diff options
Diffstat (limited to '6846-8.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 6846-8.txt | 11539 |
1 files changed, 11539 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/6846-8.txt b/6846-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..436d4c3 --- /dev/null +++ b/6846-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11539 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of My Lady of the North, by Randall Parrish + +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: My Lady of the North + +Author: Randall Parrish + + +Release Date: November, 2004 [EBook #6846] +This file was first posted on January 31, 2003 +Last Updated: June 30, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY LADY OF THE NORTH *** + + + + +Produced by Michelle Shephard, Charles Franks and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + + +MY LADY OF THE NORTH + +The Love Story of a Gray Jacket + + +By Randall Parrish + + + + +Contents + +CHAPTER + + I. A DESPATCH FOR LONGSTREET + II. THE NIGHT RIDE + III. AN UNWELCOME GUEST + IV. A WOMAN WITH A TEMPER + V. A DISASTER ON THE ROAD + VI. A STRUGGLE IN THE DARK + VII. A DISCIPLE OF SIR WALTER + VIII. MRS. BUNGAY DEFENDS HER HEARTHSTONE + IX. IN THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY + X. A WOMAN'S TENDERNESS + XI. IN THE PRESENCE OF SHERIDAN + XII. UNDER SENTENCE OF DEATH + XIII. A STRANGE WAY OUT + XIV. I BECOME A COLONEL OF ARTILLERY + XV. AT THE STAFF OFFICERS' BALL + XVI. THE WOMAN I LOVED + XVII. THROUGH THE CAMP OF THE ENEMY + XVIII. THE REPUTATION OF A WOMAN + XIX. THE CAVALRY OUTPOST + XX. A DEMON ON HORSEBACK + XXI. REINFORCEMENTS FOR EARLY + XXII. THE BATTLE IN THE SHENANDOAH + XXIII. FIELD HOSPITAL, SIXTH CORPS + XXIV. A NIGHT RIDE OF THE WOUNDED + XXV. A LOST REGIMENT + XXVI. THE SCOUTING DETAIL + XXVII. AN EMBARRASSING SITUATION + XXVIII. WE CAPTURE A COURIER + XXIX. A MISSION FOR BEELZEBUB + XXX. A UNION OF YANK AND REB + XXXI. A CONVERSATION IN THE DARK + XXXII. HAND TO HAND + XXXIII. A BELLIGERENT GERMAN + XXXIV. THE WORDS OF LOVE + XXXV. A PLAN MISCARRIED + XXXVI. THE LAST RESORT OF GENTLEMEN + XXXVII. THE LAST GOOD-BYE + XXXVIII. THE FURLING OF THE FLAGS + XXXIX. MY LADY OF THE NORTH + + + + +MY LADY OF THE NORTH + +The Love Story of a Gray-Jacket + + + +CHAPTER I + +A DESPATCH FOR LONGSTREET + + +It was a bare, plain interior,--the low table at which he sat an +unplaned board, his seat a box, made softer by a folded blanket. His +only companions were two aides, standing silent beside the closed +entrance, anxious to anticipate his slightest need. + +He will abide in my memory forever as I saw him then,--although we were +destined to meet often afterwards,--that old gray hero, whose masterly +strategy held at bay for so long those mighty forces hurled on our +constantly thinning lines of defence. To me the history of war has never +contained his equal, and while I live I shall love and revere him as I +can love and revere no other man. + +"General Lee," said one of the aides, as I passed the single sentry and +drew aside the flap to step within, "this is Captain Wayne." + +He deliberately pushed aside the mass of papers which had been engaging +him, and for an embarrassing moment fixed upon me a glance that seemed +to read me through and through. Then, with simple dignity, far more +impressive than I can picture it in words, he arose slowly and extended +his hand. + +"Captain Wayne," he said gravely, yet retaining his grasp, and with his +eyes full upon mine, "you are a much younger man than I expected to see, +yet I have selected you upon the special recommendation of your brigade +commander for services of the utmost importance. I certainly do not hold +your youth to be against your success, but I feel unwilling to order you +to the performance of this duty, which, besides being beyond the regular +requirements of the service, involves unusual risks." + +"Without inquiring its nature," I said hastily, "I freely offer myself +a volunteer for any service which may be required either by the army or +yourself." + +The kindly face brightened instantly, almost into a smile, and a new +look of confidence swept into the keen gray eyes. + +"I felt, even as I spoke," he said, with a dignified courtesy I have +never marked in any one else, "that I must be doing wrong to question +the willingness of an officer of your regiment, Captain Wayne, to make +personal sacrifice. From our first day of battle until now the South has +never once called upon them in vain. You are from the ranks, I believe?" + +"I was a corporal at Manassas." + +"Ah! then you have won your grade by hard service. You take with you one +man?" + +"Sergeant Craig of my troop, sir, a good soldier, who knows the country +well." + +He lowered his eyes to the numerous papers littering the table, and +then, leaning over, traced lightly with a colored pencil a line across +an outspread map. + +"You speak of his knowing the country well; are you aware, then, of your +destination?" + +"I merely inferred from what Colonel Carter said that it was your desire +to re-establish communication with General Longstreet." + +"That is true; but do you know where Longstreet is?" + +"Only that we of the line suppose him to be somewhere west of the +mountains, sir. It is camp gossip that his present base of supplies is +at Minersville." + +"Your conjecture is partly correct, although I have more reason to +believe that the head of his column has reached Bear Fork, or will by +to-morrow morning. Kindly step this way, Captain Wayne, and make note of +the blue lines I have traced across this map. Here, you will observe, +is Minersville, directly beyond the high ridge. You will notice that +the Federal lines extend north and south directly between us, with their +heavier bodies of infantry along the Wharton pike, and so disposed as +to shut off all communication between us and our left wing. Now, the +message I must get into Longstreet's hands is imperative; indeed, I will +say to you, the very safety of this army depends upon its reaching him +before his advance passes Bear Fork. There remains, therefore, no time +for any long detour; the messenger who bears it must take his life +in his hands and ride straight westward through the very lines of the +enemy." + +He spoke these words rapidly, earnestly; then suddenly he lifted his +eyes to mine, and said firmly: "I am perfectly frank with you. Are you +the man?" + +I felt the hot blood leap into my face, but I met his stern gaze without +flinching. + +"If I live, General Lee, I shall meet his advance at Bear Fork by +daybreak." + +"God guide you; I believe you will." + +His words seemed uttered unconsciously. He turned slightly, and glanced +toward the door. "Major Holmes, will you kindly hand me the draft of +that despatch?" + +He took the paper from the outstretched hand of the aide, read it over +slowly and with great care, wrote a word of explanation upon the margin, +and then extended it to me. + +"Commit that, word by word, to your memory; we must run no possible risk +of its ever falling into the enemy's hands." + +I can see it now, that coarse yellow paper,--the clear, upright +penmanship, the words here and there misused and corrected, the sentence +scratched out, the heavy underlining of a command, and his own strangely +delicate signature at the bottom. + + +_"Headquarters, Army Northern Virginia, + +"In the field, near Custer House, + +"Sept. 22, 2 P.M. + +"Lieut.-Gen'l Longstreet, + +"Commanding Left Wing. + +"Sir: You will advance your entire force by the Connelton and Sheffield +pikes, so as to reach Castle Rock with your full infantry command by +daybreak, September 26th. Let this supersede all other orders. I propose +to attack in force in the neighborhood of Sailor's Ford, and shall +expect you to advance promptly at the first sound of our artillery. It +is absolutely essential that we form prompt connection of forces, and to +accomplish this result will require a quick, persistent attack upon +your part. You are hereby ordered to throw your troops forward without +reserve, permitting them to be halted by no obstacle, until they come +into actual touch with my columns. The success or failure of my plans +will depend utterly upon your strict observance of these orders._ + +"R. E. LEE, _"Gen'l Commanding"_ + + +I handed back the paper, and lifted my hand in salute. + +"You have memorized it?" + +"Word for word, sir." + +"Repeat it to me." + +He held the paper before him as I did so, and at the close lifted his +eyes again to my face. + +"Very good," he said quietly. "Now let there be no mistake; repeat it +over to your companion as you proceed until he also has memorized it, +and one of you must live long enough to reach Longstreet. I advise you +to take the Langley road,--it is the most protected,--and not try to +pass beyond the old Coulter plantation until after dark, or you will run +the risk of being observed by the enemy's pickets. Beyond this I must +leave all to your own discretion." + +He paused, and I still lingered, thinking he might have something more +to add. + +"Are you one of the Waynes of Charlottesville?" he asked gravely. + +"Colonel Richard Wayne was my father, sir." + +"Ah, indeed! I remember him well"; and his face lit up with a most +tender smile. "We were together in Mexico. A Virginia gentleman of the +old school. He is dead, I believe?" + +"He was killed, sir, the first year of the war." + +"I remember; it was at Antietam. And your mother? If my memory is not at +fault she was a Pierpont?" + +"She is now in Richmond, sir, and the old plantation is but a ruin." + +"War is indeed sad," he said slowly; "and I often feel that our Southern +women are compelled to bear the brunt of it. What heroines they +have proven! History records no equal to the daily sacrifices I have +witnessed in the past three years. God grant it may be soon ended." + +Then, as if suddenly moved by the impulse of the moment, he again +extended his hand. + +"Well, lad," he said kindly, the same grave smile lighting his face, +"our country needs us. We must not waste time here in conversation. I am +very glad to have been permitted to meet the son of my old friend, and +trust you will remember me to your mother. But now good-bye, Captain, +and may He in whose hand we all are guide and guard you. I know that a +Wayne of Virginia will always do his duty." + +Bareheaded and with proudly swelling heart I backed out of the tent as +I might have left the throne-room of an emperor, but as I grasped the +reins and swung up into saddle, I became conscious that he had followed +me. Craig flung up his hand in quick, soldierly salute, and then, with a +single rapid stride, the General stood at his horse's head. + +"Sergeant," he said,--and I was struck by the incisive military tone +of his voice, so different from the gentleness shown within,--"I am +informed that you are intimately acquainted with the roads to the +westward." + +"Every bridle-path, sir, either by night or day." + +"Then possibly you can inform me whether the Big Hickory is fordable at +Deer Gap." + +"Not for infantry at high water, sir; but there is another ford two +miles north where it is never over waist deep." + +"That would be at Brixton's Mill?" + +"No, sir; the other way." + +Lee smiled, and rested his hand almost caressingly on the trooper's +knee. + +"You are a valuable man for us to risk on such a ride," he said kindly. +"But I desire you to understand, Sergeant, how deeply I value the +service you are about to render, and that I shall never permit it to be +forgotten or go unrewarded. And now, good-night, Sergeant; good-night, +Captain Wayne." + +As we turned into the main road, riding slowly, I glanced backward. The +General was yet standing there in front of his tent, gazing after us, +the rays of the westering sun gleaming on his gray hair. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE NIGHT RIDE + + +By five o'clock we were safe at Colchester, and while our horses rested +and refreshed themselves on some confiscated grain, the two of us lay +lazily back on a grassy knoll, well within the shadow of a ruined wall, +and watched the round, red sun drop slowly down behind those western +hills we had to climb. + +We scarcely spoke regarding the work we knew was ahead, except to +discuss briefly the better route to be selected for our hard night's +ride. We were both old campaigners, inured by years of discipline to +danger and obedience. This special duty, however arduous and desperate +it might prove to be, was silently accepted as part of the service we +owed the State. Reckless and hardened as I know Craig to have been, I +have no doubt he reflected upon Lee and his kindly words and was touched +and softened by their memory, as he lay there stretched at full length +on the grass, his pipe glowing cheerily between his lips. But if so, his +thoughts remained unuttered, nor did I feel inclined to dwell upon +the theme; and so, in the strength of a simple comradeship which could +remain silent, we waited patiently for the night to close us in. + +As early as we deemed it safe to venture, we were again in saddle, +riding now straight to the westward, along the smooth-beaten pike, until +we caught sight of the black shadow of Colton Church in our front; then +we swerved to the left, and still moving rapidly but with considerate +care for the horses, headed directly across the more broken country +toward the foot-hills. + +It proved to be a hard, toilsome climb up those long, steep slopes +rising before us; for we were extremely careful now to keep well away +from every known route of travel, and our horses, although selected +from among the best mounts of the cavalry brigade, had already been +thoroughly winded by their smart trot up the valley. The short grass +under foot, crisp from the hot sun of the long afternoon, caused many a +slip of the poorly shod hoofs, while the darkness had grown so close and +dense about us that we could barely creep through it, with only faith +and a doubtful memory as guides. Every road, we well knew, would be +patrolled by Federal pickets; only the broken country between could +yield us the faintest prospect of success. But at best it must largely +be guesswork,--Providence, luck, what you will,--and the slightest swing +of the pendulum could easily frustrate our best laid plans. + +An hour of this work passed. Whether or not we were yet within the +enemy's lines was largely conjecture, for no human eye could pierce +the enveloping gloom, and no sound, either of warning or encouragement, +reached us as we strained our ears. The Sergeant rode slightly in +advance as we toiled up the higher terrace, for our sole dependence +as to direction and distance was upon his memory, and even that could +scarcely serve for much on such a night as this. I traced his passage +upward as best I might, and pressed close after him, guided not so much +by sight as by sound,--the occasional rolling of a loosened stone, the +rustling of leaves as he touched a bush in passage, the faint clinking +of his sabre, and the heavy breathing of his horse,--until at last his +long, slender figure rose sufficiently above the dark hill surface to be +faintly silhouetted in deeper shadow against the dim reflection of the +upper sky. Almost coincidently with this my horse ranged up beside his, +where he had drawn rein in evident perplexity. + +"What is it, Dan?" I questioned cautiously; for all I could feel +reasonably assured of just then was that behind any rock or tree in our +front there might be crouching a Federal picket. + +"It's nothing Cap," he answered quietly, turning his face toward me as +he spoke. "I'm just tryin' ter 'member some landmark yereabout ter guide +from. Blamed if ever I see such a dark night; it's like bein' inside a +pocket, sir, an' I reckon as how it must be nigh onter ten year since +I run loose in this yere country as a kid. Thet thar cut-off we took a +while back has sort o' confused me, that's a fac', and I don't just +know whar I am; but I reckon as how the main ridge road we 're a huntin' +after oughter run somewhar out yonder." He pointed forward into the +night. + +"I supposed from the map it would be found farther back and considerably +to the right of us," I ventured doubtfully. + +"Never saw no map, Cap," he returned, with the easy familiarity of a +scout on service. "But if I recollect clear, it sure used ter run mighty +close ter the east edge. I reckon it ain't changed none to speak of, an' +so it'll have ter be somewhere just along thar." + +He spoke with such an air of certainty that I felt any controversy +useless. + +"Very well; hand me your rein, and see what you can discover out there +on foot. Sitting here isn't apt to mend matters, and we surely cannot +afford to cripple our horses among those rocks." + +The Sergeant, a gaunt, tireless mountaineer, slipped silently from his +saddle, swung his light cavalry carbine from his back to the hollow +of his arm, and in another moment was lost to sight in the darkness. +A snake could not have slipped away more stealthily. I heard a stone +rattle under his foot, a half-suppressed oath, and then the night had +completely swallowed him. + +How utterly alone I seemed; how intensely, painfully still everything +was! The silence felt almost like a weight, so greatly it oppressed me. +Even the accustomed voices of nature were hushed, as if war, with +its unspeakable cruelty, had cast a spell over all things animate and +inanimate. It was weird, uncanny. With every nerve strained I leaned +forward across the pommel of my saddle, listening for the slightest +sound out in that black void. My head burned and throbbed as with fever, +and I felt that strange, unnatural stillness as though it had been a +physical thing; surely others besides us were upon this hilltop! For I +knew well--my every soldier instinct told me--that somewhere out in that +impenetrable mystery were blazing the camp-fires of an enemy. Vigilant +eyes were peering everywhere in search for such as we. How far away they +might lurk I could not even conjecture,--perhaps merely around some near +projecting wall of rock,--and we might even now be within the range of +their ready rifles. I could hear the quickened throbbing of my heart, +and my hand fell heavily on a pistol butt in nervous expectancy. + +The soft night wind, heavy with pine odors, began suddenly to play amid +the leaves of a low tree beside me, and the pleasant rustling mingled +like strains of music with the slow breathing of the horses, but no +other sound broke a silence that had become a positive pain. Man at his +best is largely a creature of impulse, and I confess to a feeling almost +of terror as I sat there in utter loneliness. I glanced behind, hoping +that there at least I might discover some object on which my gaze might +settle, something that would relieve the intense nerve-strain of the +black nothingness. I swept with staring eyes the half circle where I +knew must lie the deep wide valley far beneath, but no welcome gleam of +light greeted me. Far out yonder, as I well knew, was the cheery glow +where our ragged, tired comrades rested around their night fires, but +the bend of the land between shut it all off as completely as if I were +already in another world, a denizen of those cold and silent stars so +far away. + +I recall it now as one of the loneliest moments of my life, one of those +almost unaccountable conditions of mind and body when it seemed to me +that the thin, sinewy fingers of an inexorable fate were closing down +with a pressure which no strength of man might resist. I was worn with +fatigue in the saddle, but did not dream of sleep; my mind, in a firm +endeavor to cast aside the uncanny influences of the hour, recalled in +swift panorama those three years of civil strife which had run their +course since I, a slender, white-faced lad, had stolen forth into +the moonlight from the portals of the old home, to ride away into +the northward where the throbbing drums called me. In those days I +understood but little of the cause for which I was so eager to fight +and suffer. Possibly I cared even less; yet I had ever since blindly +followed the faded, tattered flag of my native State with the same +passionate devotion that possessed thousands of others, and with no +clearer thought than to remain beside it to the bitter end. + +What strange, exciting years those had been; how filled with adventure! +Like pictures painted on a screen there flashed across my memory in +vivid colors the camps and marches, the long night vigils, the swift +sweep of the charging squadrons, the deadly shock of battle, the +scouting across unknown country, the hours of pain while the soft moon +smiled down upon a stricken field, the weary weeks in the low-roofed +hospital at Richmond. It seemed hardly possible that I could be that +same slender, untried lad who stole forth with quaking heart, fearful +of the very shadows of the oaks about the old home. What centuries of +experience lay between! The same boy, yet moulded now into a man; into +the leader of a troop of fighting men, hardened to steel by service, +trusted by one whom the South most revered and loved,--a veteran soldier +in the ranks of the hardest fighting legions our world has ever known. +Yet such had been the magic touch of war. So deeply had my every thought +become merged in these musings that Craig, slipping silently as a ghost +from out the engulfing darkness, laid hand upon my bridle-rein before I +became aware of his approach. + +"I got 'er all right now, Cap," he announced quietly, peering up into +my face. "We uns are not more nor a hundred yards ter the right of the +road, but I reckon you'll find ther way a bit rough." + +He led both horses forward, moving slowly and with that silent caution +so characteristic of his class. With scarcely the scraping of a hoof on +the flinty rocks we came forth in safety upon the defined, hard-beaten +track. + +"The south is over yonder ter the left," he whispered, as he swung up +into saddle, "an' the trend of the road is mighty nigh due west." + +"But in which direction does their main camp lie, Sergeant?" + +He shook his head gravely. + +"Durn it; thet's just what I can't quite figure out, sir--whether we uns +be to ther north or south of ther white church. Then, somehow or other, +it seems like to me as if this yere road lay a bit too close ter the +edge of ther plateau ter ever be the main pike what the Feds marched +over. I reckon from ther direction it runs that maybe it might be a +branch like, or a wood-road leadin' inter the other. If thet's the way +it is, then them fellers we uns is tryin' ter dodge ought ter be down +yonder ter the left somewhar." + +I gazed vaguely out into the black vacancy to which he pointed. + +"Well, if we should chance to run up against one of their picket posts +we shall be soon enlightened," I returned, urging my horse carefully +forward. "But we shall have to take the chances, for it would not prove +healthy for either of us to be caught here by daylight." + +I heard Craig chuckle grimly to himself, as if he found humor in the +thought, but without other attempt to give utterance to his feelings he +ranged up close to my side. + +Not daring to venture on any gait faster than a walk along this unknown +and ill-defined mountain trail, we slowly and cautiously worked our way +forward for more than an hour, meeting with no human obstacle to our +progress, yet feeling that each step forward was surrounded by imminent +peril. That we were now well within the guarded lines of the enemy we +were both assured, although where or how we had succeeded in penetrating +the cordon of picket posts unobserved we could only conjecture. The +darkness about us seemed intensified by the high, overhanging bank of +rock at our left; on the other side, and but dimly revealed against the +sky-line, I could perceive Craig's gaunt figure as he leaned far over +the high pommel of his cavalry saddle, his short carbine well advanced, +his trained eyes seeking vainly to pierce the mystery in our front. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +AN UNWELCOME GUEST + + +This was the sort of work I had long ago learned to love; it warmed +the blood, this constant certainty of imminent peril, this intense +probability that any moment might bring a flash of flame into our very +faces. Each step we took was now a stern, grim play with Fate, where the +stakes were life and death. I felt my pulses throb as I rode steadily +forward, fairly thrusting the darkness aside, my teeth hard set, my left +hand heavy on a revolver butt. + +How, in such a situation, the nerves tingle and the heart bounds to each +strange sight and sound! Halt!--what was that? Pooh! no more than the +deeper shadow of a sharply projecting rock, around which we pick careful +way, our horses crowding against each other in the narrow space. And +that? Nothing but the faint moan of the night wind amid the dead limbs +of a tree. Ah! mark that sudden flash of light! The hand that closes +iron-like upon the loosened rein opens again, for it was merely a star +silently falling from out the black depths of the sky. Then both of us +halt at once, and peer anxiously forward. The figure standing directly +in the centre of our path, can it be a sentry at last? A cautious +step forward, a low laugh from the Sergeant, and we circle the gaunt, +blackened stump, as silent ourselves as the night about us, but with +fiercely beating, expectant hearts. + +But hark! Surely that was no common sound, born of that drear +loneliness! No cavalryman can mistake the jingle of accoutrements or the +dull thud of horses' hoofs. The road here must have curved sharply, for +they were already so close upon us that, almost simultaneously with the +sound, we could distinguish the deeper shadow of a small, compact body +of horsemen directly in our front. To left of us there rose, sheer +and black, the precipitous rock; to right we might not even guess what +yawning void. It was either wit or sword-play now. + +I know not how it may be with others in such emergencies, but with me +it always happens that the sense of fear departs with the presence of +actual danger. Before the gruesome fancies of imagination I may quake +and burn like any maiden alone upon a city street at night, until each +separate nerve becomes a very demon of mental agony; but when the real +and known once fairly confronts me, and there is work to do, I grow +instantly cool to think, resolute to act, and find a rare joy in it. It +was so now, and, revolver in hand but hidden beneath my holster flap, I +leaned over and touched Craig's arm. + +"Keep quiet," I whispered sternly. "Let them challenge first, and no +firing except on my order." + +Almost with the words there came the sharp hail: + +"Halt! Who comes there?" + +I drew the cape of my riding-jacket closer, so as better to muffle the +sound of my voice. + +"Friends, of course; who would you expect to meet on this road?" + +Fortune seemed with me in the chance answer, for he who had hailed +exclaimed: + +"Oh! is that you, Brennan?" + +There was no time now for hesitancy; here was my cue, and I must plunge +ahead, accepting the chances. I ventured it. + +"No; Brennan couldn't come. I am here in his place." + +"Indeed! Who are you?" + +"Major Wilkie." + +There was a moment's painful pause, in which I could hear my heart +throb. + +"Wilkie," repeated the voice, doubtfully. "There is no officer of that +name in the Forty-third." + +"Well, there chances to be such an officer on the staff," I retorted, +permitting a trace of anger to appear in my tone, "and I am the man." + +"What the devil is the difference, Hale, just what his name is?" boomed +a deeper voice back in the group. "We are not getting up a directory of +the Sixth Corps. Of course he's the man Brennan sent, and that is all +we've got to look after." + +"Oh, all right, certainly, Major," returned the first speaker, hastily. +"But the night is so cussed black I supposed we must be at least a mile +this side of where we were to meet. However, we have the lady here for +you all right, and she is anxious enough to get on." + +The lady! Heavens! What odd turn of fortune's wheel was this? The +lady! I heard Craig's smothered chuckle, but before I had sufficiently +regained control over my own feelings to venture upon a suitable reply, +the entire party had drawn forward, the leader pressing so close to my +side that I felt safer with my face well shaded. + +"Where is your escort, Major?" he asked, and the gruffness of his tone +put me instantly on defence. + +"Just behind us," I returned, with affected carelessness, and determined +now to play out the game, lady or no lady. I was extremely sorry for +her, but the cause outweighed her comfort. "The Sergeant and I rode out +ahead when we heard you coming. Where is the lady?" + +He glanced around at the group huddled behind him. + +"Third on the left." + +"All right, then. Nothing else, I believe"; for I was eager to get away. +"Sergeant, just ride in there and lead, out her horse. We will have to +be moving, gentlemen, for it is a rough road and a dark night." + +"Beastly," assented the other, heartily. + +I fairly held my breath as Craig rode forward. If one of them should +chance to strike a match to light a pipe, or any false movement of +Craig's should excite suspicion! If he should even speak, his soft +Southern drawl would mean instant betrayal. And how coolly he went at +it; with a sharp touch of the spur, causing his jaded horse to exhibit +such sudden restlessness as to keep the escort well to one side, while +he ranged close up to our unwelcome guest, and laying firm hand upon her +horse's bit, led forth to where I waited. It was quickly, nobly done, +and I could have hugged the fellow. + +"Well, good luck to you, Major, and a pleasant ride. Remember me to +Brennan. Deuced queer, though, why he failed to show up on such an +occasion as this." + +"He was unfortunate enough to be sent out in the other direction with +despatches--good-night, gentlemen." + +It was sweet music to me to listen to their hoof-beats dying rapidly +away behind us as we turned back down the dark road, the Sergeant still +riding with his one hand grasping the stranger's rein. I endeavored +to scan her figure in the blackness, but found the effort useless, as +little more than a shadow was visible. Yet it was impressed upon me +that she sat straight and firm in the saddle, so I concluded she must be +young. Rapidly I reviewed our predicament, and sought for some avenue of +escape. If we were only certain as to where we were, we might plan with +better prospect of success. The woman? Doubtless she would know, and +possibly I might venture to question her without awakening suspicion. +Surely the experiment was well worth trying. + +"Madam," I began, seeking to feel my way with caution into her +confidence, "I fear you must be quite wearied by your long ride." + +She turned slightly at sound of my voice. + +"Not at all, sir; I am merely eager to push on. Besides, my ride has not +been a long one, as we merely came from General Sigel's headquarters." + +The voice was pleasantly modulated and refined. + +"Ah, yes, certainly," I stammered, fearful lest I had made a grave +mistake. "But really I had supposed General Sigel was at Coultersville." + +"He advanced to Bear Creek yesterday," she returned quietly. "So you +see we had covered scarcely more than three miles when we met. How much +farther is it to where Major Brennan is stationed?" + +I fear I was guilty of hesitancy, but it was only for a moment. + +"I am unable to tell exactly, for, as it chances, I have never yet been +in the camp, but I should judge that two hours' riding will cover the +distance." + +"Why," in a tone of sudden surprise, "Captain Hale certainly told me it +was all of twenty miles!" + +"From Bear Creek?" I questioned eagerly, for it was my turn to feel +startled now. "The map barely makes it ten." + +"It is but ten, and scarcely that, by the direct White Briar road, or, +at least, so I heard some of the younger officers say; but it seems the +Rebel pickets are posted so close to the White Briar that my friends +decided it would be unsafe to proceed that way." + +This was news indeed,--news so unexpected and startling that I forgot +all caution. + +"Then what road do they call this?" + +She laughed at my evident ignorance, as well as the eagerness of my +tone. + +"Really, you are a most peculiar guide," she exclaimed gayly. "You +almost convince me that you are lost. Fortunately, sir, out of my vast +knowledge of this mysterious region, I am able to enlighten you to some +extent. We are now riding due southward along the Allentown pike." + +Craig leaned forward so as to look across her horse's neck to where I +rode on the opposite side. + +"May I speak a word, sir?" he asked cautiously. + +"Certainly, Sergeant; do you make anything out of all this?" + +"Yes, sir," he answered eagerly. "I know now exactly how we missed it, +and where we are. The cut-off to the White Briar I spoke to you about +this afternoon cannot be more than a hundred yards below here." + +"Ride ahead carefully then, and see if you can locate it. Be cautious; +there may be a picket stationed there. We will halt where we are until +you return." + +He swung forward his carbine where it would be handy for instant +service and trotted ahead into the darkness. The woman's horse, being +comparatively fresh and restless, danced a little in an effort to +follow, but I restrained him with a light hand on the bit, and for a +moment we sat waiting in silence. Then her natural curiosity prompted a +question. + +"Why is it you seem so anxious to discover this cutoff?" + +"We merely desire to take advantage of the more direct road," I replied +somewhat shortly. "Besides, we are much farther to the east than I had +supposed, and therefore too close to the lines of the enemy." + +"How strange it is you should not have known!" she exclaimed in a voice +of indignant wonder; but as I made no reply she did not venture to speak +again. + +My thoughts at that moment, indeed, were not with her, although I kept +firm hold upon her rein. I was eager to be off, to make up by hard +riding the tedious delay of this night's work, and constantly listening +in dread for some sounds of struggle down the roadway. But all remained +silent until I could dimly distinguish the returning hoof-beats of the +Sergeant's horse; and so anxious was I to economize time that I was +already urging our mounts forward when his shadow grew black in front, +and he wheeled in at my side. + +"No picket there, sir." + +"Very well, Sergeant; when we come to the turn you are to ride a few +rods in advance of us, and will set a good pace, for now we must make up +for all this lost time." + +I caught the motion of his hand as it was lifted in salute. + +"Very well, sir; here is the turn--to your right." + +I could dimly distinguish the opening designated, and as we wheeled into +it he at once clapped spurs to his horse and forged ahead. In another +moment he had totally disappeared, and as I urged our reluctant mounts +to more rapid speed all sound of his progress was instantly lost in the +pounding of our own hoofs on the hard road. + +It was like riding directly against a black wall, and far from +comforting to the nerves, for the path was a strange one, and not too +well made. Fortunately the horses followed the curves without mishap, +save an occasional awkward stumble amid loose stones, while the high +walls of rock on either hand made a somewhat denser shadow where they +shut off the lower stars, and thus helped me to guide our progress. + +But it was no time for conversation, even had the inclination been mine, +for every nerve was now strained to intensity as I spurred on my horse +and held tightly to the bridle of the other, almost cursing, as I rode, +the unlucky chance which brought us such a burden on a night like this. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A WOMAN WITH A TEMPER + + +I thought the stars grew somewhat brighter as we galloped on, the +iron-shod hoofs now and then striking out sudden sparks of yellow flame +from the flinty surface of the road; but this may have resulted from the +lowering of the rocky barriers on either side, making the arch of sky +more clearly visible. The air perceptibly freshened, with a chilly +mountain wind beating against our faces and rustling the leaves of the +phantom trees that lined the way. The woman rode silently and well. I +could make out her figure now, dim and indistinct as the outlines were +in that darkness and wrapped in the loose folds of an officer's cloak. +She was sitting firm and upright in the saddle; I even marked how, with +the ease and grace of a practical horsewoman, she held the reins. + +I think we must have been fully an hour at it, riding at no mean pace, +and with utter disregard of danger. Although I knew little of where we +were, and nothing as to the condition of the path we traversed, yet so +complete was my confidence in Craig that I felt no hesitancy in blindly +following the pace he set. Then a black shape loomed up before us so +suddenly that it was only by a quick effort I prevented a collision. +Even as I held my horse poised half in air, I perceived it was Craig who +blocked the way. + +"What is it, Sergeant?" + +"A picket, sir, at the end of the road," he said quietly. + +"I kinder reckoned they'd hev some sort o' guard thar, so I crept up +on the quiet ter be sure. The feller helped me out a bit by strikin' +a match ter see what time 't was, or I reckon I'd a walked over him in +ther dark." + +"Had we better ride him down?" I asked, thinking only how rapidly the +night hours were speeding and of the importance of the duty pressing +upon us. + +"Not with ther woman, sir," he answered in a low, reproachful voice. +"Besides, we never could git through without a shot, an' if by any dern +luck it should turn out ter be a cavalry outpost,--an' I sorter reckon +that's what it is,--why, our horses are in no shape fer a hard run. +You uns better wait here, sir, an' let me tend ter that soger man quiet +like, an' then p'raps we uns kin all slip by without a stirrin' up ther +patrol." + +"Well," I said, reluctantly yielding to what I felt was doubtless the +wiser course, and mechanically grasping the rein he held out to me, "go +ahead. But be careful, and don't waste any time. If we hear the sound of +a shot we shall ride forward under spur." + +"All right, sir, but there 'll be no fuss, fer I know just whar ther +fellar is." + +Time seems criminally long when one is compelled to wait in helpless +uncertainty, every nerve on strain. + +"Hold yourself ready for a sudden start," I said warningly to my +companion. "If there is any noise of a struggle yonder I shall drive in +the spurs." + +As I spoke I swung the Sergeant's horse around to my side, where I could +control him more readily. + +There was no reply from the woman, but I noticed she endeavored to draw +together the flapping cape of her cloak, as though she felt chilled by +the wind, and her figure seemed to stiffen in the saddle. + +"Are you cold?" I questioned, more perhaps to throttle my own +nervousness by speech than from better motive. + +She shook her head; then, as if thinking better of it, answered lightly: + +"The wind appears to find no obstacle in this cloak, but I am not +suffering." + +I wrapped the loose rein of Craig's horse about the pommel of my saddle +and bent toward her. + +"Permit me," I said; "you probably do not comprehend the intricacies of +a cavalry cloak. If I fasten these upper frogs I think it will help to +keep out the night air." + +Without protest she permitted me to draw the flapping cloth together and +fasten it closer about her throat; but whatever tantalizing curiosity +I may have felt to view her face was effectually blocked by the high +collar behind which she immediately took refuge. + +"I am sure that will be much better; you are very kind." The words were +pleasant enough, yet there was something in both tone and manner that +piqued me, and I turned away without speaking. + +It came at last--not the sharp flash of a musket cleaving the night in +twain, but merely the tall figure of the Sergeant, stealing silently +out of the gloom, like a black ghost, and standing at our very horses' +heads. + +"All clear, sir," he reported in a matter-of-fact tone. "But we shall +hev ter move mighty quiet, fer ther main picket post ain't more nor a +hundred yards ter the right o' ther crossin'." + +He did not remount, but, with reins flung loosely over his arm, led the +way slowly forward, and carefully we followed him. + +What had become of the sentinel I did not know, respecting Craig's +evident desire for silence; but as we drew nearer the White Briar road +I sought in vain to pierce the dense gloom and note some sign of a +struggle, some darker shadow where a body might be lying. There was +nothing visible to tell the story. + +The Sergeant walked without the least hesitation across the open space, +directly into the deep shadows opposite, where the cross-road continued +to hold way. Crouching low in the saddle, we followed him as silently +as though we were but spirits of the night. Up the road I caught the +red gleam of a fire almost spent, and a black figure crossed between us, +casting an odd shadow against the face of the rock where it was lighted +by the flickering red blaze. It was all over in a moment, a mere +glimpse, but it formed one of those sudden pictures which paint +themselves on the brain and can never after be effaced. I recall yet the +long shade cast by the man's gun, the grotesque shape of his flapping +army overcoat, the quick change in the silhouette as he wheeled to +retrace his beat. But there was no noise, not even the sound of his +footsteps reaching us. Even as I gazed, lying nearly full length upon my +horse, we had crossed the open, and a perfect tangle of low bushes hid +us as completely as if we had entered the yawning mouth of a cavern. + +A hundred yards or more of sharply curving road densely lined with +shrubbery on either hand, and then Craig swung into saddle and again +gave spur to his horse. + +"We must ride for it now," he said tersely. "When thet patrol makes +their round, them fellers will be after us hot." + +I urged my tired horse to a gallop, pressing upon Craig's heels as +closely as I dared; nor did I glance back, for I knew well that a dead +picket was lying somewhere by the cross-roads, and that his comrades +would be heard from before the dawn. + +We were moving bravely now; for the road under foot grew better as +we advanced, and gave back the dull thud of soft earth instead of the +rattling clang of the rocks we had been so long accustomed to. I forced +the scabbard of my sabre beneath the bend of my knee to keep it from +clanging against the iron stirrup, and only the breathing of the horses, +and their heavy pounding on the earth, broke the night silence. Craig +was riding directly in my front, sitting erect as if on parade, and the +woman's horse kept up the pace without apparent effort. Surely we had +already covered a good safe mile from where we had left the dead soldier +to tell his speechless story, and the way ahead was clear. My spirits +rose buoyantly with every stride of the horse, and my faith, never long +dormant, already saw my task accomplished, my pledge to Lee fulfilled. + +But it is the unexpected which masters us in the end. I had all but +completely shut the dark night from my thoughts. I suppose, in truth, +I was as keenly observant as ever, but it now seems to me that I was +riding that black road with closed eyes, so busy were my thoughts +elsewhere. Then, suddenly, my horse was jerked almost to a standstill, +the hand upon his bit seemingly as hard as my own, and I wheeled in +the saddle, pressing my knees tightly to prevent being thrown, only to +perceive the woman tugging desperately at the lines. + +"What now?" I asked sharply, and in sudden anger I forced her to release +her grasp. "We must ride, and ride hard, madam, to be out of this cordon +by daylight." + +"Ride where?" + +She faced me stiffly, and there was a slight sting in her voice, I felt. + +"Where?" I repeated; then partially gathering my scattered wits: "Why, +to the camp we are seeking, of course." + +I was conscious that her eyes were striving anxiously to see my face in +the darkness,--that her suspicions were now fully aroused; yet her quick +retort surprised me. + +"You lie!" she said coldly. "That was a Federal picket he killed." + +It was no time for argument, and I knew it. Any moment might bring to +us the sound of hoof-beats in pursuit; more, I realized that anything I +might hope to say would only tend to make matters worse. There was but +one course open. She must be compelled to ride, by force if necessary. +Why should I hesitate? She had no claim on my consideration, and I +hardened my heart to make her comprehend, once and for all, that I was +the master. Even as I reached this decision, Craig, noting our pause, +had ridden back, and reined in beside us without a word. + +"You are right," I said tersely. "In one sense of the word you are +prisoner, for the time being at least, but not through any wish of +mine. We do not make war on women, and your being in this situation is +altogether an accident. However, be that as it may, we must, first of +all, protect ourselves. I would very gladly leave you with your friends, +if possible, but as things have shaped themselves there remains but one +alternative--_you must ride as I order."_ + +I could mark her quick breathing while I spoke, and when I concluded one +hand went up to her throat as if she choked. + +"You--you are not Major Brennan's friend then? You were not sent by +Frank to meet me?" The questions burst from her lips so rapidly that I +scarcely caught their import. + +"I am Captain Philip Wayne, ----th Virginia Cavalry, at your service, +madam," I said calmly, "and to the best of my knowledge I have not the +pleasure of Major Brennan's acquaintance." + +She seemed not to know what to say, and sat there staring at me through +the darkness, as she might have gazed in speechless horror at some wild +animal she expected would spring upon her. + +"A Rebel!" The hated word hissed from her lips as if the utterance +burned them. + +"Yes, madam," I said, somewhat coldly, for I was not especially fond of +the term, "that is what they call us on your side, but also an officer +and a gentleman." + +I doubt if she even heard me. All I know is she suddenly lifted the +heavy riding whip that was clinched in her right hand, struck me with it +full across the face, and then, as I quickly flung up my own arm to ward +off a second blow, she sent the lash swirling down upon the flank of her +horse. With one bound the maddened animal wrenched the reins from out +my hands, nearly dragging me from the saddle, and swerved sharply to the +left. There was a shock, a smothered oath, a moment's fierce struggle +in the darkness, the sharp ping of the whip as it came down once, +twice--then silence, broken only by deep breathing. + +"I've got her, Captain," chuckled the Sergeant, softly, "but dog-gone if +I know what to do with her." + +There was small sentiment of mercy in my heart as I drew up toward them, +for my cheek burned where the lash had struck as though scorched with +fire. For the moment I felt utterly indifferent to all claims of her +womanhood. She had unsexed herself, and deserved treatment accordingly. +It was thus I felt as I clinched my teeth in pain; but when I saw her +leaning helplessly forward on her horse's neck, all bravado gone, her +hands pinioned behind her in the iron grip of the Sergeant, my fierce +resentment died away within me. + +"Let go her hands. Craig." I commanded briefly. + +She lifted her body slightly from its cramped, uncomfortable posture, +but her head remained bowed. + +"Madam,"--I spoke sternly, for moments were of value now,--"listen to +what I say. We are Confederate soldiers passing through the Federal +lines with despatches. In order to save ourselves from discovery and +capture we were compelled to take you in charge. It was the fortune of +war. If now we could honorably leave you here we would most gladly do +so, for having you with us adds vastly to our own danger; but these +mountains are simply overrun with wandering guerillas who would show you +neither respect nor mercy. We simply dare not, as honorable men, leave +you here unprotected, and consequently you must continue to ride in our +company. Now answer me plainly, will you proceed quietly, or shall we be +compelled to tie you to your horse?" + +I knew she was crying; but with an effort she succeeded in steadying her +voice sufficiently to reply. + +"I will go," she said. + +"Thank you," and I gravely lifted my hat as I spoke. "You have saved me +a most unpleasant duty. You may ride on, Sergeant; this lady and I will +follow, as before." + +She scarcely changed her posture as I spurred forward, riding now so +close to her side that I could feel the flap of her saddle rise and fall +against my knee. Whatever of evil she may have thought of us, I felt +that she was sorry enough now for her hasty action, and I forgave the +pain that yet stung me, and longed, without well knowing how, to tell +her so. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A DISASTER ON THE ROAD + + +To me she was merely a woman whom it had become my duty to protect, and +whatever of chivalrous feeling I may have held toward her was based upon +nothing deeper than this knowledge. She had come to us undesired and in +darkness, her form enveloped in a cavalry cloak, her face shrouded by +the night. As to whether she was young or old I had scarce means of +knowing, saving only that the tone of her voice and the graceful manner +of her riding made me confident that she had not lost the agility of +youth. But beyond this vague impression (it was little more), and a +fleeting gleam of the starlight in her eyes as she faced me in anger, I +was as totally unaware of how she really looked as though we had never +met. Her very name was unknown to me. Who was this Major Brennan? Was +he father, brother, or husband? and was her name Brennan also? For some +reason this last possibility was repugnant to me. Yet I knew not why. + +I turned these thoughts over in my mind, speculating idly upon them, not +because I felt any interest in their solution, or in the woman riding at +my side, but because they seemed to fall into order to the steady +music of my horse's feet and the darkness of the night. "No," I said to +myself, "there is certainly no leaving her except in a disciplined camp; +young or old, Yankee or what not, she is in our care, and we'll keep her +out of the hands of those cut-throats between the lines." + +I glanced toward her, wondering what the morning light might reveal as +to her appearance. She was sitting erect and easy in the saddle, yet +seemed to ride with her face averted from me. + +"You ride as though born to the saddle," I said pleasantly; and although +I spoke low, we were so close together that my voice carried distinctly +to her ears. "We have been sufficiently conceited to suppose that to be +an accomplishment peculiar to our Southern women." + +"I have been accustomed to ride since childhood," she replied rather +shortly, and I was conscious of a restraint in her manner far from +pleasing. Yet I ventured upon one more effort at conversation. + +"Is Major Brennan an officer on Sheridan's staff?" + +"I was not aware "--and I could not mistake the accent of vindictiveness +in her voice--"that prisoners were obliged to converse against their +will." + +My lady certainly possessed a temper of her own, and I was obliged to +smile there in the dark at her high head and quick retort. + +"I ask your pardon, I am sure,"--I returned soberly. "But my question +was not altogether an idle one. I have chanced to meet several of +General Sheridan's staff, and thought possibly Major Brennan might +have been of their number. Seeing that we must associate for a time, +I naturally felt it would prove pleasanter for both of us if we might +discover some mutual tie." + +There was no response. Her eyes were fastened upon the road ahead, and +evidently my lady possessed no desire for the discovery of any such tie. +Watching her, I pressed my lips together, and held her as a proud and +silly fool. + +I would perform my full duty toward her, of course, but beyond that I +would go no further. + +The pace we were travelling had already told severely on the horses, +although hers was by far the best and freshest of the three. My own +brave sorrel had stumbled several times already in a way that gave me no +small uneasiness, yet I durst not venture to draw rein or even slacken +speed. Already, beyond a doubt, the patrol in our rear had missed the +picket stationed at the crossroads, had searched until they found the +lifeless body where Craig had hidden it, and were now hot upon our +trail. Hard, continuous riding alone could save us--riding with a +thoroughly aroused enemy at our heels, and yet another picket line to +pass before we could even hope for a clear sweep into safety. + +The road we were following here took a sudden trend downward, and we +could tell from the sharper ring of the hoofs, and the spitting of +flinty sparks beneath us, that we were among rocks once more. Then our +horses suddenly splashed into water, and I held them up long enough to +drink. I felt thirst strongly myself, and slipping out of the saddle, +filled my canteen. + +"Would you care for a drink?" I asked, stemming the stream to reach her +side, and holding the vessel within easy grasp of her hand. + +I actually believe her first impulse was to refuse haughtily this +proffered civility from an enemy of her country, but the deep sense of +need conquered foolish pride and caused her to accept the offering. + +"I am very thankful to you," she said, handing back the canteen; yet the +words were spoken in mockery. I ignored them, and swung into my saddle +without response. + +Another hill followed, and then another, and finally we swept swiftly +down a long slope densely bordered by trees and with irregular piles of +rock uprearing ugly heads on either hand. A little edge of the waning +moon began to peep over the ridge of the hill, and yielded sufficient +light to enable our eyes to discern dimly the faint track we followed. +I remember remarking the blacker figure of the Sergeant ahead of us, +and already halfway down the long decline. I caught a swift glimpse of +a rough log house on the right, so set back among trees that I half +doubted its real existence, when--there was a slip, the crunching of a +stone, a long stumble forward that fairly wrenched my hand loose from +the woman's rein, and then, hopelessly struggling to regain his feet, +my horse went down with a crash, head under, and I was hurled heavily +forward upon my face. + +Severely bruised by the shock, but fortunately without broken bones, +I recall half-wheeling even as I fell, wondering if my prisoner would +grasp this opportunity for escape. Quite probably the thought never +occurred to her; perhaps her woman's heart, in the stress of such +accident, held her motionless. But Craig, startled at the sudden crash +behind him, spurred back to learn the full extent of my disaster. By +this time I had regained my feet. + +"I'm all right, I think, Sergeant," I said hastily, "but the sorrel has +broken her neck." + +He began to swear at our ill luck, but I stopped him with a gesture he +knew better than to ignore. + +"Enough of that," I commanded sternly. "Bad fortune is seldom bettered +by hard words. First of all, help me to drag this dead body out of +sight." + +On one side of us the bank fell away with such precipitancy that when +we once succeeded in dragging our load to the edge, we experienced no +difficulty in sending it crashing downward. The body plunged through the +thick underbrush at the bottom of the gorge, where I knew it would be +completely hidden, even in the glare of daylight, from the prying eyes +of any troopers riding hard upon our track. With a branch, hastily +wrenched from a near-by tree, I carefully raked over the track, so that, +as far as I could determine in the dim light, all outward trace of my +accident had been fairly obliterated. + +As we rapidly worked on this disagreeable task, I thought and planned: +two horses and three riders,--one of these latter a woman in need of +protection,--a despatch to be delivered by daylight, at all hazards. +It was indeed a difficult proposition, and I saw only a single possible +solution. One of our number must press on; two of us must remain behind. +Which one? what two? If I rode with the despatch (and how eagerly I +longed to do so!), and succeeded in bringing Lee's message safe to +Longstreet, it meant much to me--promotion, distinction, honor. On the +other hand, if I remained behind, and Craig successfully carried out the +duty which had been especially intrusted to me, I should be fortunate +indeed to escape with a reprimand instead of more serious consequences. +If failure resulted, it meant certain and deserved disgrace. Yet I could +absolutely trust him with the despatch; he was a soldier, and would +faithfully perform a soldier's duty. More, he would carry the message +with even greater certainty than I, for he knew the roads much better, +and--I write the words hesitatingly--I could not trust him there alone +with the woman. + +I glanced aside at him as I thus turned the perplexing situation over in +my mind,--a tall, gaunt mountaineer, whose sole discipline of mind and +body had been the army; hardened by service until every muscle in his +lean, sinewy frame was like steel, a cavalryman who would follow his +leader into the very jaws of hell, but whose morals were those of the +camp, and whose face revealed audacious deviltry such as no man would +care to see in one to whom he intrusted the welfare of sister or wife. +Recalling to mind certain idle stories that circulated through the camp +from time to time, in which his name had figured, I glanced backward +to where the woman sat her horse in silence and loneliness, and made my +resolve: I would risk the censure; if there must be sacrifice it should +be mine. + +"Sergeant," I asked, flinging aside the improvised brush, "how far do +you suppose we are from Longstreet's picket line?" + +"Ten miles at the very best, sir," he answered promptly, "an' I reckon +with another Yankee outpost atween." + +"With fair luck and good riding it might be made by daylight?" + +"I reckon as how it might, Captain, if we only hed sum fresh hosses," he +said glumly; "but it's bin mighty hard on my nag; I've looked fer him to +roll over like yer sorrel did fer the las' two mile." + +"Well, Craig, you shall have both horses. Ride the woman's, it is the +fresher of the two; but you are to get through if you kill them both and +then walk." + +His face brightened, and he raised his hand in salute. + +"And you?" he asked wonderingly. + +"I remain with the woman; there is no other way. Wait here a moment +while I speak with her." + +I left him standing there, and moved back to where she waited. As I came +up she faced me, and for the first time (for the night had lightened +somewhat) I could see her eyes and discern some faint outline of her +face where the night wind flung back the upturned cape. It was a winsome +sight to soldier vision, but with a certain semblance of pride and +reserve about it that caused a hesitancy in my speech strange enough to +me. I felt oddly like a bashful boy, and involuntarily lifted my hat +as I approached, to cover my confusion. Some trick of the dancing +moon shadows made me imagine that she smiled, and the sight nerved me +instantly to speak bluntly the words I came to say. + +"Madam"--I rested my hand upon her horse's mane and looked up at her +with a glance as proud as her own,--"it might be as well for you to draw +the cape closer about your face at present. There are rough men in all +armies who would consider your beauty a lawful prize. The life we lead +is not conducive to gentleness; virtue is not born in camps, and it +would be better not to provoke a danger which may be so easily avoided." + +A wave of sudden color swept her cheeks at my plain speech, and her hand +sought the collar of the cloak, yet paused there irresolute. + +"You claimed, I believe, to be an officer and a gentleman," she said +coldly. + +I smiled, even as I felt the full chill of her words, and my purpose +stiffened within me. + +"Even as I yet claim, and trust to be able to prove to your +satisfaction,"--my eyes looked unfalteringly into hers,--"but, +unfortunately, I have one with me to-night who is neither. I would that +he were for my own sake. However, madam, let that pass. The fact is +here, and we have no time to argue or quarrel. I have already told you +that we ride with despatches for Longstreet. These must go forward at +all hazards, for thousands of human lives depend upon them; yet I dare +not leave you here alone and unprotected to the mercies of the wolves +who haunt these hills." + +"You are exceedingly kind." + +The tone in which she spoke was most sarcastic, "I thank you for your +approbation," and I bowed again; "but I venture to tell you this merely +because I have already fully determined to despatch the Sergeant +forward with the message, and remain behind myself to render you every +protection possible." + +"Do you mean that we are to remain here alone?" + +"There is no other way." + +She made no reply, but her proud unbelieving eyes were no longer upon my +face. + +"I beg you to believe, madam," I pleaded gently, for I confess my +interest in her good opinion was growing stronger, "that I do this only +because I believe it to be a duty, and not that I desire in any way to +distress you with my presence." + +She swept my upturned face suddenly with questioning eyes. + +"As your prisoner I presume I have no choice in the matter." + +"I should prefer that you took a different view, but in a measure you +are right." + +"Very well, sir; I simply yield to what I am powerless to avoid, and +will obey your orders however distasteful they may be. What is your +first command?" + +"That you dismount. The Sergeant must ride your horse, as he is the more +fit of the two." + +Greatly to my surprise and relief she placed her gauntleted hand in +mine, and, without so much as a word of protest, permitted me to swing +her lightly from the saddle to the ground. + +"Craig," I called, "come here"; and turning to her, added quietly, +"Kindly draw up your cape for a moment." + +I noticed her hands fasten the clasps, which had become loosened, and +that she turned partially so as to look backward up the road as the +Sergeant drew near. + +"You know your work," I said to him briefly. "And now the sooner you +are at it the better. Ride this horse and lead your own. As soon as +you deliver Lee's message at headquarters, hunt up the cavalry brigade +commander and report to him my position. Get a detail, insist upon one, +and be back here by to-morrow without fail. That is all." + +He saluted, wheeled about, swung lightly into saddle, and rode off on +a rapid trot, grasping, as he passed down the hill, the rein of his own +mount, and leading it, lagging, behind him, until the night swallowed +the figures, and even the sound of the hoof-beats could be no longer +heard. We were alone. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A STRUGGLE IN THE DARK + + +I have seldom been more deeply embarrassed than at that moment. I +knew not what to say or how best to approach this young woman left so +strangely to my protection. The very fact, which I now realized, that +she was both young and fair added some indefinite burden and complicated +the delicate situation. I saw no safety for us but in careful hiding +until Craig could return, a squad of hard-riding troopers at his back. +To permit the girl to venture forward alone through the desolate country +we were in, overrun as I knew it to be by irregular bands whose sole +purpose was plunder, and whose treatment of women had made my blood run +cold as I listened to its recital, was not to be so much as thought of. +Even if, by rare good fortune, she should succeed in safely reaching +the Federal picket post in our front, the men on duty there were just as +likely as not to prove of the same desperate stamp, and every indignity +might be offered her were she to appear alone. Nor could I venture +to accompany her on such a trip, for to do so would but assure my own +capture, and involve months of confinement in Northern prisons, even +were I fortunate enough to escape with life. Wearing as I did the full +field uniform of my rank, it was hardly probable that regular troops +would treat me as a spy, even though caught within their lines; but if +we fell into the hands of guerillas it would be a short shrift indeed. + +There was no help for it, and but one way out, disagreeable as that +might prove to my lady. She stood there before me, motionless and silent +as a statue, exactly where she had alighted when the Sergeant took her +horse, and it seemed to me I could plainly read righteous indignation in +the indistinct outline of her figure and the haughty pose of her head. +To her at that moment I was evidently a most disagreeable and even hated +companion, a "Rebel," the being of all others she had been taught to +despise, the enemy of all she held sacred. "Could any good thing come +out of Nazareth?" + +Well, unpleasant as was the task, it had to be done, so, mustering +my courage for the ordeal as I never had to do in time of battle, I +advanced toward her, hat in hand. She never so much as glanced about +at the sound of my footsteps, nor deigned by the slightest motion to +acknowledge my presence. So intense, indeed, was her evident sense +of indignity that it awoke within me something akin to anger at her +unreasonableness, and for the moment I clinched my teeth to keep back +the hot words burning upon my tongue. Then I smiled grimly with the rare +humor of it, and became myself once more. + +"The time has come when it becomes my duty to look after your comfort +and safety," I said, striving to disguise all self-consciousness. "Every +moment we delay now merely increases the danger of our remaining here." + +"I imagine I might very easily dispense with any further care on your +part." + +Her reply nettled me, and I answered with an earnestness which she could +neither ignore nor check: "Possibly you may think so, but if you do it +is merely because of your utter ignorance of the disorganized conditions +which prevail in these mountains. Your pride is almost ridiculous under +all the circumstances. You have no just cause to feel that I am forcing +myself unnecessarily upon you. Our being compelled to take you in charge +has proven as disastrous to us as to you. Personally I can say that +nothing will relieve me more than to be able to place you uninjured into +the care of your own people. I would willingly assume great risks to +that end. But while you remain here and in my care, I shall perform my +full duty toward you as though you were my own sister. Now please listen +to me, and I assure you I shall speak nothing for the mere purpose of +alarming you, but simply that you may better comprehend the facts which +must influence our present relationship. I have sent forward Sergeant +Craig with the message especially intrusted to me for delivery, and +thus, if it fail to reach its destination, I have laid myself open to +the charge of a grave military crime. In doing this I have not only +perilled my own future, but the lives of my comrades and the faith of +my commander. Yet I have deliberately chosen to do so because I feel +the impossibility of leaving you here unprotected, and because I was +unwilling to trust you alone with my companion. I made this choice, +remember, without in the least knowing whether you were young or old, +worthy of respect or unworthy. I did it because you were a woman, alone +and without friends. Whether you spurn my protection or not will make +no difference; I shall simply continue to do what I may on your behalf +until you are again in the hands of those you trust." + +"But why may I not go to them now?" + +The question was impetuous, but the voice sounded more gentle. My words +had at least pierced her armor. + +"Simply because I dare not permit you to traverse these roads alone," I +said soberly. "The mountains all about us, deserted as they now appear, +are filled with wandering bands of desperate and hunted men whose +tenderest mercy is death. Any rock may be the hiding-place of an outlaw, +any dark ravine the rendezvous of as wild a gang as ever murdered for +plunder. For months past--yes, for years--the two great armies have +scouted these hills, have battled for them, and every forward or +backward movement of the contesting lines has left its worthless horde +of stragglers behind, until with guerilla and bushwhacker, fleeing +conscript and deserter, it has become such a meeting-place of rascality +and crime as to be a veritable hell on earth." + +"But the Sergeant said there was a Federal picket post at the crossing +of the White Briar." + +Her voice trembled as she spoke. + +"He merely supposed there would be; but even if it were true, we have no +positive means of knowing that the men stationed there would be of the +regular service. Doubtless these thieving, murdering bands--such as +that headed by Red Lowrie, of whom you may have heard--are sufficiently +organized to keep patrols posted, and may, indeed, be utilized at times +by both armies for that purpose. Were you to go to them you might be +simply walking into a den of wolves." + +"But could you not go with me?" + +I smiled at the naive innocence of her query. + +"I wish you to feel that I have never thought so much about my own +danger as about yours," I returned quietly. "But would it be a pleasure +even to you to behold me swinging from the limb of a tree, hung as a spy +without trial, merely because I ventured to walk with you into a Federal +camp?" + +I could see her eyes now resting full upon me, and much of the hardness +and doubt seemed to have gone out of them as she scanned my uncovered +features in the dim light. I scarcely think I was ever considered a +handsome man even by my friends, but I was young then, frank of face, +with that about me which easily inspired confidence, and it did me good +to note how her eyes softened, and to mark the perceptible tremor in her +voice as she cried impulsively: + +"Oh, no! Not that!" + +"Your words yield me new heart," I replied fervently, determined, now +that the ice was partially broken, to permit no excuse for its again +forming, "for if you but once fully realize our situation you will +certainly feel that I am merely endeavoring to perform my plain duty. I +know not how I could do less without forfeiting entirely your respect. +Now one thing more--please banish from your thought the idea that you +are in any way a prisoner; forget, if possible, the color of my uniform, +and think of me simply as an officer of equal rank and standing with +those you know in your own army,--one who stands ready, if need arise, +to protect you with his life; as glad to serve you as if he wore the +blue instead of the gray." + +I believed for a moment my words had appealed to her nobler nature; +that she would outstretch to me her slightly uplifted hand and surrender +utterly. But it was only for the moment; whatever wave of emotion may +have moved her to the gesture, it was as suddenly swept aside by a +return of the old proud, impetuous spirit. + +"I will, of course, bow to the inevitable, sir," she said, "and +shall endeavor to adapt myself to the requirements of my unfortunate +situation. May I venture to inquire what you now propose to do?" + +I confess to experiencing a quick feeling of resentment as I turned to +scan the dim surroundings, not knowing at the moment how best to answer +her. Who was this girl, that she should continue to bear herself as a +disdainful queen might toward the very meanest of her subjects? Was I so +far beneath her, even in the social scale, as to warrant such assumption +of superiority? No, I felt that this was not the cause of her cold +suspicion, her proud, unapproachable bearing. Undoubtedly it arose from +the manner in which she had fallen into our hands, the strangeness and +delicacy of our situation, the knowledge that I was a "Rebel" in arms +against her people. These were the things which had reared such a +barrier between us. She but resorted to what was apparently her only +available weapon of defence. Well, of one thing, and that the most +important, I was now assured--there would occur no further struggle on +her part; if not fully resigned to the situation, she at least realized +the necessity of obedience to my will. This was much; but now what could +I do with her? + +To the right of where we stood the ground sloped rapidly downward until +the dense darkness at the foot of the steep defile shrouded everything +from view. The descent appeared rocky and impracticable, and I could +distinguish the sound of rapid water far below. On the opposite side +stood a dense wood, the outer fringe of trees overhanging the road, +and through the waving leaves the moonlight checkered the ground with +silver, while the dense mass beyond seemed to flow back up the steep +side of the mountain, thick with underbrush. Just below us, and possibly +fifty feet from the highway, I could perceive a small one-story log +cabin, as silent, gloomy, and deserted to all outward appearance as were +the sombre woods of which it formed a part. + +"There seems small choice," I said, speaking as cheerfully as possible. +"But I propose to investigate the log hut yonder, and learn if it may +not afford some degree of shelter." + +She glanced furtively in the direction pointed out, and her eyes +mirrored the sudden fear that swept into them. + +"Oh, no!" she cried impulsively, "I could never venture into that +horrible place." + +It did, indeed, look uncanny enough in its black loneliness, a fit +abiding place for ghost and goblin damned; but I was not inclined to +yield to superstitious dread. + +"Certainly not," I answered, "until after I have investigated it. +Perhaps it may prove more attractive within than without, although, +I confess, from here it appears gloomy enough to discourage any one. +However, if you will rest here, in the shadow of these trees, I will +soon discover whether it has inmates or not." + +She followed me in silence across the road to the spot designated, but +as I turned to leave her seated upon the grass, and well protected from +prying eyes, she hurried quickly after me, and in her agitation so far +forgot herself as to touch my sleeve with her hand. + +"Oh, please do not leave me here alone. I am not naturally timid, yet +everything is so gloomy I cannot stand it. Let me go with you, if you +must go!" + +"Most assuredly you shall if you desire," I returned heartily. "But +really there is not a particle of danger in this, for if the house were +inhabited its occupants would have been aroused long ago. Follow just +behind me, and we shall soon solve the mystery." + +There appeared before us a dim, little-used path leading in among the +trees, and following its erratic curves we were soon before the cabin, +which grew ever more uninviting as we drew near. As I paused a moment +before the closed door, in order that I might listen for any possible +sound within, I could hear her quick breathing, as though the terror of +the moment had driven all else from her mind. + +"Do not feel frightened," I said, seeking to reassure her. "There is +nothing here more terrifying than a vacant house, doubtless long since +deserted. We shall discover nothing more formidable within than a rat or +two." + +The wooden latch yielded readily enough to my pressure, and pushing wide +open the door, which creaked slightly upon its rusty hinges, I stepped +across the puncheon threshold onto the hard earthen floor. There was no +window visible, and the slight reflection of moonlight which crept in +through the doorway scarcely revealed the nature of that dark interior. +I could dimly perceive what I believed to be a table directly in front +of me, while certain other indistinct and ill defined shadows might +be chairs pushed back against the wall. At least this room was without +occupants; yet it was with every sense alert that I entered, pressing +slowly past the table toward where I felt the fireplace would naturally +be, knowing that my companion was yet with me, her hand clutching my +arm. + +"Oh!" she cried sharply in terror, "what was that?" + +It was something certainly,--a deadened, muffled, shuffling sound +directly in our front, followed by a strange noise of scraping, as if +with a dull knife on wood. + +"Wait here." I said sternly. "Probably it is nothing more dangerous than +a rat." + +I felt my way carefully around the table, a revolver ready in my hand. +There was nothing to be found there,--nothing, indeed, in the room; +for from my new position I could look backward and distinguish in the +moonlight the details of that simple, squalid interior. I ran my +hand along the rough logs of the further wall. Ay! here was a break, +doubtless a door; and groping along the crack I found the latch. + +There was no longer any noise audible, and I drew the door inward, never +dreaming of danger. Suddenly, with a fierce, wild spring out of the +dark, a huge body hurled itself directly at my throat, striking with +such headlong impetus that I went backward as if shot, crashing against +the table, then to the floor, dropping my weapon as I fell. There was +no noise, no sound, while for an instant, with strength of sheer +desperation, I held back the snapping jaws that breathed hot fire into +my very face. With a bound backward of its great body the beast jerked +free from my grip, and the next instant had sunk its dripping fangs, +deep and hard, into the flesh of my shoulder. As the intense pain shot +through me, my right hand, driven with all the force I could muster, +caught the monster once, twice, full in the throat, but tighter and +tighter those clinched jaws locked, until it seemed as if every bone +between them must be ground to powder. Even as I grasped the lower jaw, +seeking vainly to wrench it loose, I heard the girl scream in sudden +afright. + +"Quick!" I gasped desperately. "Get my revolver there on the floor, and +use it--but for God's sake keep down; don't let the brute see you." + +She must have heard, but there was no response, although her crying +ceased. Yet my own struggle to rid myself of that crushing weight and +those iron jaws drowned all other sounds, drove all other thoughts from +me. I doubt if what I now record occupied a minute; but God protect +me from ever having to experience such another minute! I continued to +struggle in desperate hopelessness with single hand, in vain endeavor to +wrench loose that awful grip upon my shoulder. Every movement I made was +an agony, an inexpressible torture, but the very intensity of pain kept +me from faintness, as the maddened beast tore deeper and deeper into the +quivering flesh. With knee bent double beneath me I succeeded in turning +partially upon one side, lifting the entire weight of the animal as +I did so; but no degree of force I could exert would loosen those +set jaws. There was no growling, no savage snarling, no sound of any +kind,--just that fierce, desperate, silent struggle for life in the +darkness. Every muscle of my body began to weaken from the strain, my +eyes blurred, faintness swept over me, I felt my brain reeling, when +there burst a vivid flash of flame within a foot of my face, singeing +my forehead; then followed a deafening report, and the huge brute sprang +backward with a snarl of pain, his teeth clicking together like cogs of +steel. Then he stiffened and fell prone across me, a dead, inert weight, +pinning me breathless to the floor. + +For the moment I could do no more than lie there helpless, gasping for +breath, scarce conscious even of my deliverance. Then, as sufficient +strength returned for action, I rolled the body of the dead brute off +me, and lifting myself by aid of the wall against which my head rested, +looked about. Two broken chairs overturned upon the floor, and the +shapeless, huddled body of my late assailant, alone spoke of the +violence of that deadly struggle; but the cabin was yet full of smoke, +and I could perceive the figure of the girl leaning against the frame of +the open door, the revolver still grasped in her hand. Her posture was +that of a frightened deer, as her terror-filled eyes sought the dark +interior. + +"It is safely over," I said weakly, for my breath yet came to me in +gasps. "The brute is dead." + +"And you are not killed!" Shall I ever forget the glad ring in her +voice?--"Oh, thank God! thank God!" + +The sound of these eager words yielded me a fresh measure of life. + +"Believe me, I certainly do," I said as cheerfully as possible, "and I +thank you also as His instrument; but if you would keep me from fainting +away like a nerveless woman, I beg you come here." + +I could mark her coming across the narrow streak of moonlight, moving +toward me as a frightened bird might, startled at everything, and +passing as far from the lifeless mass on the floor as the small space +would allow. As she bent anxiously over me her face was so in shadow +that I could distinguish nothing of its features. + +"What is it? Are you indeed severely hurt?" + +"Not seriously, I think, yet I have lost some blood, and am in great +pain. There is brandy in the inner pocket of my jacket, but I am unable +to move my arm in order to reach it. Would you endeavor to draw the +flask out?" + +I felt her bend over me, her soft breath coming almost in sobs upon my +face, as with trembling fingers she undid the buttons of my trooper's +jacket and extracted the small flat flask I had been thoughtful enough +to store away there. + +The fiery liquid seemed to put new blood into my veins, and with it +there returned all my old-time audacity, with that intense hopefulness +in which I had been trained by years of war and self-reliance. + +"Ah! now I feel I am myself once more," I exclaimed cheerily. "Things +are surely not so bad after all. At least we have a roof over our heads, +and another day in which to live." + +I felt her shudder. + +"Oh, please do not make light of it," she whispered. "It is so like some +horrid dream, and I am trembling yet." I put my hand upon hers, and it +was not withdrawn. + +"I trust you realize," I said, "that I am neither thoughtless nor +ungrateful. Years of war service make one careless of life, but I know +it was your shot that saved me. You are a brave girl." + +Her overtaxed nerves gave way at my words, and I knew she was crying +softly. The sobbing was in her voice as she strove to speak. + +"Oh, no, I am not; you do not guess how great a coward I am. I scarcely +knew what I was doing when I fired. That horrid thing--what was it?" + +"A huge mastiff, I imagine; one of the largest of his breed. But +whatever it may have been, the beast is dead, and we have nothing more +to fear from him." + +"Yet I tremble so," she confessed, almost hysterically. "Every shadow +frightens me." + +I realized that no amount of conversation would quiet her nerves so +effectively as some positive action; besides, I felt the hot blood +constantly trickling down my arm, and realized that something needed +to be done at once to stanch its flow, before weakness should render me +equally useless. + +"Do you think you could build a fire on the hearth yonder?" I asked. "I +am afraid I am hardly capable of helping you as yet; but we must have +light in this gloomy old hole, or it is bound to craze us both. Take +those broken chairs if you find nothing better." + +She instantly did as I bade her, moving here and there about the +room until she gathered together the materials necessary, but keeping +carefully away from where the dead dog lay, until in a brief space of +time the welcome flame leaped up in the wide black chimney, and cast its +red glare all over the little room. The activity did her good, the light +flooding the gloomy apartment yielded renewed courage, and there was a +cheerier sound in her voice as she came back to me. + +"The great ugly brute!" she exclaimed, looking at the form in the centre +of the floor. + +"He was certainly heavy enough to have been a bear," I replied, +clinching my teeth in pain, "and sufficiently savage." + +I viewed her now for the first time clearly, and the memory will remain +with me till I die. How distinctly that entire picture stands forth with +the mist of all these years between! The low-ceiled room, devoid of +all furniture save of the rudest and most primitive kind; the bare logs +forming the walls, unrelieved in their rough ugliness, except as here +and there sundry unshapely garments dangled from wooden pegs; the rough +deal table, with a few cheap dishes piled upon one end of it; the dead +dog lying across the earthen floor; and over all the leap of 'ruddy +flame as the newly kindled fire gathered way, leaving weird shadows +here and there, yet steadily forcing them back, and flooding the whole +interior with a cheery glow. + +She had flung aside the blue and yellow cloak which, during the long +hours of our night ride had so completely shrouded her, and stood before +me dressed in some soft clinging stuff of a delicate brown color, so cut +and fashioned as to most become her rounded, graceful form. About her +neck a narrow strip of creamy lace was fitted, the full throat rendered +whiter by the contrast, while at her wrists a similar ornament alone +served to relieve the simple plainness of her attire. The flaming fire +lighted up her face, making it seem to flush with the dancing glow, +which sparkled like diamonds in her eyes, and touched with ruddy light +the dark, dishevelled hair. Hers was a young, fair face,--a face to love +and trust forever, yet with a pride in it, and a certain firmness also +that somehow was good to see. All this I noted with one quick upward +glance, and with a sudden thrill of the heart such as I had never known +before. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A DISCIPLE OF SIR WALTER + + +I have no doubt she wished me to see her thus. Every woman worth the +winning is a bit of a coquette, and none can be utterly disdainful +of the lesson their mirror tells. But even as I gazed upon her, my +admiration deeper than my pain, the arch expression of her face +changed; there came a sudden rush of pity, of anxiety into those clear, +challenging eyes, and with one quick step she drew nearer and bent above +me. + +"Oh, Captain Wayne," she cried, her warm, womanly heart conquering all +prejudice, "you are badly hurt and bleeding. Why did you not tell me? +Please let me aid you." + +"I fear I must," I replied grimly. "I would gladly spare you, for indeed +I do not believe my injury sufficiently serious to cause alarm, but I +find I have only one arm I can use at present; the brute got his teeth +into the other." + +The tender compassion within her eyes was most pleasant to see. + +"Oh, believe me, I can do it." She spoke bravely, a sturdy ring of +confidence in the voice, although at the thought her face paled. "I have +been in the hospitals at Baltimore, and taken care of wounded soldiers. +If there was only some water here!" + +She glanced about, dreading the possibility of having to go forth into +the night alone in search of a spring or well. + +"I think you will find a pail on the bench yonder," I said, for from +where I leaned against the wall I could see out into the shed. "It was +doubtless left for the dog to drink from." + +She came back with it, tearing down a cloth from off a peg in the wall +as she passed, and then, wearing a resolute air of authority, knelt +beside me, and with rapid fingers flung back my jacket, unfastening the +rough army shirt, and laid bare, so far as was possible, the lacerated +shoulder. + +It gave me intense pain, for the shirt had become matted to the wound +by drying blood, so that in spite of her soft touch and my own clinched +teeth a slight groan broke from my lips. + +"Forgive me," she said anxiously, "but I fear I can never dress it in +this way. We must remove your jacket and cut away the sleeve of your +shirt." + +It was an agonizing operation, for it has often seemed to me that the +more superficial the wound the greater the pain experienced in dealing +with it, and the perspiration stood in beads upon my forehead as +she worked quickly and with skill. At last the disagreeable task was +accomplished, the wounded shoulder completely bared. Her face was +deathly white now, and she shielded her eyes with her hand. + +"Oh, what a horrible wound!" she exclaimed, almost sobbing. "How that +great brute must have hurt you!" + +"The wound is not so serious as it appears," I replied reassuringly, and +glad myself to feel that I spoke the truth, "but I confess the pain is +intense, and makes me feel somewhat faint. It was not so much the mere +bite of the dog, but unfortunately he got his teeth into an old wound +and tore it open." + +"An old wound?" + +"Yes; I received a Minié ball there at Gettysburg, and although the +bullet was extracted, the wound never properly healed." + +These words served to recall to her instantly the fact that I was not of +her own people; there appeared to come again into her manner that marked +restraint which had almost totally disappeared during the last few +minutes. Not that she failed in any kindness or consideration, but a +growing reserve put check upon what was fast becoming the intimacy +of friendship. Yet she performed her disagreeable task with all the +tenderness of a sympathetic woman, and as she worked swiftly and deftly, +made no attempt to conceal the tears clinging to her long lashes. +Skilfully the deep, jagged gash was bathed out, and then as carefully +bound up with the softest cloths she could find at hand. The relief was +great, and I felt, as I moved the shoulder, that saving the soreness it +would probably not greatly bother me. + +"Now you must lie back and rest," she said command-ingly, as I attempted +to thank her. "Here, put your head on this cloak. But first it will do +you good to have more of the brandy, for you are as white as death." + +"Merely a slight faintness; and I will only consent to indulge provided +you partake first, for I know you require the stimulant as much as I," I +retorted doggedly, gazing up into her face with an admiration she could +scarcely fail to perceive. + +She lifted the flask to her lips and did not answer, but when she handed +it back to me there was a new flush upon her cheeks. + +"And now as your nurse I command absolute quiet," striving to speak +gaily. "See, the daylight is already here, and I mean to discover if +this lone cabin contains anything which human beings can eat; I confess +that I am nearly famished." + +"A most excellent symptom, and I imagine your quest will not be wholly +vain. To my eye that greatly resembles a slab of bacon hanging beside +the chimney." + +"It indeed is," she exclaimed, "and I feel as a shipwrecked seaman must +on first beholding land." + +However my naturally energetic spirit revolted at inactivity, for +the time being my faintness precluded any thought of doing other than +obeying her orders, and I lay there silent, propped up against the logs, +my eager eyes following her rapid, graceful movements with a constantly +increasing interest. As she worked, the reflection of the red flames +became mingled with the gray dawn, until the bare and cheerless interior +grew more and more visible. Her search was far from unsuccessful, while +her resourcefulness astonished me, old campaigner as I was; for it was +scarcely more than full daylight before she had me at the table, and I +was doing full justice to such coarse food as the larder furnished. +A Confederate soldier in those days could not well afford to affect +delicacy in matters of the cuisine, and indeed our long fast had left us +both where any kind of food was most welcome. + +The eating helped me greatly; but for some time so busy were we that +neither of us spoke. On my own part I experienced a strange hesitancy in +addressing her upon terms of equality. Ordinarily not easily embarrassed +in feminine society, I felt in this instance a definite barrier between +us, which prevented my feeling at ease. Now and then as we sat opposite +each other, eating amid a silence most unpleasant, I would catch her +eyes glancing across at me, but they were lowered instantly whenever I +ventured to meet them. Finally I broke the stillness with a commonplace +remark: + +"I presume your people will be greatly worried by this time over your +mysterious disappearance." + +A flush swept her throat and cheeks, but she did not lift her eyes from +the plate. "Yes," she answered slowly, "Frank is doubtless searching for +me long before this." + +"Frank?" I asked, feeling glad of this opportunity to learn more of her +relationships. "You forget, possibly, that your friends are strange to +me. You refer to the gentleman who expected to meet you on the road?" + +"To Major Brennan, yes." + +There was nothing about the tone of her reply that invited me to press +the inquiry further. One thing, however, was reasonably certain,--the +man she called "Frank" could not be her father. I longed to ask if +he was a brother, but the restraint of her whole manner repelled the +suggestion. + +"Did I understand that you have nursed in the Federal hospitals at +Baltimore?" I questioned, more to continue the conversation than from +any deep interest. + +"Merely as a volunteer, and when the regular nurses were especially +busy. Major Brennan was stationed there for some time when I first +visited him, and I felt it my duty as a loyal woman to aid the poor +fellows." + +"It was surely far from being an agreeable task to one of your +refinement." + +"Oh, it was not that that made it so hard," and her eyes were upon me +now unflinchingly. "It was the constant sight of so much misery one +was unable to relieve. Besides, that was nearly a year ago; I was +very young, just from school, and every form of suffering was new and +terrible to me." + +"I greatly wonder you were permitted to go there at all." + +"The Major did object. He insisted it was no fit place for me, and that +I ran the risk of contracting disease. But I generally have my own way, +even with him, and in this case I felt it a duty to my country, and that +I was right in my decision." + +I remained silent, striving vainly to frame some innocent question which +should solve for me the problem of who and what she was. Suddenly she +spoke softly: + +"Captain Wayne, I feel I owe you an apology for my unwarranted and +unladylike conduct last night. I am very sure now that you are a +gentleman, and will appreciate how bitterly I was tried, how deeply I +have ever since regretted it." + +It hurt her pride to say even this much, as I could tell by her downcast +eyes and heaving bosom, and I hastened to relieve her embarrassment. + +"You have nothing whatever to ask forgiveness for," I said earnestly. +"Rather such a request should come from me. I only trust, Miss Brennan, +that you will excuse my part in this extremely unfortunate affair." + +She sat looking down upon her plate, her fingers nervously crumbling a +bit of corn bread. + +"You do not even know who I am," she said slowly. "I am not Miss, but +Mrs. Brennan." + +I felt as if a dash of cold water had been suddenly thrown in my face. + +"Indeed?" I stammered, scarcely knowing what I said. "You appear so +young a girl that I never once thought of you as being a married woman." + +"I was married very early; indeed, before I was seventeen. My husband--" + +What she was about to add I could but conjecture, for a quick change in +the expression of her face startled me. + +"What is it?" I questioned, half rising to my feet, and glancing over my +shoulder toward the wall where her eyes were riveted. + +"Something resembling a hand pushed aside the coat hanging yonder," she +explained in low trembling tone, "and I thought I saw a face." + +With one stride I was across the narrow room, and tore the garment from +its wooden hook. The log wall where it hung was blank. I struck it here +and there with the steel hilt of my sabre, but it returned a perfectly +solid sound, and I glanced about bewildered. The woman was watching me +with affrighted eyes. + +"This entire house is uncanny," she exclaimed. "The very being in it +makes my flesh creep. It may have been a den of murderers. Captain, let +us get outside into the sunshine." + +Believing it to be merely her overwrought nerves which were at fault, I +sought to soothe her. "It was probably no more than a shadow," I said, +crossing to her side of the table, to enable her better to feel the +influence of my presence. "Let us be content to sit here by the door, +for we should be taking too great a risk of discovery if we ventured +into the open." + +I had barely spoken these words and placed my fingers on her hand to +lead her forward when the small door which opened into the shed was +thrown back noisily, and two great shaggy dogs, the evident mates of the +dead brute at our feet, leaped fiercely in. She shrank toward me with a +sob of terror; but even as I drew a revolver from my belt, a man and a +woman appeared almost simultaneously in that same opening. + +"Down, Douglas! down, Roderick! Ha! 'There lies Red Murdoch, stark and +stiff!'--down, you brutes; you'll be dead yourselves sometime." + +The man strode forward as he spoke, clubbing the frenzied brutes with +the stock of the long rifle he carried. + +"'Yelled on the view the opening pack,'" he quoted, as he distributed +his blows impartially to right and left; "'rock, glen, and cavern paid +them back.' Them thar be Scott's words, stranger, an' I reckon as how +ol' Sir Walter knew whut he wus writin' 'bout. Stop thet blame youlin', +you Roderick, er I'll take t' other end o' this gun ter ye." + +He redoubled his efforts for peace, finally driving the rebellious +beasts back into one corner, where they sat upon their haunches and eyed +us wistfully. + +"'Two dogs of black Saint Hubert's breed, unmatched for courage, breath, +and speed,'" he exclaimed, wiping the perspiration from his face with +the back of one hand and staring at us, "specially the breath." + +He was a fierce-looking little fellow, scarcely more than a half-grown +boy in size, with round, red face full of strange wrinkles, and head +as oddly peak-shaped as I ever looked upon. It went up exactly like the +apex of a pear, while the upper portion was utterly bald. He formed +a most remarkable contrast to the tall, raw-boned, angular female who +loomed up like a small mountain just behind him. + +"I reckon as how you uns hed quite a bit of a scrap afore ye laid thet +thar dorg out, stranger," he said, a half-angry tone lurking in his deep +voice. "'The fleetest hound in all the North,' an' I'm durned if I jist +likes ther way you uns makes yerselves et hum in this yere cabin." + +"Shet up, Jed Bungay," cut in his better-half, sharply, and as she spoke +she caught the little man unceremoniously by one arm, and thrusting +him roughly to one side strode heavily forward until she paused in the +centre of the room, facing us with her arms akimbo. + +"Now I'd jist like ter know," she said savagely, "who you uns be, a +breakin' into a house, and a killin' a dorg, an' a eatin' up everything +we uns got without so much as a sayin' 'by yer leave' er nuthin'. I +reckon as how you uns don't take this yere cabin fer no tavern?" + +The wrinkled red face peering cautiously around her ample waist line +made me wish to laugh, but an earnest desire to placate the irate +female, who was evidently the real head of this household, enabled me to +conquer the inclination and answer gravely. + +"Madam," I said with a low bow, "it is misfortune, not desire, which has +caused us to trespass upon your hospitality. We will very gladly pay +you liberally for any damage done. I am an officer in the Confederate +service, and the breaking down of our horses compelled us to take refuge +here in order that this lady might not be exposed to danger from roving +gangs of guerillas. The dog attacked us in the dark, and we killed him +in order to save our lives." + +"'The deep-mouthed bloodhound's heavy bay resounded up the rocky way," +ejaculated Bungay with dancing eyes. + +"Drat yer potry, Jed Bungay! ye dew make me tired fer suah." She turned +back to us, and from her first words it was plainly evident she had been +impressed with but one sentence of my labored explanation. + +"Did you uns say as how ye 'd pay fer whut ye et and fer thet truck ye +busted?" she asked doubtfully. + +"Certainly, madam," and I took some money from my pocket as evidence of +good faith. "What would you consider due you?" + +The grim, set face relaxed slightly, while she permitted her husband to +edge his way a little more into the foreground. + +"Wal, stranger, I sorter reckon as how 'bout four bits 'ill squar' +things--dorgs is mighty durn cheap hereabout enyhow." + +"'But Lufra,--whom from Douglas' side nor bribe nor threat could e'er +divide,'" he protested. "Not that its name was Lufra, but he was a blame +fine dorg." + +The woman turned on him like a flash, and he crept subdued back into his +corner. The incipient rebellion had been ended by a glance. + +"Durn ye, Jed Bungay, why, thet's more money thin ye've aimed in six +months, an' ye've got more measly, flea-bit dorgs 'round yere now then +ye kin ever feed. Give me ther four bits, mister, an' I reckon as how +it'll be all right." + +The little man balanced himself on one foot, and cocked up his eye in an +abortive attempt to wink. + +"Yas, don't ye ever mind me, Mariar," he said humbly. "'Whom ther Lord +hath jined tergether let no man put asunder.' Thet thar ain't Scott, +Cap, but I reckon it's out of another book mighty nigh es good. Hes you +uns got all ther victuals ye want? 'He gave him of his Highland cheer, +the hardened flesh of mountain deer.' This yere is slab bacon, but it +smells purty durn good." + +I glanced at Mrs. Brennan, and the amused twinkle in her eyes led me to +say heartily, "We had not entirely completed our meal, but imagined we +saw ghosts." + +"Ghosts!" He glanced around apprehensively,--"'On Heaven and on thy lady +call, and enter the enchanted hall!' Wus ther ghosts ye saw over thar?" +And he pointed toward the wall opposite. + +I nodded. + +"Then I sorter reckon as how Mariar and me wus them ghosts," he +continued, grinning. "We sorter reckoned as how we wanted ter see who +wus yere afore we come in. 'I'll listen till my fancy hears the clang +of swords, the crash of spears.' These yere is tough times, stranger, in +these parts, an' a man whut has ter pertect a lovely female hes got ter +keep his eye skinned." + +Maria sniffed contemptuously. + +"Ye're no great shakes at a pertectin' o' me, Jed Bungay. Now you sit +down thar an' begin ter fill up. I reckon as how ther Cap an' his gal +will kinder jine with us fer manners." + +She seated Jed with such extreme vigor that I looked for the chair to +collapse beneath him as he came down, but the little man, not in the +least daunted, picked up his knife and fork with a sigh of relief. + +"'O woman! in our hours of ease uncertain, coy, and hard to please,'" +he murmured. "Come, sit down, stranger; 'Sit down an' share a soldier's +couch, a soldier's fare.' Not as I'm a sojer," he hastened to explain, +"but thet's how it is in ther book. Say, old woman, kint ye kinder sker +up some coffee fer we uns--leastwise whut us Confeds call coffee?" + +Without much difficulty I induced Mrs. Brennan to draw her chair once +more to the table, and I sat down beside her. + +"You are Confederate, then?" I asked, curious to know upon which side +his sympathies were enlisted in the struggle. + +He glanced warily at my gray jacket, then his shrewd, shifty eyes +wandered to the blue and yellow cavalry cloak lying on the floor. + +"Wal, I jist don't know, Cap," he said cautiously, continuing to eat as +he talked, "as I'm much o' enything in this yere row. First ther durned +gray-backs they come snoopin' up yere, an' run off all my horgs; then +ther blame blue-bellies come 'long an' cut down every lick o' my corn +fodder, so thet I'll be cussed if I ain't 'bout ready ter fight either +side. Anyhow I ain't did no fightin' yit worth talkin' 'bout, fer Mariar +is pow'ful feared I'd git hurt." + +Maria regarded him scornfully. + +"Hiding out, I suppose?" + +"Wal, 'tain't very healthful fer us ter be stayin' et hum much o' ther +time, long with that thar Red Lowrie, an' Jim Hale, an' the rest o' thet +cattle 'round yere." + +"Guerillas pretty thick now in the mountains?" + +He glanced up quickly, his shrewd gray eyes on my face, and Maria turned +about as she stood beside the fireplace. + +"Wal, I dunno; I heerd as they wus doin' somethin' down by ther brick +church, but thar 's no great shakes of 'em jist 'round yere. I reckon as +how they knows 'nough ter keep 'way from Jed Bungay--I'd pitch 'em 'far +as ever peasant pitched a bar.'" + +"You have no fear of them, then?" + +"Whut, me?" The little man sat bolt upright, and glared fiercely across +the table as though he would resent an insult. + +"Stranger, I have fit them ar fellers night an' day in these yere +mountings fer nigh onter three year--me an' Mariar. + + "'For love-lorn swain in lady's bower + Ne'er panted for the appointed hour + As I, until before me stand + This rebel chieftain and his band.' + +"I jist tell ye, Cap, I reckon thar ain't no guerilla a goin' ter poke +his nose 'round yere 'less he 's a lookin' fer sudden death; thar's +mighty few o' 'em ain't heerd o' Jed Bungay--Whut in thunder 's ther +matter with yer gal?" + +He stopped suddenly, and stared at her; but before I could turn about in +my chair one of the great dogs began to growl savagely, and Maria sprang +forward and cuffed the surly brutes into rebellious silence. + +"It's hosses," she said harshly. "Likely as not it's Red's gang. Now, +Jed Bungay, yere's two lovely females fer ye ter pertect." + +As I hastily sprang to my feet I caught a fleeting glimpse out of the +partially opened door. Down the steep of the hill road there was slowly +moving toward us on foot a small party of perhaps a dozen men, so +variously clothed as to make it evident they were irregulars. Just ahead +of them, but on horseback, two others were even then turning into the +narrow path that led to the house, attracted probably by the smoke which +streamed from the chimney-top. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MRS. BUNGAY DEFENDS HER HEARTHSTONE + + +A hand pressing hard upon my arm brought back my scattered senses with a +rush. It was Mrs. Brennan who stood there, her face whitened by anxiety, +her eyes peering anxiously through the opening of the door. Imminent +danger may startle even a trained soldier, but any necessity for action +always recalls him to duty, and that one glance at her sufficed to make +me myself again. + +"Surely those men are not soldiers, Captain Wayne!" she exclaimed. "They +wear uniforms of both armies." + +"No doubt they are guerillas," I answered, drawing her back from where +she might be seen in their approach. "We must find hiding if possible, +for you shall never fall into such hands. Bungay!" + +I turned toward where the little giant had been sitting, but he was not +to be seen. However, the sound of my voice aroused Maria to a full sense +of our danger, nor was she a woman to hesitate in such emergency. With +a single stride she crossed the narrow room, caught the white-faced hero +by the collar of his shirt, dragged him ignominiously forth from beneath +the table where he had sought refuge, shook him as she would shake a toy +dog, until his teeth rattled, and then flung him out of the door leading +into the back shed. It was done so expeditiously that I could only gasp. + +"Now inter ther hole with ye, Jed Bungay--you an' yer dorgs," she panted +furiously. "An' you uns foller him. I reckon I 'm able ter handle thet +lot out thar, even if it should be Red Lowrie an' his gang." + +Catching firm hold of Mrs. Brennan's hand I sprang down the single step +and closed the door tight behind us. Jed had scrambled to his feet, and +rubbing himself vigorously with one hand, utilized the other to drag +outward a rough cupboard, which appeared to be a portion of the house +itself. As it swung open there was revealed behind it a fair-sized +opening extending into the face of the hill. It was a most ingenious +arrangement, doubtless finding frequent use in those troublesome times. +Its presence partially explained how Jed had thus far escaped the +conscription officer. Into this hole we entered one at a time, and +when the heavy cupboard had been silently drawn back into place, found +ourselves enveloped in such total darkness as to make any movement a +dangerous operation. I felt the clasp of my companion's hand tighten, +and knew that her whole form was trembling from intense excitement. + +"Do not permit the darkness to alarm you," I whispered softly, bending +down as I spoke until I could feel her quick breathing against my cheek. +"Our visitors are not likely to remain longer than will be necessary to +get something to eat. They need never suspect our presence, and all we +have to do is to wait patiently until they move on. I only wish I could +discover something upon which you might sit down." + +"Pray do not think me a coward," she answered, "but I have heard of this +man Lowrie in the Federal camps, and I would rather die than fall into +his hands." + +I had heard of him also, and of his outrageous treatment of women. The +memory caused me to clasp my hand warmly over hers, and set my teeth +hard. + +"It may not prove to be Lowrie at all," I said soberly; "but all these +gentry are pretty much alike, I fear. However, I promise that you shall +never fall alive into the hands of any of their breed." + +Before she could answer me other than by a slight nestling closer in +the darkness, Bungay whispered: "This yere hole, Cap, leads down ter +the right, an' comes out in a sort o' gully 'bout a hundred feet back. +Thar's light 'nough ter see ter walk by a'ter ye turn ther corner +'bout twenty feet er so. You uns kin go on down thar if ye 'd rather, +follerin' ther dorgs, but I reckon as how I'll stay right yere an' +sorter see how ther ol' woman comes out. + + "'Where, where was Roderick then? + One blast upon his bugle horn + Were worth a thousand men.' + +"If you uns like ter see a durned good fight maybe ye better stay +tew--ther ol' woman is pisen if she once gits her dander up." + +His voice was expressive of great expectations, and I had reason +to believe his faith in Maria would be justified. Before any of us, +however, had time to change our positions we heard the fellows come +stamping roughly into the cabin. The thin slabs which divided us +scarcely muffled their loud voices. + +"Well, old woman," exclaimed one in voice so gruff as to seem almost +assumed, "pretending to be alone, are you, with all those dishes sitting +out on the table; just been eaten off, too. Haven't seen no strange +party along the road this morning, have ye?" + +"Nary a one," said Maria, and I knew from her voice she was standing +close beside the fireplace. + +"Are you Mrs. Bungay?" + +"I reckon I am, if it's any o' yer business." + +"Don't git hifty, old woman, or we 're liable to give you a lesson in +politeness before we leave." The leader dropped the butt of his gun with +a crash on the floor. "Where is the little sneak, anyhow?" + +"What do you want of him?" + +"Want him to go 'long with us; we 're hunting some parties, and need a +guide. They tol' us up the road a bit he knew every inch o' these yere +mountings." + +There was a pause, as if Maria was endeavoring to decide as to the +honesty of the speaker. Her final answer proved the mental survey had +not proven satisfactory. + +"Wal, I reckon," she said calmly, "as you uns 'll be more likely ter +find him down 'bout Connersville." + +"Then whut's all these yere dirty dishes doing on the table?" + +"Hed sum Yankee officers yere; they just rode on down ther trail as you +uns cum up." + +"Like hell!" ejaculated the fellow with complete loss of temper. "See +here, old woman, we 're too old birds to be caught with any such chaff. +We'll take a look around the old shebang anyhow, and while we're at it +you put something on the table for me and my mates to eat." + +The voice and manner were rough, but I was impressed with a certain +accent creeping into the man's speech bespeaking education. More, in +spite of an apparent effort to make it so, his dialect was not that of +those mountains. + +Even as he uttered these last words, throwing into them a threat more +in the tone than the language, I became aware of a thin ray of light +penetrating the seemingly solid wall just in front of me, and bending +silently forward could dimly distinguish the elliptical head of Bungay +as he applied one eye to a small opening he had industriously made +between the logs. Grasping Mrs. Brennan firmly by the hand so that we +should not become separated, I crept across the intervening blackness, +and reached his side. + +"Holy smoke, Cap," the little man muttered in suppressed excitement, as +he realized my presence, "it's a goin' ter be b'ilin' hot in thar mighty +soon. Mariar's steam is a risin'." + +He silently made room for me, and bending down so as to bring my eye +upon a level with his, I managed to gain some slight glimpse of the +scene within the cabin. + +Mrs. Bungay stood with her back to the fireplace, an iron skillet firmly +gripped in one hand. Her face was red with indignation, and there was +a look in her eyes, together with a defiant set to her chin, which +promised trouble. In front of her, carelessly resting on the table, his +feet dangling in the air, was a sturdy-looking fellow of forty or so, +with red, straggling beard covering all the lower half of his face, and +a weather-worn black hat pulled so low as almost to conceal his eyes. +His attire was nondescript, as though he had patronized the junk-shop +of both armies. In his belt were thrust a revolver and a knife, while +within easy reach of his hand a musket leaned against a chair. Two +others of the party, younger men, but even more roughly dressed than +their leader, were lounging between him and the door. + +Bungay chuckled expectantly. + +"O Lord! if they only git the ol' gal just a little more riled," he +whispered hoarsely, jumping up and down on one foot in his excitement, +"they'll hev ther fight of their life." + +"Do you know the fellows?" I asked. "Is that Red Lowrie?" + +He shook his head. + +"Never laid eyes on any of 'em afore, but ye bet they're no good. Reckon +they're a part o' his crowd." + +The man who posed as the leader of the party picked up the empty +coffee-pot beside him and shook it. + +"Come, now, Mrs. Bungay," he commanded, "I tell you we 're hungry, so +trot out some hoecake and fill up this pot, unless you want to reckon +with Red Lowrie." + +The woman stood facing him, yet never moved. I could see a red spot +begin to glow in either cheek. If I had ever doubted it, I knew now that +Maria possessed a temper of her own. + +"You ain't no Red Lowrie," she retorted. + +The fellow laughed easily. + +"No more I ain't, old woman, but I reckon we ain't so durn far apart +when it comes to getting what we go after. Come, honest now, where is +the little white-livered cur that runs this shebang?" + +Whatever Maria might venture to call her lord and master in the privacy +of home, it evidently did not soothe her spirit to hear him thus spoken +of by another. + +"If Jed Bungay wus hum," she answered fiercely, her eyes fairly blazing, +"I reckon you wouldn't be sprawlin' on thet thar table fer long." + +"Wouldn't I, now? Well, old hen, we've fooled here with you about as +long as I care to. Bill, go over there and put some of that bacon on to +fry. If she doesn't get out of the way I'll give her something to jump +for." And he patted the stock of his gun. + +Instinctively I drew my revolver, and pushed its black muzzle into the +light under Jed's nose. + +"Shall I give him a dose?" I asked eagerly. + +"Not yit; O Lord, not yit!" he exclaimed, dancing from one foot to the +other in excitement. "Let ther ol' gal hev a show. I reckon she's good +fer ther whole three of 'em, 'less they shoot." + +Bill came up grinning. He evidently anticipated some fun, and as he +reached out a grimy hand for the slab of bacon, took occasion to +make some remark. What it was I could not hear, but I noted the quick +responsive flash in the woman's eyes, and the next instant with a crash +she brought the iron skillet down with all her strength on top of +the fellow's head. Without even a groan he went plunging down, face +foremost, in front of the fire. In another moment she was battling like +a wild fury with the other two. + +It was a quick, intense struggle. The man near the door chanced to +be the first in, and he received a blow from the skillet that most +assuredly would have crushed his skull had he not dodged; as it was it +landed upon his shoulder and he reeled back sick and helpless. By this +time the fellow with the red beard had closed upon her, and wrested the +skillet from her hand. Struggling fiercely back and forth across the +floor, Maria tripped over the body of the dead dog and fell, but as she +did so her fingers grasped the red beard of her antagonist. It yielded +to her hand, and bare of face, save for a dark moustache, the man stood +there, panting for breath, above her. Then suddenly, almost at my very +ear, a voice cried, "Frank! Frank! I am here!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +IN THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY + + +In the first surprise of that unexpected joyful cry ringing at my very +ears all my senses seemed confused, and I stood motionless. Then I heard +Bungay utter a smothered oath, and knew he had wheeled about in the +darkness. Unable to distinguish the slightest outline of his figure, I +was yet impressed with the thought that he was endeavoring to muffle the +girl, to prevent her uttering a second cry. Impelled by this intuition I +flung out my arm hastily, and by rare good luck it came in contact with +his hand. + +"None of that, you little cur!" I muttered sternly, unmindful of his +efforts to break away. "No hand on her, mind you! Mrs. Brennan, what +does this mean?" + +She made no attempt to answer, but I could hear her now groping her way +through the darkness toward the place of our entrance. Bungay detected +the movement also, and made a violent effort to break loose from my +grip, that he might hurry after her. + +"You lit go o' me," he cried excitedly, "er, by goir, I'll use a knife. +She'll give this whole thing away if she ever gits out." + +For answer I hurled him backward with all my strength and sprang after +the fleeing woman. But I was already too late to stop her, even had that +been my intention. With strength yielded her by desperation, she thrust +aside the heavy cupboard, and as the light swept in, sprang forward into +the rude shed. With another bound, gathering her skirts as she ran, she +was up the steps and had burst into the outer room. A moment later I +also stood in the doorway, gazing upon a scene that made my blood like +fire. + +The fighting had evidently ceased suddenly with her first cry. Maria +stood panting in one corner, the deadly skillet again in her hand, her +hair hanging in wisps down her back. Still unconscious from the blow he +had received, one fellow lay outstretched on the floor, his head barely +missing the hot ashes of the fireplace; while his companion nursed his +bruises and scowled from a safe refuge behind the table. The unshaven +faces of several others of the gang were peering curiously in through +the open door. I know now I saw all this, for the picture of it is +upon the retina of memory, but at the moment everything I appeared to +perceive or hear occurred in the centre of the room. + +The man who had posed as the leader stood there alone facing us, +his expression a strange mixture of amazement and delight. He was a +powerfully built man, with keen gray eyes deeply set in their sockets. +His right hand rested heavily upon the hilt of a cavalry sabre, the +scabbard of which was concealed beneath the folds of the long brown coat +he wore. As Mrs. Brennan burst through the doorway he stepped eagerly +forward, his eyes brightening, and they met with clasped hands. + +"Is it possible--Edith?" he cried, as if the recognition could scarcely +be credited. + +"Oh, Frank!" she exclaimed, eagerly, "it seems all too good to be true. +How came you here?" + +"Hunting after you, my fair lady. Did you suppose you could disappear as +mysteriously as you did last night without my being early on the trail? +Have these people injured you in any way?" And he glanced about him with +a threat in his gesture. + +"Oh, no, Frank," hastily; "every one has been most kind. It was a mere +mistake. But how strangely you are dressed! how very rough you look!" + +He laughed, but still retained his warm clasp of her hands. + +"Not the pomp and circumstance of glorious war which you expected, +girl?" he asked lightly. "But we have all sorts of conditions to meet +down here, and soon learn in Rome to do as the Romans do." + +As he finished speaking he perceived me for the first time, and his face +changed instantly into cold sternness. I saw him sweep one hasty glance +around, as though he suspected that I might not be alone, and his hand +fell once more upon his sword hilt, in posture suggestive of readiness +for action. + +"Who have we here?" he asked, staring at me in amazement. "A Johnny +Reb?" + +"Whatever I am," I retorted, my gorge rising suddenly at his +contemptuous term, and stepping out into the room before him, "I at +least wear the uniform of my service and rank, and not the nondescript +garments of a guerilla." + +The scornful words stung him; I noticed the quick flush of anger in his +eyes, and was not sorry. + +"You are insolent, sir. Moreover, you go too far, for as it chances +you are well within our lines, and we will see to what extent honor is +consistent with the work of a spy. The uniform of your service, indeed!" +he echoed hotly, pointing as he spoke across the room; "that cavalry +cloak over yonder tells its own story. Peters, Steele, arrest this +fellow." + +"Frank, don't do that," she urged earnestly. "You mistake; that was the +cloak I wore." + +If he heard her he gave no sign. + +"Bind him," was the stern order, as the two men advanced. "Use your +belts if you have nothing else handy." + +Angry as I most assuredly was, swept also by a new emotion which I did +not in the least comprehend, I yet fully realized the utter helplessness +of my position in point of resistance. They were twenty to one. However +much I longed to grapple with him who mocked me, the very thought was +insanity; my only possible chance of escape lay in flight. To realize +this was to act. I leaped backward, trusting for a clear field in my +rear, and an opportunity to run for it, but the door by which I had just +entered was now closed and barred--Bungay had made sure his retreat. The +man, watching my every movement, with sword half drawn in his hand, saw +instantly that I was securely trapped, and laughed in scorn. + +"You are not making war on women now," he said with a cutting sneer. +"You will not find me so easy a victim." + +The taunt stung me, but more the tone and manner of the speaker, and the +hot blood of youth cast all caution to the winds. With a single spring, +forgetful of my own wound, I was at his throat, dashed aside his +uplifted hand, and by the sheer audacity of my sudden, unexpected +onset, bore him back crashing to the floor. He struggled gamely, yet +I possessed the advantage of position, and would have punished him +severely, but for the dozen strong hands which instantly laid hold upon +me, and dragged me off, still fighting madly, although as helpless as a +child. + +My opponent instantly leaped to his feet and started forward, drawing a +revolver as he came. His face was deathly white from passion, and there +was a look in his eyes which told me he would be restrained now by no +rule of war. + +"You cowardly spy!" he cried, and my ears caught the sharp click as he +drew back the hammer. "Do you think I will let that blow go unavenged?" + +"I assuredly trust not," I answered, gazing up at him from behind the +gun muzzles with which I was yet securely pinned to the floor. "But +if you are, as I am led to believe, a Federal officer, with some +pretensions to being also a gentleman, and not the outlaw your clothes +proclaim, you will at least permit me to stand upon my feet and face you +as a man. If I am a spy, as you seem inclined to claim, there are army +courts to try me; if not, then I am your equal in standing and rank, and +have every right of a prisoner of war." + +"This has become personal," hoarsely. "Your blow, as well as your +connection with the forcible abduction of this young lady, whose legal +protector I am, are not matters to be settled by an army court." + +"Then permit me to meet you in any satisfactory way. The murder of a +helpless man will scarcely clarify your honor." + +I knew from the unrelenting expression upon his face that my plea was +likely to prove a perfectly useless one, but before I had ended it Mrs. +Brennan stood between us. + +"Frank," she said calmly, "you shall not. This man is a Confederate +officer; he is no spy; and during all the events of last night he has +proven himself a friend rather than an enemy. Only for my sake is he +here now." + +Ignoring the look upon his face she turned toward me, impetuously waved +aside the fellows who yet held me prostrate, and extending her hand +lifted me to my feet. For an instant, as if by accident, our eyes met, +and a sudden flush swept across her throat and cheeks. + +"It is my turn now," she whispered softly, so softly the words did not +carry beyond my own ears. Then she stood erect between us, as though in +her own drawing-room, and gravely presented us to each other, as if she +dared either to quarrel longer in her presence. + +"Major Brennan, Captain Wayne." + +We bowed to each other as men salute on the duelling field. In his eyes +I read an unforgiveness, a bitter personal enmity, which I returned with +interest, and secretly rejoiced over. + +"The lady seems to be in control at present," he said shortly, shoving +back the revolver into his belt. "Nevertheless I shall do my military +duty, and hold you as a prisoner. May I inquire your full name and +rank?" + +"Philip Wayne, Captain ----th Virginia Cavalry, Shirtley's Brigade." + +"Why are you within our lines?" + +"I attempted to pass through them last night with despatches, but was +prevented by my desire to be of assistance to this lady." + +"Indeed?" He smiled incredulously. "Your tale is quite interesting and +rather romantic. I presume you yet carry the papers with you as evidence +of its truth?" + +"If you refer to the despatches, I do not. I sincerely trust they are +already safely deposited in the hands of the one for whom they were +intended." + +A malignant look crept into Brennan's face, and his jaws set ominously. + +"You will have to concoct a far better story than that, my friend, +before you face Sheridan," he said insolently, "or you will be very apt +to learn how a rope feels. He is not inclined to parley long with such +fellows as you. Bind his hands, men, and take him out with you into the +road." + +The two soldiers grasped me instantly at the word of command. For a +single moment I braced myself to resist, but even as I did so my eyes +fell upon a slight opening in the wall, and I caught a quick glimpse of +Bungay's face, his finger to his lips. Even as I gazed in astonishment +at this sudden apparition, a lighter touch rested pleadingly on my arm. + +"Do not struggle any longer, Captain Wayne," spoke Mrs. Brennan's voice, +gently. "I will go to General Sheridan myself, and tell him the entire +story." + +I bowed to her, and held out my hands to be bound. + +"I yield myself your prisoner, madam," I said meaningly, and not +unconscious that her glance sank before mine. "I even imagine the bonds +may prove not altogether unpleasant." + +Brennan strode between us hastily, and with quick gesture to his men. + +"Bind the fellow," he said sternly. "And mind you, sir, one word more, +and they shall buck you as well. It may be valuable for you to remember +that I am in command here, however I may seem to yield to the wish of +Mrs. Brennan." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A WOMAN'S TENDERNESS + + +Youth is never largely given to reflection, which is the gift of years; +and although my life had in a measure rendered me more thoughtful than +I might have proven under ordinary conditions, yet it is to be frankly +confessed, by one desirous of writing merely the truth, that I generally +acted more upon impulse than reason. As I stood forth in the sunlight of +that lonely mountain road, my hands securely bound behind my back, +the end of the rope held by one of my captors, while his fellow leaned +lazily upon his gun and watched us, I thought somewhat deeply over the +situation and those peculiar circumstances leading up to it. + +Under other conditions I might have felt tempted to enter into +conversation with my guards, who, as I now perceived, were far from +being the rough banditti I had at first imagined. Judging from their +faces and language they were intelligent enough young fellows, such as +I had often found in the ranks of the Federal army. But I realized they +could aid me little, if any, in the one thing I most desired to know, +and even if they could, a sense of delicacy would have caused me to +hesitate in asking those personal questions that burned upon my lips. My +deep and abiding respect for this woman whom I had so strangely met, and +with whom I had attained some degree of intimacy, would never permit +of my discussing her, even indirectly, with private soldiers behind the +back of their officer. Every sense of honor revolted at such a thought. +Not through any curiosity of mine, however justified by the depth of +my own feeling, should she be made the subject of idle gossip about the +camp-fire. + +For, in truth, at this time, unhappy as my own situation undeniably +was,--and as a soldier I realized all its dangers,--I gave it but little +consideration. Usually quick of wit, fertile in expedients, ever ready +to take advantage of each opportunity, I had taken stock of all my +surroundings, yet discovered nowhere the slightest opening for escape. +The vigilance of the guard, as well as the thorough manner in which I +was bound, rendered any such attempt the merest madness. Realizing this, +with the fatalism of a veteran I resigned myself in all patience to what +must be. + +Then it was that other thoughts came surging upon me in a series of +interrogatories, which no knowledge I possessed could possibly answer. +Who was this proud, womanly woman who called herself Edith Brennan? She +had been at some pains to inform me that she was married, yet there was +that about her--her bearing, her manner--which I could not in the least +reconcile with that thought. Her extreme youthfulness made me feel it +improbable, and the impression remained with me that she intended +to make some explanation of her words, when the coming of Bungay +interrupted us. How they might be explained I could not imagine; I +merely struggled against accepting what I longed to believe untrue. And +this man? this Federal major, bearing the same name, whom she called +Frank, who was he? What manner of relationship existed between them? +In their meeting and short intercourse I had noted several things which +told me much--that she feared, respected, valued him, and that he was +not only swayed by, but intensely jealous of any rival in, her good +opinion. Yet their unexpected meeting was scarcely that of husband and +wife. Was he the one she sought in her night ride from one Federal camp +to another? If so, was he brother, friend, or husband? What was the bond +of union existing between these two? Every word spoken made me fear the +last must be the true solution. + +Such were some of the queries I silently struggled with, and they were +rendered more acute by that deepening interest which I now confessed to +myself I was feeling toward her who inspired them. It may be fashionable +nowadays to sneer at love, yet certain it is, the rare personality of +this Edith Brennan had reached and influenced me in those few hours +we had been thrown together as that of no other woman had ever done. +Possibly this was so because the long years in camp and field had kept +me isolated from all cultured and refined womanhood. This may, indeed, +have caused me to be peculiarly susceptible to the beauty and purity of +this one. I know not; I am content to give facts, and leave philosophy +to others. My life has ever been one of action, of intense feeling; +and there in the road that day, standing bareheaded in the sun, I was +clearly conscious of but one changeless fact, that I loved Edith Brennan +with every throb of my heart, and that there was enmity, bitter and +unforgiving, between me and the man within who bore her name. Whatever +he might be to her I rejoiced to know that he hated me with all the +unreasoning hatred of jealousy. I had read it in his eyes, in his words, +in his manner; and the memory of its open manifestation caused me to +smile, as I hoped for an hour when we should meet alone and face to +face. How she regarded him I was unable as yet to tell, but his love for +her was plainly apparent in every glance and word. + +As I was thus thinking, half in despair and half in hope, the two came +out from the house together; and it pleased me to note how immediately +her eyes sought for me, and how she lifted her hand to shade them from +the glare of the sun, so that she might see more clearly. Her companion +appeared to ignore my presence utterly, and gazed anxiously up and down +the road as though searching for something. + +"Peters," he asked sharply of the fellow on guard, "where are Sergeant +Steele and the rest of the squad?" + +The soldier addressed saluted in a manner that convinced me he was of +the regular service. + +"They are resting out of the sun in that clump of bushes down the hill, +sir." + +Brennan glanced in the direction indicated. + +"Very well," he said. "Take your prisoner down there, and tell the +Sergeant to press on at once toward the lower road. We shall follow you, +and the lady will ride his horse." + +The man turned, and with peremptory gesture ordered me forward. As I +drew closer to where the two waited beside the open door, I lifted my +head proudly, determined that neither should perceive how deeply I felt +the humiliation of my position. As I thus passed them, my eyes fixed +upon the shining road ahead, my ears caught a word or two of indignant +expostulation from her lips. + +"But, Frank, it is positively shameful in this sun." + +He laughed lightly, yet his answer came to me in all clearness of +utterance. I believed he wished me to overhear the words. "Oh, it will +only prove of benefit to his brains, if by rare chance he possesses +any." + +I glanced aside, and saw her turn instantly and face him, her eyes +aflame with indignation. "Then I will!" + +As she spoke, her voice fairly trembling with intense feeling, she +stepped backward out of sight into the house. + +Another instant and she reappeared, sweeping past him without so much as +a word, and bearing in her hand my old campaign hat, came directly up to +us. + +"Sentry," she said in her old imperious manner, "I desire to place this +hat on the head of your prisoner." + +The fellow glanced uneasily over his shoulder at the seemingly +unconscious officer, not knowing whether it were better to permit the +act or not, but she waited for no permission. + +"Captain Wayne," she said, her voice grown kindly in a moment, and her +eyes frankly meeting mine, "you will pardon such liberty, I am sure, but +it is not right that you should be compelled to march uncovered in this +sun." + +She placed the hat in position, asking as she did so: + +"Does that feel comfortable?" + +"The memory of your thoughtfulness," I replied warmly, bowing as best I +might, "will make the march pleasant, no matter what its end may mean to +me." + +Her eyes darkened with sudden emotion. + +"Do not deem me wholly ungrateful," she said quickly and in a low tone. +"The conditions are such that I am utterly helpless now to aid you. +Major Brennan is a man not to be lightly disobeyed, but I shall tell my +story to General Sheridan so soon as we reach his camp." + +I would have spoken again, but at this moment Brennan came striding +toward us. + +"Come, Edith," he cried, almost roughly, "this foolishness has surely +gone far enough. Peters, what are you waiting here for? I told you to +take your prisoner down the road." + +A few moments later, the centre of a little squad of heavily armed men, +I was tramping along the rocky pathway, and when once I attempted to +glance back to discover if the others followed us, the sergeant advised +me, with an oath, to keep my eyes to the front. I obeyed him. + +It was a most tiresome march in the hot sun over the rough mountain +roads. There were times when we left these altogether, and crept along +half-obliterated trails leading through the dense woods and among the +rocks. I learned from scraps of conversation floating about me as we +struggled onward, that these precautions were not taken out of any fear +of meeting with Confederate troops, whose nearest commands were supposed +to be considerably to the westward of where we were, but because of +a desire to avoid all possibility of conflict with those armed and +irresponsible bands that ranged at will between the lines of the two +great armies. Already they had become sufficiently strong to make +trouble for small detachments. + +It must have been nearly the end of the afternoon. We had certainly +traversed several miles, and were then moving almost directly south upon +a well-defined pike, the name of which I never knew. All the party were +travelling close together, when the scout, who throughout the day had +been kept a few hundred yards in advance, came back toward us on a run, +his hand flung up in an urgent warning to halt. + +"What is it, Steele?" Brennan questioned, spurring forward to meet him. +"Come, speak up, man!" + +"A squad of cavalry has just swung onto the pike, sir, from the dirt +road that leads toward the White Briar," was the soldier's panting +reply. "And I could get a glimpse through the trees down the valley, and +there's a heavy infantry column just behind them. They're Rebs, sir, or +I don't know them." + +"Rebs?" with an incredulous laugh. "Why, man, we've got the only Reb +here who is east of the Briar." + +"Well," returned the scout, sullenly, "they're coming from the west, and +I know they ain't our fellows." + +He was too old a soldier to have his judgment doubted, and he was +evidently convinced. Brennan glanced quickly about. However he may +have sneered at the report, he was not rash enough to chance so grave a +mistake. + +"Get back into those rocks there on the right," he commanded sharply. +"Hustle your prisoner along lively, men, and one of you stand over him +with a cocked gun; if he so much as opens his mouth, let him have it." + +Rapidly as we moved, we were scarcely all under cover before the advance +cavalry guard came in sight, the light fringe of troopers, dust-begrimed +and weary, resting heavily in their saddles, and apparently thoughtless +as to any possibility of meeting with the enemy. There were not +more than a troop of them all told, yet their short gray jackets and +wide-brimmed light hats instantly told the story of their service. +Their rear rank was yet in sight when we heard the heavy tread of the +approaching column, together with the dull tinkle of steel which always +accompanies marching troops. Peering forth as much as I dared from +behind the thick brush where I had been roughly thrown face downward, I +saw the head of that solid, sturdy column swing around the sharp bend +in the road, and in double front, spreading from rock to rock, come +sweeping down toward us. + +The command was moving forward rapidly at the rout step, that long, +easy, swinging stride so peculiar to the Southern infantry, with the +merest semblance of order in formation, which is the inevitable result +of hard, rapid marching. Every movement bespoke them veteran troops. +They were covered with dust, their faces fairly caked with it, their +uniforms almost indistinguishable; their drums silent, their colors +cased, their wide-brimmed hats pulled low over their eyes, their guns +held in any position most convenient for carrying, and with stern, +wearied faces set doggedly upon the road in their front. No pomp and +circumstance of glorious war was here, but these were fighting men. +Never before, save as I watched Pickett's charging line sweep on to +death at Gettysburg, did I feel the stern manliness of war as now. + +File upon file, company after company, regiment following regiment, they +swung sternly by. Scarcely so much as a word reached us, excepting now +and then some briefly muttered command to close up, or a half-inaudible +curse as a shuffling foot stumbled. I could distinguish no badge, no +insignia of either corps or division; the circling dust enveloped them +in a choking, disfiguring cloud. But they were Confederates! I marked +them well; here and there along the toiling ranks I even noted a +familiar face, and there could be no mistaking the gaunt North Carolina +mountaineer, the sallow Georgian, or the jaunty Louisiana Creole. They +were Confederates--Packer's Division of Hill's corps, I could have +almost sworn--east-bound on forced march, and I doubted not that each +cross-road to left and right of us would likewise show its hurrying gray +column, sturdily pressing forward. The veteran fighting men of the left +wing of the Army of Northern Virginia were boldly pushing eastward to +keep their tryst with Lee. The despatch intrusted to my care had been +borne safely to Longstreet. + +The keen joy of it lighted up my face, and Brennan turning toward me as +the last limping straggler disappeared over the ridge, saw it, and grew +white with anger. + +"You Rebel cur!" he cried fiercely, in his sudden outburst of passion, +"what does all this mean? Where is that division bound?" + +"Some change in Longstreet's front, I should judge," I answered coolly, +too happy even to note his slur. + +"You know better," he retorted hotly. "The way those fellows march +tells plainly enough that they have covered all of fifteen miles since +daybreak. It is a general movement, and, by Heaven! you shall answer +Sheridan, even if you won't me." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +IN THE PRESENCE OF SHERIDAN + + +It had been dark for nearly an hour before we entered what was from +all appearances a large and populous camp. Hurried forward constantly, +closely surrounded by my guard, I was enabled to gain but an inadequate +conception of either its situation or extent. Yet the distance traversed +by our party after passing the outer sentries and before we made final +halt, taken in connection with evidence on every side of the presence +in considerable numbers of all the varied branches of the service, +convinced me we were within no mere brigade encampment, but had +doubtless arrived at the main headquarters of this department. + +Although I noted all this in a vague way, so as to recall it afterwards, +yet I was too thoroughly fatigued to care where I was or what became +of me. Hardened as I had grown through experience to exposure and +weariness, the continuous strain undergone since I had ridden westward +from General Lee's tent had completely unnerved me. No sooner was I +thrust into the unknown darkness of a hut by the not unkindly sergeant, +than I threw myself prone on the floor, and was sound asleep before the +door had fairly closed behind him. + +My rest was not destined to be a long one. It seemed I had barely closed +my eyes when a rough hand shook me again into consciousness. The flaming +glare of an uplifted pine-knot flung its radiance over half-a-dozen +figures grouped in the open doorway. A corporal, with a white chin +beard, was bending over me. + +"Come, Johnny," he said tersely, "get up--you're wanted." + +The instinct of soldierly obedience in which I had been so long trained +caused me to grope my way to my feet. + +"What time is it, Corporal?" I asked sleepily. + +"After midnight." + +"Who wishes me?" + +"Headquarters," he returned brusquely. "Come, move on. Fall in, men." + +A moment later we were off, passing between long lines of dying fires, +tramping rapidly along a rough road which seemed to incline sharply +upward, our single torch throwing grotesque shadows on either side. The +swift movement and the crisp night air swept the vestiges of slumber +from my brain, and I began instinctively to gather together my scattered +wits for whatever new experience confronted me. + +Our march was a short one, and we soon turned abruptly in at a wide-open +gateway. High pillars of brick stood upon either hand, and the passage +was well lighted by a brightly blazing fire of logs. Two sentries stood +there, and our party passed between them without uttering a word. As we +moved beyond the radiance I noted a little knot of cavalrymen silently +sitting their horses in the shadow of the high wall. A wide gravelled +walk, bordered, I thought, with flowers, led toward the front door of a +commodious house built after the colonial type. The lower story seemed +fairly ablaze with lights, and at the head of the steps as we ascended a +young officer came quickly forward. + +"Is this the prisoner brought in to-night?" + +The corporal pushed me forward. + +"This is the man, sir." + +"Very well; hold your command here until I send other orders." + +He rested one hand, not unkindly, upon my arm, and his tone instantly +changed from that of command to generous courtesy. + +"You will accompany me, and permit me to advise you, for your own sake, +to be as civil as possible in your answers to-night, for the 'old man' +is in one of his tantrums." + +We crossed the rather dimly lighted hall, which had a sentry posted +at either end of it, and then my conductor threw open a side door, and +silently motioned for me to enter in advance of him. It was a spacious +room, elegant in all its appointments, but my hasty glance revealed only +three occupants. Sitting at a handsomely polished mahogany writing-table +near the centre of the apartment was a short, stoutly built man, +with straggly beard and fierce, stern eyes. I recognized him at once, +although he wore neither uniform nor other insignia of rank. Close +beside him stood a colonel of engineers, possibly his chief of staff, +while to the right, leaning negligently with one arm on the mantel-shelf +above the fireplace, and smiling insolently at me, was Brennan. + +The sight of him stiffened me like a drink of brandy, and as the young +aide closed the door in my rear, I stepped instantly forward to the +table, facing him who I knew must be in command, and removing my hat, +saluted. + +"This is the prisoner you sent for, sir," announced the aide. + +The officer, who remained seated, looked at me intently, + +"Have I ever met you before?" he questioned, as though doubting his +memory. + +"You have, General Sheridan," I replied, "I was with General Early +during your conference at White Horse Tavern. I also bore a flag to you +after the cavalry skirmish at Wilson's Ford." + +"I remember," shortly, and as he spoke he wheeled in his chair to face +Brennan. + +"I thought you reported this officer as a spy?" he said sternly. "He is +in uniform, and doubtless told you his name and rank." + +"I certainly had every reason to believe he penetrated our lines in +disguise," was the instant reply. "This cavalry cloak was found with +him, and consequently I naturally supposed his claim of rank to be +false." + +Sheridan looked annoyed, yet turned back to me without administering the +sharp rebuke which seemed burning upon his lips. + +"Were you wearing that cavalry cloak within our lines?" he questioned +sternly. + +"I was not, sir; it was indeed lying upon the floor of the hut when +Major Brennan entered, but I had nothing to do with it." + +He gazed at me searchingly for a moment in silence. + +"I regret we have treated you with so little consideration," he said +apologetically, "but you were supposed to be merely a spy. May I ask +your name and rank?" + +"Captain Wayne, ----th Virginia Cavalry." + +"Why were you within our lines?" + +"I was passing through them with despatches." + +"For whom?" + +"You certainly realize that I must decline to answer." + +"Major Brennan," he asked, turning aside again, "was this officer +searched by your party?" + +"He was, sir, but no papers were found. He stated to me later that his +despatch was verbal." + +"Had it been delivered?" + +"I so understood him." + +"Well, how did he account to you for being where he was found?" + +Brennan hesitated, and glanced uneasily toward me. Like a flash the +thought came that the man was striving to keep her name entirely out of +sight: he did not wish her presence mentioned. + +"There was no explanation attempted," he said finally. "He seemed simply +to be hiding there." + +"Alone?" + +Again I caught his eyes, and it almost seemed that I read entreaty in +them. + +"Excepting the wife of the mountaineer," he answered hoarsely. + +"Is this true?" asked Sheridan, his stern face fronting me. + +I made my decision instantly. There might be some reason, possibly her +own request, whereby her being alone with me that night should remain +untold. Very well, it would never be borne to other ears through any +failure of my lips to guard the secret. She had voluntarily pledged +herself to go to Sheridan in my defence; until she did so, her secret, +if secret indeed it was, should remain safe with me. I could do no less +in honor. + +"It is not altogether true," I said firmly, "and no one knows this +better than Major Brennan. I was there, as I told him, wholly because +of an accident upon the road, but as to its particulars I must most +respectfully decline to answer." + +"You realize what such a refusal may mean to you?" + +"I understand fully the construction which may unjustly be placed upon +it by those who desire to condemn me, but at present I can make no +more definite reply. I have reason to believe the full facts will be +presented to you by one in whose word you will have confidence." + +I caught a gleam of positive delight in Brennan's eyes, and instantly +wondered if this seeming reluctance upon his part was not merely a +clever mode of tricking me into silence,--into what might seem an +insolent contempt of Federal authority. I would wait and see. There +would surely be ample time for her to act if she desired to do so. +Anyway, I was little disposed to find shelter behind a woman's skirts. + +Sheridan straightened in his chair, and looked across the table at me +almost angrily. + +"Very well, sir," he said gravely. "Your fate is in your own hands, and +will depend very largely upon your replies to my questions. You claim +to have been the bearer of despatches, and hence no spy, yet you possess +nothing to substantiate your claim. As your regiment is with Lee, I +presume you were seeking Longstreet. Were your despatches delivered?" + +"I have reason to believe so." + +"By yourself?" + +"By the sergeant who accompanied me, and who continued the journey after +I was detained." + +"Is Lee contemplating an immediate movement?" + +"General Sheridan," I exclaimed indignantly, "you must surely forget +that I am an officer of the Confederate Army. You certainly have no +reason to expect that I will so far disregard my obvious duty as to +answer such a question." + +"Your refusal to explain why you were hiding within our lines is ample +reason for my insistence," he said tartly, "and I am not accustomed to +treating spies with any great consideration, even when they claim Rebel +commissions. You are not the first to seek escape in that way. Was +your despatch the cause of the hurried departure of Longstreet's troops +eastward?" + +This last question was hurled directly at me, and I noticed that every +eye in the room was eagerly scanning my face. I had the quick, fiery +temper of a boy then, and my cheeks flushed. + +"I positively decline to answer one word relative to the despatches +intrusted to me," I said deliberately, and my voice shook with sudden +rush of anger. "And no officer who did not dishonor the uniform he wore +would insult me with the question." + +A bombshell exploding in the room could not have astonished them as did +my answer. I realized to the full the probable result, but my spirit +was high, and I felt the utter uselessness of prolonging the interview. +Sooner or later the same end must come. + +Sheridan's face, naturally flushed, instantly grew crimson, and a +dangerous light flamed into his fierce eyes. For a moment he seemed +unable to speak; then he thundered forth: + +"You young fool! I can tell you that you will speak before another +twenty-four hours, or I'll hang you for a spy if it cost me my command. +Major Brennan, take this young popinjay to the Mansion House under +guard." + +Brennan stepped forward, smiling as if he enjoyed the part assigned to +him. + +"Come on, you Johnny," he said coarsely, his hand closing heavily on my +arm. Then, seeming unable to repress his pleasure at the ending of the +interview, and his present sense of power, he bent lower, so that his +insolent words should not reach the others, and hissed hotly: + +"Stealing women is probably more in your line than this." + +At the sneering words, and the insulting look which accompanied them, my +blood, already boiling, leaped into sudden fire. All the fierce hatred +engendered within me by his past treatment, his cowardly insinuations, +his unknown yet intimate relationship to the woman I loved, flamed up in +irresistible power, and I struck him with my open hand across the lips. + +"You miserable hound!" I cried madly. "None but a coward would taunt a +helpless prisoner. I only hope I may yet be free long enough to write +the lie with steel across your heart." + +Before he could move Sheridan was upon his feet and between us. + +"Back, both of you!" he ordered sharply. "There shall be no brawling +here. Major Brennan, you will remain; I would speak with you further +regarding this matter. Lieutenant Caton, take charge of the prisoner." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +UNDER SENTENCE OF DEATH + + +At this late date I doubt greatly if my situation at that time was +so desperate as I then conceived it. I question now whether the death +sentence would ever have been executed. But then, with the memory of +Sheridan's rage and my own hot-headed retort, I fully believed my fate +was destined to be that of the condemned spy, unless she who alone might +tell the whole truth should voluntarily do so. That circumstances had +left me in the power of one whose fierce dislike was already evident was +beyond question, and I had yielded to his goading to such an extent +as to give those in authority every excuse for the exercise of extreme +military power. Yet of one thing I was firmly resolved--no thoughtless +word of mine should ever endanger the reputation of Edith Brennan. Right +or wrong, I would go to a death of dishonor before I would speak without +her authority. Love and pride conspired to make this decision adamant. +There might, indeed, be no reason why I should not speak with utmost +freedom; but as to this I could not judge, and therefore preferred the +safer side of silence. The action of Brennan had impressed this upon me +as a duty; had caused me to feel that I could best serve her by blotting +out the adventures of the night before. Seemingly it was her own +desire, and as a gentleman, an officer, a man of honor, I might not even +question that decree. + +Deeply as these considerations would have affected me under ordinary +conditions, one doubt now overshadowed them all. Was the man I struck +the husband of the woman I loved? This was what I desired to know even +above my own fate. I scarcely doubted, yet would not yield the slight +hope I retained that it might prove otherwise. A trick of chance speech +seemed to solve the problem, to answer that question which I durst not +ask directly. + +"Come," said Caton, briefly, and I turned and accompanied him without +thought of resistance. At the front door he ordered the little squad of +waiting soldiers to fall in, and taking me by the arm, led the way +down the gravelled path to the road. I was impressed by his seeming +carelessness, but as we cleared the gateway he spoke, and his words +helped me to comprehend. + +"Captain Wayne," he said quietly, so that the words could not be +overheard, "you do not recognize me, but I was the officer who conducted +you to headquarters when you brought the flag in at Wilson Creek. Of +course I must perform the duty given me, but I wish you to understand +that I wholly believe your word." + +He stopped, extended his hand, and I accepted it silently. + +"There must surely be some grave personal reason which seals your lips?" +he questioned. + +"There is." + +"I thought as much. I chanced to overhear the words, or rather a +portion of them, which Brennan whispered, and have no doubt if they were +explained to the General he would feel more kindly disposed toward you." + +It was asked as a question, and I felt obliged to reply. + +"I appreciate deeply your desire to aid me, but there are circumstances +involving others which compel me for the present to silence. Indeed +my possible fate does not so greatly trouble me, only that I possess +a strong desire to have freedom long enough to cross swords with this +major of yours. The quarrel between us has become bitterly personal, and +I hunger for a chance to have it out. Do you know, is he a man who would +fight?" + +The young fellow stiffened slightly. + +"We are serving upon the same staff," he said more abruptly, "and while +we have never been close friends, yet I cannot honorably take sides +against him. He has been out twice within the last three years to my +knowledge, and is not devoid either of courage or skill. Possibly, +however, the arrival of his wife may make him less a fire-eater." + +"His wife?" + +I stopped so suddenly that he involuntarily tightened his grip upon my +arm as though suspicious of an attempt to escape. + +"Do you," I asked, gaining some slight control over myself, "refer to +the lady who came in with his party last evening?" + +"Most certainly; she was presented to all of us as Mrs. Brennan, she has +been assigned rooms at his quarters, and she wears a wedding-ring. Far +too fine a woman in my judgment for such a master, but then that is not +so uncommon a mistake in marriage. Why, come to think about it, you +must have met her yourself. Have you reason to suspect this is not their +relationship?" + +"Not in the least," I hastened to answer, fearful lest my thoughtless +exclamation might become the basis for camp gossip. "Indeed I was +scarcely in the lady's presence at all coming in, as I was left in +charge of the sergeant." + +He looked at me keenly through the darkness. + +"It seems somewhat curious to me that such deep enmity has grown up +between you two in so short a time. One almost suspects, as in most +cases, there may be a woman at the bottom of it." + +I laughed carelessly. + +"Not in the least, my friend. But there are indignities a captor can +show to his prisoner which no true gentleman would ever be guilty of and +no soldier would forgive." + +I could see in the torch-light his face flush with sudden indignation. + +"You are right," he returned heartily, "and from my knowledge of Brennan +I can understand your meaning. What business has such a man to possess a +wife?" + +Perhaps he felt that he had already said too much, for we tramped on +in silence until we drew near a large, square white building standing +directly beside the road. + +"This is the old Culverton tavern, known as the Mansion House," he +said. "It is a tremendous big building for this country, with as fine a +ballroom in it as I have seen since leaving New York. We utilize it for +almost every military purpose, and among others some of the strong rooms +in the basement are found valuable for the safe-keeping of important +prisoners." + +We mounted the front steps as he was speaking, passing through a cordon +of guards, and in the wide hallway I was turned over to the officer in +charge. + +"Good-night, Captain," said Caton, kindly extending his hand. "You may +rest assured that I shall say all I can in your favor, but it is to be +regretted that Brennan has great influence just now at headquarters, and +Sheridan is not a man to lightly overlook those hasty words you spoke to +him." + +I could only thank him most warmly for his interest, realizing fully +from his grave manner my desperate situation, and follow my silent +conductor down some narrow and steep stairs until we stood upon the +cemented floor of the basement. Here a heavy door in the stone division +wall was opened; I was pushed forward into the dense darkness within, +and the lock clicked dully behind me. So thick was the wall I could not +even distinguish the retreating steps of the jailer. + +Tired as I was from the intense strain of the past thirty-six hours, +even my anxious thoughts were insufficient to keep me awake. Feeling my +way cautiously along the wall, I came at last to a wide wooden bench, +and stretching my form at full length upon it, pillowed my head on one +arm, and almost instantly was sound asleep. + +When I awoke, sore from my hard bed and stiffened by the uncomfortable +position in which I lay, it was broad daylight. That the morning was, +indeed, well advanced I knew from the single ray of sunlight which +streamed in through a grated window high up in the wall opposite me and +fell like a bar of gold across the rough stone floor. I was alone. Even +in the dark of the previous night I had discovered the sole pretence to +furniture in the place. The room itself proved to be a large and almost +square apartment, probably during the ordinary occupancy of the house a +receptacle for wood or garden produce, but now peculiarly well adapted +to the safeguarding of prisoners. + +The solid stone walls were of sufficient height to afford no chance of +reaching the great oak girders that supported the floor above, even +had the doing so offered a favorable opening for escape. There were, +apparently, but three openings of any kind,--the outside window through +which the sunlight streamed, protected by thick bars of iron; a second +opening, quite narrow, and likewise protected by a heavy metal grating; +and the tightly locked door by means of which I had entered. The second, +I concluded, after inspecting it closely, was a mere air passage leading +into some other division of the cellar. I noted these openings idly, and +with scarcely a thought as to the possibility of escape. I had awakened +with strange indifference as to what my fate might be. Such a feeling +was not natural to me, but the fierce emotions of the preceding night +had seemingly robbed me of all my usual buoyancy of hope. In one sense +I yet trusted that Mrs. Brennan would keep her pledge and tell her story +to Sheridan; if she failed to do this, and left me to face the rifles or +the rope, then it made but small odds how soon it should be over. If she +cared for me in the slightest degree she would not let me die unjustly, +and to my mind then she had become the centre of all life. + +Despondency is largely a matter of physical condition, and I was still +sufficiently fagged to be in the depths, when the door opened suddenly, +and an ordinary army ration was placed within. The soldier who brought +it did not speak, nor did I attempt to address him; but after +he retired, the appetizing smell of the bacon, together with the +unmistakable flavor of real coffee, drew me irrresistibly that way, +and I made a hearty meal. The food put new life into me, and I fell to +pacing back and forth between the corners of the cell, my mind full of +questioning, yet with a fresh measure of confidence that all would still +be well. + +I was yet at it when, without warning, the door once again opened, and +Lieutenant Caton entered. He advanced toward me with outstretched hand, +which I grasped warmly, for I felt how much depended on his friendship, +and resolved to ask him some questions which should solve my last +remaining doubts. + +"Captain Wayne," he began soberly, looking about him, "you are in even +worse stress here than I had supposed, but I shall see to it that you +are furnished with blankets before I leave." + +"You have nothing new, then, to communicate regarding the possibility of +release?" I asked anxiously. + +"Alas, no; Brennan appears to hate you with all the animosity of his +strange nature, and his influence is so much stronger than mine that I +have almost been commanded not to mention your name again." + +"But surely," I urged, "I am to receive the ordinary privilege of a +prisoner of war? General Sheridan will not condemn me without evidence +or trial, merely because in a moment of sudden anger I used hasty words, +which I have ever since regretted?" + +Caton shook his head. + +"My dear fellow, it is not that. Sheridan is hasty himself, and his +temper often leads him to rash language. No, I am sure he bears you no +malice for what you said. But Brennan has his ear, and has whispered +something to him in confidence--what, I have been unable to +ascertain--which has convinced him that you are deserving of death under +martial law." + +"Without trial?" + +"The opportunity of furnishing the information desired will be again +offered you; but, as near as I can learn, the charge preferred against +you is of such a private nature that it is deemed best not to make +it matter for camp talk. Whatever it may be, Sheridan evidently feels +justified in taking the case out from the usual channels, and in using +most drastic measures. I am sorry to bring you such news, especially +as I believe the charges are largely concocted in the brain of him who +makes them, and have but the thinnest circumstantial evidence to +sustain them. Yet Sheridan is thoroughly convinced, and will brook no +interference. The discussion of the case has already led to his using +extremely harsh words to his chief of staff." + +"I am to be shot, then?" + +His hand closed warmly over mine. "While there is life there is always +hope," he answered. "Surely it must be in your power to prove the nature +of your mission within our lines, and the delay thus gained will enable +us to learn and meet these more serious allegations." + +"If I but had time to communicate with General Lee." + +"But now--is there no one, no way by which such representation can +be given this very day? If not full proof of your innocence, then +sufficient, at least, to cause the necessary delay?" + +I shook my head. "I know of nothing other than my own unsupported word," +I answered shortly, "and that is evidently of no value as against Major +Brennan's secret insinuations. When is the hour set?" + +"I am not positive that final decision has yet been reached, but I heard +daybreak to-morrow mentioned. The probability of an early movement of +our troops is the excuse urged for such unseemly haste." + +I remained silent for a moment, conscious only of his kindly eyes +reading my face. + +"Mrs. Brennan," I asked finally, recurring to the one thought in which I +retained deep interest,--"does she still remain in the camp?" + +"She was with the Major at headquarters this morning. I believe they +breakfasted with the General, but I was on duty so late last night that +I overslept, and thus missed the pleasure of meeting her again." + +We talked for some time longer, and he continued to urge me for some +further word, but I could give him none, and finally the kindly fellow +departed, promising to see me again within a few hours. Greatly as I now +valued his friendship, it was, nevertheless, a relief to be alone with +my thoughts once more. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A STRANGE WAY OUT + + +Caton came in once more about the middle of the afternoon, bringing me +some blankets; but he had no news, and his boyish face was a picture of +pathos as he wrung my hand good-bye. Sheridan, he said, had gone down +the lines, and both Brennan and himself were under orders to follow in +another hour. What instructions, if any, had been left regarding my +case he could not say, but he feared the worst from the unusual secrecy. +Sheridan expected to return to his headquarters that same evening, as +the officers of his staff were to give a grand ball. + +I felt no inclination to partake of the rude supper left me, and just +before dark I was lying upon the bench idly wondering if that was to +prove the last vestige of daylight I should ever behold in this world, +when, without slightest warning, the heavy iron grating in the wall +directly above me fell suddenly, striking the edge of the bench, and +clattered noisily to the floor. The fall was so unexpected, and my +escape from injury so narrow, that I lay almost stunned, staring up +helplessly at the dark hole thus left bare. As I gazed, a face framed +itself in this narrow opening, and two wary eyes peered cautiously down +at me. There was no mistaking that countenance even in the fast waning +light, and I instantly sat up with an exclamation of surprise, "Jed +Bungay, as I live!" + +The puzzled face broke into a grin of delight. + +"Holy smoke, Cap," he ejaculated, with a deep sigh of relief, "'s thet +you, suah? I wus so durned skeered I'd made a mess o' it whin thet thar +iron drapped thet I near died. 'He crossed the threshold--and a clang of +angry steel that instant rang.'" + +He peered around cautiously, screwing up his little eyes as though +transforming them into miniature telescopes. + +"'If thou wouldst view fair Melrose aright, go visit it by the pale +moonlight.' Be ye all alone, Cap?" + +"With the exception of a few rats, yes." + +"Whut be they a goin' ter dew with ye?" + +"I have every reason to believe it is their purpose to shoot me at +daybreak to-morrow." + +"Shoot?--Hell!" He stared at me as if he had just heard his own death +sentence pronounced, and his little peaked face looked ghastly in the +dim light. "Shoot ye? Good Lord, Cap, whut fer? Ye ain't done nothin' +as I knows on, 'cept ter scrap a bit with thet blasted Yank, an' sure +thet's no shootin' matter, er else I'd a bin a goner long ago." + +"That 'Yank' has seen fit to charge me with being a spy; and as I +was foolish enough to insult General Sheridan last night, my fate is +probably sealed." + +This somewhat complex statement seemed to be too much for Jed to grasp +promptly. + +"Gosh, ye don't say!" he muttered. "Then, durn it, I'm in luck, fer +all they've got agin me is pot-shootin' at a nigger soger up in ther +mountings; en thet ain't much, 'cause I didn't hit ther durned cuss. +Blame sorry tew, fer 'Who spills the foremost foeman's life, his party +conquers in the strife.' Thet's Scott agin, Cap. Dew ye ever read Sir +Walter? I tell ye, he's a poet, suah." + +Without pausing for a reply, or even noting that none had been given, +Jed was carefully covering every inch of exposed wall with his little +shrewd, glinting eyes. + +"Ain't much show ter work out o' yere, is thar, Cap?" he asked at last +reflectively; "leastwise I don't see none, 'less them thar dark corners +hes got holes in 'em." + +"The wall is entirely solid." + +"So I sorter reckoned. But if ye'll crawl through yere inter my boodour, +thar's a place whar I reckon ther tew of us tergether mought make a try +fer it. It's too durn high up fer me ter git at alone." + +I rose to my feet slowly, wondering at the strange lassitude which made +me so indifferent to that life I had always before so highly valued. +Bungay noticed my hopelessness. + +"Durned if prison life don't take all the sand out o' a feller," he said +cheerfully. "Blame me, but ye move as if ye wus 'bout half dead. But +I reckon, Cap, if ye cud manage ter git out o' yere ternight, an' +take some news ter Lee thet I've picked up, he'd 'bout make both of us +ginerals. 'Speed, Malise, speed! The dun deer's hide on fleeter foot was +never tied.'" + +These words brought back to me in an instantaneous flash the old +dominant military spirit. For Lee! Yes, for Lee I would yet take +chances, undergo fatigue, brave death. If life must be given up, let it +be yielded gallantly in the open, and on behalf of my distant comrades. + +"News for Lee?" I exclaimed, staring eagerly at him through the now +darkened room. "Do you mean it? What news?" + +"Thought maybe thet wud wake ye up," he chuckled. + +"'Speed on the signal, clansman, speed!' Stan' up on ther bench, Cap, +an' put yer ear up yere an' I'LL tell ye. This yere's gospel +truth: Sheridan hes started his infantry on a half-circle march fer +Minersville. Ther first division left et three o'clock, an' thar won't +be nary Yank loafin' en ther valley by noon termorrow. An' more," +he added rapidly, his eyes dancing wildly with suppressed +excitement,--"Hancock is a swingin' of his corps west ter meet 'em thar, +an' I reckon, as how thar'll be hell fer sartain up ther Shenandoah in +less ner a week--es Scott ses, 'the wild sounds of border war.'" + +"But how do you know all this?" I questioned incredulously, as the whole +scene and its dread possibilities unrolled before my mental vision. + +"Ther nigger I held up hed a despatch fer Heintzelman over on ther left, +an' then Mariar she sorter pumped a young fule staff officer fer ther +rest o' it," he replied promptly. "Oh, it's a sure go, Cap, an' I reckon +as how maybe Lee's whole army hangs on one of us gittin' out o' yere +ternight. + + "'Where, where was Roderick then? + One blast upon his bugle horn + Were worth a thousand men.'" + +That he meant every word he spoke I felt convinced, and his enthusiasm +was contagious. My blood leaped within me at this call to action; all +lethargy fled, and with it every deadening thought of her who had so +suddenly woven about me the meshes of her power. False or true, maid, +wife, or widow, my duty as a soldier to my commander and the army +to which I belonged, blotted out all else. Even as this new rush of +determination swept over me, above us there sounded clearly the dashing +music of a military band in the strains of a Strauss's waltz, and we +could distinguish the muffled shuffling of many feet on the oaken floor +overhead. Caton's chance remark about the great ball to be given that +evening by officers of the headquarters staff recurred to my memory. + +"That dancing up there will help us, Jed," I said quickly, my mind now +active to grasp every detail. "You say there is a chance for escape from +your cell? Then give me your hand, and help me to crawl through that +hole." + +It was a narrow squeeze for a man of my size, yet I crept through +without great difficulty, and found myself in the dense darkness of a +room which, as I judged hastily from feeling about me, was similar in +shape and extent to the one in which I had been confined. + +Bungay, however, permitted me little time for exploration. Grasping me +firmly by one arm, and feeling his way along the wall, he groped across +to the other side. + +"There's a mighty big stone chimbly comes down yere, Cap," he whispered, +his lips close to my ears, although the noise above made conversation in +an ordinary tone perfectly safe. "An' ther openin' ter take out soot +an' ashes is up thar, jist b'low ther fluer. It's a sheet-iron pan, I +reckon, ther way it feels; an' it must be thar they put a nigger in ter +clean ther chimbly whin it gits stuffed up. I could git up thar alone, +but I couldn't do no work, but thet thar pan ought ter cum out all +right. Dew ye think ye cud hoi' me up, Cap? I'm purty durn heavy." + +I smiled in the darkness at the little fellow's egotism, and lifting him +as I might a child, poised him lightly upon my shoulder. He struggled +a moment to steady himself against the wall, and then I could feel +him tugging eagerly at something which appeared to yield slowly to his +efforts. As he worked, a dense shower of dust and soot caused me to +close my eyes. + +"She's a comin' all right," he said cheerfully, puffing with his +exertions, "but I reckon as how this chimbly ain't bin cleaned out since +ther war begun. Hold up yer right han', Cap, an' git a blame good grip +on her, fer she's almighty full, an'll wanter go down sorter easy like." + +I did as he suggested, bracing myself to meet his movements, as he stood +straining on my shoulders, and in another moment I had succeeded in +lowering the large sheet-iron pan silently to the floor. + +"Room 'nough yere fer two men ter oncet," chuckled my companion, in rare +delight. "'The chief in silence strode before.' Yere goes." + +His weight left my shoulders; there was a slight scramble, another +shower of dirt, then the sound of his voice once more. + +"Lift up yer han's, Cap; dig in yer toes on ther stones, an' we'll begin +our vi'ge." + +He grasped my wrists with a strength which I had no conception the +little fellow possessed. There was a moment's breathless struggle, and +I squirmed through the opening, and lay panting on the flat slabs which +composed the foot of the great funnel. To afford me more room Bungay had +gone up a little, finding foot-lodgment upon the uneven stones of which +the chimney was constructed. For a moment we rested thus motionless, +both breathing heavily and listening to the music and shuffling of feet +now almost upon a level with our heads. + +The noise, which was strong and continuous, rendered discovery from any +misstep highly improbable, and as delay was dangerous neither of us was +disposed to linger long. + +"Be ye all ready, Cap?" questioned Bungay, bending his head down. "Fer +if ye be, I'm a goin' up." + +"All right," I answered, struggling to my knees in the narrow space; +"only take it slow, Jed. I 'm a trifle bigger man than you, and this is +rather close quarters." + +"Wal, yes, maybe a matter of a poun' er two," he retorted, and the next +moment I could hear him scraping his way upward, feeling for foothold +upon the irregular layers of stone. I followed, pressing my knees firmly +against the rough wall, and trusting more to my hands than feet for +security against falling. There was evidently a fireplace of some kind +on the first floor, with a considerable opening leading from it into the +chimney we were scaling, for as Jed slowly passed, I could perceive a +sudden gleam of light streaming across his face from the glare of the +lamps within. He glanced anxiously that way, but did not pause in his +steady climb upward. + +A moment later I came opposite that same beam of radiance, and +cautiously peered down the sloped opening that led to the disused +fireplace. All I could perceive was a pair of legs, evidently those of +a cavalry officer, judging from the broad yellow stripe down the seam of +the light-blue trousers, and the high boots ornamented with rowel spurs. +He stood leaning carelessly against the mantel, talking with some one +just beyond the range of my vision. + +At that moment the music ceased suddenly, and afraid to proceed until it +should strike up again, I braced myself securely on a projecting stone +and bent my head over the orifice until I could catch a portion of the +conversation being carried on by my unconscious neighbors. + +"No," said the cavalryman, gruffly, and apparently in reply to some +previous question, "the fellow was most devilish obstinate; wouldn't +tell the first thing; even a threat of treating him as a spy and hanging +him outright proved of no avail. But Sheridan's theory is that Lee has +ordered Longstreet to hit our rear, while he makes a direct attack in +front. That's why the 'old man' proposes to get in his work first, and +we march at daylight to form connection with Hancock. By Jove, Chesley, +but that woman in black over there with Follansbee is the handsomest +picture I've seen south of the line. Mark how her eyes sparkle, and +how prettily the light gleams in her hair. Who is she, do you chance to +know?" + +"Yes," lisped the other, languidly, "met her at breakfast, headquarters, +this morning. Deuced pretty and all that, mighty good style, too, but +taken, old man. She's Brennan's." + +"What! not Major Brennan?" in surprise. "Why, he's always posed as a +bachelor among our fellows." + +"Don't know anything about that, dear boy," indifferently, "but the lady +came in with him yesterday, was introduced to the crowd of us as Mrs. +Brennan, and he called her Edith. Deuced nice name, Edith. As Brennan +has shown such poor taste as to be absent to-night, I'm inclined to give +a little of my time to his lady. Far and away the prettiest thing here." + +Just at this moment I heard Bungay speaking to me agonizingly down the +chimney: + +"Durn it all, Cap, I've--I've got ter sneeze." + +There was a smothered struggle in the darkness above me, then a muffled +explosion that showered me with soot, and sounded to my startled nerves +like the report of a gun. I drew up my legs hastily, and had barely +done so when a heavily whiskered face peered up at me through the open +fireplace. It appeared so close I had no doubt he saw me, but his eyes +were unable to penetrate the darkness. + +"Sounded devilishly like a sneeze," he said suspiciously, as he +straightened up again. "Must have been wind in the chimney." + +"More likely bats," returned the other. "Well, so long, Somers; see you +in the morning. I'm going to give the fair Edith a whirl." + +The cavalry legs shifted their position; the band resumed its functions, +and in the renewed activity and noise I began again the toilsome climb, +my mind now a bewildered chaos between my plain duty to Lee and my +nearly uncontrollable desire to meet once more the woman who was dancing +in the room below. + +The little mountaineer, as active as a cat, and not especially hampered +by lack of room in which to work, was well above me by this time. The +chimney, acting as a tube, brought down to me from time to time the +slight noise of his climbing, varied by an occasional exclamation or +comment, but I could perceive no other evidence of his presence. Above, +all was as black as the grave. + +"Holy smoke!" he ejaculated, probably unaware that he was giving +utterance to his thoughts. "That was a sharp rock! Durn if thar's a +inch o' skin left on my knee. Whut is it Scott ses? 'An' broken arms and +disarray marked the fell havoc of the day.' Gee! if Mariar cud only see +me now, maybe she wouldn't be proud-- + + "'Sweet _Maria_, dear my life must be + Since it is worthy care from thee; + Yet life I hold but idle breath, + When love or honor's weighed with death!' + +"Ough! stop thet! who's got hold o' my fut?" + +"Hush your racket, you little fool," I said angrily. "Do you want +the whole Yankee army to trap us here like rats? I cannot get up this +chimney any farther; it is growing too small to permit my body to pass." + +"Is thet so, Cap?" he asked anxiously. "Whut be ye goin' ter dew 'bout +it?" + +I made no answer for a moment; I was groping about in the darkness of +our narrow quarters to see if I could determine exactly where we were. + +"How high is this house, Jed, do you know?" + +"Three stories an' attic." + +"How far up are we?" + +"'Bout halfway 'long ther third story, I reckon; must be jist b'low +whar ye are thet I stuck my fut down an openin'. Reckon 't was 'nother +fireplace, like thet one on ther first flure." + +I lowered myself silently, and felt along the stones until I located the +opening, and roughly measured its dimensions. + +"I shall have to risk crawling out here, Jed," I said finally, "for I +shall surely stick fast if I go up another ten feet. Do you suppose you +can squeeze through to the top?" + +"I reckon I kin," he returned calmly. "'Just as the minstrel's sounds +were stayed, a stranger climbed the steepy glade.' But hadn't we better +stick tergether, Cap?" "No," I answered firmly. "You go on, and one of +us must get through to Lee. Don't mind me at all; get down from the roof +as best you can. If I am caught it will be all the more important that +you should succeed." + +"'Tis done--'I thank thee, Roderick, for the word; it nerves my heart, +it steels my sword.'" + +Even as he spoke I could hear him creeping steadily upward. It soon +became evident that his progress was growing slower, more difficult. +Then all sounds above me ceased, and I knew he must have attained the +roof in safety. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +I BECOME A COLONEL OF ARTILLERY + + +My own situation at this moment was too critical, too full of peril and +uncertainty, to afford opportunity for moralizing over Bungay's chances +of escape. Only one possibility lay before me--there remained no choice, +no necessity for planning. It is pure luck which pries open most doors +of life, and it was upon luck alone I must rely now. I have often +wondered since how I ever succeeded in squeezing my body through that +narrow opening into the empty fireplace without at least knocking over +something during the difficult passage. But I did manage, working my way +down slowly, creeping inch by inch like a snake, carefully testing each +object I touched in the darkness for fear of its proving loose, until I +finally lay stretched at full length upon what was evidently, from its +feeling, a carpet of unusually fine texture. + +The room proved to be an inner one and unlighted, a bedchamber, as I +soon determined, for my outstretched hands encountered the posts of a +bed. Then a slight gust of air partially swept aside a hanging curtain, +which rustled like silk, and I caught a brief glimpse of the adjacent +parlor. It was likewise unillumined, but the door leading into the +front hall stood ajar, and through that opening there poured a stream +of radiance, together with the incessant hum of many voices in animated +conversation, the deep blare of the band, with the ceaseless movement of +dancing feet. + +Satisfying myself by sense of touch that the bed was unoccupied, for I +was far too experienced a soldier to leave an enemy in my rear, I crept +cautiously forward to the intercepting curtain, and drawing it +aside took careful survey of the outer apartment. It was a large and +handsomely furnished room, a polished mahogany writing-table littered +with papers occupying a prominent position against the farther wall. A +swivel chair stood beside it, and across its back hung what appeared to +be a suit of clothing. I saw no other signs of human occupancy. + +Convinced that the apartment was deserted, and discovering no different +means of egress, I crossed the room on tiptoe, and peered cautiously out +into the hall. It was not a pleasing prospect to one in my predicament. +The lower portion, judging from the incessant hum of voices, was filled +with people, who were either unable to find place within the crowded +ballroom, or else preferred greater retirement for conversation. Even +the wide stairway had been partially pre-empted, a young lieutenant, +as I judged from his shoulder-straps, sitting just beneath the landing, +whispering eagerly into the attentive ear of a pronounced blonde who +shared the broad carpeted step with him. + +I drew back noiselessly, to figure out the situation and determine what +was best for me to attempt. It would be sheer madness to venture upon a +passage to the front door, clad as I was in travel-worn gray uniform; to +rush through that jam was impossible. If I were to wait until the +dance was concluded the later hours of the night might indeed yield me +somewhat clearer passage, yet it was hardly probable that the house, +used as I knew it to be for a military prison, would be left unguarded. +Besides, such delay must absolutely prevent my getting beyond the +Federal picket lines before daybreak, and would hence render valueless +the news I sought to bear to Lee. + +I moved to the only window and glanced out; it opened upon the back of +the house and presented a sheer drop to the ground. At the slight +noise of the moving sash a sentry standing at the corner glanced up +suspiciously. Evidently each side of the great building was abundantly +protected by patrols. + +Something had to be attempted, and at once. The room I was in bore +unquestionable evidence of recent occupancy, and at any moment might +be re-entered. My searching eyes fell upon the articles of clothing +carelessly folded over the chair-back. I picked up the garments one by +one and shook them out; they composed the new uniform of a colonel of +artillery, and were resplendent with bright red facings and a profusion +of gold braid. With all my soul I loathed the thought of disguise, and +especially the hated uniform of the enemy. It was repugnant to every +instinct of my being, and would certainly mean added degradation and +danger in the event of capture. + +Yet I saw no other way. Sheridan, Brennan, Caton, the three who would +certainly recognize me on sight, I was assured were absent, although +they might return at any moment. The greater reason for haste, the less +excuse for delay. But if I should chance to run foul of the rightful +owner of the garments amid that crush below, and he should recognize +them, what then? I stood close beside the writing-table as I revolved +these considerations rapidly in mind, and my eye chanced to fall upon an +open paper. It was an official order, bearing date at 5 P. M. that same +day, commanding Colonel Culbertson to move his battery at once down the +Kendallville pike, and report to Brigadier-General Knowls for assignment +to his brigade. Evidently the new dress uniform had been carefully +brushed and laid out to be worn at the ball that evening; the sudden +receipt of this order had caused the owner to depart hastily in his +service dress, vigorously expressing his feelings, no doubt, while his +servant, now enjoying liberty below stairs, had neglected to pack up his +master's things. + +This knowledge was the straw which decided me; I would chance it. +Hastily I drew on the rich blue and red over my old gray, adding the +dress sword I had discovered in a closet, and then, wondering curiously +what sort of figure I might cut in all these fine habiliments, sought a +glance at myself within a mirror hanging upon the bedroom wall. Faith! +but it was God's mercy that I did! + +Such a face as grinned at me from that glass, peering over the high-cut, +decorated collar, would surely have created a genuine sensation in those +rooms below. Serious as my situation was, I laughed at the thought of it +until tears ran down my cheeks, leaving white streaks the full length of +them; for no chimney-sweep in the full tide of his glorious career +was ever worse sooted and begrimed. I thought of the elegantly dressed +lieutenant and the blonde young lady upon the stairs--surely they would +have supposed the very devil himself was coming down. + +It took me nearly a quarter of an hour to get myself tolerably clean, +and I could not have done that had I not used some grease that was upon +the stand. At the end, however, I stepped back from the glass confident +that with good luck I should run the gantlet safely. + +Just as I prepared to step forth a new thought occurred to me--who was +I? If questioned, as was highly probable, how could I account for my +presence? Who should I pretend to be? I turned over the mass of papers +lying before me on the table. They were mostly accounts and detailed +orders about which I cared nothing, but finally my search was rewarded +by the discovery of a recent army list. I ran my eyes hastily down the +artillery assignments--Barry, Sommers, Fitzmorris, Sloan, Reilly. Ah, +there at last was exactly what I wanted--"Patrick L. Curran, Colonel +Sixth Ohio Light Artillery, McRoberts's Division, Thomas's Corps, +assigned special service, staff Major-General Halleck, Washington, D. +C." + +"Curran, Sixth Ohio"--good; and the other? I glanced again at the open +order. "Culbertson, Fourteenth Pennsylvania." I would remember those +names, and with a jaunty confidence in my success, born of thorough +preparation, I stepped to the open door and strode forth into the +brilliantly lighted hall. Barring the single accident of encountering +a possible acquaintance in the throng below, I felt fully capable of +deceiving his Satanic Majesty himself. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +AT THE STAFF OFFICERS' BALL + + +THE young officer glanced up hastily at sound of approaching footsteps, +and rose to his feet to permit of my passage. He wore the full dress +uniform of an artilleryman, and his evident surprise at my presence made +me realize the necessity of addressing him. + +"Lieutenant," I asked courteously, resting one hand easily upon the +balustrade, "could you inform me if General Sheridan and those members +of the staff who accompanied him down the lines this afternoon have yet +returned?" + +"They have not, sir." + +"Ah, I was in hopes they might have arrived by this time. I see that you +belong to my branch of the service. May I inquire your battery?" + +He flushed with pleasure at the delicate flattery of my tone, and in +true soldierly pride of his corps. + +"B, Fifth New Jersey, sir." + +"I think I remember them in action--no better command in the service. +You were at Gettysburg?" + +"On Seminary Ridge, sir. It was my first battle." + +"A hard baptism of fire, indeed, yet a remembrance you will long be +proud to recall. I thank you for your courtesy." + +I bowed to them both, and passed slowly down the wide stairway, several +couples rising as I drew near to permit of my passage. The intense +excitement of the strange adventure had by this time become a positive +delight. My cheek flushed, my eyes kindled as though new blood flowed in +my veins. + +"Ah!" I thought to myself proudly, "what a story it will all make for +the camp-fire, and if I reach Lee in time the tale of this night will be +upon the lips of all the army." + +The lower hall was very comfortably filled with figures moving here and +there in converse, or occupying seats pressed close against the walls. +The greater portion were attired in uniforms of the various branches +of service, yet I observed not a few civilian suits, and a considerable +number of women, some wearing the neat dress of the army nurse, others +much more elaborately attired--daughters of the neighborhood, probably, +with a sprinkling of wives and sisters of the soldiery. Guards, leaning +upon their muskets, stood in statuesque poses on either side of the main +entrance, while the wide archway, draped with flags, opening into the +ballroom, revealed an inspiring glimpse of swiftly revolving figures +in gay uniforms and flashing skirts. Over all floated the low, swinging +music of the band. + +All this I noted as I paused irresolutely on the lower stair, wondering +if I could safely walk directly out of that front door, ignoring the +sentries by right of the uniform I wore, and thus attain the open air. +The constant haunting fear of the early return of Sheridan and his +aides, or a possible encounter with some former acquaintance in that +crushing throng, almost decided me upon venturing the passage. But +already I had hesitated too long. A fat, good-natured-looking man of +forty, an infantry major, but wearing staff decorations, and evidently +officiating in the capacity of floor-manager, after whispering a word +in the ear of another of the same kind beside the ballroom door, hastily +pushed his way through the laughing throng directly toward me. + +"Good-evening, Colonel," he said, bowing deeply. "Your face is not +familiar to me, but you will permit me to introduce myself--Major +Monsoon, of General Sheridan's staff." + +I accepted the fat, shapeless hand he extended, and pressed it warmly. + +"I was just meditating a retreat, Major, when you appeared," I replied +frankly. "For I fear my face is equally unknown to all others present. +Indeed, I feel like a cat in a strange garret, and hesitated to +appear at all. My only excuse for doing so was a promise made Colonel +Culbertson previous to his being ordered out on duty. I am Colonel +Curran, of the Sixth Ohio, but at present serving on the staff of +General Halleck at Washington." + +The Major's round, red face glowed with welcome. + +"Extremely pleased to meet you, indeed," he exclaimed eagerly, "and you +may be sure of a most cordial greeting. Will you kindly step this way?" + +As we slowly elbowed our way forward, all desire to escape from the +ordeal fled, and I assumed the risks of the masquerade with the reckless +audacity of my years. Before we reached the ballroom my conductor, his +fat countenance fairly beaming with cordiality, had stopped at least +twenty times to present me to various military titles, and I had +accepted innumerable invitations without in the least knowing who gave +them, or where they were to be fulfilled. Finally, however, we broke +through the massed ring, and succeeded in reaching the tall individual +in spectacles to whom the Major had spoken previous to seeking me, and +I learned through the introduction which followed that I was in the +presence of Brigadier-General Carlton, chief of staff. + +For a moment, as I responded to the hearty cordiality of his welcome, I +was enabled to take my first glance at the ballroom, and found it to +my unaccustomed soldier eyes an inspiring spectacle. The room was +magnificently large,--a surprising apartment, indeed, even in so superb +a Southern home as this had evidently been, and its proportions were +magnified by numerous mirrors extending from floor to ceiling, causing +the more distant dancers to appear circling in space. Brilliantly +illumined by means of hanging chandeliers that oscillated slightly to +the merry feet; decorated lavishly everywhere with festooned flags and +tastefully arranged munitions of war; gay with the dress uniforms of +the men and the handsome gowns of the women, it composed a scene so +different from any I had looked upon in years as to hold me fascinated. +The constant clatter of tongues, the merry laughter, the flashing +of bright eyes, and the gleam of snowy shoulders, the good-humored +repartees caught as the various couples circled swiftly past, the quick, +musical gliding of flying feet over the waxen floor, the continuous +whirl of the intoxicating waltz, and over all the inspiring strains of +Strauss, caused my heart to bound, and brought with it an insane desire +to participate. + +Yet gazing, entranced, upon the animated scene, and feeling deeply the +intoxication of the moment, my eyes were eagerly searching that happy +throng for sight of one fair woman's face. Strange as it must seem to +others, in spite of the fact that to meet her might mean betrayal +and death--ay! might even result in the destruction of an army--in my +weakness I secretly longed for just such a happening; felt, indeed, that +I must again see her, have speech with her, before I went forth alone +into the manifold dangers of the night. It was foolhardiness,--insanity +in very truth,--yet such was the secret yearning of my heart. If I +could only once know, know from her own truthful lips, that she already +belonged to another, I could, I believed, tear her image from my memory; +but while I yet doubted (and in spite of all I had heard I doubted +still), no desperate case should ever prevent my seeking her with all +the mad ardor of love, no faintness of heart should intervene between +us. That she was present I knew from those chance words overheard in the +chimney, and my one deep hope ever since I donned that Federal uniform +and ventured down the stairs (a hope most oddly mingled with dread) +was that we might in some manner be brought together. I was yet vainly +seeking a glimpse of her among the many who circled past, when I was +suddenly recalled to the extreme delicacy of my situation by the deep +voice of the Major asking me a direct question: + +"Do you ever dance, Colonel?" + +Exactly what I may have replied I know not, but it was evidently +translated as an affirmative, for in another moment I was being +piloted down the side of the long room, while he gossiped in my rather +inattentive ear. + +"As you have doubtless remarked, Colonel, we are extremely fortunate in +our ladies to-night. By Jove, they would grace an inauguration ball at +Washington. So many officers' wives have joined us lately, supposing +we would make permanent camp here, and besides there are more loyal +families in this neighborhood than we find usually. At least their +loyalty is quite apparent while, we remain. Then the General Hospital +nurses are not especially busy,--no battle lately, you know,--and there +are some deuced pretty girls among them. Ballroom looks nice, don't you +think?" + +"Extremely well; the decorations are in most excellent taste." + +"Entirely the work of the staff. Great pity so many were compelled to be +absent, but a soldier can never tell. Here upon special duty, Colonel?" + +"I brought despatches from the President to General Sheridan." + +"Wish you might remain with us permanently. Your command, I believe, is +not connected with our Eastern army?" + +"No, with Thomas in the Cumberland." + +"Ah, yes; had some very pretty fighting out there, I understand--oh, +pardon me, Miss Minor, permit me to present to you Colonel Curran, of +General Halleck's staff. The Colonel, I believe, is as able a dancer +as he is a soldier, and no higher compliment to his abilities could +possibly be paid. Miss Minor, Colonel, is a native Virginian, who is +present under protest, hoping doubtless to capture some young officer, +and thus weaken the enemy." + +I bowed pleasantly to the bright-eyed young woman facing me, and not +sorry to escape the Major's inquisitiveness, at once begged for the +remainder of the waltz. The request was laughingly granted, and in +another moment we were threading our way amid the numerous couples +upon the floor. She proved so delightful a dancer that I simply yielded +myself up to full enjoyment of the measure, and conversation lapsed, +until a sudden cessation of the music left us stranded so close to the +fireplace that the very sight of it brought a vivid realization of my +perilous position. If it had not, my companion's chance remark most +assuredly would. + +"How easily you waltz!" she said enthusiastically, her sparkling eyes +and flushed cheeks testifying to her keen enjoyment. "So many find me +difficult to keep step with that I have become fearful of venturing upon +the floor with a stranger. However, I shall always be glad to give you a +character to any of my friends." + +"I sincerely thank you," I returned in the same spirit, "and I can +certainly return the compliment most heartily. It is so long since I was +privileged to dance with a lady that I confess to having felt decidedly +awkward at the start, but your step proved so accommodating that I +became at once at home, and enjoyed the waltz immensely. I fail to +discover any seats in the room, or I should endeavor to find one vacant +for you." + +"Oh, I am not in the least tired." She was looking at me with so deep an +expression of interest in her eyes that I dimly wondered at it. + +"Did I understand rightly," she asked, playing idly with her fan, +"that Major Monsoon introduced you to me as Colonel Curran of General +Halleck's staff?" + +What the deuce am I up against now? I thought, and my heart beat +quickly. Yet retreat was impossible, and I answered with assumed +carelessness: + +"I am, most assuredly, Colonel Curran." + +"From Ohio?" + +This was certainly coming after me with a vengeance, and I stole one +quick glance at the girl's face. It was devoid of suspicion, merely +evincing a polite interest. + +"I have the honor of commanding the Sixth Artillery Regiment from that +State." + +"You must pardon me, Colonel, for my seeming inquisitiveness," and her +eyes sparkled with demure mischief. "Yet I cannot quite understand. +I was at school in Connecticut with a Miss Curran whose father was an +officer of artillery from Ohio, and, naturally, I at once thought of her +when the Major pronounced your name; yet it certainly cannot be you--you +are altogether too young, for Myrtle must be eighteen." + +I laughed, decidedly relieved from what I feared might prove a most +awkward situation. + +"Well, yes, Miss Minor, I am indeed somewhat youthful to be Myrtle's +father," I said at a venture, "but I might serve as her brother, you +know, and not stretch the point of age over-much." + +She clasped her hands on my arm with a gesture of delight. + +"Oh, I am so glad; I knew Myrtle had a brother, but never heard he also +was in the army. Did you know, Colonel, she was intending to come down +here with me when I returned South, at the close of our school year, but +from some cause was disappointed. How delighted she would have been +to meet you! I shall certainly write and tell her what a splendidly +romantic time we had together. You look so much like Myrtle I wonder I +failed to recognize you at once." + +She was rattling on without affording me the slightest opportunity to +slip in a word explanatory, when her glance chanced to fall upon some +one who was approaching us through the throng. + +"Oh, by the way, Colonel, there is another of Myrtle's old schoolmates +present to-night--a most intimate friend, indeed, who would never +forgive me if I permitted you to go without meeting her." + +She drew me back hastily. + +"Edith," she said, touching the sleeve of a young woman who was +slowly passing, "Edith, wait just a moment, dear; this is Colonel +Curran--Myrtle Curran's brother, you know. Colonel Curran, Mrs. +Brennan." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE WOMAN I LOVED + + +THE crucial moment had arrived, and I think my heart actually stopped +beating as I stood gazing helplessly into her face. I saw her eyes open +wide in astonished recognition, and then a deep flush swept over throat +and cheek. For the instant I believed she would not speak, or that she +would give way to her excitement and betray everything. I durst give +no signal of warning, for there existed no tie between us to warrant my +expecting any consideration from her. It was an instant so tense that +her silence seemed like a blow. Yet it was only an instant. Then her +eyes smiled into mine most frankly, and her hand was extended. + +"I am more than delighted to meet you, Colonel Curran," she said calmly, +although I could feel her lips tremble to the words, while the fingers +I held were like ice. "Myrtle was one of my dearest friends, and she +chanced to be in my mind even as we met. That was why," she added, +turning toward Miss Minor, as though she felt her momentary agitation +had not passed unobserved, "I was so surprised when you first presented +Colonel Curran." + +"I confess to having felt strangely myself," returned the other, archly, +"although I believe I concealed my feelings far better than you did, +Edith. Really, I thought you were going to faint. It must be that +Colonel Curran exercises some strange occult influence over the weaker +sex. Perhaps he is the seventh son of a seventh son; are you, Colonel? +However, dear, I am safe for the present from his mysterious spell, and +you will be compelled to face the danger alone, as here comes Lieutenant +Hammersmith to claim the dance I've promised him." + +Before Mrs. Brennan could interfere, the laughing girl had placed her +hand on the Lieutenant's blue sleeve, and, with a mocking good-bye flung +backward over her shoulder, vanished in the crowd, leaving us standing +there alone. + +The lady waited in such apparent indifference, gently tapping the floor +with her neatly shod foot, her eyes wandering carelessly over the throng +in our front, that I felt utterly at sea. Evidently she had no intention +of addressing me, yet I could not continue to stand there beside her in +silence like a fool. That she possessed a pretty temper I already knew, +but better a touch of that than this silent disdain. + +"Would you be exceedingly angry if I were to ask you to dance?" I +questioned, stealing surreptitiously a glance at her proudly averted +face. + +"Angry? Most assuredly not," in apparent surprise. "Yet I trust you will +not ask me. I have been upon the floor only once to-night. I am not at +all in the mood." + +The words were not encouraging, yet they served to break the ice, and I +was never easily daunted. + +"If there were chairs here I should venture to ask even a greater +favor--that you would consent to sit out this set with me." + +She turned slightly, lifted her eyes inquiringly to mine, and her face +lightened. + +"No doubt we might discover seats without difficulty, in the anteroom," +she answered, indicating the direction by a glance. "There do not +appear to be many 'sitters-out' at this ball, and the few who do are not +crowded." + +If the pendulum of hope and despair swings one way, the unalterable +laws of mental gravitation compel it to go just as far the other, and +although I do not remember uttering so much as a word while we traversed +the crowded floor and gained entrance to the smaller room beyond, yet my +heart was singing a song of the deepest hope. The apartment contained, +as she prophesied, but few occupants, and I conducted her to the +farther end of it, where we found a comfortable divan and no troublesome +neighbors. + +As I glanced at her now, I marked a distinct change in her face. The old +indifference, so well assumed while we were in the presence of others, +had utterly vanished as by magic, and she sat looking at me in anxious +yet impetuous questioning. + +"Captain Wayne," she exclaimed, her eyes never once leaving my face, +"what does this mean? this masquerade? this wearing of the Federal +uniform? this taking of another's name? this being here at all?" + +"If I should say that I came hoping to see you again," I answered, +scarce knowing how best to proceed or how far to put confidence in her, +"what would you think?" + +The color flamed quickly into her cheeks, but the clear eyes never +faltered. They seemed to read my very soul. + +"If that is true, that you were extremely foolish to take such a +risk for so small a reward," she returned calmly. "Nor, under these +circumstances, would I remain here so much as a moment to encourage you. +But it is not true. This is no light act; your very life must lie in the +balance, or you could never assume such risk. Doubtless you hesitate to +trust me fully, but I assure you you need not, for you have placed me +under certain personal obligations which I have no desire to ignore. +Captain Wayne, you are in trouble, in danger--will you not tell me all, +and permit me to aid you by every means in my power?" + +"I would trust you gladly with my life or my honor," I replied soberly. +"If I had less faith in you I should not be here now." + +She started slightly at the words, and for an instant her eyes fell. +"Your life?" she questioned, "do you mean that is in the balance?" + +"I understand that I am condemned to be shot as a spy at daybreak." + +"Shot? On what authority? Who told you?" + +"On the order of General Sheridan. My informant was Lieutenant Caton, of +his staff." + +"Shot? As a spy? Why, it surely cannot be! Frank said--Captain Wayne, +believe me, I knew absolutely nothing of all this. Do not think I should +ever have rested if I had dreamed that you were held under so false a +charge. I promised you I would see General Sheridan on your behalf." + +"Yes," I assented hastily, for her agitation was so great I feared it +might attract the attention of others. "I remember you said so at the +time of my arrest, but supposed you had either forgotten or had found +your intercession fruitless." + +"Why, how you must have despised me! Forgotten?"--her eyes filled +instantly with tears. "Not for an hour, Captain Wayne, but Frank--" she +bit her lip impatiently--"I was told, that is, I was led to believe +that you were--had been sent North as a prisoner of war late last night. +Otherwise I should have insisted upon seeing you--on pleading your cause +with the General himself. The Major and I breakfasted with him this +morning, but your name was not mentioned, for I believed you safe." + +She did not appear to realize, so deep was her present indignation and +regret, that my hand had found a resting-place upon her own. + +"You must believe me, Captain Wayne; I could not bear to have you feel +that I could prove such an ingrate." + +"You need never suppose I should think that," I replied, with an +earnestness of manner that caused her to glance at me in surprise. "I +confidently expected to hear from you all day, and finally when no word +came I became convinced some such misconception as you have mentioned +must have occurred. Then it became my turn to act upon my own behalf if +I would preserve my life; yet never for one moment have I doubted you or +the sincerity of your pledge to me." + +She drew her hand away from my clasp, gently and not unkindly, then +passed it through the masses of her dark, shining hair, but her face +remained turned aside from me. Oh, how I longed at that moment to pour +forth in fervent words the affection that burned within my heart! But +irrespective of the doubt as to her being free to listen to such a +declaration, there was a pride about her manner, a certain restraint +which she ever seemed to exercise over me, that effectually sealed my +lips. Her very presence was a moral tonic, and I felt it would be easier +to tear out my tongue than to utter anything which she could construe +into possible insult. The very depth of her perfect womanhood was itself +protection, and, until the veil was finally lifted, my lips were vowed +to silence. + +She waited quietly while a couple passed us and sought seats nearer the +door. + +"Tell me the entire story," she said gently. + +As quickly as possible I reviewed the salient events which had occurred +since our last meeting. Without denying the presence of Major Brennan +during my stormy meeting with General Sheridan, I did not dwell upon it, +nor mention the personal affray that had occurred between us. Even had +I not supposed the man to be her husband I should never have taken +advantage of his treachery to advance my own cause. God knows I have +enough failings to account for, but I have never done my fighting in the +dark. Neither did I speak of the information I now sought to bring to +Lee, for her sympathy, her interest, her loyalty, were all with the +opposing army. She followed my narrative eagerly, her eyes growing +darker with intensity of interest as I depicted our eventful climb +up the black chimney, and my venture down the stairs into the crowded +ballroom. As I concluded there was a tear glistening on her long lashes, +but she seemed unconscious of it, and made no attempt to dash it away. + +"You have not told me all," she commented quietly. "But I can understand +and appreciate the reason for your silence. I know Frank's impetuosity, +and you are very kind, Captain Wayne, to spare my feelings, but you must +not remain here; every moment of delay increases your danger. Sheridan +and those of his staff who would surely recognize you were expected back +before this, and may appear at any moment--yet how can you get away? how +is it possible for me to assist you?" + +There was an eager anxiety in her face that piqued me. Like most lovers +I chose to give it a wrong interpretation. + +"You are anxious to be rid of me?" I asked, ashamed of the words even as +I uttered them. + +"That remark is unworthy of you," and she arose to her feet almost +haughtily. "My sole thought in this is the terrible risk you incur in +remaining here." + +"Your interest then is personal to me, may I believe?" + +"I am a loyal woman," proudly, "and would do nothing whatever to imperil +the cause of my country; but your condemnation is unjust, and I am, in +a measure, responsible for it. I assist you, Captain Wayne, for your own +sake, and in response to my individual sense of honor." + +God knows I could not speak, although my heart seemed bursting within my +bosom. By sheer power of her will, her pride, her perfect womanhood, she +held me from her as though a wall divided us. Not for an instant did she +permit me to forget that she was the wife of another. + +"Have you formulated any plan?" she asked quickly, and her rising color +made me feel that she had deciphered my struggle in my eyes. + +"Only to walk out under protection of this uniform, and when once +safe in the open to trust that same good fortune which has thus far +befriended me." + +She shook her head doubtfully, and stood a moment in silence, looking +thoughtfully at the moving figures in the room beyond. + +"I fear it cannot be done without arousing suspicion," she said at last, +slowly. "I chance to know there are unusual precautions being taken +to-night, and the entire camp is doubly patrolled. Even this house has a +cordon of guards about it, but for what reason I have not learned. No," +she spoke decisively, "there is no other way. Captain Wayne, I am going +to try to save you to-night, but in doing so I must trust my reputation +in your keeping." + +"I will protect it with my life." + +"Protect it with your silence, rather. I know you to be a gentleman, or +I should never attempt to carry out the only means of escape which seems +at all feasible. Discovery would place me in an extremely embarrassing +position, and I must rely upon you to protect me from such a +possibility." + +"I beg you," I began, "do not compromise yourself in any way for my +sake." + +"But I am myself already deeply involved in this," she interrupted, "and +I could retain no peace of mind were I to do otherwise. Now listen. +Make your way back to the ballroom, and in fifteen minutes from now be +engaged in conversation with General Carlton near the main entrance. +I shall join you there, and you will take your cue from me. You +understand?" + +"Perfectly, but--" + +"There is no 'but,' Captain Wayne, only do not fail me." + +Our eyes met for an instant; what she read in mine God knows--in hers +was determination, with a daring strange to woman. The next moment she +had vanished through a side door, and I was alone. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THROUGH THE CAMP OF THE ENEMY + + +A GLANCE at my watch told me that it was already within a few moments +of midnight. There was, however, no diminution in the festivities, and I +waited in silence until I heard the sentries calling the hour, and then +pressed my way back into the noisy, crowded ballroom. I was stopped +twice by well-meaning officers whom I had met earlier in the evening, +but breaking away from them after the exchange of a sentence or two, +I urged my course as directly as possible toward where the spectacled +brigadier yet held his post as master of ceremonies. + +We had been conversing pleasantly for several minutes when Mrs. Brennan +appeared. Standing so as to face the stairs, I saw her first coming +down, and noted that she wore her hat, and had a light walking-cloak +thrown over her shoulders. My heart beat faster as I realized for the +first time that she intended to be my companion. + +"Oh, General, I am exceedingly glad to find you yet here," she exclaimed +as she came up, and extended a neatly gloved hand to him. "I have a +favor to ask which I am told you alone have the authority to grant." + +He bowed gallantly. + +"I am very sure," he returned smilingly, "that Mrs. Brennan will never +request anything which I would not gladly yield." + +She flashed her eyes brightly into his face. + +"Most assuredly not. The fact is, General, Colonel Curran, with whom +I see you are already acquainted, was to pass the night at the Major's +quarters, and as he has not yet returned, the duty has naturally +devolved upon me to see our guest safely deposited. We are at the +Mitchell House, you remember, which is beyond the inner lines; and +while, of course, I have been furnished with a pass," she held up the +paper for his inspection, "and have been also instructed as to the +countersign, I fear this will scarcely suffice for the safe passage of +the Colonel." + +The General laughed good-humoredly, evidently pleased with her +assumption of military knowledge. + +"Colonel Curran is certainly to be congratulated upon having found so +charming a guide, madam, and I can assure you I shall most gladly do my +part toward the success of the expedition. The Major was expected back +before this, I believe?" + +"He left word that if he had not returned by twelve I was to wait for +him no longer, as he should go directly to his quarters. I find the life +of a soldier to be extremely uncertain." + +"We are our country's servants, madam," he replied proudly, and then +taking out a pad of blanks from his pocket, turned to me. + +"May I ask your full name and rank, Colonel?" + +"Patrick L. Curran, Colonel, Sixth Ohio Light Artillery." + +He wrote it down rapidly, tore off the paper, and handed it to me. + +"That will take you safely through our inner guard lines," he said +gravely, "that being as far as my jurisdiction extends. Good-night, +Colonel; good-night, Mrs. Brennan." + +She smiled her good-bye to him, and placed a gloved hand confidingly on +my arm. + +"I believe I recall the road and shall find no difficulty in guiding +you," she said. "At least we cannot go so very far astray." + +How cool and self-possessed she appeared--no hurry, no outward +nervousness marred a single action. I felt my heart throb with new-born +pride of her as I marked the marvellous self-control which characterized +every movement, for I realized now that her risk in the adventure was +scarcely second to my own. As I ventured life, she ventured honor, and I +doubted not hers was the harder task of the two. Yet she gave no outward +sign of struggle; as we crossed the crowded hall I could note no lack of +resolution, no faltering of purpose in either step or voice. + +At the door an officer spoke to her. + +"Surely you are not leaving us so early, Mrs. Brennan?" he questioned +anxiously. "Why, supper has not even been announced." + +I felt her hand close more tightly upon my arm. + +"Unfortunately we must," she replied, in a tone expressive of deep +regret. "The Major was to go directly to his quarters if he was not here +by midnight, and would surely worry were I still absent. Have you ever +met my friend? Pardon me--Captain Burns, Colonel Curran." + +We bowed ceremoniously, and the next moment Mrs. Brennan and I were out +upon the steps, breathing the cool night air. I glanced curiously at +her face as the gleam of light fell upon it--how calm and reserved she +appeared, and yet her eyes were aglow with intense excitement. At the +foot of the steps she glanced up at the dark, projecting roof far above +us. + +"Do you suppose he can possibly be up there yet?" she asked, in a tone +so low as to be inaudible to the ears of the sentry. + +"Who? Bungay?" I questioned in surprise, for my thoughts were elsewhere. +"Oh, he was like a cat, and there are trees at the rear. Probably he is +safe long ago, or else a prisoner once more." + +Beyond the gleam of the uncovered windows all was wrapped in complete +darkness, save that here and there we could distinguish the dull red +glare of camp-fires where the company cooks were yet at work, or some +sentry post had been established. All the varied sounds of a congested +camp at night were in the air--the champing and pounding of horses, the +murmur of men's voices, the distant rumbling of heavy wagons, with an +occasional shout, and the noise of axes. It was also evident, from the +numerous flitting lanterns, like so many glow-worms, the late labors of +the cooks, and other unmistakable signs, that active preparations for an +early movement were already well under way. + +We turned sharply to the left, and proceeded down a comparatively smooth +road, which seemed to me to possess a rock basis, it felt so hard. From +the position of the stars I judged our course to be eastward, but the +night was sufficiently obscured to shroud all objects more than a few +yards distant. Except for the varied camp noises on either side of us +the evening was oppressively still, and the air had the late chill of +high altitudes. Mrs. Brennan pressed more closely to me as we passed +beyond the narrow zone of light, and unconsciously we fell into step +together. + +"Are you chilled?" I asked, bending my head toward her. + +"Not in the least; but I must confess to nervousness." + +I think we both recalled my wrapping her in the flapping cavalry cloak +the night we were first alone together, for she added quickly: "I am +quite warmly clothed, and have not far to go." + +One often receives certain impressions without in the least knowing +by what means they are conveyed--some peculiar trick of tone or manner +teaching a lesson the lips refrain from expressing. Some such influence +now, unconsciously exerted possibly, made me feel that my companion +preferred to remain silent; that I could best prove my respect for her +by quietly accepting her guidance without attempting converse. We walked +slowly so as not to attract attention, as it was impossible to say that +we were unobserved. Once she slipped upon a stone and I caught her, but +neither spoke. Then there came the sudden clatter of hoofs on the rocky +road behind us. I drew her swiftly aside within the protecting shadow +of a tree, while a mounted officer rode by us at a slashing gait, his +cavalry cape pulled high over his head, and the iron shoes of his horse +striking fire from the flinty rocks. I could feel the heart of the girl +beating wildly against my arm, but without exchanging so much as a word +we crept back into the dark road and pressed on. + +A few hundred yards farther a fire burned redly against a pile of logs. +The forms of several men lay outstretched beside it, while a sentry +paced back and forth, in and out of the range of light. We were almost +upon him before he noted our approach, and in his haste he swung his +musket down from his shoulder until the point of its bayonet nearly +touched my breast. + +"Halt!" he cried sternly, peering at us in evident surprise. "Halt! this +road is closed." + +"Valley Forge," whispered the girl, and I noticed how white her face +appeared in the flaming of the fire. + +"The word is all right, Miss," returned the fellow, stoutly, yet without +lowering his obstructing gun. "But we cannot pass any one out on the +countersign alone. If you was going the other way it would answer." + +"But we are returning from the officers' ball," she urged anxiously, +"and are on our way to Major Brennan's quarters. We have passes." + +As she drew the paper from out her glove one of the men at the fire +sprang to his feet and strode across the narrow road toward us. He was +smooth of face and boyish looking, but wore corporal's stripes. + +"What is it, Mapes?" he asked sharply. + +Without waiting an answer he took the paper she held out and scanned it +rapidly. + +"This is all right," he said, handing it back, and lifting his cap in +salute. "You may pass, madam. You must pardon us, but the orders are +exceedingly strict to-night. Have you a pass also, Colonel?" I handed it +to him, and after a single glance it was returned. + +"Pass them, guard," he said curtly, standing aside, + +Beyond the radiance of the fire she broke the silence. + +"I shall only be able to go with you so far as the summit of the hill +yonder, for our quarters are just to the right, and I could furnish no +excuse for being found beyond that point," she said. "Do you know enough +of the country to make the lines of your army?" + +"If this is the Kendallville pike we are on," I answered, "I have a +pretty clear conception of what lies ahead, but I should be very glad to +know where I am to look for the outer picket." + +"There is one post at the ford over the White Briar," she replied. "I +chance to know this because Major Brennan selected the station, and +remarked that the stream was so high and rapid as to be impassable at +any other point for miles. But I regret this is as far as my information +extends." + +There was a moment of silence. + +"But how may I ever sufficiently thank you for all you have done for me +to-night?" I exclaimed warmly, pressing her arm to my side as I spoke, +with the intensity of feeling which possessed me. + +"I require no thanks, save as expressed by your silence," she returned, +almost coldly, and slightly withdrawing herself. "I have merely repaid +my indebtedness to you." + +I started to say something--what I hardly know--when, almost without +sound of warning, a little squad of horsemen swept over the brow of the +hill in our front, their forms darkly outlined against the starlit sky, +and rode down toward us at a sharp trot. I had barely time to swing my +companion out of the track when they clattered by, their heads bent low +to the wind, and seemingly oblivious to all save the movements of their +leader. + +"Sheridan!" I whispered, for even in that dimness I had not failed to +recognize the short, erect figure which rode in front. + +The woman shuddered, and drew closer within my protecting shadow. Then +out of the darkness there burst a solitary rider, his horse limping as +if crippled, and would have ridden us down, had I not flung up one hand +and grasped his bridle-rein. + +"Great Scott! what have we here?" he cried roughly, peering down at us. +"By all the gods, a woman!" + +The hand upon my arm clutched me desperately, and my own heart seemed to +choke back every utterance. The voice was Brennan's. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE REPUTATION OF A WOMAN + + +LIKE a flash occurred to me the only possible means by which we might +escape open discovery--an instant disclosure of my supposed rank, +coupled with indignant protest. Already, believing me merely some +private soldier straying out of bounds with a woman of the camp as +companion, he had thrown himself from the saddle to investigate. +Whatever was to be done must be accomplished quickly, or it would prove +all too late. To think was to act. Stepping instantly in front of the +shrinking girl and facing him, I said sternly: + +"I do not know who you may chance to be, sir, nor greatly care, yet +your words and actions imply an insult to this lady which I am little +disposed to overlook. For your information permit me to state, I am +Colonel Curran, Sixth Ohio Light Artillery, and am not accustomed to +being halted on the road by every drunken fool who sports a uniform." + +He stopped short in complete surprise, staring at me through the +darkness, and I doubted not was perfectly able to distinguish the glint +of buttons and gleam of braid. + +"Your pardon, sir," he ejaculated at last. "I mistook you for some +runaway soldier. But I failed to catch your words; how did you name +yourself?" + +"Colonel Curran, of Major-General Halleck's staff." + +"The hell you are! Curran had a full gray beard a month ago." + +He took a step forward, and before I could recover from the first +numbing shock of surprise was peering intently into my face. + +"Damn it!" he cried, tugging viciously at a revolver in his belt, "I +know that face! You are the measly Johnny Reb I brought in day before +yesterday." + +I could mark the flash of the stars on the blue steel of his pistol +barrel, and knew from the eager ring of his voice he exulted in the hope +that I would give him excuse to fire. Yet I thought in that moment of +but one thing--the woman who had compromised her name to help me to +attain freedom. I would have died a thousand deaths if it might only be +with my hands at his throat, her story unknown. Yet even as I braced my +body for the leap, gazing straight into that deadly barrel, there came +a quick flutter of drapery at my side, and she, pressing me firmly +backward, faced him without a word. + +The man's extended arm dropped to his side as though pierced by a +bullet, and he took one step backward, shrinking as if his startled eyes +beheld a ghost. + +"Edith?" he cried, as though doubting his own vision, and the ring of +agony in his voice was almost piteous. "Edith! My God! You here, at +midnight, alone with this man?" + +However the words, the tone, the gesture may have stung her, her face +remained proudly calm, her voice cold and clear. + +"I certainly am, Major Brennan," she answered, her eyes never once +leaving his face. "And may I ask what reason you can have to object?" + +"Reason?" His voice had grown hoarse with passion and surprise. "My God, +how can you ask? How can you even face me? Why do you not sink down in +shame? Alone here,"--he looked about him into the darkness,--"at such +an hour, in company with a Rebel, a sneaking, cowardly spy, already +condemned to be shot. By Heaven! he shall never live to boast of it!" + +He flung up his revolver barrel to prove the truth of his threat, but +she stepped directly between us, and shielded me with her form. + +"Put down your pistol," she ordered coldly. "I assure you my reputation +is in no immediate danger unless you shoot me, and your bullet shall +certainly find my heart before it ever reaches Captain Wayne." + +"Truly, you must indeed love him," he sneered. + +So close to me was she standing that I could feel her form tremble at +this insult, yet her voice remained emotionless. + +"Your uncalled-for words shame me, not my actions. In being here with +Captain Wayne to-night I am merely paying a simple debt of honor--a +double debt, indeed, considering that he was condemned to death by your +lie, while you deceived me by another." + +"Did he tell you that?" + +"He did not. Like the true gentleman he has ever shown himself to be, he +endeavored to disguise the facts, to withhold from me all knowledge of +your dastardly action. I know it by the infamous sentence pronounced +against him and by your falsehood to me." + +"Edith, you mistake," he urged anxiously. "I--I was told that he had +been sent North." + +She drew a deep breath, as though she could scarcely grasp the full +audacity of his pretence to ignorance. + +"You appeared to be fully informed but now as to his death sentence." + +"Yes, I heard of it while away, and intended telling you as soon as I +reached our quarters." + +I could feel the scorn of his miserable deception as it curled her lip, +and her figure seemed to straighten between us. + +"Then," she said slowly, "you will doubtless agree that I have done no +more than was right, and will therefore permit him this chance of escape +from so unmerited a fate; for you know as well as I do that he has been +wrongly condemned." + +He stepped forward with a half-smothered oath, and rested one hand +heavily upon her shoulder. + +"An exceedingly neat trap," he said, with a grim laugh, "a most +ingenious snare; yet hardly one I am likely to be caught in. I am not +quite so green, my lady. What! let that fellow go? become the laughing +stock of you and your Johnny Reb lover? I rather guess not, madam. Damn +him! I will hang him now higher than Haman, just to show Queen Esther +that it can be done. Out of the way, madam!" + +Rendered desperate by her slight resistance and his own jealous hatred, +he thrust the woman aside so rudely that she fell forward upon one knee. +His revolver was yet in his right hand, gleaming in the starlight, but +before he could raise or fire it I had grasped the steel barrel firmly, +and the hammer came down noiselessly upon the flesh of my thumb. The +next instant we were locked close together in fierce struggle for the +mastery. He was the heavier, stronger man; I the younger and quicker. +From the first every effort on both sides was put forth solely to gain +command of the weapon,--his to fire, mine to prevent, for I knew well at +the sound of the discharge there would come a rush of blue-coats to his +rescue. My first fierce onset had put him on the defensive, but as we +tugged and strained his superiority in weight began to tell, and slowly +he bore me backward, desperately contesting every inch I was thus +compelled to yield. + +We struggled voiceless, neither having breath for useless speech, and +each realizing that the end would probably mean death either to the one +or the other. Only our heavy breathing, the quick shuffling of feet +on the stony road, and an occasional rending of cloth, evinced the +desperation in which we strove. Once, as we turned partially in the +struggle, I caught a passing glimpse of the woman standing helpless, +her face buried in her hands, and the sight yielded me new strength and +determination. For her sake I must win! Even as this thought came, my +burly antagonist pressed me backward until all the weight of my body +rested upon my right leg. Then there occurred to me like a flash a +wrestler's trick taught me years before by an old negro on my father's +plantation. Instantly I appeared to yield to the force against which +I contended with simulated weakness, sinking lower and lower, until, I +doubt not, Brennan felt convinced I must go over backward. But as I thus +sank, my left foot found steady support farther back, while my free hand +sank slowly down his straining body until my groping fingers grasped +firmly the broad belt about his waist. I yielded yet another inch, until +he leaned so far over me as to be out of all balance, and then, with +sudden straightening of my left leg, at the same time forcing my head +beneath his chest in leverage, with one tremendous effort I flung him, +head under, crashing down upon the hard road. + +Trembling like a reed from the exertion, I stood there looking down upon +the dark form lying huddled at my feet. He rested motionless, and I bent +over, placing my hand upon his heart, horrified at the mere thought that +he might be dead. But the heart beat, and with a prayer of thankfulness +I looked up. She stood beside me. + +"Tell me, Captain Wayne," she exclaimed anxiously, "he is not--not +seriously hurt?" + +The words thoroughly aroused me, and I recalled instantly her probable +relationship to this man, her delicate position now. + +"I believe not," I answered soberly. "He is a heavy man, and fell hard, +yet his heart beats strong. He must have cut his head upon a stone, +however, for he is bleeding." + +She knelt beside him, and I caught the whiteness of a handkerchief +within her hand. + +"Believe me, Mrs. Brennan," I faltered lamely, "I regret this far more +than I can tell. Nothing has ever occurred to me to give greater pain +than the thought that I have brought you so much of sorrow and trouble." + +She held up her hand to me, and I took it humbly. + +"It was in no way your fault; pray do not consider that I can ever blame +you for the outcome." + +Her eyes were upon me; I could view her face in the starlight, and for +the moment I utterly forgot the man who rested there between us. + +"If you could only know," I exclaimed eagerly, "how sincerely I long +to serve you,--to atone in some small way for all the difficulty I have +brought into your life; how my heart throbs to your presence as to that +of no other living woman--" + +She hushed my impetuous words with the gesture of a queen, and rose to +her feet facing me. Under the stars our eyes looked into each other, and +her face was very white. + +"You must not," she said firmly, and I thought she glanced down upon the +motionless figure at her feet. "I have trusted you; do not cause me to +regret it now." + +I bowed, humiliated to the very depths of my soul. + +"Your rebuke is perfectly just," I answered slowly. "God knows I shall +never be guilty again. You will have faith in me?" + +"Always, everywhere--whether it ever be our fate to meet again or not. +But now you must go." + +"Go? And leave you here alone? Are you not afraid?" + +"Afraid?" she looked about her into the darkness. "Of what? Surely you +do not mean of Frank--of Major Brennan? And as to my being alone, our +quarters are within a scant hundred yards from here, and a single cry +will bring me aid in plenty. Hush! what was that?" + +It was the shuffling tread of many feet, the sturdy tramp of a body of +infantry on the march. + +"Go!" she cried hurriedly. "If you would truly serve me, if you care at +all for me, do not longer delay and be discovered here. It is the grand +rounds. I beg of you, go!" + +I grasped her outstretched hand, pressed my lips hotly upon it, and sped +with noiseless footsteps down the black, deserted road. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE CAVALRY OUTPOST + + +I LINGERED merely long enough to feel assured as to her safety, creeping +closer until I heard her simple story of the Major's fall from his +horse, and then watched through the night shadows while the little squad +bore his unconscious form over the crest of the low hill toward their +quarters. Then I turned my face eastward and tramped resolutely on. + +The excitement of the night, and especially the sharp, fierce struggle +with Brennan, had reawakened all my old military enthusiasm, and I felt +every nerve tingling anew as I breasted the long slope before me. Even +the depression naturally resulting from my unhappy parting with Edith +Brennan gave way for the time being to this sense of surrounding danger, +while the ardor of youth responded joyfully to the spirit of adventure. +I simply would not think of what I had lost; certainly would not permit +its memory to depress me. I was, first of all, a soldier, and nothing +short of death or capture should prevent me reaching Lee with my +message. Let what would happen, all else could wait! + +The gleam of the stars fell upon the double row of buttons down the +breast of the coat I wore, and I stopped suddenly with an exclamation +of disgust. Nothing could be gained by longer masquerade, and I felt +inexpressible shame at being thus attired. Neither pass nor uniform +would suffice to get me safe through those outer picket lines, and if +I should fall in the attempt, or be again made prisoner, I vastly +preferred meeting my fate clad in the faded gray of my own regiment. +With odd sense of relief I hastily stripped off the gorgeous trappings, +flung them in the ditch beside the road, and pressed on, feeling like a +new man. + +There was small need for caution here, and for more than an hour I +tramped steadily along, never meeting a person or being startled by a +suspicious sound. Then, as I rounded a low eminence I perceived before +me the dark outline of trees which marked the course of the White Briar, +while directly in my front, and half obscured by thick leaves of the +underbrush, blazed the red glare of a fire. I knew the stream well, its +steep banks of precipitate rock, its rapid, swirling current which, I +was well aware, I was not a sufficiently expert swimmer to cross. Once +upon the other bank I should be comparatively safe, but to pass that +picket post and attain the ford was certain to require all the good +fortune I could ever hope for. + +But despair was never for long my comrade, and I had learned how +determination opens doors to the courageous--it is ever he who tries +that enters in. It took me ten minutes, possibly, creeping much of the +way like a wild animal over the rocks, but at the end of that time I +had attained a position well within the dense thicket, and could observe +clearly the ground before me and some of the obstacles to be overcome. + +As I supposed, it was a cavalry outpost; I could distinguish the crossed +sabres on the caps of the men, although it was some time before I was +able to determine positively where their horses were picketed. There +must have been all of twenty in the party, and I could distinguish the +lieutenant in command, a middle-aged man with light-colored chin beard, +seated by himself against the wall of a small shanty of logs, a pipe in +his mouth and an open book upon his knee. His men were gathered close +about the blazing fire, for the night air was decidedly chill as it +swept down the valley; a number were sleeping, a few at cards, while +a little group, sitting with their backs toward me, yet almost within +reach of my hand, were idly smoking and discussing the floating +rumors of the camp. I managed to make out dimly the figure of a man on +horseback beyond the range of flame, and apparently upon the very bank +of the stream, when some words spoken by an old gray-bearded sergeant +interested me. + +"Bob," he said to the soldier lounging next him, "whut wus it thet staff +officer sed ter ther leftenant? I didn't just git ther straight of it." + +The man, a debonair young fellow, stroked his little black moustache +reflectively. + +"Ther cove sed as how Cole's division wud be along here afore daylight, +an' thet our fellers wud likely be sent out ahead of 'em." + +"Whar be they agoin'?" + +"The leftenant asked him, an' the cove sed as it wus a gineral advance +to meet ol' Hancock at Minersville." + +"Thet's good 'nough, lads," chimed in the sergeant, slapping his knee. +"It means a dance down the valley after Early. I'm a guessin' we'll have +a bang-up ol' fight 'fore three days more." + +"Pervidin' allers thet ther Johnnies don't skedaddle fust," commented +another, tartly. "Whut in thunder is ther matter with them hosses?" he +asked suddenly, rising and peering over into the bushes beyond the hut, +where a noise of squealing and kicking had arisen. + +"Oh, the bay filly is probably over the rope agin," returned the +sergeant, lazily. "Sit down, Sims, an' be easy; you're not on hoss guard +ternight." + +"I know thet," growled the soldier, doubtfully, "but thet thar kid is +no good, an' I don't want my hoss all banged up jist as we 're goin' on +campaign 'tain't no sorter way ter hitch 'em anyhow, to a picket rope; +ruins more hosses than ther Rebs dew." + +This gave me inspiration, and before the speaker's sullen growl had +wholly ceased I was again upon hands and knees, silently groping my +way along the bank toward the rear of the hut. It proved to be a tiny +structure, containing but a single room--probably a mere fisherman's +shack, without windows, but possessing a door at either end. Meeting no +opposition I crept within, where I felt somewhat safer from observation, +and then peered warily forth into the darkness extending between it and +the river. The picket-rope stretched from one corner of the hut, where +it seemed to be secured around the end of a projecting log, out into +the night, evidently finding its other terminus at a big tree whose +spreading top I could dimly perceive shadowed against the sky. Along +it were tethered the horses, a few impatiently champing their bits +and pounding with their hoofs on the trampled ground, but the majority +resting quietly, their heads hanging sleepily down. The one nearest me +appeared a finely proportioned animal of a dark color, and was +equipped with both saddle and bridle. Of the soldier in charge I could +distinguish nothing--doubtless he was lounging on his back, half asleep +upon some soft patch of grass. + +My plan was conceived instantly. It was a desperate one, yet it alone +seemed in the least feasible. If by chance it succeeded it would place +me in saddle once more, and to a cavalryman that means everything; while +if it failed--ah, well, it was merely a toss-up of the coin. I turned, +impatient for the trial, when it suddenly occurred to me that the +deserted hut might contain something I could use to advantage,--a +firearm, perhaps, or even a stray box of matches. I felt about me +cautiously, creeping along the hard earthen floor until I had nearly +reached the opposite entrance. The light from the fire without leaped +up, and its glow revealed a saddle, with leather holster attached, +hanging to a nail just within the doorway. Moving noiselessly I managed +to extract a revolver, but could discover no cartridges. + +I was yet fumbling in the holster pocket when the lieutenant rose from +his seat without, knocked the ashes from his pipe, yawned sleepily, +standing directly between me and the fire, and then, turning sharply, +walked slowly into the open door of the hut. I sprang to my feet, or he +would certainly have stepped upon me, and before he could realize the +situation I had him by the collar, with the cold muzzle of my stolen +revolver pressed hard against his cheek. + +"A single word or sound, and I fire!" I said sternly. + +I have no recollection of ever seeing any man more completely astounded. +He gasped like a fish newly landed, and I doubt if he could have made +utterance even had he dared. + +"Come in a little farther," I commanded. "Now look here, Lieutenant, +you do exactly as I tell you and you will get out of this affair with a +whole skin; otherwise--well, I'm playing this game to the limit." + +"Who in hell are you?" he gasped finally, recovering some slight power +of expression. + +"Never mind, friend. I am simply a man with a gun at your head, and +sufficiently desperate to use it if necessary; that's enough for you to +know and reflect over. Now answer me: How many men have you mounted this +side the ford?" + +He glared at me sullenly, and I drew back the hammer with an ominous +click, eying him fiercely. + +"Well," I said shortly, "do you choose to answer, or die?" + +"Two." + +"On the other bank?" + +"None." + +Standing thus, covering him with the gun, and marking his slightest +movement, I thought quickly. Years of danger teach concentrated thought, +prompt decision, and I soon chose my course. To kill in battle is +soldierly, but, if possible to avoid it, there should be no killing +here. + +"Lieutenant," I said, speaking low, but in a tone which left no doubt as +to my exact meaning, "I am an escaped prisoner, and shall not hesitate +to kill rather than be recaptured. It is your life or mine to-night, +and I naturally prefer my own; but I'll give you one chance, and only +one--obey my orders and I will leave you here unhurt: disobey, and your +life is not worth the snap of a finger. Move back now until you face the +door, and don't forget my pistol is within an inch of your ear, and this +is a hair trigger. What is your sergeant's name?" + +"Handley." + +"Order him to take ten men on foot one hundred yards west on the pike, +and wait further orders." + +The lieutenant twisted his head about and looked at me, his eyes +stubborn with anger. + +"If you have a wife up North, and care anything about seeing her again," +I said coolly, "you will do exactly as I say." + +"Handley," he called out, his voice so choked with rage as to make +me fearful it might arouse suspicion, "take ten men on foot to the +cross-roads, and wait there until you hear from me." + +I could plainly note the dark shadows of the fellows as they filed out +past the fire, but I never ventured to take eye or gun off the man I +watched. + +"How many remain there now?" + +"Seven." + +"Any non-com, among them?" + +"A corporal." + +"Have him take them all south on the cross-roads." + +The man squirmed like an eel, and I was soldier enough to sympathize +with him; yet every time he turned his head he looked death squarely in +the face, and I doubt not thought of some one he loved in that distant +North. I clicked the hammer suggestively. + +"Come, friend," I said meaningly, "time flies." + +"Jones," he called out huskily. + +"Yes, sir?" + +"Take what men you have left a hundred yards south on the cross-road." + +We could hear them crunching their way through the bushes, until the +sound finally died out in the distance. + +"Now, Lieutenant, you come with me--softly, and keep your distance." + +We moved back slowly, step by step, until we came to the rear door of +the shed. I reached out into the darkness, but without turning my face +away from him, and silently severed the picket-rope, retaining the +loosened end in my grasp. It was so intensely dark where we stood that I +slipped the pistol unobserved into my belt. + +"Face to the rear," I said sternly. + +As he turned to obey this order, with quick movement I tripped him, +sprang backward, and shut the door. + +In a single bound I was upon the back of the black, and had flung the +severed rope's end at the flank of the next horse in line. There was a +rush of feet, a sharp snapping of cords, a wild scurrying through the +bushes, as twenty frightened horses stampeded up the bank, and then, +lying face down over the saddle pommel, I sent the startled black +crashing down into the shallows of the ford. The fellow on guard tried +his best to stop us, but we were past him like the wind. He did not +fire, and doubtless in the darkness saw merely a stray horse broken from +the picket-rope. The other fellow took one swift shot, but it went wild, +and I heard the voice of the enraged lieutenant damning in the distance. +Then with a rush we went up the steep bank on the eastern shore, and I +sat upright in the saddle and gave the black his rein. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +A DEMON ON HORSEBACK + + +I felt positively happy then. The thrill of successful achievement +was mine, and with the exultation of a soldier in having surmounted +obstacles and peril, I nearly forgot for the moment the heart tragedy +left behind. The swift impetus of the ride, the keen night air sweeping +past me, the fresh sense of freedom and power engendered by that +reckless dash through the darkness, all conspired to render me +neglectful of everything save the joy of present victory. The spirit of +wild adventure was in my blood. + +A dozen spits of fire cleaved the intense blackness behind, and I knew +the widely scattered patrol were sending chance shots across the stream. +A clang of hoofs rang out upon the rocks, but I could distinguish +nothing indicating a large pursuing party--probably the two who were +mounted at the ford, with possibly others following when they caught +their strayed horses. I had little to fear from such half-hearted +pursuit as this was sure to be. The swift, powerful stride of the animal +I rode assured me that I was not ill mounted, and there was small chance +of contact with Federal outriders before I should reach the protecting +picket lines of our own army. I laughed grimly as I leaned slightly back +in saddle and listened; it was like a play, so swift and exciting had +been the passing events, so unexpected their ending. I wondered what +plausible story the discomfited lieutenant would concoct to account for +his predicament, and whether the others had yet missed me back at the +Mansion House. + +The stars appeared to be paling somewhat down in the east, for the +coming day-dawn was already whitening the horizon. I glanced at my +watch, venturing to strike a match for the purpose, and found the +hour after three o'clock. Early, I knew, was at Sowder Church, and his +advance cavalry pickets ought to be as far west as the Warrentown road. +The distance between, by hard riding, might be covered in three hours. +My horse seemed fresh, his breath came naturally and without effort, +and I pressed him along rapidly, for my whole ambition now centred +upon bringing the information I possessed within our own lines. Bungay, +beyond doubt, had been recaptured long since, for my own experience told +me how extremely vigilant were the Federal guards. To one unacquainted +as he was with military customs it would prove impossible to penetrate +their lines; hence, everything must depend upon my getting through in +safety. + +Then my thoughts drifted to the one I had left in such serious +predicament. If I had loved her before, I loved her doubly now, for she +had proven herself a woman among women in time of danger and trial. How +clearly her face, with those dark sweet eyes and the wealth of crowning +hair, rose before me, while word by word I reviewed all that had passed +between us, dwelling upon each look or accent that could evince her +possible interest in me. Then reason returned to my aid, and resolutely, +determinedly, inspired by every instinct of soldierly honor, I resolved +that I would put her from my thoughts for ever. She was not mine either +to love or possess, unless the uncertain fate of war should chance to +set her free. Even to dream of her, to cherish her in memory while +she remained the wife of another, was but an affront to her purity and +womanhood. I would prove myself a man entitled to her respect, a soldier +worthy my service and corps; if ever again my name chanced to find +mention in her presence it should be spoken with honor. + +I was musing thus, lulled by the steady lope of my horse, and totally +insensible to any possibility of peril, when clear upon my ears, +instantly awakening me from such reverie, there rang through the night +silence the sharp clang of iron on the road behind me. All sound of +pursuit had long since died away, and I supposed the effort to recapture +me had been abandoned. But there was no mistaking now--at least one +horseman, riding recklessly through the black night, was pressing hot +upon my trail. + +"The lieutenant," I thought, "the lieutenant, burning with anger at +the trick played upon him, has pushed far ahead of his troop, doubtless +mounted upon a better horse, determined to risk everything if he may +only bring me back dead or alive." + +This thought awoke me in an instant from my dreaming, and I spurred +my horse furiously, glancing anxiously backward as I rode, but unable +through that dense gloom to distinguish the form of my pursuer. Yet the +fellow was coming, coming faster than any speed I could possibly conjure +out of the weary black I bestrode, either by whip or spur. Closer and +closer upon me came rushing down that pounding of iron hoofs on the hard +path. Heavens! how like a very demon the man rode! As a trooper I +could not withhold admiration from the reckless audacity with which +the vengeful fellow bore down upon me. In spite of my utmost efforts +it almost seemed as if we were standing still. Surely nothing less than +hate, and a thirst for vengeance bitter as death, implacable as fate, +could ride like that through the black night on the track of a hunted +man! + +I was able to trace dimly his outlines now as he rose on an eminence in +my rear, his horse looming dark against the sky, like those giant steeds +that snorted fire in my child's picture-books at home, and then, with +increasingly loud thunder of hoof-beats, he came charging straight down +toward me. In sheer desperation I glanced on either side, seeking some +avenue of escape, but the high banks were unscalable; my sole remaining +hope lay in a shot which should drop that crazed brute before he struck +and crushed me. Riding my best, with all the practised skill of the +service, I swung my body sideways, bracing myself firmly in the deep +saddle, and took steady aim. The hammer came down with a dull, dead +click, the revolver was chargeless, and with an exclamation of baffled +rage I hurled the useless weapon full at the advancing brute. Almost at +the instant we struck, my horse went down with the impetus, while +over us both, as if shot from a cannon, plunged our pursuer, his horse +turning a complete somersault, the rider falling so close that I was +upon him almost as soon as he struck the ground. + +A dip of the flying hoof had cut a shallow gash across my forehead, and +my hair was wet with blood, yet bruised and half stunned as I was from +the hard fall, my sole longing was to reach and throttle that madman who +had ridden me down in such demon style. + +"You unchained devil!" I cried savagely, whirling him over upon his +back, "I spared your life once to-night, but, by all the gods, I'LL not +do it again!" + +"Gosh, Cap, is thet you?" asked the voice of the other, feebly. + +I started back, and lost my hold upon him. + +"Bungay?" in an astonishment that nearly robbed me of utterance. "Good +God, man! is this really you?" + +"It's whut's left o' me," he answered solemnly, sitting up and feeling +his head as if expecting to find it gone. "Thet wus 'bout ther worst +ride ever I took." + +"I should think it likely," I exclaimed, my anger rising again as I +thought of it. "What, in Heaven's name, do you mean by riding down on me +like that?" + +"Holy Gee, Cap," he explained penitently, "ye don't go ter think I ever +did it a purpose, do ye? Why, ther gosh-durned old thing run away." + +"Ran away?" + +"Sure; I've bin a hangin' on ter ther mane o' thet critter fer nigh 'pon +three mile, an' a prayin' fer a feather bed ter light on. It's my last +'listment en ther cavalry, ye bet. I never seed none o' yer steam keers, +but I reckon they don't go no faster ner thet blame hoss. Gosh, Cap, ye +ain't got no call fer ter git mad; I couldn't a stopped her with a yoke +o' steers, durned if I cud. I sorter reckon I know now 'bout whut Scott +meant when he said, 'The turf the flying courser spurn'd,'--you bet this +en did." + +Jed rubbed his cheek as if it stung him, and I looked at him in the +faint dawning light of day, and laughed. His peaked head and weazen +face looked piteous enough, decorated as they were with the black loam +through which he had ploughed; his coat was ripped from tail to collar, +while one of his eyes was nearly closed where the bruised flesh had +puffed up over it. + +"'It is a fearful strife, for man endowed with mortal life,'" he quoted +mournfully. + +"You're right," I assented. "No doubt you had the worst of it. But how +came you here?" + +"Why, I wus a huntin' fer a hoss thar et ther picket post whin ye scared +up ther bunch, an' by some sort a fule luck I got hole o' thet one, an' +tuke arter ye, tho' in course I didn't know who it wus raised sich a +rumpus, it wus so durned dark. Ther whole blame Yankee caboodle tuke a +blaze et me, I reckon, leastwise they wus most durn keerless with ther +shootin' irons, an' I rode one feller over, knocked him plum off his +hoss down ther bank, kerslush inter ther water, by thunder, an' then +ther derned critter I wus a straddlin' bolted. Thet's 'bout all I know, +Cap, till I lit yere." + +There was no doubting the truth of his story, and I held out my hand. +"You're a good man, Jed," I said heartily, "and so long as we are both +alive, a few hard jolts won't hurt us. Let's see if the horses are in +any condition for service." + +A single glance told the story. The black mare was browsing by the +roadside, apparently little the worse for the shock, although a thin +line of blood trickled slowly down her flank. But the big roan had not +been so fortunate, and lay, head under, stone dead in the middle of the +narrow road. Bungay gazed at the motionless figure mournfully. + +"'Woe worth the chase, woe worth the day, that cost thy life, my gallant +gray,'" he recited solemnly, "only it's a roan, an' I ain't so durn +sorry either." + +Regrets of any nature, however, were vain, and as the little man +positively refused to ride, I mounted again. He trudging along manfully +beside me, the two of us set forth once more, our faces turned toward +the red dawn. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +REINFORCEMENTS FOR EARLY + + +"Come Wayne, wake up, man! Captain, I say, you must turn out of this." + +I opened my eyes with a struggle and looked up. The golden glow of +sunlight along the white wall told me the day must be already well +advanced, and I saw the lieutenant of my troop, Colgate, bending over +me, attired in service uniform. + +"What is it, Jack?" + +"We have been ordered north on forced march to join Early, and the +command has already started. I have delayed calling you until the final +moment, but knew you would never forgive being left behind." + +Before he had finished I was upon the floor, dressing with that rapidity +acquired by years of practice, my mind thoroughly aroused to the thought +of active service once more. + +"Was it the news I brought in yesterday, Colgate, which has stirred this +up?" I questioned, hastily dipping into a basin of water. + +"I imagine it must have been, sir," replied the Lieutenant, leaning back +comfortably upon a cracker-box, which formed our solitary chair. "Things +have been on the move ever since, and it certainly resembles an advance +of some importance. Staff officers at it all night long, McDaniels +division off at daylight, while we go out ahead of Slayton's troops. +Reede was in beastly good humor when he brought the orders; that usually +means a fight." + +"Any artillery?" + +"Sloan's and Rocke's batteries are with us; did not learn who went out +with McDaniel's. Longstreet has crossed the White Briar." + +"Yes, I know," I said, drawing on the last of my equipments, and quickly +glancing about to assure myself I had overlooked nothing likely to be of +value. "All ready, Jack, and now for another 'dance of death.'" + +Our regiment was drawn up in the square of the little town, and as +we came forth into the glorious sunlight, the stentorian voice of the +Colonel called them into column of fours. Staff officers, gray with dust +from their all-night service, were riding madly along the curb, while +at the rear of our men, just debouching from one of the side streets, +appeared the solid front of a division of infantry. We had barely +time to swing into the saddles of the two horses awaiting us, and ride +swiftly to the head of our command, when the short, stern orders rolled +along the motionless line of troopers, and the long, silent column swung +out to the northward, the feet of the horses raising a thick cloud of +red dust which fairly enveloped us in its choking folds. + +With the ardor of young manhood I looked forward to the coming battle, +when I knew the mighty armies of North and South would once again +contest for the fertile Shenandoah. It was to be American pitted against +American, a struggle ever worthy of the gods. Slowly I rode back down +the files of my men, marking their alignment and accoutrements with +practised eye, smiling grimly as I noted their eager faces, war-worn and +bronzed by exposure, yet reanimated by hope of active service. Boys half +of them appeared to be, yet I knew them as fire-tested veterans of many +hard-fought fields, lads who would die without a murmur beneath their +beloved Southern flag, as undaunted in hour of peril as were the Old +Guard at Waterloo. In spite of frayed and ragged uniforms, tarnished, +battered facings, dingy, flapping hats, they looked stanch and true, +soldiers every inch of them, and I marked with the jealous pride of +command their evenly closed ranks and upright carriage. How like some +giant machine they moved--horses and men--in trained and disciplined +power! + +As I watched them thus, I thought again of those many other faces who +once rode as these men did now, but who had died for duty even as these +also might yet be called upon to die. One hundred and three strong, gay +in bright new uniforms, with unstained banner kissing the breeze above +our proud young heads, we rode hopefully forth from Charlottesville +scarce three years before, untried, undisciplined, unknown, to place +our lives willingly upon the sacred altar of our native State. What +speechless years of horror those had been; what history we had written +with our naked steel; what scenes of suffering and death lay along that +bloody path we travelled! To-day, down the same red road, our eyes still +set grimly to the northward, our flag a torn and ragged remnant, barely +forty men wore the "D" between the crossed sabres on their slouched +brown hats, in spite of all recruiting. The cheer in my heart was for +the living; the tear in my eye was for the dead. + +"Colgate," I said gravely, as I ranged up beside him at the rear of +the troop, "the men look exceedingly well, and do not appear to have +suffered greatly because of short rations." + +"Oh, the lads are always in fine fettle when they expect a fight," he +answered, his own eyes dancing as he swept them over that straight +line of backs in his front. "They'll scrap the better for being a bit +hungry,--it makes them savage. Beats all, Captain, what foolish notions +some of those people on the other side have of us Southerners. They +seem to think we are entirely different from themselves; yet I reckon +it would puzzle any recruiting officer up yonder to show a finer lot +of fighting men than those fellows ahead there. 'Food for powder?' Why, +there isn't a lad among them unfit for command." + +In spite of the indignation in his tone, his voice had the lazy, +Southern drawl, and somehow, as he spoke, I thought of my fair prisoner +in the mountains, and of how disdainfully she treated me on the occasion +of our first meeting. I sincerely hoped her conception of the Southerner +had received partial revision since. + +"Well, yes," I answered thoughtfully. "Doubtless those who have never +visited the South, and who form their conception of us from Northern +newspapers and abolition orators, get hold of our worst characteristics, +and judge accordingly. I sometimes feel that the whole trouble between +the sections is merely such a misunderstanding on a large scale, and +that had we only intermingled more freely, many of our differences would +have disappeared. In this we are fully as wrong as those of the other +side--narrowness of thought and life has been the secret force behind +this war. Partisans upon both sides have ignored the fact that we are +all of one blood and one history. But in this respect the tendency of +the conflict has been to broaden out the actual participants, and teach +them mutual respect. I imagine women are at present more apt to retain +this prejudice, women whose loved ones are in arms against us." + +"I was thinking about a woman when I spoke," he explained gravely. "She +was certainly a beauty, and nursed me in the hospital at Baltimore. +Oh, you needn't smile; she was married,--her husband was on Sheridan's +staff; I saw him once, a big fellow with a black moustache. Of course +we all looked alike lying there in those cots, and she very naturally +supposed I was one of their wounded, until after the fever left me, and +I became able to converse a bit, and then you ought to have seen the +expression in her eyes when I confessed the truth. Actually she cried +out, 'You a Rebel?' and gazed at me as if I had been some dangerous wild +animal. Truly I believe she nearly looked upon herself as a traitress +because she had nursed me and saved my life. Yet she was wonderfully +tender-hearted and kind. You see she wasn't a regular army nurse, and +I was probably the first Confederate soldier she had ever come in close +contact with." + +"Did you become friends?" + +"Most certainly; at least in a way, for she undertook my conversion. +Frankly, if it hadn't been for that inconvenient husband in the path, I +am not so certain you wouldn't have lost a lieutenant. The fact that the +lady was already Mrs. Brennan alone saved me." + +"Mrs. Brennan!" Although the disclosure was not altogether unexpected, I +could not help echoing the name. + +"Certainly," in sudden surprise, and glancing aside at my face. "Can it +be possible that you know her? Not more than twenty, I should say, with +great clear, honest eyes, and a perfect wealth of hair that appears +auburn in the sun." + +"I had the privilege of meeting her once or twice briefly while in +Sheridan's lines," I answered hurriedly "and have reason to indorse all +you say regarding the lady, especially as to her dislike of everything +clad in gray uniform. But the men appear to be straggling somewhat, +Lieutenant; perhaps it would be as well to brace them up a bit." + +I rode slowly forward to my own position at the head of the troop, +wondering at the strange coincidence which had placed Edith Brennan's +name upon Colgate's lips. Her memory had been brought back to me with +renewed freshness by his chance words, and so strongly did it haunt +me as to be almost a visible presence. As I swung my horse into our +accustomed position I was too deeply buried in reflection to be clearly +conscious of much that was occurring about me. Suddenly, however, I +became aware that some one, nearly obscured by the enveloping cloud +of dust, was riding without the column, in an independence of military +discipline not to be permitted. In the state of mind I was then in this +discovery strangely irritated me. + +"Sergeant," I questioned sharply, of the raw-boned trooper at the end of +the first platoon, "what fellow is that riding out yonder?" + +"It's ther pesky little cuss as come in with ye yesterday, sir," he +returned with a grin. "He's confiscated a muel somewhar an' says he's a +goin' back hum 'long o' we uns." + +Curious to learn how Jed had emerged from his arduous adventures, I +spurred my horse alongside of him. + +The little man, bending forward dubiously, as if fearful of accident, +was riding bareback on a gaunt, long-legged mule, which, judging from +all outward appearances, must have been some discarded asset of the +quartermaster's department. The animal was evidently a complete wreck, +and drooped along, dragging one foot heavily after the other as if every +move were liable to be the last, his head hanging dejectedly, while +his long ears flopped solemnly over the half-closed eyes at each +step. Altogether the two composed so melancholy a picture it was with +difficulty I suppressed my strong inclination to laugh. + +"Going home, Jed?" I asked, as he glanced up and saw me. + +"Jist as durn quick as I kin git thar," he returned emphatically. "By +gum, Cap, I ain't bin 'way from Mariar long as this afore in twelve +year. Reckon she thinks I've skedaddled fer good this time, an' 'ill +be a takin' up with some other male critter lest I git back thar mighty +sudden. Women's odd, Cap, durn nigh as ornary 'bout some things as a +muel." + +"I have never enjoyed much experience with them," I said, "but I +confess to knowing something about mules. Now that seems to be rather an +extraordinary specimen you are riding." + +He eyed his mount critically. + +"Burned if ever I thought I'd git astraddle o' any four-legged critter +agin," he said, rubbing himself as if in sudden and painful recollection +of the past. "But I sorter picked up this yere muel down et ther corral, +an' he 's tew durn wore out a totin' things fer you uns ter ever move +offen a walk. I sorter reckon it's a heap easier a sittin' yere than ter +take it afut all ther way ter ther mountings." + +"He certainly has the appearance of being perfectly safe, but you know a +mule is always full of tricks." + +"Oh, this en ain't," confidently. "Why, he 's so durn wore out a yankin' +things 'round thet he 's bin plum asleep all ther way out yere. Say, +Cap, be it true thet a muel will wake up an' git a move on itself if ye +blow in his ear?" + +"Who told you that?" + +"The feller down et ther quartermaster's corral. He said as how thet wus +ther way ther niggers got 'em ter go 'long whin they got tew durn lazy. +Blamed if I don't b'lieve I'll try it jist fer onst, fer I 'd like durn +well ter git ahead out o' this pesky dust." + +I had never before seen such an experiment tried, but a slight knowledge +of the nature of the animal involved induced me to rein back my horse, +and to that precaution I have no doubt I owe my life. Jed blew only +once; he lacked opportunity to do more, for a shock of electricity could +never have more quickly aroused that mule. His long ears were erected +with a snap, his short, spike tail shot out straight, while his heels +cut the air in furious semicircles, as he backed viciously. I heard a +yell from Jed, saw him clasp his arms lovingly about the animal's neck, +caught a confused glimpse of the wildly cavorting figure amid the red +dust cloud, and then, rear on, and lashing out crazily, that juggernaut +of a mule struck the unsuspecting advancing column of troopers, and +plunged half through their close-set ranks before they even realized +what had happened. Horses plunged wildly to escape; here and there a man +went down in the crush; oaths, blows, shouts of anger rang out, while +beneath the dense dust cloud frightened horses and startled riders +struggled fiercely to escape. For the moment it was pandemonium in +earnest, and I could only trace the disastrous passage of Bungay by the +shouts of angry men and the sharp cries of injured horses. + +"Captain Wayne, what does all this mean, sir? What is the cause of the +disorder in your troop?" + +It was the Major's voice, stern, indignant, commanding. I dashed the +tears of laughter from my eyes, and strove to face him decorously. + +"A mule, sir, which has taken a fit of kicking. I will straighten them +out in a moment." + +I wheeled, and peered into the rolling, surging mass of dust, out of +which there arose such a hubbub of sounds as to make the noise of battle +tame by comparison. + +"Catch the brute by the bridle, two of you," I roared stoutly. "Craig, +Whortley, what are you hanging back for? Go in there! Take hold of the +devil from in front; there is no danger at that end." + +The stern words of command, the return of discipline, seemed to steady +that seething, fighting mass in an instant; there was a squeal, a curse, +a slight settling down of the dust cloud, and two red-faced, perspiring +troopers emerged from the jam, dragging the yet reluctant mule by main +strength behind them. As they cleared the line of the column, Bungay +rolled off the animal's back, and, in his eagerness, came down on all +fours. + +"Well," I said sarcastically, "what do you think of your mule now?" + +"By Jinks, Cap," and his face lit up with intense admiration as he +surveyed the animal, "durned if I don't take him hum. Gee! whut a scrap +Mariar an' thet muel kin have!" + +The Major pushed through the curious line of troopers and faced him +angrily. + +"What do you mean by running your dod-gasted old mule into this column?" +he thundered. "Who are you, anyhow? Blamed if the little fool hasn't +done more damage than a Yankee battery." + +Jed faced him ruefully. + +"I didn't go ter dew it, mister," he explained. "Ther muel wus jist +pinted ther wrong way. I never knowed ther mean ol' cuss wint back'ards +like thet." + +The wrath on the Major's face caused me to interfere. In a few words I +made everything clear, and substantial justice was attained by an order +for Jed to move on with his animated battering ram. He disappeared +dolefully in the dust cloud, the mule, once more asleep, trailing lazily +behind him. The troop, slightly disfigured, closed up their broken +ranks, and the weary march was resumed. + +It was long after dark the second day when, thoroughly wearied, we +turned into an old tobacco field and made camp for the night. To right +and left of our position glowed the cheery fires, telling where Early's +command bivouacked in line of battle. From the low range of hills in +front of where we rested one could look across an intervening valley, +and see far off to the northward the dim flames which marked the +position of the enemy. Down in the mysterious darkness between, divided +only by a swift and narrow stream, were the blue and gray pickets. The +opposing forces were sleeping on their arms, making ready for the death +grip on the morrow. + +As I lay there thinking, wondering what might be my fate before another +nightfall, seeing constantly in my half-dreams the fair face of a woman, +which made me more of a coward than I had ever felt myself before, I was +partially aroused by the droning tones of a voice close at hand. +Lifting myself on one elbow I glanced curiously around to see where it +originated, what was occurring. Clustered about a roaring fire of rails +were a dozen troopers, and in the midst of them, occupying the post of +honor upon an empty powder keg, was Bungay, enthusiastically reciting +Scott. I caught a line or two: + + "'At once there rose so wild a yell + Within that dark and narrow dell, + As all the fiends from heaven that fell + Had pealed the battle-cry of hell.'" + +and then the drowsy god pressed down my heavy eyelids, and I fell +asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE BATTLE IN THE SHENANDOAH + + +To me it has always seemed remarkable that after all my other battle +experiences--Antietam, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, ay! even including +that first fierce baptism of fire at Manassas--no action in which I ever +participated should remain so clearly photographed upon memory as this +last desperate struggle for supremacy in the Shenandoah. Every minute +detail of the conflict, at least so far as I chanced to be a personal +participant, rises before me as I write, and I doubt not I could trace +to-day each step taken upon that stricken field. + +The reveille had not sounded when I first awoke and, rolling from my +blanket, looked about me. Already a faint, dim line of gray, heralding +the dawn, was growing clearly defined in the east, and making manifest +those heavy fog-banks which, hanging dank and low, obscured the valley. +The tired men of my troop were yet lying upon the ground, wrapped +tightly in their blankets, oblivious of the deadly work before them; but +I could hear the horses already moving uneasily at their picket-ropes, +and observed here and there the chilled figure of a sentry leaning upon +his gun, oddly distorted in form by the enveloping mist. + +Directly in advance of where we rested, a long hill sloped gently upward +for perhaps a hundred yards, its crest topped with a thick growth of +young oak-trees, yet seemingly devoid of underbrush. No troops were +camped in our immediate front, and feeling curious to ascertain +something of our formation, as well as to examine the lay of the land +between us and the position occupied by the enemy, I walked slowly +forward, unhindered, until I attained the crest. Numberless birds were +singing amid the branches overhead, while the leaves of the low bushes I +passed on my way were glistening with dew. Except for those long rows +of sleeping soldiers, I seemed utterly alone within some rural solitude +upon a quiet Sabbath morning. Not an unwonted sound reached me to make +discord; so quiet, indeed, was all the earth that I became startled +by the sudden chatter of a squirrel disturbed at my approach, and +unthinkingly I stooped to pluck a delicate pink flower blooming in the +grass, and placed it in a ragged buttonhole of my old gray jacket. + +The fog yet held the secrets of the valley safely locked within its +brown hand, and I could penetrate none of its mysteries. It was like +gazing down from some headland into a silent, unvexed sea. But directly +across from where I stood, apparently along the summit of another chain +of low hills similar to those we occupied, I could perceive the flames +of numerous camp-fires leaping up into sudden radiance, while against +the brightening sky a great flag lazily flapped its folds to the +freshening breeze. Evidently our opponents were first astir, and the +headquarters of some division of the enemy must be across yonder. As I +gazed, other fires burst forth to left and right, as far as the unaided +eye could carry through the gloom, and I was thus enabled to trace +distinctly those advanced lines opposing us. Experience told me their +position must be a strong one, and their force heavy. + +As I turned to mark our own formation, the roll of drums rang out, while +the quickening notes of the reveille sounded down the long lines of +slumbering men. Life returned, as if by magic, to those motionless +forms, and almost in a moment all below me became astir, and I could +clearly distinguish the various branches of the service, as they +stretched away commingled upon either hand. We were evidently stationed +close to the centre of our own position. Our battle-line was not so +extended as the one across the valley; apparently there were fewer +troops along our front than theirs, nor could I perceive to the +southward, now that dawning day somewhat clarified the scene, any +evidence of reserve force; yet what I saw looked extremely well, and +my heart bounded proudly at the sturdy promise of our fighting men. The +cavalry appeared to be principally concentrated at the foot of the hill +upon which I stood, although at the distant wings I was able to perceive +some flying guidons that told me of the presence of numerous troops of +horse. I marked it all with eager, kindling eyes, for it was a sight +to cheer the heart of any soldier--those dark, dense squares where the +infantry were massed, and battery after battery of flying artillery +ranged along the ridge. But it seemed to me the larger, heavier force +had been concentrated upon our left, massed there in deeper lines, as if +that were the point selected from whence the attacking wedge was to be +driven. The intervening ground sloped so gently forward, while the hill +crest was so thickly crowned with trees, it looked an ideal position +from which to advance in line of attack. Upon my right there appeared a +break in the solidity of our line, but even as I noted it, wondering at +the oversight, the dense front of an infantry column debouched from +a ravine and, marching steadily forward, filled the gap. I could +distinctly mark the wearied manner in which the men composing it +flung themselves prostrate on the hard ground the moment they were +halted--doubtless all through the long hours of the black night they had +been toiling on to be in time. + +Aides were galloping furiously now among the scattered commands. The +obscuring fog slowly rose from off the face of the valley, but all the +central portion remained veiled from view. Suddenly, as I watched, the +brown cloud beneath me was rent asunder here and there by little spits +of fire, and it was curious to observe how those quick, spiteful darts +of flame swept the full length of my vista. I could distinguish no +reports,--it was too far away,--but realized that the opposing pickets +had caught sight of each other through the gloom. Then a big gun boomed +almost directly opposite me, its flame seeming like a red-hot knife +rending the mist. This had barely vanished when a sudden cheer rang out +upon my left, and I turned in time to behold a thin, scattered line of +gray-clad infantrymen swarm down the steep slope into the valley. With +hats drawn low, and guns advanced, they plunged at a run into the mist +and disappeared. Our skirmishers had gone in; the ball had opened. + +I had tarried long enough; any moment now might bring "boots and +saddles," and if I possessed the slightest desire for a breakfast to +fight on, it behooved me to get back within our lines. The memory +of that animated scene in front still fresh upon me, how quiet and +commonplace everything appeared down there in the hill shadow. No one +would have dreamed it to be a battle-line. The fires crackled gayly, +while the men lounged about them, smoking or eating. There was no sound +save the gentle rustling of leaves overhead, or the light laughter of +some group of story-tellers. Horses munched their grain just at our +rear, and now and then some careful trooper sauntered back to make sure +his mount was not neglected. One or two of the men were cleaning their +revolvers, and an old corporal was polishing his sabre where a spot of +rust disfigured its gleaming blade. You might have dreamed it a picnic, +a military review, possibly, were it not for the travel-soiled and +ragged uniforms, but a line held there for the stern purpose of deadly +conflict--it scarcely seemed credible. + +"Captain," said a white-faced lad of seventeen, as I sat down on +the ground to my coffee and corn bread, "did you see anything of the +blue-bellies out there?" + +"Plenty of them, my boy," I answered, noting the curls that clustered +upon his forehead, and wondering what mother prayed for him. "We have +plenty of hot work cut out for us to-day." + +"I hope they'll give us a charge before it's all over." His blue eyes +danced as he strode off, whistling gayly. + +"What has become of Bungay?" I questioned of Colgate, who was lying upon +his back with eyes fastened on a floating cloud. + +"Do you mean the little mountaineer who came in with us last night?" + +I nodded. + +"Oh, his mule bolted at the first shot over yonder, and the little +fellow is after it. He's down the field there somewhere." + +How time dragged! The battery to left of us went into action, and began +firing rapidly; we could mark the black figures of the cannoneers at +the nearer guns, outlined against the sky over the crest, as they moved +quickly back and forth. Twice they bore motionless bodies to the rear, +and laid them down tenderly beyond the fierce zone of fire. Then the +heavier pieces of artillery farther down the line burst into thunder, +and we silently watched a large force of infantry move slowly past us +up the long slope until they halted in line of battle just behind its +summit, the advanced files lying flat upon their faces and peering over. +But no orders came for us. + +The eagerly expectant men moved back toward their picketed horses in +anticipation of a hurried call, but as the minutes slowly passed and +none came, they broke into little groups, sitting about on the ground, +seemingly careless as to the dread rumbling in front, and the continuous +zip of Minié bullets through the trees overhead. One or two, I noticed +as I walked about, were writing what, possibly they dreamed, might be +final words of love to dear ones far away; one more careless group were +playing poker upon an outspread blanket; while a grizzled old sergeant, +a God-fearing man, had drawn forth his well-worn pocket Testament, and +was reading over again the familiar story of the Nazarene. The sullen +boom of the great guns, deep, ominous, began to blend with the sustained +rattle of musketry, telling plainly of heavy fighting by massed +infantry; the smoke clouds, obscuring the blue sky, rolled high above +the fringe of trees; the battle-line lying along the crest at our front +swept down the hill out of our sight into that hail of death below; but +we seemed to be forgotten. + +Nearly noon by the red sun hiding behind the drifting powder cloud. The +ever-deepening roar of ceaseless contest had moved westward down the +valley, when an aide wheeled his smoking horse in front of the Colonel, +spoke a dozen hasty words, pointed impetuously to the left, and dashed +off down the line. The men leaped to their feet in eager expectancy, and +as the "Fall in, fall in there, lads," echoed joyously from lip to lip, +the kindling eyes and rapid movements voiced unmistakably the soldier +spirit. We moved westward down the long, bare slope in the sunshine, +through a half-dozen deserted, desolate fields, and along a narrow, +rocky defile leading into a deep ravine. Every step of our horses +brought us closer to that deep roar of surging battle; the air we +breathed became pungent with powder smoke, and once or twice we heard +the deep hurrah of the North, the wild answering yell of the South, as +victory rolled from flag to flag. Streams of wearied and wounded men +began to pass us, white-faced and terror-stricken, or haggard and +silent, but all alike seeking the rear. The head of our advancing column +pushed them sternly aside, the troopers chaffing the uninjured without +mercy, but tender as women to those who suffered. Back among the rocks, +out of reach from plunging shells, a field hospital had been hastily set +up; the ground was already thickly strewn with bodies, while surgeons +labored above them, elbow-deep in blood. With averted, stern, set faces, +paling to the cries of agony, we rode past, more eager than ever to +strike the enemy. + +At the mouth of the ravine we came forth into the broad valley, and +halted. Just in front of us, scarcely a half-mile distant, were the +fighting lines, partially enveloped in dense smoke, out from which broke +patches of blue or gray, as charge succeeded charge, or the wind swept +aside the fog of battle. The firing was one continuous crash, while +plunging bullets, overreaching their mark, began to chug into our own +ranks, dealing death impartially to horse and man. The captain of the +troop next mine wheeled suddenly, a look of surprise upon his face, and +fell backward into the arms of one of his men; with an intense scream +of agony, almost human, the horse of my first sergeant reared and came +over, crushing the rider before he could loosen foot from stirrup; the +Lieutenant-Colonel rode slowly past us to the rear, his face deathly +white, one arm, dripping blood, dangling helpless at his side. This was +the hardest work of war, that silent agony which tried men in helpless +bondage to unyielding discipline. I glanced anxiously along the front of +my troop, but they required no word from me; with tightly set lips, and +pale, stern faces, they held their line steady as granite, closing up +silently the ragged gaps torn by plunging balls. + +"Captain," said Colgate, riding to where I sat my horse, "you will see +that the paper I gave you reaches home safe if I fail to come out of +this?" + +I reached over and gripped his hand hard. + +"It will be the first thing I shall remember, Jack," I answered +earnestly. "But we may have it easy enough after all--it seems to be an +infantry affair." + +He shook his head gravely. + +"No," he said, pointing forward, "they will need us now." + +As he spoke it seemed as though the sharp firing upon both sides +suddenly ceased by mutual consent. The terrible roar of small arms, +which had mingled with the continuous thunder of great guns, died away +into an intermittent rattling of musketry, and as the heavy smoke slowly +drifted upward in a great white cloud, we could plainly distinguish the +advancing Federal lines, three ranks deep, stretching to left and right +in one vast, impenetrable blue wall, sweeping toward us upon a run. +Where but a brief moment before the plain appeared deserted, it was +now fairly alive with soldiery, the sun gleaming on fixed bayonets, +and faces aglow with the ardor of surprise. Some one had blundered! The +thin, unsupported line of gray infantry directly in our front closed up +their shattered ranks hastily in desperate effort to stay the rush. We +could see them jamming their muskets for volley fire, and then, with +clash and clatter that drowned all other sounds, a battery of six black +guns came flying madly past us, every horse on the run, lashed into +frenzy by his wild rider. With carriage and caisson leaping at every +jump, the half-naked, smoke-begrimed cannoneers clinging to their seats +like monkeys, they dashed recklessly forward, swung about into position, +and almost before the muzzles had been well pointed, were hurling +canister into that blue, victorious advance. How those gallant fellows +worked! their guns leaping into air at each discharge, their movements +clockwork! Tense, eager, expectant, every hand among us hard gripped on +sabre hilt, we waited that word which surely could not be delayed, while +from end to end, down the full length of our straining line, rang out +the yell of exultant pride. + +"Steady, men; steady there, lads!" called the old Colonel, sternly, his +own eyes filled with tears. "Our turn will come." + +Torn, rent, shattered, bleeding, treading upon the dead and mangled in +rows, those iron men in blue came on. They were as demons laughing at +death. No rain of lead, no hail of canister, no certainty of destruction +could check now the fierce impetus of that forward rush. God knows +it was magnificent; the supreme effort of men intoxicated with the +enthusiasm of war! Even where we were we could see and feel the giant +power in those grim ranks of steel--the tattered flags, the stern, set +faces, the deep-toned chorus of "Glory, glory, hallelujah," that echoed +to their tread. Those men meant to win or die, and they rolled on as +Cromwell's Ironsides at Marston Moor. Twice they staggered, when the mad +volleys ploughed ragged red lanes through them, but only to rally and +press sternly on. They struck that crouching gray line of infantry, +fairly buried it within their dense blue folds, and, with one fierce +hurrah of triumph, closed down upon the guns. Even as they blotted +them from sight, an aide, hatless and bleeding, his horse wounded and +staggering from weakness, tore down toward us along the crest. A hundred +feet away his mount fell headlong, but on foot and dying he reached our +front. + +"Colonel Carter," he panted, pressing one hand upon his breast to keep +back the welling blood, "charge, and hold that battery until we can +bring infantry to your support." + +No man among us doubted the full meaning of it--_we were to save the +army!_ The very horses seemed to feel a sense of relief, hands clinched +more tightly on taut reins to hold them in check; under the old battered +hats the eyes of the troopers gleamed hungrily. + +"Virginians!" and the old Colonel's voice rang like a clarion down the +breathless line, "there is where you die! Follow me!" + +Slowly, like some mighty mountain torrent gaining force, we rode forth +at a walk, each trooper lined to precision of review, yet instinctively +taking distance for sword-play. Halfway down the slight slope our line +broke into a sharp trot, then, as the thrilling notes of the charge +sounded above us, we swept forward in wild, impetuous tumult. + +Who can tell the story of those seconds that so swiftly followed? Surely +not one who saw but the vivid flash of steel, the agonized faces, the +flame of belching fire. I recall the frenzied leap of my horse as we +struck the line ere it could form into square; the blows dealt savagely +to right and left; the blaze of a volley scorching our faces; the look +of the big infantryman I rode down; the sudden thrust that saved me from +a levelled gun; the quick swerving of our horses as they came in contact +with the cannon; the shouts of rage; the blows; the screams of pain; the +white face of Colgate as he reeled and fell. These are all in my memory, +blurred, commingled, indistinct, yet distressful as any nightmare. +In some way, how I know not, I realized that we had hurled them back, +shattered them by our first fierce blow; that the guns were once again +ours; that fifty dismounted troopers were tugging desperately at their +wheels. Then that dense blue mass surged forward once again, engulfed +us in its deadly folds, and with steel and bullet, sword and clubbed +musket, ploughed through our broken ranks, rending us in twain, fairly +smothering us by sheer force of numbers. I saw the old Colonel plunge +head-down into the ruck beneath the horses' feet; the Major riding stone +dead in his saddle, a ghastly red stain in the centre of his forehead; +then Hunter, of E, went down screaming, and I knew I was the senior +captain left. About me scarce a hundred men battled like demons for +their lives in the midst of the guns. Even as I glanced aside at them, +shielding my head with uplifted sabre from the blows rained upon me, the +color-sergeant flung up his hand, and grasped his saddle pommel to +keep from falling. Out of his opening fingers I snatched the splintered +staff, lifted it high up, until the rent folds of the old flag caught +the dull glow of the sunlight. + +"----th Virginia!" I shouted. "Rally on the colors!" I could see them +coming--all that was left of them--fighting their way through the press, +cleaving the mass with their blows as the prow of a ship cuts the sea. +With one vicious jab of the spur I led them, a thin wedge of tempered +gray steel, battering, gouging, rending a passage into that solid blue +wall. Inch by inch, foot by foot, yard by yard, slashing madly with +our broken sabres, battling as men crazed with lust of blood, our very +horses fighting for us with teeth and hoofs, we ploughed a lane of death +through a dozen files. Then the vast mass closed in upon us, rolled +completely over us. There was a flash, a vision of frenzied faces, and I +knew no more. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +FIELD HOSPITAL, SIXTH CORPS + + +My head ached so abominably when I first opened my eyes that I was +compelled to close them again, merely realizing dimly that I looked +up at something white above me, which appeared to sway as though blown +gently by the wind. My groping hand, the only one I appeared able to +move, told me I was lying upon a camp-cot, with soft sheets about me, +and that my head rested upon a pillow. Then I passed once more into +unconsciousness, but this time it was sleep. + +When I once more awakened the throbbing pain had largely left my hot +temples, and I saw that the swaying white canopy composed the roof of a +large tent, upon which the golden sunlight now lay in checkered masses, +telling me the canvas had been erected among trees. A faint moan caused +me to move my head slightly on the gratefully soft pillow, and I could +perceive a long row of cots, exactly similar to the one I occupied, each +apparently filled, stretching away toward an opening that looked forth +into the open air. A man was moving slowly down the narrow aisle toward +me, stopping here and there to bend over some sufferer with medicine or +a cheery word. He wore a short white jacket, and was without a cap, his +head of heavy red hair a most conspicuous object. As he approached I +endeavored to speak, but for the moment my throat refused response to +the effort. Then I managed to ask feebly: "Where am I?" + +The blue eyes in the freckled, boyish face danced good-hurnoredly, and +he laid a big red hand gently upon my forehead. + +"Field hospital, Sixth Corps," he said, with a strong Hibernian accent +"An' how de ye loike it, Johnny?" + +"Better than some others I've seen," I managed to articulate faintly. +"Who won?" + +"Divil a wan of us knows," he admitted frankly, "but your fellows did +the retratin'." + +It was an old, old story to all of us by that time, and I closed my eyes +wearily, content to ask no more. + +I have no way of knowing how long I rested there motionless although +awake, my eyes closed to keep out the painful glare, my sad thoughts +busied with memory of those men whom I had seen reel and fall upon that +stricken field we had battled so vainly to save. Once I wondered, with +sudden start of fear, if I had lost a limb, if I was to be crippled for +life, the one thing I dreaded above all else. Feeling feebly beneath my +bed-clothing I tested, as best I could, each limb. All were apparently +intact, although my left arm seemed useless and devoid of feeling, +broken no doubt, and I heaved a sigh of genuine relief. Then I became +partially aroused to my surroundings by a voice speaking from the cot +next mine. + +"You lazy Irish marine!" it cried petulantly, "that beef stew was to +have been given me an hour ago." + +"Sure, sor," was the soothing reply, "it wasn't to be given yer honor +till two o'clock." + +"Well, it's all of three now." + +"Wan-thirty, on me sowl, sor." + +That first voice sounded oddly familiar, and I turned my face that way, +but was unable to perceive the speaker. + +"Is that Lieutenant Caton?" I asked doubtfully. + +"Most assuredly it is," quickly. "And who are you?" + +"Captain Wayne, of the Confederate Army." + +"Oh, Wayne? Glad you spoke, but extremely sorry to have you here. Badly +hurt?" + +"Not seriously, I think. No limbs missing, anyhow, but exceedingly weak. +Where did they get you?" + +"In the side, a musket ball, but extracted. I would be all right if +that lazy Irish scamp would only give me half enough to eat. By the +way, Wayne, of course I never got the straight of it, for there are +half-a-dozen stories about the affair flying around, and those most +interested will not talk, but one of your special friends, and to my +notion a most charming young woman, will be in here to see me sometime +this afternoon. She will be delighted to meet you again, I'm sure." + +"One of my friends?" I questioned incredulously, yet instantly thinking +of Edith Brennan. "A young woman?" + +"Sure; at least she has confessed enough to me regarding that +night's work to make me strongly suspicion that Captain Wayne, of the +Confederate Army, and Colonel Curran, late of Major-General Halleck's +staff, are one and the same person. A mighty neat trick, by Jove, and it +would have done you good to see Sheridan's face when they told him. +But about the young lady--she claims great friendship with the gallant +Colonel of light artillery, and her description of his appearance at +the ball is assuredly a masterpiece of romantic fiction. Come, Captain, +surely you are not the kind of man to forget a pretty face like that? +I can assure you, you made a deep impression. There are times when I am +almost jealous of you." + +"But," I protested, my heart beating rapidly, "I met several that +evening, and you have mentioned no name." + +"Well, to me it chances there is but one worthy of mention," he said +earnestly, "and that one is Celia Minor." + +"Miss Minor!" I felt a strange sense of disappointment. "Does she come +alone?" + +"Most certainly; do you suppose she would expose me in my present weak +state to the fascinations of any one else?" + +"Oh, so the wind lies in that quarter, does it, old fellow? I +congratulate you, I'm sure." + +My recollection of Miss Minor was certainly a most pleasant one, and I +recalled to memory the attractive picture of her glossy black hair and +flashing brown eyes, yet I felt exceedingly small interest in again +meeting her. Indeed I was asleep when she finally entered, and it was +the sound of Caton's voice that aroused me and made me conscious of the +presence of others. + +"I shall share these grapes with my cot-mate over yonder," he said +laughingly. "By the way, Celia, his voice sounded strangely familiar to +me a short time ago. Just glance over there and see if he is any one you +know." + +I heard the soft rustle of skirts, and, without a smile, looked up into +her dark eyes. There was a sudden start of pleased surprise. + +"Why," she exclaimed eagerly, "it is Colonel Curran! Edith, dear, here +is the Rebel who pretended to be Myrtle Curran's brother." + +How the hot blood leaped within my veins at mention of that name; but +before I could lift my head she had swept across the narrow aisle, and +was standing beside me. Wife, or what, there was that within her eyes +which told me a wondrous story. For the instant, in her surprise and +agitation, she forgot herself, and lost that marvellous self-restraint +which had held us so far apart. + +"Captain Wayne!" she cried, and her gloved hands fell instantly upon my +own, where it rested without the coverlet. "You here, and wounded?" + +I smiled up at her, feeling now that my injuries were indeed trivial. + +"Somewhat weakened by loss of blood, Mrs. Brennan, but not dangerously +hurt." Then I could not forbear asking softly, "Is it possible you can +feel regret over injuries inflicted upon a Rebel?" + +Her cheeks flamed, and the audacious words served to recall her to our +surroundings. + +"Even although I love my country, and sincerely hope for the downfall of +her enemies," she answered soberly, "I do not delight in suffering. Were +you in that terrible cavalry charge? They tell me scarcely a man among +them survived." + +"I rode with my regiment." + +"I knew it was your regiment--the name was upon every lip, and even our +own men unite in declaring it a magnificent sacrifice, a most gallant +deed. You must know I thought instantly of you when I was told it was +the act of the ----th Virginia." + +There were tears in my eyes, I know, as I listened to her, and my heart +warmed at this frank confession of her remembrance. + +"I am glad you cared sufficiently for me," I said gravely, "to hold me +in your thought at such a time. + +"Our command merely performed the work given it, but the necessity has +cost us dearly. You are yet at General Sheridan's headquarters?" + +"Only temporarily, and simply because there has been no opportunity to +get away, the movements of the army have been so hurried and uncertain. +Since the battle Miss Minor has desired to remain until assured of +Lieutenant Caton's permanent recovery. He was most severely wounded, and +of course I could not well leave her here alone. Indeed I am her guest, +as we depart to-morrow for her home, to remain indefinitely." + +"But Miss Minor is, I understand, a native of this State?" + +"Her home is in the foot-hills of the Blue Ridge, along the valley +of the Cowskin,--a most delightful old Southern mansion. I passed one +summer there when a mere girl, previous to the war." + +"But will it prove safe for you now?" + +"Oh, indeed, yes; everybody says so. It is entirely out of the track of +both armies, and has completely escaped despoliation." + +"I was not thinking of the main combatants, but rather of those +irregulars who will be most certain to invade promptly any section not +patrolled by disciplined troops. I confess to fearing greatly that there +will be an early outpouring of these rascals from the mountains into the +adjacent lowlands the moment we are compelled to fall back and let loose +the iron grip with which we have held them thus far partially in check. +Yet I do not say this to frighten you, or in any way spoil the pleasure +of your contemplated visit." + +"Indeed I shall not permit it. So many have assured me it would be +perfectly safe that I do not mean to worry. I expect to be very happy +there until the war is over. Surely, Captain Wayne, it cannot long +continue now?" + +Her voice was low, earnest, almost supplicating. + +"It looks hopeless, even from our standpoint, I admit," I returned, +watching the straying sunlight play amid the dusky coils of her hair. +"Yet we are not likely to yield until we must." + +"But you, Captain Wayne; surely you have already risked enough?" + +"I presume I am a prisoner," I answered, smiling, "and therefore unable +at present to choose my future; but were I free to do so, I should +return to my command to-morrow." + +"Yet surely you do not consider that this terrible rebellion is +justified, is right?" + +"I think there is, undoubtedly, much wrong upon both sides, Mrs. +Brennan; but I am a soldier, and my duty is very simple--I follow my +flag and, as a Virginian, am loyal to my State and to the principles +taught me in my childhood." + +Her beautiful eyes filled with tears, and as she bent down her head that +the others might not perceive her agitation, one salty drop fell upon my +hand. + +"It is all so very, very sad," she said softly. + +"There is much suffering upon both sides, but surely even you would not +wish me to be other than true to what I look upon as a duty?" + +"No; I--I think I--I respect you the more." + +"Then you do respect me?" + +Another word, a far stronger one, trembled upon my lips, yet I +restrained it sternly, and asked all I dared. + +"I do," earnestly, her eyes dwelling upon my face. + +"I may not comprehend how you can view matters from your standpoint, for +I am in full sympathy with the Union, and am a woman. But I believe you +to be honest, and I know you to be a gallant soldier." + +I clasped her hand close within my own. + +"Your words encourage me greatly," I said earnestly. "I have done so +much to bring you trouble and sorrow that I have been fearful lest it +had cost me what I value more highly than you can ever know." + +These words were unfortunate, and instantly brought back to her a memory +which seemed a barrier between us. I read the change in her averted +face. + +"That can never be, Captain Wayne," she returned calmly, yet rising +even as she spoke. "You have come into my life under circumstances so +peculiar as to make me always your friend. Celia," and she turned toward +the others, "is it not time we were going? I am very sure the doctor +said you were to remain with Lieutenant Caton but a brief time." + +"Why, Edith," retorted the other, gayly, "I have been ready for half +an hour--haven't I, Arthur?--but you were so deeply engrossed with your +Rebel I hadn't the heart to interrupt." + +I could see the quick color as it mounted over Mrs. Brennan's throat. + +"Nonsense," she answered; "we have not been here that length of time." + +"Did the Major emerge from out the late entanglement unhurt?" It was +Caton's voice that spoke. + +"Much to his regret, I believe, he was not even under fire." The +tone was cool and collected again. "I will say good-bye, Lieutenant; +doubtless we shall see you at Mountain View so soon as you are able to +take the journey. And, Captain Wayne, I trust I shall soon learn of your +complete recovery." + +My eyes followed them down the long aisle. At the entrance she glanced +back, and I lifted my hand. Whether she marked the gesture I do not +know, for the next instant both ladies had disappeared without. + +Caton endeavored to talk with me, but I answered him so briefly, and +with such vague knowledge of what had been said, that he soon desisted. +I could see only the face that had so lately bent above me, and reflect +upon the fate which held me helpless in its grasp. I felt that had +circumstances been other than they were, this proudly tender woman might +have learned from me the lesson of love, and in my weakness, both of +spirit and body, I rebelled against the impassable barrier holding +us apart. She was the wife of another, yet, in spite of every +determination, I loved her with all my soul. + +The night drew slowly down, and as it darkened, only one miserable lamp +shed its dim rays throughout the great tent; nurses moved noiselessly +from cot to cot, and I learned something of the nature of my own +injuries from the gruff old surgeon who dressed the wound in my +chest and refastened the splints along my arm. Then silence followed, +excepting for the heavy breathing of the sleepers and the restless +tossing of sufferers on their narrow cots. Here and there echoed +wild words of delirium, but soon even these faint sounds died away in +slumber, while the drowsy night-watch dozed in a chair. I could see from +where I lay a blazing fire without, while in its glow along the side of +the tent there was cast the black shadow of a sentinel, as he paced back +and forth along his beat. So clear were the shaded lines I was able +to trace his gun, and even the peculiar turn-up to the visor of his +forage-cap. The pain I had experienced earlier in the day grew less +acute, and at last I also fell asleep. + +It must have been midnight, possibly even later, when a number of +rapid shots fired outside the tent aroused me, and I heard many voices +shouting, mingled with the tread of horses' feet. The night-watch had +already disappeared, and the startled inmates of the tent were in a +state of intense confusion. As I lifted myself slightly, dazed by the +sudden uproar and eager to learn its cause, the tent-flap, which had +been lowered to exclude the cold night air, was hastily jerked aside, +and a man stepped within, casting one rapid glance about that dim +interior. The flaring lamp overhead revealed to me a short, heavy-set +figure, clad in a gray uniform. + +"No one here need feel alarm," he said quietly. "We are not making war +upon the wounded. Are there any Confederates present able to travel?" + +A dozen eager voices answered him, and men began to crawl out of their +cots onto the floor. + +He started down the aisle. + +"We can be burdened with no helpless or badly wounded men," he said +sternly. "Only those able to ride. No, my man, you are in too bad shape +to travel. Very sorry, my boy, but it can't be done. Only your left arm, +you say? Very well, move out in front there. No, lad, it would be the +death of you, for we must ride fast and hard." + +He came to a pause a half-dozen cots away from me, and seemed about to +retrace his steps. Dim as the light was, I felt convinced I had formerly +seen that short figure and stern face with its closely cropped beard. + +"Mosby," I called out, resolved to risk his remembrance, "Colonel Mosby, +isn't it possible to take me?" + +"Who are you?" he questioned sharply, turning in the direction of my +voice. + +"Wayne," I answered eagerly, "Wayne, of the ----th Virginia." + +In an instant he was standing beside my cot, his eyes filled with +anxious interest. + +"Phil Wayne, of Charlottesville? You here? Not badly hurt, my boy?" + +"Shot and bruised, Colonel, but I'd stand a good deal to get out of +this." + +"And, by the Eternal, you shall; that is, if you can travel in a wagon. +Here, Sims, Thomas; two of you carry this officer out. Take bed-clothes +and all--easy now." + +The fellows picked me up tenderly, and bore me slowly down the central +aisle. Mosby walked beside us as far as the outer opening. + +"Put him down there by the fire," he ordered, "until I look over the +rest of these chaps and divide the wheat from the chaff." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +A NIGHT RIDE OF THE WOUNDED + + +It was a wild, rude scene without, yet in its way typical of a +little-understood chapter of Civil War. Moreover it was one with which +I was not entirely unacquainted. Years of cavalry scouting, bearing me +beyond the patrol lines of the two great armies, had frequently brought +me into contact with those various independent, irregular forces which, +co-operating with us, often rendered most efficient service by +preying on the scattered Federal camps and piercing their lines of +communication. Seldom risking an engagement in the open, their policy +was rather to dash down upon some outpost or poorly guarded wagon train, +and retreat with a rapidity rendering pursuit hopeless. It was partisan +warfare, and appealed to many ill-adapted to abide the stricter +discipline of regular service. These border rangers would rendezvous +under some chosen leader, strike an unexpected blow where weakness had +been discovered, then disappear as quickly as they came, oftentimes +scattering widely until the call went forth for some fresh assault. It +was service not dissimilar to that performed during the Revolutionary +struggle by Sumter and Marion in the Carolinas, and added in the +aggregate many a day to the contest of the Confederacy. + +Among these wild, rough riders between the lines no leader was more +favorably known of our army, nor more dreaded by the enemy, than +Mosby. Daring to the point of recklessness, yet wary as a fox, counting +opposing numbers nothing when weighed against the advantage of surprise, +tireless in saddle, audacious in resource, quick to plan and equally +quick to execute, he was always where least expected, and it was seldom +he failed to win reward for those who rode at his back. Possessing +regular rank in the Confederate Army, making report of his operations to +the commander-in-chief, his peculiar talent as a partisan leader had won +him what was practically an independent command. Knowing him as I did, +I was not surprised that he should now have swept suddenly out of the +black night upon the very verge of the battle to drive his irritating +sting into the hard-earned Federal victory. + +An empty army wagon, the "U. S. A." yet conspicuous upon its canvas +cover, had been overturned and fired in front of the hospital tent to +give light to the raiders. Grouped about beneath the trees, and within +the glow of the flames, was a picturesque squad of horsemen, hardy, +tough-looking fellows the most of them, their clothing an odd mixture +of uniforms, but every man heavily armed and admirably equipped for +service. Some remained mounted, lounging carelessly in their saddles, +but far the larger number were on foot, their bridle-reins wound about +their wrists. All alike appeared alert and ready for any emergency. How +many composed the party I was unable to judge with accuracy, as they +constantly came and went from out the shadows beyond the circumference +of the fire. As all sounds of firing had ceased, I concluded that the +work planned had been already accomplished. Undoubtedly, surprised as +they were, the small Federal force left to guard this point had been +quickly overwhelmed and scattered. + +The excitement attendant upon my release had left me for the time being +utterly forgetful as to the pain of my wounds, so that weakness alone +held me to the blanket upon which I had been left. The night was +decidedly chilly, yet I had scarcely begun to feel its discomfort, when +a man strode forward from out the nearer group and stood looking down +upon me. He was a young fellow, wearing a gray artillery jacket, with +high cavalry boots corning above the knees. I noticed his firm-set jaw, +and a pearl-handled revolver stuck carelessly in his belt, but observed +no symbol of rank about him. + +"Is this Captain Wayne?" he asked, not unpleasantly, I answered by an +inclination of the head, and he turned at once toward the others. + +"Cass, bring three men over here, and carry this officer to the same +wagon you did the others," he commanded briefly. "Fix him comfortably, +but be in a hurry about it." + +They lifted me in the blanket, one holding tightly at either corner, +and bore me tenderly out into the night. Once one of them tripped over a +projecting root, and the sudden jar of his stumble shot a spasm of pain +through me, which caused me to cry out even through my clinched teeth. + +"Pardon me, lads," I panted, ashamed of the weakness, "but it slipped +out before I could help it." + +"Don't be after a mentionin' av it, yer honor," returned a rich brogue. +"Sure an me feet got so mixed oup that I wondher I didn't drap ye +entoirely." + +"If ye had, Clancy," said the man named Cass, grimly, "I reckon as how +the Colonel would have drapped you." + +At the foot of a narrow ravine, leading forth into the broader valley, +we came to a covered army wagon, to which four mules had been already +attached. The canvas was drawn aside, and I was lifted up and carefully +deposited in the hay that thickly covered the bottom. It was so +intensely dark within I could see nothing of my immediate surroundings, +but a low moan told me there must be at least one other wounded man +present. Outside I heard the tread of horses' hoofs, and then the sound +of Mosby's voice. + +"Jake," he said, "drive rapidly, but with as much care as possible. Take +the lower road after you cross the bridge, and you will meet with no +patrols. We will ride beside you for a couple of miles." + +Then a hand thrust aside the canvas, and a face peered in. I caught a +faint glimmer of stars, but could distinguish little else. + +"Boys," said the leader, kindly, "I wish I might give you better +transportation, but this is the only form of vehicle we can find. I +reckon you'll get pretty badly bumped over the road you are going, but +I'm furnishing you all the chance to get away in my power." + +"For one I am grateful enough," I answered, after waiting for some one +else to speak. "A little pain is preferable to imprisonment." + +"After you pass the bridge you will be perfectly safe on that score," he +said heartily. "Anything more I can do for any of you?" + +"How many of us are there?" asked some one faintly from out the +darkness. + +"Oh, yes," returned Mosby, with a laugh, "I forgot; you will want +to know each other. There are three of you--Colonel Colby of North +Carolina, Major Wilkins of Thome's Battery, and Captain Wayne, ----th +Virginia. Let that answer for an introduction, gentlemen, and now +good-night. We shall guard you as long as necessary, and then must leave +you to the kindly ministrations of the driver." + +He reached in, leaning down from his saddle to do so, drew the blanket +somewhat closer about me, and was gone. I caught the words of a sharp, +short order, and the heavy wagon lurched forward, its wheels bumping +over the irregularities in the road, each jolt sending a fresh spasm of +pain through my tortured body. + +May the merciful God ever protect me from such a ride again! It seemed +interminable, while each long mile we travelled brought with it new and +greater agony of mind and body. That I did not suffer alone was early +evident from the low moans borne to me from out the darkness. Once a +weak, trembling voice prayed for release,--a short, fervent prayer, +which so impressed me in the weakness of my own anguish that I added to +it "Amen," spoken unconsciously aloud. + +"Who spoke?" asked the same voice, faintly. + +"I am Captain Wayne," I answered, almost glad to break the terrible +silence by speech of any kind; "and I merely echoed your prayer. Death +would indeed prove a welcome relief from such intensity of suffering." + +"Yes," he acquiesced gently. "I fear I have not sufficient strength to +bear mine for long; yet I am a Christian, and there are wife and child +waiting for me at home. God knows I am ready when He calls, but my duty +is to live, if possible, for their sake. They will have nothing left if +I pass on." + +"The road must grow smoother as we come down into the valley. Are your +wounds serious?" + +"I was struck by fragments of a shell," he answered, and I could tell he +spoke the words through his clinched teeth, "and am wounded in the head +as well as the body--oh, my God!" The cry was wrung from him by a sudden +tilting of the wagon, and for a moment my own pain prevented utterance. + +"I hear nothing from the other man," I managed to say at last. "Colonel +Mosby said there were three of us; surely the third man cannot be +already dead?" + +"Mercifully unconscious, I think; at least he has made no sound since I +was placed in here." + +"No, friends," spoke another and deeper voice from farther back within +the jolting wagon, "I am not unconscious, but less noticeably in pain. I +have lost a leg, yet the stump seems seared and dead, hurting me little +unless I touch it." + +We lapsed into solemn silence, it was such an effort to talk, and we had +so little to say. Each man, no doubt, was struggling, as I know I was, +to withhold expression of his agony for the sake of the others. I lay +racked in every nerve, my teeth tightly clinched, my temples beaded with +perspiration. I could hear the troopers riding without, the jingling +of their accoutrements, and the steady beat of their horses' feet being +easily distinguishable above the deeper rumble of the wheels. Then there +came a quick order in Mosby's familiar voice, a calling aloud of +some further directions to the driver, and afterwards nothing was +distinguishable excepting the noise of our own rapid progress. + +Jake drove, it seemed to me, most recklessly. I could hear the almost +constant crack of his lash and the rough words of goading hurled at +the straining mules. The road appeared to be filled with roots, while +occasionally the wheels would strike a stone, coming down again with a +jar that nearly drove me frantic. The chill night air swept in through +the open front of the hood, and made me feel as if my veins were filled +with ice, even while the inflammation of my wounds burned and throbbed +as with fire. The pitiful moaning of the man who lay next me grew +gradually fainter, and finally ceased altogether. Tortured as I was, +yet I could not but think of the wife and child far away praying for +his safe return. For their sake I forced back the intensity of my own +sufferings and spoke into the darkness. + +"The man who prayed," I said, not knowing which of my two companions it +might be. "Are you suffering less, that you have ceased to moan?" + +There was no answer. Then the loose hay rustled, as though some one was +slowly dragging his helpless body through it. A moment later the deep +voice spoke: + +"He is dead," solemnly. "God has answered his prayer. His hand already +begins to feel cold." + +"Dead?" I echoed, inexpressibly shocked. "Do you know his name?" + +"As I am Major Wilkins, it must be Colonel Colby who has died. May God +be merciful to the widow and the orphan." + +The hours that followed were all but endless. I knew we had reached the +lower valley, for the road became more level, yet the slightest jolting +now was sufficient to render me crazed with pain, and I had lost all +power of restraint. My tortured nerves throbbed; the fever gripped me, +and my mind began to wander. Visions of delirium came, and I dreamed +dreams too terrible for record: demons danced on the drifting clouds +before me, while whirling savages chanting in horrid discord stuck my +frenzied body full of blazing brands. At times I was awake, calling in +vain for water to quench a thirst which grew maddening, then I lapsed +into a semi-consciousness that drove me wild with its delirious fancies. +I knew vaguely that the Major had crept back through the darkness and +passed his strong arm gently beneath my head. I heard him shouting in +his deep voice to the driver for something to drink, but was unaware of +any response. All became blurred, confused, bewildering. I thought it +was my mother comforting me. The faint gray daylight stole in at last +through the cracks of the wagon cover; I could dimly distinguish a dark +face bending over me, framed by a heavy gray beard, and then, merciful +unconsciousness came, and I rested as one dead beside the corpse of the +Colonel. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +A LOST REGIMENT + + +IT was a bright, sunshiny day in early spring. Birds were sweetly +singing in the trees lining the road I was travelling, the grass on +either side was softly green, and beautified by countless wild-flowers +blooming in great variety of coloring. Nothing seemed to speak of war, +although I was amid the very heart of its desolation, save the deserted +houses I was continually passing, and the fenceless, untilled fields. I +must have shown my late illness greatly, for the few I met, as I tramped +slowly onward, mostly soldiers, gazed at me curiously, as if they +mistook me for the ghost of some dead comrade; and I doubt not my pale +face, yet bearing the deep imprint of pain, with the long untrimmed hair +framing it, and the blood-stained, ragged uniform, the same I wore that +fierce day of battle, rendered me an object of wonder. + +All through those long, weary winter weeks I had been hovering between +life and death in an obscure hospital at Richmond. How I first came +there I know not, but when at length I struggled back to recollection +and life, there I found myself, and there I remained, slowly +convalescing, a prisoner to weakness, until finally discharged but two +days before. During those months little that related to the progress of +the war reached me. My nurses were black-robed nuns, kind-hearted and +tender of touch, but feeling slight interest in affairs of the world +without. I saw no old-time familiar faces, while the few wounded about +me were fully as ignorant of passing events as myself. The moment the +door was opened to permit of my passing forth into the world again, I +sought eagerly to discover the present station of my old comrades in +arms, yet could learn only that the cavalry brigade with which I had +formerly served was in camp somewhere near Appomattox Court House. On +foot and moneyless, I set off alone, my sole anxiety to be once more +with friends; and now, at the beginning of the second day, I was already +beyond Petersburg, and sturdily pushing westward. + +A battery of light artillery was parked in a field upon my right, but so +far away from the road that I hesitated to travel that distance simply +to ask a question which it was extremely doubtful if they would be able +to answer. Instead I pushed on grimly, and as the road swerved slightly +to the left, passing through a grove of handsome trees, I came suddenly +opposite a large house of imposing aspect. A group of Confederate +officers stood in converse beside the gate leading into the open +driveway, and as I paused a moment, gazing at them and wondering whom +I had better address,--for I recognized none of the faces fronting +me,--one among the group turned suddenly, and took a hurried step in my +direction, as though despatched upon an errand of importance. He was a +tall, slender man, wearing a long gray moustache, and I no sooner viewed +his face than I recognized him as having been one of those officers +present in General Lee's tent the day I was sent out with despatches. He +glanced at me curiously, yet with no sign of recognition, but before he +could pass I accosted him. + +"Colonel Maitland," I said, "you doubtless remember me. I am seeking my +old command; would you kindly inform me where it may be found?" + +He stopped instantly at sound of my voice, and stared at me in odd +bewilderment; but my words had already reached the ears of the others, +and before he had found an answer another voice spoke sternly: "What is +all this? Who are you, sir? What masquerade puts you into that parody of +a captain's uniform?" + +I turned and looked into the flushed, indignant face of General Lee. + +"It is no masquerade, sir," I answered, instantly removing my hat; "it +is the rightful uniform of my rank, greatly as I regret its present +condition." + +He gazed at me keenly, evidently doubtful as to his best course of +action, and I heard an officer behind him laugh. + +"Where are you from?" + +"I was discharged from St. Mary's Hospital in Richmond day before +yesterday, and am now seeking to rejoin my regiment." + +I almost imagined I was looked upon as a soldier crazed by his +sufferings; I heard a whisper, "Out of his head," yet as I gazed +earnestly into those stern gray eyes which fronted me, they suddenly +grew moist. + +"Surely," he said gravely, "I have seen your face before. To what +regiment were you attached?" + +"The ----th Virginia Cavalry." + +The buzzing of voices about me instantly ceased, and General Lee took a +step nearer. + +"The ----th Virginia? You were a captain? Surely this is not Philip +Wayne?" + +So deeply surprised was his tone, so uncertain his recognition, I +scarcely knew what to answer. Had I lost my very identity? was this all +a dream? + +"I am Captain Wayne, Troop D, ----th Virginia." + +He grasped my hand warmly between both his own, and his kindly face lit +up instantly with a rare smile. + +"Captain Wayne, I cannot tell you how greatly I rejoice at your safe +return. We certainly owe you an apology for this poor reception, but you +were reported as killed in action many months ago. I doubt not Colonel +Maitland truly believed he looked upon a ghost when you first accosted +him." + +For the moment I was unable to speak, so deeply did his words affect me. + +"I fear, Captain Wayne," he continued gravely, yet retaining my hand +within his own, "that I must bring you sad news." + +"Sad news?" Instantly there came to me the thought of my widowed mother. +"Not from home, I trust, sir?" + +"No," with great tenderness, "your mother, I believe, remains well; +yet the words I must speak are nevertheless sad ones, and must prove a +severe shock to you. There is no ----th Virginia." + +"No ----th Virginia?" I echoed, scarce able to comprehend his meaning, +"no ----th Virginia? I beg you to explain, sir; surely"--and I looked +about me upon the various uniforms of the service present--"the war has +not yet ceased--we have not surrendered?" + +"No, my boy," and the old hero reverently bared his gray head in the +sunlight, "but the ----th Virginia gave itself to the South that day in +the Shenandoah." + +I must have grown very white, for a young aide sprang hastily forward +and passed his arm about me. Yet I scarcely realized the action, for my +whole thought was with the dead. + +"Do you mean they are all gone?" I questioned, tremblingly, hardly able +to grasp the full dread import of such ghastly tidings. "Surely, General +Lee, some among them must have come back." + +"So few," he responded soberly, his hat still retained in his hand, "so +very few that we could only scatter them in other commands. But you +have not yet fully recovered your strength. You must not remain longer +standing here. Major Holmes, will you kindly conduct Captain Wayne to +my headquarters, and see that he is furnished with a uniform suitable to +his rank. For the present he will serve as extra aide upon my personal +staff." + +I turned away, the Major leading me as if I had been a child. I walked +as a man stunned by some sudden, unexpected blow. Speech was impossible, +for all sensation seemed dead within me, save the one vivid memory of +those loved comrades who had perished on the field. I could not realize, +even dimly, in that awful hour, that of all those gallant fellows who +had ridden so often at my side not enough remained alive to retain the +old regimental name and number. The officer with me, himself a tried, +true soldier, comprehended something of the agitation which swayed me, +and respecting my silence, made no attempt to break my sorrowful reverie +by speech. At the door of the room assigned me for present quarters, +he left me with a warm, sympathetic pressure of the hand, and feeling +utterly worn out, disheartened to a degree I had never before known, I +flung myself face downward upon the cot and burst into tears. + +With true soldierly kindness they left me to conquer my own sorrow and +depression, and when I finally joined the mess upon the following +day, clad now in fit uniform, I had regained no small measure of +self-restraint, and with it came likewise renewal of the military +spirit. My welcome proved extremely cordial, and the conversation of +the others present soon placed in my possession whatever of incident had +occurred since that disastrous day of battle in the valley. It was not +much, other than a variety of desultory skirmishing, together with +the steady closing in upon our lines of the overwhelming masses of the +enemy, but I noted that the officers of the staff no longer hesitated +to voice frankly the prevailing sentiment that the vast and unequal +struggle was now rapidly drawing to its close. No attempt was made to +conceal our weakness, nor to disguise the fact that we were making a +last desperate stand. It was evident to all that nothing now remained +but to fold our tattered battle-flags with honor. + +Directly opposite me, at the long and rather scantily furnished +mess-table, was seated a captain of infantry, quite foreign in +appearance,--a tall, slender man, wearing a light-colored moustache and +goatee. His name, as I gathered from the conversation, was Carlson, and +I was considerably surprised at the fixedness with which his eyes were +fastened upon me during the earlier part of the meal. Thinking we +might have met somewhere before, I ransacked my memory in vain for any +recollection which would serve to account for his evident interest in +me. Finally, not a little annoyed by the persistency of his stare, I +ventured to ask, as pleasantly as possible: + +"Captain Carlson, do I remind you of some one, since you regard me so +intently?" + +The man instantly flushed all over his fair face at this direct inquiry. + +"It vas not dat" (he almost stammered in sudden confusion, speaking +quite brokenly), "bot, sair, it haf come to me dat you vos an insulter +of womens, an' had refuse to fight mit mens. I know not; it seems not +so." + +I was upon my feet in an instant, scarcely crediting my own ears, yet on +fire with indignation. + +"I know not what you may mean," I said, white with anger. "But I hold +you personally accountable for those words, and you shall discover that +I will fight 'mit mens.'" + +He pushed his chair hastily back, his face fairly crimson, and began to +stammer an explanation; but Maitland interfered. + +"What does all this mean, Carlson?" he exclaimed sternly. "Sit down, +Wayne--there is some strange mistake here." + +I resumed my chair, wondering if they had all gone crazy, yet resolved +upon taking instant action if some satisfactory explanation were not at +once forthcoming. + +"Come, Carlson, what do you mean by addressing such language to Captain +Wayne?" + +"Veil," said the Swede, so agitated by the excitement about him he could +scarcely find English in which to express himself intelligibly, "it vos +dis vay. I vould not insult Captain Vayne; oh, no, bot it vos told to +me, an' I vould haf him to know how it all vos. It vos two months ago I +go mit de flag of truce into de Federal lines at Minersville. You know +dat time? I vos vaitin' for answer ven a Yankee rides oop, an' looks me +all ofer like I vos a hog. 'Veil,' I say, plain like, 'vot you vant?' He +say, 'I heard der vos Reb officer come in der lines, an' I rides down to +see if he vos der hound vot I vanted to horsevip.' 'Veil,' I say, for +it made me much mad, 'maybe you like to horsevip me?' 'No,' he says, +laughing, 'it vos a damn pup in der ----th Virginia Cavalry, named +Vayne, I am after,' I say, 'Vot has he done?' He says, 'He insult a +voman, an' vould not fight mit me.'" + +He looked about him anxiously to see if we comprehended his words. + +"And what did you say?" from a dozen eager voices. + +The Swede gazed at them in manifest astonishment. + +"I say I knowed netting about der voman, but if he say dat an officer +of der ----th Virginia Cavalry vould not fight mit him he vos a damned +liar. I vould have hit him, but I vos under der flag of truce." + +I reached my hand out to him across the table. + +"I thank you, Captain Carlson," I said, "for both your message and your +answer. What did this man look like?" + +"He vos a pig vellow, mit a black moustache and gray eyes." + +"Do you know him?" questioned Maitland. + +"His name is Brennan," I answered slowly, "a major in the Federal +service. We have already met twice in rough and tumble contests, but the +next time it will be with steel." + +"There is a woman, then?" + +"It seems from Captain Carlson's report he has seen fit to connect one +with our difficulty." + +There was a pause, as if they waited for me to add some further +explanation, but I could not--her name should never be idly discussed +about a mess-table through any word of mine. + +"Gentlemen," said Maitland at last, gravely, "this is evidently a +personal matter with which we have no direct concern. Captain Wayne's +reputation is not one to be questioned, either as regards his chivalry +toward women or his bravery in arms. I pledge you his early meeting with +this major." + +They drank the toast standing, and I read in each face before me a +frank, soldierly confidence and comradeship which caused my heart to +glow. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE SCOUTING DETAIL + + +This premeditated insult, which Brennan had evidently despatched +broadcast in hope that through some unknown channel it might reach me, +changed my entire relationship with the man. Heretofore, while feeling +deep resentment toward him, I yet was strongly inclined to avoid any +personal meeting. Fear had nothing whatever to do with this shrinking on +my part, nor would I have deliberately avoided him, yet as the husband +of Edith Brennan I realized that if he suffered seriously at my hands +it must for ever separate us. I felt more and more deeply the shame of +loving the wife of another, and certainly I could never bring myself +to advertise her as in any way the cause of so disgraceful a brawl. Far +better was it for me to suffer in silence any taunts and degradations he +chose to place upon me. Surely I loved her well enough to remain patient +for her sake. + +But now all this had been changed by a word. His deliberate attempt to +soil my reputation among officers of my own corps left me no choice but +that of a resort to arms. I have never felt that Brennan was at heart +a bad man; he was hard, stern, revengeful, yet I have no doubt under +different circumstances I might even have valued him highly as a comrade +or a friend. There is no demon like jealousy; and his early distrust +of me, fostered by that mad disease, had apparently warped his entire +nature. Yet not even for love could I consent to leave my honor +undefended, and after those hateful words there could be no rest for me +until our differences were settled by the stern arbitrament of the naked +blade. All prudence to the winds, no opportunity of meeting him should +now be cast aside. + +I decided this carefully before falling asleep, and had almost +determined upon seeking release from immediate duty that I might hunt +him out even within the fancied security of his own camp. This latter +plan, however, was instantly halted by those events which crowded +swiftly upon me. The coming day was barely gray in the east when I was +awakened by a heavy pounding upon the door. A smart-looking orderly +stood without. + +"Captain Wayne?" he asked. + +"That is my name. What have you, my man?" + +"Compliments of Colonel Maitland, chief of staff, sir," he said, handing +me a folded paper. + +I opened it eagerly, for I was more than ready to welcome any occurrence +which would help to change the tenor of my thought. + +"Dear Wayne:" the private note read, "Believing you would be glad to +have the detail, I have just arranged to send you at once upon some +active service. Please report at these quarters immediately, fully +equipped for the field." + +Glad! It was the very medicine I most needed, and within twenty minutes +of my receipt of this communication I was with Maitland, thanking him +warmly for his thoughtfulness. + +"Not another word, Wayne," he insisted. "It is not much, a mere scouting +detail over neutral territory, and will probably prove dull enough. I +only hope it may help to divert your mind a trifle. Now listen--you +are to proceed with twenty mounted men of the escort west as far as the +foot-hills, and are expected to note carefully three things: First, the +condition of forage for the sustenance of a wagon train; second, what +forces of Federal troops, if any, are along the Honeywell; and +third, the gathering of all information obtainable as to the reported +consolidation of guerillas for purposes of plunder between the lines. +If time suffice, you might cross over into the valley of the Cowskin and +learn the condition of forage there as well. A guide will accompany your +party, and you are to avoid contact with the enemy as far as possible. +Your men carry five days' rations. You understand fully?" + +"I do, sir; I presume I am to start at once?" + +"Your squad, under command of Sergeant Ebers, is already waiting +outside." + +I found them a sturdy looking lot, but, as they composed a portion +of the commander's personal guard, somewhat better attired than I was +accustomed to seeing Confederate soldiers. I possessed a field officer's +prejudice relative to escort soldiery, yet their equipment looked +well, they sat their horses easily, and I could find nothing worthy of +criticism. I should have preferred riding at the head of men from my old +troop, but in all probability we would none of us be called upon to draw +a sabre. + +"Are you all ready, Sergeant?" I asked of the rather heavy-weight German +who stood fronting me, his broad, red face as impassive as though carved +from stone. + +"Ve vos, Captain." + +"Where is the guide?" + +"Dot is him, mit der mule, ain't it?" he answered, pointing with one +huge hand down the road. + +"Very well, we will pick him up then as we go." I cared so little as +to whether or not he accompanied us at all, that we had advanced some +distance before the thought of him again occurred to me. I knew the +gentry fairly well, and had experienced in the past so many evidences of +their stupidity, if not actual disloyalty, as to prefer my own knowledge +of the country to theirs. My thought, indeed, for several miles was not +at all with the little party of troopers jogging steadily at my heels, +nor, in truth, was it greatly concerned with the fate of the expedition. +That was but service routine, and I rode forward carelessly enough, +never once dreaming that every hour of progress was bearing me toward +the most important adventure of my life. So I feel we constantly advance +into the future; and it is well that we do not know, for few would +possess the necessary courage if beforehand we might perceive the +sorrows and the dangers. + +Outside my military duties I had but one thought in those days--Edith +Brennan. The great struggle was rapidly drawing to its close; hope +of future military preferment could no longer inspire a Confederate +soldier, for we realized fully we were battling in a lost cause. +All ambition which I might otherwise have experienced was therefore +concentrated by this fate upon the woman I loved. And how earnestly +I endeavored not to love her; how I sought to stifle such feeling, to +remain true to what I deemed my highest duty to her and to my own honor! +And yet she remained my constant dream. I thought of her now as I rode +into the west. Somewhere out yonder, amid those distant blue hills--ay! +even within the very zone of my present duty--it was possible she yet +waited for the war to cease. I wished in my heart I might again meet +her, and then roundly denounced myself as a cur for having such a +desire. Yet again and again would the fond hope recur, surging up +unbidden into my brain as I rode steadily forward, oblivious of +both distance and pace, the sinking sun full in my eyes, yet utterly +forgetful of the hoof-beats pounding along behind me. It was the German +sergeant who recalled me to the responsibilities of command. + +"Captain," he exclaimed apologetically, riding up to my side, and wiping +his round perspiring face with great energy, "ve are riding too hard, +ain't ve? Mein Gott, but der horses vill give out ontirely, already." + +"Is that so?" I asked in surprise at his words. A single swift glance +around convinced me he was correct, for the mounts were exceedingly +soft, and already looked nearly played out from our sharp pace. "Very +well, Ebers, we will halt here." + +With a sigh of relief he drew back, and as he did so my eyes fell for +the first time upon the guide. As I live, it was Jed Bungay, and when I +stared at him in sudden amazement he broke into a broad grin. + + "'It trickled still, the starting tear, + When light a footstep struck her ear, + And Snowdoun's graceful knight was near,'" + +he quoted gravely, his eyes brightening at my recognition. "Durn if I +didn't begin ter think as how ye'd gone an' clar fergot me, Cap." + +"Not a bit of it, Jed," and I rode up to him and extended my hand. "But +how came you here? Are you the guide?" + +"Sure thing, Cap; know this yere kintry like a buk. 'Jaded horsemen from +the west, at evening to the castle pressed.' By gum, you put Beelzebub +an' me through a blamed hard jolt of it so fur." + +"Beelzebub?" + +"Ye bet, ther muel; I reckon as how ye ain't gone an' fergot him, +hev ye?" and the little man squirmed in the delight of his vivid +recollection. "'One blast upon his bugle horn is worth a thousand men.' +But ye did ride like thunder, Cap, that's a fac', an' I ain't ther only +one done up, neither. Jist take a squint et thet fat Dutchman thar." + +The fleshy Sergeant was undoubtedly fatigued, yet he was a thorough +soldier, a strict disciplinarian, and although he moved as if his coarse +army trousers were constant torture, he was not guilty of omitting any +known requirement of his office. + +"Chones", he shouted impressively, "dot is not a good vay to tie dot +horse. By Chiminy, he vould break his neck mit der rope. Glen, vy you +makes play mit der gun dot vay? Donnerwetter! ven I speak mit you, stand +op mit der little finger to der seam of der pantaloons. You vill never +be no good." + +"Ebers," I interrupted, "let the men rest as they please. I regret +having ridden so hard, but I am used to soldiers who are toughened in +field work. Are you pretty sore, Sergeant?" + +"By Chiminy, I am, Captain; der skin vos rubbed off me by der saddle," +he answered, touching the afflicted part tenderly. "It vos der rackin' +gait mit der horse vot did it. He is der vorst horse dot ever I ride." + +"Well, get as comfortable as you can, and I'll try to be more thoughtful +in the future. Bungay, what has become of Maria?" + +The little man's eyes suddenly filled with tears. + +"I jist don't know, Cap," he answered mournfully. + + "'No more at dawning morn I rise + And sun myself in Ellen's eyes. + That life is lost to love and me.' + +"Whin I got hum ther ol' cabin hed bin plum burnt down, nary stick o' +it left, by gum! an' Mariar she wus clean gone. Hain't seed neither hide +ner hair o' her since, thet's a fac'. An' I sorter drifted back ter you +uns 'cause I didn't hev nowhar else ter go." + +"Did you hunt for her among the old plantations along the valley?" I +asked, deeply touched by his evident feeling. "She very likely sought +refuge in some of those houses." + +He looked at me in surprise. "I reckon, Cap, as how ye don't know much +'bout whut's a goin' on in ther valley fer ther las' few months," he +said soberly, rubbing down his mule as he spoke. "Tell ye whut, thar +jist hain't no plantation houses left thar now, thet's a fac', leastwise +not north o' ther lines we uns sorter hol' onto yit. Sheridan he played +hell with his cavalry raids, an' whut the blue-bellies left ther durned +guerillas an' bushwhackers wiped up es clean es a slate. Durn if a crow +wudn't starve ter deth in ther valley now. Why, Cap, them thar deserters +an' sich truck is organized now till they're mighty nigh an army, an' +they don't skeer fer nuthin' les' ner a reg'ment. I see more ner a +hundred an' fifty in one bunch up on ther White Briar two week ago, an' +they're worse ner a parcel er pirates. I reckon as how they got Mariar, +but I 'll bet she giv 'em a hot ol' time afore she done quit." + +Rumors of this state of affairs to north and west of our defending lines +had already reached me,--indeed, the verification had formed part of +my instructions; but Bungay's homely yet graphic description made the +situation appear terribly real, and my thought went instantly forth to +those I knew who might even then be exposed to this great and unexpected +danger. That it was indeed menacing and constantly growing worse I +could not doubt; the certainty of our early defeat was leading to almost +wholesale desertions, and doubtless many of these went to swell those +lawless ranks, whose sole purpose was plunder, and whose safe rendezvous +was the inaccessible mountains. Wherever the guarding armies left +neutral ground, there these bands overflowed and inaugurated a reign +of terror. What they had been in their weakness I knew well through +experiences of the past; what they might become in strength I could +readily conjecture,--wild wolves of the hills, to whom human life was of +no account, the fierce spawn of civil war. The very conception of Edith +Brennan in such hands as these was agony. I felt I could never rest +until assured of her safety, and since my orders granted me full +authority to prolong my journey, I might ascertain whether or not she +yet remained within the valley. + +"Jed," I asked, my mind finally settled, "do you know the old Minor +plantation?" + +"Ol Jedge Minor's place? Sure; it's up on ther south branch of ther +Cowskin, an' used ter be quite a shebang afore ther war, an' afore ther +ol' Jedge died. I reckon as how he hed ther biggest gang o' niggers +in ther whole county, an' he wus allers durn gud ter 'em tew. Never no +nigger ever run 'way from ol' Jedge Minor, ye bet. Mariar she used ter +live thar whin Mis' Celie wus a baby." + +"Have those fellows got down that far yet?" + +"Wal, I reckon not, but durn if I know fer sure, Cap. Ther whole valley +is mighty bare north o' thar, fer I rid through it, an' Beelzebub hed +ter live on clay, fer sure. Gee! but he wus hot. So them thar vultures +hes got ter either work south er quit, an' I reckon as how they hain't +likely ter quit till they hes tew. 'Sides, they're strong 'nough by now +ter laugh et any sojers thar'bouts, an' ther ol' Minor place u'd make +mighty gud pickin'. Thar hain't neither army ever bin up thar durin' +ther war." + +"How long would it take us to reach there?" + +"'Bout two days, I reckon, pervidin' ye shuck ther Dutchman." + +I turned and looked at my men in some perplexity. They were scattered +along the edge of the road, and only one group had taken the precaution +to build a fire. The Sergeant lay flat upon his back on a grassy knoll, +his stomach rising and falling with a regularity which convinced me he +was sleeping. + +"Ebers," I said sternly. + +There was no response, and I could distinguish clearly his heavy +breathing. + +"One of you stir up the Sergeant, will you? I want to speak with him." + +A young fellow came forward grinning, and laid one hand heavily on his +officer's shoulder. + +"Come, Dutchy," he said with easy familiarity, "get up!" + +The Sergeant shot to an upright position like a jack-in-the-box. "Mein +Gott," he asked anxiously, "is it der Yanks vot come already?" + +"Hell, no; but the Captain wants you." + +"Der Captain?" He arose ponderously, and came forward with a decidedly +halting gait. + +"Vos I sent for?" he asked. + +"Yes," I said; "I want you to have the men get their supper at once, as +we shall be obliged to ride a good portion of the night." + +"Ride?" and his face took on an expression of genuine horror. "By +Chiminy, Captain, it vos impossible. Mem Gott! it could not be done." + +"Why, what is the difficulty, Sergeant?" + +"I am vounded vare I sets me down on der saddle. I am all--vot you calls +it?--rare. Dunder, but it could not be." + +"I am exceedingly sorry, Ebers, and if you are unable to travel we shall +be compelled to leave you behind," I said, tired of it all by this time. +"Get the men to their supper. We shall go on in an hour." + +How often since have I smiled at the expression upon his solemn round +face as he turned ruefully away! + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +AN EMBARRASSING SITUATION + + +IT was well into the third day when we came down into the fertile valley +of the Cowskin. It had proven an uneventful ride thus far, for we had +met with no adventures and had observed little worthy of consideration +from a military standpoint. We had travelled slowly, carefully watchful +of our horses, not only because we felt they might be greatly needed +farther on, but owing to the impoverished and almost deserted country +through which we rode. Abandoned houses, many of them devastated by +fire, deserted negro quarters, and uncultivated fields greeted our eyes +constantly, and told us we were in the track of armies. Forage there was +absolutely none, while even the pasture-land gave small return. The men +had done well, however, and were stiffening nicely into field soldiers, +while my Teutonic second in command had sufficiently recovered from his +wounds to sit his saddle with some elephantine grace. He early proved +himself a good soldier, and I learned he had seen considerable active +service in Europe. + +While constantly observant of those points regarding which I had been +despatched, my one overmastering thought during all those hours was +the possibility of again meeting with Edith Brennan and proving of some +assistance to her. Her greeting of me in the Federal hospital had been +so sweetly gracious, so marked with tender sympathy, while the memory +of her words, and even more of the look which accompanied them, had so +remained with me in encouragement that I longed to encounter her again. +God knows what I hoped for, for I knew well it must all inevitably end +in despair, yet like the moth I must continue to singe my wings until +the flame devoured me. Now, however, as we actually drew near to where I +supposed she might be, I felt my earlier courage fast deserting me. +Nor was I furnished with even the slightest excuse for pressing on; my +orders did not positively compel me to proceed, and nothing appeared +along the way to lead me to suppose that harm of any kind threatened +that peaceful valley. Everything meeting my eyes evidenced that here, at +least, war with its attendant horrors had not come. Totally without the +beaten track of those great armies which had battled so fiercely for the +Shenandoah, it had been traversed only by a few scouting and foraging +parties, and so short had been their stay that even the rail fences +remained undisturbed to guard the fields, and nowhere did I note outward +signs of devastation. It was Virginia as I recalled it in those old days +of peace and plenty, before civil strife had sown the land with dead. + +What possible excuse, then, had I for going there? In my own heart I +knew I had none, or one so poor and selfish I scarcely durst whisper it +even to myself; yet I rode steadily on. Impelled by my own weakness, +or drawn irresistibly by fate,--whichever the real cause I know not,--I +would at least look upon those walls that had once sheltered her, would +learn if possible if she was yet there. Then--well, in the bondage of my +passion I hoped for what might happen, as every lover does. + +It must have been two o'clock; we had baited our horses, I remember, an +hour previous; and the Sergeant had enjoyed his noonday siesta beneath +the shade of a great bush bearing purple blossoms. The road we had been +travelling since early morning wound in and out among great trees, +and crossed and recrossed the little stream called the Cowskin until I +almost thought we had lost our way. We met with no one in all the long +day's riding, not even a stray negro, and indeed it was some hours since +we had passed a house of any kind. Leaving the brook behind us we toiled +slowly up a long hill, and at the top Bungay, riding beside me, pointed +to the westward. + +"Cap," he said, "thar is ther Minor place." + +The very sight of it in the distance was a thrill--a great white house +placed well back from the road and almost hidden from sight by fine, +large trees; an old-fashioned, big-roomed house it looked to be, built +after the colonial type, a wide veranda upon three sides, with fluted +columns to support the overhanging roof. + +"Hain't no signs es fer es I kin see of any trouble havin' 'curred +thar," Jed said slowly, his shrewd gray eyes roaming over the peaceful +scene. "Somebody ter hum tew, fer ther chimley is a smokin'." + +Of course, now I was there, the only sensible thing for me to do +would have been to ride openly to the front door, and thus learn all I +desired. But what man who loves, who is continually swayed by hopes and +fears, by strength and weakness, ever does the sensible thing? I had +certainly intended doing so at the start, but now my nerve failed me. +She was the wife of another. I could not confess I had ventured to come +to her in love, nor could I look into those clear, honest, questioning +eyes and lie. + +"Halt!" I ordered. "Sergeant!" + +"I am here, Captain." + +"Take your men down into that hollow yonder, and remain there until I +return. Better post a sentry on the hill here." + +"It vill be done, Captain." + +"I shall not, probably, be absent more than an hour, so don't permit the +men to stray." + +"Dot is it, Captain. I vill be mit dem all over." + +I rode down alone into the thick woods at the foot of the hill, and +dismounting, tied my horse to a sapling. Then on foot I struck across +the fields, my intention being to come in by way of the negro quarters +at the rear, in hope of meeting some one from whom I might inquire +relative to the great house and its inmates. + +It was a slight upward trend of land I had to traverse, and although the +house was a most sightly object and stood upon the very summit of +the elevation, yet so surrounded was it with trees, both fruit and +ornamental, I was enabled to make but little of its situation until I +approached the out-buildings. I met with no one, nor could I perceive +any negroes about the slave quarters. Yet the place did not bear the +appearance of desertion. There were horses in the stable, a cat was +curled up on one of the cabin doorsteps, and smoke continued to pour in +a dull yellow cloud from the kitchen chimney. Altogether there was much +in the situation to puzzle over, and I no longer regretted that I had +exercised some caution in my approach. + +The orchard, with the remains of a garden, lay between the house and the +stable, protected by a low fence of whitened pickets. So far as I +could observe, it contained no occupant, and I pushed open the gate +and started down a narrow cinder-path which led between two rows of low +bushes. To right of me was an extensive grape-arbor completely covered +with vines, the fresh green leaves forming a delightful contrast to the +deep blue sky beyond. As I came opposite an opening leading into this +arbor I suddenly caught the flutter of drapery and stopped instantly, my +heart throbbing like a frightened girl's. It was quite dark beneath the +vine shadow, and I could make out no more than that a woman stood there; +her back toward me, busied at some task. Possibly she felt my presence, +for all at once she glanced around, and upon perceiving me gave vent to +a quick exclamation of terror. + +"Pardon me," I said hastily, and removing my hat, "but you have nothing +to fear." + +There was a moment's hesitancy on her part, and I knew I was being +scrutinized by a pair of bright eyes. + +"Surely," said a familiar voice, "I cannot be mistaken--you are Captain +Wayne." + +Before I could even answer she stepped forth from her partial +concealment and advanced toward me with cordially extended hands. It was +Celia Minor. + +"Well, of all men!" she cried gayly, her dark eyes smiling a most kindly +welcome. "And Edith and I were speaking about you only yesterday. That +is, I was, for really I do not recall now that Edith made any remark +apropos of the subject. You have no idea, Captain Wayne, what a hero I +have made you out to be. It would make you positively vain if I should +confess; why, Arthur has actually become so jealous that he has almost +forbidden me even to mention your name in his presence. So when I want +to talk about you I am compelled to go to Edith. She hasn't power to +stop me, you know, but I'm sure I must bore her awfully. And then to +think that when you stood there just now, and I saw your gray uniform, +I actually thought the guerillas had come. My heart beats so now I can +hardly talk. But how pale and haggard you look--is it that horrible +wound which troubles you still?" + +"I have been discharged from the hospital only a short time," I +answered, as she paused to take breath. "Indeed, this is my first +military service for several months, yet I am feeling quite strong +again. Mrs. Brennan, then, is still with you?" + +"Oh, yes; we have been here all winter long. It has been so dull, +for really nothing has happened, and the valley is quite devoid of +inhabitants--even the negroes have gone hunting freedom. But Major +Brennan and Arthur are to be here this afternoon, and sometime to-night +we are all of us going away together. How glad I am you arrived before +we left! I wouldn't have missed meeting you for worlds. Do you know, +it is so hard for me not to call you Colonel Curran, but Edith always +insists on my saying Captain Wayne, so that it comes more natural now. +Really, sometimes I actually believe she has corrected me a dozen times +a day, for you know we have so little to talk about here that we are +always drifting back to what occurred to us while we were with the army. +I often wonder Edith can be contented here at all, but she really seems +to regret that we must leave. I'm sure I don't, even if I was born here; +it's an awful poky old place." + +I gave heed to but little of her good-humored chatter after the first +sentence. Eager as I was to meet Brennan, I had no desire that we should +meet in the presence of his wife. Better, far better, would it be for me +to leave at once and without even seeing her. + +"You say you are about to depart?" I asked, determined to learn all +possible regarding their plans. "Do you go North?" + +"Yes, to Baltimore and Washington. The guerillas are becoming so +desperate in this neighborhood that we are actually afraid to remain +here longer. They attacked the Cuyler plantation, only ten miles +from here, two weeks ago, killed old Mr. Cuyler, turned his wife out +partially dressed in the middle of the night, looted the house of +everything it contained of value, and then set it on fire. You see we +have no men folks here, except two negroes, who have clung to us because +they were so aged they were afraid to leave--just mamma, Edith, my old +nurse, and myself. It seems so lonely, and Major Brennan and Arthur both +insist it is no longer safe. So they are coming with a cavalry escort to +take us all North. I am sure we shall have a splendid time." + +"You have experienced no trouble, then, thus far?" + +"Oh, none at all--we have not even been bothered by scouting parties. +Oh, I do not mean you; you are no bother. But yesterday there was a +horrible man here; he came to the kitchen door, and asked all sorts of +impudent questions. Mrs. Bungay actually had to threaten him with a gun +before he would leave." + +"Is Maria Bungay here, then?" + +"Why, certainly; do you know her? Isn't she a delightful old dear,--just +as good as a man?" + +"Her husband is with my party." + +"Jed--really? Why, do you know, Maria has got it into her head that he +had run away from her. I should so love to witness their meeting; it +would be most interesting. But you must come into the house, Captain +Wayne; Edith will be overjoyed to see you again, although you know she +is never demonstrative, as I am. It must be awfully nice to be always +cool and calm, don't you think?" + +Determined that I would not be tempted, I yet hesitated, and my +vivacious companion took everything for granted at once. + +"Oh, before we go in, won't you do me a favor?" she asked. "But of +course you will. I was trying to tie this grapevine into place when you +surprised me, but I could not hold on with one hand and tie with the +other. See what I mean?" And placing one slender foot upon a slat of +the trellis she lifted herself up until she could barely reach the +refractory branch. "Now," she said, smiling down upon me, "please just +hold me here for a moment until I secure this end." + +My hand was scarcely upon her in support when the slender slat snapped +beneath her weight. As she fell I caught her with both arms. For a +moment she lay, panting and startled, on my breast; then, as with a +little laugh she disengaged herself from my embrace, we stood there hand +in hand and face to face with Edith Brennan. + +Shall I ever forget the look within her eyes? How plainly I saw +it, although she stood half hidden beneath the shadow of the vines. +Amazement, incredulity, scorn were expressed there, yet even as I marked +them all became merged into proud unconsciousness. She would have turned +away without a word, but my companion stopped her. + +"Edith," she cried eagerly, "do you not see? This is Captain Wayne." + +She turned toward me and slightly inclined her head. + +"I recognized Captain Wayne," was her calm answer, "and regret greatly +having intruded upon him. It was entirely unintentional, and I have no +desire to remain." + +I could not have spoken at that moment to save my life. It fairly +stunned me to realize the construction she so plainly placed upon the +scene just enacted. Not so the girl at my side. Her cheeks flushed with +indignation, and her audacity gave her speech which made matters even +worse than before. + +"You are exceedingly free with your criticisms, Edith," she exclaimed +sharply, as the latter turned her back upon us. "Perhaps it would be as +well for you first to ascertain the truth." + +"You wholly mistake," was the calm reply. "I have not presumed to +criticise. Why should I? It is not a matter which interests me in the +least. I presume you have no further objection to my returning to the +house?" + +She did not so much as deign to look again at either of us, but as she +moved slowly out of sight Miss Minor turned and looked into my face with +questioning eyes. What she may have read there I know not, but she sank +back upon a bench and burst into a merry peal of laughter. + +"Isn't it perfectly ridiculous!" she cried, as soon as she was able to +speak. "Only I do hope she won't tell Arthur." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +WE CAPTURE A COURIER + + +THE girl's light burst of laughter aroused me thoroughly to a sense of +our situation. "You seem to derive much amusement from a condition +of affairs almost intolerable to me," I said bitterly. "I have always +valued most highly the friendship of Mrs. Brennan, but this unfortunate +occurrence will doubtless end it." + +She glanced up at me, her long lashes wet, but her dark eyes sparkling +with mischief. + +"Oh, she won't care so far as you are concerned," she exclaimed +indifferently. "But I suppose she will think I am perfectly horrid. +Well, I don't care if she does; she might have waited and learned the +truth first. Wasn't her face a study? And how shall I ever explain to +Arthur so that he will understand? I'm sure I have got the worst of +it. Oh, Captain Wayne, is my hair all ruffled up? I know I look like a +fright. You must come in now, and we will explain to Mrs. Brennan the +whole matter. She cannot help believing us both, while I know she would +be so cold and proud with me alone." + +I shook my head decisively. Perhaps it was better ended so; at least I +possessed no courage just then to face her indignation. She might but +deem we had concocted our explanation, and would very likely receive it +with all the scorn she felt it deserved. Besides, it was clear there +was nothing I could do to aid them. I should be now merely an unwelcome +intruder. An escort was to be there shortly to convoy them northward, +and for me to be found in their company by Brennan would only inflame +him and add greatly to the embarrassment of his wife's position. Much as +I might long for immediate vindication in her sight, the plain duty of +true love was to depart at once, and permit time to straighten out the +tangle. + +"You must pardon me," I hastened to say, standing hat in hand before +her, "but it would not be best for me to intrude upon Mrs. Brennan after +her late reception. I merely halted here in order to assure myself +of your presence and safety. My men are even now waiting for me a few +hundred yards away." + +"But I wish you to meet Arthur." + +"Oh, I think not, Miss Minor. I feel warm friendship for Lieutenant +Caton, but we wear different uniforms, serve under different flags, and +a meeting here, both with armed forces behind us, would naturally have +to be a hostile one. However the Lieutenant and I might consent to a +temporary truce, his superior officer, Major Brennan, would not likely +prove of the same mind." + +"Then you really must go?" + +"Unless you specially desire to witness a cavalry skirmish in your front +dooryard, I certainly consider it best," and I held out my hand. "Surely +we part as friends, and I may hope that you will intercede in my behalf +with Mrs. Brennan?" + +She rose up impulsively. + +"How ridiculous; how supremely ridiculous! Why, of course I will, though +I don't suppose Edith really cares very much, but she believed it would +be highly proper to be shocked. I don't think she likes you so very well +anyway, Captain Wayne, for she never will talk about you." + +With these cheering words ringing in my ears, and feeling thoroughly +defeated in every cherished hope, I strode savagely down the long hill +and mounted my horse. How roughly fortune had buffeted me, to be sure, +and how extremely small the inspiration left. Well, perhaps I deserved +it for ever permitting myself to love one whom I knew to be the wife of +another. Doubtless she had seized upon this slight pretext to be rid of +me, and was already rejoicing over its easy accomplishment. + +In my agitation I forgot entirely the presence of Maria Bungay at the +house, and ordering my men into saddle prepared for departure without +giving a thought to the little fellow and his domestic troubles. I chose +the road leading toward the northwest, for although I had not asked the +question I conceived it highly probable that Brennan and his party would +ride from the Federal cavalry quarters at Colter's Church, and I had no +desire to meet them. They were upon an errand of mercy of far greater +importance than my revenge. + +As we swung along through the heavily timbered land fringing our road, +Bungay pressed his mule into a trot and finally succeeded in ranging up +at my side. Even in my disturbed mental condition I was amused at his +unique style of riding, although I would not wound him by laughing. + +"I say, Cap," he said, jerking the words out to the mule's hard trot, +and grasping his saddle pommel desperately, "I sorter reckon as how +ther'll be some fun back thar afore long, 'less all signs fail." + +"Why?" I stared at him, now thoroughly aroused to the thought that he +had important news to communicate. + +"Wal," he explained slowly, "whin ye wint off, I sorter tuk a notion ter +look 'bout a bit. Used ter be an ol' stompin' ground o' mine. So Dutchy +an' me clumb thet big hill back o' whar we halted, an' by gum, down thar +in ther gully on t' other side thar's a durned big camp o' fellers." + +I reined up short, and with uplifted hand signalled the men behind to +halt. + +"Why didn't you tell me this before?" I questioned sternly. "How many +were there? and what did they look like?" + +He scratched the back of his head thoughtfully, and answered with +careful deliberation. "Durn it, I didn't jine ye till after ye'd +started, an' I reckon as how it took me all o' tew mile ter git this +yere blame muel up ter whar I cud talk. Thar's quite a smart bunch, +but they hed some pickets out, an' I cudn't git close 'nough ter tell +zackly. Dutchy thought thar wus nigh onter two hunderd o' 'em, but I +jist don't know. They wusn't dressed like sojers o' either army, an' I +reckon they're out o' ther hills." + +I glanced at my little handful of men, scarcely knowing what decision it +might be wise to make. Undoubtedly they would fight if occasion arose, +but the odds were terribly heavy; besides, if Brennan came, and his +party got away that same evening, as was planned for them to do, then +it might not be necessary for us to strike a blow. I was certainly in +no mood to expose my small command merely to save the empty house from +destruction. + +"Ebers," I said, turning toward the Sergeant, who sat his horse with +expressionless face, "you were with the guide when he discovered this +camp. How many do you think it contained? and who were they?" + +"Vel, dere vos more as two gompanies, Captain, und dere vos some horses, +but dey vos dressed--vot you calls it?--all ober not der same." + +"Not in uniform?" + +"Dot vos it." + +"Have any of the rest of you seen anything that looked suspicious?" I +asked, glancing around into the different faces. + +"Maybe I did," answered one of the troopers named Earl. "As we rode up +the first hill after leaving the house my horse picked up a stone, and +I had to stop and get it out. I reckon I fell behind a quarter of a +mile or more, and just as I started I looked back, and a party of ten or +twelve fellows was just riding in through them big gates onto the front +lawn. But them fellows was soldiers for sure; they rode regular like, +and all of them wore caps. It was so far off I couldn't tell the color +of their clothes, but them caps made me think they was Feds." + +I chose my course at once. This undoubtedly must have been Brennan's +party. + +"Thank you, my man; it would have been better if you had reported that +to me at once," I said. "However, I understand the situation much +better now. Sergeant, we will go into camp here. Post pickets in both +directions, but put your most careful men on that hill yonder. Let them +report promptly any signs of fire to the southeast, or any sound of +guns." + +We completed all our cooking before dark, and when the night finally +closed down about us it proved to be an exceedingly black one, although +the skies were clear. Sleep was an impossibility for me, as my mind was +in constant turmoil. I felt hampered, prisoned, shut in, unable to do +what I most desired. I wondered where she was--probably riding northward +beside her husband, and I bit my lip savagely at thought of it; +possibly she was even then laughing merrily in memory of my unfortunate +predicament in the garden. So she cared nothing for me, exhibited her +indifference clearly in presence of others, disliked even to hear my +name mentioned. Very well, I would take exceeding good care never again +to intrude myself upon her. Then my thoughts swerved to the big house +out yonder in the darkness. If signs of attack came to us, what should +I do? The question truly puzzled me, for I was unwilling to expose the +lives of my men merely to save property--Confederate soldiers were far +too valuable at that stage of the war. If I only knew positively that +the women were safely away, I would tarry no longer in the neighborhood. +But I did not know; I merely hoped. + +Ebers was lying next me upon the grass, solemnly puffing at his huge +pipe, and I held my watch to the glow in its bowl in order to see the +time. It was nearly midnight. + +"Those fellows ought to be at it before this," I said to him, "if they +intend to accomplish anything to-night." + +"I dink so too," he answered slowly. "I vill see dot der guard is +all right, an' den vill get some sleep, for I am pretty moch done op +already." + +He arose ponderously to his feet, and stretched out his short arms in +a prodigious yawn. As he stood there, his pudgy figure outlined against +the sky, there was borne to our ears the sound of a furious struggle +on the hilltop to the south--a shout, blows, a volley of cursing, then +silence. An instant later we were both running through the darkness +toward the scene of trouble. + +"What is it, Sands?" I questioned breathlessly, as I came suddenly upon +the little group. + +"A fellar on hossback," was the answer. "He come up on us like a streak +out o' thet black hollor, an' he'd a sure got away of Mason hed n't +clubbed him with his gun. I've got the cuss safe collared now." + +"Who are you?" I asked sternly, striving in vain to see something of him +through the darkness. "Where were you riding?" + +He maintained a sullen silence, and Sands kicked him. + +"None of that," I commanded. "Ebers, strike a match, will you, and let +me see this chap." + +I had scarcely spoken when our prisoner thrust Sands roughly aside and +took one hasty step toward me. + +"My God, Wayne! Is it possible this is you?" he cried excitedly. + +"Caton?" I exclaimed, as surprised as himself. "Caton? What is it? What +is wrong?" + +"Am I to do dot?" asked the Sergeant, anxiously. + +"No," I answered. "I know this man, and we shall need no fire. Caton, +are you from the Minor house? Has it been attacked?" + +"Yes," he answered, panting yet from his exertion and excitement. "We +were to start North with the ladies at nine o'clock, but the house was +surrounded as soon as it became dark. Those devils supposed it to be +unguarded, and advanced without precautions. We fired and drove them +back. We had repulsed three attacks when I left at eleven, but three of +our men were already hit." + +"You were after aid?" + +"I was striving to reach our advance pickets at McMillan. It seemed the +only possible chance, and none of the men would volunteer to make the +ride. One was killed trying it before I started. God knows how I hated +to leave them, but it had to be done. How many have you?" + +"Only twenty; but if we could once get inside along with your fellows, +we might hold the house until reinforcements came." + +"Thank God! I knew you would!" he cried joyfully, grasping me again +fervently by the hand. "You are not one to hesitate over the color of a +uniform at such a time as this. I have been proud all through this war +to feel that we on both sides were of the same blood, and have felt like +cheering your gray lines more than once. Only, Wayne," and he hesitated +an instant, "it is right I should tell you that Brennan is there, and in +command." + +"I know it, but those women must be saved nevertheless," I answered +firmly, my mind settled. "This is no time for personal quarrelling, and +whatever color of cloth we wear those outlaws are our common enemies, to +be hunted down like wild beasts. I have seen specimens of their fiendish +cruelty that make my blood run cold to remember. The very thought of +those who are now exposed falling into such hands is enough to craze +one; death would be preferable a thousand times. How many fighting men +have you?" + +"Seven fit for duty." + +"Will you ride forward, or go back with us?" + +"We must send word,"--and the gallant fellow's voice shook,--"but God +knows, Wayne, I want to go back. If we both live I am to marry Celia +Minor." + +"I understand," I said gravely. "Ebers, who is your best rider?" + +"It vos dot funny leetle vellow Glen, Captain." + +"Glen, come here." + +The trooper, a mere boy, with freckled face and great honest gray eyes, +but wiry and tough as steel, pushed his way through the group and faced +me. + +"Glen," I said, "your Sergeant tells me you are the best rider in the +troop. I am going to intrust you with the most important duty of all. +The lives of every one of us and of four helpless women depend entirely +upon your riding. You will take two horses, kill both if necessary, but +stop for nothing until your duty is done. You are to carry a note from +me, and another from this gentleman, who is an officer in the Federal +army, and deliver them both to the commandant of the first military post +you find. Insist upon reaching him in person. It makes no difference +which army the post belongs to, for this is a matter of humanity. The +Federal outpost at McMillan is the nearest to us; make for there. You +understand?" + +The boy saluted gravely, all mischief gone from his face. + +"I do, sir," he said. "But I'd a darn sight rather stay here and fight." + +"You will be back in plenty of time to take a hand, my lad. Now, +men,"--and I turned to the dark, expectant ring about me,--"this is +no ordinary duty of your enlistment, and I wish no one to accompany me +to-night who does not volunteer for the service. Seven Federal soldiers +and four women, three of them Virginians, are attacked at the house +we have just left by a large party of bushwhacking guerillas, the +offscourings of hell. Every one of you knows what that means. Will you +go with me to their rescue?" + +No one seemed anxious to be first to speak. I could see them look aside +uneasily at one another. + +"Bungay," I said, "I feel sure you will go, for your wife is there." + +"Mariar?" + +"Yes; Miss Minor told me this afternoon, but I had forgotten to mention +it." + +The little man sprang into the air and came down with a whoop. + +"The bloody devils!" he cried excitedly. "Ye bet I'll go." + +"Come, Sergeant, speak up; what do you men say?" + +"I like not to fight mit der Yankees," he admitted candidly, "but der +vomens, py Chiminy, dot vos anoder ting. I vill go, Captain; mein Gott, +yaw." + +"We 're with you, sir," spoke voice after voice gravely around the dark +circle, and then Sands added: "We'll show them thar Yanks how the Johnny +Rebs kin fight, sir." + +Ten minutes later Glen, bearing his two messages to the Blue and Gray, +was speeding recklessly through the black night northward, while my +little squad was moving cautiously back over the road we had so lately +traversed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +A MISSION FOR BEELZEBUB + + +AS we picked our way slowly forward through the gloom I gleaned from +Caton all he knew regarding the situation before us. My own knowledge of +the environments of the Minor house helped me greatly to appreciate the +difficulties to be surmounted. He had succeeded in his escape by dodging +among the negro cabins where the attacking line appeared weakest, but +expressed the conviction that even this slight gap would be securely +closed long before we reached there. + +"Have they sufficient men, then, to cover thoroughly all four sides?" I +asked. + +"To the best of my judgment there must be fully two hundred and fifty in +the gang, and apparently they operate under strict military discipline. +It is a revelation to me, Wayne, of the growing power of these desperate +fellows. I knew they were becoming numerous and bold, but this surpasses +anything I could imagine. More, they are being constantly recruited by +new arrivals. A party of at least a dozen came in while I was hiding +behind the stables. I heard them asking for the leader." + +"What did they call him?" + +"Lory, or Laurie, something like that. They claimed to be deserters from +Lee's army, but two or three of them wore our uniforms." + +"It's Red Lowrie," I said gravely, more impressed than ever with the +seriousness of the situation. "I heard of him two years ago--he killed +a man in the Sixth North Carolina, and took to the hills. Since then he +has developed into quite a leader for such scum, and has proven himself +a merciless monster. You have no suggestion to offer as to how we had +better attempt to get in?" + +He shook his head despondingly. + +"What station does Brennan defend?" I asked. + +"The front of the house; the main point of attack has been there." + +We could distinguish the sound of firing by this time, and its +continuous volume convinced me that Caton's estimate of the number +engaged was not greatly overdrawn. As we topped the summit of the hill a +great burst of red fire leaped suddenly high into the sky. + +"Great God, Wayne! we are too late!" he cried wildly. "Those devils have +fired the house." + +With fiercely throbbing heart I gazed down at the flames far below in +the black valley. + +"No," I said with eager relief. "It is the stable which is ablaze. See, +the light falls full upon the white sides of the house. Thank Heaven, we +are not too late." + +As I sat my horse there, gazing down upon that scene of black rapine, +unwilling to venture into its midst until I could formulate some +definite plan of action, fully a dozen wild schemes thronged into +my brain, only to be cast aside, one after another, as thoroughly +impracticable. + +"We shall have to make a dash for it, and trust in God," said Caton, +guessing at my dilemma. + +"No," I answered firmly, "there would be no possibility of success in +such a course. Those fellows are old hands, and have pickets out. See, +Caton, that is certainly a picket-fire yonder where the road dips. Every +man of us would be shot down before we penetrated those guard lines +and attained the house. We have got to reach their inner line someway +through strategy, and even then must risk being fired upon by our own +people before we get within cover." + +Even as I was speaking I evolved a plan of action--desperate it +certainly was, yet nothing better occurred to me, and time was golden. + +"Ebers," I said, "didn't I see an extra jacket strapped back of your +saddle?" + +"It is no good," he protested vehemently. "It vos for der rain come." + +"All right; hand it over to the Lieutenant here. Caton, throw that +uniform coat of yours into the ditch, and don honest gray for once. +Sands, come here. Take your knife and cut away every symbol of rank on +my jacket; tear it off, any way you can." + +In another moment these necessary changes had been accomplished. + +"Now," I ordered, "pile your sabres there with mine beside the road; +then hobble your horses, all but the mule; I shall want him." + +"Does we go der rest of der vay on foot?" questioned the Sergeant, +anxiously. + +"Certainly; and I desire you to remember one important thing: let me +do the talking, but if any of you are asked questions, we are deserters +from Hills's corps, tired of the war." + +"Mein Gott!" muttered the German, disconsolately. "I hope it vos not +long off, Captain; I am no good on foot in der dark, by Chiminy." + +"You had better manage to keep up to-night, unless you are seeking to +commit suicide. Now, men, mark me carefully! Load your carbines. Are you +all ready? Sergeant, see that each man has his gun properly charged and +capped. You are to carry your arms as thoroughly concealed as possible; +keep close to me always; obey my orders instantly, and to the letter. We +are but twenty men pitted against over two hundred, remember, and when +we strike, it must be both quick and hard." + +I mounted the mule, counted the dim figures in the darkness, and then +gave the order to march. As we moved slowly down the hill I was aware +that Caton walked upon one side of me, while Bungay plodded along +upon the other; but my mind was so filled with the excitement of our +adventure and all that depended upon its successful culmination, as +scarcely to realize anything other than the part I must personally play. +Good fortune and audacity alone could combine to win the game we were +now engaged upon. + +A tall, heavily bearded mountaineer stood squarely in the middle of the +road to the north of the picket-fire. I could make but little of him as +the light shone, excepting that he wore a high coonskin cap and bore a +long rifle. + +"Stop right thar!" he called out hoarsely, upon hearing us. "Who are you +uns?" + +As he challenged, a dozen others sprang up from about the flame and, +guns in hand, came toward us on a run. + +"We uns are doggoned tired o' soldierin', an' a gittin' nuthin' fer it," +I said in the slow Southern drawl, "an' wanter jine yer gang, pervidin' +thar's any show fer it." + +"How many are ye?" asked one of the newcomers, striding forward between +us and the sentry. + +"A right smart heap o' a bunch; bin a pickin' o' 'em up ever since we +left Charlotte," I returned evasively. + +"They be dandies ter fight, an' I reckon as how ye kin use 'em, can't +ye?" + +"Maybe; who did ye want ter see?" + +"Wal, they sed as how a feller named Lowrie wus a runnin' this yere +gang, an' if thet 's ther way o' it, I reckon as how it's Lowrie we 're +after. Be you Lowrie?" + +"Naw." + +The answer was so gruff and short, and the fellow hesitated so long in +adding anything to it, I began to think it was all off. + +"Wal," he consented to say at last, ungraciously, "thar 's a blame +pile o' ye kim in lately, an' I calcalate we got 'bout 'nough fer our +business, but I reckon as how Red will use ye somewhar. Anyhow you uns +kin come 'long with me an' find out, but ye'll diskiver him 'bout ther +ornerest man jist now ever ye run up agin. He 's plum mad, Red is, fer +sartain." + +He turned and strode off, without so much as giving us a backward +glance, and, with a hearty congratulatory kick to the mule, I and my +company followed him. A hundred yards further in we passed through the +fringe of trees and emerged into an open space from whence we could +see plainly the great white house still illumined by the flames which +continued to consume the stables. Shots were flashing like fireflies out +of the darkness on every side of us, the smell of burning powder scented +the air, and I could distinguish the black forms of men lying prone on +the grass in something resembling a skirmish line. + +"Makin' a fight o' it, ain't they?" I asked of our taciturn guide, as we +picked our way carefully among the recumbent forms. + +"Damn 'em, yes; a hell o' a fight," he admitted bitterly. "Reckoned we +hed a soft job yere, an' lots o' ther stuff fer ther boys. They've got +some Yanks in thar with repeatin' rifles, but I reckon as whin Red once +gits hold on 'em, they'll dance ter another tune." + +"Ye mean ter stick it out, then?" + +"Stick it out? I reckon ye don't know Red, er ye wouldn't be askin' sich +a fule question. He'll hev them Yanks now, if it wur ter cost every man +he's got. He ain't no quitter, Red ain't." + +Just beyond musket-shot from the house, and nearly opposite the front +entrance, quite a group of men were standing beneath the black shadows +of a grove of trees. In spite of the gleam from the fire I could make +little of them, but as we approached from the direction of the rear, one +of them exclaimed suddenly: + +"Who comes thar? What body o' men is thet?" + +"It's 'nother party o' deserters, as wants ter jine us," said the guide, +sourly. "They's Johnnies from Lee's army." + +"Oh, they dew, dew they? Hain't got 'nough o' fightin' yit, I reckon," +and the speaker strode forward, with a rough, mirthless laugh. "Wal, +damn 'em, they will yere 'fore I 'm done. We 're a goin' ter rush thet +thar house 'fore long, an' hang 'bout a dozen Yanks, an' these yere lads +will come in right handy ter go in first. If you uns like fightin' so +durn well we'll give ye your bellies full. Who's ther boss o' this yere +crowd?" + +I swung down from my seat on the mule's back, and stood facing him. + +"We uns hain't got no boss," I answered, "but they sorter fell in ahind +o' me 'cause I wus astraddle o' this muel. Be you named Lowrie?" + +"I reckon; I'm Red Lowrie," proudly. "'Spect, maybe, ye've heerd tell o' +me, an' if ye hev, ye know ye 've got ter step damn lively whin I howl. +Whut wus ye in ther army?" + +"Corporal." + +The flames of the burning barn leaped suddenly upward, as if fed by +some fresh combustion, and flung a brighter glare over the rough faces +clustered about us. I saw Red Lowrie plainly enough now, as he peered +eagerly forward to scan my face, a heavy-set, coarse-featured man, with +prominent nose, and thick, matted red beard. He wore a wide-brimmed soft +army hat, under which his eyes shone maliciously, and he grasped a long +rifle in one big, hairy hand. As I gazed at him curiously, some one +hastily pushed a way through the group at his back, and the next instant +a tall figure stood at his side. I recognized the newcomer at a single +glance, and for the moment my heart fairly choked me--it was Craig. + +"Lowrie," he said, pointing straight at me, "thar's somethin' wrong +yere. That feller thar is Captain Wayne, o' my ol' reg'ment." + +All that occurred next was but the impulse of a second. I stood with +hand resting lightly upon the mule's neck, his long head drooping +sleepily beside my shoulder. I saw Red Lowrie throw up his gun, all his +evil nature written in his face, his cruel eyes instantly aflame with +anger, and, inspired by the desperation of our case, I stooped suddenly, +and blew with all my force into that long, pendant ear. Beelzebub +gave vent to one snort of mingled rage and terror, and then let drive, +backing into that cluster of choice rascals like a very thunderbolt of +wrath, cleaving his way by every lightning blow of those nimble legs, +and tumbling men to right and left. + +There was a yell of fright, a wild scramble for safety, a perfect volley +of cursing--I saw Red Lowrie go tumbling backward, a heel planted fairly +in the pit of his stomach, and the next instant Craig, swearing like a +pirate, was jammed down on top of him, a red gash across his forehead. +It was all accomplished so speedily, that it seemed but a medley of +heels, of wildly cavorting mule, of scrambling, falling men. + +"Fire!" I cried excitedly. "Sock it into them, lads, and follow me!" + +There was a quick outburst of flame, a thunderous report, and, without +waiting to see or hear more, I sprang forward through the dense smoke, +and raced madly toward the front door. Caton panted at my side, and I +could hear the heavy feet of a score of men pounding the turf behind +us. The rush was so rapid, the noise so great and confusing, I could not +distinguish whether we were even fired upon from the rear, but I marked +a red flash at one of the windows in our front, and heard behind me a +sharp wail of agony. + +"If any man drops, pick him up!" I called, and at that moment we sprang +up the steps, and began pounding loudly against the door. + +"Open up!" shouted the Lieutenant, anxiously. "Brennan, open up, quick! +It's Caton with help." + +I thought it never would open. A volley crashed into us, and Sands +pitched down upon his face, clutching at the man next him as he fell. I +glanced back anxiously--a dark, confused mass of men, without military +formation, were running across the open space toward us. + +"'Bout face!" I shouted. "Load at will--fire!" + +We poured one scattering volley into them. It halted their movement for +a moment, and then the door opened a scant crack. + +"Is this you, Caton?" + +"Yes; for God's sake, open up!" + +The heavy door swung slowly inward, and with a wild rush to be first, we +surged headlong into the hall. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +A UNION OF YANK AND REB + + +As the heavy door clanged behind us some one upon the outside began +pounding upon it, while with deadly chug a bullet crashed into the oaken +panel. + +"Donnerwetter!" shouted a deep voice, wildly. "Captain, I am yet out mit +der bullets." + +With a crash I flung aside the thick iron bar which answered as a lock, +and drew in the Sergeant, yet panting heavily from his hard run. + +"By Chiminy, dot vas a narrow squeak," he exclaimed, as I released my +grasp upon him and hurled the door back into its place. + +A dim light swinging suspended from the ceiling of the great wide hall +revealed clearly the scene within. As I turned I beheld Brennan for the +first time, and his face remains a memory. Standing with his back to +the stair-railing, a revolver grasped tightly in either hand, his eyes +burning, his countenance flushed with anger, and clouded by doubt, +he appeared almost like one distracted. At sight of me he gave up all +attempt to control his raging temper. + +"What does all this mean?" he demanded hoarsely. "Who are these men? +Caton, if you have betrayed us, by God, I will shoot you dead." + +"There is no betrayal," returned the Lieutenant, coolly. "These men are +friends." + +"Friends?" he laughed cynically. "Friends? in that uniform, and you +attired in a Rebel cavalry jacket? Friends? that fellow over there?" +and he pointed derisively at me with his pistol barrel. "Damn you, but I +believe you are all a pack of lying thieves!" + +Caton's face burned. He took one step toward him, his hands clinched, +and when he spoke his clear voice shook with intense indignation. + +"Major Brennan," he said, coldly deliberate, "you are my superior +officer, but you go beyond all privilege of rank in those words. I say +these men are friends; they have sunk the issues of war in order that +they may answer the call of humanity. If you dare impeach my motives any +further, I shall hurl back the cowardly insult in your face. I will take +no such words, sir, from any living man." + +Brennan looked at him, his lips struggling with the utterance that would +not come. Knowing well the danger of such delay, I hastily pushed aside +the ring of men, and fronted him, determined to end this foolishness +then and there. + +"Major Brennan," I said firmly, ignoring his efforts to silence me, "you +must listen to reason whether you wish to do so or not. My troopers +are all around you; I have two men to your one in this house, and can +enforce my will if necessary. Now mark what I say--we are not here in +anger or in war, but to help you in the protection of endangered women. +We captured your courier, have despatched one of our own number into the +Federal camp for aid, and have fought our way in here to stand beside +you and your men in defence of this house against those ruffians +without. You can use us or not, just as you please; it rests with you to +say whether we shall be comrades in arms on this occasion, or whether I +shall assume command by the power of force which I chance to control." + +He seemed utterly unable to grasp my full meaning, to comprehend the +situation. + +"You mean, you would fight with us? under my command?" he asked +incredulously. + +"I offer my services under your orders," I replied clearly, "and these +men in gray will obey mine." + +I actually thought he would extend his hand, but some remembrance +suddenly restrained him. + +"I--of course, Captain Wayne," he stammered, at length, "I--I must +accept your offer. I--I am grateful for it, but I shall insist upon one +thing; there must be a final settlement of the personal matter existing +between us. I am not willing to waive my rights in this." + +"There is no occasion for your doing so, sir," I answered coldly, for +I considered the reference at that moment in extremely ill taste. "When +our work here has been accomplished, you will find me very much at your +service." + +He bowed gravely. + +"I am exceedingly glad we understand each other," he said. "May I ask +the size of your command?" + +"Sergeant," I questioned, "whom have we lost?" + +"Nelson vos kilt, I dinks; der Kid is not here yet, und Sands vos +vounded bad." + +"Very well; then, Major Brennan, I tender you sixteen men fit for duty, +besides myself. You are doubtless acquainted with the house, and can +assign us to positions where our services will prove of greatest value." + +He had completely recovered his self-control by this time, and spoke now +with the terse sentences of a tried soldier. + +"I thank you, Captain Wayne, and will ask you to choose four men and +assume command of the east side of the house. Caton, you will take the +same number for defence of the rear. Captain, what is your sergeant's +name?" + +"Ebers, an experienced German soldier." + +"I should have suspected his nationality. Let him have command of four +more, and cover the west windows. I shall defend the front myself, as I +have been doing." + +"Very well," I answered shortly, for his eyes had remained fixed upon me +all the time he was talking. "Take the positions assigned you, lads, +and do not permit a man from without to put foot on the veranda. If they +once succeed in getting under cover of the porch roof, they will give us +plenty of trouble." + +"They have remained remarkably quiet since you came in," interposed the +Major. "Even my men seem to see nothing to shoot at." + +"Probably they haven't recovered as yet from our little surprise party," +I said, with a smile of remembrance. "We left a mule out there who will +entertain them for some time, unless they adopt heroic measures." + +The position for defence assigned to my care took me into the +dining-room of the mansion,--a spacious, almost square apartment, +containing three large windows reaching nearly to the floor. The outside +blinds had been closed, but the glass in the panes was mostly broken, +and there were other evidences that the firing had been both heavy and +continuous. I found two soldiers of Brennan's party within, both lying +upon the floor, and peering cautiously through the apertures of the +blinds. They glanced up at us with undisguised amazement. + +"It's all right, lads," I said heartily. "Never mind our colors +to-night; we are all fighting the same way." + +I had taken with me Bungay, together with three of my troopers, and +after placing them as advantageously as possible, I stretched myself out +on the floor, and applying an eye to a convenient opening took careful +survey of the situation without. There was little to be observed, for +darkness securely hid the movements of the enemy. Everything upon our +side of the house, however, appeared comparatively quiet, yet it +was clearly evident that the besiegers had no present intention of +withdrawing from the attack; the flame of the stables had already +largely died away, but what little light remained enabled me to perceive +unmistakable signs of their presence. I could distinguish frequent +moving figures in the background, but was unable to determine their +distance from the house. Occasionally a flash out of the night would +evidence the discharge of a gun, and I heard a gruff voice shouting +forth an order. One shot struck the window just above me, showering +my shoulders with fragments of broken glass, and I noticed one of the +Federal soldiers in the room carried his arm in a rude sling. + +This present cessation of activity was, I felt convinced, only +temporary. I did not expect, from all I could now see, that the final +assault would take place upon my side of the building. The massing of +the main body of the besiegers before the front entrance, together with +the presence there of their leaders, was sufficient to convince me that +this was to prove the principal point of attack, and from my knowledge +of such affairs I decided that probably the first signs of returning +daylight would be the signal for a determined assault. The dark interior +of such a house as this offered too many defensive advantages which the +daylight would largely overcome. + +"Have you had some hard fighting?" I asked of the man lying next me, +a manly-looking fellow, wearing the yellow chevrons of a corporal of +cavalry. + +"They pitched in mighty strong at first, sir," he answered civilly. "An' +we had so few men they pretty nearly rushed us, fer sure. It was our +repeatin' rifles thet drove 'em back." + +"You suffered to some extent?" + +"Two killed, sir, and three or four wounded. It wus hot 'nough fer a +while, I tell you; as lively a little jig as I've ever bin in. McNeal, +there, got a lump of lead in his arm. Would you mind explainin' 'bout +you fellows comin' in here to help us, sir? It seems kinder odd to be +fightin' longside of gray-backs." + +I told him briefly the circumstances, and his eyes danced merrily at the +recital. + +"Be a rum story to tell if ever we get out of here, sir," he commented, +patting his gun. "I've mostly seen you fellows from the t'other side, +but, dern it all, this is more the way it ought to be." + +I agreed with him thoroughly as to that, and we relapsed into silence, +each intent upon the uncertainty without. + +As I lay there, gazing anxiously into the darkness, I could not forbear +wondering where Brennan had concealed the women to keep them from harm. +Would he inform them of our arrival? He could scarcely hope to keep the +fact long hidden, for they would certainly see some of my gray-jackets, +and ask questions. I doubted, however, if he would mention my name, +yet Caton surely would, and Caton could not be kept long away from Miss +Minor, unless serious attack was imminent. Unquestionably, I should be +compelled to meet them before this duty was concluded; how should I +be received, and how should I conduct myself? There was but one way--a +dignified courtesy, seemingly ignoring all that had previously occurred. +Any explanation at present was apparently out of the question, and I +certainly could not venture to intrude after the coldness of my last +reception. Besides, there was Brennan to be considered. He would make +use of my services in this emergency, but I had been distinctly informed +it could make no difference in the feud existing between us. I had +no wish that it should, and I could consistently hope for very little +consideration from the wife of a man whom I was destined to meet upon +the field of honor. No, the far better way was to see as little of her +as possible, to meet almost as strangers, and then to part for ever. +Difficult as this programme assuredly was, it seemed the only honorable +course left me. Even had she loved me as truly as I did her, I could yet +do no less. + +"They seem to be peckin' away pretty lively out in front," said the +corporal, interrupting my reverie. + +"Yes," I admitted. "In my judgment that will prove the main point of +attack. How many men did the Major have there before we came?" + +"Same as here, sir." + +"And four of mine; that makes seven altogether, counting himself, and +two of these ought to be posted in the upper story. He's bound to need +more; that firing is very steady." + +"He's got the women loadin' for him, and that helps some." + +"The women?" I asked, staring at him in amazement, "Do you mean to say +Mrs. Brennan and Celia Minor are there in that front room?" + +"Don't know who they are, sir--two mighty fine lookin' young ladies, an +old lady with white hair, an' a big, rough-lookin' female, sir. The last +one wus handlin' a gun to beat the band just afore you came." + +"And he keeps them there, exposed to all this heavy fire? What can the +man mean? Why, Corporal, that constant shooting must have completely +shattered the windows. There could be no safety for any one except lying +flat upon the floor." + +"Well, 't aint quite so bad as that, sir," he protested, seemingly +anxious to shield his officer from adverse criticism. "You see it's a +double parlor, with a wall an' foldin' doors atween, an' the women are +all in the rear room. Of course, it's almighty dark back there, an' they +has to lie pretty close, but blamed if I know of any better place for +them. This house hain't got no cellar." + +It certainly was not my place to interfere. Her husband was the one who +should be most solicitous as to her safety, yet it worried me greatly to +think of Edith Brennan lying helpless in the dark, exposed to constant +danger, with the deadly rifles crackling all about her. Surely somewhere +in this great house there would be an interior apartment where greater +protection could be assured. Doubtless Brennan was unwilling to have +them away from him; possibly he even continued to hold them where they +were to prevent all possibility of their meeting with me. It was this +last thought, improbable as it surely was, which put me on my mettle. If +that was has little scheme, and to my suspicion it looked like it, I was +not unwilling to play a hand in the game. I might not hold trumps, yet I +could bluff as well as any one. + +I had barely arrived at this point in my musing when opportunity for +action came. A man groped his way in from the lighted hall, but halted +close beside the door, unable to perceive us in the darkness. + +"Is Captain Wayne here?" he asked. + +"Yes; what is it?" + +"Major Brennan has had two of his men hit, sir, and wishes you to spare +him three of yours, unless you are hotly pressed." + +"All right; there 's nothing doing here," I answered, instantly +determining upon my course. "Corporal, I shall leave you in command of +this side for a few minutes. I believe I can be of more immediate value +elsewhere, Bungay, you and Elliott come with me." + +The lower hall, having no windows in it, was the only safe place in the +building, and here a light had been kept burning. The door which, as I +judged, must lead into the back parlor, was closed, and fastened upon +the inside. At least it refused to yield to my hand when tried. Another +in front stood very slightly ajar. + +"Report to Brennan," I whispered into Jed's ear, "and forget to +mention I am with you. I desire to investigate matters for myself a few +moments." + +He nodded to intimate that he understood, and then we crept, one at +a time, into the front apartment, hugging the floor closely to keep +beneath the range of the bullets which swept every now and then through +the broken windows, and chugged into the wall behind us. I was the last +to wriggle in through the narrow opening, and rolling instantly out of +the tiny bar of light, I lay silent for a moment, endeavoring to get my +bearings. I was determined upon just one thing--to obtain speech with +the women, learn, if possible, their exact situation, and, if I found it +necessary, insist upon their better protection. An insane jealousy of me +should not continue to expose them to unnecessary peril. + +Brennan was directly across the room from where I lay. I could hear his +voice issuing low, stern orders. + +"If you'll only keep down you're safe enough," he said gruffly. "There +hasn't a shot come within a foot of the sill. The ground slopes out +yonder, and those fellows can't fire low. Put the new men at the central +window, and let them shoot at every flash they see. Bradley will pass +back their empty guns." + +I wondered how long our supply of ammunition would hold out with such +a fusillade kept up, but ventured upon no protest, for I was already +groping my way through the darkness along the inner wall. Furniture lay +overturned in every direction, and I experienced considerable difficulty +in making progress through the debris without attracting attention. +A great square piano stood directly across the entrance to the back +parlor, left by the drawing nearly together of the sliding doors. I +waited until Bradley had crawled through with an armful of loaded guns, +and then entered also, creeping silently between the piano legs. As +I did so a bullet struck the case above me, and the whole instrument +trembled to the impact, giving forth a strange moan, as if in pain. + +Some one was groaning in the corner at my left, and supposing the +wounded to be lying there, I turned more toward the right, keeping as +close as possible to the wall, hopeful I might come in contact with one +of the women. I do not honestly know why I did this--really I had no +excuse, except my natural distrust of Brennan, coupled with an eager +desire to be of service to the woman of my heart. There was little to +guide me in the search, as the flame of the discharging rifles did not +penetrate here. Once I heard the rustle of a skirt, while a faint +sound of whispering reached me from the rear of the room. Then my hand, +groping blindly along the wall, touched the lower fold of a dress. It +felt like coarse calico to my fingers. + +"Mrs. Bungay," I whispered cautiously, "is this you?" + +The woman started at sound of my voice, but replied in the same low +tone: "Thet's my name; who mought ye be?" + +"A friend of yours, and of your husband," I answered, for I doubted if +she would recall my name. "Did you know Jed was here?" + +"My man? Hiven be praised! But I'll knock ther head off ther little +divil if ever I git my hand on him, I will thet. Whar's ther little imp +bin all ther time?" + +"Hunting for you, and crying his eyes out," I answered, smiling to +myself in the darkness. "Where is Mrs. Brennan?" + +"Jist beyond me, thar in ther corner." + +As she spoke a bullet whizzed past us, having missed the obstruction +of the piano. I could feel the wind stirred by its passage, while its +peculiar hum told me it was a Minié ball. + +"You are too far out from the wall," I protested. "You are in range." + +"Can't help it if I be. I 'm yere ter take ther guns from ther sojer, +an' pass 'em back." + +I crept slowly along beyond her, keeping close to the wall, but had +progressed hardly more than a couple of yards, when I felt a hand +lightly touch me. + +"I recognize your voice," said a soft whisper, "and am so glad you are +here." + +Who can guess the motives that inspire a woman? This was my welcome, +where I had anticipated coldness and repellant pride. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +A CONVERSATION IN THE DARK + + +In my extreme surprise at the intimate cordiality expressed by her words +and manner I failed in utterance. Anticipating coldness, indifference, +possibly even resentment at my presuming to approach her, I was instead +greeted by an unstudied warmth of welcome that made my heart beat +fiercely. + +"Surely I am not mistaken," she questioned, rendered doubtful by my +silence. "Is not this Captain Wayne?" + +"There is no mistake," I hastened to assure her, "but I had anticipated +from our last meeting a far less cordial greeting." + +"Oh," she exclaimed, with a light laugh, "and is that all? Yet surely, +if I was to believe my own eyes I was perfectly justified in my actions +then. However, Captain, I have been forced to realize the truth of that +situation, and am now disposed to make up to you in kindness for all my +unjust suspicions." + +"I am more than delighted to learn that cloud is no longer to overshadow +us. Miss Minor has made a full explanation, then?" + +"You have been completely exonerated, and restored to my good graces." + +As she spoke, I became aware that she was busily engaged upon some task, +and when she ended I felt the steel of a gun-barrel touch my hand. + +"Please pass this to Maria," she said calmly, "and hand me back the one +she has." + +"You are loading, then?" I asked, as I complied with her request. + +"We have all been busy. Isn't it terrible? I was so frightened at first, +but now they tell me that you and your men have come, there is no longer +danger of those horrible creatures getting in here." + +"You knew, then, that I was in the house?" + +"I was told some noble Confederates had accompanied Lieutenant Caton +back to aid us, but your name was not mentioned." + +"Then my appearance must have proven a complete surprise?" + +"Yes, and no," she answered frankly. "I was not sure it was you, +of course, and I did not venture to ask, but I knew you were in the +neighborhood, and that such an act would be in every way characteristic. +I was certain you would come if you knew, and I--I, well really, I hoped +it was." + +In spite of a slight effort at restraint I groped in the darkness until +I touched her hand. For the moment she permitted me to retain it, as if +unconsciously, within my grasp. + +"Why?" I questioned, scarcely relying upon my own voice. + +"Oh, one always trusts friends more readily than strangers, and I have +seen you in danger before, and possess such confidence in your courage +and resource." + +"But Miss Minor took particular care to inform me you felt little or no +interest in me--that you never even spoke of me except as she compelled +you to do so." + +For a moment she did not answer, and then with a light laugh said: "Did +she, really? How very kind of her, and how extremely intimate you must +have become to draw forth so frank a confession. However, Captain Wayne, +you must not give credence to all you hear about me, even from Celia. +You know one does not usually give public expression to one's more +secret thoughts, and I can assure you I have always been most deeply +interested whenever you were the subject of our conversations." + +"Her words made me feel I might be an intruder on your privacy." + +"You are never that. Cold as I appeared only a few hours ago, I was yet +thinking of you as I entered the arbor. Perhaps that was why the sight +meeting my eyes proved such a shock." + +Possibly she felt our conversation growing dangerously intimate, for in +the silence which ensued she gently withdrew her hand. As she did so +my fingers chanced to touch the plain gold ring she wore. It was like +a dash of water in my face, and instantly brought back to me our common +danger. + +"How constant the firing continues," she said at last, as I sat +struggling dumbly with temptation. + +"A mere waste of powder, I fear," was my reply, given thoughtlessly. +"When the rush finally comes we are likely to be without sufficient +ammunition to repel it." + +"When the rush comes?" she echoed in startled tone. "Do you expect an +assault?" + +"I hardly expect those fellows out there will ever leave without a +most determined effort to carry the house by storm. They are here for +plunder, and will not be baffled easily, nor will the leaders hesitate +to sacrifice any number of lives to gain their end, especially now that +a desire for revenge has been added to the original lust for spoils. +I have been among them, you know, and learned enough of their power, +organization, and leadership to convince me they will never raise the +siege until they exhaust every resource. I have no doubt they are simply +drawing all this fire in the hope that our ammunition will thus be +uselessly expended. It is an old army trick, and one I am surprised to +see so experienced an officer as Major Brennan yield to. In my judgment +they will make an effort to rush us as soon as there is sufficient +light." + +"But why not warn him?" + +I smiled to myself at the naive question. Surely it could not be +possible she remained ignorant of the feud existing between us. She had +twice witnessed our hostile meetings, and certainly could not forget how +we had last parted. + +"Major Brennan would scarcely welcome any interference on my part." + +"But surely, as a soldier, he must value the advice of another soldier?" + +"Possibly you forget," I explained, striving to speak as lightly of it +as might be, "that there is a lack of friendship between Major Brennan +and myself." + +"Still?" she asked. "Truly I thought that might all be over. Even if +it survived until now, this noble act of yours in coming to our defence +should have earned you his gratitude. He--he has never once mentioned +your name to me since that night." + +"Not even when I came here with my troop, I believe?" + +"No; yet I did not connect that fact with the other. I supposed it a +mere oversight, or that he believed the mention of your name would not +greatly interest me. Surely, Captain Wayne, you are not keeping open +this unhappy wound?" + +"On my word, no; but I regret to confess it is very far from being +closed." + +"He--Major Brennan does not know, then, that you are here now with me?" +She evidently hesitated to ask this question. + +"Certainly not," in surprise at her apparent innocence. "You cannot have +supposed I had been sent here by him to talk with you?" + +"I--I did not know. I do not think I realized," she stammered, vainly +seeking for words with which to make clear her bewilderment. "I +imagined you might have come at his suggestion to see that we were amply +protected. This is all so very strange. He does not even know you are +here with us?" + +"No," I admitted reluctantly. "Perhaps I have no excuse even for being +here at all. My duty as a soldier is certainly elsewhere, but I could +not rest content until I knew you were in a position of safety. Believe +me, Mrs. Brennan, I have intended no indiscretion, but I was informed by +a soldier that you were being held here under fire. It would have been +useless for me to appeal to the Major for information, and I felt I +must know the truth. If I have erred in this I can only plead the deep +interest I have always had in your welfare." + +Her hand touched mine impulsively, and it was warm and throbbing. + +"I can merely thank you with all my heart, Captain Wayne, and assure you +I both understand and appreciate your purpose. But truly I do not wish +any trouble to occur again--you will go back to your post, will you +not? You can serve me best in that way, and retain the gratitude and +admiration I have ever felt for you." + +There was a pathetic pleading in her voice, low as she spoke, impossible +to resist. It made me feel thoroughly ashamed of my impulsive, +ill-considered action. + +"At once, Mrs. Brennan," I returned earnestly. "I realize I have done +wrong in ever coming here as I have. It is my first act of disobedience +to orders in all my military life. But tell me first that I have +forfeited neither your confidence nor your friendship?" + +Her warm hand closed frankly over mine, and as I bent above it her hair +softly brushed my cheek. + +"You have not," she answered, so soft and low I could barely catch the +words. "I appreciate your motive, and shall always respect and honor +you." She paused a moment, then added quickly, as though in sudden rush +of feeling: "No friend stands higher in my esteem than you--now please +go, Captain Wayne." + +As I crept back through the darkness, passing beneath the piano into the +front room, which was filled with the choking fumes of powder, my mind +was a chaos of emotions impossible to analyze. The touch of her soft +hand was yet warm upon me, and her manner as well as her words caused +my blood to leap riotously in my veins. What did this woman mean? Was it +possible she loved me, and was fighting, even as I, to conquer a passion +that could never be realized? which had no right to exist? Surely, +young and fair as she was, she could be no vain and shallow coquette, +venturing upon flirtation for the mere excitement of it? The calm +self-possession of her nature, her marked pride and strength of +character, stamped this as impossible. Honesty and pure, true womanhood +were woven into her every word and act; that indefinable something which +all men feel and respect was about her like an atmosphere; to doubt her +for an instant was beyond my power. Yet she had made me feel I was more +to her than a mere friend. I longed to go back, to pour forth those +words I had struggled so hard not to speak, to urge the high law of +mutual love as final arbiter of our destiny--but no! I simply could not. +Honor chained me, and the depth of my respect would never permit of her +humiliation. If she had become weak, all the more reason why I should +remain strong. The very depth of love which drew me to her operated +now in restraint. God alone knows the struggle in the darkness as I +continued to move slowly away from her and toward the door. + +So deep indeed was my agitation, so intense my thought, that I scarcely +realized I was creeping along barely beneath the dead line of those +bullets which constantly swept the apartment. Their crashing into the +wall was almost meaningless, and I barely noted either the dense smoke +or the fitful flashes of flame as the little garrison returned shot +for shot. It was Brennan's voice--how hateful it sounded then--which +recalled my attention. + +"Mapes," he said, with the sharp tone of wearied command, "take a crack +at that fellow over yonder by the big tree; he must be in range. You +men, I verily believe, shut your eyes when you shoot, for there hasn't a +man dropped out there in the last half hour." + +I had reached the door by this time, but paused now, determined to +venture one word of expostulation at his recklessness. + +"Major Brennan," I said, speaking sufficiently loud to be audible above +the uproar, "do you not think they will attempt to charge the house?" + +"Not while we keep up this fire," he returned coldly, evidently +recognizing my voice. + +"I grant that, at least while darkness lasts. But you have just +complained that your men were doing but small execution, and is there +not danger of exhausting our stock of ammunition by such a useless +fusillade?" + +"It will last until our fellows get here--that is, if your man was ever +really sent for aid, as you say." + +There was a thinly veiled sneer in the words as he spoke them, but I +curbed my temper. + +"Well, in my judgment, sir,--and I tell it you because I deem it a +duty,--" I retorted plainly, "you are making a grave mistake which you +may realize when it becomes too late to rectify it. Possibly I have no +right to criticise one who is technically in command; yet I am serving +as a volunteer, and the conditions are peculiar. I not only remember the +scene witnessed by me in the lines out yonder, but also recall the fact +that we are here to fulfil a sacred duty--the defence of helpless women +from outrage. A fatal mistake upon our part would be horrible." + +"Your deep interest in the welfare of the ladies is purely chivalric, I +presume?" + +"It is merely the interest a true soldier must always feel," I +responded, determined not to be goaded into quarrel. "I have neither +wife nor sister, but I have a mother." + +"Very well, sir,"--and his tone was rough and overbearing,--"then kindly +recall your soldierly instincts to another little matter. I chance to +command here by authority of rank, and hold myself responsible for the +proper defence of this portion of the house. I believe you have already +been assigned your duties; if you will attend to them I shall be greatly +obliged, and whenever I may desire your valuable advice I shall take +pleasure in sending for you." + +I have often wondered since how I controlled myself; yet I did, biting +my lip till the blood came, a fair, reproachful face ever before my +eyes. + +"I shall obey your orders," I managed to say with calmness, so soon as +I could control my voice to speak at all, "but shall hold myself, and my +men, prepared for a call here at any moment." + +"As you please," with an ill-suppressed sneer. "I have always found you +exceedingly anxious to be with the ladies. Indeed I have wondered if you +might not prove a modern illustration of that ancient worthy 'whose best +boast was but to wear a braid of his fair lady's hair.'" + +I turned away in silence and strode back to my post, white with anger. +The dining-room remained as I had left it, and when I lay down in my +old position and peered out throught the broken blind, I could mark no +change in the appearance of our besiegers. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +HAND TO HAND + + +I have never been willing to believe I slept during the next hour. +Wearied as I have often been, duty has ever held my eyes wide open, and +I prefer to think I merely plunged so deep in reflection as to become +oblivious of all occurring about me. Surely I had sufficient excuse. + +However this may be, when I once again aroused to observe my +surroundings, the faint gray light of early dawn rested upon the outside +world, and through the fleeting shadows of the mist I was able to +distinguish much which before had been shrouded by the black curtain. +In front of the window where I rested, the grass-covered lawn sloped +gradually downward until it terminated at a low picket fence, thickly +covered with vines. A great variety of shrubs, which during the night +had doubtless afforded shelter for sharpshooters, dotted this grass +plot, while beyond the fence boundary stood a double row of large trees. +To the far left of our position the burnt stable yet smouldered dully, +occasionally sending up a shower of sparks as a draught of air fanned +the embers, but there were few signs of life visible. For the moment I +even hoped our enemies might have grown discouraged and withdrawn. + +"What has become of the guerillas?" I asked in wonderment, turning as I +spoke to face the Federal corporal who lay on the other side of me. "Is +it possible they have given up?" + +"I think not, Captain," he replied respectfully, saluting as he would +one of his own officers. "They were there just before the light came, +and I saw a dozen or more stealing along behind the fence not five +minutes ago. See, there is a squad of them now, huddled together back of +where the stable stood." + +I noticed them as he spoke, and their movements instantly aroused my +suspicion. + +"Screw your eye close to the corner of the pane," I ordered hurriedly, +"and see what you make out toward the front of the house." + +He did as directed, and for a moment continued to gaze silently into the +gray dawn. + +"Well?" I asked impatiently. + +"There's men out there sure, plenty of 'em," he reported slowly. "It +looks to me mighty like the end of a line of battle, right there by that +big magnolia-tree. Anyhow, there must be all of twenty fellows lying +close together between there and where the corner of the house shuts off +my view. I don't see none this side anywhere, unless it's a shooter or +two hiding along the fence where the vines are thick." + +"That's it, my lad," I exclaimed heartily, getting upon my feet as I +spoke. "We can stand up now, there's no danger here, but there will be +music for all of us presently. Those fellows are getting ready to charge +us front and rear." + +There were five in the room. I could see them only indistinctly, as the +morning light was not yet sufficiently strong to penetrate clearly to +where we were, but I was able to note those present--the corporal and +his wounded companion, with Hollis and Call of my troop. + +"Let the wounded man remain and guard these windows," I commanded. "He +would prove of small value in a hand to hand struggle, but can probably +do some shooting. The rest come with me." + +I led them forth into the wide hallway, which extended the full length +of the house, with a broad flight of stairs just forward of the centre, +gradually curving and leading to the second story. + +I was fully determined as to my duty--whether orders reached me or +not, the moment an assault was launched I should throw all the force I +commanded beside Brennan, and between our assailants and the imperilled +women. The suspended light was yet burning as we came out, but flickered +wildly as if in a strong draught of air, and I noticed that the constant +rain of bullets during the night had badly splintered an upper panel of +the door. Halfway down the broad hallway, and partially obscured by +the turn of the stairs, a door stood slightly ajar upon the right hand. +Conjecturing this might be where the defenders of the eastern exposure +were lying, I peered within. The blinds were tightly drawn and I was +able to perceive little of its interior, excepting that the walls were +lined with books. + +"Ebers," I called, thinking he must be there, "are you in charge here?" + +"I vos, Captain," came the instant reply, and he at once emerged from +the darkness, his honest face full of interest. "Is it der preakfast vot +is already?" + +"Hardly, my man. I imagine we may enjoy a fight first, to give us better +appetites." + +"Mein Gott, but I am vurnished mit der abbetite already. I vould fight +mit more fun if I vos full." + +"So no doubt would all of us; but I have no time for mere talk. Did you +meet with any trouble during the night?" + +"Troubles? By Chiminy, yes, Captain, I vos hongry for six hour. I have +took der belt oop dree time already, an' I vos empty yet. Troubles? +Donnerwetter, it is all troubles." + +"Not that," sternly. "I mean, have the enemy kept you busy?" + +"Der vos some shooting, und Hadley he got hurt bad, but der fellers is +all gone. Dis is der right time to eat in der bantry, ain't it?" + +"Bring your men fit for duty out here in the hall, and have them join my +party," I said, ignoring his pathetic appeal. "How many have you?" + +"Der is four, und, Captain, dey vos most as veak as I am mit netting to +eat." + +Seeing I was not to be moved by thought of their pitiable condition, +he drew back with a profound sigh, and as he disappeared some one came +hastily toward us along the hallway from the rear. + +"What is it, Caton?" I asked anxiously, as I recognized him. + +"They are forming to rush me, I think," he answered. "I need a few more +men if I can get them." + +"They are preparing to assault front and rear at the same time," I +answered. "They are massing now, and in my judgment Brennan will have +to face the brunt of it. The front of this house is greatly exposed, and +will prove extremely difficult to defend if they come against it with +any force. How many men do you absolutely require in order to hold your +position? Remember, the women are all in the front part of the house, +and we must protect them at all hazards." + +"Good God, Wayne! Do you think I am likely to forget, with Celia Minor +among them?" he exclaimed indignantly. "Nothing but a strict sense of +duty holds me one moment where I am. Heaven knows I wish to be with her, +and, by thunder, Brennan is aware of it." + +"Then come with me," I cried. "There are times when a higher law than +that of military despotism should control our actions. I am going there, +orders or no orders. Ebers can command your detachment and accomplish +all the service you possibly could. Your rightful place is between +these ruffians and the woman you love. How many additional men will be +required to make the back of the house secure?" + +His face brightened as I was speaking, and the haggard look vanished +from his eyes. + +"I feel like a new man, Wayne," he said thankfully, "and I know you are +right. Four more would be sufficient, besides the one in command. The +wainscoting is high and of solid oak, the windows are small, there is no +porch, while the guns have a perfectly clear range for nearly a hundred +yards." + +"Good! Ebers," I said, as my portly Sergeant again emerged from out the +darkness, "take your four men back to the kitchen and assume command. +The guerillas are preparing to make a rush there, and you must drive +them back by rapid fire. Hurry along now." + +"By Chiminy, but I vos glad to git in der kitchen, anyhow. Is der +anyting cold to put in der stomach in dot bantry?" he asked anxiously. + +"You will have something exceedingly hot in your stomach unless you move +more lively," I said sternly. + +The little group had barely vanished beyond the glow of the light when +from without our ears were suddenly assailed by a wild, exulting yell +that bespoke the charge. + +"There they are!" I cried. "Now, lads, come with me!" + +The dull, gray, chilling dawn revealed a room in utmost disorder, the +windows shattered, the blinds cut and splintered, the walls scarred with +bullets and disfigured with stains of blood, the furniture overturned +and broken. A dead soldier in gray uniform lay in the centre of the +floor, his life-blood a dark stain upon the rich carpet; a man with coat +off, and blue shirt ripped wide open, was leaning against the further +wall vainly endeavoring to stanch a wound in his chest. Brennan was upon +one knee near the central window, a smoking gun in his hand, a red welt +showing ghastly across his cheek. All this I saw in a single glance, and +then, with the leap of a panther, I was beside him, gazing out into the +morning mist, and firing as fast as I could handle my gun. + +Through the shifting smoke clouds we could see them advancing on +a run,--an ugly, motley line, part blue, part gray, part +everything,--yelling as they swept forward like a pack of infuriated +wolves, their fierce faces scowling savagely behind the rifles. It was +half war, half riot--the reckless onslaught of outcasts bent on plunder, +inspired by lust, yet guided by rude discipline. + +I knew little of detail; faces were blurred, unrecognizable; all I +seemed to note clearly was that solid, brutal, heartless, blaspheming +line of desperate men sweeping toward us with a relentless fury our puny +bullets could not check. Reckless ferocity was in that mad rush; they +pressed on more like demons than human beings. I saw men fall; I saw the +living stumble over the dead. I heard cries of agony, shouts, curses, +but there was no pause. I could mark their faces now, cruel, angry, +revengeful; the hands that grasped the veranda railings; the leaping +bodies; the rifle-butts uplifted to batter down our frail defences. + +As trapped tigers we fought, hurling them back from the windows, +slashing, clubbing, striking with fist and steel. Two lay dead across +the sill before me, cloven to the very chin, but their bleeding bodies +were hurled remorselessly aside, while others clambered forward, mad +from lust of blood, crazed with liquor. With clubbed guns we cleared it +again and again, battering mercilessly at every head that fronted us. +Then a great giant of a fellow--dead or alive I know not--was hurled +headlong through the opening, an inert, limp weight, that bore the two +soldiers beside me to the floor beneath his body. With wide sweep of my +gun I struck him, shattering the stock into fragments, and swung back to +meet the others, the hot barrel falling to right and left like a flail. +They were through and on me! Wild as any sea-rover of the north I +fought, crazed with blood, unconscious of injury, animated solely +by desire to strike and slay! Back I had to go; back--I trod on dead +bodies, on wounded shrieking in pain, yet no man who came within sweep +of that iron bar lived. I loved to hear the thud of it, and I fronted +those glaring eyes, my blood afire, my arms like steel. Through the red +mist I beheld Caton for an instant as twenty brutal hands uplifted, and +then hurled him into the ruck beneath their feet. Whether I fought alone +I knew not, cared not. Then some one pressed next to me, facing as I +did, wielding a sword like a madman. We had our backs against the +piano, our shoulders touched; before us that mob swayed, checked for +the moment, held fast by sudden overpowering dread. I glanced aside. My +companion was Brennan, hatless, his deep-set eyes aflame, his coat torn +off, his shirt ripped open to the waist, his bare breast red with blood. + +"No shootin', damn ye!" shouted a voice, hoarsely. "No shootin'; I want +that Reb alive!" + +Through the swirling smoke I recognized the malicious face of Red +Lowrie as he pushed his way to the front. To me it was like a personal +challenge to combat. + +"Rush them!" I muttered into Brennan's ear. "Hurl them back a bit, and +then dodge under into the next room." + +I never waited to ascertain if he heard me. With one fierce spring I +struck their stunned line, and my iron bar swept a clear space as it +crashed remorselessly into them. The next instant Lowrie and I were +seemingly alone and fronting each other. A wild cat enraged by pain +looks as he did when he leaped to meet me. Hate, deadly, relentless, +glared in his eyes, and with a yell of exultation he swung up his +long rifle and struck savagely at my head with the stock. I caught +it partially on my barrel, breaking its full force, and even as it +descended upon my shoulder, jabbed the muzzle hard into his leering +face. With a snarl of pain he dropped his gun and grappled with me, but +as his fingers closed about my throat, something swirled down through +the maze, and the maddened brute staggered back, his arms uplifted, his +red beard cloven in twain. + +"Now for it, Wayne!" shouted Brennan. "Back with you!" + +With a dive I went under the piano. I heard the sliding doors shut +behind us, and almost with the sound was again upon my feet. + +"To the stairs!" I panted. "Brennan, take the women to the stairs; those +fellows are not in the hallway yet, and we can hold them there a while." + +In our terrible need for haste, and amid the thick, swirling smoke +filling that inner room almost to suffocation, I grasped the woman +chancing to be nearest me, without knowing at the moment who she was. +Already the rifle-butts were splintering the light wood behind us into +staves, and I hastily dragged my dazed companion forward. The others +were in advance, and we groped our way like blind persons out into the +hall. By rare good fortune it was yet unoccupied, and as we took the +few hurried steps toward the foot of the stairs I found my arm was +encircling Celia Minor. The depth of despair within her dark eyes, +and the speechless anguish of her white face, swept for an instant the +fierce rage of battle from my brain. + +"Do not fail us now, Miss Minor," I urged kindly, "we may yet hold out +until help comes." + +"Oh, it is not that!" she cried pitifully. "But Arthur; where is +Arthur?" + +"God knows," I was compelled to answer. "I saw him fronting the +first rush when it struck us. I think he went down, yet he may not be +seriously hurt." + +She burst into tears, but I had no time to comfort her, for at that +moment the mob, discovering our direction of escape, jammed both +doorways and surged forth howling into the hall. + +"Up!" I cried, forcing her forward. "Up with you; quick!" + +I paused a scant second to pluck a sabre from beside a dead soldier on +the floor, and then with a spring up the intervening steps, faced about +at Brennan's side on the first landing. + +"We ought to leave our mark on those incarnate devils here," he said +grimly, wiping his red blade on the carpet. + +"Unless they reach the second story from without, and take us in the +rear," I answered, "we ought to hold back the whole cowardly crew, so +long as they refuse to fire." + +It was a scene to abide long with a man--a horrible nightmare, never to +be forgotten. Above us, protected somewhat by the abrupt curve of the +wide staircase, crouched the women. Two were sobbing, their heads +buried in their hands, but Maria and Mrs. Brennan sat white of face and +dry-eyed. I caught one quick glance at the fair face I loved,--my sweet +lady of the North,--thinking, indeed, it might prove the last on earth, +and knew her eyes were upon me. Then, stronger of heart than ever for +the coming struggle, I fronted that scene below. + +Through the rising haze of smoke I looked down into angry faces, unkempt +beards, and brandished weapons. The baffled rascals poured out upon us +from both doors, crowding into the narrow space, cursing, threatening, +thirsting for revenge. Yet they were seemingly leaderless, and the +boldest among them paused at the foot of the stairs. They had already +felt our arms, had tested our steel, and knew well that grim death +awaited their advance. + +But they could not pause there long--the ever increasing rush of those +behind pressed the earlier arrivals steadily forward. Grim necessity +furnished a courage naturally lacking, and suddenly, giving vent to a +fierce shout, they were hurled upward, seeking to crush us at whatever +sacrifice, by sheer force of numbers. We met them with the point, in the +good old Roman way, thrusting home remorselessly, fighting with silent +contempt for them which must have been maddening. I even heard Brennan +laugh, as he pierced a huge ruffian through the shoulder and hurled him +backward; but at that moment I saw Craig knock aside a levelled gun and +press his way to the front of the seething mass to assume control. His +face was inflamed, his eyes bloodshot; drink had changed him into a very +demon. + +"Damn ye, Red told you not to fire!" he yelled. "Come on, you dogs! You +could eat 'em up if ye wasn't sich blamed cowards. There's only two, and +we'll hang them yet." + +He leaped straight up the broad steps, his long cavalry sabre in hand, +while a dozen of the boldest followed him. Brennan swung his sword +high over head, grasping it with both hands for a death-blow, even as +I thrust directly at the fellow's throat. The uplifted blade struck the +chain of the hanging lamp, snapped at the hilt, and losing his balance +the Major plunged headlong into the ruck beneath. The downward fall of +his body swept the stairs. + +As I stood there, panting and breathless, a woman rushed downward. +Believing she would throw herself into that tangled mass below, I +instantly caught her to me. + +"Don't," I cried anxiously. "You cannot help him. For God's sake go back +where you were." + +"It is not that," she exclaimed, her voice thrilling with excitement. +"Oh, Captain Wayne, do you not hear the bugles?" + +As by magic those hateful faces vanished, disappearing by means of every +opening leading out from the hall, and when the cheering blue-coats +surged in through the broken door, I was yet standing there, apparently +alone but for the dead, leaning weak and breathless against the wall, my +arm about Edith Brennan. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +A BELLIGERENT GERMAN + + +A young officer, whose red face was rendered extremely conspicuous +by the blue of his uniform, led the rush of his soldiers as they came +tumbling gallantly into the hall. + +"Up there, men!" he cried, catching instant sight of me, and pointing. +"Get that Johnny with the girl." + +As they sprang eagerly forward over the dead bodies littering the floor +at the foot of the stairs, Brennan scrambled unsteadily to his feet, and +halted them with imperious gesture. + +"Leave him alone!" he commanded. "That is the commander of the +Confederate detachment who came to our aid. The guerillas have fled down +the hallway, and are most of them outside by now. Wayne," he turned and +glanced up at us, his face instantly darkening at the tableau, "kindly +assist the ladies to descend; we must get them out of this shambles." + +He lifted them one by one and with ceremonious politeness across the +ghastly pile of dead and wounded men. + +"Escort them to the library," he suggested, as I hesitated. "That room +will probably be found clear." + +I was somewhat surprised that Brennan should not have come personally to +the aid of his wife, but as he ignored her presence utterly, I at once +offered her my arm, and silently led the way to the room designated, +the others following as best they might. The apartment was unoccupied, +exhibiting no signs of the late struggle, and I found comfortable +resting places for all. Miss Minor was yet sobbing softly, her face +hidden upon her mother's shoulder, and I felt constrained to speak with +her. + +"I shall go at once" I said kindly, "to ascertain all I can regarding +Lieutenant Caton, and will bring you word." + +She thanked me with a glance of her dark eyes clouded with tears, but +as I turned hastily away to execute this errand, Mrs. Brennan laid +restraining hand upon my arm. + +"Captain Wayne," she said with much seriousness, "you are very +unselfish, but you must not go until your own wounds have been attended +to; they may be far more serious than you apprehend." + +"My wounds?" I almost laughed at the gravity of her face, for although +exhausted, I was unconscious of any injury. "They must be trivial +indeed, for I was not even aware I had any." + +"But you have!" she insisted, her eyes full upon me. "Your hair is +fairly clotted with blood, while your shoulder is torn and bruised until +it is horrible to look upon." + +As I gazed at her, surprised by the anxiety she so openly displayed, I +chanced to behold myself reflected within a large mirror directly across +the room. One glance was sufficient to convince me her words were fully +justified. My remains of uniform literally clung to me in rags, my bare +shoulder looked a contused mass of battered flesh, my hair was matted, +and my face blackened by powder stains and streaked with blood. + +"I certainly do appear disreputable enough," I admitted; "but I can +assure you it is nothing sufficiently serious to require immediate +attention. Indeed a little water is probably all I need. Besides, why +should I care--was it not all received for your sake?" + +I spoke the pronoun so strongly she could not well ignore my obvious +meaning, nor did she endeavor to escape the inference. Her face, yet +white from the strain of the past few hours, became rosy in an instant, +and her eyes fell. + +"I know," she answered softly. "Perhaps that may be why I am so +exceedingly anxious your injuries should be attended to." + +As I stepped without, and closed the door behind me, I was at once +startled by the rapid firing of shots from the rear of the house, and +the next moment I encountered the young, red-faced officer hurrying +along the hallway at the head of a squad of Federal cavalrymen. +Recognizing me in the gloom of the passage he paused suddenly. + +"I owe you a belated apology, Captain," he exclaimed cordially, "for +having mistaken you for one of those miscreants, but really your +appearance was not flattering." + +"Having viewed myself since within a mirror," I replied, "I am prepared +to acknowledge the mistake a most natural one. However, I am grateful to +be out of the scrape, and can scarcely find fault with my rescuers. Five +minutes more would have witnessed the end." + +"We rode hard," he said, "and were in saddle within fifteen minutes +after the arrival of your courier. You evidently made a hard fight of +it; the house bears testimony to a terrible struggle. We are rejoicing +to learn that Lieutenant Caton was merely stunned; we believed him dead +at first, and he is far too fine a fellow to go in that way." + +"He is truly living, then?" I exclaimed, greatly relieved. "Miss Minor, +to whom he is engaged, is sorrowing over his possible fate in the +library yonder. Could not two of your men assist him to her? She would +do more to hasten his recovery than any one." + +"Certainly," was the instant response. "Haines, you and McDonald get the +officer out of the front room; carry him in there where the ladies are, +and then rejoin us." + +His face darkened as the men designated departed on their errand. + +"I really require all the force I possess," he said doubtfully. "It +seems impossible to dislodge those rascals back yonder. What we need is +a field howitzer." + +"I have been wondering at the firing; pretty lively, isn't it? Have some +of those fellows made a stand?" + +"Yes; quite a crowd of them have succeeded in barricading themselves in +the kitchen, and it is so arranged as to prove an exceedingly awkward +place to attack. We have had three men hit already, in spite of every +precaution, and I am seeking now to discover some means of forcing +their position from the hall. Their leader appears to be a bullet-headed +Dutchman about as easy to manage as a mule." + +The words aroused me to a possibility. + +"A Dutchman, you say? and in the kitchen? Have you had sight of the +fellow?" + +"Merely a glimpse, and that over a rifle-barrel. He has a round, dull +face, with a big flat nose." + +"That idiot is my sergeant, Lieutenant, and supposes he is still +fighting guerillas." + +The Lieutenant looked at me in surprise, then burst into a peal of +laughter. "Well, if that is true," he cried, "I most sincerely hope you +will call him off before he succeeds in cleaning out our entire troop." + +I started down the hallway toward the point of firing. There was a sharp +jog in the wall leading to the kitchen door, and as I approached it some +soldiers stationed there warned me to be careful. + +"They're perfect devils to shoot, sir," said one respectfully, "an' the +Dutchman fetches his man every time." + +"Oh, it will be all right, boys," I replied confidently. "He'll know +me." + +Before me as I stepped forth was a double door of oak, the upper half +partially open. + +"Sergeant," I cried, "come out; the fight is all over." + +For answer a bullet whizzed past me, chugging into the wall at my back, +and I skipped around the corner with a celerity of movement which caused +the fellows watching me to grin with delight. + +"Find me a white cloth of some kind," I demanded as soon as I reached +cover, and now thoroughly angered. "We shall see if that wooden-headed +old fool knows the meaning of a flag of truce." + +They succeeded in securing me a torn pillow-slip from somewhere, and +sheltering my body as best I might behind the wall angle I waved +it violently in full view of the kitchen door. For a few moments it +remained apparently unnoted, and then Ebers's round, placid countenance +looked suspiciously through the slight aperture. + +"Did you give op?" he questioned anxiously. + +"Give up nothing," I retorted, my temper thoroughly exhausted. "Come out +of that! You are firing on your own friends." + +He put his fat fingers to his nose and wiggled them derisively. + +"Dot is too thin," he said meaningly. "You dink me von ol' fool, but I +show you. By Chiminy, I want no friends--you shoot me der ear off, and +I fights mit you good and blenty. Der is dings to eat in der bantry, and +you be damned." + +He drew back, leaving merely the black muzzle of his gun projecting +across the top of the lower door. + +"Ebers," I called out at the top of my voice, "unless you obey my orders +I'LL have you strung up by your own men. Open that door!" + +The fat, puzzled face peered once more cautiously over the menacing +gun-barrel. + +"Is dot you, Captain?" + +"Yes, come out; the fight is all over." + +"No, vos it?" and he flung open the lower half of the door. "Veil, I vos +not sorry. Have ve vipped dem already?" + +"Yes, it's all done with. Take your men out of there, and go into camp +somewhere in the yard. Seek out our wounded and attend to them as soon +as possible. Are your men hungry?" + +"Veil, maybe dey vos not quite full, but dere is a ham in der bantry dot +vould pe bretty good mit der stomach." + +"Take it along with you; only hurry up, and attend at once to what I +have told you." + +I watched closely until they had all passed out, and then turned to the +highly amused Federal lieutenant. + +"You surely have a character in that fellow," he said good-humoredly, +"and I can bear witness he is a fighter when the time comes." + +I left them, remembering then my own need. By using the back stairway +I avoided unpleasant contact with the traces of conflict yet visible at +the front of the house, and finally discovered a bathroom which +afforded facilities for cleansing my flesh wounds and making my general +appearance more presentable. I found I could do little to improve the +condition of my clothing, but after making such changes for the better +as were possible, soaking the clotted blood from out my hair, and +washing the powder stains from my face, I felt I should no longer prove +an object of aversion even to the critical eyes of the women, who would +fully realize the cause for my torn and begrimed uniform. + +A glance from the window told me the Federal cavalrymen were bearing out +the dead and depositing them beyond view of the house in the deserted +negro cabins. Ebers and one or two of my own men were standing near, +carefully scanning the uncovered faces as they were borne past, while +scraps of conversation overheard brought the information that the long +dining-room where I had passed the night on guard had been converted +into a temporary hospital. + +Irresolute as to my next action, I passed out into the upper hall. It +was deserted and strangely silent, seemingly far removed from all those +terrible scenes so lately enacted in the rooms beneath. My head by this +time throbbed with pain; I desired to be alone, to think, to map out my +future course before proceeding down the stairs to meet the others. With +this in view I sank down in complete weariness upon a convenient settee. +I could hear the sound of muffled voices below, while an occasional +order was spoken loud enough to reach me; but I was utterly alone, and +my thoughts wandered, as though the strain of the past few hours had +completely wrecked all my mental faculties. It was Edith Brennan--Edith +Brennan--who remained constantly before me, and wherever my eyes +wandered they beheld the same fail-face, which tantalized me by its +presence and mocked me in every resolve I sought to form. There was no +safety for me--and none for her, as I now verily believed--save in my +immediate departure. We could be together no longer without my unlocking +sealed lips and giving utterance to words she could not listen to, words +she must never hear. I was yet struggling to force this decision into +action when complete fatigue overcame me. My heavy head sank back upon +the arm of the settee, and deep sleep closed my eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +THE WORDS OF LOVE + + +It was in my dreams I felt it first,--a light, moist touch upon my +burning forehead,--and I imagined I was a child once more, back at the +old home, caressed by the soft hand of my mother. But as consciousness +slowly returned I began to realize dimly where I was, and that I was +no longer alone. A gentle hand was stroking back the hair from off my +temples, while the barest uplift of my eyelids revealed the folds of a +dark blue skirt pressed close to my side. Instantly I realized who must +be the wearer, and remained motionless until I could better control my +first unwise impulse. + +She spoke no word, and I cautiously opened my eyes and glanced up into +her face. For a time she remained unaware of my awakening, and sat there +silently stroking my forehead, her gaze fixed musingly upon the window +at the farther end of the hall. Doubtless she had been sitting thus for +some time, and had become absorbed in her own reflections, for I lay +there drinking in her beauty for several moments before she chanced +to glance downward and observe that I was awake. The evidences of past +exposure and strain were not absent from her features, yet had not +robbed her of that delicate charm which to my mind separated her so +widely from all others,--her rounded cheek yet retained the fresh hue of +perfect health, her clear, thoughtful eyes were soft and earnest, while +the luxuriant hair, swept back from off the broad, low forehead, had +been tastefully arranged and exhibited no signs of neglect. It was not +a perfect face, for there was unmistakable pride in it, nor would I +venture to term it faultless in contour or regularity of outline, but it +was distinctly lovable, and the dearest face for ever in all this world +to me. How regally was the proud head poised upon the round, swelling +throat, and with what regularity her bosom rose and fell to her soft +breathing. I think the very intensity of my gaze awakened her from +reverie, for she turned almost with a start and looked down upon me. As +our eyes met, a warm wave of color dyed her throat and cheeks crimson. + +"Why," she exclaimed in momentary confusion, "I supposed I should know +before you awoke, and have ample time to escape unobserved." + +"Possibly if you had been noting the symptoms of your patient with +greater care, you would." + +"True, I was dreaming," she admitted, "and had almost forgotten where I +was." + +"Could I purchase your dream? I was intently studying your face as you +sat there, yet was unable to determine whether your reflections were +pleasant or unpleasant." + +"They were merely foolish," was the frank response, "but such as they +were they are certainly not for sale. You are better, Captain Wayne?" + +"How could I fail to be better with so delightful a nurse? I confess I +am tempted to say no, so as to regain the soft touch of your palm upon +my temple; but it was really nothing more serious than fatigue that had +overcome me. I scarcely know how I chanced to fall asleep. I merely +sat down here for a rest; it was very quiet, and that was the last I +remember. Have I been lying here long?" + +"There is a rule of evidence, I believe, which protects a suspected +person from incriminating himself, but I will acknowledge that I have +been here all of half an hour," she answered, too proud to deny her +part. "The people below were wondering where you could have gone, and I +undertook a search upon my own account. Yes, sir," somewhat archly, "I +was afraid lest your injuries were more serious than you believed them +to be. I discovered you lying here. You were resting very uncomfortably +when I first came, and I felt it my duty to render your position as easy +as possible. I did not forget that your fatigue came in our defence." + +"Could you not say in yours?" I corrected. "But I have already been more +than repaid. Your hand upon my brow was far more restful than I can +tell you--its soft stroking mingled in my dreams even before I awoke. It +brought back to me the thought of my mother. I do not think I have had a +woman's hand press back my hair since I was a child." + +Her eyes fell slightly, and she moved uneasily. + +"There was a look of pain upon your face as you lay sleeping, and I +thought it might ease you somewhat. I have had some experience as a +nurse, you know," she explained quietly. "You mentioned your mother; is +she yet living?" + +"She is in Richmond, stopping with friends, but since my capture we have +lost all trace of each other. I was reported as having been killed in +action, and I doubt if she even yet knows the truth. Everything is +so confused in the capital that it is impossible to trace any one not +directly connected with the army, once you lose exact knowledge of their +whereabouts." + +"Your father, then, is dead?" + +"He yielded his life the first year of the war; and our plantation near +Charlottesville has been constantly in the track of the armies. One +rather important battle, indeed, was fought upon it, so you may realize +that it is now desolate, and utterly unfit for habitation." + +"The house yet stands?" + +"The chimney and one wall alone remained when I was last there," I +replied, glad of the interest she exhibited. "Fortunately two of the +negro cabins were yet standing. Doubtless these will form the nucleus of +our home when the war ceases; they will prove a trifle better than the +mere sky." + +"The South is certainly paying a terrible price for rebellion," she said +soberly, her fine eyes filled with tears. "Only those of us who have +beheld some portion of the sacrifice can ever realize how complete it +is." + +"The uselessness of it is what makes it seem now so unutterably sad." + +"Yes," she assented, "and this the South is beginning to understand. But +I cannot help thinking of the joy awaiting your mother when she learns +that you are well, after she has mourned you as dead. It will almost +repay her for all the rest. How I should love to be the bearer of such +news." + +As she spoke she quietly rose to her feet and smiled pleasantly as I +took advantage of the opportunity to sit up. + +"I thought you must be tired, lying in that position so long; besides, I +am sure I have tarried here quite as long as I should, now that I can be +of no further service." + +As she gathered her skirts in her hand preparatory to descending the +stairs, I yielded to temptation and stopped her. Right or wrong I must +yet have one word more. + +"I beg of you do not desert me so soon. This may prove our final +meeting,--indeed, I fear it must be; surely, then, it need not be so +brief a one?" + +She paused irresolute, one white hand resting upon the dark stair-rail, +her face turned partially aside so I could only guess at its expression. + +"Our final meeting?" + +She echoed my words as though scarcely comprehending their meaning. + +"Yes," I said, rising and standing before her. "How can we well hope it +shall be otherwise? I am not free to remain here, even were it best for +other reasons, for I am a soldier under orders. You undoubtedly will +proceed North at the earliest possible moment. There is scarcely a +probability that in the great wide world we shall meet again." + +"The war will soon be over; perhaps then you may come North also." + +"I scarcely expect to do so. My work then will be to join with my +comrades in an effort to rebuild the shattered fortunes of Virginia. +When the lines of lives diverge so widely as ours must, the chances are +indeed few that they ever meet again." + +"Yes; yet we are free agents." + +"Not always, nor under all circumstances--there are outside influences +which cannot be ignored." + +Her head was bowed slightly, but she lifted it now, and I dreamed I saw +unshed tears in her eyes. + +"But surely you can remain here until we leave?" she questioned, +evidently striving not to reveal the depth of interest she felt in the +decision. "It will not be until to-morrow that all details are arranged +so as to permit of our departure. I had supposed you would certainly be +with us until then." + +"Mrs. Brennan!" I exclaimed almost passionately, "do not tempt me! Your +wish is a temptation most difficult to resist." + +"Why resist, then?" + +She did not look at me, but stood twisting a handkerchief nervously +through her fingers. The abrupt question startled me almost into +full confession, but fortunately my eyes chanced to fall upon her +wedding-ring, and instantly I crushed the mad words back into my throat. + +"Because it is right," I replied slowly, feeling each sentence as a +death-blow. "For me to remain can mean only one thing. For that I am +ready enough, if I thought you desired it, but I dare not choose such a +course myself." + +"You speak in riddles. What is the one thing?" + +"A personal meeting with Major Brennan." + +The high color deserted her cheeks, and her eyes met mine in sudden +inquiry. "Oh, no, no!" she exclaimed with energy. "You and Frank must +never meet in that way. You mean a duel?" + +I bowed gravely. "I can assure you I earnestly desire to avoid it for +your sake, but am aware of no possibility of escape except through my +immediate departure." + +"There has been no challenge then?" + +"Not formally, yet almost an equivalent--I was permitted to aid +in defence of this house only by pledging myself to Major Brennan +afterwards." + +"But why need it be--at least now that you have stood together as +comrades?" + +"I fear," I said quietly, "that fact will not count for much. We both +fought inspired by your presence." + +"Mine!" I hardly knew how to interpret her tone. + +"Certainly; you cannot be ignorant that Major Brennan's dislike is based +upon your friendship for me." + +"But there is no reason," she stammered. "He has no cause--" + +"His reason I must leave him to explain," I interrupted, to relieve her +evident embarrassment. "His words, however, were extremely explicit; +and to ignore them by departure is to imperil my own reputation in both +armies. I would do so for no one else in the world but you." + +Her reception of this almost open avowal surprised me. For an instant +she remained motionless, her eyes lowered upon the carpet, a flush on +either cheek; then they were frankly lifted to mine, and she extended +both hands. + +"How can I ever thank you?" she asked gravely. "Captain Wayne, you make +me trust you utterly, and place me constantly in your debt." + +Her words and manner combined to make me realize the depth of her +feeling. But what did they really betoken? Was it merely thankfulness at +her husband's escape from peril, or a personal devotion toward myself? +I could not determine, but might only venture to believe the first more +probable. + +"Then you realize that I am right?" + +"Yes," slowly, but making no effort to release her hands. "Yet is no +other escape possible?" + +"None within my knowledge." + +"And you must go?" + +"I must go--unless you bid me stay." + +"Oh, I cannot; I cannot at such a cost!" she cried, and I could feel her +body tremble with the intensity of her emotion. "But, Captain Wayne, +our friendship surely need not be severed now for ever? I cannot bear +to think that it should be. I am no cold, heartless ingrate, and shall +never forget what you have done to serve me. I value every sacrifice you +have made on my behalf. Let us indeed part now if, as you say, it must +be so; yet surely there are happier days in store for both of us--days +when the men of this nation will not wear different uniforms and deem it +manly to fight and kill each other." + +"The great struggle will certainly cease, possibly within a very few +weeks," I answered, greatly moved by her earnestness, "but I fear the +men engaged in it will remain much the same in their natures however +they may dress. I can only say this: Were the path clear I would surely +find you, no matter where you were hidden." + +She bowed her head against the post of the stair-rail and sobbed +silently. I stood without speaking, knowing nothing I could hope to say +which would in the least comfort her, for in my own heart abode the same +dull despair. At last she looked up, making not the slightest attempt to +disguise her emotion. + +"How terrible it is that a woman must ever choose between such evils," +she said almost bitterly. "The heart says one thing and duty another all +through life, it seems to me. I have seen so much of suffering in these +last few months, so much of heartless cruelty, that I cannot bear to be +the cause of any more. You and Major Brennan must not meet; but, Captain +Wayne, I will not believe that we are to part thus for ever." + +"Do you mean that I am to seek you when the war closes?" + +"There will be no time when I shall not most gladly welcome you." + +"Your home?" I asked, wondering still if she could mean all that her +words implied. "I have never known where you resided in the North." + +"Stonington, Connecticut." She smiled at me through the tears yet +clinging to her long lashes. "You may never come, of course, yet I shall +always feel now that perhaps you will; and that is not like a final +good-bye, is it?" + +I bowed above the hands I held, and pressed my lips upon them. For the +moment I durst not speak, and then--a voice suddenly sounded in the hall +below: + +"I am greatly obliged to you, Miss Minor; she is probably lying down. I +will run up and call her." + +We started as if rudely awakened from a dream, while a sudden expression +of fright swept across her face. + +"Oh, do not meet him," she begged piteously. "For my sake do not remain +here." + +"I will go down the back stairway," I returned hastily, "but do you +indeed mean it? may I come to you?" + +"Yes, yes; but pray go now!" + +Unable longer to restrain myself, I clasped her to me, held her for one +brief instant strained to my breast, kissed her twice upon lips which +had no opportunity for refusal. + +"This world is not so wide but that somewhere in it I shall again find +the one woman of my heart," I whispered passionately, and was gone. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +A PLAN MISCARRIED + + +I remembered as I hurried down the back stairway her flushed face, +but could recall no look of indignant pride in those clear eyes whose +pleasant memory haunted me. She loved me; of this I now felt doubly +assured, and the knowledge made my heart light, even while I dreaded +the consequences to us both. To have won was much, even although hope of +possession did not accompany the winning. Neither of us might ever again +blot out those passionate words of love, nor forget the glad meeting of +our lips. + +I stepped out into the kitchen and came to a sudden pause, facing +a table laden with such a variety and abundance of food as had been +strange to me for many a long day. Directly opposite, a napkin tucked +beneath his double chin, his plate piled high with good things, sat +Ebers, while at either end I beheld Mr. and Mrs. Bungay similarly +situated. The astonishment of our meeting seemed mutual. The Sergeant, +apparently feeling the necessity of explanation, wiped his mouth +soberly. + +"I vos yoost goin' to fill me op mit der dings like a good soldier, +Captain," he said in anxiety. + +"So I perceive," I answered, my own spirits high. "The long night of +fasting must have left quite a vacancy." + +"I vos like a cistern in mein insides, by Chiminy." + +"No doubt; well, I am rather hungry myself. Mrs. Bungay, in memory of +old times cannot you spare me a plate? If so, I will take pleasure in +joining your happy company. Thank you. I see you have found your man." + +She glared down the table, and the little fellow visibly shrank. + +"I have thet, sir," she answered grimly, "an' I reckon as how he's +likely ter stay et hum arter this." + +"But you forget he is my guide," I protested, not disinclined to test +her temper. "Surely, Mrs. Bungay, you would not deprive the South of his +valuable service?" + +"An' wouldn't I, now? An' didn't thet little whiffit promise me long +afore he ever did you uns? Ain't he my nat'ral pertecter? Whut's a lone +female a goin' ter dew yere in ther mountings wi'out no man?" Her eyes +flashed angrily at me. "Suah, an' if it's jist fightin' as he wants so +bad I reckon as how he kin git it et hum wi'out goin' ter no war--anyhow +ye kin bet I don't give him up, now I got my hand on him agin, fer ther +whole kit an' caboodle of ye. He bean't much ter look et, likely, but he +'s my man, an' I reckon as how ther Lord giv' him ter me ter take keer +of." + +"Really, Mrs. Bungay," I insisted, "of course it will prove exceedingly +disagreeable to me, and I shall greatly regret being compelled to do +anything of the kind, but it is undoubtedly my duty to place Jed under +guard and carry him back to camp with me." + +"But suah, an' ye won't, Captain dear?" she pleaded, entirely changing +her tone. "Whut good is thet little whiffit ter you uns? There's never +so much as a decent fight in him thet I've found in twenty years. Maybe +ye think as how I'm jist a bit hard on him; but he's thet gay at times +thet he drives me fair crazy. Every lick I ever give him wus fer his own +good. Suah now, an' ye never would run off with my man?" + +"Come, Jed, what do you say? Are you tired fighting the battles of the +Confederacy, and prefer those of home?" + + "'Poor remnants of the Bleeding Heart, + Ellen and I will seek, apart, + The refuge of some forest cell, + There like the hunted quarry dwell, + Till on the mountain and the moor, + The stern pursuit be passed and o'er,'" + +he quoted humbly. "I like ter read all 'bout fightin' well 'nough, but +durn it, Cap, it kinder hurts whin they hits ye on ther head with a +gun." His face lit up suddenly. "'Sides, I sorter wanter hev Mariar git +'quainted with thet thar muel o' mine, Beelzebub." + +"But you've lost him." + +"Nary a durn loss; ye jist can't lose thet muel, he's too blame ornary. +He's out thar now, hitched ter a tree, an' a eatin' fit ter bust his +biler--never a durn mark on his hide fer all he wint through." + +"Well, I suppose I shall be compelled to let you and Beelzebub go, but +it will prove a serious loss to the cause of the South," I said, my +thoughts instantly turned by mention of the mule to matters of more +importance. "I expect there will be lively times up your way." + +"Ye kin jist bet thar will," enthusiastically. "It'll be nip an' tuck, +I reckon, but I 'm mighty hopeful o' Mariar. Thet dern muel he needs ter +be took down a peg." + +Ebers was eating all this time with an eagerness which plainly exhibited +his fear lest I should call him to halt before he had entirely filled +the aching void in his interior department. I could not fail to note the +deep anxiety in his eyes as he watched me furtively. + +"Sergeant," I said, and he started perceptibly. + +"I vos not yet done, Captain," he implored. "Mein Gott, but I vos so +hongry as never vos." + +"Oh, eat all you please; I merely wished to question you a little. Did +you send out a party to bring in our horses and the sabres?" + +"It vos all done already; der horses vos found und der swords. Yaw, I +see to all dot; but I vos hongry, und vaited here to fill me op." + +"How many men have we lost?" + +He checked them off on the tines of his fork, occasionally pausing to +take a bite from the meat held in his other hand. + +"Der vos five kilt, Captain; dot vos it. I vos hit mit der ear off, und +vos hongry as never vos; Sands is goin' to die, und maybe Elliott vill +not get some better; some odders vos hurted, und der guide vos took +brisoner." + +"Taken prisoner?" + +"Dot is it, Captain; by Chiminy, he vos took by der ear by his voman und +led in der house. Vot you calls dot, if he vos not brisoner, hay?" + +"Why, she is his wife." + +"Veil, dot may be, too," he insisted stoutly. "His frau, yaw, dot is it, +but by Chiminy, he fights mit her yoost der same, und vos brisoner; und +I vos vounded mit der ear off, und vos hongry as never vos." + +"How many men does that leave us fit for duty?" I asked decisively, +pushing back my plate and rising from the table. + +He counted them up with painful slowness, speaking each name +deliberately, as if calling the roll. + +"Dere vos twelve, Captain, mit me, but I am not fit for duty widout I +eat somedings first." + +"That will do," I said peremptorily. "You can have fifteen minutes more +to complete filling up. In half an hour from now have the men ready for +the road." + +"But, Captain," he protested, "I vould rattle so mit my insides, by +Chiminy, dot der horse vould scare." + +"Do exactly as I say, and no more words, Sergeant," and I turned and +left the room. + +We must depart, and at once. More than ever now I realized the necessity +for haste. I hoped to meet the officer commanding the Federal detachment +who had come to our aid, pay him the customary marks of respect, and get +away without again coming in contact with Major Brennan. I felt myself +pledged to this course of action. + +A sentry stationed in the lower hallway informed me the officers were +messing together in the front parlor, and I at once headed that way. I +paused, however, to visit the wounded for a moment, spoke cheerily to +my own men, and then, opening the door quietly, entered the room which +I had last left in possession of the guerillas. With the exception of +broken windows and bullet-scarred walls little evidence remained of that +contest which had raged here with such fury but a few hours previously. +There were numerous dark stains upon the carpet, but much of the +furniture had been restored to place, while a cheerful wood fire +crackled in the open grate. Before it three men were sitting smoking, +while upon a small table close at their elbows rested a flat bottle, +flanked by several glasses. A single glance sufficed to tell me they +were Federal cavalrymen, one being the red-faced lieutenant whom I had +already met. + +"I am seeking the commander of this detachment," I explained, as they +glanced up in surprise at my entrance unannounced. "I am Captain Wayne, +in charge of the Confederate troop which was engaged in defence of this +house." + +A portly man with a strong face, and wearing a closely clipped gray +beard, arose from a comfortable armchair and advanced with hand +extended. + +"I am Captain Moorehouse, in command," he answered cordially, "and am +very glad to meet you. Will you not join with us? My second lieutenant, +who has positive genius in that line, has unearthed a few bottles of +rather choice whiskey which we will divide most gladly." + +"I thank you," I replied, anxious to meet him as pleasantly as possible, +"but I am eager to get away upon my duty as early as may be, and have +merely intruded upon you to explain my purpose." + +"Nonsense," he insisted. "Duty is never quite so urgent as to require +a waste of good liquor. Captain Wayne, permit me to present my +officers--Lieutenants Warren and Starr, Second New Hampshire Cavalry. If +by any luck you were at Gettysburg, you have met before." + +I smiled and accepted the glass held out to me. + +"I was certainly there," I replied in the same spirit with which he +had spoken, "and now you recall it, retain a most vivid recollection of +meeting several Federal cavalrymen on that occasion, but believe I did +not linger to ascertain the number of their regiment. My curiosity was +completely satisfied before I reached that point. However, I am far +better pleased to renew the acquaintance in this manner." + +The ice broken, we continued to converse freely for several minutes +regarding incidents of the war, and I described the peculiar conditions +which had brought me to the relief of Brennan's party. Under +other circumstances I should have greatly enjoyed this exchange of +reminiscences, but the constant haunting fear of the Major's possible +entrance at any moment rendered me extremely uneasy, and anxious to +be away. Undoubtedly this feeling exhibited itself in my manner, for +Captain Moorehouse said finally: + +"I realize your natural anxiety to be off, Captain Wayne, and while we +should be very glad to keep you with us indefinitely, yet I trust you +will feel perfectly free in the matter." + +"I thank you greatly," I answered, rising as I spoke. "My duty is of +such a nature, and has already been so long neglected, that I feel every +moment of unnecessary delay to be a crime. I wish you a pleasant return +within your own lines, and an early cessation of hostilities." + +I had shaken hands with them all, and turned toward the door, +congratulating myself on escaping thus easily, when a new voice broke +suddenly in upon my self-satisfaction: + +"I trust Captain Wayne is not intending to depart without at least a +word with me?" + +It was Brennan. He had entered unobserved from the second parlor, and +now stood leaning with an almost insolent assumption of languor against +the sliding door, his eyes fastened upon me. + +"Frankly," I responded, "I had hoped I might." + +His brows contracted into a frown of anger that seemed to darken his +entire face. + +"Have you forgotten, then, our compact, or do you simply elect to ignore +it?" + +I saw the others exchange quick glances of amazement, but I answered +coolly: + +"The latter supposition is more nearly the truth, Major Brennan. I +felt that after what we have just passed through together we could both +afford to ignore the past, and consequently was hoping to escape without +again encountering you." + +"Indeed!" he exclaimed sarcastically. "But I might have expected it. +Gentlemen," and he turned toward the expectant group, "this man and I +have a personal grievance of long standing unsettled. I have sought him +for months in vain. When he came last night to our assistance, before I +even consented to accept his services I insisted that no occurrence +of the defence should prevent our meeting if we both survived. Now he +endeavors to sneak away like a whipped cur. I demand satisfaction at his +hands, and if it is refused I shall denounce him in both armies." + +My cheeks burned, but before I could control myself sufficiently for +answer Moorehouse spoke. + +"But, Brennan, see here," he said anxiously, "surely Captain Wayne has +served you well. Is this trouble between you so serious that no amends +are possible?" + +"None, short of a personal meeting." + +"Captain," and the perplexed Federal commander, turned toward me, "have +you any word of explanation in this unfortunate affair?" + +"Very little," I answered. "I am not even aware that I have done injury +to Major Brennan, purposely or otherwise. He has not so much as honored +me with information as to his cause for complaint. However, I care very +little what it may be. As he has seen fit to denounce me before officers +of my own corps, I should be extremely glad to meet him upon that ground +alone; but after what we have just passed through together, I felt ready +to blot out these past differences. Whatever they may have been, they +are not liable to occur again, nor we to meet." + +"They have occurred again since you have been in this house!" Brennan +broke forth excitedly. "You are not a coward, but I brand you here and +now as sneak and liar! Now will you fight?" + +We stood for a moment in utter silence, eye to eye, and I knew there was +no help for it. These words, publicly spoken, left me no choice. + +"I am at your service, Major Brennan," I returned sternly, "now, or +at any time. But I am unfortunate here in having no officer of my army +present, and hence can name no second." + +"Doubtless one of these gentlemen will consent to serve," he said, his +face brightening at my rejoinder. + +There was a moment of hesitation, natural enough, for they could +scarcely feel like pitting themselves against a brother officer in +a quarrel the merits of which were so obscure. I was about to speak, +volunteering to stand alone, when some one hastily pushed a way to the +front, and Lieutenant Caton, pale but determined, stood at my shoulder. + +"It will afford me pleasure to act for Captain Wayne," he said clearly, +"if he will accept my services. Moreover," he added, with a significant +glance at Brennan, "I do this as a friend, and with full confidence that +I am upon the right side in the quarrel." + +For a moment no one spoke, Brennan biting his moustache to keep back +words he durst not utter. Then Caton turned to me. + +"If you will retire to the library, Wayne, I will arrange this matter +with whoever may represent Major Brennan." + +With a slight formal bow to those present I quitted the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +THE LAST RESORT OF GENTLEMEN + + +I found the library deserted, and paced the floor for fully half an +hour before Caton appeared. Stung as I had been by Brennan's harsh, +uncalled-for words, I yet shrank from the thought that I must now meet +him in deadly combat. It was no fear of personal injury that troubled +me; indeed I do not recall giving this the slightest consideration, +for my mind was altogether concentrated upon what such a meeting must +necessarily mean to Edith Brennan, and how it would affect all our +future relationship. This was the thought that swayed and mastered me. +I had pledged myself to avoid him, and indeed had used every means +possible to that end. I was even willing to go forth stamped by his +denunciation rather than involve her in such controversy. But the effort +was fruitless, and I must now stand before him, or else forever forfeit +my manhood. Thus the die was already cast, yet in one point I +might still prove true to the spirit of my pledge, and retain her +approbation--I could permit my antagonist to leave the field unscathed. + +One who does not realize my feelings toward this man, my fierce +resentment of every indignity he had heaped upon me, my intense rivalry, +and my burning desire to punish him for a hundred mental wounds, cannot +comprehend how difficult a battle I fought in those few moments in order +that I might conquer myself. The time was none too long, yet my mind +once thoroughly settled as to my duty to her, I became calm again, and +confident as to the outcome. When Caton entered, flushed and visibly +excited from what had evidently proven an acrimonious controversy, I +greeted him with a smile. + +"You appear to have experienced difficulties in regard to details," I +said curiously. + +"There was much unnecessary talk," he admitted, "but matters have been +at last arranged to the satisfaction of all concerned. You are to meet +at once, in the rear of the big tobacco shed, a spot entirely removed +from observation. I have been compelled to accept pistols as the +weapons, as we have nothing else here at all suitable for the +purpose--cavalry sabres being far too cumbersome. Lieutenant Starr +chances to possess two derringers exactly alike which we have mutually +agreed upon. I hope this is satisfactory to you, Wayne?" + +"I am not precisely an expert, but that does not greatly matter. Who +acts for Brennan?" + +"Captain Moorehouse, rather against his will, I think." + +"Very well, Caton; I am perfectly satisfied, and am, indeed, greatly +obliged to you; yet before we go out I desire to speak a word or two +with the utmost frankness." I stood facing him, my hand resting lightly +upon the writing-table, my eyes reading his expressive face. "As my +second I wish you to comprehend fully my actions, and the motives that +inspire them. If they are in any way unsatisfactory to your mind, you +may feel at perfect liberty to withhold your services. I am now, and +always have been, opposed to duelling; I believe it wrong in principle, +and a travesty upon justice; but it is a custom of the South, a +requirement among officers of our army, and after what has just occurred +between Major Brennan and myself I cannot honorably refuse any longer to +go out. Major Brennan has deliberately placed me in a position where +I cannot avoid meeting him without losing all standing in my corps. I +sought to escape, but was prevented by accident; now I simply yield to +the inevitable. I feel confident you will not misconstrue these words; +you surely know me sufficiently well so as not to attribute them +to cowardice. I shall face him exactly in accordance with your +arrangements, asking nothing upon my part, yielding him every +satisfaction he can possibly desire--but I shall fire in the air." + +He stared at me incredulously, his face a perfect picture of amazement. +"But, Wayne," he stammered, "are you aware that Major Brennan is an +expert with the pistol? that he holds the Sixth Corps trophy? Do you +realize that he goes out deliberately intending to kill you?" + +"I was not posted as to the first fact you mention, but have never +entertained the slightest doubt as to the other. However, they do not in +the least affect my decision." + +"But, man, it will be murder! I should never forgive myself if I +sanctioned it." + +"That is exactly why I told you," I said calmly; "and I am perfectly +willing to stand alone and absolve you from all responsibility. Yet I do +not desire you to suppose that I am at all quixotic in this--there is a +personal reason why I am perfectly willing to risk my life rather than +injure Major Brennan." + +His troubled eyes studied me intently, and then his face suddenly +brightened with a new thought. "Wayne," he asked, placing his hand upon +my arm familiarly, "is it Mrs. Brennan?" + +For an instant I hesitated, but his manly, honest countenance reassured +me. "Between us only, it is," I answered gravely; "but not the slightest +blame attaches to her." + +"I do not wholly understand," he said at last, "yet I do not doubt +you may be perfectly right in your decision." He extended his hand +impulsively. "I know you to be a good soldier and a true gentleman; I +will stand with you, Wayne, but I pledge this--if he takes advantage +treacherously, and you fall (as God forbid!), I will face him myself; +and when I do, there shall be no firing in the air." + +I wrung his hand silently, and my heart went out in unspeakable +gratitude to this noble fellow, who, wearing the uniform of an enemy, +had constantly proven himself my sincere friend. "Your words strengthen +me greatly," I managed to say at last. "Now let us go, and not keep the +others waiting." + +I do not remember that we spoke, save once, while we passed out through +the orchard into the field where the big tobacco shed stood. A group of +soldiers were digging a grave behind one of the negro cabins, but other +than these we saw no one. It was as we paused a moment to refasten the +gate that I finally broke the silence between us. + +"In the inner pocket of my shirt," I said, "you will find directions +which will enable you to communicate with my people." + +His eyes instantly filled with tears. + +"Don't say that, Wayne," he protested. "I will not believe it is +destined to end so." + +"I certainly trust it is not," I answered, smiling at him, and deeply +touched by his show of genuine feeling, "but I have only you to rely +upon in this matter if by any chance it does." + +The deserted field we were compelled to cross had long been neglected, +and was now thickly overgrown with weeds. Not until we turned the corner +of the great ramshackle building, which in other and more prosperous +days had been dedicated to the curing of the leaf, did we perceive any +signs of the presence of our antagonists. They were standing upon the +farther side, directly opposite the door, and both bowed slightly as we +approached. The Captain came toward us slowly. + +"It is to be greatly regretted, gentlemen," he said, with ceremonious +politeness, "that we have no surgeon with us. However, neither +contestant has any advantage in this respect. Lieutenant Caton, may I +ask if the arrangements as already completed have proven satisfactory to +your principal?" + +"Entirely so." + +"Then if you will kindly step this way a moment we will confer as to +certain details." + +Brennan was leaning in negligent attitude against the side of the +building, his eyes fastened upon the ground, the blue smoke of a cigar +curling lazily above his head. I glanced toward him, and then sought to +amuse myself watching the queer antics of a gray squirrel on the rail +fence beyond. I felt no desire for further thought, only an intense +anxiety for them to hurry the preliminaries, and have the affair settled +as speedily as possible. I was aroused by Moorehouse's rather nasal +voice. + +"Gentlemen, will you please take your positions. Major Brennan, you will +stand three paces to the right of that sapling, facing directly south. +Captain Wayne, kindly walk straight west from the shed door until you +come opposite the Major's position." + +I noted Brennan throw away the stump of his cigar, and then I walked +slowly forward until I reached the point assigned me. My heart was +beating fast now, for I fully realized the probabilities of the next few +minutes, and felt little doubt that serious injury, if not death, was +to be my portion. Yet my trained nerves did not fail me, and outwardly I +appeared fully as cool and deliberate as my opponent. Years of constant +exposure to peril in every form had yielded me a grim philosophy of +fatalism that now stood me in most excellent stead. Indeed, I doubt +not, had I chosen to put it to the test, my hand would have proven the +steadier of the two, for Brennan's face was flushed, and he plainly +exhibited the intense animosity with which he confronted me. + +How peculiarly the mind often operates in such moments of exciting +suspense! I recall remarking a very slight stoop in Brennan's shoulders +which I had never perceived before, I remember wondering where +Moorehouse had ever discovered a tailor to give so shocking a fit to his +coat, and finally I grew almost interested in two birds perched upon the +limb of a tree opposite where I stood. I even smiled to myself over a +jest one of the young officers had made an hour before. Yet with it all +I remained keenly observant, and fully aware of each movement made by +the others on the field. I saw Caton accept the derringer handed him and +test it carefully, the long, slim, blue barrel looking deadly enough as +he held it up between me and the sky. Then Moorehouse approached Brennan +with its fellow in his grasp, and the Lieutenant crossed over, and stood +beside me. + +"Here is the gun, Wayne," he said, "and I sincerely hope you have +changed your decision. There is no mercy in Brennan's eyes." + +"So I notice," I answered, taking the derringer from him, and examining +it with some curiosity, "but I shall do as I said, nevertheless. It +is not any sentiment of mercy I feel which spares him, but a duty that +appeals to me even more strongly than hate." + +"By Heaven, I wish it were otherwise." + +I remained silent, for I could not say in my heart that I echoed his +wish, and I cared not to go down in another minute with a lie upon my +lips. The love of Edith Brennan, which I now felt assured was mine, was +sweeter far to me than life. + +"Who gives the word?" I questioned. + +"I do; are you ready?" + +"Perfectly." + +I held out my hand, and his fingers closed upon it with warm, friendly +grip. The next moment Brennan and I stood, seemingly alone, facing +each other, as motionless as two statues. His coat was buttoned to the +throat, his cap-visor pulled low over his eyes, his pistol hand hanging +straight down at his side, his gaze never wavering from me. I knew +he was coolly, deliberately measuring the distance between us with +as deadly a purpose as any murderer. The almost painful stillness was +broken by Caton, and I marked the tremor in his voice. + +"Are you both ready, gentlemen?" + +"I am," said Brennan. + +"Ready," I replied. + +"The word will be one, two, three--fire; with a slight pause after the +three. A report from either pistol before the final word is spoken I +shall take personally. Be prepared now." + +There was a moment's pause; so still was it I heard the chirping of +birds overhead, and the flutter of a leaf as it fell swirling at my +feet. I saw Brennan as through a mist, and in its undulations there +seemed to be pictures of the face of his wife, as if her spirit hovered +there between us. To have shot then would have been like piercing her +before reaching him. + +"Ready!" said the voice once more; and as I saw Brennan's arm slowly +rise, I lifted mine also, and covered him, noting, as I did so, almost +in wonder, with what steadiness of nerve and wrist I held the slender +gauge just beneath the visor of his cap. Deliberately, as though he +dreaded the necessity, Caton counted: + +"One; two; three--_fire_!" + +My pistol exploded, the charge striking the limb above him, and I +staggered backward, my hat torn from my head, a white line cut through +my hair, and a thin trickle of blood upon my temple. I saw Caton rushing +toward me, his face filled with anxiety, and then Brennan hurled his yet +smoking derringer into the dirt at his feet with an oath. + +"Damn it, Moorehouse," he roared, fairly beside himself, "the charge was +too heavy; it overshot." + +"Are you much hurt?" panted Caton. + +"Merely pricked the skin." + +Then Brennan's angry voice rang out once more. + +"I demand another shot," he insisted loudly. "I demand it, I tell you, +Moorehouse. This settles nothing, and I will not be balked just because +you don't know enough to load a gun." + +Caton wheeled upon him, his blue eyes blazing dangerously. + +"You demand a second shot?" he cried indignantly. + +"Are you not aware, sir, that Captain Wayne fired in the air? It would +be murder." + +"Fired in the air!" he laughed, as if it was a most excellent joke. "Of +course he did, but it was because my ball disconcerted his aim. I fired +a second the first, but his derringer was covering me." + +Caton strode toward him, his face white with passion. + +"Let him have it his way," I called after him, for now my own blood was +up, "I shall not be guilty of such neglect again." + +He did not heed me, perhaps he did not hear. + +"Major Brennan," he said, facing him, his voice trembling with feeling, +"I tell you Captain Wayne purposely shot in the air. He informed me +before coming upon the field that he should do so. I positively refuse +to permit him to face your fire again." + +Brennan's face blazed; chagrin, anger, disappointment fairly infuriated +him, and he seemed to lose all self-control. "This is some cowardly +trick!" he roared, glaring about him as if seeking some one upon whom +he could vent his wrath. "Damn it, I believe my pistol was fixed to +overshoot in order to save that fellow. I never missed such a shot +before." + +Moorehouse broke in upon his raving, so astounded at these intemperate +words as to stutter in his speech. + +"D-do you d-dare to in-insinuate, Major Brennan" he began, "that +I have--" he paused, his mouth wide open, staring toward the shed. +Involuntarily we glanced in that direction also, wondering what he saw. +There, in the open doorway, as in a frame, dressed almost entirely in +white, her graceful figure and fair young face clearly defined against +the dark background, stood Edith Brennan. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +THE LAST GOOD-BYE + + +She exhibited no outward sign of agitation as she left her position and +slowly advanced toward us. However fiercely her heart may have beaten +she remained apparently calm and composed. Never before had I felt so +completely dominated by her womanly spirit, while her very presence upon +the field hushed in an instant the breathings of dispute. She never so +much as glanced at either Brennan or myself, but ignored us totally as +she drew near. Daintily lifting her skirts to keep them from contact +with the weeds under foot, her head poised proudly, her eyes a bit +disdainful of it all, she paused before Caton. + +"Lieutenant," she questioned in a clear tone which seemed to command an +answer, "I have always found you an impartial friend. Will you kindly +inform me as to the true meaning of all this?" + +He hesitated, hardly knowing what to reply, but her imperious eyes were +upon him--they insisted, and he stammered lamely: + +"Two of the gentlemen, madam, were about to settle a slight disagreement +by means of the code." + +"Were about?" she echoed, scornful of all deceit. "Surely I heard +shots as I came through the orchard?" "One fire has been exchanged," he +reluctantly admitted. "And Captain Wayne has been wounded?" + +I was not aware until that moment that she had even so much as noticed +my presence. + +"Very slightly, madam." + +"His opponent escaped uninjured?" + +Caton bowed, glanced uneasily toward me, and then blurted forth +impulsively: "Captain Wayne fired in the air, madam." + +She never glanced toward where I stood, yet I instantly marked the quick +droop of her eyes, the faint pink that overspread her cheek. This slight +confusion, unnoted save by eyes of love, was but momentary, still it +was sufficient to apprise me that she both understood and approved my +action. + +"A most delightful situation, surely," she said clearly and +sarcastically. "One would almost suppose we had wholly reverted to +barbarism, and that our boasted civilization was but mockery. Think of +it," and the proud disdain in her face held us silent, "not six hours +ago that house yonder was the scene of a desperate battle. Within its +blood-stained rooms men fought and died, cheering in their agony like +heroes of romance. I saw there two men battling shoulder to shoulder +against a host of infuriated ruffians, seeking to protect helpless +women. They wore different uniforms, they followed different flags, by +the fortune of war they were enemies, yet they could fight and die +in defence of the weak. I thanked God upon my knees that I had been +privileged to know such men and could call them friends. No nobler, +truer, manlier deed at arms was ever done! Yet, mark you, no sooner +is that duty over--scarcely are their dead comrades buried--when they +forget every natural instinct of gratitude, of true manliness, and +spring at each other's throat like two maddened beasts. I care not what +the cause may be--the act is shameful, and an insult to every woman of +this household. Even as I came upon the field voices were clamoring for +another shot, in spite of the fact that one man stood already wounded. +War may be excusable, but this is not war. Gentlemen, you have fired +your last shot on this field, unless you choose to make me your target." + +I would that I possessed a picture of that scene--a picture which would +show the varied expressions of countenance as those scornful words +lashed us. She stood there as a queen might, and commanded an obedience +no man among us durst refuse. Brennan's flushed face paled, and his lips +trembled as he sought to make excuse. + +"But, Edith," he protested, "you do not know, you do not understand. +There are wrongs which can be righted in no other way." + +"I do not care to know," she answered coldly, "nor do I ever expect to +learn that murder can right a wrong." + +"Murder! You use strong terms. The code has been recognized for +centuries as the last resort of gentlemen." + +"The code! Has it, indeed? What gentlemen? Those of the South +exclusively of late. That might possibly pardon your opponent, but not +you, for you know very well that in the North no man of any standing +would ever venture to resort to it. Moreover, even the code presupposes +that men shall stand equal at its bar--I am informed that Captain Wayne +fired in the air." + +He hesitated, feeling doubtless the uselessness of further protest, yet +she permitted him small opportunity for consideration. "Major," she said +quietly but firmly, "I should be pleased to have you escort me to the +house." + +These words, gently as they were spoken, still constituted a command. +Her eyes were upon his face, and I doubt not he read within them that he +would forfeit all her respect if he failed to obey. Yet he yielded with +exceeding poor grace. + +"As it seems impossible to continue," he admitted bitterly, "I suppose +I may as well go." He turned and fronted me, his eyes glowing. "But +understand, sir, this is merely a cessation, not an ending." + +I bowed gravely, not daring to trust my voice in speech, lest I should +yield to the temptation of my own temper. + +"Captain Wayne," she said, glancing back across his broad blue shoulder, +and I thought there was a new quality in her voice, the sting had +someway gone out of it, "I shall esteem it a kindness if you will call +upon me before you depart." + +"With pleasure," I hastened to reply, my surprise at the request almost +robbing me of speech, "but I shall be compelled to leave at once, as my +troop is already under orders." + +"I shall detain you for only a moment, but after what you have passed +through on our behalf I am unwilling you should depart without realizing +our gratitude. You will find me in the library. Come, Frank, I am ready +now." + +We remained motionless, watching them until they disappeared around the +corner of the shed. Brennan walked with stern face, his step heavy, +she with averted eyes, a slight smile of triumph curling her lip. Then +Moorehouse stooped and picked up the derringer the Major had thrown +away. + +"By thunder, but she's right!" he exclaimed emphatically. "I tell you +that's a mighty fine woman. Blame me, if she didn't face us like a +queen." + +No one answered, and without exchanging another word we walked together +to the house. There I found the remnant of my troop standing beside +their horses, chaffing with a dozen idle Yankee cavalrymen who were +lounging on the wide steps. + +The time had come when I must say a final farewell and depart. Not the +slightest excuse remained for further delay. I dreaded the ordeal, but +no escape was possible, and I entered the house for what I well knew was +to be the last time. My mind was gravely troubled; I knew not what to +expect, how far I might venture to hope. Why had she desired to see me +again? Surely the public reason she offered could not be the real one. +Was it to confess that I had won her heart, or to show me by scornful +words her indignation at my folly? What should I say, how could I act in +her presence? These and a hundred other queries arose to perplex me. + +Had she only been free, a maid whose hand remained her own to surrender +as she pleased, I should never have hesitated, never have doubted her +purpose; but now that could not be. I felt that every word and look +between us already bordered upon sin, that danger to both alike lurked +in each stolen glance and meeting. Better far we should have parted +without further speech. I knew this, yet love constrained me, as it has +constrained many another, and I lingered at her wish--a foolish moth +fluttering to the flame. + +As I knocked almost timidly at the closed library door a gentle voice +said, "Come," and I entered, my heart throbbing like a frightened +girl's. She stood waiting me nearly in the centre of that spacious +apartment, dressed in the same light raiment she had worn without, and +her greeting was calm and friendly, yet tinged by a proud dignity I +cannot describe. I believed for an instant that we were alone, and my +blood raced through my veins in sudden expectancy; then my eyes fell +upon Mrs. Minor comfortably seated in an armchair before the fire, and I +realized that she was present to restrain me from forgetfulness. But +in very truth my lady hardly needed such protection--her speech, her +manner, her proud constraint told me at once most plainly that no +existing tie between us had caused our meeting. + +"Captain Wayne," she said softly, her high color alone giving evidence +of any memory of the past, "I scarcely thought that we should meet +again, yet was not willing to part with you under any misunderstanding. +I have learned from Lieutenant Caton the full particulars of your +action in connection with Major Brennan. I wish you to realize that I +appreciate your efforts to escape a hostile meeting, and esteem you most +highly for your forbearance on the field. It was indeed a noble proof of +true courage. May I ask, why did you fire in the air?" + +Had she not held me so away from her by her manner I should have then +and there told her all the truth. As it was I durst not. + +"I felt convinced that if my bullet reached Major Brennan it would +injure you. I preferred not to do that." + +She bowed gravely, while a kinder look, if I may use that expression, +seemed to dominate her face. + +"I believed it was for my sake you made the sacrifice." She paused; +then asked in yet lower tones: "Was my name mentioned during your +contention--I mean publicly?" + +"It was not; Caton alone is aware I refrained because of the reason I +have already given you." + +"Your wound is not serious?" + +"Too insignificant to be worthy of mention." + +She was silent, her eyes upon the carpet, her bosom rising and falling +with the emotion she sought in vain to suppress. + +"I thank you for coming to me," she said finally. "I shall understand it +all better, comprehend your motive better, for this brief talk. Whatever +you may think of me in the future," and she held out her hand with +something of the old frankness in the gesture, "do not hold me as +ungrateful for a single kindness you have shown me. I have not fully +understood you, Captain Wayne; indeed, I doubt if I do even now, yet I +am under great obligations which I hope some day to be able to requite, +at least in part." + +"A thousand times they are already paid," I exclaimed eagerly, +forgetting for the moment the presence of her silent chaperon. "You have +given me that which is more than life--" + +"Do not, Captain Wayne," she interrupted, her cheeks aflame. "I would +rather forget. Please do not; I did not send to you for that, only to +tell you I knew and understood. We must part now. Will you say goodbye?" + +"If you bid me, yes, I will say good-bye," I answered, my own +self-control brought back instantly by her words and manner, "but +I retain that which I do not mean to forget--your gracious words of +invitation to the North." + +She stood with parted lips, as though she struggled to force back that +which should not be uttered. Then she whispered swiftly: + +"It is not my wish that you should." + +Was there ever such another paradox of a woman? + +I knew not how to read her aright, for I scarce ever found her twice the +same. Which represented the truth of her character--her cool dignity, +her impetuous pride, or that gentle tenderness which befitted her so +well? Which was the armor, which the heart of this fair lady of the +North? As we rode down the path to the eastward, a snowy handkerchief +fluttered for an instant at the library window. I raised my hat in +silent greeting, and we were gone. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +THE FURLING OF THE FLAGS + + +The close of the long and bitter struggle had come; to those who had +cast their fortunes with the South it seemed almost as the end of the +world. I had thought to write of those last sad days, to picture them +in all their contrasting light and shadow, but now I cannot. There are +thoughts too deep for human utterance, memories too sacred for the pen. +I rejoice that I was a part of it; that to the lowering of the last +tattered battle-flag I remained constant to the best traditions of my +house. I cannot sit here now, beneath the protecting shadow of a flag +for which my son fought and died, and write that I regret the ending, +for years of peace have taught us of the South lessons no less valuable +than did the war; yet do I rejoice to-day that, having once donned the +gray, I wore it until the last shotted gun voiced its grim message to +the North. + +It is hardly more than a dream now, sometimes vague and shadowy, again +distinct with living figures and historic scenes. I require but to close +my eyes to behold once more those slender lines of ragged, weary, hungry +men, to whom fighting had become synonymous with life. I pass again +through the fiery rain of those last fierce battles, when in desperation +we sought to check the unnumbered blue legions that fairly crushed us +beneath their weight. The vividness of the memory burns my brain as +by fire,--the ghastly faces of the dead, the unuttered agony of the +wounded, the patient suffering of the living. Day by day, night by +night, we grew less in numbers, and our thin lines contracted; divisions +shrank into regiments, companies to platoons. Men knew that the +inevitable was upon them, yet smiled into one another's face and went +forth to die. It was pitiable; it was magnificent. Hungry we fought, +unsheltered we slept; our dead were lying with the enemy, while we who +yet lived for the duty of another day fronted the bayonets with hearts +of courage and sadly prophetic souls. Everywhere to front and rear, to +left and right, stretched that same blue wall tipped with cruel steel; +in constant hail of iron the shells fell upon us, darkening the day-sky, +and turning night into a hell of flame. There was no retreat, no +loophole of escape; we could but stay, suffer, and perish. Like men +afflicted with some incurable malady, we who were of that stricken +remnant sternly, grimly looked into the eyes of death and waited for the +end. + +I saw it all; I held a part in it all. Upon that April day which +witnessed the turning of the last sad page in this tragedy, I stood +without the McLean house, ankle deep in the trampled mud of the yard, +surrounded by a group of Federal officers. Within was my commander, the +old gray hero of Virginia, together with the great silent soldier of the +North. + +Few about me spoke as we waited in restless agony. No one addressed me, +and I think there must have been a look in my face which held them dumb. +We knew well what hung upon the balance then; that within those humble +walls was being consummated one of the great events of history. To the +men in blue it meant home, and victory, and peace; to those in gray, +suffering, and struggle, and defeat. + +I know not how long I waited, standing beside my horse, with head half +bowed upon his neck, seeing the figures about me as in a dream. At last +the door was flung open, and those within came forth. He was in advance +of them all. In that pale, stern, kindly face, and within the depths +of those sorrowful gray eyes, I read instantly the truth--_the Army +of Northern Virginia was no more._ Yet with what calm dignity did this +defeated chieftain pass down that blue lane, his head erect, his eyes +undimmed--as dauntless in that awful hour of surrender as when he rode +before his cheering legions of fighting men. Only as he came to where +I stood, and caught the look of suffering upon my face, did he once +falter, and then I noted no more than the slight twitching of his lips +beneath the short gray beard. + +"Captain Wayne," he said, with all his old-time courtesy, "I shall have +to trouble you to ride to General Hills's division and request him to +cease all firing at once." + +I turned reluctantly away from him, knowing full well in my heart I was +bearing my last order, and rode at a hard trot down the road between +long lines of waiting Federal infantry. I scarcely so much as saw +them, for my head was bent low over the saddle pommel, and my eyes were +blurred with tears. + + * * * * * + +The sun lay hot and golden over the dusty roads and fenceless fields. +The air was vocal with blare of trumpets and roll of drums, while +everywhere the eye rested upon blue lines and long columns of marching +troops. I formed one of a little gray squad moving slowly southward--a +mere fragment of the fighting men of the Confederacy, making their way +homeward as best they might. As the roads forked I left them, for here +our paths diverged, and it chanced I was the only one whose hope lay +westward. + +Silently, thoughtfully I trudged on for an hour through the thick red +dust. My horse, sorely wounded in our last skirmish, limped painfully +behind me, his bridle-rein flung carelessly over my arm. Out yonder, +where the sun pointed the way with streams of fire, I was to take up +life anew. Life! What was there left to me in that word? A deserted, +despoiled farm alone awaited my coming; hardly a remembered face, +scarcely a future hope. The glitter of a passing troop of cavalry drew +my mind for an instant to Edith Brennan, but I crushed the thought. +Even were she free, what had I now to place at her proud feet,--I, a +penniless, defeated, homeless man? No, that was all over, even as the +cause for which I had fought; love and ambition must lie buried in the +same grave. The clothes I wore, that tattered suit of faded gray, soiled +by months of hard service in the open, was all I possessed in the wide +world, save the starved and wounded animal limping dejectedly at my +heels. The mere conception of it, the picture of kneeling thus attired +at her feet, brought with it a grim smile, which a deep heartache +instantly chased away. Besides, she was not free, and no dream of love +might inspire me to toil and hope. With clinched teeth I drove her +memory from me, back into that dim past where lurked all that had been +worthy in my life. Sternly I resolved that her face should henceforth +abide with those others--the shadowy comrades of many a battlefield. + +In this spirit I plodded on, my step heavy, my head bowed, wearied alike +in heart and body. My temples throbbed with the heat of the sun, my eyes +were dulled, my throat caked by the swirling dust. At a cross-roads a +Federal picket halted me, and I aroused sufficiently to hand him the +paper which entitled me to safe passage through the lines. He was a man +well along in years, with thoughtful eyes and kindly face, and I spoke +to him out of my sheer loneliness. + +"No doubt you are rejoicing that the long struggle is so nearly ended?" +I said as he handed me back the paper and motioned me to pass on. "Have +you a family in the North?" + +"A wife and five children up in Michigan, sir," he answered civilly. "I +guess they are counting the days now. And you, sir?" + +"Oh, I have some acres of worn-out land over yonder, and but little +else." + +"Well, you're a sight better off than some, I s'pect. It's been pretty +tough on all of you, but if you fellows only work like you fought you'll +have things a humming before long." + +There was homely comfort in his philosophy which for the moment cheered +me. Perhaps he was right; the energy and bravery of the South, crippled +as it now was, might yet conquer our present misfortune, and prove it a +blessing in disguise. I had gone a hundred yards or more, this thought +still in my mind, when I became aware that he was calling after me. + +"Hey, there, you gray-back!" he shouted, "hold on a bit!" + +As I came to a pause and glanced back, wondering if there could be +anything wrong with my parole, he swung his cap and pointed. + +"That officer coming yonder wants to speak with you." + +Across the open field at my right, hidden until then by a slight rise +of ground, a mounted cavalryman was riding rapidly toward me, the +wind blowing back his cape so as to make conspicuous its bright yellow +lining. For the moment his lowered head prevented recognition, but as he +cleared the ditch and came up smiling, I saw it was Caton. + +"By Jove, Wayne, but this is lucky!" he exclaimed, springing to the +ground beside me. "I've actually been praying for a week past that I +might meet you. Holmes, of your service, told me you had pulled through, +but everything is in such confusion that to hunt for you would have been +the proverbial quest after a needle in a haystack. You have been paroled +then?" + +"Yes, I'm completely out of it at last," I answered, feeling to the full +the deep sympathy expressed by his face. "It was a bitter pill, but one +which had to be taken." + +"I know it, old fellow," and his hand-grasp on mine tightened warmly. +"Of course I 'm glad, there's no use denying that, glad we won; glad the +old Union has been preserved as our fathers gave it to us; glad slavery +on this continent has passed away for ever, and so will you be before +you die. Yet I am sincerely sorry for those who have given their all and +lost. God knows you fought a good fight, fought as Americans only can, +even though it was in a bad cause. That is the pity of it; such heroism, +such sacrifice, and all wasted. If you have been beaten there is no +disgrace in it, for no other nation in this world could ever have +accomplished it. But this was a case of Greek meeting Greek, and we had +the money, the resources, and the men. But, Wayne, I tell you, I do not +believe there is to-day a spark of bitterness in the heart of a fighting +Federal soldier. We fought you to a finish because it's in our blood; we +whipped you because we were compelled to in order to preserve the Union, +but we'd share our last cent, or last crust, with any gray-back now. I +know I feel as if every paroled Confederate were a brother in need." + +"I know, Caton," I said,--and the words came hard,--"your fighting men +respect us, even as we do them. It has been a sheer game of which could +stand the most punishment, and the weaker had to go down. I know all +that, but, nevertheless, it is a terrible ending to so much of hope, +suffering, and sacrifice." + +"Yes," he admitted soberly, "you have given your all. But those who +survive have a wonderful work before them. They must lay anew the +foundations; they are to be the rebuilders of States. You were going +home?" + +I smiled bitterly at this designation of my journey's end. + +"Yes, if you can so name a few weed-grown fields and a vacant +negro cabin. I certainly shall have to lay the foundation anew most +literally." + +"Will you not let me aid you?" he questioned eagerly. "I possess some +means, and surely our friendship is sufficiently established to warrant +me in making the offer. You will not refuse?" + +"I must," I answered firmly. "Yet I do not value the offer the less. +Sometime I may even remind you of it, but now I prefer to dig, as the +others must. I shall be the stronger for it, and shall thus sooner +forget the total wreck." + +For a few moments we walked on together in silence, each leading +his horse. I could not but note the contrast between us in dress and +bearing. Victory and defeat, each had stamped its own. + +"Wayne," he asked at length, glancing furtively at me, as if to mark the +effect of his words, "did you know that Mrs. Brennan was again with us?" + +The name thus spoken set my heart to instant throbbing, but I sought to +answer carelessly. Whatever he may have surmised, it was plainly my duty +to hide our secret still. + +"I was not even aware she had been away." + +"Oh, yes; she returned North immediately after your last parting, and +came back only last week. So many wives and relatives of the officers +have come down of late, knowing the war to be practically at an end, +that our camp has become like a huge picnic pavilion. It is quite the +fashionable fad just now to visit the front. Mrs. Brennan accompanied +the wife of one of the division commanders from her State--Connecticut, +you know." + +There was much I longed to ask regarding her, but I would not venture to +fan his suspicions. In hope that I might turn his thought I asked, "And +you; are you yet married?" + +He laughed good-humoredly. "No, that happy day will not occur until +after we are mustered out. Miss Minor is far too loyal a Virginian ever +to become my wife while I continue to wear this uniform. By the way, +Mrs. Brennan was asking Celia only yesterday if she had heard anything +of you since the surrender." + +"She is at Appomattox, then?" + +"No, at the headquarters of the Sixth Corps, only a few miles north from +here." + +"And the Major?" + +Caton glanced at me, a peculiar look in his face, but answered simply: + +"Naturally I have had small intimacy with him after what occurred at +Mountain View, but he is still retained upon General Sheridan's staff. +At Mrs. Brennan's request we breakfasted together yesterday morning, but +I believe he is at the other end of the lines to-day." + +We sat down upon a bank, our conversation drifting back to their +uneventful ride northward, and later to our experiences during those +last weeks of war. I have often reflected since on the vivid contrast we +must have made while resting there, each holding the rein of his horse, +our animals as widely differing in appearance as ourselves. Both were +typical of the two services in those last days. Caton was attired in +natty uniform, fleckless and well groomed, his linen immaculate, his +buttons gleaming, the rich yellow stripes of his arm of the service +making marked contrast with the blue he wore and the green he sat upon. +I, on the other hand, was haggard from hard, sleepless service and +insufficient food, my shapeless old slouch hat and dull gray jacket torn +and disfigured, the marks of rank barely discernible. + +But his manly, hopeful spirit reawakened my courage, and for the time I +forgot disaster while listening to his story of love and his plans for +the future. His one thought was of Celia and the Northern home so soon +now to be made ready for her coming. The sun sank lower into the western +sky, causing Caton to draw down his fatigue cap until its glazed visor +almost completely hid his eyes. With buoyant enthusiasm he talked on, +each word drawing me closer to him in bonds of friendship. But the +time of parting came, and after we had promised to correspond with each +other, I stood and watched while he rode rapidly back down the road we +had traversed together. At the summit of the hill he turned and waved +his cap, then disappeared, leaving me alone, with Edith's face more +clearly than ever a torture to my memory of defeat,--her face, fair, +smiling, alluring, yet the face of another man's wife. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +MY LADY OF THE NORTH + + +I walked the next mile thoughtfully, pondering over those vague +hopes and plans with which Caton's optimism had inspired me. Then the +inevitable reaction came. The one thing upon which he built so happily +had been denied me,--the woman I loved was the wife of another. I might +not even dream of her in my loneliness and poverty; the remembrance of +her could be no incentive to labor and self-denial. The Lieutenant's +chance words, kindly as they were spoken, only opened wider the yawning +social chasm between us. The greatest mercy would be for us never again +to meet. + +I bent my head to keep the westering sun from my eyes, and breathing +the thick red dust, I trudged steadily forward. Suddenly there sounded +behind me the thud of hoofs, while I heard a merry peal of laughter, +accompanied by gay exchange of words. I drew aside, leading my horse +into a small thicket beside the road to permit the cavalcade to pass. +It was a group of perhaps a dozen,--three or four Federal officers, the +remainder ladies, whose bright dresses and smiling faces made a most +winsome sight. They glanced curiously aside at me as they galloped past. +But none paused, and I merely glanced at them with vague interest, my +thoughts elsewhere. Suddenly a horse seemed to draw back from out the +centre of the fast disappearing party. + +"Ah, but really, you know, we cannot spare you," a man's voice +protested. + +"But you must. No, Colonel, this chances to be a case where I prefer +being alone," was the quiet reply. "Do not wait, please; I will either +rejoin you shortly or ride directly to the camp." + +I had led my limping horse out into the road once more to resume my +journey, paying scarcely the slightest attention to what was taking +place, for my head was again throbbing to the hot pulse of the sun. The +party of strangers rode slowly away into the enveloping dust cloud, and +I had forgotten them, when a low, sweet voice spoke close beside me: +"Captain Wayne, I know you cannot have forgotten me." + +She was leaning down from the saddle, and as I glanced eagerly up into +her dear eyes they were swimming with tears. + +"Forgotten! Never for one moment," I exclaimed; "yet I failed to +perceive your presence until you spoke." + +"You appeared deeply buried in thought as we rode by, but I could +not leave you without a word when I knew you must feel so bad. I have +thought of you so often, and am more glad than I can tell to know you +have survived the terrible fighting of these last few weeks. But you +look so worn and haggard." + +"I am wearied--yes," I admitted. "But that will pass away. My meeting +again with you will be a memory of good cheer; and I found no little +encouragement from a conversation just held with Lieutenant Caton." + +She looked at me frankly, her eyes cleared of the mist. "Were you indeed +thinking hopefully just now? You appeared so grave I feared it was +despair." + +"It was a mixture of both, Mrs. Brennan. My own known condition +furnishes sufficient despair, while Caton's excessive happiness yields +a goodly measure of joy, which I have not yet entirely lost. Nothing +glorifies life, even in its darkest hour, as the success of love." + +She glanced at my face shyly. "Undoubtedly the Lieutenant is in the +seventh heaven at present," she admitted slowly. "His Celia has led him +a merry chase these many months, before she made full surrender; but +that merely makes final victory the sweeter." + +"She retains the disposition of a child." + +"But the heart of a woman is back of all her playfulness. You are upon +your way home?" + +"I have just been paroled, Mrs. Brennan, After four years of war I am +at last free, and have turned my face toward all that is left of my +childhood's home,--a few weed-grown acres. I scarcely know whether I am +luckier than the men who died." + +I saw the tears glistening again in her earnest eyes. "Oh, but you +are, Captain Wayne," she exclaimed quickly. "You have youth and love to +inspire you--for your mother yet lives. Truly it makes my heart throb to +think of the upbuilding which awaits you men of the South. It is through +such as you--soldiers trained by stern duty--that these desolated States +are destined to rise above the ashes of war into a greatness never +before equalled. I feel that now, in this supreme hour of sacrifice, +the men and women of the South are to exhibit before the world a courage +greater than that of the battlefield. It is to be the marvel of the +nation, and the thought and pride of it should make you strong." + +"It may indeed be so; I can but believe it, as the prophecy comes from +your lips. I might even find courage to do my part in this redemption +were you ever at hand to inspire." + +She laughed gently. "I am not a Virginian, Captain Wayne, but a most +loyal daughter of the North; yet if I so inspire you by my mere words, +surely it is not so far to my home but you might journey there to listen +to my further words of wisdom." + +"I have not forgotten the permission already granted me, and it is a +temptation not easily cast aside. You return North soon?" + +"Within a week." + +I hardly know what prompted me to voice my next question,--Fate, +perhaps, weary of being so long mocked,--for I felt small interest in +her probable answer. + +"Do you expect your husband's release from duty by that time?" + +She gave a quick start of surprise, drawing in her breath as though +suddenly choked. Then the rich color overspread her face. "My husband?" +she ejaculated in voice barely audible, "my husband? Surely you cannot +mean Major Brennan?" + +"But I certainly do," I said, wondering what might be wrong. "Whom else +could I mean?" + +"And you thought that?" she asked incredulously. "Why, how could you?" + +"How should I have thought otherwise?" I exclaimed, my eyes eagerly +searching her downcast face. "Why, Caton told me it was so the night I +was before Sheridan; he confirmed it again in conversation less than an +hour ago. Colgate, my Lieutenant, who met you in a Baltimore hospital, +referred to him the same way. If I have been deceived through all these +months, surely everything and everybody conspired to that end,--you +bore the same name; you told me plainly you were married; you wore a +wedding-ring; you resided while at camp in his quarters; you called each +other Frank and Edith. From first to last not one word has been spoken +by any one to cause me to doubt that you were his wife." + +As I spoke these words hastily, vehemently, the flood of color receded +from her face, leaving it pale as marble. Her lips parted, but failed in +speech. + +"Believe me, Mrs. Brennan, the mistake was a most innocent one. You are +not angry?" + +"Angry? Oh, no! but it all seems so strange, and it hurts me a little. +Surely I have done nothing to forward this unhappy deceit?" + +For a moment she bowed her head upon her hands as though she would hide +her face from me, conceal the depth of her emotion. Then she looked up +once more, smiling through her tears. + +"I recall starting to explain all this to you once," she said, striving +vainly to appear at ease. "It was when we were interrupted by the sudden +coming upon us of Mr. and Mrs. Bungay. Yet I supposed you knew, that you +would have learned the facts from others. The last time we were together +I told you I did not wholly understand you. It is no wonder, when +you thought that of me. But I understand now, and know you must have +despised me." + +"No! no!" I protested warmly, forgetting all I lacked and recalling only +my deep love for her. "It was never that. Not one word or act between us +has ever lowered you an iota in my esteem. You have always been my lady +of the North, and from the first night of our meeting--out yonder, amid +the black mountains--I have respected and honored you as one worthy of +all sacrifice, all love." + +Her eyes were drooping now, and hidden from me behind their long dark +lashes. + +"I am going to tell you my story, Captain Wayne," she said quietly. "It +is not a pleasant task under these circumstances, yet one I owe you as +well as myself. This may prove our last meeting, and we must not +part under the shadow of a mistake, however innocently it may have +originated. I am the only child of Edwin Adams, a manufacturer, of +Stonington. Connecticut. My father was also for several terms a member +of Congress from that State. As the death of my mother occurred when I +was but five years old, all my father's love was lavished upon me, and +I grew up surrounded by every advantage which abundant means and high +social position could supply. During all those earlier years my playmate +and most intimate companion was Charles Brennan, a younger brother +of the Major, and the son of Judge David Brennan of the State Supreme +Court." + +She had been speaking slowly, her eyes turned aside, as though recalling +carefully each fact before utterance. Now her glance met mine, and a +deeper color sprang into her clear cheeks. + +"As we grew older his friendship for me ripened into love, a feeling +which I found it impossible to return. I liked him greatly, valued him +most highly, continued his constant companion, yet experienced no desire +for closer relationship. My position was rendered the more difficult +as it had long been the dream of the heads of both houses that our two +families, with their contingent estates, should be thus united, and +constant urging tried my decision severely. Nor would Charles Brennan +give up hope. When he was twenty and I barely seventeen a most serious +accident occurred,--a runaway,--in which Charles heroically preserved +my life, but himself received injuries, from which death in a short time +was inevitable. In those last lingering days of suffering, but one hope, +one ambition, seemed to possess his mind,--the desire to make me his +wife, and leave me the fortune which was his through the will of his +mother. I cannot explain to you, Captain Wayne, the struggle I passed +through, seeking to do what was right and best; but finally, moved by my +sympathy, eager to soothe his final hours of suffering, and urged by my +father, I consented to gratify his wish, and we were united in marriage +while he was on his deathbed. Two days later he passed away." + +She paused, her voice faltering, her eyes moist with unshed tears. +Scarce knowing it, my hand sought hers, where it rested against the +saddle pommel. + +"His brother" she resumed slowly, "now Major Brennan, but at that time +a prosperous banker in Hartford, a man nearly double the age of Charles, +was named as administrator of the estate, to retain its management until +I should attain the age of twenty-one. Less than a year later my father +also died. The final settlement of his estate was likewise entrusted to +Frank Brennan, and he was made my guardian. Quite naturally I became a +resident of the Brennan household, upon the same standing as a daughter, +being legally a ward of my husband's brother. Major Brennan's age, and +his thoughtful kindness to me, won my respect, and I gradually came to +look upon him almost as an elder brother, turning to him in every time +of trouble for encouragement and help. It was the necessity of our +business relation which first compelled me to come South and join Major +Brennan in camp: as he was unable to obtain leave of absence, I was +obliged to make the trip. Not until that time, Captain Wayne,--indeed, +not until after our experience at Mountain View,--did I fully realize +that Major Brennan looked upon me otherwise than as a guardian upon his +ward. The awakening pained me greatly, especially as I was obliged +to disappoint him deeply; yet I seek to retain his friendship, for +my memory of his long kindness must ever abide. I am sure you will +understand, and not consider me unwomanly in thus making you a +confidant." + +"I can never be sufficiently grateful that you have thus trusted me," I +said with an earnestness that caused her to lower her questioning eyes. +"It has been a strange misunderstanding between us, Mrs. Brennan, but +your words have brought a new hope to one disheartened Confederate +soldier." + +She did not answer, and with a rush there came before me the barrier of +poverty existing between us. I glanced from my ragged, faded clothing to +her immaculate attire, and my heart failed. + +"I must be content with hope," I said at last; "yet I am rich compared +with thousands of others; infinitely rich in comparison with what I +dreamed myself an hour ago." I held out my hand. "There will come a day +when I shall answer your invitation to the North." + +"You are on your way home?" + +"Yes; to take a fresh hold upon life, trusting that sometime in the +early future I may feel worthy to come to you." + +"Worthy?" she echoed the word, a touch of scorn in her voice, her eyes +dark with feeling. "Worthy? Captain Wayne, I sometimes think you the +most unselfish man I ever knew. Must the sacrifices, then, always be +made by you? Can you not conceive it possible that I also might like to +yield up something? Is it possible you deem me a woman to whom money is +a god?" + +"No," I said, my heart bounding to the scarce hidden meaning of her +impetuous words, "nor have the sacrifices always been mine: you were +once my prisoner." + +She bent down, her very soul in her eyes, and rested one white hand upon +my shoulder. For an instant we read each other's heart in silence, then +shyly she said, "I am still your prisoner." + +THE END + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of My Lady of the North, by Randall Parrish + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY LADY OF THE NORTH *** + +***** This file should be named 6846-8.txt or 6846-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/8/4/6846/ + +Produced by Michelle Shephard, Charles Franks and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at + www.gutenberg.org/license. + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at 809 +North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email +contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the +Foundation's web site and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + |