' instead of +'reckon.' But please don't talk any more, we must keep both ears and +eyes open." + +After this they rode along in silence; that is, as much as Dave would +allow, until Harry ordered him to ride in the rear, and if he must talk, +talk to himself, and so low that no one else could hear. + +For some ten miles they proceeded at a swift gallop without adventure, +meeting two or three horsemen who seemed as little desirous of making +acquaintance as they were themselves, and Dave began to think the ride +rather tame. + +As they were passing a place where the bushes grew thickly by the side +of the road, they received a gruff command to halt. Instead of obeying, +Harry, as quick as thought, drew his revolver and fired, at the same +time putting spurs to his horse and shouting to Harris, "Ride for your +life." + +There was a rustling in the bushes, an angry exclamation as well as a +groan. Harry's shot had gone true, and came as a surprise to the +bushwhackers as well, for two or three seconds elapsed before three or +four shots rang out, and they went wild. + +"Well, how do you like it?" asked Harry, as he drew rein, considering +the danger past. + +"It was so sudden," said Dave. "I think I would have halted, and asked +what was wanted." + +"And got gobbled, and in all probability hanged afterwards. Dave, you +have to learn something yet before you become a scout. Always be ready +to fire at a moment's notice; and if you have to run don't tarry on your +going. I took chances as to whether there was a large party or not, but +concluded it was not, or some of them would have been in the road." + +"Did you think of all that? Why, the word 'Halt' was hardly out of the +fellow's mouth when you fired." + +"Think quickly, act quickly; it has saved my bacon many a time. You +ought to have been with me when I was with Captain Lawrence Middleton. +There is the fellow to ride with. But this wouldn't have happened if +Bruno had been with me." + +"Bruno? Who is Bruno?" asked Dave. + +"Bruno is my dog. He would have smelled those fellows out before we were +within forty rods of them. I am never afraid of a surprise when Bruno is +with me. But no more talking now." + +Once more their horses took up a swinging gallop, and they met with no +further adventures, and within less than three hours from the time they +started they were halted by the Union pickets who guarded the approach +to the river opposite Jefferson City. + +Harry demanded of the Lieutenant in command of the picket that they be +ferried across the river without loss of time, but the Lieutenant +demurred, saying it was against orders to allow anyone to cross the +river during the night. + +"I have important dispatches from Captain Duffield to Colonel Guitar. +Refuse to take me over, and I would not give much for your command," +angrily answered Harry. + +"Who are you?" demanded the Lieutenant. "From your dress you are +certainly not a soldier." + +"I am Harry Semans, scout for the Merrill Horse," answered Harry. + +"At the name 'Merrill Horse' the Lieutenant became as meek as a lamb. + +"Excuse me," he exclaimed. "I will see that you get over the river +immediately. Anything new at Fulton?" + +"Porter and Poindexter are within eleven miles of the place, and +Duffield expects to be attacked by morning." + +The Lieutenant gave a low whistle. "The devil," he ejaculated, and +rushed to give the necessary orders. + +It was eleven o'clock before the river was crossed and the headquarters +of Colonel Guitar reached. He had just retired, but Harry and Dave were +without ceremony admitted into his bedroom. The Colonel read the +dispatch of Captain Duffield, sitting on his bed in his nightclothes. + +At once all was excitement. There were but five hundred men guarding the +important post of Jefferson City. Of this force, Colonel Guitar ordered +one hundred to accompany him to Fulton. He dared not deplete the little +garrison more. + +While Harry and Dave were in the Colonel's bedroom, Harry noticed that +Dave was regarding Guitar with a great deal of interest. When they +passed out Dave said to Harry in a whisper, "That general don't amount +to shucks. Think of him fighting Porter?" + +"Why, what's the matter with Guitar?" asked Harry. + +"Matter! He wears a nightgown just like a woman. Who ever heard of a man +wearing a nightgown?"[1] + +[Footnote 1: A true incident.] + +Harry exploded with laughter. "Many men wear nightgowns," he explained. +"I have no doubt but what General Schofield does. I reckon you will find +out that Guitar will fight." + +During the day there had been two important arrivals in Jefferson City, +that of Lawrence Middleton and Dan Sherman. They had told Colonel Guitar +of the rapid concentration of the guerrilla bands all through the +counties north of the river, and had warned him to be on the lookout for +trouble. In fact, they had brought orders from General Schofield for him +to send two of his companies to Columbia, as it was thought that was the +place in greatest danger. + +Lawrence and Dan were told of the danger that threatened Fulton, and +they determined to accompany Guitar in his expedition. + +It was not until they were on the ferryboat crossing the river that +Harry was aware that Lawrence and Dan were of the number. He nearly went +wild on seeing them. + +"And how is Bruno?" asked Lawrence. + +"Bruno is all right. I sent him with a dispatch to Colonel Shaffer." + +Hurry as fast as they could, it was long past midnight before the force +was across the river, and then there was a twenty-seven mile ride ahead +of them. + +On the march Harry had an opportunity to tell Lawrence much that had +happened to him since they parted. + +It was daylight when Fulton was reached, and, much to their relief, the +place had not been attacked, but the excitement ran high. Rumor had +increased Porter's force to two thousand. Colonel Guitar believed this +estimate to be much too high. So, small as his force was, only one +hundred and eighty, he determined to move out and attack Porter without +delay. + +When this became known to the few Union inhabitants of Fulton they +implored Guitar not to do it. "Your force will be annihilated," they +exclaimed, "and Fulton will be at the mercy of the foe." + +Lawrence agreed with Colonel Guitar. "We came here in the night," said +he. "Porter does not know how many men you brought. No doubt your force +is magnified, the same as his. Assuming the offensive will disconcert +him, and also prevent him receiving further reinforcements." + +So it was decided, and the little force took up the march for Brown's +Springs, eleven miles away. Couriers were dispatched to find Colonel +Shaffer, for even if Bruno had succeeded in delivering Harry's message +Shaffer would march for Fulton instead of Brown's Springs. + +It was about eleven o'clock when the column reached the vicinity of +Brown's Springs. Nothing as yet had been heard from Colonel Shaffer, but +Guitar determined to attack. Lawrence had been asked by Guitar to act as +his aid, to which he gladly assented. + +Two or three small parties of guerrillas had been sighted, but they took +to the brush at the sight of the Federals. + +The command now moved cautiously forward, but there was to be no battle. +Harry, who had been scouting in front, returned with the news that the +guerrillas had fled. Their camp was soon occupied. Everything showed a +rapid flight; even the would-be dinner of the guerrillas was found half +cooked. + +Along in the afternoon Porter's force was located near Moore's Mill, +about four miles distant. + +As Colonel Guitar's men had not slept a wink the night before, and as +both men and horses were tired out, the Colonel decided to camp, rest +his men and await the coming of Shaffer. + +Why Porter fled from Brown's Springs and yet gave battle the next day, +after Shaffer had come up, will never be known. If he had fought at +Brown's Springs he would have had five men to Guitar's one. He may have +thought Shaffer was miles away. What Poindexter had told him would lead +him to believe this. And it would have been the case had it not been for +Harry and the faithful Bruno. + +Every precaution was taken by Colonel Guitar to guard against a night +attack, but his little army was allowed to rest in peace. + +During the night the couriers sent out to locate Shaffer reported. Bruno +had done his work well, but Shaffer had been miles farther away than +thought, and as had been requested by Harry in his report, had marched +for Fulton. He was yet ten miles away, and it would be impossible for +him to join Guitar before morning. + +The morning came and with it Shaffer, and with him five hundred and +fifty men, eager for the combat. How Guitar's men did cheer when they +saw Shaffer coming. + +Scouts reported that Porter still occupied his camp, and showed no sign +of moving. It looked as if he had resolved to stay and fight. Colonel +Guitar gave the order to move forward and attack. The advance had to be +carefully made, for the country was rough, wooded, and covered with a +dense undergrowth of bushes. + +Harry now had Bruno with him, and leaving his horse, he, with the dog, +made his way to the front, in order to discover, as far as possible, the +plans and position of the enemy. So dense was the undergrowth he could +not see thirty feet ahead of him, but Bruno, as stealthy as a tiger in +the jungle, crept through the bushes ahead of him and more than once +gave him warning to turn aside his steps and take another direction. At +last he came to quite a hill, on the summit of which grew a tree with +branches close to the ground. Leaving Bruno to guard, Harry climbed the +tree, and to his satisfaction had a good view of the country. But what +he saw filled him with consternation. + +The road on which the Federals were marching was narrow and on each side +lined with dense underbrush. Ahead of the Federal advance, the road +itself was clear, not a guerrilla in sight, but Porter had left his camp +and all his forces were stealthily creeping through the woods, and +concealing themselves in the bushes which lined the road. + +Harry knew that that meant an ambuscade, and the Federal advance was +almost into it. In his eagerness he hardly knew whether he fell, jumped, +or swung himself down by the branches, but he was out of the tree and +tearing through the brush like a mad man to give warning. + +He came to the road just as Colonel Guitar came along, riding at the +head of his column, the advance, consisting of twenty-five men of +Company E, Third Iowa Cavalry, being a short distance ahead. + +"Halt the advance. Ambuscade," gasped Harry. He could say no more, as he +fell from exhaustion. + +[Illustration: "Halt the advance. Ambuscade," gasped Harry.] + +Guitar understood. "Halt," he cried, and to an aid, "Warn the advance." + +The aid put spurs to his horse, but he was too late. Before he could +give warning there came a crashing volley from the jungle on the east +side of the road, the thicket burst into flame and smoke. It was an +awful, a murderous volley. Out of the twenty-five men who composed the +advance, hardly a man or horse escaped unscathed; all were killed or +wounded. + +Swift and terrible as this blow was, it created no panic in Guitar's +little army. The road was narrow, thickets on each side. Nothing could +be done with cavalry. Quickly the order was given to dismount and send +the horses back in charge of every fourth man. Guitar then formed his +slender line in the edge of the thicket on the west side of the road, +with orders to hold until Shaffer came up, for Shaffer was still behind. + +Hearing the sound of the conflict, Shaffer rushed forward, sent back his +horses, and along the road and through the tangled undergrowth the line +was formed and the battle became general. + +The guerrillas displayed a bravery they seldom showed when engaged with +regular troops, and fought with determination and ferocity. They had the +advantage in position and numbers, but Guitar had the advantage in +having a couple of pieces of artillery. One of these pieces was brought +up by hand and planted in the road where it could sweep the woods in +which the guerrillas were concealed. + +Hidden from view, the guerrillas crept up near, poured in a murderous +volley, and then raising a blood-curdling yell, dashed for the gun. Four +of the gunners had fallen before the volley, and for the time the gun +was silent. But behind the piece lay a line of sturdy cavalrymen. They +waited until the guerrillas had burst from the thicket and were within +forty feet of the gun, then sprang to their feet and poured a terrific +volley almost into the faces of the foe. + +Staggering and bleeding, the guerrillas shrank back into the woods, but +only to rally and with fearful yells dash for the gun again. This time +they were not met by the cavalrymen alone, but the cannon belched forth +its deadly charge of canister in their faces. + +When the four gunners fell at the first charge, Dan Sherman, seeing that +the piece was not manned, rushed forward and snatched the primer from +the dead hand of the man who was about to insert it when he fell. Dan +inserted the primer, pulled the lanyard and sent the contents of the gun +into the ranks of the enemy. Two of the artillerymen who had not been +injured came to his assistance, and again the gun was thundering forth +its defiance. + +Through the chaparral Shaffer's men now pushed their way foot by foot. +It was a strange conflict. So dense was the undergrowth the line could +not be followed by the eye for thirty feet. No foe could be seen, but +the thickets blazed and smoked, and the leaden hail swept through the +bushes, tearing and mangling them as if enraged at their resistance. + +The duty of Lawrence was a dangerous one. He had to break his way +through the thickets, see that some kind of a line was kept, and that +orders were being executed. While the men were sheltered by trees, logs +and rocks, he had to be exposed, but as if possessed of a charmed life, +he passed through unscathed. + +Foot by foot the Federals dragged themselves forward, slowly pressing +the guerrillas back. At last, tired of fighting an unseen foe, the men +arose to their feet, and with a wild cheer sprang forward. Surprised, +the foe wavered, then broke. The flight became a panic, and they fled +terror-stricken from the field. The battle of Moore's Mill had been +fought and won. + +There was no pursuit that night. The day had been intensely hot, and the +battle had raged from twelve noon until four. The soldiers, with +blackened, swollen faces and tongues, were fainting with thirst. Colonel +Guitar ordered his men to occupy the camp deserted by the foe. The dead +were to be buried, the wounded cared for. + +So precipitously had the guerrillas fled that except the severely +wounded, few prisoners were taken. Porter had impressed upon his men +that to be captured by the Yankees meant certain death. + +While searching the field Lawrence noticed some white object crawling +along like a large reptile. Upon investigation he found to his surprise +that it was a man, and entirely nude. + +"Why are you without clothes?" asked Lawrence. + +The man looked tip into Lawrence's face with a scared expression and +whined, "The guerrillas captured me, and they stripped me of my +clothing." + +"Then you are a Federal soldier?" inquired Lawrence. + +"Y-e-s," came the halting answer. + +"You lie," exclaimed Lawrence. "You are one of the guerrillas." + +The fellow then broke down, and, piteously begging for his life, said he +was one of Porter's men, and that he looked for nothing but death if +captured, so he had divested himself of his clothing, hoping to pass +himself off as a Federal.[2] + +[Footnote 2: A true incident of the battle.] + +Lawrence ordered him to be tenderly cared for, and tears of gratitude +ran down the fellow's face when he realised he was not to be murdered. + +The battle of Moore's Mill, insignificant as it was compared to the +great battles of the war, was important in this: It frustrated the plans +of the conspirators, and was the beginning of a series of conflicts +which forever ended the hopes of the Confederates to recapture the State +by an uprising. + +Colonel Guitar reported his loss in the battle as thirteen killed and +fifty-five wounded. The guerrilla loss he reported at fifty-two left +dead on the field and one hundred and twenty-five wounded. + +In all the partisan battles in Missouri the guerrillas never reported +their losses, and only the reports of the Federal commanders are +accessible. In many cases no doubt these reports are exaggerated. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A FIGHT IN THE NIGHT + + +Early the next morning Colonel Guitar started in pursuit of the enemy. +Lawrence took the advance with a party of six men. As a matter of +course, Harry and Bruno made a part of this force. + +"This seems like old times, Harry," said Lawrence, as they started off. + +"It does that, Captain," replied Harry. "You, Dan, Bruno and myself make +four of the old gang. Now if only Guilford was with us--" He stopped and +sighed. His mind had gone back to the time when he and Guilford had so +nearly faced death in among the Boston mountains. "You have heard +nothing of him, have you, Captain?" + +"Nothing. I did receive a communication about two months ago that I +thought might be from him; but I have received nothing since and I have +given up all hopes." + +The trail left by the guerrillas was very plain. It followed the +Auxvasse for some two miles, and then turned off into the hills. The +country was very rough, the places for an ambuscade numerous, but with +Bruno scouting, Lawrence had no fears of being surprised. + +Soon they came to a place where the road forked. On the road that led to +the left up the Auxvasse the trail was plainly marked; but the road that +led on into the more open country had little appearance of being +traveled; but it was rocky, and by being careful a large force could +have passed over it and left but few traces behind. + +Harry dismounted and carefully examined the ground. As for Bruno, he +seemed to have no doubt; he was taking the blind trail. + +"A blind," said Harry. "Not more than fifty took to the left, and they +left as broad a trail as possible. The main force passed up the other +road. If Guitar follows the broad trail it will lead him away among the +hills and then disappear, for the party will separate." + +Just then the advance of Guitar's force appeared, led by a young +lieutenant. + +"What are you waiting for?" he asked Lawrence. "Have you discovered the +enemy?" + +"No, but Porter evidently divided his forces here, and we were +discussing which road the main body took." + +The Lieutenant dismounted, and after looking over the ground, said, +"Why, it's as plain as the nose on a man's face; they went to the left." + +"Harry and Bruno both think differently," answered Lawrence. + +The Lieutenant sniffed. "Much they know about it," he exclaimed. "I have +trailed too many guerrillas to be mistaken." + +Just then Colonel Guitar, at the head of his column, appeared. He was +appealed to, and after examining the road, decided to take the left hand +road, but told Lawrence he might keep on the other road with his scouts, +and see what he could discover. As a matter of precaution he increased +Lawrence's force to ten men. + +The Lieutenant rode off highly elated over the fact that Colonel Guitar +agreed with his views. + +"Let them go," sputtered Harry. "They will be disgusted before night." + +And so it proved. The trail led Guitar over hills, through ravines and +rocky dells, through tangled forests, and twisted and turned, until it +disappeared entirely; and, much to his disgust, Guitar found himself +along in the afternoon within two miles from where he had started. The +wily guerrilla chieftain had fooled him completely. Guitar led his mad, +weary and swearing force back to the old camp grounds, and there awaited +the return of Lawrence and his scouting party. + +Lawrence did not think for a moment but that Harry was right, and that +fact soon became evident. They were now in a more open country, and the +signs that a large body of troops had passed became numerous. Not only +this, but in the houses along the road they found a number of severely +wounded that the guerrillas had been forced to leave. + +After some miles they came to a road that crossed the one they were on, +and which led to the west. Here the ground had been much trampled, and +that but a short time before. + +Again Harry dismounted and examined the ground carefully. "We are close +onto them," he said. "I do not believe they have been gone half an +hour." + +"Harry, you are a regular Kit Carson for trails," laughed Lawrence. "Are +you sure you are right?" + +"Perfectly, and what is more, their force divided here, but the larger +force kept on. The explanation is plain. Porter operates to the north +and east, so he has kept on with the larger force; Poindexter and Cobb +have their chief haunts along the Chariton and Grand, so with their +forces they have gone to the west." + +"We had better hurry back to Guitar and tell him this," exclaimed +Lawrence. + +"No," snapped Harry. "I don't propose to be snubbed again. You only have +my word now. Let's keep on until you and everyone present have proof +that cannot be doubted." + +"I believe you are right, Harry," said Lawrence, and he gave the command +to continue on. + +They had proceeded a mile when Bruno came running back, showing by his +manner he had news to impart. + +Halting his squad, Lawrence dismounted, and taking Harry, they carefully +made their way to the brow of a hill which lay in front. Cautiously +peering over, they saw about a quarter of a mile ahead a commodious +house, around which a number of horses were hitched. + +It was evident that they had come on the rear guard of the retreating +guerrillas, and that they had halted to rest, and were being well +entertained, for a number of black women were passing back and forth +from the house to a rude outdoor kitchen, all bearing dishes, and it +looked very tempting to Lawrence and Harry. + +"Feel like eating myself," whispered Harry. "I didn't know I was so +hungry." + +"How many do you reckon there are?" asked Lawrence. + +Harry carefully counted the horses and then said, "Not over fifteen or +twenty. I can count only fifteen horses, but there may be some out of +sight." + +"Feel like appropriating that dinner myself," said Lawrence. + +"The boys would never forgive us if we didn't," answered Harry. + +Hurrying back they explained the situation, and by unanimous vote it was +decided to make a charge on that dinner without loss of time. + +"Harry and I will ride a little ahead," said Lawrence. "Harry is dressed +in homespun and my uniform is so dusty they won't be able to distinguish +its color until we are close to them. Dan, when I give the signal, come +on in a rush." + +So Lawrence find Harry rode ahead, the squad some fifteen or twenty +paces in the rear, leisurely following. Scarcely had they rode over the +brow of the hill when two sentinels they had not seen before suddenly +showed themselves on the road. The sentinels seemed much alarmed, and +drew up their carbines as if to shoot. + +Harry waved his hat and signaled they were friends. Seeing the squad +coming so leisurely and the two in advance, the sentinels lowered their +guns and waited, thinking it must be some of their own men. But when +Lawrence and Harry were a few yards from them one of the sentinels +caught the color of Lawrence's uniform. + +Giving a terrific whoop, he raised his gun and fired, the ball just +missing Lawrence's head. The other sentinel fired, but his shot went +wild. Both wheeled their horses and dashed back, yelling, "Yanks! Yanks! +Yanks!" + +There was no need of Lawrence signaling Dan to come on, for the squad +were urging their horses to the limit. + +The guerrillas at dinner heard the firing and came pouring out of the +house. Close on the heels of the flying sentinels thundered the +Federals. The guerrillas took one look, and with cries of terror sprang +for their horses, and cutting the halter straps were up and away. By +this time the balls were falling among them thick and fast, killing two, +and the horse of a third one fell and the rider was taken prisoner. + +The fight was over and Lawrence rode up to the house, and was met on the +porch by a white haired, fine looking old gentleman. + +"Sorry to trouble you," said Lawrence, urbanely, "but with your +permission I will have my men finish that dinner that your friends have +so ungraciously and suddenly declined." + +"Step right in, suh, the dinner is waiting," the old gentleman replied +with a wan smile, "but my guests are not accustomed to invite +themselves." + +"Sorry, sir, but when you consider the improvement in the character of +your guests, you should rejoice," rejoined Lawrence. "Entertaining such +guests as have run away is dangerous." + +"I shall feed no Yankees," cried a shrill voice, and a young lady +flounced out of the door, her face red with anger. + +Lawrence saw that she was good to look at, tall, willowy and fair of +face. Taking off his hat and bowing politely, he said, "My dear lady, I +humbly beg your pardon, but my men must certainly finish that dinner you +so kindly prepared for those who were so impolite and cowardly as to run +away and leave it. It would take more than Rebel bullets to make me +decline a meal prepared by your fair hands." + +The compliment was lost. "Cowardly?" cried the girl. "Is it cowardly for +twenty to flee before a regiment of Yankee cut-throats?" + +"There are only a dozen of us," said Lawrence, "and a dozen finer +gentlemen you never entertained, every one a prince and as brave as a +lion. If it were not so, twenty of your friends would not have fled from +them." + +The young lady flashed a look of scorn at him and cried, "Yankee +cut-throats and robbers--gentlemen and brave! You amaze me." She +abruptly turned and went into the house, and much to Lawrence's regret +he did not see her again. + +"You must excuse my daughter," said the old man, nervously. + +"That's all right, so we get the dinner," answered Lawrence. "Don't you +see my men are getting impatient?" + +"Come right in. I feed you, not because I want to, but because I must." +Thus speaking, he led them into the house, where they found a sumptuous +repast but partly eaten; and not a man in the squad but did full justice +to it. + +Lawrence found the prisoner they had taken shaking with terror, for some +of the men had coolly informed him that after dinner he was to be +hanged. + +Lawrence was about to reprimand the men for their cruel joke, when it +occurred to him he might use the fellow's fears to some advantage. So he +told him if he would tell all he knew, not only would his life be +spared, but that he would be paroled, but he would have to be careful +and tell nothing but the truth. + +The prisoner eagerly embraced the opportunity, and confirmed what Harry +had said. He moreover stated that before Porter and Poindexter parted +they had agreed to gather up all the men they could, and join forces +again somewhere along the line of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad. + +"I guess that is straight enough for Guitar to believe, instead of that +upstart lieutenant," said Harry. + +Back to find Guitar the scouts rode; but it was night when they found +him and then nearly where they had left him. All day his men had marched +beneath a broiling sun, and when they found out how they had been led +astray, against the protests of Harry, they wanted to lynch the smart +lieutenant; and it was a long time before the poor fellow heard the last +of it. + +Colonel Guitar concluded to rest his men until morning, and then +continue the pursuit. "I will chase Porter clear to the Iowa line, if +necessary, to catch him," he said. + +While it was arranged that Colonel Guitar should march straight for +Mexico, Lawrence, with a detail of ten men dressed as guerrillas, was to +follow directly on the trail of Porter, thus keeping track of his +movements. Lawrence chose ten of the Merrill Horse to go with him. + +One of the men in looking over the squad and noticing that with +Lawrence, Dan, and Harry there were thirteen of them, demurred, saying +that another man should be added, as thirteen was an unlucky number. "No +thirteen for me," he said. + +"Step aside," ordered Lawrence. "I want no thirteen cranks. I, for one, +am not troubled over the old superstition of thirteen. Who will +volunteer to take this fellow's place?" + +A dozen were eager to go, and Lawrence chose a manly looking fellow. +"Our timid friend here counted wrong," he said. "He forgot Bruno, and he +is equal to a dozen men." + +This raised a laugh, and the party started in the highest spirits. After +going a short distance, Lawrence halted and made his men a short speech. + +"Boys," he said, "dressed as we are, it will be certain death if we are +captured. If circumstances arise where we must fight, fight to the +death--never surrender. We are strong enough to beat off any small +party, and large ones we must avoid. But remember, our object is to get +information, not to fight. To all appearances we must be simon-pure +guerrillas. If we meet with guerrillas, as no doubt we will, keep cool, +and let Harry or me do the talking." + +"All right, Captain," they shouted, and they rode merrily forward, +careless of what dangers they might meet. So often had they faced death, +they considered him an old acquaintance. + +They found little trouble in following the trail of Porter. Taken for +guerrillas, every Southern sympathizer was eager to give them all the +information possible. + +For two days they traveled, frequently meeting with small parties of +guerrillas, and to these Lawrence always represented they belonged south +of the river, and had been obliged to cross to avoid a large party of +Federals, and that they had concluded to keep on and join Porter. + +By questioning, Lawrence found all of these parties had orders to join +Porter at or near Paris. Some of these parties gave Lawrence a good deal +of trouble by wanting to join forces with him, but he put them off by +saying it would be safer to travel in small parties, as they would not +then be so liable to attract the attention of the Federals. + +Porter in his flight had crossed the North Missouri Railroad near +Montgomery City, but in his haste did little damage. + +It was after Lawrence had crossed this railroad that he had his first +serious trouble. Here he came onto a company of at least fifty +guerrillas under the command of Bill Duncan, a leader who often acted +with Porter, and as noted for cruelty as he. The company was hastening +to join Porter at Paris. + +Lawrence thought it best to change his story. Duncan had roughly ordered +him to join his company. This Lawrence firmly refused, saying they +belonged to Poindexter's command; that after Poindexter and Porter had +parted, Poindexter had found it impossible for him to join Porter, as he +had promised, and that he had been sent post-haste by Poindexter to find +Porter and inform him of the fact. + +"But now," said Lawrence, "I need go no farther, as you can carry this +information to Porter." + +"Where are you going if I do this?" asked Duncan. + +"Back to join Poindexter, as I promised," said Lawrence. + +"I don't know but you are all right," said Duncan; "but I don't like the +looks of your men. What did you say your name was?" + +"I haven't told you, but it is Jack Hilton. Porter knows me well. Give +him my respects. Be sure and tell him what I have told you, for it is +very important. Good-day, Captain. Come on, boys," and Lawrence turned +and rode back the way he had come. + +Duncan watched them until they were out of sight; then, shaking his +head, said: "I almost wish I hadn't let them go, but I reckon they're +all right. That young chap in command told a mighty straight story." + +About this time Lawrence was saying: "That was a mighty close shave, +Dan. That fellow had a big notion to make trouble." + +Bruno, who had been told to keep out of sight, joined them after they +had gone some distance. He acted dejected and dispirited, and if he +could have talked would have asked the meaning of it all. Time and time +again he had given warning of the approach of guerrillas, only to have +his master meet them as friends. He had given notice of the approach of +Duncan's party, and to his surprise nothing had come of it. He was a +thoroughly disgusted dog, and walked along with drooping head and tail; +but it only took a word from Harry to set him all right again. + +"We must turn north again at the first opportunity," said Lawrence. +"This will put us back several miles." + +They had not gone far before they met a solitary guerrilla. He was one +of Duncan's party, and had gone out of his way to visit a friend. He was +halted, and explained who he was. + +"Ah, yes," said Lawrence; "your company is just ahead. We left it only a +few moments ago." + +"Whar be yo' goin'?" asked the fellow. + +"Back to join Poindexter, where we belong. I was carrying a message to +Porter from Poindexter, but on meeting Duncan I gave it to him, so we +are on our way back." + +The fellow had sharp eyes, and Lawrence noticed that he was scrutinizing +his party closely, and when he saw Harry, who had been a little in the +rear, and just now came up, he started perceptibly, but quickly +recovered himself, and exclaimed, "I must be goin'." Putting spurs to +his horse, he rode rapidly away. + +Harry gazed on his retreating figure, his brow wrinkled in perplexity. +Suddenly he cried: "Captain, I know that fellow, and I believe he +recognized me. If he did, we are going to have trouble." + +"Are you sure?" asked Lawrence, startled. + +"Quite sure. I arrested him near Paris a couple of months ago, and he +gave his parole. I had hard work to keep Bruno from throttling him. +Where is Bruno?" + +"There he comes now," said Lawrence, "and he seems to be greatly +excited." + +Bruno was indeed greatly excited, and he ran around Harry, growling, and +then in the direction the fellow had taken, looking back to see if Harry +was following. + +"Bruno knows him, too," said Harry. "He never forgets. If that fellow +saw Bruno, it is indeed all up. He will tell Duncan, and we will have a +fight on our hands as sure as fate." + +"By hard riding we can reach Mexico and avoid the fight," said Lawrence; +"but I don't like the idea of running away." + +"Nor I," said Harry. "Even if the fellow knew me, Duncan may not follow +us." + +"What do you think, Dan?" asked Lawrence. + +Dan took a chew of tobacco, as he always did when about to decide +anything weighty, and then slowly remarked: "Don't like to run until I +see something to run from." + +"That's it," cried Lawrence. "It is doubtful if Duncan follows us at +all. If he does, it will be time enough to think of running." + +It was therefore decided to take the first road they came to which led +in the direction they wished to go. They soon came to the road, but +before they turned into it, Lawrence took the precaution to make it +appear that they had ridden straight on. + +"Reckon Bruno and I will hang near this corner for a while," said Harry. +"I want to make sure whether we are followed or not. I feel in my bones +Duncan is after us." + +Harry had good reasons for feeling as he did, for the guerrilla whose +name was Josh Hicks, had not only recognized him, but he had also seen +Bruno, and he bore the dog an undying hatred, for it was he who had +captured him, and would have killed him had not Harry interfered. + +No sooner was Hicks out of sight of the scouts than he put his horse to +the utmost speed. "I have an account to settle with that dawg and his +master," he muttered, "and it will be settled tonight or my name is not +Josh Hicks." + +He overtook Duncan's command, his horse covered with foam. + +"Hello, Josh, what's up?" asked some of the men, as he dashed up. "Yo' +un acts as if the Merrill Hoss was after yo'. What has skeered yo'?" + +"Whar is Bill?" Hicks fairly shrieked. + +"Up in front. What's the matter?" and the men began to look uneasy. + +Seeing the excitement in the rear, Duncan came riding back. "What's the +trouble?" he asked, gruffly. + +"Don't know," answered one of the men, "but Josh Hicks has jest come up, +his hoss covered with foam, and he seems mighty skeered about +something." + +Just then Hicks caught sight of Duncan, and yelled: "Bill, did yo' un +meet a party of about a dozen men a few minutes ago?" + +"Yes; what of it?" + +"An' yo'un had them and let them go?" fairly screamed Hicks. + +"Of course; they were Poindexter's men." + +"Poindexter's men! Hell!" Hicks shouted. "They was Yanks in disguise, +an' one of them was that damned boy scout of the Merrill Hoss. I know +him, and I saw the dawg." + +"Be you sure, Josh?" asked Duncan. + +"Sure? Of course I'm sure. Don't I know the boy, and don't I know the +dawg? Can I forgit the brute that had his teeth in my throat? Oh, yo' un +be a nice one, yo' un be, Bill, to let them fellers slip through your +fingers!" + +Duncan flushed with anger and chagrin. "Look here, Josh," he roared, +"none of your insinuations, or you settle with me. I never met that +feller, and if you had been with us, as you ought to have been, instead +of gallivanting around the country, you would have known them. Them +fellers told a straight story, they did; but they'll never fool Bill +Duncan but once. About face, boys." + +In a moment more the guerrillas were thundering on the trail of the +scouts. They had little difficulty until they came to the road where +Lawrence had turned off. Here Duncan carefully examined the ground, and +with the almost unerring instinct of his class, decided rightly as to +the way the scouts had gone. + +Harry had taken a position about half a mile from where the road turned, +and where he had a good view without being seen. He saw the guerrillas +stop and hesitate, and then take the right road. + +"They are after us, sure," he muttered, and, spurring his horse, he did +not pull rein until he had overtaken the scouts. + +"They are close after us!" he exclaimed, pulling up his panting horse. + +"It will soon be dark; we can elude them," said Lawrence. + +"Let's fight them," said Dan, taking out his plug of tobacco and holding +it until a decision was made. + +"Yes, let's fight them," said the men. "This is the tamest scout we've +ever been on--hobnobbing with the villains instead of fighting them." + +"All right," replied Lawrence. "Let's ride rapidly ahead until dark. +Dan, you and I must think up a bit of strategy in the meantime." + +"All right," said Dan, biting off a big chew from the plug he was +holding, and restoring the rest to his pocket. If the decision had been +against a fight, Dan would have put the plug back without taking a chew. +When Dan put his tobacco back unbitten, it was always an infallible sign +that something had gone in a way that did not suit him. + +That Lawrence and Dan had fixed up that bit of strategy was evident, for +just as darkness was closing in, Lawrence ordered the scouts to stop +long enough to gather a good feed of corn for their horses, from a +near-by field. Then they rode on and camped in a wood, some little +distance from the road. + +"The guerrillas will not now attack us until some time in the night," he +said, "thinking to surprise us." + +He gave orders for the horses to be tethered a little distance in the +rear of the camp, where they would be sheltered. "Hitch them so you can +loose them in a twinkling, if it becomes necessary," he ordered. + +Then he told the men they might build a fire, make some coffee, and +roast some corn, if they wished. + +"Had we not better dig a hole for the fire, and screen it with +blankets?" suggested one of the men. "A light might give us away." + +"Just what I want it to do," answered Lawrence, to the astonishment of +all but Dan and Harry. + +Lawrence then explained to his men his plan: "The guerrillas will attack +us some time during the night, thinking to surprise us. I want the +surprise the other way. Therefore I propose to camp as if we were +unconscious of danger. The fire is to be left, not too bright, but +smouldering enough to give a little light. Each man of you is to prepare +a dummy. A log with a blanket around it will do. These will be placed in +a row a short distance from the fire. In the dim light they will look +exactly like a row of sleeping men. Last of all, we will fix a dummy +sentinel, leaning against a tree as if asleep. + +"We will all lie down a little to one side in the bush. Then, when the +guerrillas charge on the supposed sleeping camp, give it to them. If +things go wrong, each man make for his horse, and get away the best he +can. Make for Mexico." + +These instructions were obeyed implicitly, and soon the camp was buried +in apparent slumber. + +To make sure they were right, the guerrillas had inquired at the first +house they passed, and were told that a small party of men had passed +but a short time before. + +"We are on the right track, boys," exclaimed Duncan, gleefully, "and if +they don't take the alarm and dodge us in the dark, they are ours. We +must not press them too closely. Let them go into camp, and we will get +them when they are asleep." + +Just as darkness began to fall, Duncan became fearful that the scouts +would not halt, but keep on for Mexico, and he gave orders to gallop, +but concluded to stop at the first house and inquire. He did so, and an +old man came to the door, and in answer to his inquiry replied that a +party whom he supposed to be guerrillas passed just before dark. +"Confound them!" he exclaimed, "they stopped at my cornfield and +gathered a good feed for their horses, and never said even 'Thank you.' +They are camped in the woods about half a mile ahead, for I saw the +gleam of the campfire. I am going down in the morning, and see if I +can't collect for that corn." + +"We will collect it for you," chuckled Duncan, "and while we are about +it we will collect enough to pay for a feed for our horses. There are +sixty or seventy of us. Them fellers are not our men; they are Yanks." + +"Good land!" exclaimed the old fellow. + +"Don't worry--we'll collect for that corn, all right," said Duncan. + +The guerrillas waited until ten o'clock, then approached the wood as +near as they dared, and Duncan sent two of his men ahead to spy upon the +camp. They were gone so long that Duncan began to be impatient, but at +last they returned, and their report was all that could be wished. + +"We almost crept on them before we discovered them," said one. "The +fools do not seem suspicious of any danger. They have but one man on +guard, and sure as shooting he is leaning against a tree, sound asleep. +It will be no trick to send them to the devil as they sleep." + +"And to the devil we will send them," growled Duncan. "Understand, no +quarter." + +"The dawg? Didn't you see the dawg?" asked Hicks, anxiously. + +"That dawg seems to trouble you, Hicks," sneered one of the men. + +"He would trouble yo' un if yo' un had had the experience I have," +retorted Hicks. "I tell you I don't like it. Them Yanks seem too blame +careless. It ain't like them. An' that dawg--didn't he make no fuss when +yo' un crept up?" + +"Not a bit. If thar was any dawg, he must have been asleep, too." + +"I tell yo' un I don't like it. Thar is something wrong. That dawg----" + +"Shut up," commanded Duncan. "Josh, if you are afraid of a dawg, stay +with the hosses. Some of the boys will have to stay, and there is not +one, unless it is you, but wants a hand in this job." + +"Yes, stay, Josh, stay!" jeered the men. "Josh is getting skeery. He is +afraid of a dawg." + +"Stay nothin'!" snorted Josh, mad as a hornet. "An' if any of yo' uns +insinuates I am afraid, yo' uns will have to settle with Josh Hicks, an' +that mighty quick." + +"No quarrelling, boys," commanded Duncan. "Josh is all right. Don't want +to stay with the hosses, Josh?" + +"Not by a thundering sight." + +"All right, Josh, we will give you the first crack at that boy, the +owner of the dawg, to settle old scores." + +They were to creep up on the scouts and kill them as they slept. If an +alarm was given, they were to rush on them and make quick work of it. + +Slowly the guerrillas worked their way through the wood, as noiselessly +and stealthily as Indians. By the dim light of the campfire they saw +what they supposed were the sleeping forms of their enemies. The +sentinel stood leaning against a tree, his head on his breast, +apparently sound asleep. + +The sentinel was right in front of Josh Hicks. He drew a huge knife, his +eyes gleaming with hate and cruelty. Nearer and nearer he crept, then +sprang forward and buried his knife in the bosom of the supposed man, +but instead of striking flesh and bone, he struck a log of wood, and so +fierce was the blow he could not withdraw the knife. + +As he struck there was a hoarse growl, a huge form shot through the air, +and the teeth of Bruno were buried in his throat. He gave a +blood-curdling yell, which died away in a sickening gurgle. + +The guerrillas, thinking themselves discovered, rushed upon the sleeping +forms. As they came into the light, the woods to the right and left +burst into flame. Men reeled and, clutching the air, fell. The wood +resounded with horrid curses, groans, and yells of terror. + +Firing a random volley, those that lived turned and fled, pursued by the +scouts. The battle was soon over. A full third of the attacking force +lay on the ground, dead or grievously wounded. But of all the dead, +there was none so ghastly as Josh Hicks. He lay with his throat torn in +shreds, and on his face there was still a look of mortal terror. + +The next morning, when the guerrillas came creeping back to bury their +dead and care for the wounded, a feeling of superstitious awe crept over +them when they saw the body of Josh Hicks. + +"That dawg--that dawg!" they whispered. "Poor Josh! He must have had a +presentiment." + +From that time on Bruno was to them an uncanny beast, in league with +evil spirits. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +KIRKSVILLE + + +No sooner had the affrighted cries of the guerrillas died away, than +Lawrence, calling back his men, said: "We must now be up and away. By +morning the guerrillas will be over their fright, and we will be +surrounded. Let the dead and wounded lie, though make the wounded as +comfortable as possible. It will not be long before some of their +comrades will be creeping back to care for them." + +To Lawrence's delight, he found that not a single one of his men had +been harmed. In the highest of spirits, the men mounted their horses and +rode away. + +All night they rode and, when morning came, they halted by a field of +corn, and once more gave their horses a fine feed, while the men made +coffee and feasted on roasting ears. + +"Boys, which shall it be--Mexico or Paris?" asked Lawrence. "From what +we learned from Duncan, it is the intention of Porter to unite all his +force near Paris, and then move north. Guitar must be in Mexico by this +time, but there will be no fighting there. No doubt he will keep on to +Paris." + +"To Paris!" shouted the men. "Let's go where the fighting will be. Our +horses are quite fresh. We can be there by night." + +"What if we run into Porter and his whole gang?" asked Lawrence, +smiling. + +"Lick the whole gang!" they yelled. + +"You're all right, boys, but I hardly think you can do that; at least, +we won't try as long as I'm leader," laughed Lawrence. + +The day was hot and the roads dusty, and Lawrence favored the horses all +possible, but they made good progress. Taken for guerrillas by the +inhabitants, they fared well, and much information was given them. + +Much to Lawrence's surprise, he learned that Porter had taken and sacked +Paris the day before, and that McNeil had moved down from Palmyra and +driven him out. More serious still was the news that Porter had been +reinforced, and had attacked and expected to recapture the place. + +This was news, indeed. If true, Porter was squarely between them and +Paris. A consultation was held, and it was the unanimous opinion that +they should keep on and join McNeil, if they could. + +As they neared Paris, they heard firing, and became aware a slight +skirmish was in progress. They halted, and while debating what best to +do, a couple of guerrillas came riding towards them. + +"Who be yo' un?" they asked of Lawrence, as they rode up. + +"We 'uns are from Galloway County, on our way to join Porter," answered +Lawrence. "I heah fightin'. What is it?" + +"Oh, a few of us are only amusing the Yanks while Porter gits away," +said the men. + +"Then Porter is not heah?" + +"No; he an' most of his men air miles north by this time. He left about +a hundred of us here to make believe we 'uns ware goin' to attack Paris, +so to give him time to git away. Thar, yo' uns don't hear any shooting +now. The boys have amused the Yanks as long as they wanted to, and now +air on their way to jine Porter, and bet your life the Yanks don't catch +them." + +"What are you doing here, away from your command?" asked Lawrence, +sternly. + +The guerrillas started at the change in the speech and manner of +Lawrence. "We 'uns," they stammered, "we 'uns live about five miles +back, and we 'uns was goin' to see the folks. We 'uns can easily +overtake the boys by riding all night." + +A sign from Lawrence, and, to the amazement of the guerrillas, they were +looking into the muzzles of revolvers. + +"It's all up with you, fellows," said Lawrence. "We are Yanks. Boys, +disarm them." + +The guerrillas' faces were as white as chalk, and they began to beg for +their lives. They had only just joined Porter, they declared, and they +were sick of it already. They had never molested a Union man. In fact, +they had told a lie--they were deserting, instead of going to visit +their families, as they said. + +"If that is the case," said Lawrence, "you will readily give us all the +information you can. No doubt Colonel McNeil will be pleased to see you; +so come along." + +It was as the prisoners had said--the guerrillas had gone, and Lawrence +had no trouble in riding into Paris, where he was gladly welcomed by +McNeil, who had been in fear he was being attacked by an overwhelming +force. It was welcome news that Lawrence brought, that Colonel Guitar +was in Mexico by this time, with five hundred good men; but that Porter +was retreating north, was a big surprise to McNeil. + +"He must have at least a thousand men," said McNeil. "I thought he would +stay and fight this time, sure. I see we will have to chase the fox." + +During the night the advance of Colonel Guitar's column came in. Guitar +had been taken sick at Mexico, but had sent forward five hundred men +under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Shaffer. + +McNeil, his force now augmented by Shaffer's, resolved to push Porter to +the limit, and if possible bring him to battle. + +A pursuit now commenced which lasted a week--a pursuit that every +soldier that was present will always remember. Men grew haggard for want +of sleep; horses staggered under the weight of their riders, and then +fell dying by the side of the road. Across prairies and streams, through +woods and tangled thickets, over rocky hills, almost inaccessible, the +pursuit led. By every art known to the wily Porter did he try to mislead +his pursuers; but they hung on to his trail like grim death. + +More than once would the pursuers have been at fault had it not been for +Lawrence and his little band of scouts. Hanging on to the flank and at +times almost ahead of Porter, they were enabled to keep McNeil well +posted as to the movements of his foes. + +More than once did the faithful Bruno keep the scouts from falling into +ambuscades, and more than once shots were fired at him by the vengeful +guerrillas. But Bruno had become as cunning and wary as a fox in keeping +out of danger. It was but a glimpse the guerrillas could get at him as +he stole through the woods. + +"What now, Bruno? What's the matter?" asked Lawrence one day, as the dog +came rushing back in the greatest excitement. The scouts were in +advance, and had been following the trail through a rough and broken +country. + +The dog gave a short bark, and looked to the front, as if to say, "Look +out--trouble ahead." + +Lawrence gave the order to halt, and told Harry and another of the +company to dismount and steal carefully through the woods, and see what +they could discover. They did so, and soon came to a stream. The bridge +that spanned it had, to Harry's astonishment, been only partially +destroyed; it could easily be crossed. This looked suspicious. The other +bank of the stream was covered by a thick growth of bushes. Their leaves +rustled gently as they were touched by the breeze, and that was all. +There was no sign of life. Bruno, as he looked across the stream, gave a +low, menacing growl, and his eyes shone like two coals of fire. The +road, after crossing the bridge, was narrow, and ran between two hills, +both thickly wooded. + +"There's something over there in the bushes," whispered Harry. "We'd +better go back and report to the Captain." + +They did so. + +"We'll wait until some of the command come up," said Lawrence. + +They had not long to wait. A company of Merrill Horse that was leading +the advance came in sight. To the Captain in command Lawrence explained +his fear of an ambuscade in front. The company was halted, the men +dismounted, and a skirmish line formed. The men were instructed to work +their way carefully to the bank of the stream, but not to show +themselves. + +"I see nothing alarming over there," said the Captain of the company, as +he swept the other side of the stream with his glass. + +"There is something," said Lawrence. "I have just seen a bush tremble +more than if stirred by the wind. That half-destroyed bridge is but a +trap." + +By this time more of the troop had come up, and had been halted. With +them were a couple of pieces of artillery. + +"We are losing valuable time," grumbled the Captain. "We'd better ride +on, before McNeil gives us thunder." + +"Not if I can prevent it," said Lawrence. "Bring up that artillery." + +The two pieces were brought as close to the river as they could without +being seen. The horses were then unhitched, and the pieces run forward +by hand, so that a few yards more would bring them into view, and in a +position where they could sweep the bushes on both sides of the road +across the stream. + +"Load with canister," ordered Lawrence. "When all is ready, I will order +a volley fired across the river into the bushes. Wait for the returning +volley, for I am sure it will come; then run up your pieces and sweep +both sides of the road." + +The skirmishers crept carefully forward, and at the word poured a volley +into the bushes across the stream. The effect was electrical. The bushes +seemed to burst into smoke and flame, and then came a crashing volley in +return. Quick as thought, the two cannon were run forward and a storm of +canister swept the bushes. There were howls of rage, curses and groans, +and the guerrillas were in wild flight. + +With cheers the men ran back, mounted their horses and started in +pursuit, thinking the time had come for them to annihilate Porter and +his gang. + +Porter had planned well. A short distance from the bridge the road +passed through a narrow, rocky defile, and this was so obstructed that +it took two hours to remove the obstructions so the command could pass +through. Porter had left his horses on the other side of the +obstruction, so when his men broke all they had to do was to make their +way to their horses. + +Porter did not try any more ambuscades. His only thought was to elude +his pursuers and get away. He came nearly doing it, and for a day McNeil +was in doubt as to which way he had gone--to the northwest or the north. + +It was Lawrence and his scouts who brought the news. His report was: +"Porter crossed the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad last night at +Shelbina. He is said to be making for Kirksville, where he expects to be +joined by the guerrilla bands of northwestern Missouri. His force is +estimated at two thousand, which, I think, is an overestimate, but as he +goes north, it is hourly increasing." + +"I don't care whether he has two thousand or five thousand; I am going +to catch him and make him fight," said McNeil, grimly. The pursuit was +once more taken up, the column headed for Kirksville. + +There is only one county in Missouri north of the county in which +Kirksville is situated. It was as far north as Porter could hope to go +without being surrounded by enemies. Full of hope that he would be +forced to give battle at Kirksville, McNeil pressed on. + +So rapid was the pursuit that McNeil, as he neared Kirksville, could not +bring over five hundred men into action. His trains and his men with +broken-down horses had been left behind. All along the route Porter's +force had been reported as fully three thousand, but three thousand did +not alarm McNeil, who had faith in his little army. + +As the Federals approached Kirksville, Lawrence, who had been scouting, +reported that Kirksville had been occupied by Porter, and that he had +expelled the entire inhabitants of the place. His horses he had +concealed in the brush west of the town. + +"These facts," said Lawrence, "I have learned from the three prisoners I +have here." + +McNeil questioned the prisoners, but they were surly and would say +nothing. The facts that Lawrence had learned were told him when they +believed him to be one of their number. When undeceived and told to +surrender, their surprise was only equalled by their chagrin. + +In bringing them back, Lawrence noticed one of the prisoners stealthily +throw away some papers. They were secured and found to be a parole and +an oath of allegiance to the National Government. + +"I'm sorry," said Lawrence, "but this fact must be reported to Colonel +McNeil."[3] + +[Footnote 3: This prisoner and fifteen others were afterwards executed +by McNeil for the breaking of their paroles.] + +It was a beautiful August morning when McNeil's little army reached the +outskirts of the village of Kirksville. To all appearances, they gazed +upon a deserted town. If the angel of death had passed over the place +and had smitten every man, woman and child, it could not have been more +silent, death-like. The hot sun beat down upon the streets and houses, +but awoke no life. The stillness was unearthly, appalling. What did it +mean? + +"Can it be that Porter has slipped away without our knowing it?" asked +McNeil. + +"Impossible," answered Lawrence. "The whole guerrilla force is concealed +in the stores and houses. They are hoping we will think the place +unoccupied; then as we ride through the streets they can open fire and +slaughter us without mercy." + +"How can we find out where they are?" asked McNeil, rather anxiously. + +Lawrence thought a moment, and then said: "Colonel, give me a few men +and I will make a dash down the main street, and around the square. If +they are hidden, we will surely draw their fire, and thus reveal their +position." + +McNeil looked at Lawrence in amazement. "Do you mean it?" he asked. + +"I certainly do." + +"Why, it would mean almost certain death--suicide." + +"I am willing to try." + +McNeil thought a moment and then said: "Captain, you must not do it. If +you were one of my officers, I might consent; but with you it is +different. You are on special duty from General Schofield. It is true +you have acted as one of my aids, and as leader of my scouts, for which +I am grateful. But for you to lead such a forlorn hope, I cannot--will +not--permit such a sacrifice on your part." + +Colonel Shaffer, of the Merrill Horse, who had been present during the +conversation, now said: "Colonel, you are right. To permit Captain +Middleton to do what he proposes would be a reflection on our command; +especially would I consider it so on the Merrill Horse. I will make a +detail, and lead the forlorn hope myself." + +"No, you will not," cried three or four officers of his regiment, who +had come up in time to hear his proposal. "Our Colonel leading as +desperate an undertaking as that, and we looking on! Why, every mother's +son of us should be shot for cowardice. Detail one of us." + +Shaffer looked upon his officers with pride. "It is just what I might +have expected," he exclaimed, his voice trembling. "Lieutenant Coudrey, +you spoke first. You may go if you wish; but mind, I don't order you." + +Coudrey saluted and said: "Colonel, I thank you. I need no order." + +"How many men will you need, Lieutenant?" asked Shaffer. + +"Eight, I think, will be enough. I do not wish to expose more than +necessary." + +Lieutenant Coudrey returned to his company, explained to them what was +to be done, and added: "Not one that comes with me may ever come back. I +want eight volunteers." + +He looked up and down the line. For a moment there was not a sound. The +men gazed into each others' faces blankly; and then, as if by common +impulse, the whole company rode forward. + +"God bless you, my men, my brave boys! I might have known it, but I +cannot take you all. The first eight will do. That will save me choosing +man by man." + +History tells of great charges. Pickett's charge at Gettysburg, and +Hood's at Franklin, will live as long as American history is written; +but history tells nothing of these small affairs. Yet who will say that +Lieutenant Coudrey and his eight men did not perform a braver deed than +do men who, in the heat of battle, rush up to the mouth of the cannon? +It is the individual bravery, the scout and the skirmish, which make the +romance of war. + +All was ready, and as they started a thousand eyes followed them, and +with bated breath their comrades watched them as they rode. Each carried +a heavy revolver, that they might return the fire they would receive. + +Down the street they rode at full speed, but not a shot was fired; the +town lay still as dead. They reached the square. "Is it possible----" +exclaimed McNeil, but his speech was cut short. As the little squad +turned to ride around the square, flashes of fire and little clouds of +smoke burst from doors and windows of stores and houses. The village had +suddenly come to life. + +[Illustration: Down the street they rode at full speed.] + +From their revolvers Coudrey and his men returned the fire as they rode. +A horse goes down, then another. A man throws up his arms and tumbles +headlong, but those that live dash on. The circuit is made, the hell of +fire passed through, and the enemy is located. + +Coudrey, his face blackened with smoke, and his eyes blazing with the +light of battle, came riding back. His hand was grasped by both McNeil +and Shaffer. Neither could speak for a moment, and then they could only +gasp: "Thank God!" + +Strange as it may seem, Lieutenant Coudrey had passed through the fiery +ordeal unscathed; but of the eight men who rode with him, two were +killed, three more wounded, and five of the eight horses lay dead. + +The position of the enemy uncovered, McNeil dismounted his force, and +the battle was opened. From house to house the men forced their way, and +at the end of two hours the enemy were in full flight. The artillery of +the Federals played an important part in the action, and did much +towards turning the victory. Porter had at least three or four men to +one in this action, but his force was poorly disciplined, and stood +little show against the seasoned veterans of McNeil.[4] + +[Footnote 4: Colonel McNeil reports his loss in this action as +twenty-eight killed and sixty wounded. He estimates the loss of the +guerrillas as one hundred and fifty killed, three hundred wounded and +forty-seven prisoners. Horses captured, one hundred and fifty.] + +The routed guerrillas took refuge in the timber which skirted the +Chariton, but early the next morning the Merrill Horse was after them. + +The next day Porter was caught at Stockton and completely routed, losing +nearly a hundred men. Porter himself barely escaped, but with a few +followers he made his way back to his old haunts, and a couple of months +later was the cause of one of the most lamentable tragedies enacted in +Missouri during the war. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +POINDEXTER CAPTURED + + +Hundreds of the guerrillas who had been with Porter worked their way +south to join Poindexter, and that chieftain found himself at the head +of a force of from a thousand to fifteen hundred men. That part of +Porter's force that had joined Poindexter had been closely followed by a +portion of McNeil's force, among them a hundred of the Merrill Horse. +With them came Lawrence and Harry with Bruno. + +When they reached Mexico, Lawrence found a dispatch waiting him from +General Schofield, which filled him with amazement. It stated that he +had received a communication, apparently from the same hand that had +sent the first communication to him (Lawrence), in May, which revealed +the plot of the partisan uprising. This communication stated that a +large body of troops was moving up from Arkansas to coöperate with the +guerrillas, the object being to capture Independence and Lexington, and +that the movement was a month later than expected, but now it was well +under way. + +"I am not satisfied," wrote General Schofield, "with the way the +officers in that district are meeting the emergency, and I want you to +go there immediately and report to me the full situation." + +Lawrence reluctantly bade Harry and Bruno good-bye, and he and Dan +started for their new field of work, where we will leave them for a +time, and follow the adventures of Harry. + +Poindexter and Cobb had now come back into the territory that was +commanded by Colonel Guitar. That officer had fully recovered from his +sickness, and, hastily collecting a force of five hundred men, he +started in pursuit of Poindexter. + +Harry and his dog were now so well known that Guitar placed him in +command of a small body of scouts. They were dressed as guerrillas, and +they certainly looked and acted the part. + +Poindexter had expected to join Porter in his retreat north, at or near +Kirksville, but he had been attacked and driven back by a force under +General Ben Loan, thus preventing the union which Porter and Poindexter +had planned. + +Poindexter was now hiding in the woods and thickets along the Chariton, +and numerous guerrilla bands were flocking to his standard. + +It was Colonel Guitar's business to find him and scatter his forces +before they became too strong; and to find him Guitar could employ no +better means than Harry and Bruno. + +For his companions, Harry had chosen five boys, ranging in age from +eighteen to twenty, all native Missourians, skilled in woodcraft, +accustomed to firearms, and all burning to avenge themselves on the +guerrillas, for all had suffered terrible wrongs at their hands. + +Just as Harry was about to start on his scout, a boy by the name of Jack +Harwood came to him and begged to be allowed to be one of the party. He +was about eighteen years of age, of slender build, but as wiry and +active as a cat. His face bore a rather sad expression, for his father +had been shot down in cold blood by some of Porter's gang; the house had +been burned over his mother's head, and she had died a few days later +from shock and exposure. Fortunately for Jack, he was not at home at the +time, or he would have shared his father's fate. + +Jack buried his mother, bade farewell to his ruined home, and enlisted. +He seemed never to tire, and was never as happy as when he was hunting +guerrillas. He was brave to recklessness, and early in the service had +been promoted to a sergeantcy in his company. + +Harry looked him over and told him he would see what he could do. The +eyes of the boy glowed with a fierce flame as he told Harry of his +wrongs. It was so much like his own story that Harry's heart went out +towards him. + +Colonel Guitar readily granted Harry's request that Harwood might be +added to his force, and so Harry found himself at the head of six young, +adventuresome and daring scouts. + +Harry's orders were to locate Poindexter, but keep in touch with the +column as much as possible. + +No sooner were they away from the command than Harry halted and said: +"Boys, I must make you acquainted with Bruno, so he may make no +mistake." + +The great dog was called, and he came and stood before his master, +wagging his tail and looking up in his eyes, as if to say, "What is it?" + +"Bruno, this is Jack Harwood. He is all right." + +Bruno smelled Jack, gave a short yelp and, lifting one of his paws, +offered it to him. The boy shook it with wonder and delight. + +Bruno was then introduced to each of the scouts, and they seemed to pass +muster, for to each one he offered his paw. + +"Good," exclaimed Harry. "Bruno will now know any one of you among +thousands, and you will find him the most valuable member of the squad." + +Harry rode to the northwest, for he knew it was in that direction +Poindexter was rallying his forces. The country through which they +passed seemed to be terror-stricken. But few men were seen, and they +were old. The women gazed at them with scared eyes as they passed, and +little children would run and hide, or peer at them around the corners +of the houses with frightened faces. + +To questions asked, both men and women were noncommittal. They knew +nothing. They were the first guerrillas they had seen for days. As for +Yankee soldiers, they knew of none nearer than the towns where they were +garrisoned. + +Towards evening Bruno gave warning of foes ahead. Soon a party of ten +men rode in sight, manifestly guerrillas. + +"Let me do the talking, boys," Harry said, "but be sure and sanction +everything I say; and be ready to fight at the word, if necessary. For +your life, don't let them get the drop on you. At the first suspicious +action, draw and fire." + +The scouts did not seem loath to have a little skirmish. They loosened +the revolvers in their holsters, and remarked they were ready. + +"Bruno," said Harry, "I don't want them to see you. Go and hide, and +don't come till I whistle." + +The dog slunk into the woods that grew along the road, and in a +twinkling was out of sight. The scouts marvelled. "Why, he is human," +said one. + +"Almost, but not quite, about some things," answered Harry. + +The band of guerrillas had seen them, and halted, and were scanning them +carefully, as if debating whether to advance or not. + +"They seem to be a little afraid," laughed Harry. "Let's ride leisurely +forward, as if satisfied." + +As they approached, the guerrillas made a movement as if to raise their +guns, but evidently thought better of it, and sat still to await their +coming, but with hands on the butts of their revolvers. + +"Hello, boys; whar yo' uns goin'?" called out Harry, as he came up. "The +way yo' uns act, yo' uns must think we' uns air Yanks." + +"Who be yo' uns, an' whar be yo' uns goin'?" the leader asked, scowling. + +"We' uns? We' uns air from Franklin County. We' uns was a little too +close to St. Louis to be healthy for sich fellers as we' uns, so we +reckoned we' uns would come over and join Poindexter. Do yo' uns know +whar we' uns can find him?" + +"Don't know an' don't care," growled the leader. "Yo' uns had better +come with we' uns. Had enough of stand-up fightin'! We' uns was with +Porter at Kirksville, and got hell kicked out of us." + +Harry now learned that they were a part of Porter's band; that after his +last defeat Porter had advised his men to break into small parties and +make their way back to their old haunts, where they could rally if he +needed them. They could be nice, peaceable citizens until he wanted them +again. It was more fun harassing and robbing Union men and surprising +small parties of Yanks than it was to face the enemy in an open battle. + +"I tell yo' uns," added the leader, shrugging his shoulders, "it's no +fun facing them rotten balls. They skeer a feller." + +"Why didn't yo' uns lick 'em?" asked Harry. + +"Lick 'em? Say, young feller, Did yo' un ever face the Merrill Hoss?" + +"No; but the boys heah reckon they would like to have the chance." + +"Ha! ha!" laughed the guerrillas. "Wall, go on and join Poindexter, an' +yo' uns may have a chance. See how you like it after the Merrill Hoss +gits a whack at yo' uns," and, laughing and jesting, they rode on. + +When the guerrillas were first met, Jack Harwood gave a start of +surprise, and a look of fierce passion swept over his face. He suddenly +pulled his slouch hat down so as to hide his features, turned and kept +as far away as he could without exciting suspicion. + +When the guerrillas had gone, he rode up to Harry, his eyes blazing, and +his whole body trembling with suppressed excitement. + +"I know two of those fellows," he exclaimed, "They were with the gang +that murdered father. One of them was the one that fired the house. +Mother knew them. There were six of them, and I know every one. I have +sworn to get the whole six, and I will if I live." + +The look of hatred on his face made Harry shiver, but he knew how he +felt; so had he felt when he saw his father lying dead before him. + +"I had all I could do to keep from shooting them while they were talking +to you," continued Jack. "It makes me feel like a coward to let such a +chance go." + +"It would have been madness, Jack. Then, we are not out to fight if we +can avoid it, but to get information. Never let your passion lead you to +do a foolish thing." + +Jack said no more, but fell back in the rear. + +It was almost night, and Harry decided to go into camp, as he had not +learned the exact whereabouts of Poindexter. + +Suddenly some one asked, "Where is Jack Harwood?" + +Harry looked. He was nowhere to be seen. + +"Does any one know anything about him?" he asked, anxiously. + +One of the men said: "Jack stopped just after the guerrillas left us. He +said the girth of his saddle was loose, and he would have to fix it. I +thought no more about him, and as I have been riding in front, I did not +notice he was not with us." + +Could Jack have been captured by lurking guerrillas? They would go back +and see. It would not do to leave a comrade in peril. If Jack had been +captured, Bruno would have little trouble in following the trail. It was +not more than two miles back to the place where the soldier had seen +Jack dismount to fix his saddle girth, but there was no sign of a +struggle there; no evidence that any guerrilla had been lying in ambush. +But by the side of the road there were tracks of where a horse had been +turned and ridden back. + +"By heavens!" exclaimed one of the men, "Jack has deserted. Don't you +remember one of those guerrillas said they lived in Ralls County?--and +Jack is from Ralls." + +The other men began to swear. "If we ever catch him," they muttered, +with clenched fists. + +"Hold on, boys," ejaculated Harry; "Jack has not deserted, but he has +gone, and gone alone, on one of the maddest adventures that ever single +man set out to do." + +Then he told them of what Jack had said, and added: "No doubt he has +gone back to try and get those men." + +"Let's go back and try to help him!" exclaimed the squad in unison. + +Harry shook his head. "No, boys," he said; "and if you wish to continue +with me, you must promise me that you will not leave under any +conditions whatever, without my consent. We are soldiers. We are under +orders, and those orders are to find Poindexter. To try and find Jack +would lead us we know not where, and bring the whole object of our scout +to naught." + +The men saw, and turned back; but with heavy hearts, for their thoughts +were with Jack. + +The scouts went into camp not far from a substantial farmhouse, and the +occupants were a little more communicative than common, especially when +Harry told them to set up a good meal for them, and he would pay for it, +saying they had captured some Yankee money. + +Their mouths being open, Harry found they had a son with Poindexter, and +he had left home only that morning. They had heard the son say +Poindexter was preparing to attack some place. They thought it was +Columbia, but were not sure. + +Harry made his camp in the edge of a wood, a field in front. A rough +road ran through the wood, a short distance in the rear. If danger came, +it would be by that road that Harry calculated to retreat. They were to +rest till three o'clock, then up and away. Harry knew that with Bruno on +guard there would be no surprise, but he could not rest. He was thinking +of Jack Harwood. + +About eleven o'clock, to Harry's surprise, Harwood made his appearance. +"If it hadn't been for Bruno," he said, "I would never have found you. +He met me down the road a ways, and guided me here." + +"Where have you been?" asked Harry. + +"Where have I been?" he answered, slowly. "On private business. I will +tell you about it in the morning." + +"You must promise never again to leave without permission, or this is +your last scout with me," said Harry, sternly. + +Jack did not answer. He turned to care for his horse. + +When Jack stopped, under the pretence of fixing the girth of his saddle, +it was with the fixed purpose, come what would, of following those +guerrillas and killing the men who had helped murder his father. Had he +not taken a solemn oath to kill them on sight? He did not stop to think +how he could accomplish his purpose--of the danger of the undertaking. +He only knew he had seen the men; that was enough. He would track them, +if necessary, to the ends of the earth. As it was, fate favored him. + +The guerrillas, all unconscious that Nemesis was on their track, rode on +until dusk, when they stopped at a fine plantation, and roughly ordered +supper and feed for their horses. + +Mr. Rice, the owner of the plantation, was a hot Southern sympathizer, +but he did not relish his present company. He felt like kicking them out +of doors, but he knew it would not do to refuse them, so he made the +best of it, and ordered supper prepared. + +It was a good supper, and, in the highest of spirits, nine of the +guerrillas sat down; the tenth was on guard. But he did not notice a +silent figure creeping up to the window of the room in which the rest +were dining. + +Suddenly there was a sharp report, a crash of glass, and one of the +diners sprang to his feet and fell backward, shot through the brain. At +the same time a voice rang through the room. "Remember Thomas Harwood, +Number One. Let the other five beware!" + +At the sound of the shot and the fall of their comrade, the other +guerrillas sat as if stunned for a moment; then with cries of terror +they rushed from the house, thinking a Yankee force was on them; but a +single shot, and excited cries from the sentinel, were all that they +heard. + +Before the attack, the sentinel had seen or heard nothing, but +afterwards he had caught a glimpse of a dim figure fleeing up the road. +He had fired, but there was no response to his shot. + +When told what the voice had said, he turned pale and trembled. "My +God!" he exclaimed, "it must have been Jack Harwood, Tom Harwood's son. +There were six of us who put a quietus on that old Abolitionist. I heard +the boy took a terrible oath he would never rest until he got the whole +six. After that we lay for the boy, but he gave us the slip and went in +the Yankee army. So, poor Ben is done for. He was one of the six. My +being on guard is all that saved me. But whar did the boy come from? How +did he know we' uns was heah?" + +This question greatly puzzled the guerrillas, until one of them spoke: +"I reckon them seven fellers we' uns met was Yanks. That Harwood boy +must have been one of them. He saw you two fellers, and follered we' uns +heah, and got poor Ben." + +"Boys, I'll never feel easy as long as Jack Harwood lives," said the one +who had escaped. "That boy is a devil. That's nine of us--only seven of +them. Let's turn back and take them by surprise. We' uns can shoot them +up." + +It was agreed to, and so the guerrillas turned back. + +After the return of Jack, Harry had lain down for a time, but could not +sleep. He knew something had happened, but could not imagine what it +was. Surely, Jack had not engaged the guerrillas single-handed. But he +would have to wait until morning to know. Just as he was sinking into +sleep, Bruno caught him by the shoulder and shook him. He was on his +feet in a second. + +Everything seemed quiet, and the guard said he had heard nothing, but +Bruno showed by his actions everything was not right. + +"Arouse the boys," said Harry; "something is in the wind." + +The scouts were aroused, but nothing could be discovered. Everything +seemed quiet and asleep. + +"Jeffreys," said Harry to one of the men, "creep down towards the house +and see if any mischief is going on down there. Be careful; keep in the +shadow of the fence, and get back as quickly as possible." + +Jeffreys was gone nearly half an hour and Harry was beginning to get +alarmed, when he came back. He had a startling story to tell. He had +crept up nearly to the house and found the yard full of men and horses. +The nine guerrillas had come back and stopped at the house to make +inquiries. + +"The villain who lives there," continued Jeffreys, "told them all about +where we were camped and the best way to surprise us. They were making +arrangements to creep up on us when I thought it time to come back. I +heard them talk of some one of our number who had killed one of their +men. What did they mean?" + +"Never mind now," answered Harry. "Let's get ready to give them a warm +reception. We know just how many there are, and they are the ones who +will be surprised." + +It was a warm reception they got. Harry let them come almost up to them +before he gave the signal to fire. First the carbines, then the +revolver, had been his order. + +In a minute all was over. Stunned by the reception they received, those +who had not been killed or wounded beat a hasty retreat. Investigation +showed three of the guerrillas dead and three more desperately wounded. +The wounded were carried to the farmhouse to be cared for. + +Among the dead was the one who had stood guard. Jack gazed at him a +moment in silence and then muttered, "Number Two, but who killed him?" + +Jack now told Harry how he had followed the guerrillas and shot one. + +Harry listened in silence and then said, "Jack, I know how you feel. I +once felt the same way, until Captain Middleton taught me better. He +says this is a war of principles, not against individuals. That it is +simply murder to kill for private wrongs." + +"Wrong to kill guerrillas?" asked Jack in surprise. + +"Yes, the way you did. In killing Ben Storms you had no idea of aiding +the great cause for which we are fighting. You did it for revenge. In +doing it you put yourself on the same plane as the man you killed." + +"Why, you have just helped me in killing several. What's the +difference?" asked Jack in astonishment. + +"We killed those men in battle, and to save our own lives. The +difference is great. If I had cruelly killed those wounded men instead +of taking them to the house to be cared for, that would have been +murder, not warfare." + +A thought came to Harry and he asked, "Jack, if that other man who +helped kill your father had been only wounded and not killed, what would +you have done?" + +Jack hung his head and whispered, "Killed him." + +"I thought so, I would have done the same to a man who helped kill my +father if it had not been for Captain Middleton. I have learned better, +and now thank him for it. Jack, promise me you will never leave the +command again without my permission." + +Jack made the promise, but was rather doubtful as to the expediency of +sparing the life of a guerrilla guilty of murder. + +Owing to the fight it was well along in the morning before the scouts +started. They had not gone over two miles before they met a man riding +rapidly. To him they told the story of going to join Poindexter. + +"Better go to Switzler's Mill," he said. "Poindexter starts for there +this morning. I left him not over six hours ago. I'm on my way to try +and rally some of Porter's men to come to his assistance." + +"Is that so?" dryly answered Harry. "You had better come with us. You +are just the man we've been looking for." And to the fellow's amazement, +he found himself a prisoner. + +"Now, boys," cried Harry, gleefully, "back to Guitar, I've found out all +I want to know." + +Horse flesh was not spared, and Guitar was found about noon, his column +on the march. To him Harry told the news, and with all speed the head of +the column was turned towards Switzler's Mill. + +Now commenced a chase that lasted for seven days and did not end until +the command had ridden two hundred and fifty miles over the roughest of +roads. + +Poindexter turned and twisted like a fox. There was no fight in his men; +they ran like a pack of frightened coyotes at the first crack of a gun. + +Guitar struck him at Switzler's Mill and scattered his force like chaff. +Hot on Poindexter's trail the tireless troopers clung. Horses suffered +more than the men. Scores fell by the roadside and died of exhaustion. + +At Little Compton Poindexter was once more brought to bay, and, scarcely +firing a shot; he fled, leaving behind his trains, most of his +ammunition, several hundred stands of arms, and five hundred horses. + +His army was now little more than a fleeing mob. Once more he was struck +at the Muscle Fork of the Chariton. Many of his men were drowned trying +to get across the stream. + +With only four hundred followers out of the fifteen hundred he had at +the beginning, Poindexter fled westward. Guitar could follow no farther. +Men and horses were exhausted. + +In this remarkable campaign Guitar states that he lost only five men +wounded, while he estimates that at least one hundred and fifty of the +enemy were killed and drowned, and he had captured one hundred men and a +thousand horses and mules. + +Poindexter's misfortunes were not ended. As he fled west and south the +remnant of his force was struck by General Ben Loan and totally +dispersed, every guerrilla seeking his own safety. Poindexter found +himself a wanderer without a single follower. + +Disguising himself he skulked in the woods and found shelter in the +houses of friends, but tireless on his path were Harry and his scouts. +From covert to covert and from house to house they trailed him and at +last ran him down. + +They entered a house where an apparently sick man sat cowering in a +corner, wrapped in a blanket. With a snarl Bruno was about to spring +upon him when Harry stopped him, and going up to the man said, "The jig +is up, Poindexter. You're not half as sick as you pretend." + +With a groan and a curse the guerrilla chieftain yielded himself a +prisoner. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +LONE JACK + + +Although the dispersion of Porter's and Poindexter's forces had +apparently put an end, at least for a time, to the guerrilla warfare in +Northeast Missouri, the situation was still threatening in Southwest +Missouri. It was for that reason General Schofield had ordered Lawrence +to that field to inspect the posts, and to see that the officers in +command were vigilant and doing their full duty. + +Rumors were rife that a large party under Hughes, Quantrell and others +was gathering to attack Independence, also that a force was moving up +from Arkansas to join them. Independence captured, the combined forces +were to move on Lexington. + +Lawrence was to sift down these rumors, and find out how much truth +there was in them, and above all to impress on the officers in charge of +the different posts the necessity of eternal vigilance. + +But the blow fell just before Lawrence reached Lexington. Lieutenant +Colonel Buell, in command at Independence, although repeatedly warned, +allowed himself to be surprised. His forces were divided and not well +posted, and after a spirited fight Buell surrendered, and with him about +three hundred men were taken prisoners. The Confederate commander, +Colonel Hughes, was killed in the action. + +The capture of Independence greatly elated the guerrillas, and recruits +came pouring in by the hundreds. They now only awaited the arrival of +Colonel Coffee from the south and they would move on to Lexington. When +Lawrence arrived at Lexington he found the place in the wildest +excitement. Rumors said that the enemy numbered thousands, and that they +were already marching on the place. + +Lawrence acted quickly. He applied to the commander of the post for a +detail of ten men, dressed in citizen clothes. + +"Tell them," he said, "it is for a scout, so they will not be deceived +as to the danger of the undertaking." + +The ten men were easily procured, and, headed by Lawrence and Dan, +started. The object was to find out the strength of the enemy under +Coffee, and whether he could not be prevented from forming a union with +the forces which had captured Independence. + +The scout was far more successful than Lawrence could have hoped. +Representing themselves as coming from north of the river, they had no +trouble in meeting on friendly terms several small parties of guerrillas +with whom they fell in. They were all on their way to join Thompson, who +was now in command of the forces which had captured Independence. +Everyone expected Lexington would be the next to fall, and they were all +anxious to have a hand in the affair. Lawrence represented they were to +find Coffee and hurry him up. + +At length they were fortunate enough to fall in with a single guerrilla +who was sitting by the side of the road, making the air blue with his +curses. + +"What's the matter?" asked Lawrence. + +"My hoss stepped into a hole and threw me, and I have broken my leg," he +groaned. + +"That's bad," said Lawrence. "I will see what I can do for you." + +"Yes, it's bad, and I was on my way from Colonel Coffee to Colonel +Thompson." + +"Ah! were you? Perhaps I can help you. I can send one of my men with the +message. What was it?" + +"That he would camp near Lone Jack on the evening of the fifteenth, and +wanted Thompson to join him thar." + +"How many men has Coffee?" Lawrence asked. + +"About a thousand, but more are coming in all the time." + +The information was important. It was just what Lawrence wanted, but +what to do with the man and still keep him deceived puzzled Lawrence. +This problem was solved by a native coming along driving a raw-boned +horse before a rickety wagon. Lawrence stopped him. The disabled +guerrilla was lifted into the wagon and taken to the nearest farmhouse. +Here Lawrence left instructions for them to send for a physician to set +the broken leg. + +"Now I've done all I can for you," he told him, "and I must leave you, +for my business is very important. I shall see that your message to +Colonel Thompson is safely delivered." + +No sooner were they out of sight than Lawrence said, "Now, boys, for +Lexington." + +When Lawrence made his report, Colonel Huston, in command at Lexington, +acted with promptness. It was decided to send a force to strike Coffee +at Lone Jack before Thompson and Quantrell could join him. + +The utmost that could be done was to gather a little force of about +seven hundred and fifty. This force was placed in command of Major Emery +Foster. + +There was another force of about the same number under the command of +Colonel Fitz Henry Warren at Clinton. Clinton being about the same +distance from Lone Jack as Lexington, Warren was ordered to march there +and join Foster, and the two forces combined to attack Coffee without +delay. + +In the meantime General Blunt, in command at Fort Scott, Kansas, had +learned that Coffee had slipped past Springfield and was making north, +and he started in pursuit with a thousand men. + +A third force under Colonel Burris of the Kansas Infantry was ordered to +move from Kansas City and try to catch Thompson and Quantrell before +they could join Coffee. + +Thus it looked as if the Confederates were hemmed in, and if everything +went right, could be captured. + +Lawrence decided to join the expedition under Foster. + +Foster's little army left Lexington on the morning of the fifteenth of +August, and by a rapid march reached the vicinity of Lone Jack by +evening. Here at nine o'clock at night he surprised Coffee in camp, +routing him, his men fleeing in confusion. + +Foster took possession of the abandoned camp and waited until morning. +Warren had not been heard from. + +Lawrence still was in command of his scouts, and he volunteered to see +if he could find Warren. + +The night was dark and they had to be careful. + +"If we only had Harry and Bruno," sighed Lawrence to Dan, as they were +groping their way along as best they could. + +"If we had we wouldn't be going at this snail pace," answered Dan. + +They could find nothing of Warren and started to return. On the way back +they came to a cross road and halted in doubt as to which road to take. +While debating, the sound of approaching horses was heard. + +"Halt," commanded Lawrence as two guerrillas rode up. + +"Who are yo' uns?" they asked, surprised. + +"We 'uns are from Thompson. I was afraid yo' uns were Yanks. Whar is +Coffee?" + +"The Yanks struck his camp a few hours ago and made us git." + +"Many hurt?" + +"I reckon not. We 'uns run too fast." + +"Glad to heah that. Thompson sent me to tell Coffee he would be with him +by morning. Coffee hasn't run clear away, has he?" + +"No, he's gittin' his men together and will be all right by morning. How +many men has Thompson?" + +"About twelve or fifteen hundred. You see, Quantrell and Hayes air with +him. An Red Jerry has promised to come with his company." + +"Together we 'uns ought to eat the Yanks up tomorrow." + +"I don't see any use of your going farther, as Thompson is coming," said +Lawrence. "So you might as well go with us into camp." + +To this the guerrillas agreed, and their surprise can be imagined when +they found themselves in Foster's camp instead of Coffee's. + +The report of Lawrence that he could not find Warren, and that Thompson +would join Coffee in the morning troubled Foster. + +"The whole combined force will be down on us in the morning," he said. +"Where can Warren be? Surely he cannot fail, for his orders were +positive, and mine were positive to stay here and wait for him. And stay +I will, if all the devils in Missouri are around me." + +Lawrence looked at him with admiration. "Major, you are a man after my +own heart," he said. "I will make one more attempt to find Warren. This +time I will only take Sherman with me, as I do not wish to deplete your +little force by a single man." + +"It will be dangerous, only two of you," replied Foster. + +"Not as much danger as you will be in if Warren does not come," answered +Lawrence. "God grant I may find him." + +"Amen!" said Foster, fervently. + +The two men shook hands and Lawrence and Dan rode away. It lacked but an +hour till day. + +Morning came, but there was no Warren, and neither had Dan and Lawrence +returned. The new day had hardly begun when the guerrilla hordes poured +down on Foster's little army, confident of an easy victory. + +Now began one of the bloodiest and most fiercely contested small battles +of the war. The enemy had no artillery, but Foster had two pieces of the +Third Indiana battery. The lieutenant in charge of the piece, J. F. +Devlin, had been removed by Major Foster the night before for being +intoxicated, and the guns placed in charge of Sergeant James M. Scott, +and nobly did he uphold the confidence placed in him. Never was there a +battery better or more bravely served. Time and time again did the enemy +charge upon the guns, only to be flung back, bleeding and torn. + +During a lull in the conflict, Lieutenant Devlin, somewhat recovered +from his drunken debauch, staggered on the field and ordered his men to +abandon the pieces. Accustomed to obey their superior officer, the men +did so. The enemy saw and with fiendish yells of triumph swarmed upon +and over the pieces. + +It was a critical moment. Major Foster hastily collected sixty men and +charged on the guns--so shamelessly abandoned by the order of a drunken +commander. Of the sixty men who charged, but eleven reached the guns, +the rest had fallen, and among them the gallant Major. Others now rushed +to the rescue, the artillery men came back, and once more the guns were +thundering their defiance. The enemy again rushed on them, only to be +bloodily repulsed. + +Disheartened, the Confederates now fell back, leaving the field to those +who had so valiantly defended it. But the situation of the little band +was perilous. Nothing had been heard from Warren, and nearly one-half of +the force had fallen. Captain Brawner, on whom the command had fallen, +resolved to retreat to Lexington. In doing this the two cannon had to be +abandoned. + +Every horse had been shot, even the harnesses were in tatters. Of the +thirty-six artillery men manning the guns, twenty-four had been killed +and wounded. The severely wounded had to be left, among them the gallant +Foster.[5] + +[Footnote 5: The brave Major recovered from what was supposed to be a +mortal wound, was exchanged, and afterwards did valiant service for the +Union.] + +So severe had been the punishment administered to the enemy that the +Federals were not molested in their retreat. It put an end to all the +Confederates' hopes of capturing Lexington.[6] + +[Footnote 6: Out of the seven hundred and forty Federals engaged in the +battle the loss was two hundred and seventy-two. The Confederates never +reported their loss, but a Confederate officer told Captain Brawner that +they buried one hundred and eighteen, who had been killed outright, +besides their hundreds of wounded.] + +But where were Lawrence and Dan all the time the battle was raging? Why +had they not brought Colonel Warren to the rescue? + +In the early morning they had run into a small party of guerrillas, had +boldly charged them and put them to flight, but the sound of firing had +brought a larger party, and they blocked the way Lawrence and Dan wished +to go. It was now light, and they saw the band numbered at least fifty. +There was no help for it, they had to turn and run, and that in a +direction that for aught they knew would bring them in the midst of the +enemy. + +With fierce yells the guerrillas took up the pursuit and the chase was a +hot one. Lawrence and Dan were well mounted, but a few of the guerrillas +were just as well mounted, and pressed them closely. + +Now as they fled, above the sound of their horses' hoofs rose the sound +of battle. Just the faint cracking of musketry, and then the boom of the +cannon. + +"Great Heavens!" gasped Lawrence. "They are at it. Foster and his little +band against thousands. Why did we leave them? We might have been of a +little help." + +"And we are going farther away from Warren every minute," groaned Dan. + +Here the whistling of a bullet from the revolver of the nearest +guerrilla brought their thoughts back to the seriousness of their own +situation. They had now gone beyond the sound of the musketry, but the +roar of the cannon grew more incessant, and they knew they were almost +in the rear of the enemy. + +Coming to where there were open fields, they glanced to the right and +saw the stragglers and wounded drifting to the rear, as is always the +case in time of battle. They must turn or they would soon be in the +midst of the rabble. + +Fortunately, they came to a cross road and turned into it. They were now +followed by only five or six of their pursuers, the rest having turned +back to take part in the battle. But these half dozen were mounted on +the fleetest horses and were gaining on them rapidly. Already the +bullets were singing around them freely. + +"This cannot last," Lawrence exclaimed. "Our horses are becoming winded. +We must find some way to stop those fellows." + +"We've got to stop them," said Dan. "My horse is staggering and I look +for him to drop any minute." + +They rode over a little hill that for a moment put them out of sight. +"Now," said Lawrence, halting and wheeling his horse. Dan did the same. + +"When they come over the hill give it to them," exclaimed Lawrence. "It +will be a question of who can shoot the straightest." + +Dan smiled and he drew his revolver. He was known to be a dead shot, and +nothing rattled him. + +They had hardly two seconds to wait when four of the guerrillas dashed +over the rise. Seeing Lawrence and Dan facing them and not thirty yards +away, startled them and they instinctively tried to check their headlong +pace. It was a fatal mistake, for it disconcerted their aim and their +shots went wild. + +To his astonishment, Lawrence recognized one of the guerrillas as Jerry +Alcorn, his old time enemy. Lawrence fired, but just as he did so +Jerry's horse threw up his head and the ball struck him squarely between +the eyes. The horse dropped like a stone, pinning Jerry for a moment to +the ground. + +Dan had fired the same time Lawrence did and his guerrilla pitched +headlong. The report of his shot had not died before he shot again and a +second guerrilla fell. + +The remaining guerrilla had no stomach to continue the fight, and +wheeled his horse to flee. Once more Dan's revolver spoke, and the +guerrilla fell forward, but he clung desperately to the neck of his +horse and was soon carried from view. + +It took Jerry Alcorn but a moment to extricate himself from his horse, +and as he half rose he fired at Lawrence, but missed. Lawrence returned +the fire, and the ball struck Jerry's revolver and sent it spinning. +With a mocking laugh Jerry sprang into the bushes along the road. "Not +this time, Lawrence Middleton," he shouted as he disappeared, "but we'll +meet again." + +"Let's get out of here," said Lawrence. "We can't follow Jerry in the +brush and we are now safe from pursuit." + +Even the short stop had allowed their horses a breathing spell and they +could now ride more leisurely. + +"Dan, I'm a poor stick. I should be reduced to the ranks and you given +my commission," said Lawrence. + +"How's that?" asked Dan. + +"Didn't you get three of those fellows, and I only killed a horse and +disabled a revolver. Missed three shots." Lawrence had fired again at +Jerry as he disappeared in the brush. "Bah! I'm ashamed of myself." + +"Look here!" said Dan. "It was that measly horse. He had no business to +throw up his head at that moment. Served him right to get killed." + +"But the second shot, Dan. It went wild and hit his revolver, and the +third missed altogether. And of all men to let Jerry Alcorn escape. Kick +me, Dan." + +"Might have bored one of us if you hadn't knocked the revolver out of +his hand," answered Dan, "so shut up." + +They had ridden far out of their way and had to make a wide circuit to +get back. A little before noon the distant booming of the cannon was +heard no longer. + +"It's all over," sighed Lawrence, "and I'm afraid." + +Dan's jaws came together with a snap and a dark scowl came over his +face. "Why in thunder didn't Warren come?" he wrathfully exclaimed. +"Some of these officers make me tired." + +It was the middle of the afternoon before Warren was found. He was +fearful of an attack on himself, and was several miles from the +battlefield. + +To Lawrence's request to hurry the Colonel replied, "You say the battle +is over and in all probability Foster's whole force captured. In that +case I can do no good. My force is but little greater than that Foster +had." + +"But they may not all be captured. You may be able to cover the +retreat," Lawrence urged. + +"The best I can do is to stay and watch the enemy, and wait for +reinforcements," replied Warren. + +Lawrence and Dan were disgusted, but Warren was right in not seeking an +engagement with his small force. + +"What shall we do, Dan?" Lawrence asked with a heavy heart as they +turned away. + +"Try and see what has become of Foster," answered Dan. + +"You're right, Dan." + +They were about to ride away when news came that Foster's force was in +full retreat for Lexington, and that those who survived the battle were +safe. + +Lawrence and Dan concluded to stay with Warren. + +Knowing that a force from Kansas City, as well as General Blunt from the +far south, was closing in on the Confederates, they had high hopes that +they might be captured. But during the night Coffee's entire force +slipped by Blunt and, before the movement was discovered, was well on +its way to Arkansas. The guerrilla bands of Quantrell, Red Jerry and +others took to the brush, there to remain hidden until the Federal +troops had returned to their several posts. + +Lawrence and Dan returned to Lexington disgusted. They believed that if +the different forces had acted together, and the campaign been managed +rightly, the entire force of the enemy could have been captured. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +CAPTURED BY GUERRILLAS + + +There is little doubt that Major Foster's plucky fight at Lone Jack +saved Lexington, for had he not gone out and attacked the Confederates, +they would have marched straight on that place, as was their intention. + +The fight halted them and gave the Federals time to concentrate. + +All danger of the Federals being driven from the State by a partisan +uprising now being over, and the deep laid plans of General Hindman and +other Confederate leaders being brought to naught, General Schofield +resolved to concentrate his army at Springfield. + +The army that was known as "The Army of the Northwest" had now been +designated "The Army of the Frontier," and General Schofield decided to +leave the command of the Department of Missouri in other hands and +assume the command of the Army of the Frontier in person, with +headquarters at Springfield. + +Before returning to St. Louis business took Lawrence to Fort +Leavenworth. He had not been there since 1856, when a forlorn little boy +of twelve, without money and without friends, he had taken passage for +St. Louis. How the memory of those days came rushing over him. The mob, +the tarring and feathering of his father, Judge Lindsly taking them +in,--the gallant defence of his father by Judge Lindsly,--the raid by +John Brown,--the flight to Kansas,--his father's death,--it all came +back to him like a mighty rushing torrent. + +He wondered how Judge Lindsly was now. How was he faring in these +troublesome times? Was he being robbed by both guerrillas and Federals? +He determined to visit him. Perhaps he might be of some protection to +him as far as the Federal side was concerned. + +He spoke of his determination to the commander at Fort Leavenworth and +that officer replied, "You cannot go without an escort. The country is +swarming with guerrillas who never lose a chance of shooting any +Federals who are unwise enough to stray outside of the lines. There is a +detachment of our troops at Platte City and I will give you an escort +that far. How far is it from Platte City to where Judge Lindsly lives?" + +"I should say nine or ten miles," replied Lawrence. + +"Well, do not try to make the trip from there without a good escort. A +Captain Leeper is in command at Platte and he will readily supply you +with one." + +Lawrence thanked him and was ready to start when the escort, which +consisted of a sergeant and five men, made their appearance. + +Dan had found some old friends at Leavenworth who had been with him in +the troublesome times on the border before the war, and he concluded to +stay with them while Lawrence made his visit. As it turned out, it was +fortunate that he did so. + +Crossing the river on a ferry, Lawrence and his escort mounted their +horses and started for Platte City, but a few miles away. It was with a +sad heart that Lawrence looked over the country. What had been one of +the most beautiful portions of the State had become almost a desolate +waste. Ruined houses and deserted farms met his gaze at every turn. + +When Platte City was reached Lawrence received a cordial welcome from +Captain Leeper, who, on hearing his request, readily consented to give +him an escort of a corporal and four men. + +"A few days ago," said the Captain, "I would not have dared to send so +small an escort, for a gang of bushwhackers under the command of a +notorious guerrilla named Lamar has been scourging the neighborhood, but +Colonel Penick, last week, came over from Liberty and scattered them. He +captured two, whom he shot, and burned two or three houses whose owners +had been harboring the gang. It has been very quiet ever since. I think +he has thoroughly dispersed the gang." + +This news was not very cheering to Lawrence. Shooting guerrillas after +they were caught and burning houses did not tend to make those left less +cruel. + +When Lawrence came in sight of the once fine plantation of Judge Lindsly +his heart bled. The fields were neglected, not half of them under +cultivation, and those that were, poorly tended, but to his relief the +house had not been disturbed. + +Although greatly surprised, the Judge received Lawrence with open arms. +"I often see your name in the papers," he said, "and rejoice at your +advancement, although it is at the cost of the cause I love." + +"Tell me of yourself," said Lawrence, "and all that has happened to you +during the last months of trial." + +The Judge sighed deeply and replied, "Look and see for yourself what +this unhappy war has not only brought upon me, but on the whole State. I +have been preyed upon by both Federals and guerrillas. Most of my slaves +have left me. To make my position more intolerable, I am _persona non +grata_ with both sides. The guerrillas do not like me because I denounce +guerrilla warfare. I tell them if the independence of the South is ever +achieved, it will be done by the great armies in the field, and that the +place of every man who loves and would fight for the South should be in +the army, not hiding in the brush. General Price should have had the +fifty thousand men he called for. He would have had them if everyone who +has played the part of guerrilla had responded. With such an army he +would have swept the State clear of Federals. + +"I told them the late uprising of the partisan bands would only bring +more misery, bloodshed and murder on the State, and nothing would be +accomplished, and so it has proven. + +"I was denounced for these opinions and my life has been threatened by +Quantrell, Lamar and others. + +"On the other hand, I am continually being threatened with arrest by the +Federals. I have absolutely refused to take the oath of allegiance to +the Federal Government. Now that the worst has come, I am with the South +heart and soul, and I will not perjure myself." + +Lawrence was deeply moved. He could only press the hand of the old Judge +in sympathy and say, "If I have any influence you will never be +arrested. If you ever get in trouble let me know. What I can do I will." + +This the Judge promised, and when it came time to part he held +Lawrence's hand lingeringly and said with emotion, "Would to God, +Lawrence, you were my own son and fighting for the right, but I love you +as it is. May your life be spared." + +Lawrence's eyes filled with tears. He tried to speak, but his voice +failed. He could only press the hand of the Judge as they parted. + +Riding a short distance he turned and looked back. Judge Lindsly was +still standing on the porch looking after him and waved his hand. +Lawrence choked back a sob as he waved his hand in return. The once +erect form of the Judge was bowed and bent; his gray hair was perfectly +white, and he leaned on his cane, weak and trembling. + +It was months before Lawrence saw him again, and then it was in a prison +pen at Kansas City. + +All unconscious of danger, Lawrence started back to Platte City. His +visit had left a heavy load on his heart. He thought of the time the +Judge saved his father's life, risking his own to do so, and his image +rose before him, as he stood, proud, erect, like a lion at bay, facing +the mob.[7] + +[Footnote 7: See "With Lyon in Missouri."] + +They had covered about half the distance to Platte City without +incident, Lawrence and the corporal riding side by side, the four +troopers a short distance in advance. + +Suddenly from a thicket two rifles blazed. The corporal fell from his +horse dead, the horse which Lawrence rode plunged forward on his head, +throwing Lawrence heavily, and he lay unconscious in the road. + +The four troopers, seeing both Lawrence and the corporal, as they +supposed, lying dead, put spurs to their horses and rode for their lives +to Platte City to give the alarm. + +At the head of twenty men Captain Leeper started for the scene of +action, but all he found was the dead body of the corporal, and that of +Lawrence's horse. The horse had been shot through the head and both +saddle and bridle were missing. + +The guerrillas had hung the body of the corporal from a tree and there +it dangled over the road, a gruesome object. To the lapel of his coat +they had pinned a paper on which was written, "The fate that awaits all +Kansas Jayhawkers." + +Of Lawrence there were no signs, and as night was falling, Captain +Leeper returned to Platte City full of wrath, but impotent to avenge. + +When the guerrillas fired the corporal was slightly in advance of +Lawrence and the bullet had gone clear through his body and struck +Lawrence's horse. The horse falling had saved Lawrence's life, as he +being thrown had caused the second guerrilla to miss him. + +When Lawrence came to, there were two guerrillas standing gloating over +him. "Say, Jim," said one. "This feller ain't dead. He's wiggling. Shall +I finish him?" + +"No, let's take him to the captain," replied the other. "He's a Yankee +officer, and if we 'uns hang him all the boys will want to see the fun." + +It was not long before Lawrence fully came to. To the jeers and taunts +of his captors he made no reply. But when he saw there were but two of +them he mentally cursed the four escorts who had so cowardly left him to +his fate. + +After he was securely bound he was forced to stand while the two, with +foul epithets, hung the body of the corporal over the road. + +"Thar yo' un can see what yo' un are coming to," one said, grinning at +Lawrence. "How do yo' un like it?" + +Lawrence made no answer, and with a curse and a growl the guerrillas +turned away. + +Lawrence was now placed on the horse that had been ridden by the +corporal, his hands tied behind him and his feet securely bound beneath +the horse on which he rode. One of the guerrillas tied the halter of the +horse to the saddle of the one he rode, and they started for the secret +rendezvous of the gang. It was long after nightfall before they reached +it. + +Captain Lamar and most of the gang were found to be away, so supperless +and bound, Lawrence was placed under a tree to await the morning. + +The cords with which he was bound cut into his flesh and he was parched +with thirst. He asked for water, but a curse was the only answer. + +There throughout the rest of the night Lawrence lay, the stars looking +pityingly down upon him. He could not sleep, his sufferings were too +great, and there was the uncertainty of the morrow. What would the end +be? + +All his life passed before his mental vision in a panoramic vision. He +lived it all over again. + +Morning came, but Captain Lamar and the rest of the gang had not yet +returned. He was given some breakfast, but taunted with the fact that it +would be his last meal on earth. Better than the food was the water +which cooled his parched mouth and tongue. No nectar that ever flowed +tasted half so sweet. + +About nine o'clock Captain Lamar came. He was in a towering rage, for +his expedition had failed and he had lost two men. + +When told two of his men had killed a Yankee and captured a Yankee +captain, he asked what had been done with the captain. + +"He is heah," said one of the men. "We 'uns have been waitin' to see +what yo' un wanted to do with him." + +"Hang him or shoot him, I don't care which," he growled as he turned +away. "I'm tired and hungry and want some breakfast." + +The Captain's decision was told, but the gang decided to wait until the +men who came in with the Captain had had breakfast, so all could enjoy +the sport. To the savage men the hanging or shooting of a Yankee was an +enjoyable event. + +When breakfast was over there was quite a discussion as to whether +Lawrence should be hung or shot. Those in favor of hanging carried the +day, so he was led under the projecting limb of a tree and a rope placed +around his neck. + +Lawrence felt all hope was gone. He was standing face to face with +death. For a moment he felt faint and a deadly fear seized him. Few +there be who in health and strength can face Death without a fear. As +they look him in his face and his shadowy wings cover them, nature +recoils and would flee from him. + +But it was only a moment that Lawrence feared. He gulped back the lump +in his throat; his trembling nerves became as steel. He was a man--a +soldier again. He had faced death on the battlefield without a quiver +and he would do so now, though this was different, it was coming in such +a horrible form; but he would face it. He looked into the scowling faces +around him without a sign of fear. + +"What do yo' un have to say before we 'uns string you up?" demanded one +of the men. + +"Nothing," answered Lawrence, "but I would be thankful if you would +inform Judge Lindsly of my fate. He at least will give my body a decent +burial." + +At this the guerrillas burst into a boisterous laugh. "That's a good +one," they cried. "He reckons we 'uns bury the Yanks we 'uns hang. Young +feller, we 'uns will pitch your carcass in the brush and leave it for +the buzzards to pick--that is, if a Missouri buzzard will pick a dead +Yank." + +At this sally there was another burst of laughter. + +Just then there came a diversion. One of the men, Cal Jones, who had +been one of the party with Lamar, had missed a Federal soldier at short +range, and his companions were guying him unmercifully. + +"Why," drawled one called Hooper, "Cal couldn't hit a barn door at fifty +paces." + +Cal was hopping mad. "I'll bet yo 'un a hoss I ken put a ball through +that Yank's heart at fifty paces," he roared. + +"Done," exclaimed Hooper. "Heah, boys, stop that picnic for a few +moments. Cal has bet me a hoss he can plug that Yank through the heart +at fifty paces the first shot." + +Some of the men began to demur, but Hooper, in a tantalizing tone, +drawled, "Don't be skeered, boys. Cal will sure miss him, and we 'uns +can have our fun afterwards." + +"I'll show yo' un. I'll show yo' un," yelled Cal, hopping around like a +mad turkey. + +They now all fell in with the idea, and Lawrence was placed with his +back against a tree. To him the diversion came as a welcome relief. He +would now die like a soldier and not like a felon. + +"Hold on thar!" cried Hooper, as Jones began to pace the distance. "I +said fifty paces, not fifty steps. Yo' un don't come that on me." + +"I am pacin'." snarled Cal. "Want to back out, do yer?" + +"Not much, but I'll do that pacin' myself." And he began. + +"No, yer don't," yelled Cal. The men were about to fight when the others +interfered, saying it was only fair a third party should do the pacing. +This was agreed to and the pacing duly done. Jones took his position, a +huge navy revolver in his hand. + +Lawrence stood facing him. Not a muscle quivered as he looked his +would-be executioner in the eye. + +Jones raised his weapon. "Stand back," yelled Hooper. "Don't get too +close, some of yo' uns will get hurt. The Yank is in no danger." + +Jones fired, but he was too angry to shoot straight, and his shot went +wild. + +"What did I tell yo' un? What did I tell yo' un?" cried Hooper. "Never +teched the Yank or tree, either," and he kicked up his heels like a +young colt. "That hoss is mine." + +The whole crowd shouted in derision, and Jones, in anger, fired every +shot in his revolver before they could stop him. Lawrence stood unmoved +and smiling. One shot had struck the tree an inch above his head, +another had passed between his arm and body, and a third had cut a +little piece out of his coat on the shoulder. The humorous aspect of the +affair struck him, and he laughed outright. + +The guerrillas simply went crazy with delight. Many of them threw +themselves on the ground rolling and kicking with laughter. + +Captain Lamar heard the shots and the uproar and came to see what it +meant. He had just finished his breakfast and was in a little better +humor. When he heard what had happened he remarked with a cruel smile, +"Turn about is fair play. Better put Cal up, and see what the Yank can +do." + +This suggestion took like wildfire. Cal was seized by his comrades and, +frightened and begging for his life, was being hustled to the tree to +take Lawrence's place when the Captain interfered. "Hold on, boys," he +said. "I only wanted to frighten Cal. But if he don't learn to be a +better shot I'll hang him sure. But that Yank must be a gritty fellow. +I'll have a look at him." + +"Gritty," said one of the men. "Well, I should say so. He turned kind of +white around the gills when he first felt the halter around his neck, +and then braced up and not a whimper. Why, he actually laughed when Cal +was shooting at him." + +"That was because Cal was shooting so wild," remarked the Captain. + +"Three of the shots came mighty close to him. Only missed him by a +hair's breadth." + +"Glad to hear Cal is improving," said Lamar dryly, as he walked towards +Lawrence. + +He had no sooner looked him in the face than an expression of surprise +came over his countenance. He stepped back, swept his hand across his +eyes, as if he was brushing away something, looked again and then turned +away, saying, "There'll be no hanging. Untie the prisoner and bring him +to my tent." + +The men gazed at each other in astonishment. But great as was their +surprise, greater was Lawrence's. The shock was almost as great as when +he thought he had to die. Then he began to realize he had stepped from +the shadow of death, and there was hope of living, and he breathed a +prayer of thankfulness. + +His surprise grew when Lamar called the two men who had captured him and +asked what they had of his. + +"Everything, Captain, but his hoss. That was killed. But we 'uns have +got the hoss of the Yank that was killed," they answered. + +"Well, bring everything you have of his, and the horse you +captured--saddled and bridled," he ordered, and the men departed +wondering. + +When Lawrence was brought before Lamar he asked him what he was doing in +this part of the country. Lawrence told him he had been to visit Judge +Lindsly, who had greatly befriended him when he was small. + +"Are you the boy whose father was tarred and feathered, and the Judge +took you both in?" + +"I am." + +Lamar chuckled. "Say, boy, do you know I was in that crowd?" + +"No," answered Lawrence, more astonished than ever. + +"Well, I was. But here is your horse and everything taken from you. You +are at liberty to take them and ride away. Nay, more, I will send an +escort with you to protect you until you are near the lines of your +friends." + +Lawrence's lips trembled and his voice was husky as he answered, +"Captain, I don't know why you have granted me such clemency, but I am +thankful from the bottom of my heart. Be assured if the time ever comes +when I can return you the same mercy you have shown me it will be done." + +"We are at quits now," said Lamar. "You saved my life once." + +"I?" cried Lawrence. "I never remember having seen you before." + +"You have. About a year ago I belonged to a body of partisans commanded +by Captain Proctor. A fellow by name of Semans peached on us. We paid +him off by burning his buildings and shooting him. Just as we finished +the job a body of cavalry charged down and drove us off. I was left on +the field desperately wounded. Some of the men were about to shoot me as +I lay there helpless, but the captain of the cavalry, a mere boy, sprang +in, with his sword, beat down the guns, and swore that no wounded man, +no matter what he had done, should be ruthlessly murdered while he was +commanding that company. Captain, you are that boy; I am that wounded +man." + +"Ah, I remember," murmured Lawrence. + +"That is not all," continued Lamar. "You tenderly cared for me, had me +taken to a near-by house, where I stayed until I recovered. Captain, no +thanks. As I have said, we are quits now. If we meet again it will be on +even terms. One promise you must make me. You must not lead the Federals +to this place for the next twenty-four hours. After that I do not care." + +"The promise is freely given," answered Lawrence. + +The two men, so strangely met, shook hands, and Lawrence mounted his +horse and, accompanied by two of the guerrillas, rode away. + +On the way they met several rough-looking men who looked at Lawrence +with malevolent eyes, but a few whispered words from his guards and they +were allowed to pass on. Lawrence now saw why Captain Lamar had sent a +guard with him. + +After they had traveled several miles Lawrence saw a line of blue +galloping towards him. + +"Go, I will see you are not followed," he said to his guards. They +raised their hands in salute, turned, and putting spurs to their horses, +were soon out of sight. + +In a moment more Lawrence was in the arms of Dan Sherman, who was +hugging him, laughing and crying at the same time. + +"I'll never leave you again," he cried. + +"It is fortunate that you did," replied Lawrence, "for if you had been +with me there would be no Dan Sherman now." + +The officer in command of the company now bustled up. "Did I not see two +men with you, Captain?" he asked. "They looked to me very much like +guerrillas." + +"They were friends," answered Lawrence. "Neither can I guide you to the +haunts of those who held me prisoner. Tomorrow you are at liberty to +find them if you can. Turn back with me to Platte City and I will tell +you my story." + +When they heard the story they marvelled and swore they had never heard +of any gratitude in a guerrilla's heart before.[8] + +[Footnote 8: Several months after this Lamar was captured, not by +Lawrence, but by an officer who knew the story. He was paroled and lived +to become a good citizen after the war.] + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE GUERRILLA'S BRIDE + + +"How did you come to be with the soldiers I met?" asked Lawrence of Dan. +The two were now in Leavenworth, waiting for a boat to take them down +the river. + +"It was this way," answered Dan. "When those rascally cavalrymen +deserted you and rode back to Platte City, word was sent post-haste +here, asking for a company to go to the aid of Captain Leeper, and help +chastise the band which had murdered you, and, if possible, to procure +your body. I was nearly wild when I heard you had been killed, and +nothing could have prevented me from accompanying the company sent to +Captain Leeper. I tell you, charges ought to be preferred against those +four men who so basely deserted you. They should be court-martialed for +cowardice and shot." + +"Not so fast, Dan," replied Lawrence. "Those men heard the shots, looked +back and saw, as they supposed, the Corporal and myself both killed. +They did not know how many guerrillas were in the brush, and they did +the best and about the only thing they could do--get to Platte City as +soon as possible, and give the alarm." + +"They should have known there were but two from the report of the guns," +grumbled Dan. "I tell you it was a cowardly trick. Do you think I would +have left you, if I had been one of the four?" + +"No, Dan," said Lawrence, laying his hand on his shoulder, +affectionately. "You would have charged back there if there had been +fifty guerrillas, instead of two; but all men are not dear old Dan." + +There was a suspicious moisture in Dan's eyes, but he only said: "Pshaw! +Any fellow with any grit would have done it." + +A boat coming along, they took passage for Lexington, the boat making +quite a long stop at Kansas City. They found that all fear that the +enemy might be able to capture the towns along the Missouri had +subsided. Everywhere the guerrillas had been beaten, and they were +fleeing south by the hundreds to hide in the Ozarks or among the +mountains of northern Arkansas. Still, numerous small bands remained in +hiding. Within a radius of a hundred miles, taking Lexington as a +center, then were a score of these bands operating, but there were two +of them which were especially daring and troublesome. + +One of these bands was led by the notorious Quantrell, and the other by +Jerry Alcorn, known as Red Jerry. + +Jerry, the year before, had fled from St. Louis, being detected in a +plot to assassinate Lawrence Middleton and Guilford Craig. He had joined +Price's army, but soon deserted to become leader of a band of +guerrillas. Lawrence, with his scouts, had met this band the year +before, and given it a crushing defeat. As has also been seen, it was +Jerry and his men that chased Lawrence and Dan as they were going in +search of Colonel Warner at Lone Jack. + +When Lawrence reached Lexington, he received dispatches from General +Schofield, saying he would not be able to go to Springfield to take +command of the army quite as soon as he had expected, and that Lawrence +should report to him at St. Louis; but before he reported he was to see +that all the guerrilla bands around Lexington were dispersed. + +Lawrence found that a force was being organized in Lexington to try to +surprise and capture Red Jerry and his entire band. He determined to +accompany it. But when he found the officer who was to command the +expedition was a Colonel Jennison, he hesitated. He had but little use +for that officer. He commanded one of those regiments known as +jay-hawkers. The men composing the regiment were fighters, but in their +tactics differed little from the guerrillas. With them it was "an eye +for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." + +Lawrence talked it over with Dan, and they were so anxious that Red +Jerry be brought to justice for his many crimes that he decided to +overcome his repugnance to the Colonel, and go, taking the place of the +Major of the regiment, who was sick. + +Jerry was reported as hanging around the plantation of a Mr. Floyd +Templeton, a very respected old gentleman, but a bitter Southern +partisan. Mr. Templeton had two children--a son who was with Price, and +a daughter who oversaw the household, the mother being dead. + +This daughter, Agnes by name, was at this time about twenty, and was a +strikingly beautiful girl. Her lustrous hair, dark as midnight, crowned +a well-shaped head, which she carried as proudly as a queen. Her dark +eyes, lovely in repose, could with a languishing glance cause the heart +of the most prosaic of men to beat more rapidly; but in their depth was +a hidden fire which would blaze forth when aroused, and show the +tempestuous soul which dwelt within. She was above medium height, and +her body was as lithe and supple as a panther's. + +In vain had her hand been sought by the beaux for twenty miles around. +When the war came, she told them no one need woo her until her beloved +Missouri was free of the Yankee foe, and he who did win her must be a +soldier, brave and true. + +Some months before, Jerry's gang had been attacked and scattered, and +Jerry, his horse being killed, fled on foot. In his flight he came to +the Templeton house, his pursuers close behind. + +He implored Agnes to save him, and this she did by secreting him in a +hidden closet behind the huge chimney. To the Federal soldiers in +pursuit she swore the guerrilla chieftain had passed by without +stopping. A careful search of the house revealing nothing, the soldiers +were forced to believe she told the truth. + +Jerry was not only grateful to his fair preserver, but fell violently in +love with her. The rough guerrilla soldier was not the soldier of the +dreams of the proud, aristocratic girl. Concealing her repugnance to his +advances, she gently but firmly refused him, telling him her duty was to +her aged father. Jerry was so persistent in his advances that she +finally told him he must never speak of the subject again, or he would +be refused the house. + +More than once did Jerry conceive the scheme of carrying her off by +force and marrying her against her will; but he became aware that the +girl possessed as fierce a spirit as his own, and if need were she would +not hesitate to plunge a dagger in his heart. + +With the fires of unrequited love burning in his heart, he had to cease +his advances; but, like the silly moths that flutter around a candle, he +made every excuse to call at the Templeton residence. The girl warned +him by saying that by his course he was bringing not only danger on +himself, but on her father as well. + +Jerry knew this, and the dastardly thought came to him that if the +Federals did make way with her father, Agnes, in her loneliness, might +come to him. It was a thought worthy of his black nature, but that he +madly loved the girl, there was no doubt. + +The expedition against Jerry was well planned, but he got wind of it, +and scattered his force. + +In a running fight that took place, Jerry captured two of Jennison's +men. These he calmly proceeded to hang, almost in sight of Templeton's +door, for the purpose of bringing down the wrath of Jennison on +Templeton's head. Only too well did the damnable plot succeed. + +Jennison was beside himself with rage, and after pursuing Jerry until +all hopes of catching him had ended, he returned to the Templeton place, +and, calling the old man to the door, he denounced him in the most +violent terms, calling him a sneaking rebel, who made his house a +rendezvous for murderers. + +Mr. Templeton drew himself up proudly. "I may be what you call a rebel," +he exclaimed, "but I am not a sneaking one. My heart and soul are with +the South in her struggle for liberty, and every one knows it. As for +the men you call guerrillas, I can no more help their coming here than I +can help your coming." + +"You lie, you old scoundrel!" shouted Jennison. "You invite them to +come, and aid them in their nefarious work. The murderers you have been +harboring hanged two of my men yesterday, almost at your very door, and +no doubt you looked on and approved." + +"I did no such thing," answered Mr. Templeton. "I did not know of the +deed until it was done; then I told Alcorn never again to set foot on my +premises." + +"More lies, you canting old hypocrite. Do you know what I am going to do +with you?" shouted Jennison. + +"I am in your power; you can do anything you wish," answered Mr. +Templeton, with dignity. + +"I am going to shoot you, and burn your house," yelled Jennison. + +"You will never harbor any more guerrillas." + +At these words, Agnes sprang before her father, with a scream. "If you +shoot any one, shoot me--not him," she said. "If there has been any +harboring, it is I who am to blame. I have harbored those fighting to +rid our State of such as you, and I glory in it. Shoot me--not him." + +Lawrence and Dan just now rode up and gazed in astonishment at the +scene. The girl stood in front of her father, her arms outspread, her +bosom heaving with excitement, her eyes blazing, inviting the deadly +volley. + +Her tragic attitude, her wondrous beauty, awed the men, and they lowered +the guns that had been raised to slay the father. + +"Drag her away, and shoot!" commanded Jennison, with an oath. + +"Hold!" cried Lawrence. "Colonel Jennison, do you realize what you are +doing? What does this mean?" + +"It means I'm going to shoot this old villain and burn the house. It +means I am going to put an end to this harboring of guerrillas, if I +have to burn every house in this accursed State," thundered Jennison. +"Now drag the girl away." + +"The first man that touches that girl dies!" cried Lawrence, drawing his +revolver. + +"I'm with you," said Dan, drawing his revolver, and taking his place by +Lawrence's side. + +For a moment Colonel Jennison was too astonished to speak; then his face +turned livid with passion. "Young man," he hissed, "do you know what you +are doing? By a word I can have you both shot--shot for mutiny--and, by +God! I ought to say the word." + +"But, Colonel, what you are going to do is an outrage," cried Lawrence, +"a damnable outrage--one that will bring black disgrace on our arms. It +is an act that General Schofield will never countenance, and in his name +I ask you to countermand the order." + +"Which I will not do!" exclaimed Jennison, white with rage. "I have been +trammelled enough with orders from headquarters. I propose to deal with +these red-handed assassins as I please. We, along the border, propose to +protect ourselves. Captain Middleton, you and your companion are under +arrest for insubordination. Lieutenant Cleveland, take their swords, and +with a detail of six men escort them back to Lexington. When I return I +will make a formal charge against them." + +There was no use in resisting. The majority of Jennison's regiment was +composed of men from Kansas who had suffered from the raids of the +Border Ruffians before the war, or had been driven from their homes in +Missouri, and heartily sympathized with the Colonel in his warfare of +retaliation. + +Lawrence also knew he had committed a grave offence when, in his +indignation, he tried to prevent the execution of Templeton by force. So +he quietly submitted to arrest; but as he rode away there came to his +ears the shrieks of the girl, then the sharp crack of three or four +carbines. Lawrence shuddered and, looking back, he saw great columns of +smoke rolling up, and through the blackness red tongues of leaping +flame. + +After the volley killing her father had been fired, the girl uttered one +more shriek, and then stood with dry eyes, gazing as if in a trance; +then with a low moan she threw herself on the still body, enfolding it +with her arms as if she would shield it from the profane gaze of those +around it. She lay as if dead; and so they left her. + +Hours afterward, Red Jerry came creeping up from his hiding place, and +found her. At first he thought her dead, but at his touch and the sound +of his voice she aroused and stood up--but a changed being--changed from +a woman into a demon. + +She spoke a few words to Jerry, but in so low a tone his few followers +who had gathered round could not hear. Jerry gently led her away from +the rest; but the men noticed she walked as one seeing not. + +They stopped under a tree not far away. + +"Jerry," she said, in a tone devoid of the least sign of feeling, "you +have often told me you loved me, and wanted me to become your wife. I +have as often refused. I am now ready to marry you, if you make me one +promise." + +Red Jerry's heart gave a great bound. He had won. The peerless Agnes +Templeton was to become his wife--he, a guerrilla chieftain. + +"Anything you ask," he cried, rapturously, and attempted to take her in +his arms. + +"Do not touch me," she said, in the same passionless tones. "You must +not touch me until you have promised, and not then until the words are +spoken which give you a right." + +"What is it you want me to promise, Agnes? You know anything in my power +will be granted," Jerry replied, his voice showing the depth of his +passion. + +"That you will let me dress as a man and ride by your side; that you +will never order me away, however great the danger; that where you are, +I may always be." + +"For you to ride at my side would be bliss," said Jerry; "but, oh! +Agnes, to lead you into danger--how can I do it?" + +"It must be as I say, or I can never be your wife," was her answer. + +Jerry promised, and side by side they rode away to the home of a +minister. It was near midnight when they reached it, and there, amid the +clashing of the elements--for a fearful storm had arisen--the words were +spoken that made Agnes Templeton the bride of Jerry Alcorn, the +guerrilla. + +Sacrificing everything feminine, except her luxuriant hair, which she +coiled tightly on top of her head and concealed under a wide sombrero, +she rode by the side of her husband throughout his career. No Federal +thought the smooth-faced, handsome young man who was always with Jerry +was a woman. + +The band became known as one of the most cruel and merciless in the +State. It revelled in deeds of bloodshed, and of all the band, the young +man with the angel face and the heart of a demon, who rode by Red Jerry, +was known as the most merciless. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE STORY OF CARL MEYER + + +"Of all outrages!" exclaimed Dan. + +"That girl! Wasn't she splendid?" answered Lawrence. "She made me think +of some great tragic queen. What a scene for the stage!--and we saw it +in reality." + +"Wasn't thinking of the girl," sputtered Dan. "I was thinking of the +outrage of sending us back under arrest." + +"He had a right to, Dan. We could be court-martialed and shot." + +"What! For interfering with the hellish work of that murderer? He is as +bad as a guerrilla," angrily responded Dan. + +"For drawing a weapon and interfering with his orders," replied +Lawrence. "Good God! I could almost afford to be shot for the pleasure +of putting a bullet through the black heart of Jennison. That girl--I +wonder what will become of her!" + +"Girl again!" growled Dan. "And don't blame Jennison too much. He had +great provocation. No doubt that old scoundrel had been shielding +Jerry." + +But Lawrence did not answer. He knew Dan's aversion to girls, and little +was said as they rode on, mile after mile. Both Lawrence and Dan +bitterly felt the disgrace of reporting back to Lexington under arrest. + +Lawrence knew that the case would have to go to Schofield. If there was +any court-martial, Schofield would have to order it, and Lawrence felt +that the General would deal leniently with him. + +But the case never went to Schofield. On his return from his raid, +Colonel Jennison released Lawrence from arrest, saying he did so on +account of his youth, and that no doubt he acted as he did from sudden +impulse, owing to the distress and beauty of the girl. Neither did he +think Lawrence understood the situation. Harsh means had to be used to +prevent the guerrillas from murdering Union men. + +The fact was, Colonel Jennison did not wish the case to be investigated. +He, Lane, and others had been reprimanded so often by the Federal +authorities that more than once they had threatened to turn guerrillas +and wage warfare on their own account. + +Soon after this affair, Lawrence was ordered to report at St. Louis. + +"Now I suppose I can leave and join General Blair," said Lawrence, after +he had given General Schofield a full report of what had happened. + +"I trust you will stay with me a while yet," answered the General. "As I +wrote you, I am about to take the field in person. We will have but +little rest until Hindman, who is gathering a large force in northern +Arkansas, is thoroughly whipped. There will be stirring times for the +next two months. Blair is not needing you yet. Grant's army is very +quiet--hasn't done much since Corinth fell and Memphis was taken. They +are making slow progress along the Mississippi now." + +Lawrence agreed to stay in Missouri a while longer. He was granted a two +weeks' furlough, and then he was to report at Springfield. + +The first use Lawrence made of his furlough was to visit his uncle, and +he found that personage greatly elated over the prospects of the South. +"I tell you, Lawrence," he exclaimed, "the independence of the South is +already as good as secured. Why, just consider: McClellan whipped on the +Peninsula, his army barely escaping; Pope completely crushed, his army +almost annihilated, the remnant seeking refuge in the fortifications +around Washington. Lee's army is sweeping victoriously through Maryland; +Harper's Ferry taken with ten thousand prisoners. It will only be a +matter of a few days until Washington is taken. + +"Bragg is thundering at the very gates of Louisville. The whole of +Tennessee and Kentucky will soon be redeemed. Buell's army will be +driven across the Ohio. Grant has not gained a foot since the capture of +Corinth. He has not, and never will, get past Vicksburg, I tell you, +Lawrence, it's all over. The South has won." + +"I admit, uncle," replied Lawrence, "that this has been a bad year for +us. But the war isn't over. The worst is yet to come. In the end the +South will be crushed." + +"It cannot be! It cannot be!" cried his uncle, excitedly. + +"Uncle, don't let us discuss the war," said Lawrence. "How long since +you heard from Edward? I am anxious to hear all the news." + +"He was well the last time I heard from him," said Mr. Middleton, "but I +do not hear very often. It is harder to get letters through than it was; +but, thank God! those we do get don't come through the hands of that +traitor, Guilford Craig. You have heard no news of him, have you?" + +"No; but it is curious his body was never found. There is little doubt +but that he fell at Pea Ridge, and that at the hands of his +step-brother." + +"Served him right," growled Mr. Middleton. + +"And Randolph Hamilton--what of him?" asked Lawrence. + +"Randolph is also well, Edward writes." + +"I am glad to hear that," answered Lawrence. "Randolph is a noble +fellow. Lola Laselle did a fine thing when she saved him. How is Mrs. +Hamilton now?" + +"Mrs. Hamilton and Dorothy have gone to Europe," answered Mr. Middleton. +"Mr. Hamilton thought it best to take her away from the excitement of +the war." + +"So Dorothy is gone," said Lawrence, "Well, she won't have to hold aside +her skirts for fear of contamination, if I happen to pass her on the +sidewalk." + +"I thought you and Dorothy were great friends--kind of childish +sweethearts," replied his uncle. + +"That was before I turned Yankee," laughed Lawrence. + +"Ah, my boy, Dorothy is not the only one who has been disappointed in +you," sighed his uncle. + +While Lawrence and Mr. Middleton were talking, a newsboy came running +down the street, yelling: "Extra! Extra! Terrible battle in Maryland. +McClellan whips Lee. Fifty thousand men killed." + +Mr. Middleton rushed out and purchased a paper. It told of the great +battle at Antietam. He turned pale as he read, and his hands trembled so +he could scarcely hold the paper. Lawrence heard him murmur, "Thank God! +Edward was not in it." + +Lawrence had no thought of exulting over the news in his uncle's +presence; instead, he told him that the first reports of a battle were +always exaggerated; but at the same time his heart was singing for joy. +Afterward, when the news came that Lee had succeeded in getting his army +safely across the Potomac, Mr. Middleton's hopes revived. It was a drawn +battle, after all. + +There was one in St. Louis that Lawrence could not fail to visit, and +that was Lola Laselle, the girl who had taken his part on the steamboat, +when a forlorn, dirty, homeless boy, and who had chosen him for her +knight-errant when he went into the army. + +Of all the young people Lawrence had associated with before the war, +Lola was one of the few who had remained faithful to the old flag, and +by so doing had been mercilessly cut by her young companions. But one +day Lola hid Randolph Hamilton to keep him from being arrested as a spy, +and this somewhat restored her to favor, especially with the Randolph +family. + +No sooner did Lola see Lawrence than she ran toward him with +outstretched hands, crying, "Lawrence, Lawrence, is this indeed you? How +glad I am to see you! And how you have grown! Why, you are a man!" + +"And I am afraid I have lost my little girl," said Lawrence, as he took +her hand, and gallantly raised it to his lips. "You have grown to almost +a young lady." + +"I don't know whether I like it or not," said Lola. "I sometimes think I +had rather remain a little girl." + +"I believe I am of your opinion," replied Lawrence, looking at her +admiringly. + +"Why, am I growing homely?" pouted Lola. + +"That's not it. If you were still a little girl, I--I might have been +permitted to kiss your cheek, instead of just your hand. Remember----" + +"Stop! You mean thing!" commanded Lola, blushing furiously. + +Lawrence gazed on her with admiration. She was certainly budding into a +most beautiful girl. + +"Lola, you are splendid!" he cried, "I wouldn't have you a little girl +again. You are far ahead of any girl I know." + +"How about Dorothy Hamilton?" she asked, mockingly. + +"Dorothy Hamilton be hanged! How did you and she part?" + +"Good friends. She and I correspond. After I saved Randolph, she could +not do enough for me." + +"Then she has some heart. I am glad to hear it," answered Lawrence, +bitterly. "When I saved her from being crushed beneath the horse's feet, +she rewarded me by calling me a miserable Yankee." + +"Maybe she will be good to you some time," said Lola. "Remember how she +used to cut me." + +"I reckon I do," said Lawrence, "and it used to make me tearing mad. +Lola, of all the girls I used to associate with, you are the only one +who does not pass me with looks of contempt; but your friendship and +sympathy are worth all I have lost--yes, a thousand times more." + +"Don't magnify my importance; but I shall always be your friend, +Lawrence," she said, simply. + +They then fell to talking of other things, and Lawrence had to tell her +of all his experiences. When he told her of his capture by the +guerrillas, and how he had been ordered to be put to death, she +shuddered and turned so pale he thought she was going to faint. + +"Stop! Stop!" she gasped. "It was awful--awful! I cannot bear it." + +"Wait and let me tell you how I escaped death," said Lawrence. + +When he had finished, her eyes, though bedewed with tears, were shining +with joy and pride. + +"Lawrence," she cried, "I am prouder of you than ever. You were shown +mercy, because you were merciful; and I would have my knight-errant as +merciful as he is brave." + +"How can he be otherwise, when she whose colors he wears is so kind and +merciful?" gallantly replied Lawrence, and, taking her little hand in +his, he raised it and pressed his lips against her trembling fingers. + +"A true knight can always kiss the hand of the lady he serves," said +Lawrence. He then bade her good-bye, with the promise of coming again +before he went to the front. + +Is it strange that, as he went on his way, his thoughts were all of the +beautiful girl he had just left? But, all unbidden, there arose before +him a mental vision of the face of another girl--a girl whose queenly +head was crowned with a wealth of golden hair, but whose eyes flashed +with scorn at the sight of him--whose very soul loathed the uniform he +wore; and he sighed, he hardly knew why. + +Suddenly the thoughts of all girls were driven from his mind, for in the +crowd before him he saw a well-known face--the face of Carl Meyer. Carl +was a German boy, about a year older than Lawrence. It was he who had +induced Lawrence to join the Home Guards, and thus paved the way to his +acquaintance with Frank Blair. They had not met since the battle of +Wilson Creek, when Carl went back with a broken arm. + +In a moment the two clasped hands, their eyes telling what their lips +refused to utter. At length Lawrence found voice. "My! how you have +grown!" he exclaimed; "and this,"--he touched the strap of a second +lieutenant on his shoulder--"Oh, Carl, I am so glad." + +"And you," replied Carl, the joy gleaming in his honest eyes; "I see +it's Captain now." + +"Come with me, Carl. I must hear all that has happened to you since the +last time we met." + +In the privacy of Lawrence's room, Carl told his story--a story that +Lawrence listened to breathless attention. + +"The wound which I received at Wilson Creek was a bad one," said Carl, +"and at first it was thought I would have to lose my arm; but I have it +yet, and a pretty good arm it is. After I had recovered, which was early +in January of this year, I was with the army which operated against New +Madrid and Island Number 10. Lawrence, you should have been with me. It +was glorious. The river fight--the mighty siege-guns--the great mortars +which hurled shells weighing hundreds of pounds. It was as if all the +thunders of heaven had gathered in one place to smite the earth. + +"Then think of digging a canal twelve miles long, six miles of it +through heavy timber. Great trees were sawed off beneath the water, to +make a road for the transports." + +"How could you do it? How could you do it?" broke in Lawrence. + +"By standing on rafts or in boats and using saws with very long handles. +It was a giant's task, but at last it was completed. Not only this, but, +amid snow and chilling rains, bayous were waded, swamps considered +impassable struggled through; and at last New Madrid and Island Number +10 fell. + +"The fruits of these victories were glorious: nearly two hundred cannon, +great and small; seven thousand prisoners, as many small arms, great +stores of the munitions of war, and several transports sunk. All of this +with a loss of only fifty." + +"It was glorious, Carl," cried Lawrence. "No wonder you feel proud of +being one of an army that dared so much, and accomplished so much." + +"Wait until you hear the rest," replied Carl. "After Island Number 10 +fell, most of the army was sent to reinforce Halleck before Corinth; but +my command was left. We soon had possession of the Mississippi nearly to +Memphis; but rumors came of the Confederates building an immense fleet +of gunboats and ironclad rams. + +"Our gunboats moved down and attacked, but were repulsed and driven +back. Colonel Charles Ellet had been given authority to build some rams. +He hastily constructed some out of old river steamboats, converting them +into engines of destruction. With these wooden rams, without cannon, and +without an armed crew, Colonel Ellet proposed to attack and destroy the +whole fleet. + +"Eleven sharpshooters had been chosen and placed on the _Monarch_. I was +fortunate enough to be one of the eleven. We were the only armed men +aboard the ram. The _Monarch_ was commanded by Colonel Alfred Ellet, a +brother of Charles. Charles was aboard the ram, _Queen of the West_. + +"It was dusk when we came to our fleet of gunboats anchored across the +Mississippi. Below them, a little above Memphis, lay the Rebel fleet, +anchored in a line across the river. There the two fleets lay like two +great beasts ready to spring on each other. + +"Colonel Ellet anchored and waited for the morning. Hardly was it light +when there came the boom of a great gun. It was a beautiful morning, and +as the thunder of the gun reverberated over the water, thousands of the +people of Memphis rushed to the bluffs to witness the battle and, with +waving flags and shouts of encouragement, cheer their men on to victory. + +"On, in imposing line, comes the Rebel fleet, the smokestacks of their +vessels belching forth great clouds of smoke, and their guns thundering +as they come. Now the guns of our fleet answer their thunder, and the +bluffs on which the people are gathered shake and tremble with the +concussion. A black wall of smoke settles down and hides our fleet from +view; only through the blackness can be seen the flashes of the great +guns. + +"Hardly had the battle opened when Colonel Ellet signalled for his fleet +of rams to get under way. The _Queen of the West_ and the _Monarch_ got +off first, and straight for the wall of blackness, lit by the fitful +flashes, we steered. We entered that wall, and everything was blotted +from view--only around and about us was the roar of the great guns, the +bursting of shells. + +"Suddenly, as if emerging from the mouth of a tunnel, we burst from the +cloud of smoke, and before us at full speed was coming the Rebel fleet, +nearly a dozen gunboats and ironclads, against two wooden, unarmed rams. + +"Colonel Ellet never swerved; ahead at full speed he drove the _Queen of +the West_ for the _General Lovell_. We could see the tall figure of +Colonel Ellet standing on the hurricane-deck of the _Queen_. With his +hat he signalled his brother to steer for the _General Price_, and on +the two rams rushed, the _Queen_ slightly ahead. + +"The _General Lovell_ drew out from their line and steered straight for +the _Queen_. Like two great monsters, the boats rushed at each other. We +forgot to cheer; we heeded not the thunder of battle; we could only look +at these two vessels rushing to what seemed certain destruction. + +"Even the excited cheering of the crowd on the bluffs grew silent. With +tense nerves and white faces, they watched the two vessels. Coming as +they were, it meant the destruction of both. Would not one swerve to +avoid the coming blow? Still standing on the deck of his vessel, his eye +fixed on his prey, Ellet drove the _Queen_ forward--not a hair's breadth +would he swerve. + +"Just before the shock came, the _General Lovell_ swerved to try to +avoid the coming blow--but too late. Full amidships the _Queen_ struck +her, cutting her through like a great knife, and the vessel sank beneath +the turbid waters of the river, all the crew not killed struggling in +the water. + +"From the thousands on shore there came a mighty groan--a wail of agony +which seemed to throb and quiver through the air, making itself felt +even above the roar of the battle. + +"Now was our turn. The _Monarch_ struck the _General Price_ a glancing +blow, not sinking her, but shaving off her starboard wheel; and she was +out of the fight. + +"Before the _Queen_ could be disentangled from the wreck of the _General +Lovell_, the _Beauregard_ and _Van Dorn_ both attacked her. Colonel +Ellet fell with a ball through the knee; but as he lay on the deck, he +continued to direct the fight.[9] + +[Footnote 9: Colonel Ellet died of his wounds.] + +"The _Monarch_ saw the danger which threatened the _Queen of the West_, +and straight for the _Beauregard_ she went, crashing into that vessel's +side, and putting her out of the conflict. + +"The Confederate fleet thought only of escape now. The battle drifted +down the river, past the city. The gunboats joined in the chase, and but +one Confederate vessel escaped. Those that had not been sunk or disabled +were run on the shore on the Arkansas side and set on fire by their +crews, before escaping into the swamp." + +"Carl," cried Lawrence, "I would have given ten years of my life to have +seen that battle, and, like you, to have been a part of it." + +"Very little part I had," replied Carl, modestly, "except to fire a few +shots when we were at close quarters. But after the fight--ach! +Lawrence, that is something worth telling." + +"What was it, Carl?" + +"Toward the close of the fight, a white flag was run up in the city of +Memphis. Colonel Ellet sent his son, a medical cadet, no older than +yourself, Lawrence, to demand the surrender of the city. He chose three +men, of whom I was one, to accompany him. + +"We rowed ashore in a small boat, and landed in the midst of a howling, +excited mob of thousands. + +"Young Ellet handed the message which his father had written to the +Mayor, and then we started for the postoffice. The mob closed in around +us--four men in the midst of thousands. They cursed, they howled; they +heaped upon us the most violent names; they threatened to tear us to +pieces. + +"We reached the postoffice, ascended to the top of the building, and +began to lower the Confederate flag. A frenzy seized the crowd. They +surged to and fro; they howled and gnashed their teeth like beasts of +prey. Some drew revolvers and began shooting at us. + +"'Don't fire back,' said young Ellet, coolly. 'They can not hit us this +high.' + +"The Stars and Bars came down, and the glorious Stars and Stripes arose, +and as its folds unfurled to the breeze we swung our hats and gave a +rousing cheer; but I do not think we were heard above the roar of the +mob. + +"Leaving the flag waving, we descended, and once more the mob surrounded +us, snarling, cursing and howling; but a great fear kept them from +tearing us to pieces. + +"We walked through their midst as coolly as if we were being showered +with bouquets instead of curses, and reached our boat in safety." + +"It was a brave thing to do, Carl. I wouldn't have missed hearing your +story for anything," said Lawrence, as he warmly shook his hand at +parting. + +The next day Lawrence went to bid his uncle and aunt good-bye, before +starting for the front. As they talked, they were again interrupted by a +newsboy crying, "Extra! Extra! All about the great battle at Corinth! +Generals Price and Van Dorn whipped! The Missouri brigade annihilated!" + +"What's that?" exclaimed Mr. Middleton, turning pale. + +Lawrence secured a paper and gave it to him. He glanced at it and +groaned. It told how Van Dorn and Price had been disastrously defeated +before Corinth; how the Confederate Missouri brigade had charged up to +the very mouth of the cannon of Fort Robinette, and that but few of them +were left alive. + +"We must hope for the best," said Lawrence, as he looked at the stricken +faces of his uncle and aunt; but he could say no more. + +Mr. Middleton, with shaking limbs and halting footsteps, assisted his +wife to her room. + +In St. Louis that night many sat weeping, yet hoping that their loved +ones were safe; for St. Louis had many a son in that battle, both on the +Federal side and the Confederate. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE NEWS FROM CORINTH + + +All the Missourians who had enlisted in the Confederate service had been +transferred to the east of the Mississippi River, and with them their +beloved General, Sterling Price. + +It was a bitter blow to them, for they had to leave their State overrun +with Federals, and at the mercy of what they considered an inhuman foe. + +The first months of their service in Mississippi had been tame. The +great Federal army which had laid siege to Corinth had been divided, the +Army of the Cumberland going east under Buell, and the Army of the +Tennessee, under General Grant, remaining in northern Mississippi and +western Tennessee. For three months there had been only desultory +fighting, no great battles. + +At the Confederate camp at Baldyn, Mississippi, a group of officers of +the Missouri regiments were gathered in a tent, discussing the +situation. In the group was Edward Middleton, the son of Alfred +Middleton; Randolph Hamilton, brother of Dorothy; and last, but not +least, Benton Shelley, a step-brother of Guilford Craig. + +Edward Middleton had become major of his regiment. He was everywhere +regarded as among the bravest and most reliable officers in Price's +army. He was a bitter partisan, had the utmost contempt for everything +Northern, but withal a noble and chivalric gentleman. He could never +forgive Lawrence, whom he had regarded as a brother, for going into the +Yankee army; yet after Lawrence had saved his life at the battle of +Wilson Creek, and in so doing nearly lost his own, Edward had had a +kinder feeling for him. + +Randolph Hamilton was but little older than Lawrence. He was of a +generous nature, fought for the South because he believed the South +right, and not from any hatred toward the North. Before the war, he and +Lawrence were the closest of friends, and now, although they were +fighting on different sides, neither allowed that to interfere with +their friendship. Randolph was now captain of his company, and idolized +by his men. + +Benton Shelley was of a different nature. Brave he was, but he had a +haughty and cruel disposition, and believed himself to be made of finer +clay than the soldiers under him. For this reason he was tyrannical, and +was hated by his men as much as Randolph was loved. As for the Yankees, +there were no terms too contemptuous for him to apply to them. Toward +Lawrence he held undying hatred, and tried in every way to encompass his +death. Toward his step-brother, Guilford Craig, he held the same hatred. +He frequently boasted how, at the battle of Pea Ridge, he had slain his +step-brother, and he always added: "And I'll get that Lawrence Middleton +yet. See if I don't. I nearly got him at Wilson Creek, and will not fail +the next time." + +"It seems you did meet him again, Bent," said Randolph, with a sly +twinkle in his eye; "but, like the fellow who caught the Tartar, the +Tartar had him--not he the Tartar." + +Benton turned white with rage. "Look here, Captain Hamilton," he +exclaimed, furiously, "don't presume on our friendship too much, or I +shall demand the satisfaction of a gentleman. You have already thrown +that up to me several times. I have told you my horse was shot, and I +was lying helpless on the ground, when that cowardly traitor attacked +me, and would have murdered me if he had not been stopped by an officer +more humane than he." + +Major Middleton turned like a flash; his face was set and grim. "Captain +Shelley," he said, in a low, even tone, but terrible in its earnestness, +"I have no love for my cousin, as you well know; but he is no coward. He +is a Middleton. As for his killing you in cold blood, that thought comes +from your excitement of the moment and your chagrin at your overthrow. +From your own account, he had every opportunity of killing you, if he +had so wished." + +"I thought I was among friends," said Benton, "but I see I am not, and +will go." + +"Hold on, gentlemen," commanded General Green, who was present; "I +cannot have this--my best and bravest officers quarrelling, and +threatening to shoot each other. You, Captain Hamilton, are to blame for +taunting Captain Shelley for an unfortunate situation in which any of +you may be placed some time. And you, Captain Shelley, are to blame for +trying to mitigate your misfortune by charging your opponent with +cowardice and cruelty. There is not a drop of coward's blood in a +Middleton's body. There stands a noble example," and he pointed to +Edward. + +"I can also understand," he continued, "why Captain Shelley feels so +bitter against Lawrence Middleton. He believes him to have been +instrumental in leading his step-brother astray, and thus bringing a +damning disgrace on his family." + +"That's it!" cried Benton, eager to set himself right. "I can never +forget, never forgive, the disgrace." + +"That being the case," continued the General, "I trust that Captain +Hamilton, even in jest, will never allude to the subject again, and that +all of you will be as good friends as ever, eager only to sheathe your +swords in the bosom of our enemy. That reminds me that I dropped in to +tell you the season of inactivity is over." + +"What!" they all cried, everything else forgotten. "Are we to fight at +last?" + +"It looks like it," answered Green. "You know Bragg is sweeping +everything before him in Kentucky--will be in Louisville before a week. +The point is to keep Grant from rushing any of his troops to aid Buell. +The Yankee troops here must be held. The orders are to make it lively +for Rosecrans. We are to move on Iuka tomorrow." + +Then from those officers went up a cheer. They were to meet the foes of +their country; no thought of the danger before them; no thought that +before many hours some of them might be lying in bloody graves. + +"Here's for old Kentucky!" cried one. "We are going to reinforce Bragg." + +"Better say we are going to thrash Rosecrans at Corinth," chimed in +another. + +That night Price with his army marched straight for Iuka, some fifteen +or twenty miles east of Corinth. The place was only held by a small +detachment, which beat a hasty retreat, leaving a large quantity of +military stores to the jubilant Confederates. + +From Iuka Price could cross over into Tennessee, and pursue his way +northward to join Bragg, or turn on Rosecrans at Corinth. + +It was decided for him: Rosecrans no sooner learned that Price had +captured Iuka than he set forth from Corinth to attack him. + +Portions of the two armies met two miles from Iuka, a bloody battle was +fought, the Federals being driven back a short distance, and losing a +battery. + +During the night Price beat a hasty retreat, leaving the battery he had +taken, all his dead unburied, and many of his sick and wounded. + +The Missouri brigade was not up in time to take part in this battle, and +when they learned a retreat had been ordered, both officers and men were +furious. + +"I feel like breaking my sword!" exclaimed Major Middleton, and his jaws +came together with a snap. + +"Why did General Price do it?" cried Randolph Hamilton, tears of +humiliation running down his face. + +"You will know in time," replied Benton Shelley. He was on General +Price's staff, and was the officer who had brought the orders to +retreat. + +The fact was, General Price knew if he did not retreat he would be +soundly whipped the next day. Then, General Price had just received a +communication from General Van Dorn that he was ready to join him, and, +with the combined armies, make an attack on Corinth. + +The news that they were to attack Corinth fired the army with +enthusiasm, and eagerly did they go forward to what they thought was +certain victory. The Missouri regiments marched with song and cheer, as +if going to a festival. The time they had longed for had come; they were +to wipe out the disgrace of Pea Ridge; they would show the rest of the +army what Pop Price and his boys could do. + +At noon on October third the battle opened, and now around the little +village of Corinth, where in the spring it was thought the great battle +of the war would be fought, was waged a most desperate conflict, lasting +for two days. The hills trembled, and the very heavens seemed shattered +with the thunder of artillery. + +Thickets were swept as with a great jagged scythe by the leaden hail +which swept through them. Nothing could withstand the fierce rush of the +Confederate troops. The Federals were swept from their outer line of +intrenchments. + +With yells of victory, the Confederates rushed on. Before them was the +second and stronger line of intrenchments. They were met with a storm of +shot and shell. The carnage was awful, and the charging columns halted, +staggered, and then began to reel back. Most of the officers of the +Missouri regiments had fallen, killed or wounded. Both the colonel and +lieutenant-colonel of the regiment to which Edward Middleton belonged +had fallen. + +Major Middleton spurred his horse in front of his men, and, waving his +sword over his head, shouted: "Forward, men! Forward, for the honor of +Missouri! I will lead you!" + +The reeling column straightened, grew firm, and with a shout sprang +forward. + +Major Middleton's horse fell; but, sword in hand, he pressed forward, +followed by his men. Nothing could stay them, and soon their shouts of +victory were heard above the roar of the battle. + +The line was taken, the Federals in full retreat for their last and +strongest line of works, which ran around the edge of the little +village. + +Night had come, and the Confederates, flushed with victory, lay on the +ground they had so bravely won--to complete, in the morning, as they +supposed, the destruction of Rosecrans's army. + +When morning came, the Confederates once more rushed to the conflict. +Again did Major Middleton lead his regiment. The color-bearer went down, +but the flag was seized by Randolph Hamilton, and held aloft. "Follow +the colors!" he shouted, as he sprang forward. + +The Federals shrank from the advancing line of steel, and fled in +dismay. + +As Randolph mounted the breastwork, a young Federal lieutenant, the last +to leave the works, levelled his revolver on him, but as he did so a +look of surprise came over his face, and he turned his weapon and shot a +soldier who had sprung on the works by Randolph's side. + +Randolph did not return the shot. The young lieutenant was Leon Laselle, +the brother of Lola. + +Everywhere along the front of Green's division the wild cheers of +victory were ringing. Not only had they swept the Federal breastworks, +but forty cannon had been captured. Oh, it was good! It was glorious! +But it was no time to stop and rejoice. The Yankees must be completely +crushed--Rosecrans's whole army captured; and into the village they +followed the fleeing but not demoralized Federals. + +Into the houses, and behind every garden fence and hedge, the retreating +Federals gathered. Every house became a flaming fort, and into the +advancing ranks of the Confederates was poured a storm of balls, while +the loud-mouthed cannon swept away with an iron hail the front of the +advancing foe. + +The Confederates wavered, halted; then there sprang forward a line of +blue-coated soldiers, and as a great wave bears on its crest everything +before it, so did this line of blue bear back the Confederates. In vain +did Edward Middleton struggle before it. He was as helpless as a log of +wood borne onward by the surging tide. + +Randolph Hamilton once more seized the standard of the regiment. "Let us +die with it floating," he cried. As he cried, the hand of a Federal +lieutenant reached out to grasp the flag, and then both went down, and +Randolph Hamilton and Leon Laselle lay side by side, the blood stained +flag between them. + +On rolled the wave of blue, catching and flinging back hundreds of the +fleeing Confederates. + +The armies of Van Dorn and Price that had had no thought but victory, +that had fought so bravely and won so much, now fled from the field in +wild confusion, leaving behind them over a thousand of their dead, +hundreds of their wounded, and nearly three thousand prisoners. They had +fought as only brave men can fight--and lost. + +Throughout the North the name of Rosecrans, before but little known, was +on every tongue.[10] + +[Footnote 10: A few weeks after this battle Rosecrans was appointed +Commander of the Army of the Cumberland.] + +It was the news of this battle that caused such excitement in St. Louis, +for in it hundreds of Missourians had met Missourians, and as we have +seen, the first news was that the Confederate regiments of Missouri had +been annihilated. Excitement was at fever heat, and anxious hearts +awaited authentic news. It came in a telegram from Leon Laselle, +reading: "Am seriously but not dangerously wounded. Randolph Hamilton +dangerously wounded, and captured. Edward Middleton safe." + +Lawrence was at the Laselle home when the telegram came. Mr. Laselle was +sick at the time and unable to go to his son, if he had wished. When the +telegram was read Lola clasped her hands and cried, with tears streaming +down her face, "Leon wounded! I must go to him." + +"I am afraid that is hardly possible," said Lawrence. "I will see what +can be done, but first let me take this telegram to my uncle and aunt. +It will take a great load from their minds." + +When the telegram was read to Mr. and Mrs. Middleton, they both dropped +to their knees and thanked God their son was safe. Days afterwards, when +the news came of his bravery, and how he had been promoted to the +colonelcy of his regiment, they, in their pride, forgot the agony they +had suffered. + +As for Lawrence, he hastened back to Mr. Laselle's. + +"I must go to Leon," Lola cried. "There is no one else to go." + +Lawrence showed her how impossible it was for her to go. "I will see +General Schofield," he said. "Perhaps I can manage to get permission to +go." + +"Oh! do, do," cried Lola, and the whole family echoed her wish. + +"There is Randolph," said Lawrence. "The telegram says he is dangerously +wounded." + +"In my anxiety over Leon, I forgot Randolph," said Lola. "What a pity! +His mother and Dorothy both in Europe, and Mr. Hamilton somewhere east. +Why not--" she stopped, and added lamely, "I am so sorry for him." + +"We are all sorry, Lola," replied Lawrence. "Randolph is a noble fellow, +and believes he is doing his duty both to his God and his country in +fighting as he does. You may rest assured I will do all I can for him." + +Lawrence had no trouble in getting the requisite authority from General +Schofield to visit his friend. "I shall not be ready to take the field +yet for some days," said the General. "So take your time." + +Lawrence went from St. Louis to Memphis by steamboat and from Memphis to +Corinth by rail. Once the train was fired into by Confederate raiders. +There were quite a number of soldiers on board and Lawrence, placing +himself at their head, succeeded, after a brisk little fight, in driving +the raiding party off. But the track had been torn up and there was a +delay of several hours, a delay under which Lawrence chafed, for he was +anxious to get to his friend. + +At length Corinth was reached. All signs of the battle had been +obliterated, except the shattered houses, the mangled forest and +thickets and row upon row of new-made graves. + +To his joy, Lawrence found Leon improving. He had not only been shot +through the arm, the arm he had stretched forth to seize the flag, but +had also received a scalp wound. + +Lawrence would not have known him with his head all swathed up, if he +had not been pointed out to him. The meeting between the two friends was +a joyful one. + +"How are the folks and how did they take my being wounded?" was Leon's +first question. + +And thus it is. The first thought of a soldier as he sinks dying or +wounded on the battlefield is of home and the loved ones. + +Lawrence told him and added, "Lola was crazy to come to you, but you +know it could not be." + +"I reckon there would be another one besides me glad to see Lola," said +Leon. "Poor Randolph, he lies on the third cot, there. Don't go to him, +he seems to be asleep, and he needs rest. The surgeons cut the ball from +his thigh yesterday. It had lodged against the bone. They have hopes of +his recovery now, if blood poisoning does not set in. He has been +delirious most of the time, and what do you think? He is continually +raving about Lola. Seems to be living over again the time he was pursued +as a spy, and would have been captured if it had not been for her." + +Somehow it gave Lawrence a little pang to hear this, then he cast the +thought out as unworthy. + +When Randolph awoke, Lawrence went to him, pressed his hand in sympathy +and whispered that everything was all right, and not to talk. Randolph +smiled and, closing his eyes, went to sleep again. + +The doctor came and looked at him. "Friend of yours?" he asked of +Lawrence. + +Lawrence nodded. + +"Mighty plucky fellow. Had a close call, but I think he will pull +through. Fever's most gone," exclaimed the doctor as he felt Randolph's +pulse and then hurried away. + +Lawrence and Leon held a consultation that night, and it was determined +that if they could get Randolph paroled they would take him back to St. +Louis with them, for Leon had already been granted a furlough. + +The parole was easily secured, but a week passed before they considered +it safe to move Randolph. The journey back was safely made and Leon, in +spite of his bandaged head and wounded arm, was nearly smothered with +kisses. + +Lawrence found that Mr. Hamilton had not yet returned; in fact, he had +met with an accident, and it would be several days before he could +travel. What was to be done with Randolph? That was the question. + +"Bring him with me," said Leon. "I want someone to fight with while I am +getting well, and fighting with tongues is not as dangerous as with +guns." + +"Where are you taking me? This is not home," exclaimed Randolph, as the +ambulance stopped before the Laselle residence. + +"No," replied Lawrence. "Your father has met with a slight accident, not +severe, but enough to detain him for several days. So we have brought +you to Mr. Laselle's. Leon wants you for company. You two can fight your +battles over while you are convalescing." + +"But--" + +"Not a word. Just think of what a nurse you will have. I almost wish I +was in your place." + +Randolph smiled and made no more protestations. + +Lawrence could hardly help envying Randolph, who had found a haven of +rest for at least some weeks, while he must once more face the hardships +and dangers of the tented field. + +The orders came in a couple of days and Lawrence went to say good-bye to +his friends. + +He found Leon and Randolph had been placed in one room, and there they +lay, Union and Confederate, side by side, as they had lain on the +battlefield, but now no blood-stained flag lay between them. + +Lawrence watched as Lola, with gentle hands, administered to Randolph's +wants. He saw how his face lighted up as she came near, and--well, he +didn't like it. + +When it came time for him to go and Lola followed him to the door, he +said in a tone of carelessness, "Lola, as you have not only Leon, but +Randolph to look after now, I suppose you do not care to hear from me +any more." + +The girl looked at him in surprise and tears gathered in her eyes. +"Lawrence, what do you mean?" she asked in a trembling voice. "Are you +not my own, my true knight-errant?" + +"There, Lola, I was only joking. Of course, I am your knight-errant," +answered Lawrence hastily, "and my Lady of Beauty must not forget me. +God bless you, Lola." He raised her hand to his lips and was gone. + +Lola gazed after him with troubled eyes, and then a thought, a thought +that had never entered her head before, came. The color in her cheeks +came and went. "He couldn't have meant that," she murmured, as she +looked at his retreating figure until it was out of sight. Then with a +sigh she turned and went into the house. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +PORTER CAPTURES PALMYRA + + +With the disastrous defeats and scattering of the guerrilla bands of +Poindexter, Cobb and Porter, it looked as if Northeast Missouri was, at +last, free from partisan warfare, but such did not prove to be the case. +Porter had escaped, and was soon back in his old haunts, gathering +together as many of his followers as possible. + +Harry Semans reported this fact to McNeil, who had now been appointed +general in the Missouri militia. That officer could hardly believe that +Porter would be able to gather a force large enough to do much damage, +but he bade Harry be watchful and report at the first signs of danger. + +"Hist! Bruno, keep quiet!" + +It was Harry Semans, who was once more lying in a thicket by the side of +the road, and as usual the faithful Bruno was by his side. The dog was +now showing that he scented danger. + +Harry's method of scouting was peculiar. When in need of information he +and Bruno generally scouted alone, and that during the night. + +In the daytime he would lie concealed in some thicket, close to a road, +his horse always picketed some distance from him. He would observe any +men that passed along the road, the direction they were going, and thus +be able to determine whether the guerrillas were gathering for a raid or +not. If so, it was his duty to find their rendezvous, report with all +possible speed, and bring a Federal force down upon them. + +When he thought best, he had no scruples in passing himself off as a +guerrilla. It was only in case of urgent necessity that he rode in the +daytime. For one reason he did not wish the guerrillas to know he was +always accompanied by a dog. In the night he could not be recognized, +and he was never in fear of a surprise, for Bruno always gave warning. + +To the guerrillas it was a matter of wonderment how the Federals so +often found out their secret hiding places, and many a suspected Union +man was accused of giving information, and suffered in consequence, when +it was Harry who was the guilty party. + +Feeling safe, McNeil had left only one small company in Palmyra to guard +the place, and to protect the prisoners, of whom he had nearly a +hundred. He was away looking after other posts in his territory. + +The news of McNeil's absence and the small number of soldiers at Palmyra +was borne to Porter and he determined to make a raid on the village, +liberate the prisoners, and capture some of the Union citizens who had +made themselves obnoxious to Porter and his gang. + +The news was given out and the guerrillas were rallying at a given place +in the western part of the county. It was this gathering of the +guerrillas that Harry was now watching. + +He quickly quieted the dog and the cause of his excitement was now +apparent, for six men came riding past, all armed to the teeth. + +"There is deviltry on foot, old fellow," whispered Harry to Bruno, "and +it 's up to us to find out what it is. There's twenty of these villains +ridden past since we've been hiding here. + +"How I wish I could hear what they are saying," continued Harry. "I +must, I _will_ find out what's brewing." + +Harry was in a place which he could not safely leave before night, so he +waited impatiently for the coming darkness. As soon as he dared he made +his way back to where he had left his horse, and cautiously led it to +the road. He then mounted and rode in the direction the guerrillas had +taken. Two or three times Bruno gave warning, and Harry quietly drew out +by the side of the road and let men pass. + +He had gone some two or three miles when he came to a main road leading +to Palmyra. Bruno showed unusual excitement, and Harry stopped and +listened intently. From up the road there came the sound of the +trampling of horses, as if a large body of cavalry was coming. + +"Quick, Bruno, we must get out of this," exclaimed Harry, and wheeling +his horse he rode back a short distance. Then he rode into a clump of +bushes where he dismounted and tied the horse. "I dare not leave you too +near the road when that cavalry passes, you might give me away," he +said, patting his horse's neck. "Bruno, you stay here." + +Back on the run went Harry. Climbing a fence he quickly made his way to +the road over which the cavalry must pass. Here a fence ran close to the +road and the corners were overgrown with weeds and brush, making a safe +hiding place. + +He was none too soon. Six men came riding by. "An advance guard," +muttered Harry. + +In a short time the head of the column appeared, and in front rode two +men. As they came abreast of Harry he heard one of them say, "What time +do you expect to attack Palmyra, Colonel?" + +"Just at daybreak." It was the voice of Colonel Porter that answered. + +Harry breathed hard. It was Palmyra that was to be attacked, and he knew +the weakness of the garrison. He calculated as closely as he could the +number that passed, and concluded there must be about four hundred in +the band. + +What was he to do? The whole force was squarely between him and Palmyra. +He could never get through that body of men. He must ride around. But +would he have time? Could he find his way in the darkness? He could try. + +Harry waited until the last man had passed, then going back he mounted +his horse and followed the band. So close was he after them that three +or four stragglers overtook him, and taking him for one of their number, +told him to hurry up or he would be too late for the fun. + +"My hoss is plumb tired out," was Harry's answer, "but I reckon I will +git thar in time." + +After riding three or four miles Harry came to a road that he believed +might enable him to get around Porter's force, and by hard riding get to +Palmyra first and give warning. Taking the road he put his horse to a +fast gallop. Two or three times he was hailed as he passed houses, but +he dashed on regardless of the fact that a bullet might be sent after +him. + +He soon became aware that the road was taking him away instead of in the +direction he wished to go. He brought his horse down to a walk. + +"I'm afraid it's all up," he sighed, "but I will never cease trying +until all hope is gone." + +Keeping a sharp lookout he soon came to a road that ran in the direction +he wished to go. True the road seemed but little traveled, but it was +his only hope, so he turned into it, and again urged his horse forward. + +The road twisted and turned and Harry soon lost all idea of direction. +Worse than all, it grew fainter and fainter and soon became little more +than a trail. Harry felt himself hopelessly lost. He knew not where he +was, nor in what direction he wanted to go, but he knew by the woods +which bordered the trail he must be near a stream. + +Soon he came to a clearing, in the middle of which stood a rough log +house. There was a light burning in the house, and before it a horse +stood saddled and bridled, and Harry noticed that a shotgun lay across +the saddle. + +Though he knew it was risky he determined to stop and find out where he +was and to inquire the shortest way to Palmyra. Hitching his horse and +telling Bruno to keep out of sight, but near him, he carefully made his +way to the house. He soon became satisfied it was tenanted only by a man +and woman; if there were children they were asleep. + +The man kept coming to the door and looking out as if he expected some +one. Harry saw he was a sinister looking fellow, and that he wore a belt +which held in place a huge revolver. Harry waited until the man had +closed the door after one of his visits, and then marching boldly up he +gave a short rap. + +The door was immediately opened and the man he had seen exclaimed, +"Hello, Steve, yo' un air late." When he saw Harry he stopped and his +hand went to his belt, "Who be yo' un," he growled, "and what do yo' un +want?" + +"Don't be alarmed, pard," laughed Harry. "I reckon yo' un and I air in +the same class. I'm from Shelby an' on my way to join Porter. Yo' un +knows we 'uns air to make it hot for the Yanks in Palmyra. I have lost +my way, an' want to know whar I kin find the direct road to Palmyra." + +"Yo' un only have to foller the trail to the branch, cross it and yo' un +will strike the main road. But I kalkerlate to have a hand in that +little job at Palmyra myself. Have three or four debts to pay, one agin +old Allsman. He reported me to McNeil as a dangerous char'ter. He'll +never peach agin if I lay hands on him." + +"Thank yo' un. I'll be goin'," said Harry, "or I'm afraid I'll be late." + +"Hold on, pard," said the man. "I be jest waitin' for Steve and Sol +Jones. We 'uns will all go together." + +"Sorry I can't wait. I must be goin'," replied Harry, turning to go. + +"Stop!" cried the man, hoarsely. + +Harry wheeled, his hand on his revolver. + +"Better not," drawled the man, with a grin. "The old woman has you +kivered and she's a dead shot." + +Harry glanced up. Sure enough the woman, a gaunt, muscular virago, stood +in the door, a rifle at her shoulder, and Harry saw that he could look +right into the muzzle. + +"Ha! Ha!" chuckled the fellow, "yo' un didn't count on that, did yo' un? +Fact is, I didn't take to yo' un's story and I giv' the old woman a sign +to look out. If yo' un be from Shelby, how'd it happen yo' un got in +this timber along the branch. Yo' un may be all right, and if yo' un air +it will be no hurt for yo' un to wait and go with we 'uns. Thar, stop +fingering that thar revolver, or I'll giv' the old woman the wink. +Better up with yo' hands. Thar, I heah Steve and Sol comin'. If yo' un +don't prove all right, we 'uns will have a hangin' bee before we 'uns +start. Hands up, I tell yo' un." + +Harry was still looking into the muzzle of the rifle. It seemed to him +as big as a cannon. His hands slowly went up, but as they did so he gave +a low, peculiar whistle. Like a flash a great black body bounded through +the air and Bruno's teeth were buried in the shoulder of his victim. The +force of the impact threw the fellow over, and as he fell Harry ducked. + +The woman fired, but the shot went wild. In a moment Harry had wrenched +the gun from her, and with a blow bent the barrel of the rifle around +the door frame. But now was heard the approach of horses, and the cries +of men. Steve and Sol Jones were coming, and the sound of the rifle shot +had alarmed them. + +"Here, Bruno, come quick," commanded Harry. But Bruno was unwilling to +release his victim, and it took a hard cuff and a sharp command to make +him let go. Steve and Sol were now there, excitedly crying, "What's up? +What's up?" + +Without a word Harry opened fire. One of the horses and the rider went +down; the other wheeling his horse, was off like a shot, fortunately +going the way Harry had come. + +Without waiting to learn the result of his shots, Harry rushed for his +horse and rode away. He reached the branch spoken of, and, crossing it, +was soon on the highroad to Palmyra. But Porter and his men were still +in between him and the place. + +Harry now came to where he was acquainted with the country. He could +ride around Porter, but it was a good six or eight miles out of his way. +"I can never do it and be in time," he groaned, "but I may do some +good." Again his good horse was urged to a stiff gallop. + +Day was just breaking and Harry was still three miles from Palmyra, but +he had got past Porter, and would enter the place from the east. He was +congratulating himself that he might still be in time, when the faint +echo of firearms was borne to him on the breeze. Spurring his horse +forward he rode some distance, then halted and listened. + +The sounds of firing were unmistakable, but the reports were scattering, +not as if any considerable number of men were engaged. + +Harry reached the fair grounds on the eastern edge of town. Here he +unstrapped the blanket from his saddle, and carrying it into a vacant +stall, said to Bruno, "Old fellow, watch that blanket until I come +back." + +The dog lay down by the side of the blanket, and Harry patted his head +and told him to keep his eyes open, then he left him, thinking to return +shortly. + +Harry now rode boldly forward, thinking he would have no trouble in +passing himself off as one of the guerrillas. He soon saw squads of them +riding through the town and stopping at the different houses. He +shuddered, for he knew Union men lived in every one of those houses. + +The firing up in the center of the town now grew more severe. + +"Seems as if they air havin' quite a time up thar," he said to a +guerrilla whom he met. + +"Yes," growled the fellow. "The Yanks have got into the court house and +a brick store. Porter ordered them to surrender and they answered if he +wanted them to com' an' take them. That they'd fight till the last man +fell before they'd surrender. The Kunnel will find it hard work to get +them out without cannon." + +Harry's heart gave a great bound. If the Federals were in the court +house and a brick store, they might hold out for hours. Might he not get +help from Hannibal? McNeil was at Monticello, only thirty miles away, +with part of the Merrill Horse. Would it be possible to bring help to +the besieged men? He would try, and he turned up a side street. + +"Hullo! Whar be yo' un goin'?" asked the guerrilla. + +"Thar's a feller up here aways I've got an account to settle with, an' +I'll git him no matter what happens," exclaimed Harry, fiercely. Then a +happy thought came to him, "Say," he asked, "didn't the Kunnel tell us +whar to rally after this affair was over?" + +"Yes, at Whaley's Mill," was the answer. + +"Wall, I must git my man an' then I'll find yo' un," Harry answered. + +On the outskirts of the village Harry met another guerrilla who told him +he had better be getting back, as Porter had given up all hopes of +capturing the soldiers in the court house, and they were going to gather +up their booty and prisoners and evacuate the place. + +"Very well," answered Harry. "Thar is one feller out heah I want to get, +an' I'm goin' to get him." + +"Better hurry up then," replied the guerrilla. + +Porter had no idea of holding the place when he made the raid. His +orders were that while some of his force should engage the soldiers at +the court house, the rest should disperse through the city and arrest +every Union man in the place; expressly were they ordered to find and +arrest Andrew Allsman, who had made himself very obnoxious to them by +acting as guide to the Union forces. + +Allsman was found in bed. He was dragged out, ordered to dress himself, +and taken away. + +Porter expected to find a large quantity of arms and munitions of war in +the place. In this he was disappointed, but he succeeded in taking the +jail and liberating a number of prisoners. + +One Union citizen was shot down as he stood in the door of his house. + +The soldiers, in defending the court house, had a few men wounded. The +guerrillas lost one killed and had several wounded. + +When Porter withdrew from the place he halted on the outskirts of the +village and paroled all his prisoners except four, and one of the four +was Allsman. + +This done he started for the appointed rendezvous at Whaley's Mill. He +expected no immediate pursuit, for he knew McNeil was at Monticello. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +TEN LIVES FOR ONE + + +Harry succeeded in clearing the village in safety, and, when about half +a mile away, halted and looked back. Porter's men were already leaving +the place, and Harry saw they had quite a number of prisoners. Porter +halted in an open meadow near the edge of the village, and the prisoners +were gathered together. + +"My God!" groaned Harry. "Are they going to murder them all?" + +But the prisoners were not murdered. They were all paroled with the +exception of four, to whom allusion has been made. + +Harry watched until he saw the paroled men start back to the village, +and the guerrillas riding away. He drew a long breath of relief. The +fact was, McNeil held so many of Porter's men prisoners that the +guerrilla chieftain dare not command such wholesale murder. + +"What is to be done now?" asked Harry of himself. "I know," he cried +suddenly. "If I can make Monticello before night, McNeil can get to +Whaley's Mill nearly as quickly as Porter. I'll make Monticello or die +in the attempt." + +Thus saying, he turned his horse to the north and rode swiftly away. He +had gone some distance when he suddenly drew rein. "Great guns!" he +exclaimed. "I have forgotten Bruno. He will stay by that blanket until +he starves." + +He reined in his horse and sat a moment in deep thought. "It's no use," +he sighed. "It's full five miles. I can never go back and make +Monticello in time. Poor Bruno! I won't let him suffer for more than a +day or two." + +His mind made up, Harry rode on at as swift a pace as his horse could +stand. Residents along the road gazed in wonder as Harry dashed past. +Most of them took him for a guerrilla fleeing from his foes, and looked +in vain for blue-coated pursuers. A number hailed him and two or three +sent a ball after him on receiving no answer. + +When about half way to Monticello three rough-looking men blocked the +road, demanding his name and the reason of his haste. + +"I'm carrying the news to the boys," he explained. "Porter captured +Palmyra this morning." + +"Yo' un don't say. But who air yo' un carryin' the news to?" + +"To Sam Dodds. Porter wanted him to rally all the boys he could and join +him at Whaley's Mill." + +This was a guess by Harry. He only knew Dodds was a leader among the +guerrillas in that section of the country. + +"That's a lie. Sam Dodds is with Porter and--" The guerrilla never got +further. Harry's revolver cracked and the fellow rolled from his horse. +Bending low over his horse's neck, Harry was off like a shot. + +For a moment the other two guerrillas were dazed by the unlooked-for +attack, then drawing their revolvers sent ball after ball after Harry, +who, as they fired, felt a sharp pain in his left arm, but he only urged +his horse to greater speed. + +One of the guerrillas sprang from his horse and went to his fallen +companion. "Dead as a doornail," he exclaimed. "Shot through the heart. +Jack, let's after that boy. I reckon one of us winged him, for I saw him +winch. We 'uns can come back and see to poor Collins heah, after we +catch him. I reckon that young devil was the famous boy scout of the +Merrill Hoss. I've heard Porter say he'd give a thousand dollars for him +dead or alive." + +Without further parley, leaving their dead companion lying in the road, +the two guerrillas mounted their horses and started in pursuit. Harry by +this time had gained a good lead, but the guerrillas' horses were fresh, +and they gained on him rapidly. As dark as it now looked for Harry, his +being pursued proved to be his salvation, for he had not gone more than +two miles when six guerrillas blocked the road. + +"Halt and give an account of yo'self!" they cried. + +Without checking his horse, Harry shouted, "Yanks! Yanks!" + +The guerrillas saw the cloud of dust raised by Harry's pursuers and +wheeling their horses fled with him. Harry now had company he did not +relish, but not for long. Coming to a cross road which led into a wood +they turned into it crying out to Harry to do the same, but to their +amazement he kept right on. + +"Reckon he's so skeered he didn't notice," said one. + +"Hold," said another, "thar's only two comin' an' they don't look like +Yanks. If they be, we 'uns can tend to them." + +Drawing their weapons they waited for the two to come up, when they +found they were two of their own gang. Explanations were made and there +were curses loud and deep. + +"We 'uns air losing time," cried one of the first two. "The feller's +hoss must be badly winded. We 'uns can catch him." + +The leader of the six shook his head. "No," he exclaimed, with an oath, +"it's all off. Thar is a scouting party of Yanks up the road. They +chased us. That's the reason we 'uns are down heah. That feller will +fall in with them before we 'uns can ketch him." + +So, much to their chagrin, the guerrillas gave up the chase and went to +attend to their dead comrade. + +About five miles from Monticello Harry overtook the scouting party, now +on their way back to that city. Taking Harry for a guerrilla, they +ordered him to surrender, which he did very willingly. + +Harry was white with dust, blood was dripping from his left hand and his +horse, white with foam, stood trembling. + +The lieutenant in charge of the party rode up. "Well, young man," he +began, then stopped and gazed in wonder. + +"Good Heavens!" he exclaimed. "It's Harry Semans. Harry, what's up?" + +"Porter is on the warpath. He has captured Palmyra," gasped Harry. + +The news was astounding. + +"When?" cried the lieutenant. + +"This morning. But I have no time to talk. Give me a fresh horse. I must +see McNeil." + +"But your hand, my boy. Let me send one of the boys with the news." + +"No, no!" cried Harry. "I must see McNeil. The wound is nothing. It is +nothing but a scratch." + +Harry took a horse from one of the troop, and accompanied by the +lieutenant and three men rode post-haste for Monticello, leaving the +troop to come more leisurely. + +General McNeil was greatly surprised by the news. He had supposed +Porter's band to be entirely dispersed. + +"You say the garrison did not surrender?" asked McNeil. + +"No, but Porter plundered the town and took every Union man in the place +prisoner. From what I could see he paroled all, or most of them." + +"God help Andrew Allsman if they captured him," exclaimed McNeil; "but +if Porter dares--" The General said no more, but his jaws came together +with a snap. + +Harry now told the whole story and ended with: "General, they are to +rendezvous at Whaley's Mill. You can catch them if you act promptly. +It's not much farther to Whaley's Mill from here than it is from +Palmyra; and Porter has no idea you can get there nearly as quickly as +he." + +McNeil lost no time. Fortunately there was a battalion of the Merrill +Horse at Monticello, and he could muster five hundred men for the +pursuit. + +"I wish you could be with us," said the General to Harry. + +"I certainly shall be," answered Harry. + +"But your wound, and thirty-six hours without sleep or rest," said the +General. + +"My wound is nothing," said Harry, "but that reminds me it has not been +dressed, and that I am nearly famished, but I will be ready as soon as +you are." + +"Only cut deep enough to make it bleed freely," said the surgeon, as he +dressed Harry's arm. "You will be all right in a week." + +"I'm all right now, except a lame arm and an empty stomach," laughed +Harry, "and I will attend to the stomach now." + +It was not long before McNeil, at the head of five hundred stout +troopers, was on his way to Whaley's Mill, every man eager for the +conflict. But as Harry rode there came to him the thought of Bruno. His +first impulse was to turn back and ride for Palmyra, but he knew how +dangerous it would be, and then he felt his duty was to continue with +McNeil. It would not make more than a day's difference, and if he +started alone, the probabilities were he would never get to Palmyra, so +with a heavy heart he rode on. + +All through the night they rode. Porter, never dreaming McNeil could +reach him so quickly, went into camp at Whaley's Mill to await supplies +and reinforcements. + +The next day McNeil was on him like a thunderbolt. Never was there a +surprise more complete. Many of the guerrillas cut the halters of their +horses and without saddles or bridles galloped furiously away. +Frequently two men were seen on one horse, digging in their heels and +urging him to the utmost speed. + +The relentless Merrill Horse were after them, cutting, shooting and +taking prisoners those who threw down their arms and begged for mercy. +For two days the pursuit was kept up, and at last in desperation Porter +cried to the men who had kept with him, "Every man for himself." And +every man for himself it was. The band was totally dispersed. + +When Porter saw all hope was lost, he paroled three of the four +prisoners he had kept; but Andrew Allsman was held, and from that day +all authentic news of him ceases.[11] + +[Footnote 11: It is claimed by friends of Porter that he also paroled +Allsman, and that he had nothing to do with his disappearance.] + +Porter did not rally his band; he collected as many as he could and fled +south into Arkansas, where he held a commission as colonel in a regiment +of provisional troops. Owing to this pursuit six days had elapsed before +Harry could get back to Palmyra. During this period the thought of Bruno +keeping his lonely watch over that blanket caused Harry many a sharp +pain. More than once he thought of deserting and going to the relief of +the animal. Those of the officers who knew the story laughed at Harry's +fears, saying no dog would stay and watch a blanket until he starved, +but Harry knew better. + +Upon reaching Palmyra he rode with all haste to the fair grounds where +he had left Bruno. He found the dog lying with his head and forepaws on +the blanket, his eyes closed. So still he lay, so gaunt he looked, that +Harry's heart gave a great bound; he feared he was dead. But the moment +Harry's footsteps were heard, Bruno gave a hoarse growl and staggered to +his feet, every hair on his back bristling. But no sooner did he see who +it was than he gave a joyful bark and attempted to spring forward to +meet him, but fell from weakness. + +In a moment Harry's arms were around his neck and he was weeping like a +child. The dog licked his hands and his face in an ecstasy of joy. + +"Bruno, Bruno, to love me like this, after I left you to starve and +die," sobbed Harry, "but I couldn't help it, if the guerrillas had seen +you they would never have let you live. They would rather have your life +than mine, and Bruno you are worth a dozen of me." + +If ever a dog was cared for and fed tidbits, it was Bruno, and in a few +days he showed no signs of his fast. + +The taking of Palmyra was a humiliating affair to General McNeil. That +the town in which he made his headquarters should be raided, every Union +citizen in it captured, one shot down and another carried off, and in +all probability murdered, was a bitter pill for him to swallow. + +He had often declared that if any more murders were committed in his +district he would shoot ten guerrillas for every man murdered. Had the +time come for him to make that threat good? + +McNeil was not naturally a cruel man; to his friends he was one of the +kindest and most generous of men, but to his foes he was relentless. He +believed that the guerrillas of Missouri had broken every law of +civilized warfare, and were entitled to no mercy. But now that the time +had come for him to make his threats good, he hesitated. He arose and +paced his room. "No, no," he murmured, "I cannot do it. There must be +some way out of it." + +Just then his provost marshal, Colonel W. R. Strachan, entered the room. +Strachan was a coarse featured man and his heavy jaw showed him to be a +man of determined will. His countenance showed marks of dissipation, for +he was a heavy drinker, and this served to further brutalize his nature. +That he was cruel could be seen in every lineament of his face. But he +was a man of marked executive ability, and when occasion demanded he +wielded a facile and ready pen. His defence of McNeil in a New York +paper showed him to be a man possessing ability of the highest order. + +Such was the man who came into the presence of McNeil at this critical +moment. He stood and regarded McNeil as if he would read his very +thoughts, and then remarked, cynically, "I haven't seen anything of that +proclamation of yours yet, General." + +McNeil started as if stung. He hesitated and then said, "Strachan, I +can't make up my mind. It seems so cold blooded." + +"The Rebels say you dare not," sneered Strachan. + +McNeil flushed. "I allow no man to question my courage," he answered +hotly. + +"Pardon me, General, it is not your physical courage they question. That +is above criticism. It is your moral courage, the courage to do right, +because it wrings your heart to do right. You feel for the ten men you +doom to die, but, Great God! look at their crimes. Does not the blood of +the Union men murdered by Porter's gang cry for vengeance? Think of +that. Think of Carter, and Preston, and Pratt, and Spieres, and Carnegy, +and Aylward--but why enumerate every one of these men murdered by these +assassins. Now they come and, right under our very eyes, carry off +Allsman, to be foully dealt with--and yet General McNeil hesitates."[12] + +[Footnote 12: All of these men named by Strachan had been cruelly +murdered by guerrillas.] + +"Say no more, Strachan," cried McNeil, "the proclamation will be +forthcoming." + +A cruel smile played around the lips of Strachan as he saluted his +superior and departed. + +The next morning a proclamation appeared, directed to Joseph C. Porter, +saying that if Andrew Allsman was not returned before the end of ten +days ten of his followers held as prisoners would be taken out and shot. + +The proclamation was posted on the door of the court house and soon a +motley crowd gathered around to read it. Some read it with satisfaction, +some with lowering brows, but the most with jeers. + +"McNeil will never do it. It's only a bluff," declared a sullen-looking +man. + +A tall, lank, cadaverous native ejected a mouthful of tobacco juice and +drawled, "Directed to Joe Porter, is it? That's a mistake; the General +should have directed it to the devil. He's the only one who can return +ole Allsman." + +"Think so, do you?" said a soldier, who, overhearing the remark, laid a +heavy hand on the fellow's shoulder. "Come along with me." + +Protesting vehemently, the fellow was taken to prison. This episode +ended public criticism. + +There were not many in Palmyra who believed Porter could return Allsman +if he wanted to; the universal belief was that he had been murdered. +What would McNeil do when the man was not returned, was the question. +The general belief was that the proclamation was only a bluff to try and +scare Porter; so the people of Palmyra went about their business +disregarding the ominous cloud hanging over them. + +As the days slipped by and Allsman was not returned and no explanation +made, McNeil began to be uneasy. He caused the proclamation to be made +throughout all Northeast Missouri. He even sent Harry on a dangerous +ride to deliver a copy to the wife of Porter, and to beg her to get a +copy to her husband, if she knew where he was. + +She replied she did not know where he was. The fact was, Porter had fled +south, as has been noted, but McNeil did not know this. + +No representations were made to McNeil that Allsman had been paroled by +Porter, as was afterwards claimed by Porter and his friends, and that he +was afterwards murdered by unknown parties. His proclamation was utterly +ignored. + +The ninth day arrived and Strachan sought his chief. "Well," he growled, +"the time is up tomorrow and Allsman has not been returned. He will not +be. We might as well prepare for the execution." + +"Is there any way out of this, Strachan?" asked McNeil, with much +feeling. "I hate this." + +"Going to show the white feather?" sneered Strachan. + +"No, but what if I issue a proclamation that if the men who actually +murdered Allsman are given up these ten men will be spared?" + +"They will pay just as much attention to it as they did to your first +proclamation," said Strachan. "General, if you do not carry out your +proclamation there is not a Union man in the State whose life will be +safe, and their blood will be on your hands. You will be cursed by every +loyal citizen, and your enemies will despise you as a coward. Better, +far better, you had never issued any proclamation." + +McNeil felt the force of Strachan's reasoning. It would have been better +if no proclamation had been made. To go back on it, and at the eleventh +hour, would proclaim him weak and vacillating, and the effect might be +as Strachan said. + +"Go ahead, Strachan. I will not interfere," he said abruptly, and turned +away. + +Strachan departed highly elated, and repaired to a carpenter shop, where +he ordered ten rough coffins made. The village suddenly awoke to the +fact that the execution would take place. Then faces grew pale, and all +jeering ceased. McNeil was besieged by applicants imploring him to stay +the execution. Among these were a number of Union men. But McNeil +remained obdurate; his mind was made up. + +Strachan picked out ten men among the prisoners and they were told that +on the morrow they must die. Why Strachan picked the ten men he did will +never be known. They were not chosen by lot. + +Among the ten men was a William S. Humphrey. Mrs. Humphrey had arrived +in Palmyra the evening before the execution, not knowing her husband was +to die. When told of his fate she was horrified, and in the early +morning she sought Strachan to plead for his life, but was rudely +repulsed. Then with tottering footsteps she wended her way to the +headquarters of General McNeil. He received her kindly, but told her he +would not interfere. + +Half fainting she was borne from the room. Her little nine-year-old +daughter had accompanied her as far as the door. Catching sight of the +child, she cried with tears streaming down her face, "Go, child, go to +General McNeil, kneel before him and with uplifted hands beg him to +spare your father. Tell him what a good man he is. How he had refused to +go with Porter after he had taken the oath." + +The little girl obeyed. She made her way to General McNeil; she knelt +before him; she raised her little hands imploringly; with the tears +streaming down her face she sobbed, "Oh, General McNeil, don't have papa +shot. He never will be bad any more. He promised and he will not break +that promise. Don't have him shot. Think of me as your little girl +pleading for your life." + +She could say no more, but lay sobbing and moaning at his feet. The +stern man trembled like a leaf; tears gathered in his eyes and rolled +down his cheeks. + +"Poor child! Poor child!" he murmured, as he gently raised her. Then +turning to his desk he wrote an order and, handing it to an officer, +said, "Take that to Colonel Strachan." + +The order read: + + COLONEL STRACHAN: + + If the fact can be established that Humphrey was in Palmyra + when Porter was here and refused to leave, reprieve him and put + no one in his place. + + McNEIL. + +When the order was delivered to Colonel Strachan he raved like a madman. +He had had ten coffins made, and though the heavens fell, they should be +filled. Like Shylock, he demanded his pound of flesh. + +"For God's sake!" said Captain Reed to Strachan, "if you must have the +tenth victim, take a single man." + +Strachan stalked to the prison and glancing over the prisoners called +out, "Hiram Smith." + +A young man, twenty-two years of age, stepped forward. + +"Is your name Hiram Smith?" asked Strachan. + +"It is," was the answer. + +"You are to be shot this afternoon." + +The young man drew himself up, gazed blankly at Strachan for a moment, +and then without a word turned and walked across the room to where a +bucket of water was standing. Taking a drink he turned around with the +remark, "I can die just as easily as I took that drink of water." And +this young man knew he had but two hours to live.[13] + +[Footnote 13: It was currently reported at the time, and believed for +years, that young Smith voluntarily offered himself as a substitute for +Humphrey; and that McNeil accepted him as such, and had him shot, after +his performing an act that would have placed him among the world's +greatest heroes. + +This is what the author believed until in writing this book he wrote to +Palmyra for the full facts in the case, which were furnished him by Mr. +Frank H. Sosey, editor of the Palmyra Spectator. + +No doubt this belief had much to do in intensifying the feeling against +General McNeil]. + +The time came and amid the groans and sobs of the populace, the ten men +were taken to the fair grounds, where seated on their coffins, they +bravely faced their executioners. + +The firing squad consisted of thirty soldiers, three to a man. A few +hundred pale faced spectators looked on. The fatal order was given and +the volley rang out. + +From the spectators there burst a cry of horror. Strong men turned away, +unable to look. Many of the firing squad were nervous and their aim was +bad; others had shot high on purpose--they had no heart in the work. Of +the ten men, only three had been killed outright. Six lay on the ground, +writhing in agony; one sat on his coffin, untouched. + +"Take your revolvers and finish the job," thundered Strachan. + +Harry, who had witnessed the scene, fled from it in horror, as did most +of the spectators. It was a scene that those who lived in Palmyra will +never forget. The fair grounds was never again used as such. It was a +place accursed.[14] + +[Footnote 14: The Palmyra incident has gone into history as one of the +most deplorable during the war. Even at this late day it is more often +referred to than the horrible massacres committed by Anderson and +Quantrell. + +That General McNeil did not violate the rules of civilized warfare will +be generally admitted, also that his provocation was great. But the +incident always hung over him like a cloud, and was the means of +defeating him for several responsible official positions. The dark blot +against McNeil was that he did not bring Strachan to account for +disobeying his orders, and that he took no notice of the awful crime of +which Strachan was accused in connection with this affair. + +As for Strachan, his acts showed him to be a brute, and in connection +with this affair a crime was charged against him for which he should +have been court-martialed and shot. He was court-martialed a year or two +afterwards, but not for the Palmyra affair, and sentenced to a year in +military prison, but never served his sentence, as he was pardoned by +General Rosecrans. He died in 1866, unwept and unmourned.] + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A GIRL OF THE OZARKS + + +In one of the loveliest valleys in the heart of the Ozarks lived Judge +Marion Chittenden. He was the youngest son of a Kentucky pioneer, one +who did much in the building up of that commonwealth when it was known +as "The Dark and Bloody Ground." + +In his youth, Marion Chittenden--that was not his name then--was wild +and wayward, and became involved in numerous brawls and personal +encounters. When about twenty years of age, in a drunken brawl he shot +and killed one of his best friends. Filled with horror, and knowing the +consequences of his crime, he fled. Although a large reward was offered +for his apprehension, all efforts to find him proved unavailing. As +years passed and nothing was heard from him, his relatives breathed +sighs of relief and considered him as one dead. + +The fact was, he had fled beyond the Mississippi and became lost in the +wilds of Missouri. Here he changed his name, and no one ever knew but +that he always had been Marion Chittenden. + +In the Ozarks he made his living by hunting and fishing, and for some +years lived almost the life of a hermit. In one particular his crime +made him a changed man; from the moment he fled he never touched another +drop of liquor. + +One day while hunting he came across a lovely valley. Through it ran a +purling stream, its waters as clear as crystal. Around and about the +valley the hills rose to a height of from five to eight hundred feet, +clothed to their tops in a forest of living green. + +When he first saw the valley it was from the top of one of the hills +where he had trailed and shot a bear. As he stood and looked, the scene +was so peaceful, so beautiful, that a longing for rest came over him. +The wild and wandering life he had led for years all at once palled upon +him. The memory of his childhood came like a flood. His waywardness, his +crime, arose before him with startling distinctness. He was naturally a +lover of the refinements of civilization, and the rough, lonely life he +had led was the result of his crime, not of inclination. + +Standing there, he suddenly exclaimed, "Here will I make my home; here +will I forget the past; here will I begin a new life." + +He descended into the valley, startling a herd of deer that bounded into +the forest which clothed the hills. But they need not have been +afraid--for the time being he had lost the instinct of a hunter. + +He stood by the side of the little river, its clear waters showing the +fish darting to and fro, as if in wanton play. A little back was a knoll +crowned with noble trees. "Here," thought he, "will I build my house. +Here will I begin my new life. It is beautiful. The stream is beautiful. +It shall be called La Belle, and this the valley of La Belle." And the +valley of La Belle it became. + +He went to St. Louis and preëmpted the land, for he had no fears the +rough, bearded hunter would be taken for the immaculate young dandy who +had fled from Kentucky. + +He built him a home; the range of thousands of acres of land was his, +and his flocks grew and flourished. Time passed, and other settlers +began to invade the seclusion of the Ozarks. + +One day there came into the hills a man by the name of Garland. He had +seen better days, but had become impoverished and fled to the Ozarks, +thinking that in that wilderness he might make a home, and in a measure +retrieve his fortune. His family consisted of his wife and one daughter, +a young lady about twenty years of age. + +Mr. Garland settled some miles from where Chittenden lived his lonely +life; but in a wilderness those who live miles away are considered +neighbors. Mr. Chittenden visited them, and, though charmed by the +beauty of the daughter, he had no thoughts of giving up his bachelor +life. + +But misfortune seemed to have followed Mr. Garland. He had not been +there a year before his wife died, and in a few months he followed her. + +Before this Mr. Chittenden had not thought of marriage, but now the +helplessness of the girl appealed to him. He proposed and was accepted. +He never had cause to regret his action, for beautiful Grace Garland +made a wife of whom any man might be proud. + +His marriage also made a great change in Mr. Chittenden. The house was +enlarged and beautified. He greatly prospered, and in time became one of +the prominent men in his section of the country. He was called Judge, +and sent to the Legislature, and was even pressed to run for Congress. +Against this he resolutely set his face. The ghost of the past arose and +frightened him. As a congressman his past might be traced. + +A couple of years after his marriage a daughter was born and was named +Grace, after her mother. + +Mr. Chittenden continued to prosper, and in time bought a few slaves. +This put him on a higher plane, for to be a slave-holder was to belong +to the aristocracy, and it was a matter of pride among the Ozarks that +Mr. Chittenden owned slaves. + +Little Grace grew up a true child of the mountains, as wild and free as +the birds. When she was about ten years of age her mother died. If it +had not been for his daughter, Mr. Chittenden would have lost all +interest in life. Now everything centered in her, and she became a part +of his very life. + +The death of his wife left him without a competent housekeeper, so one +day he informed Grace he was going to St. Louis to see if he could not +buy a colored woman recommended as a good housekeeper, and that if she +liked she might go with him. + +The girl was overjoyed, for she had never been away from her lovely +valley home. The hills to her had been the boundary of the world, and +often as she gazed at them she would wonder and wonder what was beyond. +The birds were her friends, and they seemed to sing of things she did +not know. They had wings and could fly and explore that wonderful +beyond. She often wished she too had wings, so she might fly with the +birds--then she would know too. + +Her mother early had taught her to read, and Mr. Chittenden had gathered +quite a library. Grace read every book in it with avidity, but they told +her of a world she could not understand. + +But now she was to go beyond the barrier; she was to see the world, and +she could hardly wait for the time to start. + +At last the day came and the journey was begun, first on horseback and +then by a lumbering stage coach. + +In due time they reached the city, and what she saw filled her with +wonder and surprise. But when she woke in the morning and heard no +singing of birds, but instead the din and roar of the street; and when +she looked out and saw no lovely valley, no stately hills, no La Belle, +its waters sparkling in the sun, but instead row upon row of great +buildings, she sighed--she hardly knew why. + +The next day when her father showed her around the city she said, "It's +all very wonderful, papa, but it isn't like home. The houses are not as +beautiful as the hills, and even the great river does not sing as +sweetly, and its waters are not clear and sparkling like La Belle." + +One day Mr. Chittenden told Grace there was to be an auction of slaves, +and he would go and try to get one for a housekeeper. The little girl +was eager to go with him, but he would not allow it. She wondered why +and rebelled, but her father was obdurate and left her crying. + +Grace's slightest wish was generally law to her father, and to be +refused and left alone was to her a surprise. She did not realize that +her father did not wish her to see the distressing scenes which often +took place at an auction of slaves. + +In due time Mr. Chittenden returned, accompanied by a comely mulatto +woman about forty years of age. The woman's eyes were red with weeping, +and now and then her bosom would heave with a great sob which she would +in vain try to hold back. + +"This is Tilly, Grace," said her father. "She is said to be a good +housekeeper and a famous cook." + +"Why do you cry?" asked Grace. "Papa is a good man; he will use you +well." + +"It's not that," sobbed the woman: "it's mah honey chile, mah little +Effie. I'll neber see her moah." And she broke down and sobbed +piteously. + +Grace turned with a distressed countenance. "Did Tilly have a little +girl?" she asked. + +"Y-e-s," answered Mr. Chittenden, rather reluctantly. + +"Why didn't you buy her too?" she asked indignantly. "What if someone +should take me from you?" + +Mr. Chittenden winced. "That is different, child," he answered. "As for +Tilly's child, a trader from New Orleans bought her, paying an enormous +price. She was nearly white, and gave promise of becoming quite a +beauty. Rich people give large prices for such for maids. I could not +afford to buy her. As it was, I had to pay a big price for Tilly." + +Grace said no more, but from that time new thoughts entered her mind, +and when alone with Tilly she tried to comfort her. + +Tilly proved as good a housekeeper and cook as Mr. Chittenden could have +desired, and in time seemed to have forgotten her child. But Grace knew +better, for when alone with her Tilly never tired of telling her about +her "honey chile," and Grace was learning what it meant to be a slave, +and all unconsciously to herself she was drinking in a love of freedom. + +As for Tilly, she came to worship the very ground that Grace walked on. +Willingly she would have shed every drop of blood in her veins for her. + +Years went by and other settlers came into the Ozarks, but they were a +rough, uneducated class, and Mr. Chittenden had little in common with +them. In time a Mr. Thomas Osborne settled about four miles from him. He +was a northern man, well educated, and had come to the Ozarks for his +health, being threatened with consumption. He had a daughter, Helen, +about the age of Grace, and the two became inseparable friends. + +When Grace was about fifteen years of age it was evident that she would +be a very beautiful woman. She was by no means an ignorant girl, for her +father had employed a private teacher for her, and she was far better +acquainted with the elementary branches and with books than most girls +who attend fashionable boarding schools. + +But she was still a child of nature, the birds her best companions. The +wind whispering through the forest told her wonderful stories. She could +ride and shoot equal to any boy who roamed the Ozarks, and was the +companion of her father as he looked after his flocks and herds. + +The father saw she was fast budding into womanhood, and sighed, for he +felt she should know something beyond the rough life of the mountains, +and, although parting from her was like tearing out his own heart, he +resolved to send her to a boarding school in St. Louis. His daughter +must be a lady; he had not forgotten his early life. + +Grace heard his decision. She had not forgotten her visit to that +wonderful city five years before, and, now that she was older, thought +she would like to see and know more of it. + +"But how can I leave you, papa?" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around +his neck and pressing kiss after kiss upon his brow. + +Mr. Chittenden clasped her to his breast. "It will not be for long, +child," he said huskily, "and I would have my little girl a lady." + +"Am I not a lady, now?" she asked, pouting. + +"Yes, yes, Grace; but I would have you know something of the ways of +society. I do not want you to be always a mountain girl. You are worthy +to adorn the grandest palace in the city." + +"I don't want to adorn a palace. I love the valley of La Belle," she +replied. "I want to live and die here." + +"You may think differently some day, child. It is only for your good I +would have you go, for, Grace, you do not know how hard it is for me to +part from you." + +Again the girl threw her arms around him. "Don't make me go, papa," she +sobbed. "I thought I wanted to go, but I don't now. I don't want to be a +fine lady. I want to stay with you." + +"No, Grace; it is for the best." And so it was fully decided. + +The time came for her to go. The parting with Helen Osborne was a +tearful one, but Tilly was inconsolable. "All de sunshine will be gone +frum de house," she moaned. "When Missy Grace goes, Tilly want to die." + +"Oh, no, Tilly; you want to be here to welcome me when I come back," +said Grace. + +Grace was taken to St. Louis and placed in one of the most fashionable +schools in the city. Lola Laselle and Dorothy Hamilton were members of +the same school, but as they were day pupils, Grace did not become very +well acquainted with them. + +Grace's gentle, unaffected ways soon made her a favorite, but there were +a few of the pupils who looked down on the mountain girl as beneath +them. But gentle as Grace was, there was the blood of a fiery and proud +race in her veins, and she soon taught those girls she could not be +snubbed with impunity. She was an apt pupil and soon became the most +popular girl in the school, and the haughty ones were proud to be +classed as her friends. + +The rules and restrictions of the school were irksome to her, and she +became the leader of a bevy of girls who delighted in having a good +time, and many were the little luncheons they enjoyed together after the +teachers thought all good girls were in bed. + +One day Grace heard the girls discussing a book which at that time was +creating a sensation. + +"It's dreadful," said one of the girls. "Every copy printed ought to be +destroyed, and the woman who wrote it burned at the stake." + +"Have you read it?" asked one of the girls. + +The first girl raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Read it!" she +exclaimed. "I would as soon touch a viper as that book." + +"How do you know it is bad, then?" persisted the second girl. + +"Because I have heard papa say so. It's all about slavery, and makes out +that the people that own slaves are the wickedest people in the world. +Papa says the book will cause a war yet." + +"My papa says," spoke up another, "that the South is going to secede, +and when it does he says there may be war." + +"Pshaw! the Yankees will not fight," exclaimed a girl from Mississippi. +"Brother Ned says they are a cowardly lot, and that one Southern +gentleman can whip ten of them." + +The conversation now took a general turn over what would happen if war +came, and it was the opinion of most of the girls that it would be just +grand. + +Grace listened eagerly to the conversation, but took no part. So far she +had given little attention to the strife which was agitating the +country. Even the conflict which had raged along the borders of Missouri +and Kansas had only come as a faint echo among the Ozarks. But now she +asked, "What is the name of the book you girls are talking about?" + +"Uncle Tom's Cabin. It's a horrid book," replied one of the girls. + +Grace said no more, but she determined to have that book; she wanted to +see what made it so terrible. The first time she had leave to go +downtown she made an excuse to go into a book store and purchase a copy. +She concealed it in her clothes and then made a few other purchases. + +"Why, Grace, what made you so long?" asked the monitor in charge of the +girls when she returned. + +"Couldn't get waited on before," answered Grace demurely. + +That evening Grace swore her room-mate to eternal secrecy, and then +showed her the book. + +The girl was horrified. "What made you buy it?" she wailed. "Why, if I +should take that book home I would be arrested and sent to prison." + +"I am determined to see what kind of a book it is," answered Grace, +doggedly. "When I see, I can burn it up if I don't like it." + +"I wouldn't touch it for the whole world," exclaimed her room-mate. +"Burn it up. Burn it up now, Grace. What if the girls found it out! We +would be disgraced, ostracized, perhaps expelled!" + +"If you don't tell, I will take care that no one else sees it," said +Grace. + +The next day Grace feigned a headache, and remained in her room to read +the book. That evening her room-mate asked about it. + +"You will never see it," replied Grace. "I looked into it and concluded +you were right; it would never do for that book to be found in our room. +I have destroyed it." + +"Grace Chittenden," cried the girl, "I believe you pretended to have a +headache so you could stay in our room and read that book! I have a mind +to report you. What kind of a book was it? Tell me." + +"Do you want me to corrupt you too, Mabel?" laughed Grace. "No; the book +is destroyed, and that ends it. It is not the kind of a book I thought +it was--not so horrid; but it makes one think. I am almost sorry I read +it." + +That night Grace lay awake a long time thinking of Uncle Tom and Little +Eva, and more than once she sighed, "Tilly is right. Slavery is +wicked--wicked!" + +Grace had been in school two years when the war opened. Even the +seclusion of a girl's boarding school could not help being penetrated by +the fierce excitement which swept through the whole country. The streets +were filled with marching troops. Many of the girls had brothers in +Frost's militia. Then Camp Jackson was taken. + +Grace heard the distant firing, saw the surging mob in the streets, but +in the midst of the excitement her father came. He had hurried to the +city to take her home--to take her to the heart of the Ozarks, where he +hoped the red waves of war would never come. + +Marion Chittenden was by nature fierce and combative, but the horror +from which he had fled had so changed him that it was only when some +great excitement moved him that his passions were aroused. He was a +strong partisan of the South and believed the North wholly wrong. It was +only his age and an injury that forbade protracted riding on horseback +that kept him from offering his services to the State. + +Mr. Chittenden's fierce denunciation of the North alarmed Grace. What +would he say if he knew she was for the Union? She resolved to keep +still and say nothing. She noticed a large number of rough men calling +on her father, and a great number of secret consultations were held. + +The first great shock came to Grace when one day her father said, +"Grace, I wish you would cease visiting Helen Osborne, and by all means +do not invite her here. I want no intercourse between the two families." + +Grace opened her eyes in astonishment. "Why, father, what is the +matter?" she asked. + +"Osborne is a sneaking Yankee, an abolitionist, and the old fool can't +keep his mouth shut." + +"What difference should that make as far as Helen and I are concerned?" +asked Grace, her eyes flashing. + +Surprised at the feeling his daughter showed, Mr. Chittenden said more +gently: "Grace, you do not understand, you do not realize the feeling +throughout the country. To be friendly with the Osbornes would bring +suspicion on me. Even your visits would be misconstrued. Do as I ask +you, Grace, for my sake." + +She promised, though very reluctantly. More than once she resolved to +tell her father her true feelings, but shrank from the ordeal. + +After that Grace did not leave the valley. Rough, uncouth men came to +visit her father more frequently than ever, and she heard enough to know +that the waves of war had rolled clear down to Springfield and that the +whole State was becoming a vast armed camp. + +One day her father seemed much perturbed, and at last rode away in +company with several men. Grace noticed they were all armed. Feeling +alarmed as well as lonely, she resolved to take a ride. Ordering her +favorite horse saddled, she soon was galloping down the valley towards +the Osbornes. Why she took that direction she hardly knew. She rode as +near to the Osbornes as she thought prudent, and was about to turn back, +when she saw a great cloud of smoke arising. + +"It must be the Osborne house," she exclaimed, and urged her horse +forward. When she came to where she could see she reined in her horse +and gazed at the scene in horror. Not only was Mr. Osborne's house in +flames, but his barn and outbuildings, as well as stacks of grain. + +But it was not so much the fire as what else she saw that made her face +pale and her breath to come in gasps. A little apart from the fire stood +a group of men, and in their midst Mr. Osborne, with a rope around his +neck. His wife and daughter were clinging to him, and even from where +Grace was their shrieks and cries for mercy reached her ears. She took +one look, then struck her horse a sharp blow and, like a whirlwind, came +upon the scene. Astonished, the men stood like statues. + +"You pretend to be men, I suppose," she cried, "and call this war. +Cowards! Poltroons! Murderers!" + +[Illustration: "You pretend to be men and call this war!"] + +Just then she caught sight of her father in the group. "You too!" she +gasped, and fell fainting from her horse. + +When she came to she was in her father's arms, the men had gone, and +bending over her was Helen Osborne, bathing her face. She opened her +eyes and then, shuddering, closed them again. She had looked into the +face of a man stricken as unto death. + +"Grace, Grace," he moaned, "another such look as that will kill me. You +do not understand. I was trying to save life, not take it." + +A shiver went through her body, but she did not open her eyes nor +answer. + +"Grace, hear me. I am not what you think. O God!" + +"What did you say, father?" she whispered. + +"That I was trying to save Mr. Osborne, not hang him." + +Once more her eyes opened, but now they looked with love into her +father's face. "Thank God!" she murmured, and her arms went around his +neck. The strong man wept as he clasped her to his breast and kissed her +again and again. + +"Take me home," she whispered weakly. "I feel, oh, so faint!" + +On the invitation of Mr. Chittenden the Osbornes accompanied him. The +next day he sent them out of the country. + +When Grace was strong enough to hear, her father told her all. Mr. +Osborne's pronounced Northern principles had made him very obnoxious to +those who sympathized with the South. "It was for this reason, Grace," +he said, "I forbade your visiting Helen. Even a friendly intercourse +between you two would have brought suspicion on me. You cannot +understand the terrible feeling towards all Yankees and those who +sympathize with them. Mr. Osborne was repeatedly warned to leave the +country, but he paid no attention to the warnings. Instead, he became +active in giving information to the Federal authorities. Some time ago +it became known that he had sent to the Federal commander at Rolla the +name of every active Southern sympathizer in the country. My name was on +the list as one of the leaders. + +"This was too much for the boys, and they decided on summary punishment, +but, knowing that I was opposed to extreme means, they tried to keep +what they were to do from me. I found it out and did all in my power to +save him, but a vote was taken, and it was decided he should be burned +out and then hanged. It was only your timely arrival that saved him. He +is well out of the country now, for which I am thankful." + +Grace listened to his account in silence, then said: "I'm so glad, +father, you tried to save him. I thought--oh, I can't tell what I +thought, it was so dreadful." + +She then seemed struggling with herself, as if she wanted to say +something and dared not. + +"What is it, child?" asked Mr. Chittenden gently. + +Looking at him with yearning eyes, she whispered, "Do you love me?" + +"What a question, Grace! Better than my life! You should know that!" + +"And will you let anything come between? Will you always love me, even +if I am not what you think?" + +"Grace, what do you mean?" he cried, brokenly. A terrible suspicion came +to him that her mind was wandering, that the shock she had received had +unbalanced her reason. + +"Father, I must tell you. I cannot think as you do. This war is +terrible, and I believe the South is all in the wrong." + +Mr. Chittenden could only gasp his astonishment, then he commenced +laughing. "Is that all, Grace? I thought--well, it hardly matters what I +thought. It was unworthy of me. But what makes you think the South is +all wrong?" + +"I do not know as I can make you understand, but, father--I hate +slavery! I think I was born with a love for freedom. I have drunk it in +from my childhood. This valley, the grand old hills around it, all speak +of freedom. La Belle murmurs it as her waters dance and sparkle on their +way to the sea. The wind in the trees sings of freedom, the birds warble +it." + +"Grace, you are poetic; it is only these fancies that make you think as +you do." + +"No, father. You know I love history, and you have some good histories +in your library. I have learned how slavery came into this country, how +it grew; and I also know something about what is called State Rights. I +believe the South claims any State has a perfect right to withdraw from +the Union at pleasure." + +"Yes, the doctrine is true. We are no rebels." + +"I can't believe it. To trample on the flag of our common country is +rebellion. Father, I love the starry flag. I carry it next my heart." To +her father's surprise, she put her hand in her bosom and drew forth a +tiny flag. "I made it, father, at school. While the other girls were +making Confederate flags, I made this one." + +Mr. Chittenden could only say, "Thank God, you are not a boy." + +"Father, you do not hate me?" + +"No, child; I look at what you have said as only the foolish fancies of +a girl. You will laugh at them yourself when you are older. But, Grace, +let me ask you a question. According to your ideas I am a rebel. Does +that make you love me less?" + +For answer she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. "No, +father, for you are doing what you think right. If you were in the army, +riding at the head of your regiment, I would be proud of you--pray for +you." + +"Would to God that I could," cried Mr. Chittenden, "and, old as I am, I +would if it were not for this infernal rupture. But, Grace, I can never +forget that look you gave me when you thought I was one of the gang +about to hang Osborne. If I had been, would you still love me?" His +voice trembled as he asked the question. + +The girl shivered and was silent for a moment, then said: "When--when I +thought you were, it was as if a dagger had pierced my heart. I believe +I would have died then and there if I had not learned differently. It +would have been my love for you that would have killed me. To think my +father was a mur----" + +She did not finish the sentence. A look of anguish, of terror, came into +the father's face. He trembled like a leaf--what if his daughter knew +his past! + +"What is it, father?" cried Grace in alarm. + +With a tremendous effort Mr. Chittenden recovered his composure. +"Nothing now, Grace, but your words were so terrible. Don't say them +again, Grace. I--I would die if I lost my daughter's love." + +"You never will, father. You are too good, too noble," and she drew his +head down and kissed him again and again. + +Oh! the past! the past! How it stung that father as he felt his +daughter's pure kisses on his brow! + +"Father, you are not angry with me, are you?" asked Grace, wondering at +his silence. + +"No, darling; only, for my sake, keep your belief to yourself." + +"For your sake I will be just as little a Yankee as possible," answered +Grace, smiling. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +A WOUNDED CONFEDERATE + + +A few days after the battle of Pea Ridge there came riding into the +valley of La Belle a wounded Confederate soldier. He was mounted on a +raw-boned, emaciated horse that staggered as it walked. The rider seemed +as weak as the horse, for he swayed in the saddle as he rode, and the +bridle reins hung limp in his hands. The soldier's left arm was +supported by a dirty sling, and the front of his uniform, if uniform it +could be called, showed it had been soaked in blood. + +The deep-set eyes of the soldier glowed with an unnatural fire, and he +was muttering to himself, as if in delirium. + +Of his own accord, the horse turned up to the door of Mr. Chittenden's +house, and that gentleman came out just in time to catch the rider as he +reeled from the saddle. + +[Illustration: To catch the rider as he reeled from the saddle.] + +"He is about done for," he exclaimed as he ordered him carried in. +"Tilly," he called, "here is a patient for you." + +The colored woman came running, and with her Grace, who looked at the +wan features of the soldier with piteous eyes. "Why, father, he's +nothing but a boy," she exclaimed. "Where did he come from?" + +"A sorry-looking horse brought him here, is all I know," replied her +father. + +A hasty examination showed a ball had gone through the muscles of his +left arm about half-way between the elbow and shoulder and then torn a +great jagged wound in the breast. + +Tilly was a born nurse. The first thing she did was to turn to Grace and +say, "Now, Missy Grace, yo' jes go 'way an' leave this boy to me. Dis is +no place for a youn' lady." + +The next time Grace saw the boy he was lying in a clean bed, his wounds +neatly dressed. His bloody uniform had disappeared and instead he had on +a soft white night-shirt. As Grace looked at him, so thin and pale, her +eyes filled with tears, and she murmured, "Poor boy! Poor boy! I wonder +if he has a mother." Then she turned to her father and asked, "Will he +get well?" + +"I'm afraid not," answered Mr. Chittenden. "He is not only badly +wounded, but has a raging fever. I have sent for Doctor Hart. He will do +all he can for him." + +Doctor Hart lived miles away, and it was not until the next day he +arrived. After examining the boy he said, "The wounds are bad, very bad. +Without the fever, I would say he had a chance, but now I can hold out +little hope. Who is he?" + +"I know no more than you," replied Mr. Chittenden, and related how the +boy came. + +"Strange, very strange!" said the Doctor. "These wounds have the +appearance of having been inflicted several days ago, and yet I have +heard of no fighting near by. Must have been shot in a brawl." + +"There is the battle of Pea Ridge; you know we have just heard of it." + +"Mercy, man! what are you talking about! It must be between one and two +hundred miles to where that battle was fought. I do not see how this boy +could have ridden ten miles with the wounds he has. He must be a spunky +chap, and I will do the best I can for him; but I reckon, Chittenden, +you will have a funeral on your hands in a day or two." + +But the young soldier did not die, although it was Tilly's careful +nursing rather than the skill of the doctor that saved him. + +For two days he tossed in delirium, and then the fever left him and he +began to mend. Tilly was assiduous in her attentions, and until he was +out of danger could hardly be persuaded to leave the bedside, even for +rest. + +When the wounded soldier became well enough to talk he told his story to +Mr. Chittenden. He said his name was Mark Grafton, that his parents were +dead, and that he had no living relatives who cared for him. "I am all +alone in the world," he said, "and, Mr. Chittenden, if you had let me +die there would have been no one to weep." + +"Are you as friendless as that?" asked Mr. Chittenden. + +"As friendless as that! I am nothing but a poor private soldier," +answered Mark. + +He then went on and told how he had been with Price from the beginning, +how he had fought at Wilson Creek and Lexington and numerous other +engagements. + +"But at Pea Ridge----" Mark stopped and sighed. + +"Pea Ridge!" cried Mr. Chittenden. "Was it at Pea Ridge you received +your wounds?" + +Mark nodded. + +"And you rode all the distance from there here, wounded as you were? It +seems impossible." + +"I reckon I must," said Mark; "but I remember little about it. It was +this way: We whipped them the first day; that is, Price's army did. +Before the battle, McCullough's men--and he had a larger army than +Price--made fun of our appearance and said they would show us how to +fight, but they ran like sheep, while we drove the Yankees before us. We +thought the victory ours. But with McCullough out of the way, the next +morning the whole Yankee army attacked us, and we had to retreat. The +retreat became a rout. I was wounded and left on the field for dead. +When I came to it was night and the stars were shining. I staggered to +my feet and was fortunate enough to catch a stray horse and, by taking a +defile through the hills, was able to get away. I stopped at a house and +had my wounds roughly dressed. It was reported that the Yankee cavalry +were scouring the country, picking up the fugitives, and, although I was +so weak from my wounds I could hardly stand, I determined to push on. +Then my head began to feel strange: I saw all sorts of things. From that +time until I came to and found myself here, I have no remembrance, how I +got here, or how long it was after the battle." + +"The battle had been fought about two weeks when you put in an +appearance," said Mr. Chittenden. + +"I must have stopped, and got some rest during that time," said Mark. +"But where--it's all a blank. I feel I owe my life to you, Mr. +Chittenden. Not many would be as kind to a poor friendless soldier as +you have been to me. I feel----" + +"No thanks, my boy; you must stay with us until you get entirely well." + +"I reckon I will have to," replied Mark, with a smile. "I don't feel +much like traveling." + +There seemed to be something troubling Mark, and at last he asked Mr. +Chittenden what had become of the clothes he wore when he came. + +"Burnt up, Mark." + +Mark gave a convulsive start and looked as if he were going to faint. + +"There, don't worry; I'll see you have much better ones; those you wore +were in awful condition," replied Mr. Chittenden. + +"But--but what became of what was in the pockets?" Mark asked the +question with a visible effort to appear calm. + +"All safe, nothing disturbed. I gave orders that nothing should be +touched until we saw whether you lived or died." + +Mark looked relieved, but he only said: "There is nothing to worry +about; but I had a little money in my pockets, and it might have been +taken from me while I was wandering, not myself." + +"We will see," said Mr. Chittenden, and he got the articles which had +been taken from Mark's clothing. + +Mark hastily glanced them over and said, "It's all right. I am glad +there is money enough here to pay you, in part, for your trouble." + +"None of that, Mark. I will throw you out of the house if you ever say +pay again. In fact, I would take it as an insult," said Mr. Chittenden. + +Mark said no more, but, glancing over the articles, he abstracted two or +three papers, and handed the rest back to Mr. Chittenden, asking him to +keep them for him. No sooner was he gone than Mark called Tilly and +handed her the papers he had kept, asking her if she would not burn +them. "Don't let anyone see them, Tilly, and burn them right away." + +"Dat what I will," said Tilly, taking them. + +"And, Tilly, don't say anything about it to anyone." + +"Honey boy kin trust Tilly," exclaimed the woman as she turned to hurry +away, highly pleased that she had been trusted with a secret errand. + +"I can now rest easy," murmured Mark, as he closed his eyes and went to +sleep. + +One day as Tilly was administering to his wants Mark said, "Tilly, I +don't know, but it seems as if I have seen you somewhere before, but for +the life of me I can't remember where." + +"Dat is jes what I said 'bout yo', Marse Mark," cried Tilly, her face +brightening. "I said shorely I hev seen dat boy somewhar. It jes 'peared +to me that Tilly had held yo' in her arms some time, an' Tilly tuk yo' +to her ole heart right away, an' she grab yo' when de ole deth angel had +hole of yo', and she sed, 'Go 'way, ole deth angel, dis is mah boy,' an' +she tuk yo' right out of de clutches of dat ole deth angel, she did, an' +now yo' air mah boy." + +Mark smiled as he said, "Yes, Tilly, I believe you did cheat the death +angel, and if anyone has a claim on me, you have. I shall always +remember you." + +"An' Missy Grace, she helped too," cried Tilly. "Yo' mustn't forgit +Missy Grace." + +"I shall never forget her," replied Mark, and there was more meaning in +his words than Tilly thought. + +That night Mark lay thinking over what Tilly had said about holding him +in her arms, and suddenly he remembered. "She is right," he almost +sobbed. "She has held me in her arms, but she must never know." + +At last the day came when Mark could sit in a chair on the porch and +look out over the beautiful valley and stately hills. The valley was +arrayed in all the freshness and loveliness of spring; La Belle was +murmuring her sweetest music. + +"What a lovely valley you have here," he said to Mr. Chittenden. "One +should be perfectly happy here--so peaceful, so beautiful, so far +removed from the unrest and turmoil of the world." + +"You talk like a philosopher, young man," replied Mr. Chittenden, +laughing. "Not many of the world would like it; the mass of mankind +prefer the rush and roar of the cities. There is little room for +ambition here. The world would never have grown to what it is if all +preferred to live as I do. Yet I would live nowhere else. Yes, it is +very quiet here, or was before the war." + +"Has the war disturbed you much?" asked Mark. + +"Yes, a great deal. As yet there has been no fighting nearer than +Frederickstown, but the hills are full of small guerrilla bands, I would +not be surprised to have a Federal cavalry force visit us any day. I try +to impress on the boys that it would be better if they were in the army +fighting, but few of them care to become regular soldiers." + +Mark said no more, but sat apparently buried in deep thought. + +It was not to be expected that Mark had remained at Mr. Chittenden's all +of this time without him and Grace becoming fast friends. Mark was so +different from what she had expected when he represented himself as a +poor, homeless private soldier, that it puzzled her. "There is a mystery +about him," she said to herself, "and I am going to find out what it is. +Whatever he is now, he was raised a gentleman." + +As for Mark, he almost regretted he was getting well. The girl had come +to fill a large share of his thoughts. He had also learned some things +that surprised him. He had heard Grace and Tilly talk when he was lying, +as they thought, asleep, and he knew that Grace's heart was with the +North, and not the South, and that she hated slavery. + +One day Tilly told Grace a story that caused every nerve in his body to +tingle, and he scarcely could keep from crying out. + +Mark was very curious to know whether or not Mr. Chittenden was +cognizant of his daughter's heresy, and soon found that he was, but that +he looked upon it as a mere girlish whim. + +As Mark grew stronger he and Mr. Chittenden grew very intimate, and he +never tired to hear Mark tell of how he had fought with Price at Wilson +Creek, at Lexington, and at Pea Ridge. + +In turn he confided to Mark that his house was what might be called a +station between Missouri and Arkansas. The route through the valley of +La Belle was little known to Federals, and practically unguarded. It +touched no towns in their possession, and thus left an almost +uninterrupted gateway between the two States. + +Mark soon noticed that a good many Confederate officers were making +their way north, and he learned that a gigantic conspiracy was on foot, +but, being only a private soldier, he was not taken into their +confidence. + +One day there came to the house on his way north the same Colonel Clay +spoken of in our first chapter. He noticed and asked about Mark, and, +when told, exclaimed, "Remarkable! I would like to speak to him." + +He made Mark tell him the whole story. Not only this, but by questioning +he learned that Mark had not only a keen knowledge of military affairs +but was wonderfully well informed as to the army. + +"It's a shame you were kept in the ranks. You should be an officer," +cried Clay. + +"All can not be officers, and I was content to serve my country in the +most humble capacity," modestly replied Mark. "Alas! I am afraid I can +serve her no more." And he touched his wounded arm. + +"I don't know about that," said Colonel Clay. "You may be able to serve +your country even in a greater capacity than you yet have. I have some +important documents which I would like to get into St. Louis to certain +parties. I will not deny that if you were caught with them on your +person it would be certain death; but I believe you are both brave and +shrewd." + +"The boy is not able," spoke up Mr. Chittenden. "He has not been out of +bed more than a week. His wounds are not healed yet." + +"So much the better," said Clay. "If he can ride, he can get through +where a well man can not." + +"I will go. A man can die but once, and it is for my country." As Mark +said this his eyes fairly seemed to shine. + +"Bravely spoken, my lad," cried Clay. "Would we had more like you!" + +So it was arranged that Mark was to make the dangerous journey. + +"Why do you do this, Mark?" asked Grace when he went to bid her +good-bye. + +"It is for my country," answered Mark. + +"You mean it is to help destroy your country. I despise the cause for +which you fight." + +"Yes, I know; your father told me." + +"You knew, and never let on?" + +"Why should I?" + +"Because father says I am a traitor to the South." + +"Grace, if I never come back, remember that there is one who never will +despise you, believe what you will." + +"Take it easy," said Clay to Mark as he started to ride away. "Don't +overtax your strength. Two or three days will not matter much." + +Colonel Clay had liberally supplied Mark with money for the journey; in +fact, the Colonel seemed to have plenty of money. + +"Clay, I don't like it. You should never have sent him," said Mr. +Chittenden. "I am afraid he never will live to see St. Louis, and I have +grown fond of the boy. We raised him, as it were, from the dead." + +"Never fear," replied the Colonel. "The same grit that brought him here +will take him to St. Louis. If he dies after he gets there--well, it +won't matter much. His mission will be done, and it may mean the +redemption of the State. What is one life to that?" + +Grace overheard the heartless remark, and a fierce anger seized her. It +was well the Colonel left the next day, for she resolutely refused to +serve him or sit at the same table with him. + +The days passed. Two weeks passed, and then three, and Mark had not +returned. Grace grew restless, her father anxious, and Tilly kept +asking, "Whar is mah boy?" + +But one day Mark appeared. He was riding slowly, so slowly, and his face +was flushed. It was seen the fever had him again. + +"Help me off." His voice was almost a whisper. + +He was helped off, and almost carried into the house, and it was some +weeks before he was able to leave it. "I do not regret the journey," he +said to Mr. Chittenden. "I was entirely successful in my mission, and I +rejoice that I was able to do something for my country, wounded as I +am." + +During his convalescence this time, Grace was with him a good deal. She +sang and read to him, and Mark thought he never had heard a voice so +sweet. Even the hand of Tilly was not so gentle and soothing on his +fevered brow as was the hand of Grace. + +By the first of August he had nearly recovered, but with August came +Colonel Clay, returning to the South. He was in a towering rage, for all +his planning had come to naught. The defeat of Porter at Moore's Mill, +and then his complete overthrow at Kirksville, the dispersion of +Poindexter's army, and his capture, ended all his hopes of capturing +Missouri by a partisan uprising. + +But one hope remained to him--that the movement in Southwest Missouri +might be successful and Independence and Lexington captured. If so, the +blow must be struck, and struck quickly. It had been ordered, but +Colonel Clay was afraid it would not be struck quickly enough. Therefore +when he saw Mark his face brightened. + +"Ah, my boy, I learned weeks ago that your mission was entirely +successful. You are a faithful courier, and I have another job for you." + +"The one he had nearly proved the death of him," spoke up Mr. +Chittenden. "The hardships of the trip were too much for him, and he lay +for days with a return of the fever." + +"He must go; I can trust no one else," cried Clay. "He is a soldier. I +command him." + +"I need no commands. I will go," said Mark proudly, drawing himself up. + +"That's the talk. I knew I could depend on you," replied Clay. + +When Grace learned Mark was to go again, she solemnly assured him that +if he did and got the fever, he would have to look for someone else to +nurse him, but her voice trembled and tears gathered in her eyes as she +bade him good-bye. + +As for Mark, he only said as he rode away, "God bless you, if I never +see you again." + +After Mark had gone Colonel Clay apologized to Mr. Chittenden for +sending him, saying there were so few he could trust with so delicate a +mission. Then with an oath he exclaimed, "Chittenden, there is a traitor +somewhere. Schofield got hold of our entire plans in regard to this +uprising. If I only knew who it was." He brought his fist down with a +resounding blow on the table beside which they were sitting. + +"Have you any suspicion?" asked Mr. Chittenden. + +"No, it is some one high up, but I'll get him yet." + +The next day Colonel Clay continued on his way to the south. In a few +days he had the satisfaction of hearing that Independence was taken and +Foster defeated. But a little later came the discouraging news that the +Confederate forces in Southwest Missouri were again in full retreat for +Arkansas. + +This time Mark was not gone as long as before but he returned in a weak +and exhausted condition. + +When Colonel Clay went away he left orders for Mark to join him in +Arkansas on his return. + +"I shall do no such thing. He has no right to order me," exclaimed Mark. +"What I have done I have done of my own volition." + +"Good for you, Mark," said Mr. Chittenden. "Stay right here and get +entirely well. Then you can help me, as I have some important orders to +fill for supplies for General Hindman." + +"Thank you. You are very kind," replied Mark. "So kind that I am afraid +I shall trespass on your hospitality longer than is well." As he said +it, his eyes wandered over to where Grace was sitting. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +TRAILING RED JERRY + + +Lawrence sat reading a letter. It was from Harry and told of his +adventures since their parting. It closed as follows: "Captain, I want +to come to you. Bruno and I are becoming too well known in this section. +Then it has been very quiet here since Porter and most of his men fled +south. I understand General McNeil and most of his force have been +ordered to Southeastern Missouri, so there is little here for me to do. +Try and get me transferred if you can. I have a mate now, a boy about my +age, by the name of Jack Harwood. He is a good one, and is crazy to come +with me. See if you can't get him transferred too." + +Dan came in just as Lawrence finished reading the letter. "What do you +think of that, Dan?" asked Lawrence, handing it to him. + +Dan read it. "Don't see what you can do for him when you can't keep me," +said Dan, lugubriously. He had been in the dumps ever since he thought +that he and Lawrence might have to part. + +"Cheer up, Dan," said Lawrence. "I have good news for you. General +Schofield finds so much requiring his attention that he will not be able +to take the field in person for some time yet. He has requested me to +take a force of fifty men and scout down through the Ozarks and then +make my way to General Blount in Northwest Arkansas. Of course, you will +go with me." + +Dan was so excited that he took three chews of tobacco, one right after +the other. + +"You can send for Harry now, can't you?" asked Dan. + +"Yes, and to please him I will also ask for a transfer for that mate of +his. He must be a good one to have Harry like him so well." + +Lawrence had no trouble in getting Harry Semans and Jack Harwood, +scouts, transferred to his command. + +When the transfer came Harry was overjoyed, and lost no time in +reporting at Rolla, where Lawrence was organizing his company. + +"Hello, you here already?" cried Lawrence, as Harry made his appearance. +"Mighty glad to see you and Bruno, too. How are you, old fellow?" and +Lawrence patted the dog's head and heartily shook the paw extended to +him. + +"Here is Jack, Captain, you mustn't forget him," said Harry introducing +his companion. + +"Ah! Jack, glad to meet you," said Lawrence so heartily and cheerily +that Jack's heart was at once won. "Anyone that Harry recommends needs +nothing more. You are more than welcome." + +"I can never hope to equal Harry," replied Jack, modestly, "but where he +leads I can follow." + +"The trouble is he wants to go ahead where there is danger," laughed +Harry. + +"I reckon I will have to put leading strings on both of you," replied +Lawrence, with a smile. + +Just as Lawrence was ready to start for the Ozarks he received a message +from General Schofield, saying that Red Jerry and his band were making a +great deal of trouble along the Osage; that he had lately surprised and +nearly annihilated a force of seventy-five men under a Captain Dunlay, +and that the victory had encouraged him to commit further excesses. + +"Can't you go and teach him a lesson he won't forget, before you start +for the Ozarks?" asked the General. + +"Here, what do you think of this, Dan?" asked Lawrence, handing the +message to his lieutenant. + +"Let's go by all means," replied Dan, his face brightening. "I am just +aching to get a chance at that fellow." + +"The same here," exclaimed Lawrence. + +Hearing that Captain Dunlay, who had been in command of the force Red +Jerry had routed, was in Rolla, Lawrence hunted him up to learn all he +could of his whereabouts, and the supposed number of his band. + +When Dunlay heard Lawrence was to go after Red Jerry with fifty men he +was astonished. "Captain," he exclaimed, "It's suicidal! Your force will +simply be exterminated. Red Jerry has at least two hundred men and they +fight like devils." + +"Never mind the number of his men, or how they fight," said Lawrence. +"What I want to know is where I will be most likely to find him." + +"I can tell you where I found him," snapped Dunlay, nettled at what +Lawrence had said, "and I wish you joy when you meet him." + +"No offence, Captain," replied Lawrence. "Just tell me what you know +about his hiding places." + +The Captain told all he knew, and when Lawrence thanked him and went +away, Dunlay turned to a brother officer standing by and remarked, "That +young popinjay will be wiser before many days." + +The next morning Lawrence was on his way bright and early. It was not +until the afternoon of the second day that he began to hear anything of +Red Jerry. He then learned that he had attacked and was chasing a small +scouting party towards Versailles. + +"Dan, we are in luck," said Lawrence. "Jerry will not be expecting a +force from this way, and we may meet him on the way back." + +The meeting took place quicker than Lawrence expected. Towards evening +there came from the front the sound of several shots, and in a few +minutes Harry Semans, who was in command of the advance guard, came +galloping up. + +"Guerrillas ahead, Captain," he reported. + +"How many?" + +"I only saw four, but I reckon there are more back. Bruno had hardly +given a warning of danger ahead when these four came around a bend in +the road at full gallop. They seemed surprised at seeing us, and after +firing one volley wheeled their horses and went tearing back. The boys +were eager to pursue, but I held them back, fearing an ambuscade." + +"You did right, Harry. We have a wary foe to contend with, up to all +sorts of tricks. We can't be too careful." + +Leaving the troop in charge of Dan, Lawrence rode forward with Harry to +where the advance had halted. + +"Seen anyone since I left?" asked Harry. + +"No, but that dog of yours acts mighty queer." + +"Plenty of rebs around then? Hello! There's a couple." + +Two horsemen had appeared around the bend. When they noticed they had +been discovered they halted and one of them, who was on a magnificent +gray horse, raised a field glass to his eyes. + +"Don't fire, boys, the distance is too great and I want to look at +them," said Lawrence. + +Lawrence took a look through his glasses and after a moment exclaimed, +"Jerry Alcorn, as I live, on that gray horse. The one with him is a +young fellow. Well, we have found the game we came after." + +At the same time Jerry was saying to his companion, "I know that fellow, +Agnes.[15] Curse the luck. It's Lawrence Middleton. It's run now instead +of fight. Where in the world did he come from? and how did he get here?" + +[Footnote 15: Jerry called his wife Agnes only when they were alone. At +other times she was known as Billy and called so by his men.] + +"Don't let's run until we have to," replied Billy. "This Middleton is +the fellow who cut your command all to pieces last fall, is he not?" + +"Yes, and the same one who run me out of St. Louis; but I hold no grudge +against him for that, for if he had not I never would have met you. +The ----" + +This exclamation was caused by Lawrence and the advance guard charging +down upon them. Lawrence had come to the conclusion that the guerrillas +were surprised and totally unprepared for a fight. This was true. They +were returning from their pursuit of the scouting party and were strung +out a long distance along the road. + +Wheeling their horses, Jerry and Billy rode madly back and after them +thundered Lawrence and the guard. When they turned the bend in the road +Lawrence saw a sight that made his heart thrill. On each side of the +road for over a mile there were open fields. Scattered along the road +for the whole distance was Jerry's band riding at leisure. + +"Tell Dan to bring forward the whole troop at full gallop," shouted +Lawrence. + +Eager for the fray the troopers came. Jerry saw his danger and was +wildly gesticulating for his men to turn back. They understood, and +wheeling their horses, in a moment were in full retreat. + +The troop came up and the order "Charge" was given. Soon the hindmost of +the guerrillas and the foremost of the Federals began to exchange shots. +A guerrilla's horse went down, but the rider scrambled to his feet and +was over the fence and running like a deer when a carbine rang out and +he fell, all crumpled up, and lay still. + +Lawrence saw one of his men reel and then fall forward, clutching his +horse's neck. Some of the guerrillas riding the fleetest horses formed a +rear guard, and taking advantage of every rise of ground would hold the +advance of the Federals back as long as possible. + +The chase had continued some three miles, when the road became narrow +and lined with bushes on each side. Jerry saw his opportunity; he knew +the pursuit must be checked, or his whole band would be captured or +dispersed. As it was, he had already lost six or seven men. He dashed to +the head of the column and quickly gave orders. As the men passed him, +three would spring from their horses and disappear in the brush, the +fourth one riding on with the horses. + +The road through the brush was a winding one, and Jerry was in hopes the +Federals might not see what was being done and ride into the trap. + +Mounted men would have but little chance in that narrow road against an +enemy concealed in the brush. But Lawrence was not to be caught. He saw +the opportunity afforded for just such a move; not only this, but he +caught sight of the last of the guerrillas as they were disappearing in +the brush. + +"Halt!" he ordered. + +His men drew rein, wondering why they were halted. When the column +closed up, Lawrence ordered half of the men to dismount, form a skirmish +line on each side of the road and to advance cautiously. + +This was done, and soon the crack of the carbines and revolvers showed +that the guerrillas had been aroused, and then the cheers of his men +told Lawrence the enemy were retreating. Jerry had failed to draw the +Federals into his trap, but he had saved his gang, for night was now +near at hand and it would have been madness for Lawrence to continue the +pursuit in the darkness. + +Lawrence went into camp near a farmhouse, where he noticed there was +plenty of provender for the horses. + +The house was tenanted by a woman and three children. At the sight of +the Yankees the children shrieked in terror and ran cowering behind +their mother, who tried to preserve a brave front, but could not conceal +her fears. + +By questioning, Lawrence became convinced her husband was one of Jerry's +band, but he quieted her fears by saying, "There is no reason for you to +be alarmed. Your house will not be disturbed. I will see that no soldier +enters it. What feed the horses need I will take. I also see some fat +pigs. I shall let my men kill one. Some sweet potatoes may be dug and a +few chickens killed, but nothing will be taken that we do not actually +need, and nothing will be destroyed. But for all I know we may be +attacked. My advice is to go into the house, bar the door and keep +quiet." + +Lawrence had had two men wounded in the _mêlée_ and they were as +tenderly cared for as possible. + +The men were soon busy preparing supper, and chicken, fresh pork and +sweet potatoes added to their rations, made, as they thought, a banquet +fit for a king. All were in the highest spirits as they discussed the +incidents of the day. + +"I tell you," said one, "that young Captain of ours is a good one. Not +many would have discovered that ambuscade, and we would have ridden +plumb into it." + +In this they were all agreed, and when they saw the preparations that +Lawrence made to guard against a surprise at night they became +convinced, more than ever, that their Captain was all right. + +As for the guerrillas, they felt when night came that they were safe; +but Red Jerry was wild with rage. As soon as he became convinced that +the pursuit was over he called a halt. If he wished, he could have been +miles away by morning, and out of all danger, but he did not wish. He +was burning for revenge. He detailed two of his best men to go back and +find where the Yankees camped and then report as soon as possible. +Runners were also sent out through the country to bring in all the men +they could. By morning he believed he could rally at least a hundred +men. + +"They have not over fifty," said Jerry, as he discussed the matter with +his officers. "If we can't whip them we had better go out of business. I +will have revenge or die in the attempt. We will wait until Carter and +Holmes report, then lay our plans." + +Lawrence, like Jerry, was not satisfied with what had been done. After +supper, when the men sat around discussing the results of the day, he +said nothing, but sat buried in thought. + +"Why so glum, Captain?" asked Dan. "Has anything gone wrong?" + +"Yes," replied Lawrence. "We have just scorched the guerrillas instead +of capturing or dispersing them, and by morning they will be miles away. +I look upon our expedition as a failure." + +"Pardon me, Captain," spoke up Harry, "but I believe you are mistaken +when you say the guerrillas will be miles away in the morning. Instead, +I look for an attack tonight or in the morning." + +"What makes you think so?" asked Lawrence. + +"In the first place, from what you tell me of Red Jerry, I do not think +he is a man that will run away so easily. Then through that open country +he had a good opportunity to ascertain our strength. He knows as well as +you that we do not number over fifty. I took care to estimate his +strength and he has about eighty. By morning he will have a hundred. +Instead of running away, I am confident he is not over three miles from +us, laying plans as to how he can get his revenge." + +"Do you really think so, Harry?" asked Lawrence, rising. + +"I not only think so, but I am going to know so." + +"But how?" + +"By going to see. By tracking them to their lair." + +"How many men will you need to go with you?" asked Lawrence. + +"I want Jack only. Bruno, of course, will be one of the party. More +would be in the way. Come on, Jack." + +"Aren't you going to take your horses?" cried Lawrence, seeing they were +making preparation to start away on foot. + +"Horses are no use on this scout. I hope to sneak up on them." + +"Harry, I hate to see you go," said Lawrence, with feeling. + +"Poof! I have had many a more dangerous job than this, but if we are not +back by midnight, you may know something has happened. Come on, Jack." + +The two boys and the dog were quickly swallowed up in the darkness. The +men watched them as they went, and shook their heads. "Cap oughtn't to +have let them go," said one. + +"Don't worry," said Dan. "The boys can take care of themselves, and they +have Bruno." + +It was well they had Bruno, for after going a mile the dog turned up a +road that crossed the one they were on. "We would have gone right on," +said Harry. "It's funny how much more a dog knows about some things than +a man." + +After following the cross-road a space they saw the dim lights of a +house ahead. They also became aware there were dogs on the place. Bruno +began to bristle up. + +"Quiet, old boy, no fuss," said Harry. + +Bruno obeyed and walked meekly by his side. + +But the dogs of the house barked so furiously that two men came out. +Harry and Jack sought shelter in a clump of bushes by the roadside. It +was starlight and objects could be distinguished some distance away. The +dogs began leading the men directly to where Harry and Jack lay. With +revolvers in their hands, the boys waited. They knew a shot might +destroy the object of their scout, but saw no way out of it. Just at +this moment a rabbit scurried across the road, and the dogs, with yelps +of delight, took after it. + +"Them blame dawgs," growled one of the men, "to make all that fuss over +a rabbit. But, Hicks, we 'uns might as well git our hosses an' be +goin'." + +Just then two horsemen came galloping down the road. They halted at the +sight of the two men and one cried, "Why, Sloan and Hicks, what's up? +Why aren't you with Red Jerry?" + +"Jes' goin' to start," said Sloan. "Whar hev' yo' uns been?" + +"Watching the Yanks. We're on our way to report to Jerry. Hicks, the +Yanks are camped on your place." + +"What's that? The Yanks camped on my place!" cried Hicks. + +"Sure. Reckon you'll be short on fodder and pork and sweet 'taters by +morning." + +"The ole woman and children?" gasped Hicks. + +"Reckon they're all right, seeing their natural protector is not at +home. The Yanks won't hurt them. Git your hosses and come on. We've been +gone too long now. Jerry will give us the devil for not reporting +before." + +As he was speaking horsemen were heard approaching from the other +direction, and in a moment Jerry and Billy rode up. + +"Is that you, Stevens?" Jerry demanded angrily. + +"Yes," was the hesitating reply. + +"I have a notion to have you cashiered for dawdling along the road. You +know everything depends on your report. I've been waiting an hour." + +Stevens was Jerry's lieutenant and he did not relish the idea of losing +his office. + +"Captain, I came as quickly as I could," he responded meekly. "You told +us to make a thorough examination, and that took time. I arrived here +just a moment ago. Sloan halted me, saying his dogs were making a fuss. +Then he asked us to wait a minute; saying they would get their hosses +and come with us." + +"Well, what did you find?" + +"The Yanks have gone into camp on Hicks' farm. They seem to be making +free with Hicks' fodder, pigs and 'taters (here Hicks was heard to +groan), and it looks as if they intended to stay all night." + +"What do you say, Billy? Shall we attack them there?" asked Jerry. + +"Stevens saw how they were situated. Let's hear what he thinks." + +"We might whip them, but it would be a costly job," answered Stevens. +"We had a taste of how they can fight this afternoon. My advice is to +let them alone tonight and they will think we have run entirely away. +When they are not attacked nor hear anything from us, they will move out +kind of careless." + +"Then your idea is to attack them in the morning?" asked Jerry. + +"Yes, and I know a capital place. It is where this road crosses the main +road. This side of the main road is covered with bushes for about two +hundred yards, then come clear fields. Along the edge of the fields the +ground descends this way. We can leave our horses in the field, the men +hide in the brush along the road, and when they come along we can +annihilate them with one volley." + +"What do you think of the plan, Billy?" asked Jerry. + +"It's all right. If it works well we ought to finish them without the +loss of a man. Even if they discover us, we will have the advantage of +position, and we have two men to their one. If we cannot whip them I +shall lose my confidence in you as a fighter." + +"Well said, Billy. Tomorrow morning it is. I will never rest until I +leave the body of Lawrence Middleton swinging on a tree." + +Then turning to his lieutenant, Jerry said, "As you know the ground, +Stevens, I will leave the details to you. See the troop is on the ground +by daylight. Mind you don't fail me." + +Thus speaking, Jerry and Billy rode back and in a few moments were +followed by the other four. + +As soon as the sound of their horses' hoofs died away, Harry drew a long +breath. "I say, Jack," he exclaimed, "this is a cinch. Got all we want +without half trying. Now to camp as quick as we can." + +They started back on the run, but Bruno soon gave notice of danger and +they hid while four men passed them. + +"Recruits for Jerry," said Harry. "He may have two hundred men by +morning." + +When they came to the main road both were breathing heavily from their +run. + +"Let's stop here a moment," panted Harry. "Here is where they propose to +ambush us, and a jolly good place it is for the job. But let's hurry on. +Cap can't learn of this too quick." + +Again they started on the run, and did not stop until they were halted +by the picket guarding the road. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +LIVE--I CANNOT SHOOT YOU + + +"Back so soon!" cried Lawrence, grasping Harry's hand, as he came up. +"Thank God you are back safe!" + +"Never had an easier job, did we, Jack?" laughed Harry. "Even Bruno is +ashamed of himself, it was so easy." + +"And you found out what you were after?" + +"Yes," and Harry told his story. + +Lawrence and Dan listened in silence. "What do you think, Dan?" asked +Lawrence. + +"I reckon it's fight or run. When Jerry finds he cannot surprise us, he +will attack us openly." + +"I don't feel like running," said Lawrence. + +"Well, I don't feel inclined that way myself," said Dan, resorting to +his tobacco box. + +"Why can't we occupy that ambush ourselves?" spoke up Harry, "and let +Jerry be the one to be surprised." + +"Didn't Jerry leave men on guard?" asked Lawrence, eagerly. + +"No, but he may send guards there. If we think of occupying that ground +it must be done at once." + +The proposition was eagerly discussed, but there were obstacles in the +way. Not only were there their own two wounded men, but they had picked +up and were caring for six wounded guerrillas. After a short discussion +it was decided to leave the camp in charge of ten men. If they were +attacked they were to take refuge in a log barn, and defend it until the +rest of the troop could come to their rescue. + +Dan, much to his chagrin, was left in charge of the camp. "It's no use +kicking, Dan," said Lawrence. "I cannot risk going unless you stay, and +the boys left here would rebel if you did not stay." So Dan had to +remain, much as he wished a hand in the fray. + +The ten men to remain were chosen, and the rest of the troop told to get +ready to move. "Be as quiet as possible," said Lawrence. "We have not +far to go; walk your horses, don't talk, and above all things, don't +allow your arms to rattle." + +As silent as specters of the night the troop moved away, Harry, Jack, +and Bruno in advance to see if the coast was still clear. They reached +the cross roads without either seeing or hearing anything of the enemy. + +"It's all right, Captain, so far," whispered Harry, as the head of the +troop came up, "but we must get into position as soon as possible, for +there is no knowing how soon some of the guerrillas may make their +appearance." + +A hasty examination showed the position all that could be wished. The +troop rode up the cross road until the bushes were cleared, and then +filed into the open field. Here the men dismounted, and the horses were +led back into the brush, where they could easily be concealed. The men +then were placed in single line in the edge of the brush facing the open +field. A slight ridge in front protected them from observation. + +Thus the preparations of Lawrence were exactly the reverse of what Jerry +had planned. In an incredibly short time the troop was in position. + +"Now," said Harry, "Jack and I will hide in the brush close to where the +roads cross. If guards are sent there is where they will be stationed, +and I want to be close enough to hear what they say." + +Order was given to maintain a strict silence and to molest no one +passing along either road. + +It was well that all the preparations had been made expeditiously, for +hardly had Harry and Jack taken their position when horsemen were heard +approaching down the cross road, and soon the shadowy forms of four men +appeared. + +They halted where the roads crossed and one said, "The orders are that +Brown and I stay here while Hayden, you and Singleton are to ride +towards the Yankee camp until you reach the rise where you can look down +the road to the camp. Don't go any nearer, for we don't want them to +know we are within forty miles of them. If the Yanks show signs of +moving, report immediately. Better have Singleton report every hour, +anyway." + +"All right, Sergeant," replied Hayden. "You may be sure Singleton and I +will keep our eyes open." And they rode away. + +The men left fell to talking. + +"Mighty quiet," said one. + +"Yes, but if everything goes right it won't be so quiet when the Yanks +move. Why, if the Yanks ride into the trap, we ought to kill every last +son of them at the first fire." + +Harry and Jack lay chuckling as they listened. + +In about an hour the man called Singleton came riding back. "The Yanks +are there yet," he reported, "but they are keeping mighty quiet. There's +a dim fire burning and we can catch the shadow of one once in a while. + +"That's where Jerry wants them to stay. He was afraid they might take a +notion to light out during the night." + +Singleton rode back and again all was quiet. The Federals lay sleeping, +their guns in their hands and revolvers by their sides. It would take +but a word to bring them to attention. + +About four o'clock the trampling of horses told the guerrillas were +coming. In a whisper the word was passed and in an instant every man was +alert. But the guerrillas halted some distance from the main road and +only three rode forward. They were Jerry, Stevens and Billy. + +"How is it, Sergeant?" asked Jerry as they came up. + +"As quiet as a churchyard. Hayden and Singleton are down the road +watching if the Yanks move. I have Singleton report every hour. There he +comes now." + +Singleton rode up. "The Yanks are beginning to stir," he reported. "They +are building fires, no doubt to make coffee. It makes my mouth water to +think of coffee." + +"You men will have coffee enough before long, but there'll be a lot of +blood spilling first," said Jerry. + +"Sergeant, what time was it when you reached this post?" he asked +suddenly. + +"I should say somewhere near midnight," answered the Sergeant. + +"Then the Yankees could have moved before you got here. Stevens, I +thought I told you to have this cross-roads guarded and the Yankee camp +watched as soon as we decided to attack. Slow, as usual. If this thing +goes wrong, you pay for it." + +"You know, Captain, it was eleven o'clock before I received orders to +post the guard," said Stevens uneasily. + +"Well, we have no time to lose now. Go back, have the force moved into +the field and see that instructions are carried out to the letter. +Sergeant, you call in your men and join the force." + +While these orders were being carried out Jerry and Billy lingered a +minute looking over the field. "Couldn't be a better place for an +ambuscade," said Jerry. "If the Yanks ride into it, not a man will come +out alive." + +"Hark!" suddenly exclaimed Billy. + +"What is it?" asked Jerry, startled. + +"I thought a heard a horse stamping." + +"It's Hayden and Singleton coming in from guard." + +"No, it was over there to the left, in the bushes. I'm sure I heard it." + +Both gazed anxiously into the bushes, as if to pierce the secret they +contained. + +Harry's heart stood still; was the ambuscade to be discovered at the +last minute? But the wind had risen, and nothing was heard but the +rustling of the leaves. + +"I reckon you must have been mistaken," said Jerry. + +"Perhaps," replied Billy, with a sigh. "Jerry, I don't know why, but I +feel as if everything is not right. You have told me so much about this +Lawrence Middleton that I am afraid." + +"Afraid of what?" + +"I don't know. What if he should discover this ambuscade?" + +"I will fight him anyway. I now have over a hundred men and he has less +than fifty. It will mean some loss to us, but we will have no trouble in +beating him." + +By this time Hayden and Singleton came up. They reported the Yankees +were still in camp, but showed signs of moving. + +"We have no time to lose then," said Jerry. + +The gray dawn was just breaking in the east when the guerrillas filed +into the field and formed their line. + +"Move forward!" ordered Jerry, "until you nearly reach the crest of the +ridge, then halt and dismount, leaving the horses in charge of every +fourth man. The rest of you advance through the brush until you nearly +reach the road. Be sure you are well concealed. When the enemy comes +along take good aim at the man directly in front of you, and at the +command, fire. Let not a shot be fired until the command is given. Give +no quarter. Shoot the wounded as you come to them. But if you can +capture the Yankee captain alive do so. I will have my reckoning with +him afterwards. And it will be a reckoning that will make the devil +laugh." + +Every word of this was heard by Lawrence and his men, and the men fairly +gnashed their teeth as they listened. It boded no good to the guerrillas +that fell into their hands. + +The guerrillas moved forward until about seventy-five paces from the +waiting Federals. The order was given them to dismount, and the men not +holding the horses moved forward and formed into line. + +Lawrence was going to wait until they were over the ridge, but before he +gave the order to advance, Lieutenant Stevens walked towards the bushes +as if to reconnoiter, and a few more steps would have taken him into the +midst of the Federals. + +"Fire!" cried Lawrence. + +The men sprang to their feet and poured in a crashing volley. Then with +a wild cheer, without waiting for orders, they sprang forward, revolvers +in hand, and sent a leaden hail into the demoralized mass. The effect +was awful; men and horses went down. Never was surprise more complete. + +From out the struggling mass came the groans of the dying and the +shrieks of the wounded and terror-stricken. Horses reared and plunged, +trampling on the dead and living. + +Many fled on foot across the fields, others mounting in wild haste +spurred their horses. But one thought filled the minds of all--to get +away from that awful place. + +Lawrence had given orders for the men holding the horses to rush forward +at the first volley, so his men were almost as quickly mounted as the +guerrillas. + +In vain did Jerry and Billy try to stem the tide and rally the men. They +were forced to join in the flight. + +It now became a matter of single combat. Each trooper selected his +victim and pursued him until he surrendered, or was shot down fighting. +Those who had fled on foot were first overtaken and then those who had +the poorest mounts. + +Lawrence passed several, but he gave them no heed. He had but one +thought, to find Jerry Alcorn. At last he saw him mounted on his +magnificent gray horse. He was shouting to the men to take to the +woods--to abandon their horses--to save themselves if possible. + +Lawrence bore down upon him. Jerry saw him coming, and with a roar like +a cornered beast, turned to face him. He raised his revolver to fire, +but Lawrence was first and the revolver dropped. He was shot in the arm. +Defenceless, he wheeled his horse to fly. Again Lawrence fired. Jerry +reeled in his saddle, but gathered himself together and urged his horse +to greater speed. Close after him came Lawrence. + +The chase was a wild one, continued for more than a mile. Lawrence had +now drawn his sword and a few bounds of his horse took him to Jerry's +side. "Surrender!" he cried with uplifted sword. "Surrender or die!" + +Jerry turned to him, his face distorted with rage and fear. Blood was +dripping from his right hand. He had dropped the reins and was +struggling to draw a revolver from his right holster with his left hand. + +"Surrender or I strike!" cried Lawrence, but before the blow could +descend he felt a sharp sting in the side and his horse plunged forward +and fell. Hardly had Lawrence touched the ground when he heard a voice +hiss, "Turn, so you may see who sends you to hell." + +As if impelled by the voice, Lawrence turned his head and looked into +the blazing eyes of Billy. Her face was distorted with rage and hate. +Her horse stood almost over Lawrence and her revolver was pointed at his +breast. + +[Illustration: Her revolver was pointed at his breast.] + +But no sooner did her eyes meet Lawrence's than she gave a start of +surprise. A change came over her face and her hand trembled. The muzzle +of the revolver sank, was raised, but once more was lowered. + +"You--you," she whispered hoarsely. "Oh, God! How can I take your life. +You tried to save my father. You pitied me. You--" A softer expression +came over her face. She seemed to forget where she was and she +whispered, "Then--then I was a girl, an innocent girl, but now--" her +voice rose to a shriek. "Now I am a devil; but live; I cannot shoot." + +The sound of galloping horses was heard and shouts. Lawrence looked and +saw Harry and Jack almost onto them, their revolvers levelled on Billy. + +"Great God! don't shoot!" he shouted; and to Billy, "Fly! Fly." + +She sank her spurs into her horse and bending low over his neck was away +like an arrow, but no avenging bullet followed her. + +In a moment Harry and Jack were at Lawrence's side and helped him to his +feet. "Captain, you're wounded," cried Harry. "Your side is all bloody." +He tore away the coat and shirt. + +"Thank Heaven, it's not deep," he exclaimed, "but bleeds freely. How did +it happen?" + +"I was about to cut down Red Jerry when I received this wound from +behind. The same shot must have struck my horse in the back of the head, +for he went down like a log." + +"And the guerrilla who shot you was the same you told us not to shoot?" + +"Yes. She was a woman and she spared my life. I will tell you all about +it, but not now." + +It was noon before all the men returned from pursuing the guerrillas. Of +the band not more than thirty escaped, and most of these by taking to +the woods. + +When Lawrence gathered his little troop together he found that three had +been killed and six wounded, three of them grievously. Of the +guerrillas, twenty-five had been slain outright, as many badly wounded, +and twenty prisoners had been taken. + +Some of the men were for shooting the prisoners. "Red Jerry would not +have spared us," they exclaimed. + +Lawrence immediately put an end to such talk. "If any of the men have +committed crimes that merit death," he said, "they should be convicted +by a court-martial. No soldier has a right to put a defenceless man to +death for revenge. Barbarity begets barbarity, while mercy appeals to +the hearts of the most depraved." + +He then told them how his life had been spared by the dreaded wife of +Red Jerry. + +There was no more talk of shooting the prisoners, and Lawrence noticed +that not one of them was insulted or treated brutally. + +The Federals remained on the battlefield for three days, caring for the +wounded, and Lawrence had it given out that anyone who cared might come +to claim the dead or carry away the badly wounded without being +molested. The news spread and soon the camp was filled with weeping +women and wailing children. Even some men came when they found they +could do so safely. From the number of dead and wounded claimed, +Lawrence thought Jerry's band must have been made up principally from +the neighborhood. + +At the end of three days Lawrence began his return march. A couple of +farm wagons were pressed into service to convey the wounded. With the +slightly wounded who were able to travel he took back with him thirty +prisoners and fifty-five horses. + +Great was the rejoicing when Rolla was reached, and the success of the +expedition became known. Lawrence received a congratulatory message from +General Schofield, highly praising him. But there was one Federal +officer who did not congratulate Lawrence. Captain Dunlay felt too +mortified over his own failure. + +Red Jerry still lived. Lawrence had wounded him not only in the arm, but +in the thigh. Secreted in the fastnesses of the hills, and tenderly +cared for by his wife, he nursed his wounds and thirsted for revenge. +Terrible were his imprecations against Lawrence and terrible would be +his revenge if ever he got him in his power. + +It was fated that he and Lawrence should never meet again. Jerry lived +to organize another band and he became even more merciless than ever, +and by his side rode his wife, as merciless as he. But there was one +secret she never told her husband--that was, that she had spared the +life of Lawrence Middleton. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +MARK HAS A RIVAL + + +It was in September when Mark returned from his last trip. He was so +thin and pale that Mr. Chittenden insisted on his taking a few weeks of +absolute rest. These weeks were the happiest, as well as the most +miserable, that Mark had ever spent. Happy because he was thrown +continually in the company of Grace, miserable because he felt a great +love springing up in his heart which must never be spoken. + +A thousand times he resolved to flee. It would be so easy for him to go +on one of his secret missions and never return. But he kept putting off +the evil day; it was so near heaven to be near her, to see her every +day. He believed he would be content if he could only live as he was +always. In his imagination he had invested Grace with more than human +attributes, and worshipped her from afar, as he would some angelic +being. + +Did Grace know the feeling Mark Grafton had for her? The eyes often +speak more eloquently than words, and Mark's eyes told her the story of +his devotion a hundred times a day. But this knowledge, instead of +drawing Grace to him, piqued her. If he loved her why did he remain +silent? In all the books she had read, lovers were not backward in +telling of their love. But after all, she was glad he was silent, for +she was doubtful of her father's approval, and there was that mystery +that hung over him, a mystery she had not solved as yet. + +"Mark, you are deceiving us," she said boldly one day. "You are not what +you pretend to be." + +Mark started, but soon recovered his composure. "What makes you think +so, Grace?" he asked quietly. + +"Because you have represented yourself as a poor, friendless, private +soldier. Now, I know you were raised a gentleman. You need not deny it." + +"Is that all? I thought--" he stopped. + +"Thought what?" asked Grace. + +"Nothing, only I am sorry you have such a poor opinion of me, Grace. In +saying I am poor and friendless I have not deceived you. I am as poor +and as friendless as I have represented." + +"But in other things you are silent. You have never told me a word of +yourself, of your early life. You only say you are an orphan. Mark, you +are not what you pretend. You are holding back something, and I don't +like it. Mark, what is it? You can surely trust me as you would a +sister." + +A look of pain came over Mark's face. "Grace, don't think evil of me," +he faltered. "Think of me as a friend, a friend who would willingly die +for you, but never anything more than a friend." + +He turned away and left her confused, confounded. She saw that he was +suffering, but she was angry. He had refused to confide in her. He had +even hinted she might think more of him than was wise. + +That night as she lay in bed thinking of what he had said, tears of hot +anger filled her eyes, "Would die for me," she whispered, "but would +never be more than a friend. Who asked him to be more? He is nothing but +a presumptuous boy and should be punished." For the next two or three +days she was decidedly cool to Mark. + +By the first of November Mark felt he had fully recovered his health, +and except for his arm he was as well as he ever would be. He told Mr. +Chittenden so, and that it was not right for him to stay longer. But Mr. +Chittenden asked him not to go, as he had some work he could help him +in. He had orders to gather all the provisions and forage possible. A +train was coming from Arkansas to get it. Then, some time in the month, +a body of recruits from the northern part of the State were expected. +Supplies must be gathered for them. + +Mark promised to stay, but the change in Grace cut him to the heart. He +thought she was angry because he had refused to tell her his secret. +Little did he think he had uttered words which cut more deeply. + +It was hard for Grace to think the cause of Mark's reticence was that he +had fled for committing some criminal act, but what else could it be? +She resolved more firmly than ever to discover his secret. + +It is not to be supposed that such a girl as Grace had lived to be +nineteen years of age without admirers. There was not a young man in the +Ozarks but what would have been her slave if she had given him the least +encouragement, but she was such a lady, so far above them, that they +were content to worship from afar. They well knew they could be no mate +for her. But there was one exception, a young man called Thomas Hobson, +known as Big Tom. + +Big Tom was a splendid specimen of the human animal, tall, broad +shouldered, thick chested, and he had the strength of a giant. If the +world had been looking for a perfect physical specimen of man it would +have found it in Big Tom. There was also an animal beauty about him that +captivated and charmed. + +His magnificent body was all he had to recommend him. He was a bully by +nature, and used his great strength by imposing on others. He was +inordinately vain and conceited, and was continually boasting of his +prowess. He was thought brave, for no man in the Ozarks dared to stand +up against him in a fight, but at heart he was a coward. + +During the first year of the war he was active in driving out and +maltreating Union men. Living quite a distance from Mr. Chittenden, he +had never seen Grace until the time she went to the rescue of Mr. +Osborne. He was one of the hanging party. When Grace so unexpectedly +appeared on the scene, her excitement and fierce wrath only heightened +her beauty, and Tom gazed at her in admiration. He had been one of the +most violent in demanding the death of Mr. Osborne, but now he suddenly +changed sides and demanded that he be let go. + +Much to Grace's disgust he persisted in paying her attention, and at +length proposed. Much to his surprise he was not only refused but +refused with scorn and contempt. This aroused every evil passion of his +nature. + +"You will regret this, Grace Chittenden," he cried furiously. "I 'spose +you reckon you be too good for me, but I will give you to understand +that there is not a gal in the Ozarks, except you, but would jump at the +chance to be my wife." + +"Go and make one of them jump, then. I want none of you," replied Grace +sarcastically, as she slammed the door in his face, leaving him swearing +and cursing. + +When Mr. Chittenden was informed of what had occurred he sent word to +Tom never to set foot on his premises again. + +Mr. Chittenden was too big a man for even Tom to defy. But the affair +got out and Tom, when he was not present, became the butt of the county +over his presumption in aspiring to the daughter of Judge Chittenden. +Tom knew of the merriment it caused and his pride was so hurt that he +disappeared and was not heard of for over a year. In the fall of 1862 he +suddenly appeared in the Ozarks at the head of a band of guerrillas. + +The band numbered about fifteen, and he concluded that with this force +he would show Judge Chittenden that he was not afraid of him, and that +he was as big a man as he was. Therefore, he rode boldly up to the +house. He was mounted on a magnificent horse, an immense plume floated +from his hat, and he was decked out in all the grandeur of a bandit +chief. + +Mr. Chittenden was surprised, but concluded that under the circumstances +it was policy to treat him with courtesy. Tom had learned to be polite. +He did not mention past differences, or ask to see Grace. He had much to +say of his prowess in the field, and of the number of Yankees he had +killed, and boasted he held a commission as captain signed by General +Price. The main object of his visit seemed to be to impress on the Judge +his importance. When he learned Mr. Chittenden was engaged in gathering +supplies for the Confederate army he proffered his services to help, +which the Judge thought best to accept. + +He became quite a frequent caller at the house, and as he did not force +his attentions on Grace, she thought it best to do nothing to anger him, +but saw as little of him as possible. + +"Who is this fellow hanging around here?" asked Tom one day of Mr. +Chittenden. + +"Do you mean Mark Grafton? He is a Confederate soldier who was cruelly +wounded at Pea Ridge, and found his way here. Since then he has rendered +valuable services as a courier." + +Tom did not rest until he had learned all about Mark that he could, and +then growled: "A likely story. He never saw Pea Ridge; he was shot in +some brawl. He is simply hanging around here to try and work his way +into the good graces of your daughter. Look out for him. I have been +watching the fellow; he is a sneak." + +"Please keep my daughter's name out of your conversation," replied Mr. +Chittenden, angrily, "or you and I will have a settlement. As for Mark, +he can take care of himself, and if you know when you are well off you +won't pick a quarrel with him." + +"What! I skeered of that chap! Why, I could crush him with one finger. +But no offence, Mr. Chittenden, only you will find I am right." + +From that time on Tom became insanely jealous of Mark. What Tom was +saying came to the ears of Mark, and a look came into his face which +boded no good to Tom. + +One day Mark met Tom alone, and as he was about to pass him with a +scowling face and no recognition, Mark hailed him with, "Hold on, +Hobson, a word with you." + +With a growl Tom wheeled his horse and as he did so his hand went to his +revolver. + +"Hands up! None of that!" And Tom saw Mark had him covered. He also saw +a look in his eyes that made him tremble. Death lurked there. + +"Tom Hobson, it's time you and I had a reckoning," said Mark. "I hear +you have been calling me a sneak and an impostor, but for that I care +nothing. I hear you have been linking my name with that of Miss +Chittenden. Now, I give you fair warning, if I ever hear of you taking +the name of that young lady on your foul lips I will shoot you like a +dog." + +"So it's all settled between yo' uns?" Tom managed to stammer. "Beg +pardon, didn't know it had went that far." Looking into the muzzle of a +revolver made Tom very humble. + +"Fool!" answered Mark. "Grace Chittenden is not for such as either you +or me. Neither of us is worthy to kiss the ground on which she walks. +Now ride away and don't look back. If you do you get a bullet." + +Tom meekly did as he was bid, but in his heart there raged the passions +of a demon, and he swore Mark Grafton should die. + +But what did Mark mean by saying Grace was for neither of them? Tom +pondered the question long. Light broke in upon him. It must mean that +Mark had proposed and been refused, and being jealous of him had taken +this way to scare him away. Perhaps Grace had been captivated by his +fine appearance after all, and was only waiting for him to propose. + +Again was his vanity in the ascendency, and he resolved to propose at +the first opportunity. It came quicker than he had thought for. Near Mr. +Chittenden's house was a shady nook that overlooked the La Belle. It was +where the little river dashed and foamed and smote the rocks that would +bar its passage. Here Grace loved to sit and watch the conflict, and +here she was when Tom Hobson rode by. His heart gave a great bound, for +it was the first opportunity he had had of seeing and speaking to her +alone. + +Reining in his horse, he dismounted, and making what he thought a most +courtly bow, he bade her good evening. + +Grace arose, an angry flush on her face, and barely acknowledging his +greeting, turned to go. + +Stepping in front of her he said, "Please don't go. I have been wanting +to speak to yo' un ever since I returned. Yo' un know what I told yo' un +when I went away. I'm of the same mind still, though I do be a capting +now, and expect to be a kernel befo' the war is over." + +"Out of my way," exclaimed Grace, white with rage and trying to push +past him. + +He caught her by the shoulder, "I reckon yo' un think that sneak of a +Mark Grafton loves yo' un, but he don't. He told me so," sneered Tom. + +"You lie. Mark Grafton is a soldier and a gentleman and you are a +coward. Out of my way." + +Her hand sought the bosom of her dress, but Tom did not notice. He was +white with rage. + +"I'll hev' yo' un yet," he shouted. "All hell can't keep me from heven +yo'." He attempted to take her in his arms. + +He drew back amazed. For the second time that afternoon he was looking +into the muzzle of a revolver, and the hand that held that revolver was +as firm and steady as the one that held the first. + +[Illustration: He was looking into the muzzle of a revolver.] + +"Mr. Hobson," said Grace, without a tremor in her voice, "if you do not +mount your horse and ride away before I count ten I shall kill you. One, +two--" + +But Tom did not wait for her to finish; he sprang on his horse and +dashed away cursing. + +About an hour later, as Mark was returning home, there came the report +of a rifle from a hillside and a ball tore away the crown of his hat. +All he could see was a little cloud of smoke on the mountain. Putting +spurs to his horse he was soon out of danger. + +When he reached the house he found Mr. Chittenden in a towering passion. +He had just returned, and Grace was telling him of her encounter with +Big Tom. + +"The wretch is too vile to live," he swore. "I will hunt him to earth, +if it takes me a year." + +"I am with you," said Mark, showing his hat. "I got that only a few +moments ago, so you see I have an account to settle with him, too." + +"Why should he shoot at you?" asked Mr. Chittenden, in astonishment. + +"You must ask him," answered Mark, carelessly, but as he said it he +glanced at Grace. Her face was crimson, and then grew very pale. Had Big +Tom told the truth? Had Mark been talking about her to him? + +That night it was agreed that the next day a posse should be organized +and Big Tom run down, but when morning came it was found Big Tom and his +gang had fled during the night. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +CAPTURING A TRAIN + + +It took Lawrence some little time to reorganize his troop, and to fill +the places of those who fell in the fight with Red Jerry. + +At last all was ready and the start was made. To reach General Blunt by +the circuitous route he intended to take would mean a journey of nearly +four hundred miles, much of the way through a country not occupied by +Federal troops. The guerrilla bands infesting this country were small, +however, and he considered that with his fifty men he would be able to +cope with any force he might meet. + +For subsistence he would have to depend on the country through which he +passed. He knew it was sparsely settled, but as his force was small, and +the corn crop had ripened, he believed neither his men nor horses would +suffer for food. + +To Lawrence the mountain scenery was a continual source of delight. It +was November, and the leaves of the forest covering the mountain sides +and crowning their summits had been touched by the frost, and painted in +all colors of the rainbow. It was a magnificent panorama and on so +tremendous a scale that all the works of man seemed as nothing in +comparison. + +Occasionally a small band of guerrillas was seen, but at sight of the +Federals they scurried into the hills and were soon lost to view. Only +one band attempted to show fight and they were quickly routed with one +killed and two wounded, left on the field. One of these stated that the +band was commanded by a man called Big Tom, who was wounded early in the +action, how badly he did not know.[16] + +[Footnote 16: This wound prevented Big Tom for some months from carrying +out his contemplated revenge against the Chittendens.] + +One day Lawrence stood on a hill overlooking the valley of La Belle. He +thought he had never gazed on so lovely a scene, and he wondered who it +was who had made his home in that peaceful valley. That it was a home of +refinement and luxury was apparent. + +As he was looking, to his astonishment, what seemed to be an army came +pouring into the valley from the north. It was a motley army, without +uniforms, without banners and many without arms. Accompanying the army +was a long train composed of every kind of vehicle, from carriages to +farm wagons. There was no order in the march, everyone seemed to be +traveling as pleased him best. + +For a moment Lawrence wondered what it could mean, and then he knew. He +had stumbled on the secret route through the Ozarks through which +recruits for the South passed. Before Lawrence started on his raid it +had been known for some time that numerous small bodies of guerrillas +had been gathering, and were making their way to some secret rendezvous, +from which they were to start to join Porter in Arkansas. + +"How many do you suppose there are?" asked Lawrence of Dan. + +"About four or five hundred, I should say." + +"Do you think we can handle them?" + +"Don't see any reason why we can't," drawled Dan. "Reckon half of them +will die of fright when they see us." + +Arrangements were quickly made. They were to make a sudden dash and ride +the full length of the line, ordering those who had arms to give them +up. + +Riding into the valley the troop, whooping and yelling like mad men, +suddenly dashed upon the unsuspecting recruits. If an army had fallen +from the sky they could not have been more astonished. Consternation +seized them, and many, leaving everything, fled for the hills, but the +greater part of them surrendered, begging for mercy. Not a shot was +fired. It was a bloodless victory. + +The prisoners were gathered together; they numbered nearly four hundred. +Being deprived of all arms, they were powerless. What to do with them +was the question. + +"The only thing we can do," said Lawrence, "is to parole them." + +"And they will keep their parole just as long as we are in sight and no +longer," growled Dan. + +"Can't help it. It's the only thing we can do." + +The train was now thoroughly searched and many of the wagons were found +to contain cloth, boots and shoes, and a goodly quantity of powder and +shot. All such articles were destroyed and the wagons burnt. The +prisoners looked on sullenly. + +Lawrence noticed there was a scarcity of provisions, and inquired what +it meant. One of the prisoners told him they were suffering from hunger, +but had been told they would find plenty of food here in the valley of +the La Belle. "We 'uns be jes' starvin'," said the prisoner. + +"I will see what I can do," said Lawrence. "If there is food here you +will surely get it." + +About this time Mr. Chittenden appeared. There had been great excitement +at the house when it was known that the Yankees were in the valley and +had succeeded in capturing the train. Mr. Chittenden feared that if it +became known that he had gathered supplies for the South, not only would +he be arrested, but his home and buildings burned. + +"I reckon," he said to Grace, "that I will ride down and see what force +it is, and who is in command." + +"Don't go, father," begged Grace. "You know what you have been doing." + +"It is best, Grace. They may not find it out, and if they do, it won't +mend matters for me to stay here." + +"But, father, you can take to the hills until they are gone." + +"What! Leave you here unprotected? Never!" + +"Where is Mark?" asked Grace. "I have not seen him for three or four +days." + +"Gone off on some secret expedition. Said he might be gone several days. +Grace, I believe he is trailing Big Tom. He has an idea he will return +and wreak his vengeance on us." + +Grace turned pale. "What! Mark gone, all alone?" she asked. + +"Yes. Mark seems to prefer to go alone. I don't think we are in as much +danger from Big Tom as he thinks, but there is no telling. Some of these +guerrilla bands are nothing more or less than robbers, and they care +little whom they rob. But I must go now. Don't worry. I won't be long." + +Mr. Chittenden was gone some two hours, and when he returned he did not +seem in the best of spirits. Grace had been anxiously waiting his +return. + +"How is it, father?" she cried. "I thought I saw smoke." + +"Yes, they have burned a great deal of the train," answered Mr. +Chittenden, gloomily. "The worst part of it is, it is only a small +scouting party that has done the mischief--not over fifty men--and they +have captured four hundred prisoners without firing a gun." + +"That doesn't look as if one Southern man could whip ten Yankees," +replied Grace, with a twinkle in her eyes. + +"Grace, I believe you are glad that train was captured," said her +father, with more feeling than he had ever manifested toward her. + +"I surely am," replied Grace, undaunted. "You well know I am for the +Union." + +"Grace, beware! Don't trespass on my love for you too much. Perhaps you +will rejoice when I am arrested and dragged off to prison." + +"You arrested! You dragged off to prison! Father, what do you mean?" +gasped Grace, now thoroughly alarmed. + +"It means that your dear friends, the Yankees, have found out that I +have been gathering supplies for this train. The officer in command has +ordered me to turn over everything I have gathered, and threatened to +arrest me for being an agent of the South." + +"What will be done with all the food and forage you have gathered? Will +it be destroyed?" asked Grace. + +"No; not all of it, anyway. The captured men are without food and nearly +starving. They have been, or will be, paroled and turned back north. +They will be given the food for their return journey to Rolla, where +they have been ordered to report." + +"Why, father, that is grand. The very ones will get the food that you +have gathered it for. The officer in command must be a gentleman. What +is he like?" + +"He is young--not much more than a boy. He seems to know his business; +has perfect control over his men. Moreover, he has the appearance of a +gentleman. But you can see for yourself, Grace, for I have invited him +and his Lieutenant to take supper with us tonight. And--and, Grace, I +will not object to your making known your true sentiments. It may save +me from a Federal prison." + +"Father, if they arrest you, they will have to arrest me, too. I will be +the worst rebel in the State. But, father, they won't arrest you. What +have you done?" + +"What have I done, child? Has not this house been a rendezvous for those +passing to and fro between this State and Arkansas? Has not many a plot +been hatched right here? Grace, if everything were known, I should not +only be arrested, but this house would be burned and the valley rendered +desolate. I am afraid this young Captain knows more than he lets on. But +there he comes now, with a lot of wagons for the provisions." + +The next two hours were busy ones. A detail of prisoners, under guard, +was made to load the wagons, and a herd of beef cattle was driven down. +The prisoners feasted that night as they had not in many a day. In fact, +many of them were not sorry that they had been made prisoners. + +When Lawrence and Dan went to keep their engagement to dine with Mr. +Chittenden, they met with as cordial a reception as could be expected +under the circumstances. Mr. Chittenden was deeply chagrined over the +loss of the supplies he had gathered, but he concealed his +disappointment as much as possible. + +The meal was all that could be desired. Tilly had surpassed herself. To +cook for Yankees was to her a new experience. They were the men who were +to free her race, and she looked upon them as almost divine beings. + +Grace presided at the head of the table, and more than one glance did +Lawrence cast at the lovely girl. + +"You have a beautiful home here, Mr. Chittenden," said Lawrence. "I +almost envy you. In the spring and summer it must be as near Arcadia as +one gets in this world. The scenery is magnificent. I never saw a more +beautiful sight than the mountains, covered with their flaming foliage." + +"Yes, I like it," replied Mr. Chittenden. "I chanced on the valley many +years ago, while hunting, and resolved to make it my home. So wild and +unsettled was the country then, that for some years I had to get all my +supplies from St. Louis." + +"What a mercy it is that the ravages of war so far have left it almost +untouched," answered Lawrence. + +"You are the first Yankees who have favored us with a visit," replied +Mr. Chittenden, "and pardon me, but I trust you will be the last. But if +we are to be visited again, I hope it will be by your troop, Captain, +for, under the circumstances, you have been very kind. I hear fearful +stories of ravages committed in other parts of the State." + +"Missouri certainly has had her share of the war," replied Lawrence, +"but it is the guerrilla warfare that has caused it. I trust you have +seen little of it here. Are there many Union men residing among these +hills?" + +Mr. Chittenden hesitated, then replied: "We did have a few Union men in +these parts, but the sentiment was so strong against them that many of +them were forced to leave. I do not believe in guerrilla warfare, but am +powerless to prevent it." + +"From the train I captured," said Lawrence, "I would say you were not a +stranger to Confederate troops; in fact, I have learned that this valley +is a gateway between Missouri and Arkansas, and that many of the +guerrillas we drive out of the northern and central part of the State +pass through here, and no doubt many pass back the same way." + +Mr. Chittenden winced. "I cannot prevent Confederate troops passing +through here," he said, "any more than I can prevent you passing +through. I admit my heart is with the South, and I do what little I can +to help her; but I am sorry to say I have a traitor in my own +household--my daughter here." + +"What! Your daughter?" cried Lawrence, in surprise, and he looked at +Grace with renewed interest. + +"Yes, my daughter; she is heart and soul with you Yankees." + +Grace was covered with confusion, and started to rise and leave the +table. + +"Please don't go, Miss Chittenden," begged Lawrence. "Let me hear from +your lips that you love the flag of our common country." + +"I hate to differ with father," said Grace, "but I do love the flag. +Born and living here as free as the birds of the air, I learned to love +freedom. I think this is a wicked, wicked war, waged to perpetuate +slavery and to destroy the Union. Father and I don't quarrel. He says I +am a girl, and it does not matter much what I believe. That may be; but +there is one Union flag still cherished in the Ozarks," and as she said +it she put her hand in her bosom and drew forth the little flag she had +made in St. Louis. "There is not a day," she continued, "that I don't go +out and hold it aloft, that it may be kissed by the winds of heaven, and +I pray the day will soon come when it will wave over a reunited +country." + +Lawrence and Dan could hardly refrain from shouting aloud; even Mr. +Chittenden was surprised at the feeling Grace showed. + +"There, Grace, that will do," he said, crossly. "Don't make----" + +Lawrence stopped him. "Mr. Chittenden," he exclaimed, "I congratulate +you on having such a daughter, and you can be thankful that you have." + +"I do not see why," answered Mr. Chittenden; "but I am thankful that +Grace has until now kept her opinions to herself. It would be rather +awkward for me to have it generally known." + +Grace was excused, and the men, over their cigars, entered into a +general discussion of the war, and how it would terminate, Mr. +Chittenden holding that the independence of the South was already as +good as secured. + +As they were about to go, Lawrence said: "Mr. Chittenden, you may think +it a poor return for your hospitality, but I came here tonight with the +full intention of arresting you." + +Mr. Chittenden could only gasp, "What for?" + +"Because you are a dangerous man to the cause I serve. I have learned +much while I have been here. Not only are you an agent of the +Confederate Government to gather supplies, but your house has been a +haven for some of the worst guerrillas which infest the State. Even the +infamous Porter found rest and shelter here when he fled South." + +Mr. Chittenden stood pale and trembling, for he knew Lawrence was +speaking the truth; but he was thinking more of Grace than of himself. + +"My God! what will become of my daughter, if I am dragged away to a +Federal prison?" he cried. + +"Mr. Chittenden, do not fear," answered Lawrence. "I can never arrest +the father of such a girl as your daughter, and leave her unprotected. +She has saved you, and for her sake be more careful in the future." + +"For her sake, I thank you; for myself, I have no apologies to make for +what I have done," Mr. Chittenden replied, somewhat haughtily. But in +his heart he was not sorry Grace had displayed that little flag. + +"By Jove!" exclaimed Lawrence, when he and Dan were alone. "What a girl! +She is grand, and such a lady. Who would dream of finding such a girl in +the Ozarks? And she is as lovely as a picture--more beautiful than many +who reign as belles in St. Louis." + +"Look here, Captain," said Dan, solemnly, "don't be falling in love with +every pretty face you see. What about that St. Louis girl you are always +getting letters from--Lola--confounded childish name--I think you call +her. And I've heard you rave about a certain Dorothy, with golden hair. +Let the girls alone; they are no good. I never knew a fellow in love who +was any good. They go around sighing and writing poetry and making +confounded idiots of themselves. I agree that Miss Chittenden is a +mighty good-looking girl; but how do you know she isn't fooling +us--shook that little flag in our faces to save her father?" + +"Oh, Dan, Dan!" laughed Lawrence, "when it comes to girls, you are +incorrigible. Dan, tell the truth--were you ever in love?" + +"If I ever was, thank God! I am over it," snapped Dan, as he took a chew +of tobacco. + +Lawrence spent two days in the valley of the La Belle, paroling his +prisoners, and loading up their wagons with provisions and forage enough +to last to Rolla. + +Lawrence started the train back to Rolla, and then bade farewell to the +lovely valley, which he left scathless; but for many days there remained +before his mental vision the image of the beautiful girl who was loyal +to the Union under such adverse circumstances. + +All unknown to Lawrence, he had been gone from the valley but a few +hours when there came riding up from the South a Confederate cavalry +force of one hundred and fifty men, under the command of a Major Powell. +They had come to meet the recruits, and had with them a train of empty +wagons to take back what was left of the provisions and forage after the +recruits were supplied. + +When Major Powell learned what had happened, and that all the provisions +and forage not given to the recruits had been destroyed, his rage knew +no bounds. He first ordered fifty of his men to pursue the train and +bring every man back. "Their paroles are not worth the paper they are +written on," he roared. + +"I will not wait for you," he said to the Captain in command of the +fifty, "but shall pursue this audacious Captain Middleton. I will see +that not a man of his command gets out of the Ozarks alive." + +"That will leave you only one hundred men for the pursuit, Major," said +the Captain. + +"That is so; but you know we brought arms for one hundred. Call for +volunteers from the recruits. Tell them to take the best horses from the +train, and report as soon as possible." + +The Captain in pursuit of the train had an easier task than he thought, +for he had not gone more than five miles when he met nearly two hundred +of the men returning, under the leadership of three or four men known as +desperate guerrillas. Hardly had the Federals left the train, when a +plot was formed to seize it. Nearly half the paroled men entered the +plot; those who refused were stripped of everything and sent on their +way, destitute. + +This reinforcement, so much sooner than expected, greatly elated Major +Powell. A mountaineer explained he knew a shorter route than the one the +Federals were taking, and although they had several hours' start, he +could easily lead a force that could gain their front, and thus they +would be hemmed in between the two forces. + +Major Powell quickly made his plans. A hundred men, under the command of +one of his most trusted officers, were sent to try and get ahead of the +Federals, while he, with a hundred more, would follow in quick pursuit. + +About this time Mark Grafton appeared on the scene. He, too, brought +important news. Believing that Big Tom was contemplating a raid on Mr. +Chittenden, and that his sudden departure was only a blind to disarm +suspicion, Mark had disguised himself and followed the gang. + +"I unearthed the most hellish plot," said Mark. "Big Tom and his gang +were to disguise themselves as Federals, raid the plantation of La +Belle, kill Mr. Chittenden and me, and carry off Grace, and force her +into a marriage with Big Tom. The plot was about to be carried out, when +the gang unexpectedly met the force under Captain Middleton, and was +routed. And we needn't fear anything from Big Tom for some time, as he +is badly wounded." + +Mark, on his part, was greatly surprised to hear what had happened in +the valley while he was gone. "I would go with you," he said to Major +Powell, "but I have an important engagement I must keep. I hope you will +overtake and chastise those Yankees as they deserve." + +"If I can overtake them, you may depend on it they will get the +chastisement," responded the Major, as he rode away. + +Mark then related to Mr. Chittenden more fully what he had found out as +to Big Tom's plans, and added: "If I were you, Mr. Chittenden, I would +say nothing about this to Grace, for it might unnecessarily alarm her. +She is safe, at least, until Big Tom gets well. If I did not think so, I +would not rest until I had hunted the dog down. As it is, I must be +absent for a week or two, but not longer." + +Mark waited until nightfall, and then he, too, rode away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAINS + + +It was the second day after Lawrence had left the valley of La Belle, +and so far nothing of interest had occurred. Lawrence and Dan were +riding along side by side, when suddenly a stone struck in the road just +ahead of them, causing their horses to rear and plunge. The road ran +close to the bluff, and no doubt it was from the top of the bluff that +the stone was thrown. + +A careful scrutiny of the bluff revealed nothing, and they were about to +ride on, when Lawrence suddenly exclaimed: "Hold on! there's a paper +wrapped around that stone." Springing from his horse, he secured the +paper. It proved to be a rude scrawl, telling them they were being +pursued by a hundred men, and that another hundred had been sent to head +them off. + +"What do you think of that?" asked Lawrence, handing the scrawl to Dan. + +Dan deciphered it, after some trouble, and then remarked: "A hoax, +probably." + +"It's no hoax, Dan. We may as well be prepared." + +"But where did the two hundred men come from?" asked Dan. "Even if those +fellows who were paroled turned back, they had no arms." + +"It's a raiding party from the South, in all probability," answered +Lawrence, "and we left just in time to miss them." + +"Whew! Why couldn't we have stayed a few hours longer?" + +"What! And fought the two hundred?" + +"Sure; we could have licked them easily." + +"Well, I am not sorry we left. I am not aching for a fight against such +odds; but if they overtake us, we will show them what we can do. What +puzzles me is, who gave us the warning?" + +"Give it up," said Dan. + +Harry was now called, and told what had happened. "You take Jack and +Bruno and guard the rear. Don't let those fellows get close to us, +without our knowing it." + +"No danger, as long as Bruno is alive," laughed Harry. + +"What about the front?" asked Dan. "We may run into those fellows who +have gone to head us off." + +"They haven't had time to head us off yet," said Lawrence, "and before +they meet us, I want to teach those fellows in the rear a lesson." + +The horses began to show signs of weariness, and, coming to a settler's +cabin, around which grew a fine field of corn, Lawrence, concluded to +halt, rest and feed the horses, and allow the men to make some coffee. +There were some fine pigs running around, and two of these were +slaughtered. The owner of the corn and hogs made strenuous objections to +this appropriation of his property. He was a tall, gaunt mountaineer, +and his face showed that he was both cunning and crafty. + +"Are you Union or Confed?" asked Lawrence. + +After emptying his capacious mouth of an enormous quid of tobacco, he +drawled: "I don't know. Yo' uns be the first Yanks I hev seen. I allers +reckoned I was a Confed, but now that yo' uns hev tuk my cohn and hawgs, +I reckon I be Union. If I be Union, I get pay for my cohn and hawgs, +don't I?" + +Laughing, Lawrence handed him ten dollars, saying, "I'll bet you a ten +against that one that you will be Confed before night. There's a band of +Confederate cavalry chasing us." + +"Is thar? Then I won't bet," replied the fellow, grinning. "It's too +risky. They might p'int a gun at me, and make me yell for Jeff Davis." + +"I reckon you wouldn't wait for the gun to be pointed before you +yelled," said Lawrence; "but you're welcome to the ten." + +"Ought to be fifty," growled the fellow, as he turned and went into the +house, and they saw him no more. + +That night Major Powell camped on his place, and made free with both his +corn and hogs, but he made no objection; neither did he hurrah for Jeff +Davis, for he was not there. + +The Federals had not gone far from the cabin when the valley narrowed +down and the mountains arose steep and precipitous on each side. + +"It's lucky," said Dan, "that these hills are not filled with +guerrillas, or they would be taking pot-shot at us. I will feel +safer----" + +He did not finish the sentence, for there came the sharp crack of a +rifle from the hillside, and a piece of the crown of Dan's hat went +flying through the air. He pulled off his damaged headgear and, gazing +ruefully at it exclaimed: "A blame good hat spoiled; but my head is +safe." + +"Charge the bluff!" shouted Lawrence; but there was no need of the +order. A half dozen troopers had already dismounted, and were scaling +the bluff to where a small wreath of smoke was seen curling. Before they +were half way up, there came the sound of another shot, but this time +the whiz of no ball was heard. + +Soon the men reached the spot where the smoke had been seen, and their +exclamations of surprise were heard. + +"What is it?" shouted Lawrence. + +"Dead man up here. No signs of any live one." + +"Well, look around sharp, and then come down," replied Lawrence. + +The men soon returned, and told a strange story. + +"We found," said the sergeant in charge, "whom do you think? Our friend +who sold us the corn and hogs. He was lying behind a rock; his gun, +loaded and cocked, was on the rock, and no doubt he was just going to +take another shot at us, when some one shot him through the head from +behind. He had just been shot, for the fresh blood was gushing from the +wound as we came up. But we neither saw nor could we find any trace of +the one who shot him. It's blame curious. I feel creepy. These mountains +must be haunted." + +"If they are, the spirits who haunt them must be very friendly to us," +said Lawrence; "but, as you say, it is a singular circumstance. I can't +make it out. Why doesn't the fellow show himself, if he is our friend?" + +Many and various were the opinions expressed, but no satisfactory +solution was arrived at. + +The day closed dark and gloomy; great clouds swept across the sky, and +the wind roared through the forest. It became so dark, and traveling so +difficult, that Lawrence decided to camp for the night, and risk the +chance of being overtaken. The place chosen to camp was a natural +amphitheater which ran back into the mountains. It was overhung by the +giant trees growing on the mountain. + +Supper over, the men sat for some time around their little campfire, +talking over the events of the day; but gradually the camp became quiet, +and nothing was heard but the stamping of the horses and the roaring of +the wind. + +It was nearly midnight when the soldiers were aroused, not by the guard, +but by Bruno, who came bounding into camp, growling fiercely, every hair +on his back erect. He was trembling violently, either from fear or +excitement. + +"Why, what's the matter, Bruno?" cried Harry. "I never saw you act like +this before." + +"I believe he is scared," said Lawrence. "Andrew Jackson! Bruno scared!" + +"I never knew him to be scared," said Harry, "but I believe he is. See +how he trembles." + +Before an investigation could be made, the horses began to rear and +plunge, and the sentinels called out they were breaking loose. + +"See to the horses," shouted Lawrence. + +The men were just in time, as several of the horses had broken their +halters. As it was, they had hard work to keep them from getting away. + +"The horses are badly frightened. They are trembling like leaves," said +the men. + +"It must be some wild animal," said Lawrence. "Men, stay by the horses; +Dan, Harry and I will investigate." + +Lawrence took a burning brand from the fire, and all three, well armed, +started to find the cause of the trouble. Bruno at first hung back, but +when he saw Harry start, he followed; but it was noticed he kept close +to his master's side. + +The dog kept looking to the cliff back of their encampment. A large tree +grew close to the cliff, and an animal could spring into it from the +cliff. Cautiously the three men advanced. + +"See there," said Dan, pointing up in the tree. + +Lawrence looked, and saw up in the tree what looked like two coals of +fire. + +"Hold your brand where I can see the sights of my gun," whispered Dan. + +Lawrence did so. Dan took a quick aim and fired. There came a terrible +scream, a crashing among the branches, and then a huge panther lay +struggling on the ground, tearing up the earth in his death agony. + +Bruno seemed to have recovered from his fright, for he was about to +spring on the struggling animal, when Harry cried, "Back, Bruno, back!" + +Still Bruno would have rushed to his fate if Lawrence had not struck him +a sharp rap over the nose with the burning brand. + +At last the beast lay still. + +"That was a good shot, Dan," said Lawrence. The ball had struck the +panther squarely between the eyes. + +"What could have induced him to visit our camp?" asked Harry. + +"The smell of the meat the boys roasted for supper," replied Dan. "You +know, we brought along some of those pigs we had for dinner." + +Some of the soldiers insisted on skinning the beast and taking the skin +along as a trophy. As it was, there was little more sleep in the camp, +for the horses continued to be restless, and it was hard to keep them +quieted. + +"The panther's mate may be around," said Dan. "It is well to be on the +lookout." + +Bruno was of no more use, for he had become sulky and gone and lain +down. He could not understand that the blow Lawrence gave him had saved +his life. + +If there was another panther around, he did not show himself, and at the +break of day the troop was once more on the way. + +Along in the afternoon, Harry came rapidly riding from the rear, saying +the foremost of the pursuers had been sighted. Hardly had he made his +report when the faint sound of three or four shots was heard. + +"Harry, you, with Dan and Bruno, now take the advance," commanded +Lawrence. "That is where we will have to look now for a surprise. Dan, +take command, and ride at a good pace. I, with ten men, will look to the +rear, and hold back the enemy." + +"Why not stop and fight them?" grumbled Dan. "I don't like this idea of +running." + +"Because I don't wish to have a battle here, if I can help it," replied +Lawrence. "If we fight, especially on anything like even terms, some of +the men will be sure to be killed or wounded. Think of leaving any of +the boys here in the mountains, wounded! It would be better for them to +be shot than left wounded, for they would be sure to be murdered by +guerrillas." + +"Reckon you are right; but it is against my principles to run," sighed +Dan. + +"Don't be downhearted, old fellow," laughed Lawrence. "I expect to give +them a fight; but I want to choose the ground and the manner of +fighting." + +Dan's face brightened. "That's all right, Captain," he exclaimed. "I +might have known you were up to some of your tricks." + +Lawrence now rode back to take charge of the rear. Major Powell, knowing +he had two men to Lawrence's one, eagerly pressed forward; but his +enthusiasm was a little cooled when his advance was driven back with a +loss of one killed and two wounded, and he began to be a little more +careful. + +By taking advantage of every little inequality of ground, Lawrence was +able to hold the enemy well in check for some miles; but at length they +came to a place where the valley spread out, and flank movements were +easy, and it soon became a test of speed and endurance of the horses. + +"This will never do," thought Lawrence. "I must find a place to stop and +fight them, and that soon." + +Leaving the rear guard in charge of a sergeant, he rode rapidly to the +front. + +"Horses getting winded," said Dan. "We will have to stop and fight." + +"At the first favorable place, Dan. Tell the boys to keep up the pace a +little longer." + +Lawrence now urged his horse to his utmost speed. He rode two or three +miles without finding a favorable place for an ambuscade, and was about +to halt and choose as good ground as possible and give battle. He had no +fears of the result--only that many of his men might be killed or +wounded. Just as he came to this conclusion, to his delight, he saw the +valley close in front of him. A great hill pushed into it, leaving only +a narrow gateway. Beyond this the valley turned, and the force would be +entirely concealed by the hill. It took Lawrence but a minute to form +his plan of battle. Just before the gateway was reached, the road ran +close to the base of the mountain, which was thickly wooded. + +Dan, in command of the advance, now dashed up. "Captain, we must fight. +The horses are all in." + +"Yes, Dan, it's fight now. Dismount your men, and have the horses taken +around that point, out of sight. One man can care for six horses. +Conceal the rest of your force in the brush along the base of the +mountain. Be quick. If I succeed in leading them into the trap, you will +know what to do." Thus saying, Lawrence clapped spurs to his horse, and +rode for the rear. + +Lawrence found the rear guard hard pressed. + +"Look out, Captain; they are flanking us, and you are in range," called +one of the men. + +Just then three or four balls whizzed close to Lawrence's head. Wheeling +his horse, he shouted, "Follow me!" and the rear guard went down the +road as if in swift retreat. The enemy followed with wild cheers. + +The rapid pursuit had strung out the Confederates, and Major Powell had +ridden back to hurry up the stragglers, leaving the advance in charge of +his senior captain. This officer, thinking the Yankees in full retreat, +and that he might gain some honor, pressed the pursuit with vigor. + +Straight past where Dan and his men were concealed, Lawrence rode, but +he halted his little squad where the valley narrowed. + +If the Confederates had not been so eager in the pursuit, they might +have seen the bushes tremble or caught the gleam of a gun barrel; but +they only had eyes for the flying Yankees. When they saw the Federals +had halted, they also halted, taking time to close up, and that was just +what Lawrence wanted. + +Ordering his men to fire a volley, Lawrence again wheeled as if in +retreat. + +"Forward!" shouted the Confederate captain. "Charge! Ride over them!" + +Suddenly, from the side of the road, there came a crashing volley. The +destruction was awful; men and horses went down in heaps. + +"Wheel and charge!" shouted Lawrence; and down on the terror-stricken +Confederates came Lawrence with his ten men. The panic became a rout. +The enemy thought only of getting away. In vain Major Powell tried to +stop his men; he, too, was borne back in the confusion. + +Quickly as possible, Dan had the horses brought up, and he and his men +joined in the pursuit. For two miles it was kept up; then Lawrence +ordered a halt. He saw that Major Powell had succeeded in rallying some +of his men, and taken a position that could not be carried without loss. + +All along the road lay dead and wounded men and horses, and where the +first volley was fired the road was filled with the dead and dying. + +It was a sight that made Lawrence's heart ache; but he could not stop +even to give relief, for Harry and Jack came back with the startling +news that there was a large force in front, not more than three miles +away. + +Lawrence rallied his men, and, to his intense relief, found he had only +three men slightly wounded. It was almost a bloodless victory. The +question was, what to do now. While debating, one of the men suddenly +exclaimed, "Look, there!" + +On a rock on the mountain-side, some three hundred yards away, stood the +figure of an old man. A long white beard swept his breast, and he was +bent with age. He stood leaning on a staff, as if weary. + +[Illustration: An old man leaning on a staff.] + +When he saw he was seen, he beckoned for some one to come to him. Two or +three of the soldiers started, but he peremptorily waved them back. +Lawrence then started, and the old man stood still. + +"Don't go, Captain," cried the men. "It may be a trap." + +"I will be careful," replied Lawrence. "Shoot at the first sign of +treachery." + +A dozen carbines covered the old man, but he did not seem to notice it. +When Lawrence was within about fifty yards of him, he motioned for him +to stop; then, in a high, cracked voice, exclaimed: "There is danger +ahead." + +"I know it," replied Lawrence. + +"A little ahead, close to that large tree, you will find a faint trail. +Take it. It will lead you over the mountain into another valley, where +you can go on your way in safety. Delay twenty minutes, and all will be +lost. Farewell." + +The old man stepped from the rock and disappeared. Lawrence rushed to +where he had been standing. Nothing was to be seen. It was as if the +earth had swallowed him. + +He returned and told what had happened, and the wonderment was great. + +"No time to lose," exclaimed Lawrence. "I shall take his advice." + +In single file, the men turned into the trail. The way was steep, but +not impassable, and soon the forest swallowed them up. + +Not until they were over the mountain, was there any opportunity of +discussing the strange warning they had received. + +"Can it be that old man has been our guardian angel all the time?" asked +Lawrence. + +"Impossible," said Dan. "We received the first warning when we had +hardly left the valley of La Belle. We have come fast. How could that +old man have come over the mountains and got ahead of us?" + +"And where did he go when he disappeared so suddenly?" asked one. + +"And who shot the guerrilla?" questioned another. + +"It's a secret only the mountains can tell. I have heard they were +haunted," said Dan. + +"It's God's hand," said one of the men, a solemn, clerical-looking +fellow, whom the men called Preacher. Before he was a soldier, he had +been a Methodist class leader; and there was not a braver man in the +company. + +Argue as they might, they could come to no conclusion. To them it was a +mystery that was never solved. + +It was weeks before Lawrence fully knew of the danger from which the old +man had saved him. Captain Turner, in his swift ride to get ahead of +him, had fallen in with a scouting party of fifty Confederate cavalry; +not only this, but his force had been augmented by guerrillas until he +had fully two hundred men, well armed and mounted. Had Lawrence met this +force in the narrow valley, he could not have escaped defeat. + +The horror and amazement of the advance guard of Turner's force may be +imagined when they came upon the scene of conflict. That the battle had +just been fought, was evident; the smoke of the conflict had not +entirely cleared from the field. What was more surprising, not an armed +man was in sight--neither Federal nor Confederate. + +They listened, but could hear no sound of conflict. Captain Turner came +up. For a moment he gazed on the scene of carnage, and then cried: +"Great God! Major Powell ran into an ambuscade, and his force has been +annihilated. The dead are all our men. But where are the Yankees?" + +"Doubtless in pursuit of the few of the Major's force that escaped," +replied an officer. + +"That is so," cried Turner. "Forward, men! Let our war-cry be: 'Powell +and Revenge!' Give no quarter! Let every one of the cursed Yankees die." + +They rode nearly four miles before they came on to Major Powell and the +remnant of his force. They had continued falling back until they were +certain they were not pursued. + +Of his hundred men, the Major had succeeded in rallying about forty. The +rest had been killed or wounded, or had fled. Some of them did not stop +until they reached the valley of La Belle, bringing with them the story +of the disaster, saying that of all of Powell's force they alone +escaped. + +"Did you meet and exterminate the Yankees?" was the first question put +to Captain Turner by Major Powell. + +"I have seen no Yankees," was the surprising answer. + +Major Powell could only gasp, "Seen no Yankees?" + +"No; not one." + +"Then the mountains must have opened and swallowed them." + +Full explanations were made, and the force returned to bury the dead and +care for the wounded. The only possible explanation they could make for +the disappearance of the Federals was that they had hid on the +mountain-side and let the force of Captain Turner pass, then come down +and resumed their flight. + +As they debated, suddenly, above them, on the mountain-side, appeared +the figure of an old man, and his voice came down to them, loud and +shrill: "Woe, woe, woe to them who raise their hands against the flag of +their country!" + +"Damn him! Fire!" shouted Turner. + +A hundred rifles blazed. There came back to them a mocking laugh, and +the old man disappeared. The mountain was scoured, but not a trace of +him could be found. + +A superstitious fear fell upon the whole force. The old man must have +been the devil, they argued, and he had helped the Yankees to escape. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +MARK CONFESSES HIS LOVE + + +It was a day or two after the appearance of the fugitives from Powell's +force that Mark Grafton returned to the La Belle. He seemed tired and +careworn, but reported that his trip had been entirely successful. + +When told of the disastrous defeat of Powell's force, he was astounded. +"Had I expected such a result," he exclaimed, "I would have gone with +him. Ran into an ambuscade, did he? I believe, if I had been with him, I +could have prevented that, for I am used to fighting just such fellows, +and am up to all their tricks." + +"You seem to have a good opinion of yourself," remarked Grace, somewhat +sarcastically. + +What she said, and the tone in which she said it, cut Mark to the heart. +"Your rebuke is just, Grace. No man should boast," he said, as he turned +away. + +That night Mark lay thinking. That Grace had changed, he could plainly +see. It must be because he had refused to tell her his secret. "I must +go away, and never return," he sighed. "It is the only way. If I could +only stay near her, to see her every day, to be her slave, I would be +contented." + +Then the thought of Big Tom came into his mind. He knew there was real +danger from that source. No one knew better than he what the guerrillas +of the State were fast becoming--bands of robbers that preyed on friend +and foe alike. He felt that Mr. Chittenden's being a Confederate would +not save him. To go away and leave Grace exposed to such a great danger +would be to him a torture. + +Sleep did not visit him that night, and when morning came he was no +nearer a decision than he was the night before. He arose; white and +haggard. The lines in his face showed what he had suffered. + +That night also seemed to have changed Grace. She came to him and, +holding out her hand, said: "Mark, I'm sorry I spoke as I did last +night. Forgive me." Then, looking at him, she cried: "Foolish boy! I +believe you took to heart what I said. Mark, did it hurt you so?" + +"There is nothing to forgive, Grace," he replied, gently. "I passed a +restless night, but it was not what you said that caused it, but the +thought that I had already remained here too long; and yet it is hard to +go from those who are so kind to me." + +"Why go at all?" asked Grace. "You belong here. Did we not bring you +back from the very brink of the grave? I have heard father say he wished +you would always remain. He has taken a great fancy to you." + +A great light came into Mark's face. He took a step toward her, as if he +would clasp her in his arms. "Grace! Grace!" he cried, then stopped and +turned deadly pale. + +"Mark, what is it? Are you sick?" asked Grace, anxiously. + +"No; I did turn a little faint, but I am over it now. I will think over +what you said." + +He did think it over, and came to the conclusion that he must go; for, +if he stayed, the time would come when he would have to confess his love +for Grace. He trembled when he realized how near he had come to telling +her. But it was not many hours before he was telling her. + +A man came riding into the valley from the north. He was burning with +fever, and reeled from side to side in his saddle. He was lifted from +his horse, and carried into the house. + +"I am afraid I am done for," he said, faintly, as he was gently placed +on a bed. "I was told I would find a crippled Confederate soldier here, +called Mark Grafton, who sometimes acts as the bearer of dispatches. Is +he here now?" + +"He is," answered Mr. Chittenden. + +"I must see him--see him before it is too late. I feel the hand of Death +upon me." + +Mark was called, and the sick man, between gasps, told his story. He +said his name was Paul Dupont, and he was the bearer of important +dispatches to General Hindman. "I was sick at the time they asked me to +carry them, and tried to beg off, but they said the dispatches were so +important they could only be trusted to a brave and trusty man, and they +knew I was one. 'Carry them as far as Judge Chittenden's, on the La +Belle,' they said; 'then, if you are not able to go farther, deliver +them into the hands of a crippled Confederate soldier there, by the name +of Mark Grafton.' I can go no farther. The hand of Death is already on +me. You will find the dispatches sewed in the lining of my coat. Take +them and deliver them into the hands of General Hindman." + +"To Hindman!" gasped Mark. + +"Yes--don't fail!" whispered Dupont, as he sank back on his pillow, +exhausted. He closed his eyes; his breath came shorter and shorter, and +he soon passed away, without speaking again. + +Mark stood as one confounded. A sacred trust had been committed to +him--one that took him where he never wished to go--into Arkansas. No +one except himself could realize the dangers that he would run. + +When Mr. Chittenden heard of the dead man's request, he said: "Mark, +will you go? Those dispatches mean much; they may mean the redemption of +the State. But the danger--Mark, I hate to see you go." + +Mark thought a moment, and then, drawing himself up to his full height, +his face set and determined, he answered: "I will go. It is a sacred +trust--it is for my country." + +Mr. Chittenden and Mark searched the effects of the dead man, and found +the dispatches as stated. They also found he had about one hundred +dollars in Federal money and two thousand dollars in Confederate money +on his person. Among the papers found was a pass from General Hindman, +asking all good Confederates to aid the bearer all possible. + +"No doubt Dupont was a trusty spy for General Hindman," said Mr. +Chittenden. "Mark, you are stepping into dangerous shoes; yet, if you +were my son, I should bid you go. As for the money, keep that; no doubt +it was given Dupont for expenses, and you are now in his place." + +Mark's preparations were soon made, but the roll which he strapped +behind his saddle was much larger than he generally took. When he was +ready, he sought Grace, to say good-bye. She was not in the house, and +knew nothing of what had taken place. + +He sought her in her favorite nook by the side of the La Belle, and +there he found her gazing pensively into the water. Mark thought there +was a look of sadness on her face. She looked up in surprise as he rode +up. + +"Going away so soon?" she asked. + +Dismounting, Mark hitched his horse, and, going up to her, said: "Yes, +Grace, I am going again, and on one of the most dangerous missions I +ever undertook. I have come to say good-bye. If I never see you again, +God bless you!" + +The girl turned pale. "Why go, Mark, if it is so dangerous?" + +"It is my duty." + +"Mark, don't go!" Tears were gathering in her eyes. + +He looked at her, his whole face eloquent with love. All the resolutions +he had made were forgotten. + +"Grace, I must say what I have told myself a thousand times I would +never say. Grace, I love you--love you better than I do my own soul, and +because I so love you, it is better that I go away and never return." + +"I don't understand," she murmured. "You said things the other day I +didn't understand, and you made me angry." + +"Grace, you are fit to reign a queen in some palace. I am poor and +unknown. But it is not my poverty that has kept me from declaring my +love. It is because I am unworthy of you--because I have deceived you in +some things. Grace, I am not worthy to kiss the earth you tread on." + +A death-like pallor came over the face of the girl. "Mark, for the love +of Heaven, tell me--tell me! Are you married, or have you committed some +heinous crime?" + +"Married! Why, Grace, I never thought of love until I saw you. I knew +not what love was. Neither am I a criminal. Things are done in war that +would be criminal in times of peace." + +"Then why do you say you are so unworthy? Mark, it's that terrible +secret you are keeping from me! Mark, tell me what it is?" She put her +hands on his shoulders, looking yearningly in his face. + +Mark Grafton shook like a leaf. "Grace! Grace!" he cried, "don't tempt +me! You know not what you ask." + +"Then you refuse to tell me?" She had taken her hands from his +shoulders; there was an angry flush on her cheeks. + +"I can't, Grace! Oh, God! if I could!" + +"Go!" she said. "For once, you have told the truth, when you said you +were not worthy of me. All the rest you have said are lies--lies. You +love me, you say, better than your own soul, and yet you refuse to tell +me what it is that would keep me from you. If you loved me, you would +trust me, confide in me. By your actions you have shown yourself +unworthy of the love of any true woman. I have loved you as a +sister--nothing more--but even that love is gone now. Go! I never want +to see you again," and she turned from him. + +A moment Mark stood; then he said, gently: "Grace, good-bye. It is best +that you feel as you do, for I now know that it is only I who will +suffer. I love you, Grace, and always will, but it will be a pure, a +holy love. Nothing you can say or do can take from me the blessed +privilege of loving you. Grace, will you not say good-bye?" No answer. + +Mark turned wearily, and mounted his horse. As the sound of the horse's +hoofs came to her, Grace started as if from a dream. She looked. He was +already riding away. She rushed toward him, with outstretched arms. + +"Mark! Mark! Come back!" she cried. "It was I that lied. I love you! I +love you!" + +He did not hear, or, if he heard, did not heed, for he rode on without +looking back. She watched until he had disappeared in the distance; +then, pressing her hands to her heart, sank down. The wind rustled +through the trees, and sent a shower of withered leaves down upon her. + +"Like my hopes," she murmured, "withered and dying; yet, even in death, +they are beautiful!" + +She noticed the imprint of Mark's foot where he had stood when he +declared his love. A leaf, all orange and gold, with a splash of red in +the center, had fallen and half concealed the imprint. She stooped and +picked it up. + +"He said he was not worthy to kiss the earth on which I tread," she +whispered, and she pressed the leaf to her lips; then, with a shudder, +she threw it from her, for she noticed her lips had touched the splash +of red, which to her looked like blood. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +INTO THE LION'S MOUTH + + +For a few miles after leaving Grace, Mark rode as if pursued by an +enemy. Wild thoughts rushed through his mind; but at length he became +calmer. + +"No, no," he soliloquized, "I cannot leave Grace to the vengeance of +Hobson, and I am sure he will seek vengeance as soon as he recovers from +his wound. But am I not leaving her? Well do I realize the danger I am +running. It is doubtful if I ever come back. An ignominious death may +await me. I have put duty above love. But, Grace, if I live, my duty, +after this, will be to guard and protect you. Unseen and unknown, I will +be near you. To see you from afar will be heaven." + +Mark soon halted by a pool of clear water, and undid the roll behind his +saddle, from which he took various articles. Soon no one would have +known him as the young man who had ridden away from the La Belle. He +looked ten years older; the color of his hair was changed, and a fine +mustache adorned his upper lip. + +He studied his face for a while as he leaned over the clear water. "It +will do," he said. "But what if I meet Colonel Clay?" + +For three days after that Mark rode without an adventure, but on the +fourth day he was chased by a squad of Federal cavalry. A lucky shot +killed the horse of his foremost pursuer, and he escaped. Skirting the +flank of the Federal army, he reached the headquarters of General +Hindman at Van Buren, on the Arkansas River. + +Here, behind the Boston Mountains, Hindman had gathered an army +estimated at from twenty to thirty thousand men. Opposed to him was +General Blunt, with an army of not over seven or eight thousand men. +Hindman thought that by a swift movement he could crush Blunt before he +could be reinforced, and then, meeting any reinforcements which might be +marching to his relief, whip them in detail, thus wresting Missouri from +the grasp of the Federals. + +He was now only waiting dispatches from Missouri informing him of the +number and position of the Federal troops in the State, and the number +of recruits he could reasonably expect to join him, once in the State, +and where. + +It was these dispatches that Mark Grafton was carrying. If captured with +them, Mark well knew what his fate would be. There were other reasons, +known only to himself, which made it extremely perilous for him to enter +the Confederate lines. + +It was late in the afternoon when Mark was challenged by the outposts of +the Confederate army. He stated that he was a courier from Missouri, +with important dispatches for General Hindman, and demanded that he be +conducted to headquarters at once. It was dark before headquarters were +reached, but Mark was granted an immediate audience with the General. + +"What is your name?" asked the General, as Mark handed him the +dispatches. + +"Grafton--Mark Grafton." + +"I was expecting dispatches, important ones, but from another source. I +wonder what these can be?" + +He opened them and, glancing at them, exclaimed: "Why, these are the +very dispatches I was looking for! I expected them to be delivered by a +man named Dupont. How did you come by them?" + +"Dupont is dead," replied Mark, solemnly. + +"Dupont dead! Great God! How did he die? Was he captured?" + +"No." Mark told the full particulars of Dupont's death, and how in his +dying moments he had committed the dispatches to him. + +"Poor Dupont!" sighed Hindman. "He was my most trusted spy, and he died +in the discharge of his duty." + +Then, scrutinizing Mark closely, he said: "You have made good time in +coming from Chittenden's. Have any trouble?" + +"Only once. I put one Yankee cavalryman out of commission." + +"Good! How would you like to take Dupont's place?" asked Hindman, +abruptly. + +"General, I would make a poor spy. I could be identified too easily," +and Mark touched his crippled arm. + +"Where did you get that?" + +"In one of the little partisan battles in Missouri," answered Mark, +without hesitation. + +"I am sorry," answered Hindman. "I wished to send some dispatches back +with you." + +"I can take them," promptly answered Mark. "And, if you wish, I can act +as dispatch-bearer for you in Missouri. I am well acquainted in the +State, and am known to most of the guerrilla leaders. It is through them +I receive and deliver my dispatches. I am careful never to enter a +Federal camp. I am at present staying at Chittenden's, and will +cheerfully execute any commission you may send me. I have carried +dispatches for Colonel Clay several times." + +"Just the thing. Consider yourself engaged," cried the General. "I +recall now that I have heard Colonel Clay speak of you. I am sorry the +Colonel is away on special duty." + +Mark was not the least bit sorry, but his looks did not show it. Clay +would not have known him in his disguise, and would have denounced him +as an impostor. + +"General, one thing more," said Mark. "Mr. Chittenden, in looking over +the effects of Dupont, found several little trinkets that his family +might wish to have. There was also one hundred dollars in Federal money +and two thousand dollars in Confederate money on his person. Here is +everything." + +"You can keep the Federal money. The Confederate will be of little use +to you in Missouri. Here is another one hundred in Federal money, but +remember this money is a sacred trust, and only to be used for expenses +when on business for the Confederacy." + +"It will be so considered," said Mark as he took the money. "General, +will it be possible for you to have your dispatches ready by morning. +Mr. Chittenden wished me to get back as quickly as possible. He is in +trouble." + +"Trouble? What trouble?" + +"Why, haven't you heard? The valley of the La Belle has been raided by a +force of Federals, the provisions and forage he had gathered captured, +and four or five hundred recruits coming from the central and northern +part of the State taken prisoners and paroled." + +"I had not heard of it," said the General, greatly excited. "When did it +happen?" + +"Only a few days before I left. But that is not all. Just as the +Federals left, Major Powell came up from Arkansas with a train to get +the provisions and forage and escort the recruits. He pursued the +Federals, but fell into an ambuscade and his command was cut to pieces." + +"Do you know who commanded the Federals?" + +"Yes, a Captain Lawrence Middleton." + +"The devil! He had much to do with frustrating our plans last summer." + +"Yes, and but a few weeks ago he almost annihilated the band of Red +Jerry. We are trying to lay plans to capture him." + +"Well, this is bad news, but we will try and turn the tables before many +days. I will have my dispatches ready by morning. Make yourself +comfortable until then." With a wave of the hand the General dismissed +him. + +The next morning Mark called early for the dispatches and found the +General in close conversation with a thick, heavy-set man whose face +showed both courage and determination. When Mark saw him he gave a +start. "I know you, my friend," he thought, "and it will be an +unfortunate thing for me if you recognize me." + +"Ah, Grafton, is that you?" said the General. "Glad to see you. Allow me +to make you acquainted with Mr. Spencer. Spencer, this is the young man +I was telling you about. Grafton, Spencer is now my most trusted spy, +since Dupont is gone. He will ride part way with you." + +Mark extended his hand cordially, but there was no warmth or cordiality +in the hand that Spencer gave him. Instead, he looked as if he would +read the inmost thoughts of Mark's soul, but Mark met his gaze steadily +and coolly, as if he did not know his life was hanging in the balance. + +At length Spencer said, "Glad to meet you, Grafton. Excuse me for +scrutinizing you so closely, but we are in the same business, and as I +may have you for a companion sometime, I like to measure my man before I +tie to him." + +"Well, how do I measure?" asked Mark, with a smile. + +"I reckon you will do." + +"I trust so," rejoined Mark. "But you made a mistake in saying I was in +the same business. I don't believe I have nerve enough to be a spy. I am +simply a courier, and carry what others have gathered. It takes nerve to +penetrate the enemy's camp. Nerve such as you have, Spencer." + +Spencer's face lit up with a smile. "You rate me too highly, Grafton," +he answered. "But I certainly have been in some tight places, and I +reckon you could relate some startling adventures if you would." + +Mark had been handed his dispatches, and was about to depart when +General Frost was announced. + +"Hold on a minute," said Hindman. "General Frost may have some word he +would like to send." + +"Sending a courier into Missouri?" asked Frost. + +"Yes, the same young man who brought those dispatches last night, that +Dupont should have brought. I am sorry to say Dupont is dead." + +"Dead! Dupont dead! Did the Yankees get him?" + +"No, he died of the fever. He arrived at Chittenden's in a dying +condition and gave his dispatches to Grafton to bring on." + +"Grafton? I think I have heard that name from Colonel Clay. Happy to +meet you, Grafton. Let me hear the news from Missouri." + +Much against his will Mark was forced to remain and again rehearse his +story. When he told of the capture of the train and the defeat of +Powell, Frost became very much excited. + +"What Federal officer did you say was in command?" he asked. + +"I didn't say, but I understood it was a Captain Middleton." + +Frost sprang to his feet, letting out a volley of oaths. + +"Where were you when this happened?" he then asked. + +"I was absent from the valley. I was helping Mr. Chittenden in gathering +supplies, and was away seeing about some that had not yet arrived." + +Mark was now excused, but told to wait for Spencer. General Frost had +taken him aside and they were engaged in earnest conversation. Every now +and then they would glance at Mark, and he was sure they were talking +about him. If he had heard what they were saying he would have known he +was under suspicion. + +"It can't be he," Frost was saying, "but every now and then there is +something about him that makes me think of him. I hardly know what; +certain motions, I think." + +"I knew him well," answered Spencer, "and so far I have not seen +anything that would make me think Grafton was he. I am to ride with him +nearly a day's journey, and if I see anything suspicious--well you know +what will happen." + +All being ready the two rode away together. They had not gone far when +Mark noticed that Spencer was watching every move he made. Instantly +every nerve of Mark's body became alert, but to all appearances he was +totally unsuspicious. To Spencer's request that he tell him something of +his life, he responded that he did not have much to tell. He had been a +member of a guerrilla band, was wounded and had found his way into the +Ozarks, where he had been with Mr. Chittenden, who took him in when he +was suffering with the fever. He had acted as courier for Colonel Clay, +but had never met with many exciting adventures. + +"Now, Spencer," he said, "tell me something of yourself, for I know you +have faced a hundred dangers where I have faced one." + +Spencer refused to be interviewed, and maintained a rather moody +silence. At length they reached where they were to part and when they +shook hands Spencer, as if by accident, drew the sleeve of his coat +across Mark's face and his mustache came off. + +"Damn you! I know you now," shrieked Spencer as he reached for his +revolver, but quick as a flash Mark snatched a revolver from his bosom +and fired. + +Spencer's revolver went off half raised. He sank down in the saddle, +then rolled from his horse, a motionless body. + +Mark was about to dismount to see if he was dead when he was startled by +the pounding of horses' hoofs and looking up saw a squad of Federal +cavalry bearing down on him. Putting spurs to his horse and bending low +over his neck he escaped amid a shower of bullets. + +The only mark of the conflict that Mark could find was a bullet which +had lodged in the back of his saddle. + +After riding several miles, Mark met half a dozen guerrillas who said +they were on their way to join Hindman. He told them of meeting the +Yankee cavalry and that they would have to look out, and asked them to +take a note to General Hindman for him. To this they readily assented +and this is what Mark wrote: + + GENERAL: I am sorry to say that just as Spencer and I were to + part we ran into a squad of Yankee cavalry. Poor Spencer was + killed and I only escaped by the fleetness of my horse. If + Spencer had dispatches that will embarrass you, you can govern + yourself accordingly, for they are now in the hands of the + enemy. + + As for the dispatches you entrusted to me, they are safe, and + if they are never delivered you will know I have suffered the + fate of poor Spencer. + + MARK GRAFTON. + +After parting from the guerrillas Mark, instead of riding towards home, +turned his horse westward. In due time General Hindman learned that the +dispatches he had entrusted to Mark had been faithfully delivered, but +that Mark had disappeared. Mr. Chittenden looked for his return to the +La Belle in vain. + +General Hindman made anxious inquiries, for he had use for so faithful a +courier as Mark had proved to be. But the weeks passed and nothing was +heard, and it was thought he must have been killed, and he was numbered +with the unknown dead. + +Mr. Chittenden mourned him as such, but Grace maintained that he still +lived, and she had good cause for her belief. She had never told her +father of the love passage between Mark and herself, and how she had +refused to bid him good-bye when he left. The memory of that parting was +a secret, she felt, only to be held in her own heart, for she was not +sure she would ever see or hear from Mark again. + +One day a letter was placed in Grace's hands by a messenger who hurried +away before she had time to thank him, much less question him. Much to +her surprise and joy the letter was from Mark. + +"He lives! He lives!" she cried rapturously as she pressed it to her +lips. Grace had forgotten all her resentment towards Mark, forgotten +that the secret that lay between them was still unsolved. She only knew +that she loved him. Eagerly she read the letter, which ran: + + GRACE: Lest you believe me dead, I write this. It was foolish + in me to tell you of my love, but I had to do it. Now that you + know, I am content. I ask nothing, deserve nothing, in return. + Just the thought of loving you is like thinking of heaven. When + I went away I rode as it were into the jaws of death, and + escaped as by a miracle. Grace, it is best that I see you no + more. Think of me only as one who takes joy in loving you. Only + one thing will ever call me to your side, and that is if you + are ever in grave danger. To defend you I would come from the + ends of the earth. + + I think you have read Longfellow's Hiawatha, for I have seen it + in your library. Do you remember that when Minnehaha lay dying + she called for Hiawatha, and, although he was miles and miles + away, that cry of anguish reached him. And so great is my love + for you that I believe that if you should call me in a time of + danger I would hear. Remember this if trouble comes, though I + hope it never will. + + Farewell. + MARK. + +Grace read and re-read the strange letter. Hiawatha had just been +published when she was at school in St. Louis, and it had been a great +favorite of hers. + +What could Mark mean by intimating that some great peril might be +impending? She knew not. But Mark lived; he still loved her, would +always love her. + +She placed the letter in her bosom next her heart and there it rested. +Her secret was her own; why tell it? If Mark never came back, no one +would ever know. But she believed he would come back, and her step grew +lighter, her face brighter, her laugh merrier. In fact, she became her +old self, and her father rejoiced, for he had noticed a change in her +since Mark went away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +PRAIRIE GROVE + + +When General Sterling Price was ordered east of the Mississippi River +the Confederate Government placed the Department of Arkansas under the +command of General T. C. Hindman. It was Hindman who originated the idea +of organizing the guerrillas of Missouri into companies and regiments, +intending by a general uprising to wrest the State from the grasp of the +Federals. + +In his report to the Confederate Government Hindman says: "I gave +authority to various persons to raise companies and regiments there (in +Missouri) and to operate as guerrillas." + +Thus Hindman confesses he was encouraging the bloody guerrilla warfare +which raged throughout the State. + +Hindman ruled Arkansas with a rod of iron. He declared martial law +throughout the State, appointed a provost marshal for every county, and +proceeded to force every able-bodied man into the army. In his reports +he coolly says: "For the salvation of the country, I took the +responsibility to force these men into service. I now resolved for the +same objects to compel them to remain." + +A great many of these men were Union at heart, and desertions were +frequent. To stop this Hindman began the wholesale shooting of +deserters. In all probability he shot as many men for deserting as the +Federal authorities shot guerrillas in Missouri for breaking their +paroles. So high-handed did his acts become, and so many were the +complaints made against him, that the Confederate Government had to take +cognizance of them. + +By the end of November Hindman had succeeded in gathering an army of +from twenty-five to thirty thousand men. Many of them were unarmed, but +he had a formidable host in comparison to the small army opposed to him. + +It was on December the second that Lawrence arrived at the camp of +General Blunt. Since he had crossed the mountains, and escaped the force +in front of him, he had encountered no serious opposition. He had met +and scattered two or three small bands of guerrillas, and taken a number +of prisoners, whom he had been obliged to parole. + +"I am more than glad to see you," exclaimed General Blunt, warmly +grasping Lawrence's hand. "Schofield telegraphed me you were coming and +I have been looking for you for several days. I began to fear misfortune +had overtaken you." + +"We did have a variety of adventures," answered Lawrence. "More than we +bargained for, but we are here all right now." + +"Tell us about it," said the General, and nothing would do but that +Lawrence must give a detailed account of the trip. The General listened +attentively, and when Lawrence finished he clapped him on the shoulder +and cried, "Well done, my boy! Well done. You ought to be a general. But +were not the warnings you received in the mountains rather mysterious?" + +"They were," answered Lawrence, "and I have no plausible explanation to +make." + +Early next morning Blunt sent for Lawrence, asking him to come +immediately. He found him sitting with a paper in his hand, and a +puzzled expression on his face. + +"Hello! Captain," he cried. "I'm glad to see you, as I am a little in +the mystery business myself this morning." + +"In the mystery business?" asked Lawrence, somewhat astonished. + +"Yes, don't imagine you are the only one to receive mysterious warnings. +I received one myself last night." + +"Out with it. Don't keep me in suspense, General." + +"Well, last night a soldier brought me a communication, saying it was +given to him by a young Indian with the urgent request that it be given +to me at once." + +"You have Indians in your command, have you not?" + +"Yes, a company of scouts under the command of Colonel Wattles. The +paper was of such a nature that I immediately began an investigation as +to its genuineness. Colonel Wattles asked every man in his command if +any one of them had delivered such a paper and each and every one denied +knowledge of it. I found the soldier who gave me the paper, and he said +the Indian who gave it to him disappeared in the darkness before he +could ask him any questions. The paper contains the most important +information, if true. Here it is. I want you to look at it, and tell me +what you think of it." + +General Blunt handed Lawrence the communication, and no sooner had he +glanced at it than he exclaimed, "Great Heavens!" + +"What is it?" asked Blunt, jumping up in his excitement. "Do you know +who wrote it?" + +"I do not know who wrote it, but I know the handwriting. It is from the +same person who warned General Schofield, through me, of the +contemplated partisan uprising in Missouri last summer. It was the +information given in that communication that enabled General Schofield +to thwart the movement." + +"Was it the same person that warned you that you were being pursued in +the Ozarks?" asked the General. + +"No, that warning was given by an illiterate person. This is by someone +well educated. Whatever information the paper gives, act upon it at +once. I will stake my life on its being correct." + +"Read what it says," replied the General. + +Lawrence read the paper through and, as he expected, it was a detailed +account of the plans of General Hindman. It stated that Hindman had just +received dispatches from several sources in Missouri that if he did not +hurry up and invade the State the cause would be hopelessly lost, but if +he could defeat Blunt and invade the State, thousands were ready to +flock to his standard. Hindman had answered that he was ready to move on +Blunt with twenty thousand men, and anticipated an easy victory as he +(Blunt) did not have more than five or six thousand men. + +"He estimated my force closely," said Blunt. "There must have been spies +in my camp," but read on. + +"Great Scott! He says Hindman will commence his movement on the fourth +or fifth; and this is the third," exclaimed Lawrence. + +"Yes, and I have only this small division to oppose him." + +"Where are the other two divisions?" + +"Up around Springfield, seventy-five miles away, and Schofield's orders +are to hold this position at all hazards." + +"Herron can get here," cried Lawrence. "I know his Western boys; they +are greyhounds to march." + +"But just think, seventy-five miles in two or three days," said Blunt, +"and then go into battle. But it is my only hope." + +It was twelve miles to the telegraph office at Fayetteville. A swift +courier carried the message there and from there it went on the wings of +the lightning to General Herron. + +It was a little after midnight on the morning of the fourth that General +Herron received the message, and by three o'clock his little army was on +the way--a march of seventy-five miles before them and then a battle. +There was no lagging, no grumbling. "On to save Blunt" was the cry. + +That army was accustomed to long marches, to hardships almost +incredible. Hardly ever stopping, through the nights as well as days, +they marched, and on the evening of the sixth the advance of Herron's +army reached Fayetteville; the rest would be up during the night. +Blunt's army was still twelve miles away, and the boom of the cannon +told them the conflict was on. + +Hindman knew that Herron was coming, and he made haste to strike before +his arrival. On December fifth he instructed General Marmaduke to take +his division, turn the right flank of Blunt's army, and throw his men in +between Blunt and Fayetteville, thus preventing the union of Blunt and +Herron. + +The clash came at Cain Hill. Lawrence, with his troop, was in the +advance, and the rapidity of their fire so astonished Marmaduke that he +thought he was fighting a much larger force than he was, and his men +fell back in confusion. The movement was a failure. + +All through the next day Hindman's forces kept pouring through the +passes of the mountains, and though the Federals resisted gallantly, +they were gradually pressed back, and the evening of the sixth found the +two armies confronting each other, ready to grapple in deadly conflict. + +Blunt had sent word to Herron that he would fight where he was, and for +him to hurry forward. During the night General Hindman made an +unexpected and aggressive movement, worthy of Stonewall Jackson. +Reasoning that Herron's men must be completely exhausted by their long +march, he resolved to leave his camp fires burning and a small force +which was to make a big show, thus leading General Blunt to believe the +whole army was still before him. Hindman then marched around Blunt and +in the morning was squarely between him and Herron. Hindman believed he +could easily whip Herron before Blunt came up, and then he would turn on +Blunt and finish the job. + +As soon as it was light the Confederates in front of Blunt opened a +noisy battle. Lawrence was serving on Blunt's staff, leaving the troop +in command of Dan. The Federals pressed eagerly forward, the +Confederates yielding ground readily. + +"General," said Lawrence, "there is something wrong. I do not believe +the whole army is before us. They give ground too easily. I believe the +main part of Hindman's army has slipped past us, and gone to attack +Herron." + +"Impossible," answered Blunt. "The only road they could have taken to +get past us is the Cove Creek road, some four miles away, and I sent +Colonel Richardson with his regiment to guard that with strict orders to +hold it, and let me know if he was attacked. I have heard nothing from +him, so all must be well." + +But Lawrence was not satisfied; more and more he became convinced that +there was only a small force in front, and he asked Blunt if he might +not go and try to find Richardson, as he had not yet reported. +Permission was readily granted. Lawrence had not gone two miles before +he came onto Richardson. He had not occupied nor had he attempted to +occupy the Cove Creek road. Instead he had halted two miles from it, and +sent forward a small reconnoitering party; and the officer in charge of +the party had reported that the enemy had been passing along the road in +force ever since midnight. + +"Why didn't you occupy the road as ordered?" angrily demanded Lawrence +of Richardson. + +"Do you think I was going to fight the whole Confederate army with my +little regiment? I'm not such a fool," retorted Richardson. + +"Why didn't you send word to the General then that the enemy was passing +along this road in force?" demanded Lawrence, still more angry. "By your +own admission you became aware of the movement by midnight." + +"Why, I was just about to report the matter," said Richardson. + +"Just about to, and here it is after nine o'clock. If I had the power I +would strip off your shoulder straps, and have you drummed out of the +army," exclaimed Lawrence furiously. In fact, he came the nearest +swearing he ever did. But there was no time to quarrel. Wheeling his +horse he rode at full speed to General Blunt with the news. + +Calling back his men and paying no more attention to the force in front, +Blunt marched to the relief of Herron, but it was nearly eleven o'clock +before he got under way. Then he did not know exactly where Herron was, +for no courier could get through. It was one o'clock before the roar of +the cannon told him that the battle had opened, and then he found he was +marching in the wrong direction, and it was nearly four o'clock before +he reached the field. + +Hindman's movement had been a complete success. Herron had gathered his +little army at Fayetteville and early in the morning started to join +Blunt, whose cannon he could hear, not dreaming that it was to be he and +not Blunt that was to fight the main battle. + +Hardly had the light of the short December day dawned when Shelby's +brigade surprised and captured a train of thirty wagons, and with it +nearly three hundred of the four hundred soldiers guarding it. Those not +captured fled panic-stricken and for nearly five miles Shelby's men +followed them, but here they ran into Herron's men and went back as fast +as they had come. + +Herron soon came upon the entire Confederate army in line of battle +along Illinois Creek, not far from an old church called Prairie Grove +Church. The position was a strong one, but Herron did not hesitate a +moment, but made preparations to attack. + +Why Hindman, with his overwhelming force, did not attack, but waited to +be attacked, will never be known. Owing to the nature of the ground it +took Herron some time to form his line, but at one o'clock the battle +opened. For nearly three long hours it raged. Every time the +Confederates essayed to charge they were met with such a storm of shot +and shell that they went reeling back. + +Twice did Herron's men make desperate charges and captured a battery +each time, but they were met with such an overwhelming force that they +were forced to relinquish the guns. Herron's men were hard pressed, but +grimly they held to their position, awaiting the arrival of Blunt. + +It was nearly four o'clock when the roar of Blunt's cannon was heard. +Throwing his force on the flank of the Confederate army, they were +compelled to give way and the field was won. + +Darkness put an end to the conflict, and the tired soldiers threw +themselves on the ground to sleep, expecting to renew the conflict in +the morning. But Hindman had had enough. He had failed to crush Herron, +and now that Blunt and Herron were united, he only thought of safety; so +muffling the wheels of his artillery he began his retreat to Van Buren, +leaving his dead to be buried and hundreds of his wounded to be cared +for by the victorious Federals. + +This ended all hopes of the Confederates invading Missouri at this time. +Soon Hindman withdrew his army from Northwest Arkansas and fled to +Little Rock. + +Again had the Army of the Northwest, now known as the Army of the +Frontier, achieved a glorious victory in the face of immense odds.[17] + +[Footnote 17: The battle of Prairie Grove, for the number engaged, was a +bloodier and more fiercely contested battle than Pea Ridge. Blunt +claimed that he and Herron together had only seven thousand men on the +field. That Herron, with not more than half that number, had held the +enemy at bay for three hours, speaks volumes for the valor of his weary +men. + +Hindman claims he brought only eleven thousand men to the fight. + +The Federal loss was about thirteen hundred; the Confederate loss was +estimated at from fifteen hundred to two thousand. Hindman admitted a +loss of fourteen hundred. + +A few of the Federal regiments engaged lost heavily. The Twentieth +Wisconsin lost two hundred and seventeen; the Twenty-sixth Indiana, two +hundred and one; the Nineteenth Iowa, one hundred and ninety-three; the +Seventh Missouri Cavalry, one hundred and forty-two, and the +Thirty-seventh Illinois, seventy-one. + +General John C. Black, then colonel of the Thirty-seventh Illinois, +states that his regiment marched sixty-six miles in thirty-six hours to +get into the fight, and so exhausted were the men that during lulls in +the battle they would sink to the ground and be fast asleep in a minute, +but would spring to their feet and renew the fight when the call came, +with all the fury of fresh soldiers.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +CALLED TO OTHER FIELDS + + +The victory of Prairie Grove sent a thrill throughout the west, +especially to the Union men of Missouri. To the secession element of the +State it was a fearful blow, and they felt that their only hope was in +the success of the Southern army in other fields. + +Generals Blunt and Herron and the gallant soldiers of the Army of the +Frontier were warmly thanked by the Federal Government for the great +victory they had achieved. + +A few days after the battle an orderly placed a bulky letter in the +hands of Lawrence. He found it to be from General Schofield. As he read +it he uttered an exclamation of surprise. The letter stated that General +Blair had sent an urgent request that Lawrence be at once returned to +him, as he was greatly in need of a staff officer of Lawrence's +acquirements. + +"As much as I regret to lose you," wrote Schofield, "under the +circumstances I cannot object. I have just heard of your achievements in +the Ozarks and desire to thank you, which I hope to do in person." + +The letter then went on to state that while he no longer feared an +invasion of Missouri by any large force, the guerrilla warfare was by no +means over, and the State was still open to raids from Arkansas; +therefore he hoped that the troop would remain under the command of +Lieutenant Sherman, and that the scout Harry Semans would remain with +him. + +As Lawrence read this his brow contracted, for he hated to give up Dan +and Harry. But he felt the wisdom of Schofield's suggestion and could +offer no objection. + +Enclosed was a letter from General Blair to Lawrence, urging him to come +as soon as possible, saying that the movement against Vicksburg was +about to commence. "There will be stirring times down here for the next +few months," he wrote, "and you will find plenty to do, and fresh fields +in which to win honor." + +After he read the letter Lawrence handed Schofield's letter to Dan, +saying, "Read it." + +Dan had read but a few words when he looked up with a happy smile. "Why, +Captain," he exclaimed, "this is jolly. It means a wider field. I always +thought I would like to be in an army commanded by Grant." + +"Read on, Dan," said Lawrence. "There is much bitter with the sweet in +that document." + +Dan read on. In a moment he uttered an oath, and threw the letter down. +"I won't stay," he cried. "I want to go with you. I will resign my +commission. I will enlist as a private soldier so I can be near you." + +"I do not think that will do you much good," said Lawrence, smiling. "As +a private soldier you might be sent hundreds of miles from me. Even if +we were in the same army we would see little or nothing of each other. +Dan, let's look at this in a reasonable way. To part with you is as +great a grief to me as to you. It will be a sad parting, Dan, but it +will leave you in command of the troop and, Dan, I know you will do as +well, if not better, than I. Then you will have Harry and Bruno. General +Schofield is right; the guerrilla warfare is not over, and it is your +duty to remain here." + +It was hard to convince Dan, although he knew Lawrence was right. + +"Let's go and see Blunt," said Lawrence. + +The General, though he had known Lawrence but a few days, had become +warmly attached to him. His gallantry and coolness in time of battle had +won his admiration. + +"I had hoped you could remain and become chief of my scouts," he said. +"I have need of just such a body of men as you command." + +"You forget," said Lawrence, "that General Schofield writes that the +troop is to remain under the command of my lieutenant, Daniel Sherman. +You will find him equal to all demands. As for scouting, Harry Semans is +to remain with his dog Bruno, and they are equal to a regiment when it +comes to scouting." + +Schofield had written that he wished Lawrence would come by way of St. +Louis, as he wished to see him. This meant a horseback ride of two +hundred miles to Rolla. Lawrence's preparations for the long ride were +soon made, and the time to bid farewell to his command came. + +The members of the troop crowded around him to say good-bye and bid him +Godspeed, and tears stood in the eyes of many a rough soldier as they +took his hand in theirs. + +When it came to parting with Dan and Harry, Lawrence broke down. He +tried to say something, but a great lump was in his throat and his voice +died away. They could only clasp hands, their eyes looking what their +tongues refused to say. Dan and Harry watched him ride away, and as he +looked back, waved him a last farewell. + +But Lawrence's adventures in Missouri were not ended. He reached +Springfield in safety and there joined a wagon train en route for Rolla, +guarded by a detachment of fifty cavalry. The train was a small one, +consisting of forty wagons and ten ambulances, the ambulances conveying +back some disabled soldiers who had been furloughed. + +The escort was in charge of a Captain Jackson, a pompous, red faced man. +Lawrence noticed that he was more or less under the influence of liquor +all the time, and that there was little discipline among his men. + +A train from Rolla that came into Springfield just as this train was +leaving reported that they had been threatened by a band of guerrillas +under Jackman, but as their train was strongly guarded, he had not +attacked. + +"You had better be on your guard," said the officer in command to +Jackson. + +With an oath Jackson replied that his fifty men were a match for any +force Jackman could bring against him. That he wished Jackman would +attack, as he would like to give him a good licking. + +The first day out Lawrence saw how things were going and spoke to +Jackson, telling him that he was moving carelessly, that his men were +straggling and were in no shape to resist an attack if one came. + +Jackson drew himself proudly up and growled: "Who's in command of this +train, you or I? If you are afraid you had better go back to Springfield +and get a regiment to guard you through." + +Lawrence smothered his wrath and said nothing more. Jackson went among +his men boasting loudly how he had taken the starch out of that young +peacock of a captain. He had quickly shown him he couldn't order him +around. + +Soon a lieutenant of the company came to Lawrence and said, "Captain, I +heard what you said to Captain Jackson and his insulting reply. You are +right. We are in no shape to resist an attack." + +"You are in charge of the rear guard, are you not?" asked Lawrence. + +"Yes." + +"How many men have you?" + +"Fifteen." + +"Can they all be depended on?" + +"Ten or twelve can." + +"Good! Tell them if an attack comes to stand by the train to the last. +Captain Jackson has charge of the advance; how many men has he?" + +"Twenty. Half of them are no good. They would run at the first shot." + +"That leaves fifteen men to guard the center of the train," replied +Lawrence. "Under whose command are they?" + +"Sergeant Strong. He's a good man." + +"Let's see him." + +The Sergeant was seen and found to be a keen young soldier, fully alive +to the situation. "I have had hard work," he said, "to keep my men in +hand owing to the example of those in front, but I am doing the best I +can. One shot would stampede the whole advance." + +"If an attack should come in front," said Lawrence, "and the advance +come back panic-stricken, don't give way; Lieutenant Hale, here, will +come to your relief. If the rear is attacked, go to him. If the center +is attacked he will come to you." + +"You can depend on that," said Hale. + +"Are the teamsters armed?" asked Lawrence. + +"Only about half of them are enlisted men. They are armed." + +"See that their guns are loaded and ready for instant use." + +The teamsters were astonished and considerably excited when the order +came, but they were told that it was merely a matter of precaution, and +that there was no cause for alarm. + +On the morning of the third day out firing was heard in front. There +came a volley followed by fiendish yells and the advance came tearing +back, panic-stricken. In a moment everything was in confusion. + +Down the train rode the guerrillas, shooting the teamsters and mules, +and yelling like devils. Back came Captain Jackson, spurring his horse, +his face white with fright. + +"Halt," cried Lawrence. But the Captain went past him like a whirlwind, +his only thought of escape. + +Where the guerrillas had charged the head of the train the ground was +open, but where Lawrence was there was a thick growth of bushes on one +side of the road and a rough fence built out of logs and rails on the +other. + +Lawrence ordered one of the teamsters who had not entirely lost his head +to swing his wagon across the road, blocking it. Sergeant Strong had +succeeded in rallying some ten or twelve of the soldiers, who, springing +from their horses, used the mules and wagons for breastworks. Several of +the advance guard had been cut off, but they jumped from their horses +and, diving under the wagon, continued their flight. Lawrence did not +attempt to stop them, for they had lost their arms and would have been +of no use. + +Close on the heels of the fugitives came six or eight guerrillas. + +"Steady, men! Hold your fire!" shouted Lawrence. + +He waited until the guerrillas were within a few rods of the improvised +breastworks, then ordered the men to fire. Half the saddles were emptied +and the rest went scurrying back. But they were met by the main body of +guerrillas and all came charging with blood curdling yells. + +At this opportune moment Lieutenant Hale came galloping up with the rear +guard. His quick eye took in the situation and he ordered his men to +dismount and take position behind the mules and wagons. + +"Hold your fire!" again shouted Lawrence. "Keep cool and take good aim." + +On came the yelling horde. When within a few yards of the blockade the +foremost tried to check their horses, but those in the rear pressed on +and threw the whole body into confusion. + +"Fire!" Lawrence's voice rang out loud and clear. In that packed mass +the effect of the volley was terrible. + +"Give it to them," shouted Lawrence. + +The men loaded and fired as fast as they could, but soon there was no +one to shoot at. The guerrillas who had escaped were in retreat. + +"Lieutenant Hale, hold the position here," said Lawrence. "Fifteen men +come with me." + +Every man within the barricade volunteered. Quickly Lawrence counted off +fifteen. "The rest stay with Lieutenant Hale and hold the barricade," he +ordered. + +With the fifteen men Lawrence boldly charged after the fleeing enemy. +They had commenced to rally, but a few well directed volleys once more +put them to flight. + +Ten or twelve wagons were in flames, half a dozen of the teamsters lay +weltering in their blood, and the poor mules lay in heaps as they had +fallen. The ambulances had been in the rear of the train and so the +occupants had escaped. + +It was found that fifteen of the teamsters and soldiers had been killed +or wounded. Of the guerrillas, thirty lay dead or desperately wounded. + +After the fight was over Captain Jackson came creeping back. He claimed +that before he retreated he had killed two of the guerrillas with his +own hand and he had only gone to the rear to order up Lieutenant Hale. + +"Captain Jackson, you are under arrest." + +"Sergeant Strong, please relieve Captain Jackson of his sword," said +Lawrence, coolly. + +"By what right do you arrest me?" roared the Captain. "I refuse to be +arrested. Sergeant Strong, dare to arrest me and I will have you +court-martialed." + +"As the representative of General Schofield I arrest you; I am on his +staff," quietly answered Lawrence. "Sergeant, do your duty." + +The Captain delivered up his sword without a word. The name of General +Schofield was potent. + +Lawrence now turned to Lieutenant Hale and said, "Lieutenant, you are in +charge of the train. Clear up the debris of the battle. Let the men in +the ambulances who are best able be put in the wagons and our wounded +take their places. Let the wounded guerrillas be taken to that house +over there, and be made as comfortable as possible. Their friends will +care for them as soon as we are out of sight." + +It was noon before the train was again on the way. The burnt wagons, +dead mules and new made graves were the mute witnesses left to tell of +the fight. + +Rolla was reached without further trouble. Here Lawrence turned Captain +Jackson over, charging him with disgraceful cowardice. The Captain was +court-martialed and dishonorably dismissed from the service. For their +bravery, Lieutenant Hale was promoted to captain and Sergeant Strong to +second lieutenant. + +Lawrence took the cars at Rolla and was soon in St. Louis, where he +reported to General Schofield. What that gentleman said brought the +blushes to Lawrence's cheeks. + +"You do not know how I hate to give you up," said the General. "But on +your account, I rejoice. This is a miserable warfare in Missouri; not +much glory gained in fighting guerrillas. I will welcome the day when I +am assigned to another department. I have repeatedly asked to be +released, but the powers that be think I am of more service here. I know +the Radicals are opposed to me, and that complaints are pouring into +Washington against me. There is a large element that will not be +satisfied except I devastate the whole State with fire and sword." + +"I know," replied Lawrence. "I had a little experience with Jennison. +Jim Lane and a host of others are as bad. As you say, this is a +murderous warfare in Missouri, without much glory." + +"There will be great things doing around Vicksburg. I envy you," said +Schofield. + +"Ah! General, before the war is over you may have opportunities to +distinguish yourself, rather than fight guerrillas." + +The history of General Schofield shows that these opportunities came and +that in the last year of the war he won great distinction. + +Lawrence made a hurried visit to his friends before he departed for his +new field. He found his uncle and aunt well. His uncle was as firmly +convinced as ever that the South could never be conquered. + +Lola Laselle was overjoyed to meet him. "Every day I live I am prouder +of my knight-errant than ever," she cried. "No lady of old ever had a +braver or truer knight." + +Lawrence found Leon Laselle had nearly recovered from his wound. +Randolph Hamilton was in a fair way to recover, and was longing for the +day to come when he could be exchanged and again fight for the +principles he held dear. + +When he heard of Lawrence being the chosen knight of Lola he begged to +be allowed to become her knight too. "Then Lola," he said, "you will +have a knight in both armies, and one of them will be sure to come back +wearing the crown of victory." + +"It will not do," laughed Lola, "and you are a naughty boy for fighting +against the old flag. I had rather my knight be defeated in a good cause +than be victor in a bad one, and Randolph, the cause for which you are +fighting is a bad one, very bad." + +Randolph sighed. Day by day Lola had become more precious to him, and as +he looked at Lawrence he thought, "Why should she not prefer him to me?" + +When Lawrence inquired so particularly about Dorothy, how she was +getting along and how she liked Europe, a faint hope came to him that +after all it might be Dorothy and not Lola that attracted Lawrence; and +then he sighed again, for he remembered Dorothy's hatred for Yankees. + +The next day Lawrence was floating down the river. When we meet him next +it will be in that great campaign which ended in the capture of +Vicksburg, the Gibraltar of the Mississippi River. + + +THE END. + + + + +THE YOUNG KENTUCKIANS SERIES + + GENERAL NELSON'S SCOUT + ON GENERAL THOMAS'S STAFF + BATTLING FOR ATLANTA + FROM ATLANTA TO THE SEA + RAIDING WITH MORGAN + + +THE YOUNG MISSOURIANS SERIES + + WITH LYON IN MISSOURI + THE SCOUT OF PEA RIDGE + THE COURIER OF THE OZARKS + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Courier of the Ozarks, by Byron A. 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Dunn + +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 Courier of the Ozarks + +Author: Byron A. Dunn + +Illustrator: H. S. De Lay + +Release Date: February 7, 2011 [EBook #35207] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COURIER OF THE OZARKS *** + + + + +Produced by David Garcia, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<h1>THE COURIER OF THE OZARKS</h1> + +<h3>THE YOUNG MISSOURIANS SERIES</h3> + +<h2>BY BYRON A. DUNN</h2> + +<h3>AUTHOR OF "THE YOUNG KENTUCKIANS" SERIES</h3> + + +<h3>WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS<br /> +BY <span class="smcap">H. S. DeLAY</span></h3> + +<h3>CHICAGO<br /> +A. C. McCLURG & CO.<br /> +1912</h3> + +<h3>Copyright<br /> +A. C. McCLURG & CO.<br /> +1912</h3> + +<h3>Published September, 1912</h3> + +<h3>W. F. HALL PRINTING COMPANY, CHICAGO</h3> + + +<blockquote><p><i>To the Loyal Men of Missouri, who as members of the militia +did so much to save the State to the Union, this book is +dedicated. History gives them scant notice, and the Federal +government has failed to reward them as they deserve.</i></p></blockquote> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus1" id="illus1"></a> +<img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"Follow the colors," he shouted.</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h2> + + +<p>During the year 1862, after the capture of Island No. 10 and New Madrid, +no large armies operated in Missouri; but the State was the theater of a +desperate guerrilla warfare, in which nearly or quite a hundred thousand +men took part. It was a warfare the magnitude of which, at the present +time, is very little known; and its cruelty and barbarity make a bloody +page in the history of those times.</p> + +<p>This book is a story of this warfare. It is a story of adventure, of +hair-breadth escapes, and of daring deeds. In it the same characters +figure as those in <i>With Lyon in Missouri</i> and <i>The Scout of Pea Ridge</i>. +It tells how our young heroes were instrumental in thwarting the great +conspiracy by which the Confederate government, by sending officers into +the State, and organizing the different guerrilla bands into companies +and regiments, was in hopes of wresting the State from Federal control.</p> + +<p>As in former books, history is closely followed.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">BYRON A. DUNN.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Waukegan, Illinois.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>August, 1912.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#PREFACE">PREFACE</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. <span class="smcap">Bruno Carries a Message</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. <span class="smcap">An Internecine War</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. <span class="smcap">A Mysterious Communication</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. <span class="smcap">Moore's Mill</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. <span class="smcap">A Fight in the Night</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. <span class="smcap">Kirksville</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. <span class="smcap">Poindexter Captured</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. <span class="smcap">Lone Jack</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. <span class="smcap">Captured by Guerrillas</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. <span class="smcap">The Guerrilla's Bride</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. <span class="smcap">The Story of Carl Meyer</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. <span class="smcap">The News from Corinth</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. <span class="smcap">Porter Captures Palmyra</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. <span class="smcap">Ten Lives for One</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. <span class="smcap">A Girl of the Ozarks</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. <span class="smcap">A Wounded Confederate</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII. <span class="smcap">Trailing Red Jersey</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII. <span class="smcap">Live—I Cannot Shoot You</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX. <span class="smcap">Mark Has a Rival</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX. <span class="smcap">Capturing a Train</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI. <span class="smcap">The Old Man of the Mountains</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII. <span class="smcap">Mark Confesses His Love</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII. <span class="smcap">Into the Lion's Mouth</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV. <span class="smcap">Prairie Grove</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">CHAPTER XXV. <span class="smcap">Called to Other Fields</span></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#THE_YOUNG_KENTUCKIANS_SERIES">OTHERS IN SERIES</a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + +<p><a href="#illus1">"Follow the colors," he shouted.</a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus2">"Halt the advance. Ambuscade!" gasped Harry.</a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus3">Down the street they rode at full speed.</a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus4">"You pretend to be men and call this war?"</a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus5">To catch the rider as he reeled from the saddle.</a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus6">He was looking into the muzzle of a revolver.</a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus7">Her revolver was pointed at his breast.</a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus8">An old man leaning on a staff.</a></p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE COURIER OF THE OZARKS</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>BRUNO CARRIES A MESSAGE</h3> + + +<p>"Down! Bruno, down!"</p> + +<p>These words were uttered in a guarded whisper by a boy about seventeen +years of age, to a great dog that stood by his side.</p> + +<p>At the word of command, the dog crouched down, his whole body quivering +with excitement. His master gently patted him on the head, and +whispered, "There, there, old fellow, don't get nervous. Our lives would +not be worth much, if we were discovered."</p> + +<p>The boy was lying full length on the ground, concealed in a dense +thicket, but from his point of vantage he had a full view of the road +which ran a few yards in front of him. This road ran north and south, +and nearly in front of where he lay another road entered it, coming in +from the west.</p> + +<p>The cause of the dog's excitement was apparent, for coming up the road +from the west was a large body of horsemen, and a motley troop they +were. They were mostly dressed in homespun, and armed with all sorts of +weapons, from cavalry sabers to heavy knives fashioned out of files by +some rude blacksmith; the army musket, the squirrel rifle, and the +shotgun were much in evidence.</p> + +<p>As the head of the column reached the north and south road the leader +called a halt, and looked up and down the road, as if expecting some +one. He did not have long to wait. The sound of the swift beating of +horse-hoofs was heard from the south, and soon three men came riding up. +One, a man of distinguished looks and military bearing, was a little in +advance of the other two. As he came up, the leader of the little army +saluted him awkwardly and exclaimed, "Glad to see you, Colonel. What +news?"</p> + +<p>"Glad to see you, Captain Poindexter," replied the Colonel. "I see you +are on time. As for the news, all goes well. Within a week all Missouri +will be ablaze, and the hottest place for Yankees in all Christendom. +How many men have you, Captain?"</p> + +<p>"About five hundred, and more coming in all the time."</p> + +<p>"So that is Jim Poindexter, the bloody villain," muttered the boy +between his set teeth, and nervously fingering his revolver. "How I +would like to take a shot at him! But it would not do. It would be +madness."</p> + +<p>The next question asked by the Colonel, whose name was Clay, and who had +been in the State for the past two months promoting the partisan +uprising, was, "Where is Porter?"</p> + +<p>"At Brown's Springs. I am to join him there tonight. But he was to meet +me here with a few followers, knowing you were to be here."</p> + +<p>"Good! I will be more than pleased to see him," answered Colonel Clay. +"But I thought he was farther north."</p> + +<p>"Most of his force is," answered Poindexter. "But he promised to meet me +at Brown's Springs with five hundred followers. We have our eye on +Fulton. My spies report it is garrisoned by less than a hundred men. +Fulton captured, I can supply my men with both clothes and arms, and +then Jefferson City next."</p> + +<p>"Jefferson City?" asked Colonel Clay in surprise. "Do you look that +far?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Thanks to the Yankee Government, there are not over five hundred +soldiers in Jefferson City. Fulton once taken, the boys will flock to +our standard by thousands, and Jefferson City will become an easy prey."</p> + +<p>"Accomplish this, Poindexter," cried Colonel Clay, "and Missouri will be +redeemed. All over southwestern Missouri the boys are rallying and +sweeping northward. The object is to capture Independence, and then +Lexington. This done, we will once more control the Missouri River, and +the State will be anchored firmly in the Southern Confederacy. Then with +your victorious legions you can march south and help drive the Yankee +invaders from the land. Poindexter, Missouri can, and should, put fifty +thousand Confederate soldiers in the field."</p> + +<p>Poindexter shrugged his shoulders. "Colonel, not so fast," he exclaimed. +"I could not drag my men into the regular Confederate service with a +two-inch cable. Neither do I have any hankering that way myself. The +free and easy life of a partisan ranger for me."</p> + +<p>Colonel Clay looked disgusted. "Captain," he asked, "don't you get tired +of skulking in the brush, and waging a warfare which is really contrary +to the rules of war of civilized nations? There is little honor in such +a warfare; but think of the honor and glory that would await you if you +could free Missouri, and then help free the entire South. Why, it is not +too much to say that the star of a general might glisten on your +shoulder."</p> + +<p>A look of rage came over the face of Poindexter. "If you don't like the +way we fight," he growled, "why are you here, urging us to rise? If we +can free this State of Yankees, we will accomplish more than your armies +down south have. We prefer to fight our own way. Here, I am a bigger man +than Jeff Davis. I fight when it suits me, and take to the brush when I +want to. If you have any thoughts of influencing me or my men to join +the regular Confederate army, you may as well give up the idea. As for +the rules of civilized warfare, I don't care that," and he snapped his +fingers contemptuously.</p> + +<p>Colonel Clay concealed the indignation and disgust which he felt towards +the fellow, and said: "While we may not think alike, we are both working +for the same cause—the liberation of our beloved Southland from the +ruthless invasion of the Yankee hordes. If you can accomplish what you +think, surely the South will call you one of her most gallant sons. +Neither should we be too squeamish over the means used to rid ourselves +of the thieves and murderers that have overrun our fair State."</p> + +<p>"Now you are talking," exclaimed Poindexter, with an oath. "If Porter +comes—and he should be here by now—we will discuss the situation more +thoroughly; but the first thing for us to do is to capture Fulton."</p> + +<p>"Are you sure," asked Clay, "that your plans will not miscarry? Mr. +Daniels, one of the gentlemen here with me, informs me that that +regiment of devils, the Merrill Horse, is only a few miles to the west. +May they not interfere with your plans?"</p> + +<p>At the mention of the Merrill Horse, Poindexter's countenance took on a +demoniac expression. Striking the pommel of his saddle with his clenched +hand, he hissed: "I will never rest until I shoot or hang every one of +that cursed regiment. But you are mistaken in thinking the force west +consists of the entire Merrill Horse. Only part of the regiment is +there; the rest is up north. The force west is about five hundred +strong. I have given out the impression that I am making for the woods +which skirt Grand River, to join Cobb. Every citizen they meet will tell +them so. Little does Colonel Shaffer, who is in command, think I have +slipped past him, McNeil believes Porter is up around Paris—the most of +his force is—but he is to join me here with a goodly number. Ah! here +he comes now."</p> + +<p>Down the road from the north a party of horsemen were coming at a swift +gallop. They rode up, and salutations were spoken and hands shaken.</p> + +<p>A look of passion came into the face of the watching boy, and again he +fingered his revolver. Even the dog partook of the boy's excitement, for +his whole body was quivering.</p> + +<p>"Quiet, old boy, quiet," whispered the boy. "No doubt you would like to +tear the bloody monster to pieces, and I would give ten years of my life +for a shot, but it will not do."</p> + +<p>The boy was now listening intently, trying to catch every word that was +said.</p> + +<p>"Mighty glad to see you, Jo," Poindexter was saying. "How many men have +you at Brown's Springs?"</p> + +<p>"About four hundred when I left; but squads were coming in continually. +I count on six hundred by night."</p> + +<p>"Good! Then we will swoop down on Fulton tonight."</p> + +<p>"Don't know about that," answered Porter. "Many of the boys have ridden, +or will ride, fifty miles to join us. Their horses will be tired. +Tomorrow will be all right. How is everything?"</p> + +<p>"Splendid," answered Poindexter, rubbing his hands. "Not over a hundred +soldiers in Fulton. The only drawback is that there is a Yankee force of +about five hundred a few miles to the west, part of them the Merrill +Horse."</p> + +<p>"The Merrill Horse! The Merrill Horse!" cried Porter with a dreadful +oath. "I thought they were north. They are surely giving me enough +trouble up there."</p> + +<p>"About four companies are down here, under the command of +Lieutenant-Colonel Shaffer," answered Poindexter. "They have been trying +to find me for the past week. But they haven't found me yet," and he +chuckled. "The fact is," he continued, "I have fooled them. Shaffer +thinks I am making for the woods along the Grand River, to join Cobb. I +skipped past him last night. By this time he is making for the Grand +River as fast as he can go. No trouble from him in our little business +with Fulton."</p> + +<p>"Don't be too sure," exclaimed Porter. "Shaffer is about as sharp as the +devil; but I trust you are right."</p> + +<p>The conversation now took a general turn, Colonel Clay going over the +ground, telling them what was being done, and what he hoped would be +accomplished. "As for me," he said, "I must be across the river by +tomorrow. Everything depends on the movement to capture Independence and +Lexington. Then, if you gentlemen are successful here, and capture +Fulton and Jefferson City, our brightest hopes will be fulfilled. I must +now bid you good-bye. May success attend you."</p> + +<p>The Colonel and his two friends rode back towards the south, from whence +they came. Poindexter watched them until they were out of sight, and +then, turning to Porter, said: "What do you think, Jo? The Colonel +wanted me and my men to join the regular Confederate army."</p> + +<p>"Humph!" sniffed Porter, "I reckon you jumped at the chance."</p> + +<p>"Not much; but he did more. He mentioned that I was not conducting this +blood-letting business strictly on the rules of genteel, scientific +murder."</p> + +<p>"I reckon, before we indulged in a necktie party, he would want us to +say, 'Beg pardon, sir, but I am under the painful necessity of hanging +you,'" replied Porter, indulging in a coarse laugh.</p> + +<p>"I told him," continued Poindexter, "we fought as we pleased, and asked +no favors of General Price, Jeff Davis, or any other man. As for the +Confederate service, none of it for me."</p> + +<p>"They have offered me a colonelcy, if I take my men down into Arkansas," +answered Porter. "If it gets too hot for me here I may go. You know +there is a price on my head. But I must go, or my boys will be getting +uneasy. Join me at the Springs as soon as possible." Thus saying, he and +his party rode away.</p> + +<p>Poindexter ordered his men to fall in, and they followed Porter, but at +a more leisurely gait.</p> + +<p>When the last one had disappeared, the boy arose and shook himself. +"What do you think of that, Bruno?" he asked, patting the dog's head. +The dog stood with hanging head and tail, as if ashamed he had let so +many of his enemies get away unharmed. He looked up in his master's face +and whined at the question, as much as to say, "I don't like it."</p> + +<p>"Well, my boy, there is the Old Nick to pay. Both Porter and Poindexter +on the warpath. Fulton to be attacked, and not a hundred men to defend +it. Shaffer with the boys miles away. How are both to be warned? We must +see, old fellow, we must see. There is no time to lose."</p> + +<p>Thus saying, the boy hurriedly made his way back through the woods where +in a hollow in the midst of a dense thicket a horse stood concealed. +Those who have read "The Scout of Pea Ridge" will readily recognize the +boy as Harry Semans, and Bruno as his celebrated trained dog. After the +battle of Pea Ridge and upon the dissolution of the company of scouts +under the command of Captain Lawrence Middleton, Harry had returned to +Missouri, and become a scout for the Merrill Horse. The Merrill Horse, +officially known as the Second Missouri Cavalry, was a regiment composed +of companies from Missouri, Illinois, and Michigan.</p> + +<p>It can safely be said that no other regiment in the Federal army ever +saw more service in fighting guerrillas than did the Merrill Horse. From +the very first of the war their work was to help exterminate the +guerrilla bands which infested the State. The name "Merrill Horse" +became a terror to every bushwhacker and guerrilla in Missouri. No +trail was so obtuse, no thicket so dense that members of that regiment +would not track them to their lair. A true history of the Merrill Horse, +and the adventures of its different members, would read like the most +exciting fiction.</p> + +<p>When Harry reached his horse he stood for a moment in deep thought, and +then speaking to Bruno, said: "Yes, old boy, you must do it. I know you +can, can't you?"</p> + +<p>Bruno gave a bark and wagged his tail as if to say, "Try me."</p> + +<p>Tearing a leaf from a blank book, Harry wrote a brief note to Colonel +Shaffer, telling him what had happened, and begging him to march with +all speed to Fulton. This note he securely fastened to Bruno's collar +and said, "Bruno, go find Colonel Shaffer and the boys. You know where +we left them. Go."</p> + +<p>For a moment Bruno stood and looked up in his master's face, as if +undecided.</p> + +<p>"Go and find Colonel Shaffer. Go," Harry repeated, sternly.</p> + +<p>The dog turned and was away like a shot. Harry gazed after him until he +was out of sight, then patting the glossy neck of his horse, said, "Now, +Bess, it's you and I for Fulton; the machinations of those two +archfiends, Poindexter and Porter, must be brought to naught."</p> + +<p>Harry believed he would have no trouble in reaching Fulton, as the +guerrillas were generally quiet near a place garrisoned by Federal +troops, therefore he took the main road, as he was desirous of reaching +Fulton as soon as he possibly could. He had not gone more than two miles +when he met two men, rough-looking fellows, whom Harry had no desire to +meet, but there was no way to avoid it, except flight, so he rode boldly +forward.</p> + +<p>Harry was dressed in the homespun of the country, and had all the +appearance of a country bumpkin. As to arms, none were visible, but +stowed away beneath his rough jacket was a huge navy revolver, and Harry +was an adept in the use of it.</p> + +<p>"Hello, youn' feller," cried one of the men. "Whar be yo' goin' in sich +a hurry? Halt, and give an account of yo'self."</p> + +<p>"Goin' to Fulton, if the Yanks will let me," drawled Harry. "Whar be yo +'uns goin'?"</p> + +<p>"That 's nun yo' business. Air yo 'un Union or Confed?"</p> + +<p>"Which be yo'uns?"</p> + +<p>"Look heah, young feller, nun of yo' foolin'. I reckon yo' air a Yank in +disguise. That 's a mighty fine hoss yo 'un air ridin'. 'Spose we 'uns +trade."</p> + +<p>"'Spose we 'uns don't."</p> + +<p>During this conversation Harry's right hand was resting beneath his +jacket, grasping the butt of his revolver.</p> + +<p>"I reckon we 'uns will," jeered the fellow, reaching for his pistol.</p> + +<p>Quick as a flash Harry had covered him with his revolver. Fortunately +for him, the two men were close together. "Hands up," he ordered. "A +move, a motion to draw a weapon, and one or both of you will die. It +don't pay to fool with one of Porter's men."</p> + +<p>The hands of both went up, but one exclaimed, "One of Porter's men? Be +yo' one of Porter's men? We 'uns are on our way to join him. We 'uns +heard he was at Brown's Springs."</p> + +<p>"Yo 'uns will find him thar. I am taking a message from him to a friend +in Fulton. Yo 'uns can lower your hands. I reckon we 'uns understand +each other now."</p> + +<p>"We 'uns certainly do," said one of the men, as they dropped their +hands, looking foolish.</p> + +<p>"Wall, good-bye; may see yo 'uns in Fulton tomorrow." And Harry rode +off, leaving the men sitting on their horses watching him.</p> + +<p>"Ought to have shot both of them," muttered Harry, "but I cannot afford +to take any risks just now."</p> + +<p>Harry had no further adventures in reaching Fulton, and at once reported +to Captain Duffield, who was in command of the post.</p> + +<p>Captain Duffield listened to Harry's report with a troubled countenance.</p> + +<p>"A thousand of the devils, did you say?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, and more coming in every hour."</p> + +<p>"And I have only eighty men," replied Duffield, bitterly. "If they +attack before I can get help, there is no hope for us."</p> + +<p>"Colonel Shaffer is a few miles to the west with about five hundred +men," replied Harry. "If they do not attack tonight, as I do not reckon +they will from what Porter said, he may be here in time to help. I have +sent him word."</p> + +<p>"Sent him word? By whom?" asked Outfield, eagerly.</p> + +<p>"By my dog," and Harry explained.</p> + +<p>As Duffield listened, his countenance fell. "I see no hope from that," +he said. "It is preposterous to think that a dog will carry a message +for miles, and hunt up a man."</p> + +<p>"If you knew Bruno, you would think differently," replied Harry, +smiling.</p> + +<p>"I can put no dependence on any such thing," said Duffield. "My only +hope is getting word to Colonel Guitar, at Jefferson City. If I get any +help, it must come from him. God grant that Porter may not attack +tonight."</p> + +<p>"I think there is little danger tonight, but they may be down in the +morning," said Harry. "Do you think Guitar can reinforce you by +morning?"</p> + +<p>"He must; he must. I will send a message to him by courier mounted on +one of my fleetest horses."</p> + +<p>"Bess is about as fast as they make them," replied Harry. "I know the +country. I will go if you wish."</p> + +<p>Duffield looked at him a moment doubtfully, and then said, "You may go, +as you can tell Colonel Guitar all you have told me. But I will send one +of my own men with you."</p> + +<p>Captain Duffield wrote two messages, giving one to Harry, and the other +to the soldier who was to accompany him.</p> + +<p>"If you have trouble," said Captain Duffield, "for the love of Heaven, +one of you get through, if the other is killed. The safety of this post +depends on Colonel Guitar receiving the message."</p> + +<p>"It will go through, if I live," calmly replied Harry, as he carefully +concealed the message in the lining of his coat.</p> + +<p>To Harry's surprise, the soldier detailed to go with him proved to be a +boy, not much older than himself. He was mounted on a spirited horse and +his manner showed he was ready for any kind of an adventure, no matter +where it might lead.</p> + +<p>The shades of night were falling when Captain Duffield bade them +good-bye, and they rode away and were soon lost to view in the dusk.</p> + +<p>Captain Duffield stood looking after them, and then said to one of his +lieutenants, "I don't know what to make of that boy. He told a straight +story, but his thinking that dog of his would take a message to Shaffer +is a little too much to believe."</p> + +<p>But Captain Duffield soon had other things to think about. Reports began +to come in from other sources of the gathering of the guerrillas at +Brown's Springs, and their number was augmented to two thousand. He +posted his little force in the best manner possible to resist an attack, +and with an anxious heart, watched and waited through the long hours of +the night; but to his immense relief, no attack came.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>AN INTERNECINE WAR</h3> + + +<p>After the battle of Pea Ridge, the Confederate Government had no regular +organized troops in Missouri. General Sterling Price, with his Missouri +regiments, which had enlisted in the Confederate service, was ordered +east of the Mississippi. But there were thousands of State troops that +had followed Price, and although they refused to enlist in the regular +Confederate service, they were, at heart, as bitter towards the Union as +ever. These men found their way back home, and although thousands of +them took the oath of allegiance to the Federal Government, the majority +of them were not only ready, but eager, to ally themselves with some of +the guerrilla bands which were infesting the State.</p> + +<p>The Federal authorities, knowing that Price, with his army, had been +ordered east, thought that the Confederates had given up all hopes of +holding the State, and that the fighting was over, except with small +guerrilla bands, that could easily be kept in check. Therefore, the +great majority of the Federal troops in Missouri were withdrawn to swell +the armies of Buell and Grant.</p> + +<p>The Confederates now thought they saw their opportunity. Numbers of the +Confederate officers secretly made their way into the State and +commenced to organize the disloyal forces, co-operating with the +guerrilla bands. Among these officers was Colonel Clay, who appeared in +the first chapter.</p> + +<p>This movement was so successful that during the summer of 1862 it is +estimated that there were from thirty to forty thousand of these men +enrolled and officered. Places of rendezvous were designated, where all +were to assemble at a given signal, and, by a coup-de-main, seize all +the important points in the State which were feebly garrisoned. Then +they were to co-operate with an army moving up from Arkansas, and the +State would be redeemed.</p> + +<p>It was a well laid plan, but fortunately it was early discovered by +General J. M. Schofield, who was in command of the Department of +Missouri. How General Schofield first received his information will be +told hereafter.</p> + +<p>General Schofield frantically appealed to Halleck for aid, and then to +Washington, but he was answered that owing to the great military +movements going on, not a regiment could be spared.</p> + +<p>General Schofield, thus left to his own resources, rose grandly to the +occasion. He would use the Confederates' own tactics. So he ordered the +entire militia of the State to be enrolled. Thousands of Confederate +sympathizers fled the State, or took to the bush. During the summer of +1862 between forty and fifty thousand loyal State militia were +organized. Thus the whole State became one vast armed camp, nearly forty +thousand men on a side, arrayed against each other.</p> + +<p>It was father against son, brother against brother, neighbor against +neighbor. The only wonder is that owing to the passions of the times +there were not more excesses and murders committed than there were.</p> + +<p>During the year 1862 there were at least one hundred and fifty +engagements fought on the soil of Missouri, in which the numbers engaged +varied from forty or fifty to five or six thousand. In these engagements +General Schofield says the Union troops were successful in nine out of +ten, and that at least three thousand guerrillas had been killed, +wounded, or taken prisoners, and that ten thousand had fled the State.</p> + +<p>This terrible warfare between neighbors receives scant mention in +history, but in no great battles of the war was greater bravery shown, +greater heroism displayed, than in many of the minor engagements fought +in Missouri.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>A MYSTERIOUS COMMUNICATION</h3> + + +<p>In the month of May, 1862, a young Federal officer reported in St. +Louis, and found himself without a command, and without a commission. +This officer, Captain Lawrence Middleton, had greatly distinguished +himself during the first year of the war on the staff of General +Nathaniel Lyon. After the death of Lyon he was commissioned a captain by +General Fremont, and authorized to raise an independent company of +scouts. With this company he had rendered valiant service in the +campaign which ended with the battle of Pea Ridge.</p> + +<p>Many of the acts of Fremont, and a number of commissions which he had +granted, had been repudiated by the Government, and thus Middleton had +found himself free. But he had no intention of remaining inactive, his +heart was too much in the cause. If no other field was open, he would +enlist as a private soldier. But there was no need of that, he was too +well known. Though young, scarcely more than eighteen, he had rendered +services and performed deeds which made his name known throughout the +State. He had thwarted the machinations of Frost, Price, Governor +Jackson, and other disloyal leaders in their efforts to drag Missouri +out of the Union.</p> + +<p>While Lawrence was undecided just what to do he met Frank P. Blair, who +was overjoyed to see him. He had been Blair's private secretary during +the troublesome months before the opening of the war, and a lieutenant +in one of his regiments of Home Guards.</p> + +<p>Blair, who had been appointed a brigadier general in the Federal army, +had been at home on business, and was about to return to his command.</p> + +<p>"Never better pleased to see anyone in my life," said Blair, nearly +shaking Lawrence's arm off. "Oh, I've kept track of you, you've been +keeping up your reputation. But what are you doing in St. Louis? I +thought you were with Curtis."</p> + +<p>Lawrence told Blair of his predicament,—that he was now without a +command or a commission.</p> + +<p>"Good!" cried Blair, shaking Lawrence's hand again. "I was about to +write to Curtis to see if I could not get you away from him. I will see +that you are commissioned as captain, and I will detail you on my staff. +I need just such fellows as you."</p> + +<p>"I couldn't ask anything better," said Lawrence, "and, General, I thank +you from the bottom of my heart. It is more than I could have possibly +hoped, more than I deserve."</p> + +<p>"Too modest, my boy. If you had your deserts, you would be wearing a +star on your shoulder, as well as myself. I am a little selfish in +asking you to go on my staff. I want you."</p> + +<p>So it was all arranged, and Lawrence went to see his uncle and tell him +of his new position on Blair's staff. This uncle, Alfred Middleton, was +one of the wealthiest citizens of St. Louis, and an ardent secessionist. +Now that Lawrence was out of the army, he was in hopes that he would +stay out, and he showed his disappointment in his face. He had also been +greatly worried of late. His only son was with Price, and it was a sore +spot with him that the Missouri Confederate troops had been ordered +east, and not been left to defend their native State.</p> + +<p>In fact, the Confederates of the State felt that they had been deserted +by the Richmond Government, and bore Jeff Davis and his cabinet no great +love.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry, Lawrence," said his uncle, sadly. "I was in hopes that as +long as you were out of the army you would stay out. Why will you +persist in fighting against those who were your friends? Your whole +interest lies with the South."</p> + +<p>"Uncle, please do not let us discuss that question again," replied +Lawrence. "You and I are both firm in our belief, and no amount of +discussion will change either."</p> + +<p>Mr. Middleton sighed, but did not resume the subject. That Lawrence, +whom he looked upon almost as a son, should take up arms against the +South was to him a source of endless regret.</p> + +<p>The next two or three days were busy ones with Lawrence. The new +arrangement had one drawback, it would separate him from Dan Sherman, +who had been a lieutenant in his company of scouts, and the two were +inseparable. Dan would not hear of parting from Lawrence; he would go +with him if he had to go as his servant.</p> + +<p>"I can never consent to that, Dan," said Lawrence. "I had rather tell +Blair I have reconsidered his proposition and cannot accept."</p> + +<p>"You'll do no such thing," retorted Sherman. "I will try and behave +myself, but I feel that something will happen, and we will not be +separated."</p> + +<p>Something did happen, much quicker than either one expected. Something +which entirely changed the calculations of Lawrence. It was to be some +months before he saw service with Blair.</p> + +<p>Lawrence and Dan were passing a newspaper office, before which a large +crowd had gathered, reading the war bulletins. They told that Halleck +was tightening his lines around Corinth and that the place must soon +fall; and that McClellan was well on his way towards Richmond.</p> + +<p>It was curious to watch the faces of those who read. The countenances of +those who were for the Union would brighten when anything was posted +favorable to the Union cause, and now and then a cheer would be given.</p> + +<p>The iron heel of the Yankees was on St. Louis, and the Confederate +sympathizers dare not be so outspoken, but when anything favorable to +the South was posted their eyes would flash, and their countenances beam +with joy.</p> + +<p>And thus the crowd stood and read, once friends and neighbors, but now +ready to rend each other to pieces at the first opportunity.</p> + +<p>Lawrence mingled with the crowd, and as he read he felt a bulky envelope +thrust in his hand and caught a glimpse of a dusky arm. He glanced at +the address and then turned to see who had given it to him, but could +not. He glanced at the envelope again. Yes, it was for him. In bold +letters was written, "For Captain Lawrence Middleton. Important."</p> + +<p>The writing was strange to Lawrence, and making his way through the +crowd he sought a private place where he could see what had so +mysteriously come into his possession. As he read, a look of surprise +came over his face, and then his countenance grew stern and grim. +Carefully he read the document through from beginning to end. It was +signed "By One Who Knows." There was not a mark to tell who was the +writer. The writing was strong and bold, and possessed an originality of +its own, as if the writer had put much of his own character in it. +Lawrence sat and pondered long. He looked the manuscript over and over +again to see if he could not discover some private mark, something that +would identify the writer, but he found nothing.</p> + +<p>"Strange," he muttered, "but if Guilford Craig was alive I would swear +he was the writer of this. Who else would write me, and me alone, and +give such important information? Who else could obtain the information +contained in this letter? Yet Guilford is dead. Benton Shelly was seen +to shoot him. There were those who saw him lying on the ground, still in +death, his bosom drenched in blood. But his body was not found. +Guilford, Guilford, are you still alive? But why do I indulge in such +vain hope that he is alive? The proof of his death is too plain. This +letter must have been written by another, but who? Who? And why send it +to me?"</p> + +<p>The letter was, in fact, a full and complete <i>exposé</i> of the plans of +the Confederates. It told of the conception of the plot; who was +carrying it out; of the hundreds who had taken the oath of allegiance in +order that they might work more securely, and that many had even +enlisted in the State militia, so that when the supreme time came they +could desert: the time set for the uprising was the last of July or else +the first of August, by which time they hoped to have at least forty +thousand men enrolled.</p> + +<p>"Blair and Schofield must see this, and no time lost," said Lawrence to +himself as he placed the communication carefully in his pocket.</p> + +<p>Blair was soon found. After carefully reading the letter he said, "I am +not surprised. I warned the Government of the folly of removing so many +troops from the State. But who could have written this?"</p> + +<p>"If Guilford Craig was alive there would be but one answer," replied +Lawrence. "As it is, it is a mystery."</p> + +<p>"Let us see Schofield at once," said Blair. "There should be no time +lost."</p> + +<p>Repairing to the headquarters of General Schofield, they were readily +admitted. General Schofield was the chief of staff to General Lyon at +the time of the battle of Wilson Creek, and, of course, knew Lawrence +well. "Glad to see you, Captain," said the General. "Curtis has written +me of your good work. You are not with him now, are you?"</p> + +<p>"No, you know the commission I held was granted by Fremont. The +authorities at Washington declared it illegal."</p> + +<p>"Ah, there was a large number of those commissions. I must see what I +can do for you."</p> + +<p>"I thank you, General, but General Blair has just done me the great +honor of appointing me on his staff."</p> + +<p>"General Blair, as well as yourself, is to be congratulated," answered +the General.</p> + +<p>Blair now spoke. "General, our business with you is very important. +Captain Middleton, please show the General the communication you +received."</p> + +<p>Lawrence handed the General the mysterious message and Schofield read it +with a darkened brow.</p> + +<p>"Who wrote this?" he asked, abruptly.</p> + +<p>"General, I do not know."</p> + +<p>"Then it may be a fake, a joke. Someone may be trying to scare us."</p> + +<p>"General, it is no joke, the proof is too positive," replied Lawrence, +earnestly.</p> + +<p>"That is so," answered the General. "It also confirms rumors I have been +hearing. There has been unusual activity among Southern sympathizers, +all over the State, yet outside of the guerrilla bands there have been +no hostile demonstrations. This must have been written by someone deep +in their counsels."</p> + +<p>"General, do you remember Guilford Craig?"</p> + +<p>"Remember him! Indeed, I do. Can I ever forget what he and you were to +Lyon?"</p> + +<p>"If Guilford Craig had not been killed at the battle of Pea Ridge I +would be positive the communication came from him. But the handwriting +bears no resemblance to his."</p> + +<p>"Are you certain he was killed?"</p> + +<p>"The proof seems positive, but his body was not found," answered +Lawrence.</p> + +<p>Schofield sat for a moment in silence, and then suddenly said to Blair, +"General Blair, I have a great favor to ask of you."</p> + +<p>"What is it, General? Any favor I can give you will be readily granted."</p> + +<p>"That you relinquish your claim on Captain Middleton, at least, until +this crisis is over, and let me have him."</p> + +<p>Blair looked surprised, but no more so than Lawrence.</p> + +<p>"You know," continued Schofield, "there is no one who can help me more +just now than Captain Middleton. No one who understands the work before +me better. This Guilford Craig, as you are aware, was a curious +character. To no one would he report but to Captain Middleton. This +<i>exposé</i>, coming to Middleton, instead of to me, leads me to believe +that Craig was not killed, as supposed, but in some way got off the +field, and for reasons, known only to himself, remains in hiding. +Judging the future by the past, if he is alive, and has more information +to impart, it would be given only through the same source. For these +reasons I would like to attach Captain Middleton to my staff."</p> + +<p>"General, your reasons are good," replied Blair, "and it shall be for +Captain Middleton to decide."</p> + +<p>"Where I can do my country the most good, there I am willing to go," +answered Lawrence.</p> + +<p>So it was decided that for the summer Lawrence should remain with +General Schofield. The words of General Schofield had also given +Lawrence hope that Guilford lived. But as weeks and months passed, and +no other communication came to him, he again looked upon Guilford as +dead.</p> + +<p>Hopeless of getting relief from the Federal Government, General +Schofield entered upon the gigantic task of organizing the militia of +the State. In this Lawrence was of the greatest service, and through a +system of spies and scouts he was enabled to keep General Schofield well +informed as to what was going on in the State.</p> + +<p>In helping organize the militia, Lawrence had many adventures and many +hair-breadth escapes, and by his side always rode the faithful Dan +Sherman, and together they shared every danger.</p> + +<p>By the last of July, as has been stated, there were nearly one hundred +thousand men arrayed against each other. It was a partisan warfare on a +mighty scale, and the storm was about to burst.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>MOORE'S MILL</h3> + + +<p>We left Harry Semans and his young companion just starting on their +lonely ride to Jefferson City, a distance of twenty-seven miles. The +soldier with Harry proved rather a garrulous youth. He said his name was +David Harris; that he belonged to the Third Iowa Cavalry; was a farmer +boy, and rather liked the service. "It's exciting, you know," he added.</p> + +<p>"Very much so at times," dryly answered Harry.</p> + +<p>"Say, what makes you dress like a blamed guerrilla?" suddenly asked +Dave. "You are a soldier, aren't you?"</p> + +<p>"I am a scout," replied Harry. "I dress like a guerrilla because I have +to pretend to be one about half the time. Just before I reached Fulton +today I passed myself off as one of Porter's men. It saved me a +dangerous encounter, perhaps my life."</p> + +<p>"Gee! it must be exciting," said the boy. "I wish I was a scout."</p> + +<p>"Couldn't be one," laughed Harry. "Your Yankee brogue would give you +away. I notice you say 'keow' instead of 'cow' and 'guess' instead of +'reckon.' But please don't talk any more, we must keep both ears and +eyes open."</p> + +<p>After this they rode along in silence; that is, as much as Dave would +allow, until Harry ordered him to ride in the rear, and if he must talk, +talk to himself, and so low that no one else could hear.</p> + +<p>For some ten miles they proceeded at a swift gallop without adventure, +meeting two or three horsemen who seemed as little desirous of making +acquaintance as they were themselves, and Dave began to think the ride +rather tame.</p> + +<p>As they were passing a place where the bushes grew thickly by the side +of the road, they received a gruff command to halt. Instead of obeying, +Harry, as quick as thought, drew his revolver and fired, at the same +time putting spurs to his horse and shouting to Harris, "Ride for your +life."</p> + +<p>There was a rustling in the bushes, an angry exclamation as well as a +groan. Harry's shot had gone true, and came as a surprise to the +bushwhackers as well, for two or three seconds elapsed before three or +four shots rang out, and they went wild.</p> + +<p>"Well, how do you like it?" asked Harry, as he drew rein, considering +the danger past.</p> + +<p>"It was so sudden," said Dave. "I think I would have halted, and asked +what was wanted."</p> + +<p>"And got gobbled, and in all probability hanged afterwards. Dave, you +have to learn something yet before you become a scout. Always be ready +to fire at a moment's notice; and if you have to run don't tarry on your +going. I took chances as to whether there was a large party or not, but +concluded it was not, or some of them would have been in the road."</p> + +<p>"Did you think of all that? Why, the word 'Halt' was hardly out of the +fellow's mouth when you fired."</p> + +<p>"Think quickly, act quickly; it has saved my bacon many a time. You +ought to have been with me when I was with Captain Lawrence Middleton. +There is the fellow to ride with. But this wouldn't have happened if +Bruno had been with me."</p> + +<p>"Bruno? Who is Bruno?" asked Dave.</p> + +<p>"Bruno is my dog. He would have smelled those fellows out before we were +within forty rods of them. I am never afraid of a surprise when Bruno is +with me. But no more talking now."</p> + +<p>Once more their horses took up a swinging gallop, and they met with no +further adventures, and within less than three hours from the time they +started they were halted by the Union pickets who guarded the approach +to the river opposite Jefferson City.</p> + +<p>Harry demanded of the Lieutenant in command of the picket that they be +ferried across the river without loss of time, but the Lieutenant +demurred, saying it was against orders to allow anyone to cross the +river during the night.</p> + +<p>"I have important dispatches from Captain Duffield to Colonel Guitar. +Refuse to take me over, and I would not give much for your command," +angrily answered Harry.</p> + +<p>"Who are you?" demanded the Lieutenant. "From your dress you are +certainly not a soldier."</p> + +<p>"I am Harry Semans, scout for the Merrill Horse," answered Harry.</p> + +<p>"At the name 'Merrill Horse' the Lieutenant became as meek as a lamb.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me," he exclaimed. "I will see that you get over the river +immediately. Anything new at Fulton?"</p> + +<p>"Porter and Poindexter are within eleven miles of the place, and +Duffield expects to be attacked by morning."</p> + +<p>The Lieutenant gave a low whistle. "The devil," he ejaculated, and +rushed to give the necessary orders.</p> + +<p>It was eleven o'clock before the river was crossed and the headquarters +of Colonel Guitar reached. He had just retired, but Harry and Dave were +without ceremony admitted into his bedroom. The Colonel read the +dispatch of Captain Duffield, sitting on his bed in his nightclothes.</p> + +<p>At once all was excitement. There were but five hundred men guarding the +important post of Jefferson City. Of this force, Colonel Guitar ordered +one hundred to accompany him to Fulton. He dared not deplete the little +garrison more.</p> + +<p>While Harry and Dave were in the Colonel's bedroom, Harry noticed that +Dave was regarding Guitar with a great deal of interest. When they +passed out Dave said to Harry in a whisper, "That general don't amount +to shucks. Think of him fighting Porter?"</p> + +<p>"Why, what's the matter with Guitar?" asked Harry.</p> + +<p>"Matter! He wears a nightgown just like a woman. Who ever heard of a man +wearing a nightgown?"<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>Harry exploded with laughter. "Many men wear nightgowns," he explained. +"I have no doubt but what General Schofield does. I reckon you will find +out that Guitar will fight."</p> + +<p>During the day there had been two important arrivals in Jefferson City, +that of Lawrence Middleton and Dan Sherman. They had told Colonel Guitar +of the rapid concentration of the guerrilla bands all through the +counties north of the river, and had warned him to be on the lookout for +trouble. In fact, they had brought orders from General Schofield for him +to send two of his companies to Columbia, as it was thought that was the +place in greatest danger.</p> + +<p>Lawrence and Dan were told of the danger that threatened Fulton, and +they determined to accompany Guitar in his expedition.</p> + +<p>It was not until they were on the ferryboat crossing the river that +Harry was aware that Lawrence and Dan were of the number. He nearly went +wild on seeing them.</p> + +<p>"And how is Bruno?" asked Lawrence.</p> + +<p>"Bruno is all right. I sent him with a dispatch to Colonel Shaffer."</p> + +<p>Hurry as fast as they could, it was long past midnight before the force +was across the river, and then there was a twenty-seven mile ride ahead +of them.</p> + +<p>On the march Harry had an opportunity to tell Lawrence much that had +happened to him since they parted.</p> + +<p>It was daylight when Fulton was reached, and, much to their relief, the +place had not been attacked, but the excitement ran high. Rumor had +increased Porter's force to two thousand. Colonel Guitar believed this +estimate to be much too high. So, small as his force was, only one +hundred and eighty, he determined to move out and attack Porter without +delay.</p> + +<p>When this became known to the few Union inhabitants of Fulton they +implored Guitar not to do it. "Your force will be annihilated," they +exclaimed, "and Fulton will be at the mercy of the foe."</p> + +<p>Lawrence agreed with Colonel Guitar. "We came here in the night," said +he. "Porter does not know how many men you brought. No doubt your force +is magnified, the same as his. Assuming the offensive will disconcert +him, and also prevent him receiving further reinforcements."</p> + +<p>So it was decided, and the little force took up the march for Brown's +Springs, eleven miles away. Couriers were dispatched to find Colonel +Shaffer, for even if Bruno had succeeded in delivering Harry's message +Shaffer would march for Fulton instead of Brown's Springs.</p> + +<p>It was about eleven o'clock when the column reached the vicinity of +Brown's Springs. Nothing as yet had been heard from Colonel Shaffer, but +Guitar determined to attack. Lawrence had been asked by Guitar to act as +his aid, to which he gladly assented.</p> + +<p>Two or three small parties of guerrillas had been sighted, but they took +to the brush at the sight of the Federals.</p> + +<p>The command now moved cautiously forward, but there was to be no battle. +Harry, who had been scouting in front, returned with the news that the +guerrillas had fled. Their camp was soon occupied. Everything showed a +rapid flight; even the would-be dinner of the guerrillas was found half +cooked.</p> + +<p>Along in the afternoon Porter's force was located near Moore's Mill, +about four miles distant.</p> + +<p>As Colonel Guitar's men had not slept a wink the night before, and as +both men and horses were tired out, the Colonel decided to camp, rest +his men and await the coming of Shaffer.</p> + +<p>Why Porter fled from Brown's Springs and yet gave battle the next day, +after Shaffer had come up, will never be known. If he had fought at +Brown's Springs he would have had five men to Guitar's one. He may have +thought Shaffer was miles away. What Poindexter had told him would lead +him to believe this. And it would have been the case had it not been for +Harry and the faithful Bruno.</p> + +<p>Every precaution was taken by Colonel Guitar to guard against a night +attack, but his little army was allowed to rest in peace.</p> + +<p>During the night the couriers sent out to locate Shaffer reported. Bruno +had done his work well, but Shaffer had been miles farther away than +thought, and as had been requested by Harry in his report, had marched +for Fulton. He was yet ten miles away, and it would be impossible for +him to join Guitar before morning.</p> + +<p>The morning came and with it Shaffer, and with him five hundred and +fifty men, eager for the combat. How Guitar's men did cheer when they +saw Shaffer coming.</p> + +<p>Scouts reported that Porter still occupied his camp, and showed no sign +of moving. It looked as if he had resolved to stay and fight. Colonel +Guitar gave the order to move forward and attack. The advance had to be +carefully made, for the country was rough, wooded, and covered with a +dense undergrowth of bushes.</p> + +<p>Harry now had Bruno with him, and leaving his horse, he, with the dog, +made his way to the front, in order to discover, as far as possible, the +plans and position of the enemy. So dense was the undergrowth he could +not see thirty feet ahead of him, but Bruno, as stealthy as a tiger in +the jungle, crept through the bushes ahead of him and more than once +gave him warning to turn aside his steps and take another direction. At +last he came to quite a hill, on the summit of which grew a tree with +branches close to the ground. Leaving Bruno to guard, Harry climbed the +tree, and to his satisfaction had a good view of the country. But what +he saw filled him with consternation.</p> + +<p>The road on which the Federals were marching was narrow and on each side +lined with dense underbrush. Ahead of the Federal advance, the road +itself was clear, not a guerrilla in sight, but Porter had left his camp +and all his forces were stealthily creeping through the woods, and +concealing themselves in the bushes which lined the road.</p> + +<p>Harry knew that that meant an ambuscade, and the Federal advance was +almost into it. In his eagerness he hardly knew whether he fell, jumped, +or swung himself down by the branches, but he was out of the tree and +tearing through the brush like a mad man to give warning.</p> + +<p>He came to the road just as Colonel Guitar came along, riding at the +head of his column, the advance, consisting of twenty-five men of +Company E, Third Iowa Cavalry, being a short distance ahead.</p> + +<p>"Halt the advance. Ambuscade," gasped Harry. He could say no more, as he +fell from exhaustion.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus2" id="illus2"></a> +<img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"Halt the advance. Ambuscade," gasped Harry.</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>Guitar understood. "Halt," he cried, and to an aid, "Warn the advance."</p> + +<p>The aid put spurs to his horse, but he was too late. Before he could +give warning there came a crashing volley from the jungle on the east +side of the road, the thicket burst into flame and smoke. It was an +awful, a murderous volley. Out of the twenty-five men who composed the +advance, hardly a man or horse escaped unscathed; all were killed or +wounded.</p> + +<p>Swift and terrible as this blow was, it created no panic in Guitar's +little army. The road was narrow, thickets on each side. Nothing could +be done with cavalry. Quickly the order was given to dismount and send +the horses back in charge of every fourth man. Guitar then formed his +slender line in the edge of the thicket on the west side of the road, +with orders to hold until Shaffer came up, for Shaffer was still behind.</p> + +<p>Hearing the sound of the conflict, Shaffer rushed forward, sent back his +horses, and along the road and through the tangled undergrowth the line +was formed and the battle became general.</p> + +<p>The guerrillas displayed a bravery they seldom showed when engaged with +regular troops, and fought with determination and ferocity. They had the +advantage in position and numbers, but Guitar had the advantage in +having a couple of pieces of artillery. One of these pieces was brought +up by hand and planted in the road where it could sweep the woods in +which the guerrillas were concealed.</p> + +<p>Hidden from view, the guerrillas crept up near, poured in a murderous +volley, and then raising a blood-curdling yell, dashed for the gun. Four +of the gunners had fallen before the volley, and for the time the gun +was silent. But behind the piece lay a line of sturdy cavalrymen. They +waited until the guerrillas had burst from the thicket and were within +forty feet of the gun, then sprang to their feet and poured a terrific +volley almost into the faces of the foe.</p> + +<p>Staggering and bleeding, the guerrillas shrank back into the woods, but +only to rally and with fearful yells dash for the gun again. This time +they were not met by the cavalrymen alone, but the cannon belched forth +its deadly charge of canister in their faces.</p> + +<p>When the four gunners fell at the first charge, Dan Sherman, seeing that +the piece was not manned, rushed forward and snatched the primer from +the dead hand of the man who was about to insert it when he fell. Dan +inserted the primer, pulled the lanyard and sent the contents of the gun +into the ranks of the enemy. Two of the artillerymen who had not been +injured came to his assistance, and again the gun was thundering forth +its defiance.</p> + +<p>Through the chaparral Shaffer's men now pushed their way foot by foot. +It was a strange conflict. So dense was the undergrowth the line could +not be followed by the eye for thirty feet. No foe could be seen, but +the thickets blazed and smoked, and the leaden hail swept through the +bushes, tearing and mangling them as if enraged at their resistance.</p> + +<p>The duty of Lawrence was a dangerous one. He had to break his way +through the thickets, see that some kind of a line was kept, and that +orders were being executed. While the men were sheltered by trees, logs +and rocks, he had to be exposed, but as if possessed of a charmed life, +he passed through unscathed.</p> + +<p>Foot by foot the Federals dragged themselves forward, slowly pressing +the guerrillas back. At last, tired of fighting an unseen foe, the men +arose to their feet, and with a wild cheer sprang forward. Surprised, +the foe wavered, then broke. The flight became a panic, and they fled +terror-stricken from the field. The battle of Moore's Mill had been +fought and won.</p> + +<p>There was no pursuit that night. The day had been intensely hot, and the +battle had raged from twelve noon until four. The soldiers, with +blackened, swollen faces and tongues, were fainting with thirst. Colonel +Guitar ordered his men to occupy the camp deserted by the foe. The dead +were to be buried, the wounded cared for.</p> + +<p>So precipitously had the guerrillas fled that except the severely +wounded, few prisoners were taken. Porter had impressed upon his men +that to be captured by the Yankees meant certain death.</p> + +<p>While searching the field Lawrence noticed some white object crawling +along like a large reptile. Upon investigation he found to his surprise +that it was a man, and entirely nude.</p> + +<p>"Why are you without clothes?" asked Lawrence.</p> + +<p>The man looked tip into Lawrence's face with a scared expression and +whined, "The guerrillas captured me, and they stripped me of my +clothing."</p> + +<p>"Then you are a Federal soldier?" inquired Lawrence.</p> + +<p>"Y-e-s," came the halting answer.</p> + +<p>"You lie," exclaimed Lawrence. "You are one of the guerrillas."</p> + +<p>The fellow then broke down, and, piteously begging for his life, said he +was one of Porter's men, and that he looked for nothing but death if +captured, so he had divested himself of his clothing, hoping to pass +himself off as a Federal.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<p>Lawrence ordered him to be tenderly cared for, and tears of gratitude +ran down the fellow's face when he realised he was not to be murdered.</p> + +<p>The battle of Moore's Mill, insignificant as it was compared to the +great battles of the war, was important in this: It frustrated the plans +of the conspirators, and was the beginning of a series of conflicts +which forever ended the hopes of the Confederates to recapture the State +by an uprising.</p> + +<p>Colonel Guitar reported his loss in the battle as thirteen killed and +fifty-five wounded. The guerrilla loss he reported at fifty-two left +dead on the field and one hundred and twenty-five wounded.</p> + +<p>In all the partisan battles in Missouri the guerrillas never reported +their losses, and only the reports of the Federal commanders are +accessible. In many cases no doubt these reports are exaggerated.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>A FIGHT IN THE NIGHT</h3> + + +<p>Early the next morning Colonel Guitar started in pursuit of the enemy. +Lawrence took the advance with a party of six men. As a matter of +course, Harry and Bruno made a part of this force.</p> + +<p>"This seems like old times, Harry," said Lawrence, as they started off.</p> + +<p>"It does that, Captain," replied Harry. "You, Dan, Bruno and myself make +four of the old gang. Now if only Guilford was with us—" He stopped and +sighed. His mind had gone back to the time when he and Guilford had so +nearly faced death in among the Boston mountains. "You have heard +nothing of him, have you, Captain?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing. I did receive a communication about two months ago that I +thought might be from him; but I have received nothing since and I have +given up all hopes."</p> + +<p>The trail left by the guerrillas was very plain. It followed the +Auxvasse for some two miles, and then turned off into the hills. The +country was very rough, the places for an ambuscade numerous, but with +Bruno scouting, Lawrence had no fears of being surprised.</p> + +<p>Soon they came to a place where the road forked. On the road that led to +the left up the Auxvasse the trail was plainly marked; but the road that +led on into the more open country had little appearance of being +traveled; but it was rocky, and by being careful a large force could +have passed over it and left but few traces behind.</p> + +<p>Harry dismounted and carefully examined the ground. As for Bruno, he +seemed to have no doubt; he was taking the blind trail.</p> + +<p>"A blind," said Harry. "Not more than fifty took to the left, and they +left as broad a trail as possible. The main force passed up the other +road. If Guitar follows the broad trail it will lead him away among the +hills and then disappear, for the party will separate."</p> + +<p>Just then the advance of Guitar's force appeared, led by a young +lieutenant.</p> + +<p>"What are you waiting for?" he asked Lawrence. "Have you discovered the +enemy?"</p> + +<p>"No, but Porter evidently divided his forces here, and we were +discussing which road the main body took."</p> + +<p>The Lieutenant dismounted, and after looking over the ground, said, +"Why, it's as plain as the nose on a man's face; they went to the left."</p> + +<p>"Harry and Bruno both think differently," answered Lawrence.</p> + +<p>The Lieutenant sniffed. "Much they know about it," he exclaimed. "I have +trailed too many guerrillas to be mistaken."</p> + +<p>Just then Colonel Guitar, at the head of his column, appeared. He was +appealed to, and after examining the road, decided to take the left hand +road, but told Lawrence he might keep on the other road with his scouts, +and see what he could discover. As a matter of precaution he increased +Lawrence's force to ten men.</p> + +<p>The Lieutenant rode off highly elated over the fact that Colonel Guitar +agreed with his views.</p> + +<p>"Let them go," sputtered Harry. "They will be disgusted before night."</p> + +<p>And so it proved. The trail led Guitar over hills, through ravines and +rocky dells, through tangled forests, and twisted and turned, until it +disappeared entirely; and, much to his disgust, Guitar found himself +along in the afternoon within two miles from where he had started. The +wily guerrilla chieftain had fooled him completely. Guitar led his mad, +weary and swearing force back to the old camp grounds, and there awaited +the return of Lawrence and his scouting party.</p> + +<p>Lawrence did not think for a moment but that Harry was right, and that +fact soon became evident. They were now in a more open country, and the +signs that a large body of troops had passed became numerous. Not only +this, but in the houses along the road they found a number of severely +wounded that the guerrillas had been forced to leave.</p> + +<p>After some miles they came to a road that crossed the one they were on, +and which led to the west. Here the ground had been much trampled, and +that but a short time before.</p> + +<p>Again Harry dismounted and examined the ground carefully. "We are close +onto them," he said. "I do not believe they have been gone half an +hour."</p> + +<p>"Harry, you are a regular Kit Carson for trails," laughed Lawrence. "Are +you sure you are right?"</p> + +<p>"Perfectly, and what is more, their force divided here, but the larger +force kept on. The explanation is plain. Porter operates to the north +and east, so he has kept on with the larger force; Poindexter and Cobb +have their chief haunts along the Chariton and Grand, so with their +forces they have gone to the west."</p> + +<p>"We had better hurry back to Guitar and tell him this," exclaimed +Lawrence.</p> + +<p>"No," snapped Harry. "I don't propose to be snubbed again. You only have +my word now. Let's keep on until you and everyone present have proof +that cannot be doubted."</p> + +<p>"I believe you are right, Harry," said Lawrence, and he gave the command +to continue on.</p> + +<p>They had proceeded a mile when Bruno came running back, showing by his +manner he had news to impart.</p> + +<p>Halting his squad, Lawrence dismounted, and taking Harry, they carefully +made their way to the brow of a hill which lay in front. Cautiously +peering over, they saw about a quarter of a mile ahead a commodious +house, around which a number of horses were hitched.</p> + +<p>It was evident that they had come on the rear guard of the retreating +guerrillas, and that they had halted to rest, and were being well +entertained, for a number of black women were passing back and forth +from the house to a rude outdoor kitchen, all bearing dishes, and it +looked very tempting to Lawrence and Harry.</p> + +<p>"Feel like eating myself," whispered Harry. "I didn't know I was so +hungry."</p> + +<p>"How many do you reckon there are?" asked Lawrence.</p> + +<p>Harry carefully counted the horses and then said, "Not over fifteen or +twenty. I can count only fifteen horses, but there may be some out of +sight."</p> + +<p>"Feel like appropriating that dinner myself," said Lawrence.</p> + +<p>"The boys would never forgive us if we didn't," answered Harry.</p> + +<p>Hurrying back they explained the situation, and by unanimous vote it was +decided to make a charge on that dinner without loss of time.</p> + +<p>"Harry and I will ride a little ahead," said Lawrence. "Harry is dressed +in homespun and my uniform is so dusty they won't be able to distinguish +its color until we are close to them. Dan, when I give the signal, come +on in a rush."</p> + +<p>So Lawrence find Harry rode ahead, the squad some fifteen or twenty +paces in the rear, leisurely following. Scarcely had they rode over the +brow of the hill when two sentinels they had not seen before suddenly +showed themselves on the road. The sentinels seemed much alarmed, and +drew up their carbines as if to shoot.</p> + +<p>Harry waved his hat and signaled they were friends. Seeing the squad +coming so leisurely and the two in advance, the sentinels lowered their +guns and waited, thinking it must be some of their own men. But when +Lawrence and Harry were a few yards from them one of the sentinels +caught the color of Lawrence's uniform.</p> + +<p>Giving a terrific whoop, he raised his gun and fired, the ball just +missing Lawrence's head. The other sentinel fired, but his shot went +wild. Both wheeled their horses and dashed back, yelling, "Yanks! Yanks! +Yanks!"</p> + +<p>There was no need of Lawrence signaling Dan to come on, for the squad +were urging their horses to the limit.</p> + +<p>The guerrillas at dinner heard the firing and came pouring out of the +house. Close on the heels of the flying sentinels thundered the +Federals. The guerrillas took one look, and with cries of terror sprang +for their horses, and cutting the halter straps were up and away. By +this time the balls were falling among them thick and fast, killing two, +and the horse of a third one fell and the rider was taken prisoner.</p> + +<p>The fight was over and Lawrence rode up to the house, and was met on the +porch by a white haired, fine looking old gentleman.</p> + +<p>"Sorry to trouble you," said Lawrence, urbanely, "but with your +permission I will have my men finish that dinner that your friends have +so ungraciously and suddenly declined."</p> + +<p>"Step right in, suh, the dinner is waiting," the old gentleman replied +with a wan smile, "but my guests are not accustomed to invite +themselves."</p> + +<p>"Sorry, sir, but when you consider the improvement in the character of +your guests, you should rejoice," rejoined Lawrence. "Entertaining such +guests as have run away is dangerous."</p> + +<p>"I shall feed no Yankees," cried a shrill voice, and a young lady +flounced out of the door, her face red with anger.</p> + +<p>Lawrence saw that she was good to look at, tall, willowy and fair of +face. Taking off his hat and bowing politely, he said, "My dear lady, I +humbly beg your pardon, but my men must certainly finish that dinner you +so kindly prepared for those who were so impolite and cowardly as to run +away and leave it. It would take more than Rebel bullets to make me +decline a meal prepared by your fair hands."</p> + +<p>The compliment was lost. "Cowardly?" cried the girl. "Is it cowardly for +twenty to flee before a regiment of Yankee cut-throats?"</p> + +<p>"There are only a dozen of us," said Lawrence, "and a dozen finer +gentlemen you never entertained, every one a prince and as brave as a +lion. If it were not so, twenty of your friends would not have fled from +them."</p> + +<p>The young lady flashed a look of scorn at him and cried, "Yankee +cut-throats and robbers—gentlemen and brave! You amaze me." She +abruptly turned and went into the house, and much to Lawrence's regret +he did not see her again.</p> + +<p>"You must excuse my daughter," said the old man, nervously.</p> + +<p>"That's all right, so we get the dinner," answered Lawrence. "Don't you +see my men are getting impatient?"</p> + +<p>"Come right in. I feed you, not because I want to, but because I must." +Thus speaking, he led them into the house, where they found a sumptuous +repast but partly eaten; and not a man in the squad but did full justice +to it.</p> + +<p>Lawrence found the prisoner they had taken shaking with terror, for some +of the men had coolly informed him that after dinner he was to be +hanged.</p> + +<p>Lawrence was about to reprimand the men for their cruel joke, when it +occurred to him he might use the fellow's fears to some advantage. So he +told him if he would tell all he knew, not only would his life be +spared, but that he would be paroled, but he would have to be careful +and tell nothing but the truth.</p> + +<p>The prisoner eagerly embraced the opportunity, and confirmed what Harry +had said. He moreover stated that before Porter and Poindexter parted +they had agreed to gather up all the men they could, and join forces +again somewhere along the line of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad.</p> + +<p>"I guess that is straight enough for Guitar to believe, instead of that +upstart lieutenant," said Harry.</p> + +<p>Back to find Guitar the scouts rode; but it was night when they found +him and then nearly where they had left him. All day his men had marched +beneath a broiling sun, and when they found out how they had been led +astray, against the protests of Harry, they wanted to lynch the smart +lieutenant; and it was a long time before the poor fellow heard the last +of it.</p> + +<p>Colonel Guitar concluded to rest his men until morning, and then +continue the pursuit. "I will chase Porter clear to the Iowa line, if +necessary, to catch him," he said.</p> + +<p>While it was arranged that Colonel Guitar should march straight for +Mexico, Lawrence, with a detail of ten men dressed as guerrillas, was to +follow directly on the trail of Porter, thus keeping track of his +movements. Lawrence chose ten of the Merrill Horse to go with him.</p> + +<p>One of the men in looking over the squad and noticing that with +Lawrence, Dan, and Harry there were thirteen of them, demurred, saying +that another man should be added, as thirteen was an unlucky number. "No +thirteen for me," he said.</p> + +<p>"Step aside," ordered Lawrence. "I want no thirteen cranks. I, for one, +am not troubled over the old superstition of thirteen. Who will +volunteer to take this fellow's place?"</p> + +<p>A dozen were eager to go, and Lawrence chose a manly looking fellow. +"Our timid friend here counted wrong," he said. "He forgot Bruno, and he +is equal to a dozen men."</p> + +<p>This raised a laugh, and the party started in the highest spirits. After +going a short distance, Lawrence halted and made his men a short speech.</p> + +<p>"Boys," he said, "dressed as we are, it will be certain death if we are +captured. If circumstances arise where we must fight, fight to the +death—never surrender. We are strong enough to beat off any small +party, and large ones we must avoid. But remember, our object is to get +information, not to fight. To all appearances we must be simon-pure +guerrillas. If we meet with guerrillas, as no doubt we will, keep cool, +and let Harry or me do the talking."</p> + +<p>"All right, Captain," they shouted, and they rode merrily forward, +careless of what dangers they might meet. So often had they faced death, +they considered him an old acquaintance.</p> + +<p>They found little trouble in following the trail of Porter. Taken for +guerrillas, every Southern sympathizer was eager to give them all the +information possible.</p> + +<p>For two days they traveled, frequently meeting with small parties of +guerrillas, and to these Lawrence always represented they belonged south +of the river, and had been obliged to cross to avoid a large party of +Federals, and that they had concluded to keep on and join Porter.</p> + +<p>By questioning, Lawrence found all of these parties had orders to join +Porter at or near Paris. Some of these parties gave Lawrence a good deal +of trouble by wanting to join forces with him, but he put them off by +saying it would be safer to travel in small parties, as they would not +then be so liable to attract the attention of the Federals.</p> + +<p>Porter in his flight had crossed the North Missouri Railroad near +Montgomery City, but in his haste did little damage.</p> + +<p>It was after Lawrence had crossed this railroad that he had his first +serious trouble. Here he came onto a company of at least fifty +guerrillas under the command of Bill Duncan, a leader who often acted +with Porter, and as noted for cruelty as he. The company was hastening +to join Porter at Paris.</p> + +<p>Lawrence thought it best to change his story. Duncan had roughly ordered +him to join his company. This Lawrence firmly refused, saying they +belonged to Poindexter's command; that after Poindexter and Porter had +parted, Poindexter had found it impossible for him to join Porter, as he +had promised, and that he had been sent post-haste by Poindexter to find +Porter and inform him of the fact.</p> + +<p>"But now," said Lawrence, "I need go no farther, as you can carry this +information to Porter."</p> + +<p>"Where are you going if I do this?" asked Duncan.</p> + +<p>"Back to join Poindexter, as I promised," said Lawrence.</p> + +<p>"I don't know but you are all right," said Duncan; "but I don't like the +looks of your men. What did you say your name was?"</p> + +<p>"I haven't told you, but it is Jack Hilton. Porter knows me well. Give +him my respects. Be sure and tell him what I have told you, for it is +very important. Good-day, Captain. Come on, boys," and Lawrence turned +and rode back the way he had come.</p> + +<p>Duncan watched them until they were out of sight; then, shaking his +head, said: "I almost wish I hadn't let them go, but I reckon they're +all right. That young chap in command told a mighty straight story."</p> + +<p>About this time Lawrence was saying: "That was a mighty close shave, +Dan. That fellow had a big notion to make trouble."</p> + +<p>Bruno, who had been told to keep out of sight, joined them after they +had gone some distance. He acted dejected and dispirited, and if he +could have talked would have asked the meaning of it all. Time and time +again he had given warning of the approach of guerrillas, only to have +his master meet them as friends. He had given notice of the approach of +Duncan's party, and to his surprise nothing had come of it. He was a +thoroughly disgusted dog, and walked along with drooping head and tail; +but it only took a word from Harry to set him all right again.</p> + +<p>"We must turn north again at the first opportunity," said Lawrence. +"This will put us back several miles."</p> + +<p>They had not gone far before they met a solitary guerrilla. He was one +of Duncan's party, and had gone out of his way to visit a friend. He was +halted, and explained who he was.</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes," said Lawrence; "your company is just ahead. We left it only a +few moments ago."</p> + +<p>"Whar be yo' goin'?" asked the fellow.</p> + +<p>"Back to join Poindexter, where we belong. I was carrying a message to +Porter from Poindexter, but on meeting Duncan I gave it to him, so we +are on our way back."</p> + +<p>The fellow had sharp eyes, and Lawrence noticed that he was scrutinizing +his party closely, and when he saw Harry, who had been a little in the +rear, and just now came up, he started perceptibly, but quickly +recovered himself, and exclaimed, "I must be goin'." Putting spurs to +his horse, he rode rapidly away.</p> + +<p>Harry gazed on his retreating figure, his brow wrinkled in perplexity. +Suddenly he cried: "Captain, I know that fellow, and I believe he +recognized me. If he did, we are going to have trouble."</p> + +<p>"Are you sure?" asked Lawrence, startled.</p> + +<p>"Quite sure. I arrested him near Paris a couple of months ago, and he +gave his parole. I had hard work to keep Bruno from throttling him. +Where is Bruno?"</p> + +<p>"There he comes now," said Lawrence, "and he seems to be greatly +excited."</p> + +<p>Bruno was indeed greatly excited, and he ran around Harry, growling, and +then in the direction the fellow had taken, looking back to see if Harry +was following.</p> + +<p>"Bruno knows him, too," said Harry. "He never forgets. If that fellow +saw Bruno, it is indeed all up. He will tell Duncan, and we will have a +fight on our hands as sure as fate."</p> + +<p>"By hard riding we can reach Mexico and avoid the fight," said Lawrence; +"but I don't like the idea of running away."</p> + +<p>"Nor I," said Harry. "Even if the fellow knew me, Duncan may not follow +us."</p> + +<p>"What do you think, Dan?" asked Lawrence.</p> + +<p>Dan took a chew of tobacco, as he always did when about to decide +anything weighty, and then slowly remarked: "Don't like to run until I +see something to run from."</p> + +<p>"That's it," cried Lawrence. "It is doubtful if Duncan follows us at +all. If he does, it will be time enough to think of running."</p> + +<p>It was therefore decided to take the first road they came to which led +in the direction they wished to go. They soon came to the road, but +before they turned into it, Lawrence took the precaution to make it +appear that they had ridden straight on.</p> + +<p>"Reckon Bruno and I will hang near this corner for a while," said Harry. +"I want to make sure whether we are followed or not. I feel in my bones +Duncan is after us."</p> + +<p>Harry had good reasons for feeling as he did, for the guerrilla whose +name was Josh Hicks, had not only recognized him, but he had also seen +Bruno, and he bore the dog an undying hatred, for it was he who had +captured him, and would have killed him had not Harry interfered.</p> + +<p>No sooner was Hicks out of sight of the scouts than he put his horse to +the utmost speed. "I have an account to settle with that dawg and his +master," he muttered, "and it will be settled tonight or my name is not +Josh Hicks."</p> + +<p>He overtook Duncan's command, his horse covered with foam.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Josh, what's up?" asked some of the men, as he dashed up. "Yo' +un acts as if the Merrill Hoss was after yo'. What has skeered yo'?"</p> + +<p>"Whar is Bill?" Hicks fairly shrieked.</p> + +<p>"Up in front. What's the matter?" and the men began to look uneasy.</p> + +<p>Seeing the excitement in the rear, Duncan came riding back. "What's the +trouble?" he asked, gruffly.</p> + +<p>"Don't know," answered one of the men, "but Josh Hicks has jest come up, +his hoss covered with foam, and he seems mighty skeered about +something."</p> + +<p>Just then Hicks caught sight of Duncan, and yelled: "Bill, did yo' un +meet a party of about a dozen men a few minutes ago?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; what of it?"</p> + +<p>"An' yo'un had them and let them go?" fairly screamed Hicks.</p> + +<p>"Of course; they were Poindexter's men."</p> + +<p>"Poindexter's men! Hell!" Hicks shouted. "They was Yanks in disguise, +an' one of them was that damned boy scout of the Merrill Hoss. I know +him, and I saw the dawg."</p> + +<p>"Be you sure, Josh?" asked Duncan.</p> + +<p>"Sure? Of course I'm sure. Don't I know the boy, and don't I know the +dawg? Can I forgit the brute that had his teeth in my throat? Oh, yo' un +be a nice one, yo' un be, Bill, to let them fellers slip through your +fingers!"</p> + +<p>Duncan flushed with anger and chagrin. "Look here, Josh," he roared, +"none of your insinuations, or you settle with me. I never met that +feller, and if you had been with us, as you ought to have been, instead +of gallivanting around the country, you would have known them. Them +fellers told a straight story, they did; but they'll never fool Bill +Duncan but once. About face, boys."</p> + +<p>In a moment more the guerrillas were thundering on the trail of the +scouts. They had little difficulty until they came to the road where +Lawrence had turned off. Here Duncan carefully examined the ground, and +with the almost unerring instinct of his class, decided rightly as to +the way the scouts had gone.</p> + +<p>Harry had taken a position about half a mile from where the road turned, +and where he had a good view without being seen. He saw the guerrillas +stop and hesitate, and then take the right road.</p> + +<p>"They are after us, sure," he muttered, and, spurring his horse, he did +not pull rein until he had overtaken the scouts.</p> + +<p>"They are close after us!" he exclaimed, pulling up his panting horse.</p> + +<p>"It will soon be dark; we can elude them," said Lawrence.</p> + +<p>"Let's fight them," said Dan, taking out his plug of tobacco and holding +it until a decision was made.</p> + +<p>"Yes, let's fight them," said the men. "This is the tamest scout we've +ever been on—hobnobbing with the villains instead of fighting them."</p> + +<p>"All right," replied Lawrence. "Let's ride rapidly ahead until dark. +Dan, you and I must think up a bit of strategy in the meantime."</p> + +<p>"All right," said Dan, biting off a big chew from the plug he was +holding, and restoring the rest to his pocket. If the decision had been +against a fight, Dan would have put the plug back without taking a chew. +When Dan put his tobacco back unbitten, it was always an infallible sign +that something had gone in a way that did not suit him.</p> + +<p>That Lawrence and Dan had fixed up that bit of strategy was evident, for +just as darkness was closing in, Lawrence ordered the scouts to stop +long enough to gather a good feed of corn for their horses, from a +near-by field. Then they rode on and camped in a wood, some little +distance from the road.</p> + +<p>"The guerrillas will not now attack us until some time in the night," he +said, "thinking to surprise us."</p> + +<p>He gave orders for the horses to be tethered a little distance in the +rear of the camp, where they would be sheltered. "Hitch them so you can +loose them in a twinkling, if it becomes necessary," he ordered.</p> + +<p>Then he told the men they might build a fire, make some coffee, and +roast some corn, if they wished.</p> + +<p>"Had we not better dig a hole for the fire, and screen it with +blankets?" suggested one of the men. "A light might give us away."</p> + +<p>"Just what I want it to do," answered Lawrence, to the astonishment of +all but Dan and Harry.</p> + +<p>Lawrence then explained to his men his plan: "The guerrillas will attack +us some time during the night, thinking to surprise us. I want the +surprise the other way. Therefore I propose to camp as if we were +unconscious of danger. The fire is to be left, not too bright, but +smouldering enough to give a little light. Each man of you is to prepare +a dummy. A log with a blanket around it will do. These will be placed in +a row a short distance from the fire. In the dim light they will look +exactly like a row of sleeping men. Last of all, we will fix a dummy +sentinel, leaning against a tree as if asleep.</p> + +<p>"We will all lie down a little to one side in the bush. Then, when the +guerrillas charge on the supposed sleeping camp, give it to them. If +things go wrong, each man make for his horse, and get away the best he +can. Make for Mexico."</p> + +<p>These instructions were obeyed implicitly, and soon the camp was buried +in apparent slumber.</p> + +<p>To make sure they were right, the guerrillas had inquired at the first +house they passed, and were told that a small party of men had passed +but a short time before.</p> + +<p>"We are on the right track, boys," exclaimed Duncan, gleefully, "and if +they don't take the alarm and dodge us in the dark, they are ours. We +must not press them too closely. Let them go into camp, and we will get +them when they are asleep."</p> + +<p>Just as darkness began to fall, Duncan became fearful that the scouts +would not halt, but keep on for Mexico, and he gave orders to gallop, +but concluded to stop at the first house and inquire. He did so, and an +old man came to the door, and in answer to his inquiry replied that a +party whom he supposed to be guerrillas passed just before dark. +"Confound them!" he exclaimed, "they stopped at my cornfield and +gathered a good feed for their horses, and never said even 'Thank you.' +They are camped in the woods about half a mile ahead, for I saw the +gleam of the campfire. I am going down in the morning, and see if I +can't collect for that corn."</p> + +<p>"We will collect it for you," chuckled Duncan, "and while we are about +it we will collect enough to pay for a feed for our horses. There are +sixty or seventy of us. Them fellers are not our men; they are Yanks."</p> + +<p>"Good land!" exclaimed the old fellow.</p> + +<p>"Don't worry—we'll collect for that corn, all right," said Duncan.</p> + +<p>The guerrillas waited until ten o'clock, then approached the wood as +near as they dared, and Duncan sent two of his men ahead to spy upon the +camp. They were gone so long that Duncan began to be impatient, but at +last they returned, and their report was all that could be wished.</p> + +<p>"We almost crept on them before we discovered them," said one. "The +fools do not seem suspicious of any danger. They have but one man on +guard, and sure as shooting he is leaning against a tree, sound asleep. +It will be no trick to send them to the devil as they sleep."</p> + +<p>"And to the devil we will send them," growled Duncan. "Understand, no +quarter."</p> + +<p>"The dawg? Didn't you see the dawg?" asked Hicks, anxiously.</p> + +<p>"That dawg seems to trouble you, Hicks," sneered one of the men.</p> + +<p>"He would trouble yo' un if yo' un had had the experience I have," +retorted Hicks. "I tell you I don't like it. Them Yanks seem too blame +careless. It ain't like them. An' that dawg—didn't he make no fuss when +yo' un crept up?"</p> + +<p>"Not a bit. If thar was any dawg, he must have been asleep, too."</p> + +<p>"I tell yo' un I don't like it. Thar is something wrong. That dawg——"</p> + +<p>"Shut up," commanded Duncan. "Josh, if you are afraid of a dawg, stay +with the hosses. Some of the boys will have to stay, and there is not +one, unless it is you, but wants a hand in this job."</p> + +<p>"Yes, stay, Josh, stay!" jeered the men. "Josh is getting skeery. He is +afraid of a dawg."</p> + +<p>"Stay nothin'!" snorted Josh, mad as a hornet. "An' if any of yo' uns +insinuates I am afraid, yo' uns will have to settle with Josh Hicks, an' +that mighty quick."</p> + +<p>"No quarrelling, boys," commanded Duncan. "Josh is all right. Don't want +to stay with the hosses, Josh?"</p> + +<p>"Not by a thundering sight."</p> + +<p>"All right, Josh, we will give you the first crack at that boy, the +owner of the dawg, to settle old scores."</p> + +<p>They were to creep up on the scouts and kill them as they slept. If an +alarm was given, they were to rush on them and make quick work of it.</p> + +<p>Slowly the guerrillas worked their way through the wood, as noiselessly +and stealthily as Indians. By the dim light of the campfire they saw +what they supposed were the sleeping forms of their enemies. The +sentinel stood leaning against a tree, his head on his breast, +apparently sound asleep.</p> + +<p>The sentinel was right in front of Josh Hicks. He drew a huge knife, his +eyes gleaming with hate and cruelty. Nearer and nearer he crept, then +sprang forward and buried his knife in the bosom of the supposed man, +but instead of striking flesh and bone, he struck a log of wood, and so +fierce was the blow he could not withdraw the knife.</p> + +<p>As he struck there was a hoarse growl, a huge form shot through the air, +and the teeth of Bruno were buried in his throat. He gave a +blood-curdling yell, which died away in a sickening gurgle.</p> + +<p>The guerrillas, thinking themselves discovered, rushed upon the sleeping +forms. As they came into the light, the woods to the right and left +burst into flame. Men reeled and, clutching the air, fell. The wood +resounded with horrid curses, groans, and yells of terror.</p> + +<p>Firing a random volley, those that lived turned and fled, pursued by the +scouts. The battle was soon over. A full third of the attacking force +lay on the ground, dead or grievously wounded. But of all the dead, +there was none so ghastly as Josh Hicks. He lay with his throat torn in +shreds, and on his face there was still a look of mortal terror.</p> + +<p>The next morning, when the guerrillas came creeping back to bury their +dead and care for the wounded, a feeling of superstitious awe crept over +them when they saw the body of Josh Hicks.</p> + +<p>"That dawg—that dawg!" they whispered. "Poor Josh! He must have had a +presentiment."</p> + +<p>From that time on Bruno was to them an uncanny beast, in league with +evil spirits.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>KIRKSVILLE</h3> + + +<p>No sooner had the affrighted cries of the guerrillas died away, than +Lawrence, calling back his men, said: "We must now be up and away. By +morning the guerrillas will be over their fright, and we will be +surrounded. Let the dead and wounded lie, though make the wounded as +comfortable as possible. It will not be long before some of their +comrades will be creeping back to care for them."</p> + +<p>To Lawrence's delight, he found that not a single one of his men had +been harmed. In the highest of spirits, the men mounted their horses and +rode away.</p> + +<p>All night they rode and, when morning came, they halted by a field of +corn, and once more gave their horses a fine feed, while the men made +coffee and feasted on roasting ears.</p> + +<p>"Boys, which shall it be—Mexico or Paris?" asked Lawrence. "From what +we learned from Duncan, it is the intention of Porter to unite all his +force near Paris, and then move north. Guitar must be in Mexico by this +time, but there will be no fighting there. No doubt he will keep on to +Paris."</p> + +<p>"To Paris!" shouted the men. "Let's go where the fighting will be. Our +horses are quite fresh. We can be there by night."</p> + +<p>"What if we run into Porter and his whole gang?" asked Lawrence, +smiling.</p> + +<p>"Lick the whole gang!" they yelled.</p> + +<p>"You're all right, boys, but I hardly think you can do that; at least, +we won't try as long as I'm leader," laughed Lawrence.</p> + +<p>The day was hot and the roads dusty, and Lawrence favored the horses all +possible, but they made good progress. Taken for guerrillas by the +inhabitants, they fared well, and much information was given them.</p> + +<p>Much to Lawrence's surprise, he learned that Porter had taken and sacked +Paris the day before, and that McNeil had moved down from Palmyra and +driven him out. More serious still was the news that Porter had been +reinforced, and had attacked and expected to recapture the place.</p> + +<p>This was news, indeed. If true, Porter was squarely between them and +Paris. A consultation was held, and it was the unanimous opinion that +they should keep on and join McNeil, if they could.</p> + +<p>As they neared Paris, they heard firing, and became aware a slight +skirmish was in progress. They halted, and while debating what best to +do, a couple of guerrillas came riding towards them.</p> + +<p>"Who be yo' un?" they asked of Lawrence, as they rode up.</p> + +<p>"We 'uns are from Galloway County, on our way to join Porter," answered +Lawrence. "I heah fightin'. What is it?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, a few of us are only amusing the Yanks while Porter gits away," +said the men.</p> + +<p>"Then Porter is not heah?"</p> + +<p>"No; he an' most of his men air miles north by this time. He left about +a hundred of us here to make believe we 'uns ware goin' to attack Paris, +so to give him time to git away. Thar, yo' uns don't hear any shooting +now. The boys have amused the Yanks as long as they wanted to, and now +air on their way to jine Porter, and bet your life the Yanks don't catch +them."</p> + +<p>"What are you doing here, away from your command?" asked Lawrence, +sternly.</p> + +<p>The guerrillas started at the change in the speech and manner of +Lawrence. "We 'uns," they stammered, "we 'uns live about five miles +back, and we 'uns was goin' to see the folks. We 'uns can easily +overtake the boys by riding all night."</p> + +<p>A sign from Lawrence, and, to the amazement of the guerrillas, they were +looking into the muzzles of revolvers.</p> + +<p>"It's all up with you, fellows," said Lawrence. "We are Yanks. Boys, +disarm them."</p> + +<p>The guerrillas' faces were as white as chalk, and they began to beg for +their lives. They had only just joined Porter, they declared, and they +were sick of it already. They had never molested a Union man. In fact, +they had told a lie—they were deserting, instead of going to visit +their families, as they said.</p> + +<p>"If that is the case," said Lawrence, "you will readily give us all the +information you can. No doubt Colonel McNeil will be pleased to see you; +so come along."</p> + +<p>It was as the prisoners had said—the guerrillas had gone, and Lawrence +had no trouble in riding into Paris, where he was gladly welcomed by +McNeil, who had been in fear he was being attacked by an overwhelming +force. It was welcome news that Lawrence brought, that Colonel Guitar +was in Mexico by this time, with five hundred good men; but that Porter +was retreating north, was a big surprise to McNeil.</p> + +<p>"He must have at least a thousand men," said McNeil. "I thought he would +stay and fight this time, sure. I see we will have to chase the fox."</p> + +<p>During the night the advance of Colonel Guitar's column came in. Guitar +had been taken sick at Mexico, but had sent forward five hundred men +under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Shaffer.</p> + +<p>McNeil, his force now augmented by Shaffer's, resolved to push Porter to +the limit, and if possible bring him to battle.</p> + +<p>A pursuit now commenced which lasted a week—a pursuit that every +soldier that was present will always remember. Men grew haggard for want +of sleep; horses staggered under the weight of their riders, and then +fell dying by the side of the road. Across prairies and streams, through +woods and tangled thickets, over rocky hills, almost inaccessible, the +pursuit led. By every art known to the wily Porter did he try to mislead +his pursuers; but they hung on to his trail like grim death.</p> + +<p>More than once would the pursuers have been at fault had it not been for +Lawrence and his little band of scouts. Hanging on to the flank and at +times almost ahead of Porter, they were enabled to keep McNeil well +posted as to the movements of his foes.</p> + +<p>More than once did the faithful Bruno keep the scouts from falling into +ambuscades, and more than once shots were fired at him by the vengeful +guerrillas. But Bruno had become as cunning and wary as a fox in keeping +out of danger. It was but a glimpse the guerrillas could get at him as +he stole through the woods.</p> + +<p>"What now, Bruno? What's the matter?" asked Lawrence one day, as the dog +came rushing back in the greatest excitement. The scouts were in +advance, and had been following the trail through a rough and broken +country.</p> + +<p>The dog gave a short bark, and looked to the front, as if to say, "Look +out—trouble ahead."</p> + +<p>Lawrence gave the order to halt, and told Harry and another of the +company to dismount and steal carefully through the woods, and see what +they could discover. They did so, and soon came to a stream. The bridge +that spanned it had, to Harry's astonishment, been only partially +destroyed; it could easily be crossed. This looked suspicious. The other +bank of the stream was covered by a thick growth of bushes. Their leaves +rustled gently as they were touched by the breeze, and that was all. +There was no sign of life. Bruno, as he looked across the stream, gave a +low, menacing growl, and his eyes shone like two coals of fire. The +road, after crossing the bridge, was narrow, and ran between two hills, +both thickly wooded.</p> + +<p>"There's something over there in the bushes," whispered Harry. "We'd +better go back and report to the Captain."</p> + +<p>They did so.</p> + +<p>"We'll wait until some of the command come up," said Lawrence.</p> + +<p>They had not long to wait. A company of Merrill Horse that was leading +the advance came in sight. To the Captain in command Lawrence explained +his fear of an ambuscade in front. The company was halted, the men +dismounted, and a skirmish line formed. The men were instructed to work +their way carefully to the bank of the stream, but not to show +themselves.</p> + +<p>"I see nothing alarming over there," said the Captain of the company, as +he swept the other side of the stream with his glass.</p> + +<p>"There is something," said Lawrence. "I have just seen a bush tremble +more than if stirred by the wind. That half-destroyed bridge is but a +trap."</p> + +<p>By this time more of the troop had come up, and had been halted. With +them were a couple of pieces of artillery.</p> + +<p>"We are losing valuable time," grumbled the Captain. "We'd better ride +on, before McNeil gives us thunder."</p> + +<p>"Not if I can prevent it," said Lawrence. "Bring up that artillery."</p> + +<p>The two pieces were brought as close to the river as they could without +being seen. The horses were then unhitched, and the pieces run forward +by hand, so that a few yards more would bring them into view, and in a +position where they could sweep the bushes on both sides of the road +across the stream.</p> + +<p>"Load with canister," ordered Lawrence. "When all is ready, I will order +a volley fired across the river into the bushes. Wait for the returning +volley, for I am sure it will come; then run up your pieces and sweep +both sides of the road."</p> + +<p>The skirmishers crept carefully forward, and at the word poured a volley +into the bushes across the stream. The effect was electrical. The bushes +seemed to burst into smoke and flame, and then came a crashing volley in +return. Quick as thought, the two cannon were run forward and a storm of +canister swept the bushes. There were howls of rage, curses and groans, +and the guerrillas were in wild flight.</p> + +<p>With cheers the men ran back, mounted their horses and started in +pursuit, thinking the time had come for them to annihilate Porter and +his gang.</p> + +<p>Porter had planned well. A short distance from the bridge the road +passed through a narrow, rocky defile, and this was so obstructed that +it took two hours to remove the obstructions so the command could pass +through. Porter had left his horses on the other side of the +obstruction, so when his men broke all they had to do was to make their +way to their horses.</p> + +<p>Porter did not try any more ambuscades. His only thought was to elude +his pursuers and get away. He came nearly doing it, and for a day McNeil +was in doubt as to which way he had gone—to the northwest or the north.</p> + +<p>It was Lawrence and his scouts who brought the news. His report was: +"Porter crossed the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad last night at +Shelbina. He is said to be making for Kirksville, where he expects to be +joined by the guerrilla bands of northwestern Missouri. His force is +estimated at two thousand, which, I think, is an overestimate, but as he +goes north, it is hourly increasing."</p> + +<p>"I don't care whether he has two thousand or five thousand; I am going +to catch him and make him fight," said McNeil, grimly. The pursuit was +once more taken up, the column headed for Kirksville.</p> + +<p>There is only one county in Missouri north of the county in which +Kirksville is situated. It was as far north as Porter could hope to go +without being surrounded by enemies. Full of hope that he would be +forced to give battle at Kirksville, McNeil pressed on.</p> + +<p>So rapid was the pursuit that McNeil, as he neared Kirksville, could not +bring over five hundred men into action. His trains and his men with +broken-down horses had been left behind. All along the route Porter's +force had been reported as fully three thousand, but three thousand did +not alarm McNeil, who had faith in his little army.</p> + +<p>As the Federals approached Kirksville, Lawrence, who had been scouting, +reported that Kirksville had been occupied by Porter, and that he had +expelled the entire inhabitants of the place. His horses he had +concealed in the brush west of the town.</p> + +<p>"These facts," said Lawrence, "I have learned from the three prisoners I +have here."</p> + +<p>McNeil questioned the prisoners, but they were surly and would say +nothing. The facts that Lawrence had learned were told him when they +believed him to be one of their number. When undeceived and told to +surrender, their surprise was only equalled by their chagrin.</p> + +<p>In bringing them back, Lawrence noticed one of the prisoners stealthily +throw away some papers. They were secured and found to be a parole and +an oath of allegiance to the National Government.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry," said Lawrence, "but this fact must be reported to Colonel +McNeil."<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + +<p>It was a beautiful August morning when McNeil's little army reached the +outskirts of the village of Kirksville. To all appearances, they gazed +upon a deserted town. If the angel of death had passed over the place +and had smitten every man, woman and child, it could not have been more +silent, death-like. The hot sun beat down upon the streets and houses, +but awoke no life. The stillness was unearthly, appalling. What did it +mean?</p> + +<p>"Can it be that Porter has slipped away without our knowing it?" asked +McNeil.</p> + +<p>"Impossible," answered Lawrence. "The whole guerrilla force is concealed +in the stores and houses. They are hoping we will think the place +unoccupied; then as we ride through the streets they can open fire and +slaughter us without mercy."</p> + +<p>"How can we find out where they are?" asked McNeil, rather anxiously.</p> + +<p>Lawrence thought a moment, and then said: "Colonel, give me a few men +and I will make a dash down the main street, and around the square. If +they are hidden, we will surely draw their fire, and thus reveal their +position."</p> + +<p>McNeil looked at Lawrence in amazement. "Do you mean it?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I certainly do."</p> + +<p>"Why, it would mean almost certain death—suicide."</p> + +<p>"I am willing to try."</p> + +<p>McNeil thought a moment and then said: "Captain, you must not do it. If +you were one of my officers, I might consent; but with you it is +different. You are on special duty from General Schofield. It is true +you have acted as one of my aids, and as leader of my scouts, for which +I am grateful. But for you to lead such a forlorn hope, I cannot—will +not—permit such a sacrifice on your part."</p> + +<p>Colonel Shaffer, of the Merrill Horse, who had been present during the +conversation, now said: "Colonel, you are right. To permit Captain +Middleton to do what he proposes would be a reflection on our command; +especially would I consider it so on the Merrill Horse. I will make a +detail, and lead the forlorn hope myself."</p> + +<p>"No, you will not," cried three or four officers of his regiment, who +had come up in time to hear his proposal. "Our Colonel leading as +desperate an undertaking as that, and we looking on! Why, every mother's +son of us should be shot for cowardice. Detail one of us."</p> + +<p>Shaffer looked upon his officers with pride. "It is just what I might +have expected," he exclaimed, his voice trembling. "Lieutenant Coudrey, +you spoke first. You may go if you wish; but mind, I don't order you."</p> + +<p>Coudrey saluted and said: "Colonel, I thank you. I need no order."</p> + +<p>"How many men will you need, Lieutenant?" asked Shaffer.</p> + +<p>"Eight, I think, will be enough. I do not wish to expose more than +necessary."</p> + +<p>Lieutenant Coudrey returned to his company, explained to them what was +to be done, and added: "Not one that comes with me may ever come back. I +want eight volunteers."</p> + +<p>He looked up and down the line. For a moment there was not a sound. The +men gazed into each others' faces blankly; and then, as if by common +impulse, the whole company rode forward.</p> + +<p>"God bless you, my men, my brave boys! I might have known it, but I +cannot take you all. The first eight will do. That will save me choosing +man by man."</p> + +<p>History tells of great charges. Pickett's charge at Gettysburg, and +Hood's at Franklin, will live as long as American history is written; +but history tells nothing of these small affairs. Yet who will say that +Lieutenant Coudrey and his eight men did not perform a braver deed than +do men who, in the heat of battle, rush up to the mouth of the cannon? +It is the individual bravery, the scout and the skirmish, which make the +romance of war.</p> + +<p>All was ready, and as they started a thousand eyes followed them, and +with bated breath their comrades watched them as they rode. Each carried +a heavy revolver, that they might return the fire they would receive.</p> + +<p>Down the street they rode at full speed, but not a shot was fired; the +town lay still as dead. They reached the square. "Is it possible——" +exclaimed McNeil, but his speech was cut short. As the little squad +turned to ride around the square, flashes of fire and little clouds of +smoke burst from doors and windows of stores and houses. The village had +suddenly come to life.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus3" id="illus3"></a> +<img src="images/illus3.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>Down the street they rode at full speed.</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>From their revolvers Coudrey and his men returned the fire as they rode. +A horse goes down, then another. A man throws up his arms and tumbles +headlong, but those that live dash on. The circuit is made, the hell of +fire passed through, and the enemy is located.</p> + +<p>Coudrey, his face blackened with smoke, and his eyes blazing with the +light of battle, came riding back. His hand was grasped by both McNeil +and Shaffer. Neither could speak for a moment, and then they could only +gasp: "Thank God!"</p> + +<p>Strange as it may seem, Lieutenant Coudrey had passed through the fiery +ordeal unscathed; but of the eight men who rode with him, two were +killed, three more wounded, and five of the eight horses lay dead.</p> + +<p>The position of the enemy uncovered, McNeil dismounted his force, and +the battle was opened. From house to house the men forced their way, and +at the end of two hours the enemy were in full flight. The artillery of +the Federals played an important part in the action, and did much +towards turning the victory. Porter had at least three or four men to +one in this action, but his force was poorly disciplined, and stood +little show against the seasoned veterans of McNeil.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>The routed guerrillas took refuge in the timber which skirted the +Chariton, but early the next morning the Merrill Horse was after them.</p> + +<p>The next day Porter was caught at Stockton and completely routed, losing +nearly a hundred men. Porter himself barely escaped, but with a few +followers he made his way back to his old haunts, and a couple of months +later was the cause of one of the most lamentable tragedies enacted in +Missouri during the war.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>POINDEXTER CAPTURED</h3> + + +<p>Hundreds of the guerrillas who had been with Porter worked their way +south to join Poindexter, and that chieftain found himself at the head +of a force of from a thousand to fifteen hundred men. That part of +Porter's force that had joined Poindexter had been closely followed by a +portion of McNeil's force, among them a hundred of the Merrill Horse. +With them came Lawrence and Harry with Bruno.</p> + +<p>When they reached Mexico, Lawrence found a dispatch waiting him from +General Schofield, which filled him with amazement. It stated that he +had received a communication, apparently from the same hand that had +sent the first communication to him (Lawrence), in May, which revealed +the plot of the partisan uprising. This communication stated that a +large body of troops was moving up from Arkansas to coöperate with the +guerrillas, the object being to capture Independence and Lexington, and +that the movement was a month later than expected, but now it was well +under way.</p> + +<p>"I am not satisfied," wrote General Schofield, "with the way the +officers in that district are meeting the emergency, and I want you to +go there immediately and report to me the full situation."</p> + +<p>Lawrence reluctantly bade Harry and Bruno good-bye, and he and Dan +started for their new field of work, where we will leave them for a +time, and follow the adventures of Harry.</p> + +<p>Poindexter and Cobb had now come back into the territory that was +commanded by Colonel Guitar. That officer had fully recovered from his +sickness, and, hastily collecting a force of five hundred men, he +started in pursuit of Poindexter.</p> + +<p>Harry and his dog were now so well known that Guitar placed him in +command of a small body of scouts. They were dressed as guerrillas, and +they certainly looked and acted the part.</p> + +<p>Poindexter had expected to join Porter in his retreat north, at or near +Kirksville, but he had been attacked and driven back by a force under +General Ben Loan, thus preventing the union which Porter and Poindexter +had planned.</p> + +<p>Poindexter was now hiding in the woods and thickets along the Chariton, +and numerous guerrilla bands were flocking to his standard.</p> + +<p>It was Colonel Guitar's business to find him and scatter his forces +before they became too strong; and to find him Guitar could employ no +better means than Harry and Bruno.</p> + +<p>For his companions, Harry had chosen five boys, ranging in age from +eighteen to twenty, all native Missourians, skilled in woodcraft, +accustomed to firearms, and all burning to avenge themselves on the +guerrillas, for all had suffered terrible wrongs at their hands.</p> + +<p>Just as Harry was about to start on his scout, a boy by the name of Jack +Harwood came to him and begged to be allowed to be one of the party. He +was about eighteen years of age, of slender build, but as wiry and +active as a cat. His face bore a rather sad expression, for his father +had been shot down in cold blood by some of Porter's gang; the house had +been burned over his mother's head, and she had died a few days later +from shock and exposure. Fortunately for Jack, he was not at home at the +time, or he would have shared his father's fate.</p> + +<p>Jack buried his mother, bade farewell to his ruined home, and enlisted. +He seemed never to tire, and was never as happy as when he was hunting +guerrillas. He was brave to recklessness, and early in the service had +been promoted to a sergeantcy in his company.</p> + +<p>Harry looked him over and told him he would see what he could do. The +eyes of the boy glowed with a fierce flame as he told Harry of his +wrongs. It was so much like his own story that Harry's heart went out +towards him.</p> + +<p>Colonel Guitar readily granted Harry's request that Harwood might be +added to his force, and so Harry found himself at the head of six young, +adventuresome and daring scouts.</p> + +<p>Harry's orders were to locate Poindexter, but keep in touch with the +column as much as possible.</p> + +<p>No sooner were they away from the command than Harry halted and said: +"Boys, I must make you acquainted with Bruno, so he may make no +mistake."</p> + +<p>The great dog was called, and he came and stood before his master, +wagging his tail and looking up in his eyes, as if to say, "What is it?"</p> + +<p>"Bruno, this is Jack Harwood. He is all right."</p> + +<p>Bruno smelled Jack, gave a short yelp and, lifting one of his paws, +offered it to him. The boy shook it with wonder and delight.</p> + +<p>Bruno was then introduced to each of the scouts, and they seemed to pass +muster, for to each one he offered his paw.</p> + +<p>"Good," exclaimed Harry. "Bruno will now know any one of you among +thousands, and you will find him the most valuable member of the squad."</p> + +<p>Harry rode to the northwest, for he knew it was in that direction +Poindexter was rallying his forces. The country through which they +passed seemed to be terror-stricken. But few men were seen, and they +were old. The women gazed at them with scared eyes as they passed, and +little children would run and hide, or peer at them around the corners +of the houses with frightened faces.</p> + +<p>To questions asked, both men and women were noncommittal. They knew +nothing. They were the first guerrillas they had seen for days. As for +Yankee soldiers, they knew of none nearer than the towns where they were +garrisoned.</p> + +<p>Towards evening Bruno gave warning of foes ahead. Soon a party of ten +men rode in sight, manifestly guerrillas.</p> + +<p>"Let me do the talking, boys," Harry said, "but be sure and sanction +everything I say; and be ready to fight at the word, if necessary. For +your life, don't let them get the drop on you. At the first suspicious +action, draw and fire."</p> + +<p>The scouts did not seem loath to have a little skirmish. They loosened +the revolvers in their holsters, and remarked they were ready.</p> + +<p>"Bruno," said Harry, "I don't want them to see you. Go and hide, and +don't come till I whistle."</p> + +<p>The dog slunk into the woods that grew along the road, and in a +twinkling was out of sight. The scouts marvelled. "Why, he is human," +said one.</p> + +<p>"Almost, but not quite, about some things," answered Harry.</p> + +<p>The band of guerrillas had seen them, and halted, and were scanning them +carefully, as if debating whether to advance or not.</p> + +<p>"They seem to be a little afraid," laughed Harry. "Let's ride leisurely +forward, as if satisfied."</p> + +<p>As they approached, the guerrillas made a movement as if to raise their +guns, but evidently thought better of it, and sat still to await their +coming, but with hands on the butts of their revolvers.</p> + +<p>"Hello, boys; whar yo' uns goin'?" called out Harry, as he came up. "The +way yo' uns act, yo' uns must think we' uns air Yanks."</p> + +<p>"Who be yo' uns, an' whar be yo' uns goin'?" the leader asked, scowling.</p> + +<p>"We' uns? We' uns air from Franklin County. We' uns was a little too +close to St. Louis to be healthy for sich fellers as we' uns, so we +reckoned we' uns would come over and join Poindexter. Do yo' uns know +whar we' uns can find him?"</p> + +<p>"Don't know an' don't care," growled the leader. "Yo' uns had better +come with we' uns. Had enough of stand-up fightin'! We' uns was with +Porter at Kirksville, and got hell kicked out of us."</p> + +<p>Harry now learned that they were a part of Porter's band; that after his +last defeat Porter had advised his men to break into small parties and +make their way back to their old haunts, where they could rally if he +needed them. They could be nice, peaceable citizens until he wanted them +again. It was more fun harassing and robbing Union men and surprising +small parties of Yanks than it was to face the enemy in an open battle.</p> + +<p>"I tell yo' uns," added the leader, shrugging his shoulders, "it's no +fun facing them rotten balls. They skeer a feller."</p> + +<p>"Why didn't yo' uns lick 'em?" asked Harry.</p> + +<p>"Lick 'em? Say, young feller, Did yo' un ever face the Merrill Hoss?"</p> + +<p>"No; but the boys heah reckon they would like to have the chance."</p> + +<p>"Ha! ha!" laughed the guerrillas. "Wall, go on and join Poindexter, an' +yo' uns may have a chance. See how you like it after the Merrill Hoss +gits a whack at yo' uns," and, laughing and jesting, they rode on.</p> + +<p>When the guerrillas were first met, Jack Harwood gave a start of +surprise, and a look of fierce passion swept over his face. He suddenly +pulled his slouch hat down so as to hide his features, turned and kept +as far away as he could without exciting suspicion.</p> + +<p>When the guerrillas had gone, he rode up to Harry, his eyes blazing, and +his whole body trembling with suppressed excitement.</p> + +<p>"I know two of those fellows," he exclaimed, "They were with the gang +that murdered father. One of them was the one that fired the house. +Mother knew them. There were six of them, and I know every one. I have +sworn to get the whole six, and I will if I live."</p> + +<p>The look of hatred on his face made Harry shiver, but he knew how he +felt; so had he felt when he saw his father lying dead before him.</p> + +<p>"I had all I could do to keep from shooting them while they were talking +to you," continued Jack. "It makes me feel like a coward to let such a +chance go."</p> + +<p>"It would have been madness, Jack. Then, we are not out to fight if we +can avoid it, but to get information. Never let your passion lead you to +do a foolish thing."</p> + +<p>Jack said no more, but fell back in the rear.</p> + +<p>It was almost night, and Harry decided to go into camp, as he had not +learned the exact whereabouts of Poindexter.</p> + +<p>Suddenly some one asked, "Where is Jack Harwood?"</p> + +<p>Harry looked. He was nowhere to be seen.</p> + +<p>"Does any one know anything about him?" he asked, anxiously.</p> + +<p>One of the men said: "Jack stopped just after the guerrillas left us. He +said the girth of his saddle was loose, and he would have to fix it. I +thought no more about him, and as I have been riding in front, I did not +notice he was not with us."</p> + +<p>Could Jack have been captured by lurking guerrillas? They would go back +and see. It would not do to leave a comrade in peril. If Jack had been +captured, Bruno would have little trouble in following the trail. It was +not more than two miles back to the place where the soldier had seen +Jack dismount to fix his saddle girth, but there was no sign of a +struggle there; no evidence that any guerrilla had been lying in ambush. +But by the side of the road there were tracks of where a horse had been +turned and ridden back.</p> + +<p>"By heavens!" exclaimed one of the men, "Jack has deserted. Don't you +remember one of those guerrillas said they lived in Ralls County?—and +Jack is from Ralls."</p> + +<p>The other men began to swear. "If we ever catch him," they muttered, +with clenched fists.</p> + +<p>"Hold on, boys," ejaculated Harry; "Jack has not deserted, but he has +gone, and gone alone, on one of the maddest adventures that ever single +man set out to do."</p> + +<p>Then he told them of what Jack had said, and added: "No doubt he has +gone back to try and get those men."</p> + +<p>"Let's go back and try to help him!" exclaimed the squad in unison.</p> + +<p>Harry shook his head. "No, boys," he said; "and if you wish to continue +with me, you must promise me that you will not leave under any +conditions whatever, without my consent. We are soldiers. We are under +orders, and those orders are to find Poindexter. To try and find Jack +would lead us we know not where, and bring the whole object of our scout +to naught."</p> + +<p>The men saw, and turned back; but with heavy hearts, for their thoughts +were with Jack.</p> + +<p>The scouts went into camp not far from a substantial farmhouse, and the +occupants were a little more communicative than common, especially when +Harry told them to set up a good meal for them, and he would pay for it, +saying they had captured some Yankee money.</p> + +<p>Their mouths being open, Harry found they had a son with Poindexter, and +he had left home only that morning. They had heard the son say +Poindexter was preparing to attack some place. They thought it was +Columbia, but were not sure.</p> + +<p>Harry made his camp in the edge of a wood, a field in front. A rough +road ran through the wood, a short distance in the rear. If danger came, +it would be by that road that Harry calculated to retreat. They were to +rest till three o'clock, then up and away. Harry knew that with Bruno on +guard there would be no surprise, but he could not rest. He was thinking +of Jack Harwood.</p> + +<p>About eleven o'clock, to Harry's surprise, Harwood made his appearance. +"If it hadn't been for Bruno," he said, "I would never have found you. +He met me down the road a ways, and guided me here."</p> + +<p>"Where have you been?" asked Harry.</p> + +<p>"Where have I been?" he answered, slowly. "On private business. I will +tell you about it in the morning."</p> + +<p>"You must promise never again to leave without permission, or this is +your last scout with me," said Harry, sternly.</p> + +<p>Jack did not answer. He turned to care for his horse.</p> + +<p>When Jack stopped, under the pretence of fixing the girth of his saddle, +it was with the fixed purpose, come what would, of following those +guerrillas and killing the men who had helped murder his father. Had he +not taken a solemn oath to kill them on sight? He did not stop to think +how he could accomplish his purpose—of the danger of the undertaking. +He only knew he had seen the men; that was enough. He would track them, +if necessary, to the ends of the earth. As it was, fate favored him.</p> + +<p>The guerrillas, all unconscious that Nemesis was on their track, rode on +until dusk, when they stopped at a fine plantation, and roughly ordered +supper and feed for their horses.</p> + +<p>Mr. Rice, the owner of the plantation, was a hot Southern sympathizer, +but he did not relish his present company. He felt like kicking them out +of doors, but he knew it would not do to refuse them, so he made the +best of it, and ordered supper prepared.</p> + +<p>It was a good supper, and, in the highest of spirits, nine of the +guerrillas sat down; the tenth was on guard. But he did not notice a +silent figure creeping up to the window of the room in which the rest +were dining.</p> + +<p>Suddenly there was a sharp report, a crash of glass, and one of the +diners sprang to his feet and fell backward, shot through the brain. At +the same time a voice rang through the room. "Remember Thomas Harwood, +Number One. Let the other five beware!"</p> + +<p>At the sound of the shot and the fall of their comrade, the other +guerrillas sat as if stunned for a moment; then with cries of terror +they rushed from the house, thinking a Yankee force was on them; but a +single shot, and excited cries from the sentinel, were all that they +heard.</p> + +<p>Before the attack, the sentinel had seen or heard nothing, but +afterwards he had caught a glimpse of a dim figure fleeing up the road. +He had fired, but there was no response to his shot.</p> + +<p>When told what the voice had said, he turned pale and trembled. "My +God!" he exclaimed, "it must have been Jack Harwood, Tom Harwood's son. +There were six of us who put a quietus on that old Abolitionist. I heard +the boy took a terrible oath he would never rest until he got the whole +six. After that we lay for the boy, but he gave us the slip and went in +the Yankee army. So, poor Ben is done for. He was one of the six. My +being on guard is all that saved me. But whar did the boy come from? How +did he know we' uns was heah?"</p> + +<p>This question greatly puzzled the guerrillas, until one of them spoke: +"I reckon them seven fellers we' uns met was Yanks. That Harwood boy +must have been one of them. He saw you two fellers, and follered we' uns +heah, and got poor Ben."</p> + +<p>"Boys, I'll never feel easy as long as Jack Harwood lives," said the one +who had escaped. "That boy is a devil. That's nine of us—only seven of +them. Let's turn back and take them by surprise. We' uns can shoot them +up."</p> + +<p>It was agreed to, and so the guerrillas turned back.</p> + +<p>After the return of Jack, Harry had lain down for a time, but could not +sleep. He knew something had happened, but could not imagine what it +was. Surely, Jack had not engaged the guerrillas single-handed. But he +would have to wait until morning to know. Just as he was sinking into +sleep, Bruno caught him by the shoulder and shook him. He was on his +feet in a second.</p> + +<p>Everything seemed quiet, and the guard said he had heard nothing, but +Bruno showed by his actions everything was not right.</p> + +<p>"Arouse the boys," said Harry; "something is in the wind."</p> + +<p>The scouts were aroused, but nothing could be discovered. Everything +seemed quiet and asleep.</p> + +<p>"Jeffreys," said Harry to one of the men, "creep down towards the house +and see if any mischief is going on down there. Be careful; keep in the +shadow of the fence, and get back as quickly as possible."</p> + +<p>Jeffreys was gone nearly half an hour and Harry was beginning to get +alarmed, when he came back. He had a startling story to tell. He had +crept up nearly to the house and found the yard full of men and horses. +The nine guerrillas had come back and stopped at the house to make +inquiries.</p> + +<p>"The villain who lives there," continued Jeffreys, "told them all about +where we were camped and the best way to surprise us. They were making +arrangements to creep up on us when I thought it time to come back. I +heard them talk of some one of our number who had killed one of their +men. What did they mean?"</p> + +<p>"Never mind now," answered Harry. "Let's get ready to give them a warm +reception. We know just how many there are, and they are the ones who +will be surprised."</p> + +<p>It was a warm reception they got. Harry let them come almost up to them +before he gave the signal to fire. First the carbines, then the +revolver, had been his order.</p> + +<p>In a minute all was over. Stunned by the reception they received, those +who had not been killed or wounded beat a hasty retreat. Investigation +showed three of the guerrillas dead and three more desperately wounded. +The wounded were carried to the farmhouse to be cared for.</p> + +<p>Among the dead was the one who had stood guard. Jack gazed at him a +moment in silence and then muttered, "Number Two, but who killed him?"</p> + +<p>Jack now told Harry how he had followed the guerrillas and shot one.</p> + +<p>Harry listened in silence and then said, "Jack, I know how you feel. I +once felt the same way, until Captain Middleton taught me better. He +says this is a war of principles, not against individuals. That it is +simply murder to kill for private wrongs."</p> + +<p>"Wrong to kill guerrillas?" asked Jack in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Yes, the way you did. In killing Ben Storms you had no idea of aiding +the great cause for which we are fighting. You did it for revenge. In +doing it you put yourself on the same plane as the man you killed."</p> + +<p>"Why, you have just helped me in killing several. What's the +difference?" asked Jack in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"We killed those men in battle, and to save our own lives. The +difference is great. If I had cruelly killed those wounded men instead +of taking them to the house to be cared for, that would have been +murder, not warfare."</p> + +<p>A thought came to Harry and he asked, "Jack, if that other man who +helped kill your father had been only wounded and not killed, what would +you have done?"</p> + +<p>Jack hung his head and whispered, "Killed him."</p> + +<p>"I thought so, I would have done the same to a man who helped kill my +father if it had not been for Captain Middleton. I have learned better, +and now thank him for it. Jack, promise me you will never leave the +command again without my permission."</p> + +<p>Jack made the promise, but was rather doubtful as to the expediency of +sparing the life of a guerrilla guilty of murder.</p> + +<p>Owing to the fight it was well along in the morning before the scouts +started. They had not gone over two miles before they met a man riding +rapidly. To him they told the story of going to join Poindexter.</p> + +<p>"Better go to Switzler's Mill," he said. "Poindexter starts for there +this morning. I left him not over six hours ago. I'm on my way to try +and rally some of Porter's men to come to his assistance."</p> + +<p>"Is that so?" dryly answered Harry. "You had better come with us. You +are just the man we've been looking for." And to the fellow's amazement, +he found himself a prisoner.</p> + +<p>"Now, boys," cried Harry, gleefully, "back to Guitar, I've found out all +I want to know."</p> + +<p>Horse flesh was not spared, and Guitar was found about noon, his column +on the march. To him Harry told the news, and with all speed the head of +the column was turned towards Switzler's Mill.</p> + +<p>Now commenced a chase that lasted for seven days and did not end until +the command had ridden two hundred and fifty miles over the roughest of +roads.</p> + +<p>Poindexter turned and twisted like a fox. There was no fight in his men; +they ran like a pack of frightened coyotes at the first crack of a gun.</p> + +<p>Guitar struck him at Switzler's Mill and scattered his force like chaff. +Hot on Poindexter's trail the tireless troopers clung. Horses suffered +more than the men. Scores fell by the roadside and died of exhaustion.</p> + +<p>At Little Compton Poindexter was once more brought to bay, and, scarcely +firing a shot; he fled, leaving behind his trains, most of his +ammunition, several hundred stands of arms, and five hundred horses.</p> + +<p>His army was now little more than a fleeing mob. Once more he was struck +at the Muscle Fork of the Chariton. Many of his men were drowned trying +to get across the stream.</p> + +<p>With only four hundred followers out of the fifteen hundred he had at +the beginning, Poindexter fled westward. Guitar could follow no farther. +Men and horses were exhausted.</p> + +<p>In this remarkable campaign Guitar states that he lost only five men +wounded, while he estimates that at least one hundred and fifty of the +enemy were killed and drowned, and he had captured one hundred men and a +thousand horses and mules.</p> + +<p>Poindexter's misfortunes were not ended. As he fled west and south the +remnant of his force was struck by General Ben Loan and totally +dispersed, every guerrilla seeking his own safety. Poindexter found +himself a wanderer without a single follower.</p> + +<p>Disguising himself he skulked in the woods and found shelter in the +houses of friends, but tireless on his path were Harry and his scouts. +From covert to covert and from house to house they trailed him and at +last ran him down.</p> + +<p>They entered a house where an apparently sick man sat cowering in a +corner, wrapped in a blanket. With a snarl Bruno was about to spring +upon him when Harry stopped him, and going up to the man said, "The jig +is up, Poindexter. You're not half as sick as you pretend."</p> + +<p>With a groan and a curse the guerrilla chieftain yielded himself a +prisoner.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>LONE JACK</h3> + + +<p>Although the dispersion of Porter's and Poindexter's forces had +apparently put an end, at least for a time, to the guerrilla warfare in +Northeast Missouri, the situation was still threatening in Southwest +Missouri. It was for that reason General Schofield had ordered Lawrence +to that field to inspect the posts, and to see that the officers in +command were vigilant and doing their full duty.</p> + +<p>Rumors were rife that a large party under Hughes, Quantrell and others +was gathering to attack Independence, also that a force was moving up +from Arkansas to join them. Independence captured, the combined forces +were to move on Lexington.</p> + +<p>Lawrence was to sift down these rumors, and find out how much truth +there was in them, and above all to impress on the officers in charge of +the different posts the necessity of eternal vigilance.</p> + +<p>But the blow fell just before Lawrence reached Lexington. Lieutenant +Colonel Buell, in command at Independence, although repeatedly warned, +allowed himself to be surprised. His forces were divided and not well +posted, and after a spirited fight Buell surrendered, and with him about +three hundred men were taken prisoners. The Confederate commander, +Colonel Hughes, was killed in the action.</p> + +<p>The capture of Independence greatly elated the guerrillas, and recruits +came pouring in by the hundreds. They now only awaited the arrival of +Colonel Coffee from the south and they would move on to Lexington. When +Lawrence arrived at Lexington he found the place in the wildest +excitement. Rumors said that the enemy numbered thousands, and that they +were already marching on the place.</p> + +<p>Lawrence acted quickly. He applied to the commander of the post for a +detail of ten men, dressed in citizen clothes.</p> + +<p>"Tell them," he said, "it is for a scout, so they will not be deceived +as to the danger of the undertaking."</p> + +<p>The ten men were easily procured, and, headed by Lawrence and Dan, +started. The object was to find out the strength of the enemy under +Coffee, and whether he could not be prevented from forming a union with +the forces which had captured Independence.</p> + +<p>The scout was far more successful than Lawrence could have hoped. +Representing themselves as coming from north of the river, they had no +trouble in meeting on friendly terms several small parties of guerrillas +with whom they fell in. They were all on their way to join Thompson, who +was now in command of the forces which had captured Independence. +Everyone expected Lexington would be the next to fall, and they were all +anxious to have a hand in the affair. Lawrence represented they were to +find Coffee and hurry him up.</p> + +<p>At length they were fortunate enough to fall in with a single guerrilla +who was sitting by the side of the road, making the air blue with his +curses.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" asked Lawrence.</p> + +<p>"My hoss stepped into a hole and threw me, and I have broken my leg," he +groaned.</p> + +<p>"That's bad," said Lawrence. "I will see what I can do for you."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it's bad, and I was on my way from Colonel Coffee to Colonel +Thompson."</p> + +<p>"Ah! were you? Perhaps I can help you. I can send one of my men with the +message. What was it?"</p> + +<p>"That he would camp near Lone Jack on the evening of the fifteenth, and +wanted Thompson to join him thar."</p> + +<p>"How many men has Coffee?" Lawrence asked.</p> + +<p>"About a thousand, but more are coming in all the time."</p> + +<p>The information was important. It was just what Lawrence wanted, but +what to do with the man and still keep him deceived puzzled Lawrence. +This problem was solved by a native coming along driving a raw-boned +horse before a rickety wagon. Lawrence stopped him. The disabled +guerrilla was lifted into the wagon and taken to the nearest farmhouse. +Here Lawrence left instructions for them to send for a physician to set +the broken leg.</p> + +<p>"Now I've done all I can for you," he told him, "and I must leave you, +for my business is very important. I shall see that your message to +Colonel Thompson is safely delivered."</p> + +<p>No sooner were they out of sight than Lawrence said, "Now, boys, for +Lexington."</p> + +<p>When Lawrence made his report, Colonel Huston, in command at Lexington, +acted with promptness. It was decided to send a force to strike Coffee +at Lone Jack before Thompson and Quantrell could join him.</p> + +<p>The utmost that could be done was to gather a little force of about +seven hundred and fifty. This force was placed in command of Major Emery +Foster.</p> + +<p>There was another force of about the same number under the command of +Colonel Fitz Henry Warren at Clinton. Clinton being about the same +distance from Lone Jack as Lexington, Warren was ordered to march there +and join Foster, and the two forces combined to attack Coffee without +delay.</p> + +<p>In the meantime General Blunt, in command at Fort Scott, Kansas, had +learned that Coffee had slipped past Springfield and was making north, +and he started in pursuit with a thousand men.</p> + +<p>A third force under Colonel Burris of the Kansas Infantry was ordered to +move from Kansas City and try to catch Thompson and Quantrell before +they could join Coffee.</p> + +<p>Thus it looked as if the Confederates were hemmed in, and if everything +went right, could be captured.</p> + +<p>Lawrence decided to join the expedition under Foster.</p> + +<p>Foster's little army left Lexington on the morning of the fifteenth of +August, and by a rapid march reached the vicinity of Lone Jack by +evening. Here at nine o'clock at night he surprised Coffee in camp, +routing him, his men fleeing in confusion.</p> + +<p>Foster took possession of the abandoned camp and waited until morning. +Warren had not been heard from.</p> + +<p>Lawrence still was in command of his scouts, and he volunteered to see +if he could find Warren.</p> + +<p>The night was dark and they had to be careful.</p> + +<p>"If we only had Harry and Bruno," sighed Lawrence to Dan, as they were +groping their way along as best they could.</p> + +<p>"If we had we wouldn't be going at this snail pace," answered Dan.</p> + +<p>They could find nothing of Warren and started to return. On the way back +they came to a cross road and halted in doubt as to which road to take. +While debating, the sound of approaching horses was heard.</p> + +<p>"Halt," commanded Lawrence as two guerrillas rode up.</p> + +<p>"Who are yo' uns?" they asked, surprised.</p> + +<p>"We 'uns are from Thompson. I was afraid yo' uns were Yanks. Whar is +Coffee?"</p> + +<p>"The Yanks struck his camp a few hours ago and made us git."</p> + +<p>"Many hurt?"</p> + +<p>"I reckon not. We 'uns run too fast."</p> + +<p>"Glad to heah that. Thompson sent me to tell Coffee he would be with him +by morning. Coffee hasn't run clear away, has he?"</p> + +<p>"No, he's gittin' his men together and will be all right by morning. How +many men has Thompson?"</p> + +<p>"About twelve or fifteen hundred. You see, Quantrell and Hayes air with +him. An Red Jerry has promised to come with his company."</p> + +<p>"Together we 'uns ought to eat the Yanks up tomorrow."</p> + +<p>"I don't see any use of your going farther, as Thompson is coming," said +Lawrence. "So you might as well go with us into camp."</p> + +<p>To this the guerrillas agreed, and their surprise can be imagined when +they found themselves in Foster's camp instead of Coffee's.</p> + +<p>The report of Lawrence that he could not find Warren, and that Thompson +would join Coffee in the morning troubled Foster.</p> + +<p>"The whole combined force will be down on us in the morning," he said. +"Where can Warren be? Surely he cannot fail, for his orders were +positive, and mine were positive to stay here and wait for him. And stay +I will, if all the devils in Missouri are around me."</p> + +<p>Lawrence looked at him with admiration. "Major, you are a man after my +own heart," he said. "I will make one more attempt to find Warren. This +time I will only take Sherman with me, as I do not wish to deplete your +little force by a single man."</p> + +<p>"It will be dangerous, only two of you," replied Foster.</p> + +<p>"Not as much danger as you will be in if Warren does not come," answered +Lawrence. "God grant I may find him."</p> + +<p>"Amen!" said Foster, fervently.</p> + +<p>The two men shook hands and Lawrence and Dan rode away. It lacked but an +hour till day.</p> + +<p>Morning came, but there was no Warren, and neither had Dan and Lawrence +returned. The new day had hardly begun when the guerrilla hordes poured +down on Foster's little army, confident of an easy victory.</p> + +<p>Now began one of the bloodiest and most fiercely contested small battles +of the war. The enemy had no artillery, but Foster had two pieces of the +Third Indiana battery. The lieutenant in charge of the piece, J. F. +Devlin, had been removed by Major Foster the night before for being +intoxicated, and the guns placed in charge of Sergeant James M. Scott, +and nobly did he uphold the confidence placed in him. Never was there a +battery better or more bravely served. Time and time again did the enemy +charge upon the guns, only to be flung back, bleeding and torn.</p> + +<p>During a lull in the conflict, Lieutenant Devlin, somewhat recovered +from his drunken debauch, staggered on the field and ordered his men to +abandon the pieces. Accustomed to obey their superior officer, the men +did so. The enemy saw and with fiendish yells of triumph swarmed upon +and over the pieces.</p> + +<p>It was a critical moment. Major Foster hastily collected sixty men and +charged on the guns—so shamelessly abandoned by the order of a drunken +commander. Of the sixty men who charged, but eleven reached the guns, +the rest had fallen, and among them the gallant Major. Others now rushed +to the rescue, the artillery men came back, and once more the guns were +thundering their defiance. The enemy again rushed on them, only to be +bloodily repulsed.</p> + +<p>Disheartened, the Confederates now fell back, leaving the field to those +who had so valiantly defended it. But the situation of the little band +was perilous. Nothing had been heard from Warren, and nearly one-half of +the force had fallen. Captain Brawner, on whom the command had fallen, +resolved to retreat to Lexington. In doing this the two cannon had to be +abandoned.</p> + +<p>Every horse had been shot, even the harnesses were in tatters. Of the +thirty-six artillery men manning the guns, twenty-four had been killed +and wounded. The severely wounded had to be left, among them the gallant +Foster.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p>So severe had been the punishment administered to the enemy that the +Federals were not molested in their retreat. It put an end to all the +Confederates' hopes of capturing Lexington.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<p>But where were Lawrence and Dan all the time the battle was raging? Why +had they not brought Colonel Warren to the rescue?</p> + +<p>In the early morning they had run into a small party of guerrillas, had +boldly charged them and put them to flight, but the sound of firing had +brought a larger party, and they blocked the way Lawrence and Dan wished +to go. It was now light, and they saw the band numbered at least fifty. +There was no help for it, they had to turn and run, and that in a +direction that for aught they knew would bring them in the midst of the +enemy.</p> + +<p>With fierce yells the guerrillas took up the pursuit and the chase was a +hot one. Lawrence and Dan were well mounted, but a few of the guerrillas +were just as well mounted, and pressed them closely.</p> + +<p>Now as they fled, above the sound of their horses' hoofs rose the sound +of battle. Just the faint cracking of musketry, and then the boom of the +cannon.</p> + +<p>"Great Heavens!" gasped Lawrence. "They are at it. Foster and his little +band against thousands. Why did we leave them? We might have been of a +little help."</p> + +<p>"And we are going farther away from Warren every minute," groaned Dan.</p> + +<p>Here the whistling of a bullet from the revolver of the nearest +guerrilla brought their thoughts back to the seriousness of their own +situation. They had now gone beyond the sound of the musketry, but the +roar of the cannon grew more incessant, and they knew they were almost +in the rear of the enemy.</p> + +<p>Coming to where there were open fields, they glanced to the right and +saw the stragglers and wounded drifting to the rear, as is always the +case in time of battle. They must turn or they would soon be in the +midst of the rabble.</p> + +<p>Fortunately, they came to a cross road and turned into it. They were now +followed by only five or six of their pursuers, the rest having turned +back to take part in the battle. But these half dozen were mounted on +the fleetest horses and were gaining on them rapidly. Already the +bullets were singing around them freely.</p> + +<p>"This cannot last," Lawrence exclaimed. "Our horses are becoming winded. +We must find some way to stop those fellows."</p> + +<p>"We've got to stop them," said Dan. "My horse is staggering and I look +for him to drop any minute."</p> + +<p>They rode over a little hill that for a moment put them out of sight. +"Now," said Lawrence, halting and wheeling his horse. Dan did the same.</p> + +<p>"When they come over the hill give it to them," exclaimed Lawrence. "It +will be a question of who can shoot the straightest."</p> + +<p>Dan smiled and he drew his revolver. He was known to be a dead shot, and +nothing rattled him.</p> + +<p>They had hardly two seconds to wait when four of the guerrillas dashed +over the rise. Seeing Lawrence and Dan facing them and not thirty yards +away, startled them and they instinctively tried to check their headlong +pace. It was a fatal mistake, for it disconcerted their aim and their +shots went wild.</p> + +<p>To his astonishment, Lawrence recognized one of the guerrillas as Jerry +Alcorn, his old time enemy. Lawrence fired, but just as he did so +Jerry's horse threw up his head and the ball struck him squarely between +the eyes. The horse dropped like a stone, pinning Jerry for a moment to +the ground.</p> + +<p>Dan had fired the same time Lawrence did and his guerrilla pitched +headlong. The report of his shot had not died before he shot again and a +second guerrilla fell.</p> + +<p>The remaining guerrilla had no stomach to continue the fight, and +wheeled his horse to flee. Once more Dan's revolver spoke, and the +guerrilla fell forward, but he clung desperately to the neck of his +horse and was soon carried from view.</p> + +<p>It took Jerry Alcorn but a moment to extricate himself from his horse, +and as he half rose he fired at Lawrence, but missed. Lawrence returned +the fire, and the ball struck Jerry's revolver and sent it spinning. +With a mocking laugh Jerry sprang into the bushes along the road. "Not +this time, Lawrence Middleton," he shouted as he disappeared, "but we'll +meet again."</p> + +<p>"Let's get out of here," said Lawrence. "We can't follow Jerry in the +brush and we are now safe from pursuit."</p> + +<p>Even the short stop had allowed their horses a breathing spell and they +could now ride more leisurely.</p> + +<p>"Dan, I'm a poor stick. I should be reduced to the ranks and you given +my commission," said Lawrence.</p> + +<p>"How's that?" asked Dan.</p> + +<p>"Didn't you get three of those fellows, and I only killed a horse and +disabled a revolver. Missed three shots." Lawrence had fired again at +Jerry as he disappeared in the brush. "Bah! I'm ashamed of myself."</p> + +<p>"Look here!" said Dan. "It was that measly horse. He had no business to +throw up his head at that moment. Served him right to get killed."</p> + +<p>"But the second shot, Dan. It went wild and hit his revolver, and the +third missed altogether. And of all men to let Jerry Alcorn escape. Kick +me, Dan."</p> + +<p>"Might have bored one of us if you hadn't knocked the revolver out of +his hand," answered Dan, "so shut up."</p> + +<p>They had ridden far out of their way and had to make a wide circuit to +get back. A little before noon the distant booming of the cannon was +heard no longer.</p> + +<p>"It's all over," sighed Lawrence, "and I'm afraid."</p> + +<p>Dan's jaws came together with a snap and a dark scowl came over his +face. "Why in thunder didn't Warren come?" he wrathfully exclaimed. +"Some of these officers make me tired."</p> + +<p>It was the middle of the afternoon before Warren was found. He was +fearful of an attack on himself, and was several miles from the +battlefield.</p> + +<p>To Lawrence's request to hurry the Colonel replied, "You say the battle +is over and in all probability Foster's whole force captured. In that +case I can do no good. My force is but little greater than that Foster +had."</p> + +<p>"But they may not all be captured. You may be able to cover the +retreat," Lawrence urged.</p> + +<p>"The best I can do is to stay and watch the enemy, and wait for +reinforcements," replied Warren.</p> + +<p>Lawrence and Dan were disgusted, but Warren was right in not seeking an +engagement with his small force.</p> + +<p>"What shall we do, Dan?" Lawrence asked with a heavy heart as they +turned away.</p> + +<p>"Try and see what has become of Foster," answered Dan.</p> + +<p>"You're right, Dan."</p> + +<p>They were about to ride away when news came that Foster's force was in +full retreat for Lexington, and that those who survived the battle were +safe.</p> + +<p>Lawrence and Dan concluded to stay with Warren.</p> + +<p>Knowing that a force from Kansas City, as well as General Blunt from the +far south, was closing in on the Confederates, they had high hopes that +they might be captured. But during the night Coffee's entire force +slipped by Blunt and, before the movement was discovered, was well on +its way to Arkansas. The guerrilla bands of Quantrell, Red Jerry and +others took to the brush, there to remain hidden until the Federal +troops had returned to their several posts.</p> + +<p>Lawrence and Dan returned to Lexington disgusted. They believed that if +the different forces had acted together, and the campaign been managed +rightly, the entire force of the enemy could have been captured.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>CAPTURED BY GUERRILLAS</h3> + + +<p>There is little doubt that Major Foster's plucky fight at Lone Jack +saved Lexington, for had he not gone out and attacked the Confederates, +they would have marched straight on that place, as was their intention.</p> + +<p>The fight halted them and gave the Federals time to concentrate.</p> + +<p>All danger of the Federals being driven from the State by a partisan +uprising now being over, and the deep laid plans of General Hindman and +other Confederate leaders being brought to naught, General Schofield +resolved to concentrate his army at Springfield.</p> + +<p>The army that was known as "The Army of the Northwest" had now been +designated "The Army of the Frontier," and General Schofield decided to +leave the command of the Department of Missouri in other hands and +assume the command of the Army of the Frontier in person, with +headquarters at Springfield.</p> + +<p>Before returning to St. Louis business took Lawrence to Fort +Leavenworth. He had not been there since 1856, when a forlorn little boy +of twelve, without money and without friends, he had taken passage for +St. Louis. How the memory of those days came rushing over him. The mob, +the tarring and feathering of his father, Judge Lindsly taking them +in,—the gallant defence of his father by Judge Lindsly,—the raid by +John Brown,—the flight to Kansas,—his father's death,—it all came +back to him like a mighty rushing torrent.</p> + +<p>He wondered how Judge Lindsly was now. How was he faring in these +troublesome times? Was he being robbed by both guerrillas and Federals? +He determined to visit him. Perhaps he might be of some protection to +him as far as the Federal side was concerned.</p> + +<p>He spoke of his determination to the commander at Fort Leavenworth and +that officer replied, "You cannot go without an escort. The country is +swarming with guerrillas who never lose a chance of shooting any +Federals who are unwise enough to stray outside of the lines. There is a +detachment of our troops at Platte City and I will give you an escort +that far. How far is it from Platte City to where Judge Lindsly lives?"</p> + +<p>"I should say nine or ten miles," replied Lawrence.</p> + +<p>"Well, do not try to make the trip from there without a good escort. A +Captain Leeper is in command at Platte and he will readily supply you +with one."</p> + +<p>Lawrence thanked him and was ready to start when the escort, which +consisted of a sergeant and five men, made their appearance.</p> + +<p>Dan had found some old friends at Leavenworth who had been with him in +the troublesome times on the border before the war, and he concluded to +stay with them while Lawrence made his visit. As it turned out, it was +fortunate that he did so.</p> + +<p>Crossing the river on a ferry, Lawrence and his escort mounted their +horses and started for Platte City, but a few miles away. It was with a +sad heart that Lawrence looked over the country. What had been one of +the most beautiful portions of the State had become almost a desolate +waste. Ruined houses and deserted farms met his gaze at every turn.</p> + +<p>When Platte City was reached Lawrence received a cordial welcome from +Captain Leeper, who, on hearing his request, readily consented to give +him an escort of a corporal and four men.</p> + +<p>"A few days ago," said the Captain, "I would not have dared to send so +small an escort, for a gang of bushwhackers under the command of a +notorious guerrilla named Lamar has been scourging the neighborhood, but +Colonel Penick, last week, came over from Liberty and scattered them. He +captured two, whom he shot, and burned two or three houses whose owners +had been harboring the gang. It has been very quiet ever since. I think +he has thoroughly dispersed the gang."</p> + +<p>This news was not very cheering to Lawrence. Shooting guerrillas after +they were caught and burning houses did not tend to make those left less +cruel.</p> + +<p>When Lawrence came in sight of the once fine plantation of Judge Lindsly +his heart bled. The fields were neglected, not half of them under +cultivation, and those that were, poorly tended, but to his relief the +house had not been disturbed.</p> + +<p>Although greatly surprised, the Judge received Lawrence with open arms. +"I often see your name in the papers," he said, "and rejoice at your +advancement, although it is at the cost of the cause I love."</p> + +<p>"Tell me of yourself," said Lawrence, "and all that has happened to you +during the last months of trial."</p> + +<p>The Judge sighed deeply and replied, "Look and see for yourself what +this unhappy war has not only brought upon me, but on the whole State. I +have been preyed upon by both Federals and guerrillas. Most of my slaves +have left me. To make my position more intolerable, I am <i>persona non +grata</i> with both sides. The guerrillas do not like me because I denounce +guerrilla warfare. I tell them if the independence of the South is ever +achieved, it will be done by the great armies in the field, and that the +place of every man who loves and would fight for the South should be in +the army, not hiding in the brush. General Price should have had the +fifty thousand men he called for. He would have had them if everyone who +has played the part of guerrilla had responded. With such an army he +would have swept the State clear of Federals.</p> + +<p>"I told them the late uprising of the partisan bands would only bring +more misery, bloodshed and murder on the State, and nothing would be +accomplished, and so it has proven.</p> + +<p>"I was denounced for these opinions and my life has been threatened by +Quantrell, Lamar and others.</p> + +<p>"On the other hand, I am continually being threatened with arrest by the +Federals. I have absolutely refused to take the oath of allegiance to +the Federal Government. Now that the worst has come, I am with the South +heart and soul, and I will not perjure myself."</p> + +<p>Lawrence was deeply moved. He could only press the hand of the old Judge +in sympathy and say, "If I have any influence you will never be +arrested. If you ever get in trouble let me know. What I can do I will."</p> + +<p>This the Judge promised, and when it came time to part he held +Lawrence's hand lingeringly and said with emotion, "Would to God, +Lawrence, you were my own son and fighting for the right, but I love you +as it is. May your life be spared."</p> + +<p>Lawrence's eyes filled with tears. He tried to speak, but his voice +failed. He could only press the hand of the Judge as they parted.</p> + +<p>Riding a short distance he turned and looked back. Judge Lindsly was +still standing on the porch looking after him and waved his hand. +Lawrence choked back a sob as he waved his hand in return. The once +erect form of the Judge was bowed and bent; his gray hair was perfectly +white, and he leaned on his cane, weak and trembling.</p> + +<p>It was months before Lawrence saw him again, and then it was in a prison +pen at Kansas City.</p> + +<p>All unconscious of danger, Lawrence started back to Platte City. His +visit had left a heavy load on his heart. He thought of the time the +Judge saved his father's life, risking his own to do so, and his image +rose before him, as he stood, proud, erect, like a lion at bay, facing +the mob.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>They had covered about half the distance to Platte City without +incident, Lawrence and the corporal riding side by side, the four +troopers a short distance in advance.</p> + +<p>Suddenly from a thicket two rifles blazed. The corporal fell from his +horse dead, the horse which Lawrence rode plunged forward on his head, +throwing Lawrence heavily, and he lay unconscious in the road.</p> + +<p>The four troopers, seeing both Lawrence and the corporal, as they +supposed, lying dead, put spurs to their horses and rode for their lives +to Platte City to give the alarm.</p> + +<p>At the head of twenty men Captain Leeper started for the scene of +action, but all he found was the dead body of the corporal, and that of +Lawrence's horse. The horse had been shot through the head and both +saddle and bridle were missing.</p> + +<p>The guerrillas had hung the body of the corporal from a tree and there +it dangled over the road, a gruesome object. To the lapel of his coat +they had pinned a paper on which was written, "The fate that awaits all +Kansas Jayhawkers."</p> + +<p>Of Lawrence there were no signs, and as night was falling, Captain +Leeper returned to Platte City full of wrath, but impotent to avenge.</p> + +<p>When the guerrillas fired the corporal was slightly in advance of +Lawrence and the bullet had gone clear through his body and struck +Lawrence's horse. The horse falling had saved Lawrence's life, as he +being thrown had caused the second guerrilla to miss him.</p> + +<p>When Lawrence came to, there were two guerrillas standing gloating over +him. "Say, Jim," said one. "This feller ain't dead. He's wiggling. Shall +I finish him?"</p> + +<p>"No, let's take him to the captain," replied the other. "He's a Yankee +officer, and if we 'uns hang him all the boys will want to see the fun."</p> + +<p>It was not long before Lawrence fully came to. To the jeers and taunts +of his captors he made no reply. But when he saw there were but two of +them he mentally cursed the four escorts who had so cowardly left him to +his fate.</p> + +<p>After he was securely bound he was forced to stand while the two, with +foul epithets, hung the body of the corporal over the road.</p> + +<p>"Thar yo' un can see what yo' un are coming to," one said, grinning at +Lawrence. "How do yo' un like it?"</p> + +<p>Lawrence made no answer, and with a curse and a growl the guerrillas +turned away.</p> + +<p>Lawrence was now placed on the horse that had been ridden by the +corporal, his hands tied behind him and his feet securely bound beneath +the horse on which he rode. One of the guerrillas tied the halter of the +horse to the saddle of the one he rode, and they started for the secret +rendezvous of the gang. It was long after nightfall before they reached +it.</p> + +<p>Captain Lamar and most of the gang were found to be away, so supperless +and bound, Lawrence was placed under a tree to await the morning.</p> + +<p>The cords with which he was bound cut into his flesh and he was parched +with thirst. He asked for water, but a curse was the only answer.</p> + +<p>There throughout the rest of the night Lawrence lay, the stars looking +pityingly down upon him. He could not sleep, his sufferings were too +great, and there was the uncertainty of the morrow. What would the end +be?</p> + +<p>All his life passed before his mental vision in a panoramic vision. He +lived it all over again.</p> + +<p>Morning came, but Captain Lamar and the rest of the gang had not yet +returned. He was given some breakfast, but taunted with the fact that it +would be his last meal on earth. Better than the food was the water +which cooled his parched mouth and tongue. No nectar that ever flowed +tasted half so sweet.</p> + +<p>About nine o'clock Captain Lamar came. He was in a towering rage, for +his expedition had failed and he had lost two men.</p> + +<p>When told two of his men had killed a Yankee and captured a Yankee +captain, he asked what had been done with the captain.</p> + +<p>"He is heah," said one of the men. "We 'uns have been waitin' to see +what yo' un wanted to do with him."</p> + +<p>"Hang him or shoot him, I don't care which," he growled as he turned +away. "I'm tired and hungry and want some breakfast."</p> + +<p>The Captain's decision was told, but the gang decided to wait until the +men who came in with the Captain had had breakfast, so all could enjoy +the sport. To the savage men the hanging or shooting of a Yankee was an +enjoyable event.</p> + +<p>When breakfast was over there was quite a discussion as to whether +Lawrence should be hung or shot. Those in favor of hanging carried the +day, so he was led under the projecting limb of a tree and a rope placed +around his neck.</p> + +<p>Lawrence felt all hope was gone. He was standing face to face with +death. For a moment he felt faint and a deadly fear seized him. Few +there be who in health and strength can face Death without a fear. As +they look him in his face and his shadowy wings cover them, nature +recoils and would flee from him.</p> + +<p>But it was only a moment that Lawrence feared. He gulped back the lump +in his throat; his trembling nerves became as steel. He was a man—a +soldier again. He had faced death on the battlefield without a quiver +and he would do so now, though this was different, it was coming in such +a horrible form; but he would face it. He looked into the scowling faces +around him without a sign of fear.</p> + +<p>"What do yo' un have to say before we 'uns string you up?" demanded one +of the men.</p> + +<p>"Nothing," answered Lawrence, "but I would be thankful if you would +inform Judge Lindsly of my fate. He at least will give my body a decent +burial."</p> + +<p>At this the guerrillas burst into a boisterous laugh. "That's a good +one," they cried. "He reckons we 'uns bury the Yanks we 'uns hang. Young +feller, we 'uns will pitch your carcass in the brush and leave it for +the buzzards to pick—that is, if a Missouri buzzard will pick a dead +Yank."</p> + +<p>At this sally there was another burst of laughter.</p> + +<p>Just then there came a diversion. One of the men, Cal Jones, who had +been one of the party with Lamar, had missed a Federal soldier at short +range, and his companions were guying him unmercifully.</p> + +<p>"Why," drawled one called Hooper, "Cal couldn't hit a barn door at fifty +paces."</p> + +<p>Cal was hopping mad. "I'll bet yo 'un a hoss I ken put a ball through +that Yank's heart at fifty paces," he roared.</p> + +<p>"Done," exclaimed Hooper. "Heah, boys, stop that picnic for a few +moments. Cal has bet me a hoss he can plug that Yank through the heart +at fifty paces the first shot."</p> + +<p>Some of the men began to demur, but Hooper, in a tantalizing tone, +drawled, "Don't be skeered, boys. Cal will sure miss him, and we 'uns +can have our fun afterwards."</p> + +<p>"I'll show yo' un. I'll show yo' un," yelled Cal, hopping around like a +mad turkey.</p> + +<p>They now all fell in with the idea, and Lawrence was placed with his +back against a tree. To him the diversion came as a welcome relief. He +would now die like a soldier and not like a felon.</p> + +<p>"Hold on thar!" cried Hooper, as Jones began to pace the distance. "I +said fifty paces, not fifty steps. Yo' un don't come that on me."</p> + +<p>"I am pacin'." snarled Cal. "Want to back out, do yer?"</p> + +<p>"Not much, but I'll do that pacin' myself." And he began.</p> + +<p>"No, yer don't," yelled Cal. The men were about to fight when the others +interfered, saying it was only fair a third party should do the pacing. +This was agreed to and the pacing duly done. Jones took his position, a +huge navy revolver in his hand.</p> + +<p>Lawrence stood facing him. Not a muscle quivered as he looked his +would-be executioner in the eye.</p> + +<p>Jones raised his weapon. "Stand back," yelled Hooper. "Don't get too +close, some of yo' uns will get hurt. The Yank is in no danger."</p> + +<p>Jones fired, but he was too angry to shoot straight, and his shot went +wild.</p> + +<p>"What did I tell yo' un? What did I tell yo' un?" cried Hooper. "Never +teched the Yank or tree, either," and he kicked up his heels like a +young colt. "That hoss is mine."</p> + +<p>The whole crowd shouted in derision, and Jones, in anger, fired every +shot in his revolver before they could stop him. Lawrence stood unmoved +and smiling. One shot had struck the tree an inch above his head, +another had passed between his arm and body, and a third had cut a +little piece out of his coat on the shoulder. The humorous aspect of the +affair struck him, and he laughed outright.</p> + +<p>The guerrillas simply went crazy with delight. Many of them threw +themselves on the ground rolling and kicking with laughter.</p> + +<p>Captain Lamar heard the shots and the uproar and came to see what it +meant. He had just finished his breakfast and was in a little better +humor. When he heard what had happened he remarked with a cruel smile, +"Turn about is fair play. Better put Cal up, and see what the Yank can +do."</p> + +<p>This suggestion took like wildfire. Cal was seized by his comrades and, +frightened and begging for his life, was being hustled to the tree to +take Lawrence's place when the Captain interfered. "Hold on, boys," he +said. "I only wanted to frighten Cal. But if he don't learn to be a +better shot I'll hang him sure. But that Yank must be a gritty fellow. +I'll have a look at him."</p> + +<p>"Gritty," said one of the men. "Well, I should say so. He turned kind of +white around the gills when he first felt the halter around his neck, +and then braced up and not a whimper. Why, he actually laughed when Cal +was shooting at him."</p> + +<p>"That was because Cal was shooting so wild," remarked the Captain.</p> + +<p>"Three of the shots came mighty close to him. Only missed him by a +hair's breadth."</p> + +<p>"Glad to hear Cal is improving," said Lamar dryly, as he walked towards +Lawrence.</p> + +<p>He had no sooner looked him in the face than an expression of surprise +came over his countenance. He stepped back, swept his hand across his +eyes, as if he was brushing away something, looked again and then turned +away, saying, "There'll be no hanging. Untie the prisoner and bring him +to my tent."</p> + +<p>The men gazed at each other in astonishment. But great as was their +surprise, greater was Lawrence's. The shock was almost as great as when +he thought he had to die. Then he began to realize he had stepped from +the shadow of death, and there was hope of living, and he breathed a +prayer of thankfulness.</p> + +<p>His surprise grew when Lamar called the two men who had captured him and +asked what they had of his.</p> + +<p>"Everything, Captain, but his hoss. That was killed. But we 'uns have +got the hoss of the Yank that was killed," they answered.</p> + +<p>"Well, bring everything you have of his, and the horse you +captured—saddled and bridled," he ordered, and the men departed +wondering.</p> + +<p>When Lawrence was brought before Lamar he asked him what he was doing in +this part of the country. Lawrence told him he had been to visit Judge +Lindsly, who had greatly befriended him when he was small.</p> + +<p>"Are you the boy whose father was tarred and feathered, and the Judge +took you both in?"</p> + +<p>"I am."</p> + +<p>Lamar chuckled. "Say, boy, do you know I was in that crowd?"</p> + +<p>"No," answered Lawrence, more astonished than ever.</p> + +<p>"Well, I was. But here is your horse and everything taken from you. You +are at liberty to take them and ride away. Nay, more, I will send an +escort with you to protect you until you are near the lines of your +friends."</p> + +<p>Lawrence's lips trembled and his voice was husky as he answered, +"Captain, I don't know why you have granted me such clemency, but I am +thankful from the bottom of my heart. Be assured if the time ever comes +when I can return you the same mercy you have shown me it will be done."</p> + +<p>"We are at quits now," said Lamar. "You saved my life once."</p> + +<p>"I?" cried Lawrence. "I never remember having seen you before."</p> + +<p>"You have. About a year ago I belonged to a body of partisans commanded +by Captain Proctor. A fellow by name of Semans peached on us. We paid +him off by burning his buildings and shooting him. Just as we finished +the job a body of cavalry charged down and drove us off. I was left on +the field desperately wounded. Some of the men were about to shoot me as +I lay there helpless, but the captain of the cavalry, a mere boy, sprang +in, with his sword, beat down the guns, and swore that no wounded man, +no matter what he had done, should be ruthlessly murdered while he was +commanding that company. Captain, you are that boy; I am that wounded +man."</p> + +<p>"Ah, I remember," murmured Lawrence.</p> + +<p>"That is not all," continued Lamar. "You tenderly cared for me, had me +taken to a near-by house, where I stayed until I recovered. Captain, no +thanks. As I have said, we are quits now. If we meet again it will be on +even terms. One promise you must make me. You must not lead the Federals +to this place for the next twenty-four hours. After that I do not care."</p> + +<p>"The promise is freely given," answered Lawrence.</p> + +<p>The two men, so strangely met, shook hands, and Lawrence mounted his +horse and, accompanied by two of the guerrillas, rode away.</p> + +<p>On the way they met several rough-looking men who looked at Lawrence +with malevolent eyes, but a few whispered words from his guards and they +were allowed to pass on. Lawrence now saw why Captain Lamar had sent a +guard with him.</p> + +<p>After they had traveled several miles Lawrence saw a line of blue +galloping towards him.</p> + +<p>"Go, I will see you are not followed," he said to his guards. They +raised their hands in salute, turned, and putting spurs to their horses, +were soon out of sight.</p> + +<p>In a moment more Lawrence was in the arms of Dan Sherman, who was +hugging him, laughing and crying at the same time.</p> + +<p>"I'll never leave you again," he cried.</p> + +<p>"It is fortunate that you did," replied Lawrence, "for if you had been +with me there would be no Dan Sherman now."</p> + +<p>The officer in command of the company now bustled up. "Did I not see two +men with you, Captain?" he asked. "They looked to me very much like +guerrillas."</p> + +<p>"They were friends," answered Lawrence. "Neither can I guide you to the +haunts of those who held me prisoner. Tomorrow you are at liberty to +find them if you can. Turn back with me to Platte City and I will tell +you my story."</p> + +<p>When they heard the story they marvelled and swore they had never heard +of any gratitude in a guerrilla's heart before.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>THE GUERRILLA'S BRIDE</h3> + + +<p>"How did you come to be with the soldiers I met?" asked Lawrence of Dan. +The two were now in Leavenworth, waiting for a boat to take them down +the river.</p> + +<p>"It was this way," answered Dan. "When those rascally cavalrymen +deserted you and rode back to Platte City, word was sent post-haste +here, asking for a company to go to the aid of Captain Leeper, and help +chastise the band which had murdered you, and, if possible, to procure +your body. I was nearly wild when I heard you had been killed, and +nothing could have prevented me from accompanying the company sent to +Captain Leeper. I tell you, charges ought to be preferred against those +four men who so basely deserted you. They should be court-martialed for +cowardice and shot."</p> + +<p>"Not so fast, Dan," replied Lawrence. "Those men heard the shots, looked +back and saw, as they supposed, the Corporal and myself both killed. +They did not know how many guerrillas were in the brush, and they did +the best and about the only thing they could do—get to Platte City as +soon as possible, and give the alarm."</p> + +<p>"They should have known there were but two from the report of the guns," +grumbled Dan. "I tell you it was a cowardly trick. Do you think I would +have left you, if I had been one of the four?"</p> + +<p>"No, Dan," said Lawrence, laying his hand on his shoulder, +affectionately. "You would have charged back there if there had been +fifty guerrillas, instead of two; but all men are not dear old Dan."</p> + +<p>There was a suspicious moisture in Dan's eyes, but he only said: "Pshaw! +Any fellow with any grit would have done it."</p> + +<p>A boat coming along, they took passage for Lexington, the boat making +quite a long stop at Kansas City. They found that all fear that the +enemy might be able to capture the towns along the Missouri had +subsided. Everywhere the guerrillas had been beaten, and they were +fleeing south by the hundreds to hide in the Ozarks or among the +mountains of northern Arkansas. Still, numerous small bands remained in +hiding. Within a radius of a hundred miles, taking Lexington as a +center, then were a score of these bands operating, but there were two +of them which were especially daring and troublesome.</p> + +<p>One of these bands was led by the notorious Quantrell, and the other by +Jerry Alcorn, known as Red Jerry.</p> + +<p>Jerry, the year before, had fled from St. Louis, being detected in a +plot to assassinate Lawrence Middleton and Guilford Craig. He had joined +Price's army, but soon deserted to become leader of a band of +guerrillas. Lawrence, with his scouts, had met this band the year +before, and given it a crushing defeat. As has also been seen, it was +Jerry and his men that chased Lawrence and Dan as they were going in +search of Colonel Warner at Lone Jack.</p> + +<p>When Lawrence reached Lexington, he received dispatches from General +Schofield, saying he would not be able to go to Springfield to take +command of the army quite as soon as he had expected, and that Lawrence +should report to him at St. Louis; but before he reported he was to see +that all the guerrilla bands around Lexington were dispersed.</p> + +<p>Lawrence found that a force was being organized in Lexington to try to +surprise and capture Red Jerry and his entire band. He determined to +accompany it. But when he found the officer who was to command the +expedition was a Colonel Jennison, he hesitated. He had but little use +for that officer. He commanded one of those regiments known as +jay-hawkers. The men composing the regiment were fighters, but in their +tactics differed little from the guerrillas. With them it was "an eye +for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."</p> + +<p>Lawrence talked it over with Dan, and they were so anxious that Red +Jerry be brought to justice for his many crimes that he decided to +overcome his repugnance to the Colonel, and go, taking the place of the +Major of the regiment, who was sick.</p> + +<p>Jerry was reported as hanging around the plantation of a Mr. Floyd +Templeton, a very respected old gentleman, but a bitter Southern +partisan. Mr. Templeton had two children—a son who was with Price, and +a daughter who oversaw the household, the mother being dead.</p> + +<p>This daughter, Agnes by name, was at this time about twenty, and was a +strikingly beautiful girl. Her lustrous hair, dark as midnight, crowned +a well-shaped head, which she carried as proudly as a queen. Her dark +eyes, lovely in repose, could with a languishing glance cause the heart +of the most prosaic of men to beat more rapidly; but in their depth was +a hidden fire which would blaze forth when aroused, and show the +tempestuous soul which dwelt within. She was above medium height, and +her body was as lithe and supple as a panther's.</p> + +<p>In vain had her hand been sought by the beaux for twenty miles around. +When the war came, she told them no one need woo her until her beloved +Missouri was free of the Yankee foe, and he who did win her must be a +soldier, brave and true.</p> + +<p>Some months before, Jerry's gang had been attacked and scattered, and +Jerry, his horse being killed, fled on foot. In his flight he came to +the Templeton house, his pursuers close behind.</p> + +<p>He implored Agnes to save him, and this she did by secreting him in a +hidden closet behind the huge chimney. To the Federal soldiers in +pursuit she swore the guerrilla chieftain had passed by without +stopping. A careful search of the house revealing nothing, the soldiers +were forced to believe she told the truth.</p> + +<p>Jerry was not only grateful to his fair preserver, but fell violently in +love with her. The rough guerrilla soldier was not the soldier of the +dreams of the proud, aristocratic girl. Concealing her repugnance to his +advances, she gently but firmly refused him, telling him her duty was to +her aged father. Jerry was so persistent in his advances that she +finally told him he must never speak of the subject again, or he would +be refused the house.</p> + +<p>More than once did Jerry conceive the scheme of carrying her off by +force and marrying her against her will; but he became aware that the +girl possessed as fierce a spirit as his own, and if need were she would +not hesitate to plunge a dagger in his heart.</p> + +<p>With the fires of unrequited love burning in his heart, he had to cease +his advances; but, like the silly moths that flutter around a candle, he +made every excuse to call at the Templeton residence. The girl warned +him by saying that by his course he was bringing not only danger on +himself, but on her father as well.</p> + +<p>Jerry knew this, and the dastardly thought came to him that if the +Federals did make way with her father, Agnes, in her loneliness, might +come to him. It was a thought worthy of his black nature, but that he +madly loved the girl, there was no doubt.</p> + +<p>The expedition against Jerry was well planned, but he got wind of it, +and scattered his force.</p> + +<p>In a running fight that took place, Jerry captured two of Jennison's +men. These he calmly proceeded to hang, almost in sight of Templeton's +door, for the purpose of bringing down the wrath of Jennison on +Templeton's head. Only too well did the damnable plot succeed.</p> + +<p>Jennison was beside himself with rage, and after pursuing Jerry until +all hopes of catching him had ended, he returned to the Templeton place, +and, calling the old man to the door, he denounced him in the most +violent terms, calling him a sneaking rebel, who made his house a +rendezvous for murderers.</p> + +<p>Mr. Templeton drew himself up proudly. "I may be what you call a rebel," +he exclaimed, "but I am not a sneaking one. My heart and soul are with +the South in her struggle for liberty, and every one knows it. As for +the men you call guerrillas, I can no more help their coming here than I +can help your coming."</p> + +<p>"You lie, you old scoundrel!" shouted Jennison. "You invite them to +come, and aid them in their nefarious work. The murderers you have been +harboring hanged two of my men yesterday, almost at your very door, and +no doubt you looked on and approved."</p> + +<p>"I did no such thing," answered Mr. Templeton. "I did not know of the +deed until it was done; then I told Alcorn never again to set foot on my +premises."</p> + +<p>"More lies, you canting old hypocrite. Do you know what I am going to do +with you?" shouted Jennison.</p> + +<p>"I am in your power; you can do anything you wish," answered Mr. +Templeton, with dignity.</p> + +<p>"I am going to shoot you, and burn your house," yelled Jennison.</p> + +<p>"You will never harbor any more guerrillas."</p> + +<p>At these words, Agnes sprang before her father, with a scream. "If you +shoot any one, shoot me—not him," she said. "If there has been any +harboring, it is I who am to blame. I have harbored those fighting to +rid our State of such as you, and I glory in it. Shoot me—not him."</p> + +<p>Lawrence and Dan just now rode up and gazed in astonishment at the +scene. The girl stood in front of her father, her arms outspread, her +bosom heaving with excitement, her eyes blazing, inviting the deadly +volley.</p> + +<p>Her tragic attitude, her wondrous beauty, awed the men, and they lowered +the guns that had been raised to slay the father.</p> + +<p>"Drag her away, and shoot!" commanded Jennison, with an oath.</p> + +<p>"Hold!" cried Lawrence. "Colonel Jennison, do you realize what you are +doing? What does this mean?"</p> + +<p>"It means I'm going to shoot this old villain and burn the house. It +means I am going to put an end to this harboring of guerrillas, if I +have to burn every house in this accursed State," thundered Jennison. +"Now drag the girl away."</p> + +<p>"The first man that touches that girl dies!" cried Lawrence, drawing his +revolver.</p> + +<p>"I'm with you," said Dan, drawing his revolver, and taking his place by +Lawrence's side.</p> + +<p>For a moment Colonel Jennison was too astonished to speak; then his face +turned livid with passion. "Young man," he hissed, "do you know what you +are doing? By a word I can have you both shot—shot for mutiny—and, by +God! I ought to say the word."</p> + +<p>"But, Colonel, what you are going to do is an outrage," cried Lawrence, +"a damnable outrage—one that will bring black disgrace on our arms. It +is an act that General Schofield will never countenance, and in his name +I ask you to countermand the order."</p> + +<p>"Which I will not do!" exclaimed Jennison, white with rage. "I have been +trammelled enough with orders from headquarters. I propose to deal with +these red-handed assassins as I please. We, along the border, propose to +protect ourselves. Captain Middleton, you and your companion are under +arrest for insubordination. Lieutenant Cleveland, take their swords, and +with a detail of six men escort them back to Lexington. When I return I +will make a formal charge against them."</p> + +<p>There was no use in resisting. The majority of Jennison's regiment was +composed of men from Kansas who had suffered from the raids of the +Border Ruffians before the war, or had been driven from their homes in +Missouri, and heartily sympathized with the Colonel in his warfare of +retaliation.</p> + +<p>Lawrence also knew he had committed a grave offence when, in his +indignation, he tried to prevent the execution of Templeton by force. So +he quietly submitted to arrest; but as he rode away there came to his +ears the shrieks of the girl, then the sharp crack of three or four +carbines. Lawrence shuddered and, looking back, he saw great columns of +smoke rolling up, and through the blackness red tongues of leaping +flame.</p> + +<p>After the volley killing her father had been fired, the girl uttered one +more shriek, and then stood with dry eyes, gazing as if in a trance; +then with a low moan she threw herself on the still body, enfolding it +with her arms as if she would shield it from the profane gaze of those +around it. She lay as if dead; and so they left her.</p> + +<p>Hours afterward, Red Jerry came creeping up from his hiding place, and +found her. At first he thought her dead, but at his touch and the sound +of his voice she aroused and stood up—but a changed being—changed from +a woman into a demon.</p> + +<p>She spoke a few words to Jerry, but in so low a tone his few followers +who had gathered round could not hear. Jerry gently led her away from +the rest; but the men noticed she walked as one seeing not.</p> + +<p>They stopped under a tree not far away.</p> + +<p>"Jerry," she said, in a tone devoid of the least sign of feeling, "you +have often told me you loved me, and wanted me to become your wife. I +have as often refused. I am now ready to marry you, if you make me one +promise."</p> + +<p>Red Jerry's heart gave a great bound. He had won. The peerless Agnes +Templeton was to become his wife—he, a guerrilla chieftain.</p> + +<p>"Anything you ask," he cried, rapturously, and attempted to take her in +his arms.</p> + +<p>"Do not touch me," she said, in the same passionless tones. "You must +not touch me until you have promised, and not then until the words are +spoken which give you a right."</p> + +<p>"What is it you want me to promise, Agnes? You know anything in my power +will be granted," Jerry replied, his voice showing the depth of his +passion.</p> + +<p>"That you will let me dress as a man and ride by your side; that you +will never order me away, however great the danger; that where you are, +I may always be."</p> + +<p>"For you to ride at my side would be bliss," said Jerry; "but, oh! +Agnes, to lead you into danger—how can I do it?"</p> + +<p>"It must be as I say, or I can never be your wife," was her answer.</p> + +<p>Jerry promised, and side by side they rode away to the home of a +minister. It was near midnight when they reached it, and there, amid the +clashing of the elements—for a fearful storm had arisen—the words were +spoken that made Agnes Templeton the bride of Jerry Alcorn, the +guerrilla.</p> + +<p>Sacrificing everything feminine, except her luxuriant hair, which she +coiled tightly on top of her head and concealed under a wide sombrero, +she rode by the side of her husband throughout his career. No Federal +thought the smooth-faced, handsome young man who was always with Jerry +was a woman.</p> + +<p>The band became known as one of the most cruel and merciless in the +State. It revelled in deeds of bloodshed, and of all the band, the young +man with the angel face and the heart of a demon, who rode by Red Jerry, +was known as the most merciless.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>THE STORY OF CARL MEYER</h3> + + +<p>"Of all outrages!" exclaimed Dan.</p> + +<p>"That girl! Wasn't she splendid?" answered Lawrence. "She made me think +of some great tragic queen. What a scene for the stage!—and we saw it +in reality."</p> + +<p>"Wasn't thinking of the girl," sputtered Dan. "I was thinking of the +outrage of sending us back under arrest."</p> + +<p>"He had a right to, Dan. We could be court-martialed and shot."</p> + +<p>"What! For interfering with the hellish work of that murderer? He is as +bad as a guerrilla," angrily responded Dan.</p> + +<p>"For drawing a weapon and interfering with his orders," replied +Lawrence. "Good God! I could almost afford to be shot for the pleasure +of putting a bullet through the black heart of Jennison. That girl—I +wonder what will become of her!"</p> + +<p>"Girl again!" growled Dan. "And don't blame Jennison too much. He had +great provocation. No doubt that old scoundrel had been shielding +Jerry."</p> + +<p>But Lawrence did not answer. He knew Dan's aversion to girls, and little +was said as they rode on, mile after mile. Both Lawrence and Dan +bitterly felt the disgrace of reporting back to Lexington under arrest.</p> + +<p>Lawrence knew that the case would have to go to Schofield. If there was +any court-martial, Schofield would have to order it, and Lawrence felt +that the General would deal leniently with him.</p> + +<p>But the case never went to Schofield. On his return from his raid, +Colonel Jennison released Lawrence from arrest, saying he did so on +account of his youth, and that no doubt he acted as he did from sudden +impulse, owing to the distress and beauty of the girl. Neither did he +think Lawrence understood the situation. Harsh means had to be used to +prevent the guerrillas from murdering Union men.</p> + +<p>The fact was, Colonel Jennison did not wish the case to be investigated. +He, Lane, and others had been reprimanded so often by the Federal +authorities that more than once they had threatened to turn guerrillas +and wage warfare on their own account.</p> + +<p>Soon after this affair, Lawrence was ordered to report at St. Louis.</p> + +<p>"Now I suppose I can leave and join General Blair," said Lawrence, after +he had given General Schofield a full report of what had happened.</p> + +<p>"I trust you will stay with me a while yet," answered the General. "As I +wrote you, I am about to take the field in person. We will have but +little rest until Hindman, who is gathering a large force in northern +Arkansas, is thoroughly whipped. There will be stirring times for the +next two months. Blair is not needing you yet. Grant's army is very +quiet—hasn't done much since Corinth fell and Memphis was taken. They +are making slow progress along the Mississippi now."</p> + +<p>Lawrence agreed to stay in Missouri a while longer. He was granted a two +weeks' furlough, and then he was to report at Springfield.</p> + +<p>The first use Lawrence made of his furlough was to visit his uncle, and +he found that personage greatly elated over the prospects of the South. +"I tell you, Lawrence," he exclaimed, "the independence of the South is +already as good as secured. Why, just consider: McClellan whipped on the +Peninsula, his army barely escaping; Pope completely crushed, his army +almost annihilated, the remnant seeking refuge in the fortifications +around Washington. Lee's army is sweeping victoriously through Maryland; +Harper's Ferry taken with ten thousand prisoners. It will only be a +matter of a few days until Washington is taken.</p> + +<p>"Bragg is thundering at the very gates of Louisville. The whole of +Tennessee and Kentucky will soon be redeemed. Buell's army will be +driven across the Ohio. Grant has not gained a foot since the capture of +Corinth. He has not, and never will, get past Vicksburg, I tell you, +Lawrence, it's all over. The South has won."</p> + +<p>"I admit, uncle," replied Lawrence, "that this has been a bad year for +us. But the war isn't over. The worst is yet to come. In the end the +South will be crushed."</p> + +<p>"It cannot be! It cannot be!" cried his uncle, excitedly.</p> + +<p>"Uncle, don't let us discuss the war," said Lawrence. "How long since +you heard from Edward? I am anxious to hear all the news."</p> + +<p>"He was well the last time I heard from him," said Mr. Middleton, "but I +do not hear very often. It is harder to get letters through than it was; +but, thank God! those we do get don't come through the hands of that +traitor, Guilford Craig. You have heard no news of him, have you?"</p> + +<p>"No; but it is curious his body was never found. There is little doubt +but that he fell at Pea Ridge, and that at the hands of his +step-brother."</p> + +<p>"Served him right," growled Mr. Middleton.</p> + +<p>"And Randolph Hamilton—what of him?" asked Lawrence.</p> + +<p>"Randolph is also well, Edward writes."</p> + +<p>"I am glad to hear that," answered Lawrence. "Randolph is a noble +fellow. Lola Laselle did a fine thing when she saved him. How is Mrs. +Hamilton now?"</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Hamilton and Dorothy have gone to Europe," answered Mr. Middleton. +"Mr. Hamilton thought it best to take her away from the excitement of +the war."</p> + +<p>"So Dorothy is gone," said Lawrence, "Well, she won't have to hold aside +her skirts for fear of contamination, if I happen to pass her on the +sidewalk."</p> + +<p>"I thought you and Dorothy were great friends—kind of childish +sweethearts," replied his uncle.</p> + +<p>"That was before I turned Yankee," laughed Lawrence.</p> + +<p>"Ah, my boy, Dorothy is not the only one who has been disappointed in +you," sighed his uncle.</p> + +<p>While Lawrence and Mr. Middleton were talking, a newsboy came running +down the street, yelling: "Extra! Extra! Terrible battle in Maryland. +McClellan whips Lee. Fifty thousand men killed."</p> + +<p>Mr. Middleton rushed out and purchased a paper. It told of the great +battle at Antietam. He turned pale as he read, and his hands trembled so +he could scarcely hold the paper. Lawrence heard him murmur, "Thank God! +Edward was not in it."</p> + +<p>Lawrence had no thought of exulting over the news in his uncle's +presence; instead, he told him that the first reports of a battle were +always exaggerated; but at the same time his heart was singing for joy. +Afterward, when the news came that Lee had succeeded in getting his army +safely across the Potomac, Mr. Middleton's hopes revived. It was a drawn +battle, after all.</p> + +<p>There was one in St. Louis that Lawrence could not fail to visit, and +that was Lola Laselle, the girl who had taken his part on the steamboat, +when a forlorn, dirty, homeless boy, and who had chosen him for her +knight-errant when he went into the army.</p> + +<p>Of all the young people Lawrence had associated with before the war, +Lola was one of the few who had remained faithful to the old flag, and +by so doing had been mercilessly cut by her young companions. But one +day Lola hid Randolph Hamilton to keep him from being arrested as a spy, +and this somewhat restored her to favor, especially with the Randolph +family.</p> + +<p>No sooner did Lola see Lawrence than she ran toward him with +outstretched hands, crying, "Lawrence, Lawrence, is this indeed you? How +glad I am to see you! And how you have grown! Why, you are a man!"</p> + +<p>"And I am afraid I have lost my little girl," said Lawrence, as he took +her hand, and gallantly raised it to his lips. "You have grown to almost +a young lady."</p> + +<p>"I don't know whether I like it or not," said Lola. "I sometimes think I +had rather remain a little girl."</p> + +<p>"I believe I am of your opinion," replied Lawrence, looking at her +admiringly.</p> + +<p>"Why, am I growing homely?" pouted Lola.</p> + +<p>"That's not it. If you were still a little girl, I—I might have been +permitted to kiss your cheek, instead of just your hand. Remember——"</p> + +<p>"Stop! You mean thing!" commanded Lola, blushing furiously.</p> + +<p>Lawrence gazed on her with admiration. She was certainly budding into a +most beautiful girl.</p> + +<p>"Lola, you are splendid!" he cried, "I wouldn't have you a little girl +again. You are far ahead of any girl I know."</p> + +<p>"How about Dorothy Hamilton?" she asked, mockingly.</p> + +<p>"Dorothy Hamilton be hanged! How did you and she part?"</p> + +<p>"Good friends. She and I correspond. After I saved Randolph, she could +not do enough for me."</p> + +<p>"Then she has some heart. I am glad to hear it," answered Lawrence, +bitterly. "When I saved her from being crushed beneath the horse's feet, +she rewarded me by calling me a miserable Yankee."</p> + +<p>"Maybe she will be good to you some time," said Lola. "Remember how she +used to cut me."</p> + +<p>"I reckon I do," said Lawrence, "and it used to make me tearing mad. +Lola, of all the girls I used to associate with, you are the only one +who does not pass me with looks of contempt; but your friendship and +sympathy are worth all I have lost—yes, a thousand times more."</p> + +<p>"Don't magnify my importance; but I shall always be your friend, +Lawrence," she said, simply.</p> + +<p>They then fell to talking of other things, and Lawrence had to tell her +of all his experiences. When he told her of his capture by the +guerrillas, and how he had been ordered to be put to death, she +shuddered and turned so pale he thought she was going to faint.</p> + +<p>"Stop! Stop!" she gasped. "It was awful—awful! I cannot bear it."</p> + +<p>"Wait and let me tell you how I escaped death," said Lawrence.</p> + +<p>When he had finished, her eyes, though bedewed with tears, were shining +with joy and pride.</p> + +<p>"Lawrence," she cried, "I am prouder of you than ever. You were shown +mercy, because you were merciful; and I would have my knight-errant as +merciful as he is brave."</p> + +<p>"How can he be otherwise, when she whose colors he wears is so kind and +merciful?" gallantly replied Lawrence, and, taking her little hand in +his, he raised it and pressed his lips against her trembling fingers.</p> + +<p>"A true knight can always kiss the hand of the lady he serves," said +Lawrence. He then bade her good-bye, with the promise of coming again +before he went to the front.</p> + +<p>Is it strange that, as he went on his way, his thoughts were all of the +beautiful girl he had just left? But, all unbidden, there arose before +him a mental vision of the face of another girl—a girl whose queenly +head was crowned with a wealth of golden hair, but whose eyes flashed +with scorn at the sight of him—whose very soul loathed the uniform he +wore; and he sighed, he hardly knew why.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the thoughts of all girls were driven from his mind, for in the +crowd before him he saw a well-known face—the face of Carl Meyer. Carl +was a German boy, about a year older than Lawrence. It was he who had +induced Lawrence to join the Home Guards, and thus paved the way to his +acquaintance with Frank Blair. They had not met since the battle of +Wilson Creek, when Carl went back with a broken arm.</p> + +<p>In a moment the two clasped hands, their eyes telling what their lips +refused to utter. At length Lawrence found voice. "My! how you have +grown!" he exclaimed; "and this,"—he touched the strap of a second +lieutenant on his shoulder—"Oh, Carl, I am so glad."</p> + +<p>"And you," replied Carl, the joy gleaming in his honest eyes; "I see +it's Captain now."</p> + +<p>"Come with me, Carl. I must hear all that has happened to you since the +last time we met."</p> + +<p>In the privacy of Lawrence's room, Carl told his story—a story that +Lawrence listened to breathless attention.</p> + +<p>"The wound which I received at Wilson Creek was a bad one," said Carl, +"and at first it was thought I would have to lose my arm; but I have it +yet, and a pretty good arm it is. After I had recovered, which was early +in January of this year, I was with the army which operated against New +Madrid and Island Number 10. Lawrence, you should have been with me. It +was glorious. The river fight—the mighty siege-guns—the great mortars +which hurled shells weighing hundreds of pounds. It was as if all the +thunders of heaven had gathered in one place to smite the earth.</p> + +<p>"Then think of digging a canal twelve miles long, six miles of it +through heavy timber. Great trees were sawed off beneath the water, to +make a road for the transports."</p> + +<p>"How could you do it? How could you do it?" broke in Lawrence.</p> + +<p>"By standing on rafts or in boats and using saws with very long handles. +It was a giant's task, but at last it was completed. Not only this, but, +amid snow and chilling rains, bayous were waded, swamps considered +impassable struggled through; and at last New Madrid and Island Number +10 fell.</p> + +<p>"The fruits of these victories were glorious: nearly two hundred cannon, +great and small; seven thousand prisoners, as many small arms, great +stores of the munitions of war, and several transports sunk. All of this +with a loss of only fifty."</p> + +<p>"It was glorious, Carl," cried Lawrence. "No wonder you feel proud of +being one of an army that dared so much, and accomplished so much."</p> + +<p>"Wait until you hear the rest," replied Carl. "After Island Number 10 +fell, most of the army was sent to reinforce Halleck before Corinth; but +my command was left. We soon had possession of the Mississippi nearly to +Memphis; but rumors came of the Confederates building an immense fleet +of gunboats and ironclad rams.</p> + +<p>"Our gunboats moved down and attacked, but were repulsed and driven +back. Colonel Charles Ellet had been given authority to build some rams. +He hastily constructed some out of old river steamboats, converting them +into engines of destruction. With these wooden rams, without cannon, and +without an armed crew, Colonel Ellet proposed to attack and destroy the +whole fleet.</p> + +<p>"Eleven sharpshooters had been chosen and placed on the <i>Monarch</i>. I was +fortunate enough to be one of the eleven. We were the only armed men +aboard the ram. The <i>Monarch</i> was commanded by Colonel Alfred Ellet, a +brother of Charles. Charles was aboard the ram, <i>Queen of the West</i>.</p> + +<p>"It was dusk when we came to our fleet of gunboats anchored across the +Mississippi. Below them, a little above Memphis, lay the Rebel fleet, +anchored in a line across the river. There the two fleets lay like two +great beasts ready to spring on each other.</p> + +<p>"Colonel Ellet anchored and waited for the morning. Hardly was it light +when there came the boom of a great gun. It was a beautiful morning, and +as the thunder of the gun reverberated over the water, thousands of the +people of Memphis rushed to the bluffs to witness the battle and, with +waving flags and shouts of encouragement, cheer their men on to victory.</p> + +<p>"On, in imposing line, comes the Rebel fleet, the smokestacks of their +vessels belching forth great clouds of smoke, and their guns thundering +as they come. Now the guns of our fleet answer their thunder, and the +bluffs on which the people are gathered shake and tremble with the +concussion. A black wall of smoke settles down and hides our fleet from +view; only through the blackness can be seen the flashes of the great +guns.</p> + +<p>"Hardly had the battle opened when Colonel Ellet signalled for his fleet +of rams to get under way. The <i>Queen of the West</i> and the <i>Monarch</i> got +off first, and straight for the wall of blackness, lit by the fitful +flashes, we steered. We entered that wall, and everything was blotted +from view—only around and about us was the roar of the great guns, the +bursting of shells.</p> + +<p>"Suddenly, as if emerging from the mouth of a tunnel, we burst from the +cloud of smoke, and before us at full speed was coming the Rebel fleet, +nearly a dozen gunboats and ironclads, against two wooden, unarmed rams.</p> + +<p>"Colonel Ellet never swerved; ahead at full speed he drove the <i>Queen of +the West</i> for the <i>General Lovell</i>. We could see the tall figure of +Colonel Ellet standing on the hurricane-deck of the <i>Queen</i>. With his +hat he signalled his brother to steer for the <i>General Price</i>, and on +the two rams rushed, the <i>Queen</i> slightly ahead.</p> + +<p>"The <i>General Lovell</i> drew out from their line and steered straight for +the <i>Queen</i>. Like two great monsters, the boats rushed at each other. We +forgot to cheer; we heeded not the thunder of battle; we could only look +at these two vessels rushing to what seemed certain destruction.</p> + +<p>"Even the excited cheering of the crowd on the bluffs grew silent. With +tense nerves and white faces, they watched the two vessels. Coming as +they were, it meant the destruction of both. Would not one swerve to +avoid the coming blow? Still standing on the deck of his vessel, his eye +fixed on his prey, Ellet drove the <i>Queen</i> forward—not a hair's breadth +would he swerve.</p> + +<p>"Just before the shock came, the <i>General Lovell</i> swerved to try to +avoid the coming blow—but too late. Full amidships the <i>Queen</i> struck +her, cutting her through like a great knife, and the vessel sank beneath +the turbid waters of the river, all the crew not killed struggling in +the water.</p> + +<p>"From the thousands on shore there came a mighty groan—a wail of agony +which seemed to throb and quiver through the air, making itself felt +even above the roar of the battle.</p> + +<p>"Now was our turn. The <i>Monarch</i> struck the <i>General Price</i> a glancing +blow, not sinking her, but shaving off her starboard wheel; and she was +out of the fight.</p> + +<p>"Before the <i>Queen</i> could be disentangled from the wreck of the <i>General +Lovell</i>, the <i>Beauregard</i> and <i>Van Dorn</i> both attacked her. Colonel +Ellet fell with a ball through the knee; but as he lay on the deck, he +continued to direct the fight.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>"The <i>Monarch</i> saw the danger which threatened the <i>Queen of the West</i>, +and straight for the <i>Beauregard</i> she went, crashing into that vessel's +side, and putting her out of the conflict.</p> + +<p>"The Confederate fleet thought only of escape now. The battle drifted +down the river, past the city. The gunboats joined in the chase, and but +one Confederate vessel escaped. Those that had not been sunk or disabled +were run on the shore on the Arkansas side and set on fire by their +crews, before escaping into the swamp."</p> + +<p>"Carl," cried Lawrence, "I would have given ten years of my life to have +seen that battle, and, like you, to have been a part of it."</p> + +<p>"Very little part I had," replied Carl, modestly, "except to fire a few +shots when we were at close quarters. But after the fight—ach! +Lawrence, that is something worth telling."</p> + +<p>"What was it, Carl?"</p> + +<p>"Toward the close of the fight, a white flag was run up in the city of +Memphis. Colonel Ellet sent his son, a medical cadet, no older than +yourself, Lawrence, to demand the surrender of the city. He chose three +men, of whom I was one, to accompany him.</p> + +<p>"We rowed ashore in a small boat, and landed in the midst of a howling, +excited mob of thousands.</p> + +<p>"Young Ellet handed the message which his father had written to the +Mayor, and then we started for the postoffice. The mob closed in around +us—four men in the midst of thousands. They cursed, they howled; they +heaped upon us the most violent names; they threatened to tear us to +pieces.</p> + +<p>"We reached the postoffice, ascended to the top of the building, and +began to lower the Confederate flag. A frenzy seized the crowd. They +surged to and fro; they howled and gnashed their teeth like beasts of +prey. Some drew revolvers and began shooting at us.</p> + +<p>"'Don't fire back,' said young Ellet, coolly. 'They can not hit us this +high.'</p> + +<p>"The Stars and Bars came down, and the glorious Stars and Stripes arose, +and as its folds unfurled to the breeze we swung our hats and gave a +rousing cheer; but I do not think we were heard above the roar of the +mob.</p> + +<p>"Leaving the flag waving, we descended, and once more the mob surrounded +us, snarling, cursing and howling; but a great fear kept them from +tearing us to pieces.</p> + +<p>"We walked through their midst as coolly as if we were being showered +with bouquets instead of curses, and reached our boat in safety."</p> + +<p>"It was a brave thing to do, Carl. I wouldn't have missed hearing your +story for anything," said Lawrence, as he warmly shook his hand at +parting.</p> + +<p>The next day Lawrence went to bid his uncle and aunt good-bye, before +starting for the front. As they talked, they were again interrupted by a +newsboy crying, "Extra! Extra! All about the great battle at Corinth! +Generals Price and Van Dorn whipped! The Missouri brigade annihilated!"</p> + +<p>"What's that?" exclaimed Mr. Middleton, turning pale.</p> + +<p>Lawrence secured a paper and gave it to him. He glanced at it and +groaned. It told how Van Dorn and Price had been disastrously defeated +before Corinth; how the Confederate Missouri brigade had charged up to +the very mouth of the cannon of Fort Robinette, and that but few of them +were left alive.</p> + +<p>"We must hope for the best," said Lawrence, as he looked at the stricken +faces of his uncle and aunt; but he could say no more.</p> + +<p>Mr. Middleton, with shaking limbs and halting footsteps, assisted his +wife to her room.</p> + +<p>In St. Louis that night many sat weeping, yet hoping that their loved +ones were safe; for St. Louis had many a son in that battle, both on the +Federal side and the Confederate.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>THE NEWS FROM CORINTH</h3> + + +<p>All the Missourians who had enlisted in the Confederate service had been +transferred to the east of the Mississippi River, and with them their +beloved General, Sterling Price.</p> + +<p>It was a bitter blow to them, for they had to leave their State overrun +with Federals, and at the mercy of what they considered an inhuman foe.</p> + +<p>The first months of their service in Mississippi had been tame. The +great Federal army which had laid siege to Corinth had been divided, the +Army of the Cumberland going east under Buell, and the Army of the +Tennessee, under General Grant, remaining in northern Mississippi and +western Tennessee. For three months there had been only desultory +fighting, no great battles.</p> + +<p>At the Confederate camp at Baldyn, Mississippi, a group of officers of +the Missouri regiments were gathered in a tent, discussing the +situation. In the group was Edward Middleton, the son of Alfred +Middleton; Randolph Hamilton, brother of Dorothy; and last, but not +least, Benton Shelley, a step-brother of Guilford Craig.</p> + +<p>Edward Middleton had become major of his regiment. He was everywhere +regarded as among the bravest and most reliable officers in Price's +army. He was a bitter partisan, had the utmost contempt for everything +Northern, but withal a noble and chivalric gentleman. He could never +forgive Lawrence, whom he had regarded as a brother, for going into the +Yankee army; yet after Lawrence had saved his life at the battle of +Wilson Creek, and in so doing nearly lost his own, Edward had had a +kinder feeling for him.</p> + +<p>Randolph Hamilton was but little older than Lawrence. He was of a +generous nature, fought for the South because he believed the South +right, and not from any hatred toward the North. Before the war, he and +Lawrence were the closest of friends, and now, although they were +fighting on different sides, neither allowed that to interfere with +their friendship. Randolph was now captain of his company, and idolized +by his men.</p> + +<p>Benton Shelley was of a different nature. Brave he was, but he had a +haughty and cruel disposition, and believed himself to be made of finer +clay than the soldiers under him. For this reason he was tyrannical, and +was hated by his men as much as Randolph was loved. As for the Yankees, +there were no terms too contemptuous for him to apply to them. Toward +Lawrence he held undying hatred, and tried in every way to encompass his +death. Toward his step-brother, Guilford Craig, he held the same hatred. +He frequently boasted how, at the battle of Pea Ridge, he had slain his +step-brother, and he always added: "And I'll get that Lawrence Middleton +yet. See if I don't. I nearly got him at Wilson Creek, and will not fail +the next time."</p> + +<p>"It seems you did meet him again, Bent," said Randolph, with a sly +twinkle in his eye; "but, like the fellow who caught the Tartar, the +Tartar had him—not he the Tartar."</p> + +<p>Benton turned white with rage. "Look here, Captain Hamilton," he +exclaimed, furiously, "don't presume on our friendship too much, or I +shall demand the satisfaction of a gentleman. You have already thrown +that up to me several times. I have told you my horse was shot, and I +was lying helpless on the ground, when that cowardly traitor attacked +me, and would have murdered me if he had not been stopped by an officer +more humane than he."</p> + +<p>Major Middleton turned like a flash; his face was set and grim. "Captain +Shelley," he said, in a low, even tone, but terrible in its earnestness, +"I have no love for my cousin, as you well know; but he is no coward. He +is a Middleton. As for his killing you in cold blood, that thought comes +from your excitement of the moment and your chagrin at your overthrow. +From your own account, he had every opportunity of killing you, if he +had so wished."</p> + +<p>"I thought I was among friends," said Benton, "but I see I am not, and +will go."</p> + +<p>"Hold on, gentlemen," commanded General Green, who was present; "I +cannot have this—my best and bravest officers quarrelling, and +threatening to shoot each other. You, Captain Hamilton, are to blame for +taunting Captain Shelley for an unfortunate situation in which any of +you may be placed some time. And you, Captain Shelley, are to blame for +trying to mitigate your misfortune by charging your opponent with +cowardice and cruelty. There is not a drop of coward's blood in a +Middleton's body. There stands a noble example," and he pointed to +Edward.</p> + +<p>"I can also understand," he continued, "why Captain Shelley feels so +bitter against Lawrence Middleton. He believes him to have been +instrumental in leading his step-brother astray, and thus bringing a +damning disgrace on his family."</p> + +<p>"That's it!" cried Benton, eager to set himself right. "I can never +forget, never forgive, the disgrace."</p> + +<p>"That being the case," continued the General, "I trust that Captain +Hamilton, even in jest, will never allude to the subject again, and that +all of you will be as good friends as ever, eager only to sheathe your +swords in the bosom of our enemy. That reminds me that I dropped in to +tell you the season of inactivity is over."</p> + +<p>"What!" they all cried, everything else forgotten. "Are we to fight at +last?"</p> + +<p>"It looks like it," answered Green. "You know Bragg is sweeping +everything before him in Kentucky—will be in Louisville before a week. +The point is to keep Grant from rushing any of his troops to aid Buell. +The Yankee troops here must be held. The orders are to make it lively +for Rosecrans. We are to move on Iuka tomorrow."</p> + +<p>Then from those officers went up a cheer. They were to meet the foes of +their country; no thought of the danger before them; no thought that +before many hours some of them might be lying in bloody graves.</p> + +<p>"Here's for old Kentucky!" cried one. "We are going to reinforce Bragg."</p> + +<p>"Better say we are going to thrash Rosecrans at Corinth," chimed in +another.</p> + +<p>That night Price with his army marched straight for Iuka, some fifteen +or twenty miles east of Corinth. The place was only held by a small +detachment, which beat a hasty retreat, leaving a large quantity of +military stores to the jubilant Confederates.</p> + +<p>From Iuka Price could cross over into Tennessee, and pursue his way +northward to join Bragg, or turn on Rosecrans at Corinth.</p> + +<p>It was decided for him: Rosecrans no sooner learned that Price had +captured Iuka than he set forth from Corinth to attack him.</p> + +<p>Portions of the two armies met two miles from Iuka, a bloody battle was +fought, the Federals being driven back a short distance, and losing a +battery.</p> + +<p>During the night Price beat a hasty retreat, leaving the battery he had +taken, all his dead unburied, and many of his sick and wounded.</p> + +<p>The Missouri brigade was not up in time to take part in this battle, and +when they learned a retreat had been ordered, both officers and men were +furious.</p> + +<p>"I feel like breaking my sword!" exclaimed Major Middleton, and his jaws +came together with a snap.</p> + +<p>"Why did General Price do it?" cried Randolph Hamilton, tears of +humiliation running down his face.</p> + +<p>"You will know in time," replied Benton Shelley. He was on General +Price's staff, and was the officer who had brought the orders to +retreat.</p> + +<p>The fact was, General Price knew if he did not retreat he would be +soundly whipped the next day. Then, General Price had just received a +communication from General Van Dorn that he was ready to join him, and, +with the combined armies, make an attack on Corinth.</p> + +<p>The news that they were to attack Corinth fired the army with +enthusiasm, and eagerly did they go forward to what they thought was +certain victory. The Missouri regiments marched with song and cheer, as +if going to a festival. The time they had longed for had come; they were +to wipe out the disgrace of Pea Ridge; they would show the rest of the +army what Pop Price and his boys could do.</p> + +<p>At noon on October third the battle opened, and now around the little +village of Corinth, where in the spring it was thought the great battle +of the war would be fought, was waged a most desperate conflict, lasting +for two days. The hills trembled, and the very heavens seemed shattered +with the thunder of artillery.</p> + +<p>Thickets were swept as with a great jagged scythe by the leaden hail +which swept through them. Nothing could withstand the fierce rush of the +Confederate troops. The Federals were swept from their outer line of +intrenchments.</p> + +<p>With yells of victory, the Confederates rushed on. Before them was the +second and stronger line of intrenchments. They were met with a storm of +shot and shell. The carnage was awful, and the charging columns halted, +staggered, and then began to reel back. Most of the officers of the +Missouri regiments had fallen, killed or wounded. Both the colonel and +lieutenant-colonel of the regiment to which Edward Middleton belonged +had fallen.</p> + +<p>Major Middleton spurred his horse in front of his men, and, waving his +sword over his head, shouted: "Forward, men! Forward, for the honor of +Missouri! I will lead you!"</p> + +<p>The reeling column straightened, grew firm, and with a shout sprang +forward.</p> + +<p>Major Middleton's horse fell; but, sword in hand, he pressed forward, +followed by his men. Nothing could stay them, and soon their shouts of +victory were heard above the roar of the battle.</p> + +<p>The line was taken, the Federals in full retreat for their last and +strongest line of works, which ran around the edge of the little +village.</p> + +<p>Night had come, and the Confederates, flushed with victory, lay on the +ground they had so bravely won—to complete, in the morning, as they +supposed, the destruction of Rosecrans's army.</p> + +<p>When morning came, the Confederates once more rushed to the conflict. +Again did Major Middleton lead his regiment. The color-bearer went down, +but the flag was seized by Randolph Hamilton, and held aloft. "Follow +the colors!" he shouted, as he sprang forward.</p> + +<p>The Federals shrank from the advancing line of steel, and fled in +dismay.</p> + +<p>As Randolph mounted the breastwork, a young Federal lieutenant, the last +to leave the works, levelled his revolver on him, but as he did so a +look of surprise came over his face, and he turned his weapon and shot a +soldier who had sprung on the works by Randolph's side.</p> + +<p>Randolph did not return the shot. The young lieutenant was Leon Laselle, +the brother of Lola.</p> + +<p>Everywhere along the front of Green's division the wild cheers of +victory were ringing. Not only had they swept the Federal breastworks, +but forty cannon had been captured. Oh, it was good! It was glorious! +But it was no time to stop and rejoice. The Yankees must be completely +crushed—Rosecrans's whole army captured; and into the village they +followed the fleeing but not demoralized Federals.</p> + +<p>Into the houses, and behind every garden fence and hedge, the retreating +Federals gathered. Every house became a flaming fort, and into the +advancing ranks of the Confederates was poured a storm of balls, while +the loud-mouthed cannon swept away with an iron hail the front of the +advancing foe.</p> + +<p>The Confederates wavered, halted; then there sprang forward a line of +blue-coated soldiers, and as a great wave bears on its crest everything +before it, so did this line of blue bear back the Confederates. In vain +did Edward Middleton struggle before it. He was as helpless as a log of +wood borne onward by the surging tide.</p> + +<p>Randolph Hamilton once more seized the standard of the regiment. "Let us +die with it floating," he cried. As he cried, the hand of a Federal +lieutenant reached out to grasp the flag, and then both went down, and +Randolph Hamilton and Leon Laselle lay side by side, the blood stained +flag between them.</p> + +<p>On rolled the wave of blue, catching and flinging back hundreds of the +fleeing Confederates.</p> + +<p>The armies of Van Dorn and Price that had had no thought but victory, +that had fought so bravely and won so much, now fled from the field in +wild confusion, leaving behind them over a thousand of their dead, +hundreds of their wounded, and nearly three thousand prisoners. They had +fought as only brave men can fight—and lost.</p> + +<p>Throughout the North the name of Rosecrans, before but little known, was +on every tongue.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<p>It was the news of this battle that caused such excitement in St. Louis, +for in it hundreds of Missourians had met Missourians, and as we have +seen, the first news was that the Confederate regiments of Missouri had +been annihilated. Excitement was at fever heat, and anxious hearts +awaited authentic news. It came in a telegram from Leon Laselle, +reading: "Am seriously but not dangerously wounded. Randolph Hamilton +dangerously wounded, and captured. Edward Middleton safe."</p> + +<p>Lawrence was at the Laselle home when the telegram came. Mr. Laselle was +sick at the time and unable to go to his son, if he had wished. When the +telegram was read Lola clasped her hands and cried, with tears streaming +down her face, "Leon wounded! I must go to him."</p> + +<p>"I am afraid that is hardly possible," said Lawrence. "I will see what +can be done, but first let me take this telegram to my uncle and aunt. +It will take a great load from their minds."</p> + +<p>When the telegram was read to Mr. and Mrs. Middleton, they both dropped +to their knees and thanked God their son was safe. Days afterwards, when +the news came of his bravery, and how he had been promoted to the +colonelcy of his regiment, they, in their pride, forgot the agony they +had suffered.</p> + +<p>As for Lawrence, he hastened back to Mr. Laselle's.</p> + +<p>"I must go to Leon," Lola cried. "There is no one else to go."</p> + +<p>Lawrence showed her how impossible it was for her to go. "I will see +General Schofield," he said. "Perhaps I can manage to get permission to +go."</p> + +<p>"Oh! do, do," cried Lola, and the whole family echoed her wish.</p> + +<p>"There is Randolph," said Lawrence. "The telegram says he is dangerously +wounded."</p> + +<p>"In my anxiety over Leon, I forgot Randolph," said Lola. "What a pity! +His mother and Dorothy both in Europe, and Mr. Hamilton somewhere east. +Why not—" she stopped, and added lamely, "I am so sorry for him."</p> + +<p>"We are all sorry, Lola," replied Lawrence. "Randolph is a noble fellow, +and believes he is doing his duty both to his God and his country in +fighting as he does. You may rest assured I will do all I can for him."</p> + +<p>Lawrence had no trouble in getting the requisite authority from General +Schofield to visit his friend. "I shall not be ready to take the field +yet for some days," said the General. "So take your time."</p> + +<p>Lawrence went from St. Louis to Memphis by steamboat and from Memphis to +Corinth by rail. Once the train was fired into by Confederate raiders. +There were quite a number of soldiers on board and Lawrence, placing +himself at their head, succeeded, after a brisk little fight, in driving +the raiding party off. But the track had been torn up and there was a +delay of several hours, a delay under which Lawrence chafed, for he was +anxious to get to his friend.</p> + +<p>At length Corinth was reached. All signs of the battle had been +obliterated, except the shattered houses, the mangled forest and +thickets and row upon row of new-made graves.</p> + +<p>To his joy, Lawrence found Leon improving. He had not only been shot +through the arm, the arm he had stretched forth to seize the flag, but +had also received a scalp wound.</p> + +<p>Lawrence would not have known him with his head all swathed up, if he +had not been pointed out to him. The meeting between the two friends was +a joyful one.</p> + +<p>"How are the folks and how did they take my being wounded?" was Leon's +first question.</p> + +<p>And thus it is. The first thought of a soldier as he sinks dying or +wounded on the battlefield is of home and the loved ones.</p> + +<p>Lawrence told him and added, "Lola was crazy to come to you, but you +know it could not be."</p> + +<p>"I reckon there would be another one besides me glad to see Lola," said +Leon. "Poor Randolph, he lies on the third cot, there. Don't go to him, +he seems to be asleep, and he needs rest. The surgeons cut the ball from +his thigh yesterday. It had lodged against the bone. They have hopes of +his recovery now, if blood poisoning does not set in. He has been +delirious most of the time, and what do you think? He is continually +raving about Lola. Seems to be living over again the time he was pursued +as a spy, and would have been captured if it had not been for her."</p> + +<p>Somehow it gave Lawrence a little pang to hear this, then he cast the +thought out as unworthy.</p> + +<p>When Randolph awoke, Lawrence went to him, pressed his hand in sympathy +and whispered that everything was all right, and not to talk. Randolph +smiled and, closing his eyes, went to sleep again.</p> + +<p>The doctor came and looked at him. "Friend of yours?" he asked of +Lawrence.</p> + +<p>Lawrence nodded.</p> + +<p>"Mighty plucky fellow. Had a close call, but I think he will pull +through. Fever's most gone," exclaimed the doctor as he felt Randolph's +pulse and then hurried away.</p> + +<p>Lawrence and Leon held a consultation that night, and it was determined +that if they could get Randolph paroled they would take him back to St. +Louis with them, for Leon had already been granted a furlough.</p> + +<p>The parole was easily secured, but a week passed before they considered +it safe to move Randolph. The journey back was safely made and Leon, in +spite of his bandaged head and wounded arm, was nearly smothered with +kisses.</p> + +<p>Lawrence found that Mr. Hamilton had not yet returned; in fact, he had +met with an accident, and it would be several days before he could +travel. What was to be done with Randolph? That was the question.</p> + +<p>"Bring him with me," said Leon. "I want someone to fight with while I am +getting well, and fighting with tongues is not as dangerous as with +guns."</p> + +<p>"Where are you taking me? This is not home," exclaimed Randolph, as the +ambulance stopped before the Laselle residence.</p> + +<p>"No," replied Lawrence. "Your father has met with a slight accident, not +severe, but enough to detain him for several days. So we have brought +you to Mr. Laselle's. Leon wants you for company. You two can fight your +battles over while you are convalescing."</p> + +<p>"But—"</p> + +<p>"Not a word. Just think of what a nurse you will have. I almost wish I +was in your place."</p> + +<p>Randolph smiled and made no more protestations.</p> + +<p>Lawrence could hardly help envying Randolph, who had found a haven of +rest for at least some weeks, while he must once more face the hardships +and dangers of the tented field.</p> + +<p>The orders came in a couple of days and Lawrence went to say good-bye to +his friends.</p> + +<p>He found Leon and Randolph had been placed in one room, and there they +lay, Union and Confederate, side by side, as they had lain on the +battlefield, but now no blood-stained flag lay between them.</p> + +<p>Lawrence watched as Lola, with gentle hands, administered to Randolph's +wants. He saw how his face lighted up as she came near, and—well, he +didn't like it.</p> + +<p>When it came time for him to go and Lola followed him to the door, he +said in a tone of carelessness, "Lola, as you have not only Leon, but +Randolph to look after now, I suppose you do not care to hear from me +any more."</p> + +<p>The girl looked at him in surprise and tears gathered in her eyes. +"Lawrence, what do you mean?" she asked in a trembling voice. "Are you +not my own, my true knight-errant?"</p> + +<p>"There, Lola, I was only joking. Of course, I am your knight-errant," +answered Lawrence hastily, "and my Lady of Beauty must not forget me. +God bless you, Lola." He raised her hand to his lips and was gone.</p> + +<p>Lola gazed after him with troubled eyes, and then a thought, a thought +that had never entered her head before, came. The color in her cheeks +came and went. "He couldn't have meant that," she murmured, as she +looked at his retreating figure until it was out of sight. Then with a +sigh she turned and went into the house.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>PORTER CAPTURES PALMYRA</h3> + + +<p>With the disastrous defeats and scattering of the guerrilla bands of +Poindexter, Cobb and Porter, it looked as if Northeast Missouri was, at +last, free from partisan warfare, but such did not prove to be the case. +Porter had escaped, and was soon back in his old haunts, gathering +together as many of his followers as possible.</p> + +<p>Harry Semans reported this fact to McNeil, who had now been appointed +general in the Missouri militia. That officer could hardly believe that +Porter would be able to gather a force large enough to do much damage, +but he bade Harry be watchful and report at the first signs of danger.</p> + +<p>"Hist! Bruno, keep quiet!"</p> + +<p>It was Harry Semans, who was once more lying in a thicket by the side of +the road, and as usual the faithful Bruno was by his side. The dog was +now showing that he scented danger.</p> + +<p>Harry's method of scouting was peculiar. When in need of information he +and Bruno generally scouted alone, and that during the night.</p> + +<p>In the daytime he would lie concealed in some thicket, close to a road, +his horse always picketed some distance from him. He would observe any +men that passed along the road, the direction they were going, and thus +be able to determine whether the guerrillas were gathering for a raid or +not. If so, it was his duty to find their rendezvous, report with all +possible speed, and bring a Federal force down upon them.</p> + +<p>When he thought best, he had no scruples in passing himself off as a +guerrilla. It was only in case of urgent necessity that he rode in the +daytime. For one reason he did not wish the guerrillas to know he was +always accompanied by a dog. In the night he could not be recognized, +and he was never in fear of a surprise, for Bruno always gave warning.</p> + +<p>To the guerrillas it was a matter of wonderment how the Federals so +often found out their secret hiding places, and many a suspected Union +man was accused of giving information, and suffered in consequence, when +it was Harry who was the guilty party.</p> + +<p>Feeling safe, McNeil had left only one small company in Palmyra to guard +the place, and to protect the prisoners, of whom he had nearly a +hundred. He was away looking after other posts in his territory.</p> + +<p>The news of McNeil's absence and the small number of soldiers at Palmyra +was borne to Porter and he determined to make a raid on the village, +liberate the prisoners, and capture some of the Union citizens who had +made themselves obnoxious to Porter and his gang.</p> + +<p>The news was given out and the guerrillas were rallying at a given place +in the western part of the county. It was this gathering of the +guerrillas that Harry was now watching.</p> + +<p>He quickly quieted the dog and the cause of his excitement was now +apparent, for six men came riding past, all armed to the teeth.</p> + +<p>"There is deviltry on foot, old fellow," whispered Harry to Bruno, "and +it 's up to us to find out what it is. There's twenty of these villains +ridden past since we've been hiding here.</p> + +<p>"How I wish I could hear what they are saying," continued Harry. "I +must, I <i>will</i> find out what's brewing."</p> + +<p>Harry was in a place which he could not safely leave before night, so he +waited impatiently for the coming darkness. As soon as he dared he made +his way back to where he had left his horse, and cautiously led it to +the road. He then mounted and rode in the direction the guerrillas had +taken. Two or three times Bruno gave warning, and Harry quietly drew out +by the side of the road and let men pass.</p> + +<p>He had gone some two or three miles when he came to a main road leading +to Palmyra. Bruno showed unusual excitement, and Harry stopped and +listened intently. From up the road there came the sound of the +trampling of horses, as if a large body of cavalry was coming.</p> + +<p>"Quick, Bruno, we must get out of this," exclaimed Harry, and wheeling +his horse he rode back a short distance. Then he rode into a clump of +bushes where he dismounted and tied the horse. "I dare not leave you too +near the road when that cavalry passes, you might give me away," he +said, patting his horse's neck. "Bruno, you stay here."</p> + +<p>Back on the run went Harry. Climbing a fence he quickly made his way to +the road over which the cavalry must pass. Here a fence ran close to the +road and the corners were overgrown with weeds and brush, making a safe +hiding place.</p> + +<p>He was none too soon. Six men came riding by. "An advance guard," +muttered Harry.</p> + +<p>In a short time the head of the column appeared, and in front rode two +men. As they came abreast of Harry he heard one of them say, "What time +do you expect to attack Palmyra, Colonel?"</p> + +<p>"Just at daybreak." It was the voice of Colonel Porter that answered.</p> + +<p>Harry breathed hard. It was Palmyra that was to be attacked, and he knew +the weakness of the garrison. He calculated as closely as he could the +number that passed, and concluded there must be about four hundred in +the band.</p> + +<p>What was he to do? The whole force was squarely between him and Palmyra. +He could never get through that body of men. He must ride around. But +would he have time? Could he find his way in the darkness? He could try.</p> + +<p>Harry waited until the last man had passed, then going back he mounted +his horse and followed the band. So close was he after them that three +or four stragglers overtook him, and taking him for one of their number, +told him to hurry up or he would be too late for the fun.</p> + +<p>"My hoss is plumb tired out," was Harry's answer, "but I reckon I will +git thar in time."</p> + +<p>After riding three or four miles Harry came to a road that he believed +might enable him to get around Porter's force, and by hard riding get to +Palmyra first and give warning. Taking the road he put his horse to a +fast gallop. Two or three times he was hailed as he passed houses, but +he dashed on regardless of the fact that a bullet might be sent after +him.</p> + +<p>He soon became aware that the road was taking him away instead of in the +direction he wished to go. He brought his horse down to a walk.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid it's all up," he sighed, "but I will never cease trying +until all hope is gone."</p> + +<p>Keeping a sharp lookout he soon came to a road that ran in the direction +he wished to go. True the road seemed but little traveled, but it was +his only hope, so he turned into it, and again urged his horse forward.</p> + +<p>The road twisted and turned and Harry soon lost all idea of direction. +Worse than all, it grew fainter and fainter and soon became little more +than a trail. Harry felt himself hopelessly lost. He knew not where he +was, nor in what direction he wanted to go, but he knew by the woods +which bordered the trail he must be near a stream.</p> + +<p>Soon he came to a clearing, in the middle of which stood a rough log +house. There was a light burning in the house, and before it a horse +stood saddled and bridled, and Harry noticed that a shotgun lay across +the saddle.</p> + +<p>Though he knew it was risky he determined to stop and find out where he +was and to inquire the shortest way to Palmyra. Hitching his horse and +telling Bruno to keep out of sight, but near him, he carefully made his +way to the house. He soon became satisfied it was tenanted only by a man +and woman; if there were children they were asleep.</p> + +<p>The man kept coming to the door and looking out as if he expected some +one. Harry saw he was a sinister looking fellow, and that he wore a belt +which held in place a huge revolver. Harry waited until the man had +closed the door after one of his visits, and then marching boldly up he +gave a short rap.</p> + +<p>The door was immediately opened and the man he had seen exclaimed, +"Hello, Steve, yo' un air late." When he saw Harry he stopped and his +hand went to his belt, "Who be yo' un," he growled, "and what do yo' un +want?"</p> + +<p>"Don't be alarmed, pard," laughed Harry. "I reckon yo' un and I air in +the same class. I'm from Shelby an' on my way to join Porter. Yo' un +knows we 'uns air to make it hot for the Yanks in Palmyra. I have lost +my way, an' want to know whar I kin find the direct road to Palmyra."</p> + +<p>"Yo' un only have to foller the trail to the branch, cross it and yo' un +will strike the main road. But I kalkerlate to have a hand in that +little job at Palmyra myself. Have three or four debts to pay, one agin +old Allsman. He reported me to McNeil as a dangerous char'ter. He'll +never peach agin if I lay hands on him."</p> + +<p>"Thank yo' un. I'll be goin'," said Harry, "or I'm afraid I'll be late."</p> + +<p>"Hold on, pard," said the man. "I be jest waitin' for Steve and Sol +Jones. We 'uns will all go together."</p> + +<p>"Sorry I can't wait. I must be goin'," replied Harry, turning to go.</p> + +<p>"Stop!" cried the man, hoarsely.</p> + +<p>Harry wheeled, his hand on his revolver.</p> + +<p>"Better not," drawled the man, with a grin. "The old woman has you +kivered and she's a dead shot."</p> + +<p>Harry glanced up. Sure enough the woman, a gaunt, muscular virago, stood +in the door, a rifle at her shoulder, and Harry saw that he could look +right into the muzzle.</p> + +<p>"Ha! Ha!" chuckled the fellow, "yo' un didn't count on that, did yo' un? +Fact is, I didn't take to yo' un's story and I giv' the old woman a sign +to look out. If yo' un be from Shelby, how'd it happen yo' un got in +this timber along the branch. Yo' un may be all right, and if yo' un air +it will be no hurt for yo' un to wait and go with we 'uns. Thar, stop +fingering that thar revolver, or I'll giv' the old woman the wink. +Better up with yo' hands. Thar, I heah Steve and Sol comin'. If yo' un +don't prove all right, we 'uns will have a hangin' bee before we 'uns +start. Hands up, I tell yo' un."</p> + +<p>Harry was still looking into the muzzle of the rifle. It seemed to him +as big as a cannon. His hands slowly went up, but as they did so he gave +a low, peculiar whistle. Like a flash a great black body bounded through +the air and Bruno's teeth were buried in the shoulder of his victim. The +force of the impact threw the fellow over, and as he fell Harry ducked.</p> + +<p>The woman fired, but the shot went wild. In a moment Harry had wrenched +the gun from her, and with a blow bent the barrel of the rifle around +the door frame. But now was heard the approach of horses, and the cries +of men. Steve and Sol Jones were coming, and the sound of the rifle shot +had alarmed them.</p> + +<p>"Here, Bruno, come quick," commanded Harry. But Bruno was unwilling to +release his victim, and it took a hard cuff and a sharp command to make +him let go. Steve and Sol were now there, excitedly crying, "What's up? +What's up?"</p> + +<p>Without a word Harry opened fire. One of the horses and the rider went +down; the other wheeling his horse, was off like a shot, fortunately +going the way Harry had come.</p> + +<p>Without waiting to learn the result of his shots, Harry rushed for his +horse and rode away. He reached the branch spoken of, and, crossing it, +was soon on the highroad to Palmyra. But Porter and his men were still +in between him and the place.</p> + +<p>Harry now came to where he was acquainted with the country. He could +ride around Porter, but it was a good six or eight miles out of his way. +"I can never do it and be in time," he groaned, "but I may do some +good." Again his good horse was urged to a stiff gallop.</p> + +<p>Day was just breaking and Harry was still three miles from Palmyra, but +he had got past Porter, and would enter the place from the east. He was +congratulating himself that he might still be in time, when the faint +echo of firearms was borne to him on the breeze. Spurring his horse +forward he rode some distance, then halted and listened.</p> + +<p>The sounds of firing were unmistakable, but the reports were scattering, +not as if any considerable number of men were engaged.</p> + +<p>Harry reached the fair grounds on the eastern edge of town. Here he +unstrapped the blanket from his saddle, and carrying it into a vacant +stall, said to Bruno, "Old fellow, watch that blanket until I come +back."</p> + +<p>The dog lay down by the side of the blanket, and Harry patted his head +and told him to keep his eyes open, then he left him, thinking to return +shortly.</p> + +<p>Harry now rode boldly forward, thinking he would have no trouble in +passing himself off as one of the guerrillas. He soon saw squads of them +riding through the town and stopping at the different houses. He +shuddered, for he knew Union men lived in every one of those houses.</p> + +<p>The firing up in the center of the town now grew more severe.</p> + +<p>"Seems as if they air havin' quite a time up thar," he said to a +guerrilla whom he met.</p> + +<p>"Yes," growled the fellow. "The Yanks have got into the court house and +a brick store. Porter ordered them to surrender and they answered if he +wanted them to com' an' take them. That they'd fight till the last man +fell before they'd surrender. The Kunnel will find it hard work to get +them out without cannon."</p> + +<p>Harry's heart gave a great bound. If the Federals were in the court +house and a brick store, they might hold out for hours. Might he not get +help from Hannibal? McNeil was at Monticello, only thirty miles away, +with part of the Merrill Horse. Would it be possible to bring help to +the besieged men? He would try, and he turned up a side street.</p> + +<p>"Hullo! Whar be yo' un goin'?" asked the guerrilla.</p> + +<p>"Thar's a feller up here aways I've got an account to settle with, an' +I'll git him no matter what happens," exclaimed Harry, fiercely. Then a +happy thought came to him, "Say," he asked, "didn't the Kunnel tell us +whar to rally after this affair was over?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, at Whaley's Mill," was the answer.</p> + +<p>"Wall, I must git my man an' then I'll find yo' un," Harry answered.</p> + +<p>On the outskirts of the village Harry met another guerrilla who told him +he had better be getting back, as Porter had given up all hopes of +capturing the soldiers in the court house, and they were going to gather +up their booty and prisoners and evacuate the place.</p> + +<p>"Very well," answered Harry. "Thar is one feller out heah I want to get, +an' I'm goin' to get him."</p> + +<p>"Better hurry up then," replied the guerrilla.</p> + +<p>Porter had no idea of holding the place when he made the raid. His +orders were that while some of his force should engage the soldiers at +the court house, the rest should disperse through the city and arrest +every Union man in the place; expressly were they ordered to find and +arrest Andrew Allsman, who had made himself very obnoxious to them by +acting as guide to the Union forces.</p> + +<p>Allsman was found in bed. He was dragged out, ordered to dress himself, +and taken away.</p> + +<p>Porter expected to find a large quantity of arms and munitions of war in +the place. In this he was disappointed, but he succeeded in taking the +jail and liberating a number of prisoners.</p> + +<p>One Union citizen was shot down as he stood in the door of his house.</p> + +<p>The soldiers, in defending the court house, had a few men wounded. The +guerrillas lost one killed and had several wounded.</p> + +<p>When Porter withdrew from the place he halted on the outskirts of the +village and paroled all his prisoners except four, and one of the four +was Allsman.</p> + +<p>This done he started for the appointed rendezvous at Whaley's Mill. He +expected no immediate pursuit, for he knew McNeil was at Monticello.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>TEN LIVES FOR ONE</h3> + + +<p>Harry succeeded in clearing the village in safety, and, when about half +a mile away, halted and looked back. Porter's men were already leaving +the place, and Harry saw they had quite a number of prisoners. Porter +halted in an open meadow near the edge of the village, and the prisoners +were gathered together.</p> + +<p>"My God!" groaned Harry. "Are they going to murder them all?"</p> + +<p>But the prisoners were not murdered. They were all paroled with the +exception of four, to whom allusion has been made.</p> + +<p>Harry watched until he saw the paroled men start back to the village, +and the guerrillas riding away. He drew a long breath of relief. The +fact was, McNeil held so many of Porter's men prisoners that the +guerrilla chieftain dare not command such wholesale murder.</p> + +<p>"What is to be done now?" asked Harry of himself. "I know," he cried +suddenly. "If I can make Monticello before night, McNeil can get to +Whaley's Mill nearly as quickly as Porter. I'll make Monticello or die +in the attempt."</p> + +<p>Thus saying, he turned his horse to the north and rode swiftly away. He +had gone some distance when he suddenly drew rein. "Great guns!" he +exclaimed. "I have forgotten Bruno. He will stay by that blanket until +he starves."</p> + +<p>He reined in his horse and sat a moment in deep thought. "It's no use," +he sighed. "It's full five miles. I can never go back and make +Monticello in time. Poor Bruno! I won't let him suffer for more than a +day or two."</p> + +<p>His mind made up, Harry rode on at as swift a pace as his horse could +stand. Residents along the road gazed in wonder as Harry dashed past. +Most of them took him for a guerrilla fleeing from his foes, and looked +in vain for blue-coated pursuers. A number hailed him and two or three +sent a ball after him on receiving no answer.</p> + +<p>When about half way to Monticello three rough-looking men blocked the +road, demanding his name and the reason of his haste.</p> + +<p>"I'm carrying the news to the boys," he explained. "Porter captured +Palmyra this morning."</p> + +<p>"Yo' un don't say. But who air yo' un carryin' the news to?"</p> + +<p>"To Sam Dodds. Porter wanted him to rally all the boys he could and join +him at Whaley's Mill."</p> + +<p>This was a guess by Harry. He only knew Dodds was a leader among the +guerrillas in that section of the country.</p> + +<p>"That's a lie. Sam Dodds is with Porter and—" The guerrilla never got +further. Harry's revolver cracked and the fellow rolled from his horse. +Bending low over his horse's neck, Harry was off like a shot.</p> + +<p>For a moment the other two guerrillas were dazed by the unlooked-for +attack, then drawing their revolvers sent ball after ball after Harry, +who, as they fired, felt a sharp pain in his left arm, but he only urged +his horse to greater speed.</p> + +<p>One of the guerrillas sprang from his horse and went to his fallen +companion. "Dead as a doornail," he exclaimed. "Shot through the heart. +Jack, let's after that boy. I reckon one of us winged him, for I saw him +winch. We 'uns can come back and see to poor Collins heah, after we +catch him. I reckon that young devil was the famous boy scout of the +Merrill Hoss. I've heard Porter say he'd give a thousand dollars for him +dead or alive."</p> + +<p>Without further parley, leaving their dead companion lying in the road, +the two guerrillas mounted their horses and started in pursuit. Harry by +this time had gained a good lead, but the guerrillas' horses were fresh, +and they gained on him rapidly. As dark as it now looked for Harry, his +being pursued proved to be his salvation, for he had not gone more than +two miles when six guerrillas blocked the road.</p> + +<p>"Halt and give an account of yo'self!" they cried.</p> + +<p>Without checking his horse, Harry shouted, "Yanks! Yanks!"</p> + +<p>The guerrillas saw the cloud of dust raised by Harry's pursuers and +wheeling their horses fled with him. Harry now had company he did not +relish, but not for long. Coming to a cross road which led into a wood +they turned into it crying out to Harry to do the same, but to their +amazement he kept right on.</p> + +<p>"Reckon he's so skeered he didn't notice," said one.</p> + +<p>"Hold," said another, "thar's only two comin' an' they don't look like +Yanks. If they be, we 'uns can tend to them."</p> + +<p>Drawing their weapons they waited for the two to come up, when they +found they were two of their own gang. Explanations were made and there +were curses loud and deep.</p> + +<p>"We 'uns air losing time," cried one of the first two. "The feller's +hoss must be badly winded. We 'uns can catch him."</p> + +<p>The leader of the six shook his head. "No," he exclaimed, with an oath, +"it's all off. Thar is a scouting party of Yanks up the road. They +chased us. That's the reason we 'uns are down heah. That feller will +fall in with them before we 'uns can ketch him."</p> + +<p>So, much to their chagrin, the guerrillas gave up the chase and went to +attend to their dead comrade.</p> + +<p>About five miles from Monticello Harry overtook the scouting party, now +on their way back to that city. Taking Harry for a guerrilla, they +ordered him to surrender, which he did very willingly.</p> + +<p>Harry was white with dust, blood was dripping from his left hand and his +horse, white with foam, stood trembling.</p> + +<p>The lieutenant in charge of the party rode up. "Well, young man," he +began, then stopped and gazed in wonder.</p> + +<p>"Good Heavens!" he exclaimed. "It's Harry Semans. Harry, what's up?"</p> + +<p>"Porter is on the warpath. He has captured Palmyra," gasped Harry.</p> + +<p>The news was astounding.</p> + +<p>"When?" cried the lieutenant.</p> + +<p>"This morning. But I have no time to talk. Give me a fresh horse. I must +see McNeil."</p> + +<p>"But your hand, my boy. Let me send one of the boys with the news."</p> + +<p>"No, no!" cried Harry. "I must see McNeil. The wound is nothing. It is +nothing but a scratch."</p> + +<p>Harry took a horse from one of the troop, and accompanied by the +lieutenant and three men rode post-haste for Monticello, leaving the +troop to come more leisurely.</p> + +<p>General McNeil was greatly surprised by the news. He had supposed +Porter's band to be entirely dispersed.</p> + +<p>"You say the garrison did not surrender?" asked McNeil.</p> + +<p>"No, but Porter plundered the town and took every Union man in the place +prisoner. From what I could see he paroled all, or most of them."</p> + +<p>"God help Andrew Allsman if they captured him," exclaimed McNeil; "but +if Porter dares—" The General said no more, but his jaws came together +with a snap.</p> + +<p>Harry now told the whole story and ended with: "General, they are to +rendezvous at Whaley's Mill. You can catch them if you act promptly. +It's not much farther to Whaley's Mill from here than it is from +Palmyra; and Porter has no idea you can get there nearly as quickly as +he."</p> + +<p>McNeil lost no time. Fortunately there was a battalion of the Merrill +Horse at Monticello, and he could muster five hundred men for the +pursuit.</p> + +<p>"I wish you could be with us," said the General to Harry.</p> + +<p>"I certainly shall be," answered Harry.</p> + +<p>"But your wound, and thirty-six hours without sleep or rest," said the +General.</p> + +<p>"My wound is nothing," said Harry, "but that reminds me it has not been +dressed, and that I am nearly famished, but I will be ready as soon as +you are."</p> + +<p>"Only cut deep enough to make it bleed freely," said the surgeon, as he +dressed Harry's arm. "You will be all right in a week."</p> + +<p>"I'm all right now, except a lame arm and an empty stomach," laughed +Harry, "and I will attend to the stomach now."</p> + +<p>It was not long before McNeil, at the head of five hundred stout +troopers, was on his way to Whaley's Mill, every man eager for the +conflict. But as Harry rode there came to him the thought of Bruno. His +first impulse was to turn back and ride for Palmyra, but he knew how +dangerous it would be, and then he felt his duty was to continue with +McNeil. It would not make more than a day's difference, and if he +started alone, the probabilities were he would never get to Palmyra, so +with a heavy heart he rode on.</p> + +<p>All through the night they rode. Porter, never dreaming McNeil could +reach him so quickly, went into camp at Whaley's Mill to await supplies +and reinforcements.</p> + +<p>The next day McNeil was on him like a thunderbolt. Never was there a +surprise more complete. Many of the guerrillas cut the halters of their +horses and without saddles or bridles galloped furiously away. +Frequently two men were seen on one horse, digging in their heels and +urging him to the utmost speed.</p> + +<p>The relentless Merrill Horse were after them, cutting, shooting and +taking prisoners those who threw down their arms and begged for mercy. +For two days the pursuit was kept up, and at last in desperation Porter +cried to the men who had kept with him, "Every man for himself." And +every man for himself it was. The band was totally dispersed.</p> + +<p>When Porter saw all hope was lost, he paroled three of the four +prisoners he had kept; but Andrew Allsman was held, and from that day +all authentic news of him ceases.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> + +<p>Porter did not rally his band; he collected as many as he could and fled +south into Arkansas, where he held a commission as colonel in a regiment +of provisional troops. Owing to this pursuit six days had elapsed before +Harry could get back to Palmyra. During this period the thought of Bruno +keeping his lonely watch over that blanket caused Harry many a sharp +pain. More than once he thought of deserting and going to the relief of +the animal. Those of the officers who knew the story laughed at Harry's +fears, saying no dog would stay and watch a blanket until he starved, +but Harry knew better.</p> + +<p>Upon reaching Palmyra he rode with all haste to the fair grounds where +he had left Bruno. He found the dog lying with his head and forepaws on +the blanket, his eyes closed. So still he lay, so gaunt he looked, that +Harry's heart gave a great bound; he feared he was dead. But the moment +Harry's footsteps were heard, Bruno gave a hoarse growl and staggered to +his feet, every hair on his back bristling. But no sooner did he see who +it was than he gave a joyful bark and attempted to spring forward to +meet him, but fell from weakness.</p> + +<p>In a moment Harry's arms were around his neck and he was weeping like a +child. The dog licked his hands and his face in an ecstasy of joy.</p> + +<p>"Bruno, Bruno, to love me like this, after I left you to starve and +die," sobbed Harry, "but I couldn't help it, if the guerrillas had seen +you they would never have let you live. They would rather have your life +than mine, and Bruno you are worth a dozen of me."</p> + +<p>If ever a dog was cared for and fed tidbits, it was Bruno, and in a few +days he showed no signs of his fast.</p> + +<p>The taking of Palmyra was a humiliating affair to General McNeil. That +the town in which he made his headquarters should be raided, every Union +citizen in it captured, one shot down and another carried off, and in +all probability murdered, was a bitter pill for him to swallow.</p> + +<p>He had often declared that if any more murders were committed in his +district he would shoot ten guerrillas for every man murdered. Had the +time come for him to make that threat good?</p> + +<p>McNeil was not naturally a cruel man; to his friends he was one of the +kindest and most generous of men, but to his foes he was relentless. He +believed that the guerrillas of Missouri had broken every law of +civilized warfare, and were entitled to no mercy. But now that the time +had come for him to make his threats good, he hesitated. He arose and +paced his room. "No, no," he murmured, "I cannot do it. There must be +some way out of it."</p> + +<p>Just then his provost marshal, Colonel W. R. Strachan, entered the room. +Strachan was a coarse featured man and his heavy jaw showed him to be a +man of determined will. His countenance showed marks of dissipation, for +he was a heavy drinker, and this served to further brutalize his nature. +That he was cruel could be seen in every lineament of his face. But he +was a man of marked executive ability, and when occasion demanded he +wielded a facile and ready pen. His defence of McNeil in a New York +paper showed him to be a man possessing ability of the highest order.</p> + +<p>Such was the man who came into the presence of McNeil at this critical +moment. He stood and regarded McNeil as if he would read his very +thoughts, and then remarked, cynically, "I haven't seen anything of that +proclamation of yours yet, General."</p> + +<p>McNeil started as if stung. He hesitated and then said, "Strachan, I +can't make up my mind. It seems so cold blooded."</p> + +<p>"The Rebels say you dare not," sneered Strachan.</p> + +<p>McNeil flushed. "I allow no man to question my courage," he answered +hotly.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, General, it is not your physical courage they question. That +is above criticism. It is your moral courage, the courage to do right, +because it wrings your heart to do right. You feel for the ten men you +doom to die, but, Great God! look at their crimes. Does not the blood of +the Union men murdered by Porter's gang cry for vengeance? Think of +that. Think of Carter, and Preston, and Pratt, and Spieres, and Carnegy, +and Aylward—but why enumerate every one of these men murdered by these +assassins. Now they come and, right under our very eyes, carry off +Allsman, to be foully dealt with—and yet General McNeil hesitates."<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<p>"Say no more, Strachan," cried McNeil, "the proclamation will be +forthcoming."</p> + +<p>A cruel smile played around the lips of Strachan as he saluted his +superior and departed.</p> + +<p>The next morning a proclamation appeared, directed to Joseph C. Porter, +saying that if Andrew Allsman was not returned before the end of ten +days ten of his followers held as prisoners would be taken out and shot.</p> + +<p>The proclamation was posted on the door of the court house and soon a +motley crowd gathered around to read it. Some read it with satisfaction, +some with lowering brows, but the most with jeers.</p> + +<p>"McNeil will never do it. It's only a bluff," declared a sullen-looking +man.</p> + +<p>A tall, lank, cadaverous native ejected a mouthful of tobacco juice and +drawled, "Directed to Joe Porter, is it? That's a mistake; the General +should have directed it to the devil. He's the only one who can return +ole Allsman."</p> + +<p>"Think so, do you?" said a soldier, who, overhearing the remark, laid a +heavy hand on the fellow's shoulder. "Come along with me."</p> + +<p>Protesting vehemently, the fellow was taken to prison. This episode +ended public criticism.</p> + +<p>There were not many in Palmyra who believed Porter could return Allsman +if he wanted to; the universal belief was that he had been murdered. +What would McNeil do when the man was not returned, was the question. +The general belief was that the proclamation was only a bluff to try and +scare Porter; so the people of Palmyra went about their business +disregarding the ominous cloud hanging over them.</p> + +<p>As the days slipped by and Allsman was not returned and no explanation +made, McNeil began to be uneasy. He caused the proclamation to be made +throughout all Northeast Missouri. He even sent Harry on a dangerous +ride to deliver a copy to the wife of Porter, and to beg her to get a +copy to her husband, if she knew where he was.</p> + +<p>She replied she did not know where he was. The fact was, Porter had fled +south, as has been noted, but McNeil did not know this.</p> + +<p>No representations were made to McNeil that Allsman had been paroled by +Porter, as was afterwards claimed by Porter and his friends, and that he +was afterwards murdered by unknown parties. His proclamation was utterly +ignored.</p> + +<p>The ninth day arrived and Strachan sought his chief. "Well," he growled, +"the time is up tomorrow and Allsman has not been returned. He will not +be. We might as well prepare for the execution."</p> + +<p>"Is there any way out of this, Strachan?" asked McNeil, with much +feeling. "I hate this."</p> + +<p>"Going to show the white feather?" sneered Strachan.</p> + +<p>"No, but what if I issue a proclamation that if the men who actually +murdered Allsman are given up these ten men will be spared?"</p> + +<p>"They will pay just as much attention to it as they did to your first +proclamation," said Strachan. "General, if you do not carry out your +proclamation there is not a Union man in the State whose life will be +safe, and their blood will be on your hands. You will be cursed by every +loyal citizen, and your enemies will despise you as a coward. Better, +far better, you had never issued any proclamation."</p> + +<p>McNeil felt the force of Strachan's reasoning. It would have been better +if no proclamation had been made. To go back on it, and at the eleventh +hour, would proclaim him weak and vacillating, and the effect might be +as Strachan said.</p> + +<p>"Go ahead, Strachan. I will not interfere," he said abruptly, and turned +away.</p> + +<p>Strachan departed highly elated, and repaired to a carpenter shop, where +he ordered ten rough coffins made. The village suddenly awoke to the +fact that the execution would take place. Then faces grew pale, and all +jeering ceased. McNeil was besieged by applicants imploring him to stay +the execution. Among these were a number of Union men. But McNeil +remained obdurate; his mind was made up.</p> + +<p>Strachan picked out ten men among the prisoners and they were told that +on the morrow they must die. Why Strachan picked the ten men he did will +never be known. They were not chosen by lot.</p> + +<p>Among the ten men was a William S. Humphrey. Mrs. Humphrey had arrived +in Palmyra the evening before the execution, not knowing her husband was +to die. When told of his fate she was horrified, and in the early +morning she sought Strachan to plead for his life, but was rudely +repulsed. Then with tottering footsteps she wended her way to the +headquarters of General McNeil. He received her kindly, but told her he +would not interfere.</p> + +<p>Half fainting she was borne from the room. Her little nine-year-old +daughter had accompanied her as far as the door. Catching sight of the +child, she cried with tears streaming down her face, "Go, child, go to +General McNeil, kneel before him and with uplifted hands beg him to +spare your father. Tell him what a good man he is. How he had refused to +go with Porter after he had taken the oath."</p> + +<p>The little girl obeyed. She made her way to General McNeil; she knelt +before him; she raised her little hands imploringly; with the tears +streaming down her face she sobbed, "Oh, General McNeil, don't have papa +shot. He never will be bad any more. He promised and he will not break +that promise. Don't have him shot. Think of me as your little girl +pleading for your life."</p> + +<p>She could say no more, but lay sobbing and moaning at his feet. The +stern man trembled like a leaf; tears gathered in his eyes and rolled +down his cheeks.</p> + +<p>"Poor child! Poor child!" he murmured, as he gently raised her. Then +turning to his desk he wrote an order and, handing it to an officer, +said, "Take that to Colonel Strachan."</p> + +<p>The order read:</p> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Colonel Strachan</span>:</p> + +<p>If the fact can be established that Humphrey was in Palmyra +when Porter was here and refused to leave, reprieve him and put +no one in his place.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">McNeil.</span></p></blockquote> + +<p>When the order was delivered to Colonel Strachan he raved like a madman. +He had had ten coffins made, and though the heavens fell, they should be +filled. Like Shylock, he demanded his pound of flesh.</p> + +<p>"For God's sake!" said Captain Reed to Strachan, "if you must have the +tenth victim, take a single man."</p> + +<p>Strachan stalked to the prison and glancing over the prisoners called +out, "Hiram Smith."</p> + +<p>A young man, twenty-two years of age, stepped forward.</p> + +<p>"Is your name Hiram Smith?" asked Strachan.</p> + +<p>"It is," was the answer.</p> + +<p>"You are to be shot this afternoon."</p> + +<p>The young man drew himself up, gazed blankly at Strachan for a moment, +and then without a word turned and walked across the room to where a +bucket of water was standing. Taking a drink he turned around with the +remark, "I can die just as easily as I took that drink of water." And +this young man knew he had but two hours to live.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<p>The time came and amid the groans and sobs of the populace, the ten men +were taken to the fair grounds, where seated on their coffins, they +bravely faced their executioners.</p> + +<p>The firing squad consisted of thirty soldiers, three to a man. A few +hundred pale faced spectators looked on. The fatal order was given and +the volley rang out.</p> + +<p>From the spectators there burst a cry of horror. Strong men turned away, +unable to look. Many of the firing squad were nervous and their aim was +bad; others had shot high on purpose—they had no heart in the work. Of +the ten men, only three had been killed outright. Six lay on the ground, +writhing in agony; one sat on his coffin, untouched.</p> + +<p>"Take your revolvers and finish the job," thundered Strachan.</p> + +<p>Harry, who had witnessed the scene, fled from it in horror, as did most +of the spectators. It was a scene that those who lived in Palmyra will +never forget. The fair grounds was never again used as such. It was a +place accursed.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>A GIRL OF THE OZARKS</h3> + + +<p>In one of the loveliest valleys in the heart of the Ozarks lived Judge +Marion Chittenden. He was the youngest son of a Kentucky pioneer, one +who did much in the building up of that commonwealth when it was known +as "The Dark and Bloody Ground."</p> + +<p>In his youth, Marion Chittenden—that was not his name then—was wild +and wayward, and became involved in numerous brawls and personal +encounters. When about twenty years of age, in a drunken brawl he shot +and killed one of his best friends. Filled with horror, and knowing the +consequences of his crime, he fled. Although a large reward was offered +for his apprehension, all efforts to find him proved unavailing. As +years passed and nothing was heard from him, his relatives breathed +sighs of relief and considered him as one dead.</p> + +<p>The fact was, he had fled beyond the Mississippi and became lost in the +wilds of Missouri. Here he changed his name, and no one ever knew but +that he always had been Marion Chittenden.</p> + +<p>In the Ozarks he made his living by hunting and fishing, and for some +years lived almost the life of a hermit. In one particular his crime +made him a changed man; from the moment he fled he never touched another +drop of liquor.</p> + +<p>One day while hunting he came across a lovely valley. Through it ran a +purling stream, its waters as clear as crystal. Around and about the +valley the hills rose to a height of from five to eight hundred feet, +clothed to their tops in a forest of living green.</p> + +<p>When he first saw the valley it was from the top of one of the hills +where he had trailed and shot a bear. As he stood and looked, the scene +was so peaceful, so beautiful, that a longing for rest came over him. +The wild and wandering life he had led for years all at once palled upon +him. The memory of his childhood came like a flood. His waywardness, his +crime, arose before him with startling distinctness. He was naturally a +lover of the refinements of civilization, and the rough, lonely life he +had led was the result of his crime, not of inclination.</p> + +<p>Standing there, he suddenly exclaimed, "Here will I make my home; here +will I forget the past; here will I begin a new life."</p> + +<p>He descended into the valley, startling a herd of deer that bounded into +the forest which clothed the hills. But they need not have been +afraid—for the time being he had lost the instinct of a hunter.</p> + +<p>He stood by the side of the little river, its clear waters showing the +fish darting to and fro, as if in wanton play. A little back was a knoll +crowned with noble trees. "Here," thought he, "will I build my house. +Here will I begin my new life. It is beautiful. The stream is beautiful. +It shall be called La Belle, and this the valley of La Belle." And the +valley of La Belle it became.</p> + +<p>He went to St. Louis and preëmpted the land, for he had no fears the +rough, bearded hunter would be taken for the immaculate young dandy who +had fled from Kentucky.</p> + +<p>He built him a home; the range of thousands of acres of land was his, +and his flocks grew and flourished. Time passed, and other settlers +began to invade the seclusion of the Ozarks.</p> + +<p>One day there came into the hills a man by the name of Garland. He had +seen better days, but had become impoverished and fled to the Ozarks, +thinking that in that wilderness he might make a home, and in a measure +retrieve his fortune. His family consisted of his wife and one daughter, +a young lady about twenty years of age.</p> + +<p>Mr. Garland settled some miles from where Chittenden lived his lonely +life; but in a wilderness those who live miles away are considered +neighbors. Mr. Chittenden visited them, and, though charmed by the +beauty of the daughter, he had no thoughts of giving up his bachelor +life.</p> + +<p>But misfortune seemed to have followed Mr. Garland. He had not been +there a year before his wife died, and in a few months he followed her.</p> + +<p>Before this Mr. Chittenden had not thought of marriage, but now the +helplessness of the girl appealed to him. He proposed and was accepted. +He never had cause to regret his action, for beautiful Grace Garland +made a wife of whom any man might be proud.</p> + +<p>His marriage also made a great change in Mr. Chittenden. The house was +enlarged and beautified. He greatly prospered, and in time became one of +the prominent men in his section of the country. He was called Judge, +and sent to the Legislature, and was even pressed to run for Congress. +Against this he resolutely set his face. The ghost of the past arose and +frightened him. As a congressman his past might be traced.</p> + +<p>A couple of years after his marriage a daughter was born and was named +Grace, after her mother.</p> + +<p>Mr. Chittenden continued to prosper, and in time bought a few slaves. +This put him on a higher plane, for to be a slave-holder was to belong +to the aristocracy, and it was a matter of pride among the Ozarks that +Mr. Chittenden owned slaves.</p> + +<p>Little Grace grew up a true child of the mountains, as wild and free as +the birds. When she was about ten years of age her mother died. If it +had not been for his daughter, Mr. Chittenden would have lost all +interest in life. Now everything centered in her, and she became a part +of his very life.</p> + +<p>The death of his wife left him without a competent housekeeper, so one +day he informed Grace he was going to St. Louis to see if he could not +buy a colored woman recommended as a good housekeeper, and that if she +liked she might go with him.</p> + +<p>The girl was overjoyed, for she had never been away from her lovely +valley home. The hills to her had been the boundary of the world, and +often as she gazed at them she would wonder and wonder what was beyond. +The birds were her friends, and they seemed to sing of things she did +not know. They had wings and could fly and explore that wonderful +beyond. She often wished she too had wings, so she might fly with the +birds—then she would know too.</p> + +<p>Her mother early had taught her to read, and Mr. Chittenden had gathered +quite a library. Grace read every book in it with avidity, but they told +her of a world she could not understand.</p> + +<p>But now she was to go beyond the barrier; she was to see the world, and +she could hardly wait for the time to start.</p> + +<p>At last the day came and the journey was begun, first on horseback and +then by a lumbering stage coach.</p> + +<p>In due time they reached the city, and what she saw filled her with +wonder and surprise. But when she woke in the morning and heard no +singing of birds, but instead the din and roar of the street; and when +she looked out and saw no lovely valley, no stately hills, no La Belle, +its waters sparkling in the sun, but instead row upon row of great +buildings, she sighed—she hardly knew why.</p> + +<p>The next day when her father showed her around the city she said, "It's +all very wonderful, papa, but it isn't like home. The houses are not as +beautiful as the hills, and even the great river does not sing as +sweetly, and its waters are not clear and sparkling like La Belle."</p> + +<p>One day Mr. Chittenden told Grace there was to be an auction of slaves, +and he would go and try to get one for a housekeeper. The little girl +was eager to go with him, but he would not allow it. She wondered why +and rebelled, but her father was obdurate and left her crying.</p> + +<p>Grace's slightest wish was generally law to her father, and to be +refused and left alone was to her a surprise. She did not realize that +her father did not wish her to see the distressing scenes which often +took place at an auction of slaves.</p> + +<p>In due time Mr. Chittenden returned, accompanied by a comely mulatto +woman about forty years of age. The woman's eyes were red with weeping, +and now and then her bosom would heave with a great sob which she would +in vain try to hold back.</p> + +<p>"This is Tilly, Grace," said her father. "She is said to be a good +housekeeper and a famous cook."</p> + +<p>"Why do you cry?" asked Grace. "Papa is a good man; he will use you +well."</p> + +<p>"It's not that," sobbed the woman: "it's mah honey chile, mah little +Effie. I'll neber see her moah." And she broke down and sobbed +piteously.</p> + +<p>Grace turned with a distressed countenance. "Did Tilly have a little +girl?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Y-e-s," answered Mr. Chittenden, rather reluctantly.</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you buy her too?" she asked indignantly. "What if someone +should take me from you?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Chittenden winced. "That is different, child," he answered. "As for +Tilly's child, a trader from New Orleans bought her, paying an enormous +price. She was nearly white, and gave promise of becoming quite a +beauty. Rich people give large prices for such for maids. I could not +afford to buy her. As it was, I had to pay a big price for Tilly."</p> + +<p>Grace said no more, but from that time new thoughts entered her mind, +and when alone with Tilly she tried to comfort her.</p> + +<p>Tilly proved as good a housekeeper and cook as Mr. Chittenden could have +desired, and in time seemed to have forgotten her child. But Grace knew +better, for when alone with her Tilly never tired of telling her about +her "honey chile," and Grace was learning what it meant to be a slave, +and all unconsciously to herself she was drinking in a love of freedom.</p> + +<p>As for Tilly, she came to worship the very ground that Grace walked on. +Willingly she would have shed every drop of blood in her veins for her.</p> + +<p>Years went by and other settlers came into the Ozarks, but they were a +rough, uneducated class, and Mr. Chittenden had little in common with +them. In time a Mr. Thomas Osborne settled about four miles from him. He +was a northern man, well educated, and had come to the Ozarks for his +health, being threatened with consumption. He had a daughter, Helen, +about the age of Grace, and the two became inseparable friends.</p> + +<p>When Grace was about fifteen years of age it was evident that she would +be a very beautiful woman. She was by no means an ignorant girl, for her +father had employed a private teacher for her, and she was far better +acquainted with the elementary branches and with books than most girls +who attend fashionable boarding schools.</p> + +<p>But she was still a child of nature, the birds her best companions. The +wind whispering through the forest told her wonderful stories. She could +ride and shoot equal to any boy who roamed the Ozarks, and was the +companion of her father as he looked after his flocks and herds.</p> + +<p>The father saw she was fast budding into womanhood, and sighed, for he +felt she should know something beyond the rough life of the mountains, +and, although parting from her was like tearing out his own heart, he +resolved to send her to a boarding school in St. Louis. His daughter +must be a lady; he had not forgotten his early life.</p> + +<p>Grace heard his decision. She had not forgotten her visit to that +wonderful city five years before, and, now that she was older, thought +she would like to see and know more of it.</p> + +<p>"But how can I leave you, papa?" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around +his neck and pressing kiss after kiss upon his brow.</p> + +<p>Mr. Chittenden clasped her to his breast. "It will not be for long, +child," he said huskily, "and I would have my little girl a lady."</p> + +<p>"Am I not a lady, now?" she asked, pouting.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, Grace; but I would have you know something of the ways of +society. I do not want you to be always a mountain girl. You are worthy +to adorn the grandest palace in the city."</p> + +<p>"I don't want to adorn a palace. I love the valley of La Belle," she +replied. "I want to live and die here."</p> + +<p>"You may think differently some day, child. It is only for your good I +would have you go, for, Grace, you do not know how hard it is for me to +part from you."</p> + +<p>Again the girl threw her arms around him. "Don't make me go, papa," she +sobbed. "I thought I wanted to go, but I don't now. I don't want to be a +fine lady. I want to stay with you."</p> + +<p>"No, Grace; it is for the best." And so it was fully decided.</p> + +<p>The time came for her to go. The parting with Helen Osborne was a +tearful one, but Tilly was inconsolable. "All de sunshine will be gone +frum de house," she moaned. "When Missy Grace goes, Tilly want to die."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, Tilly; you want to be here to welcome me when I come back," +said Grace.</p> + +<p>Grace was taken to St. Louis and placed in one of the most fashionable +schools in the city. Lola Laselle and Dorothy Hamilton were members of +the same school, but as they were day pupils, Grace did not become very +well acquainted with them.</p> + +<p>Grace's gentle, unaffected ways soon made her a favorite, but there were +a few of the pupils who looked down on the mountain girl as beneath +them. But gentle as Grace was, there was the blood of a fiery and proud +race in her veins, and she soon taught those girls she could not be +snubbed with impunity. She was an apt pupil and soon became the most +popular girl in the school, and the haughty ones were proud to be +classed as her friends.</p> + +<p>The rules and restrictions of the school were irksome to her, and she +became the leader of a bevy of girls who delighted in having a good +time, and many were the little luncheons they enjoyed together after the +teachers thought all good girls were in bed.</p> + +<p>One day Grace heard the girls discussing a book which at that time was +creating a sensation.</p> + +<p>"It's dreadful," said one of the girls. "Every copy printed ought to be +destroyed, and the woman who wrote it burned at the stake."</p> + +<p>"Have you read it?" asked one of the girls.</p> + +<p>The first girl raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Read it!" she +exclaimed. "I would as soon touch a viper as that book."</p> + +<p>"How do you know it is bad, then?" persisted the second girl.</p> + +<p>"Because I have heard papa say so. It's all about slavery, and makes out +that the people that own slaves are the wickedest people in the world. +Papa says the book will cause a war yet."</p> + +<p>"My papa says," spoke up another, "that the South is going to secede, +and when it does he says there may be war."</p> + +<p>"Pshaw! the Yankees will not fight," exclaimed a girl from Mississippi. +"Brother Ned says they are a cowardly lot, and that one Southern +gentleman can whip ten of them."</p> + +<p>The conversation now took a general turn over what would happen if war +came, and it was the opinion of most of the girls that it would be just +grand.</p> + +<p>Grace listened eagerly to the conversation, but took no part. So far she +had given little attention to the strife which was agitating the +country. Even the conflict which had raged along the borders of Missouri +and Kansas had only come as a faint echo among the Ozarks. But now she +asked, "What is the name of the book you girls are talking about?"</p> + +<p>"Uncle Tom's Cabin. It's a horrid book," replied one of the girls.</p> + +<p>Grace said no more, but she determined to have that book; she wanted to +see what made it so terrible. The first time she had leave to go +downtown she made an excuse to go into a book store and purchase a copy. +She concealed it in her clothes and then made a few other purchases.</p> + +<p>"Why, Grace, what made you so long?" asked the monitor in charge of the +girls when she returned.</p> + +<p>"Couldn't get waited on before," answered Grace demurely.</p> + +<p>That evening Grace swore her room-mate to eternal secrecy, and then +showed her the book.</p> + +<p>The girl was horrified. "What made you buy it?" she wailed. "Why, if I +should take that book home I would be arrested and sent to prison."</p> + +<p>"I am determined to see what kind of a book it is," answered Grace, +doggedly. "When I see, I can burn it up if I don't like it."</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't touch it for the whole world," exclaimed her room-mate. +"Burn it up. Burn it up now, Grace. What if the girls found it out! We +would be disgraced, ostracized, perhaps expelled!"</p> + +<p>"If you don't tell, I will take care that no one else sees it," said +Grace.</p> + +<p>The next day Grace feigned a headache, and remained in her room to read +the book. That evening her room-mate asked about it.</p> + +<p>"You will never see it," replied Grace. "I looked into it and concluded +you were right; it would never do for that book to be found in our room. +I have destroyed it."</p> + +<p>"Grace Chittenden," cried the girl, "I believe you pretended to have a +headache so you could stay in our room and read that book! I have a mind +to report you. What kind of a book was it? Tell me."</p> + +<p>"Do you want me to corrupt you too, Mabel?" laughed Grace. "No; the book +is destroyed, and that ends it. It is not the kind of a book I thought +it was—not so horrid; but it makes one think. I am almost sorry I read +it."</p> + +<p>That night Grace lay awake a long time thinking of Uncle Tom and Little +Eva, and more than once she sighed, "Tilly is right. Slavery is +wicked—wicked!"</p> + +<p>Grace had been in school two years when the war opened. Even the +seclusion of a girl's boarding school could not help being penetrated by +the fierce excitement which swept through the whole country. The streets +were filled with marching troops. Many of the girls had brothers in +Frost's militia. Then Camp Jackson was taken.</p> + +<p>Grace heard the distant firing, saw the surging mob in the streets, but +in the midst of the excitement her father came. He had hurried to the +city to take her home—to take her to the heart of the Ozarks, where he +hoped the red waves of war would never come.</p> + +<p>Marion Chittenden was by nature fierce and combative, but the horror +from which he had fled had so changed him that it was only when some +great excitement moved him that his passions were aroused. He was a +strong partisan of the South and believed the North wholly wrong. It was +only his age and an injury that forbade protracted riding on horseback +that kept him from offering his services to the State.</p> + +<p>Mr. Chittenden's fierce denunciation of the North alarmed Grace. What +would he say if he knew she was for the Union? She resolved to keep +still and say nothing. She noticed a large number of rough men calling +on her father, and a great number of secret consultations were held.</p> + +<p>The first great shock came to Grace when one day her father said, +"Grace, I wish you would cease visiting Helen Osborne, and by all means +do not invite her here. I want no intercourse between the two families."</p> + +<p>Grace opened her eyes in astonishment. "Why, father, what is the +matter?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Osborne is a sneaking Yankee, an abolitionist, and the old fool can't +keep his mouth shut."</p> + +<p>"What difference should that make as far as Helen and I are concerned?" +asked Grace, her eyes flashing.</p> + +<p>Surprised at the feeling his daughter showed, Mr. Chittenden said more +gently: "Grace, you do not understand, you do not realize the feeling +throughout the country. To be friendly with the Osbornes would bring +suspicion on me. Even your visits would be misconstrued. Do as I ask +you, Grace, for my sake."</p> + +<p>She promised, though very reluctantly. More than once she resolved to +tell her father her true feelings, but shrank from the ordeal.</p> + +<p>After that Grace did not leave the valley. Rough, uncouth men came to +visit her father more frequently than ever, and she heard enough to know +that the waves of war had rolled clear down to Springfield and that the +whole State was becoming a vast armed camp.</p> + +<p>One day her father seemed much perturbed, and at last rode away in +company with several men. Grace noticed they were all armed. Feeling +alarmed as well as lonely, she resolved to take a ride. Ordering her +favorite horse saddled, she soon was galloping down the valley towards +the Osbornes. Why she took that direction she hardly knew. She rode as +near to the Osbornes as she thought prudent, and was about to turn back, +when she saw a great cloud of smoke arising.</p> + +<p>"It must be the Osborne house," she exclaimed, and urged her horse +forward. When she came to where she could see she reined in her horse +and gazed at the scene in horror. Not only was Mr. Osborne's house in +flames, but his barn and outbuildings, as well as stacks of grain.</p> + +<p>But it was not so much the fire as what else she saw that made her face +pale and her breath to come in gasps. A little apart from the fire stood +a group of men, and in their midst Mr. Osborne, with a rope around his +neck. His wife and daughter were clinging to him, and even from where +Grace was their shrieks and cries for mercy reached her ears. She took +one look, then struck her horse a sharp blow and, like a whirlwind, came +upon the scene. Astonished, the men stood like statues.</p> + +<p>"You pretend to be men, I suppose," she cried, "and call this war. +Cowards! Poltroons! Murderers!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus4" id="illus4"></a> +<img src="images/illus4.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"You pretend to be men and call this war!"</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>Just then she caught sight of her father in the group. "You too!" she +gasped, and fell fainting from her horse.</p> + +<p>When she came to she was in her father's arms, the men had gone, and +bending over her was Helen Osborne, bathing her face. She opened her +eyes and then, shuddering, closed them again. She had looked into the +face of a man stricken as unto death.</p> + +<p>"Grace, Grace," he moaned, "another such look as that will kill me. You +do not understand. I was trying to save life, not take it."</p> + +<p>A shiver went through her body, but she did not open her eyes nor +answer.</p> + +<p>"Grace, hear me. I am not what you think. O God!"</p> + +<p>"What did you say, father?" she whispered.</p> + +<p>"That I was trying to save Mr. Osborne, not hang him."</p> + +<p>Once more her eyes opened, but now they looked with love into her +father's face. "Thank God!" she murmured, and her arms went around his +neck. The strong man wept as he clasped her to his breast and kissed her +again and again.</p> + +<p>"Take me home," she whispered weakly. "I feel, oh, so faint!"</p> + +<p>On the invitation of Mr. Chittenden the Osbornes accompanied him. The +next day he sent them out of the country.</p> + +<p>When Grace was strong enough to hear, her father told her all. Mr. +Osborne's pronounced Northern principles had made him very obnoxious to +those who sympathized with the South. "It was for this reason, Grace," +he said, "I forbade your visiting Helen. Even a friendly intercourse +between you two would have brought suspicion on me. You cannot +understand the terrible feeling towards all Yankees and those who +sympathize with them. Mr. Osborne was repeatedly warned to leave the +country, but he paid no attention to the warnings. Instead, he became +active in giving information to the Federal authorities. Some time ago +it became known that he had sent to the Federal commander at Rolla the +name of every active Southern sympathizer in the country. My name was on +the list as one of the leaders.</p> + +<p>"This was too much for the boys, and they decided on summary punishment, +but, knowing that I was opposed to extreme means, they tried to keep +what they were to do from me. I found it out and did all in my power to +save him, but a vote was taken, and it was decided he should be burned +out and then hanged. It was only your timely arrival that saved him. He +is well out of the country now, for which I am thankful."</p> + +<p>Grace listened to his account in silence, then said: "I'm so glad, +father, you tried to save him. I thought—oh, I can't tell what I +thought, it was so dreadful."</p> + +<p>She then seemed struggling with herself, as if she wanted to say +something and dared not.</p> + +<p>"What is it, child?" asked Mr. Chittenden gently.</p> + +<p>Looking at him with yearning eyes, she whispered, "Do you love me?"</p> + +<p>"What a question, Grace! Better than my life! You should know that!"</p> + +<p>"And will you let anything come between? Will you always love me, even +if I am not what you think?"</p> + +<p>"Grace, what do you mean?" he cried, brokenly. A terrible suspicion came +to him that her mind was wandering, that the shock she had received had +unbalanced her reason.</p> + +<p>"Father, I must tell you. I cannot think as you do. This war is +terrible, and I believe the South is all in the wrong."</p> + +<p>Mr. Chittenden could only gasp his astonishment, then he commenced +laughing. "Is that all, Grace? I thought—well, it hardly matters what I +thought. It was unworthy of me. But what makes you think the South is +all wrong?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know as I can make you understand, but, father—I hate +slavery! I think I was born with a love for freedom. I have drunk it in +from my childhood. This valley, the grand old hills around it, all speak +of freedom. La Belle murmurs it as her waters dance and sparkle on their +way to the sea. The wind in the trees sings of freedom, the birds warble +it."</p> + +<p>"Grace, you are poetic; it is only these fancies that make you think as +you do."</p> + +<p>"No, father. You know I love history, and you have some good histories +in your library. I have learned how slavery came into this country, how +it grew; and I also know something about what is called State Rights. I +believe the South claims any State has a perfect right to withdraw from +the Union at pleasure."</p> + +<p>"Yes, the doctrine is true. We are no rebels."</p> + +<p>"I can't believe it. To trample on the flag of our common country is +rebellion. Father, I love the starry flag. I carry it next my heart." To +her father's surprise, she put her hand in her bosom and drew forth a +tiny flag. "I made it, father, at school. While the other girls were +making Confederate flags, I made this one."</p> + +<p>Mr. Chittenden could only say, "Thank God, you are not a boy."</p> + +<p>"Father, you do not hate me?"</p> + +<p>"No, child; I look at what you have said as only the foolish fancies of +a girl. You will laugh at them yourself when you are older. But, Grace, +let me ask you a question. According to your ideas I am a rebel. Does +that make you love me less?"</p> + +<p>For answer she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. "No, +father, for you are doing what you think right. If you were in the army, +riding at the head of your regiment, I would be proud of you—pray for +you."</p> + +<p>"Would to God that I could," cried Mr. Chittenden, "and, old as I am, I +would if it were not for this infernal rupture. But, Grace, I can never +forget that look you gave me when you thought I was one of the gang +about to hang Osborne. If I had been, would you still love me?" His +voice trembled as he asked the question.</p> + +<p>The girl shivered and was silent for a moment, then said: "When—when I +thought you were, it was as if a dagger had pierced my heart. I believe +I would have died then and there if I had not learned differently. It +would have been my love for you that would have killed me. To think my +father was a mur——"</p> + +<p>She did not finish the sentence. A look of anguish, of terror, came into +the father's face. He trembled like a leaf—what if his daughter knew +his past!</p> + +<p>"What is it, father?" cried Grace in alarm.</p> + +<p>With a tremendous effort Mr. Chittenden recovered his composure. +"Nothing now, Grace, but your words were so terrible. Don't say them +again, Grace. I—I would die if I lost my daughter's love."</p> + +<p>"You never will, father. You are too good, too noble," and she drew his +head down and kissed him again and again.</p> + +<p>Oh! the past! the past! How it stung that father as he felt his +daughter's pure kisses on his brow!</p> + +<p>"Father, you are not angry with me, are you?" asked Grace, wondering at +his silence.</p> + +<p>"No, darling; only, for my sake, keep your belief to yourself."</p> + +<p>"For your sake I will be just as little a Yankee as possible," answered +Grace, smiling.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>A WOUNDED CONFEDERATE</h3> + + +<p>A few days after the battle of Pea Ridge there came riding into the +valley of La Belle a wounded Confederate soldier. He was mounted on a +raw-boned, emaciated horse that staggered as it walked. The rider seemed +as weak as the horse, for he swayed in the saddle as he rode, and the +bridle reins hung limp in his hands. The soldier's left arm was +supported by a dirty sling, and the front of his uniform, if uniform it +could be called, showed it had been soaked in blood.</p> + +<p>The deep-set eyes of the soldier glowed with an unnatural fire, and he +was muttering to himself, as if in delirium.</p> + +<p>Of his own accord, the horse turned up to the door of Mr. Chittenden's +house, and that gentleman came out just in time to catch the rider as he +reeled from the saddle.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus5" id="illus5"></a> +<img src="images/illus5.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>To catch the rider as he reeled from the saddle.</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"He is about done for," he exclaimed as he ordered him carried in. +"Tilly," he called, "here is a patient for you."</p> + +<p>The colored woman came running, and with her Grace, who looked at the +wan features of the soldier with piteous eyes. "Why, father, he's +nothing but a boy," she exclaimed. "Where did he come from?"</p> + +<p>"A sorry-looking horse brought him here, is all I know," replied her +father.</p> + +<p>A hasty examination showed a ball had gone through the muscles of his +left arm about half-way between the elbow and shoulder and then torn a +great jagged wound in the breast.</p> + +<p>Tilly was a born nurse. The first thing she did was to turn to Grace and +say, "Now, Missy Grace, yo' jes go 'way an' leave this boy to me. Dis is +no place for a youn' lady."</p> + +<p>The next time Grace saw the boy he was lying in a clean bed, his wounds +neatly dressed. His bloody uniform had disappeared and instead he had on +a soft white night-shirt. As Grace looked at him, so thin and pale, her +eyes filled with tears, and she murmured, "Poor boy! Poor boy! I wonder +if he has a mother." Then she turned to her father and asked, "Will he +get well?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid not," answered Mr. Chittenden. "He is not only badly +wounded, but has a raging fever. I have sent for Doctor Hart. He will do +all he can for him."</p> + +<p>Doctor Hart lived miles away, and it was not until the next day he +arrived. After examining the boy he said, "The wounds are bad, very bad. +Without the fever, I would say he had a chance, but now I can hold out +little hope. Who is he?"</p> + +<p>"I know no more than you," replied Mr. Chittenden, and related how the +boy came.</p> + +<p>"Strange, very strange!" said the Doctor. "These wounds have the +appearance of having been inflicted several days ago, and yet I have +heard of no fighting near by. Must have been shot in a brawl."</p> + +<p>"There is the battle of Pea Ridge; you know we have just heard of it."</p> + +<p>"Mercy, man! what are you talking about! It must be between one and two +hundred miles to where that battle was fought. I do not see how this boy +could have ridden ten miles with the wounds he has. He must be a spunky +chap, and I will do the best I can for him; but I reckon, Chittenden, +you will have a funeral on your hands in a day or two."</p> + +<p>But the young soldier did not die, although it was Tilly's careful +nursing rather than the skill of the doctor that saved him.</p> + +<p>For two days he tossed in delirium, and then the fever left him and he +began to mend. Tilly was assiduous in her attentions, and until he was +out of danger could hardly be persuaded to leave the bedside, even for +rest.</p> + +<p>When the wounded soldier became well enough to talk he told his story to +Mr. Chittenden. He said his name was Mark Grafton, that his parents were +dead, and that he had no living relatives who cared for him. "I am all +alone in the world," he said, "and, Mr. Chittenden, if you had let me +die there would have been no one to weep."</p> + +<p>"Are you as friendless as that?" asked Mr. Chittenden.</p> + +<p>"As friendless as that! I am nothing but a poor private soldier," +answered Mark.</p> + +<p>He then went on and told how he had been with Price from the beginning, +how he had fought at Wilson Creek and Lexington and numerous other +engagements.</p> + +<p>"But at Pea Ridge——" Mark stopped and sighed.</p> + +<p>"Pea Ridge!" cried Mr. Chittenden. "Was it at Pea Ridge you received +your wounds?"</p> + +<p>Mark nodded.</p> + +<p>"And you rode all the distance from there here, wounded as you were? It +seems impossible."</p> + +<p>"I reckon I must," said Mark; "but I remember little about it. It was +this way: We whipped them the first day; that is, Price's army did. +Before the battle, McCullough's men—and he had a larger army than +Price—made fun of our appearance and said they would show us how to +fight, but they ran like sheep, while we drove the Yankees before us. We +thought the victory ours. But with McCullough out of the way, the next +morning the whole Yankee army attacked us, and we had to retreat. The +retreat became a rout. I was wounded and left on the field for dead. +When I came to it was night and the stars were shining. I staggered to +my feet and was fortunate enough to catch a stray horse and, by taking a +defile through the hills, was able to get away. I stopped at a house and +had my wounds roughly dressed. It was reported that the Yankee cavalry +were scouring the country, picking up the fugitives, and, although I was +so weak from my wounds I could hardly stand, I determined to push on. +Then my head began to feel strange: I saw all sorts of things. From that +time until I came to and found myself here, I have no remembrance, how I +got here, or how long it was after the battle."</p> + +<p>"The battle had been fought about two weeks when you put in an +appearance," said Mr. Chittenden.</p> + +<p>"I must have stopped, and got some rest during that time," said Mark. +"But where—it's all a blank. I feel I owe my life to you, Mr. +Chittenden. Not many would be as kind to a poor friendless soldier as +you have been to me. I feel——"</p> + +<p>"No thanks, my boy; you must stay with us until you get entirely well."</p> + +<p>"I reckon I will have to," replied Mark, with a smile. "I don't feel +much like traveling."</p> + +<p>There seemed to be something troubling Mark, and at last he asked Mr. +Chittenden what had become of the clothes he wore when he came.</p> + +<p>"Burnt up, Mark."</p> + +<p>Mark gave a convulsive start and looked as if he were going to faint.</p> + +<p>"There, don't worry; I'll see you have much better ones; those you wore +were in awful condition," replied Mr. Chittenden.</p> + +<p>"But—but what became of what was in the pockets?" Mark asked the +question with a visible effort to appear calm.</p> + +<p>"All safe, nothing disturbed. I gave orders that nothing should be +touched until we saw whether you lived or died."</p> + +<p>Mark looked relieved, but he only said: "There is nothing to worry +about; but I had a little money in my pockets, and it might have been +taken from me while I was wandering, not myself."</p> + +<p>"We will see," said Mr. Chittenden, and he got the articles which had +been taken from Mark's clothing.</p> + +<p>Mark hastily glanced them over and said, "It's all right. I am glad +there is money enough here to pay you, in part, for your trouble."</p> + +<p>"None of that, Mark. I will throw you out of the house if you ever say +pay again. In fact, I would take it as an insult," said Mr. Chittenden.</p> + +<p>Mark said no more, but, glancing over the articles, he abstracted two or +three papers, and handed the rest back to Mr. Chittenden, asking him to +keep them for him. No sooner was he gone than Mark called Tilly and +handed her the papers he had kept, asking her if she would not burn +them. "Don't let anyone see them, Tilly, and burn them right away."</p> + +<p>"Dat what I will," said Tilly, taking them.</p> + +<p>"And, Tilly, don't say anything about it to anyone."</p> + +<p>"Honey boy kin trust Tilly," exclaimed the woman as she turned to hurry +away, highly pleased that she had been trusted with a secret errand.</p> + +<p>"I can now rest easy," murmured Mark, as he closed his eyes and went to +sleep.</p> + +<p>One day as Tilly was administering to his wants Mark said, "Tilly, I +don't know, but it seems as if I have seen you somewhere before, but for +the life of me I can't remember where."</p> + +<p>"Dat is jes what I said 'bout yo', Marse Mark," cried Tilly, her face +brightening. "I said shorely I hev seen dat boy somewhar. It jes 'peared +to me that Tilly had held yo' in her arms some time, an' Tilly tuk yo' +to her ole heart right away, an' she grab yo' when de ole deth angel had +hole of yo', and she sed, 'Go 'way, ole deth angel, dis is mah boy,' an' +she tuk yo' right out of de clutches of dat ole deth angel, she did, an' +now yo' air mah boy."</p> + +<p>Mark smiled as he said, "Yes, Tilly, I believe you did cheat the death +angel, and if anyone has a claim on me, you have. I shall always +remember you."</p> + +<p>"An' Missy Grace, she helped too," cried Tilly. "Yo' mustn't forgit +Missy Grace."</p> + +<p>"I shall never forget her," replied Mark, and there was more meaning in +his words than Tilly thought.</p> + +<p>That night Mark lay thinking over what Tilly had said about holding him +in her arms, and suddenly he remembered. "She is right," he almost +sobbed. "She has held me in her arms, but she must never know."</p> + +<p>At last the day came when Mark could sit in a chair on the porch and +look out over the beautiful valley and stately hills. The valley was +arrayed in all the freshness and loveliness of spring; La Belle was +murmuring her sweetest music.</p> + +<p>"What a lovely valley you have here," he said to Mr. Chittenden. "One +should be perfectly happy here—so peaceful, so beautiful, so far +removed from the unrest and turmoil of the world."</p> + +<p>"You talk like a philosopher, young man," replied Mr. Chittenden, +laughing. "Not many of the world would like it; the mass of mankind +prefer the rush and roar of the cities. There is little room for +ambition here. The world would never have grown to what it is if all +preferred to live as I do. Yet I would live nowhere else. Yes, it is +very quiet here, or was before the war."</p> + +<p>"Has the war disturbed you much?" asked Mark.</p> + +<p>"Yes, a great deal. As yet there has been no fighting nearer than +Frederickstown, but the hills are full of small guerrilla bands, I would +not be surprised to have a Federal cavalry force visit us any day. I try +to impress on the boys that it would be better if they were in the army +fighting, but few of them care to become regular soldiers."</p> + +<p>Mark said no more, but sat apparently buried in deep thought.</p> + +<p>It was not to be expected that Mark had remained at Mr. Chittenden's all +of this time without him and Grace becoming fast friends. Mark was so +different from what she had expected when he represented himself as a +poor, homeless private soldier, that it puzzled her. "There is a mystery +about him," she said to herself, "and I am going to find out what it is. +Whatever he is now, he was raised a gentleman."</p> + +<p>As for Mark, he almost regretted he was getting well. The girl had come +to fill a large share of his thoughts. He had also learned some things +that surprised him. He had heard Grace and Tilly talk when he was lying, +as they thought, asleep, and he knew that Grace's heart was with the +North, and not the South, and that she hated slavery.</p> + +<p>One day Tilly told Grace a story that caused every nerve in his body to +tingle, and he scarcely could keep from crying out.</p> + +<p>Mark was very curious to know whether or not Mr. Chittenden was +cognizant of his daughter's heresy, and soon found that he was, but that +he looked upon it as a mere girlish whim.</p> + +<p>As Mark grew stronger he and Mr. Chittenden grew very intimate, and he +never tired to hear Mark tell of how he had fought with Price at Wilson +Creek, at Lexington, and at Pea Ridge.</p> + +<p>In turn he confided to Mark that his house was what might be called a +station between Missouri and Arkansas. The route through the valley of +La Belle was little known to Federals, and practically unguarded. It +touched no towns in their possession, and thus left an almost +uninterrupted gateway between the two States.</p> + +<p>Mark soon noticed that a good many Confederate officers were making +their way north, and he learned that a gigantic conspiracy was on foot, +but, being only a private soldier, he was not taken into their +confidence.</p> + +<p>One day there came to the house on his way north the same Colonel Clay +spoken of in our first chapter. He noticed and asked about Mark, and, +when told, exclaimed, "Remarkable! I would like to speak to him."</p> + +<p>He made Mark tell him the whole story. Not only this, but by questioning +he learned that Mark had not only a keen knowledge of military affairs +but was wonderfully well informed as to the army.</p> + +<p>"It's a shame you were kept in the ranks. You should be an officer," +cried Clay.</p> + +<p>"All can not be officers, and I was content to serve my country in the +most humble capacity," modestly replied Mark. "Alas! I am afraid I can +serve her no more." And he touched his wounded arm.</p> + +<p>"I don't know about that," said Colonel Clay. "You may be able to serve +your country even in a greater capacity than you yet have. I have some +important documents which I would like to get into St. Louis to certain +parties. I will not deny that if you were caught with them on your +person it would be certain death; but I believe you are both brave and +shrewd."</p> + +<p>"The boy is not able," spoke up Mr. Chittenden. "He has not been out of +bed more than a week. His wounds are not healed yet."</p> + +<p>"So much the better," said Clay. "If he can ride, he can get through +where a well man can not."</p> + +<p>"I will go. A man can die but once, and it is for my country." As Mark +said this his eyes fairly seemed to shine.</p> + +<p>"Bravely spoken, my lad," cried Clay. "Would we had more like you!"</p> + +<p>So it was arranged that Mark was to make the dangerous journey.</p> + +<p>"Why do you do this, Mark?" asked Grace when he went to bid her +good-bye.</p> + +<p>"It is for my country," answered Mark.</p> + +<p>"You mean it is to help destroy your country. I despise the cause for +which you fight."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know; your father told me."</p> + +<p>"You knew, and never let on?"</p> + +<p>"Why should I?"</p> + +<p>"Because father says I am a traitor to the South."</p> + +<p>"Grace, if I never come back, remember that there is one who never will +despise you, believe what you will."</p> + +<p>"Take it easy," said Clay to Mark as he started to ride away. "Don't +overtax your strength. Two or three days will not matter much."</p> + +<p>Colonel Clay had liberally supplied Mark with money for the journey; in +fact, the Colonel seemed to have plenty of money.</p> + +<p>"Clay, I don't like it. You should never have sent him," said Mr. +Chittenden. "I am afraid he never will live to see St. Louis, and I have +grown fond of the boy. We raised him, as it were, from the dead."</p> + +<p>"Never fear," replied the Colonel. "The same grit that brought him here +will take him to St. Louis. If he dies after he gets there—well, it +won't matter much. His mission will be done, and it may mean the +redemption of the State. What is one life to that?"</p> + +<p>Grace overheard the heartless remark, and a fierce anger seized her. It +was well the Colonel left the next day, for she resolutely refused to +serve him or sit at the same table with him.</p> + +<p>The days passed. Two weeks passed, and then three, and Mark had not +returned. Grace grew restless, her father anxious, and Tilly kept +asking, "Whar is mah boy?"</p> + +<p>But one day Mark appeared. He was riding slowly, so slowly, and his face +was flushed. It was seen the fever had him again.</p> + +<p>"Help me off." His voice was almost a whisper.</p> + +<p>He was helped off, and almost carried into the house, and it was some +weeks before he was able to leave it. "I do not regret the journey," he +said to Mr. Chittenden. "I was entirely successful in my mission, and I +rejoice that I was able to do something for my country, wounded as I +am."</p> + +<p>During his convalescence this time, Grace was with him a good deal. She +sang and read to him, and Mark thought he never had heard a voice so +sweet. Even the hand of Tilly was not so gentle and soothing on his +fevered brow as was the hand of Grace.</p> + +<p>By the first of August he had nearly recovered, but with August came +Colonel Clay, returning to the South. He was in a towering rage, for all +his planning had come to naught. The defeat of Porter at Moore's Mill, +and then his complete overthrow at Kirksville, the dispersion of +Poindexter's army, and his capture, ended all his hopes of capturing +Missouri by a partisan uprising.</p> + +<p>But one hope remained to him—that the movement in Southwest Missouri +might be successful and Independence and Lexington captured. If so, the +blow must be struck, and struck quickly. It had been ordered, but +Colonel Clay was afraid it would not be struck quickly enough. Therefore +when he saw Mark his face brightened.</p> + +<p>"Ah, my boy, I learned weeks ago that your mission was entirely +successful. You are a faithful courier, and I have another job for you."</p> + +<p>"The one he had nearly proved the death of him," spoke up Mr. +Chittenden. "The hardships of the trip were too much for him, and he lay +for days with a return of the fever."</p> + +<p>"He must go; I can trust no one else," cried Clay. "He is a soldier. I +command him."</p> + +<p>"I need no commands. I will go," said Mark proudly, drawing himself up.</p> + +<p>"That's the talk. I knew I could depend on you," replied Clay.</p> + +<p>When Grace learned Mark was to go again, she solemnly assured him that +if he did and got the fever, he would have to look for someone else to +nurse him, but her voice trembled and tears gathered in her eyes as she +bade him good-bye.</p> + +<p>As for Mark, he only said as he rode away, "God bless you, if I never +see you again."</p> + +<p>After Mark had gone Colonel Clay apologized to Mr. Chittenden for +sending him, saying there were so few he could trust with so delicate a +mission. Then with an oath he exclaimed, "Chittenden, there is a traitor +somewhere. Schofield got hold of our entire plans in regard to this +uprising. If I only knew who it was." He brought his fist down with a +resounding blow on the table beside which they were sitting.</p> + +<p>"Have you any suspicion?" asked Mr. Chittenden.</p> + +<p>"No, it is some one high up, but I'll get him yet."</p> + +<p>The next day Colonel Clay continued on his way to the south. In a few +days he had the satisfaction of hearing that Independence was taken and +Foster defeated. But a little later came the discouraging news that the +Confederate forces in Southwest Missouri were again in full retreat for +Arkansas.</p> + +<p>This time Mark was not gone as long as before but he returned in a weak +and exhausted condition.</p> + +<p>When Colonel Clay went away he left orders for Mark to join him in +Arkansas on his return.</p> + +<p>"I shall do no such thing. He has no right to order me," exclaimed Mark. +"What I have done I have done of my own volition."</p> + +<p>"Good for you, Mark," said Mr. Chittenden. "Stay right here and get +entirely well. Then you can help me, as I have some important orders to +fill for supplies for General Hindman."</p> + +<p>"Thank you. You are very kind," replied Mark. "So kind that I am afraid +I shall trespass on your hospitality longer than is well." As he said +it, his eyes wandered over to where Grace was sitting.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h3>TRAILING RED JERRY</h3> + + +<p>Lawrence sat reading a letter. It was from Harry and told of his +adventures since their parting. It closed as follows: "Captain, I want +to come to you. Bruno and I are becoming too well known in this section. +Then it has been very quiet here since Porter and most of his men fled +south. I understand General McNeil and most of his force have been +ordered to Southeastern Missouri, so there is little here for me to do. +Try and get me transferred if you can. I have a mate now, a boy about my +age, by the name of Jack Harwood. He is a good one, and is crazy to come +with me. See if you can't get him transferred too."</p> + +<p>Dan came in just as Lawrence finished reading the letter. "What do you +think of that, Dan?" asked Lawrence, handing it to him.</p> + +<p>Dan read it. "Don't see what you can do for him when you can't keep me," +said Dan, lugubriously. He had been in the dumps ever since he thought +that he and Lawrence might have to part.</p> + +<p>"Cheer up, Dan," said Lawrence. "I have good news for you. General +Schofield finds so much requiring his attention that he will not be able +to take the field in person for some time yet. He has requested me to +take a force of fifty men and scout down through the Ozarks and then +make my way to General Blount in Northwest Arkansas. Of course, you will +go with me."</p> + +<p>Dan was so excited that he took three chews of tobacco, one right after +the other.</p> + +<p>"You can send for Harry now, can't you?" asked Dan.</p> + +<p>"Yes, and to please him I will also ask for a transfer for that mate of +his. He must be a good one to have Harry like him so well."</p> + +<p>Lawrence had no trouble in getting Harry Semans and Jack Harwood, +scouts, transferred to his command.</p> + +<p>When the transfer came Harry was overjoyed, and lost no time in +reporting at Rolla, where Lawrence was organizing his company.</p> + +<p>"Hello, you here already?" cried Lawrence, as Harry made his appearance. +"Mighty glad to see you and Bruno, too. How are you, old fellow?" and +Lawrence patted the dog's head and heartily shook the paw extended to +him.</p> + +<p>"Here is Jack, Captain, you mustn't forget him," said Harry introducing +his companion.</p> + +<p>"Ah! Jack, glad to meet you," said Lawrence so heartily and cheerily +that Jack's heart was at once won. "Anyone that Harry recommends needs +nothing more. You are more than welcome."</p> + +<p>"I can never hope to equal Harry," replied Jack, modestly, "but where he +leads I can follow."</p> + +<p>"The trouble is he wants to go ahead where there is danger," laughed +Harry.</p> + +<p>"I reckon I will have to put leading strings on both of you," replied +Lawrence, with a smile.</p> + +<p>Just as Lawrence was ready to start for the Ozarks he received a message +from General Schofield, saying that Red Jerry and his band were making a +great deal of trouble along the Osage; that he had lately surprised and +nearly annihilated a force of seventy-five men under a Captain Dunlay, +and that the victory had encouraged him to commit further excesses.</p> + +<p>"Can't you go and teach him a lesson he won't forget, before you start +for the Ozarks?" asked the General.</p> + +<p>"Here, what do you think of this, Dan?" asked Lawrence, handing the +message to his lieutenant.</p> + +<p>"Let's go by all means," replied Dan, his face brightening. "I am just +aching to get a chance at that fellow."</p> + +<p>"The same here," exclaimed Lawrence.</p> + +<p>Hearing that Captain Dunlay, who had been in command of the force Red +Jerry had routed, was in Rolla, Lawrence hunted him up to learn all he +could of his whereabouts, and the supposed number of his band.</p> + +<p>When Dunlay heard Lawrence was to go after Red Jerry with fifty men he +was astonished. "Captain," he exclaimed, "It's suicidal! Your force will +simply be exterminated. Red Jerry has at least two hundred men and they +fight like devils."</p> + +<p>"Never mind the number of his men, or how they fight," said Lawrence. +"What I want to know is where I will be most likely to find him."</p> + +<p>"I can tell you where I found him," snapped Dunlay, nettled at what +Lawrence had said, "and I wish you joy when you meet him."</p> + +<p>"No offence, Captain," replied Lawrence. "Just tell me what you know +about his hiding places."</p> + +<p>The Captain told all he knew, and when Lawrence thanked him and went +away, Dunlay turned to a brother officer standing by and remarked, "That +young popinjay will be wiser before many days."</p> + +<p>The next morning Lawrence was on his way bright and early. It was not +until the afternoon of the second day that he began to hear anything of +Red Jerry. He then learned that he had attacked and was chasing a small +scouting party towards Versailles.</p> + +<p>"Dan, we are in luck," said Lawrence. "Jerry will not be expecting a +force from this way, and we may meet him on the way back."</p> + +<p>The meeting took place quicker than Lawrence expected. Towards evening +there came from the front the sound of several shots, and in a few +minutes Harry Semans, who was in command of the advance guard, came +galloping up.</p> + +<p>"Guerrillas ahead, Captain," he reported.</p> + +<p>"How many?"</p> + +<p>"I only saw four, but I reckon there are more back. Bruno had hardly +given a warning of danger ahead when these four came around a bend in +the road at full gallop. They seemed surprised at seeing us, and after +firing one volley wheeled their horses and went tearing back. The boys +were eager to pursue, but I held them back, fearing an ambuscade."</p> + +<p>"You did right, Harry. We have a wary foe to contend with, up to all +sorts of tricks. We can't be too careful."</p> + +<p>Leaving the troop in charge of Dan, Lawrence rode forward with Harry to +where the advance had halted.</p> + +<p>"Seen anyone since I left?" asked Harry.</p> + +<p>"No, but that dog of yours acts mighty queer."</p> + +<p>"Plenty of rebs around then? Hello! There's a couple."</p> + +<p>Two horsemen had appeared around the bend. When they noticed they had +been discovered they halted and one of them, who was on a magnificent +gray horse, raised a field glass to his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Don't fire, boys, the distance is too great and I want to look at +them," said Lawrence.</p> + +<p>Lawrence took a look through his glasses and after a moment exclaimed, +"Jerry Alcorn, as I live, on that gray horse. The one with him is a +young fellow. Well, we have found the game we came after."</p> + +<p>At the same time Jerry was saying to his companion, "I know that fellow, +Agnes.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> Curse the luck. It's Lawrence Middleton. It's run now instead +of fight. Where in the world did he come from? and how did he get here?"</p> + +<p>"Don't let's run until we have to," replied Billy. "This Middleton is +the fellow who cut your command all to pieces last fall, is he not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and the same one who run me out of St. Louis; but I hold no grudge +against him for that, for if he had not I never would have met you. +The ——"</p> + +<p>This exclamation was caused by Lawrence and the advance guard charging +down upon them. Lawrence had come to the conclusion that the guerrillas +were surprised and totally unprepared for a fight. This was true. They +were returning from their pursuit of the scouting party and were strung +out a long distance along the road.</p> + +<p>Wheeling their horses, Jerry and Billy rode madly back and after them +thundered Lawrence and the guard. When they turned the bend in the road +Lawrence saw a sight that made his heart thrill. On each side of the +road for over a mile there were open fields. Scattered along the road +for the whole distance was Jerry's band riding at leisure.</p> + +<p>"Tell Dan to bring forward the whole troop at full gallop," shouted +Lawrence.</p> + +<p>Eager for the fray the troopers came. Jerry saw his danger and was +wildly gesticulating for his men to turn back. They understood, and +wheeling their horses, in a moment were in full retreat.</p> + +<p>The troop came up and the order "Charge" was given. Soon the hindmost of +the guerrillas and the foremost of the Federals began to exchange shots. +A guerrilla's horse went down, but the rider scrambled to his feet and +was over the fence and running like a deer when a carbine rang out and +he fell, all crumpled up, and lay still.</p> + +<p>Lawrence saw one of his men reel and then fall forward, clutching his +horse's neck. Some of the guerrillas riding the fleetest horses formed a +rear guard, and taking advantage of every rise of ground would hold the +advance of the Federals back as long as possible.</p> + +<p>The chase had continued some three miles, when the road became narrow +and lined with bushes on each side. Jerry saw his opportunity; he knew +the pursuit must be checked, or his whole band would be captured or +dispersed. As it was, he had already lost six or seven men. He dashed to +the head of the column and quickly gave orders. As the men passed him, +three would spring from their horses and disappear in the brush, the +fourth one riding on with the horses.</p> + +<p>The road through the brush was a winding one, and Jerry was in hopes the +Federals might not see what was being done and ride into the trap.</p> + +<p>Mounted men would have but little chance in that narrow road against an +enemy concealed in the brush. But Lawrence was not to be caught. He saw +the opportunity afforded for just such a move; not only this, but he +caught sight of the last of the guerrillas as they were disappearing in +the brush.</p> + +<p>"Halt!" he ordered.</p> + +<p>His men drew rein, wondering why they were halted. When the column +closed up, Lawrence ordered half of the men to dismount, form a skirmish +line on each side of the road and to advance cautiously.</p> + +<p>This was done, and soon the crack of the carbines and revolvers showed +that the guerrillas had been aroused, and then the cheers of his men +told Lawrence the enemy were retreating. Jerry had failed to draw the +Federals into his trap, but he had saved his gang, for night was now +near at hand and it would have been madness for Lawrence to continue the +pursuit in the darkness.</p> + +<p>Lawrence went into camp near a farmhouse, where he noticed there was +plenty of provender for the horses.</p> + +<p>The house was tenanted by a woman and three children. At the sight of +the Yankees the children shrieked in terror and ran cowering behind +their mother, who tried to preserve a brave front, but could not conceal +her fears.</p> + +<p>By questioning, Lawrence became convinced her husband was one of Jerry's +band, but he quieted her fears by saying, "There is no reason for you to +be alarmed. Your house will not be disturbed. I will see that no soldier +enters it. What feed the horses need I will take. I also see some fat +pigs. I shall let my men kill one. Some sweet potatoes may be dug and a +few chickens killed, but nothing will be taken that we do not actually +need, and nothing will be destroyed. But for all I know we may be +attacked. My advice is to go into the house, bar the door and keep +quiet."</p> + +<p>Lawrence had had two men wounded in the <i>mêlée</i> and they were as +tenderly cared for as possible.</p> + +<p>The men were soon busy preparing supper, and chicken, fresh pork and +sweet potatoes added to their rations, made, as they thought, a banquet +fit for a king. All were in the highest spirits as they discussed the +incidents of the day.</p> + +<p>"I tell you," said one, "that young Captain of ours is a good one. Not +many would have discovered that ambuscade, and we would have ridden +plumb into it."</p> + +<p>In this they were all agreed, and when they saw the preparations that +Lawrence made to guard against a surprise at night they became +convinced, more than ever, that their Captain was all right.</p> + +<p>As for the guerrillas, they felt when night came that they were safe; +but Red Jerry was wild with rage. As soon as he became convinced that +the pursuit was over he called a halt. If he wished, he could have been +miles away by morning, and out of all danger, but he did not wish. He +was burning for revenge. He detailed two of his best men to go back and +find where the Yankees camped and then report as soon as possible. +Runners were also sent out through the country to bring in all the men +they could. By morning he believed he could rally at least a hundred +men.</p> + +<p>"They have not over fifty," said Jerry, as he discussed the matter with +his officers. "If we can't whip them we had better go out of business. I +will have revenge or die in the attempt. We will wait until Carter and +Holmes report, then lay our plans."</p> + +<p>Lawrence, like Jerry, was not satisfied with what had been done. After +supper, when the men sat around discussing the results of the day, he +said nothing, but sat buried in thought.</p> + +<p>"Why so glum, Captain?" asked Dan. "Has anything gone wrong?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Lawrence. "We have just scorched the guerrillas instead +of capturing or dispersing them, and by morning they will be miles away. +I look upon our expedition as a failure."</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, Captain," spoke up Harry, "but I believe you are mistaken +when you say the guerrillas will be miles away in the morning. Instead, +I look for an attack tonight or in the morning."</p> + +<p>"What makes you think so?" asked Lawrence.</p> + +<p>"In the first place, from what you tell me of Red Jerry, I do not think +he is a man that will run away so easily. Then through that open country +he had a good opportunity to ascertain our strength. He knows as well as +you that we do not number over fifty. I took care to estimate his +strength and he has about eighty. By morning he will have a hundred. +Instead of running away, I am confident he is not over three miles from +us, laying plans as to how he can get his revenge."</p> + +<p>"Do you really think so, Harry?" asked Lawrence, rising.</p> + +<p>"I not only think so, but I am going to know so."</p> + +<p>"But how?"</p> + +<p>"By going to see. By tracking them to their lair."</p> + +<p>"How many men will you need to go with you?" asked Lawrence.</p> + +<p>"I want Jack only. Bruno, of course, will be one of the party. More +would be in the way. Come on, Jack."</p> + +<p>"Aren't you going to take your horses?" cried Lawrence, seeing they were +making preparation to start away on foot.</p> + +<p>"Horses are no use on this scout. I hope to sneak up on them."</p> + +<p>"Harry, I hate to see you go," said Lawrence, with feeling.</p> + +<p>"Poof! I have had many a more dangerous job than this, but if we are not +back by midnight, you may know something has happened. Come on, Jack."</p> + +<p>The two boys and the dog were quickly swallowed up in the darkness. The +men watched them as they went, and shook their heads. "Cap oughtn't to +have let them go," said one.</p> + +<p>"Don't worry," said Dan. "The boys can take care of themselves, and they +have Bruno."</p> + +<p>It was well they had Bruno, for after going a mile the dog turned up a +road that crossed the one they were on. "We would have gone right on," +said Harry. "It's funny how much more a dog knows about some things than +a man."</p> + +<p>After following the cross-road a space they saw the dim lights of a +house ahead. They also became aware there were dogs on the place. Bruno +began to bristle up.</p> + +<p>"Quiet, old boy, no fuss," said Harry.</p> + +<p>Bruno obeyed and walked meekly by his side.</p> + +<p>But the dogs of the house barked so furiously that two men came out. +Harry and Jack sought shelter in a clump of bushes by the roadside. It +was starlight and objects could be distinguished some distance away. The +dogs began leading the men directly to where Harry and Jack lay. With +revolvers in their hands, the boys waited. They knew a shot might +destroy the object of their scout, but saw no way out of it. Just at +this moment a rabbit scurried across the road, and the dogs, with yelps +of delight, took after it.</p> + +<p>"Them blame dawgs," growled one of the men, "to make all that fuss over +a rabbit. But, Hicks, we 'uns might as well git our hosses an' be +goin'."</p> + +<p>Just then two horsemen came galloping down the road. They halted at the +sight of the two men and one cried, "Why, Sloan and Hicks, what's up? +Why aren't you with Red Jerry?"</p> + +<p>"Jes' goin' to start," said Sloan. "Whar hev' yo' uns been?"</p> + +<p>"Watching the Yanks. We're on our way to report to Jerry. Hicks, the +Yanks are camped on your place."</p> + +<p>"What's that? The Yanks camped on my place!" cried Hicks.</p> + +<p>"Sure. Reckon you'll be short on fodder and pork and sweet 'taters by +morning."</p> + +<p>"The ole woman and children?" gasped Hicks.</p> + +<p>"Reckon they're all right, seeing their natural protector is not at +home. The Yanks won't hurt them. Git your hosses and come on. We've been +gone too long now. Jerry will give us the devil for not reporting +before."</p> + +<p>As he was speaking horsemen were heard approaching from the other +direction, and in a moment Jerry and Billy rode up.</p> + +<p>"Is that you, Stevens?" Jerry demanded angrily.</p> + +<p>"Yes," was the hesitating reply.</p> + +<p>"I have a notion to have you cashiered for dawdling along the road. You +know everything depends on your report. I've been waiting an hour."</p> + +<p>Stevens was Jerry's lieutenant and he did not relish the idea of losing +his office.</p> + +<p>"Captain, I came as quickly as I could," he responded meekly. "You told +us to make a thorough examination, and that took time. I arrived here +just a moment ago. Sloan halted me, saying his dogs were making a fuss. +Then he asked us to wait a minute; saying they would get their hosses +and come with us."</p> + +<p>"Well, what did you find?"</p> + +<p>"The Yanks have gone into camp on Hicks' farm. They seem to be making +free with Hicks' fodder, pigs and 'taters (here Hicks was heard to +groan), and it looks as if they intended to stay all night."</p> + +<p>"What do you say, Billy? Shall we attack them there?" asked Jerry.</p> + +<p>"Stevens saw how they were situated. Let's hear what he thinks."</p> + +<p>"We might whip them, but it would be a costly job," answered Stevens. +"We had a taste of how they can fight this afternoon. My advice is to +let them alone tonight and they will think we have run entirely away. +When they are not attacked nor hear anything from us, they will move out +kind of careless."</p> + +<p>"Then your idea is to attack them in the morning?" asked Jerry.</p> + +<p>"Yes, and I know a capital place. It is where this road crosses the main +road. This side of the main road is covered with bushes for about two +hundred yards, then come clear fields. Along the edge of the fields the +ground descends this way. We can leave our horses in the field, the men +hide in the brush along the road, and when they come along we can +annihilate them with one volley."</p> + +<p>"What do you think of the plan, Billy?" asked Jerry.</p> + +<p>"It's all right. If it works well we ought to finish them without the +loss of a man. Even if they discover us, we will have the advantage of +position, and we have two men to their one. If we cannot whip them I +shall lose my confidence in you as a fighter."</p> + +<p>"Well said, Billy. Tomorrow morning it is. I will never rest until I +leave the body of Lawrence Middleton swinging on a tree."</p> + +<p>Then turning to his lieutenant, Jerry said, "As you know the ground, +Stevens, I will leave the details to you. See the troop is on the ground +by daylight. Mind you don't fail me."</p> + +<p>Thus speaking, Jerry and Billy rode back and in a few moments were +followed by the other four.</p> + +<p>As soon as the sound of their horses' hoofs died away, Harry drew a long +breath. "I say, Jack," he exclaimed, "this is a cinch. Got all we want +without half trying. Now to camp as quick as we can."</p> + +<p>They started back on the run, but Bruno soon gave notice of danger and +they hid while four men passed them.</p> + +<p>"Recruits for Jerry," said Harry. "He may have two hundred men by +morning."</p> + +<p>When they came to the main road both were breathing heavily from their +run.</p> + +<p>"Let's stop here a moment," panted Harry. "Here is where they propose to +ambush us, and a jolly good place it is for the job. But let's hurry on. +Cap can't learn of this too quick."</p> + +<p>Again they started on the run, and did not stop until they were halted +by the picket guarding the road.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h3>LIVE—I CANNOT SHOOT YOU</h3> + + +<p>"Back so soon!" cried Lawrence, grasping Harry's hand, as he came up. +"Thank God you are back safe!"</p> + +<p>"Never had an easier job, did we, Jack?" laughed Harry. "Even Bruno is +ashamed of himself, it was so easy."</p> + +<p>"And you found out what you were after?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," and Harry told his story.</p> + +<p>Lawrence and Dan listened in silence. "What do you think, Dan?" asked +Lawrence.</p> + +<p>"I reckon it's fight or run. When Jerry finds he cannot surprise us, he +will attack us openly."</p> + +<p>"I don't feel like running," said Lawrence.</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't feel inclined that way myself," said Dan, resorting to +his tobacco box.</p> + +<p>"Why can't we occupy that ambush ourselves?" spoke up Harry, "and let +Jerry be the one to be surprised."</p> + +<p>"Didn't Jerry leave men on guard?" asked Lawrence, eagerly.</p> + +<p>"No, but he may send guards there. If we think of occupying that ground +it must be done at once."</p> + +<p>The proposition was eagerly discussed, but there were obstacles in the +way. Not only were there their own two wounded men, but they had picked +up and were caring for six wounded guerrillas. After a short discussion +it was decided to leave the camp in charge of ten men. If they were +attacked they were to take refuge in a log barn, and defend it until the +rest of the troop could come to their rescue.</p> + +<p>Dan, much to his chagrin, was left in charge of the camp. "It's no use +kicking, Dan," said Lawrence. "I cannot risk going unless you stay, and +the boys left here would rebel if you did not stay." So Dan had to +remain, much as he wished a hand in the fray.</p> + +<p>The ten men to remain were chosen, and the rest of the troop told to get +ready to move. "Be as quiet as possible," said Lawrence. "We have not +far to go; walk your horses, don't talk, and above all things, don't +allow your arms to rattle."</p> + +<p>As silent as specters of the night the troop moved away, Harry, Jack, +and Bruno in advance to see if the coast was still clear. They reached +the cross roads without either seeing or hearing anything of the enemy.</p> + +<p>"It's all right, Captain, so far," whispered Harry, as the head of the +troop came up, "but we must get into position as soon as possible, for +there is no knowing how soon some of the guerrillas may make their +appearance."</p> + +<p>A hasty examination showed the position all that could be wished. The +troop rode up the cross road until the bushes were cleared, and then +filed into the open field. Here the men dismounted, and the horses were +led back into the brush, where they could easily be concealed. The men +then were placed in single line in the edge of the brush facing the open +field. A slight ridge in front protected them from observation.</p> + +<p>Thus the preparations of Lawrence were exactly the reverse of what Jerry +had planned. In an incredibly short time the troop was in position.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Harry, "Jack and I will hide in the brush close to where the +roads cross. If guards are sent there is where they will be stationed, +and I want to be close enough to hear what they say."</p> + +<p>Order was given to maintain a strict silence and to molest no one +passing along either road.</p> + +<p>It was well that all the preparations had been made expeditiously, for +hardly had Harry and Jack taken their position when horsemen were heard +approaching down the cross road, and soon the shadowy forms of four men +appeared.</p> + +<p>They halted where the roads crossed and one said, "The orders are that +Brown and I stay here while Hayden, you and Singleton are to ride +towards the Yankee camp until you reach the rise where you can look down +the road to the camp. Don't go any nearer, for we don't want them to +know we are within forty miles of them. If the Yanks show signs of +moving, report immediately. Better have Singleton report every hour, +anyway."</p> + +<p>"All right, Sergeant," replied Hayden. "You may be sure Singleton and I +will keep our eyes open." And they rode away.</p> + +<p>The men left fell to talking.</p> + +<p>"Mighty quiet," said one.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but if everything goes right it won't be so quiet when the Yanks +move. Why, if the Yanks ride into the trap, we ought to kill every last +son of them at the first fire."</p> + +<p>Harry and Jack lay chuckling as they listened.</p> + +<p>In about an hour the man called Singleton came riding back. "The Yanks +are there yet," he reported, "but they are keeping mighty quiet. There's +a dim fire burning and we can catch the shadow of one once in a while.</p> + +<p>"That's where Jerry wants them to stay. He was afraid they might take a +notion to light out during the night."</p> + +<p>Singleton rode back and again all was quiet. The Federals lay sleeping, +their guns in their hands and revolvers by their sides. It would take +but a word to bring them to attention.</p> + +<p>About four o'clock the trampling of horses told the guerrillas were +coming. In a whisper the word was passed and in an instant every man was +alert. But the guerrillas halted some distance from the main road and +only three rode forward. They were Jerry, Stevens and Billy.</p> + +<p>"How is it, Sergeant?" asked Jerry as they came up.</p> + +<p>"As quiet as a churchyard. Hayden and Singleton are down the road +watching if the Yanks move. I have Singleton report every hour. There he +comes now."</p> + +<p>Singleton rode up. "The Yanks are beginning to stir," he reported. "They +are building fires, no doubt to make coffee. It makes my mouth water to +think of coffee."</p> + +<p>"You men will have coffee enough before long, but there'll be a lot of +blood spilling first," said Jerry.</p> + +<p>"Sergeant, what time was it when you reached this post?" he asked +suddenly.</p> + +<p>"I should say somewhere near midnight," answered the Sergeant.</p> + +<p>"Then the Yankees could have moved before you got here. Stevens, I +thought I told you to have this cross-roads guarded and the Yankee camp +watched as soon as we decided to attack. Slow, as usual. If this thing +goes wrong, you pay for it."</p> + +<p>"You know, Captain, it was eleven o'clock before I received orders to +post the guard," said Stevens uneasily.</p> + +<p>"Well, we have no time to lose now. Go back, have the force moved into +the field and see that instructions are carried out to the letter. +Sergeant, you call in your men and join the force."</p> + +<p>While these orders were being carried out Jerry and Billy lingered a +minute looking over the field. "Couldn't be a better place for an +ambuscade," said Jerry. "If the Yanks ride into it, not a man will come +out alive."</p> + +<p>"Hark!" suddenly exclaimed Billy.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" asked Jerry, startled.</p> + +<p>"I thought a heard a horse stamping."</p> + +<p>"It's Hayden and Singleton coming in from guard."</p> + +<p>"No, it was over there to the left, in the bushes. I'm sure I heard it."</p> + +<p>Both gazed anxiously into the bushes, as if to pierce the secret they +contained.</p> + +<p>Harry's heart stood still; was the ambuscade to be discovered at the +last minute? But the wind had risen, and nothing was heard but the +rustling of the leaves.</p> + +<p>"I reckon you must have been mistaken," said Jerry.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," replied Billy, with a sigh. "Jerry, I don't know why, but I +feel as if everything is not right. You have told me so much about this +Lawrence Middleton that I am afraid."</p> + +<p>"Afraid of what?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. What if he should discover this ambuscade?"</p> + +<p>"I will fight him anyway. I now have over a hundred men and he has less +than fifty. It will mean some loss to us, but we will have no trouble in +beating him."</p> + +<p>By this time Hayden and Singleton came up. They reported the Yankees +were still in camp, but showed signs of moving.</p> + +<p>"We have no time to lose then," said Jerry.</p> + +<p>The gray dawn was just breaking in the east when the guerrillas filed +into the field and formed their line.</p> + +<p>"Move forward!" ordered Jerry, "until you nearly reach the crest of the +ridge, then halt and dismount, leaving the horses in charge of every +fourth man. The rest of you advance through the brush until you nearly +reach the road. Be sure you are well concealed. When the enemy comes +along take good aim at the man directly in front of you, and at the +command, fire. Let not a shot be fired until the command is given. Give +no quarter. Shoot the wounded as you come to them. But if you can +capture the Yankee captain alive do so. I will have my reckoning with +him afterwards. And it will be a reckoning that will make the devil +laugh."</p> + +<p>Every word of this was heard by Lawrence and his men, and the men fairly +gnashed their teeth as they listened. It boded no good to the guerrillas +that fell into their hands.</p> + +<p>The guerrillas moved forward until about seventy-five paces from the +waiting Federals. The order was given them to dismount, and the men not +holding the horses moved forward and formed into line.</p> + +<p>Lawrence was going to wait until they were over the ridge, but before he +gave the order to advance, Lieutenant Stevens walked towards the bushes +as if to reconnoiter, and a few more steps would have taken him into the +midst of the Federals.</p> + +<p>"Fire!" cried Lawrence.</p> + +<p>The men sprang to their feet and poured in a crashing volley. Then with +a wild cheer, without waiting for orders, they sprang forward, revolvers +in hand, and sent a leaden hail into the demoralized mass. The effect +was awful; men and horses went down. Never was surprise more complete.</p> + +<p>From out the struggling mass came the groans of the dying and the +shrieks of the wounded and terror-stricken. Horses reared and plunged, +trampling on the dead and living.</p> + +<p>Many fled on foot across the fields, others mounting in wild haste +spurred their horses. But one thought filled the minds of all—to get +away from that awful place.</p> + +<p>Lawrence had given orders for the men holding the horses to rush forward +at the first volley, so his men were almost as quickly mounted as the +guerrillas.</p> + +<p>In vain did Jerry and Billy try to stem the tide and rally the men. They +were forced to join in the flight.</p> + +<p>It now became a matter of single combat. Each trooper selected his +victim and pursued him until he surrendered, or was shot down fighting. +Those who had fled on foot were first overtaken and then those who had +the poorest mounts.</p> + +<p>Lawrence passed several, but he gave them no heed. He had but one +thought, to find Jerry Alcorn. At last he saw him mounted on his +magnificent gray horse. He was shouting to the men to take to the +woods—to abandon their horses—to save themselves if possible.</p> + +<p>Lawrence bore down upon him. Jerry saw him coming, and with a roar like +a cornered beast, turned to face him. He raised his revolver to fire, +but Lawrence was first and the revolver dropped. He was shot in the arm. +Defenceless, he wheeled his horse to fly. Again Lawrence fired. Jerry +reeled in his saddle, but gathered himself together and urged his horse +to greater speed. Close after him came Lawrence.</p> + +<p>The chase was a wild one, continued for more than a mile. Lawrence had +now drawn his sword and a few bounds of his horse took him to Jerry's +side. "Surrender!" he cried with uplifted sword. "Surrender or die!"</p> + +<p>Jerry turned to him, his face distorted with rage and fear. Blood was +dripping from his right hand. He had dropped the reins and was +struggling to draw a revolver from his right holster with his left hand.</p> + +<p>"Surrender or I strike!" cried Lawrence, but before the blow could +descend he felt a sharp sting in the side and his horse plunged forward +and fell. Hardly had Lawrence touched the ground when he heard a voice +hiss, "Turn, so you may see who sends you to hell."</p> + +<p>As if impelled by the voice, Lawrence turned his head and looked into +the blazing eyes of Billy. Her face was distorted with rage and hate. +Her horse stood almost over Lawrence and her revolver was pointed at his +breast.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus7" id="illus7"></a> +<img src="images/illus7.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>Her revolver was pointed at his breast.</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>But no sooner did her eyes meet Lawrence's than she gave a start of +surprise. A change came over her face and her hand trembled. The muzzle +of the revolver sank, was raised, but once more was lowered.</p> + +<p>"You—you," she whispered hoarsely. "Oh, God! How can I take your life. +You tried to save my father. You pitied me. You—" A softer expression +came over her face. She seemed to forget where she was and she +whispered, "Then—then I was a girl, an innocent girl, but now—" her +voice rose to a shriek. "Now I am a devil; but live; I cannot shoot."</p> + +<p>The sound of galloping horses was heard and shouts. Lawrence looked and +saw Harry and Jack almost onto them, their revolvers levelled on Billy.</p> + +<p>"Great God! don't shoot!" he shouted; and to Billy, "Fly! Fly."</p> + +<p>She sank her spurs into her horse and bending low over his neck was away +like an arrow, but no avenging bullet followed her.</p> + +<p>In a moment Harry and Jack were at Lawrence's side and helped him to his +feet. "Captain, you're wounded," cried Harry. "Your side is all bloody." +He tore away the coat and shirt.</p> + +<p>"Thank Heaven, it's not deep," he exclaimed, "but bleeds freely. How did +it happen?"</p> + +<p>"I was about to cut down Red Jerry when I received this wound from +behind. The same shot must have struck my horse in the back of the head, +for he went down like a log."</p> + +<p>"And the guerrilla who shot you was the same you told us not to shoot?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. She was a woman and she spared my life. I will tell you all about +it, but not now."</p> + +<p>It was noon before all the men returned from pursuing the guerrillas. Of +the band not more than thirty escaped, and most of these by taking to +the woods.</p> + +<p>When Lawrence gathered his little troop together he found that three had +been killed and six wounded, three of them grievously. Of the +guerrillas, twenty-five had been slain outright, as many badly wounded, +and twenty prisoners had been taken.</p> + +<p>Some of the men were for shooting the prisoners. "Red Jerry would not +have spared us," they exclaimed.</p> + +<p>Lawrence immediately put an end to such talk. "If any of the men have +committed crimes that merit death," he said, "they should be convicted +by a court-martial. No soldier has a right to put a defenceless man to +death for revenge. Barbarity begets barbarity, while mercy appeals to +the hearts of the most depraved."</p> + +<p>He then told them how his life had been spared by the dreaded wife of +Red Jerry.</p> + +<p>There was no more talk of shooting the prisoners, and Lawrence noticed +that not one of them was insulted or treated brutally.</p> + +<p>The Federals remained on the battlefield for three days, caring for the +wounded, and Lawrence had it given out that anyone who cared might come +to claim the dead or carry away the badly wounded without being +molested. The news spread and soon the camp was filled with weeping +women and wailing children. Even some men came when they found they +could do so safely. From the number of dead and wounded claimed, +Lawrence thought Jerry's band must have been made up principally from +the neighborhood.</p> + +<p>At the end of three days Lawrence began his return march. A couple of +farm wagons were pressed into service to convey the wounded. With the +slightly wounded who were able to travel he took back with him thirty +prisoners and fifty-five horses.</p> + +<p>Great was the rejoicing when Rolla was reached, and the success of the +expedition became known. Lawrence received a congratulatory message from +General Schofield, highly praising him. But there was one Federal +officer who did not congratulate Lawrence. Captain Dunlay felt too +mortified over his own failure.</p> + +<p>Red Jerry still lived. Lawrence had wounded him not only in the arm, but +in the thigh. Secreted in the fastnesses of the hills, and tenderly +cared for by his wife, he nursed his wounds and thirsted for revenge. +Terrible were his imprecations against Lawrence and terrible would be +his revenge if ever he got him in his power.</p> + +<p>It was fated that he and Lawrence should never meet again. Jerry lived +to organize another band and he became even more merciless than ever, +and by his side rode his wife, as merciless as he. But there was one +secret she never told her husband—that was, that she had spared the +life of Lawrence Middleton.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h3>MARK HAS A RIVAL</h3> + + +<p>It was in September when Mark returned from his last trip. He was so +thin and pale that Mr. Chittenden insisted on his taking a few weeks of +absolute rest. These weeks were the happiest, as well as the most +miserable, that Mark had ever spent. Happy because he was thrown +continually in the company of Grace, miserable because he felt a great +love springing up in his heart which must never be spoken.</p> + +<p>A thousand times he resolved to flee. It would be so easy for him to go +on one of his secret missions and never return. But he kept putting off +the evil day; it was so near heaven to be near her, to see her every +day. He believed he would be content if he could only live as he was +always. In his imagination he had invested Grace with more than human +attributes, and worshipped her from afar, as he would some angelic +being.</p> + +<p>Did Grace know the feeling Mark Grafton had for her? The eyes often +speak more eloquently than words, and Mark's eyes told her the story of +his devotion a hundred times a day. But this knowledge, instead of +drawing Grace to him, piqued her. If he loved her why did he remain +silent? In all the books she had read, lovers were not backward in +telling of their love. But after all, she was glad he was silent, for +she was doubtful of her father's approval, and there was that mystery +that hung over him, a mystery she had not solved as yet.</p> + +<p>"Mark, you are deceiving us," she said boldly one day. "You are not what +you pretend to be."</p> + +<p>Mark started, but soon recovered his composure. "What makes you think +so, Grace?" he asked quietly.</p> + +<p>"Because you have represented yourself as a poor, friendless, private +soldier. Now, I know you were raised a gentleman. You need not deny it."</p> + +<p>"Is that all? I thought—" he stopped.</p> + +<p>"Thought what?" asked Grace.</p> + +<p>"Nothing, only I am sorry you have such a poor opinion of me, Grace. In +saying I am poor and friendless I have not deceived you. I am as poor +and as friendless as I have represented."</p> + +<p>"But in other things you are silent. You have never told me a word of +yourself, of your early life. You only say you are an orphan. Mark, you +are not what you pretend. You are holding back something, and I don't +like it. Mark, what is it? You can surely trust me as you would a +sister."</p> + +<p>A look of pain came over Mark's face. "Grace, don't think evil of me," +he faltered. "Think of me as a friend, a friend who would willingly die +for you, but never anything more than a friend."</p> + +<p>He turned away and left her confused, confounded. She saw that he was +suffering, but she was angry. He had refused to confide in her. He had +even hinted she might think more of him than was wise.</p> + +<p>That night as she lay in bed thinking of what he had said, tears of hot +anger filled her eyes, "Would die for me," she whispered, "but would +never be more than a friend. Who asked him to be more? He is nothing but +a presumptuous boy and should be punished." For the next two or three +days she was decidedly cool to Mark.</p> + +<p>By the first of November Mark felt he had fully recovered his health, +and except for his arm he was as well as he ever would be. He told Mr. +Chittenden so, and that it was not right for him to stay longer. But Mr. +Chittenden asked him not to go, as he had some work he could help him +in. He had orders to gather all the provisions and forage possible. A +train was coming from Arkansas to get it. Then, some time in the month, +a body of recruits from the northern part of the State were expected. +Supplies must be gathered for them.</p> + +<p>Mark promised to stay, but the change in Grace cut him to the heart. He +thought she was angry because he had refused to tell her his secret. +Little did he think he had uttered words which cut more deeply.</p> + +<p>It was hard for Grace to think the cause of Mark's reticence was that he +had fled for committing some criminal act, but what else could it be? +She resolved more firmly than ever to discover his secret.</p> + +<p>It is not to be supposed that such a girl as Grace had lived to be +nineteen years of age without admirers. There was not a young man in the +Ozarks but what would have been her slave if she had given him the least +encouragement, but she was such a lady, so far above them, that they +were content to worship from afar. They well knew they could be no mate +for her. But there was one exception, a young man called Thomas Hobson, +known as Big Tom.</p> + +<p>Big Tom was a splendid specimen of the human animal, tall, broad +shouldered, thick chested, and he had the strength of a giant. If the +world had been looking for a perfect physical specimen of man it would +have found it in Big Tom. There was also an animal beauty about him that +captivated and charmed.</p> + +<p>His magnificent body was all he had to recommend him. He was a bully by +nature, and used his great strength by imposing on others. He was +inordinately vain and conceited, and was continually boasting of his +prowess. He was thought brave, for no man in the Ozarks dared to stand +up against him in a fight, but at heart he was a coward.</p> + +<p>During the first year of the war he was active in driving out and +maltreating Union men. Living quite a distance from Mr. Chittenden, he +had never seen Grace until the time she went to the rescue of Mr. +Osborne. He was one of the hanging party. When Grace so unexpectedly +appeared on the scene, her excitement and fierce wrath only heightened +her beauty, and Tom gazed at her in admiration. He had been one of the +most violent in demanding the death of Mr. Osborne, but now he suddenly +changed sides and demanded that he be let go.</p> + +<p>Much to Grace's disgust he persisted in paying her attention, and at +length proposed. Much to his surprise he was not only refused but +refused with scorn and contempt. This aroused every evil passion of his +nature.</p> + +<p>"You will regret this, Grace Chittenden," he cried furiously. "I 'spose +you reckon you be too good for me, but I will give you to understand +that there is not a gal in the Ozarks, except you, but would jump at the +chance to be my wife."</p> + +<p>"Go and make one of them jump, then. I want none of you," replied Grace +sarcastically, as she slammed the door in his face, leaving him swearing +and cursing.</p> + +<p>When Mr. Chittenden was informed of what had occurred he sent word to +Tom never to set foot on his premises again.</p> + +<p>Mr. Chittenden was too big a man for even Tom to defy. But the affair +got out and Tom, when he was not present, became the butt of the county +over his presumption in aspiring to the daughter of Judge Chittenden. +Tom knew of the merriment it caused and his pride was so hurt that he +disappeared and was not heard of for over a year. In the fall of 1862 he +suddenly appeared in the Ozarks at the head of a band of guerrillas.</p> + +<p>The band numbered about fifteen, and he concluded that with this force +he would show Judge Chittenden that he was not afraid of him, and that +he was as big a man as he was. Therefore, he rode boldly up to the +house. He was mounted on a magnificent horse, an immense plume floated +from his hat, and he was decked out in all the grandeur of a bandit +chief.</p> + +<p>Mr. Chittenden was surprised, but concluded that under the circumstances +it was policy to treat him with courtesy. Tom had learned to be polite. +He did not mention past differences, or ask to see Grace. He had much to +say of his prowess in the field, and of the number of Yankees he had +killed, and boasted he held a commission as captain signed by General +Price. The main object of his visit seemed to be to impress on the Judge +his importance. When he learned Mr. Chittenden was engaged in gathering +supplies for the Confederate army he proffered his services to help, +which the Judge thought best to accept.</p> + +<p>He became quite a frequent caller at the house, and as he did not force +his attentions on Grace, she thought it best to do nothing to anger him, +but saw as little of him as possible.</p> + +<p>"Who is this fellow hanging around here?" asked Tom one day of Mr. +Chittenden.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean Mark Grafton? He is a Confederate soldier who was cruelly +wounded at Pea Ridge, and found his way here. Since then he has rendered +valuable services as a courier."</p> + +<p>Tom did not rest until he had learned all about Mark that he could, and +then growled: "A likely story. He never saw Pea Ridge; he was shot in +some brawl. He is simply hanging around here to try and work his way +into the good graces of your daughter. Look out for him. I have been +watching the fellow; he is a sneak."</p> + +<p>"Please keep my daughter's name out of your conversation," replied Mr. +Chittenden, angrily, "or you and I will have a settlement. As for Mark, +he can take care of himself, and if you know when you are well off you +won't pick a quarrel with him."</p> + +<p>"What! I skeered of that chap! Why, I could crush him with one finger. +But no offence, Mr. Chittenden, only you will find I am right."</p> + +<p>From that time on Tom became insanely jealous of Mark. What Tom was +saying came to the ears of Mark, and a look came into his face which +boded no good to Tom.</p> + +<p>One day Mark met Tom alone, and as he was about to pass him with a +scowling face and no recognition, Mark hailed him with, "Hold on, +Hobson, a word with you."</p> + +<p>With a growl Tom wheeled his horse and as he did so his hand went to his +revolver.</p> + +<p>"Hands up! None of that!" And Tom saw Mark had him covered. He also saw +a look in his eyes that made him tremble. Death lurked there.</p> + +<p>"Tom Hobson, it's time you and I had a reckoning," said Mark. "I hear +you have been calling me a sneak and an impostor, but for that I care +nothing. I hear you have been linking my name with that of Miss +Chittenden. Now, I give you fair warning, if I ever hear of you taking +the name of that young lady on your foul lips I will shoot you like a +dog."</p> + +<p>"So it's all settled between yo' uns?" Tom managed to stammer. "Beg +pardon, didn't know it had went that far." Looking into the muzzle of a +revolver made Tom very humble.</p> + +<p>"Fool!" answered Mark. "Grace Chittenden is not for such as either you +or me. Neither of us is worthy to kiss the ground on which she walks. +Now ride away and don't look back. If you do you get a bullet."</p> + +<p>Tom meekly did as he was bid, but in his heart there raged the passions +of a demon, and he swore Mark Grafton should die.</p> + +<p>But what did Mark mean by saying Grace was for neither of them? Tom +pondered the question long. Light broke in upon him. It must mean that +Mark had proposed and been refused, and being jealous of him had taken +this way to scare him away. Perhaps Grace had been captivated by his +fine appearance after all, and was only waiting for him to propose.</p> + +<p>Again was his vanity in the ascendency, and he resolved to propose at +the first opportunity. It came quicker than he had thought for. Near Mr. +Chittenden's house was a shady nook that overlooked the La Belle. It was +where the little river dashed and foamed and smote the rocks that would +bar its passage. Here Grace loved to sit and watch the conflict, and +here she was when Tom Hobson rode by. His heart gave a great bound, for +it was the first opportunity he had had of seeing and speaking to her +alone.</p> + +<p>Reining in his horse, he dismounted, and making what he thought a most +courtly bow, he bade her good evening.</p> + +<p>Grace arose, an angry flush on her face, and barely acknowledging his +greeting, turned to go.</p> + +<p>Stepping in front of her he said, "Please don't go. I have been wanting +to speak to yo' un ever since I returned. Yo' un know what I told yo' un +when I went away. I'm of the same mind still, though I do be a capting +now, and expect to be a kernel befo' the war is over."</p> + +<p>"Out of my way," exclaimed Grace, white with rage and trying to push +past him.</p> + +<p>He caught her by the shoulder, "I reckon yo' un think that sneak of a +Mark Grafton loves yo' un, but he don't. He told me so," sneered Tom.</p> + +<p>"You lie. Mark Grafton is a soldier and a gentleman and you are a +coward. Out of my way."</p> + +<p>Her hand sought the bosom of her dress, but Tom did not notice. He was +white with rage.</p> + +<p>"I'll hev' yo' un yet," he shouted. "All hell can't keep me from heven +yo'." He attempted to take her in his arms.</p> + +<p>He drew back amazed. For the second time that afternoon he was looking +into the muzzle of a revolver, and the hand that held that revolver was +as firm and steady as the one that held the first.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus6" id="illus6"></a> +<img src="images/illus6.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>He was looking into the muzzle of a revolver.</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"Mr. Hobson," said Grace, without a tremor in her voice, "if you do not +mount your horse and ride away before I count ten I shall kill you. One, +two—"</p> + +<p>But Tom did not wait for her to finish; he sprang on his horse and +dashed away cursing.</p> + +<p>About an hour later, as Mark was returning home, there came the report +of a rifle from a hillside and a ball tore away the crown of his hat. +All he could see was a little cloud of smoke on the mountain. Putting +spurs to his horse he was soon out of danger.</p> + +<p>When he reached the house he found Mr. Chittenden in a towering passion. +He had just returned, and Grace was telling him of her encounter with +Big Tom.</p> + +<p>"The wretch is too vile to live," he swore. "I will hunt him to earth, +if it takes me a year."</p> + +<p>"I am with you," said Mark, showing his hat. "I got that only a few +moments ago, so you see I have an account to settle with him, too."</p> + +<p>"Why should he shoot at you?" asked Mr. Chittenden, in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"You must ask him," answered Mark, carelessly, but as he said it he +glanced at Grace. Her face was crimson, and then grew very pale. Had Big +Tom told the truth? Had Mark been talking about her to him?</p> + +<p>That night it was agreed that the next day a posse should be organized +and Big Tom run down, but when morning came it was found Big Tom and his +gang had fled during the night.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<h3>CAPTURING A TRAIN</h3> + + +<p>It took Lawrence some little time to reorganize his troop, and to fill +the places of those who fell in the fight with Red Jerry.</p> + +<p>At last all was ready and the start was made. To reach General Blunt by +the circuitous route he intended to take would mean a journey of nearly +four hundred miles, much of the way through a country not occupied by +Federal troops. The guerrilla bands infesting this country were small, +however, and he considered that with his fifty men he would be able to +cope with any force he might meet.</p> + +<p>For subsistence he would have to depend on the country through which he +passed. He knew it was sparsely settled, but as his force was small, and +the corn crop had ripened, he believed neither his men nor horses would +suffer for food.</p> + +<p>To Lawrence the mountain scenery was a continual source of delight. It +was November, and the leaves of the forest covering the mountain sides +and crowning their summits had been touched by the frost, and painted in +all colors of the rainbow. It was a magnificent panorama and on so +tremendous a scale that all the works of man seemed as nothing in +comparison.</p> + +<p>Occasionally a small band of guerrillas was seen, but at sight of the +Federals they scurried into the hills and were soon lost to view. Only +one band attempted to show fight and they were quickly routed with one +killed and two wounded, left on the field. One of these stated that the +band was commanded by a man called Big Tom, who was wounded early in the +action, how badly he did not know.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<p>One day Lawrence stood on a hill overlooking the valley of La Belle. He +thought he had never gazed on so lovely a scene, and he wondered who it +was who had made his home in that peaceful valley. That it was a home of +refinement and luxury was apparent.</p> + +<p>As he was looking, to his astonishment, what seemed to be an army came +pouring into the valley from the north. It was a motley army, without +uniforms, without banners and many without arms. Accompanying the army +was a long train composed of every kind of vehicle, from carriages to +farm wagons. There was no order in the march, everyone seemed to be +traveling as pleased him best.</p> + +<p>For a moment Lawrence wondered what it could mean, and then he knew. He +had stumbled on the secret route through the Ozarks through which +recruits for the South passed. Before Lawrence started on his raid it +had been known for some time that numerous small bodies of guerrillas +had been gathering, and were making their way to some secret rendezvous, +from which they were to start to join Porter in Arkansas.</p> + +<p>"How many do you suppose there are?" asked Lawrence of Dan.</p> + +<p>"About four or five hundred, I should say."</p> + +<p>"Do you think we can handle them?"</p> + +<p>"Don't see any reason why we can't," drawled Dan. "Reckon half of them +will die of fright when they see us."</p> + +<p>Arrangements were quickly made. They were to make a sudden dash and ride +the full length of the line, ordering those who had arms to give them +up.</p> + +<p>Riding into the valley the troop, whooping and yelling like mad men, +suddenly dashed upon the unsuspecting recruits. If an army had fallen +from the sky they could not have been more astonished. Consternation +seized them, and many, leaving everything, fled for the hills, but the +greater part of them surrendered, begging for mercy. Not a shot was +fired. It was a bloodless victory.</p> + +<p>The prisoners were gathered together; they numbered nearly four hundred. +Being deprived of all arms, they were powerless. What to do with them +was the question.</p> + +<p>"The only thing we can do," said Lawrence, "is to parole them."</p> + +<p>"And they will keep their parole just as long as we are in sight and no +longer," growled Dan.</p> + +<p>"Can't help it. It's the only thing we can do."</p> + +<p>The train was now thoroughly searched and many of the wagons were found +to contain cloth, boots and shoes, and a goodly quantity of powder and +shot. All such articles were destroyed and the wagons burnt. The +prisoners looked on sullenly.</p> + +<p>Lawrence noticed there was a scarcity of provisions, and inquired what +it meant. One of the prisoners told him they were suffering from hunger, +but had been told they would find plenty of food here in the valley of +the La Belle. "We 'uns be jes' starvin'," said the prisoner.</p> + +<p>"I will see what I can do," said Lawrence. "If there is food here you +will surely get it."</p> + +<p>About this time Mr. Chittenden appeared. There had been great excitement +at the house when it was known that the Yankees were in the valley and +had succeeded in capturing the train. Mr. Chittenden feared that if it +became known that he had gathered supplies for the South, not only would +he be arrested, but his home and buildings burned.</p> + +<p>"I reckon," he said to Grace, "that I will ride down and see what force +it is, and who is in command."</p> + +<p>"Don't go, father," begged Grace. "You know what you have been doing."</p> + +<p>"It is best, Grace. They may not find it out, and if they do, it won't +mend matters for me to stay here."</p> + +<p>"But, father, you can take to the hills until they are gone."</p> + +<p>"What! Leave you here unprotected? Never!"</p> + +<p>"Where is Mark?" asked Grace. "I have not seen him for three or four +days."</p> + +<p>"Gone off on some secret expedition. Said he might be gone several days. +Grace, I believe he is trailing Big Tom. He has an idea he will return +and wreak his vengeance on us."</p> + +<p>Grace turned pale. "What! Mark gone, all alone?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes. Mark seems to prefer to go alone. I don't think we are in as much +danger from Big Tom as he thinks, but there is no telling. Some of these +guerrilla bands are nothing more or less than robbers, and they care +little whom they rob. But I must go now. Don't worry. I won't be long."</p> + +<p>Mr. Chittenden was gone some two hours, and when he returned he did not +seem in the best of spirits. Grace had been anxiously waiting his +return.</p> + +<p>"How is it, father?" she cried. "I thought I saw smoke."</p> + +<p>"Yes, they have burned a great deal of the train," answered Mr. +Chittenden, gloomily. "The worst part of it is, it is only a small +scouting party that has done the mischief—not over fifty men—and they +have captured four hundred prisoners without firing a gun."</p> + +<p>"That doesn't look as if one Southern man could whip ten Yankees," +replied Grace, with a twinkle in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Grace, I believe you are glad that train was captured," said her +father, with more feeling than he had ever manifested toward her.</p> + +<p>"I surely am," replied Grace, undaunted. "You well know I am for the +Union."</p> + +<p>"Grace, beware! Don't trespass on my love for you too much. Perhaps you +will rejoice when I am arrested and dragged off to prison."</p> + +<p>"You arrested! You dragged off to prison! Father, what do you mean?" +gasped Grace, now thoroughly alarmed.</p> + +<p>"It means that your dear friends, the Yankees, have found out that I +have been gathering supplies for this train. The officer in command has +ordered me to turn over everything I have gathered, and threatened to +arrest me for being an agent of the South."</p> + +<p>"What will be done with all the food and forage you have gathered? Will +it be destroyed?" asked Grace.</p> + +<p>"No; not all of it, anyway. The captured men are without food and nearly +starving. They have been, or will be, paroled and turned back north. +They will be given the food for their return journey to Rolla, where +they have been ordered to report."</p> + +<p>"Why, father, that is grand. The very ones will get the food that you +have gathered it for. The officer in command must be a gentleman. What +is he like?"</p> + +<p>"He is young—not much more than a boy. He seems to know his business; +has perfect control over his men. Moreover, he has the appearance of a +gentleman. But you can see for yourself, Grace, for I have invited him +and his Lieutenant to take supper with us tonight. And—and, Grace, I +will not object to your making known your true sentiments. It may save +me from a Federal prison."</p> + +<p>"Father, if they arrest you, they will have to arrest me, too. I will be +the worst rebel in the State. But, father, they won't arrest you. What +have you done?"</p> + +<p>"What have I done, child? Has not this house been a rendezvous for those +passing to and fro between this State and Arkansas? Has not many a plot +been hatched right here? Grace, if everything were known, I should not +only be arrested, but this house would be burned and the valley rendered +desolate. I am afraid this young Captain knows more than he lets on. But +there he comes now, with a lot of wagons for the provisions."</p> + +<p>The next two hours were busy ones. A detail of prisoners, under guard, +was made to load the wagons, and a herd of beef cattle was driven down. +The prisoners feasted that night as they had not in many a day. In fact, +many of them were not sorry that they had been made prisoners.</p> + +<p>When Lawrence and Dan went to keep their engagement to dine with Mr. +Chittenden, they met with as cordial a reception as could be expected +under the circumstances. Mr. Chittenden was deeply chagrined over the +loss of the supplies he had gathered, but he concealed his +disappointment as much as possible.</p> + +<p>The meal was all that could be desired. Tilly had surpassed herself. To +cook for Yankees was to her a new experience. They were the men who were +to free her race, and she looked upon them as almost divine beings.</p> + +<p>Grace presided at the head of the table, and more than one glance did +Lawrence cast at the lovely girl.</p> + +<p>"You have a beautiful home here, Mr. Chittenden," said Lawrence. "I +almost envy you. In the spring and summer it must be as near Arcadia as +one gets in this world. The scenery is magnificent. I never saw a more +beautiful sight than the mountains, covered with their flaming foliage."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I like it," replied Mr. Chittenden. "I chanced on the valley many +years ago, while hunting, and resolved to make it my home. So wild and +unsettled was the country then, that for some years I had to get all my +supplies from St. Louis."</p> + +<p>"What a mercy it is that the ravages of war so far have left it almost +untouched," answered Lawrence.</p> + +<p>"You are the first Yankees who have favored us with a visit," replied +Mr. Chittenden, "and pardon me, but I trust you will be the last. But if +we are to be visited again, I hope it will be by your troop, Captain, +for, under the circumstances, you have been very kind. I hear fearful +stories of ravages committed in other parts of the State."</p> + +<p>"Missouri certainly has had her share of the war," replied Lawrence, +"but it is the guerrilla warfare that has caused it. I trust you have +seen little of it here. Are there many Union men residing among these +hills?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Chittenden hesitated, then replied: "We did have a few Union men in +these parts, but the sentiment was so strong against them that many of +them were forced to leave. I do not believe in guerrilla warfare, but am +powerless to prevent it."</p> + +<p>"From the train I captured," said Lawrence, "I would say you were not a +stranger to Confederate troops; in fact, I have learned that this valley +is a gateway between Missouri and Arkansas, and that many of the +guerrillas we drive out of the northern and central part of the State +pass through here, and no doubt many pass back the same way."</p> + +<p>Mr. Chittenden winced. "I cannot prevent Confederate troops passing +through here," he said, "any more than I can prevent you passing +through. I admit my heart is with the South, and I do what little I can +to help her; but I am sorry to say I have a traitor in my own +household—my daughter here."</p> + +<p>"What! Your daughter?" cried Lawrence, in surprise, and he looked at +Grace with renewed interest.</p> + +<p>"Yes, my daughter; she is heart and soul with you Yankees."</p> + +<p>Grace was covered with confusion, and started to rise and leave the +table.</p> + +<p>"Please don't go, Miss Chittenden," begged Lawrence. "Let me hear from +your lips that you love the flag of our common country."</p> + +<p>"I hate to differ with father," said Grace, "but I do love the flag. +Born and living here as free as the birds of the air, I learned to love +freedom. I think this is a wicked, wicked war, waged to perpetuate +slavery and to destroy the Union. Father and I don't quarrel. He says I +am a girl, and it does not matter much what I believe. That may be; but +there is one Union flag still cherished in the Ozarks," and as she said +it she put her hand in her bosom and drew forth the little flag she had +made in St. Louis. "There is not a day," she continued, "that I don't go +out and hold it aloft, that it may be kissed by the winds of heaven, and +I pray the day will soon come when it will wave over a reunited +country."</p> + +<p>Lawrence and Dan could hardly refrain from shouting aloud; even Mr. +Chittenden was surprised at the feeling Grace showed.</p> + +<p>"There, Grace, that will do," he said, crossly. "Don't make——"</p> + +<p>Lawrence stopped him. "Mr. Chittenden," he exclaimed, "I congratulate +you on having such a daughter, and you can be thankful that you have."</p> + +<p>"I do not see why," answered Mr. Chittenden; "but I am thankful that +Grace has until now kept her opinions to herself. It would be rather +awkward for me to have it generally known."</p> + +<p>Grace was excused, and the men, over their cigars, entered into a +general discussion of the war, and how it would terminate, Mr. +Chittenden holding that the independence of the South was already as +good as secured.</p> + +<p>As they were about to go, Lawrence said: "Mr. Chittenden, you may think +it a poor return for your hospitality, but I came here tonight with the +full intention of arresting you."</p> + +<p>Mr. Chittenden could only gasp, "What for?"</p> + +<p>"Because you are a dangerous man to the cause I serve. I have learned +much while I have been here. Not only are you an agent of the +Confederate Government to gather supplies, but your house has been a +haven for some of the worst guerrillas which infest the State. Even the +infamous Porter found rest and shelter here when he fled South."</p> + +<p>Mr. Chittenden stood pale and trembling, for he knew Lawrence was +speaking the truth; but he was thinking more of Grace than of himself.</p> + +<p>"My God! what will become of my daughter, if I am dragged away to a +Federal prison?" he cried.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Chittenden, do not fear," answered Lawrence. "I can never arrest +the father of such a girl as your daughter, and leave her unprotected. +She has saved you, and for her sake be more careful in the future."</p> + +<p>"For her sake, I thank you; for myself, I have no apologies to make for +what I have done," Mr. Chittenden replied, somewhat haughtily. But in +his heart he was not sorry Grace had displayed that little flag.</p> + +<p>"By Jove!" exclaimed Lawrence, when he and Dan were alone. "What a girl! +She is grand, and such a lady. Who would dream of finding such a girl in +the Ozarks? And she is as lovely as a picture—more beautiful than many +who reign as belles in St. Louis."</p> + +<p>"Look here, Captain," said Dan, solemnly, "don't be falling in love with +every pretty face you see. What about that St. Louis girl you are always +getting letters from—Lola—confounded childish name—I think you call +her. And I've heard you rave about a certain Dorothy, with golden hair. +Let the girls alone; they are no good. I never knew a fellow in love who +was any good. They go around sighing and writing poetry and making +confounded idiots of themselves. I agree that Miss Chittenden is a +mighty good-looking girl; but how do you know she isn't fooling +us—shook that little flag in our faces to save her father?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Dan, Dan!" laughed Lawrence, "when it comes to girls, you are +incorrigible. Dan, tell the truth—were you ever in love?"</p> + +<p>"If I ever was, thank God! I am over it," snapped Dan, as he took a chew +of tobacco.</p> + +<p>Lawrence spent two days in the valley of the La Belle, paroling his +prisoners, and loading up their wagons with provisions and forage enough +to last to Rolla.</p> + +<p>Lawrence started the train back to Rolla, and then bade farewell to the +lovely valley, which he left scathless; but for many days there remained +before his mental vision the image of the beautiful girl who was loyal +to the Union under such adverse circumstances.</p> + +<p>All unknown to Lawrence, he had been gone from the valley but a few +hours when there came riding up from the South a Confederate cavalry +force of one hundred and fifty men, under the command of a Major Powell. +They had come to meet the recruits, and had with them a train of empty +wagons to take back what was left of the provisions and forage after the +recruits were supplied.</p> + +<p>When Major Powell learned what had happened, and that all the provisions +and forage not given to the recruits had been destroyed, his rage knew +no bounds. He first ordered fifty of his men to pursue the train and +bring every man back. "Their paroles are not worth the paper they are +written on," he roared.</p> + +<p>"I will not wait for you," he said to the Captain in command of the +fifty, "but shall pursue this audacious Captain Middleton. I will see +that not a man of his command gets out of the Ozarks alive."</p> + +<p>"That will leave you only one hundred men for the pursuit, Major," said +the Captain.</p> + +<p>"That is so; but you know we brought arms for one hundred. Call for +volunteers from the recruits. Tell them to take the best horses from the +train, and report as soon as possible."</p> + +<p>The Captain in pursuit of the train had an easier task than he thought, +for he had not gone more than five miles when he met nearly two hundred +of the men returning, under the leadership of three or four men known as +desperate guerrillas. Hardly had the Federals left the train, when a +plot was formed to seize it. Nearly half the paroled men entered the +plot; those who refused were stripped of everything and sent on their +way, destitute.</p> + +<p>This reinforcement, so much sooner than expected, greatly elated Major +Powell. A mountaineer explained he knew a shorter route than the one the +Federals were taking, and although they had several hours' start, he +could easily lead a force that could gain their front, and thus they +would be hemmed in between the two forces.</p> + +<p>Major Powell quickly made his plans. A hundred men, under the command of +one of his most trusted officers, were sent to try and get ahead of the +Federals, while he, with a hundred more, would follow in quick pursuit.</p> + +<p>About this time Mark Grafton appeared on the scene. He, too, brought +important news. Believing that Big Tom was contemplating a raid on Mr. +Chittenden, and that his sudden departure was only a blind to disarm +suspicion, Mark had disguised himself and followed the gang.</p> + +<p>"I unearthed the most hellish plot," said Mark. "Big Tom and his gang +were to disguise themselves as Federals, raid the plantation of La +Belle, kill Mr. Chittenden and me, and carry off Grace, and force her +into a marriage with Big Tom. The plot was about to be carried out, when +the gang unexpectedly met the force under Captain Middleton, and was +routed. And we needn't fear anything from Big Tom for some time, as he +is badly wounded."</p> + +<p>Mark, on his part, was greatly surprised to hear what had happened in +the valley while he was gone. "I would go with you," he said to Major +Powell, "but I have an important engagement I must keep. I hope you will +overtake and chastise those Yankees as they deserve."</p> + +<p>"If I can overtake them, you may depend on it they will get the +chastisement," responded the Major, as he rode away.</p> + +<p>Mark then related to Mr. Chittenden more fully what he had found out as +to Big Tom's plans, and added: "If I were you, Mr. Chittenden, I would +say nothing about this to Grace, for it might unnecessarily alarm her. +She is safe, at least, until Big Tom gets well. If I did not think so, I +would not rest until I had hunted the dog down. As it is, I must be +absent for a week or two, but not longer."</p> + +<p>Mark waited until nightfall, and then he, too, rode away.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<h3>THE OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAINS</h3> + + +<p>It was the second day after Lawrence had left the valley of La Belle, +and so far nothing of interest had occurred. Lawrence and Dan were +riding along side by side, when suddenly a stone struck in the road just +ahead of them, causing their horses to rear and plunge. The road ran +close to the bluff, and no doubt it was from the top of the bluff that +the stone was thrown.</p> + +<p>A careful scrutiny of the bluff revealed nothing, and they were about to +ride on, when Lawrence suddenly exclaimed: "Hold on! there's a paper +wrapped around that stone." Springing from his horse, he secured the +paper. It proved to be a rude scrawl, telling them they were being +pursued by a hundred men, and that another hundred had been sent to head +them off.</p> + +<p>"What do you think of that?" asked Lawrence, handing the scrawl to Dan.</p> + +<p>Dan deciphered it, after some trouble, and then remarked: "A hoax, +probably."</p> + +<p>"It's no hoax, Dan. We may as well be prepared."</p> + +<p>"But where did the two hundred men come from?" asked Dan. "Even if those +fellows who were paroled turned back, they had no arms."</p> + +<p>"It's a raiding party from the South, in all probability," answered +Lawrence, "and we left just in time to miss them."</p> + +<p>"Whew! Why couldn't we have stayed a few hours longer?"</p> + +<p>"What! And fought the two hundred?"</p> + +<p>"Sure; we could have licked them easily."</p> + +<p>"Well, I am not sorry we left. I am not aching for a fight against such +odds; but if they overtake us, we will show them what we can do. What +puzzles me is, who gave us the warning?"</p> + +<p>"Give it up," said Dan.</p> + +<p>Harry was now called, and told what had happened. "You take Jack and +Bruno and guard the rear. Don't let those fellows get close to us, +without our knowing it."</p> + +<p>"No danger, as long as Bruno is alive," laughed Harry.</p> + +<p>"What about the front?" asked Dan. "We may run into those fellows who +have gone to head us off."</p> + +<p>"They haven't had time to head us off yet," said Lawrence, "and before +they meet us, I want to teach those fellows in the rear a lesson."</p> + +<p>The horses began to show signs of weariness, and, coming to a settler's +cabin, around which grew a fine field of corn, Lawrence, concluded to +halt, rest and feed the horses, and allow the men to make some coffee. +There were some fine pigs running around, and two of these were +slaughtered. The owner of the corn and hogs made strenuous objections to +this appropriation of his property. He was a tall, gaunt mountaineer, +and his face showed that he was both cunning and crafty.</p> + +<p>"Are you Union or Confed?" asked Lawrence.</p> + +<p>After emptying his capacious mouth of an enormous quid of tobacco, he +drawled: "I don't know. Yo' uns be the first Yanks I hev seen. I allers +reckoned I was a Confed, but now that yo' uns hev tuk my cohn and hawgs, +I reckon I be Union. If I be Union, I get pay for my cohn and hawgs, +don't I?"</p> + +<p>Laughing, Lawrence handed him ten dollars, saying, "I'll bet you a ten +against that one that you will be Confed before night. There's a band of +Confederate cavalry chasing us."</p> + +<p>"Is thar? Then I won't bet," replied the fellow, grinning. "It's too +risky. They might p'int a gun at me, and make me yell for Jeff Davis."</p> + +<p>"I reckon you wouldn't wait for the gun to be pointed before you +yelled," said Lawrence; "but you're welcome to the ten."</p> + +<p>"Ought to be fifty," growled the fellow, as he turned and went into the +house, and they saw him no more.</p> + +<p>That night Major Powell camped on his place, and made free with both his +corn and hogs, but he made no objection; neither did he hurrah for Jeff +Davis, for he was not there.</p> + +<p>The Federals had not gone far from the cabin when the valley narrowed +down and the mountains arose steep and precipitous on each side.</p> + +<p>"It's lucky," said Dan, "that these hills are not filled with +guerrillas, or they would be taking pot-shot at us. I will feel +safer——"</p> + +<p>He did not finish the sentence, for there came the sharp crack of a +rifle from the hillside, and a piece of the crown of Dan's hat went +flying through the air. He pulled off his damaged headgear and, gazing +ruefully at it exclaimed: "A blame good hat spoiled; but my head is +safe."</p> + +<p>"Charge the bluff!" shouted Lawrence; but there was no need of the +order. A half dozen troopers had already dismounted, and were scaling +the bluff to where a small wreath of smoke was seen curling. Before they +were half way up, there came the sound of another shot, but this time +the whiz of no ball was heard.</p> + +<p>Soon the men reached the spot where the smoke had been seen, and their +exclamations of surprise were heard.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" shouted Lawrence.</p> + +<p>"Dead man up here. No signs of any live one."</p> + +<p>"Well, look around sharp, and then come down," replied Lawrence.</p> + +<p>The men soon returned, and told a strange story.</p> + +<p>"We found," said the sergeant in charge, "whom do you think? Our friend +who sold us the corn and hogs. He was lying behind a rock; his gun, +loaded and cocked, was on the rock, and no doubt he was just going to +take another shot at us, when some one shot him through the head from +behind. He had just been shot, for the fresh blood was gushing from the +wound as we came up. But we neither saw nor could we find any trace of +the one who shot him. It's blame curious. I feel creepy. These mountains +must be haunted."</p> + +<p>"If they are, the spirits who haunt them must be very friendly to us," +said Lawrence; "but, as you say, it is a singular circumstance. I can't +make it out. Why doesn't the fellow show himself, if he is our friend?"</p> + +<p>Many and various were the opinions expressed, but no satisfactory +solution was arrived at.</p> + +<p>The day closed dark and gloomy; great clouds swept across the sky, and +the wind roared through the forest. It became so dark, and traveling so +difficult, that Lawrence decided to camp for the night, and risk the +chance of being overtaken. The place chosen to camp was a natural +amphitheater which ran back into the mountains. It was overhung by the +giant trees growing on the mountain.</p> + +<p>Supper over, the men sat for some time around their little campfire, +talking over the events of the day; but gradually the camp became quiet, +and nothing was heard but the stamping of the horses and the roaring of +the wind.</p> + +<p>It was nearly midnight when the soldiers were aroused, not by the guard, +but by Bruno, who came bounding into camp, growling fiercely, every hair +on his back erect. He was trembling violently, either from fear or +excitement.</p> + +<p>"Why, what's the matter, Bruno?" cried Harry. "I never saw you act like +this before."</p> + +<p>"I believe he is scared," said Lawrence. "Andrew Jackson! Bruno scared!"</p> + +<p>"I never knew him to be scared," said Harry, "but I believe he is. See +how he trembles."</p> + +<p>Before an investigation could be made, the horses began to rear and +plunge, and the sentinels called out they were breaking loose.</p> + +<p>"See to the horses," shouted Lawrence.</p> + +<p>The men were just in time, as several of the horses had broken their +halters. As it was, they had hard work to keep them from getting away.</p> + +<p>"The horses are badly frightened. They are trembling like leaves," said +the men.</p> + +<p>"It must be some wild animal," said Lawrence. "Men, stay by the horses; +Dan, Harry and I will investigate."</p> + +<p>Lawrence took a burning brand from the fire, and all three, well armed, +started to find the cause of the trouble. Bruno at first hung back, but +when he saw Harry start, he followed; but it was noticed he kept close +to his master's side.</p> + +<p>The dog kept looking to the cliff back of their encampment. A large tree +grew close to the cliff, and an animal could spring into it from the +cliff. Cautiously the three men advanced.</p> + +<p>"See there," said Dan, pointing up in the tree.</p> + +<p>Lawrence looked, and saw up in the tree what looked like two coals of +fire.</p> + +<p>"Hold your brand where I can see the sights of my gun," whispered Dan.</p> + +<p>Lawrence did so. Dan took a quick aim and fired. There came a terrible +scream, a crashing among the branches, and then a huge panther lay +struggling on the ground, tearing up the earth in his death agony.</p> + +<p>Bruno seemed to have recovered from his fright, for he was about to +spring on the struggling animal, when Harry cried, "Back, Bruno, back!"</p> + +<p>Still Bruno would have rushed to his fate if Lawrence had not struck him +a sharp rap over the nose with the burning brand.</p> + +<p>At last the beast lay still.</p> + +<p>"That was a good shot, Dan," said Lawrence. The ball had struck the +panther squarely between the eyes.</p> + +<p>"What could have induced him to visit our camp?" asked Harry.</p> + +<p>"The smell of the meat the boys roasted for supper," replied Dan. "You +know, we brought along some of those pigs we had for dinner."</p> + +<p>Some of the soldiers insisted on skinning the beast and taking the skin +along as a trophy. As it was, there was little more sleep in the camp, +for the horses continued to be restless, and it was hard to keep them +quieted.</p> + +<p>"The panther's mate may be around," said Dan. "It is well to be on the +lookout."</p> + +<p>Bruno was of no more use, for he had become sulky and gone and lain +down. He could not understand that the blow Lawrence gave him had saved +his life.</p> + +<p>If there was another panther around, he did not show himself, and at the +break of day the troop was once more on the way.</p> + +<p>Along in the afternoon, Harry came rapidly riding from the rear, saying +the foremost of the pursuers had been sighted. Hardly had he made his +report when the faint sound of three or four shots was heard.</p> + +<p>"Harry, you, with Dan and Bruno, now take the advance," commanded +Lawrence. "That is where we will have to look now for a surprise. Dan, +take command, and ride at a good pace. I, with ten men, will look to the +rear, and hold back the enemy."</p> + +<p>"Why not stop and fight them?" grumbled Dan. "I don't like this idea of +running."</p> + +<p>"Because I don't wish to have a battle here, if I can help it," replied +Lawrence. "If we fight, especially on anything like even terms, some of +the men will be sure to be killed or wounded. Think of leaving any of +the boys here in the mountains, wounded! It would be better for them to +be shot than left wounded, for they would be sure to be murdered by +guerrillas."</p> + +<p>"Reckon you are right; but it is against my principles to run," sighed +Dan.</p> + +<p>"Don't be downhearted, old fellow," laughed Lawrence. "I expect to give +them a fight; but I want to choose the ground and the manner of +fighting."</p> + +<p>Dan's face brightened. "That's all right, Captain," he exclaimed. "I +might have known you were up to some of your tricks."</p> + +<p>Lawrence now rode back to take charge of the rear. Major Powell, knowing +he had two men to Lawrence's one, eagerly pressed forward; but his +enthusiasm was a little cooled when his advance was driven back with a +loss of one killed and two wounded, and he began to be a little more +careful.</p> + +<p>By taking advantage of every little inequality of ground, Lawrence was +able to hold the enemy well in check for some miles; but at length they +came to a place where the valley spread out, and flank movements were +easy, and it soon became a test of speed and endurance of the horses.</p> + +<p>"This will never do," thought Lawrence. "I must find a place to stop and +fight them, and that soon."</p> + +<p>Leaving the rear guard in charge of a sergeant, he rode rapidly to the +front.</p> + +<p>"Horses getting winded," said Dan. "We will have to stop and fight."</p> + +<p>"At the first favorable place, Dan. Tell the boys to keep up the pace a +little longer."</p> + +<p>Lawrence now urged his horse to his utmost speed. He rode two or three +miles without finding a favorable place for an ambuscade, and was about +to halt and choose as good ground as possible and give battle. He had no +fears of the result—only that many of his men might be killed or +wounded. Just as he came to this conclusion, to his delight, he saw the +valley close in front of him. A great hill pushed into it, leaving only +a narrow gateway. Beyond this the valley turned, and the force would be +entirely concealed by the hill. It took Lawrence but a minute to form +his plan of battle. Just before the gateway was reached, the road ran +close to the base of the mountain, which was thickly wooded.</p> + +<p>Dan, in command of the advance, now dashed up. "Captain, we must fight. +The horses are all in."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Dan, it's fight now. Dismount your men, and have the horses taken +around that point, out of sight. One man can care for six horses. +Conceal the rest of your force in the brush along the base of the +mountain. Be quick. If I succeed in leading them into the trap, you will +know what to do." Thus saying, Lawrence clapped spurs to his horse, and +rode for the rear.</p> + +<p>Lawrence found the rear guard hard pressed.</p> + +<p>"Look out, Captain; they are flanking us, and you are in range," called +one of the men.</p> + +<p>Just then three or four balls whizzed close to Lawrence's head. Wheeling +his horse, he shouted, "Follow me!" and the rear guard went down the +road as if in swift retreat. The enemy followed with wild cheers.</p> + +<p>The rapid pursuit had strung out the Confederates, and Major Powell had +ridden back to hurry up the stragglers, leaving the advance in charge of +his senior captain. This officer, thinking the Yankees in full retreat, +and that he might gain some honor, pressed the pursuit with vigor.</p> + +<p>Straight past where Dan and his men were concealed, Lawrence rode, but +he halted his little squad where the valley narrowed.</p> + +<p>If the Confederates had not been so eager in the pursuit, they might +have seen the bushes tremble or caught the gleam of a gun barrel; but +they only had eyes for the flying Yankees. When they saw the Federals +had halted, they also halted, taking time to close up, and that was just +what Lawrence wanted.</p> + +<p>Ordering his men to fire a volley, Lawrence again wheeled as if in +retreat.</p> + +<p>"Forward!" shouted the Confederate captain. "Charge! Ride over them!"</p> + +<p>Suddenly, from the side of the road, there came a crashing volley. The +destruction was awful; men and horses went down in heaps.</p> + +<p>"Wheel and charge!" shouted Lawrence; and down on the terror-stricken +Confederates came Lawrence with his ten men. The panic became a rout. +The enemy thought only of getting away. In vain Major Powell tried to +stop his men; he, too, was borne back in the confusion.</p> + +<p>Quickly as possible, Dan had the horses brought up, and he and his men +joined in the pursuit. For two miles it was kept up; then Lawrence +ordered a halt. He saw that Major Powell had succeeded in rallying some +of his men, and taken a position that could not be carried without loss.</p> + +<p>All along the road lay dead and wounded men and horses, and where the +first volley was fired the road was filled with the dead and dying.</p> + +<p>It was a sight that made Lawrence's heart ache; but he could not stop +even to give relief, for Harry and Jack came back with the startling +news that there was a large force in front, not more than three miles +away.</p> + +<p>Lawrence rallied his men, and, to his intense relief, found he had only +three men slightly wounded. It was almost a bloodless victory. The +question was, what to do now. While debating, one of the men suddenly +exclaimed, "Look, there!"</p> + +<p>On a rock on the mountain-side, some three hundred yards away, stood the +figure of an old man. A long white beard swept his breast, and he was +bent with age. He stood leaning on a staff, as if weary.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus8" id="illus8"></a> +<img src="images/illus8.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>An old man leaning on a staff.</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>When he saw he was seen, he beckoned for some one to come to him. Two or +three of the soldiers started, but he peremptorily waved them back. +Lawrence then started, and the old man stood still.</p> + +<p>"Don't go, Captain," cried the men. "It may be a trap."</p> + +<p>"I will be careful," replied Lawrence. "Shoot at the first sign of +treachery."</p> + +<p>A dozen carbines covered the old man, but he did not seem to notice it. +When Lawrence was within about fifty yards of him, he motioned for him +to stop; then, in a high, cracked voice, exclaimed: "There is danger +ahead."</p> + +<p>"I know it," replied Lawrence.</p> + +<p>"A little ahead, close to that large tree, you will find a faint trail. +Take it. It will lead you over the mountain into another valley, where +you can go on your way in safety. Delay twenty minutes, and all will be +lost. Farewell."</p> + +<p>The old man stepped from the rock and disappeared. Lawrence rushed to +where he had been standing. Nothing was to be seen. It was as if the +earth had swallowed him.</p> + +<p>He returned and told what had happened, and the wonderment was great.</p> + +<p>"No time to lose," exclaimed Lawrence. "I shall take his advice."</p> + +<p>In single file, the men turned into the trail. The way was steep, but +not impassable, and soon the forest swallowed them up.</p> + +<p>Not until they were over the mountain, was there any opportunity of +discussing the strange warning they had received.</p> + +<p>"Can it be that old man has been our guardian angel all the time?" asked +Lawrence.</p> + +<p>"Impossible," said Dan. "We received the first warning when we had +hardly left the valley of La Belle. We have come fast. How could that +old man have come over the mountains and got ahead of us?"</p> + +<p>"And where did he go when he disappeared so suddenly?" asked one.</p> + +<p>"And who shot the guerrilla?" questioned another.</p> + +<p>"It's a secret only the mountains can tell. I have heard they were +haunted," said Dan.</p> + +<p>"It's God's hand," said one of the men, a solemn, clerical-looking +fellow, whom the men called Preacher. Before he was a soldier, he had +been a Methodist class leader; and there was not a braver man in the +company.</p> + +<p>Argue as they might, they could come to no conclusion. To them it was a +mystery that was never solved.</p> + +<p>It was weeks before Lawrence fully knew of the danger from which the old +man had saved him. Captain Turner, in his swift ride to get ahead of +him, had fallen in with a scouting party of fifty Confederate cavalry; +not only this, but his force had been augmented by guerrillas until he +had fully two hundred men, well armed and mounted. Had Lawrence met this +force in the narrow valley, he could not have escaped defeat.</p> + +<p>The horror and amazement of the advance guard of Turner's force may be +imagined when they came upon the scene of conflict. That the battle had +just been fought, was evident; the smoke of the conflict had not +entirely cleared from the field. What was more surprising, not an armed +man was in sight—neither Federal nor Confederate.</p> + +<p>They listened, but could hear no sound of conflict. Captain Turner came +up. For a moment he gazed on the scene of carnage, and then cried: +"Great God! Major Powell ran into an ambuscade, and his force has been +annihilated. The dead are all our men. But where are the Yankees?"</p> + +<p>"Doubtless in pursuit of the few of the Major's force that escaped," +replied an officer.</p> + +<p>"That is so," cried Turner. "Forward, men! Let our war-cry be: 'Powell +and Revenge!' Give no quarter! Let every one of the cursed Yankees die."</p> + +<p>They rode nearly four miles before they came on to Major Powell and the +remnant of his force. They had continued falling back until they were +certain they were not pursued.</p> + +<p>Of his hundred men, the Major had succeeded in rallying about forty. The +rest had been killed or wounded, or had fled. Some of them did not stop +until they reached the valley of La Belle, bringing with them the story +of the disaster, saying that of all of Powell's force they alone +escaped.</p> + +<p>"Did you meet and exterminate the Yankees?" was the first question put +to Captain Turner by Major Powell.</p> + +<p>"I have seen no Yankees," was the surprising answer.</p> + +<p>Major Powell could only gasp, "Seen no Yankees?"</p> + +<p>"No; not one."</p> + +<p>"Then the mountains must have opened and swallowed them."</p> + +<p>Full explanations were made, and the force returned to bury the dead and +care for the wounded. The only possible explanation they could make for +the disappearance of the Federals was that they had hid on the +mountain-side and let the force of Captain Turner pass, then come down +and resumed their flight.</p> + +<p>As they debated, suddenly, above them, on the mountain-side, appeared +the figure of an old man, and his voice came down to them, loud and +shrill: "Woe, woe, woe to them who raise their hands against the flag of +their country!"</p> + +<p>"Damn him! Fire!" shouted Turner.</p> + +<p>A hundred rifles blazed. There came back to them a mocking laugh, and +the old man disappeared. The mountain was scoured, but not a trace of +him could be found.</p> + +<p>A superstitious fear fell upon the whole force. The old man must have +been the devil, they argued, and he had helped the Yankees to escape.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<h3>MARK CONFESSES HIS LOVE</h3> + + +<p>It was a day or two after the appearance of the fugitives from Powell's +force that Mark Grafton returned to the La Belle. He seemed tired and +careworn, but reported that his trip had been entirely successful.</p> + +<p>When told of the disastrous defeat of Powell's force, he was astounded. +"Had I expected such a result," he exclaimed, "I would have gone with +him. Ran into an ambuscade, did he? I believe, if I had been with him, I +could have prevented that, for I am used to fighting just such fellows, +and am up to all their tricks."</p> + +<p>"You seem to have a good opinion of yourself," remarked Grace, somewhat +sarcastically.</p> + +<p>What she said, and the tone in which she said it, cut Mark to the heart. +"Your rebuke is just, Grace. No man should boast," he said, as he turned +away.</p> + +<p>That night Mark lay thinking. That Grace had changed, he could plainly +see. It must be because he had refused to tell her his secret. "I must +go away, and never return," he sighed. "It is the only way. If I could +only stay near her, to see her every day, to be her slave, I would be +contented."</p> + +<p>Then the thought of Big Tom came into his mind. He knew there was real +danger from that source. No one knew better than he what the guerrillas +of the State were fast becoming—bands of robbers that preyed on friend +and foe alike. He felt that Mr. Chittenden's being a Confederate would +not save him. To go away and leave Grace exposed to such a great danger +would be to him a torture.</p> + +<p>Sleep did not visit him that night, and when morning came he was no +nearer a decision than he was the night before. He arose; white and +haggard. The lines in his face showed what he had suffered.</p> + +<p>That night also seemed to have changed Grace. She came to him and, +holding out her hand, said: "Mark, I'm sorry I spoke as I did last +night. Forgive me." Then, looking at him, she cried: "Foolish boy! I +believe you took to heart what I said. Mark, did it hurt you so?"</p> + +<p>"There is nothing to forgive, Grace," he replied, gently. "I passed a +restless night, but it was not what you said that caused it, but the +thought that I had already remained here too long; and yet it is hard to +go from those who are so kind to me."</p> + +<p>"Why go at all?" asked Grace. "You belong here. Did we not bring you +back from the very brink of the grave? I have heard father say he wished +you would always remain. He has taken a great fancy to you."</p> + +<p>A great light came into Mark's face. He took a step toward her, as if he +would clasp her in his arms. "Grace! Grace!" he cried, then stopped and +turned deadly pale.</p> + +<p>"Mark, what is it? Are you sick?" asked Grace, anxiously.</p> + +<p>"No; I did turn a little faint, but I am over it now. I will think over +what you said."</p> + +<p>He did think it over, and came to the conclusion that he must go; for, +if he stayed, the time would come when he would have to confess his love +for Grace. He trembled when he realized how near he had come to telling +her. But it was not many hours before he was telling her.</p> + +<p>A man came riding into the valley from the north. He was burning with +fever, and reeled from side to side in his saddle. He was lifted from +his horse, and carried into the house.</p> + +<p>"I am afraid I am done for," he said, faintly, as he was gently placed +on a bed. "I was told I would find a crippled Confederate soldier here, +called Mark Grafton, who sometimes acts as the bearer of dispatches. Is +he here now?"</p> + +<p>"He is," answered Mr. Chittenden.</p> + +<p>"I must see him—see him before it is too late. I feel the hand of Death +upon me."</p> + +<p>Mark was called, and the sick man, between gasps, told his story. He +said his name was Paul Dupont, and he was the bearer of important +dispatches to General Hindman. "I was sick at the time they asked me to +carry them, and tried to beg off, but they said the dispatches were so +important they could only be trusted to a brave and trusty man, and they +knew I was one. 'Carry them as far as Judge Chittenden's, on the La +Belle,' they said; 'then, if you are not able to go farther, deliver +them into the hands of a crippled Confederate soldier there, by the name +of Mark Grafton.' I can go no farther. The hand of Death is already on +me. You will find the dispatches sewed in the lining of my coat. Take +them and deliver them into the hands of General Hindman."</p> + +<p>"To Hindman!" gasped Mark.</p> + +<p>"Yes—don't fail!" whispered Dupont, as he sank back on his pillow, +exhausted. He closed his eyes; his breath came shorter and shorter, and +he soon passed away, without speaking again.</p> + +<p>Mark stood as one confounded. A sacred trust had been committed to +him—one that took him where he never wished to go—into Arkansas. No +one except himself could realize the dangers that he would run.</p> + +<p>When Mr. Chittenden heard of the dead man's request, he said: "Mark, +will you go? Those dispatches mean much; they may mean the redemption of +the State. But the danger—Mark, I hate to see you go."</p> + +<p>Mark thought a moment, and then, drawing himself up to his full height, +his face set and determined, he answered: "I will go. It is a sacred +trust—it is for my country."</p> + +<p>Mr. Chittenden and Mark searched the effects of the dead man, and found +the dispatches as stated. They also found he had about one hundred +dollars in Federal money and two thousand dollars in Confederate money +on his person. Among the papers found was a pass from General Hindman, +asking all good Confederates to aid the bearer all possible.</p> + +<p>"No doubt Dupont was a trusty spy for General Hindman," said Mr. +Chittenden. "Mark, you are stepping into dangerous shoes; yet, if you +were my son, I should bid you go. As for the money, keep that; no doubt +it was given Dupont for expenses, and you are now in his place."</p> + +<p>Mark's preparations were soon made, but the roll which he strapped +behind his saddle was much larger than he generally took. When he was +ready, he sought Grace, to say good-bye. She was not in the house, and +knew nothing of what had taken place.</p> + +<p>He sought her in her favorite nook by the side of the La Belle, and +there he found her gazing pensively into the water. Mark thought there +was a look of sadness on her face. She looked up in surprise as he rode +up.</p> + +<p>"Going away so soon?" she asked.</p> + +<p>Dismounting, Mark hitched his horse, and, going up to her, said: "Yes, +Grace, I am going again, and on one of the most dangerous missions I +ever undertook. I have come to say good-bye. If I never see you again, +God bless you!"</p> + +<p>The girl turned pale. "Why go, Mark, if it is so dangerous?"</p> + +<p>"It is my duty."</p> + +<p>"Mark, don't go!" Tears were gathering in her eyes.</p> + +<p>He looked at her, his whole face eloquent with love. All the resolutions +he had made were forgotten.</p> + +<p>"Grace, I must say what I have told myself a thousand times I would +never say. Grace, I love you—love you better than I do my own soul, and +because I so love you, it is better that I go away and never return."</p> + +<p>"I don't understand," she murmured. "You said things the other day I +didn't understand, and you made me angry."</p> + +<p>"Grace, you are fit to reign a queen in some palace. I am poor and +unknown. But it is not my poverty that has kept me from declaring my +love. It is because I am unworthy of you—because I have deceived you in +some things. Grace, I am not worthy to kiss the earth you tread on."</p> + +<p>A death-like pallor came over the face of the girl. "Mark, for the love +of Heaven, tell me—tell me! Are you married, or have you committed some +heinous crime?"</p> + +<p>"Married! Why, Grace, I never thought of love until I saw you. I knew +not what love was. Neither am I a criminal. Things are done in war that +would be criminal in times of peace."</p> + +<p>"Then why do you say you are so unworthy? Mark, it's that terrible +secret you are keeping from me! Mark, tell me what it is?" She put her +hands on his shoulders, looking yearningly in his face.</p> + +<p>Mark Grafton shook like a leaf. "Grace! Grace!" he cried, "don't tempt +me! You know not what you ask."</p> + +<p>"Then you refuse to tell me?" She had taken her hands from his +shoulders; there was an angry flush on her cheeks.</p> + +<p>"I can't, Grace! Oh, God! if I could!"</p> + +<p>"Go!" she said. "For once, you have told the truth, when you said you +were not worthy of me. All the rest you have said are lies—lies. You +love me, you say, better than your own soul, and yet you refuse to tell +me what it is that would keep me from you. If you loved me, you would +trust me, confide in me. By your actions you have shown yourself +unworthy of the love of any true woman. I have loved you as a +sister—nothing more—but even that love is gone now. Go! I never want +to see you again," and she turned from him.</p> + +<p>A moment Mark stood; then he said, gently: "Grace, good-bye. It is best +that you feel as you do, for I now know that it is only I who will +suffer. I love you, Grace, and always will, but it will be a pure, a +holy love. Nothing you can say or do can take from me the blessed +privilege of loving you. Grace, will you not say good-bye?" No answer.</p> + +<p>Mark turned wearily, and mounted his horse. As the sound of the horse's +hoofs came to her, Grace started as if from a dream. She looked. He was +already riding away. She rushed toward him, with outstretched arms.</p> + +<p>"Mark! Mark! Come back!" she cried. "It was I that lied. I love you! I +love you!"</p> + +<p>He did not hear, or, if he heard, did not heed, for he rode on without +looking back. She watched until he had disappeared in the distance; +then, pressing her hands to her heart, sank down. The wind rustled +through the trees, and sent a shower of withered leaves down upon her.</p> + +<p>"Like my hopes," she murmured, "withered and dying; yet, even in death, +they are beautiful!"</p> + +<p>She noticed the imprint of Mark's foot where he had stood when he +declared his love. A leaf, all orange and gold, with a splash of red in +the center, had fallen and half concealed the imprint. She stooped and +picked it up.</p> + +<p>"He said he was not worthy to kiss the earth on which I tread," she +whispered, and she pressed the leaf to her lips; then, with a shudder, +she threw it from her, for she noticed her lips had touched the splash +of red, which to her looked like blood.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> + +<h3>INTO THE LION'S MOUTH</h3> + + +<p>For a few miles after leaving Grace, Mark rode as if pursued by an +enemy. Wild thoughts rushed through his mind; but at length he became +calmer.</p> + +<p>"No, no," he soliloquized, "I cannot leave Grace to the vengeance of +Hobson, and I am sure he will seek vengeance as soon as he recovers from +his wound. But am I not leaving her? Well do I realize the danger I am +running. It is doubtful if I ever come back. An ignominious death may +await me. I have put duty above love. But, Grace, if I live, my duty, +after this, will be to guard and protect you. Unseen and unknown, I will +be near you. To see you from afar will be heaven."</p> + +<p>Mark soon halted by a pool of clear water, and undid the roll behind his +saddle, from which he took various articles. Soon no one would have +known him as the young man who had ridden away from the La Belle. He +looked ten years older; the color of his hair was changed, and a fine +mustache adorned his upper lip.</p> + +<p>He studied his face for a while as he leaned over the clear water. "It +will do," he said. "But what if I meet Colonel Clay?"</p> + +<p>For three days after that Mark rode without an adventure, but on the +fourth day he was chased by a squad of Federal cavalry. A lucky shot +killed the horse of his foremost pursuer, and he escaped. Skirting the +flank of the Federal army, he reached the headquarters of General +Hindman at Van Buren, on the Arkansas River.</p> + +<p>Here, behind the Boston Mountains, Hindman had gathered an army +estimated at from twenty to thirty thousand men. Opposed to him was +General Blunt, with an army of not over seven or eight thousand men. +Hindman thought that by a swift movement he could crush Blunt before he +could be reinforced, and then, meeting any reinforcements which might be +marching to his relief, whip them in detail, thus wresting Missouri from +the grasp of the Federals.</p> + +<p>He was now only waiting dispatches from Missouri informing him of the +number and position of the Federal troops in the State, and the number +of recruits he could reasonably expect to join him, once in the State, +and where.</p> + +<p>It was these dispatches that Mark Grafton was carrying. If captured with +them, Mark well knew what his fate would be. There were other reasons, +known only to himself, which made it extremely perilous for him to enter +the Confederate lines.</p> + +<p>It was late in the afternoon when Mark was challenged by the outposts of +the Confederate army. He stated that he was a courier from Missouri, +with important dispatches for General Hindman, and demanded that he be +conducted to headquarters at once. It was dark before headquarters were +reached, but Mark was granted an immediate audience with the General.</p> + +<p>"What is your name?" asked the General, as Mark handed him the +dispatches.</p> + +<p>"Grafton—Mark Grafton."</p> + +<p>"I was expecting dispatches, important ones, but from another source. I +wonder what these can be?"</p> + +<p>He opened them and, glancing at them, exclaimed: "Why, these are the +very dispatches I was looking for! I expected them to be delivered by a +man named Dupont. How did you come by them?"</p> + +<p>"Dupont is dead," replied Mark, solemnly.</p> + +<p>"Dupont dead! Great God! How did he die? Was he captured?"</p> + +<p>"No." Mark told the full particulars of Dupont's death, and how in his +dying moments he had committed the dispatches to him.</p> + +<p>"Poor Dupont!" sighed Hindman. "He was my most trusted spy, and he died +in the discharge of his duty."</p> + +<p>Then, scrutinizing Mark closely, he said: "You have made good time in +coming from Chittenden's. Have any trouble?"</p> + +<p>"Only once. I put one Yankee cavalryman out of commission."</p> + +<p>"Good! How would you like to take Dupont's place?" asked Hindman, +abruptly.</p> + +<p>"General, I would make a poor spy. I could be identified too easily," +and Mark touched his crippled arm.</p> + +<p>"Where did you get that?"</p> + +<p>"In one of the little partisan battles in Missouri," answered Mark, +without hesitation.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry," answered Hindman. "I wished to send some dispatches back +with you."</p> + +<p>"I can take them," promptly answered Mark. "And, if you wish, I can act +as dispatch-bearer for you in Missouri. I am well acquainted in the +State, and am known to most of the guerrilla leaders. It is through them +I receive and deliver my dispatches. I am careful never to enter a +Federal camp. I am at present staying at Chittenden's, and will +cheerfully execute any commission you may send me. I have carried +dispatches for Colonel Clay several times."</p> + +<p>"Just the thing. Consider yourself engaged," cried the General. "I +recall now that I have heard Colonel Clay speak of you. I am sorry the +Colonel is away on special duty."</p> + +<p>Mark was not the least bit sorry, but his looks did not show it. Clay +would not have known him in his disguise, and would have denounced him +as an impostor.</p> + +<p>"General, one thing more," said Mark. "Mr. Chittenden, in looking over +the effects of Dupont, found several little trinkets that his family +might wish to have. There was also one hundred dollars in Federal money +and two thousand dollars in Confederate money on his person. Here is +everything."</p> + +<p>"You can keep the Federal money. The Confederate will be of little use +to you in Missouri. Here is another one hundred in Federal money, but +remember this money is a sacred trust, and only to be used for expenses +when on business for the Confederacy."</p> + +<p>"It will be so considered," said Mark as he took the money. "General, +will it be possible for you to have your dispatches ready by morning. +Mr. Chittenden wished me to get back as quickly as possible. He is in +trouble."</p> + +<p>"Trouble? What trouble?"</p> + +<p>"Why, haven't you heard? The valley of the La Belle has been raided by a +force of Federals, the provisions and forage he had gathered captured, +and four or five hundred recruits coming from the central and northern +part of the State taken prisoners and paroled."</p> + +<p>"I had not heard of it," said the General, greatly excited. "When did it +happen?"</p> + +<p>"Only a few days before I left. But that is not all. Just as the +Federals left, Major Powell came up from Arkansas with a train to get +the provisions and forage and escort the recruits. He pursued the +Federals, but fell into an ambuscade and his command was cut to pieces."</p> + +<p>"Do you know who commanded the Federals?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, a Captain Lawrence Middleton."</p> + +<p>"The devil! He had much to do with frustrating our plans last summer."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and but a few weeks ago he almost annihilated the band of Red +Jerry. We are trying to lay plans to capture him."</p> + +<p>"Well, this is bad news, but we will try and turn the tables before many +days. I will have my dispatches ready by morning. Make yourself +comfortable until then." With a wave of the hand the General dismissed +him.</p> + +<p>The next morning Mark called early for the dispatches and found the +General in close conversation with a thick, heavy-set man whose face +showed both courage and determination. When Mark saw him he gave a +start. "I know you, my friend," he thought, "and it will be an +unfortunate thing for me if you recognize me."</p> + +<p>"Ah, Grafton, is that you?" said the General. "Glad to see you. Allow me +to make you acquainted with Mr. Spencer. Spencer, this is the young man +I was telling you about. Grafton, Spencer is now my most trusted spy, +since Dupont is gone. He will ride part way with you."</p> + +<p>Mark extended his hand cordially, but there was no warmth or cordiality +in the hand that Spencer gave him. Instead, he looked as if he would +read the inmost thoughts of Mark's soul, but Mark met his gaze steadily +and coolly, as if he did not know his life was hanging in the balance.</p> + +<p>At length Spencer said, "Glad to meet you, Grafton. Excuse me for +scrutinizing you so closely, but we are in the same business, and as I +may have you for a companion sometime, I like to measure my man before I +tie to him."</p> + +<p>"Well, how do I measure?" asked Mark, with a smile.</p> + +<p>"I reckon you will do."</p> + +<p>"I trust so," rejoined Mark. "But you made a mistake in saying I was in +the same business. I don't believe I have nerve enough to be a spy. I am +simply a courier, and carry what others have gathered. It takes nerve to +penetrate the enemy's camp. Nerve such as you have, Spencer."</p> + +<p>Spencer's face lit up with a smile. "You rate me too highly, Grafton," +he answered. "But I certainly have been in some tight places, and I +reckon you could relate some startling adventures if you would."</p> + +<p>Mark had been handed his dispatches, and was about to depart when +General Frost was announced.</p> + +<p>"Hold on a minute," said Hindman. "General Frost may have some word he +would like to send."</p> + +<p>"Sending a courier into Missouri?" asked Frost.</p> + +<p>"Yes, the same young man who brought those dispatches last night, that +Dupont should have brought. I am sorry to say Dupont is dead."</p> + +<p>"Dead! Dupont dead! Did the Yankees get him?"</p> + +<p>"No, he died of the fever. He arrived at Chittenden's in a dying +condition and gave his dispatches to Grafton to bring on."</p> + +<p>"Grafton? I think I have heard that name from Colonel Clay. Happy to +meet you, Grafton. Let me hear the news from Missouri."</p> + +<p>Much against his will Mark was forced to remain and again rehearse his +story. When he told of the capture of the train and the defeat of +Powell, Frost became very much excited.</p> + +<p>"What Federal officer did you say was in command?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I didn't say, but I understood it was a Captain Middleton."</p> + +<p>Frost sprang to his feet, letting out a volley of oaths.</p> + +<p>"Where were you when this happened?" he then asked.</p> + +<p>"I was absent from the valley. I was helping Mr. Chittenden in gathering +supplies, and was away seeing about some that had not yet arrived."</p> + +<p>Mark was now excused, but told to wait for Spencer. General Frost had +taken him aside and they were engaged in earnest conversation. Every now +and then they would glance at Mark, and he was sure they were talking +about him. If he had heard what they were saying he would have known he +was under suspicion.</p> + +<p>"It can't be he," Frost was saying, "but every now and then there is +something about him that makes me think of him. I hardly know what; +certain motions, I think."</p> + +<p>"I knew him well," answered Spencer, "and so far I have not seen +anything that would make me think Grafton was he. I am to ride with him +nearly a day's journey, and if I see anything suspicious—well you know +what will happen."</p> + +<p>All being ready the two rode away together. They had not gone far when +Mark noticed that Spencer was watching every move he made. Instantly +every nerve of Mark's body became alert, but to all appearances he was +totally unsuspicious. To Spencer's request that he tell him something of +his life, he responded that he did not have much to tell. He had been a +member of a guerrilla band, was wounded and had found his way into the +Ozarks, where he had been with Mr. Chittenden, who took him in when he +was suffering with the fever. He had acted as courier for Colonel Clay, +but had never met with many exciting adventures.</p> + +<p>"Now, Spencer," he said, "tell me something of yourself, for I know you +have faced a hundred dangers where I have faced one."</p> + +<p>Spencer refused to be interviewed, and maintained a rather moody +silence. At length they reached where they were to part and when they +shook hands Spencer, as if by accident, drew the sleeve of his coat +across Mark's face and his mustache came off.</p> + +<p>"Damn you! I know you now," shrieked Spencer as he reached for his +revolver, but quick as a flash Mark snatched a revolver from his bosom +and fired.</p> + +<p>Spencer's revolver went off half raised. He sank down in the saddle, +then rolled from his horse, a motionless body.</p> + +<p>Mark was about to dismount to see if he was dead when he was startled by +the pounding of horses' hoofs and looking up saw a squad of Federal +cavalry bearing down on him. Putting spurs to his horse and bending low +over his neck he escaped amid a shower of bullets.</p> + +<p>The only mark of the conflict that Mark could find was a bullet which +had lodged in the back of his saddle.</p> + +<p>After riding several miles, Mark met half a dozen guerrillas who said +they were on their way to join Hindman. He told them of meeting the +Yankee cavalry and that they would have to look out, and asked them to +take a note to General Hindman for him. To this they readily assented +and this is what Mark wrote:</p> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">General</span>: I am sorry to say that just as Spencer and I were to +part we ran into a squad of Yankee cavalry. Poor Spencer was +killed and I only escaped by the fleetness of my horse. If +Spencer had dispatches that will embarrass you, you can govern +yourself accordingly, for they are now in the hands of the +enemy.</p> + +<p>As for the dispatches you entrusted to me, they are safe, and +if they are never delivered you will know I have suffered the +fate of poor Spencer.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mark Grafton.</span></p></blockquote> + +<p>After parting from the guerrillas Mark, instead of riding towards home, +turned his horse westward. In due time General Hindman learned that the +dispatches he had entrusted to Mark had been faithfully delivered, but +that Mark had disappeared. Mr. Chittenden looked for his return to the +La Belle in vain.</p> + +<p>General Hindman made anxious inquiries, for he had use for so faithful a +courier as Mark had proved to be. But the weeks passed and nothing was +heard, and it was thought he must have been killed, and he was numbered +with the unknown dead.</p> + +<p>Mr. Chittenden mourned him as such, but Grace maintained that he still +lived, and she had good cause for her belief. She had never told her +father of the love passage between Mark and herself, and how she had +refused to bid him good-bye when he left. The memory of that parting was +a secret, she felt, only to be held in her own heart, for she was not +sure she would ever see or hear from Mark again.</p> + +<p>One day a letter was placed in Grace's hands by a messenger who hurried +away before she had time to thank him, much less question him. Much to +her surprise and joy the letter was from Mark.</p> + +<p>"He lives! He lives!" she cried rapturously as she pressed it to her +lips. Grace had forgotten all her resentment towards Mark, forgotten +that the secret that lay between them was still unsolved. She only knew +that she loved him. Eagerly she read the letter, which ran:</p> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Grace</span>: Lest you believe me dead, I write this. It was foolish +in me to tell you of my love, but I had to do it. Now that you +know, I am content. I ask nothing, deserve nothing, in return. +Just the thought of loving you is like thinking of heaven. When +I went away I rode as it were into the jaws of death, and +escaped as by a miracle. Grace, it is best that I see you no +more. Think of me only as one who takes joy in loving you. Only +one thing will ever call me to your side, and that is if you +are ever in grave danger. To defend you I would come from the +ends of the earth.</p> + +<p>I think you have read Longfellow's Hiawatha, for I have seen it +in your library. Do you remember that when Minnehaha lay dying +she called for Hiawatha, and, although he was miles and miles +away, that cry of anguish reached him. And so great is my love +for you that I believe that if you should call me in a time of +danger I would hear. Remember this if trouble comes, though I +hope it never will.</p> + +<p>Farewell.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mark.</span></p></blockquote> + +<p>Grace read and re-read the strange letter. Hiawatha had just been +published when she was at school in St. Louis, and it had been a great +favorite of hers.</p> + +<p>What could Mark mean by intimating that some great peril might be +impending? She knew not. But Mark lived; he still loved her, would +always love her.</p> + +<p>She placed the letter in her bosom next her heart and there it rested. +Her secret was her own; why tell it? If Mark never came back, no one +would ever know. But she believed he would come back, and her step grew +lighter, her face brighter, her laugh merrier. In fact, she became her +old self, and her father rejoiced, for he had noticed a change in her +since Mark went away.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> + +<h3>PRAIRIE GROVE</h3> + + +<p>When General Sterling Price was ordered east of the Mississippi River +the Confederate Government placed the Department of Arkansas under the +command of General T. C. Hindman. It was Hindman who originated the idea +of organizing the guerrillas of Missouri into companies and regiments, +intending by a general uprising to wrest the State from the grasp of the +Federals.</p> + +<p>In his report to the Confederate Government Hindman says: "I gave +authority to various persons to raise companies and regiments there (in +Missouri) and to operate as guerrillas."</p> + +<p>Thus Hindman confesses he was encouraging the bloody guerrilla warfare +which raged throughout the State.</p> + +<p>Hindman ruled Arkansas with a rod of iron. He declared martial law +throughout the State, appointed a provost marshal for every county, and +proceeded to force every able-bodied man into the army. In his reports +he coolly says: "For the salvation of the country, I took the +responsibility to force these men into service. I now resolved for the +same objects to compel them to remain."</p> + +<p>A great many of these men were Union at heart, and desertions were +frequent. To stop this Hindman began the wholesale shooting of +deserters. In all probability he shot as many men for deserting as the +Federal authorities shot guerrillas in Missouri for breaking their +paroles. So high-handed did his acts become, and so many were the +complaints made against him, that the Confederate Government had to take +cognizance of them.</p> + +<p>By the end of November Hindman had succeeded in gathering an army of +from twenty-five to thirty thousand men. Many of them were unarmed, but +he had a formidable host in comparison to the small army opposed to him.</p> + +<p>It was on December the second that Lawrence arrived at the camp of +General Blunt. Since he had crossed the mountains, and escaped the force +in front of him, he had encountered no serious opposition. He had met +and scattered two or three small bands of guerrillas, and taken a number +of prisoners, whom he had been obliged to parole.</p> + +<p>"I am more than glad to see you," exclaimed General Blunt, warmly +grasping Lawrence's hand. "Schofield telegraphed me you were coming and +I have been looking for you for several days. I began to fear misfortune +had overtaken you."</p> + +<p>"We did have a variety of adventures," answered Lawrence. "More than we +bargained for, but we are here all right now."</p> + +<p>"Tell us about it," said the General, and nothing would do but that +Lawrence must give a detailed account of the trip. The General listened +attentively, and when Lawrence finished he clapped him on the shoulder +and cried, "Well done, my boy! Well done. You ought to be a general. But +were not the warnings you received in the mountains rather mysterious?"</p> + +<p>"They were," answered Lawrence, "and I have no plausible explanation to +make."</p> + +<p>Early next morning Blunt sent for Lawrence, asking him to come +immediately. He found him sitting with a paper in his hand, and a +puzzled expression on his face.</p> + +<p>"Hello! Captain," he cried. "I'm glad to see you, as I am a little in +the mystery business myself this morning."</p> + +<p>"In the mystery business?" asked Lawrence, somewhat astonished.</p> + +<p>"Yes, don't imagine you are the only one to receive mysterious warnings. +I received one myself last night."</p> + +<p>"Out with it. Don't keep me in suspense, General."</p> + +<p>"Well, last night a soldier brought me a communication, saying it was +given to him by a young Indian with the urgent request that it be given +to me at once."</p> + +<p>"You have Indians in your command, have you not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, a company of scouts under the command of Colonel Wattles. The +paper was of such a nature that I immediately began an investigation as +to its genuineness. Colonel Wattles asked every man in his command if +any one of them had delivered such a paper and each and every one denied +knowledge of it. I found the soldier who gave me the paper, and he said +the Indian who gave it to him disappeared in the darkness before he +could ask him any questions. The paper contains the most important +information, if true. Here it is. I want you to look at it, and tell me +what you think of it."</p> + +<p>General Blunt handed Lawrence the communication, and no sooner had he +glanced at it than he exclaimed, "Great Heavens!"</p> + +<p>"What is it?" asked Blunt, jumping up in his excitement. "Do you know +who wrote it?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know who wrote it, but I know the handwriting. It is from the +same person who warned General Schofield, through me, of the +contemplated partisan uprising in Missouri last summer. It was the +information given in that communication that enabled General Schofield +to thwart the movement."</p> + +<p>"Was it the same person that warned you that you were being pursued in +the Ozarks?" asked the General.</p> + +<p>"No, that warning was given by an illiterate person. This is by someone +well educated. Whatever information the paper gives, act upon it at +once. I will stake my life on its being correct."</p> + +<p>"Read what it says," replied the General.</p> + +<p>Lawrence read the paper through and, as he expected, it was a detailed +account of the plans of General Hindman. It stated that Hindman had just +received dispatches from several sources in Missouri that if he did not +hurry up and invade the State the cause would be hopelessly lost, but if +he could defeat Blunt and invade the State, thousands were ready to +flock to his standard. Hindman had answered that he was ready to move on +Blunt with twenty thousand men, and anticipated an easy victory as he +(Blunt) did not have more than five or six thousand men.</p> + +<p>"He estimated my force closely," said Blunt. "There must have been spies +in my camp," but read on.</p> + +<p>"Great Scott! He says Hindman will commence his movement on the fourth +or fifth; and this is the third," exclaimed Lawrence.</p> + +<p>"Yes, and I have only this small division to oppose him."</p> + +<p>"Where are the other two divisions?"</p> + +<p>"Up around Springfield, seventy-five miles away, and Schofield's orders +are to hold this position at all hazards."</p> + +<p>"Herron can get here," cried Lawrence. "I know his Western boys; they +are greyhounds to march."</p> + +<p>"But just think, seventy-five miles in two or three days," said Blunt, +"and then go into battle. But it is my only hope."</p> + +<p>It was twelve miles to the telegraph office at Fayetteville. A swift +courier carried the message there and from there it went on the wings of +the lightning to General Herron.</p> + +<p>It was a little after midnight on the morning of the fourth that General +Herron received the message, and by three o'clock his little army was on +the way—a march of seventy-five miles before them and then a battle. +There was no lagging, no grumbling. "On to save Blunt" was the cry.</p> + +<p>That army was accustomed to long marches, to hardships almost +incredible. Hardly ever stopping, through the nights as well as days, +they marched, and on the evening of the sixth the advance of Herron's +army reached Fayetteville; the rest would be up during the night. +Blunt's army was still twelve miles away, and the boom of the cannon +told them the conflict was on.</p> + +<p>Hindman knew that Herron was coming, and he made haste to strike before +his arrival. On December fifth he instructed General Marmaduke to take +his division, turn the right flank of Blunt's army, and throw his men in +between Blunt and Fayetteville, thus preventing the union of Blunt and +Herron.</p> + +<p>The clash came at Cain Hill. Lawrence, with his troop, was in the +advance, and the rapidity of their fire so astonished Marmaduke that he +thought he was fighting a much larger force than he was, and his men +fell back in confusion. The movement was a failure.</p> + +<p>All through the next day Hindman's forces kept pouring through the +passes of the mountains, and though the Federals resisted gallantly, +they were gradually pressed back, and the evening of the sixth found the +two armies confronting each other, ready to grapple in deadly conflict.</p> + +<p>Blunt had sent word to Herron that he would fight where he was, and for +him to hurry forward. During the night General Hindman made an +unexpected and aggressive movement, worthy of Stonewall Jackson. +Reasoning that Herron's men must be completely exhausted by their long +march, he resolved to leave his camp fires burning and a small force +which was to make a big show, thus leading General Blunt to believe the +whole army was still before him. Hindman then marched around Blunt and +in the morning was squarely between him and Herron. Hindman believed he +could easily whip Herron before Blunt came up, and then he would turn on +Blunt and finish the job.</p> + +<p>As soon as it was light the Confederates in front of Blunt opened a +noisy battle. Lawrence was serving on Blunt's staff, leaving the troop +in command of Dan. The Federals pressed eagerly forward, the +Confederates yielding ground readily.</p> + +<p>"General," said Lawrence, "there is something wrong. I do not believe +the whole army is before us. They give ground too easily. I believe the +main part of Hindman's army has slipped past us, and gone to attack +Herron."</p> + +<p>"Impossible," answered Blunt. "The only road they could have taken to +get past us is the Cove Creek road, some four miles away, and I sent +Colonel Richardson with his regiment to guard that with strict orders to +hold it, and let me know if he was attacked. I have heard nothing from +him, so all must be well."</p> + +<p>But Lawrence was not satisfied; more and more he became convinced that +there was only a small force in front, and he asked Blunt if he might +not go and try to find Richardson, as he had not yet reported. +Permission was readily granted. Lawrence had not gone two miles before +he came onto Richardson. He had not occupied nor had he attempted to +occupy the Cove Creek road. Instead he had halted two miles from it, and +sent forward a small reconnoitering party; and the officer in charge of +the party had reported that the enemy had been passing along the road in +force ever since midnight.</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you occupy the road as ordered?" angrily demanded Lawrence +of Richardson.</p> + +<p>"Do you think I was going to fight the whole Confederate army with my +little regiment? I'm not such a fool," retorted Richardson.</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you send word to the General then that the enemy was passing +along this road in force?" demanded Lawrence, still more angry. "By your +own admission you became aware of the movement by midnight."</p> + +<p>"Why, I was just about to report the matter," said Richardson.</p> + +<p>"Just about to, and here it is after nine o'clock. If I had the power I +would strip off your shoulder straps, and have you drummed out of the +army," exclaimed Lawrence furiously. In fact, he came the nearest +swearing he ever did. But there was no time to quarrel. Wheeling his +horse he rode at full speed to General Blunt with the news.</p> + +<p>Calling back his men and paying no more attention to the force in front, +Blunt marched to the relief of Herron, but it was nearly eleven o'clock +before he got under way. Then he did not know exactly where Herron was, +for no courier could get through. It was one o'clock before the roar of +the cannon told him that the battle had opened, and then he found he was +marching in the wrong direction, and it was nearly four o'clock before +he reached the field.</p> + +<p>Hindman's movement had been a complete success. Herron had gathered his +little army at Fayetteville and early in the morning started to join +Blunt, whose cannon he could hear, not dreaming that it was to be he and +not Blunt that was to fight the main battle.</p> + +<p>Hardly had the light of the short December day dawned when Shelby's +brigade surprised and captured a train of thirty wagons, and with it +nearly three hundred of the four hundred soldiers guarding it. Those not +captured fled panic-stricken and for nearly five miles Shelby's men +followed them, but here they ran into Herron's men and went back as fast +as they had come.</p> + +<p>Herron soon came upon the entire Confederate army in line of battle +along Illinois Creek, not far from an old church called Prairie Grove +Church. The position was a strong one, but Herron did not hesitate a +moment, but made preparations to attack.</p> + +<p>Why Hindman, with his overwhelming force, did not attack, but waited to +be attacked, will never be known. Owing to the nature of the ground it +took Herron some time to form his line, but at one o'clock the battle +opened. For nearly three long hours it raged. Every time the +Confederates essayed to charge they were met with such a storm of shot +and shell that they went reeling back.</p> + +<p>Twice did Herron's men make desperate charges and captured a battery +each time, but they were met with such an overwhelming force that they +were forced to relinquish the guns. Herron's men were hard pressed, but +grimly they held to their position, awaiting the arrival of Blunt.</p> + +<p>It was nearly four o'clock when the roar of Blunt's cannon was heard. +Throwing his force on the flank of the Confederate army, they were +compelled to give way and the field was won.</p> + +<p>Darkness put an end to the conflict, and the tired soldiers threw +themselves on the ground to sleep, expecting to renew the conflict in +the morning. But Hindman had had enough. He had failed to crush Herron, +and now that Blunt and Herron were united, he only thought of safety; so +muffling the wheels of his artillery he began his retreat to Van Buren, +leaving his dead to be buried and hundreds of his wounded to be cared +for by the victorious Federals.</p> + +<p>This ended all hopes of the Confederates invading Missouri at this time. +Soon Hindman withdrew his army from Northwest Arkansas and fled to +Little Rock.</p> + +<p>Again had the Army of the Northwest, now known as the Army of the +Frontier, achieved a glorious victory in the face of immense odds.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV</h2> + +<h3>CALLED TO OTHER FIELDS</h3> + + +<p>The victory of Prairie Grove sent a thrill throughout the west, +especially to the Union men of Missouri. To the secession element of the +State it was a fearful blow, and they felt that their only hope was in +the success of the Southern army in other fields.</p> + +<p>Generals Blunt and Herron and the gallant soldiers of the Army of the +Frontier were warmly thanked by the Federal Government for the great +victory they had achieved.</p> + +<p>A few days after the battle an orderly placed a bulky letter in the +hands of Lawrence. He found it to be from General Schofield. As he read +it he uttered an exclamation of surprise. The letter stated that General +Blair had sent an urgent request that Lawrence be at once returned to +him, as he was greatly in need of a staff officer of Lawrence's +acquirements.</p> + +<p>"As much as I regret to lose you," wrote Schofield, "under the +circumstances I cannot object. I have just heard of your achievements in +the Ozarks and desire to thank you, which I hope to do in person."</p> + +<p>The letter then went on to state that while he no longer feared an +invasion of Missouri by any large force, the guerrilla warfare was by no +means over, and the State was still open to raids from Arkansas; +therefore he hoped that the troop would remain under the command of +Lieutenant Sherman, and that the scout Harry Semans would remain with +him.</p> + +<p>As Lawrence read this his brow contracted, for he hated to give up Dan +and Harry. But he felt the wisdom of Schofield's suggestion and could +offer no objection.</p> + +<p>Enclosed was a letter from General Blair to Lawrence, urging him to come +as soon as possible, saying that the movement against Vicksburg was +about to commence. "There will be stirring times down here for the next +few months," he wrote, "and you will find plenty to do, and fresh fields +in which to win honor."</p> + +<p>After he read the letter Lawrence handed Schofield's letter to Dan, +saying, "Read it."</p> + +<p>Dan had read but a few words when he looked up with a happy smile. "Why, +Captain," he exclaimed, "this is jolly. It means a wider field. I always +thought I would like to be in an army commanded by Grant."</p> + +<p>"Read on, Dan," said Lawrence. "There is much bitter with the sweet in +that document."</p> + +<p>Dan read on. In a moment he uttered an oath, and threw the letter down. +"I won't stay," he cried. "I want to go with you. I will resign my +commission. I will enlist as a private soldier so I can be near you."</p> + +<p>"I do not think that will do you much good," said Lawrence, smiling. "As +a private soldier you might be sent hundreds of miles from me. Even if +we were in the same army we would see little or nothing of each other. +Dan, let's look at this in a reasonable way. To part with you is as +great a grief to me as to you. It will be a sad parting, Dan, but it +will leave you in command of the troop and, Dan, I know you will do as +well, if not better, than I. Then you will have Harry and Bruno. General +Schofield is right; the guerrilla warfare is not over, and it is your +duty to remain here."</p> + +<p>It was hard to convince Dan, although he knew Lawrence was right.</p> + +<p>"Let's go and see Blunt," said Lawrence.</p> + +<p>The General, though he had known Lawrence but a few days, had become +warmly attached to him. His gallantry and coolness in time of battle had +won his admiration.</p> + +<p>"I had hoped you could remain and become chief of my scouts," he said. +"I have need of just such a body of men as you command."</p> + +<p>"You forget," said Lawrence, "that General Schofield writes that the +troop is to remain under the command of my lieutenant, Daniel Sherman. +You will find him equal to all demands. As for scouting, Harry Semans is +to remain with his dog Bruno, and they are equal to a regiment when it +comes to scouting."</p> + +<p>Schofield had written that he wished Lawrence would come by way of St. +Louis, as he wished to see him. This meant a horseback ride of two +hundred miles to Rolla. Lawrence's preparations for the long ride were +soon made, and the time to bid farewell to his command came.</p> + +<p>The members of the troop crowded around him to say good-bye and bid him +Godspeed, and tears stood in the eyes of many a rough soldier as they +took his hand in theirs.</p> + +<p>When it came to parting with Dan and Harry, Lawrence broke down. He +tried to say something, but a great lump was in his throat and his voice +died away. They could only clasp hands, their eyes looking what their +tongues refused to say. Dan and Harry watched him ride away, and as he +looked back, waved him a last farewell.</p> + +<p>But Lawrence's adventures in Missouri were not ended. He reached +Springfield in safety and there joined a wagon train en route for Rolla, +guarded by a detachment of fifty cavalry. The train was a small one, +consisting of forty wagons and ten ambulances, the ambulances conveying +back some disabled soldiers who had been furloughed.</p> + +<p>The escort was in charge of a Captain Jackson, a pompous, red faced man. +Lawrence noticed that he was more or less under the influence of liquor +all the time, and that there was little discipline among his men.</p> + +<p>A train from Rolla that came into Springfield just as this train was +leaving reported that they had been threatened by a band of guerrillas +under Jackman, but as their train was strongly guarded, he had not +attacked.</p> + +<p>"You had better be on your guard," said the officer in command to +Jackson.</p> + +<p>With an oath Jackson replied that his fifty men were a match for any +force Jackman could bring against him. That he wished Jackman would +attack, as he would like to give him a good licking.</p> + +<p>The first day out Lawrence saw how things were going and spoke to +Jackson, telling him that he was moving carelessly, that his men were +straggling and were in no shape to resist an attack if one came.</p> + +<p>Jackson drew himself proudly up and growled: "Who's in command of this +train, you or I? If you are afraid you had better go back to Springfield +and get a regiment to guard you through."</p> + +<p>Lawrence smothered his wrath and said nothing more. Jackson went among +his men boasting loudly how he had taken the starch out of that young +peacock of a captain. He had quickly shown him he couldn't order him +around.</p> + +<p>Soon a lieutenant of the company came to Lawrence and said, "Captain, I +heard what you said to Captain Jackson and his insulting reply. You are +right. We are in no shape to resist an attack."</p> + +<p>"You are in charge of the rear guard, are you not?" asked Lawrence.</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"How many men have you?"</p> + +<p>"Fifteen."</p> + +<p>"Can they all be depended on?"</p> + +<p>"Ten or twelve can."</p> + +<p>"Good! Tell them if an attack comes to stand by the train to the last. +Captain Jackson has charge of the advance; how many men has he?"</p> + +<p>"Twenty. Half of them are no good. They would run at the first shot."</p> + +<p>"That leaves fifteen men to guard the center of the train," replied +Lawrence. "Under whose command are they?"</p> + +<p>"Sergeant Strong. He's a good man."</p> + +<p>"Let's see him."</p> + +<p>The Sergeant was seen and found to be a keen young soldier, fully alive +to the situation. "I have had hard work," he said, "to keep my men in +hand owing to the example of those in front, but I am doing the best I +can. One shot would stampede the whole advance."</p> + +<p>"If an attack should come in front," said Lawrence, "and the advance +come back panic-stricken, don't give way; Lieutenant Hale, here, will +come to your relief. If the rear is attacked, go to him. If the center +is attacked he will come to you."</p> + +<p>"You can depend on that," said Hale.</p> + +<p>"Are the teamsters armed?" asked Lawrence.</p> + +<p>"Only about half of them are enlisted men. They are armed."</p> + +<p>"See that their guns are loaded and ready for instant use."</p> + +<p>The teamsters were astonished and considerably excited when the order +came, but they were told that it was merely a matter of precaution, and +that there was no cause for alarm.</p> + +<p>On the morning of the third day out firing was heard in front. There +came a volley followed by fiendish yells and the advance came tearing +back, panic-stricken. In a moment everything was in confusion.</p> + +<p>Down the train rode the guerrillas, shooting the teamsters and mules, +and yelling like devils. Back came Captain Jackson, spurring his horse, +his face white with fright.</p> + +<p>"Halt," cried Lawrence. But the Captain went past him like a whirlwind, +his only thought of escape.</p> + +<p>Where the guerrillas had charged the head of the train the ground was +open, but where Lawrence was there was a thick growth of bushes on one +side of the road and a rough fence built out of logs and rails on the +other.</p> + +<p>Lawrence ordered one of the teamsters who had not entirely lost his head +to swing his wagon across the road, blocking it. Sergeant Strong had +succeeded in rallying some ten or twelve of the soldiers, who, springing +from their horses, used the mules and wagons for breastworks. Several of +the advance guard had been cut off, but they jumped from their horses +and, diving under the wagon, continued their flight. Lawrence did not +attempt to stop them, for they had lost their arms and would have been +of no use.</p> + +<p>Close on the heels of the fugitives came six or eight guerrillas.</p> + +<p>"Steady, men! Hold your fire!" shouted Lawrence.</p> + +<p>He waited until the guerrillas were within a few rods of the improvised +breastworks, then ordered the men to fire. Half the saddles were emptied +and the rest went scurrying back. But they were met by the main body of +guerrillas and all came charging with blood curdling yells.</p> + +<p>At this opportune moment Lieutenant Hale came galloping up with the rear +guard. His quick eye took in the situation and he ordered his men to +dismount and take position behind the mules and wagons.</p> + +<p>"Hold your fire!" again shouted Lawrence. "Keep cool and take good aim."</p> + +<p>On came the yelling horde. When within a few yards of the blockade the +foremost tried to check their horses, but those in the rear pressed on +and threw the whole body into confusion.</p> + +<p>"Fire!" Lawrence's voice rang out loud and clear. In that packed mass +the effect of the volley was terrible.</p> + +<p>"Give it to them," shouted Lawrence.</p> + +<p>The men loaded and fired as fast as they could, but soon there was no +one to shoot at. The guerrillas who had escaped were in retreat.</p> + +<p>"Lieutenant Hale, hold the position here," said Lawrence. "Fifteen men +come with me."</p> + +<p>Every man within the barricade volunteered. Quickly Lawrence counted off +fifteen. "The rest stay with Lieutenant Hale and hold the barricade," he +ordered.</p> + +<p>With the fifteen men Lawrence boldly charged after the fleeing enemy. +They had commenced to rally, but a few well directed volleys once more +put them to flight.</p> + +<p>Ten or twelve wagons were in flames, half a dozen of the teamsters lay +weltering in their blood, and the poor mules lay in heaps as they had +fallen. The ambulances had been in the rear of the train and so the +occupants had escaped.</p> + +<p>It was found that fifteen of the teamsters and soldiers had been killed +or wounded. Of the guerrillas, thirty lay dead or desperately wounded.</p> + +<p>After the fight was over Captain Jackson came creeping back. He claimed +that before he retreated he had killed two of the guerrillas with his +own hand and he had only gone to the rear to order up Lieutenant Hale.</p> + +<p>"Captain Jackson, you are under arrest."</p> + +<p>"Sergeant Strong, please relieve Captain Jackson of his sword," said +Lawrence, coolly.</p> + +<p>"By what right do you arrest me?" roared the Captain. "I refuse to be +arrested. Sergeant Strong, dare to arrest me and I will have you +court-martialed."</p> + +<p>"As the representative of General Schofield I arrest you; I am on his +staff," quietly answered Lawrence. "Sergeant, do your duty."</p> + +<p>The Captain delivered up his sword without a word. The name of General +Schofield was potent.</p> + +<p>Lawrence now turned to Lieutenant Hale and said, "Lieutenant, you are in +charge of the train. Clear up the debris of the battle. Let the men in +the ambulances who are best able be put in the wagons and our wounded +take their places. Let the wounded guerrillas be taken to that house +over there, and be made as comfortable as possible. Their friends will +care for them as soon as we are out of sight."</p> + +<p>It was noon before the train was again on the way. The burnt wagons, +dead mules and new made graves were the mute witnesses left to tell of +the fight.</p> + +<p>Rolla was reached without further trouble. Here Lawrence turned Captain +Jackson over, charging him with disgraceful cowardice. The Captain was +court-martialed and dishonorably dismissed from the service. For their +bravery, Lieutenant Hale was promoted to captain and Sergeant Strong to +second lieutenant.</p> + +<p>Lawrence took the cars at Rolla and was soon in St. Louis, where he +reported to General Schofield. What that gentleman said brought the +blushes to Lawrence's cheeks.</p> + +<p>"You do not know how I hate to give you up," said the General. "But on +your account, I rejoice. This is a miserable warfare in Missouri; not +much glory gained in fighting guerrillas. I will welcome the day when I +am assigned to another department. I have repeatedly asked to be +released, but the powers that be think I am of more service here. I know +the Radicals are opposed to me, and that complaints are pouring into +Washington against me. There is a large element that will not be +satisfied except I devastate the whole State with fire and sword."</p> + +<p>"I know," replied Lawrence. "I had a little experience with Jennison. +Jim Lane and a host of others are as bad. As you say, this is a +murderous warfare in Missouri, without much glory."</p> + +<p>"There will be great things doing around Vicksburg. I envy you," said +Schofield.</p> + +<p>"Ah! General, before the war is over you may have opportunities to +distinguish yourself, rather than fight guerrillas."</p> + +<p>The history of General Schofield shows that these opportunities came and +that in the last year of the war he won great distinction.</p> + +<p>Lawrence made a hurried visit to his friends before he departed for his +new field. He found his uncle and aunt well. His uncle was as firmly +convinced as ever that the South could never be conquered.</p> + +<p>Lola Laselle was overjoyed to meet him. "Every day I live I am prouder +of my knight-errant than ever," she cried. "No lady of old ever had a +braver or truer knight."</p> + +<p>Lawrence found Leon Laselle had nearly recovered from his wound. +Randolph Hamilton was in a fair way to recover, and was longing for the +day to come when he could be exchanged and again fight for the +principles he held dear.</p> + +<p>When he heard of Lawrence being the chosen knight of Lola he begged to +be allowed to become her knight too. "Then Lola," he said, "you will +have a knight in both armies, and one of them will be sure to come back +wearing the crown of victory."</p> + +<p>"It will not do," laughed Lola, "and you are a naughty boy for fighting +against the old flag. I had rather my knight be defeated in a good cause +than be victor in a bad one, and Randolph, the cause for which you are +fighting is a bad one, very bad."</p> + +<p>Randolph sighed. Day by day Lola had become more precious to him, and as +he looked at Lawrence he thought, "Why should she not prefer him to me?"</p> + +<p>When Lawrence inquired so particularly about Dorothy, how she was +getting along and how she liked Europe, a faint hope came to him that +after all it might be Dorothy and not Lola that attracted Lawrence; and +then he sighed again, for he remembered Dorothy's hatred for Yankees.</p> + +<p>The next day Lawrence was floating down the river. When we meet him next +it will be in that great campaign which ended in the capture of +Vicksburg, the Gibraltar of the Mississippi River.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The End.</span></h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> A true incident.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> A true incident of the battle.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> This prisoner and fifteen others were afterwards executed +by McNeil for the breaking of their paroles.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Colonel McNeil reports his loss in this action as +twenty-eight killed and sixty wounded. He estimates the loss of the +guerrillas as one hundred and fifty killed, three hundred wounded and +forty-seven prisoners. Horses captured, one hundred and fifty.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> The brave Major recovered from what was supposed to be a +mortal wound, was exchanged, and afterwards did valiant service for the +Union.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Out of the seven hundred and forty Federals engaged in the +battle the loss was two hundred and seventy-two. The Confederates never +reported their loss, but a Confederate officer told Captain Brawner that +they buried one hundred and eighteen, who had been killed outright, +besides their hundreds of wounded.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> See "With Lyon in Missouri."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Several months after this Lamar was captured, not by +Lawrence, but by an officer who knew the story. He was paroled and lived +to become a good citizen after the war.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Colonel Ellet died of his wounds.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> A few weeks after this battle Rosecrans was appointed +Commander of the Army of the Cumberland.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> It is claimed by friends of Porter that he also paroled +Allsman, and that he had nothing to do with his disappearance.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> All of these men named by Strachan had been cruelly +murdered by guerrillas.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> It was currently reported at the time, and believed for +years, that young Smith voluntarily offered himself as a substitute for +Humphrey; and that McNeil accepted him as such, and had him shot, after +his performing an act that would have placed him among the world's +greatest heroes. +</p><p> +This is what the author believed until in writing this book he wrote to +Palmyra for the full facts in the case, which were furnished him by Mr. +Frank H. Sosey, editor of the Palmyra Spectator. +</p><p> +No doubt this belief had much to do in intensifying the feeling against +General McNeil.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> The Palmyra incident has gone into history as one of the +most deplorable during the war. Even at this late day it is more often +referred to than the horrible massacres committed by Anderson and +Quantrell. +</p><p> +That General McNeil did not violate the rules of civilized warfare will +be generally admitted, also that his provocation was great. But the +incident always hung over him like a cloud, and was the means of +defeating him for several responsible official positions. The dark blot +against McNeil was that he did not bring Strachan to account for +disobeying his orders, and that he took no notice of the awful crime of +which Strachan was accused in connection with this affair. +</p><p> +As for Strachan, his acts showed him to be a brute, and in connection +with this affair a crime was charged against him for which he should +have been court-martialed and shot. He was court-martialed a year or two +afterwards, but not for the Palmyra affair, and sentenced to a year in +military prison, but never served his sentence, as he was pardoned by +General Rosecrans. He died in 1866, unwept and unmourned.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Jerry called his wife Agnes only when they were alone. At +other times she was known as Billy and called so by his men.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> This wound prevented Big Tom for some months from carrying +out his contemplated revenge against the Chittendens.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> The battle of Prairie Grove, for the number engaged, was a +bloodier and more fiercely contested battle than Pea Ridge. Blunt +claimed that he and Herron together had only seven thousand men on the +field. That Herron, with not more than half that number, had held the +enemy at bay for three hours, speaks volumes for the valor of his weary +men. +</p><p> +Hindman claims he brought only eleven thousand men to the fight. +</p><p> +The Federal loss was about thirteen hundred; the Confederate loss was +estimated at from fifteen hundred to two thousand. Hindman admitted a +loss of fourteen hundred. +</p><p> +A few of the Federal regiments engaged lost heavily. The Twentieth +Wisconsin lost two hundred and seventeen; the Twenty-sixth Indiana, two +hundred and one; the Nineteenth Iowa, one hundred and ninety-three; the +Seventh Missouri Cavalry, one hundred and forty-two, and the +Thirty-seventh Illinois, seventy-one. +</p><p> +General John C. Black, then colonel of the Thirty-seventh Illinois, +states that his regiment marched sixty-six miles in thirty-six hours to +get into the fight, and so exhausted were the men that during lulls in +the battle they would sink to the ground and be fast asleep in a minute, +but would spring to their feet and renew the fight when the call came, +with all the fury of fresh soldiers.</p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_YOUNG_KENTUCKIANS_SERIES" id="THE_YOUNG_KENTUCKIANS_SERIES"></a>THE YOUNG KENTUCKIANS SERIES</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">General Nelson's Scout<br /> +On General Thomas's Staff<br /> +Battling for Atlanta<br /> +From Atlanta to the Sea<br /> +Raiding with Morgan</span></h3> + + +<h2>THE YOUNG MISSOURIANS SERIES</h2> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">With Lyon in Missouri<br /> +The Scout of Pea Ridge<br /> +The Courier of the Ozarks</span></h3> + + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Courier of the Ozarks, by Byron A. 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Dunn + +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 Courier of the Ozarks + +Author: Byron A. Dunn + +Illustrator: H. S. De Lay + +Release Date: February 7, 2011 [EBook #35207] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COURIER OF THE OZARKS *** + + + + +Produced by David Garcia, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + + + + + + + + + THE COURIER OF THE OZARKS + + THE YOUNG MISSOURIANS SERIES + + BY BYRON A. DUNN + + AUTHOR OF "THE YOUNG KENTUCKIANS" SERIES + + + WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS + BY H. S. DeLAY + + CHICAGO + A. C. McCLURG & CO. + 1912 + + Copyright + A. C. McCLURG & CO. + 1912 + + Published September, 1912 + + W. F. HALL PRINTING COMPANY, CHICAGO + + + _To the Loyal Men of Missouri, who as members of the militia + did so much to save the State to the Union, this book is + dedicated. History gives them scant notice, and the Federal + government has failed to reward them as they deserve._ + + + + +[Illustration: "Follow the colors," he shouted.] + + + + +PREFACE + + +During the year 1862, after the capture of Island No. 10 and New Madrid, +no large armies operated in Missouri; but the State was the theater of a +desperate guerrilla warfare, in which nearly or quite a hundred thousand +men took part. It was a warfare the magnitude of which, at the present +time, is very little known; and its cruelty and barbarity make a bloody +page in the history of those times. + +This book is a story of this warfare. It is a story of adventure, of +hair-breadth escapes, and of daring deeds. In it the same characters +figure as those in _With Lyon in Missouri_ and _The Scout of Pea Ridge_. +It tells how our young heroes were instrumental in thwarting the great +conspiracy by which the Confederate government, by sending officers into +the State, and organizing the different guerrilla bands into companies +and regiments, was in hopes of wresting the State from Federal control. + +As in former books, history is closely followed. + + BYRON A. DUNN. + Waukegan, Illinois. + _August, 1912._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +I BRUNO CARRIES A MESSAGE + +II AN INTERNECINE WAR + +III A MYSTERIOUS COMMUNICATION + +IV MOORE'S MILL + +V A FIGHT IN THE NIGHT + +VI KIRKSVILLE + +VII POINDEXTER CAPTURED + +VIII LONE JACK + +IX CAPTURED BY GUERRILLAS + +X THE GUERRILLA'S BRIDE + +XI THE STORY OF CARL MEYER + +XII THE NEWS FROM CORINTH + +XIII PORTER CAPTURES PALMYRA + +XIV TEN LIVES FOR ONE + +XV A GIRL OF THE OZARKS + +XVI A WOUNDED CONFEDERATE + +XVII TRAILING RED JERSEY + +XVIII LIVE--I CANNOT SHOOT YOU + +XIX MARK HAS A RIVAL + +XX CAPTURING A TRAIN + +XXI THE OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAINS + +XXII MARK CONFESSES HIS LOVE + +XXIII INTO THE LION'S MOUTH + +XXIV PRAIRIE GROVE + +XXV CALLED TO OTHER FIELDS + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +"Follow the colors," he shouted. + +"Halt the advance. Ambuscade!" gasped Harry. + +Down the street they rode at full speed. + +"You pretend to be men and call this war?" + +To catch the rider as he reeled from the saddle. + +Her revolver was pointed at his breast. + +He was looking into the muzzle of a revolver. + +An old man leaning on a staff. + + + + + +THE COURIER OF THE OZARKS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +BRUNO CARRIES A MESSAGE + + +"Down! Bruno, down!" + +These words were uttered in a guarded whisper by a boy about seventeen +years of age, to a great dog that stood by his side. + +At the word of command, the dog crouched down, his whole body quivering +with excitement. His master gently patted him on the head, and +whispered, "There, there, old fellow, don't get nervous. Our lives would +not be worth much, if we were discovered." + +The boy was lying full length on the ground, concealed in a dense +thicket, but from his point of vantage he had a full view of the road +which ran a few yards in front of him. This road ran north and south, +and nearly in front of where he lay another road entered it, coming in +from the west. + +The cause of the dog's excitement was apparent, for coming up the road +from the west was a large body of horsemen, and a motley troop they +were. They were mostly dressed in homespun, and armed with all sorts of +weapons, from cavalry sabers to heavy knives fashioned out of files by +some rude blacksmith; the army musket, the squirrel rifle, and the +shotgun were much in evidence. + +As the head of the column reached the north and south road the leader +called a halt, and looked up and down the road, as if expecting some +one. He did not have long to wait. The sound of the swift beating of +horse-hoofs was heard from the south, and soon three men came riding up. +One, a man of distinguished looks and military bearing, was a little in +advance of the other two. As he came up, the leader of the little army +saluted him awkwardly and exclaimed, "Glad to see you, Colonel. What +news?" + +"Glad to see you, Captain Poindexter," replied the Colonel. "I see you +are on time. As for the news, all goes well. Within a week all Missouri +will be ablaze, and the hottest place for Yankees in all Christendom. +How many men have you, Captain?" + +"About five hundred, and more coming in all the time." + +"So that is Jim Poindexter, the bloody villain," muttered the boy +between his set teeth, and nervously fingering his revolver. "How I +would like to take a shot at him! But it would not do. It would be +madness." + +The next question asked by the Colonel, whose name was Clay, and who had +been in the State for the past two months promoting the partisan +uprising, was, "Where is Porter?" + +"At Brown's Springs. I am to join him there tonight. But he was to meet +me here with a few followers, knowing you were to be here." + +"Good! I will be more than pleased to see him," answered Colonel Clay. +"But I thought he was farther north." + +"Most of his force is," answered Poindexter. "But he promised to meet me +at Brown's Springs with five hundred followers. We have our eye on +Fulton. My spies report it is garrisoned by less than a hundred men. +Fulton captured, I can supply my men with both clothes and arms, and +then Jefferson City next." + +"Jefferson City?" asked Colonel Clay in surprise. "Do you look that +far?" + +"Yes. Thanks to the Yankee Government, there are not over five hundred +soldiers in Jefferson City. Fulton once taken, the boys will flock to +our standard by thousands, and Jefferson City will become an easy prey." + +"Accomplish this, Poindexter," cried Colonel Clay, "and Missouri will be +redeemed. All over southwestern Missouri the boys are rallying and +sweeping northward. The object is to capture Independence, and then +Lexington. This done, we will once more control the Missouri River, and +the State will be anchored firmly in the Southern Confederacy. Then with +your victorious legions you can march south and help drive the Yankee +invaders from the land. Poindexter, Missouri can, and should, put fifty +thousand Confederate soldiers in the field." + +Poindexter shrugged his shoulders. "Colonel, not so fast," he exclaimed. +"I could not drag my men into the regular Confederate service with a +two-inch cable. Neither do I have any hankering that way myself. The +free and easy life of a partisan ranger for me." + +Colonel Clay looked disgusted. "Captain," he asked, "don't you get tired +of skulking in the brush, and waging a warfare which is really contrary +to the rules of war of civilized nations? There is little honor in such +a warfare; but think of the honor and glory that would await you if you +could free Missouri, and then help free the entire South. Why, it is not +too much to say that the star of a general might glisten on your +shoulder." + +A look of rage came over the face of Poindexter. "If you don't like the +way we fight," he growled, "why are you here, urging us to rise? If we +can free this State of Yankees, we will accomplish more than your armies +down south have. We prefer to fight our own way. Here, I am a bigger man +than Jeff Davis. I fight when it suits me, and take to the brush when I +want to. If you have any thoughts of influencing me or my men to join +the regular Confederate army, you may as well give up the idea. As for +the rules of civilized warfare, I don't care that," and he snapped his +fingers contemptuously. + +Colonel Clay concealed the indignation and disgust which he felt towards +the fellow, and said: "While we may not think alike, we are both working +for the same cause--the liberation of our beloved Southland from the +ruthless invasion of the Yankee hordes. If you can accomplish what you +think, surely the South will call you one of her most gallant sons. +Neither should we be too squeamish over the means used to rid ourselves +of the thieves and murderers that have overrun our fair State." + +"Now you are talking," exclaimed Poindexter, with an oath. "If Porter +comes--and he should be here by now--we will discuss the situation more +thoroughly; but the first thing for us to do is to capture Fulton." + +"Are you sure," asked Clay, "that your plans will not miscarry? Mr. +Daniels, one of the gentlemen here with me, informs me that that +regiment of devils, the Merrill Horse, is only a few miles to the west. +May they not interfere with your plans?" + +At the mention of the Merrill Horse, Poindexter's countenance took on a +demoniac expression. Striking the pommel of his saddle with his clenched +hand, he hissed: "I will never rest until I shoot or hang every one of +that cursed regiment. But you are mistaken in thinking the force west +consists of the entire Merrill Horse. Only part of the regiment is +there; the rest is up north. The force west is about five hundred +strong. I have given out the impression that I am making for the woods +which skirt Grand River, to join Cobb. Every citizen they meet will tell +them so. Little does Colonel Shaffer, who is in command, think I have +slipped past him, McNeil believes Porter is up around Paris--the most of +his force is--but he is to join me here with a goodly number. Ah! here +he comes now." + +Down the road from the north a party of horsemen were coming at a swift +gallop. They rode up, and salutations were spoken and hands shaken. + +A look of passion came into the face of the watching boy, and again he +fingered his revolver. Even the dog partook of the boy's excitement, for +his whole body was quivering. + +"Quiet, old boy, quiet," whispered the boy. "No doubt you would like to +tear the bloody monster to pieces, and I would give ten years of my life +for a shot, but it will not do." + +The boy was now listening intently, trying to catch every word that was +said. + +"Mighty glad to see you, Jo," Poindexter was saying. "How many men have +you at Brown's Springs?" + +"About four hundred when I left; but squads were coming in continually. +I count on six hundred by night." + +"Good! Then we will swoop down on Fulton tonight." + +"Don't know about that," answered Porter. "Many of the boys have ridden, +or will ride, fifty miles to join us. Their horses will be tired. +Tomorrow will be all right. How is everything?" + +"Splendid," answered Poindexter, rubbing his hands. "Not over a hundred +soldiers in Fulton. The only drawback is that there is a Yankee force of +about five hundred a few miles to the west, part of them the Merrill +Horse." + +"The Merrill Horse! The Merrill Horse!" cried Porter with a dreadful +oath. "I thought they were north. They are surely giving me enough +trouble up there." + +"About four companies are down here, under the command of +Lieutenant-Colonel Shaffer," answered Poindexter. "They have been trying +to find me for the past week. But they haven't found me yet," and he +chuckled. "The fact is," he continued, "I have fooled them. Shaffer +thinks I am making for the woods along the Grand River, to join Cobb. I +skipped past him last night. By this time he is making for the Grand +River as fast as he can go. No trouble from him in our little business +with Fulton." + +"Don't be too sure," exclaimed Porter. "Shaffer is about as sharp as the +devil; but I trust you are right." + +The conversation now took a general turn, Colonel Clay going over the +ground, telling them what was being done, and what he hoped would be +accomplished. "As for me," he said, "I must be across the river by +tomorrow. Everything depends on the movement to capture Independence and +Lexington. Then, if you gentlemen are successful here, and capture +Fulton and Jefferson City, our brightest hopes will be fulfilled. I must +now bid you good-bye. May success attend you." + +The Colonel and his two friends rode back towards the south, from whence +they came. Poindexter watched them until they were out of sight, and +then, turning to Porter, said: "What do you think, Jo? The Colonel +wanted me and my men to join the regular Confederate army." + +"Humph!" sniffed Porter, "I reckon you jumped at the chance." + +"Not much; but he did more. He mentioned that I was not conducting this +blood-letting business strictly on the rules of genteel, scientific +murder." + +"I reckon, before we indulged in a necktie party, he would want us to +say, 'Beg pardon, sir, but I am under the painful necessity of hanging +you,'" replied Porter, indulging in a coarse laugh. + +"I told him," continued Poindexter, "we fought as we pleased, and asked +no favors of General Price, Jeff Davis, or any other man. As for the +Confederate service, none of it for me." + +"They have offered me a colonelcy, if I take my men down into Arkansas," +answered Porter. "If it gets too hot for me here I may go. You know +there is a price on my head. But I must go, or my boys will be getting +uneasy. Join me at the Springs as soon as possible." Thus saying, he and +his party rode away. + +Poindexter ordered his men to fall in, and they followed Porter, but at +a more leisurely gait. + +When the last one had disappeared, the boy arose and shook himself. +"What do you think of that, Bruno?" he asked, patting the dog's head. +The dog stood with hanging head and tail, as if ashamed he had let so +many of his enemies get away unharmed. He looked up in his master's face +and whined at the question, as much as to say, "I don't like it." + +"Well, my boy, there is the Old Nick to pay. Both Porter and Poindexter +on the warpath. Fulton to be attacked, and not a hundred men to defend +it. Shaffer with the boys miles away. How are both to be warned? We must +see, old fellow, we must see. There is no time to lose." + +Thus saying, the boy hurriedly made his way back through the woods where +in a hollow in the midst of a dense thicket a horse stood concealed. +Those who have read "The Scout of Pea Ridge" will readily recognize the +boy as Harry Semans, and Bruno as his celebrated trained dog. After the +battle of Pea Ridge and upon the dissolution of the company of scouts +under the command of Captain Lawrence Middleton, Harry had returned to +Missouri, and become a scout for the Merrill Horse. The Merrill Horse, +officially known as the Second Missouri Cavalry, was a regiment composed +of companies from Missouri, Illinois, and Michigan. + +It can safely be said that no other regiment in the Federal army ever +saw more service in fighting guerrillas than did the Merrill Horse. From +the very first of the war their work was to help exterminate the +guerrilla bands which infested the State. The name "Merrill Horse" +became a terror to every bushwhacker and guerrilla in Missouri. No +trail was so obtuse, no thicket so dense that members of that regiment +would not track them to their lair. A true history of the Merrill Horse, +and the adventures of its different members, would read like the most +exciting fiction. + +When Harry reached his horse he stood for a moment in deep thought, and +then speaking to Bruno, said: "Yes, old boy, you must do it. I know you +can, can't you?" + +Bruno gave a bark and wagged his tail as if to say, "Try me." + +Tearing a leaf from a blank book, Harry wrote a brief note to Colonel +Shaffer, telling him what had happened, and begging him to march with +all speed to Fulton. This note he securely fastened to Bruno's collar +and said, "Bruno, go find Colonel Shaffer and the boys. You know where +we left them. Go." + +For a moment Bruno stood and looked up in his master's face, as if +undecided. + +"Go and find Colonel Shaffer. Go," Harry repeated, sternly. + +The dog turned and was away like a shot. Harry gazed after him until he +was out of sight, then patting the glossy neck of his horse, said, "Now, +Bess, it's you and I for Fulton; the machinations of those two +archfiends, Poindexter and Porter, must be brought to naught." + +Harry believed he would have no trouble in reaching Fulton, as the +guerrillas were generally quiet near a place garrisoned by Federal +troops, therefore he took the main road, as he was desirous of reaching +Fulton as soon as he possibly could. He had not gone more than two miles +when he met two men, rough-looking fellows, whom Harry had no desire to +meet, but there was no way to avoid it, except flight, so he rode boldly +forward. + +Harry was dressed in the homespun of the country, and had all the +appearance of a country bumpkin. As to arms, none were visible, but +stowed away beneath his rough jacket was a huge navy revolver, and Harry +was an adept in the use of it. + +"Hello, youn' feller," cried one of the men. "Whar be yo' goin' in sich +a hurry? Halt, and give an account of yo'self." + +"Goin' to Fulton, if the Yanks will let me," drawled Harry. "Whar be yo +'uns goin'?" + +"That 's nun yo' business. Air yo 'un Union or Confed?" + +"Which be yo'uns?" + +"Look heah, young feller, nun of yo' foolin'. I reckon yo' air a Yank in +disguise. That 's a mighty fine hoss yo 'un air ridin'. 'Spose we 'uns +trade." + +"'Spose we 'uns don't." + +During this conversation Harry's right hand was resting beneath his +jacket, grasping the butt of his revolver. + +"I reckon we 'uns will," jeered the fellow, reaching for his pistol. + +Quick as a flash Harry had covered him with his revolver. Fortunately +for him, the two men were close together. "Hands up," he ordered. "A +move, a motion to draw a weapon, and one or both of you will die. It +don't pay to fool with one of Porter's men." + +The hands of both went up, but one exclaimed, "One of Porter's men? Be +yo' one of Porter's men? We 'uns are on our way to join him. We 'uns +heard he was at Brown's Springs." + +"Yo 'uns will find him thar. I am taking a message from him to a friend +in Fulton. Yo 'uns can lower your hands. I reckon we 'uns understand +each other now." + +"We 'uns certainly do," said one of the men, as they dropped their +hands, looking foolish. + +"Wall, good-bye; may see yo 'uns in Fulton tomorrow." And Harry rode +off, leaving the men sitting on their horses watching him. + +"Ought to have shot both of them," muttered Harry, "but I cannot afford +to take any risks just now." + +Harry had no further adventures in reaching Fulton, and at once reported +to Captain Duffield, who was in command of the post. + +Captain Duffield listened to Harry's report with a troubled countenance. + +"A thousand of the devils, did you say?" he asked. + +"Yes, and more coming in every hour." + +"And I have only eighty men," replied Duffield, bitterly. "If they +attack before I can get help, there is no hope for us." + +"Colonel Shaffer is a few miles to the west with about five hundred +men," replied Harry. "If they do not attack tonight, as I do not reckon +they will from what Porter said, he may be here in time to help. I have +sent him word." + +"Sent him word? By whom?" asked Outfield, eagerly. + +"By my dog," and Harry explained. + +As Duffield listened, his countenance fell. "I see no hope from that," +he said. "It is preposterous to think that a dog will carry a message +for miles, and hunt up a man." + +"If you knew Bruno, you would think differently," replied Harry, +smiling. + +"I can put no dependence on any such thing," said Duffield. "My only +hope is getting word to Colonel Guitar, at Jefferson City. If I get any +help, it must come from him. God grant that Porter may not attack +tonight." + +"I think there is little danger tonight, but they may be down in the +morning," said Harry. "Do you think Guitar can reinforce you by +morning?" + +"He must; he must. I will send a message to him by courier mounted on +one of my fleetest horses." + +"Bess is about as fast as they make them," replied Harry. "I know the +country. I will go if you wish." + +Duffield looked at him a moment doubtfully, and then said, "You may go, +as you can tell Colonel Guitar all you have told me. But I will send one +of my own men with you." + +Captain Duffield wrote two messages, giving one to Harry, and the other +to the soldier who was to accompany him. + +"If you have trouble," said Captain Duffield, "for the love of Heaven, +one of you get through, if the other is killed. The safety of this post +depends on Colonel Guitar receiving the message." + +"It will go through, if I live," calmly replied Harry, as he carefully +concealed the message in the lining of his coat. + +To Harry's surprise, the soldier detailed to go with him proved to be a +boy, not much older than himself. He was mounted on a spirited horse and +his manner showed he was ready for any kind of an adventure, no matter +where it might lead. + +The shades of night were falling when Captain Duffield bade them +good-bye, and they rode away and were soon lost to view in the dusk. + +Captain Duffield stood looking after them, and then said to one of his +lieutenants, "I don't know what to make of that boy. He told a straight +story, but his thinking that dog of his would take a message to Shaffer +is a little too much to believe." + +But Captain Duffield soon had other things to think about. Reports began +to come in from other sources of the gathering of the guerrillas at +Brown's Springs, and their number was augmented to two thousand. He +posted his little force in the best manner possible to resist an attack, +and with an anxious heart, watched and waited through the long hours of +the night; but to his immense relief, no attack came. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +AN INTERNECINE WAR + + +After the battle of Pea Ridge, the Confederate Government had no regular +organized troops in Missouri. General Sterling Price, with his Missouri +regiments, which had enlisted in the Confederate service, was ordered +east of the Mississippi. But there were thousands of State troops that +had followed Price, and although they refused to enlist in the regular +Confederate service, they were, at heart, as bitter towards the Union as +ever. These men found their way back home, and although thousands of +them took the oath of allegiance to the Federal Government, the majority +of them were not only ready, but eager, to ally themselves with some of +the guerrilla bands which were infesting the State. + +The Federal authorities, knowing that Price, with his army, had been +ordered east, thought that the Confederates had given up all hopes of +holding the State, and that the fighting was over, except with small +guerrilla bands, that could easily be kept in check. Therefore, the +great majority of the Federal troops in Missouri were withdrawn to swell +the armies of Buell and Grant. + +The Confederates now thought they saw their opportunity. Numbers of the +Confederate officers secretly made their way into the State and +commenced to organize the disloyal forces, co-operating with the +guerrilla bands. Among these officers was Colonel Clay, who appeared in +the first chapter. + +This movement was so successful that during the summer of 1862 it is +estimated that there were from thirty to forty thousand of these men +enrolled and officered. Places of rendezvous were designated, where all +were to assemble at a given signal, and, by a coup-de-main, seize all +the important points in the State which were feebly garrisoned. Then +they were to co-operate with an army moving up from Arkansas, and the +State would be redeemed. + +It was a well laid plan, but fortunately it was early discovered by +General J. M. Schofield, who was in command of the Department of +Missouri. How General Schofield first received his information will be +told hereafter. + +General Schofield frantically appealed to Halleck for aid, and then to +Washington, but he was answered that owing to the great military +movements going on, not a regiment could be spared. + +General Schofield, thus left to his own resources, rose grandly to the +occasion. He would use the Confederates' own tactics. So he ordered the +entire militia of the State to be enrolled. Thousands of Confederate +sympathizers fled the State, or took to the bush. During the summer of +1862 between forty and fifty thousand loyal State militia were +organized. Thus the whole State became one vast armed camp, nearly forty +thousand men on a side, arrayed against each other. + +It was father against son, brother against brother, neighbor against +neighbor. The only wonder is that owing to the passions of the times +there were not more excesses and murders committed than there were. + +During the year 1862 there were at least one hundred and fifty +engagements fought on the soil of Missouri, in which the numbers engaged +varied from forty or fifty to five or six thousand. In these engagements +General Schofield says the Union troops were successful in nine out of +ten, and that at least three thousand guerrillas had been killed, +wounded, or taken prisoners, and that ten thousand had fled the State. + +This terrible warfare between neighbors receives scant mention in +history, but in no great battles of the war was greater bravery shown, +greater heroism displayed, than in many of the minor engagements fought +in Missouri. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A MYSTERIOUS COMMUNICATION + + +In the month of May, 1862, a young Federal officer reported in St. +Louis, and found himself without a command, and without a commission. +This officer, Captain Lawrence Middleton, had greatly distinguished +himself during the first year of the war on the staff of General +Nathaniel Lyon. After the death of Lyon he was commissioned a captain by +General Fremont, and authorized to raise an independent company of +scouts. With this company he had rendered valiant service in the +campaign which ended with the battle of Pea Ridge. + +Many of the acts of Fremont, and a number of commissions which he had +granted, had been repudiated by the Government, and thus Middleton had +found himself free. But he had no intention of remaining inactive, his +heart was too much in the cause. If no other field was open, he would +enlist as a private soldier. But there was no need of that, he was too +well known. Though young, scarcely more than eighteen, he had rendered +services and performed deeds which made his name known throughout the +State. He had thwarted the machinations of Frost, Price, Governor +Jackson, and other disloyal leaders in their efforts to drag Missouri +out of the Union. + +While Lawrence was undecided just what to do he met Frank P. Blair, who +was overjoyed to see him. He had been Blair's private secretary during +the troublesome months before the opening of the war, and a lieutenant +in one of his regiments of Home Guards. + +Blair, who had been appointed a brigadier general in the Federal army, +had been at home on business, and was about to return to his command. + +"Never better pleased to see anyone in my life," said Blair, nearly +shaking Lawrence's arm off. "Oh, I've kept track of you, you've been +keeping up your reputation. But what are you doing in St. Louis? I +thought you were with Curtis." + +Lawrence told Blair of his predicament,--that he was now without a +command or a commission. + +"Good!" cried Blair, shaking Lawrence's hand again. "I was about to +write to Curtis to see if I could not get you away from him. I will see +that you are commissioned as captain, and I will detail you on my staff. +I need just such fellows as you." + +"I couldn't ask anything better," said Lawrence, "and, General, I thank +you from the bottom of my heart. It is more than I could have possibly +hoped, more than I deserve." + +"Too modest, my boy. If you had your deserts, you would be wearing a +star on your shoulder, as well as myself. I am a little selfish in +asking you to go on my staff. I want you." + +So it was all arranged, and Lawrence went to see his uncle and tell him +of his new position on Blair's staff. This uncle, Alfred Middleton, was +one of the wealthiest citizens of St. Louis, and an ardent secessionist. +Now that Lawrence was out of the army, he was in hopes that he would +stay out, and he showed his disappointment in his face. He had also been +greatly worried of late. His only son was with Price, and it was a sore +spot with him that the Missouri Confederate troops had been ordered +east, and not been left to defend their native State. + +In fact, the Confederates of the State felt that they had been deserted +by the Richmond Government, and bore Jeff Davis and his cabinet no great +love. + +"I am sorry, Lawrence," said his uncle, sadly. "I was in hopes that as +long as you were out of the army you would stay out. Why will you +persist in fighting against those who were your friends? Your whole +interest lies with the South." + +"Uncle, please do not let us discuss that question again," replied +Lawrence. "You and I are both firm in our belief, and no amount of +discussion will change either." + +Mr. Middleton sighed, but did not resume the subject. That Lawrence, +whom he looked upon almost as a son, should take up arms against the +South was to him a source of endless regret. + +The next two or three days were busy ones with Lawrence. The new +arrangement had one drawback, it would separate him from Dan Sherman, +who had been a lieutenant in his company of scouts, and the two were +inseparable. Dan would not hear of parting from Lawrence; he would go +with him if he had to go as his servant. + +"I can never consent to that, Dan," said Lawrence. "I had rather tell +Blair I have reconsidered his proposition and cannot accept." + +"You'll do no such thing," retorted Sherman. "I will try and behave +myself, but I feel that something will happen, and we will not be +separated." + +Something did happen, much quicker than either one expected. Something +which entirely changed the calculations of Lawrence. It was to be some +months before he saw service with Blair. + +Lawrence and Dan were passing a newspaper office, before which a large +crowd had gathered, reading the war bulletins. They told that Halleck +was tightening his lines around Corinth and that the place must soon +fall; and that McClellan was well on his way towards Richmond. + +It was curious to watch the faces of those who read. The countenances of +those who were for the Union would brighten when anything was posted +favorable to the Union cause, and now and then a cheer would be given. + +The iron heel of the Yankees was on St. Louis, and the Confederate +sympathizers dare not be so outspoken, but when anything favorable to +the South was posted their eyes would flash, and their countenances beam +with joy. + +And thus the crowd stood and read, once friends and neighbors, but now +ready to rend each other to pieces at the first opportunity. + +Lawrence mingled with the crowd, and as he read he felt a bulky envelope +thrust in his hand and caught a glimpse of a dusky arm. He glanced at +the address and then turned to see who had given it to him, but could +not. He glanced at the envelope again. Yes, it was for him. In bold +letters was written, "For Captain Lawrence Middleton. Important." + +The writing was strange to Lawrence, and making his way through the +crowd he sought a private place where he could see what had so +mysteriously come into his possession. As he read, a look of surprise +came over his face, and then his countenance grew stern and grim. +Carefully he read the document through from beginning to end. It was +signed "By One Who Knows." There was not a mark to tell who was the +writer. The writing was strong and bold, and possessed an originality of +its own, as if the writer had put much of his own character in it. +Lawrence sat and pondered long. He looked the manuscript over and over +again to see if he could not discover some private mark, something that +would identify the writer, but he found nothing. + +"Strange," he muttered, "but if Guilford Craig was alive I would swear +he was the writer of this. Who else would write me, and me alone, and +give such important information? Who else could obtain the information +contained in this letter? Yet Guilford is dead. Benton Shelly was seen +to shoot him. There were those who saw him lying on the ground, still in +death, his bosom drenched in blood. But his body was not found. +Guilford, Guilford, are you still alive? But why do I indulge in such +vain hope that he is alive? The proof of his death is too plain. This +letter must have been written by another, but who? Who? And why send it +to me?" + +The letter was, in fact, a full and complete _expose_ of the plans of +the Confederates. It told of the conception of the plot; who was +carrying it out; of the hundreds who had taken the oath of allegiance in +order that they might work more securely, and that many had even +enlisted in the State militia, so that when the supreme time came they +could desert: the time set for the uprising was the last of July or else +the first of August, by which time they hoped to have at least forty +thousand men enrolled. + +"Blair and Schofield must see this, and no time lost," said Lawrence to +himself as he placed the communication carefully in his pocket. + +Blair was soon found. After carefully reading the letter he said, "I am +not surprised. I warned the Government of the folly of removing so many +troops from the State. But who could have written this?" + +"If Guilford Craig was alive there would be but one answer," replied +Lawrence. "As it is, it is a mystery." + +"Let us see Schofield at once," said Blair. "There should be no time +lost." + +Repairing to the headquarters of General Schofield, they were readily +admitted. General Schofield was the chief of staff to General Lyon at +the time of the battle of Wilson Creek, and, of course, knew Lawrence +well. "Glad to see you, Captain," said the General. "Curtis has written +me of your good work. You are not with him now, are you?" + +"No, you know the commission I held was granted by Fremont. The +authorities at Washington declared it illegal." + +"Ah, there was a large number of those commissions. I must see what I +can do for you." + +"I thank you, General, but General Blair has just done me the great +honor of appointing me on his staff." + +"General Blair, as well as yourself, is to be congratulated," answered +the General. + +Blair now spoke. "General, our business with you is very important. +Captain Middleton, please show the General the communication you +received." + +Lawrence handed the General the mysterious message and Schofield read it +with a darkened brow. + +"Who wrote this?" he asked, abruptly. + +"General, I do not know." + +"Then it may be a fake, a joke. Someone may be trying to scare us." + +"General, it is no joke, the proof is too positive," replied Lawrence, +earnestly. + +"That is so," answered the General. "It also confirms rumors I have been +hearing. There has been unusual activity among Southern sympathizers, +all over the State, yet outside of the guerrilla bands there have been +no hostile demonstrations. This must have been written by someone deep +in their counsels." + +"General, do you remember Guilford Craig?" + +"Remember him! Indeed, I do. Can I ever forget what he and you were to +Lyon?" + +"If Guilford Craig had not been killed at the battle of Pea Ridge I +would be positive the communication came from him. But the handwriting +bears no resemblance to his." + +"Are you certain he was killed?" + +"The proof seems positive, but his body was not found," answered +Lawrence. + +Schofield sat for a moment in silence, and then suddenly said to Blair, +"General Blair, I have a great favor to ask of you." + +"What is it, General? Any favor I can give you will be readily granted." + +"That you relinquish your claim on Captain Middleton, at least, until +this crisis is over, and let me have him." + +Blair looked surprised, but no more so than Lawrence. + +"You know," continued Schofield, "there is no one who can help me more +just now than Captain Middleton. No one who understands the work before +me better. This Guilford Craig, as you are aware, was a curious +character. To no one would he report but to Captain Middleton. This +_expose_, coming to Middleton, instead of to me, leads me to believe +that Craig was not killed, as supposed, but in some way got off the +field, and for reasons, known only to himself, remains in hiding. +Judging the future by the past, if he is alive, and has more information +to impart, it would be given only through the same source. For these +reasons I would like to attach Captain Middleton to my staff." + +"General, your reasons are good," replied Blair, "and it shall be for +Captain Middleton to decide." + +"Where I can do my country the most good, there I am willing to go," +answered Lawrence. + +So it was decided that for the summer Lawrence should remain with +General Schofield. The words of General Schofield had also given +Lawrence hope that Guilford lived. But as weeks and months passed, and +no other communication came to him, he again looked upon Guilford as +dead. + +Hopeless of getting relief from the Federal Government, General +Schofield entered upon the gigantic task of organizing the militia of +the State. In this Lawrence was of the greatest service, and through a +system of spies and scouts he was enabled to keep General Schofield well +informed as to what was going on in the State. + +In helping organize the militia, Lawrence had many adventures and many +hair-breadth escapes, and by his side always rode the faithful Dan +Sherman, and together they shared every danger. + +By the last of July, as has been stated, there were nearly one hundred +thousand men arrayed against each other. It was a partisan warfare on a +mighty scale, and the storm was about to burst. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +MOORE'S MILL + + +We left Harry Semans and his young companion just starting on their +lonely ride to Jefferson City, a distance of twenty-seven miles. The +soldier with Harry proved rather a garrulous youth. He said his name was +David Harris; that he belonged to the Third Iowa Cavalry; was a farmer +boy, and rather liked the service. "It's exciting, you know," he added. + +"Very much so at times," dryly answered Harry. + +"Say, what makes you dress like a blamed guerrilla?" suddenly asked +Dave. "You are a soldier, aren't you?" + +"I am a scout," replied Harry. "I dress like a guerrilla because I have +to pretend to be one about half the time. Just before I reached Fulton +today I passed myself off as one of Porter's men. It saved me a +dangerous encounter, perhaps my life." + +"Gee! it must be exciting," said the boy. "I wish I was a scout." + +"Couldn't be one," laughed Harry. "Your Yankee brogue would give you +away. I notice you say 'keow' instead of 'cow' and 'guess' instead of +'reckon.' But please don't talk any more, we must keep both ears and +eyes open." + +After this they rode along in silence; that is, as much as Dave would +allow, until Harry ordered him to ride in the rear, and if he must talk, +talk to himself, and so low that no one else could hear. + +For some ten miles they proceeded at a swift gallop without adventure, +meeting two or three horsemen who seemed as little desirous of making +acquaintance as they were themselves, and Dave began to think the ride +rather tame. + +As they were passing a place where the bushes grew thickly by the side +of the road, they received a gruff command to halt. Instead of obeying, +Harry, as quick as thought, drew his revolver and fired, at the same +time putting spurs to his horse and shouting to Harris, "Ride for your +life." + +There was a rustling in the bushes, an angry exclamation as well as a +groan. Harry's shot had gone true, and came as a surprise to the +bushwhackers as well, for two or three seconds elapsed before three or +four shots rang out, and they went wild. + +"Well, how do you like it?" asked Harry, as he drew rein, considering +the danger past. + +"It was so sudden," said Dave. "I think I would have halted, and asked +what was wanted." + +"And got gobbled, and in all probability hanged afterwards. Dave, you +have to learn something yet before you become a scout. Always be ready +to fire at a moment's notice; and if you have to run don't tarry on your +going. I took chances as to whether there was a large party or not, but +concluded it was not, or some of them would have been in the road." + +"Did you think of all that? Why, the word 'Halt' was hardly out of the +fellow's mouth when you fired." + +"Think quickly, act quickly; it has saved my bacon many a time. You +ought to have been with me when I was with Captain Lawrence Middleton. +There is the fellow to ride with. But this wouldn't have happened if +Bruno had been with me." + +"Bruno? Who is Bruno?" asked Dave. + +"Bruno is my dog. He would have smelled those fellows out before we were +within forty rods of them. I am never afraid of a surprise when Bruno is +with me. But no more talking now." + +Once more their horses took up a swinging gallop, and they met with no +further adventures, and within less than three hours from the time they +started they were halted by the Union pickets who guarded the approach +to the river opposite Jefferson City. + +Harry demanded of the Lieutenant in command of the picket that they be +ferried across the river without loss of time, but the Lieutenant +demurred, saying it was against orders to allow anyone to cross the +river during the night. + +"I have important dispatches from Captain Duffield to Colonel Guitar. +Refuse to take me over, and I would not give much for your command," +angrily answered Harry. + +"Who are you?" demanded the Lieutenant. "From your dress you are +certainly not a soldier." + +"I am Harry Semans, scout for the Merrill Horse," answered Harry. + +"At the name 'Merrill Horse' the Lieutenant became as meek as a lamb. + +"Excuse me," he exclaimed. "I will see that you get over the river +immediately. Anything new at Fulton?" + +"Porter and Poindexter are within eleven miles of the place, and +Duffield expects to be attacked by morning." + +The Lieutenant gave a low whistle. "The devil," he ejaculated, and +rushed to give the necessary orders. + +It was eleven o'clock before the river was crossed and the headquarters +of Colonel Guitar reached. He had just retired, but Harry and Dave were +without ceremony admitted into his bedroom. The Colonel read the +dispatch of Captain Duffield, sitting on his bed in his nightclothes. + +At once all was excitement. There were but five hundred men guarding the +important post of Jefferson City. Of this force, Colonel Guitar ordered +one hundred to accompany him to Fulton. He dared not deplete the little +garrison more. + +While Harry and Dave were in the Colonel's bedroom, Harry noticed that +Dave was regarding Guitar with a great deal of interest. When they +passed out Dave said to Harry in a whisper, "That general don't amount +to shucks. Think of him fighting Porter?" + +"Why, what's the matter with Guitar?" asked Harry. + +"Matter! He wears a nightgown just like a woman. Who ever heard of a man +wearing a nightgown?"[1] + +[Footnote 1: A true incident.] + +Harry exploded with laughter. "Many men wear nightgowns," he explained. +"I have no doubt but what General Schofield does. I reckon you will find +out that Guitar will fight." + +During the day there had been two important arrivals in Jefferson City, +that of Lawrence Middleton and Dan Sherman. They had told Colonel Guitar +of the rapid concentration of the guerrilla bands all through the +counties north of the river, and had warned him to be on the lookout for +trouble. In fact, they had brought orders from General Schofield for him +to send two of his companies to Columbia, as it was thought that was the +place in greatest danger. + +Lawrence and Dan were told of the danger that threatened Fulton, and +they determined to accompany Guitar in his expedition. + +It was not until they were on the ferryboat crossing the river that +Harry was aware that Lawrence and Dan were of the number. He nearly went +wild on seeing them. + +"And how is Bruno?" asked Lawrence. + +"Bruno is all right. I sent him with a dispatch to Colonel Shaffer." + +Hurry as fast as they could, it was long past midnight before the force +was across the river, and then there was a twenty-seven mile ride ahead +of them. + +On the march Harry had an opportunity to tell Lawrence much that had +happened to him since they parted. + +It was daylight when Fulton was reached, and, much to their relief, the +place had not been attacked, but the excitement ran high. Rumor had +increased Porter's force to two thousand. Colonel Guitar believed this +estimate to be much too high. So, small as his force was, only one +hundred and eighty, he determined to move out and attack Porter without +delay. + +When this became known to the few Union inhabitants of Fulton they +implored Guitar not to do it. "Your force will be annihilated," they +exclaimed, "and Fulton will be at the mercy of the foe." + +Lawrence agreed with Colonel Guitar. "We came here in the night," said +he. "Porter does not know how many men you brought. No doubt your force +is magnified, the same as his. Assuming the offensive will disconcert +him, and also prevent him receiving further reinforcements." + +So it was decided, and the little force took up the march for Brown's +Springs, eleven miles away. Couriers were dispatched to find Colonel +Shaffer, for even if Bruno had succeeded in delivering Harry's message +Shaffer would march for Fulton instead of Brown's Springs. + +It was about eleven o'clock when the column reached the vicinity of +Brown's Springs. Nothing as yet had been heard from Colonel Shaffer, but +Guitar determined to attack. Lawrence had been asked by Guitar to act as +his aid, to which he gladly assented. + +Two or three small parties of guerrillas had been sighted, but they took +to the brush at the sight of the Federals. + +The command now moved cautiously forward, but there was to be no battle. +Harry, who had been scouting in front, returned with the news that the +guerrillas had fled. Their camp was soon occupied. Everything showed a +rapid flight; even the would-be dinner of the guerrillas was found half +cooked. + +Along in the afternoon Porter's force was located near Moore's Mill, +about four miles distant. + +As Colonel Guitar's men had not slept a wink the night before, and as +both men and horses were tired out, the Colonel decided to camp, rest +his men and await the coming of Shaffer. + +Why Porter fled from Brown's Springs and yet gave battle the next day, +after Shaffer had come up, will never be known. If he had fought at +Brown's Springs he would have had five men to Guitar's one. He may have +thought Shaffer was miles away. What Poindexter had told him would lead +him to believe this. And it would have been the case had it not been for +Harry and the faithful Bruno. + +Every precaution was taken by Colonel Guitar to guard against a night +attack, but his little army was allowed to rest in peace. + +During the night the couriers sent out to locate Shaffer reported. Bruno +had done his work well, but Shaffer had been miles farther away than +thought, and as had been requested by Harry in his report, had marched +for Fulton. He was yet ten miles away, and it would be impossible for +him to join Guitar before morning. + +The morning came and with it Shaffer, and with him five hundred and +fifty men, eager for the combat. How Guitar's men did cheer when they +saw Shaffer coming. + +Scouts reported that Porter still occupied his camp, and showed no sign +of moving. It looked as if he had resolved to stay and fight. Colonel +Guitar gave the order to move forward and attack. The advance had to be +carefully made, for the country was rough, wooded, and covered with a +dense undergrowth of bushes. + +Harry now had Bruno with him, and leaving his horse, he, with the dog, +made his way to the front, in order to discover, as far as possible, the +plans and position of the enemy. So dense was the undergrowth he could +not see thirty feet ahead of him, but Bruno, as stealthy as a tiger in +the jungle, crept through the bushes ahead of him and more than once +gave him warning to turn aside his steps and take another direction. At +last he came to quite a hill, on the summit of which grew a tree with +branches close to the ground. Leaving Bruno to guard, Harry climbed the +tree, and to his satisfaction had a good view of the country. But what +he saw filled him with consternation. + +The road on which the Federals were marching was narrow and on each side +lined with dense underbrush. Ahead of the Federal advance, the road +itself was clear, not a guerrilla in sight, but Porter had left his camp +and all his forces were stealthily creeping through the woods, and +concealing themselves in the bushes which lined the road. + +Harry knew that that meant an ambuscade, and the Federal advance was +almost into it. In his eagerness he hardly knew whether he fell, jumped, +or swung himself down by the branches, but he was out of the tree and +tearing through the brush like a mad man to give warning. + +He came to the road just as Colonel Guitar came along, riding at the +head of his column, the advance, consisting of twenty-five men of +Company E, Third Iowa Cavalry, being a short distance ahead. + +"Halt the advance. Ambuscade," gasped Harry. He could say no more, as he +fell from exhaustion. + +[Illustration: "Halt the advance. Ambuscade," gasped Harry.] + +Guitar understood. "Halt," he cried, and to an aid, "Warn the advance." + +The aid put spurs to his horse, but he was too late. Before he could +give warning there came a crashing volley from the jungle on the east +side of the road, the thicket burst into flame and smoke. It was an +awful, a murderous volley. Out of the twenty-five men who composed the +advance, hardly a man or horse escaped unscathed; all were killed or +wounded. + +Swift and terrible as this blow was, it created no panic in Guitar's +little army. The road was narrow, thickets on each side. Nothing could +be done with cavalry. Quickly the order was given to dismount and send +the horses back in charge of every fourth man. Guitar then formed his +slender line in the edge of the thicket on the west side of the road, +with orders to hold until Shaffer came up, for Shaffer was still behind. + +Hearing the sound of the conflict, Shaffer rushed forward, sent back his +horses, and along the road and through the tangled undergrowth the line +was formed and the battle became general. + +The guerrillas displayed a bravery they seldom showed when engaged with +regular troops, and fought with determination and ferocity. They had the +advantage in position and numbers, but Guitar had the advantage in +having a couple of pieces of artillery. One of these pieces was brought +up by hand and planted in the road where it could sweep the woods in +which the guerrillas were concealed. + +Hidden from view, the guerrillas crept up near, poured in a murderous +volley, and then raising a blood-curdling yell, dashed for the gun. Four +of the gunners had fallen before the volley, and for the time the gun +was silent. But behind the piece lay a line of sturdy cavalrymen. They +waited until the guerrillas had burst from the thicket and were within +forty feet of the gun, then sprang to their feet and poured a terrific +volley almost into the faces of the foe. + +Staggering and bleeding, the guerrillas shrank back into the woods, but +only to rally and with fearful yells dash for the gun again. This time +they were not met by the cavalrymen alone, but the cannon belched forth +its deadly charge of canister in their faces. + +When the four gunners fell at the first charge, Dan Sherman, seeing that +the piece was not manned, rushed forward and snatched the primer from +the dead hand of the man who was about to insert it when he fell. Dan +inserted the primer, pulled the lanyard and sent the contents of the gun +into the ranks of the enemy. Two of the artillerymen who had not been +injured came to his assistance, and again the gun was thundering forth +its defiance. + +Through the chaparral Shaffer's men now pushed their way foot by foot. +It was a strange conflict. So dense was the undergrowth the line could +not be followed by the eye for thirty feet. No foe could be seen, but +the thickets blazed and smoked, and the leaden hail swept through the +bushes, tearing and mangling them as if enraged at their resistance. + +The duty of Lawrence was a dangerous one. He had to break his way +through the thickets, see that some kind of a line was kept, and that +orders were being executed. While the men were sheltered by trees, logs +and rocks, he had to be exposed, but as if possessed of a charmed life, +he passed through unscathed. + +Foot by foot the Federals dragged themselves forward, slowly pressing +the guerrillas back. At last, tired of fighting an unseen foe, the men +arose to their feet, and with a wild cheer sprang forward. Surprised, +the foe wavered, then broke. The flight became a panic, and they fled +terror-stricken from the field. The battle of Moore's Mill had been +fought and won. + +There was no pursuit that night. The day had been intensely hot, and the +battle had raged from twelve noon until four. The soldiers, with +blackened, swollen faces and tongues, were fainting with thirst. Colonel +Guitar ordered his men to occupy the camp deserted by the foe. The dead +were to be buried, the wounded cared for. + +So precipitously had the guerrillas fled that except the severely +wounded, few prisoners were taken. Porter had impressed upon his men +that to be captured by the Yankees meant certain death. + +While searching the field Lawrence noticed some white object crawling +along like a large reptile. Upon investigation he found to his surprise +that it was a man, and entirely nude. + +"Why are you without clothes?" asked Lawrence. + +The man looked tip into Lawrence's face with a scared expression and +whined, "The guerrillas captured me, and they stripped me of my +clothing." + +"Then you are a Federal soldier?" inquired Lawrence. + +"Y-e-s," came the halting answer. + +"You lie," exclaimed Lawrence. "You are one of the guerrillas." + +The fellow then broke down, and, piteously begging for his life, said he +was one of Porter's men, and that he looked for nothing but death if +captured, so he had divested himself of his clothing, hoping to pass +himself off as a Federal.[2] + +[Footnote 2: A true incident of the battle.] + +Lawrence ordered him to be tenderly cared for, and tears of gratitude +ran down the fellow's face when he realised he was not to be murdered. + +The battle of Moore's Mill, insignificant as it was compared to the +great battles of the war, was important in this: It frustrated the plans +of the conspirators, and was the beginning of a series of conflicts +which forever ended the hopes of the Confederates to recapture the State +by an uprising. + +Colonel Guitar reported his loss in the battle as thirteen killed and +fifty-five wounded. The guerrilla loss he reported at fifty-two left +dead on the field and one hundred and twenty-five wounded. + +In all the partisan battles in Missouri the guerrillas never reported +their losses, and only the reports of the Federal commanders are +accessible. In many cases no doubt these reports are exaggerated. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A FIGHT IN THE NIGHT + + +Early the next morning Colonel Guitar started in pursuit of the enemy. +Lawrence took the advance with a party of six men. As a matter of +course, Harry and Bruno made a part of this force. + +"This seems like old times, Harry," said Lawrence, as they started off. + +"It does that, Captain," replied Harry. "You, Dan, Bruno and myself make +four of the old gang. Now if only Guilford was with us--" He stopped and +sighed. His mind had gone back to the time when he and Guilford had so +nearly faced death in among the Boston mountains. "You have heard +nothing of him, have you, Captain?" + +"Nothing. I did receive a communication about two months ago that I +thought might be from him; but I have received nothing since and I have +given up all hopes." + +The trail left by the guerrillas was very plain. It followed the +Auxvasse for some two miles, and then turned off into the hills. The +country was very rough, the places for an ambuscade numerous, but with +Bruno scouting, Lawrence had no fears of being surprised. + +Soon they came to a place where the road forked. On the road that led to +the left up the Auxvasse the trail was plainly marked; but the road that +led on into the more open country had little appearance of being +traveled; but it was rocky, and by being careful a large force could +have passed over it and left but few traces behind. + +Harry dismounted and carefully examined the ground. As for Bruno, he +seemed to have no doubt; he was taking the blind trail. + +"A blind," said Harry. "Not more than fifty took to the left, and they +left as broad a trail as possible. The main force passed up the other +road. If Guitar follows the broad trail it will lead him away among the +hills and then disappear, for the party will separate." + +Just then the advance of Guitar's force appeared, led by a young +lieutenant. + +"What are you waiting for?" he asked Lawrence. "Have you discovered the +enemy?" + +"No, but Porter evidently divided his forces here, and we were +discussing which road the main body took." + +The Lieutenant dismounted, and after looking over the ground, said, +"Why, it's as plain as the nose on a man's face; they went to the left." + +"Harry and Bruno both think differently," answered Lawrence. + +The Lieutenant sniffed. "Much they know about it," he exclaimed. "I have +trailed too many guerrillas to be mistaken." + +Just then Colonel Guitar, at the head of his column, appeared. He was +appealed to, and after examining the road, decided to take the left hand +road, but told Lawrence he might keep on the other road with his scouts, +and see what he could discover. As a matter of precaution he increased +Lawrence's force to ten men. + +The Lieutenant rode off highly elated over the fact that Colonel Guitar +agreed with his views. + +"Let them go," sputtered Harry. "They will be disgusted before night." + +And so it proved. The trail led Guitar over hills, through ravines and +rocky dells, through tangled forests, and twisted and turned, until it +disappeared entirely; and, much to his disgust, Guitar found himself +along in the afternoon within two miles from where he had started. The +wily guerrilla chieftain had fooled him completely. Guitar led his mad, +weary and swearing force back to the old camp grounds, and there awaited +the return of Lawrence and his scouting party. + +Lawrence did not think for a moment but that Harry was right, and that +fact soon became evident. They were now in a more open country, and the +signs that a large body of troops had passed became numerous. Not only +this, but in the houses along the road they found a number of severely +wounded that the guerrillas had been forced to leave. + +After some miles they came to a road that crossed the one they were on, +and which led to the west. Here the ground had been much trampled, and +that but a short time before. + +Again Harry dismounted and examined the ground carefully. "We are close +onto them," he said. "I do not believe they have been gone half an +hour." + +"Harry, you are a regular Kit Carson for trails," laughed Lawrence. "Are +you sure you are right?" + +"Perfectly, and what is more, their force divided here, but the larger +force kept on. The explanation is plain. Porter operates to the north +and east, so he has kept on with the larger force; Poindexter and Cobb +have their chief haunts along the Chariton and Grand, so with their +forces they have gone to the west." + +"We had better hurry back to Guitar and tell him this," exclaimed +Lawrence. + +"No," snapped Harry. "I don't propose to be snubbed again. You only have +my word now. Let's keep on until you and everyone present have proof +that cannot be doubted." + +"I believe you are right, Harry," said Lawrence, and he gave the command +to continue on. + +They had proceeded a mile when Bruno came running back, showing by his +manner he had news to impart. + +Halting his squad, Lawrence dismounted, and taking Harry, they carefully +made their way to the brow of a hill which lay in front. Cautiously +peering over, they saw about a quarter of a mile ahead a commodious +house, around which a number of horses were hitched. + +It was evident that they had come on the rear guard of the retreating +guerrillas, and that they had halted to rest, and were being well +entertained, for a number of black women were passing back and forth +from the house to a rude outdoor kitchen, all bearing dishes, and it +looked very tempting to Lawrence and Harry. + +"Feel like eating myself," whispered Harry. "I didn't know I was so +hungry." + +"How many do you reckon there are?" asked Lawrence. + +Harry carefully counted the horses and then said, "Not over fifteen or +twenty. I can count only fifteen horses, but there may be some out of +sight." + +"Feel like appropriating that dinner myself," said Lawrence. + +"The boys would never forgive us if we didn't," answered Harry. + +Hurrying back they explained the situation, and by unanimous vote it was +decided to make a charge on that dinner without loss of time. + +"Harry and I will ride a little ahead," said Lawrence. "Harry is dressed +in homespun and my uniform is so dusty they won't be able to distinguish +its color until we are close to them. Dan, when I give the signal, come +on in a rush." + +So Lawrence find Harry rode ahead, the squad some fifteen or twenty +paces in the rear, leisurely following. Scarcely had they rode over the +brow of the hill when two sentinels they had not seen before suddenly +showed themselves on the road. The sentinels seemed much alarmed, and +drew up their carbines as if to shoot. + +Harry waved his hat and signaled they were friends. Seeing the squad +coming so leisurely and the two in advance, the sentinels lowered their +guns and waited, thinking it must be some of their own men. But when +Lawrence and Harry were a few yards from them one of the sentinels +caught the color of Lawrence's uniform. + +Giving a terrific whoop, he raised his gun and fired, the ball just +missing Lawrence's head. The other sentinel fired, but his shot went +wild. Both wheeled their horses and dashed back, yelling, "Yanks! Yanks! +Yanks!" + +There was no need of Lawrence signaling Dan to come on, for the squad +were urging their horses to the limit. + +The guerrillas at dinner heard the firing and came pouring out of the +house. Close on the heels of the flying sentinels thundered the +Federals. The guerrillas took one look, and with cries of terror sprang +for their horses, and cutting the halter straps were up and away. By +this time the balls were falling among them thick and fast, killing two, +and the horse of a third one fell and the rider was taken prisoner. + +The fight was over and Lawrence rode up to the house, and was met on the +porch by a white haired, fine looking old gentleman. + +"Sorry to trouble you," said Lawrence, urbanely, "but with your +permission I will have my men finish that dinner that your friends have +so ungraciously and suddenly declined." + +"Step right in, suh, the dinner is waiting," the old gentleman replied +with a wan smile, "but my guests are not accustomed to invite +themselves." + +"Sorry, sir, but when you consider the improvement in the character of +your guests, you should rejoice," rejoined Lawrence. "Entertaining such +guests as have run away is dangerous." + +"I shall feed no Yankees," cried a shrill voice, and a young lady +flounced out of the door, her face red with anger. + +Lawrence saw that she was good to look at, tall, willowy and fair of +face. Taking off his hat and bowing politely, he said, "My dear lady, I +humbly beg your pardon, but my men must certainly finish that dinner you +so kindly prepared for those who were so impolite and cowardly as to run +away and leave it. It would take more than Rebel bullets to make me +decline a meal prepared by your fair hands." + +The compliment was lost. "Cowardly?" cried the girl. "Is it cowardly for +twenty to flee before a regiment of Yankee cut-throats?" + +"There are only a dozen of us," said Lawrence, "and a dozen finer +gentlemen you never entertained, every one a prince and as brave as a +lion. If it were not so, twenty of your friends would not have fled from +them." + +The young lady flashed a look of scorn at him and cried, "Yankee +cut-throats and robbers--gentlemen and brave! You amaze me." She +abruptly turned and went into the house, and much to Lawrence's regret +he did not see her again. + +"You must excuse my daughter," said the old man, nervously. + +"That's all right, so we get the dinner," answered Lawrence. "Don't you +see my men are getting impatient?" + +"Come right in. I feed you, not because I want to, but because I must." +Thus speaking, he led them into the house, where they found a sumptuous +repast but partly eaten; and not a man in the squad but did full justice +to it. + +Lawrence found the prisoner they had taken shaking with terror, for some +of the men had coolly informed him that after dinner he was to be +hanged. + +Lawrence was about to reprimand the men for their cruel joke, when it +occurred to him he might use the fellow's fears to some advantage. So he +told him if he would tell all he knew, not only would his life be +spared, but that he would be paroled, but he would have to be careful +and tell nothing but the truth. + +The prisoner eagerly embraced the opportunity, and confirmed what Harry +had said. He moreover stated that before Porter and Poindexter parted +they had agreed to gather up all the men they could, and join forces +again somewhere along the line of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad. + +"I guess that is straight enough for Guitar to believe, instead of that +upstart lieutenant," said Harry. + +Back to find Guitar the scouts rode; but it was night when they found +him and then nearly where they had left him. All day his men had marched +beneath a broiling sun, and when they found out how they had been led +astray, against the protests of Harry, they wanted to lynch the smart +lieutenant; and it was a long time before the poor fellow heard the last +of it. + +Colonel Guitar concluded to rest his men until morning, and then +continue the pursuit. "I will chase Porter clear to the Iowa line, if +necessary, to catch him," he said. + +While it was arranged that Colonel Guitar should march straight for +Mexico, Lawrence, with a detail of ten men dressed as guerrillas, was to +follow directly on the trail of Porter, thus keeping track of his +movements. Lawrence chose ten of the Merrill Horse to go with him. + +One of the men in looking over the squad and noticing that with +Lawrence, Dan, and Harry there were thirteen of them, demurred, saying +that another man should be added, as thirteen was an unlucky number. "No +thirteen for me," he said. + +"Step aside," ordered Lawrence. "I want no thirteen cranks. I, for one, +am not troubled over the old superstition of thirteen. Who will +volunteer to take this fellow's place?" + +A dozen were eager to go, and Lawrence chose a manly looking fellow. +"Our timid friend here counted wrong," he said. "He forgot Bruno, and he +is equal to a dozen men." + +This raised a laugh, and the party started in the highest spirits. After +going a short distance, Lawrence halted and made his men a short speech. + +"Boys," he said, "dressed as we are, it will be certain death if we are +captured. If circumstances arise where we must fight, fight to the +death--never surrender. We are strong enough to beat off any small +party, and large ones we must avoid. But remember, our object is to get +information, not to fight. To all appearances we must be simon-pure +guerrillas. If we meet with guerrillas, as no doubt we will, keep cool, +and let Harry or me do the talking." + +"All right, Captain," they shouted, and they rode merrily forward, +careless of what dangers they might meet. So often had they faced death, +they considered him an old acquaintance. + +They found little trouble in following the trail of Porter. Taken for +guerrillas, every Southern sympathizer was eager to give them all the +information possible. + +For two days they traveled, frequently meeting with small parties of +guerrillas, and to these Lawrence always represented they belonged south +of the river, and had been obliged to cross to avoid a large party of +Federals, and that they had concluded to keep on and join Porter. + +By questioning, Lawrence found all of these parties had orders to join +Porter at or near Paris. Some of these parties gave Lawrence a good deal +of trouble by wanting to join forces with him, but he put them off by +saying it would be safer to travel in small parties, as they would not +then be so liable to attract the attention of the Federals. + +Porter in his flight had crossed the North Missouri Railroad near +Montgomery City, but in his haste did little damage. + +It was after Lawrence had crossed this railroad that he had his first +serious trouble. Here he came onto a company of at least fifty +guerrillas under the command of Bill Duncan, a leader who often acted +with Porter, and as noted for cruelty as he. The company was hastening +to join Porter at Paris. + +Lawrence thought it best to change his story. Duncan had roughly ordered +him to join his company. This Lawrence firmly refused, saying they +belonged to Poindexter's command; that after Poindexter and Porter had +parted, Poindexter had found it impossible for him to join Porter, as he +had promised, and that he had been sent post-haste by Poindexter to find +Porter and inform him of the fact. + +"But now," said Lawrence, "I need go no farther, as you can carry this +information to Porter." + +"Where are you going if I do this?" asked Duncan. + +"Back to join Poindexter, as I promised," said Lawrence. + +"I don't know but you are all right," said Duncan; "but I don't like the +looks of your men. What did you say your name was?" + +"I haven't told you, but it is Jack Hilton. Porter knows me well. Give +him my respects. Be sure and tell him what I have told you, for it is +very important. Good-day, Captain. Come on, boys," and Lawrence turned +and rode back the way he had come. + +Duncan watched them until they were out of sight; then, shaking his +head, said: "I almost wish I hadn't let them go, but I reckon they're +all right. That young chap in command told a mighty straight story." + +About this time Lawrence was saying: "That was a mighty close shave, +Dan. That fellow had a big notion to make trouble." + +Bruno, who had been told to keep out of sight, joined them after they +had gone some distance. He acted dejected and dispirited, and if he +could have talked would have asked the meaning of it all. Time and time +again he had given warning of the approach of guerrillas, only to have +his master meet them as friends. He had given notice of the approach of +Duncan's party, and to his surprise nothing had come of it. He was a +thoroughly disgusted dog, and walked along with drooping head and tail; +but it only took a word from Harry to set him all right again. + +"We must turn north again at the first opportunity," said Lawrence. +"This will put us back several miles." + +They had not gone far before they met a solitary guerrilla. He was one +of Duncan's party, and had gone out of his way to visit a friend. He was +halted, and explained who he was. + +"Ah, yes," said Lawrence; "your company is just ahead. We left it only a +few moments ago." + +"Whar be yo' goin'?" asked the fellow. + +"Back to join Poindexter, where we belong. I was carrying a message to +Porter from Poindexter, but on meeting Duncan I gave it to him, so we +are on our way back." + +The fellow had sharp eyes, and Lawrence noticed that he was scrutinizing +his party closely, and when he saw Harry, who had been a little in the +rear, and just now came up, he started perceptibly, but quickly +recovered himself, and exclaimed, "I must be goin'." Putting spurs to +his horse, he rode rapidly away. + +Harry gazed on his retreating figure, his brow wrinkled in perplexity. +Suddenly he cried: "Captain, I know that fellow, and I believe he +recognized me. If he did, we are going to have trouble." + +"Are you sure?" asked Lawrence, startled. + +"Quite sure. I arrested him near Paris a couple of months ago, and he +gave his parole. I had hard work to keep Bruno from throttling him. +Where is Bruno?" + +"There he comes now," said Lawrence, "and he seems to be greatly +excited." + +Bruno was indeed greatly excited, and he ran around Harry, growling, and +then in the direction the fellow had taken, looking back to see if Harry +was following. + +"Bruno knows him, too," said Harry. "He never forgets. If that fellow +saw Bruno, it is indeed all up. He will tell Duncan, and we will have a +fight on our hands as sure as fate." + +"By hard riding we can reach Mexico and avoid the fight," said Lawrence; +"but I don't like the idea of running away." + +"Nor I," said Harry. "Even if the fellow knew me, Duncan may not follow +us." + +"What do you think, Dan?" asked Lawrence. + +Dan took a chew of tobacco, as he always did when about to decide +anything weighty, and then slowly remarked: "Don't like to run until I +see something to run from." + +"That's it," cried Lawrence. "It is doubtful if Duncan follows us at +all. If he does, it will be time enough to think of running." + +It was therefore decided to take the first road they came to which led +in the direction they wished to go. They soon came to the road, but +before they turned into it, Lawrence took the precaution to make it +appear that they had ridden straight on. + +"Reckon Bruno and I will hang near this corner for a while," said Harry. +"I want to make sure whether we are followed or not. I feel in my bones +Duncan is after us." + +Harry had good reasons for feeling as he did, for the guerrilla whose +name was Josh Hicks, had not only recognized him, but he had also seen +Bruno, and he bore the dog an undying hatred, for it was he who had +captured him, and would have killed him had not Harry interfered. + +No sooner was Hicks out of sight of the scouts than he put his horse to +the utmost speed. "I have an account to settle with that dawg and his +master," he muttered, "and it will be settled tonight or my name is not +Josh Hicks." + +He overtook Duncan's command, his horse covered with foam. + +"Hello, Josh, what's up?" asked some of the men, as he dashed up. "Yo' +un acts as if the Merrill Hoss was after yo'. What has skeered yo'?" + +"Whar is Bill?" Hicks fairly shrieked. + +"Up in front. What's the matter?" and the men began to look uneasy. + +Seeing the excitement in the rear, Duncan came riding back. "What's the +trouble?" he asked, gruffly. + +"Don't know," answered one of the men, "but Josh Hicks has jest come up, +his hoss covered with foam, and he seems mighty skeered about +something." + +Just then Hicks caught sight of Duncan, and yelled: "Bill, did yo' un +meet a party of about a dozen men a few minutes ago?" + +"Yes; what of it?" + +"An' yo'un had them and let them go?" fairly screamed Hicks. + +"Of course; they were Poindexter's men." + +"Poindexter's men! Hell!" Hicks shouted. "They was Yanks in disguise, +an' one of them was that damned boy scout of the Merrill Hoss. I know +him, and I saw the dawg." + +"Be you sure, Josh?" asked Duncan. + +"Sure? Of course I'm sure. Don't I know the boy, and don't I know the +dawg? Can I forgit the brute that had his teeth in my throat? Oh, yo' un +be a nice one, yo' un be, Bill, to let them fellers slip through your +fingers!" + +Duncan flushed with anger and chagrin. "Look here, Josh," he roared, +"none of your insinuations, or you settle with me. I never met that +feller, and if you had been with us, as you ought to have been, instead +of gallivanting around the country, you would have known them. Them +fellers told a straight story, they did; but they'll never fool Bill +Duncan but once. About face, boys." + +In a moment more the guerrillas were thundering on the trail of the +scouts. They had little difficulty until they came to the road where +Lawrence had turned off. Here Duncan carefully examined the ground, and +with the almost unerring instinct of his class, decided rightly as to +the way the scouts had gone. + +Harry had taken a position about half a mile from where the road turned, +and where he had a good view without being seen. He saw the guerrillas +stop and hesitate, and then take the right road. + +"They are after us, sure," he muttered, and, spurring his horse, he did +not pull rein until he had overtaken the scouts. + +"They are close after us!" he exclaimed, pulling up his panting horse. + +"It will soon be dark; we can elude them," said Lawrence. + +"Let's fight them," said Dan, taking out his plug of tobacco and holding +it until a decision was made. + +"Yes, let's fight them," said the men. "This is the tamest scout we've +ever been on--hobnobbing with the villains instead of fighting them." + +"All right," replied Lawrence. "Let's ride rapidly ahead until dark. +Dan, you and I must think up a bit of strategy in the meantime." + +"All right," said Dan, biting off a big chew from the plug he was +holding, and restoring the rest to his pocket. If the decision had been +against a fight, Dan would have put the plug back without taking a chew. +When Dan put his tobacco back unbitten, it was always an infallible sign +that something had gone in a way that did not suit him. + +That Lawrence and Dan had fixed up that bit of strategy was evident, for +just as darkness was closing in, Lawrence ordered the scouts to stop +long enough to gather a good feed of corn for their horses, from a +near-by field. Then they rode on and camped in a wood, some little +distance from the road. + +"The guerrillas will not now attack us until some time in the night," he +said, "thinking to surprise us." + +He gave orders for the horses to be tethered a little distance in the +rear of the camp, where they would be sheltered. "Hitch them so you can +loose them in a twinkling, if it becomes necessary," he ordered. + +Then he told the men they might build a fire, make some coffee, and +roast some corn, if they wished. + +"Had we not better dig a hole for the fire, and screen it with +blankets?" suggested one of the men. "A light might give us away." + +"Just what I want it to do," answered Lawrence, to the astonishment of +all but Dan and Harry. + +Lawrence then explained to his men his plan: "The guerrillas will attack +us some time during the night, thinking to surprise us. I want the +surprise the other way. Therefore I propose to camp as if we were +unconscious of danger. The fire is to be left, not too bright, but +smouldering enough to give a little light. Each man of you is to prepare +a dummy. A log with a blanket around it will do. These will be placed in +a row a short distance from the fire. In the dim light they will look +exactly like a row of sleeping men. Last of all, we will fix a dummy +sentinel, leaning against a tree as if asleep. + +"We will all lie down a little to one side in the bush. Then, when the +guerrillas charge on the supposed sleeping camp, give it to them. If +things go wrong, each man make for his horse, and get away the best he +can. Make for Mexico." + +These instructions were obeyed implicitly, and soon the camp was buried +in apparent slumber. + +To make sure they were right, the guerrillas had inquired at the first +house they passed, and were told that a small party of men had passed +but a short time before. + +"We are on the right track, boys," exclaimed Duncan, gleefully, "and if +they don't take the alarm and dodge us in the dark, they are ours. We +must not press them too closely. Let them go into camp, and we will get +them when they are asleep." + +Just as darkness began to fall, Duncan became fearful that the scouts +would not halt, but keep on for Mexico, and he gave orders to gallop, +but concluded to stop at the first house and inquire. He did so, and an +old man came to the door, and in answer to his inquiry replied that a +party whom he supposed to be guerrillas passed just before dark. +"Confound them!" he exclaimed, "they stopped at my cornfield and +gathered a good feed for their horses, and never said even 'Thank you.' +They are camped in the woods about half a mile ahead, for I saw the +gleam of the campfire. I am going down in the morning, and see if I +can't collect for that corn." + +"We will collect it for you," chuckled Duncan, "and while we are about +it we will collect enough to pay for a feed for our horses. There are +sixty or seventy of us. Them fellers are not our men; they are Yanks." + +"Good land!" exclaimed the old fellow. + +"Don't worry--we'll collect for that corn, all right," said Duncan. + +The guerrillas waited until ten o'clock, then approached the wood as +near as they dared, and Duncan sent two of his men ahead to spy upon the +camp. They were gone so long that Duncan began to be impatient, but at +last they returned, and their report was all that could be wished. + +"We almost crept on them before we discovered them," said one. "The +fools do not seem suspicious of any danger. They have but one man on +guard, and sure as shooting he is leaning against a tree, sound asleep. +It will be no trick to send them to the devil as they sleep." + +"And to the devil we will send them," growled Duncan. "Understand, no +quarter." + +"The dawg? Didn't you see the dawg?" asked Hicks, anxiously. + +"That dawg seems to trouble you, Hicks," sneered one of the men. + +"He would trouble yo' un if yo' un had had the experience I have," +retorted Hicks. "I tell you I don't like it. Them Yanks seem too blame +careless. It ain't like them. An' that dawg--didn't he make no fuss when +yo' un crept up?" + +"Not a bit. If thar was any dawg, he must have been asleep, too." + +"I tell yo' un I don't like it. Thar is something wrong. That dawg----" + +"Shut up," commanded Duncan. "Josh, if you are afraid of a dawg, stay +with the hosses. Some of the boys will have to stay, and there is not +one, unless it is you, but wants a hand in this job." + +"Yes, stay, Josh, stay!" jeered the men. "Josh is getting skeery. He is +afraid of a dawg." + +"Stay nothin'!" snorted Josh, mad as a hornet. "An' if any of yo' uns +insinuates I am afraid, yo' uns will have to settle with Josh Hicks, an' +that mighty quick." + +"No quarrelling, boys," commanded Duncan. "Josh is all right. Don't want +to stay with the hosses, Josh?" + +"Not by a thundering sight." + +"All right, Josh, we will give you the first crack at that boy, the +owner of the dawg, to settle old scores." + +They were to creep up on the scouts and kill them as they slept. If an +alarm was given, they were to rush on them and make quick work of it. + +Slowly the guerrillas worked their way through the wood, as noiselessly +and stealthily as Indians. By the dim light of the campfire they saw +what they supposed were the sleeping forms of their enemies. The +sentinel stood leaning against a tree, his head on his breast, +apparently sound asleep. + +The sentinel was right in front of Josh Hicks. He drew a huge knife, his +eyes gleaming with hate and cruelty. Nearer and nearer he crept, then +sprang forward and buried his knife in the bosom of the supposed man, +but instead of striking flesh and bone, he struck a log of wood, and so +fierce was the blow he could not withdraw the knife. + +As he struck there was a hoarse growl, a huge form shot through the air, +and the teeth of Bruno were buried in his throat. He gave a +blood-curdling yell, which died away in a sickening gurgle. + +The guerrillas, thinking themselves discovered, rushed upon the sleeping +forms. As they came into the light, the woods to the right and left +burst into flame. Men reeled and, clutching the air, fell. The wood +resounded with horrid curses, groans, and yells of terror. + +Firing a random volley, those that lived turned and fled, pursued by the +scouts. The battle was soon over. A full third of the attacking force +lay on the ground, dead or grievously wounded. But of all the dead, +there was none so ghastly as Josh Hicks. He lay with his throat torn in +shreds, and on his face there was still a look of mortal terror. + +The next morning, when the guerrillas came creeping back to bury their +dead and care for the wounded, a feeling of superstitious awe crept over +them when they saw the body of Josh Hicks. + +"That dawg--that dawg!" they whispered. "Poor Josh! He must have had a +presentiment." + +From that time on Bruno was to them an uncanny beast, in league with +evil spirits. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +KIRKSVILLE + + +No sooner had the affrighted cries of the guerrillas died away, than +Lawrence, calling back his men, said: "We must now be up and away. By +morning the guerrillas will be over their fright, and we will be +surrounded. Let the dead and wounded lie, though make the wounded as +comfortable as possible. It will not be long before some of their +comrades will be creeping back to care for them." + +To Lawrence's delight, he found that not a single one of his men had +been harmed. In the highest of spirits, the men mounted their horses and +rode away. + +All night they rode and, when morning came, they halted by a field of +corn, and once more gave their horses a fine feed, while the men made +coffee and feasted on roasting ears. + +"Boys, which shall it be--Mexico or Paris?" asked Lawrence. "From what +we learned from Duncan, it is the intention of Porter to unite all his +force near Paris, and then move north. Guitar must be in Mexico by this +time, but there will be no fighting there. No doubt he will keep on to +Paris." + +"To Paris!" shouted the men. "Let's go where the fighting will be. Our +horses are quite fresh. We can be there by night." + +"What if we run into Porter and his whole gang?" asked Lawrence, +smiling. + +"Lick the whole gang!" they yelled. + +"You're all right, boys, but I hardly think you can do that; at least, +we won't try as long as I'm leader," laughed Lawrence. + +The day was hot and the roads dusty, and Lawrence favored the horses all +possible, but they made good progress. Taken for guerrillas by the +inhabitants, they fared well, and much information was given them. + +Much to Lawrence's surprise, he learned that Porter had taken and sacked +Paris the day before, and that McNeil had moved down from Palmyra and +driven him out. More serious still was the news that Porter had been +reinforced, and had attacked and expected to recapture the place. + +This was news, indeed. If true, Porter was squarely between them and +Paris. A consultation was held, and it was the unanimous opinion that +they should keep on and join McNeil, if they could. + +As they neared Paris, they heard firing, and became aware a slight +skirmish was in progress. They halted, and while debating what best to +do, a couple of guerrillas came riding towards them. + +"Who be yo' un?" they asked of Lawrence, as they rode up. + +"We 'uns are from Galloway County, on our way to join Porter," answered +Lawrence. "I heah fightin'. What is it?" + +"Oh, a few of us are only amusing the Yanks while Porter gits away," +said the men. + +"Then Porter is not heah?" + +"No; he an' most of his men air miles north by this time. He left about +a hundred of us here to make believe we 'uns ware goin' to attack Paris, +so to give him time to git away. Thar, yo' uns don't hear any shooting +now. The boys have amused the Yanks as long as they wanted to, and now +air on their way to jine Porter, and bet your life the Yanks don't catch +them." + +"What are you doing here, away from your command?" asked Lawrence, +sternly. + +The guerrillas started at the change in the speech and manner of +Lawrence. "We 'uns," they stammered, "we 'uns live about five miles +back, and we 'uns was goin' to see the folks. We 'uns can easily +overtake the boys by riding all night." + +A sign from Lawrence, and, to the amazement of the guerrillas, they were +looking into the muzzles of revolvers. + +"It's all up with you, fellows," said Lawrence. "We are Yanks. Boys, +disarm them." + +The guerrillas' faces were as white as chalk, and they began to beg for +their lives. They had only just joined Porter, they declared, and they +were sick of it already. They had never molested a Union man. In fact, +they had told a lie--they were deserting, instead of going to visit +their families, as they said. + +"If that is the case," said Lawrence, "you will readily give us all the +information you can. No doubt Colonel McNeil will be pleased to see you; +so come along." + +It was as the prisoners had said--the guerrillas had gone, and Lawrence +had no trouble in riding into Paris, where he was gladly welcomed by +McNeil, who had been in fear he was being attacked by an overwhelming +force. It was welcome news that Lawrence brought, that Colonel Guitar +was in Mexico by this time, with five hundred good men; but that Porter +was retreating north, was a big surprise to McNeil. + +"He must have at least a thousand men," said McNeil. "I thought he would +stay and fight this time, sure. I see we will have to chase the fox." + +During the night the advance of Colonel Guitar's column came in. Guitar +had been taken sick at Mexico, but had sent forward five hundred men +under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Shaffer. + +McNeil, his force now augmented by Shaffer's, resolved to push Porter to +the limit, and if possible bring him to battle. + +A pursuit now commenced which lasted a week--a pursuit that every +soldier that was present will always remember. Men grew haggard for want +of sleep; horses staggered under the weight of their riders, and then +fell dying by the side of the road. Across prairies and streams, through +woods and tangled thickets, over rocky hills, almost inaccessible, the +pursuit led. By every art known to the wily Porter did he try to mislead +his pursuers; but they hung on to his trail like grim death. + +More than once would the pursuers have been at fault had it not been for +Lawrence and his little band of scouts. Hanging on to the flank and at +times almost ahead of Porter, they were enabled to keep McNeil well +posted as to the movements of his foes. + +More than once did the faithful Bruno keep the scouts from falling into +ambuscades, and more than once shots were fired at him by the vengeful +guerrillas. But Bruno had become as cunning and wary as a fox in keeping +out of danger. It was but a glimpse the guerrillas could get at him as +he stole through the woods. + +"What now, Bruno? What's the matter?" asked Lawrence one day, as the dog +came rushing back in the greatest excitement. The scouts were in +advance, and had been following the trail through a rough and broken +country. + +The dog gave a short bark, and looked to the front, as if to say, "Look +out--trouble ahead." + +Lawrence gave the order to halt, and told Harry and another of the +company to dismount and steal carefully through the woods, and see what +they could discover. They did so, and soon came to a stream. The bridge +that spanned it had, to Harry's astonishment, been only partially +destroyed; it could easily be crossed. This looked suspicious. The other +bank of the stream was covered by a thick growth of bushes. Their leaves +rustled gently as they were touched by the breeze, and that was all. +There was no sign of life. Bruno, as he looked across the stream, gave a +low, menacing growl, and his eyes shone like two coals of fire. The +road, after crossing the bridge, was narrow, and ran between two hills, +both thickly wooded. + +"There's something over there in the bushes," whispered Harry. "We'd +better go back and report to the Captain." + +They did so. + +"We'll wait until some of the command come up," said Lawrence. + +They had not long to wait. A company of Merrill Horse that was leading +the advance came in sight. To the Captain in command Lawrence explained +his fear of an ambuscade in front. The company was halted, the men +dismounted, and a skirmish line formed. The men were instructed to work +their way carefully to the bank of the stream, but not to show +themselves. + +"I see nothing alarming over there," said the Captain of the company, as +he swept the other side of the stream with his glass. + +"There is something," said Lawrence. "I have just seen a bush tremble +more than if stirred by the wind. That half-destroyed bridge is but a +trap." + +By this time more of the troop had come up, and had been halted. With +them were a couple of pieces of artillery. + +"We are losing valuable time," grumbled the Captain. "We'd better ride +on, before McNeil gives us thunder." + +"Not if I can prevent it," said Lawrence. "Bring up that artillery." + +The two pieces were brought as close to the river as they could without +being seen. The horses were then unhitched, and the pieces run forward +by hand, so that a few yards more would bring them into view, and in a +position where they could sweep the bushes on both sides of the road +across the stream. + +"Load with canister," ordered Lawrence. "When all is ready, I will order +a volley fired across the river into the bushes. Wait for the returning +volley, for I am sure it will come; then run up your pieces and sweep +both sides of the road." + +The skirmishers crept carefully forward, and at the word poured a volley +into the bushes across the stream. The effect was electrical. The bushes +seemed to burst into smoke and flame, and then came a crashing volley in +return. Quick as thought, the two cannon were run forward and a storm of +canister swept the bushes. There were howls of rage, curses and groans, +and the guerrillas were in wild flight. + +With cheers the men ran back, mounted their horses and started in +pursuit, thinking the time had come for them to annihilate Porter and +his gang. + +Porter had planned well. A short distance from the bridge the road +passed through a narrow, rocky defile, and this was so obstructed that +it took two hours to remove the obstructions so the command could pass +through. Porter had left his horses on the other side of the +obstruction, so when his men broke all they had to do was to make their +way to their horses. + +Porter did not try any more ambuscades. His only thought was to elude +his pursuers and get away. He came nearly doing it, and for a day McNeil +was in doubt as to which way he had gone--to the northwest or the north. + +It was Lawrence and his scouts who brought the news. His report was: +"Porter crossed the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad last night at +Shelbina. He is said to be making for Kirksville, where he expects to be +joined by the guerrilla bands of northwestern Missouri. His force is +estimated at two thousand, which, I think, is an overestimate, but as he +goes north, it is hourly increasing." + +"I don't care whether he has two thousand or five thousand; I am going +to catch him and make him fight," said McNeil, grimly. The pursuit was +once more taken up, the column headed for Kirksville. + +There is only one county in Missouri north of the county in which +Kirksville is situated. It was as far north as Porter could hope to go +without being surrounded by enemies. Full of hope that he would be +forced to give battle at Kirksville, McNeil pressed on. + +So rapid was the pursuit that McNeil, as he neared Kirksville, could not +bring over five hundred men into action. His trains and his men with +broken-down horses had been left behind. All along the route Porter's +force had been reported as fully three thousand, but three thousand did +not alarm McNeil, who had faith in his little army. + +As the Federals approached Kirksville, Lawrence, who had been scouting, +reported that Kirksville had been occupied by Porter, and that he had +expelled the entire inhabitants of the place. His horses he had +concealed in the brush west of the town. + +"These facts," said Lawrence, "I have learned from the three prisoners I +have here." + +McNeil questioned the prisoners, but they were surly and would say +nothing. The facts that Lawrence had learned were told him when they +believed him to be one of their number. When undeceived and told to +surrender, their surprise was only equalled by their chagrin. + +In bringing them back, Lawrence noticed one of the prisoners stealthily +throw away some papers. They were secured and found to be a parole and +an oath of allegiance to the National Government. + +"I'm sorry," said Lawrence, "but this fact must be reported to Colonel +McNeil."[3] + +[Footnote 3: This prisoner and fifteen others were afterwards executed +by McNeil for the breaking of their paroles.] + +It was a beautiful August morning when McNeil's little army reached the +outskirts of the village of Kirksville. To all appearances, they gazed +upon a deserted town. If the angel of death had passed over the place +and had smitten every man, woman and child, it could not have been more +silent, death-like. The hot sun beat down upon the streets and houses, +but awoke no life. The stillness was unearthly, appalling. What did it +mean? + +"Can it be that Porter has slipped away without our knowing it?" asked +McNeil. + +"Impossible," answered Lawrence. "The whole guerrilla force is concealed +in the stores and houses. They are hoping we will think the place +unoccupied; then as we ride through the streets they can open fire and +slaughter us without mercy." + +"How can we find out where they are?" asked McNeil, rather anxiously. + +Lawrence thought a moment, and then said: "Colonel, give me a few men +and I will make a dash down the main street, and around the square. If +they are hidden, we will surely draw their fire, and thus reveal their +position." + +McNeil looked at Lawrence in amazement. "Do you mean it?" he asked. + +"I certainly do." + +"Why, it would mean almost certain death--suicide." + +"I am willing to try." + +McNeil thought a moment and then said: "Captain, you must not do it. If +you were one of my officers, I might consent; but with you it is +different. You are on special duty from General Schofield. It is true +you have acted as one of my aids, and as leader of my scouts, for which +I am grateful. But for you to lead such a forlorn hope, I cannot--will +not--permit such a sacrifice on your part." + +Colonel Shaffer, of the Merrill Horse, who had been present during the +conversation, now said: "Colonel, you are right. To permit Captain +Middleton to do what he proposes would be a reflection on our command; +especially would I consider it so on the Merrill Horse. I will make a +detail, and lead the forlorn hope myself." + +"No, you will not," cried three or four officers of his regiment, who +had come up in time to hear his proposal. "Our Colonel leading as +desperate an undertaking as that, and we looking on! Why, every mother's +son of us should be shot for cowardice. Detail one of us." + +Shaffer looked upon his officers with pride. "It is just what I might +have expected," he exclaimed, his voice trembling. "Lieutenant Coudrey, +you spoke first. You may go if you wish; but mind, I don't order you." + +Coudrey saluted and said: "Colonel, I thank you. I need no order." + +"How many men will you need, Lieutenant?" asked Shaffer. + +"Eight, I think, will be enough. I do not wish to expose more than +necessary." + +Lieutenant Coudrey returned to his company, explained to them what was +to be done, and added: "Not one that comes with me may ever come back. I +want eight volunteers." + +He looked up and down the line. For a moment there was not a sound. The +men gazed into each others' faces blankly; and then, as if by common +impulse, the whole company rode forward. + +"God bless you, my men, my brave boys! I might have known it, but I +cannot take you all. The first eight will do. That will save me choosing +man by man." + +History tells of great charges. Pickett's charge at Gettysburg, and +Hood's at Franklin, will live as long as American history is written; +but history tells nothing of these small affairs. Yet who will say that +Lieutenant Coudrey and his eight men did not perform a braver deed than +do men who, in the heat of battle, rush up to the mouth of the cannon? +It is the individual bravery, the scout and the skirmish, which make the +romance of war. + +All was ready, and as they started a thousand eyes followed them, and +with bated breath their comrades watched them as they rode. Each carried +a heavy revolver, that they might return the fire they would receive. + +Down the street they rode at full speed, but not a shot was fired; the +town lay still as dead. They reached the square. "Is it possible----" +exclaimed McNeil, but his speech was cut short. As the little squad +turned to ride around the square, flashes of fire and little clouds of +smoke burst from doors and windows of stores and houses. The village had +suddenly come to life. + +[Illustration: Down the street they rode at full speed.] + +From their revolvers Coudrey and his men returned the fire as they rode. +A horse goes down, then another. A man throws up his arms and tumbles +headlong, but those that live dash on. The circuit is made, the hell of +fire passed through, and the enemy is located. + +Coudrey, his face blackened with smoke, and his eyes blazing with the +light of battle, came riding back. His hand was grasped by both McNeil +and Shaffer. Neither could speak for a moment, and then they could only +gasp: "Thank God!" + +Strange as it may seem, Lieutenant Coudrey had passed through the fiery +ordeal unscathed; but of the eight men who rode with him, two were +killed, three more wounded, and five of the eight horses lay dead. + +The position of the enemy uncovered, McNeil dismounted his force, and +the battle was opened. From house to house the men forced their way, and +at the end of two hours the enemy were in full flight. The artillery of +the Federals played an important part in the action, and did much +towards turning the victory. Porter had at least three or four men to +one in this action, but his force was poorly disciplined, and stood +little show against the seasoned veterans of McNeil.[4] + +[Footnote 4: Colonel McNeil reports his loss in this action as +twenty-eight killed and sixty wounded. He estimates the loss of the +guerrillas as one hundred and fifty killed, three hundred wounded and +forty-seven prisoners. Horses captured, one hundred and fifty.] + +The routed guerrillas took refuge in the timber which skirted the +Chariton, but early the next morning the Merrill Horse was after them. + +The next day Porter was caught at Stockton and completely routed, losing +nearly a hundred men. Porter himself barely escaped, but with a few +followers he made his way back to his old haunts, and a couple of months +later was the cause of one of the most lamentable tragedies enacted in +Missouri during the war. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +POINDEXTER CAPTURED + + +Hundreds of the guerrillas who had been with Porter worked their way +south to join Poindexter, and that chieftain found himself at the head +of a force of from a thousand to fifteen hundred men. That part of +Porter's force that had joined Poindexter had been closely followed by a +portion of McNeil's force, among them a hundred of the Merrill Horse. +With them came Lawrence and Harry with Bruno. + +When they reached Mexico, Lawrence found a dispatch waiting him from +General Schofield, which filled him with amazement. It stated that he +had received a communication, apparently from the same hand that had +sent the first communication to him (Lawrence), in May, which revealed +the plot of the partisan uprising. This communication stated that a +large body of troops was moving up from Arkansas to cooeperate with the +guerrillas, the object being to capture Independence and Lexington, and +that the movement was a month later than expected, but now it was well +under way. + +"I am not satisfied," wrote General Schofield, "with the way the +officers in that district are meeting the emergency, and I want you to +go there immediately and report to me the full situation." + +Lawrence reluctantly bade Harry and Bruno good-bye, and he and Dan +started for their new field of work, where we will leave them for a +time, and follow the adventures of Harry. + +Poindexter and Cobb had now come back into the territory that was +commanded by Colonel Guitar. That officer had fully recovered from his +sickness, and, hastily collecting a force of five hundred men, he +started in pursuit of Poindexter. + +Harry and his dog were now so well known that Guitar placed him in +command of a small body of scouts. They were dressed as guerrillas, and +they certainly looked and acted the part. + +Poindexter had expected to join Porter in his retreat north, at or near +Kirksville, but he had been attacked and driven back by a force under +General Ben Loan, thus preventing the union which Porter and Poindexter +had planned. + +Poindexter was now hiding in the woods and thickets along the Chariton, +and numerous guerrilla bands were flocking to his standard. + +It was Colonel Guitar's business to find him and scatter his forces +before they became too strong; and to find him Guitar could employ no +better means than Harry and Bruno. + +For his companions, Harry had chosen five boys, ranging in age from +eighteen to twenty, all native Missourians, skilled in woodcraft, +accustomed to firearms, and all burning to avenge themselves on the +guerrillas, for all had suffered terrible wrongs at their hands. + +Just as Harry was about to start on his scout, a boy by the name of Jack +Harwood came to him and begged to be allowed to be one of the party. He +was about eighteen years of age, of slender build, but as wiry and +active as a cat. His face bore a rather sad expression, for his father +had been shot down in cold blood by some of Porter's gang; the house had +been burned over his mother's head, and she had died a few days later +from shock and exposure. Fortunately for Jack, he was not at home at the +time, or he would have shared his father's fate. + +Jack buried his mother, bade farewell to his ruined home, and enlisted. +He seemed never to tire, and was never as happy as when he was hunting +guerrillas. He was brave to recklessness, and early in the service had +been promoted to a sergeantcy in his company. + +Harry looked him over and told him he would see what he could do. The +eyes of the boy glowed with a fierce flame as he told Harry of his +wrongs. It was so much like his own story that Harry's heart went out +towards him. + +Colonel Guitar readily granted Harry's request that Harwood might be +added to his force, and so Harry found himself at the head of six young, +adventuresome and daring scouts. + +Harry's orders were to locate Poindexter, but keep in touch with the +column as much as possible. + +No sooner were they away from the command than Harry halted and said: +"Boys, I must make you acquainted with Bruno, so he may make no +mistake." + +The great dog was called, and he came and stood before his master, +wagging his tail and looking up in his eyes, as if to say, "What is it?" + +"Bruno, this is Jack Harwood. He is all right." + +Bruno smelled Jack, gave a short yelp and, lifting one of his paws, +offered it to him. The boy shook it with wonder and delight. + +Bruno was then introduced to each of the scouts, and they seemed to pass +muster, for to each one he offered his paw. + +"Good," exclaimed Harry. "Bruno will now know any one of you among +thousands, and you will find him the most valuable member of the squad." + +Harry rode to the northwest, for he knew it was in that direction +Poindexter was rallying his forces. The country through which they +passed seemed to be terror-stricken. But few men were seen, and they +were old. The women gazed at them with scared eyes as they passed, and +little children would run and hide, or peer at them around the corners +of the houses with frightened faces. + +To questions asked, both men and women were noncommittal. They knew +nothing. They were the first guerrillas they had seen for days. As for +Yankee soldiers, they knew of none nearer than the towns where they were +garrisoned. + +Towards evening Bruno gave warning of foes ahead. Soon a party of ten +men rode in sight, manifestly guerrillas. + +"Let me do the talking, boys," Harry said, "but be sure and sanction +everything I say; and be ready to fight at the word, if necessary. For +your life, don't let them get the drop on you. At the first suspicious +action, draw and fire." + +The scouts did not seem loath to have a little skirmish. They loosened +the revolvers in their holsters, and remarked they were ready. + +"Bruno," said Harry, "I don't want them to see you. Go and hide, and +don't come till I whistle." + +The dog slunk into the woods that grew along the road, and in a +twinkling was out of sight. The scouts marvelled. "Why, he is human," +said one. + +"Almost, but not quite, about some things," answered Harry. + +The band of guerrillas had seen them, and halted, and were scanning them +carefully, as if debating whether to advance or not. + +"They seem to be a little afraid," laughed Harry. "Let's ride leisurely +forward, as if satisfied." + +As they approached, the guerrillas made a movement as if to raise their +guns, but evidently thought better of it, and sat still to await their +coming, but with hands on the butts of their revolvers. + +"Hello, boys; whar yo' uns goin'?" called out Harry, as he came up. "The +way yo' uns act, yo' uns must think we' uns air Yanks." + +"Who be yo' uns, an' whar be yo' uns goin'?" the leader asked, scowling. + +"We' uns? We' uns air from Franklin County. We' uns was a little too +close to St. Louis to be healthy for sich fellers as we' uns, so we +reckoned we' uns would come over and join Poindexter. Do yo' uns know +whar we' uns can find him?" + +"Don't know an' don't care," growled the leader. "Yo' uns had better +come with we' uns. Had enough of stand-up fightin'! We' uns was with +Porter at Kirksville, and got hell kicked out of us." + +Harry now learned that they were a part of Porter's band; that after his +last defeat Porter had advised his men to break into small parties and +make their way back to their old haunts, where they could rally if he +needed them. They could be nice, peaceable citizens until he wanted them +again. It was more fun harassing and robbing Union men and surprising +small parties of Yanks than it was to face the enemy in an open battle. + +"I tell yo' uns," added the leader, shrugging his shoulders, "it's no +fun facing them rotten balls. They skeer a feller." + +"Why didn't yo' uns lick 'em?" asked Harry. + +"Lick 'em? Say, young feller, Did yo' un ever face the Merrill Hoss?" + +"No; but the boys heah reckon they would like to have the chance." + +"Ha! ha!" laughed the guerrillas. "Wall, go on and join Poindexter, an' +yo' uns may have a chance. See how you like it after the Merrill Hoss +gits a whack at yo' uns," and, laughing and jesting, they rode on. + +When the guerrillas were first met, Jack Harwood gave a start of +surprise, and a look of fierce passion swept over his face. He suddenly +pulled his slouch hat down so as to hide his features, turned and kept +as far away as he could without exciting suspicion. + +When the guerrillas had gone, he rode up to Harry, his eyes blazing, and +his whole body trembling with suppressed excitement. + +"I know two of those fellows," he exclaimed, "They were with the gang +that murdered father. One of them was the one that fired the house. +Mother knew them. There were six of them, and I know every one. I have +sworn to get the whole six, and I will if I live." + +The look of hatred on his face made Harry shiver, but he knew how he +felt; so had he felt when he saw his father lying dead before him. + +"I had all I could do to keep from shooting them while they were talking +to you," continued Jack. "It makes me feel like a coward to let such a +chance go." + +"It would have been madness, Jack. Then, we are not out to fight if we +can avoid it, but to get information. Never let your passion lead you to +do a foolish thing." + +Jack said no more, but fell back in the rear. + +It was almost night, and Harry decided to go into camp, as he had not +learned the exact whereabouts of Poindexter. + +Suddenly some one asked, "Where is Jack Harwood?" + +Harry looked. He was nowhere to be seen. + +"Does any one know anything about him?" he asked, anxiously. + +One of the men said: "Jack stopped just after the guerrillas left us. He +said the girth of his saddle was loose, and he would have to fix it. I +thought no more about him, and as I have been riding in front, I did not +notice he was not with us." + +Could Jack have been captured by lurking guerrillas? They would go back +and see. It would not do to leave a comrade in peril. If Jack had been +captured, Bruno would have little trouble in following the trail. It was +not more than two miles back to the place where the soldier had seen +Jack dismount to fix his saddle girth, but there was no sign of a +struggle there; no evidence that any guerrilla had been lying in ambush. +But by the side of the road there were tracks of where a horse had been +turned and ridden back. + +"By heavens!" exclaimed one of the men, "Jack has deserted. Don't you +remember one of those guerrillas said they lived in Ralls County?--and +Jack is from Ralls." + +The other men began to swear. "If we ever catch him," they muttered, +with clenched fists. + +"Hold on, boys," ejaculated Harry; "Jack has not deserted, but he has +gone, and gone alone, on one of the maddest adventures that ever single +man set out to do." + +Then he told them of what Jack had said, and added: "No doubt he has +gone back to try and get those men." + +"Let's go back and try to help him!" exclaimed the squad in unison. + +Harry shook his head. "No, boys," he said; "and if you wish to continue +with me, you must promise me that you will not leave under any +conditions whatever, without my consent. We are soldiers. We are under +orders, and those orders are to find Poindexter. To try and find Jack +would lead us we know not where, and bring the whole object of our scout +to naught." + +The men saw, and turned back; but with heavy hearts, for their thoughts +were with Jack. + +The scouts went into camp not far from a substantial farmhouse, and the +occupants were a little more communicative than common, especially when +Harry told them to set up a good meal for them, and he would pay for it, +saying they had captured some Yankee money. + +Their mouths being open, Harry found they had a son with Poindexter, and +he had left home only that morning. They had heard the son say +Poindexter was preparing to attack some place. They thought it was +Columbia, but were not sure. + +Harry made his camp in the edge of a wood, a field in front. A rough +road ran through the wood, a short distance in the rear. If danger came, +it would be by that road that Harry calculated to retreat. They were to +rest till three o'clock, then up and away. Harry knew that with Bruno on +guard there would be no surprise, but he could not rest. He was thinking +of Jack Harwood. + +About eleven o'clock, to Harry's surprise, Harwood made his appearance. +"If it hadn't been for Bruno," he said, "I would never have found you. +He met me down the road a ways, and guided me here." + +"Where have you been?" asked Harry. + +"Where have I been?" he answered, slowly. "On private business. I will +tell you about it in the morning." + +"You must promise never again to leave without permission, or this is +your last scout with me," said Harry, sternly. + +Jack did not answer. He turned to care for his horse. + +When Jack stopped, under the pretence of fixing the girth of his saddle, +it was with the fixed purpose, come what would, of following those +guerrillas and killing the men who had helped murder his father. Had he +not taken a solemn oath to kill them on sight? He did not stop to think +how he could accomplish his purpose--of the danger of the undertaking. +He only knew he had seen the men; that was enough. He would track them, +if necessary, to the ends of the earth. As it was, fate favored him. + +The guerrillas, all unconscious that Nemesis was on their track, rode on +until dusk, when they stopped at a fine plantation, and roughly ordered +supper and feed for their horses. + +Mr. Rice, the owner of the plantation, was a hot Southern sympathizer, +but he did not relish his present company. He felt like kicking them out +of doors, but he knew it would not do to refuse them, so he made the +best of it, and ordered supper prepared. + +It was a good supper, and, in the highest of spirits, nine of the +guerrillas sat down; the tenth was on guard. But he did not notice a +silent figure creeping up to the window of the room in which the rest +were dining. + +Suddenly there was a sharp report, a crash of glass, and one of the +diners sprang to his feet and fell backward, shot through the brain. At +the same time a voice rang through the room. "Remember Thomas Harwood, +Number One. Let the other five beware!" + +At the sound of the shot and the fall of their comrade, the other +guerrillas sat as if stunned for a moment; then with cries of terror +they rushed from the house, thinking a Yankee force was on them; but a +single shot, and excited cries from the sentinel, were all that they +heard. + +Before the attack, the sentinel had seen or heard nothing, but +afterwards he had caught a glimpse of a dim figure fleeing up the road. +He had fired, but there was no response to his shot. + +When told what the voice had said, he turned pale and trembled. "My +God!" he exclaimed, "it must have been Jack Harwood, Tom Harwood's son. +There were six of us who put a quietus on that old Abolitionist. I heard +the boy took a terrible oath he would never rest until he got the whole +six. After that we lay for the boy, but he gave us the slip and went in +the Yankee army. So, poor Ben is done for. He was one of the six. My +being on guard is all that saved me. But whar did the boy come from? How +did he know we' uns was heah?" + +This question greatly puzzled the guerrillas, until one of them spoke: +"I reckon them seven fellers we' uns met was Yanks. That Harwood boy +must have been one of them. He saw you two fellers, and follered we' uns +heah, and got poor Ben." + +"Boys, I'll never feel easy as long as Jack Harwood lives," said the one +who had escaped. "That boy is a devil. That's nine of us--only seven of +them. Let's turn back and take them by surprise. We' uns can shoot them +up." + +It was agreed to, and so the guerrillas turned back. + +After the return of Jack, Harry had lain down for a time, but could not +sleep. He knew something had happened, but could not imagine what it +was. Surely, Jack had not engaged the guerrillas single-handed. But he +would have to wait until morning to know. Just as he was sinking into +sleep, Bruno caught him by the shoulder and shook him. He was on his +feet in a second. + +Everything seemed quiet, and the guard said he had heard nothing, but +Bruno showed by his actions everything was not right. + +"Arouse the boys," said Harry; "something is in the wind." + +The scouts were aroused, but nothing could be discovered. Everything +seemed quiet and asleep. + +"Jeffreys," said Harry to one of the men, "creep down towards the house +and see if any mischief is going on down there. Be careful; keep in the +shadow of the fence, and get back as quickly as possible." + +Jeffreys was gone nearly half an hour and Harry was beginning to get +alarmed, when he came back. He had a startling story to tell. He had +crept up nearly to the house and found the yard full of men and horses. +The nine guerrillas had come back and stopped at the house to make +inquiries. + +"The villain who lives there," continued Jeffreys, "told them all about +where we were camped and the best way to surprise us. They were making +arrangements to creep up on us when I thought it time to come back. I +heard them talk of some one of our number who had killed one of their +men. What did they mean?" + +"Never mind now," answered Harry. "Let's get ready to give them a warm +reception. We know just how many there are, and they are the ones who +will be surprised." + +It was a warm reception they got. Harry let them come almost up to them +before he gave the signal to fire. First the carbines, then the +revolver, had been his order. + +In a minute all was over. Stunned by the reception they received, those +who had not been killed or wounded beat a hasty retreat. Investigation +showed three of the guerrillas dead and three more desperately wounded. +The wounded were carried to the farmhouse to be cared for. + +Among the dead was the one who had stood guard. Jack gazed at him a +moment in silence and then muttered, "Number Two, but who killed him?" + +Jack now told Harry how he had followed the guerrillas and shot one. + +Harry listened in silence and then said, "Jack, I know how you feel. I +once felt the same way, until Captain Middleton taught me better. He +says this is a war of principles, not against individuals. That it is +simply murder to kill for private wrongs." + +"Wrong to kill guerrillas?" asked Jack in surprise. + +"Yes, the way you did. In killing Ben Storms you had no idea of aiding +the great cause for which we are fighting. You did it for revenge. In +doing it you put yourself on the same plane as the man you killed." + +"Why, you have just helped me in killing several. What's the +difference?" asked Jack in astonishment. + +"We killed those men in battle, and to save our own lives. The +difference is great. If I had cruelly killed those wounded men instead +of taking them to the house to be cared for, that would have been +murder, not warfare." + +A thought came to Harry and he asked, "Jack, if that other man who +helped kill your father had been only wounded and not killed, what would +you have done?" + +Jack hung his head and whispered, "Killed him." + +"I thought so, I would have done the same to a man who helped kill my +father if it had not been for Captain Middleton. I have learned better, +and now thank him for it. Jack, promise me you will never leave the +command again without my permission." + +Jack made the promise, but was rather doubtful as to the expediency of +sparing the life of a guerrilla guilty of murder. + +Owing to the fight it was well along in the morning before the scouts +started. They had not gone over two miles before they met a man riding +rapidly. To him they told the story of going to join Poindexter. + +"Better go to Switzler's Mill," he said. "Poindexter starts for there +this morning. I left him not over six hours ago. I'm on my way to try +and rally some of Porter's men to come to his assistance." + +"Is that so?" dryly answered Harry. "You had better come with us. You +are just the man we've been looking for." And to the fellow's amazement, +he found himself a prisoner. + +"Now, boys," cried Harry, gleefully, "back to Guitar, I've found out all +I want to know." + +Horse flesh was not spared, and Guitar was found about noon, his column +on the march. To him Harry told the news, and with all speed the head of +the column was turned towards Switzler's Mill. + +Now commenced a chase that lasted for seven days and did not end until +the command had ridden two hundred and fifty miles over the roughest of +roads. + +Poindexter turned and twisted like a fox. There was no fight in his men; +they ran like a pack of frightened coyotes at the first crack of a gun. + +Guitar struck him at Switzler's Mill and scattered his force like chaff. +Hot on Poindexter's trail the tireless troopers clung. Horses suffered +more than the men. Scores fell by the roadside and died of exhaustion. + +At Little Compton Poindexter was once more brought to bay, and, scarcely +firing a shot; he fled, leaving behind his trains, most of his +ammunition, several hundred stands of arms, and five hundred horses. + +His army was now little more than a fleeing mob. Once more he was struck +at the Muscle Fork of the Chariton. Many of his men were drowned trying +to get across the stream. + +With only four hundred followers out of the fifteen hundred he had at +the beginning, Poindexter fled westward. Guitar could follow no farther. +Men and horses were exhausted. + +In this remarkable campaign Guitar states that he lost only five men +wounded, while he estimates that at least one hundred and fifty of the +enemy were killed and drowned, and he had captured one hundred men and a +thousand horses and mules. + +Poindexter's misfortunes were not ended. As he fled west and south the +remnant of his force was struck by General Ben Loan and totally +dispersed, every guerrilla seeking his own safety. Poindexter found +himself a wanderer without a single follower. + +Disguising himself he skulked in the woods and found shelter in the +houses of friends, but tireless on his path were Harry and his scouts. +From covert to covert and from house to house they trailed him and at +last ran him down. + +They entered a house where an apparently sick man sat cowering in a +corner, wrapped in a blanket. With a snarl Bruno was about to spring +upon him when Harry stopped him, and going up to the man said, "The jig +is up, Poindexter. You're not half as sick as you pretend." + +With a groan and a curse the guerrilla chieftain yielded himself a +prisoner. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +LONE JACK + + +Although the dispersion of Porter's and Poindexter's forces had +apparently put an end, at least for a time, to the guerrilla warfare in +Northeast Missouri, the situation was still threatening in Southwest +Missouri. It was for that reason General Schofield had ordered Lawrence +to that field to inspect the posts, and to see that the officers in +command were vigilant and doing their full duty. + +Rumors were rife that a large party under Hughes, Quantrell and others +was gathering to attack Independence, also that a force was moving up +from Arkansas to join them. Independence captured, the combined forces +were to move on Lexington. + +Lawrence was to sift down these rumors, and find out how much truth +there was in them, and above all to impress on the officers in charge of +the different posts the necessity of eternal vigilance. + +But the blow fell just before Lawrence reached Lexington. Lieutenant +Colonel Buell, in command at Independence, although repeatedly warned, +allowed himself to be surprised. His forces were divided and not well +posted, and after a spirited fight Buell surrendered, and with him about +three hundred men were taken prisoners. The Confederate commander, +Colonel Hughes, was killed in the action. + +The capture of Independence greatly elated the guerrillas, and recruits +came pouring in by the hundreds. They now only awaited the arrival of +Colonel Coffee from the south and they would move on to Lexington. When +Lawrence arrived at Lexington he found the place in the wildest +excitement. Rumors said that the enemy numbered thousands, and that they +were already marching on the place. + +Lawrence acted quickly. He applied to the commander of the post for a +detail of ten men, dressed in citizen clothes. + +"Tell them," he said, "it is for a scout, so they will not be deceived +as to the danger of the undertaking." + +The ten men were easily procured, and, headed by Lawrence and Dan, +started. The object was to find out the strength of the enemy under +Coffee, and whether he could not be prevented from forming a union with +the forces which had captured Independence. + +The scout was far more successful than Lawrence could have hoped. +Representing themselves as coming from north of the river, they had no +trouble in meeting on friendly terms several small parties of guerrillas +with whom they fell in. They were all on their way to join Thompson, who +was now in command of the forces which had captured Independence. +Everyone expected Lexington would be the next to fall, and they were all +anxious to have a hand in the affair. Lawrence represented they were to +find Coffee and hurry him up. + +At length they were fortunate enough to fall in with a single guerrilla +who was sitting by the side of the road, making the air blue with his +curses. + +"What's the matter?" asked Lawrence. + +"My hoss stepped into a hole and threw me, and I have broken my leg," he +groaned. + +"That's bad," said Lawrence. "I will see what I can do for you." + +"Yes, it's bad, and I was on my way from Colonel Coffee to Colonel +Thompson." + +"Ah! were you? Perhaps I can help you. I can send one of my men with the +message. What was it?" + +"That he would camp near Lone Jack on the evening of the fifteenth, and +wanted Thompson to join him thar." + +"How many men has Coffee?" Lawrence asked. + +"About a thousand, but more are coming in all the time." + +The information was important. It was just what Lawrence wanted, but +what to do with the man and still keep him deceived puzzled Lawrence. +This problem was solved by a native coming along driving a raw-boned +horse before a rickety wagon. Lawrence stopped him. The disabled +guerrilla was lifted into the wagon and taken to the nearest farmhouse. +Here Lawrence left instructions for them to send for a physician to set +the broken leg. + +"Now I've done all I can for you," he told him, "and I must leave you, +for my business is very important. I shall see that your message to +Colonel Thompson is safely delivered." + +No sooner were they out of sight than Lawrence said, "Now, boys, for +Lexington." + +When Lawrence made his report, Colonel Huston, in command at Lexington, +acted with promptness. It was decided to send a force to strike Coffee +at Lone Jack before Thompson and Quantrell could join him. + +The utmost that could be done was to gather a little force of about +seven hundred and fifty. This force was placed in command of Major Emery +Foster. + +There was another force of about the same number under the command of +Colonel Fitz Henry Warren at Clinton. Clinton being about the same +distance from Lone Jack as Lexington, Warren was ordered to march there +and join Foster, and the two forces combined to attack Coffee without +delay. + +In the meantime General Blunt, in command at Fort Scott, Kansas, had +learned that Coffee had slipped past Springfield and was making north, +and he started in pursuit with a thousand men. + +A third force under Colonel Burris of the Kansas Infantry was ordered to +move from Kansas City and try to catch Thompson and Quantrell before +they could join Coffee. + +Thus it looked as if the Confederates were hemmed in, and if everything +went right, could be captured. + +Lawrence decided to join the expedition under Foster. + +Foster's little army left Lexington on the morning of the fifteenth of +August, and by a rapid march reached the vicinity of Lone Jack by +evening. Here at nine o'clock at night he surprised Coffee in camp, +routing him, his men fleeing in confusion. + +Foster took possession of the abandoned camp and waited until morning. +Warren had not been heard from. + +Lawrence still was in command of his scouts, and he volunteered to see +if he could find Warren. + +The night was dark and they had to be careful. + +"If we only had Harry and Bruno," sighed Lawrence to Dan, as they were +groping their way along as best they could. + +"If we had we wouldn't be going at this snail pace," answered Dan. + +They could find nothing of Warren and started to return. On the way back +they came to a cross road and halted in doubt as to which road to take. +While debating, the sound of approaching horses was heard. + +"Halt," commanded Lawrence as two guerrillas rode up. + +"Who are yo' uns?" they asked, surprised. + +"We 'uns are from Thompson. I was afraid yo' uns were Yanks. Whar is +Coffee?" + +"The Yanks struck his camp a few hours ago and made us git." + +"Many hurt?" + +"I reckon not. We 'uns run too fast." + +"Glad to heah that. Thompson sent me to tell Coffee he would be with him +by morning. Coffee hasn't run clear away, has he?" + +"No, he's gittin' his men together and will be all right by morning. How +many men has Thompson?" + +"About twelve or fifteen hundred. You see, Quantrell and Hayes air with +him. An Red Jerry has promised to come with his company." + +"Together we 'uns ought to eat the Yanks up tomorrow." + +"I don't see any use of your going farther, as Thompson is coming," said +Lawrence. "So you might as well go with us into camp." + +To this the guerrillas agreed, and their surprise can be imagined when +they found themselves in Foster's camp instead of Coffee's. + +The report of Lawrence that he could not find Warren, and that Thompson +would join Coffee in the morning troubled Foster. + +"The whole combined force will be down on us in the morning," he said. +"Where can Warren be? Surely he cannot fail, for his orders were +positive, and mine were positive to stay here and wait for him. And stay +I will, if all the devils in Missouri are around me." + +Lawrence looked at him with admiration. "Major, you are a man after my +own heart," he said. "I will make one more attempt to find Warren. This +time I will only take Sherman with me, as I do not wish to deplete your +little force by a single man." + +"It will be dangerous, only two of you," replied Foster. + +"Not as much danger as you will be in if Warren does not come," answered +Lawrence. "God grant I may find him." + +"Amen!" said Foster, fervently. + +The two men shook hands and Lawrence and Dan rode away. It lacked but an +hour till day. + +Morning came, but there was no Warren, and neither had Dan and Lawrence +returned. The new day had hardly begun when the guerrilla hordes poured +down on Foster's little army, confident of an easy victory. + +Now began one of the bloodiest and most fiercely contested small battles +of the war. The enemy had no artillery, but Foster had two pieces of the +Third Indiana battery. The lieutenant in charge of the piece, J. F. +Devlin, had been removed by Major Foster the night before for being +intoxicated, and the guns placed in charge of Sergeant James M. Scott, +and nobly did he uphold the confidence placed in him. Never was there a +battery better or more bravely served. Time and time again did the enemy +charge upon the guns, only to be flung back, bleeding and torn. + +During a lull in the conflict, Lieutenant Devlin, somewhat recovered +from his drunken debauch, staggered on the field and ordered his men to +abandon the pieces. Accustomed to obey their superior officer, the men +did so. The enemy saw and with fiendish yells of triumph swarmed upon +and over the pieces. + +It was a critical moment. Major Foster hastily collected sixty men and +charged on the guns--so shamelessly abandoned by the order of a drunken +commander. Of the sixty men who charged, but eleven reached the guns, +the rest had fallen, and among them the gallant Major. Others now rushed +to the rescue, the artillery men came back, and once more the guns were +thundering their defiance. The enemy again rushed on them, only to be +bloodily repulsed. + +Disheartened, the Confederates now fell back, leaving the field to those +who had so valiantly defended it. But the situation of the little band +was perilous. Nothing had been heard from Warren, and nearly one-half of +the force had fallen. Captain Brawner, on whom the command had fallen, +resolved to retreat to Lexington. In doing this the two cannon had to be +abandoned. + +Every horse had been shot, even the harnesses were in tatters. Of the +thirty-six artillery men manning the guns, twenty-four had been killed +and wounded. The severely wounded had to be left, among them the gallant +Foster.[5] + +[Footnote 5: The brave Major recovered from what was supposed to be a +mortal wound, was exchanged, and afterwards did valiant service for the +Union.] + +So severe had been the punishment administered to the enemy that the +Federals were not molested in their retreat. It put an end to all the +Confederates' hopes of capturing Lexington.[6] + +[Footnote 6: Out of the seven hundred and forty Federals engaged in the +battle the loss was two hundred and seventy-two. The Confederates never +reported their loss, but a Confederate officer told Captain Brawner that +they buried one hundred and eighteen, who had been killed outright, +besides their hundreds of wounded.] + +But where were Lawrence and Dan all the time the battle was raging? Why +had they not brought Colonel Warren to the rescue? + +In the early morning they had run into a small party of guerrillas, had +boldly charged them and put them to flight, but the sound of firing had +brought a larger party, and they blocked the way Lawrence and Dan wished +to go. It was now light, and they saw the band numbered at least fifty. +There was no help for it, they had to turn and run, and that in a +direction that for aught they knew would bring them in the midst of the +enemy. + +With fierce yells the guerrillas took up the pursuit and the chase was a +hot one. Lawrence and Dan were well mounted, but a few of the guerrillas +were just as well mounted, and pressed them closely. + +Now as they fled, above the sound of their horses' hoofs rose the sound +of battle. Just the faint cracking of musketry, and then the boom of the +cannon. + +"Great Heavens!" gasped Lawrence. "They are at it. Foster and his little +band against thousands. Why did we leave them? We might have been of a +little help." + +"And we are going farther away from Warren every minute," groaned Dan. + +Here the whistling of a bullet from the revolver of the nearest +guerrilla brought their thoughts back to the seriousness of their own +situation. They had now gone beyond the sound of the musketry, but the +roar of the cannon grew more incessant, and they knew they were almost +in the rear of the enemy. + +Coming to where there were open fields, they glanced to the right and +saw the stragglers and wounded drifting to the rear, as is always the +case in time of battle. They must turn or they would soon be in the +midst of the rabble. + +Fortunately, they came to a cross road and turned into it. They were now +followed by only five or six of their pursuers, the rest having turned +back to take part in the battle. But these half dozen were mounted on +the fleetest horses and were gaining on them rapidly. Already the +bullets were singing around them freely. + +"This cannot last," Lawrence exclaimed. "Our horses are becoming winded. +We must find some way to stop those fellows." + +"We've got to stop them," said Dan. "My horse is staggering and I look +for him to drop any minute." + +They rode over a little hill that for a moment put them out of sight. +"Now," said Lawrence, halting and wheeling his horse. Dan did the same. + +"When they come over the hill give it to them," exclaimed Lawrence. "It +will be a question of who can shoot the straightest." + +Dan smiled and he drew his revolver. He was known to be a dead shot, and +nothing rattled him. + +They had hardly two seconds to wait when four of the guerrillas dashed +over the rise. Seeing Lawrence and Dan facing them and not thirty yards +away, startled them and they instinctively tried to check their headlong +pace. It was a fatal mistake, for it disconcerted their aim and their +shots went wild. + +To his astonishment, Lawrence recognized one of the guerrillas as Jerry +Alcorn, his old time enemy. Lawrence fired, but just as he did so +Jerry's horse threw up his head and the ball struck him squarely between +the eyes. The horse dropped like a stone, pinning Jerry for a moment to +the ground. + +Dan had fired the same time Lawrence did and his guerrilla pitched +headlong. The report of his shot had not died before he shot again and a +second guerrilla fell. + +The remaining guerrilla had no stomach to continue the fight, and +wheeled his horse to flee. Once more Dan's revolver spoke, and the +guerrilla fell forward, but he clung desperately to the neck of his +horse and was soon carried from view. + +It took Jerry Alcorn but a moment to extricate himself from his horse, +and as he half rose he fired at Lawrence, but missed. Lawrence returned +the fire, and the ball struck Jerry's revolver and sent it spinning. +With a mocking laugh Jerry sprang into the bushes along the road. "Not +this time, Lawrence Middleton," he shouted as he disappeared, "but we'll +meet again." + +"Let's get out of here," said Lawrence. "We can't follow Jerry in the +brush and we are now safe from pursuit." + +Even the short stop had allowed their horses a breathing spell and they +could now ride more leisurely. + +"Dan, I'm a poor stick. I should be reduced to the ranks and you given +my commission," said Lawrence. + +"How's that?" asked Dan. + +"Didn't you get three of those fellows, and I only killed a horse and +disabled a revolver. Missed three shots." Lawrence had fired again at +Jerry as he disappeared in the brush. "Bah! I'm ashamed of myself." + +"Look here!" said Dan. "It was that measly horse. He had no business to +throw up his head at that moment. Served him right to get killed." + +"But the second shot, Dan. It went wild and hit his revolver, and the +third missed altogether. And of all men to let Jerry Alcorn escape. Kick +me, Dan." + +"Might have bored one of us if you hadn't knocked the revolver out of +his hand," answered Dan, "so shut up." + +They had ridden far out of their way and had to make a wide circuit to +get back. A little before noon the distant booming of the cannon was +heard no longer. + +"It's all over," sighed Lawrence, "and I'm afraid." + +Dan's jaws came together with a snap and a dark scowl came over his +face. "Why in thunder didn't Warren come?" he wrathfully exclaimed. +"Some of these officers make me tired." + +It was the middle of the afternoon before Warren was found. He was +fearful of an attack on himself, and was several miles from the +battlefield. + +To Lawrence's request to hurry the Colonel replied, "You say the battle +is over and in all probability Foster's whole force captured. In that +case I can do no good. My force is but little greater than that Foster +had." + +"But they may not all be captured. You may be able to cover the +retreat," Lawrence urged. + +"The best I can do is to stay and watch the enemy, and wait for +reinforcements," replied Warren. + +Lawrence and Dan were disgusted, but Warren was right in not seeking an +engagement with his small force. + +"What shall we do, Dan?" Lawrence asked with a heavy heart as they +turned away. + +"Try and see what has become of Foster," answered Dan. + +"You're right, Dan." + +They were about to ride away when news came that Foster's force was in +full retreat for Lexington, and that those who survived the battle were +safe. + +Lawrence and Dan concluded to stay with Warren. + +Knowing that a force from Kansas City, as well as General Blunt from the +far south, was closing in on the Confederates, they had high hopes that +they might be captured. But during the night Coffee's entire force +slipped by Blunt and, before the movement was discovered, was well on +its way to Arkansas. The guerrilla bands of Quantrell, Red Jerry and +others took to the brush, there to remain hidden until the Federal +troops had returned to their several posts. + +Lawrence and Dan returned to Lexington disgusted. They believed that if +the different forces had acted together, and the campaign been managed +rightly, the entire force of the enemy could have been captured. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +CAPTURED BY GUERRILLAS + + +There is little doubt that Major Foster's plucky fight at Lone Jack +saved Lexington, for had he not gone out and attacked the Confederates, +they would have marched straight on that place, as was their intention. + +The fight halted them and gave the Federals time to concentrate. + +All danger of the Federals being driven from the State by a partisan +uprising now being over, and the deep laid plans of General Hindman and +other Confederate leaders being brought to naught, General Schofield +resolved to concentrate his army at Springfield. + +The army that was known as "The Army of the Northwest" had now been +designated "The Army of the Frontier," and General Schofield decided to +leave the command of the Department of Missouri in other hands and +assume the command of the Army of the Frontier in person, with +headquarters at Springfield. + +Before returning to St. Louis business took Lawrence to Fort +Leavenworth. He had not been there since 1856, when a forlorn little boy +of twelve, without money and without friends, he had taken passage for +St. Louis. How the memory of those days came rushing over him. The mob, +the tarring and feathering of his father, Judge Lindsly taking them +in,--the gallant defence of his father by Judge Lindsly,--the raid by +John Brown,--the flight to Kansas,--his father's death,--it all came +back to him like a mighty rushing torrent. + +He wondered how Judge Lindsly was now. How was he faring in these +troublesome times? Was he being robbed by both guerrillas and Federals? +He determined to visit him. Perhaps he might be of some protection to +him as far as the Federal side was concerned. + +He spoke of his determination to the commander at Fort Leavenworth and +that officer replied, "You cannot go without an escort. The country is +swarming with guerrillas who never lose a chance of shooting any +Federals who are unwise enough to stray outside of the lines. There is a +detachment of our troops at Platte City and I will give you an escort +that far. How far is it from Platte City to where Judge Lindsly lives?" + +"I should say nine or ten miles," replied Lawrence. + +"Well, do not try to make the trip from there without a good escort. A +Captain Leeper is in command at Platte and he will readily supply you +with one." + +Lawrence thanked him and was ready to start when the escort, which +consisted of a sergeant and five men, made their appearance. + +Dan had found some old friends at Leavenworth who had been with him in +the troublesome times on the border before the war, and he concluded to +stay with them while Lawrence made his visit. As it turned out, it was +fortunate that he did so. + +Crossing the river on a ferry, Lawrence and his escort mounted their +horses and started for Platte City, but a few miles away. It was with a +sad heart that Lawrence looked over the country. What had been one of +the most beautiful portions of the State had become almost a desolate +waste. Ruined houses and deserted farms met his gaze at every turn. + +When Platte City was reached Lawrence received a cordial welcome from +Captain Leeper, who, on hearing his request, readily consented to give +him an escort of a corporal and four men. + +"A few days ago," said the Captain, "I would not have dared to send so +small an escort, for a gang of bushwhackers under the command of a +notorious guerrilla named Lamar has been scourging the neighborhood, but +Colonel Penick, last week, came over from Liberty and scattered them. He +captured two, whom he shot, and burned two or three houses whose owners +had been harboring the gang. It has been very quiet ever since. I think +he has thoroughly dispersed the gang." + +This news was not very cheering to Lawrence. Shooting guerrillas after +they were caught and burning houses did not tend to make those left less +cruel. + +When Lawrence came in sight of the once fine plantation of Judge Lindsly +his heart bled. The fields were neglected, not half of them under +cultivation, and those that were, poorly tended, but to his relief the +house had not been disturbed. + +Although greatly surprised, the Judge received Lawrence with open arms. +"I often see your name in the papers," he said, "and rejoice at your +advancement, although it is at the cost of the cause I love." + +"Tell me of yourself," said Lawrence, "and all that has happened to you +during the last months of trial." + +The Judge sighed deeply and replied, "Look and see for yourself what +this unhappy war has not only brought upon me, but on the whole State. I +have been preyed upon by both Federals and guerrillas. Most of my slaves +have left me. To make my position more intolerable, I am _persona non +grata_ with both sides. The guerrillas do not like me because I denounce +guerrilla warfare. I tell them if the independence of the South is ever +achieved, it will be done by the great armies in the field, and that the +place of every man who loves and would fight for the South should be in +the army, not hiding in the brush. General Price should have had the +fifty thousand men he called for. He would have had them if everyone who +has played the part of guerrilla had responded. With such an army he +would have swept the State clear of Federals. + +"I told them the late uprising of the partisan bands would only bring +more misery, bloodshed and murder on the State, and nothing would be +accomplished, and so it has proven. + +"I was denounced for these opinions and my life has been threatened by +Quantrell, Lamar and others. + +"On the other hand, I am continually being threatened with arrest by the +Federals. I have absolutely refused to take the oath of allegiance to +the Federal Government. Now that the worst has come, I am with the South +heart and soul, and I will not perjure myself." + +Lawrence was deeply moved. He could only press the hand of the old Judge +in sympathy and say, "If I have any influence you will never be +arrested. If you ever get in trouble let me know. What I can do I will." + +This the Judge promised, and when it came time to part he held +Lawrence's hand lingeringly and said with emotion, "Would to God, +Lawrence, you were my own son and fighting for the right, but I love you +as it is. May your life be spared." + +Lawrence's eyes filled with tears. He tried to speak, but his voice +failed. He could only press the hand of the Judge as they parted. + +Riding a short distance he turned and looked back. Judge Lindsly was +still standing on the porch looking after him and waved his hand. +Lawrence choked back a sob as he waved his hand in return. The once +erect form of the Judge was bowed and bent; his gray hair was perfectly +white, and he leaned on his cane, weak and trembling. + +It was months before Lawrence saw him again, and then it was in a prison +pen at Kansas City. + +All unconscious of danger, Lawrence started back to Platte City. His +visit had left a heavy load on his heart. He thought of the time the +Judge saved his father's life, risking his own to do so, and his image +rose before him, as he stood, proud, erect, like a lion at bay, facing +the mob.[7] + +[Footnote 7: See "With Lyon in Missouri."] + +They had covered about half the distance to Platte City without +incident, Lawrence and the corporal riding side by side, the four +troopers a short distance in advance. + +Suddenly from a thicket two rifles blazed. The corporal fell from his +horse dead, the horse which Lawrence rode plunged forward on his head, +throwing Lawrence heavily, and he lay unconscious in the road. + +The four troopers, seeing both Lawrence and the corporal, as they +supposed, lying dead, put spurs to their horses and rode for their lives +to Platte City to give the alarm. + +At the head of twenty men Captain Leeper started for the scene of +action, but all he found was the dead body of the corporal, and that of +Lawrence's horse. The horse had been shot through the head and both +saddle and bridle were missing. + +The guerrillas had hung the body of the corporal from a tree and there +it dangled over the road, a gruesome object. To the lapel of his coat +they had pinned a paper on which was written, "The fate that awaits all +Kansas Jayhawkers." + +Of Lawrence there were no signs, and as night was falling, Captain +Leeper returned to Platte City full of wrath, but impotent to avenge. + +When the guerrillas fired the corporal was slightly in advance of +Lawrence and the bullet had gone clear through his body and struck +Lawrence's horse. The horse falling had saved Lawrence's life, as he +being thrown had caused the second guerrilla to miss him. + +When Lawrence came to, there were two guerrillas standing gloating over +him. "Say, Jim," said one. "This feller ain't dead. He's wiggling. Shall +I finish him?" + +"No, let's take him to the captain," replied the other. "He's a Yankee +officer, and if we 'uns hang him all the boys will want to see the fun." + +It was not long before Lawrence fully came to. To the jeers and taunts +of his captors he made no reply. But when he saw there were but two of +them he mentally cursed the four escorts who had so cowardly left him to +his fate. + +After he was securely bound he was forced to stand while the two, with +foul epithets, hung the body of the corporal over the road. + +"Thar yo' un can see what yo' un are coming to," one said, grinning at +Lawrence. "How do yo' un like it?" + +Lawrence made no answer, and with a curse and a growl the guerrillas +turned away. + +Lawrence was now placed on the horse that had been ridden by the +corporal, his hands tied behind him and his feet securely bound beneath +the horse on which he rode. One of the guerrillas tied the halter of the +horse to the saddle of the one he rode, and they started for the secret +rendezvous of the gang. It was long after nightfall before they reached +it. + +Captain Lamar and most of the gang were found to be away, so supperless +and bound, Lawrence was placed under a tree to await the morning. + +The cords with which he was bound cut into his flesh and he was parched +with thirst. He asked for water, but a curse was the only answer. + +There throughout the rest of the night Lawrence lay, the stars looking +pityingly down upon him. He could not sleep, his sufferings were too +great, and there was the uncertainty of the morrow. What would the end +be? + +All his life passed before his mental vision in a panoramic vision. He +lived it all over again. + +Morning came, but Captain Lamar and the rest of the gang had not yet +returned. He was given some breakfast, but taunted with the fact that it +would be his last meal on earth. Better than the food was the water +which cooled his parched mouth and tongue. No nectar that ever flowed +tasted half so sweet. + +About nine o'clock Captain Lamar came. He was in a towering rage, for +his expedition had failed and he had lost two men. + +When told two of his men had killed a Yankee and captured a Yankee +captain, he asked what had been done with the captain. + +"He is heah," said one of the men. "We 'uns have been waitin' to see +what yo' un wanted to do with him." + +"Hang him or shoot him, I don't care which," he growled as he turned +away. "I'm tired and hungry and want some breakfast." + +The Captain's decision was told, but the gang decided to wait until the +men who came in with the Captain had had breakfast, so all could enjoy +the sport. To the savage men the hanging or shooting of a Yankee was an +enjoyable event. + +When breakfast was over there was quite a discussion as to whether +Lawrence should be hung or shot. Those in favor of hanging carried the +day, so he was led under the projecting limb of a tree and a rope placed +around his neck. + +Lawrence felt all hope was gone. He was standing face to face with +death. For a moment he felt faint and a deadly fear seized him. Few +there be who in health and strength can face Death without a fear. As +they look him in his face and his shadowy wings cover them, nature +recoils and would flee from him. + +But it was only a moment that Lawrence feared. He gulped back the lump +in his throat; his trembling nerves became as steel. He was a man--a +soldier again. He had faced death on the battlefield without a quiver +and he would do so now, though this was different, it was coming in such +a horrible form; but he would face it. He looked into the scowling faces +around him without a sign of fear. + +"What do yo' un have to say before we 'uns string you up?" demanded one +of the men. + +"Nothing," answered Lawrence, "but I would be thankful if you would +inform Judge Lindsly of my fate. He at least will give my body a decent +burial." + +At this the guerrillas burst into a boisterous laugh. "That's a good +one," they cried. "He reckons we 'uns bury the Yanks we 'uns hang. Young +feller, we 'uns will pitch your carcass in the brush and leave it for +the buzzards to pick--that is, if a Missouri buzzard will pick a dead +Yank." + +At this sally there was another burst of laughter. + +Just then there came a diversion. One of the men, Cal Jones, who had +been one of the party with Lamar, had missed a Federal soldier at short +range, and his companions were guying him unmercifully. + +"Why," drawled one called Hooper, "Cal couldn't hit a barn door at fifty +paces." + +Cal was hopping mad. "I'll bet yo 'un a hoss I ken put a ball through +that Yank's heart at fifty paces," he roared. + +"Done," exclaimed Hooper. "Heah, boys, stop that picnic for a few +moments. Cal has bet me a hoss he can plug that Yank through the heart +at fifty paces the first shot." + +Some of the men began to demur, but Hooper, in a tantalizing tone, +drawled, "Don't be skeered, boys. Cal will sure miss him, and we 'uns +can have our fun afterwards." + +"I'll show yo' un. I'll show yo' un," yelled Cal, hopping around like a +mad turkey. + +They now all fell in with the idea, and Lawrence was placed with his +back against a tree. To him the diversion came as a welcome relief. He +would now die like a soldier and not like a felon. + +"Hold on thar!" cried Hooper, as Jones began to pace the distance. "I +said fifty paces, not fifty steps. Yo' un don't come that on me." + +"I am pacin'." snarled Cal. "Want to back out, do yer?" + +"Not much, but I'll do that pacin' myself." And he began. + +"No, yer don't," yelled Cal. The men were about to fight when the others +interfered, saying it was only fair a third party should do the pacing. +This was agreed to and the pacing duly done. Jones took his position, a +huge navy revolver in his hand. + +Lawrence stood facing him. Not a muscle quivered as he looked his +would-be executioner in the eye. + +Jones raised his weapon. "Stand back," yelled Hooper. "Don't get too +close, some of yo' uns will get hurt. The Yank is in no danger." + +Jones fired, but he was too angry to shoot straight, and his shot went +wild. + +"What did I tell yo' un? What did I tell yo' un?" cried Hooper. "Never +teched the Yank or tree, either," and he kicked up his heels like a +young colt. "That hoss is mine." + +The whole crowd shouted in derision, and Jones, in anger, fired every +shot in his revolver before they could stop him. Lawrence stood unmoved +and smiling. One shot had struck the tree an inch above his head, +another had passed between his arm and body, and a third had cut a +little piece out of his coat on the shoulder. The humorous aspect of the +affair struck him, and he laughed outright. + +The guerrillas simply went crazy with delight. Many of them threw +themselves on the ground rolling and kicking with laughter. + +Captain Lamar heard the shots and the uproar and came to see what it +meant. He had just finished his breakfast and was in a little better +humor. When he heard what had happened he remarked with a cruel smile, +"Turn about is fair play. Better put Cal up, and see what the Yank can +do." + +This suggestion took like wildfire. Cal was seized by his comrades and, +frightened and begging for his life, was being hustled to the tree to +take Lawrence's place when the Captain interfered. "Hold on, boys," he +said. "I only wanted to frighten Cal. But if he don't learn to be a +better shot I'll hang him sure. But that Yank must be a gritty fellow. +I'll have a look at him." + +"Gritty," said one of the men. "Well, I should say so. He turned kind of +white around the gills when he first felt the halter around his neck, +and then braced up and not a whimper. Why, he actually laughed when Cal +was shooting at him." + +"That was because Cal was shooting so wild," remarked the Captain. + +"Three of the shots came mighty close to him. Only missed him by a +hair's breadth." + +"Glad to hear Cal is improving," said Lamar dryly, as he walked towards +Lawrence. + +He had no sooner looked him in the face than an expression of surprise +came over his countenance. He stepped back, swept his hand across his +eyes, as if he was brushing away something, looked again and then turned +away, saying, "There'll be no hanging. Untie the prisoner and bring him +to my tent." + +The men gazed at each other in astonishment. But great as was their +surprise, greater was Lawrence's. The shock was almost as great as when +he thought he had to die. Then he began to realize he had stepped from +the shadow of death, and there was hope of living, and he breathed a +prayer of thankfulness. + +His surprise grew when Lamar called the two men who had captured him and +asked what they had of his. + +"Everything, Captain, but his hoss. That was killed. But we 'uns have +got the hoss of the Yank that was killed," they answered. + +"Well, bring everything you have of his, and the horse you +captured--saddled and bridled," he ordered, and the men departed +wondering. + +When Lawrence was brought before Lamar he asked him what he was doing in +this part of the country. Lawrence told him he had been to visit Judge +Lindsly, who had greatly befriended him when he was small. + +"Are you the boy whose father was tarred and feathered, and the Judge +took you both in?" + +"I am." + +Lamar chuckled. "Say, boy, do you know I was in that crowd?" + +"No," answered Lawrence, more astonished than ever. + +"Well, I was. But here is your horse and everything taken from you. You +are at liberty to take them and ride away. Nay, more, I will send an +escort with you to protect you until you are near the lines of your +friends." + +Lawrence's lips trembled and his voice was husky as he answered, +"Captain, I don't know why you have granted me such clemency, but I am +thankful from the bottom of my heart. Be assured if the time ever comes +when I can return you the same mercy you have shown me it will be done." + +"We are at quits now," said Lamar. "You saved my life once." + +"I?" cried Lawrence. "I never remember having seen you before." + +"You have. About a year ago I belonged to a body of partisans commanded +by Captain Proctor. A fellow by name of Semans peached on us. We paid +him off by burning his buildings and shooting him. Just as we finished +the job a body of cavalry charged down and drove us off. I was left on +the field desperately wounded. Some of the men were about to shoot me as +I lay there helpless, but the captain of the cavalry, a mere boy, sprang +in, with his sword, beat down the guns, and swore that no wounded man, +no matter what he had done, should be ruthlessly murdered while he was +commanding that company. Captain, you are that boy; I am that wounded +man." + +"Ah, I remember," murmured Lawrence. + +"That is not all," continued Lamar. "You tenderly cared for me, had me +taken to a near-by house, where I stayed until I recovered. Captain, no +thanks. As I have said, we are quits now. If we meet again it will be on +even terms. One promise you must make me. You must not lead the Federals +to this place for the next twenty-four hours. After that I do not care." + +"The promise is freely given," answered Lawrence. + +The two men, so strangely met, shook hands, and Lawrence mounted his +horse and, accompanied by two of the guerrillas, rode away. + +On the way they met several rough-looking men who looked at Lawrence +with malevolent eyes, but a few whispered words from his guards and they +were allowed to pass on. Lawrence now saw why Captain Lamar had sent a +guard with him. + +After they had traveled several miles Lawrence saw a line of blue +galloping towards him. + +"Go, I will see you are not followed," he said to his guards. They +raised their hands in salute, turned, and putting spurs to their horses, +were soon out of sight. + +In a moment more Lawrence was in the arms of Dan Sherman, who was +hugging him, laughing and crying at the same time. + +"I'll never leave you again," he cried. + +"It is fortunate that you did," replied Lawrence, "for if you had been +with me there would be no Dan Sherman now." + +The officer in command of the company now bustled up. "Did I not see two +men with you, Captain?" he asked. "They looked to me very much like +guerrillas." + +"They were friends," answered Lawrence. "Neither can I guide you to the +haunts of those who held me prisoner. Tomorrow you are at liberty to +find them if you can. Turn back with me to Platte City and I will tell +you my story." + +When they heard the story they marvelled and swore they had never heard +of any gratitude in a guerrilla's heart before.[8] + +[Footnote 8: Several months after this Lamar was captured, not by +Lawrence, but by an officer who knew the story. He was paroled and lived +to become a good citizen after the war.] + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE GUERRILLA'S BRIDE + + +"How did you come to be with the soldiers I met?" asked Lawrence of Dan. +The two were now in Leavenworth, waiting for a boat to take them down +the river. + +"It was this way," answered Dan. "When those rascally cavalrymen +deserted you and rode back to Platte City, word was sent post-haste +here, asking for a company to go to the aid of Captain Leeper, and help +chastise the band which had murdered you, and, if possible, to procure +your body. I was nearly wild when I heard you had been killed, and +nothing could have prevented me from accompanying the company sent to +Captain Leeper. I tell you, charges ought to be preferred against those +four men who so basely deserted you. They should be court-martialed for +cowardice and shot." + +"Not so fast, Dan," replied Lawrence. "Those men heard the shots, looked +back and saw, as they supposed, the Corporal and myself both killed. +They did not know how many guerrillas were in the brush, and they did +the best and about the only thing they could do--get to Platte City as +soon as possible, and give the alarm." + +"They should have known there were but two from the report of the guns," +grumbled Dan. "I tell you it was a cowardly trick. Do you think I would +have left you, if I had been one of the four?" + +"No, Dan," said Lawrence, laying his hand on his shoulder, +affectionately. "You would have charged back there if there had been +fifty guerrillas, instead of two; but all men are not dear old Dan." + +There was a suspicious moisture in Dan's eyes, but he only said: "Pshaw! +Any fellow with any grit would have done it." + +A boat coming along, they took passage for Lexington, the boat making +quite a long stop at Kansas City. They found that all fear that the +enemy might be able to capture the towns along the Missouri had +subsided. Everywhere the guerrillas had been beaten, and they were +fleeing south by the hundreds to hide in the Ozarks or among the +mountains of northern Arkansas. Still, numerous small bands remained in +hiding. Within a radius of a hundred miles, taking Lexington as a +center, then were a score of these bands operating, but there were two +of them which were especially daring and troublesome. + +One of these bands was led by the notorious Quantrell, and the other by +Jerry Alcorn, known as Red Jerry. + +Jerry, the year before, had fled from St. Louis, being detected in a +plot to assassinate Lawrence Middleton and Guilford Craig. He had joined +Price's army, but soon deserted to become leader of a band of +guerrillas. Lawrence, with his scouts, had met this band the year +before, and given it a crushing defeat. As has also been seen, it was +Jerry and his men that chased Lawrence and Dan as they were going in +search of Colonel Warner at Lone Jack. + +When Lawrence reached Lexington, he received dispatches from General +Schofield, saying he would not be able to go to Springfield to take +command of the army quite as soon as he had expected, and that Lawrence +should report to him at St. Louis; but before he reported he was to see +that all the guerrilla bands around Lexington were dispersed. + +Lawrence found that a force was being organized in Lexington to try to +surprise and capture Red Jerry and his entire band. He determined to +accompany it. But when he found the officer who was to command the +expedition was a Colonel Jennison, he hesitated. He had but little use +for that officer. He commanded one of those regiments known as +jay-hawkers. The men composing the regiment were fighters, but in their +tactics differed little from the guerrillas. With them it was "an eye +for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." + +Lawrence talked it over with Dan, and they were so anxious that Red +Jerry be brought to justice for his many crimes that he decided to +overcome his repugnance to the Colonel, and go, taking the place of the +Major of the regiment, who was sick. + +Jerry was reported as hanging around the plantation of a Mr. Floyd +Templeton, a very respected old gentleman, but a bitter Southern +partisan. Mr. Templeton had two children--a son who was with Price, and +a daughter who oversaw the household, the mother being dead. + +This daughter, Agnes by name, was at this time about twenty, and was a +strikingly beautiful girl. Her lustrous hair, dark as midnight, crowned +a well-shaped head, which she carried as proudly as a queen. Her dark +eyes, lovely in repose, could with a languishing glance cause the heart +of the most prosaic of men to beat more rapidly; but in their depth was +a hidden fire which would blaze forth when aroused, and show the +tempestuous soul which dwelt within. She was above medium height, and +her body was as lithe and supple as a panther's. + +In vain had her hand been sought by the beaux for twenty miles around. +When the war came, she told them no one need woo her until her beloved +Missouri was free of the Yankee foe, and he who did win her must be a +soldier, brave and true. + +Some months before, Jerry's gang had been attacked and scattered, and +Jerry, his horse being killed, fled on foot. In his flight he came to +the Templeton house, his pursuers close behind. + +He implored Agnes to save him, and this she did by secreting him in a +hidden closet behind the huge chimney. To the Federal soldiers in +pursuit she swore the guerrilla chieftain had passed by without +stopping. A careful search of the house revealing nothing, the soldiers +were forced to believe she told the truth. + +Jerry was not only grateful to his fair preserver, but fell violently in +love with her. The rough guerrilla soldier was not the soldier of the +dreams of the proud, aristocratic girl. Concealing her repugnance to his +advances, she gently but firmly refused him, telling him her duty was to +her aged father. Jerry was so persistent in his advances that she +finally told him he must never speak of the subject again, or he would +be refused the house. + +More than once did Jerry conceive the scheme of carrying her off by +force and marrying her against her will; but he became aware that the +girl possessed as fierce a spirit as his own, and if need were she would +not hesitate to plunge a dagger in his heart. + +With the fires of unrequited love burning in his heart, he had to cease +his advances; but, like the silly moths that flutter around a candle, he +made every excuse to call at the Templeton residence. The girl warned +him by saying that by his course he was bringing not only danger on +himself, but on her father as well. + +Jerry knew this, and the dastardly thought came to him that if the +Federals did make way with her father, Agnes, in her loneliness, might +come to him. It was a thought worthy of his black nature, but that he +madly loved the girl, there was no doubt. + +The expedition against Jerry was well planned, but he got wind of it, +and scattered his force. + +In a running fight that took place, Jerry captured two of Jennison's +men. These he calmly proceeded to hang, almost in sight of Templeton's +door, for the purpose of bringing down the wrath of Jennison on +Templeton's head. Only too well did the damnable plot succeed. + +Jennison was beside himself with rage, and after pursuing Jerry until +all hopes of catching him had ended, he returned to the Templeton place, +and, calling the old man to the door, he denounced him in the most +violent terms, calling him a sneaking rebel, who made his house a +rendezvous for murderers. + +Mr. Templeton drew himself up proudly. "I may be what you call a rebel," +he exclaimed, "but I am not a sneaking one. My heart and soul are with +the South in her struggle for liberty, and every one knows it. As for +the men you call guerrillas, I can no more help their coming here than I +can help your coming." + +"You lie, you old scoundrel!" shouted Jennison. "You invite them to +come, and aid them in their nefarious work. The murderers you have been +harboring hanged two of my men yesterday, almost at your very door, and +no doubt you looked on and approved." + +"I did no such thing," answered Mr. Templeton. "I did not know of the +deed until it was done; then I told Alcorn never again to set foot on my +premises." + +"More lies, you canting old hypocrite. Do you know what I am going to do +with you?" shouted Jennison. + +"I am in your power; you can do anything you wish," answered Mr. +Templeton, with dignity. + +"I am going to shoot you, and burn your house," yelled Jennison. + +"You will never harbor any more guerrillas." + +At these words, Agnes sprang before her father, with a scream. "If you +shoot any one, shoot me--not him," she said. "If there has been any +harboring, it is I who am to blame. I have harbored those fighting to +rid our State of such as you, and I glory in it. Shoot me--not him." + +Lawrence and Dan just now rode up and gazed in astonishment at the +scene. The girl stood in front of her father, her arms outspread, her +bosom heaving with excitement, her eyes blazing, inviting the deadly +volley. + +Her tragic attitude, her wondrous beauty, awed the men, and they lowered +the guns that had been raised to slay the father. + +"Drag her away, and shoot!" commanded Jennison, with an oath. + +"Hold!" cried Lawrence. "Colonel Jennison, do you realize what you are +doing? What does this mean?" + +"It means I'm going to shoot this old villain and burn the house. It +means I am going to put an end to this harboring of guerrillas, if I +have to burn every house in this accursed State," thundered Jennison. +"Now drag the girl away." + +"The first man that touches that girl dies!" cried Lawrence, drawing his +revolver. + +"I'm with you," said Dan, drawing his revolver, and taking his place by +Lawrence's side. + +For a moment Colonel Jennison was too astonished to speak; then his face +turned livid with passion. "Young man," he hissed, "do you know what you +are doing? By a word I can have you both shot--shot for mutiny--and, by +God! I ought to say the word." + +"But, Colonel, what you are going to do is an outrage," cried Lawrence, +"a damnable outrage--one that will bring black disgrace on our arms. It +is an act that General Schofield will never countenance, and in his name +I ask you to countermand the order." + +"Which I will not do!" exclaimed Jennison, white with rage. "I have been +trammelled enough with orders from headquarters. I propose to deal with +these red-handed assassins as I please. We, along the border, propose to +protect ourselves. Captain Middleton, you and your companion are under +arrest for insubordination. Lieutenant Cleveland, take their swords, and +with a detail of six men escort them back to Lexington. When I return I +will make a formal charge against them." + +There was no use in resisting. The majority of Jennison's regiment was +composed of men from Kansas who had suffered from the raids of the +Border Ruffians before the war, or had been driven from their homes in +Missouri, and heartily sympathized with the Colonel in his warfare of +retaliation. + +Lawrence also knew he had committed a grave offence when, in his +indignation, he tried to prevent the execution of Templeton by force. So +he quietly submitted to arrest; but as he rode away there came to his +ears the shrieks of the girl, then the sharp crack of three or four +carbines. Lawrence shuddered and, looking back, he saw great columns of +smoke rolling up, and through the blackness red tongues of leaping +flame. + +After the volley killing her father had been fired, the girl uttered one +more shriek, and then stood with dry eyes, gazing as if in a trance; +then with a low moan she threw herself on the still body, enfolding it +with her arms as if she would shield it from the profane gaze of those +around it. She lay as if dead; and so they left her. + +Hours afterward, Red Jerry came creeping up from his hiding place, and +found her. At first he thought her dead, but at his touch and the sound +of his voice she aroused and stood up--but a changed being--changed from +a woman into a demon. + +She spoke a few words to Jerry, but in so low a tone his few followers +who had gathered round could not hear. Jerry gently led her away from +the rest; but the men noticed she walked as one seeing not. + +They stopped under a tree not far away. + +"Jerry," she said, in a tone devoid of the least sign of feeling, "you +have often told me you loved me, and wanted me to become your wife. I +have as often refused. I am now ready to marry you, if you make me one +promise." + +Red Jerry's heart gave a great bound. He had won. The peerless Agnes +Templeton was to become his wife--he, a guerrilla chieftain. + +"Anything you ask," he cried, rapturously, and attempted to take her in +his arms. + +"Do not touch me," she said, in the same passionless tones. "You must +not touch me until you have promised, and not then until the words are +spoken which give you a right." + +"What is it you want me to promise, Agnes? You know anything in my power +will be granted," Jerry replied, his voice showing the depth of his +passion. + +"That you will let me dress as a man and ride by your side; that you +will never order me away, however great the danger; that where you are, +I may always be." + +"For you to ride at my side would be bliss," said Jerry; "but, oh! +Agnes, to lead you into danger--how can I do it?" + +"It must be as I say, or I can never be your wife," was her answer. + +Jerry promised, and side by side they rode away to the home of a +minister. It was near midnight when they reached it, and there, amid the +clashing of the elements--for a fearful storm had arisen--the words were +spoken that made Agnes Templeton the bride of Jerry Alcorn, the +guerrilla. + +Sacrificing everything feminine, except her luxuriant hair, which she +coiled tightly on top of her head and concealed under a wide sombrero, +she rode by the side of her husband throughout his career. No Federal +thought the smooth-faced, handsome young man who was always with Jerry +was a woman. + +The band became known as one of the most cruel and merciless in the +State. It revelled in deeds of bloodshed, and of all the band, the young +man with the angel face and the heart of a demon, who rode by Red Jerry, +was known as the most merciless. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE STORY OF CARL MEYER + + +"Of all outrages!" exclaimed Dan. + +"That girl! Wasn't she splendid?" answered Lawrence. "She made me think +of some great tragic queen. What a scene for the stage!--and we saw it +in reality." + +"Wasn't thinking of the girl," sputtered Dan. "I was thinking of the +outrage of sending us back under arrest." + +"He had a right to, Dan. We could be court-martialed and shot." + +"What! For interfering with the hellish work of that murderer? He is as +bad as a guerrilla," angrily responded Dan. + +"For drawing a weapon and interfering with his orders," replied +Lawrence. "Good God! I could almost afford to be shot for the pleasure +of putting a bullet through the black heart of Jennison. That girl--I +wonder what will become of her!" + +"Girl again!" growled Dan. "And don't blame Jennison too much. He had +great provocation. No doubt that old scoundrel had been shielding +Jerry." + +But Lawrence did not answer. He knew Dan's aversion to girls, and little +was said as they rode on, mile after mile. Both Lawrence and Dan +bitterly felt the disgrace of reporting back to Lexington under arrest. + +Lawrence knew that the case would have to go to Schofield. If there was +any court-martial, Schofield would have to order it, and Lawrence felt +that the General would deal leniently with him. + +But the case never went to Schofield. On his return from his raid, +Colonel Jennison released Lawrence from arrest, saying he did so on +account of his youth, and that no doubt he acted as he did from sudden +impulse, owing to the distress and beauty of the girl. Neither did he +think Lawrence understood the situation. Harsh means had to be used to +prevent the guerrillas from murdering Union men. + +The fact was, Colonel Jennison did not wish the case to be investigated. +He, Lane, and others had been reprimanded so often by the Federal +authorities that more than once they had threatened to turn guerrillas +and wage warfare on their own account. + +Soon after this affair, Lawrence was ordered to report at St. Louis. + +"Now I suppose I can leave and join General Blair," said Lawrence, after +he had given General Schofield a full report of what had happened. + +"I trust you will stay with me a while yet," answered the General. "As I +wrote you, I am about to take the field in person. We will have but +little rest until Hindman, who is gathering a large force in northern +Arkansas, is thoroughly whipped. There will be stirring times for the +next two months. Blair is not needing you yet. Grant's army is very +quiet--hasn't done much since Corinth fell and Memphis was taken. They +are making slow progress along the Mississippi now." + +Lawrence agreed to stay in Missouri a while longer. He was granted a two +weeks' furlough, and then he was to report at Springfield. + +The first use Lawrence made of his furlough was to visit his uncle, and +he found that personage greatly elated over the prospects of the South. +"I tell you, Lawrence," he exclaimed, "the independence of the South is +already as good as secured. Why, just consider: McClellan whipped on the +Peninsula, his army barely escaping; Pope completely crushed, his army +almost annihilated, the remnant seeking refuge in the fortifications +around Washington. Lee's army is sweeping victoriously through Maryland; +Harper's Ferry taken with ten thousand prisoners. It will only be a +matter of a few days until Washington is taken. + +"Bragg is thundering at the very gates of Louisville. The whole of +Tennessee and Kentucky will soon be redeemed. Buell's army will be +driven across the Ohio. Grant has not gained a foot since the capture of +Corinth. He has not, and never will, get past Vicksburg, I tell you, +Lawrence, it's all over. The South has won." + +"I admit, uncle," replied Lawrence, "that this has been a bad year for +us. But the war isn't over. The worst is yet to come. In the end the +South will be crushed." + +"It cannot be! It cannot be!" cried his uncle, excitedly. + +"Uncle, don't let us discuss the war," said Lawrence. "How long since +you heard from Edward? I am anxious to hear all the news." + +"He was well the last time I heard from him," said Mr. Middleton, "but I +do not hear very often. It is harder to get letters through than it was; +but, thank God! those we do get don't come through the hands of that +traitor, Guilford Craig. You have heard no news of him, have you?" + +"No; but it is curious his body was never found. There is little doubt +but that he fell at Pea Ridge, and that at the hands of his +step-brother." + +"Served him right," growled Mr. Middleton. + +"And Randolph Hamilton--what of him?" asked Lawrence. + +"Randolph is also well, Edward writes." + +"I am glad to hear that," answered Lawrence. "Randolph is a noble +fellow. Lola Laselle did a fine thing when she saved him. How is Mrs. +Hamilton now?" + +"Mrs. Hamilton and Dorothy have gone to Europe," answered Mr. Middleton. +"Mr. Hamilton thought it best to take her away from the excitement of +the war." + +"So Dorothy is gone," said Lawrence, "Well, she won't have to hold aside +her skirts for fear of contamination, if I happen to pass her on the +sidewalk." + +"I thought you and Dorothy were great friends--kind of childish +sweethearts," replied his uncle. + +"That was before I turned Yankee," laughed Lawrence. + +"Ah, my boy, Dorothy is not the only one who has been disappointed in +you," sighed his uncle. + +While Lawrence and Mr. Middleton were talking, a newsboy came running +down the street, yelling: "Extra! Extra! Terrible battle in Maryland. +McClellan whips Lee. Fifty thousand men killed." + +Mr. Middleton rushed out and purchased a paper. It told of the great +battle at Antietam. He turned pale as he read, and his hands trembled so +he could scarcely hold the paper. Lawrence heard him murmur, "Thank God! +Edward was not in it." + +Lawrence had no thought of exulting over the news in his uncle's +presence; instead, he told him that the first reports of a battle were +always exaggerated; but at the same time his heart was singing for joy. +Afterward, when the news came that Lee had succeeded in getting his army +safely across the Potomac, Mr. Middleton's hopes revived. It was a drawn +battle, after all. + +There was one in St. Louis that Lawrence could not fail to visit, and +that was Lola Laselle, the girl who had taken his part on the steamboat, +when a forlorn, dirty, homeless boy, and who had chosen him for her +knight-errant when he went into the army. + +Of all the young people Lawrence had associated with before the war, +Lola was one of the few who had remained faithful to the old flag, and +by so doing had been mercilessly cut by her young companions. But one +day Lola hid Randolph Hamilton to keep him from being arrested as a spy, +and this somewhat restored her to favor, especially with the Randolph +family. + +No sooner did Lola see Lawrence than she ran toward him with +outstretched hands, crying, "Lawrence, Lawrence, is this indeed you? How +glad I am to see you! And how you have grown! Why, you are a man!" + +"And I am afraid I have lost my little girl," said Lawrence, as he took +her hand, and gallantly raised it to his lips. "You have grown to almost +a young lady." + +"I don't know whether I like it or not," said Lola. "I sometimes think I +had rather remain a little girl." + +"I believe I am of your opinion," replied Lawrence, looking at her +admiringly. + +"Why, am I growing homely?" pouted Lola. + +"That's not it. If you were still a little girl, I--I might have been +permitted to kiss your cheek, instead of just your hand. Remember----" + +"Stop! You mean thing!" commanded Lola, blushing furiously. + +Lawrence gazed on her with admiration. She was certainly budding into a +most beautiful girl. + +"Lola, you are splendid!" he cried, "I wouldn't have you a little girl +again. You are far ahead of any girl I know." + +"How about Dorothy Hamilton?" she asked, mockingly. + +"Dorothy Hamilton be hanged! How did you and she part?" + +"Good friends. She and I correspond. After I saved Randolph, she could +not do enough for me." + +"Then she has some heart. I am glad to hear it," answered Lawrence, +bitterly. "When I saved her from being crushed beneath the horse's feet, +she rewarded me by calling me a miserable Yankee." + +"Maybe she will be good to you some time," said Lola. "Remember how she +used to cut me." + +"I reckon I do," said Lawrence, "and it used to make me tearing mad. +Lola, of all the girls I used to associate with, you are the only one +who does not pass me with looks of contempt; but your friendship and +sympathy are worth all I have lost--yes, a thousand times more." + +"Don't magnify my importance; but I shall always be your friend, +Lawrence," she said, simply. + +They then fell to talking of other things, and Lawrence had to tell her +of all his experiences. When he told her of his capture by the +guerrillas, and how he had been ordered to be put to death, she +shuddered and turned so pale he thought she was going to faint. + +"Stop! Stop!" she gasped. "It was awful--awful! I cannot bear it." + +"Wait and let me tell you how I escaped death," said Lawrence. + +When he had finished, her eyes, though bedewed with tears, were shining +with joy and pride. + +"Lawrence," she cried, "I am prouder of you than ever. You were shown +mercy, because you were merciful; and I would have my knight-errant as +merciful as he is brave." + +"How can he be otherwise, when she whose colors he wears is so kind and +merciful?" gallantly replied Lawrence, and, taking her little hand in +his, he raised it and pressed his lips against her trembling fingers. + +"A true knight can always kiss the hand of the lady he serves," said +Lawrence. He then bade her good-bye, with the promise of coming again +before he went to the front. + +Is it strange that, as he went on his way, his thoughts were all of the +beautiful girl he had just left? But, all unbidden, there arose before +him a mental vision of the face of another girl--a girl whose queenly +head was crowned with a wealth of golden hair, but whose eyes flashed +with scorn at the sight of him--whose very soul loathed the uniform he +wore; and he sighed, he hardly knew why. + +Suddenly the thoughts of all girls were driven from his mind, for in the +crowd before him he saw a well-known face--the face of Carl Meyer. Carl +was a German boy, about a year older than Lawrence. It was he who had +induced Lawrence to join the Home Guards, and thus paved the way to his +acquaintance with Frank Blair. They had not met since the battle of +Wilson Creek, when Carl went back with a broken arm. + +In a moment the two clasped hands, their eyes telling what their lips +refused to utter. At length Lawrence found voice. "My! how you have +grown!" he exclaimed; "and this,"--he touched the strap of a second +lieutenant on his shoulder--"Oh, Carl, I am so glad." + +"And you," replied Carl, the joy gleaming in his honest eyes; "I see +it's Captain now." + +"Come with me, Carl. I must hear all that has happened to you since the +last time we met." + +In the privacy of Lawrence's room, Carl told his story--a story that +Lawrence listened to breathless attention. + +"The wound which I received at Wilson Creek was a bad one," said Carl, +"and at first it was thought I would have to lose my arm; but I have it +yet, and a pretty good arm it is. After I had recovered, which was early +in January of this year, I was with the army which operated against New +Madrid and Island Number 10. Lawrence, you should have been with me. It +was glorious. The river fight--the mighty siege-guns--the great mortars +which hurled shells weighing hundreds of pounds. It was as if all the +thunders of heaven had gathered in one place to smite the earth. + +"Then think of digging a canal twelve miles long, six miles of it +through heavy timber. Great trees were sawed off beneath the water, to +make a road for the transports." + +"How could you do it? How could you do it?" broke in Lawrence. + +"By standing on rafts or in boats and using saws with very long handles. +It was a giant's task, but at last it was completed. Not only this, but, +amid snow and chilling rains, bayous were waded, swamps considered +impassable struggled through; and at last New Madrid and Island Number +10 fell. + +"The fruits of these victories were glorious: nearly two hundred cannon, +great and small; seven thousand prisoners, as many small arms, great +stores of the munitions of war, and several transports sunk. All of this +with a loss of only fifty." + +"It was glorious, Carl," cried Lawrence. "No wonder you feel proud of +being one of an army that dared so much, and accomplished so much." + +"Wait until you hear the rest," replied Carl. "After Island Number 10 +fell, most of the army was sent to reinforce Halleck before Corinth; but +my command was left. We soon had possession of the Mississippi nearly to +Memphis; but rumors came of the Confederates building an immense fleet +of gunboats and ironclad rams. + +"Our gunboats moved down and attacked, but were repulsed and driven +back. Colonel Charles Ellet had been given authority to build some rams. +He hastily constructed some out of old river steamboats, converting them +into engines of destruction. With these wooden rams, without cannon, and +without an armed crew, Colonel Ellet proposed to attack and destroy the +whole fleet. + +"Eleven sharpshooters had been chosen and placed on the _Monarch_. I was +fortunate enough to be one of the eleven. We were the only armed men +aboard the ram. The _Monarch_ was commanded by Colonel Alfred Ellet, a +brother of Charles. Charles was aboard the ram, _Queen of the West_. + +"It was dusk when we came to our fleet of gunboats anchored across the +Mississippi. Below them, a little above Memphis, lay the Rebel fleet, +anchored in a line across the river. There the two fleets lay like two +great beasts ready to spring on each other. + +"Colonel Ellet anchored and waited for the morning. Hardly was it light +when there came the boom of a great gun. It was a beautiful morning, and +as the thunder of the gun reverberated over the water, thousands of the +people of Memphis rushed to the bluffs to witness the battle and, with +waving flags and shouts of encouragement, cheer their men on to victory. + +"On, in imposing line, comes the Rebel fleet, the smokestacks of their +vessels belching forth great clouds of smoke, and their guns thundering +as they come. Now the guns of our fleet answer their thunder, and the +bluffs on which the people are gathered shake and tremble with the +concussion. A black wall of smoke settles down and hides our fleet from +view; only through the blackness can be seen the flashes of the great +guns. + +"Hardly had the battle opened when Colonel Ellet signalled for his fleet +of rams to get under way. The _Queen of the West_ and the _Monarch_ got +off first, and straight for the wall of blackness, lit by the fitful +flashes, we steered. We entered that wall, and everything was blotted +from view--only around and about us was the roar of the great guns, the +bursting of shells. + +"Suddenly, as if emerging from the mouth of a tunnel, we burst from the +cloud of smoke, and before us at full speed was coming the Rebel fleet, +nearly a dozen gunboats and ironclads, against two wooden, unarmed rams. + +"Colonel Ellet never swerved; ahead at full speed he drove the _Queen of +the West_ for the _General Lovell_. We could see the tall figure of +Colonel Ellet standing on the hurricane-deck of the _Queen_. With his +hat he signalled his brother to steer for the _General Price_, and on +the two rams rushed, the _Queen_ slightly ahead. + +"The _General Lovell_ drew out from their line and steered straight for +the _Queen_. Like two great monsters, the boats rushed at each other. We +forgot to cheer; we heeded not the thunder of battle; we could only look +at these two vessels rushing to what seemed certain destruction. + +"Even the excited cheering of the crowd on the bluffs grew silent. With +tense nerves and white faces, they watched the two vessels. Coming as +they were, it meant the destruction of both. Would not one swerve to +avoid the coming blow? Still standing on the deck of his vessel, his eye +fixed on his prey, Ellet drove the _Queen_ forward--not a hair's breadth +would he swerve. + +"Just before the shock came, the _General Lovell_ swerved to try to +avoid the coming blow--but too late. Full amidships the _Queen_ struck +her, cutting her through like a great knife, and the vessel sank beneath +the turbid waters of the river, all the crew not killed struggling in +the water. + +"From the thousands on shore there came a mighty groan--a wail of agony +which seemed to throb and quiver through the air, making itself felt +even above the roar of the battle. + +"Now was our turn. The _Monarch_ struck the _General Price_ a glancing +blow, not sinking her, but shaving off her starboard wheel; and she was +out of the fight. + +"Before the _Queen_ could be disentangled from the wreck of the _General +Lovell_, the _Beauregard_ and _Van Dorn_ both attacked her. Colonel +Ellet fell with a ball through the knee; but as he lay on the deck, he +continued to direct the fight.[9] + +[Footnote 9: Colonel Ellet died of his wounds.] + +"The _Monarch_ saw the danger which threatened the _Queen of the West_, +and straight for the _Beauregard_ she went, crashing into that vessel's +side, and putting her out of the conflict. + +"The Confederate fleet thought only of escape now. The battle drifted +down the river, past the city. The gunboats joined in the chase, and but +one Confederate vessel escaped. Those that had not been sunk or disabled +were run on the shore on the Arkansas side and set on fire by their +crews, before escaping into the swamp." + +"Carl," cried Lawrence, "I would have given ten years of my life to have +seen that battle, and, like you, to have been a part of it." + +"Very little part I had," replied Carl, modestly, "except to fire a few +shots when we were at close quarters. But after the fight--ach! +Lawrence, that is something worth telling." + +"What was it, Carl?" + +"Toward the close of the fight, a white flag was run up in the city of +Memphis. Colonel Ellet sent his son, a medical cadet, no older than +yourself, Lawrence, to demand the surrender of the city. He chose three +men, of whom I was one, to accompany him. + +"We rowed ashore in a small boat, and landed in the midst of a howling, +excited mob of thousands. + +"Young Ellet handed the message which his father had written to the +Mayor, and then we started for the postoffice. The mob closed in around +us--four men in the midst of thousands. They cursed, they howled; they +heaped upon us the most violent names; they threatened to tear us to +pieces. + +"We reached the postoffice, ascended to the top of the building, and +began to lower the Confederate flag. A frenzy seized the crowd. They +surged to and fro; they howled and gnashed their teeth like beasts of +prey. Some drew revolvers and began shooting at us. + +"'Don't fire back,' said young Ellet, coolly. 'They can not hit us this +high.' + +"The Stars and Bars came down, and the glorious Stars and Stripes arose, +and as its folds unfurled to the breeze we swung our hats and gave a +rousing cheer; but I do not think we were heard above the roar of the +mob. + +"Leaving the flag waving, we descended, and once more the mob surrounded +us, snarling, cursing and howling; but a great fear kept them from +tearing us to pieces. + +"We walked through their midst as coolly as if we were being showered +with bouquets instead of curses, and reached our boat in safety." + +"It was a brave thing to do, Carl. I wouldn't have missed hearing your +story for anything," said Lawrence, as he warmly shook his hand at +parting. + +The next day Lawrence went to bid his uncle and aunt good-bye, before +starting for the front. As they talked, they were again interrupted by a +newsboy crying, "Extra! Extra! All about the great battle at Corinth! +Generals Price and Van Dorn whipped! The Missouri brigade annihilated!" + +"What's that?" exclaimed Mr. Middleton, turning pale. + +Lawrence secured a paper and gave it to him. He glanced at it and +groaned. It told how Van Dorn and Price had been disastrously defeated +before Corinth; how the Confederate Missouri brigade had charged up to +the very mouth of the cannon of Fort Robinette, and that but few of them +were left alive. + +"We must hope for the best," said Lawrence, as he looked at the stricken +faces of his uncle and aunt; but he could say no more. + +Mr. Middleton, with shaking limbs and halting footsteps, assisted his +wife to her room. + +In St. Louis that night many sat weeping, yet hoping that their loved +ones were safe; for St. Louis had many a son in that battle, both on the +Federal side and the Confederate. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE NEWS FROM CORINTH + + +All the Missourians who had enlisted in the Confederate service had been +transferred to the east of the Mississippi River, and with them their +beloved General, Sterling Price. + +It was a bitter blow to them, for they had to leave their State overrun +with Federals, and at the mercy of what they considered an inhuman foe. + +The first months of their service in Mississippi had been tame. The +great Federal army which had laid siege to Corinth had been divided, the +Army of the Cumberland going east under Buell, and the Army of the +Tennessee, under General Grant, remaining in northern Mississippi and +western Tennessee. For three months there had been only desultory +fighting, no great battles. + +At the Confederate camp at Baldyn, Mississippi, a group of officers of +the Missouri regiments were gathered in a tent, discussing the +situation. In the group was Edward Middleton, the son of Alfred +Middleton; Randolph Hamilton, brother of Dorothy; and last, but not +least, Benton Shelley, a step-brother of Guilford Craig. + +Edward Middleton had become major of his regiment. He was everywhere +regarded as among the bravest and most reliable officers in Price's +army. He was a bitter partisan, had the utmost contempt for everything +Northern, but withal a noble and chivalric gentleman. He could never +forgive Lawrence, whom he had regarded as a brother, for going into the +Yankee army; yet after Lawrence had saved his life at the battle of +Wilson Creek, and in so doing nearly lost his own, Edward had had a +kinder feeling for him. + +Randolph Hamilton was but little older than Lawrence. He was of a +generous nature, fought for the South because he believed the South +right, and not from any hatred toward the North. Before the war, he and +Lawrence were the closest of friends, and now, although they were +fighting on different sides, neither allowed that to interfere with +their friendship. Randolph was now captain of his company, and idolized +by his men. + +Benton Shelley was of a different nature. Brave he was, but he had a +haughty and cruel disposition, and believed himself to be made of finer +clay than the soldiers under him. For this reason he was tyrannical, and +was hated by his men as much as Randolph was loved. As for the Yankees, +there were no terms too contemptuous for him to apply to them. Toward +Lawrence he held undying hatred, and tried in every way to encompass his +death. Toward his step-brother, Guilford Craig, he held the same hatred. +He frequently boasted how, at the battle of Pea Ridge, he had slain his +step-brother, and he always added: "And I'll get that Lawrence Middleton +yet. See if I don't. I nearly got him at Wilson Creek, and will not fail +the next time." + +"It seems you did meet him again, Bent," said Randolph, with a sly +twinkle in his eye; "but, like the fellow who caught the Tartar, the +Tartar had him--not he the Tartar." + +Benton turned white with rage. "Look here, Captain Hamilton," he +exclaimed, furiously, "don't presume on our friendship too much, or I +shall demand the satisfaction of a gentleman. You have already thrown +that up to me several times. I have told you my horse was shot, and I +was lying helpless on the ground, when that cowardly traitor attacked +me, and would have murdered me if he had not been stopped by an officer +more humane than he." + +Major Middleton turned like a flash; his face was set and grim. "Captain +Shelley," he said, in a low, even tone, but terrible in its earnestness, +"I have no love for my cousin, as you well know; but he is no coward. He +is a Middleton. As for his killing you in cold blood, that thought comes +from your excitement of the moment and your chagrin at your overthrow. +From your own account, he had every opportunity of killing you, if he +had so wished." + +"I thought I was among friends," said Benton, "but I see I am not, and +will go." + +"Hold on, gentlemen," commanded General Green, who was present; "I +cannot have this--my best and bravest officers quarrelling, and +threatening to shoot each other. You, Captain Hamilton, are to blame for +taunting Captain Shelley for an unfortunate situation in which any of +you may be placed some time. And you, Captain Shelley, are to blame for +trying to mitigate your misfortune by charging your opponent with +cowardice and cruelty. There is not a drop of coward's blood in a +Middleton's body. There stands a noble example," and he pointed to +Edward. + +"I can also understand," he continued, "why Captain Shelley feels so +bitter against Lawrence Middleton. He believes him to have been +instrumental in leading his step-brother astray, and thus bringing a +damning disgrace on his family." + +"That's it!" cried Benton, eager to set himself right. "I can never +forget, never forgive, the disgrace." + +"That being the case," continued the General, "I trust that Captain +Hamilton, even in jest, will never allude to the subject again, and that +all of you will be as good friends as ever, eager only to sheathe your +swords in the bosom of our enemy. That reminds me that I dropped in to +tell you the season of inactivity is over." + +"What!" they all cried, everything else forgotten. "Are we to fight at +last?" + +"It looks like it," answered Green. "You know Bragg is sweeping +everything before him in Kentucky--will be in Louisville before a week. +The point is to keep Grant from rushing any of his troops to aid Buell. +The Yankee troops here must be held. The orders are to make it lively +for Rosecrans. We are to move on Iuka tomorrow." + +Then from those officers went up a cheer. They were to meet the foes of +their country; no thought of the danger before them; no thought that +before many hours some of them might be lying in bloody graves. + +"Here's for old Kentucky!" cried one. "We are going to reinforce Bragg." + +"Better say we are going to thrash Rosecrans at Corinth," chimed in +another. + +That night Price with his army marched straight for Iuka, some fifteen +or twenty miles east of Corinth. The place was only held by a small +detachment, which beat a hasty retreat, leaving a large quantity of +military stores to the jubilant Confederates. + +From Iuka Price could cross over into Tennessee, and pursue his way +northward to join Bragg, or turn on Rosecrans at Corinth. + +It was decided for him: Rosecrans no sooner learned that Price had +captured Iuka than he set forth from Corinth to attack him. + +Portions of the two armies met two miles from Iuka, a bloody battle was +fought, the Federals being driven back a short distance, and losing a +battery. + +During the night Price beat a hasty retreat, leaving the battery he had +taken, all his dead unburied, and many of his sick and wounded. + +The Missouri brigade was not up in time to take part in this battle, and +when they learned a retreat had been ordered, both officers and men were +furious. + +"I feel like breaking my sword!" exclaimed Major Middleton, and his jaws +came together with a snap. + +"Why did General Price do it?" cried Randolph Hamilton, tears of +humiliation running down his face. + +"You will know in time," replied Benton Shelley. He was on General +Price's staff, and was the officer who had brought the orders to +retreat. + +The fact was, General Price knew if he did not retreat he would be +soundly whipped the next day. Then, General Price had just received a +communication from General Van Dorn that he was ready to join him, and, +with the combined armies, make an attack on Corinth. + +The news that they were to attack Corinth fired the army with +enthusiasm, and eagerly did they go forward to what they thought was +certain victory. The Missouri regiments marched with song and cheer, as +if going to a festival. The time they had longed for had come; they were +to wipe out the disgrace of Pea Ridge; they would show the rest of the +army what Pop Price and his boys could do. + +At noon on October third the battle opened, and now around the little +village of Corinth, where in the spring it was thought the great battle +of the war would be fought, was waged a most desperate conflict, lasting +for two days. The hills trembled, and the very heavens seemed shattered +with the thunder of artillery. + +Thickets were swept as with a great jagged scythe by the leaden hail +which swept through them. Nothing could withstand the fierce rush of the +Confederate troops. The Federals were swept from their outer line of +intrenchments. + +With yells of victory, the Confederates rushed on. Before them was the +second and stronger line of intrenchments. They were met with a storm of +shot and shell. The carnage was awful, and the charging columns halted, +staggered, and then began to reel back. Most of the officers of the +Missouri regiments had fallen, killed or wounded. Both the colonel and +lieutenant-colonel of the regiment to which Edward Middleton belonged +had fallen. + +Major Middleton spurred his horse in front of his men, and, waving his +sword over his head, shouted: "Forward, men! Forward, for the honor of +Missouri! I will lead you!" + +The reeling column straightened, grew firm, and with a shout sprang +forward. + +Major Middleton's horse fell; but, sword in hand, he pressed forward, +followed by his men. Nothing could stay them, and soon their shouts of +victory were heard above the roar of the battle. + +The line was taken, the Federals in full retreat for their last and +strongest line of works, which ran around the edge of the little +village. + +Night had come, and the Confederates, flushed with victory, lay on the +ground they had so bravely won--to complete, in the morning, as they +supposed, the destruction of Rosecrans's army. + +When morning came, the Confederates once more rushed to the conflict. +Again did Major Middleton lead his regiment. The color-bearer went down, +but the flag was seized by Randolph Hamilton, and held aloft. "Follow +the colors!" he shouted, as he sprang forward. + +The Federals shrank from the advancing line of steel, and fled in +dismay. + +As Randolph mounted the breastwork, a young Federal lieutenant, the last +to leave the works, levelled his revolver on him, but as he did so a +look of surprise came over his face, and he turned his weapon and shot a +soldier who had sprung on the works by Randolph's side. + +Randolph did not return the shot. The young lieutenant was Leon Laselle, +the brother of Lola. + +Everywhere along the front of Green's division the wild cheers of +victory were ringing. Not only had they swept the Federal breastworks, +but forty cannon had been captured. Oh, it was good! It was glorious! +But it was no time to stop and rejoice. The Yankees must be completely +crushed--Rosecrans's whole army captured; and into the village they +followed the fleeing but not demoralized Federals. + +Into the houses, and behind every garden fence and hedge, the retreating +Federals gathered. Every house became a flaming fort, and into the +advancing ranks of the Confederates was poured a storm of balls, while +the loud-mouthed cannon swept away with an iron hail the front of the +advancing foe. + +The Confederates wavered, halted; then there sprang forward a line of +blue-coated soldiers, and as a great wave bears on its crest everything +before it, so did this line of blue bear back the Confederates. In vain +did Edward Middleton struggle before it. He was as helpless as a log of +wood borne onward by the surging tide. + +Randolph Hamilton once more seized the standard of the regiment. "Let us +die with it floating," he cried. As he cried, the hand of a Federal +lieutenant reached out to grasp the flag, and then both went down, and +Randolph Hamilton and Leon Laselle lay side by side, the blood stained +flag between them. + +On rolled the wave of blue, catching and flinging back hundreds of the +fleeing Confederates. + +The armies of Van Dorn and Price that had had no thought but victory, +that had fought so bravely and won so much, now fled from the field in +wild confusion, leaving behind them over a thousand of their dead, +hundreds of their wounded, and nearly three thousand prisoners. They had +fought as only brave men can fight--and lost. + +Throughout the North the name of Rosecrans, before but little known, was +on every tongue.[10] + +[Footnote 10: A few weeks after this battle Rosecrans was appointed +Commander of the Army of the Cumberland.] + +It was the news of this battle that caused such excitement in St. Louis, +for in it hundreds of Missourians had met Missourians, and as we have +seen, the first news was that the Confederate regiments of Missouri had +been annihilated. Excitement was at fever heat, and anxious hearts +awaited authentic news. It came in a telegram from Leon Laselle, +reading: "Am seriously but not dangerously wounded. Randolph Hamilton +dangerously wounded, and captured. Edward Middleton safe." + +Lawrence was at the Laselle home when the telegram came. Mr. Laselle was +sick at the time and unable to go to his son, if he had wished. When the +telegram was read Lola clasped her hands and cried, with tears streaming +down her face, "Leon wounded! I must go to him." + +"I am afraid that is hardly possible," said Lawrence. "I will see what +can be done, but first let me take this telegram to my uncle and aunt. +It will take a great load from their minds." + +When the telegram was read to Mr. and Mrs. Middleton, they both dropped +to their knees and thanked God their son was safe. Days afterwards, when +the news came of his bravery, and how he had been promoted to the +colonelcy of his regiment, they, in their pride, forgot the agony they +had suffered. + +As for Lawrence, he hastened back to Mr. Laselle's. + +"I must go to Leon," Lola cried. "There is no one else to go." + +Lawrence showed her how impossible it was for her to go. "I will see +General Schofield," he said. "Perhaps I can manage to get permission to +go." + +"Oh! do, do," cried Lola, and the whole family echoed her wish. + +"There is Randolph," said Lawrence. "The telegram says he is dangerously +wounded." + +"In my anxiety over Leon, I forgot Randolph," said Lola. "What a pity! +His mother and Dorothy both in Europe, and Mr. Hamilton somewhere east. +Why not--" she stopped, and added lamely, "I am so sorry for him." + +"We are all sorry, Lola," replied Lawrence. "Randolph is a noble fellow, +and believes he is doing his duty both to his God and his country in +fighting as he does. You may rest assured I will do all I can for him." + +Lawrence had no trouble in getting the requisite authority from General +Schofield to visit his friend. "I shall not be ready to take the field +yet for some days," said the General. "So take your time." + +Lawrence went from St. Louis to Memphis by steamboat and from Memphis to +Corinth by rail. Once the train was fired into by Confederate raiders. +There were quite a number of soldiers on board and Lawrence, placing +himself at their head, succeeded, after a brisk little fight, in driving +the raiding party off. But the track had been torn up and there was a +delay of several hours, a delay under which Lawrence chafed, for he was +anxious to get to his friend. + +At length Corinth was reached. All signs of the battle had been +obliterated, except the shattered houses, the mangled forest and +thickets and row upon row of new-made graves. + +To his joy, Lawrence found Leon improving. He had not only been shot +through the arm, the arm he had stretched forth to seize the flag, but +had also received a scalp wound. + +Lawrence would not have known him with his head all swathed up, if he +had not been pointed out to him. The meeting between the two friends was +a joyful one. + +"How are the folks and how did they take my being wounded?" was Leon's +first question. + +And thus it is. The first thought of a soldier as he sinks dying or +wounded on the battlefield is of home and the loved ones. + +Lawrence told him and added, "Lola was crazy to come to you, but you +know it could not be." + +"I reckon there would be another one besides me glad to see Lola," said +Leon. "Poor Randolph, he lies on the third cot, there. Don't go to him, +he seems to be asleep, and he needs rest. The surgeons cut the ball from +his thigh yesterday. It had lodged against the bone. They have hopes of +his recovery now, if blood poisoning does not set in. He has been +delirious most of the time, and what do you think? He is continually +raving about Lola. Seems to be living over again the time he was pursued +as a spy, and would have been captured if it had not been for her." + +Somehow it gave Lawrence a little pang to hear this, then he cast the +thought out as unworthy. + +When Randolph awoke, Lawrence went to him, pressed his hand in sympathy +and whispered that everything was all right, and not to talk. Randolph +smiled and, closing his eyes, went to sleep again. + +The doctor came and looked at him. "Friend of yours?" he asked of +Lawrence. + +Lawrence nodded. + +"Mighty plucky fellow. Had a close call, but I think he will pull +through. Fever's most gone," exclaimed the doctor as he felt Randolph's +pulse and then hurried away. + +Lawrence and Leon held a consultation that night, and it was determined +that if they could get Randolph paroled they would take him back to St. +Louis with them, for Leon had already been granted a furlough. + +The parole was easily secured, but a week passed before they considered +it safe to move Randolph. The journey back was safely made and Leon, in +spite of his bandaged head and wounded arm, was nearly smothered with +kisses. + +Lawrence found that Mr. Hamilton had not yet returned; in fact, he had +met with an accident, and it would be several days before he could +travel. What was to be done with Randolph? That was the question. + +"Bring him with me," said Leon. "I want someone to fight with while I am +getting well, and fighting with tongues is not as dangerous as with +guns." + +"Where are you taking me? This is not home," exclaimed Randolph, as the +ambulance stopped before the Laselle residence. + +"No," replied Lawrence. "Your father has met with a slight accident, not +severe, but enough to detain him for several days. So we have brought +you to Mr. Laselle's. Leon wants you for company. You two can fight your +battles over while you are convalescing." + +"But--" + +"Not a word. Just think of what a nurse you will have. I almost wish I +was in your place." + +Randolph smiled and made no more protestations. + +Lawrence could hardly help envying Randolph, who had found a haven of +rest for at least some weeks, while he must once more face the hardships +and dangers of the tented field. + +The orders came in a couple of days and Lawrence went to say good-bye to +his friends. + +He found Leon and Randolph had been placed in one room, and there they +lay, Union and Confederate, side by side, as they had lain on the +battlefield, but now no blood-stained flag lay between them. + +Lawrence watched as Lola, with gentle hands, administered to Randolph's +wants. He saw how his face lighted up as she came near, and--well, he +didn't like it. + +When it came time for him to go and Lola followed him to the door, he +said in a tone of carelessness, "Lola, as you have not only Leon, but +Randolph to look after now, I suppose you do not care to hear from me +any more." + +The girl looked at him in surprise and tears gathered in her eyes. +"Lawrence, what do you mean?" she asked in a trembling voice. "Are you +not my own, my true knight-errant?" + +"There, Lola, I was only joking. Of course, I am your knight-errant," +answered Lawrence hastily, "and my Lady of Beauty must not forget me. +God bless you, Lola." He raised her hand to his lips and was gone. + +Lola gazed after him with troubled eyes, and then a thought, a thought +that had never entered her head before, came. The color in her cheeks +came and went. "He couldn't have meant that," she murmured, as she +looked at his retreating figure until it was out of sight. Then with a +sigh she turned and went into the house. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +PORTER CAPTURES PALMYRA + + +With the disastrous defeats and scattering of the guerrilla bands of +Poindexter, Cobb and Porter, it looked as if Northeast Missouri was, at +last, free from partisan warfare, but such did not prove to be the case. +Porter had escaped, and was soon back in his old haunts, gathering +together as many of his followers as possible. + +Harry Semans reported this fact to McNeil, who had now been appointed +general in the Missouri militia. That officer could hardly believe that +Porter would be able to gather a force large enough to do much damage, +but he bade Harry be watchful and report at the first signs of danger. + +"Hist! Bruno, keep quiet!" + +It was Harry Semans, who was once more lying in a thicket by the side of +the road, and as usual the faithful Bruno was by his side. The dog was +now showing that he scented danger. + +Harry's method of scouting was peculiar. When in need of information he +and Bruno generally scouted alone, and that during the night. + +In the daytime he would lie concealed in some thicket, close to a road, +his horse always picketed some distance from him. He would observe any +men that passed along the road, the direction they were going, and thus +be able to determine whether the guerrillas were gathering for a raid or +not. If so, it was his duty to find their rendezvous, report with all +possible speed, and bring a Federal force down upon them. + +When he thought best, he had no scruples in passing himself off as a +guerrilla. It was only in case of urgent necessity that he rode in the +daytime. For one reason he did not wish the guerrillas to know he was +always accompanied by a dog. In the night he could not be recognized, +and he was never in fear of a surprise, for Bruno always gave warning. + +To the guerrillas it was a matter of wonderment how the Federals so +often found out their secret hiding places, and many a suspected Union +man was accused of giving information, and suffered in consequence, when +it was Harry who was the guilty party. + +Feeling safe, McNeil had left only one small company in Palmyra to guard +the place, and to protect the prisoners, of whom he had nearly a +hundred. He was away looking after other posts in his territory. + +The news of McNeil's absence and the small number of soldiers at Palmyra +was borne to Porter and he determined to make a raid on the village, +liberate the prisoners, and capture some of the Union citizens who had +made themselves obnoxious to Porter and his gang. + +The news was given out and the guerrillas were rallying at a given place +in the western part of the county. It was this gathering of the +guerrillas that Harry was now watching. + +He quickly quieted the dog and the cause of his excitement was now +apparent, for six men came riding past, all armed to the teeth. + +"There is deviltry on foot, old fellow," whispered Harry to Bruno, "and +it 's up to us to find out what it is. There's twenty of these villains +ridden past since we've been hiding here. + +"How I wish I could hear what they are saying," continued Harry. "I +must, I _will_ find out what's brewing." + +Harry was in a place which he could not safely leave before night, so he +waited impatiently for the coming darkness. As soon as he dared he made +his way back to where he had left his horse, and cautiously led it to +the road. He then mounted and rode in the direction the guerrillas had +taken. Two or three times Bruno gave warning, and Harry quietly drew out +by the side of the road and let men pass. + +He had gone some two or three miles when he came to a main road leading +to Palmyra. Bruno showed unusual excitement, and Harry stopped and +listened intently. From up the road there came the sound of the +trampling of horses, as if a large body of cavalry was coming. + +"Quick, Bruno, we must get out of this," exclaimed Harry, and wheeling +his horse he rode back a short distance. Then he rode into a clump of +bushes where he dismounted and tied the horse. "I dare not leave you too +near the road when that cavalry passes, you might give me away," he +said, patting his horse's neck. "Bruno, you stay here." + +Back on the run went Harry. Climbing a fence he quickly made his way to +the road over which the cavalry must pass. Here a fence ran close to the +road and the corners were overgrown with weeds and brush, making a safe +hiding place. + +He was none too soon. Six men came riding by. "An advance guard," +muttered Harry. + +In a short time the head of the column appeared, and in front rode two +men. As they came abreast of Harry he heard one of them say, "What time +do you expect to attack Palmyra, Colonel?" + +"Just at daybreak." It was the voice of Colonel Porter that answered. + +Harry breathed hard. It was Palmyra that was to be attacked, and he knew +the weakness of the garrison. He calculated as closely as he could the +number that passed, and concluded there must be about four hundred in +the band. + +What was he to do? The whole force was squarely between him and Palmyra. +He could never get through that body of men. He must ride around. But +would he have time? Could he find his way in the darkness? He could try. + +Harry waited until the last man had passed, then going back he mounted +his horse and followed the band. So close was he after them that three +or four stragglers overtook him, and taking him for one of their number, +told him to hurry up or he would be too late for the fun. + +"My hoss is plumb tired out," was Harry's answer, "but I reckon I will +git thar in time." + +After riding three or four miles Harry came to a road that he believed +might enable him to get around Porter's force, and by hard riding get to +Palmyra first and give warning. Taking the road he put his horse to a +fast gallop. Two or three times he was hailed as he passed houses, but +he dashed on regardless of the fact that a bullet might be sent after +him. + +He soon became aware that the road was taking him away instead of in the +direction he wished to go. He brought his horse down to a walk. + +"I'm afraid it's all up," he sighed, "but I will never cease trying +until all hope is gone." + +Keeping a sharp lookout he soon came to a road that ran in the direction +he wished to go. True the road seemed but little traveled, but it was +his only hope, so he turned into it, and again urged his horse forward. + +The road twisted and turned and Harry soon lost all idea of direction. +Worse than all, it grew fainter and fainter and soon became little more +than a trail. Harry felt himself hopelessly lost. He knew not where he +was, nor in what direction he wanted to go, but he knew by the woods +which bordered the trail he must be near a stream. + +Soon he came to a clearing, in the middle of which stood a rough log +house. There was a light burning in the house, and before it a horse +stood saddled and bridled, and Harry noticed that a shotgun lay across +the saddle. + +Though he knew it was risky he determined to stop and find out where he +was and to inquire the shortest way to Palmyra. Hitching his horse and +telling Bruno to keep out of sight, but near him, he carefully made his +way to the house. He soon became satisfied it was tenanted only by a man +and woman; if there were children they were asleep. + +The man kept coming to the door and looking out as if he expected some +one. Harry saw he was a sinister looking fellow, and that he wore a belt +which held in place a huge revolver. Harry waited until the man had +closed the door after one of his visits, and then marching boldly up he +gave a short rap. + +The door was immediately opened and the man he had seen exclaimed, +"Hello, Steve, yo' un air late." When he saw Harry he stopped and his +hand went to his belt, "Who be yo' un," he growled, "and what do yo' un +want?" + +"Don't be alarmed, pard," laughed Harry. "I reckon yo' un and I air in +the same class. I'm from Shelby an' on my way to join Porter. Yo' un +knows we 'uns air to make it hot for the Yanks in Palmyra. I have lost +my way, an' want to know whar I kin find the direct road to Palmyra." + +"Yo' un only have to foller the trail to the branch, cross it and yo' un +will strike the main road. But I kalkerlate to have a hand in that +little job at Palmyra myself. Have three or four debts to pay, one agin +old Allsman. He reported me to McNeil as a dangerous char'ter. He'll +never peach agin if I lay hands on him." + +"Thank yo' un. I'll be goin'," said Harry, "or I'm afraid I'll be late." + +"Hold on, pard," said the man. "I be jest waitin' for Steve and Sol +Jones. We 'uns will all go together." + +"Sorry I can't wait. I must be goin'," replied Harry, turning to go. + +"Stop!" cried the man, hoarsely. + +Harry wheeled, his hand on his revolver. + +"Better not," drawled the man, with a grin. "The old woman has you +kivered and she's a dead shot." + +Harry glanced up. Sure enough the woman, a gaunt, muscular virago, stood +in the door, a rifle at her shoulder, and Harry saw that he could look +right into the muzzle. + +"Ha! Ha!" chuckled the fellow, "yo' un didn't count on that, did yo' un? +Fact is, I didn't take to yo' un's story and I giv' the old woman a sign +to look out. If yo' un be from Shelby, how'd it happen yo' un got in +this timber along the branch. Yo' un may be all right, and if yo' un air +it will be no hurt for yo' un to wait and go with we 'uns. Thar, stop +fingering that thar revolver, or I'll giv' the old woman the wink. +Better up with yo' hands. Thar, I heah Steve and Sol comin'. If yo' un +don't prove all right, we 'uns will have a hangin' bee before we 'uns +start. Hands up, I tell yo' un." + +Harry was still looking into the muzzle of the rifle. It seemed to him +as big as a cannon. His hands slowly went up, but as they did so he gave +a low, peculiar whistle. Like a flash a great black body bounded through +the air and Bruno's teeth were buried in the shoulder of his victim. The +force of the impact threw the fellow over, and as he fell Harry ducked. + +The woman fired, but the shot went wild. In a moment Harry had wrenched +the gun from her, and with a blow bent the barrel of the rifle around +the door frame. But now was heard the approach of horses, and the cries +of men. Steve and Sol Jones were coming, and the sound of the rifle shot +had alarmed them. + +"Here, Bruno, come quick," commanded Harry. But Bruno was unwilling to +release his victim, and it took a hard cuff and a sharp command to make +him let go. Steve and Sol were now there, excitedly crying, "What's up? +What's up?" + +Without a word Harry opened fire. One of the horses and the rider went +down; the other wheeling his horse, was off like a shot, fortunately +going the way Harry had come. + +Without waiting to learn the result of his shots, Harry rushed for his +horse and rode away. He reached the branch spoken of, and, crossing it, +was soon on the highroad to Palmyra. But Porter and his men were still +in between him and the place. + +Harry now came to where he was acquainted with the country. He could +ride around Porter, but it was a good six or eight miles out of his way. +"I can never do it and be in time," he groaned, "but I may do some +good." Again his good horse was urged to a stiff gallop. + +Day was just breaking and Harry was still three miles from Palmyra, but +he had got past Porter, and would enter the place from the east. He was +congratulating himself that he might still be in time, when the faint +echo of firearms was borne to him on the breeze. Spurring his horse +forward he rode some distance, then halted and listened. + +The sounds of firing were unmistakable, but the reports were scattering, +not as if any considerable number of men were engaged. + +Harry reached the fair grounds on the eastern edge of town. Here he +unstrapped the blanket from his saddle, and carrying it into a vacant +stall, said to Bruno, "Old fellow, watch that blanket until I come +back." + +The dog lay down by the side of the blanket, and Harry patted his head +and told him to keep his eyes open, then he left him, thinking to return +shortly. + +Harry now rode boldly forward, thinking he would have no trouble in +passing himself off as one of the guerrillas. He soon saw squads of them +riding through the town and stopping at the different houses. He +shuddered, for he knew Union men lived in every one of those houses. + +The firing up in the center of the town now grew more severe. + +"Seems as if they air havin' quite a time up thar," he said to a +guerrilla whom he met. + +"Yes," growled the fellow. "The Yanks have got into the court house and +a brick store. Porter ordered them to surrender and they answered if he +wanted them to com' an' take them. That they'd fight till the last man +fell before they'd surrender. The Kunnel will find it hard work to get +them out without cannon." + +Harry's heart gave a great bound. If the Federals were in the court +house and a brick store, they might hold out for hours. Might he not get +help from Hannibal? McNeil was at Monticello, only thirty miles away, +with part of the Merrill Horse. Would it be possible to bring help to +the besieged men? He would try, and he turned up a side street. + +"Hullo! Whar be yo' un goin'?" asked the guerrilla. + +"Thar's a feller up here aways I've got an account to settle with, an' +I'll git him no matter what happens," exclaimed Harry, fiercely. Then a +happy thought came to him, "Say," he asked, "didn't the Kunnel tell us +whar to rally after this affair was over?" + +"Yes, at Whaley's Mill," was the answer. + +"Wall, I must git my man an' then I'll find yo' un," Harry answered. + +On the outskirts of the village Harry met another guerrilla who told him +he had better be getting back, as Porter had given up all hopes of +capturing the soldiers in the court house, and they were going to gather +up their booty and prisoners and evacuate the place. + +"Very well," answered Harry. "Thar is one feller out heah I want to get, +an' I'm goin' to get him." + +"Better hurry up then," replied the guerrilla. + +Porter had no idea of holding the place when he made the raid. His +orders were that while some of his force should engage the soldiers at +the court house, the rest should disperse through the city and arrest +every Union man in the place; expressly were they ordered to find and +arrest Andrew Allsman, who had made himself very obnoxious to them by +acting as guide to the Union forces. + +Allsman was found in bed. He was dragged out, ordered to dress himself, +and taken away. + +Porter expected to find a large quantity of arms and munitions of war in +the place. In this he was disappointed, but he succeeded in taking the +jail and liberating a number of prisoners. + +One Union citizen was shot down as he stood in the door of his house. + +The soldiers, in defending the court house, had a few men wounded. The +guerrillas lost one killed and had several wounded. + +When Porter withdrew from the place he halted on the outskirts of the +village and paroled all his prisoners except four, and one of the four +was Allsman. + +This done he started for the appointed rendezvous at Whaley's Mill. He +expected no immediate pursuit, for he knew McNeil was at Monticello. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +TEN LIVES FOR ONE + + +Harry succeeded in clearing the village in safety, and, when about half +a mile away, halted and looked back. Porter's men were already leaving +the place, and Harry saw they had quite a number of prisoners. Porter +halted in an open meadow near the edge of the village, and the prisoners +were gathered together. + +"My God!" groaned Harry. "Are they going to murder them all?" + +But the prisoners were not murdered. They were all paroled with the +exception of four, to whom allusion has been made. + +Harry watched until he saw the paroled men start back to the village, +and the guerrillas riding away. He drew a long breath of relief. The +fact was, McNeil held so many of Porter's men prisoners that the +guerrilla chieftain dare not command such wholesale murder. + +"What is to be done now?" asked Harry of himself. "I know," he cried +suddenly. "If I can make Monticello before night, McNeil can get to +Whaley's Mill nearly as quickly as Porter. I'll make Monticello or die +in the attempt." + +Thus saying, he turned his horse to the north and rode swiftly away. He +had gone some distance when he suddenly drew rein. "Great guns!" he +exclaimed. "I have forgotten Bruno. He will stay by that blanket until +he starves." + +He reined in his horse and sat a moment in deep thought. "It's no use," +he sighed. "It's full five miles. I can never go back and make +Monticello in time. Poor Bruno! I won't let him suffer for more than a +day or two." + +His mind made up, Harry rode on at as swift a pace as his horse could +stand. Residents along the road gazed in wonder as Harry dashed past. +Most of them took him for a guerrilla fleeing from his foes, and looked +in vain for blue-coated pursuers. A number hailed him and two or three +sent a ball after him on receiving no answer. + +When about half way to Monticello three rough-looking men blocked the +road, demanding his name and the reason of his haste. + +"I'm carrying the news to the boys," he explained. "Porter captured +Palmyra this morning." + +"Yo' un don't say. But who air yo' un carryin' the news to?" + +"To Sam Dodds. Porter wanted him to rally all the boys he could and join +him at Whaley's Mill." + +This was a guess by Harry. He only knew Dodds was a leader among the +guerrillas in that section of the country. + +"That's a lie. Sam Dodds is with Porter and--" The guerrilla never got +further. Harry's revolver cracked and the fellow rolled from his horse. +Bending low over his horse's neck, Harry was off like a shot. + +For a moment the other two guerrillas were dazed by the unlooked-for +attack, then drawing their revolvers sent ball after ball after Harry, +who, as they fired, felt a sharp pain in his left arm, but he only urged +his horse to greater speed. + +One of the guerrillas sprang from his horse and went to his fallen +companion. "Dead as a doornail," he exclaimed. "Shot through the heart. +Jack, let's after that boy. I reckon one of us winged him, for I saw him +winch. We 'uns can come back and see to poor Collins heah, after we +catch him. I reckon that young devil was the famous boy scout of the +Merrill Hoss. I've heard Porter say he'd give a thousand dollars for him +dead or alive." + +Without further parley, leaving their dead companion lying in the road, +the two guerrillas mounted their horses and started in pursuit. Harry by +this time had gained a good lead, but the guerrillas' horses were fresh, +and they gained on him rapidly. As dark as it now looked for Harry, his +being pursued proved to be his salvation, for he had not gone more than +two miles when six guerrillas blocked the road. + +"Halt and give an account of yo'self!" they cried. + +Without checking his horse, Harry shouted, "Yanks! Yanks!" + +The guerrillas saw the cloud of dust raised by Harry's pursuers and +wheeling their horses fled with him. Harry now had company he did not +relish, but not for long. Coming to a cross road which led into a wood +they turned into it crying out to Harry to do the same, but to their +amazement he kept right on. + +"Reckon he's so skeered he didn't notice," said one. + +"Hold," said another, "thar's only two comin' an' they don't look like +Yanks. If they be, we 'uns can tend to them." + +Drawing their weapons they waited for the two to come up, when they +found they were two of their own gang. Explanations were made and there +were curses loud and deep. + +"We 'uns air losing time," cried one of the first two. "The feller's +hoss must be badly winded. We 'uns can catch him." + +The leader of the six shook his head. "No," he exclaimed, with an oath, +"it's all off. Thar is a scouting party of Yanks up the road. They +chased us. That's the reason we 'uns are down heah. That feller will +fall in with them before we 'uns can ketch him." + +So, much to their chagrin, the guerrillas gave up the chase and went to +attend to their dead comrade. + +About five miles from Monticello Harry overtook the scouting party, now +on their way back to that city. Taking Harry for a guerrilla, they +ordered him to surrender, which he did very willingly. + +Harry was white with dust, blood was dripping from his left hand and his +horse, white with foam, stood trembling. + +The lieutenant in charge of the party rode up. "Well, young man," he +began, then stopped and gazed in wonder. + +"Good Heavens!" he exclaimed. "It's Harry Semans. Harry, what's up?" + +"Porter is on the warpath. He has captured Palmyra," gasped Harry. + +The news was astounding. + +"When?" cried the lieutenant. + +"This morning. But I have no time to talk. Give me a fresh horse. I must +see McNeil." + +"But your hand, my boy. Let me send one of the boys with the news." + +"No, no!" cried Harry. "I must see McNeil. The wound is nothing. It is +nothing but a scratch." + +Harry took a horse from one of the troop, and accompanied by the +lieutenant and three men rode post-haste for Monticello, leaving the +troop to come more leisurely. + +General McNeil was greatly surprised by the news. He had supposed +Porter's band to be entirely dispersed. + +"You say the garrison did not surrender?" asked McNeil. + +"No, but Porter plundered the town and took every Union man in the place +prisoner. From what I could see he paroled all, or most of them." + +"God help Andrew Allsman if they captured him," exclaimed McNeil; "but +if Porter dares--" The General said no more, but his jaws came together +with a snap. + +Harry now told the whole story and ended with: "General, they are to +rendezvous at Whaley's Mill. You can catch them if you act promptly. +It's not much farther to Whaley's Mill from here than it is from +Palmyra; and Porter has no idea you can get there nearly as quickly as +he." + +McNeil lost no time. Fortunately there was a battalion of the Merrill +Horse at Monticello, and he could muster five hundred men for the +pursuit. + +"I wish you could be with us," said the General to Harry. + +"I certainly shall be," answered Harry. + +"But your wound, and thirty-six hours without sleep or rest," said the +General. + +"My wound is nothing," said Harry, "but that reminds me it has not been +dressed, and that I am nearly famished, but I will be ready as soon as +you are." + +"Only cut deep enough to make it bleed freely," said the surgeon, as he +dressed Harry's arm. "You will be all right in a week." + +"I'm all right now, except a lame arm and an empty stomach," laughed +Harry, "and I will attend to the stomach now." + +It was not long before McNeil, at the head of five hundred stout +troopers, was on his way to Whaley's Mill, every man eager for the +conflict. But as Harry rode there came to him the thought of Bruno. His +first impulse was to turn back and ride for Palmyra, but he knew how +dangerous it would be, and then he felt his duty was to continue with +McNeil. It would not make more than a day's difference, and if he +started alone, the probabilities were he would never get to Palmyra, so +with a heavy heart he rode on. + +All through the night they rode. Porter, never dreaming McNeil could +reach him so quickly, went into camp at Whaley's Mill to await supplies +and reinforcements. + +The next day McNeil was on him like a thunderbolt. Never was there a +surprise more complete. Many of the guerrillas cut the halters of their +horses and without saddles or bridles galloped furiously away. +Frequently two men were seen on one horse, digging in their heels and +urging him to the utmost speed. + +The relentless Merrill Horse were after them, cutting, shooting and +taking prisoners those who threw down their arms and begged for mercy. +For two days the pursuit was kept up, and at last in desperation Porter +cried to the men who had kept with him, "Every man for himself." And +every man for himself it was. The band was totally dispersed. + +When Porter saw all hope was lost, he paroled three of the four +prisoners he had kept; but Andrew Allsman was held, and from that day +all authentic news of him ceases.[11] + +[Footnote 11: It is claimed by friends of Porter that he also paroled +Allsman, and that he had nothing to do with his disappearance.] + +Porter did not rally his band; he collected as many as he could and fled +south into Arkansas, where he held a commission as colonel in a regiment +of provisional troops. Owing to this pursuit six days had elapsed before +Harry could get back to Palmyra. During this period the thought of Bruno +keeping his lonely watch over that blanket caused Harry many a sharp +pain. More than once he thought of deserting and going to the relief of +the animal. Those of the officers who knew the story laughed at Harry's +fears, saying no dog would stay and watch a blanket until he starved, +but Harry knew better. + +Upon reaching Palmyra he rode with all haste to the fair grounds where +he had left Bruno. He found the dog lying with his head and forepaws on +the blanket, his eyes closed. So still he lay, so gaunt he looked, that +Harry's heart gave a great bound; he feared he was dead. But the moment +Harry's footsteps were heard, Bruno gave a hoarse growl and staggered to +his feet, every hair on his back bristling. But no sooner did he see who +it was than he gave a joyful bark and attempted to spring forward to +meet him, but fell from weakness. + +In a moment Harry's arms were around his neck and he was weeping like a +child. The dog licked his hands and his face in an ecstasy of joy. + +"Bruno, Bruno, to love me like this, after I left you to starve and +die," sobbed Harry, "but I couldn't help it, if the guerrillas had seen +you they would never have let you live. They would rather have your life +than mine, and Bruno you are worth a dozen of me." + +If ever a dog was cared for and fed tidbits, it was Bruno, and in a few +days he showed no signs of his fast. + +The taking of Palmyra was a humiliating affair to General McNeil. That +the town in which he made his headquarters should be raided, every Union +citizen in it captured, one shot down and another carried off, and in +all probability murdered, was a bitter pill for him to swallow. + +He had often declared that if any more murders were committed in his +district he would shoot ten guerrillas for every man murdered. Had the +time come for him to make that threat good? + +McNeil was not naturally a cruel man; to his friends he was one of the +kindest and most generous of men, but to his foes he was relentless. He +believed that the guerrillas of Missouri had broken every law of +civilized warfare, and were entitled to no mercy. But now that the time +had come for him to make his threats good, he hesitated. He arose and +paced his room. "No, no," he murmured, "I cannot do it. There must be +some way out of it." + +Just then his provost marshal, Colonel W. R. Strachan, entered the room. +Strachan was a coarse featured man and his heavy jaw showed him to be a +man of determined will. His countenance showed marks of dissipation, for +he was a heavy drinker, and this served to further brutalize his nature. +That he was cruel could be seen in every lineament of his face. But he +was a man of marked executive ability, and when occasion demanded he +wielded a facile and ready pen. His defence of McNeil in a New York +paper showed him to be a man possessing ability of the highest order. + +Such was the man who came into the presence of McNeil at this critical +moment. He stood and regarded McNeil as if he would read his very +thoughts, and then remarked, cynically, "I haven't seen anything of that +proclamation of yours yet, General." + +McNeil started as if stung. He hesitated and then said, "Strachan, I +can't make up my mind. It seems so cold blooded." + +"The Rebels say you dare not," sneered Strachan. + +McNeil flushed. "I allow no man to question my courage," he answered +hotly. + +"Pardon me, General, it is not your physical courage they question. That +is above criticism. It is your moral courage, the courage to do right, +because it wrings your heart to do right. You feel for the ten men you +doom to die, but, Great God! look at their crimes. Does not the blood of +the Union men murdered by Porter's gang cry for vengeance? Think of +that. Think of Carter, and Preston, and Pratt, and Spieres, and Carnegy, +and Aylward--but why enumerate every one of these men murdered by these +assassins. Now they come and, right under our very eyes, carry off +Allsman, to be foully dealt with--and yet General McNeil hesitates."[12] + +[Footnote 12: All of these men named by Strachan had been cruelly +murdered by guerrillas.] + +"Say no more, Strachan," cried McNeil, "the proclamation will be +forthcoming." + +A cruel smile played around the lips of Strachan as he saluted his +superior and departed. + +The next morning a proclamation appeared, directed to Joseph C. Porter, +saying that if Andrew Allsman was not returned before the end of ten +days ten of his followers held as prisoners would be taken out and shot. + +The proclamation was posted on the door of the court house and soon a +motley crowd gathered around to read it. Some read it with satisfaction, +some with lowering brows, but the most with jeers. + +"McNeil will never do it. It's only a bluff," declared a sullen-looking +man. + +A tall, lank, cadaverous native ejected a mouthful of tobacco juice and +drawled, "Directed to Joe Porter, is it? That's a mistake; the General +should have directed it to the devil. He's the only one who can return +ole Allsman." + +"Think so, do you?" said a soldier, who, overhearing the remark, laid a +heavy hand on the fellow's shoulder. "Come along with me." + +Protesting vehemently, the fellow was taken to prison. This episode +ended public criticism. + +There were not many in Palmyra who believed Porter could return Allsman +if he wanted to; the universal belief was that he had been murdered. +What would McNeil do when the man was not returned, was the question. +The general belief was that the proclamation was only a bluff to try and +scare Porter; so the people of Palmyra went about their business +disregarding the ominous cloud hanging over them. + +As the days slipped by and Allsman was not returned and no explanation +made, McNeil began to be uneasy. He caused the proclamation to be made +throughout all Northeast Missouri. He even sent Harry on a dangerous +ride to deliver a copy to the wife of Porter, and to beg her to get a +copy to her husband, if she knew where he was. + +She replied she did not know where he was. The fact was, Porter had fled +south, as has been noted, but McNeil did not know this. + +No representations were made to McNeil that Allsman had been paroled by +Porter, as was afterwards claimed by Porter and his friends, and that he +was afterwards murdered by unknown parties. His proclamation was utterly +ignored. + +The ninth day arrived and Strachan sought his chief. "Well," he growled, +"the time is up tomorrow and Allsman has not been returned. He will not +be. We might as well prepare for the execution." + +"Is there any way out of this, Strachan?" asked McNeil, with much +feeling. "I hate this." + +"Going to show the white feather?" sneered Strachan. + +"No, but what if I issue a proclamation that if the men who actually +murdered Allsman are given up these ten men will be spared?" + +"They will pay just as much attention to it as they did to your first +proclamation," said Strachan. "General, if you do not carry out your +proclamation there is not a Union man in the State whose life will be +safe, and their blood will be on your hands. You will be cursed by every +loyal citizen, and your enemies will despise you as a coward. Better, +far better, you had never issued any proclamation." + +McNeil felt the force of Strachan's reasoning. It would have been better +if no proclamation had been made. To go back on it, and at the eleventh +hour, would proclaim him weak and vacillating, and the effect might be +as Strachan said. + +"Go ahead, Strachan. I will not interfere," he said abruptly, and turned +away. + +Strachan departed highly elated, and repaired to a carpenter shop, where +he ordered ten rough coffins made. The village suddenly awoke to the +fact that the execution would take place. Then faces grew pale, and all +jeering ceased. McNeil was besieged by applicants imploring him to stay +the execution. Among these were a number of Union men. But McNeil +remained obdurate; his mind was made up. + +Strachan picked out ten men among the prisoners and they were told that +on the morrow they must die. Why Strachan picked the ten men he did will +never be known. They were not chosen by lot. + +Among the ten men was a William S. Humphrey. Mrs. Humphrey had arrived +in Palmyra the evening before the execution, not knowing her husband was +to die. When told of his fate she was horrified, and in the early +morning she sought Strachan to plead for his life, but was rudely +repulsed. Then with tottering footsteps she wended her way to the +headquarters of General McNeil. He received her kindly, but told her he +would not interfere. + +Half fainting she was borne from the room. Her little nine-year-old +daughter had accompanied her as far as the door. Catching sight of the +child, she cried with tears streaming down her face, "Go, child, go to +General McNeil, kneel before him and with uplifted hands beg him to +spare your father. Tell him what a good man he is. How he had refused to +go with Porter after he had taken the oath." + +The little girl obeyed. She made her way to General McNeil; she knelt +before him; she raised her little hands imploringly; with the tears +streaming down her face she sobbed, "Oh, General McNeil, don't have papa +shot. He never will be bad any more. He promised and he will not break +that promise. Don't have him shot. Think of me as your little girl +pleading for your life." + +She could say no more, but lay sobbing and moaning at his feet. The +stern man trembled like a leaf; tears gathered in his eyes and rolled +down his cheeks. + +"Poor child! Poor child!" he murmured, as he gently raised her. Then +turning to his desk he wrote an order and, handing it to an officer, +said, "Take that to Colonel Strachan." + +The order read: + + COLONEL STRACHAN: + + If the fact can be established that Humphrey was in Palmyra + when Porter was here and refused to leave, reprieve him and put + no one in his place. + + McNEIL. + +When the order was delivered to Colonel Strachan he raved like a madman. +He had had ten coffins made, and though the heavens fell, they should be +filled. Like Shylock, he demanded his pound of flesh. + +"For God's sake!" said Captain Reed to Strachan, "if you must have the +tenth victim, take a single man." + +Strachan stalked to the prison and glancing over the prisoners called +out, "Hiram Smith." + +A young man, twenty-two years of age, stepped forward. + +"Is your name Hiram Smith?" asked Strachan. + +"It is," was the answer. + +"You are to be shot this afternoon." + +The young man drew himself up, gazed blankly at Strachan for a moment, +and then without a word turned and walked across the room to where a +bucket of water was standing. Taking a drink he turned around with the +remark, "I can die just as easily as I took that drink of water." And +this young man knew he had but two hours to live.[13] + +[Footnote 13: It was currently reported at the time, and believed for +years, that young Smith voluntarily offered himself as a substitute for +Humphrey; and that McNeil accepted him as such, and had him shot, after +his performing an act that would have placed him among the world's +greatest heroes. + +This is what the author believed until in writing this book he wrote to +Palmyra for the full facts in the case, which were furnished him by Mr. +Frank H. Sosey, editor of the Palmyra Spectator. + +No doubt this belief had much to do in intensifying the feeling against +General McNeil]. + +The time came and amid the groans and sobs of the populace, the ten men +were taken to the fair grounds, where seated on their coffins, they +bravely faced their executioners. + +The firing squad consisted of thirty soldiers, three to a man. A few +hundred pale faced spectators looked on. The fatal order was given and +the volley rang out. + +From the spectators there burst a cry of horror. Strong men turned away, +unable to look. Many of the firing squad were nervous and their aim was +bad; others had shot high on purpose--they had no heart in the work. Of +the ten men, only three had been killed outright. Six lay on the ground, +writhing in agony; one sat on his coffin, untouched. + +"Take your revolvers and finish the job," thundered Strachan. + +Harry, who had witnessed the scene, fled from it in horror, as did most +of the spectators. It was a scene that those who lived in Palmyra will +never forget. The fair grounds was never again used as such. It was a +place accursed.[14] + +[Footnote 14: The Palmyra incident has gone into history as one of the +most deplorable during the war. Even at this late day it is more often +referred to than the horrible massacres committed by Anderson and +Quantrell. + +That General McNeil did not violate the rules of civilized warfare will +be generally admitted, also that his provocation was great. But the +incident always hung over him like a cloud, and was the means of +defeating him for several responsible official positions. The dark blot +against McNeil was that he did not bring Strachan to account for +disobeying his orders, and that he took no notice of the awful crime of +which Strachan was accused in connection with this affair. + +As for Strachan, his acts showed him to be a brute, and in connection +with this affair a crime was charged against him for which he should +have been court-martialed and shot. He was court-martialed a year or two +afterwards, but not for the Palmyra affair, and sentenced to a year in +military prison, but never served his sentence, as he was pardoned by +General Rosecrans. He died in 1866, unwept and unmourned.] + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A GIRL OF THE OZARKS + + +In one of the loveliest valleys in the heart of the Ozarks lived Judge +Marion Chittenden. He was the youngest son of a Kentucky pioneer, one +who did much in the building up of that commonwealth when it was known +as "The Dark and Bloody Ground." + +In his youth, Marion Chittenden--that was not his name then--was wild +and wayward, and became involved in numerous brawls and personal +encounters. When about twenty years of age, in a drunken brawl he shot +and killed one of his best friends. Filled with horror, and knowing the +consequences of his crime, he fled. Although a large reward was offered +for his apprehension, all efforts to find him proved unavailing. As +years passed and nothing was heard from him, his relatives breathed +sighs of relief and considered him as one dead. + +The fact was, he had fled beyond the Mississippi and became lost in the +wilds of Missouri. Here he changed his name, and no one ever knew but +that he always had been Marion Chittenden. + +In the Ozarks he made his living by hunting and fishing, and for some +years lived almost the life of a hermit. In one particular his crime +made him a changed man; from the moment he fled he never touched another +drop of liquor. + +One day while hunting he came across a lovely valley. Through it ran a +purling stream, its waters as clear as crystal. Around and about the +valley the hills rose to a height of from five to eight hundred feet, +clothed to their tops in a forest of living green. + +When he first saw the valley it was from the top of one of the hills +where he had trailed and shot a bear. As he stood and looked, the scene +was so peaceful, so beautiful, that a longing for rest came over him. +The wild and wandering life he had led for years all at once palled upon +him. The memory of his childhood came like a flood. His waywardness, his +crime, arose before him with startling distinctness. He was naturally a +lover of the refinements of civilization, and the rough, lonely life he +had led was the result of his crime, not of inclination. + +Standing there, he suddenly exclaimed, "Here will I make my home; here +will I forget the past; here will I begin a new life." + +He descended into the valley, startling a herd of deer that bounded into +the forest which clothed the hills. But they need not have been +afraid--for the time being he had lost the instinct of a hunter. + +He stood by the side of the little river, its clear waters showing the +fish darting to and fro, as if in wanton play. A little back was a knoll +crowned with noble trees. "Here," thought he, "will I build my house. +Here will I begin my new life. It is beautiful. The stream is beautiful. +It shall be called La Belle, and this the valley of La Belle." And the +valley of La Belle it became. + +He went to St. Louis and preempted the land, for he had no fears the +rough, bearded hunter would be taken for the immaculate young dandy who +had fled from Kentucky. + +He built him a home; the range of thousands of acres of land was his, +and his flocks grew and flourished. Time passed, and other settlers +began to invade the seclusion of the Ozarks. + +One day there came into the hills a man by the name of Garland. He had +seen better days, but had become impoverished and fled to the Ozarks, +thinking that in that wilderness he might make a home, and in a measure +retrieve his fortune. His family consisted of his wife and one daughter, +a young lady about twenty years of age. + +Mr. Garland settled some miles from where Chittenden lived his lonely +life; but in a wilderness those who live miles away are considered +neighbors. Mr. Chittenden visited them, and, though charmed by the +beauty of the daughter, he had no thoughts of giving up his bachelor +life. + +But misfortune seemed to have followed Mr. Garland. He had not been +there a year before his wife died, and in a few months he followed her. + +Before this Mr. Chittenden had not thought of marriage, but now the +helplessness of the girl appealed to him. He proposed and was accepted. +He never had cause to regret his action, for beautiful Grace Garland +made a wife of whom any man might be proud. + +His marriage also made a great change in Mr. Chittenden. The house was +enlarged and beautified. He greatly prospered, and in time became one of +the prominent men in his section of the country. He was called Judge, +and sent to the Legislature, and was even pressed to run for Congress. +Against this he resolutely set his face. The ghost of the past arose and +frightened him. As a congressman his past might be traced. + +A couple of years after his marriage a daughter was born and was named +Grace, after her mother. + +Mr. Chittenden continued to prosper, and in time bought a few slaves. +This put him on a higher plane, for to be a slave-holder was to belong +to the aristocracy, and it was a matter of pride among the Ozarks that +Mr. Chittenden owned slaves. + +Little Grace grew up a true child of the mountains, as wild and free as +the birds. When she was about ten years of age her mother died. If it +had not been for his daughter, Mr. Chittenden would have lost all +interest in life. Now everything centered in her, and she became a part +of his very life. + +The death of his wife left him without a competent housekeeper, so one +day he informed Grace he was going to St. Louis to see if he could not +buy a colored woman recommended as a good housekeeper, and that if she +liked she might go with him. + +The girl was overjoyed, for she had never been away from her lovely +valley home. The hills to her had been the boundary of the world, and +often as she gazed at them she would wonder and wonder what was beyond. +The birds were her friends, and they seemed to sing of things she did +not know. They had wings and could fly and explore that wonderful +beyond. She often wished she too had wings, so she might fly with the +birds--then she would know too. + +Her mother early had taught her to read, and Mr. Chittenden had gathered +quite a library. Grace read every book in it with avidity, but they told +her of a world she could not understand. + +But now she was to go beyond the barrier; she was to see the world, and +she could hardly wait for the time to start. + +At last the day came and the journey was begun, first on horseback and +then by a lumbering stage coach. + +In due time they reached the city, and what she saw filled her with +wonder and surprise. But when she woke in the morning and heard no +singing of birds, but instead the din and roar of the street; and when +she looked out and saw no lovely valley, no stately hills, no La Belle, +its waters sparkling in the sun, but instead row upon row of great +buildings, she sighed--she hardly knew why. + +The next day when her father showed her around the city she said, "It's +all very wonderful, papa, but it isn't like home. The houses are not as +beautiful as the hills, and even the great river does not sing as +sweetly, and its waters are not clear and sparkling like La Belle." + +One day Mr. Chittenden told Grace there was to be an auction of slaves, +and he would go and try to get one for a housekeeper. The little girl +was eager to go with him, but he would not allow it. She wondered why +and rebelled, but her father was obdurate and left her crying. + +Grace's slightest wish was generally law to her father, and to be +refused and left alone was to her a surprise. She did not realize that +her father did not wish her to see the distressing scenes which often +took place at an auction of slaves. + +In due time Mr. Chittenden returned, accompanied by a comely mulatto +woman about forty years of age. The woman's eyes were red with weeping, +and now and then her bosom would heave with a great sob which she would +in vain try to hold back. + +"This is Tilly, Grace," said her father. "She is said to be a good +housekeeper and a famous cook." + +"Why do you cry?" asked Grace. "Papa is a good man; he will use you +well." + +"It's not that," sobbed the woman: "it's mah honey chile, mah little +Effie. I'll neber see her moah." And she broke down and sobbed +piteously. + +Grace turned with a distressed countenance. "Did Tilly have a little +girl?" she asked. + +"Y-e-s," answered Mr. Chittenden, rather reluctantly. + +"Why didn't you buy her too?" she asked indignantly. "What if someone +should take me from you?" + +Mr. Chittenden winced. "That is different, child," he answered. "As for +Tilly's child, a trader from New Orleans bought her, paying an enormous +price. She was nearly white, and gave promise of becoming quite a +beauty. Rich people give large prices for such for maids. I could not +afford to buy her. As it was, I had to pay a big price for Tilly." + +Grace said no more, but from that time new thoughts entered her mind, +and when alone with Tilly she tried to comfort her. + +Tilly proved as good a housekeeper and cook as Mr. Chittenden could have +desired, and in time seemed to have forgotten her child. But Grace knew +better, for when alone with her Tilly never tired of telling her about +her "honey chile," and Grace was learning what it meant to be a slave, +and all unconsciously to herself she was drinking in a love of freedom. + +As for Tilly, she came to worship the very ground that Grace walked on. +Willingly she would have shed every drop of blood in her veins for her. + +Years went by and other settlers came into the Ozarks, but they were a +rough, uneducated class, and Mr. Chittenden had little in common with +them. In time a Mr. Thomas Osborne settled about four miles from him. He +was a northern man, well educated, and had come to the Ozarks for his +health, being threatened with consumption. He had a daughter, Helen, +about the age of Grace, and the two became inseparable friends. + +When Grace was about fifteen years of age it was evident that she would +be a very beautiful woman. She was by no means an ignorant girl, for her +father had employed a private teacher for her, and she was far better +acquainted with the elementary branches and with books than most girls +who attend fashionable boarding schools. + +But she was still a child of nature, the birds her best companions. The +wind whispering through the forest told her wonderful stories. She could +ride and shoot equal to any boy who roamed the Ozarks, and was the +companion of her father as he looked after his flocks and herds. + +The father saw she was fast budding into womanhood, and sighed, for he +felt she should know something beyond the rough life of the mountains, +and, although parting from her was like tearing out his own heart, he +resolved to send her to a boarding school in St. Louis. His daughter +must be a lady; he had not forgotten his early life. + +Grace heard his decision. She had not forgotten her visit to that +wonderful city five years before, and, now that she was older, thought +she would like to see and know more of it. + +"But how can I leave you, papa?" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around +his neck and pressing kiss after kiss upon his brow. + +Mr. Chittenden clasped her to his breast. "It will not be for long, +child," he said huskily, "and I would have my little girl a lady." + +"Am I not a lady, now?" she asked, pouting. + +"Yes, yes, Grace; but I would have you know something of the ways of +society. I do not want you to be always a mountain girl. You are worthy +to adorn the grandest palace in the city." + +"I don't want to adorn a palace. I love the valley of La Belle," she +replied. "I want to live and die here." + +"You may think differently some day, child. It is only for your good I +would have you go, for, Grace, you do not know how hard it is for me to +part from you." + +Again the girl threw her arms around him. "Don't make me go, papa," she +sobbed. "I thought I wanted to go, but I don't now. I don't want to be a +fine lady. I want to stay with you." + +"No, Grace; it is for the best." And so it was fully decided. + +The time came for her to go. The parting with Helen Osborne was a +tearful one, but Tilly was inconsolable. "All de sunshine will be gone +frum de house," she moaned. "When Missy Grace goes, Tilly want to die." + +"Oh, no, Tilly; you want to be here to welcome me when I come back," +said Grace. + +Grace was taken to St. Louis and placed in one of the most fashionable +schools in the city. Lola Laselle and Dorothy Hamilton were members of +the same school, but as they were day pupils, Grace did not become very +well acquainted with them. + +Grace's gentle, unaffected ways soon made her a favorite, but there were +a few of the pupils who looked down on the mountain girl as beneath +them. But gentle as Grace was, there was the blood of a fiery and proud +race in her veins, and she soon taught those girls she could not be +snubbed with impunity. She was an apt pupil and soon became the most +popular girl in the school, and the haughty ones were proud to be +classed as her friends. + +The rules and restrictions of the school were irksome to her, and she +became the leader of a bevy of girls who delighted in having a good +time, and many were the little luncheons they enjoyed together after the +teachers thought all good girls were in bed. + +One day Grace heard the girls discussing a book which at that time was +creating a sensation. + +"It's dreadful," said one of the girls. "Every copy printed ought to be +destroyed, and the woman who wrote it burned at the stake." + +"Have you read it?" asked one of the girls. + +The first girl raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Read it!" she +exclaimed. "I would as soon touch a viper as that book." + +"How do you know it is bad, then?" persisted the second girl. + +"Because I have heard papa say so. It's all about slavery, and makes out +that the people that own slaves are the wickedest people in the world. +Papa says the book will cause a war yet." + +"My papa says," spoke up another, "that the South is going to secede, +and when it does he says there may be war." + +"Pshaw! the Yankees will not fight," exclaimed a girl from Mississippi. +"Brother Ned says they are a cowardly lot, and that one Southern +gentleman can whip ten of them." + +The conversation now took a general turn over what would happen if war +came, and it was the opinion of most of the girls that it would be just +grand. + +Grace listened eagerly to the conversation, but took no part. So far she +had given little attention to the strife which was agitating the +country. Even the conflict which had raged along the borders of Missouri +and Kansas had only come as a faint echo among the Ozarks. But now she +asked, "What is the name of the book you girls are talking about?" + +"Uncle Tom's Cabin. It's a horrid book," replied one of the girls. + +Grace said no more, but she determined to have that book; she wanted to +see what made it so terrible. The first time she had leave to go +downtown she made an excuse to go into a book store and purchase a copy. +She concealed it in her clothes and then made a few other purchases. + +"Why, Grace, what made you so long?" asked the monitor in charge of the +girls when she returned. + +"Couldn't get waited on before," answered Grace demurely. + +That evening Grace swore her room-mate to eternal secrecy, and then +showed her the book. + +The girl was horrified. "What made you buy it?" she wailed. "Why, if I +should take that book home I would be arrested and sent to prison." + +"I am determined to see what kind of a book it is," answered Grace, +doggedly. "When I see, I can burn it up if I don't like it." + +"I wouldn't touch it for the whole world," exclaimed her room-mate. +"Burn it up. Burn it up now, Grace. What if the girls found it out! We +would be disgraced, ostracized, perhaps expelled!" + +"If you don't tell, I will take care that no one else sees it," said +Grace. + +The next day Grace feigned a headache, and remained in her room to read +the book. That evening her room-mate asked about it. + +"You will never see it," replied Grace. "I looked into it and concluded +you were right; it would never do for that book to be found in our room. +I have destroyed it." + +"Grace Chittenden," cried the girl, "I believe you pretended to have a +headache so you could stay in our room and read that book! I have a mind +to report you. What kind of a book was it? Tell me." + +"Do you want me to corrupt you too, Mabel?" laughed Grace. "No; the book +is destroyed, and that ends it. It is not the kind of a book I thought +it was--not so horrid; but it makes one think. I am almost sorry I read +it." + +That night Grace lay awake a long time thinking of Uncle Tom and Little +Eva, and more than once she sighed, "Tilly is right. Slavery is +wicked--wicked!" + +Grace had been in school two years when the war opened. Even the +seclusion of a girl's boarding school could not help being penetrated by +the fierce excitement which swept through the whole country. The streets +were filled with marching troops. Many of the girls had brothers in +Frost's militia. Then Camp Jackson was taken. + +Grace heard the distant firing, saw the surging mob in the streets, but +in the midst of the excitement her father came. He had hurried to the +city to take her home--to take her to the heart of the Ozarks, where he +hoped the red waves of war would never come. + +Marion Chittenden was by nature fierce and combative, but the horror +from which he had fled had so changed him that it was only when some +great excitement moved him that his passions were aroused. He was a +strong partisan of the South and believed the North wholly wrong. It was +only his age and an injury that forbade protracted riding on horseback +that kept him from offering his services to the State. + +Mr. Chittenden's fierce denunciation of the North alarmed Grace. What +would he say if he knew she was for the Union? She resolved to keep +still and say nothing. She noticed a large number of rough men calling +on her father, and a great number of secret consultations were held. + +The first great shock came to Grace when one day her father said, +"Grace, I wish you would cease visiting Helen Osborne, and by all means +do not invite her here. I want no intercourse between the two families." + +Grace opened her eyes in astonishment. "Why, father, what is the +matter?" she asked. + +"Osborne is a sneaking Yankee, an abolitionist, and the old fool can't +keep his mouth shut." + +"What difference should that make as far as Helen and I are concerned?" +asked Grace, her eyes flashing. + +Surprised at the feeling his daughter showed, Mr. Chittenden said more +gently: "Grace, you do not understand, you do not realize the feeling +throughout the country. To be friendly with the Osbornes would bring +suspicion on me. Even your visits would be misconstrued. Do as I ask +you, Grace, for my sake." + +She promised, though very reluctantly. More than once she resolved to +tell her father her true feelings, but shrank from the ordeal. + +After that Grace did not leave the valley. Rough, uncouth men came to +visit her father more frequently than ever, and she heard enough to know +that the waves of war had rolled clear down to Springfield and that the +whole State was becoming a vast armed camp. + +One day her father seemed much perturbed, and at last rode away in +company with several men. Grace noticed they were all armed. Feeling +alarmed as well as lonely, she resolved to take a ride. Ordering her +favorite horse saddled, she soon was galloping down the valley towards +the Osbornes. Why she took that direction she hardly knew. She rode as +near to the Osbornes as she thought prudent, and was about to turn back, +when she saw a great cloud of smoke arising. + +"It must be the Osborne house," she exclaimed, and urged her horse +forward. When she came to where she could see she reined in her horse +and gazed at the scene in horror. Not only was Mr. Osborne's house in +flames, but his barn and outbuildings, as well as stacks of grain. + +But it was not so much the fire as what else she saw that made her face +pale and her breath to come in gasps. A little apart from the fire stood +a group of men, and in their midst Mr. Osborne, with a rope around his +neck. His wife and daughter were clinging to him, and even from where +Grace was their shrieks and cries for mercy reached her ears. She took +one look, then struck her horse a sharp blow and, like a whirlwind, came +upon the scene. Astonished, the men stood like statues. + +"You pretend to be men, I suppose," she cried, "and call this war. +Cowards! Poltroons! Murderers!" + +[Illustration: "You pretend to be men and call this war!"] + +Just then she caught sight of her father in the group. "You too!" she +gasped, and fell fainting from her horse. + +When she came to she was in her father's arms, the men had gone, and +bending over her was Helen Osborne, bathing her face. She opened her +eyes and then, shuddering, closed them again. She had looked into the +face of a man stricken as unto death. + +"Grace, Grace," he moaned, "another such look as that will kill me. You +do not understand. I was trying to save life, not take it." + +A shiver went through her body, but she did not open her eyes nor +answer. + +"Grace, hear me. I am not what you think. O God!" + +"What did you say, father?" she whispered. + +"That I was trying to save Mr. Osborne, not hang him." + +Once more her eyes opened, but now they looked with love into her +father's face. "Thank God!" she murmured, and her arms went around his +neck. The strong man wept as he clasped her to his breast and kissed her +again and again. + +"Take me home," she whispered weakly. "I feel, oh, so faint!" + +On the invitation of Mr. Chittenden the Osbornes accompanied him. The +next day he sent them out of the country. + +When Grace was strong enough to hear, her father told her all. Mr. +Osborne's pronounced Northern principles had made him very obnoxious to +those who sympathized with the South. "It was for this reason, Grace," +he said, "I forbade your visiting Helen. Even a friendly intercourse +between you two would have brought suspicion on me. You cannot +understand the terrible feeling towards all Yankees and those who +sympathize with them. Mr. Osborne was repeatedly warned to leave the +country, but he paid no attention to the warnings. Instead, he became +active in giving information to the Federal authorities. Some time ago +it became known that he had sent to the Federal commander at Rolla the +name of every active Southern sympathizer in the country. My name was on +the list as one of the leaders. + +"This was too much for the boys, and they decided on summary punishment, +but, knowing that I was opposed to extreme means, they tried to keep +what they were to do from me. I found it out and did all in my power to +save him, but a vote was taken, and it was decided he should be burned +out and then hanged. It was only your timely arrival that saved him. He +is well out of the country now, for which I am thankful." + +Grace listened to his account in silence, then said: "I'm so glad, +father, you tried to save him. I thought--oh, I can't tell what I +thought, it was so dreadful." + +She then seemed struggling with herself, as if she wanted to say +something and dared not. + +"What is it, child?" asked Mr. Chittenden gently. + +Looking at him with yearning eyes, she whispered, "Do you love me?" + +"What a question, Grace! Better than my life! You should know that!" + +"And will you let anything come between? Will you always love me, even +if I am not what you think?" + +"Grace, what do you mean?" he cried, brokenly. A terrible suspicion came +to him that her mind was wandering, that the shock she had received had +unbalanced her reason. + +"Father, I must tell you. I cannot think as you do. This war is +terrible, and I believe the South is all in the wrong." + +Mr. Chittenden could only gasp his astonishment, then he commenced +laughing. "Is that all, Grace? I thought--well, it hardly matters what I +thought. It was unworthy of me. But what makes you think the South is +all wrong?" + +"I do not know as I can make you understand, but, father--I hate +slavery! I think I was born with a love for freedom. I have drunk it in +from my childhood. This valley, the grand old hills around it, all speak +of freedom. La Belle murmurs it as her waters dance and sparkle on their +way to the sea. The wind in the trees sings of freedom, the birds warble +it." + +"Grace, you are poetic; it is only these fancies that make you think as +you do." + +"No, father. You know I love history, and you have some good histories +in your library. I have learned how slavery came into this country, how +it grew; and I also know something about what is called State Rights. I +believe the South claims any State has a perfect right to withdraw from +the Union at pleasure." + +"Yes, the doctrine is true. We are no rebels." + +"I can't believe it. To trample on the flag of our common country is +rebellion. Father, I love the starry flag. I carry it next my heart." To +her father's surprise, she put her hand in her bosom and drew forth a +tiny flag. "I made it, father, at school. While the other girls were +making Confederate flags, I made this one." + +Mr. Chittenden could only say, "Thank God, you are not a boy." + +"Father, you do not hate me?" + +"No, child; I look at what you have said as only the foolish fancies of +a girl. You will laugh at them yourself when you are older. But, Grace, +let me ask you a question. According to your ideas I am a rebel. Does +that make you love me less?" + +For answer she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. "No, +father, for you are doing what you think right. If you were in the army, +riding at the head of your regiment, I would be proud of you--pray for +you." + +"Would to God that I could," cried Mr. Chittenden, "and, old as I am, I +would if it were not for this infernal rupture. But, Grace, I can never +forget that look you gave me when you thought I was one of the gang +about to hang Osborne. If I had been, would you still love me?" His +voice trembled as he asked the question. + +The girl shivered and was silent for a moment, then said: "When--when I +thought you were, it was as if a dagger had pierced my heart. I believe +I would have died then and there if I had not learned differently. It +would have been my love for you that would have killed me. To think my +father was a mur----" + +She did not finish the sentence. A look of anguish, of terror, came into +the father's face. He trembled like a leaf--what if his daughter knew +his past! + +"What is it, father?" cried Grace in alarm. + +With a tremendous effort Mr. Chittenden recovered his composure. +"Nothing now, Grace, but your words were so terrible. Don't say them +again, Grace. I--I would die if I lost my daughter's love." + +"You never will, father. You are too good, too noble," and she drew his +head down and kissed him again and again. + +Oh! the past! the past! How it stung that father as he felt his +daughter's pure kisses on his brow! + +"Father, you are not angry with me, are you?" asked Grace, wondering at +his silence. + +"No, darling; only, for my sake, keep your belief to yourself." + +"For your sake I will be just as little a Yankee as possible," answered +Grace, smiling. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +A WOUNDED CONFEDERATE + + +A few days after the battle of Pea Ridge there came riding into the +valley of La Belle a wounded Confederate soldier. He was mounted on a +raw-boned, emaciated horse that staggered as it walked. The rider seemed +as weak as the horse, for he swayed in the saddle as he rode, and the +bridle reins hung limp in his hands. The soldier's left arm was +supported by a dirty sling, and the front of his uniform, if uniform it +could be called, showed it had been soaked in blood. + +The deep-set eyes of the soldier glowed with an unnatural fire, and he +was muttering to himself, as if in delirium. + +Of his own accord, the horse turned up to the door of Mr. Chittenden's +house, and that gentleman came out just in time to catch the rider as he +reeled from the saddle. + +[Illustration: To catch the rider as he reeled from the saddle.] + +"He is about done for," he exclaimed as he ordered him carried in. +"Tilly," he called, "here is a patient for you." + +The colored woman came running, and with her Grace, who looked at the +wan features of the soldier with piteous eyes. "Why, father, he's +nothing but a boy," she exclaimed. "Where did he come from?" + +"A sorry-looking horse brought him here, is all I know," replied her +father. + +A hasty examination showed a ball had gone through the muscles of his +left arm about half-way between the elbow and shoulder and then torn a +great jagged wound in the breast. + +Tilly was a born nurse. The first thing she did was to turn to Grace and +say, "Now, Missy Grace, yo' jes go 'way an' leave this boy to me. Dis is +no place for a youn' lady." + +The next time Grace saw the boy he was lying in a clean bed, his wounds +neatly dressed. His bloody uniform had disappeared and instead he had on +a soft white night-shirt. As Grace looked at him, so thin and pale, her +eyes filled with tears, and she murmured, "Poor boy! Poor boy! I wonder +if he has a mother." Then she turned to her father and asked, "Will he +get well?" + +"I'm afraid not," answered Mr. Chittenden. "He is not only badly +wounded, but has a raging fever. I have sent for Doctor Hart. He will do +all he can for him." + +Doctor Hart lived miles away, and it was not until the next day he +arrived. After examining the boy he said, "The wounds are bad, very bad. +Without the fever, I would say he had a chance, but now I can hold out +little hope. Who is he?" + +"I know no more than you," replied Mr. Chittenden, and related how the +boy came. + +"Strange, very strange!" said the Doctor. "These wounds have the +appearance of having been inflicted several days ago, and yet I have +heard of no fighting near by. Must have been shot in a brawl." + +"There is the battle of Pea Ridge; you know we have just heard of it." + +"Mercy, man! what are you talking about! It must be between one and two +hundred miles to where that battle was fought. I do not see how this boy +could have ridden ten miles with the wounds he has. He must be a spunky +chap, and I will do the best I can for him; but I reckon, Chittenden, +you will have a funeral on your hands in a day or two." + +But the young soldier did not die, although it was Tilly's careful +nursing rather than the skill of the doctor that saved him. + +For two days he tossed in delirium, and then the fever left him and he +began to mend. Tilly was assiduous in her attentions, and until he was +out of danger could hardly be persuaded to leave the bedside, even for +rest. + +When the wounded soldier became well enough to talk he told his story to +Mr. Chittenden. He said his name was Mark Grafton, that his parents were +dead, and that he had no living relatives who cared for him. "I am all +alone in the world," he said, "and, Mr. Chittenden, if you had let me +die there would have been no one to weep." + +"Are you as friendless as that?" asked Mr. Chittenden. + +"As friendless as that! I am nothing but a poor private soldier," +answered Mark. + +He then went on and told how he had been with Price from the beginning, +how he had fought at Wilson Creek and Lexington and numerous other +engagements. + +"But at Pea Ridge----" Mark stopped and sighed. + +"Pea Ridge!" cried Mr. Chittenden. "Was it at Pea Ridge you received +your wounds?" + +Mark nodded. + +"And you rode all the distance from there here, wounded as you were? It +seems impossible." + +"I reckon I must," said Mark; "but I remember little about it. It was +this way: We whipped them the first day; that is, Price's army did. +Before the battle, McCullough's men--and he had a larger army than +Price--made fun of our appearance and said they would show us how to +fight, but they ran like sheep, while we drove the Yankees before us. We +thought the victory ours. But with McCullough out of the way, the next +morning the whole Yankee army attacked us, and we had to retreat. The +retreat became a rout. I was wounded and left on the field for dead. +When I came to it was night and the stars were shining. I staggered to +my feet and was fortunate enough to catch a stray horse and, by taking a +defile through the hills, was able to get away. I stopped at a house and +had my wounds roughly dressed. It was reported that the Yankee cavalry +were scouring the country, picking up the fugitives, and, although I was +so weak from my wounds I could hardly stand, I determined to push on. +Then my head began to feel strange: I saw all sorts of things. From that +time until I came to and found myself here, I have no remembrance, how I +got here, or how long it was after the battle." + +"The battle had been fought about two weeks when you put in an +appearance," said Mr. Chittenden. + +"I must have stopped, and got some rest during that time," said Mark. +"But where--it's all a blank. I feel I owe my life to you, Mr. +Chittenden. Not many would be as kind to a poor friendless soldier as +you have been to me. I feel----" + +"No thanks, my boy; you must stay with us until you get entirely well." + +"I reckon I will have to," replied Mark, with a smile. "I don't feel +much like traveling." + +There seemed to be something troubling Mark, and at last he asked Mr. +Chittenden what had become of the clothes he wore when he came. + +"Burnt up, Mark." + +Mark gave a convulsive start and looked as if he were going to faint. + +"There, don't worry; I'll see you have much better ones; those you wore +were in awful condition," replied Mr. Chittenden. + +"But--but what became of what was in the pockets?" Mark asked the +question with a visible effort to appear calm. + +"All safe, nothing disturbed. I gave orders that nothing should be +touched until we saw whether you lived or died." + +Mark looked relieved, but he only said: "There is nothing to worry +about; but I had a little money in my pockets, and it might have been +taken from me while I was wandering, not myself." + +"We will see," said Mr. Chittenden, and he got the articles which had +been taken from Mark's clothing. + +Mark hastily glanced them over and said, "It's all right. I am glad +there is money enough here to pay you, in part, for your trouble." + +"None of that, Mark. I will throw you out of the house if you ever say +pay again. In fact, I would take it as an insult," said Mr. Chittenden. + +Mark said no more, but, glancing over the articles, he abstracted two or +three papers, and handed the rest back to Mr. Chittenden, asking him to +keep them for him. No sooner was he gone than Mark called Tilly and +handed her the papers he had kept, asking her if she would not burn +them. "Don't let anyone see them, Tilly, and burn them right away." + +"Dat what I will," said Tilly, taking them. + +"And, Tilly, don't say anything about it to anyone." + +"Honey boy kin trust Tilly," exclaimed the woman as she turned to hurry +away, highly pleased that she had been trusted with a secret errand. + +"I can now rest easy," murmured Mark, as he closed his eyes and went to +sleep. + +One day as Tilly was administering to his wants Mark said, "Tilly, I +don't know, but it seems as if I have seen you somewhere before, but for +the life of me I can't remember where." + +"Dat is jes what I said 'bout yo', Marse Mark," cried Tilly, her face +brightening. "I said shorely I hev seen dat boy somewhar. It jes 'peared +to me that Tilly had held yo' in her arms some time, an' Tilly tuk yo' +to her ole heart right away, an' she grab yo' when de ole deth angel had +hole of yo', and she sed, 'Go 'way, ole deth angel, dis is mah boy,' an' +she tuk yo' right out of de clutches of dat ole deth angel, she did, an' +now yo' air mah boy." + +Mark smiled as he said, "Yes, Tilly, I believe you did cheat the death +angel, and if anyone has a claim on me, you have. I shall always +remember you." + +"An' Missy Grace, she helped too," cried Tilly. "Yo' mustn't forgit +Missy Grace." + +"I shall never forget her," replied Mark, and there was more meaning in +his words than Tilly thought. + +That night Mark lay thinking over what Tilly had said about holding him +in her arms, and suddenly he remembered. "She is right," he almost +sobbed. "She has held me in her arms, but she must never know." + +At last the day came when Mark could sit in a chair on the porch and +look out over the beautiful valley and stately hills. The valley was +arrayed in all the freshness and loveliness of spring; La Belle was +murmuring her sweetest music. + +"What a lovely valley you have here," he said to Mr. Chittenden. "One +should be perfectly happy here--so peaceful, so beautiful, so far +removed from the unrest and turmoil of the world." + +"You talk like a philosopher, young man," replied Mr. Chittenden, +laughing. "Not many of the world would like it; the mass of mankind +prefer the rush and roar of the cities. There is little room for +ambition here. The world would never have grown to what it is if all +preferred to live as I do. Yet I would live nowhere else. Yes, it is +very quiet here, or was before the war." + +"Has the war disturbed you much?" asked Mark. + +"Yes, a great deal. As yet there has been no fighting nearer than +Frederickstown, but the hills are full of small guerrilla bands, I would +not be surprised to have a Federal cavalry force visit us any day. I try +to impress on the boys that it would be better if they were in the army +fighting, but few of them care to become regular soldiers." + +Mark said no more, but sat apparently buried in deep thought. + +It was not to be expected that Mark had remained at Mr. Chittenden's all +of this time without him and Grace becoming fast friends. Mark was so +different from what she had expected when he represented himself as a +poor, homeless private soldier, that it puzzled her. "There is a mystery +about him," she said to herself, "and I am going to find out what it is. +Whatever he is now, he was raised a gentleman." + +As for Mark, he almost regretted he was getting well. The girl had come +to fill a large share of his thoughts. He had also learned some things +that surprised him. He had heard Grace and Tilly talk when he was lying, +as they thought, asleep, and he knew that Grace's heart was with the +North, and not the South, and that she hated slavery. + +One day Tilly told Grace a story that caused every nerve in his body to +tingle, and he scarcely could keep from crying out. + +Mark was very curious to know whether or not Mr. Chittenden was +cognizant of his daughter's heresy, and soon found that he was, but that +he looked upon it as a mere girlish whim. + +As Mark grew stronger he and Mr. Chittenden grew very intimate, and he +never tired to hear Mark tell of how he had fought with Price at Wilson +Creek, at Lexington, and at Pea Ridge. + +In turn he confided to Mark that his house was what might be called a +station between Missouri and Arkansas. The route through the valley of +La Belle was little known to Federals, and practically unguarded. It +touched no towns in their possession, and thus left an almost +uninterrupted gateway between the two States. + +Mark soon noticed that a good many Confederate officers were making +their way north, and he learned that a gigantic conspiracy was on foot, +but, being only a private soldier, he was not taken into their +confidence. + +One day there came to the house on his way north the same Colonel Clay +spoken of in our first chapter. He noticed and asked about Mark, and, +when told, exclaimed, "Remarkable! I would like to speak to him." + +He made Mark tell him the whole story. Not only this, but by questioning +he learned that Mark had not only a keen knowledge of military affairs +but was wonderfully well informed as to the army. + +"It's a shame you were kept in the ranks. You should be an officer," +cried Clay. + +"All can not be officers, and I was content to serve my country in the +most humble capacity," modestly replied Mark. "Alas! I am afraid I can +serve her no more." And he touched his wounded arm. + +"I don't know about that," said Colonel Clay. "You may be able to serve +your country even in a greater capacity than you yet have. I have some +important documents which I would like to get into St. Louis to certain +parties. I will not deny that if you were caught with them on your +person it would be certain death; but I believe you are both brave and +shrewd." + +"The boy is not able," spoke up Mr. Chittenden. "He has not been out of +bed more than a week. His wounds are not healed yet." + +"So much the better," said Clay. "If he can ride, he can get through +where a well man can not." + +"I will go. A man can die but once, and it is for my country." As Mark +said this his eyes fairly seemed to shine. + +"Bravely spoken, my lad," cried Clay. "Would we had more like you!" + +So it was arranged that Mark was to make the dangerous journey. + +"Why do you do this, Mark?" asked Grace when he went to bid her +good-bye. + +"It is for my country," answered Mark. + +"You mean it is to help destroy your country. I despise the cause for +which you fight." + +"Yes, I know; your father told me." + +"You knew, and never let on?" + +"Why should I?" + +"Because father says I am a traitor to the South." + +"Grace, if I never come back, remember that there is one who never will +despise you, believe what you will." + +"Take it easy," said Clay to Mark as he started to ride away. "Don't +overtax your strength. Two or three days will not matter much." + +Colonel Clay had liberally supplied Mark with money for the journey; in +fact, the Colonel seemed to have plenty of money. + +"Clay, I don't like it. You should never have sent him," said Mr. +Chittenden. "I am afraid he never will live to see St. Louis, and I have +grown fond of the boy. We raised him, as it were, from the dead." + +"Never fear," replied the Colonel. "The same grit that brought him here +will take him to St. Louis. If he dies after he gets there--well, it +won't matter much. His mission will be done, and it may mean the +redemption of the State. What is one life to that?" + +Grace overheard the heartless remark, and a fierce anger seized her. It +was well the Colonel left the next day, for she resolutely refused to +serve him or sit at the same table with him. + +The days passed. Two weeks passed, and then three, and Mark had not +returned. Grace grew restless, her father anxious, and Tilly kept +asking, "Whar is mah boy?" + +But one day Mark appeared. He was riding slowly, so slowly, and his face +was flushed. It was seen the fever had him again. + +"Help me off." His voice was almost a whisper. + +He was helped off, and almost carried into the house, and it was some +weeks before he was able to leave it. "I do not regret the journey," he +said to Mr. Chittenden. "I was entirely successful in my mission, and I +rejoice that I was able to do something for my country, wounded as I +am." + +During his convalescence this time, Grace was with him a good deal. She +sang and read to him, and Mark thought he never had heard a voice so +sweet. Even the hand of Tilly was not so gentle and soothing on his +fevered brow as was the hand of Grace. + +By the first of August he had nearly recovered, but with August came +Colonel Clay, returning to the South. He was in a towering rage, for all +his planning had come to naught. The defeat of Porter at Moore's Mill, +and then his complete overthrow at Kirksville, the dispersion of +Poindexter's army, and his capture, ended all his hopes of capturing +Missouri by a partisan uprising. + +But one hope remained to him--that the movement in Southwest Missouri +might be successful and Independence and Lexington captured. If so, the +blow must be struck, and struck quickly. It had been ordered, but +Colonel Clay was afraid it would not be struck quickly enough. Therefore +when he saw Mark his face brightened. + +"Ah, my boy, I learned weeks ago that your mission was entirely +successful. You are a faithful courier, and I have another job for you." + +"The one he had nearly proved the death of him," spoke up Mr. +Chittenden. "The hardships of the trip were too much for him, and he lay +for days with a return of the fever." + +"He must go; I can trust no one else," cried Clay. "He is a soldier. I +command him." + +"I need no commands. I will go," said Mark proudly, drawing himself up. + +"That's the talk. I knew I could depend on you," replied Clay. + +When Grace learned Mark was to go again, she solemnly assured him that +if he did and got the fever, he would have to look for someone else to +nurse him, but her voice trembled and tears gathered in her eyes as she +bade him good-bye. + +As for Mark, he only said as he rode away, "God bless you, if I never +see you again." + +After Mark had gone Colonel Clay apologized to Mr. Chittenden for +sending him, saying there were so few he could trust with so delicate a +mission. Then with an oath he exclaimed, "Chittenden, there is a traitor +somewhere. Schofield got hold of our entire plans in regard to this +uprising. If I only knew who it was." He brought his fist down with a +resounding blow on the table beside which they were sitting. + +"Have you any suspicion?" asked Mr. Chittenden. + +"No, it is some one high up, but I'll get him yet." + +The next day Colonel Clay continued on his way to the south. In a few +days he had the satisfaction of hearing that Independence was taken and +Foster defeated. But a little later came the discouraging news that the +Confederate forces in Southwest Missouri were again in full retreat for +Arkansas. + +This time Mark was not gone as long as before but he returned in a weak +and exhausted condition. + +When Colonel Clay went away he left orders for Mark to join him in +Arkansas on his return. + +"I shall do no such thing. He has no right to order me," exclaimed Mark. +"What I have done I have done of my own volition." + +"Good for you, Mark," said Mr. Chittenden. "Stay right here and get +entirely well. Then you can help me, as I have some important orders to +fill for supplies for General Hindman." + +"Thank you. You are very kind," replied Mark. "So kind that I am afraid +I shall trespass on your hospitality longer than is well." As he said +it, his eyes wandered over to where Grace was sitting. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +TRAILING RED JERRY + + +Lawrence sat reading a letter. It was from Harry and told of his +adventures since their parting. It closed as follows: "Captain, I want +to come to you. Bruno and I are becoming too well known in this section. +Then it has been very quiet here since Porter and most of his men fled +south. I understand General McNeil and most of his force have been +ordered to Southeastern Missouri, so there is little here for me to do. +Try and get me transferred if you can. I have a mate now, a boy about my +age, by the name of Jack Harwood. He is a good one, and is crazy to come +with me. See if you can't get him transferred too." + +Dan came in just as Lawrence finished reading the letter. "What do you +think of that, Dan?" asked Lawrence, handing it to him. + +Dan read it. "Don't see what you can do for him when you can't keep me," +said Dan, lugubriously. He had been in the dumps ever since he thought +that he and Lawrence might have to part. + +"Cheer up, Dan," said Lawrence. "I have good news for you. General +Schofield finds so much requiring his attention that he will not be able +to take the field in person for some time yet. He has requested me to +take a force of fifty men and scout down through the Ozarks and then +make my way to General Blount in Northwest Arkansas. Of course, you will +go with me." + +Dan was so excited that he took three chews of tobacco, one right after +the other. + +"You can send for Harry now, can't you?" asked Dan. + +"Yes, and to please him I will also ask for a transfer for that mate of +his. He must be a good one to have Harry like him so well." + +Lawrence had no trouble in getting Harry Semans and Jack Harwood, +scouts, transferred to his command. + +When the transfer came Harry was overjoyed, and lost no time in +reporting at Rolla, where Lawrence was organizing his company. + +"Hello, you here already?" cried Lawrence, as Harry made his appearance. +"Mighty glad to see you and Bruno, too. How are you, old fellow?" and +Lawrence patted the dog's head and heartily shook the paw extended to +him. + +"Here is Jack, Captain, you mustn't forget him," said Harry introducing +his companion. + +"Ah! Jack, glad to meet you," said Lawrence so heartily and cheerily +that Jack's heart was at once won. "Anyone that Harry recommends needs +nothing more. You are more than welcome." + +"I can never hope to equal Harry," replied Jack, modestly, "but where he +leads I can follow." + +"The trouble is he wants to go ahead where there is danger," laughed +Harry. + +"I reckon I will have to put leading strings on both of you," replied +Lawrence, with a smile. + +Just as Lawrence was ready to start for the Ozarks he received a message +from General Schofield, saying that Red Jerry and his band were making a +great deal of trouble along the Osage; that he had lately surprised and +nearly annihilated a force of seventy-five men under a Captain Dunlay, +and that the victory had encouraged him to commit further excesses. + +"Can't you go and teach him a lesson he won't forget, before you start +for the Ozarks?" asked the General. + +"Here, what do you think of this, Dan?" asked Lawrence, handing the +message to his lieutenant. + +"Let's go by all means," replied Dan, his face brightening. "I am just +aching to get a chance at that fellow." + +"The same here," exclaimed Lawrence. + +Hearing that Captain Dunlay, who had been in command of the force Red +Jerry had routed, was in Rolla, Lawrence hunted him up to learn all he +could of his whereabouts, and the supposed number of his band. + +When Dunlay heard Lawrence was to go after Red Jerry with fifty men he +was astonished. "Captain," he exclaimed, "It's suicidal! Your force will +simply be exterminated. Red Jerry has at least two hundred men and they +fight like devils." + +"Never mind the number of his men, or how they fight," said Lawrence. +"What I want to know is where I will be most likely to find him." + +"I can tell you where I found him," snapped Dunlay, nettled at what +Lawrence had said, "and I wish you joy when you meet him." + +"No offence, Captain," replied Lawrence. "Just tell me what you know +about his hiding places." + +The Captain told all he knew, and when Lawrence thanked him and went +away, Dunlay turned to a brother officer standing by and remarked, "That +young popinjay will be wiser before many days." + +The next morning Lawrence was on his way bright and early. It was not +until the afternoon of the second day that he began to hear anything of +Red Jerry. He then learned that he had attacked and was chasing a small +scouting party towards Versailles. + +"Dan, we are in luck," said Lawrence. "Jerry will not be expecting a +force from this way, and we may meet him on the way back." + +The meeting took place quicker than Lawrence expected. Towards evening +there came from the front the sound of several shots, and in a few +minutes Harry Semans, who was in command of the advance guard, came +galloping up. + +"Guerrillas ahead, Captain," he reported. + +"How many?" + +"I only saw four, but I reckon there are more back. Bruno had hardly +given a warning of danger ahead when these four came around a bend in +the road at full gallop. They seemed surprised at seeing us, and after +firing one volley wheeled their horses and went tearing back. The boys +were eager to pursue, but I held them back, fearing an ambuscade." + +"You did right, Harry. We have a wary foe to contend with, up to all +sorts of tricks. We can't be too careful." + +Leaving the troop in charge of Dan, Lawrence rode forward with Harry to +where the advance had halted. + +"Seen anyone since I left?" asked Harry. + +"No, but that dog of yours acts mighty queer." + +"Plenty of rebs around then? Hello! There's a couple." + +Two horsemen had appeared around the bend. When they noticed they had +been discovered they halted and one of them, who was on a magnificent +gray horse, raised a field glass to his eyes. + +"Don't fire, boys, the distance is too great and I want to look at +them," said Lawrence. + +Lawrence took a look through his glasses and after a moment exclaimed, +"Jerry Alcorn, as I live, on that gray horse. The one with him is a +young fellow. Well, we have found the game we came after." + +At the same time Jerry was saying to his companion, "I know that fellow, +Agnes.[15] Curse the luck. It's Lawrence Middleton. It's run now instead +of fight. Where in the world did he come from? and how did he get here?" + +[Footnote 15: Jerry called his wife Agnes only when they were alone. At +other times she was known as Billy and called so by his men.] + +"Don't let's run until we have to," replied Billy. "This Middleton is +the fellow who cut your command all to pieces last fall, is he not?" + +"Yes, and the same one who run me out of St. Louis; but I hold no grudge +against him for that, for if he had not I never would have met you. +The ----" + +This exclamation was caused by Lawrence and the advance guard charging +down upon them. Lawrence had come to the conclusion that the guerrillas +were surprised and totally unprepared for a fight. This was true. They +were returning from their pursuit of the scouting party and were strung +out a long distance along the road. + +Wheeling their horses, Jerry and Billy rode madly back and after them +thundered Lawrence and the guard. When they turned the bend in the road +Lawrence saw a sight that made his heart thrill. On each side of the +road for over a mile there were open fields. Scattered along the road +for the whole distance was Jerry's band riding at leisure. + +"Tell Dan to bring forward the whole troop at full gallop," shouted +Lawrence. + +Eager for the fray the troopers came. Jerry saw his danger and was +wildly gesticulating for his men to turn back. They understood, and +wheeling their horses, in a moment were in full retreat. + +The troop came up and the order "Charge" was given. Soon the hindmost of +the guerrillas and the foremost of the Federals began to exchange shots. +A guerrilla's horse went down, but the rider scrambled to his feet and +was over the fence and running like a deer when a carbine rang out and +he fell, all crumpled up, and lay still. + +Lawrence saw one of his men reel and then fall forward, clutching his +horse's neck. Some of the guerrillas riding the fleetest horses formed a +rear guard, and taking advantage of every rise of ground would hold the +advance of the Federals back as long as possible. + +The chase had continued some three miles, when the road became narrow +and lined with bushes on each side. Jerry saw his opportunity; he knew +the pursuit must be checked, or his whole band would be captured or +dispersed. As it was, he had already lost six or seven men. He dashed to +the head of the column and quickly gave orders. As the men passed him, +three would spring from their horses and disappear in the brush, the +fourth one riding on with the horses. + +The road through the brush was a winding one, and Jerry was in hopes the +Federals might not see what was being done and ride into the trap. + +Mounted men would have but little chance in that narrow road against an +enemy concealed in the brush. But Lawrence was not to be caught. He saw +the opportunity afforded for just such a move; not only this, but he +caught sight of the last of the guerrillas as they were disappearing in +the brush. + +"Halt!" he ordered. + +His men drew rein, wondering why they were halted. When the column +closed up, Lawrence ordered half of the men to dismount, form a skirmish +line on each side of the road and to advance cautiously. + +This was done, and soon the crack of the carbines and revolvers showed +that the guerrillas had been aroused, and then the cheers of his men +told Lawrence the enemy were retreating. Jerry had failed to draw the +Federals into his trap, but he had saved his gang, for night was now +near at hand and it would have been madness for Lawrence to continue the +pursuit in the darkness. + +Lawrence went into camp near a farmhouse, where he noticed there was +plenty of provender for the horses. + +The house was tenanted by a woman and three children. At the sight of +the Yankees the children shrieked in terror and ran cowering behind +their mother, who tried to preserve a brave front, but could not conceal +her fears. + +By questioning, Lawrence became convinced her husband was one of Jerry's +band, but he quieted her fears by saying, "There is no reason for you to +be alarmed. Your house will not be disturbed. I will see that no soldier +enters it. What feed the horses need I will take. I also see some fat +pigs. I shall let my men kill one. Some sweet potatoes may be dug and a +few chickens killed, but nothing will be taken that we do not actually +need, and nothing will be destroyed. But for all I know we may be +attacked. My advice is to go into the house, bar the door and keep +quiet." + +Lawrence had had two men wounded in the _melee_ and they were as +tenderly cared for as possible. + +The men were soon busy preparing supper, and chicken, fresh pork and +sweet potatoes added to their rations, made, as they thought, a banquet +fit for a king. All were in the highest spirits as they discussed the +incidents of the day. + +"I tell you," said one, "that young Captain of ours is a good one. Not +many would have discovered that ambuscade, and we would have ridden +plumb into it." + +In this they were all agreed, and when they saw the preparations that +Lawrence made to guard against a surprise at night they became +convinced, more than ever, that their Captain was all right. + +As for the guerrillas, they felt when night came that they were safe; +but Red Jerry was wild with rage. As soon as he became convinced that +the pursuit was over he called a halt. If he wished, he could have been +miles away by morning, and out of all danger, but he did not wish. He +was burning for revenge. He detailed two of his best men to go back and +find where the Yankees camped and then report as soon as possible. +Runners were also sent out through the country to bring in all the men +they could. By morning he believed he could rally at least a hundred +men. + +"They have not over fifty," said Jerry, as he discussed the matter with +his officers. "If we can't whip them we had better go out of business. I +will have revenge or die in the attempt. We will wait until Carter and +Holmes report, then lay our plans." + +Lawrence, like Jerry, was not satisfied with what had been done. After +supper, when the men sat around discussing the results of the day, he +said nothing, but sat buried in thought. + +"Why so glum, Captain?" asked Dan. "Has anything gone wrong?" + +"Yes," replied Lawrence. "We have just scorched the guerrillas instead +of capturing or dispersing them, and by morning they will be miles away. +I look upon our expedition as a failure." + +"Pardon me, Captain," spoke up Harry, "but I believe you are mistaken +when you say the guerrillas will be miles away in the morning. Instead, +I look for an attack tonight or in the morning." + +"What makes you think so?" asked Lawrence. + +"In the first place, from what you tell me of Red Jerry, I do not think +he is a man that will run away so easily. Then through that open country +he had a good opportunity to ascertain our strength. He knows as well as +you that we do not number over fifty. I took care to estimate his +strength and he has about eighty. By morning he will have a hundred. +Instead of running away, I am confident he is not over three miles from +us, laying plans as to how he can get his revenge." + +"Do you really think so, Harry?" asked Lawrence, rising. + +"I not only think so, but I am going to know so." + +"But how?" + +"By going to see. By tracking them to their lair." + +"How many men will you need to go with you?" asked Lawrence. + +"I want Jack only. Bruno, of course, will be one of the party. More +would be in the way. Come on, Jack." + +"Aren't you going to take your horses?" cried Lawrence, seeing they were +making preparation to start away on foot. + +"Horses are no use on this scout. I hope to sneak up on them." + +"Harry, I hate to see you go," said Lawrence, with feeling. + +"Poof! I have had many a more dangerous job than this, but if we are not +back by midnight, you may know something has happened. Come on, Jack." + +The two boys and the dog were quickly swallowed up in the darkness. The +men watched them as they went, and shook their heads. "Cap oughtn't to +have let them go," said one. + +"Don't worry," said Dan. "The boys can take care of themselves, and they +have Bruno." + +It was well they had Bruno, for after going a mile the dog turned up a +road that crossed the one they were on. "We would have gone right on," +said Harry. "It's funny how much more a dog knows about some things than +a man." + +After following the cross-road a space they saw the dim lights of a +house ahead. They also became aware there were dogs on the place. Bruno +began to bristle up. + +"Quiet, old boy, no fuss," said Harry. + +Bruno obeyed and walked meekly by his side. + +But the dogs of the house barked so furiously that two men came out. +Harry and Jack sought shelter in a clump of bushes by the roadside. It +was starlight and objects could be distinguished some distance away. The +dogs began leading the men directly to where Harry and Jack lay. With +revolvers in their hands, the boys waited. They knew a shot might +destroy the object of their scout, but saw no way out of it. Just at +this moment a rabbit scurried across the road, and the dogs, with yelps +of delight, took after it. + +"Them blame dawgs," growled one of the men, "to make all that fuss over +a rabbit. But, Hicks, we 'uns might as well git our hosses an' be +goin'." + +Just then two horsemen came galloping down the road. They halted at the +sight of the two men and one cried, "Why, Sloan and Hicks, what's up? +Why aren't you with Red Jerry?" + +"Jes' goin' to start," said Sloan. "Whar hev' yo' uns been?" + +"Watching the Yanks. We're on our way to report to Jerry. Hicks, the +Yanks are camped on your place." + +"What's that? The Yanks camped on my place!" cried Hicks. + +"Sure. Reckon you'll be short on fodder and pork and sweet 'taters by +morning." + +"The ole woman and children?" gasped Hicks. + +"Reckon they're all right, seeing their natural protector is not at +home. The Yanks won't hurt them. Git your hosses and come on. We've been +gone too long now. Jerry will give us the devil for not reporting +before." + +As he was speaking horsemen were heard approaching from the other +direction, and in a moment Jerry and Billy rode up. + +"Is that you, Stevens?" Jerry demanded angrily. + +"Yes," was the hesitating reply. + +"I have a notion to have you cashiered for dawdling along the road. You +know everything depends on your report. I've been waiting an hour." + +Stevens was Jerry's lieutenant and he did not relish the idea of losing +his office. + +"Captain, I came as quickly as I could," he responded meekly. "You told +us to make a thorough examination, and that took time. I arrived here +just a moment ago. Sloan halted me, saying his dogs were making a fuss. +Then he asked us to wait a minute; saying they would get their hosses +and come with us." + +"Well, what did you find?" + +"The Yanks have gone into camp on Hicks' farm. They seem to be making +free with Hicks' fodder, pigs and 'taters (here Hicks was heard to +groan), and it looks as if they intended to stay all night." + +"What do you say, Billy? Shall we attack them there?" asked Jerry. + +"Stevens saw how they were situated. Let's hear what he thinks." + +"We might whip them, but it would be a costly job," answered Stevens. +"We had a taste of how they can fight this afternoon. My advice is to +let them alone tonight and they will think we have run entirely away. +When they are not attacked nor hear anything from us, they will move out +kind of careless." + +"Then your idea is to attack them in the morning?" asked Jerry. + +"Yes, and I know a capital place. It is where this road crosses the main +road. This side of the main road is covered with bushes for about two +hundred yards, then come clear fields. Along the edge of the fields the +ground descends this way. We can leave our horses in the field, the men +hide in the brush along the road, and when they come along we can +annihilate them with one volley." + +"What do you think of the plan, Billy?" asked Jerry. + +"It's all right. If it works well we ought to finish them without the +loss of a man. Even if they discover us, we will have the advantage of +position, and we have two men to their one. If we cannot whip them I +shall lose my confidence in you as a fighter." + +"Well said, Billy. Tomorrow morning it is. I will never rest until I +leave the body of Lawrence Middleton swinging on a tree." + +Then turning to his lieutenant, Jerry said, "As you know the ground, +Stevens, I will leave the details to you. See the troop is on the ground +by daylight. Mind you don't fail me." + +Thus speaking, Jerry and Billy rode back and in a few moments were +followed by the other four. + +As soon as the sound of their horses' hoofs died away, Harry drew a long +breath. "I say, Jack," he exclaimed, "this is a cinch. Got all we want +without half trying. Now to camp as quick as we can." + +They started back on the run, but Bruno soon gave notice of danger and +they hid while four men passed them. + +"Recruits for Jerry," said Harry. "He may have two hundred men by +morning." + +When they came to the main road both were breathing heavily from their +run. + +"Let's stop here a moment," panted Harry. "Here is where they propose to +ambush us, and a jolly good place it is for the job. But let's hurry on. +Cap can't learn of this too quick." + +Again they started on the run, and did not stop until they were halted +by the picket guarding the road. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +LIVE--I CANNOT SHOOT YOU + + +"Back so soon!" cried Lawrence, grasping Harry's hand, as he came up. +"Thank God you are back safe!" + +"Never had an easier job, did we, Jack?" laughed Harry. "Even Bruno is +ashamed of himself, it was so easy." + +"And you found out what you were after?" + +"Yes," and Harry told his story. + +Lawrence and Dan listened in silence. "What do you think, Dan?" asked +Lawrence. + +"I reckon it's fight or run. When Jerry finds he cannot surprise us, he +will attack us openly." + +"I don't feel like running," said Lawrence. + +"Well, I don't feel inclined that way myself," said Dan, resorting to +his tobacco box. + +"Why can't we occupy that ambush ourselves?" spoke up Harry, "and let +Jerry be the one to be surprised." + +"Didn't Jerry leave men on guard?" asked Lawrence, eagerly. + +"No, but he may send guards there. If we think of occupying that ground +it must be done at once." + +The proposition was eagerly discussed, but there were obstacles in the +way. Not only were there their own two wounded men, but they had picked +up and were caring for six wounded guerrillas. After a short discussion +it was decided to leave the camp in charge of ten men. If they were +attacked they were to take refuge in a log barn, and defend it until the +rest of the troop could come to their rescue. + +Dan, much to his chagrin, was left in charge of the camp. "It's no use +kicking, Dan," said Lawrence. "I cannot risk going unless you stay, and +the boys left here would rebel if you did not stay." So Dan had to +remain, much as he wished a hand in the fray. + +The ten men to remain were chosen, and the rest of the troop told to get +ready to move. "Be as quiet as possible," said Lawrence. "We have not +far to go; walk your horses, don't talk, and above all things, don't +allow your arms to rattle." + +As silent as specters of the night the troop moved away, Harry, Jack, +and Bruno in advance to see if the coast was still clear. They reached +the cross roads without either seeing or hearing anything of the enemy. + +"It's all right, Captain, so far," whispered Harry, as the head of the +troop came up, "but we must get into position as soon as possible, for +there is no knowing how soon some of the guerrillas may make their +appearance." + +A hasty examination showed the position all that could be wished. The +troop rode up the cross road until the bushes were cleared, and then +filed into the open field. Here the men dismounted, and the horses were +led back into the brush, where they could easily be concealed. The men +then were placed in single line in the edge of the brush facing the open +field. A slight ridge in front protected them from observation. + +Thus the preparations of Lawrence were exactly the reverse of what Jerry +had planned. In an incredibly short time the troop was in position. + +"Now," said Harry, "Jack and I will hide in the brush close to where the +roads cross. If guards are sent there is where they will be stationed, +and I want to be close enough to hear what they say." + +Order was given to maintain a strict silence and to molest no one +passing along either road. + +It was well that all the preparations had been made expeditiously, for +hardly had Harry and Jack taken their position when horsemen were heard +approaching down the cross road, and soon the shadowy forms of four men +appeared. + +They halted where the roads crossed and one said, "The orders are that +Brown and I stay here while Hayden, you and Singleton are to ride +towards the Yankee camp until you reach the rise where you can look down +the road to the camp. Don't go any nearer, for we don't want them to +know we are within forty miles of them. If the Yanks show signs of +moving, report immediately. Better have Singleton report every hour, +anyway." + +"All right, Sergeant," replied Hayden. "You may be sure Singleton and I +will keep our eyes open." And they rode away. + +The men left fell to talking. + +"Mighty quiet," said one. + +"Yes, but if everything goes right it won't be so quiet when the Yanks +move. Why, if the Yanks ride into the trap, we ought to kill every last +son of them at the first fire." + +Harry and Jack lay chuckling as they listened. + +In about an hour the man called Singleton came riding back. "The Yanks +are there yet," he reported, "but they are keeping mighty quiet. There's +a dim fire burning and we can catch the shadow of one once in a while. + +"That's where Jerry wants them to stay. He was afraid they might take a +notion to light out during the night." + +Singleton rode back and again all was quiet. The Federals lay sleeping, +their guns in their hands and revolvers by their sides. It would take +but a word to bring them to attention. + +About four o'clock the trampling of horses told the guerrillas were +coming. In a whisper the word was passed and in an instant every man was +alert. But the guerrillas halted some distance from the main road and +only three rode forward. They were Jerry, Stevens and Billy. + +"How is it, Sergeant?" asked Jerry as they came up. + +"As quiet as a churchyard. Hayden and Singleton are down the road +watching if the Yanks move. I have Singleton report every hour. There he +comes now." + +Singleton rode up. "The Yanks are beginning to stir," he reported. "They +are building fires, no doubt to make coffee. It makes my mouth water to +think of coffee." + +"You men will have coffee enough before long, but there'll be a lot of +blood spilling first," said Jerry. + +"Sergeant, what time was it when you reached this post?" he asked +suddenly. + +"I should say somewhere near midnight," answered the Sergeant. + +"Then the Yankees could have moved before you got here. Stevens, I +thought I told you to have this cross-roads guarded and the Yankee camp +watched as soon as we decided to attack. Slow, as usual. If this thing +goes wrong, you pay for it." + +"You know, Captain, it was eleven o'clock before I received orders to +post the guard," said Stevens uneasily. + +"Well, we have no time to lose now. Go back, have the force moved into +the field and see that instructions are carried out to the letter. +Sergeant, you call in your men and join the force." + +While these orders were being carried out Jerry and Billy lingered a +minute looking over the field. "Couldn't be a better place for an +ambuscade," said Jerry. "If the Yanks ride into it, not a man will come +out alive." + +"Hark!" suddenly exclaimed Billy. + +"What is it?" asked Jerry, startled. + +"I thought a heard a horse stamping." + +"It's Hayden and Singleton coming in from guard." + +"No, it was over there to the left, in the bushes. I'm sure I heard it." + +Both gazed anxiously into the bushes, as if to pierce the secret they +contained. + +Harry's heart stood still; was the ambuscade to be discovered at the +last minute? But the wind had risen, and nothing was heard but the +rustling of the leaves. + +"I reckon you must have been mistaken," said Jerry. + +"Perhaps," replied Billy, with a sigh. "Jerry, I don't know why, but I +feel as if everything is not right. You have told me so much about this +Lawrence Middleton that I am afraid." + +"Afraid of what?" + +"I don't know. What if he should discover this ambuscade?" + +"I will fight him anyway. I now have over a hundred men and he has less +than fifty. It will mean some loss to us, but we will have no trouble in +beating him." + +By this time Hayden and Singleton came up. They reported the Yankees +were still in camp, but showed signs of moving. + +"We have no time to lose then," said Jerry. + +The gray dawn was just breaking in the east when the guerrillas filed +into the field and formed their line. + +"Move forward!" ordered Jerry, "until you nearly reach the crest of the +ridge, then halt and dismount, leaving the horses in charge of every +fourth man. The rest of you advance through the brush until you nearly +reach the road. Be sure you are well concealed. When the enemy comes +along take good aim at the man directly in front of you, and at the +command, fire. Let not a shot be fired until the command is given. Give +no quarter. Shoot the wounded as you come to them. But if you can +capture the Yankee captain alive do so. I will have my reckoning with +him afterwards. And it will be a reckoning that will make the devil +laugh." + +Every word of this was heard by Lawrence and his men, and the men fairly +gnashed their teeth as they listened. It boded no good to the guerrillas +that fell into their hands. + +The guerrillas moved forward until about seventy-five paces from the +waiting Federals. The order was given them to dismount, and the men not +holding the horses moved forward and formed into line. + +Lawrence was going to wait until they were over the ridge, but before he +gave the order to advance, Lieutenant Stevens walked towards the bushes +as if to reconnoiter, and a few more steps would have taken him into the +midst of the Federals. + +"Fire!" cried Lawrence. + +The men sprang to their feet and poured in a crashing volley. Then with +a wild cheer, without waiting for orders, they sprang forward, revolvers +in hand, and sent a leaden hail into the demoralized mass. The effect +was awful; men and horses went down. Never was surprise more complete. + +From out the struggling mass came the groans of the dying and the +shrieks of the wounded and terror-stricken. Horses reared and plunged, +trampling on the dead and living. + +Many fled on foot across the fields, others mounting in wild haste +spurred their horses. But one thought filled the minds of all--to get +away from that awful place. + +Lawrence had given orders for the men holding the horses to rush forward +at the first volley, so his men were almost as quickly mounted as the +guerrillas. + +In vain did Jerry and Billy try to stem the tide and rally the men. They +were forced to join in the flight. + +It now became a matter of single combat. Each trooper selected his +victim and pursued him until he surrendered, or was shot down fighting. +Those who had fled on foot were first overtaken and then those who had +the poorest mounts. + +Lawrence passed several, but he gave them no heed. He had but one +thought, to find Jerry Alcorn. At last he saw him mounted on his +magnificent gray horse. He was shouting to the men to take to the +woods--to abandon their horses--to save themselves if possible. + +Lawrence bore down upon him. Jerry saw him coming, and with a roar like +a cornered beast, turned to face him. He raised his revolver to fire, +but Lawrence was first and the revolver dropped. He was shot in the arm. +Defenceless, he wheeled his horse to fly. Again Lawrence fired. Jerry +reeled in his saddle, but gathered himself together and urged his horse +to greater speed. Close after him came Lawrence. + +The chase was a wild one, continued for more than a mile. Lawrence had +now drawn his sword and a few bounds of his horse took him to Jerry's +side. "Surrender!" he cried with uplifted sword. "Surrender or die!" + +Jerry turned to him, his face distorted with rage and fear. Blood was +dripping from his right hand. He had dropped the reins and was +struggling to draw a revolver from his right holster with his left hand. + +"Surrender or I strike!" cried Lawrence, but before the blow could +descend he felt a sharp sting in the side and his horse plunged forward +and fell. Hardly had Lawrence touched the ground when he heard a voice +hiss, "Turn, so you may see who sends you to hell." + +As if impelled by the voice, Lawrence turned his head and looked into +the blazing eyes of Billy. Her face was distorted with rage and hate. +Her horse stood almost over Lawrence and her revolver was pointed at his +breast. + +[Illustration: Her revolver was pointed at his breast.] + +But no sooner did her eyes meet Lawrence's than she gave a start of +surprise. A change came over her face and her hand trembled. The muzzle +of the revolver sank, was raised, but once more was lowered. + +"You--you," she whispered hoarsely. "Oh, God! How can I take your life. +You tried to save my father. You pitied me. You--" A softer expression +came over her face. She seemed to forget where she was and she +whispered, "Then--then I was a girl, an innocent girl, but now--" her +voice rose to a shriek. "Now I am a devil; but live; I cannot shoot." + +The sound of galloping horses was heard and shouts. Lawrence looked and +saw Harry and Jack almost onto them, their revolvers levelled on Billy. + +"Great God! don't shoot!" he shouted; and to Billy, "Fly! Fly." + +She sank her spurs into her horse and bending low over his neck was away +like an arrow, but no avenging bullet followed her. + +In a moment Harry and Jack were at Lawrence's side and helped him to his +feet. "Captain, you're wounded," cried Harry. "Your side is all bloody." +He tore away the coat and shirt. + +"Thank Heaven, it's not deep," he exclaimed, "but bleeds freely. How did +it happen?" + +"I was about to cut down Red Jerry when I received this wound from +behind. The same shot must have struck my horse in the back of the head, +for he went down like a log." + +"And the guerrilla who shot you was the same you told us not to shoot?" + +"Yes. She was a woman and she spared my life. I will tell you all about +it, but not now." + +It was noon before all the men returned from pursuing the guerrillas. Of +the band not more than thirty escaped, and most of these by taking to +the woods. + +When Lawrence gathered his little troop together he found that three had +been killed and six wounded, three of them grievously. Of the +guerrillas, twenty-five had been slain outright, as many badly wounded, +and twenty prisoners had been taken. + +Some of the men were for shooting the prisoners. "Red Jerry would not +have spared us," they exclaimed. + +Lawrence immediately put an end to such talk. "If any of the men have +committed crimes that merit death," he said, "they should be convicted +by a court-martial. No soldier has a right to put a defenceless man to +death for revenge. Barbarity begets barbarity, while mercy appeals to +the hearts of the most depraved." + +He then told them how his life had been spared by the dreaded wife of +Red Jerry. + +There was no more talk of shooting the prisoners, and Lawrence noticed +that not one of them was insulted or treated brutally. + +The Federals remained on the battlefield for three days, caring for the +wounded, and Lawrence had it given out that anyone who cared might come +to claim the dead or carry away the badly wounded without being +molested. The news spread and soon the camp was filled with weeping +women and wailing children. Even some men came when they found they +could do so safely. From the number of dead and wounded claimed, +Lawrence thought Jerry's band must have been made up principally from +the neighborhood. + +At the end of three days Lawrence began his return march. A couple of +farm wagons were pressed into service to convey the wounded. With the +slightly wounded who were able to travel he took back with him thirty +prisoners and fifty-five horses. + +Great was the rejoicing when Rolla was reached, and the success of the +expedition became known. Lawrence received a congratulatory message from +General Schofield, highly praising him. But there was one Federal +officer who did not congratulate Lawrence. Captain Dunlay felt too +mortified over his own failure. + +Red Jerry still lived. Lawrence had wounded him not only in the arm, but +in the thigh. Secreted in the fastnesses of the hills, and tenderly +cared for by his wife, he nursed his wounds and thirsted for revenge. +Terrible were his imprecations against Lawrence and terrible would be +his revenge if ever he got him in his power. + +It was fated that he and Lawrence should never meet again. Jerry lived +to organize another band and he became even more merciless than ever, +and by his side rode his wife, as merciless as he. But there was one +secret she never told her husband--that was, that she had spared the +life of Lawrence Middleton. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +MARK HAS A RIVAL + + +It was in September when Mark returned from his last trip. He was so +thin and pale that Mr. Chittenden insisted on his taking a few weeks of +absolute rest. These weeks were the happiest, as well as the most +miserable, that Mark had ever spent. Happy because he was thrown +continually in the company of Grace, miserable because he felt a great +love springing up in his heart which must never be spoken. + +A thousand times he resolved to flee. It would be so easy for him to go +on one of his secret missions and never return. But he kept putting off +the evil day; it was so near heaven to be near her, to see her every +day. He believed he would be content if he could only live as he was +always. In his imagination he had invested Grace with more than human +attributes, and worshipped her from afar, as he would some angelic +being. + +Did Grace know the feeling Mark Grafton had for her? The eyes often +speak more eloquently than words, and Mark's eyes told her the story of +his devotion a hundred times a day. But this knowledge, instead of +drawing Grace to him, piqued her. If he loved her why did he remain +silent? In all the books she had read, lovers were not backward in +telling of their love. But after all, she was glad he was silent, for +she was doubtful of her father's approval, and there was that mystery +that hung over him, a mystery she had not solved as yet. + +"Mark, you are deceiving us," she said boldly one day. "You are not what +you pretend to be." + +Mark started, but soon recovered his composure. "What makes you think +so, Grace?" he asked quietly. + +"Because you have represented yourself as a poor, friendless, private +soldier. Now, I know you were raised a gentleman. You need not deny it." + +"Is that all? I thought--" he stopped. + +"Thought what?" asked Grace. + +"Nothing, only I am sorry you have such a poor opinion of me, Grace. In +saying I am poor and friendless I have not deceived you. I am as poor +and as friendless as I have represented." + +"But in other things you are silent. You have never told me a word of +yourself, of your early life. You only say you are an orphan. Mark, you +are not what you pretend. You are holding back something, and I don't +like it. Mark, what is it? You can surely trust me as you would a +sister." + +A look of pain came over Mark's face. "Grace, don't think evil of me," +he faltered. "Think of me as a friend, a friend who would willingly die +for you, but never anything more than a friend." + +He turned away and left her confused, confounded. She saw that he was +suffering, but she was angry. He had refused to confide in her. He had +even hinted she might think more of him than was wise. + +That night as she lay in bed thinking of what he had said, tears of hot +anger filled her eyes, "Would die for me," she whispered, "but would +never be more than a friend. Who asked him to be more? He is nothing but +a presumptuous boy and should be punished." For the next two or three +days she was decidedly cool to Mark. + +By the first of November Mark felt he had fully recovered his health, +and except for his arm he was as well as he ever would be. He told Mr. +Chittenden so, and that it was not right for him to stay longer. But Mr. +Chittenden asked him not to go, as he had some work he could help him +in. He had orders to gather all the provisions and forage possible. A +train was coming from Arkansas to get it. Then, some time in the month, +a body of recruits from the northern part of the State were expected. +Supplies must be gathered for them. + +Mark promised to stay, but the change in Grace cut him to the heart. He +thought she was angry because he had refused to tell her his secret. +Little did he think he had uttered words which cut more deeply. + +It was hard for Grace to think the cause of Mark's reticence was that he +had fled for committing some criminal act, but what else could it be? +She resolved more firmly than ever to discover his secret. + +It is not to be supposed that such a girl as Grace had lived to be +nineteen years of age without admirers. There was not a young man in the +Ozarks but what would have been her slave if she had given him the least +encouragement, but she was such a lady, so far above them, that they +were content to worship from afar. They well knew they could be no mate +for her. But there was one exception, a young man called Thomas Hobson, +known as Big Tom. + +Big Tom was a splendid specimen of the human animal, tall, broad +shouldered, thick chested, and he had the strength of a giant. If the +world had been looking for a perfect physical specimen of man it would +have found it in Big Tom. There was also an animal beauty about him that +captivated and charmed. + +His magnificent body was all he had to recommend him. He was a bully by +nature, and used his great strength by imposing on others. He was +inordinately vain and conceited, and was continually boasting of his +prowess. He was thought brave, for no man in the Ozarks dared to stand +up against him in a fight, but at heart he was a coward. + +During the first year of the war he was active in driving out and +maltreating Union men. Living quite a distance from Mr. Chittenden, he +had never seen Grace until the time she went to the rescue of Mr. +Osborne. He was one of the hanging party. When Grace so unexpectedly +appeared on the scene, her excitement and fierce wrath only heightened +her beauty, and Tom gazed at her in admiration. He had been one of the +most violent in demanding the death of Mr. Osborne, but now he suddenly +changed sides and demanded that he be let go. + +Much to Grace's disgust he persisted in paying her attention, and at +length proposed. Much to his surprise he was not only refused but +refused with scorn and contempt. This aroused every evil passion of his +nature. + +"You will regret this, Grace Chittenden," he cried furiously. "I 'spose +you reckon you be too good for me, but I will give you to understand +that there is not a gal in the Ozarks, except you, but would jump at the +chance to be my wife." + +"Go and make one of them jump, then. I want none of you," replied Grace +sarcastically, as she slammed the door in his face, leaving him swearing +and cursing. + +When Mr. Chittenden was informed of what had occurred he sent word to +Tom never to set foot on his premises again. + +Mr. Chittenden was too big a man for even Tom to defy. But the affair +got out and Tom, when he was not present, became the butt of the county +over his presumption in aspiring to the daughter of Judge Chittenden. +Tom knew of the merriment it caused and his pride was so hurt that he +disappeared and was not heard of for over a year. In the fall of 1862 he +suddenly appeared in the Ozarks at the head of a band of guerrillas. + +The band numbered about fifteen, and he concluded that with this force +he would show Judge Chittenden that he was not afraid of him, and that +he was as big a man as he was. Therefore, he rode boldly up to the +house. He was mounted on a magnificent horse, an immense plume floated +from his hat, and he was decked out in all the grandeur of a bandit +chief. + +Mr. Chittenden was surprised, but concluded that under the circumstances +it was policy to treat him with courtesy. Tom had learned to be polite. +He did not mention past differences, or ask to see Grace. He had much to +say of his prowess in the field, and of the number of Yankees he had +killed, and boasted he held a commission as captain signed by General +Price. The main object of his visit seemed to be to impress on the Judge +his importance. When he learned Mr. Chittenden was engaged in gathering +supplies for the Confederate army he proffered his services to help, +which the Judge thought best to accept. + +He became quite a frequent caller at the house, and as he did not force +his attentions on Grace, she thought it best to do nothing to anger him, +but saw as little of him as possible. + +"Who is this fellow hanging around here?" asked Tom one day of Mr. +Chittenden. + +"Do you mean Mark Grafton? He is a Confederate soldier who was cruelly +wounded at Pea Ridge, and found his way here. Since then he has rendered +valuable services as a courier." + +Tom did not rest until he had learned all about Mark that he could, and +then growled: "A likely story. He never saw Pea Ridge; he was shot in +some brawl. He is simply hanging around here to try and work his way +into the good graces of your daughter. Look out for him. I have been +watching the fellow; he is a sneak." + +"Please keep my daughter's name out of your conversation," replied Mr. +Chittenden, angrily, "or you and I will have a settlement. As for Mark, +he can take care of himself, and if you know when you are well off you +won't pick a quarrel with him." + +"What! I skeered of that chap! Why, I could crush him with one finger. +But no offence, Mr. Chittenden, only you will find I am right." + +From that time on Tom became insanely jealous of Mark. What Tom was +saying came to the ears of Mark, and a look came into his face which +boded no good to Tom. + +One day Mark met Tom alone, and as he was about to pass him with a +scowling face and no recognition, Mark hailed him with, "Hold on, +Hobson, a word with you." + +With a growl Tom wheeled his horse and as he did so his hand went to his +revolver. + +"Hands up! None of that!" And Tom saw Mark had him covered. He also saw +a look in his eyes that made him tremble. Death lurked there. + +"Tom Hobson, it's time you and I had a reckoning," said Mark. "I hear +you have been calling me a sneak and an impostor, but for that I care +nothing. I hear you have been linking my name with that of Miss +Chittenden. Now, I give you fair warning, if I ever hear of you taking +the name of that young lady on your foul lips I will shoot you like a +dog." + +"So it's all settled between yo' uns?" Tom managed to stammer. "Beg +pardon, didn't know it had went that far." Looking into the muzzle of a +revolver made Tom very humble. + +"Fool!" answered Mark. "Grace Chittenden is not for such as either you +or me. Neither of us is worthy to kiss the ground on which she walks. +Now ride away and don't look back. If you do you get a bullet." + +Tom meekly did as he was bid, but in his heart there raged the passions +of a demon, and he swore Mark Grafton should die. + +But what did Mark mean by saying Grace was for neither of them? Tom +pondered the question long. Light broke in upon him. It must mean that +Mark had proposed and been refused, and being jealous of him had taken +this way to scare him away. Perhaps Grace had been captivated by his +fine appearance after all, and was only waiting for him to propose. + +Again was his vanity in the ascendency, and he resolved to propose at +the first opportunity. It came quicker than he had thought for. Near Mr. +Chittenden's house was a shady nook that overlooked the La Belle. It was +where the little river dashed and foamed and smote the rocks that would +bar its passage. Here Grace loved to sit and watch the conflict, and +here she was when Tom Hobson rode by. His heart gave a great bound, for +it was the first opportunity he had had of seeing and speaking to her +alone. + +Reining in his horse, he dismounted, and making what he thought a most +courtly bow, he bade her good evening. + +Grace arose, an angry flush on her face, and barely acknowledging his +greeting, turned to go. + +Stepping in front of her he said, "Please don't go. I have been wanting +to speak to yo' un ever since I returned. Yo' un know what I told yo' un +when I went away. I'm of the same mind still, though I do be a capting +now, and expect to be a kernel befo' the war is over." + +"Out of my way," exclaimed Grace, white with rage and trying to push +past him. + +He caught her by the shoulder, "I reckon yo' un think that sneak of a +Mark Grafton loves yo' un, but he don't. He told me so," sneered Tom. + +"You lie. Mark Grafton is a soldier and a gentleman and you are a +coward. Out of my way." + +Her hand sought the bosom of her dress, but Tom did not notice. He was +white with rage. + +"I'll hev' yo' un yet," he shouted. "All hell can't keep me from heven +yo'." He attempted to take her in his arms. + +He drew back amazed. For the second time that afternoon he was looking +into the muzzle of a revolver, and the hand that held that revolver was +as firm and steady as the one that held the first. + +[Illustration: He was looking into the muzzle of a revolver.] + +"Mr. Hobson," said Grace, without a tremor in her voice, "if you do not +mount your horse and ride away before I count ten I shall kill you. One, +two--" + +But Tom did not wait for her to finish; he sprang on his horse and +dashed away cursing. + +About an hour later, as Mark was returning home, there came the report +of a rifle from a hillside and a ball tore away the crown of his hat. +All he could see was a little cloud of smoke on the mountain. Putting +spurs to his horse he was soon out of danger. + +When he reached the house he found Mr. Chittenden in a towering passion. +He had just returned, and Grace was telling him of her encounter with +Big Tom. + +"The wretch is too vile to live," he swore. "I will hunt him to earth, +if it takes me a year." + +"I am with you," said Mark, showing his hat. "I got that only a few +moments ago, so you see I have an account to settle with him, too." + +"Why should he shoot at you?" asked Mr. Chittenden, in astonishment. + +"You must ask him," answered Mark, carelessly, but as he said it he +glanced at Grace. Her face was crimson, and then grew very pale. Had Big +Tom told the truth? Had Mark been talking about her to him? + +That night it was agreed that the next day a posse should be organized +and Big Tom run down, but when morning came it was found Big Tom and his +gang had fled during the night. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +CAPTURING A TRAIN + + +It took Lawrence some little time to reorganize his troop, and to fill +the places of those who fell in the fight with Red Jerry. + +At last all was ready and the start was made. To reach General Blunt by +the circuitous route he intended to take would mean a journey of nearly +four hundred miles, much of the way through a country not occupied by +Federal troops. The guerrilla bands infesting this country were small, +however, and he considered that with his fifty men he would be able to +cope with any force he might meet. + +For subsistence he would have to depend on the country through which he +passed. He knew it was sparsely settled, but as his force was small, and +the corn crop had ripened, he believed neither his men nor horses would +suffer for food. + +To Lawrence the mountain scenery was a continual source of delight. It +was November, and the leaves of the forest covering the mountain sides +and crowning their summits had been touched by the frost, and painted in +all colors of the rainbow. It was a magnificent panorama and on so +tremendous a scale that all the works of man seemed as nothing in +comparison. + +Occasionally a small band of guerrillas was seen, but at sight of the +Federals they scurried into the hills and were soon lost to view. Only +one band attempted to show fight and they were quickly routed with one +killed and two wounded, left on the field. One of these stated that the +band was commanded by a man called Big Tom, who was wounded early in the +action, how badly he did not know.[16] + +[Footnote 16: This wound prevented Big Tom for some months from carrying +out his contemplated revenge against the Chittendens.] + +One day Lawrence stood on a hill overlooking the valley of La Belle. He +thought he had never gazed on so lovely a scene, and he wondered who it +was who had made his home in that peaceful valley. That it was a home of +refinement and luxury was apparent. + +As he was looking, to his astonishment, what seemed to be an army came +pouring into the valley from the north. It was a motley army, without +uniforms, without banners and many without arms. Accompanying the army +was a long train composed of every kind of vehicle, from carriages to +farm wagons. There was no order in the march, everyone seemed to be +traveling as pleased him best. + +For a moment Lawrence wondered what it could mean, and then he knew. He +had stumbled on the secret route through the Ozarks through which +recruits for the South passed. Before Lawrence started on his raid it +had been known for some time that numerous small bodies of guerrillas +had been gathering, and were making their way to some secret rendezvous, +from which they were to start to join Porter in Arkansas. + +"How many do you suppose there are?" asked Lawrence of Dan. + +"About four or five hundred, I should say." + +"Do you think we can handle them?" + +"Don't see any reason why we can't," drawled Dan. "Reckon half of them +will die of fright when they see us." + +Arrangements were quickly made. They were to make a sudden dash and ride +the full length of the line, ordering those who had arms to give them +up. + +Riding into the valley the troop, whooping and yelling like mad men, +suddenly dashed upon the unsuspecting recruits. If an army had fallen +from the sky they could not have been more astonished. Consternation +seized them, and many, leaving everything, fled for the hills, but the +greater part of them surrendered, begging for mercy. Not a shot was +fired. It was a bloodless victory. + +The prisoners were gathered together; they numbered nearly four hundred. +Being deprived of all arms, they were powerless. What to do with them +was the question. + +"The only thing we can do," said Lawrence, "is to parole them." + +"And they will keep their parole just as long as we are in sight and no +longer," growled Dan. + +"Can't help it. It's the only thing we can do." + +The train was now thoroughly searched and many of the wagons were found +to contain cloth, boots and shoes, and a goodly quantity of powder and +shot. All such articles were destroyed and the wagons burnt. The +prisoners looked on sullenly. + +Lawrence noticed there was a scarcity of provisions, and inquired what +it meant. One of the prisoners told him they were suffering from hunger, +but had been told they would find plenty of food here in the valley of +the La Belle. "We 'uns be jes' starvin'," said the prisoner. + +"I will see what I can do," said Lawrence. "If there is food here you +will surely get it." + +About this time Mr. Chittenden appeared. There had been great excitement +at the house when it was known that the Yankees were in the valley and +had succeeded in capturing the train. Mr. Chittenden feared that if it +became known that he had gathered supplies for the South, not only would +he be arrested, but his home and buildings burned. + +"I reckon," he said to Grace, "that I will ride down and see what force +it is, and who is in command." + +"Don't go, father," begged Grace. "You know what you have been doing." + +"It is best, Grace. They may not find it out, and if they do, it won't +mend matters for me to stay here." + +"But, father, you can take to the hills until they are gone." + +"What! Leave you here unprotected? Never!" + +"Where is Mark?" asked Grace. "I have not seen him for three or four +days." + +"Gone off on some secret expedition. Said he might be gone several days. +Grace, I believe he is trailing Big Tom. He has an idea he will return +and wreak his vengeance on us." + +Grace turned pale. "What! Mark gone, all alone?" she asked. + +"Yes. Mark seems to prefer to go alone. I don't think we are in as much +danger from Big Tom as he thinks, but there is no telling. Some of these +guerrilla bands are nothing more or less than robbers, and they care +little whom they rob. But I must go now. Don't worry. I won't be long." + +Mr. Chittenden was gone some two hours, and when he returned he did not +seem in the best of spirits. Grace had been anxiously waiting his +return. + +"How is it, father?" she cried. "I thought I saw smoke." + +"Yes, they have burned a great deal of the train," answered Mr. +Chittenden, gloomily. "The worst part of it is, it is only a small +scouting party that has done the mischief--not over fifty men--and they +have captured four hundred prisoners without firing a gun." + +"That doesn't look as if one Southern man could whip ten Yankees," +replied Grace, with a twinkle in her eyes. + +"Grace, I believe you are glad that train was captured," said her +father, with more feeling than he had ever manifested toward her. + +"I surely am," replied Grace, undaunted. "You well know I am for the +Union." + +"Grace, beware! Don't trespass on my love for you too much. Perhaps you +will rejoice when I am arrested and dragged off to prison." + +"You arrested! You dragged off to prison! Father, what do you mean?" +gasped Grace, now thoroughly alarmed. + +"It means that your dear friends, the Yankees, have found out that I +have been gathering supplies for this train. The officer in command has +ordered me to turn over everything I have gathered, and threatened to +arrest me for being an agent of the South." + +"What will be done with all the food and forage you have gathered? Will +it be destroyed?" asked Grace. + +"No; not all of it, anyway. The captured men are without food and nearly +starving. They have been, or will be, paroled and turned back north. +They will be given the food for their return journey to Rolla, where +they have been ordered to report." + +"Why, father, that is grand. The very ones will get the food that you +have gathered it for. The officer in command must be a gentleman. What +is he like?" + +"He is young--not much more than a boy. He seems to know his business; +has perfect control over his men. Moreover, he has the appearance of a +gentleman. But you can see for yourself, Grace, for I have invited him +and his Lieutenant to take supper with us tonight. And--and, Grace, I +will not object to your making known your true sentiments. It may save +me from a Federal prison." + +"Father, if they arrest you, they will have to arrest me, too. I will be +the worst rebel in the State. But, father, they won't arrest you. What +have you done?" + +"What have I done, child? Has not this house been a rendezvous for those +passing to and fro between this State and Arkansas? Has not many a plot +been hatched right here? Grace, if everything were known, I should not +only be arrested, but this house would be burned and the valley rendered +desolate. I am afraid this young Captain knows more than he lets on. But +there he comes now, with a lot of wagons for the provisions." + +The next two hours were busy ones. A detail of prisoners, under guard, +was made to load the wagons, and a herd of beef cattle was driven down. +The prisoners feasted that night as they had not in many a day. In fact, +many of them were not sorry that they had been made prisoners. + +When Lawrence and Dan went to keep their engagement to dine with Mr. +Chittenden, they met with as cordial a reception as could be expected +under the circumstances. Mr. Chittenden was deeply chagrined over the +loss of the supplies he had gathered, but he concealed his +disappointment as much as possible. + +The meal was all that could be desired. Tilly had surpassed herself. To +cook for Yankees was to her a new experience. They were the men who were +to free her race, and she looked upon them as almost divine beings. + +Grace presided at the head of the table, and more than one glance did +Lawrence cast at the lovely girl. + +"You have a beautiful home here, Mr. Chittenden," said Lawrence. "I +almost envy you. In the spring and summer it must be as near Arcadia as +one gets in this world. The scenery is magnificent. I never saw a more +beautiful sight than the mountains, covered with their flaming foliage." + +"Yes, I like it," replied Mr. Chittenden. "I chanced on the valley many +years ago, while hunting, and resolved to make it my home. So wild and +unsettled was the country then, that for some years I had to get all my +supplies from St. Louis." + +"What a mercy it is that the ravages of war so far have left it almost +untouched," answered Lawrence. + +"You are the first Yankees who have favored us with a visit," replied +Mr. Chittenden, "and pardon me, but I trust you will be the last. But if +we are to be visited again, I hope it will be by your troop, Captain, +for, under the circumstances, you have been very kind. I hear fearful +stories of ravages committed in other parts of the State." + +"Missouri certainly has had her share of the war," replied Lawrence, +"but it is the guerrilla warfare that has caused it. I trust you have +seen little of it here. Are there many Union men residing among these +hills?" + +Mr. Chittenden hesitated, then replied: "We did have a few Union men in +these parts, but the sentiment was so strong against them that many of +them were forced to leave. I do not believe in guerrilla warfare, but am +powerless to prevent it." + +"From the train I captured," said Lawrence, "I would say you were not a +stranger to Confederate troops; in fact, I have learned that this valley +is a gateway between Missouri and Arkansas, and that many of the +guerrillas we drive out of the northern and central part of the State +pass through here, and no doubt many pass back the same way." + +Mr. Chittenden winced. "I cannot prevent Confederate troops passing +through here," he said, "any more than I can prevent you passing +through. I admit my heart is with the South, and I do what little I can +to help her; but I am sorry to say I have a traitor in my own +household--my daughter here." + +"What! Your daughter?" cried Lawrence, in surprise, and he looked at +Grace with renewed interest. + +"Yes, my daughter; she is heart and soul with you Yankees." + +Grace was covered with confusion, and started to rise and leave the +table. + +"Please don't go, Miss Chittenden," begged Lawrence. "Let me hear from +your lips that you love the flag of our common country." + +"I hate to differ with father," said Grace, "but I do love the flag. +Born and living here as free as the birds of the air, I learned to love +freedom. I think this is a wicked, wicked war, waged to perpetuate +slavery and to destroy the Union. Father and I don't quarrel. He says I +am a girl, and it does not matter much what I believe. That may be; but +there is one Union flag still cherished in the Ozarks," and as she said +it she put her hand in her bosom and drew forth the little flag she had +made in St. Louis. "There is not a day," she continued, "that I don't go +out and hold it aloft, that it may be kissed by the winds of heaven, and +I pray the day will soon come when it will wave over a reunited +country." + +Lawrence and Dan could hardly refrain from shouting aloud; even Mr. +Chittenden was surprised at the feeling Grace showed. + +"There, Grace, that will do," he said, crossly. "Don't make----" + +Lawrence stopped him. "Mr. Chittenden," he exclaimed, "I congratulate +you on having such a daughter, and you can be thankful that you have." + +"I do not see why," answered Mr. Chittenden; "but I am thankful that +Grace has until now kept her opinions to herself. It would be rather +awkward for me to have it generally known." + +Grace was excused, and the men, over their cigars, entered into a +general discussion of the war, and how it would terminate, Mr. +Chittenden holding that the independence of the South was already as +good as secured. + +As they were about to go, Lawrence said: "Mr. Chittenden, you may think +it a poor return for your hospitality, but I came here tonight with the +full intention of arresting you." + +Mr. Chittenden could only gasp, "What for?" + +"Because you are a dangerous man to the cause I serve. I have learned +much while I have been here. Not only are you an agent of the +Confederate Government to gather supplies, but your house has been a +haven for some of the worst guerrillas which infest the State. Even the +infamous Porter found rest and shelter here when he fled South." + +Mr. Chittenden stood pale and trembling, for he knew Lawrence was +speaking the truth; but he was thinking more of Grace than of himself. + +"My God! what will become of my daughter, if I am dragged away to a +Federal prison?" he cried. + +"Mr. Chittenden, do not fear," answered Lawrence. "I can never arrest +the father of such a girl as your daughter, and leave her unprotected. +She has saved you, and for her sake be more careful in the future." + +"For her sake, I thank you; for myself, I have no apologies to make for +what I have done," Mr. Chittenden replied, somewhat haughtily. But in +his heart he was not sorry Grace had displayed that little flag. + +"By Jove!" exclaimed Lawrence, when he and Dan were alone. "What a girl! +She is grand, and such a lady. Who would dream of finding such a girl in +the Ozarks? And she is as lovely as a picture--more beautiful than many +who reign as belles in St. Louis." + +"Look here, Captain," said Dan, solemnly, "don't be falling in love with +every pretty face you see. What about that St. Louis girl you are always +getting letters from--Lola--confounded childish name--I think you call +her. And I've heard you rave about a certain Dorothy, with golden hair. +Let the girls alone; they are no good. I never knew a fellow in love who +was any good. They go around sighing and writing poetry and making +confounded idiots of themselves. I agree that Miss Chittenden is a +mighty good-looking girl; but how do you know she isn't fooling +us--shook that little flag in our faces to save her father?" + +"Oh, Dan, Dan!" laughed Lawrence, "when it comes to girls, you are +incorrigible. Dan, tell the truth--were you ever in love?" + +"If I ever was, thank God! I am over it," snapped Dan, as he took a chew +of tobacco. + +Lawrence spent two days in the valley of the La Belle, paroling his +prisoners, and loading up their wagons with provisions and forage enough +to last to Rolla. + +Lawrence started the train back to Rolla, and then bade farewell to the +lovely valley, which he left scathless; but for many days there remained +before his mental vision the image of the beautiful girl who was loyal +to the Union under such adverse circumstances. + +All unknown to Lawrence, he had been gone from the valley but a few +hours when there came riding up from the South a Confederate cavalry +force of one hundred and fifty men, under the command of a Major Powell. +They had come to meet the recruits, and had with them a train of empty +wagons to take back what was left of the provisions and forage after the +recruits were supplied. + +When Major Powell learned what had happened, and that all the provisions +and forage not given to the recruits had been destroyed, his rage knew +no bounds. He first ordered fifty of his men to pursue the train and +bring every man back. "Their paroles are not worth the paper they are +written on," he roared. + +"I will not wait for you," he said to the Captain in command of the +fifty, "but shall pursue this audacious Captain Middleton. I will see +that not a man of his command gets out of the Ozarks alive." + +"That will leave you only one hundred men for the pursuit, Major," said +the Captain. + +"That is so; but you know we brought arms for one hundred. Call for +volunteers from the recruits. Tell them to take the best horses from the +train, and report as soon as possible." + +The Captain in pursuit of the train had an easier task than he thought, +for he had not gone more than five miles when he met nearly two hundred +of the men returning, under the leadership of three or four men known as +desperate guerrillas. Hardly had the Federals left the train, when a +plot was formed to seize it. Nearly half the paroled men entered the +plot; those who refused were stripped of everything and sent on their +way, destitute. + +This reinforcement, so much sooner than expected, greatly elated Major +Powell. A mountaineer explained he knew a shorter route than the one the +Federals were taking, and although they had several hours' start, he +could easily lead a force that could gain their front, and thus they +would be hemmed in between the two forces. + +Major Powell quickly made his plans. A hundred men, under the command of +one of his most trusted officers, were sent to try and get ahead of the +Federals, while he, with a hundred more, would follow in quick pursuit. + +About this time Mark Grafton appeared on the scene. He, too, brought +important news. Believing that Big Tom was contemplating a raid on Mr. +Chittenden, and that his sudden departure was only a blind to disarm +suspicion, Mark had disguised himself and followed the gang. + +"I unearthed the most hellish plot," said Mark. "Big Tom and his gang +were to disguise themselves as Federals, raid the plantation of La +Belle, kill Mr. Chittenden and me, and carry off Grace, and force her +into a marriage with Big Tom. The plot was about to be carried out, when +the gang unexpectedly met the force under Captain Middleton, and was +routed. And we needn't fear anything from Big Tom for some time, as he +is badly wounded." + +Mark, on his part, was greatly surprised to hear what had happened in +the valley while he was gone. "I would go with you," he said to Major +Powell, "but I have an important engagement I must keep. I hope you will +overtake and chastise those Yankees as they deserve." + +"If I can overtake them, you may depend on it they will get the +chastisement," responded the Major, as he rode away. + +Mark then related to Mr. Chittenden more fully what he had found out as +to Big Tom's plans, and added: "If I were you, Mr. Chittenden, I would +say nothing about this to Grace, for it might unnecessarily alarm her. +She is safe, at least, until Big Tom gets well. If I did not think so, I +would not rest until I had hunted the dog down. As it is, I must be +absent for a week or two, but not longer." + +Mark waited until nightfall, and then he, too, rode away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAINS + + +It was the second day after Lawrence had left the valley of La Belle, +and so far nothing of interest had occurred. Lawrence and Dan were +riding along side by side, when suddenly a stone struck in the road just +ahead of them, causing their horses to rear and plunge. The road ran +close to the bluff, and no doubt it was from the top of the bluff that +the stone was thrown. + +A careful scrutiny of the bluff revealed nothing, and they were about to +ride on, when Lawrence suddenly exclaimed: "Hold on! there's a paper +wrapped around that stone." Springing from his horse, he secured the +paper. It proved to be a rude scrawl, telling them they were being +pursued by a hundred men, and that another hundred had been sent to head +them off. + +"What do you think of that?" asked Lawrence, handing the scrawl to Dan. + +Dan deciphered it, after some trouble, and then remarked: "A hoax, +probably." + +"It's no hoax, Dan. We may as well be prepared." + +"But where did the two hundred men come from?" asked Dan. "Even if those +fellows who were paroled turned back, they had no arms." + +"It's a raiding party from the South, in all probability," answered +Lawrence, "and we left just in time to miss them." + +"Whew! Why couldn't we have stayed a few hours longer?" + +"What! And fought the two hundred?" + +"Sure; we could have licked them easily." + +"Well, I am not sorry we left. I am not aching for a fight against such +odds; but if they overtake us, we will show them what we can do. What +puzzles me is, who gave us the warning?" + +"Give it up," said Dan. + +Harry was now called, and told what had happened. "You take Jack and +Bruno and guard the rear. Don't let those fellows get close to us, +without our knowing it." + +"No danger, as long as Bruno is alive," laughed Harry. + +"What about the front?" asked Dan. "We may run into those fellows who +have gone to head us off." + +"They haven't had time to head us off yet," said Lawrence, "and before +they meet us, I want to teach those fellows in the rear a lesson." + +The horses began to show signs of weariness, and, coming to a settler's +cabin, around which grew a fine field of corn, Lawrence, concluded to +halt, rest and feed the horses, and allow the men to make some coffee. +There were some fine pigs running around, and two of these were +slaughtered. The owner of the corn and hogs made strenuous objections to +this appropriation of his property. He was a tall, gaunt mountaineer, +and his face showed that he was both cunning and crafty. + +"Are you Union or Confed?" asked Lawrence. + +After emptying his capacious mouth of an enormous quid of tobacco, he +drawled: "I don't know. Yo' uns be the first Yanks I hev seen. I allers +reckoned I was a Confed, but now that yo' uns hev tuk my cohn and hawgs, +I reckon I be Union. If I be Union, I get pay for my cohn and hawgs, +don't I?" + +Laughing, Lawrence handed him ten dollars, saying, "I'll bet you a ten +against that one that you will be Confed before night. There's a band of +Confederate cavalry chasing us." + +"Is thar? Then I won't bet," replied the fellow, grinning. "It's too +risky. They might p'int a gun at me, and make me yell for Jeff Davis." + +"I reckon you wouldn't wait for the gun to be pointed before you +yelled," said Lawrence; "but you're welcome to the ten." + +"Ought to be fifty," growled the fellow, as he turned and went into the +house, and they saw him no more. + +That night Major Powell camped on his place, and made free with both his +corn and hogs, but he made no objection; neither did he hurrah for Jeff +Davis, for he was not there. + +The Federals had not gone far from the cabin when the valley narrowed +down and the mountains arose steep and precipitous on each side. + +"It's lucky," said Dan, "that these hills are not filled with +guerrillas, or they would be taking pot-shot at us. I will feel +safer----" + +He did not finish the sentence, for there came the sharp crack of a +rifle from the hillside, and a piece of the crown of Dan's hat went +flying through the air. He pulled off his damaged headgear and, gazing +ruefully at it exclaimed: "A blame good hat spoiled; but my head is +safe." + +"Charge the bluff!" shouted Lawrence; but there was no need of the +order. A half dozen troopers had already dismounted, and were scaling +the bluff to where a small wreath of smoke was seen curling. Before they +were half way up, there came the sound of another shot, but this time +the whiz of no ball was heard. + +Soon the men reached the spot where the smoke had been seen, and their +exclamations of surprise were heard. + +"What is it?" shouted Lawrence. + +"Dead man up here. No signs of any live one." + +"Well, look around sharp, and then come down," replied Lawrence. + +The men soon returned, and told a strange story. + +"We found," said the sergeant in charge, "whom do you think? Our friend +who sold us the corn and hogs. He was lying behind a rock; his gun, +loaded and cocked, was on the rock, and no doubt he was just going to +take another shot at us, when some one shot him through the head from +behind. He had just been shot, for the fresh blood was gushing from the +wound as we came up. But we neither saw nor could we find any trace of +the one who shot him. It's blame curious. I feel creepy. These mountains +must be haunted." + +"If they are, the spirits who haunt them must be very friendly to us," +said Lawrence; "but, as you say, it is a singular circumstance. I can't +make it out. Why doesn't the fellow show himself, if he is our friend?" + +Many and various were the opinions expressed, but no satisfactory +solution was arrived at. + +The day closed dark and gloomy; great clouds swept across the sky, and +the wind roared through the forest. It became so dark, and traveling so +difficult, that Lawrence decided to camp for the night, and risk the +chance of being overtaken. The place chosen to camp was a natural +amphitheater which ran back into the mountains. It was overhung by the +giant trees growing on the mountain. + +Supper over, the men sat for some time around their little campfire, +talking over the events of the day; but gradually the camp became quiet, +and nothing was heard but the stamping of the horses and the roaring of +the wind. + +It was nearly midnight when the soldiers were aroused, not by the guard, +but by Bruno, who came bounding into camp, growling fiercely, every hair +on his back erect. He was trembling violently, either from fear or +excitement. + +"Why, what's the matter, Bruno?" cried Harry. "I never saw you act like +this before." + +"I believe he is scared," said Lawrence. "Andrew Jackson! Bruno scared!" + +"I never knew him to be scared," said Harry, "but I believe he is. See +how he trembles." + +Before an investigation could be made, the horses began to rear and +plunge, and the sentinels called out they were breaking loose. + +"See to the horses," shouted Lawrence. + +The men were just in time, as several of the horses had broken their +halters. As it was, they had hard work to keep them from getting away. + +"The horses are badly frightened. They are trembling like leaves," said +the men. + +"It must be some wild animal," said Lawrence. "Men, stay by the horses; +Dan, Harry and I will investigate." + +Lawrence took a burning brand from the fire, and all three, well armed, +started to find the cause of the trouble. Bruno at first hung back, but +when he saw Harry start, he followed; but it was noticed he kept close +to his master's side. + +The dog kept looking to the cliff back of their encampment. A large tree +grew close to the cliff, and an animal could spring into it from the +cliff. Cautiously the three men advanced. + +"See there," said Dan, pointing up in the tree. + +Lawrence looked, and saw up in the tree what looked like two coals of +fire. + +"Hold your brand where I can see the sights of my gun," whispered Dan. + +Lawrence did so. Dan took a quick aim and fired. There came a terrible +scream, a crashing among the branches, and then a huge panther lay +struggling on the ground, tearing up the earth in his death agony. + +Bruno seemed to have recovered from his fright, for he was about to +spring on the struggling animal, when Harry cried, "Back, Bruno, back!" + +Still Bruno would have rushed to his fate if Lawrence had not struck him +a sharp rap over the nose with the burning brand. + +At last the beast lay still. + +"That was a good shot, Dan," said Lawrence. The ball had struck the +panther squarely between the eyes. + +"What could have induced him to visit our camp?" asked Harry. + +"The smell of the meat the boys roasted for supper," replied Dan. "You +know, we brought along some of those pigs we had for dinner." + +Some of the soldiers insisted on skinning the beast and taking the skin +along as a trophy. As it was, there was little more sleep in the camp, +for the horses continued to be restless, and it was hard to keep them +quieted. + +"The panther's mate may be around," said Dan. "It is well to be on the +lookout." + +Bruno was of no more use, for he had become sulky and gone and lain +down. He could not understand that the blow Lawrence gave him had saved +his life. + +If there was another panther around, he did not show himself, and at the +break of day the troop was once more on the way. + +Along in the afternoon, Harry came rapidly riding from the rear, saying +the foremost of the pursuers had been sighted. Hardly had he made his +report when the faint sound of three or four shots was heard. + +"Harry, you, with Dan and Bruno, now take the advance," commanded +Lawrence. "That is where we will have to look now for a surprise. Dan, +take command, and ride at a good pace. I, with ten men, will look to the +rear, and hold back the enemy." + +"Why not stop and fight them?" grumbled Dan. "I don't like this idea of +running." + +"Because I don't wish to have a battle here, if I can help it," replied +Lawrence. "If we fight, especially on anything like even terms, some of +the men will be sure to be killed or wounded. Think of leaving any of +the boys here in the mountains, wounded! It would be better for them to +be shot than left wounded, for they would be sure to be murdered by +guerrillas." + +"Reckon you are right; but it is against my principles to run," sighed +Dan. + +"Don't be downhearted, old fellow," laughed Lawrence. "I expect to give +them a fight; but I want to choose the ground and the manner of +fighting." + +Dan's face brightened. "That's all right, Captain," he exclaimed. "I +might have known you were up to some of your tricks." + +Lawrence now rode back to take charge of the rear. Major Powell, knowing +he had two men to Lawrence's one, eagerly pressed forward; but his +enthusiasm was a little cooled when his advance was driven back with a +loss of one killed and two wounded, and he began to be a little more +careful. + +By taking advantage of every little inequality of ground, Lawrence was +able to hold the enemy well in check for some miles; but at length they +came to a place where the valley spread out, and flank movements were +easy, and it soon became a test of speed and endurance of the horses. + +"This will never do," thought Lawrence. "I must find a place to stop and +fight them, and that soon." + +Leaving the rear guard in charge of a sergeant, he rode rapidly to the +front. + +"Horses getting winded," said Dan. "We will have to stop and fight." + +"At the first favorable place, Dan. Tell the boys to keep up the pace a +little longer." + +Lawrence now urged his horse to his utmost speed. He rode two or three +miles without finding a favorable place for an ambuscade, and was about +to halt and choose as good ground as possible and give battle. He had no +fears of the result--only that many of his men might be killed or +wounded. Just as he came to this conclusion, to his delight, he saw the +valley close in front of him. A great hill pushed into it, leaving only +a narrow gateway. Beyond this the valley turned, and the force would be +entirely concealed by the hill. It took Lawrence but a minute to form +his plan of battle. Just before the gateway was reached, the road ran +close to the base of the mountain, which was thickly wooded. + +Dan, in command of the advance, now dashed up. "Captain, we must fight. +The horses are all in." + +"Yes, Dan, it's fight now. Dismount your men, and have the horses taken +around that point, out of sight. One man can care for six horses. +Conceal the rest of your force in the brush along the base of the +mountain. Be quick. If I succeed in leading them into the trap, you will +know what to do." Thus saying, Lawrence clapped spurs to his horse, and +rode for the rear. + +Lawrence found the rear guard hard pressed. + +"Look out, Captain; they are flanking us, and you are in range," called +one of the men. + +Just then three or four balls whizzed close to Lawrence's head. Wheeling +his horse, he shouted, "Follow me!" and the rear guard went down the +road as if in swift retreat. The enemy followed with wild cheers. + +The rapid pursuit had strung out the Confederates, and Major Powell had +ridden back to hurry up the stragglers, leaving the advance in charge of +his senior captain. This officer, thinking the Yankees in full retreat, +and that he might gain some honor, pressed the pursuit with vigor. + +Straight past where Dan and his men were concealed, Lawrence rode, but +he halted his little squad where the valley narrowed. + +If the Confederates had not been so eager in the pursuit, they might +have seen the bushes tremble or caught the gleam of a gun barrel; but +they only had eyes for the flying Yankees. When they saw the Federals +had halted, they also halted, taking time to close up, and that was just +what Lawrence wanted. + +Ordering his men to fire a volley, Lawrence again wheeled as if in +retreat. + +"Forward!" shouted the Confederate captain. "Charge! Ride over them!" + +Suddenly, from the side of the road, there came a crashing volley. The +destruction was awful; men and horses went down in heaps. + +"Wheel and charge!" shouted Lawrence; and down on the terror-stricken +Confederates came Lawrence with his ten men. The panic became a rout. +The enemy thought only of getting away. In vain Major Powell tried to +stop his men; he, too, was borne back in the confusion. + +Quickly as possible, Dan had the horses brought up, and he and his men +joined in the pursuit. For two miles it was kept up; then Lawrence +ordered a halt. He saw that Major Powell had succeeded in rallying some +of his men, and taken a position that could not be carried without loss. + +All along the road lay dead and wounded men and horses, and where the +first volley was fired the road was filled with the dead and dying. + +It was a sight that made Lawrence's heart ache; but he could not stop +even to give relief, for Harry and Jack came back with the startling +news that there was a large force in front, not more than three miles +away. + +Lawrence rallied his men, and, to his intense relief, found he had only +three men slightly wounded. It was almost a bloodless victory. The +question was, what to do now. While debating, one of the men suddenly +exclaimed, "Look, there!" + +On a rock on the mountain-side, some three hundred yards away, stood the +figure of an old man. A long white beard swept his breast, and he was +bent with age. He stood leaning on a staff, as if weary. + +[Illustration: An old man leaning on a staff.] + +When he saw he was seen, he beckoned for some one to come to him. Two or +three of the soldiers started, but he peremptorily waved them back. +Lawrence then started, and the old man stood still. + +"Don't go, Captain," cried the men. "It may be a trap." + +"I will be careful," replied Lawrence. "Shoot at the first sign of +treachery." + +A dozen carbines covered the old man, but he did not seem to notice it. +When Lawrence was within about fifty yards of him, he motioned for him +to stop; then, in a high, cracked voice, exclaimed: "There is danger +ahead." + +"I know it," replied Lawrence. + +"A little ahead, close to that large tree, you will find a faint trail. +Take it. It will lead you over the mountain into another valley, where +you can go on your way in safety. Delay twenty minutes, and all will be +lost. Farewell." + +The old man stepped from the rock and disappeared. Lawrence rushed to +where he had been standing. Nothing was to be seen. It was as if the +earth had swallowed him. + +He returned and told what had happened, and the wonderment was great. + +"No time to lose," exclaimed Lawrence. "I shall take his advice." + +In single file, the men turned into the trail. The way was steep, but +not impassable, and soon the forest swallowed them up. + +Not until they were over the mountain, was there any opportunity of +discussing the strange warning they had received. + +"Can it be that old man has been our guardian angel all the time?" asked +Lawrence. + +"Impossible," said Dan. "We received the first warning when we had +hardly left the valley of La Belle. We have come fast. How could that +old man have come over the mountains and got ahead of us?" + +"And where did he go when he disappeared so suddenly?" asked one. + +"And who shot the guerrilla?" questioned another. + +"It's a secret only the mountains can tell. I have heard they were +haunted," said Dan. + +"It's God's hand," said one of the men, a solemn, clerical-looking +fellow, whom the men called Preacher. Before he was a soldier, he had +been a Methodist class leader; and there was not a braver man in the +company. + +Argue as they might, they could come to no conclusion. To them it was a +mystery that was never solved. + +It was weeks before Lawrence fully knew of the danger from which the old +man had saved him. Captain Turner, in his swift ride to get ahead of +him, had fallen in with a scouting party of fifty Confederate cavalry; +not only this, but his force had been augmented by guerrillas until he +had fully two hundred men, well armed and mounted. Had Lawrence met this +force in the narrow valley, he could not have escaped defeat. + +The horror and amazement of the advance guard of Turner's force may be +imagined when they came upon the scene of conflict. That the battle had +just been fought, was evident; the smoke of the conflict had not +entirely cleared from the field. What was more surprising, not an armed +man was in sight--neither Federal nor Confederate. + +They listened, but could hear no sound of conflict. Captain Turner came +up. For a moment he gazed on the scene of carnage, and then cried: +"Great God! Major Powell ran into an ambuscade, and his force has been +annihilated. The dead are all our men. But where are the Yankees?" + +"Doubtless in pursuit of the few of the Major's force that escaped," +replied an officer. + +"That is so," cried Turner. "Forward, men! Let our war-cry be: 'Powell +and Revenge!' Give no quarter! Let every one of the cursed Yankees die." + +They rode nearly four miles before they came on to Major Powell and the +remnant of his force. They had continued falling back until they were +certain they were not pursued. + +Of his hundred men, the Major had succeeded in rallying about forty. The +rest had been killed or wounded, or had fled. Some of them did not stop +until they reached the valley of La Belle, bringing with them the story +of the disaster, saying that of all of Powell's force they alone +escaped. + +"Did you meet and exterminate the Yankees?" was the first question put +to Captain Turner by Major Powell. + +"I have seen no Yankees," was the surprising answer. + +Major Powell could only gasp, "Seen no Yankees?" + +"No; not one." + +"Then the mountains must have opened and swallowed them." + +Full explanations were made, and the force returned to bury the dead and +care for the wounded. The only possible explanation they could make for +the disappearance of the Federals was that they had hid on the +mountain-side and let the force of Captain Turner pass, then come down +and resumed their flight. + +As they debated, suddenly, above them, on the mountain-side, appeared +the figure of an old man, and his voice came down to them, loud and +shrill: "Woe, woe, woe to them who raise their hands against the flag of +their country!" + +"Damn him! Fire!" shouted Turner. + +A hundred rifles blazed. There came back to them a mocking laugh, and +the old man disappeared. The mountain was scoured, but not a trace of +him could be found. + +A superstitious fear fell upon the whole force. The old man must have +been the devil, they argued, and he had helped the Yankees to escape. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +MARK CONFESSES HIS LOVE + + +It was a day or two after the appearance of the fugitives from Powell's +force that Mark Grafton returned to the La Belle. He seemed tired and +careworn, but reported that his trip had been entirely successful. + +When told of the disastrous defeat of Powell's force, he was astounded. +"Had I expected such a result," he exclaimed, "I would have gone with +him. Ran into an ambuscade, did he? I believe, if I had been with him, I +could have prevented that, for I am used to fighting just such fellows, +and am up to all their tricks." + +"You seem to have a good opinion of yourself," remarked Grace, somewhat +sarcastically. + +What she said, and the tone in which she said it, cut Mark to the heart. +"Your rebuke is just, Grace. No man should boast," he said, as he turned +away. + +That night Mark lay thinking. That Grace had changed, he could plainly +see. It must be because he had refused to tell her his secret. "I must +go away, and never return," he sighed. "It is the only way. If I could +only stay near her, to see her every day, to be her slave, I would be +contented." + +Then the thought of Big Tom came into his mind. He knew there was real +danger from that source. No one knew better than he what the guerrillas +of the State were fast becoming--bands of robbers that preyed on friend +and foe alike. He felt that Mr. Chittenden's being a Confederate would +not save him. To go away and leave Grace exposed to such a great danger +would be to him a torture. + +Sleep did not visit him that night, and when morning came he was no +nearer a decision than he was the night before. He arose; white and +haggard. The lines in his face showed what he had suffered. + +That night also seemed to have changed Grace. She came to him and, +holding out her hand, said: "Mark, I'm sorry I spoke as I did last +night. Forgive me." Then, looking at him, she cried: "Foolish boy! I +believe you took to heart what I said. Mark, did it hurt you so?" + +"There is nothing to forgive, Grace," he replied, gently. "I passed a +restless night, but it was not what you said that caused it, but the +thought that I had already remained here too long; and yet it is hard to +go from those who are so kind to me." + +"Why go at all?" asked Grace. "You belong here. Did we not bring you +back from the very brink of the grave? I have heard father say he wished +you would always remain. He has taken a great fancy to you." + +A great light came into Mark's face. He took a step toward her, as if he +would clasp her in his arms. "Grace! Grace!" he cried, then stopped and +turned deadly pale. + +"Mark, what is it? Are you sick?" asked Grace, anxiously. + +"No; I did turn a little faint, but I am over it now. I will think over +what you said." + +He did think it over, and came to the conclusion that he must go; for, +if he stayed, the time would come when he would have to confess his love +for Grace. He trembled when he realized how near he had come to telling +her. But it was not many hours before he was telling her. + +A man came riding into the valley from the north. He was burning with +fever, and reeled from side to side in his saddle. He was lifted from +his horse, and carried into the house. + +"I am afraid I am done for," he said, faintly, as he was gently placed +on a bed. "I was told I would find a crippled Confederate soldier here, +called Mark Grafton, who sometimes acts as the bearer of dispatches. Is +he here now?" + +"He is," answered Mr. Chittenden. + +"I must see him--see him before it is too late. I feel the hand of Death +upon me." + +Mark was called, and the sick man, between gasps, told his story. He +said his name was Paul Dupont, and he was the bearer of important +dispatches to General Hindman. "I was sick at the time they asked me to +carry them, and tried to beg off, but they said the dispatches were so +important they could only be trusted to a brave and trusty man, and they +knew I was one. 'Carry them as far as Judge Chittenden's, on the La +Belle,' they said; 'then, if you are not able to go farther, deliver +them into the hands of a crippled Confederate soldier there, by the name +of Mark Grafton.' I can go no farther. The hand of Death is already on +me. You will find the dispatches sewed in the lining of my coat. Take +them and deliver them into the hands of General Hindman." + +"To Hindman!" gasped Mark. + +"Yes--don't fail!" whispered Dupont, as he sank back on his pillow, +exhausted. He closed his eyes; his breath came shorter and shorter, and +he soon passed away, without speaking again. + +Mark stood as one confounded. A sacred trust had been committed to +him--one that took him where he never wished to go--into Arkansas. No +one except himself could realize the dangers that he would run. + +When Mr. Chittenden heard of the dead man's request, he said: "Mark, +will you go? Those dispatches mean much; they may mean the redemption of +the State. But the danger--Mark, I hate to see you go." + +Mark thought a moment, and then, drawing himself up to his full height, +his face set and determined, he answered: "I will go. It is a sacred +trust--it is for my country." + +Mr. Chittenden and Mark searched the effects of the dead man, and found +the dispatches as stated. They also found he had about one hundred +dollars in Federal money and two thousand dollars in Confederate money +on his person. Among the papers found was a pass from General Hindman, +asking all good Confederates to aid the bearer all possible. + +"No doubt Dupont was a trusty spy for General Hindman," said Mr. +Chittenden. "Mark, you are stepping into dangerous shoes; yet, if you +were my son, I should bid you go. As for the money, keep that; no doubt +it was given Dupont for expenses, and you are now in his place." + +Mark's preparations were soon made, but the roll which he strapped +behind his saddle was much larger than he generally took. When he was +ready, he sought Grace, to say good-bye. She was not in the house, and +knew nothing of what had taken place. + +He sought her in her favorite nook by the side of the La Belle, and +there he found her gazing pensively into the water. Mark thought there +was a look of sadness on her face. She looked up in surprise as he rode +up. + +"Going away so soon?" she asked. + +Dismounting, Mark hitched his horse, and, going up to her, said: "Yes, +Grace, I am going again, and on one of the most dangerous missions I +ever undertook. I have come to say good-bye. If I never see you again, +God bless you!" + +The girl turned pale. "Why go, Mark, if it is so dangerous?" + +"It is my duty." + +"Mark, don't go!" Tears were gathering in her eyes. + +He looked at her, his whole face eloquent with love. All the resolutions +he had made were forgotten. + +"Grace, I must say what I have told myself a thousand times I would +never say. Grace, I love you--love you better than I do my own soul, and +because I so love you, it is better that I go away and never return." + +"I don't understand," she murmured. "You said things the other day I +didn't understand, and you made me angry." + +"Grace, you are fit to reign a queen in some palace. I am poor and +unknown. But it is not my poverty that has kept me from declaring my +love. It is because I am unworthy of you--because I have deceived you in +some things. Grace, I am not worthy to kiss the earth you tread on." + +A death-like pallor came over the face of the girl. "Mark, for the love +of Heaven, tell me--tell me! Are you married, or have you committed some +heinous crime?" + +"Married! Why, Grace, I never thought of love until I saw you. I knew +not what love was. Neither am I a criminal. Things are done in war that +would be criminal in times of peace." + +"Then why do you say you are so unworthy? Mark, it's that terrible +secret you are keeping from me! Mark, tell me what it is?" She put her +hands on his shoulders, looking yearningly in his face. + +Mark Grafton shook like a leaf. "Grace! Grace!" he cried, "don't tempt +me! You know not what you ask." + +"Then you refuse to tell me?" She had taken her hands from his +shoulders; there was an angry flush on her cheeks. + +"I can't, Grace! Oh, God! if I could!" + +"Go!" she said. "For once, you have told the truth, when you said you +were not worthy of me. All the rest you have said are lies--lies. You +love me, you say, better than your own soul, and yet you refuse to tell +me what it is that would keep me from you. If you loved me, you would +trust me, confide in me. By your actions you have shown yourself +unworthy of the love of any true woman. I have loved you as a +sister--nothing more--but even that love is gone now. Go! I never want +to see you again," and she turned from him. + +A moment Mark stood; then he said, gently: "Grace, good-bye. It is best +that you feel as you do, for I now know that it is only I who will +suffer. I love you, Grace, and always will, but it will be a pure, a +holy love. Nothing you can say or do can take from me the blessed +privilege of loving you. Grace, will you not say good-bye?" No answer. + +Mark turned wearily, and mounted his horse. As the sound of the horse's +hoofs came to her, Grace started as if from a dream. She looked. He was +already riding away. She rushed toward him, with outstretched arms. + +"Mark! Mark! Come back!" she cried. "It was I that lied. I love you! I +love you!" + +He did not hear, or, if he heard, did not heed, for he rode on without +looking back. She watched until he had disappeared in the distance; +then, pressing her hands to her heart, sank down. The wind rustled +through the trees, and sent a shower of withered leaves down upon her. + +"Like my hopes," she murmured, "withered and dying; yet, even in death, +they are beautiful!" + +She noticed the imprint of Mark's foot where he had stood when he +declared his love. A leaf, all orange and gold, with a splash of red in +the center, had fallen and half concealed the imprint. She stooped and +picked it up. + +"He said he was not worthy to kiss the earth on which I tread," she +whispered, and she pressed the leaf to her lips; then, with a shudder, +she threw it from her, for she noticed her lips had touched the splash +of red, which to her looked like blood. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +INTO THE LION'S MOUTH + + +For a few miles after leaving Grace, Mark rode as if pursued by an +enemy. Wild thoughts rushed through his mind; but at length he became +calmer. + +"No, no," he soliloquized, "I cannot leave Grace to the vengeance of +Hobson, and I am sure he will seek vengeance as soon as he recovers from +his wound. But am I not leaving her? Well do I realize the danger I am +running. It is doubtful if I ever come back. An ignominious death may +await me. I have put duty above love. But, Grace, if I live, my duty, +after this, will be to guard and protect you. Unseen and unknown, I will +be near you. To see you from afar will be heaven." + +Mark soon halted by a pool of clear water, and undid the roll behind his +saddle, from which he took various articles. Soon no one would have +known him as the young man who had ridden away from the La Belle. He +looked ten years older; the color of his hair was changed, and a fine +mustache adorned his upper lip. + +He studied his face for a while as he leaned over the clear water. "It +will do," he said. "But what if I meet Colonel Clay?" + +For three days after that Mark rode without an adventure, but on the +fourth day he was chased by a squad of Federal cavalry. A lucky shot +killed the horse of his foremost pursuer, and he escaped. Skirting the +flank of the Federal army, he reached the headquarters of General +Hindman at Van Buren, on the Arkansas River. + +Here, behind the Boston Mountains, Hindman had gathered an army +estimated at from twenty to thirty thousand men. Opposed to him was +General Blunt, with an army of not over seven or eight thousand men. +Hindman thought that by a swift movement he could crush Blunt before he +could be reinforced, and then, meeting any reinforcements which might be +marching to his relief, whip them in detail, thus wresting Missouri from +the grasp of the Federals. + +He was now only waiting dispatches from Missouri informing him of the +number and position of the Federal troops in the State, and the number +of recruits he could reasonably expect to join him, once in the State, +and where. + +It was these dispatches that Mark Grafton was carrying. If captured with +them, Mark well knew what his fate would be. There were other reasons, +known only to himself, which made it extremely perilous for him to enter +the Confederate lines. + +It was late in the afternoon when Mark was challenged by the outposts of +the Confederate army. He stated that he was a courier from Missouri, +with important dispatches for General Hindman, and demanded that he be +conducted to headquarters at once. It was dark before headquarters were +reached, but Mark was granted an immediate audience with the General. + +"What is your name?" asked the General, as Mark handed him the +dispatches. + +"Grafton--Mark Grafton." + +"I was expecting dispatches, important ones, but from another source. I +wonder what these can be?" + +He opened them and, glancing at them, exclaimed: "Why, these are the +very dispatches I was looking for! I expected them to be delivered by a +man named Dupont. How did you come by them?" + +"Dupont is dead," replied Mark, solemnly. + +"Dupont dead! Great God! How did he die? Was he captured?" + +"No." Mark told the full particulars of Dupont's death, and how in his +dying moments he had committed the dispatches to him. + +"Poor Dupont!" sighed Hindman. "He was my most trusted spy, and he died +in the discharge of his duty." + +Then, scrutinizing Mark closely, he said: "You have made good time in +coming from Chittenden's. Have any trouble?" + +"Only once. I put one Yankee cavalryman out of commission." + +"Good! How would you like to take Dupont's place?" asked Hindman, +abruptly. + +"General, I would make a poor spy. I could be identified too easily," +and Mark touched his crippled arm. + +"Where did you get that?" + +"In one of the little partisan battles in Missouri," answered Mark, +without hesitation. + +"I am sorry," answered Hindman. "I wished to send some dispatches back +with you." + +"I can take them," promptly answered Mark. "And, if you wish, I can act +as dispatch-bearer for you in Missouri. I am well acquainted in the +State, and am known to most of the guerrilla leaders. It is through them +I receive and deliver my dispatches. I am careful never to enter a +Federal camp. I am at present staying at Chittenden's, and will +cheerfully execute any commission you may send me. I have carried +dispatches for Colonel Clay several times." + +"Just the thing. Consider yourself engaged," cried the General. "I +recall now that I have heard Colonel Clay speak of you. I am sorry the +Colonel is away on special duty." + +Mark was not the least bit sorry, but his looks did not show it. Clay +would not have known him in his disguise, and would have denounced him +as an impostor. + +"General, one thing more," said Mark. "Mr. Chittenden, in looking over +the effects of Dupont, found several little trinkets that his family +might wish to have. There was also one hundred dollars in Federal money +and two thousand dollars in Confederate money on his person. Here is +everything." + +"You can keep the Federal money. The Confederate will be of little use +to you in Missouri. Here is another one hundred in Federal money, but +remember this money is a sacred trust, and only to be used for expenses +when on business for the Confederacy." + +"It will be so considered," said Mark as he took the money. "General, +will it be possible for you to have your dispatches ready by morning. +Mr. Chittenden wished me to get back as quickly as possible. He is in +trouble." + +"Trouble? What trouble?" + +"Why, haven't you heard? The valley of the La Belle has been raided by a +force of Federals, the provisions and forage he had gathered captured, +and four or five hundred recruits coming from the central and northern +part of the State taken prisoners and paroled." + +"I had not heard of it," said the General, greatly excited. "When did it +happen?" + +"Only a few days before I left. But that is not all. Just as the +Federals left, Major Powell came up from Arkansas with a train to get +the provisions and forage and escort the recruits. He pursued the +Federals, but fell into an ambuscade and his command was cut to pieces." + +"Do you know who commanded the Federals?" + +"Yes, a Captain Lawrence Middleton." + +"The devil! He had much to do with frustrating our plans last summer." + +"Yes, and but a few weeks ago he almost annihilated the band of Red +Jerry. We are trying to lay plans to capture him." + +"Well, this is bad news, but we will try and turn the tables before many +days. I will have my dispatches ready by morning. Make yourself +comfortable until then." With a wave of the hand the General dismissed +him. + +The next morning Mark called early for the dispatches and found the +General in close conversation with a thick, heavy-set man whose face +showed both courage and determination. When Mark saw him he gave a +start. "I know you, my friend," he thought, "and it will be an +unfortunate thing for me if you recognize me." + +"Ah, Grafton, is that you?" said the General. "Glad to see you. Allow me +to make you acquainted with Mr. Spencer. Spencer, this is the young man +I was telling you about. Grafton, Spencer is now my most trusted spy, +since Dupont is gone. He will ride part way with you." + +Mark extended his hand cordially, but there was no warmth or cordiality +in the hand that Spencer gave him. Instead, he looked as if he would +read the inmost thoughts of Mark's soul, but Mark met his gaze steadily +and coolly, as if he did not know his life was hanging in the balance. + +At length Spencer said, "Glad to meet you, Grafton. Excuse me for +scrutinizing you so closely, but we are in the same business, and as I +may have you for a companion sometime, I like to measure my man before I +tie to him." + +"Well, how do I measure?" asked Mark, with a smile. + +"I reckon you will do." + +"I trust so," rejoined Mark. "But you made a mistake in saying I was in +the same business. I don't believe I have nerve enough to be a spy. I am +simply a courier, and carry what others have gathered. It takes nerve to +penetrate the enemy's camp. Nerve such as you have, Spencer." + +Spencer's face lit up with a smile. "You rate me too highly, Grafton," +he answered. "But I certainly have been in some tight places, and I +reckon you could relate some startling adventures if you would." + +Mark had been handed his dispatches, and was about to depart when +General Frost was announced. + +"Hold on a minute," said Hindman. "General Frost may have some word he +would like to send." + +"Sending a courier into Missouri?" asked Frost. + +"Yes, the same young man who brought those dispatches last night, that +Dupont should have brought. I am sorry to say Dupont is dead." + +"Dead! Dupont dead! Did the Yankees get him?" + +"No, he died of the fever. He arrived at Chittenden's in a dying +condition and gave his dispatches to Grafton to bring on." + +"Grafton? I think I have heard that name from Colonel Clay. Happy to +meet you, Grafton. Let me hear the news from Missouri." + +Much against his will Mark was forced to remain and again rehearse his +story. When he told of the capture of the train and the defeat of +Powell, Frost became very much excited. + +"What Federal officer did you say was in command?" he asked. + +"I didn't say, but I understood it was a Captain Middleton." + +Frost sprang to his feet, letting out a volley of oaths. + +"Where were you when this happened?" he then asked. + +"I was absent from the valley. I was helping Mr. Chittenden in gathering +supplies, and was away seeing about some that had not yet arrived." + +Mark was now excused, but told to wait for Spencer. General Frost had +taken him aside and they were engaged in earnest conversation. Every now +and then they would glance at Mark, and he was sure they were talking +about him. If he had heard what they were saying he would have known he +was under suspicion. + +"It can't be he," Frost was saying, "but every now and then there is +something about him that makes me think of him. I hardly know what; +certain motions, I think." + +"I knew him well," answered Spencer, "and so far I have not seen +anything that would make me think Grafton was he. I am to ride with him +nearly a day's journey, and if I see anything suspicious--well you know +what will happen." + +All being ready the two rode away together. They had not gone far when +Mark noticed that Spencer was watching every move he made. Instantly +every nerve of Mark's body became alert, but to all appearances he was +totally unsuspicious. To Spencer's request that he tell him something of +his life, he responded that he did not have much to tell. He had been a +member of a guerrilla band, was wounded and had found his way into the +Ozarks, where he had been with Mr. Chittenden, who took him in when he +was suffering with the fever. He had acted as courier for Colonel Clay, +but had never met with many exciting adventures. + +"Now, Spencer," he said, "tell me something of yourself, for I know you +have faced a hundred dangers where I have faced one." + +Spencer refused to be interviewed, and maintained a rather moody +silence. At length they reached where they were to part and when they +shook hands Spencer, as if by accident, drew the sleeve of his coat +across Mark's face and his mustache came off. + +"Damn you! I know you now," shrieked Spencer as he reached for his +revolver, but quick as a flash Mark snatched a revolver from his bosom +and fired. + +Spencer's revolver went off half raised. He sank down in the saddle, +then rolled from his horse, a motionless body. + +Mark was about to dismount to see if he was dead when he was startled by +the pounding of horses' hoofs and looking up saw a squad of Federal +cavalry bearing down on him. Putting spurs to his horse and bending low +over his neck he escaped amid a shower of bullets. + +The only mark of the conflict that Mark could find was a bullet which +had lodged in the back of his saddle. + +After riding several miles, Mark met half a dozen guerrillas who said +they were on their way to join Hindman. He told them of meeting the +Yankee cavalry and that they would have to look out, and asked them to +take a note to General Hindman for him. To this they readily assented +and this is what Mark wrote: + + GENERAL: I am sorry to say that just as Spencer and I were to + part we ran into a squad of Yankee cavalry. Poor Spencer was + killed and I only escaped by the fleetness of my horse. If + Spencer had dispatches that will embarrass you, you can govern + yourself accordingly, for they are now in the hands of the + enemy. + + As for the dispatches you entrusted to me, they are safe, and + if they are never delivered you will know I have suffered the + fate of poor Spencer. + + MARK GRAFTON. + +After parting from the guerrillas Mark, instead of riding towards home, +turned his horse westward. In due time General Hindman learned that the +dispatches he had entrusted to Mark had been faithfully delivered, but +that Mark had disappeared. Mr. Chittenden looked for his return to the +La Belle in vain. + +General Hindman made anxious inquiries, for he had use for so faithful a +courier as Mark had proved to be. But the weeks passed and nothing was +heard, and it was thought he must have been killed, and he was numbered +with the unknown dead. + +Mr. Chittenden mourned him as such, but Grace maintained that he still +lived, and she had good cause for her belief. She had never told her +father of the love passage between Mark and herself, and how she had +refused to bid him good-bye when he left. The memory of that parting was +a secret, she felt, only to be held in her own heart, for she was not +sure she would ever see or hear from Mark again. + +One day a letter was placed in Grace's hands by a messenger who hurried +away before she had time to thank him, much less question him. Much to +her surprise and joy the letter was from Mark. + +"He lives! He lives!" she cried rapturously as she pressed it to her +lips. Grace had forgotten all her resentment towards Mark, forgotten +that the secret that lay between them was still unsolved. She only knew +that she loved him. Eagerly she read the letter, which ran: + + GRACE: Lest you believe me dead, I write this. It was foolish + in me to tell you of my love, but I had to do it. Now that you + know, I am content. I ask nothing, deserve nothing, in return. + Just the thought of loving you is like thinking of heaven. When + I went away I rode as it were into the jaws of death, and + escaped as by a miracle. Grace, it is best that I see you no + more. Think of me only as one who takes joy in loving you. Only + one thing will ever call me to your side, and that is if you + are ever in grave danger. To defend you I would come from the + ends of the earth. + + I think you have read Longfellow's Hiawatha, for I have seen it + in your library. Do you remember that when Minnehaha lay dying + she called for Hiawatha, and, although he was miles and miles + away, that cry of anguish reached him. And so great is my love + for you that I believe that if you should call me in a time of + danger I would hear. Remember this if trouble comes, though I + hope it never will. + + Farewell. + MARK. + +Grace read and re-read the strange letter. Hiawatha had just been +published when she was at school in St. Louis, and it had been a great +favorite of hers. + +What could Mark mean by intimating that some great peril might be +impending? She knew not. But Mark lived; he still loved her, would +always love her. + +She placed the letter in her bosom next her heart and there it rested. +Her secret was her own; why tell it? If Mark never came back, no one +would ever know. But she believed he would come back, and her step grew +lighter, her face brighter, her laugh merrier. In fact, she became her +old self, and her father rejoiced, for he had noticed a change in her +since Mark went away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +PRAIRIE GROVE + + +When General Sterling Price was ordered east of the Mississippi River +the Confederate Government placed the Department of Arkansas under the +command of General T. C. Hindman. It was Hindman who originated the idea +of organizing the guerrillas of Missouri into companies and regiments, +intending by a general uprising to wrest the State from the grasp of the +Federals. + +In his report to the Confederate Government Hindman says: "I gave +authority to various persons to raise companies and regiments there (in +Missouri) and to operate as guerrillas." + +Thus Hindman confesses he was encouraging the bloody guerrilla warfare +which raged throughout the State. + +Hindman ruled Arkansas with a rod of iron. He declared martial law +throughout the State, appointed a provost marshal for every county, and +proceeded to force every able-bodied man into the army. In his reports +he coolly says: "For the salvation of the country, I took the +responsibility to force these men into service. I now resolved for the +same objects to compel them to remain." + +A great many of these men were Union at heart, and desertions were +frequent. To stop this Hindman began the wholesale shooting of +deserters. In all probability he shot as many men for deserting as the +Federal authorities shot guerrillas in Missouri for breaking their +paroles. So high-handed did his acts become, and so many were the +complaints made against him, that the Confederate Government had to take +cognizance of them. + +By the end of November Hindman had succeeded in gathering an army of +from twenty-five to thirty thousand men. Many of them were unarmed, but +he had a formidable host in comparison to the small army opposed to him. + +It was on December the second that Lawrence arrived at the camp of +General Blunt. Since he had crossed the mountains, and escaped the force +in front of him, he had encountered no serious opposition. He had met +and scattered two or three small bands of guerrillas, and taken a number +of prisoners, whom he had been obliged to parole. + +"I am more than glad to see you," exclaimed General Blunt, warmly +grasping Lawrence's hand. "Schofield telegraphed me you were coming and +I have been looking for you for several days. I began to fear misfortune +had overtaken you." + +"We did have a variety of adventures," answered Lawrence. "More than we +bargained for, but we are here all right now." + +"Tell us about it," said the General, and nothing would do but that +Lawrence must give a detailed account of the trip. The General listened +attentively, and when Lawrence finished he clapped him on the shoulder +and cried, "Well done, my boy! Well done. You ought to be a general. But +were not the warnings you received in the mountains rather mysterious?" + +"They were," answered Lawrence, "and I have no plausible explanation to +make." + +Early next morning Blunt sent for Lawrence, asking him to come +immediately. He found him sitting with a paper in his hand, and a +puzzled expression on his face. + +"Hello! Captain," he cried. "I'm glad to see you, as I am a little in +the mystery business myself this morning." + +"In the mystery business?" asked Lawrence, somewhat astonished. + +"Yes, don't imagine you are the only one to receive mysterious warnings. +I received one myself last night." + +"Out with it. Don't keep me in suspense, General." + +"Well, last night a soldier brought me a communication, saying it was +given to him by a young Indian with the urgent request that it be given +to me at once." + +"You have Indians in your command, have you not?" + +"Yes, a company of scouts under the command of Colonel Wattles. The +paper was of such a nature that I immediately began an investigation as +to its genuineness. Colonel Wattles asked every man in his command if +any one of them had delivered such a paper and each and every one denied +knowledge of it. I found the soldier who gave me the paper, and he said +the Indian who gave it to him disappeared in the darkness before he +could ask him any questions. The paper contains the most important +information, if true. Here it is. I want you to look at it, and tell me +what you think of it." + +General Blunt handed Lawrence the communication, and no sooner had he +glanced at it than he exclaimed, "Great Heavens!" + +"What is it?" asked Blunt, jumping up in his excitement. "Do you know +who wrote it?" + +"I do not know who wrote it, but I know the handwriting. It is from the +same person who warned General Schofield, through me, of the +contemplated partisan uprising in Missouri last summer. It was the +information given in that communication that enabled General Schofield +to thwart the movement." + +"Was it the same person that warned you that you were being pursued in +the Ozarks?" asked the General. + +"No, that warning was given by an illiterate person. This is by someone +well educated. Whatever information the paper gives, act upon it at +once. I will stake my life on its being correct." + +"Read what it says," replied the General. + +Lawrence read the paper through and, as he expected, it was a detailed +account of the plans of General Hindman. It stated that Hindman had just +received dispatches from several sources in Missouri that if he did not +hurry up and invade the State the cause would be hopelessly lost, but if +he could defeat Blunt and invade the State, thousands were ready to +flock to his standard. Hindman had answered that he was ready to move on +Blunt with twenty thousand men, and anticipated an easy victory as he +(Blunt) did not have more than five or six thousand men. + +"He estimated my force closely," said Blunt. "There must have been spies +in my camp," but read on. + +"Great Scott! He says Hindman will commence his movement on the fourth +or fifth; and this is the third," exclaimed Lawrence. + +"Yes, and I have only this small division to oppose him." + +"Where are the other two divisions?" + +"Up around Springfield, seventy-five miles away, and Schofield's orders +are to hold this position at all hazards." + +"Herron can get here," cried Lawrence. "I know his Western boys; they +are greyhounds to march." + +"But just think, seventy-five miles in two or three days," said Blunt, +"and then go into battle. But it is my only hope." + +It was twelve miles to the telegraph office at Fayetteville. A swift +courier carried the message there and from there it went on the wings of +the lightning to General Herron. + +It was a little after midnight on the morning of the fourth that General +Herron received the message, and by three o'clock his little army was on +the way--a march of seventy-five miles before them and then a battle. +There was no lagging, no grumbling. "On to save Blunt" was the cry. + +That army was accustomed to long marches, to hardships almost +incredible. Hardly ever stopping, through the nights as well as days, +they marched, and on the evening of the sixth the advance of Herron's +army reached Fayetteville; the rest would be up during the night. +Blunt's army was still twelve miles away, and the boom of the cannon +told them the conflict was on. + +Hindman knew that Herron was coming, and he made haste to strike before +his arrival. On December fifth he instructed General Marmaduke to take +his division, turn the right flank of Blunt's army, and throw his men in +between Blunt and Fayetteville, thus preventing the union of Blunt and +Herron. + +The clash came at Cain Hill. Lawrence, with his troop, was in the +advance, and the rapidity of their fire so astonished Marmaduke that he +thought he was fighting a much larger force than he was, and his men +fell back in confusion. The movement was a failure. + +All through the next day Hindman's forces kept pouring through the +passes of the mountains, and though the Federals resisted gallantly, +they were gradually pressed back, and the evening of the sixth found the +two armies confronting each other, ready to grapple in deadly conflict. + +Blunt had sent word to Herron that he would fight where he was, and for +him to hurry forward. During the night General Hindman made an +unexpected and aggressive movement, worthy of Stonewall Jackson. +Reasoning that Herron's men must be completely exhausted by their long +march, he resolved to leave his camp fires burning and a small force +which was to make a big show, thus leading General Blunt to believe the +whole army was still before him. Hindman then marched around Blunt and +in the morning was squarely between him and Herron. Hindman believed he +could easily whip Herron before Blunt came up, and then he would turn on +Blunt and finish the job. + +As soon as it was light the Confederates in front of Blunt opened a +noisy battle. Lawrence was serving on Blunt's staff, leaving the troop +in command of Dan. The Federals pressed eagerly forward, the +Confederates yielding ground readily. + +"General," said Lawrence, "there is something wrong. I do not believe +the whole army is before us. They give ground too easily. I believe the +main part of Hindman's army has slipped past us, and gone to attack +Herron." + +"Impossible," answered Blunt. "The only road they could have taken to +get past us is the Cove Creek road, some four miles away, and I sent +Colonel Richardson with his regiment to guard that with strict orders to +hold it, and let me know if he was attacked. I have heard nothing from +him, so all must be well." + +But Lawrence was not satisfied; more and more he became convinced that +there was only a small force in front, and he asked Blunt if he might +not go and try to find Richardson, as he had not yet reported. +Permission was readily granted. Lawrence had not gone two miles before +he came onto Richardson. He had not occupied nor had he attempted to +occupy the Cove Creek road. Instead he had halted two miles from it, and +sent forward a small reconnoitering party; and the officer in charge of +the party had reported that the enemy had been passing along the road in +force ever since midnight. + +"Why didn't you occupy the road as ordered?" angrily demanded Lawrence +of Richardson. + +"Do you think I was going to fight the whole Confederate army with my +little regiment? I'm not such a fool," retorted Richardson. + +"Why didn't you send word to the General then that the enemy was passing +along this road in force?" demanded Lawrence, still more angry. "By your +own admission you became aware of the movement by midnight." + +"Why, I was just about to report the matter," said Richardson. + +"Just about to, and here it is after nine o'clock. If I had the power I +would strip off your shoulder straps, and have you drummed out of the +army," exclaimed Lawrence furiously. In fact, he came the nearest +swearing he ever did. But there was no time to quarrel. Wheeling his +horse he rode at full speed to General Blunt with the news. + +Calling back his men and paying no more attention to the force in front, +Blunt marched to the relief of Herron, but it was nearly eleven o'clock +before he got under way. Then he did not know exactly where Herron was, +for no courier could get through. It was one o'clock before the roar of +the cannon told him that the battle had opened, and then he found he was +marching in the wrong direction, and it was nearly four o'clock before +he reached the field. + +Hindman's movement had been a complete success. Herron had gathered his +little army at Fayetteville and early in the morning started to join +Blunt, whose cannon he could hear, not dreaming that it was to be he and +not Blunt that was to fight the main battle. + +Hardly had the light of the short December day dawned when Shelby's +brigade surprised and captured a train of thirty wagons, and with it +nearly three hundred of the four hundred soldiers guarding it. Those not +captured fled panic-stricken and for nearly five miles Shelby's men +followed them, but here they ran into Herron's men and went back as fast +as they had come. + +Herron soon came upon the entire Confederate army in line of battle +along Illinois Creek, not far from an old church called Prairie Grove +Church. The position was a strong one, but Herron did not hesitate a +moment, but made preparations to attack. + +Why Hindman, with his overwhelming force, did not attack, but waited to +be attacked, will never be known. Owing to the nature of the ground it +took Herron some time to form his line, but at one o'clock the battle +opened. For nearly three long hours it raged. Every time the +Confederates essayed to charge they were met with such a storm of shot +and shell that they went reeling back. + +Twice did Herron's men make desperate charges and captured a battery +each time, but they were met with such an overwhelming force that they +were forced to relinquish the guns. Herron's men were hard pressed, but +grimly they held to their position, awaiting the arrival of Blunt. + +It was nearly four o'clock when the roar of Blunt's cannon was heard. +Throwing his force on the flank of the Confederate army, they were +compelled to give way and the field was won. + +Darkness put an end to the conflict, and the tired soldiers threw +themselves on the ground to sleep, expecting to renew the conflict in +the morning. But Hindman had had enough. He had failed to crush Herron, +and now that Blunt and Herron were united, he only thought of safety; so +muffling the wheels of his artillery he began his retreat to Van Buren, +leaving his dead to be buried and hundreds of his wounded to be cared +for by the victorious Federals. + +This ended all hopes of the Confederates invading Missouri at this time. +Soon Hindman withdrew his army from Northwest Arkansas and fled to +Little Rock. + +Again had the Army of the Northwest, now known as the Army of the +Frontier, achieved a glorious victory in the face of immense odds.[17] + +[Footnote 17: The battle of Prairie Grove, for the number engaged, was a +bloodier and more fiercely contested battle than Pea Ridge. Blunt +claimed that he and Herron together had only seven thousand men on the +field. That Herron, with not more than half that number, had held the +enemy at bay for three hours, speaks volumes for the valor of his weary +men. + +Hindman claims he brought only eleven thousand men to the fight. + +The Federal loss was about thirteen hundred; the Confederate loss was +estimated at from fifteen hundred to two thousand. Hindman admitted a +loss of fourteen hundred. + +A few of the Federal regiments engaged lost heavily. The Twentieth +Wisconsin lost two hundred and seventeen; the Twenty-sixth Indiana, two +hundred and one; the Nineteenth Iowa, one hundred and ninety-three; the +Seventh Missouri Cavalry, one hundred and forty-two, and the +Thirty-seventh Illinois, seventy-one. + +General John C. Black, then colonel of the Thirty-seventh Illinois, +states that his regiment marched sixty-six miles in thirty-six hours to +get into the fight, and so exhausted were the men that during lulls in +the battle they would sink to the ground and be fast asleep in a minute, +but would spring to their feet and renew the fight when the call came, +with all the fury of fresh soldiers.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +CALLED TO OTHER FIELDS + + +The victory of Prairie Grove sent a thrill throughout the west, +especially to the Union men of Missouri. To the secession element of the +State it was a fearful blow, and they felt that their only hope was in +the success of the Southern army in other fields. + +Generals Blunt and Herron and the gallant soldiers of the Army of the +Frontier were warmly thanked by the Federal Government for the great +victory they had achieved. + +A few days after the battle an orderly placed a bulky letter in the +hands of Lawrence. He found it to be from General Schofield. As he read +it he uttered an exclamation of surprise. The letter stated that General +Blair had sent an urgent request that Lawrence be at once returned to +him, as he was greatly in need of a staff officer of Lawrence's +acquirements. + +"As much as I regret to lose you," wrote Schofield, "under the +circumstances I cannot object. I have just heard of your achievements in +the Ozarks and desire to thank you, which I hope to do in person." + +The letter then went on to state that while he no longer feared an +invasion of Missouri by any large force, the guerrilla warfare was by no +means over, and the State was still open to raids from Arkansas; +therefore he hoped that the troop would remain under the command of +Lieutenant Sherman, and that the scout Harry Semans would remain with +him. + +As Lawrence read this his brow contracted, for he hated to give up Dan +and Harry. But he felt the wisdom of Schofield's suggestion and could +offer no objection. + +Enclosed was a letter from General Blair to Lawrence, urging him to come +as soon as possible, saying that the movement against Vicksburg was +about to commence. "There will be stirring times down here for the next +few months," he wrote, "and you will find plenty to do, and fresh fields +in which to win honor." + +After he read the letter Lawrence handed Schofield's letter to Dan, +saying, "Read it." + +Dan had read but a few words when he looked up with a happy smile. "Why, +Captain," he exclaimed, "this is jolly. It means a wider field. I always +thought I would like to be in an army commanded by Grant." + +"Read on, Dan," said Lawrence. "There is much bitter with the sweet in +that document." + +Dan read on. In a moment he uttered an oath, and threw the letter down. +"I won't stay," he cried. "I want to go with you. I will resign my +commission. I will enlist as a private soldier so I can be near you." + +"I do not think that will do you much good," said Lawrence, smiling. "As +a private soldier you might be sent hundreds of miles from me. Even if +we were in the same army we would see little or nothing of each other. +Dan, let's look at this in a reasonable way. To part with you is as +great a grief to me as to you. It will be a sad parting, Dan, but it +will leave you in command of the troop and, Dan, I know you will do as +well, if not better, than I. Then you will have Harry and Bruno. General +Schofield is right; the guerrilla warfare is not over, and it is your +duty to remain here." + +It was hard to convince Dan, although he knew Lawrence was right. + +"Let's go and see Blunt," said Lawrence. + +The General, though he had known Lawrence but a few days, had become +warmly attached to him. His gallantry and coolness in time of battle had +won his admiration. + +"I had hoped you could remain and become chief of my scouts," he said. +"I have need of just such a body of men as you command." + +"You forget," said Lawrence, "that General Schofield writes that the +troop is to remain under the command of my lieutenant, Daniel Sherman. +You will find him equal to all demands. As for scouting, Harry Semans is +to remain with his dog Bruno, and they are equal to a regiment when it +comes to scouting." + +Schofield had written that he wished Lawrence would come by way of St. +Louis, as he wished to see him. This meant a horseback ride of two +hundred miles to Rolla. Lawrence's preparations for the long ride were +soon made, and the time to bid farewell to his command came. + +The members of the troop crowded around him to say good-bye and bid him +Godspeed, and tears stood in the eyes of many a rough soldier as they +took his hand in theirs. + +When it came to parting with Dan and Harry, Lawrence broke down. He +tried to say something, but a great lump was in his throat and his voice +died away. They could only clasp hands, their eyes looking what their +tongues refused to say. Dan and Harry watched him ride away, and as he +looked back, waved him a last farewell. + +But Lawrence's adventures in Missouri were not ended. He reached +Springfield in safety and there joined a wagon train en route for Rolla, +guarded by a detachment of fifty cavalry. The train was a small one, +consisting of forty wagons and ten ambulances, the ambulances conveying +back some disabled soldiers who had been furloughed. + +The escort was in charge of a Captain Jackson, a pompous, red faced man. +Lawrence noticed that he was more or less under the influence of liquor +all the time, and that there was little discipline among his men. + +A train from Rolla that came into Springfield just as this train was +leaving reported that they had been threatened by a band of guerrillas +under Jackman, but as their train was strongly guarded, he had not +attacked. + +"You had better be on your guard," said the officer in command to +Jackson. + +With an oath Jackson replied that his fifty men were a match for any +force Jackman could bring against him. That he wished Jackman would +attack, as he would like to give him a good licking. + +The first day out Lawrence saw how things were going and spoke to +Jackson, telling him that he was moving carelessly, that his men were +straggling and were in no shape to resist an attack if one came. + +Jackson drew himself proudly up and growled: "Who's in command of this +train, you or I? If you are afraid you had better go back to Springfield +and get a regiment to guard you through." + +Lawrence smothered his wrath and said nothing more. Jackson went among +his men boasting loudly how he had taken the starch out of that young +peacock of a captain. He had quickly shown him he couldn't order him +around. + +Soon a lieutenant of the company came to Lawrence and said, "Captain, I +heard what you said to Captain Jackson and his insulting reply. You are +right. We are in no shape to resist an attack." + +"You are in charge of the rear guard, are you not?" asked Lawrence. + +"Yes." + +"How many men have you?" + +"Fifteen." + +"Can they all be depended on?" + +"Ten or twelve can." + +"Good! Tell them if an attack comes to stand by the train to the last. +Captain Jackson has charge of the advance; how many men has he?" + +"Twenty. Half of them are no good. They would run at the first shot." + +"That leaves fifteen men to guard the center of the train," replied +Lawrence. "Under whose command are they?" + +"Sergeant Strong. He's a good man." + +"Let's see him." + +The Sergeant was seen and found to be a keen young soldier, fully alive +to the situation. "I have had hard work," he said, "to keep my men in +hand owing to the example of those in front, but I am doing the best I +can. One shot would stampede the whole advance." + +"If an attack should come in front," said Lawrence, "and the advance +come back panic-stricken, don't give way; Lieutenant Hale, here, will +come to your relief. If the rear is attacked, go to him. If the center +is attacked he will come to you." + +"You can depend on that," said Hale. + +"Are the teamsters armed?" asked Lawrence. + +"Only about half of them are enlisted men. They are armed." + +"See that their guns are loaded and ready for instant use." + +The teamsters were astonished and considerably excited when the order +came, but they were told that it was merely a matter of precaution, and +that there was no cause for alarm. + +On the morning of the third day out firing was heard in front. There +came a volley followed by fiendish yells and the advance came tearing +back, panic-stricken. In a moment everything was in confusion. + +Down the train rode the guerrillas, shooting the teamsters and mules, +and yelling like devils. Back came Captain Jackson, spurring his horse, +his face white with fright. + +"Halt," cried Lawrence. But the Captain went past him like a whirlwind, +his only thought of escape. + +Where the guerrillas had charged the head of the train the ground was +open, but where Lawrence was there was a thick growth of bushes on one +side of the road and a rough fence built out of logs and rails on the +other. + +Lawrence ordered one of the teamsters who had not entirely lost his head +to swing his wagon across the road, blocking it. Sergeant Strong had +succeeded in rallying some ten or twelve of the soldiers, who, springing +from their horses, used the mules and wagons for breastworks. Several of +the advance guard had been cut off, but they jumped from their horses +and, diving under the wagon, continued their flight. Lawrence did not +attempt to stop them, for they had lost their arms and would have been +of no use. + +Close on the heels of the fugitives came six or eight guerrillas. + +"Steady, men! Hold your fire!" shouted Lawrence. + +He waited until the guerrillas were within a few rods of the improvised +breastworks, then ordered the men to fire. Half the saddles were emptied +and the rest went scurrying back. But they were met by the main body of +guerrillas and all came charging with blood curdling yells. + +At this opportune moment Lieutenant Hale came galloping up with the rear +guard. His quick eye took in the situation and he ordered his men to +dismount and take position behind the mules and wagons. + +"Hold your fire!" again shouted Lawrence. "Keep cool and take good aim." + +On came the yelling horde. When within a few yards of the blockade the +foremost tried to check their horses, but those in the rear pressed on +and threw the whole body into confusion. + +"Fire!" Lawrence's voice rang out loud and clear. In that packed mass +the effect of the volley was terrible. + +"Give it to them," shouted Lawrence. + +The men loaded and fired as fast as they could, but soon there was no +one to shoot at. The guerrillas who had escaped were in retreat. + +"Lieutenant Hale, hold the position here," said Lawrence. "Fifteen men +come with me." + +Every man within the barricade volunteered. Quickly Lawrence counted off +fifteen. "The rest stay with Lieutenant Hale and hold the barricade," he +ordered. + +With the fifteen men Lawrence boldly charged after the fleeing enemy. +They had commenced to rally, but a few well directed volleys once more +put them to flight. + +Ten or twelve wagons were in flames, half a dozen of the teamsters lay +weltering in their blood, and the poor mules lay in heaps as they had +fallen. The ambulances had been in the rear of the train and so the +occupants had escaped. + +It was found that fifteen of the teamsters and soldiers had been killed +or wounded. Of the guerrillas, thirty lay dead or desperately wounded. + +After the fight was over Captain Jackson came creeping back. He claimed +that before he retreated he had killed two of the guerrillas with his +own hand and he had only gone to the rear to order up Lieutenant Hale. + +"Captain Jackson, you are under arrest." + +"Sergeant Strong, please relieve Captain Jackson of his sword," said +Lawrence, coolly. + +"By what right do you arrest me?" roared the Captain. "I refuse to be +arrested. Sergeant Strong, dare to arrest me and I will have you +court-martialed." + +"As the representative of General Schofield I arrest you; I am on his +staff," quietly answered Lawrence. "Sergeant, do your duty." + +The Captain delivered up his sword without a word. The name of General +Schofield was potent. + +Lawrence now turned to Lieutenant Hale and said, "Lieutenant, you are in +charge of the train. Clear up the debris of the battle. Let the men in +the ambulances who are best able be put in the wagons and our wounded +take their places. Let the wounded guerrillas be taken to that house +over there, and be made as comfortable as possible. Their friends will +care for them as soon as we are out of sight." + +It was noon before the train was again on the way. The burnt wagons, +dead mules and new made graves were the mute witnesses left to tell of +the fight. + +Rolla was reached without further trouble. Here Lawrence turned Captain +Jackson over, charging him with disgraceful cowardice. The Captain was +court-martialed and dishonorably dismissed from the service. For their +bravery, Lieutenant Hale was promoted to captain and Sergeant Strong to +second lieutenant. + +Lawrence took the cars at Rolla and was soon in St. Louis, where he +reported to General Schofield. What that gentleman said brought the +blushes to Lawrence's cheeks. + +"You do not know how I hate to give you up," said the General. "But on +your account, I rejoice. This is a miserable warfare in Missouri; not +much glory gained in fighting guerrillas. I will welcome the day when I +am assigned to another department. I have repeatedly asked to be +released, but the powers that be think I am of more service here. I know +the Radicals are opposed to me, and that complaints are pouring into +Washington against me. There is a large element that will not be +satisfied except I devastate the whole State with fire and sword." + +"I know," replied Lawrence. "I had a little experience with Jennison. +Jim Lane and a host of others are as bad. As you say, this is a +murderous warfare in Missouri, without much glory." + +"There will be great things doing around Vicksburg. I envy you," said +Schofield. + +"Ah! General, before the war is over you may have opportunities to +distinguish yourself, rather than fight guerrillas." + +The history of General Schofield shows that these opportunities came and +that in the last year of the war he won great distinction. + +Lawrence made a hurried visit to his friends before he departed for his +new field. He found his uncle and aunt well. His uncle was as firmly +convinced as ever that the South could never be conquered. + +Lola Laselle was overjoyed to meet him. "Every day I live I am prouder +of my knight-errant than ever," she cried. "No lady of old ever had a +braver or truer knight." + +Lawrence found Leon Laselle had nearly recovered from his wound. +Randolph Hamilton was in a fair way to recover, and was longing for the +day to come when he could be exchanged and again fight for the +principles he held dear. + +When he heard of Lawrence being the chosen knight of Lola he begged to +be allowed to become her knight too. "Then Lola," he said, "you will +have a knight in both armies, and one of them will be sure to come back +wearing the crown of victory." + +"It will not do," laughed Lola, "and you are a naughty boy for fighting +against the old flag. I had rather my knight be defeated in a good cause +than be victor in a bad one, and Randolph, the cause for which you are +fighting is a bad one, very bad." + +Randolph sighed. Day by day Lola had become more precious to him, and as +he looked at Lawrence he thought, "Why should she not prefer him to me?" + +When Lawrence inquired so particularly about Dorothy, how she was +getting along and how she liked Europe, a faint hope came to him that +after all it might be Dorothy and not Lola that attracted Lawrence; and +then he sighed again, for he remembered Dorothy's hatred for Yankees. + +The next day Lawrence was floating down the river. When we meet him next +it will be in that great campaign which ended in the capture of +Vicksburg, the Gibraltar of the Mississippi River. + + +THE END. + + + + +THE YOUNG KENTUCKIANS SERIES + + GENERAL NELSON'S SCOUT + ON GENERAL THOMAS'S STAFF + BATTLING FOR ATLANTA + FROM ATLANTA TO THE SEA + RAIDING WITH MORGAN + + +THE YOUNG MISSOURIANS SERIES + + WITH LYON IN MISSOURI + THE SCOUT OF PEA RIDGE + THE COURIER OF THE OZARKS + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Courier of the Ozarks, by Byron A. 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