The girl made a rush at the offender to stop him.
"He doesn't know what he is talking about," she said, roguishly, over her shoulder.
"Yes, he does," called the other. "She was standing at the foot of the steps when you all came, and—oo—oo—oo—"the rest was lost as his cousin placed her hand close over his mouth.
"Here! here! run away! You are too dangerous. They don't know what they are talking about," she said, throwing a glance toward the young officer, who was keenly enjoying her confusion. Her hand slipped from Willy's mouth and he went on. "And when she heard it was you, she just clapped her hands and ran—oo—oo—umm."
"Here, Hugh, put them out," she said to that young man, who, glad to do her bidding, seized both miscreants by their arms and carried them out, closing the door after them.
Hugh bore the boys into the dining-room, where he kept them, until supper-time.
After supper, the rest of the family dispersed, and the boys' mother invited them to come with her and Hugh to her own room, though they were eager to go and see the General, and were much troubled lest he should think their mother was rude in leaving him.
The next day was Sunday. The General and Hugh had but one day to stay. They were to leave at daybreak the following morning. They thoroughly enjoyed their holiday; at least the boys knew that Hugh did. They had never known him so affable with them. They did not see much of the General, after breakfast. He seemed to like to stay "stuck up in the house" all the time, talking to Cousin Belle; the boys thought this due to his lameness. Something had occurred, the boys didn't understand just what; but the General was on an entirely new footing with all of them, and their Cousin Belle was in some way concerned in the change. She did not any longer run from the General, and it seemed to them as though everyone acted as if he belonged to her. The boys did not altogether like the state of affairs. That afternoon, however, he and their Cousin Belle let the boys go out walking with them, and he was just as hearty as he could be; he made them tell him all about capturing the deserter, and about catching the hogs, and everything they did. They told him all about their "Robbers' Cave," down in the woods nearwhere an old house had stood. It was between two ravines near a spring they had found. They had fixed up the "cave" with boards and old pieces of carpet "and everything," and they told him, as a secret, how to get to it through the pines without leaving a trail. He had to give the holy pledge of the "Brotherhood" before this could be divulged to him; but he took it with a solemnity which made the boys almost forgive the presence of their Cousin Belle. It was a little awkward at first that she was present; but as the "Constitution" provided only as to admitting men to the mystic knowledge, saying nothing about women, this difficulty was, on the General's suggestion, passed over, and the boys fully explained the location of the spot, and how to get there by turning off abruptly from the path through the big woods right at the pine thicket,—and all the rest of the way.
"'Tain't a 'sure-enough' cave," explained Willy; "but it's 'most as good as one. The old rock fire-place is just like a cave."
"The gullies are so deep you can't get there except that one way," declared Frank.
"Even the Yankees couldn't find you there," asserted Willy.
"I don't believe anybody could, after that; but I trust they will never have to try," laughed their Cousin Belle,with an anxious look in her bright eyes at the mere thought.
That night they were at supper, about eight o'clock, when something out-of-doors attracted the attention of the party around the table. It was a noise,—a something indefinable, but the talk and mirth stopped suddenly, and everybody listened.
There was a call, and the hurried steps of some one running, just outside the door, and Lucy Ann burst into the room, her face ashy pale.
"The yard's full o' mens—Yankees," she gasped, just as the General and Hugh rose from the table.
"How many are there?" asked both gentlemen.
"They's all 'roun' the house ev'y which a-way."
The General looked at his sweetheart. She came to his side with a cry.
"Go up stairs to the top of the house," called the boys' mother.
"We can hide you; come with us," said the boys.
"Go up the back way, Frank 'n' Willy, to you-all's den," whispered Lucy Ann.
"That's where we are going," said the boys as she went out.
"You all come on!" This to the General and Hugh.
"The rest of you take your seats," said the boys' mother.
All this had occupied only a few seconds. The soldiers followed the boys out by a side-door and dashed up the narrow stairs to the second-story just as a thundering knocking came at the front door. It was as dark as pitch, for candles were too scarce to burn more than one at a time.
"You run back," said Hugh to the boys, as they groped along. "There are too many of us. I know the way."
But it was too late; the noise down stairs told that the enemy was already in the house!
As the soldiers left the supper-room, the boys' mother had hastily removed two plates from the places and set two chairs back against the wall; she made the rest fill up the spaces, so that there was nothing to show that the two men had been there.
She had hardly taken her seat again, when the sound of heavy footsteps at the door announced the approach of the enemy. She herself rose and went to the door; but it was thrown open before she reached it and an officer in full Federal uniform strode in, followed by several men.
The commander was a tall young fellow, not older than the General. The lady started back somewhat startled, and there was a confused chorus of exclamations of alarm from the rest of those at the table. The officer, finding himself in the presence of ladies, removed his cap with a polite bow.
"I hope, madam, that you ladies will not be alarmed," he said. "You need be under no apprehension, I assure you." Even while speaking, his eye had taken a hasty survey of the room.
"We desire to see General Marshall, who is at present in this house and I am sorry to have to include your son in my requisition. We know that they are here, and if they are given us, I promise you that nothing shall be disturbed."
"You appear to be so well instructed that I can add little to your information," said the mistress of the house, haughtily. "I am glad to say, however, that I hardly think you will find them."
"Madam, I know they are here," said the young soldier positively, but with great politeness. "I have positive information to that effect. They arrived last evening and have not left since. Their horses are still in the stable. I am sorry to be forced to do violence to my feelings, but I must search the house. Come, men."
"I doubt not you have found their horses," began the lady, but she was interrupted by Lucy Ann, who entered at the moment with a plate of fresh corn-cakes, and caught the last part of the sentence.
"Come along, Mister," she said, "I'll show you myself," and she set down her plate, took the candle fromthe table, and walked to the door, followed by the soldiers.
"Lucy Ann!" exclaimed her mistress; but she was too much amazed at the girl's conduct to say more.
"I know whar dey is!" Lucy Ann continued, taking no notice of her mistress. They heard her say, as she was shutting the door, "Y' all come with me; I 'feared they gone; ef they ain't, I know whar they is!"
"Open every room," said the officer.
"Oh, yes, sir; I gwine ketch 'em for you," she said, eagerly opening first one door, and then the other, "that is, ef they ain' gone. I mighty 'feared they gone. I seen 'em goin' out the back way about a little while befo' you all come,—but I thought they might 'a' come back. Mister, ken y' all teck me 'long with you when you go?" she asked the officer, in a low voice. "I want to be free."
"I don't know; we can some other time, if not now. We are going to set you all free."
"Oh, glory! Come 'long, Mister; let's ketch 'em. They ain't heah, but I know whar dey is."
The soldiers closely examined every place where it was possible a man could be concealed, until they had been over all the lower part of the house.
Lucy Ann stopped. "Dey's gone!" she said positively.
The officer motioned to her to go up stairs.
"Yes, sir, I wuz jes' goin' tell you we jes' well look up-stairs,too," she said, leading the way, talking all the time, and shading the flickering candle with her hand.
The little group, flat on the floor against the wall in their dark retreat, could now hear her voice distinctly. She was speaking in a confidential undertone, as if afraid of being overheard.
"I wonder I didn't have sense to get somebody to watch 'em when they went out," they heard her say.
"She's betrayed us!" whispered Hugh.
The General merely said, "Hush," and laid his hand firmly on the nearest boy to keep him still. Lucy Ann led the soldiers into the various chambers one after another. At last she opened the next room, and, through the wall, the men in hiding heard the soldiers go in and walk about.
They estimated that there were at least half-a-dozen.
"Isn't there a garret?" asked one of the searching party.
"Nor, sir, 'tain't no garret, jes' a loft; but they ain't up there," said Lucy Ann's voice.
"We'll look for ourselves." They came out of the room. "Show us the way."
"Look here, if you tell us a lie, we'll hang you!"
The voice of the officer was very stern.
"I ain' gwine tell you no lie, Mister. What you reckon I wan' tell you lie for? Dey ain' in the garret, Iknow,——Mister, please don't p'int dem things at me. I's 'feared o' dem things," said the girl in a slightly whimpering voice; "I gwine show you."
She came straight down the passage toward the recess where the fugitives were huddled, the men after her, their heavy steps echoing through the house. The boys were trembling violently. The light, as the searchers came nearer, fell on the wall, crept along it, until it lighted up the whole alcove, except where they lay. The boys held their breath. They could hear their hearts thumping.
Lucy Ann stepped into the recess with her candle, and looked straight at them.
"They ain't in here," she exclaimed, suddenly putting her hand up before the flame, as if to prevent it flaring, thus throwing the alcove once more into darkness. "The trap-door to the garret's 'roun' that a-way," she said to the soldiers, still keeping her position at the narrow entrance, as if to let them pass. When they had all passed, she followed them.
The boys began to wriggle with delight, but the General's strong hand kept them still.
Naturally, the search in the garret proved fruitless, and the hiding-party heard the squad swearing over their ill-luck as they came back; while Lucy Ann loudly lamented not having sent some one to follow the fugitives, and made a number of suggestions as to where they hadgone, and the probability of catching them if the soldiers went at once in pursuit.
"Did you look in here?" asked a soldier, approaching the alcove.
"Yes, sir; they ain't in there." She snuffed the candle out suddenly with her fingers. "Oh, oh!—my light done gone out! Mind! Let me go in front and show you the way," she said; and, pressing before, she once more led them along the passage.
"Mind yo' steps; ken you see?" she asked.
They went down stairs, while Lucy Ann gave them minute directions as to how they might catch "Marse Hugh an' the Gen'l" at a certain place a half-mile from the house (an unoccupied quarter), which she carefully described.
A further investigation ensued downstairs, but in a little while the searchers went out of the house. Their tone had changed since their disappointment, and loud threats floated up the dark stairway to the prisoners still crouching in the little recess.
In a few minutes the boys' Cousin Belle came rushing up stairs.
"Now's your time! Come quick," she called; "they will be back directly. Isn't she an angel!" The whole party sprang to their feet, and ran down to the lower floor.
"Oh, we were so frightened!" "Don't let them see you." "Make haste," were the exclamations that greeted them as the two soldiers said their good-byes and prepared to leave the house.
"Go out by the side-door; that's your only chance. It's pitch-dark, and the bushes will hide you. But where are you going?"
"We are going to the boys' cave," said the General, buckling on his pistol; "I know the way, and we'll get away as soon as these fellows leave, if we cannot before."
"God bless you!" said the ladies, pushing them away in dread of the enemy's return.
"Come on, General," called Hugh in an undertone. The General was lagging behind a minute to say good-bye once more. He stooped suddenly and kissed the boys' Cousin Belle before them all.
"Good-bye. God bless you!" and he followed Hugh out of the window into the darkness. The girl burst into tears and ran up to her room.
A few seconds afterward the house was once more filled with the enemy, growling at their ill-luck in having so narrowly missed the prize.
"We'll catch 'em yet," said the leader.
The raiders were up early next morning scouring the woods and country around. They knew that the fugitive soldiers could not have gone far, for the Federals had every road picketed, and their main body was not far away. As the morning wore on, it became a grave question at Oakland how the two soldiers were to subsist. They had no provisions with them, and the roads were so closely watched that there was no chance of their obtaining any. The matter was talked over, and the boys' mother and Cousin Belle were in despair.
"They can eat their shoes," said Willy, reflectively.
The ladies exclaimed in horror.
"That's what men always do when they get lost in a wilderness where there is no game."
This piece of information from Willy did not impress his hearers as much as he supposed it would.
"I'll tell you! Let me and Frank go and carry 'em something to eat!"
"How do you know where they are?"
"They are at our Robber's Cave, aren't they, CousinBelle? We told the General yesterday how to get there, didn't we?"
"Yes, and he said last night that he would go there."
Willy's idea seemed a good one, and the offer was accepted. The boys were to go out as if to see the troops, and were to take as much food as they thought could pass for their luncheon. Their mother cooked and put up a luncheon large enough to have satisfied the appetites of two young Brobdingnagians, and they set out on their relief expedition.
The two sturdy little figures looked full of importance as they strode off up the road. They carried many loving messages. Their Cousin Belle gave to each separately a long whispered message which each by himself was to deliver to the General. It was thought best not to hazard a note.
They were watched by the ladies from the portico until they disappeared over the hill. They took a path which led into the woods, and walked cautiously for fear some of the raiders might be lurking about. However, the boys saw none of the enemy, and in a little while they came to a point where the pines began. Then they turned into the woods, for the pines were so thick the boys could not be seen, and the pine tags made it so soft under foot that they could walk without making any noise.
They were pushing their way through the bushes, when Frank suddenly stopped.
"Hush!" he said.
Willy halted and listened.
"There they are."
From a little distance to one side, in the direction of the path they had just left, they heard the trampling of a number of horses' feet.
"That's not our men," said Willy. "Hugh and the General haven't any horses."
"No; that's the Yankees," said Frank. "Let's lie down. They may hear us."
The boys flung themselves upon the ground and almost held their breath until the horses had passed out of hearing.
"Do you reckon they are hunting for us?" asked Willy in an awed whisper.
"No, for Hugh and the General. Come on."
They rose, went tipping a little deeper into the pines, and again made their way toward the cave.
"Maybe they've caught 'em," suggested Willy.
"They can't catch 'em in these pines," replied Frank. "You can't see any distance at all. A horse can't get through, and the General and Hugh could shoot 'em, and then get away before they could catch 'em."
They hurried on.
"Frank, suppose they take us for Yankees?"
Evidently Willy's mind had been busy since Frank's last speech.
"They aren't going to shootus," said Frank; but it was an unpleasant suggestion, for they were not very far from the dense clump of pines between two gullies, which the boys called their cave.
"We can whistle," he said, presently.
"Won't Hugh and the General think we are enemies trying to surround them?" Willy objected. The dilemma was a serious one. "We'll have to crawl up," said Frank, after a pause.
And this was agreed upon. They were soon on the edge of the deep gully which, on one side, protected the spot from all approach. They scrambled down its steep side and began to creep along, peeping over its other edge from time to time, to see if they could discover the clearing which marked the little green spot on top of the hill, where once had stood an old cabin. The base of the ruined chimney, with its immense fire-place, constituted the boys' "cave." They were close to it, now, and felt themselves to be in imminent danger of a sweeping fusillade. They had just crept up to the top of the ravine and were consulting, when some one immediately behind them, not twenty feet away, called out:
"Hello! What are you boys doing here? Are you trying to capture us?"
They jumped at the unexpected voice. The General broke into a laugh. He had been sitting on the ground on the other side of the declivity, and had been watching their manœuvres for some time.
He brought them to the house-spot where Hugh was asleep on the ground; he had been on watch all the morning, and, during the General's turn, was making up for his lost sleep. He was soon wide awake enough, and he and the General, with appetites bearing witness to their long fast, were without delay engaged in disposing of the provisions which the boys had brought.
The boys were delighted with the mystery of their surroundings. Each in turn took the General aside and held a long interview with him, and gave him all their Cousin Belle's messages. No one had ever treated them with such consideration as the General showed them. The two men asked the boys all about the dispositions of the enemy, but the boys had little to tell.
"They are after us pretty hotly," said the General. "I think they are going away shortly. It's nothing but a raid, and they are moving on. We must get back to camp to-night."
"How are you going?" asked the boys. "You haven't any horses."
"We are going to get some of their horses," said the officer. "They have taken ours—now they must furnish us with others."
It was about time for the boys to start for home. The General took each of them aside, and talked for a long time. He was speaking to Willy, on the edge of the clearing, when there was a crack of a twig in the pines. In a second he had laid the boy on his back in the soft grass and whipped out a pistol. Then, with a low, quick call to Hugh, he sprang swiftly into the pines toward the sound.
"Crawl down into the ravine, boys," called Hugh, following his companion. The boys rolled down over the bank like little ground-hogs; but in a second they heard a familiar drawling voice call out in a subdued tone:
"Hold on, Cunnel! it's nobody but me; don't you know me?" And, in a moment, they heard the General's astonished and somewhat stern reply:
"Mills, what are you doing here? Who's with you? What do you want?"
"Well," said the new-comer, slowly, "I 'lowed I'd come to see if I could be o' any use to you. I heard the Yankees had run you 'way from Oakland last night, and was sort o' huntin' for you. Fact is, they's been up my way, and I sort o' 'lowed I'd come an' see ef I could help you git back to camp."
"Where have you been all this time? I wonder you are not ashamed to look me in the face!"
The General's voice was still stern. He had turned around and walked back to the cleared space.
The deserter scratched his head in perplexity.
"I needn' 'a' come," he said, doggedly. "Where's them boys? I don' want the boys hurted. I seen 'em comin' here, an' I jes' followed 'em to see they didn't get in no trouble. But——"
This speech about the boys effected what the offer of personal service to the General himself had failed to bring about.
"Sit down and let me talk to you," said the General, throwing himself on the grass.
Mills seated himself cross-legged near the officer, with his gun across his knees, and began to bite a straw which he pulled from a tuft by his side.
The boys had come up out of their retreat, and taken places on each side of the General.
"You all take to grass like young partridges," said the hunter. The boys were flattered, for they considered any notice from him a compliment.
"What made you fool us, and send us to catch that conscript-guard?" Frank asked.
"Well, you ketched him, didn't you? You're the onlyones ever been able to ketch him," he said, with a low chuckle.
"Now, Mills, you know how things stand," said the General. "It's a shame for you to have been acting this way. You know what people say about you. But if you come back to camp and do your duty, I'll have it all straightened out. If you don't, I'll have you shot."
His voice was as calm and his manner as composed as if he were promising the man opposite him a reward for good conduct. He looked Mills steadily in the eyes all the time. The boys felt as if their friend were about to be executed. The General seemed an immeasurable distance above them.
The deserter blinked twice or thrice, slowly bit his shred of straw, looked casually first toward one boy and then toward the other, but without the slightest change of expression in his face.
"Cun'l," he said, at length, "I ain't no deserter. I ain't feared of bein' shot. Ef I was, I wouldn' 'a' come here now. I'm gwine wid you, an' I'm gwine back to my company; an' I'm gwine fight, ef Yankees gits in my way; but ef I gits tired, I's comin' home; an' 'tain't no use to tell you I ain't, 'cause Iis,—an' ef anybody flings up to me that I's a-runnin' away, I'm gwine to kill 'em!"
He rose to his feet in the intensity of his feeling, and his eyes, usually so dull, were like live coals.
The General looked at him quietly a few seconds, then himself arose and laid his hand on Tim Mills' shoulder.
"All right," he said.
"I got a little snack M'lindy put up," said Mills, pulling a substantial bundle out of his game-bag. "I 'lowed maybe you might be sort o' hongry. Jes' two or three squirrels I shot," he said, apologetically.
"You boys better git 'long home, I reckon," said Mills to Willy. "You ain' 'fraid, is you? 'Cause if you is, I'll go with you."
His voice had resumed its customary drawl.
"Oh, no," said both boys, eagerly. "We aren't afraid."
"An' tell your ma I ain' let nobody tetch nothin' on the Oakland plantation; not sence that day you all went huntin' deserters; not if I knowed 'bout it."
"Yes, sir."
"An' tell her I'm gwine take good keer o' Hugh an' the Cunnel. Good-bye!—now run along!"
"All right, sir,—good-bye."
"An' ef you hear anybody say Tim Mills is a d'serter, tell 'em it's a lie, an' you know it. Good-bye." He turned away as if relieved.
The boys said good-bye to all three, and started in the direction of home.
After crossing the gully, and walking on through the woods for what they thought a safe distance, they turned into the path.
They were talking very merrily about the General and Hugh and their friend Mills, and were discussing some romantic plan for the recapture of their horses from the enemy, when they came out of the path into the road, and found themselves within twenty yards of a group of Federal soldiers, quietly sitting on their horses, evidently guarding the road.
The sight of the blue-coats made the boys jump. They would have crept back, but it was too late—they caught the eye of the man nearest them. They ceased talking as suddenly as birds in the trees stop chirruping when the hawk sails over; and when one Yankee called to them, in a stern tone, "Halt there!" and started to come toward them, their hearts were in their mouths.
"Where are you boys going?" he asked, as he came up to them.
"Going home."
"Where do you belong?"
"Over there—at Oakland," pointing in the direction of their home, which seemed suddenly to have moved a thousand miles aways.
"Where have you been?" The other soldiers had come up now.
"Been down this way." The boys' voices were never so meek before. Each reply was like an apology.
"Been to see your brother?" asked one who had not spoken before—a pleasant-looking fellow. The boys looked at him. They were paralyzed by dread of the approaching question.
"Now, boys, we know where you have been," said a small fellow, who wore a yellow chevron on his arm. He had a thin moustache and a sharp nose, and rode a wiry, dull sorrel horse. "You may just as well tell us all about it. We know you've been to see 'em, and we are going to make you carry us where they are."
"No, we ain't," said Frank, doggedly.
Willy expressed his determination also.
"If you don't it's going to be pretty bad for you," said the little corporal. He gave an order to two of the men, who sprang from their horses, and, catching Frank, swung him up behind another cavalryman. The boy's face was very pale, but he bit his lip.
"Go ahead," continued the corporal to a number of his men, who started down the path. "You four men remainhere till we come back," he said to the men on the ground, and to two others on horseback. "Keep him here," jerking his thumb toward Willy, whose face was already burning with emotion.
"I'm going with Frank," said Willy. "Let me go." This to the man who had hold of him by the arm. "Frank, make him let me go," he shouted, bursting into tears, and turning on his captor with all his little might.
"Willy, he's not goin' to hurt you,—don't you tell!" called Frank, squirming until he dug his heels so into the horse's flanks that the horse began to kick up.
"Keep quiet, Johnny; he's not goin' to hurt him," said one of the men, kindly. He had a brown beard and shining white teeth.
They rode slowly down the narrow path, the dragoon holding Frank by the leg. Deep down in the woods, beyond a small branch, the path forked.
"Which way?" asked the corporal, stopping and addressing Frank.
Frank set his mouth tight and looked him in the eyes.
"Which is it?" the corporal repeated.
"I ain't going to tell," said he, firmly.
"Look here, Johnny; we've got you, and we are going to make you tell us; so you might just as well do it, easy. If you don't, we're goin' to make you."
The boy said nothing.
THE BOY FACED HIS CAPTOR, WHO HELD A STRAP IN ONE HAND.THE BOY FACED HIS CAPTOR, WHO HELD A STRAP IN ONE HAND.
"You men dismount. Stubbs, hold the horses." He himself dismounted, and three others did the same, giving their horses to a fourth.
"Get down!"—this to Frank and the soldier behind whom he was riding. The soldier dismounted, and the boy slipped off after him and faced his captor, who held a strap in one hand.
"Are you goin' to tell us?" he asked.
"No."
"Don't you know?" He came a step nearer, and held the strap forward. There was a long silence. The boy's face paled perceptibly, but took on a look as if the proceedings were indifferent to him.
"If you say you don't know"—said the man, hesitating in face of the boy's resolution. "Don't you know where they are?"
"Yes, I know; but I ain't goin' to tell you," said Frank, bursting into tears.
"The little Johnny's game," said the soldier who had told him the others were not going to hurt Willy. The corporal said something to this man in an undertone, to which he replied:
"You can try, but it isn't going to do any good. I don't half like it, anyway."
Frank had stopped crying after his first outburst.
"If you don't tell, we are going to shoot you," said the little soldier, drawing his pistol.
The boy shut his mouth close, and looked straight at the corporal. The man laid down his pistol, and, seizing Frank, drew his hands behind him, and tied them.
"Get ready, men," he said, as he drew the boy aside to a small tree, putting him with his back to it.
Frank thought his hour had come. He thought of his mother and Willy, and wondered if the soldiers would shoot Willy, too. His face twitched and grew ghastly white. Then he thought of his father, and of how proud he would be of his son's bravery when he should hear of it. This gave him strength.
"The knot—hurts my hands," he said.
The man leaned over and eased it a little.
"I wasn't crying because I was scared," said Frank.
The kind looking fellow turned away.
"Now, boys, get ready," said the corporal, taking up his pistol.
How large it looked to Frank. He wondered where the bullets would hit him, and if the wounds would bleed, and whether he would be left alone all night out there in the woods, and if his mother would come and kiss him.
"I want to say my prayers," he said, faintly.
The soldier made some reply which he could not hear,and the man with the beard started forward; but just then all grew dark before his eyes.
Next, he thought he must have been shot, for he felt wet about his face, and was lying down. He heard some one say, "He's coming to," and another replied, "Thank God!"
He opened his eyes. He was lying beside the little branch with his head in the lap of the big soldier with the beard, and the little corporal was leaning over him throwing water in his face from a cap. The others were standing around.
"What's the matter?" asked Frank.
"That's all right," said the little corporal, kindly. "We were just a-foolin' a bit with you, Johnny."
"We never meant to hurt you," said the other. "You feel better now?"
"Yes, where's Willy?" He was too tired to move.
"He's all right. We'll take you to him."
"Am I shot?" asked Frank.
"No! Do you think we'd have touched a hair of your head—and you such a brave little fellow? We were just trying to scare you a bit and carried it too far, and you got a little faint,—that's all."
The voice was so kindly that Frank was encouraged to sit up.
"Can you walk now?" asked the corporal, helping him and steadying him as he rose to his feet.
"I'll take him," said the big fellow, and before the boy could move, he had stooped, taken Frank in his arms, and was carrying him back toward the place where they had left Willy, while the others followed after with the horses.
"I can walk," said Frank.
"No, I'll carry you, b-bless your heart!"
The boy did not know that the big dragoon was looking down at the light hair resting on his arm, and that while he trod the Virginia wood-path, in fancy he was home in Delaware; or that the pressure the boy felt from his strong arms, was a caress given for the sake of another boy far away on the Brandywine. A little while before they came in sight Frank asked to be put down.
The soldier gently set him on his feet, and before he let him go kissed him.
"I've got a curly-headed fellow at home, just the size of you," he said softly.
Frank saw that his eyes were moist. "I hope you'll get safe back to him," he said.
"God grant it!" said the soldier.
When they reached the squad at the gate, they found Willy still in much distress on Frank's account; but he wiped his eyes when his brother reappeared, and listenedwith pride to the soldiers' praise of Frank's "grit," as they called it. When they let the boys go, the little corporal wished Frank to accept a five-dollar gold piece; but he politely declined it.
The story of Frank's adventure and courage was the talk of all the Oakland plantation. His mother and Cousin Belle both kissed him, and called him their little hero. Willy also received a full share of praise for his courage.
About noon there was great commotion among the troops. They were far more numerous than they had been in the morning, and instead of riding about the woods in small bodies, hunting for the concealed soldiers, they were collecting together and preparing to move.
It was learned that a considerable body of cavalry was passing down the road by Trinity Church, and that the depot had been burnt again the night before. Somehow, a rumor got about that the Confederates were following up the raiders.
In an hour most of the soldiers went away, but a number still stayed on. Their horses were picketed about the yard feeding; and they themselves lounged around, making themselves at home in the house, and pulling to pieces the things that were left. They were not, however, as wanton in their destruction as the first set, who had passed by the year before.
Among those who yet remained were the little corporal, and the big young soldier who had been so kind to Frank. They were in the rear-guard. At length the last man rode off.
The boys had gone in and out among them, without being molested. Now and then some rough fellow would swear at them, but for the most part their intercourse with the boys was friendly. When, therefore, they rode off, the boys were allowed by their mother to go and see the main body.
Peter and Cole were with them. They took the main road and followed along, picking up straps, and cartridges, and all those miscellaneous things dropped by a large body of troops as they pass along.
Cartridges were very valuable, as they furnished the only powder and shot the boys could get for hunting, and their supply was out. These were found in unusual numbers. The boys filled their pockets, and finally filled their sleeves, tying them tightly at the wrist with strings, so that the contents would not spill out. One of the boys found even an old pistol, which was considered a great treasure. He bore it proudly in his belt, and was envied by all the others.
It was quite late in the afternoon when they thought of turning toward home, their pockets and sleeves bagging down with the heavy musket-cartridges. They left theFederal rear-guard feeding their horses at a great white pile of corn which had been thrown out of the corn-house of a neighbor, and was scattered all over the ground.
They crossed a field, descended a hill, and took the main road at its foot, just as a body of cavalry came in sight. A small squad, riding some little distance in advance of the main body, had already passed by. These were Confederates. The first man they saw, at the head of the column by the colonel, was the General, and a little behind him was none other than Hugh on a gray roan; while not far down the column rode their friend Tim Mills, looking rusty and sleepy as usual.
"Goodness! Why, here are the General and Hugh! How in the world did you get away?" exclaimed the boys.
They learned that it was a column of cavalry following the line of the raid, and that the General and Hugh had met them and volunteered. The soldiers greeted the boys cordially.
"The Yankees are right up there," said the youngsters.
"Where? How many? What are they doing?" asked the General.
"A whole pack of 'em—right up there at the stables, and all about, feeding their horses and sitting all around, and ever so many more have gone along down the road."
"Fling the fence down there!" The boys pitched down the rails in two or three places. An order waspassed back, and in an instant a stir of preparation was noticed all down the line of horsemen.
A courier galloped up the road to recall the advance-guard. The head of the column passed through the gap, and, without waiting for the others, dashed up the hill at a gallop—the General and the colonel a score of yards ahead of any of the others.
"Let's go and see the fight!" cried the boys; and the whole set started back up the hill as fast as their legs could carry them.
"S'pose they shoot! Won't they shoot us?" asked one of the negro boys, in some apprehension. This, though before unthought of, was a possibility, and for a moment brought them down to a slower pace.
"We can lie flat and peep over the top of the hill." This was Frank's happy thought, and the party started ahead again. "Let's go around that way." They made a little detour.
Just before they reached the crest they heard a shot, "bang!" immediately followed by another, "bang!" and in a second more a regular volley began, and was kept up.
They reached the crest of the hill in time to see the Confederates gallop up the slope toward the stables, firing their pistols at the blue-coats, who were forming in the edge of a little wood, over beyond a fence, from the other side of which the smoke of their carbines was rolling.They had evidently started on just as the boys left, and before the Confederates came in sight.
The boys saw their friends dash at this fence, and could distinguish the General and Hugh, who were still in the lead. Their horses took the fence, going over like birds, and others followed,—Tim Mills among them,—while yet more went through a gate a few yards to one side.
"Look at Hugh! Look at Hugh!"
"Look! That horse has fallen down!" cried one of the boys, as a horse went down just at the entrance of the wood, rolling over his rider.
"He's shot!" exclaimed Frank, for neither horse nor rider attempted to rise.
"See; they are running!"
The little squad of blue-coats were retiring into the woods, with the grays closely pressing them.
"Let's cut across and see 'em run 'em over the bridge."
"Come on!"
All the little group of spectators, white and black, started as hard as they could go for a path they knew, which led by a short cut through the little piece of woods. Beyond lay a field divided by a stream, a short distance on the other side of which was a large body of woods.
The popping was still going on furiously in the woods, and bullets were "zoo-ing" over the fields. But the boyscould not see anything, and they did not think about the flying balls.
They were all excitement at the idea of "our men" whipping the enemy, and they ran with all their might to be in time to see them "chase 'em across the field."
The road on which the skirmish took place, and down which the Federal rear-guard had retreated, made a sharp curve beyond the woods, around the bend of a little stream crossed by a small bridge; and the boys, in taking the short cut, had placed the road between themselves and home; but they did not care about that, for their men were driving the others. They "just wanted to see it."
They reached the edge of the field in time to see that the Yankees were on the other side of the stream. They knew them to be where puffs of smoke came out of the opposite wood. And the Confederates had stopped beyond the bridge, and were halted, in some confusion, in the field.
The firing was very sharp, and bullets were singing in every direction. Then the Confederates got together, and went as hard as they could right at them up to the wood, all along the edge of which the smoke was pouring in continuous puffs and with a rattle of shots. They saw several horses fall as the Confederates galloped on, but the smoke hid most of it. Next they saw a long line of fire appear in the smoke on both sides of the road, whereit entered the wood; then the Confederates stopped, and became all mixed up; a number of horses galloped away without their riders, another line of white and red flame came out of the woods, the Confederates began to come back, leaving many horses on the ground, and a body of cavalry in blue coats poured out of the wood in pursuit.
"Look! look! They are running—they are beating our men!" exclaimed the boys. "They have driven 'em back across the bridge!"
"How many of them there are!"
"What shall we do? Suppose they see us!"
"Come on, Mah'srs Frank 'n' Willy, let's go home," said the colored boys. "They'll shoot us."
The fight was now in the woods which lay between the boys and their home. But just then the gray-coats got together, again turned at the edge of the wood, and dashed back on their pursuers, and—the smoke and bushes on the stream hid everything. In a second more both emerged on the other side of the smoke and went into the woods on the further edge of the field, all in confusion, and leaving on the ground more horses and men than before.
"What's them things 'zip-zippin' 'round my ears?" asked one of the negro boys.
"Bullets," said Frank, proud of his knowledge.
"Will they hurt me if they hit me?"
"LOOK! LOOK! THEY ARE RUNNING! THEY ARE BEATING OUR MEN!" EXCLAIMED THE BOYS."LOOK! LOOK! THEY ARE RUNNING! THEY ARE BEATING OUR MEN!" EXCLAIMED THE BOYS.
"Of course they will. They'll kill you."
"I'm gwine home," said the boy, and off he started at a trot.
"Hold on!—We're goin', too; but let's go down this way; this is the best way."
They went along the edge of the field, toward the point in the road where the skirmish had been and where the Confederates had rallied. They stopped to listen to the popping in the woods on the other side, and were just saying how glad they were that "our men had whipped them," when a soldier came along.
"What in the name of goodness are you boys doing here?" he asked.
"We're just looking on an' lis'ning," answered the boys meekly.
"Well, you'd better be getting home as fast as you can. They are too strong for us, and they'll be driving us back directly, and some of you may get killed or run over."
This was dreadful! Such an idea had never occurred to the boys. A panic took possession of them.
"Come on! Let's go home!" This was the universal idea, and in a second the whole party were cutting straight for home, utterly stampeded.
They could readily have found shelter and security back over the hill, from the flying balls; but they preferredto get home, and they made straight for it. The popping of the guns, which still kept up in the woods across the little river, now meant to them that the victorious Yankees were driving back their friends. They believed that the bullets which now and then yet whistled over the woods with a long, singing "zoo-ee," were aimed at them. For their lives, then, they ran, expecting to be killed every minute.
The load of cartridges in their pockets, which they had carried for hours, weighed them down. As they ran they threw these out. Then followed those in their sleeves. Frank and the other boys easily got rid of theirs, but Willy had tied the strings around his wrists in such hard knots that he could not possibly untie them. He was falling behind.
Frank heard him call. Without slacking his speed he looked back over his shoulder. Willy's face was red, and his mouth was twitching. He was sobbing a little, and was tearing at the strings with his teeth as he ran. Then the strings came loose one after the other, the cartridges were shaken out over the ground, and Willy's face at once cleared up as he ran forward lightened of his load.
They had passed almost through the narrow skirt of woods where the first attack was made, when they heard some one not far from the side of the road call, "Water!"
The boys stopped. "What's that?" they asked eachother in a startled undertone. A groan came from the same direction, and a voice said, "Oh, for some water!"
A short, whispered consultation was held.
"He's right up on that bank. There's a road up there."
Frank advanced a little; a man was lying somewhat propped up against a tree. His eyes were closed, and there was a ghastly wound in his head.
"Willy, it's a Yankee, and he's shot."
"Is he dead?" asked the others, in awed voices.
"No. Let's ask him if he's hurt much."
They all approached him. His eyes were shut and his face was ashy white.
"Willy, it'smyYankee!" exclaimed Frank.
The wounded man moved his hand at the sound of the voices.
"Water," he murmured. "Bring me water, for pity's sake!"
"I'll get you some,—don't you know me? Let me have your canteen," said Frank, stooping and taking hold of the canteen. It was held by its strap; but the boy whipped out a knife and cut it loose.
The man tried to speak; but the boys could not understand him.
"Where are you goin' get it, Frank?" asked the other boys.
"At the branch down there that runs into the creek."
"The Yankees'll shoot you down there," objected Peter and Willy.
"Iain' gwine that way," said Cole.
The soldier groaned.
"I'llgo with you, Frank," said Willy, who could not stand the sight of the man's suffering.
"We'll be back directly."
The two boys darted off, the others following them at a little distance. They reached the open field. The shooting was still going on in the woods on the other side, but they no longer thought of it. They ran down the hill and dashed across the little flat to the branch at the nearest point, washed the blood from the canteen, and filled it with the cool water.
"I wish we had something to wash his face with," sighed Willy, "but I haven't got a handkerchief."
"Neither have I." Willy looked thoughtful. A second more and he had stripped off his light sailor's jacket and dipped it in the water. The next minute the two boys were running up the hill again.
When they reached the spot where the wounded man lay, he had slipped down and was flat on the ground. His feeble voice still called for water, but was much weaker than before. Frank stooped and held the canteen to the man's lips, and he drank. Then Willy and Frank, together,bathed his face with the still dripping cotton jacket. This revived him somewhat; but he did not recognize them and talked incoherently. They propped up his head.
"Frank, it's getting mighty late, and we've got to go home," said Willy.
The boys' voice or words reached the ears of the wounded man.
"Take me home," he murmured; "I want some water from the well by the dairy."
"Give him some more water."
Willy lifted the canteen. "Here it is."
The soldier swallowed with difficulty.
He could not raise his hand now. There was a pause. The boys stood around, looking down on him. "I've come back home," he said. His eyes were closed.
"He's dreaming," whispered Willy.
"Did you ever see anybody die?" asked Frank, in a low tone.
Willy's face paled.
"No, Frank; let's go home and tell somebody."
Frank stooped and touched the soldier's face. He was talking all the time now, though they could not understand everything he said. The boy's touch seemed to rouse him.
"It's bedtime," he said, presently. "Kneel down and say your prayers for Father."
"Willy, let's say our prayers for him," whispered Frank.
"I can say, 'Now I lay me.'" But before he could begin,
"'Now I lay me down to sleep,'" said the soldier tenderly. The boys followed him, thinking he had heard them. They did not know that he was saying—for one whom but that morning he had called "his curly-head at home"—the prayer that is common to Virginia and to Delaware, to North and to South, and which no wars can silence and no victories cause to be forgotten.
The soldier's voice now was growing almost inaudible. He spoke between long-drawn breaths.
"'If I should die before I wake.'"
"'If I should die before I wake,'" they repeated, and continued the prayer.
"'And this I ask for Jesus' sake,'" said the boys, ending. There was a long pause. Frank stroked the pale face softly with his hands.
"'And this I ask for Jesus' sake,'" whispered the lips. Then, very softly, "Kiss me good-night."
"Kiss him, Frank."
The boy stooped over and kissed the lips that had kissed him in the morning. Willy kissed him, also. The lips moved in a faint smile.
"God bless——"
The boys waited,—but that was all. The dusk settled down in the woods. The prayer was ended.
"He's dead," said Frank, in deep awe.
"Frank, aren't you mighty sorry?" asked Willy in a trembling voice. Then he suddenly broke out crying.
"I don't want him to die! I don't want him to die!"
When the boys reached home it was pitch-dark. They found their mother very anxious about them. They gave an account of the "battle," as they called it, telling all about the charge, in which, by their statement, the General and Hugh did wonderful deeds. Their mother and Cousin Belle sat and listened with tightly folded hands and blanched faces.
Then they told how they found the wounded Yankee soldier on the bank, and about his death. They were startled by seeing their Cousin Belle suddenly fall on her knees and throw herself across their mother's lap in a passion of tears. Their mother put her arms around the young girl, kissed and soothed her.
Early the next morning their mother had an ox-cart (the only vehicle left on the place), sent down to the spot to bring the body of the soldier up to Oakland, so that it might be buried in the grave-yard there. Carpenter William made the coffin, and several men were set to work to dig the grave in the garden.
It was about the middle of the day when the cart came back. A sheet covered the body. The little cortege wasa very solemn one, the steers pulling slowly up the hill and a man walking on each side. Then the body was put into the coffin and reverently carried to the grave. The boys' mother read the burial service out of the prayer-book, and afterward Uncle William Slow offered a prayer. Just as they were about to turn away, the boys' mother began to sing, "Abide with me; fast falls the eventide." She and Cousin Belle and the boys sang the hymn together, and then all walked sadly away, leaving the fresh mound in the garden, where birds peeped curiously from the lilac-bushes at the soldier's grave in the warm, light of the afternoon sun.
A small packet of letters and a gold watch and chain, found in the soldier's pocket, were sealed up by the boys' mother and put in her bureau drawer, for they could not then be sent through the lines. There was one letter, however, which they buried with him. It contained two locks of hair, one gray, the other brown and curly.
The next few months brought no new incidents, but the following year deep gloom fell upon Oakland. It was not only that the times were harder than they had ever been—though the plantation was now utterly destitute; there were no provisions and no crops, for there were no teams. It was not merely that a shadow was settling down on all the land; for the boys did not trouble themselvesabout these things, though such anxieties were bringing gray hairs to their mother's temples.
The General had been wounded and captured during a cavalry fight. The boys somehow connected their Cousin Belle with the General's capture, and looked on her with some disfavor. She and the General had quarrelled a short time before, and it was known that she had returned his ring. When, therefore, he was shot through the body and taken by the enemy, the boys could not admit that their cousin had any right to stay up-stairs in her own room weeping about it. They felt that it was all her own fault, and they told her so; whereupon she simply burst out crying and ran from the room.
The hard times grew harder. The shadow deepened. Hugh was wounded and captured in a charge at Petersburg, and it was not known whether he was badly hurt or not. Then came the news that Richmond had been evacuated. The boys knew that this was a defeat; but even then they did not believe that the Confederates were beaten. Their mother was deeply affected by the news.
That night at least a dozen of the negroes disappeared. The other servants said the missing ones had gone to Richmond "to get their papers."
A week or so later the boys heard the rumor that General Lee had surrendered at a place called Appomattox. When they came home and told their mother whatthey had heard, she turned as pale as death, arose, and went into her chamber. The news was corroborated next day. During the following two days, every negro on the plantation left, excepting lame old Sukey Brown. Some of them came and said they had to go to Richmond, that "the word had come" for them. Others, including even Uncle Balla and Lucy Ann, slipped away by night.
After that their mother had to cook, and the boys milked and did the heavier work. The cooking was not much trouble, however, for black-eyed pease were about all they had to eat.
One afternoon, the second day after the news of Lee's surrender, the boys, who had gone to drive up the cows to be milked, saw two horsemen, one behind the other, coming slowly down the road on the far hill. The front horse was white, and, as their father rode a white horse, they ran toward the house to carry the news. Their mother and Cousin Belle, however, having seen the horsemen, were waiting on the porch as the men came through the middle gate and rode across the field.
It was their father and his body-servant, Ralph, who had been with him all through the war. They came slowly up the hill; the horses limping and fagged, the riders dusty and drooping.
It seemed like a funeral. The boys were near the steps, and their mother stood on the portico with her foreheadresting against a pillar. No word was spoken. Into the yard they rode at a walk, and up to the porch. Then their father, who had not once looked up, put both hands to his face, slipped from his horse, and walked up the steps, tears running down his cheeks, and took their mother into his arms. Itwasa funeral—the Confederacy was dead.
A little later, their father, who had been in the house, came out on the porch near where Ralph still stood holding the horses.
"Take off the saddles, Ralph, and turn the horses out," he said.
Ralph did so.
"Here,—here's my last dollar. You have been a faithful servant to me. Put the saddles on the porch." It was done. "You are free," he said to the black, and then he walked back into the house.
Ralph stood where he was for some minutes without moving a muscle. His eyes blinked mechanically. Then he looked at the door and at the windows above him. Suddenly he seemed to come to himself. Turning slowly, he walked solemnly out of the yard.