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diff --git a/26725-8.txt b/26725-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d1bb1d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/26725-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4687 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Two Little Confederates, by Thomas Nelson Page + + +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: Two Little Confederates + + +Author: Thomas Nelson Page + + + +Release Date: September 29, 2008 [eBook #26725] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWO LITTLE CONFEDERATES*** + + +E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Diane Monico, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 26725-h.htm or 26725-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/6/7/2/26725/26725-h/26725-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/6/7/2/26725/26725-h.zip) + + + + + +TWO LITTLE CONFEDERATES + + * * * * * + +BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS +BY THOMAS NELSON PAGE + +Tommy Trot's Visit to Santa Claus + +Santa Claus's Partner + +A Captured Santa Claus + +Among the Camps + +Two Little Confederates + +The Page Story Book + + +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + + * * * * * + +TWO LITTLE CONFEDERATES + +by + +THOMAS NELSON PAGE + +Illustrated + + + + + + + +[Illustration: "I'M IN COMMAND," SAID THE GENTLEMAN, SMILING AT HIM +OVER THE TOWEL.] + + + +New York +Charles Scribner's Sons +1929 + +Copyright, 1888, by +Charles Scribner's Sons + +Copyright, 1916, by +Thomas Nelson Page + +Printed in the United States of America + + + + +TO MY MOTHER + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +"I'm in command," said the gentleman, +smiling at him over the towel _Frontispiece_ + + PAGE +The old man walked up to the door, and +standing on one side, flung it open 29 + +"Gentlemen, marsters, don't teck my horses, +ef you please," said Uncle Balla 69 + +Frank and Willy capture a member of the +conscript-guard 95 + +The boy faced his captor, who held a strap +in one hand 129 + +"Look! Look! They are running. They are +beating our men!" exclaimed the boys 143 + +The boys sell their cakes to the Yankees 159 + +Some of the servants came back to their old home 167 + + + + +TWO LITTLE CONFEDERATES. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +The "Two Little Confederates" lived at Oakland. It was not a handsome +place, as modern ideas go, but down in Old Virginia, where the +standard was different from the later one, it passed in old times as +one of the best plantations in all that region. The boys thought it +the greatest place in the world, of course excepting Richmond, where +they had been one year to the fair, and had seen a man pull fire out +of his mouth, and do other wonderful things. It was quite secluded. It +lay, it is true, right between two of the county roads, the +Court-house Road being on one side, and on the other the great +"Mountain Road," down which the large covered wagons with six horses +and jingling bells used to go; but the lodge lay this side of the one, +and "the big woods," where the boys shot squirrels, and hunted +'possums and coons, and which reached to the edge of "Holetown," +stretched between the house and the other, so that the big gate-post +where the semi-weekly mail was left by the mail-rider each Tuesday +and Friday afternoon was a long walk, even by the near cut through the +woods. The railroad was ten miles away by the road. There was a nearer +way, only about half the distance, by which the negroes used to walk +and which during the war, after all the horses were gone, the boys, +too, learned to travel; but before that, the road by Trinity Church +and Honeyman's Bridge was the only route, and the other was simply a +dim bridle-path, and the "horseshoe-ford" was known to the initiated +alone. + +The mansion itself was known on the plantation as "the great-house," +to distinguish it from all the other houses on the place, of which +there were many. It had as many wings as the angels in the vision of +Ezekiel. + +These additions had been made, some in one generation, some in +another, as the size of the family required; and finally, when there +was no side of the original structure to which another wing could be +joined, a separate building had been erected on the edge of the yard +which was called "The Office," and was used as such, as well as for a +lodging-place by the young men of the family. The privilege of +sleeping in the Office was highly esteemed, for, like the _toga +virilis_, it marked the entrance upon manhood of the youths who were +fortunate enough to enjoy it. There smoking was admissible, there the +guns were kept in the corner, and there the dogs were allowed to +sleep at the feet of their young masters, or in bed with them, if they +preferred it. + +In one of the rooms in this building the boys went to school whilst +small, and another they looked forward to having as their own when +they should be old enough to be elevated to the coveted dignity of +sleeping in the Office. Hugh already slept there, and gave himself +airs in proportion; but Hugh they regarded as a very aged person; not +as old, it was true, as their cousins who came down from college at +Christmas, and who, at the first outbreak of war, all rushed into the +army; but each of these was in the boys' eyes a Methuselah. Hugh had +his own horse and the double-barrelled gun, and when a fellow got +those there was little material difference between him and other men, +even if he did have to go to the academy,--which was really something +like going to school. + +The boys were Frank and Willy; Frank being the eldest. They went by +several names on the place. Their mother called them her "little men," +with much pride; Uncle Balla spoke of them as "them chillern," which +generally implied something of reproach; and Lucy Ann, who had been +taken into the house to "run after" them when they were little boys, +always coupled their names as "Frank 'n' Willy." Peter and Cole did +the same when their mistress was not by. + +When there first began to be talk at Oakland about the war, the boys +thought it would be a dreadful thing; their principal ideas about war +being formed from an intimate acquaintance with the Bible and its +accounts of the wars of the Children of Israel, in which men, women +and children were invariably put to the sword. This gave a vivid +conception of its horrors. + +One evening, in the midst of a discussion about the approaching +crisis, Willy astonished the company, who were discussing the merits +of probable leaders of the Union armies, by suddenly announcing that +he'd "bet they didn't have any general who could beat Joab." + +Up to the time of the war, the boys had led a very uneventful, but a +very pleasant life. They used to go hunting with Hugh, their older +brother, when he would let them go, and after the cows with Peter and +Cole. Old Balla, the driver, was their boon comrade and adviser, and +taught them to make whips, and traps for hares and birds, as he had +taught them to ride and to cobble shoes. + +He lived alone (for his wife had been set free years before, and lived +in Philadelphia). His room over "the old kitchen" was the boys' +play-room when he would permit them to come in. There were so many +odds and ends in it that it was a delightful place. + +Then the boys played blindman's-buff in the house, or hide-and-seek +about the yard or garden, or upstairs in their den, a narrow alcove +at the top of the house. + +The little willow-shadowed creek, that ran through the meadow behind +the barn, was one of their haunts. They fished in it for minnows and +little perch; they made dams and bathed in it; and sometimes they +played pirates upon its waters. + +Once they made an extended search up and down its banks for any +fragments of Pharaoh's chariots which might have been washed up so +high; but that was when they were younger and did not have much +sense. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +There was great excitement at Oakland during the John Brown raid, and +the boys' grandmother used to pray for him and Cook, whose pictures +were in the papers. + +The boys became soldiers, and drilled punctiliously with guns which +they got Uncle Balla to make for them. Frank was the captain, Willy +the first lieutenant, and a dozen or more little negroes composed the +rank and file, Peter and Cole being trusted file-closers. + +A little later they found their sympathies all on the side of peace +and the preservation of the Union. Their uncle was for keeping the +Union unbroken, and ran for the Convention against Colonel Richards, +who was the chief officer of the militia in the county, and was as +blood-thirsty as Tamerlane, who reared the pyramid of skulls, and as +hungry for military renown as the great Napoleon, about whom the boys +had read. + +There was immense excitement in the county over the election. Though +the boys' mother had made them add to their prayers a petition that +their Uncle William might win, and that he might secure the +blessings of peace; and, though at family prayers, night and morning, +the same petition was presented, the boys' uncle was beaten at the +polls by a large majority. And then they knew there was bound to be +war, and that it must be very wicked. They almost felt the "invader's +heel," and the invaders were invariably spoken of as "cruel," and the +heel was described as of "iron," and was always mentioned as engaged +in the act of crushing. They would have been terribly alarmed at this +cruel invasion had they not been reassured by the general belief of +the community that one Southerner could whip ten Yankees, and that, +collectively, the South could drive back the North with pop-guns. When +the war actually broke out, the boys were the most enthusiastic of +rebels, and the troops in Camp Lee did not drill more continuously nor +industriously. + +Their father, who had been a Whig and opposed secession until the very +last, on Virginia's seceding, finally cast his lot with his people, +and joined an infantry company; and Uncle William raised and equipped +an artillery company, of which he was chosen captain; but the infantry +was too tame and the artillery too ponderous to suit the boys. + +They were taken to see the drill of the county troop of cavalry, with +its prancing horses and clanging sabres. It was commanded by a cousin; +and from that moment they were cavalrymen to the core. They flung +away their stick-guns in disgust; and Uncle Balla spent two grumbling +days fashioning them a stableful of horses with real heads and "sure +'nough" leather bridles. + +Once, indeed, a secret attempt was made to utilize the horses and +mules which were running in the back pasture; but a premature +discovery of the matter ended in such disaster to all concerned that +the plan was abandoned, and the boys had to content themselves with +their wooden steeds. + +The day that the final orders came for their father and uncle to go to +Richmond,--from which point they were ordered to "the Peninsula,"--the +boys could not understand why every one was suddenly plunged into such +distress. Then, next morning, when the soldiers left, the boys could +not altogether comprehend it. They thought it was a very fine thing to +be allowed to ride Frank and Hun, the two war-horses, with their new, +deep army saddles and long bits. They cried when their father and +uncle said good-bye, and went away; but it was because their mother +looked so pale and ill, and not because they did not think it was all +grand. They had no doubt that all would come back soon, for old Uncle +Billy, the "head-man," who had been born down in "Little York," where +Cornwallis surrendered, had expressed the sentiment of the whole +plantation when he declared, as he sat in the back yard surrounded by +an admiring throng and surveyed the two glittering sabres which he had +no one but himself to polish, that "Ef them Britishers jest sees dese +swodes dee'll run!" The boys tried to explain to him that these were +not British, but Yankees,--but he was hard to convince. Even Lucy Ann, +who was incurably afraid of everything like a gun or fire-arm, partook +of the general fervor, and boasted effusively that she had actually +"tetched Marse John's big pistils." + +Hugh, who was fifteen, and was permitted to accompany his father to +Richmond, was regarded by the boys with a feeling of mingled envy and +veneration, which he accepted with dignified complacency. + +Frank and Willy soon found that war brought some immunities. The house +filled up so with the families of cousins and friends who were +refugees that the boys were obliged to sleep in the Office, and thus +they felt that, at a bound, they were almost as old as Hugh. + +There were the cousins from Gloucester, from the Valley, and families +of relatives from Baltimore and New York, who had come south on the +declaration of war. Their favorite was their Cousin Belle, whose +beauty at once captivated both boys. This was the first time that the +boys knew anything of girls, except their own sister, Evelyn; and +after a brief period, during which the novelty gave them pleasure, +the inability of the girls to hunt, climb trees, or play knucks, etc., +and the additional restraint which their presence imposed, caused them +to hold the opinion that "girls were no good." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +In course of time they saw a great deal of "the army,"--which meant +the Confederates. The idea that the Yankees could ever get to Oakland +never entered any one's head. It was understood that the army lay +between Oakland and them, and surely they could never get by the +innumerable soldiers who were always passing up one road or the other, +and who, day after day and night after night, were coming to be fed, +and were rapidly eating up everything that had been left on the place. +By the end of the first year they had been coming so long that they +made scarcely any difference; but the first time a regiment camped in +the neighborhood it created great excitement. + +It became known one night that a cavalry regiment, in which were +several of their cousins, was encamped at Honeyman's Bridge, and the +boys' mother determined to send a supply of provisions for the camp +next morning; so several sheep were killed, the smoke-house was +opened, and all night long the great fires in the kitchen and +wash-house glowed; and even then there was not room, so that a big +fire was kindled in the back yard, beside which saddles of mutton +were roasted in the tin kitchens. Everybody was "rushing." + +The boys were told that they might go to see the soldiers, and as they +had to get off long before daylight, they went to bed early, and left +all "the other boys"--that is, Peter and Cole and other colored +children--squatting about the fires and trying to help the cooks to +pile on wood. + +It was hard to leave the exciting scene. + +They were very sleepy the next morning; indeed, they seemed scarcely +to have fallen asleep when Lucy Ann shook them; but they jumped up +without the usual application of cold water in their faces, which Lucy +Ann so delighted to make; and in a little while they were out in the +yard, where Balla was standing holding three horses,--their mother's +riding-horse; another with a side-saddle for their Cousin Belle, whose +brother was in the regiment; and one for himself,--and Peter and Cole +were holding the carriage-horses for the boys, and several other men +were holding mules. + +Great hampers covered with white napkins were on the porch, and the +savory smell decided the boys not to eat their breakfast, but to wait +and take their share with the soldiers. + +The roads were so bad that the carriage could not go; and as the boys' +mother wished to get the provisions to the soldiers before they broke +camp, they had to set out at once. In a few minutes they were all in +the saddle, the boys and their mother and Cousin Belle in front, and +Balla and the other servants following close behind, each holding +before him a hamper, which looked queer and shadowy as they rode on in +the darkness. + +The sky, which was filled with stars when they set out, grew white as +they splashed along mile after mile through the mud. Then the road +became clearer; they could see into the woods, and the sky changed to +a rich pink, like the color of peach-blossoms. Their horses were +covered with mud up to the saddle-skirts. They turned into a lane only +half a mile from the bridge, and, suddenly, a bugle rang out down in +the wooded bottom below them, and the boys hardly could be kept from +putting their horses to a run, so fearful were they that the soldiers +were leaving, and that they should not see them. Their mother, +however, told them that this was probably the reveille, or +"rising-bell," of the soldiers. She rode on at a good sharp canter, +and the boys were diverting themselves over a discussion as to who +would act the part of Lucy Ann in waking the regiment of soldiers, +when they turned a curve, and at the end of the road, a few hundred +yards ahead, stood several horsemen. + +"There they are," exclaimed both boys. + +"No, that is a picket," said their mother; "gallop on, Frank, and +tell them we are bringing breakfast for the regiment." + +Frank dashed ahead, and soon they saw a soldier ride forward to meet +him, and, after a few words, return with him to his comrades. Then, +while they were still a hundred yards distant, they saw Frank, who had +received some directions, start off again toward the bridge, at a hard +gallop. The picket had told him to go straight on down the hill, and +he would find the camp just the other side of the bridge. He +accordingly rode on, feeling very important at being allowed to go +alone to the camp on such a mission. + +As he reached a turn in the road, just above the river, the whole +regiment lay swarming below him among the large trees on the bank of +the little stream. The horses were picketed to bushes and stakes, in +long rows, the saddles lying on the ground, not far off; and hundreds +of men were moving about, some in full uniform and others without coat +or vest. A half-dozen wagons with sheets on them stood on one side +among the trees, near which several fires were smoking, with men +around them. + +As Frank clattered up to the bridge, a soldier with a gun on his arm, +who had been standing by the railing, walked out to the middle of the +bridge. + +"Halt! Where are you going in such a hurry, my young man?" he said. + +"I wish to see the colonel," said Frank, repeating as nearly as he +could the words the picket had told him. + +"What do you want with him?" + +Frank was tempted not to tell him; but he was so impatient to deliver +his message before the others should arrive, that he told him what he +had come for. + +"There he is," said the sentinel, pointing to a place among the trees +where stood at least five hundred men. + +Frank looked, expecting to recognize the colonel by his noble bearing, +or splendid uniform, or some striking marks. + +"Where?" he asked, in doubt; for while a number of the men were in +uniform, he knew these to be privates. + +"There," said the sentry, pointing; "by that stump, near the yellow +horse-blanket." + +Frank looked again. The only man he could fix upon by the description +was a young fellow, washing his face in a tin basin, and he felt that +this could not be the colonel; but he did not like to appear dull, so +he thanked the man and rode on, thinking he would go to the point +indicated, and ask some one else to show him the officer. + +He felt quite grand as he rode in among the men, who, he thought, +would recognize his importance and treat him accordingly; but, as he +passed on, instead of paying him the respect he had expected, they +began to guy him with all sorts of questions. + +"Hullo, bud, going to jine the cavalry?" asked one. "Which is oldest; +you or your horse?" inquired another. + +"How's pa--and ma?" "Does your mother know you're out?" asked others. +One soldier walked up, and putting his hand on the bridle, proceeded +affably to ask him after his health, and that of every member of his +family. At first Frank did not understand that they were making fun of +him, but it dawned on him when the man asked him solemnly: + +"Are there any Yankees around, that you were running away so fast just +now?" + +"No; if there were I'd never have found _you_ here," said Frank, +shortly, in reply; which at once turned the tide in his favor and +diverted the ridicule from himself to his teaser, who was seized by +some of his comrades and carried off with much laughter and slapping +on the back. + +"I wish to see Colonel Marshall," said Frank, pushing his way through +the group that surrounded him, and riding up to the man who was still +occupied at the basin on the stump. + +"All right, sir, I'm the man," said the individual, cheerily looking +up with his face dripping and rosy from its recent scrubbing. + +"You the colonel!" exclaimed Frank, suspicious that he was again being +ridiculed, and thinking it impossible that this slim, rosy-faced +youngster, who was scarcely stouter than Hugh, and who was washing in +a tin basin, could be the commander of all these soldierly-looking +men, many of whom were old enough to be his father. + +"Yes, I'm the lieutenant-colonel. I'm in command," said the gentleman, +smiling at him over the towel. + +Something made Frank understand that this was really the officer, and +he gave his message, which was received with many expressions of +thanks. + +"Won't you get down? Here, Campbell, take this horse, will you?" he +called to a soldier, as Frank sprang from his horse. The orderly +stepped forward and took the bridle. + +"Now, come with me," said the colonel, leading the way. "We must get +ready to receive your mother. There are some ladies coming--and +breakfast," he called to a group who were engaged in the same +occupation he had just ended, and whom Frank knew by instinct to be +officers. + +The information seemed to electrify the little knot addressed; for +they began to rush around, and in a few moments they all were in their +uniforms, and surrounding the colonel, who, having brushed his hair +with the aid of a little glass hung on a bush, had hurried into his +coat and was buckling on his sword and giving orders in a way which at +once satisfied Frank that he was every inch a colonel. + +"Now let us go and receive your mother," said he to the boy. As he +strode through the camp with his coat tightly buttoned, his soft hat +set jauntily on the side of his head, his plumes sweeping over its +side, and his sword clattering at his spurred heel, he presented a +very different appearance from that which he had made a little before, +with his head in a tin basin, and his face covered with lather. In +fact, Colonel Marshall was already a noted officer, and before the end +of the war he attained still higher rank and reputation. + +The colonel met the rest of the party at the bridge, and introduced +himself and several officers who soon joined him. The negroes were +directed to take the provisions over to the other side of the stream +into the camp, and in a little while the whole regiment were enjoying +the breakfast. The boys and their mother had at the colonel's request +joined his mess, in which was one of their cousins, the brother of +their cousin Belle. + +The gentlemen could eat scarcely anything, they were so busy attending +to the wants of the ladies. The colonel, particularly, waited on their +cousin Belle all the time. + +As soon as they had finished the colonel left them, and a bugle blew. +In a minute all was bustle. Officers were giving orders; horses were +saddled and brought out; and by what seemed magic to the boys, the +men, who just before were scattered about among the trees laughing +and eating, were standing by their horses all in proper order. The +colonel and the officers came and said good-bye. + +Again the bugle blew. Every man was in his saddle. A few words by the +colonel, followed by other words from the captains, and the column +started, turning across the bridge, the feet of the horses thundering +on the planks. Then the regiment wound up the hill at a walk, the men +singing snatches of a dozen songs of which "The Bonnie Blue Flag," +"Lorena," and "Carry Me Back to Old Virginia Shore," were the chief +ones. + +It seemed to the boys that to be a soldier was the noblest thing on +earth; and that this regiment could do anything. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +After this it became a common thing for passing regiments to camp near +Oakland, and the fire blazed many a night, cooking for the soldiers, +till the chickens were crowing in the morning. The negroes all had +hen-houses and raised their own chickens, and when a camp was near +them they used to drive a thriving trade on their own account, selling +eggs and chickens to the privates while the officers were entertained +in the "gret house." + +It was thought an honor to furnish food to the soldiers. Every soldier +was to the boys a hero, and each young officer might rival Ivanhoe or +Coeur de Lion. + +It was not a great while, however, before they learned that all +soldiers were not like their favorite knights. At any rate, thefts +were frequent. The absence of men from the plantations, and the +constant passing of strangers made stealing easy; hen-roots were +robbed time after time, and even pigs and sheep were taken without any +trace of the thieves. The boys' hen-house, however, which was in the +yard, had never been troubled. It was about their only possession, and +they took great pride in it. + +One night the boys were fast asleep in their room in the office, with +old Bruno and Nick curled up on their sheep-skins on the floor. Hugh +was away, so the boys were the only "men" on the place, and felt that +they were the protectors of the plantation. The frequent thefts had +made every one very suspicious, and the boys had made up their minds +to be on the watch, and, if possible, to catch the thief. + +The negroes said that the deserters did the stealing. + +On the night in question, the boys were sound asleep when old Bruno +gave a low growl, and then began walking and sniffing up and down the +room. Soon Nick gave a sharp, quick bark. + +Frank waked first. He was not startled, for the dogs were in the habit +of barking whenever they wished to go out-of-doors. Now, however, they +kept it up, and it was in a strain somewhat different from their usual +signal. + +"What's the matter with you? Go and lie down, Bruno," called Frank. +"Hush up, Nick!" But Bruno would not lie down, and Nick would not keep +quiet, though at the sound of Frank's voice they felt less +responsibility, and contented themselves with a low growling. + +After a little while Frank was on the point of dropping off to sleep +again, when he heard a sound out in the yard, which at once thoroughly +awakened him. He nudged Willy in the side. + +"Willy--Willy, wake up; there's some one moving around outdoors." + +"Umm-mm," groaned Willy, turning over and settling himself for another +nap. + +The sound of a chicken chirping out in fright reached Frank's ear. + +"Wake up, Willy!" he called, pinching him hard. "There's some one at +the hen-house." + +Willy was awake in a second. The boys consulted as to what should be +done. Willy was sceptical. He thought Frank had been dreaming, or that +it was only Uncle Balla, or "some one" moving about the yard. But a +second cackle of warning reached them, and in a minute both boys were +out of bed pulling on their clothes with trembling impatience. + +"Let's go and wake Uncle Balla," proposed Willy, getting himself all +tangled in the legs of his trousers. + +"No; I'll tell you what, let's catch him ourselves," suggested Frank. + +"All right," assented Willy. "We'll catch him and lock him up; suppose +he's got a pistol? your gun maybe won't go off; it doesn't always +burst the cap." + +"Well, your old musket is loaded, and you can hold him, while I snap +the cap at him, and get it ready." + +"All right--I can't find my jacket--I'll hold him." + +"Where in the world is my hat?" whispered Frank. "Never mind, it must +be in the house. Let's go out the back way. We can get out without his +hearing us." + +"What shall we do with the dogs? Let's shut them up." + +"No, let's take 'em with us. We can keep them quiet and hold 'em in, +and they can track him if he gets away." + +"All right;" and the boys slowly opened the door, and crept stealthily +out, Frank clutching his double-barrelled gun, and Willy hugging a +heavy musket which he had found and claimed as one of the prizes of +war. It was almost pitch-dark. + +They decided that one should take one side of the hen-house, and one +the other side (in such a way that if they had to shoot, they would +almost certainly shoot one another!) but before they had separated +both dogs jerked loose from their hands and dashed away in the +darkness, barking furiously. + +"There he goes round the garden," shouted Willy, as the sound of +footsteps like those of a man running with all his might came from the +direction which the dogs had taken. + +"Come on," and both started; but, after taking a few steps, they +stopped to listen so that they might trace the fugitive. + +A faint noise behind them arrested their attention, and Frank tiptoed +back toward the hen-house. It was too dark to see much, but he heard +the hen-house door creak, and was conscious even in the darkness that +it was being pushed slowly open. + +"Here's one, Willy," he shouted, at the same time putting his gun to +his shoulder and pulling the trigger. The hammer fell with a sharp +"click" just as the door was snatched to with a bang. The cap had +failed to explode, or the chicken-eating days of the individual in the +hen-house would have ended then and there. + +The boys stood for some moments with their guns pointed at the door of +the hen-house expecting the person within to attempt to burst out; but +the click of the hammer and their hurried conference without, in which +it was promptly agreed to let him have both barrels if he appeared, +reconciled him to remaining within. + +After some time it was decided to go and wake Uncle Balla, and confer +with him as to the proper disposition of their captive. Accordingly, +Frank went off to obtain help, while Willy remained to watch the +hen-house. As Frank left he called back: + +"Willy, you take good aim at him, and if he pokes his head out--let +him have it!" + +This Willy solemnly promised to do. + +Frank was hardly out of hearing before Willy was surprised to hear the +prisoner call him by name in the most friendly and familiar manner, +although the voice was a strange one. + +"Willy, is that you?" called the person inside. + +"Yes." + +"Where's Frank?" + +"Gone to get Uncle Balla." + +"Did you see that other fellow?" + +"Yes." + +"I wish you'd shot him. He brought me here and played a joke on me. He +told me this was a house I could sleep in, and shut me up in +here,--and blest if I don't b'lieve it's nothin' but a hen-house. Let +me out here a minute," he continued, after a pause, cajolingly. + +"No, I won't," said Willy firmly, getting his gun ready. + +There was a pause, and then from the depths of the hen-house issued +the most awful groan: + +"Umm! Ummm!! Ummmm!!!" + +Willy was frightened. + +"Umm! Umm!" was repeated. + +"What's the matter with you?" asked Willy, feeling sorry in spite of +himself. + +"Oh! Oh! Oh! I'm so sick," groaned the man in the hen-house. + +"How? What's the matter?" + +"That man that fooled me in here gave me something to drink, and it's +pizened me; oh! oh! oh! I'm dying." + +It was a horrible groan. + +Willy's heart relented. He moved to the door and was just about to +open it to look in when a light flashed across the yard from Uncle +Balla's house, and he saw him coming with a flaming light-wood knot in +his hand. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Instead of opening the door, therefore, Willy called to the old man, +who was leisurely crossing the yard: "Run, Uncle Balla. Quick, run!" + +At the call Old Balla and Frank set out as fast as they could. + +"What's the matter? Is he done kill de chickens? Is he done got away?" +the old man asked, breathlessly. + +"No, he's dyin'," shouted Willy. + +"Hi! is you shoot him?" asked the old driver. + +"No, that other man's poisoned him. He was the robber and he fooled +this one," explained Willy, opening the door and peeping anxiously in. + +"Go 'long, boy,--now, d'ye ever heah de better o' dat?--dat man's +foolin' wid you; jes' tryin' to git yo' to let him out." + +"No, he isn't," said Willy; "you ought to have heard him." + +But both Balla and Frank were laughing at him, so he felt very +shamefaced. He was relieved by hearing another groan. + +"Oh, oh, oh! Ah, ah!" + +"You hear that?" he asked, triumphantly. + +"I boun' I'll see what's the matter with him, the roscol! Stan' right +dyah, y' all, an' if he try to run shoot him, but mine you don' hit +_me_," and the old man walked up to the door, and standing on one side +flung it open. "What you doin' in dyah after dese chillern's +chickens?" he called fiercely. + +"Hello, old man, 's 'at you? I's mighty sick," muttered the person +within. Old Balla held his torch inside the house, amid a confused +cackle and flutter of fowls. + +"Well, ef 'tain' a white man, and a soldier at dat!" he exclaimed. +"What you doin' heah, robbin' white folks' hen-roos'?" he called, +roughly. "Git up off dat groun'; you ain' sick." + +"Let me get up, Sergeant,--hic--don't you heah the roll-call?--the +tent's mighty dark; what you fool me in here for?" muttered the man +inside. + +The boys could see that he was stretched out on the floor, apparently +asleep, and that he was a soldier in uniform. Balla stepped inside. + +"Is he dead?" asked both boys as Balla caught him by the arms, lifted +him, and let him fall again limp on the floor. + +"Nor, he's dead-drunk," said Balla, picking up an empty flask. "Come +on out. Let me see what I gwi' do wid you?" he said, scratching his +head. + +[Illustration: THE OLD MAN WALKED UP TO THE DOOR, AND STANDING ON ONE +SIDE FLUNG IT OPEN.] + +"I know what I gwi' do wid you. I gwi' lock you up right whar you is." + +"Uncle Balla, s'pose he gets well, won't he get out?" + +"Ain' _I_ gwi' lock him up? Dat's good from you, who was jes' gwi' let +'im out ef me an' Frank hadn't come up when we did." + +Willy stepped back abashed. His heart accused him and told him the +charge was true. Still he ventured one more question: + +"Hadn't you better take the hens out?" + +"Nor; 'tain' no use to teck nuttin' out dyah. Ef he comes to, he know +we got 'im, an' he dyahson' trouble nuttin'." + +And the old man pushed to the door and fastened the iron hasp over the +strong staple. Then, as the lock had been broken, he took a large nail +from his pocket and fastened it in the staple with a stout string so +that it could not be shaken out. All the time he was working he was +talking to the boys, or rather to himself, for their benefit. + +"Now, you see ef we don' find him heah in the mornin'! Willy jes' gwi' +let you get 'way, but a _man_ got you now, wha'ar' been handlin' +horses an' know how to hole 'em in the stalls. I boun' he'll have to +butt like a ram to git out dis log hen-house," he said, finally, as he +finished tying the last knot in his string, and gave the door a +vigorous rattle to test its strength. + +Willy had been too much abashed at his mistake to fully appreciate all +of the witticisms over the prisoner, but Frank enjoyed them almost as +much as Unc' Balla himself. + +"Now y' all go 'long to bed, an' I'll go back an' teck a little nap +myself," said he, in parting. "Ef he gits out that hen-house I'll give +you ev'y chicken I got. But he am' _gwine_ git out. A _man's_ done +fasten him up dyah." + +The boys went off to bed, Willy still feeling depressed over his +ridiculous mistake. They were soon fast asleep, and if the dogs barked +again they did not hear them. + +The next thing they knew, Lucy Ann, convulsed with laughter, was +telling them a story about Uncle Balla and the man in the hen-house. +They jumped up, and pulling on their clothes ran out in the yard, +thinking to see the prisoner. + +Instead of doing so, they found Uncle Balla standing by the hen-house +with a comical look of mystification and chagrin; the roof had been +lifted off at one end and not only the prisoner, but every chicken was +gone! + +The boys were half inclined to cry; Balla's look, however, set them to +laughing. + +"Unc' Balla, you got to give me every chicken you got, 'cause you said +you would," said Willy. + +"Go 'way from heah, boy. Don' pester me when I studyin' to see which +way he got out." + +"You ain't never had a horse get through the roof before, have you?" +said Frank. + +"Go 'way from here, I tell you," said the old man, walking around the +house, looking at it. + +As the boys went back to wash and dress themselves, they heard Balla +explaining to Lucy Ann and some of the other servants that "the man +them chillern let git away had just come back and tooken out the one +he had locked up"; a solution of the mystery he always stoutly +insisted upon. + +One thing, however, the person's escape effected--it prevented Willy's +ever hearing any more of his mistake; but that did not keep him now +and then from asking Uncle Balla "if he had fastened his horses +well." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +These hens were not the last things stolen from Oakland. Nearly all +the men in the country had gone with the army. Indeed, with the +exception of a few overseers who remained to work the farms, every man +in the neighborhood, between the ages of seventeen and fifty, was in +the army. The country was thus left almost wholly unprotected, and it +would have been entirely so but for the "Home Guard," as it was +called, which was a company composed of young boys and the few old men +who remained at home, and who had volunteered for service as a local +guard, or police body, for the neighborhood of their homes. + +Occasionally, too, later on, a small detachment of men, under a leader +known as a "conscript-officer," would come through the country hunting +for any men who were subject to the conscript law but who had evaded +it, and for deserters who had run away from the army and refused to +return. + +These two classes of troops, however, stood on a very different +footing. The Home Guard was regarded with much respect, for it was +composed of those whose extreme age or youth alone withheld them from +active service; and every youngster in its ranks looked upon it as a +training school, and was ready to die in defence of his home if need +were, and, besides, expected to obtain permission to go into the army +"next year." + +The conscript-guard, on the other hand, were grown men, and were +thought to be shirking the very dangers and hardships into which they +were trying to force others. + +A few miles from Oakland, on the side toward the mountain road and +beyond the big woods, lay a district of virgin forest and old-field +pines which, even before the war, had acquired a reputation of an +unsavory nature, though its inhabitants were a harmless people. No +highways ran through this region, and the only roads which entered it +were mere wood-ways, filled with bushes and carpeted with pine-tags; +and, being travelled only by the inhabitants, appeared to outsiders +"to jes' peter out," as the phrase went. This territory was known by +the unpromising name of Holetown. + +Its denizens were a peculiar but kindly race known to the boys as +"poor white folks," and called by the negroes, with great contempt, +"po' white trash." Some of them owned small places in the pines; but +the majority were simply tenants. They were an inoffensive people, and +their worst vices were intemperance and evasion of the tax-laws. + +They made their living--or rather, they existed--by fishing and +hunting; and, to eke it out, attempted the cultivation of little +patches of corn and tobacco near their cabins, or in the bottoms where +small branches ran into the stream already mentioned. + +In appearance they were usually so thin and sallow that one had to +look at them twice to see them clearly. At best, they looked vague and +illusive. + +They were brave enough. At the outbreak of the war nearly all of the +men in this community enlisted, thinking, as many others did, that war +was more like play than work, and consisted more of resting than of +laboring. Although most of them, when in battle, showed the greatest +fearlessness, yet the duties of camp soon became irksome to them, and +they grew sick of the restraint and drilling of camp-life; so some of +them, when refused a furlough, took it, and came home. Others stayed +at home after leave had ended, feeling secure in their stretches of +pine and swamp, not only from the feeble efforts of the +conscript-guard, but from any parties who might be sent in search of +them. + +In this way it happened, as time went by, that Holetown became known +to harbor a number of deserters. + +According to the negroes, it was full of them; and many stories were +told about glimpses of men dodging behind trees in the big woods, or +rushing away through the underbrush like wild cattle. And, though the +grown people doubted whether the negroes had not been startled by some +of the hogs, which were quite wild, feeding in the woods, the boys +were satisfied that the negroes really had seen deserters. + +This became a certainty when there came report after report of these +wood-skulkers, and when the conscript-guard, with the brightest of +uniforms, rode by with as much show and noise as if on a fox-hunt. +Then it became known that deserters were, indeed, infesting the piny +district of Holetown, and in considerable numbers. + +Some of them, it was said, were pursuing agriculture and all their +ordinary vocations as openly as in time of peace, and more +industriously. They had a regular code of signals, and nearly every +person in the Holetown settlement was in league with them. + +When the conscript-guard came along, there would be a rush of +tow-headed children through the woods, or some of the women about the +cabins would blow a horn lustily; after which not a man could be found +in all the district. The horn told just how many men were in the +guard, and which path they were following; every member of the troop +being honored with a short, quick "toot." + +"What are you blowing-that horn for?" sternly asked the guard one +morning of an old woman,--old Mrs. Hall who stood out in front of her +little house blowing like Boreas in the pictures. + +"Jes' blowin' fur Millindy to come to dinner," she said, sullenly. +"Can't y' all let a po' 'ooman call her gals to git some'n' to eat? +You got all her boys in d'army, killin' 'em; whyn't yo' go and git +kilt some yo'self, 'stidder ridin' 'bout heah tromplin' all over po' +folk's chickens?" + +When the troop returned in the evening, she was still blowing; +"blowin' fur Millindy to come home," she said, with more sharpness +than before. But there must have been many Millindys, for horns were +sounding all through the settlement. + +The deserters, at such times, were said to take to the swamps, and +marvellous rumors were abroad of one or more caves, all fitted up, +wherein they concealed themselves, like the robbers in the stories the +boys were so fond of reading. + +After a while thefts of pigs and sheep became so common that they were +charged to the deserters. + +Finally it grew to be such a pest that the ladies in the neighborhood +asked the Home Guard to take action in the matter, and after some +delay it became known that this valorous body was going to invade +Holetown and capture the deserters or drive them away. Hugh was to +accompany them, of course; and he looked very handsome, as well as +very important, when he started out on horseback to join the troop. +It was his first active service; and with his trousers in his boots +and his pistol in his belt he looked as brave as Julius Cæsar, and +quite laughed at his mother's fears for him, as she kissed him +good-bye and walked out with him to his horse, which Balla held at the +gate. + +The boys asked leave to go with him; but Hugh was so scornful over +their request, and looked so soldierly as he galloped away with the +other men that the boys felt as cheap as possible. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +When the boys went into the house they found that their Aunt Mary had +a headache that morning, and, even with the best intentions of doing +her duty in teaching them, had been forced to go to bed. Their mother +was too much occupied with her charge of providing for a family of +over a dozen white persons, and five times as many colored dependents, +to give any time to acting as substitute in the school-room, so the +boys found themselves with a holiday before them. It seemed vain to +try to shoot duck on the creek, and the perch were averse to biting. +The boys accordingly determined to take both guns and to set out for a +real hunt in the big woods. + +They received their mother's permission, and after a lunch was +prepared they started in high glee, talking about the squirrels and +birds they expected to kill. + +Frank had his gun, and Willy had the musket; and both carried a +plentiful supply of powder and some tolerably round slugs made from +cartridges. + +They usually hunted in the part of the woods nearest the house, and +they knew that game was not very abundant there; so, as a good long +day was before them, they determined to go over to the other side of +the woods. + +They accordingly pushed on, taking a path which led through the +forest. They went entirely through the big woods without seeing +anything but one squirrel, and presently found themselves at the +extreme edge of Holetown. They were just grumbling at the lack of game +when they heard a distant horn. The sound came from perhaps a mile or +more away, but was quite distinct. + +"What's that? Somebody fox-hunting?--or is it a dinner-horn?" asked +Willy, listening intently. + +"It's a horn to warn deserters, that's what 'tis," said Frank, pleased +to show his superior knowledge. + +"I tell you what to do:--let's go and hunt deserters," said Willy, +eagerly. + +"All right. Won't that be fun!" and both boys set out down the road +toward a point where they knew one of the paths ran into the +pine-district, talking of the numbers of prisoners they expected to +take. + +In an instant they were as alert and eager as young hounds on a trail. +They had mapped out a plan before, and they knew exactly what they had +to do. Frank was the captain, by right of his being older; and Willy +was lieutenant, and was to obey orders. The chief thing that troubled +them was that they did not wish to be seen by any of the women or +children about the cabins, for they all knew the boys, because they +were accustomed to come to Oakland for supplies; then, too, the boys +wished to remain on friendly terms with their neighbors. Another thing +worried them. They did not know what to do with their prisoners after +they should have captured them. However, they pushed on and soon came +to a dim cart-way, which ran at right-angles to the main road and +which went into the very heart of Holetown. Here they halted to +reconnoitre and to inspect their weapons. + +Even from the main road, the track, as it led off through the +overhanging woods with thick underbrush of chinquapin bushes, appeared +to the boys to have something strange about it, though they had at +other times walked it from end to end. Still, they entered boldly, +clutching their guns. Willy suggested that they should go in Indian +file and that the rear one should step in the other's footprints as +the Indians do; but Frank thought it was best to walk abreast, as the +Indians walked in their peculiar way only to prevent an enemy who +crossed their trail from knowing how many they were; and, so far from +it being any disadvantage for the deserters to know _their_ number, it +was even better that they should know there were two, so that they +would not attack from the rear. Accordingly, keeping abreast, they +struck in; each taking the woods on one side of the road, which he +was to watch and for which he was to be responsible. + +The farther they went the more indistinct the track became, and the +wilder became the surrounding woods. They proceeded with great +caution, examining every particularly thick clump of bushes; peeping +behind each very large tree; and occasionally even taking a glance up +among its boughs; for they had themselves so often planned how, if +pursued, they would climb trees and conceal themselves, that they +would not have been at all surprised to find a fierce deserter, armed +to the teeth, crouching among the branches. + +Though they searched carefully every spot where a deserter could +possibly lurk, they passed through the oak woods and were deep in the +pines without having seen any foe or heard a noise which could +possibly proceed from one. A squirrel had daringly leaped from the +trunk of a hickory-tree and run into the woods, right before them, +stopping impudently to take a good look at them; but they were hunting +larger game than squirrels, and they resisted the temptation to take a +shot at him,--an exercise of virtue which brought them a distinct +feeling of pleasure. They were, however, beginning to be embarrassed +as to their next course. They could hear the dogs barking farther on +in the pines, and knew they were approaching the vicinity of the +settlement; for they had crossed the little creek which ran through a +thicket of elder bushes and "gums," and which marked the boundary of +Holetown. Little paths, too, every now and then turned off from the +main track and went into the pines, each leading to a cabin or bit of +creek-bottom deeper in. They therefore were in a real dilemma +concerning what to do; and Willy's suggestion, to eat lunch, was a +welcome one. They determined to go a little way into the woods, where +they could not be seen, and had just taken the lunch out of the +game-bag and were turning into a by-path, when they met a man who was +coming along at a slow, lounging walk, and carrying a long +single-barrelled shot-gun across his arm. + +When first they heard him, they thought he might be a deserter; but +when he came nearer they saw that he was simply a countryman out +hunting; for his old game-bag (from which peeped a squirrel's tail) +was over his shoulder, and he had no weapon at all, excepting that old +squirrel-gun. + +"Good morning, sir," said both boys, politely. + +"Mornin'! What luck y' all had?" he asked good-naturedly, stopping and +putting the butt of his gun on the ground, and resting lazily on it, +preparatory to a chat. + +"We're not hunting; we're hunting deserters." + +"Huntin' deserters!" echoed the man with a smile which broke into a +chuckle of amusement as the thought worked its way into his brain. +"Ain't you see' none?" + +"No," said both boys in a breath, greatly pleased at his friendliness. +"Do you know where any are?" + +The man scratched his head, seeming to reflect. + +"Well, 'pears to me I hearn tell o' some, 'roun' to'des that-a-ways," +making a comprehensive sweep of his arm in the direction just opposite +to that which the boys were taking. "I seen the conscrip'-guard a +little while ago pokin' 'roun' this-a-way; but Lor', that ain' the way +to ketch deserters. I knows every foot o' groun' this-a-way, an' ef +they was any deserters roun' here I'd be mighty apt to know it." + +This announcement was an extinguisher to the boys' hopes. Clearly, +they were going in the wrong direction. + +"We are just going to eat our lunch," said Frank; "won't you join us?" + +Willy added his invitation to his brother's, and their friend politely +accepted, suggesting that they should walk back a little way and find +a log. This all three did; and in a few minutes they were enjoying the +lunch which the boys' mother had provided, while the stranger was +telling the boys his views about deserters, which, to say the least, +were very original. + +"I seen the conscrip'-guard jes' this mornin', ridin' 'round whar they +knowd they warn' no deserters, but ole womens and children," he said +with his mouth full. "Whyn't they go whar they knows deserters _is_?" +he asked. + +"Where are they? We heard they had a cave down on the river, and we +were going there," declared the boys. + +"Down on the river?--a cave? Ain' no cave down thar, without it's +below Rockett's mill; fur I've hunted and fished ev'y foot o' that +river up an' down both sides, an' 'tain' a hole thar, big enough to +hide a' ole hyah, I ain' know." + +This proof was too conclusive to admit of further argument. + +"Why don't _you_ go in the army?" asked Willy, after a brief +reflection. + +"What? Why don't _I_ go in the army?" repeated the hunter. "Why, I's +_in_ the army! You didn' think I warn't in the army, did you?" + +The hunter's tone and the expression of his face were so full of +surprise that Willy felt deeply mortified at his rudeness, and began +at once to stammer something to explain himself. + +"I b'longs to Colonel Marshall's regiment," continued the man, "an' +I's been home sick on leave o' absence. Got wounded in the leg, an' +I's jes' gettin' well. I ain' rightly well enough to go back now, but +I's anxious to git back; I'm gwine to-morrow mornin' ef I don' go this +evenin'. You see I kin hardly walk now!" and to demonstrate his +lameness, he got up and limped a few yards. "I ain' well yit," he +pursued, returning and dropping into his seat on the log, with his +face drawn up by the pain the exertion had brought on. + +"Let me see your wound. Is it sore now?" asked Willy, moving nearer to +the man with a look expressive of mingled curiosity and sympathy. + +"You can't see it; it's up heah," said the soldier, touching the upper +part of his hip; "an' I got another one heah," he added, placing his +hand very gently to his side. "This one's whar a Yankee run me through +with his sword. Now, that one was where a piece of shell hit me,--I +don't keer nothin' 'bout that," and he opened his shirt and showed a +triangular, purple scar on his shoulder. + +"You certainly must be a brave soldier," exclaimed both boys, +impressed at sight of the scar, their voices softened by fervent +admiration. + +"Yes, I kep' up with the bes' of 'em," he said, with a pleased smile. + +Suddenly a horn began to blow, "toot--toot--toot," as if all the +"Millindys" in the world were being summoned. It was so near the boys +that it quite startled them. + +"That's for the deserters, now," they both exclaimed. + +Their friend looked calmly up and down the road, both ways. + +"Them rascally conscrip'-guard been tellin' you all that, to gi' 'em +some excuse for keepin' out o' th' army theyselves--that's all. Th' +ain' gwine ketch no deserters any whar in all these parts, an' you kin +tell 'em so. I'm gwine down thar an' see what that horn's a-blowin' +fur; hit's somebody's dinner horn, or somp'n'," he added, rising and +taking up his game-bag. + +"Can't we go with you?" asked the boys. + +"Well, nor, I reckon you better not," he drawled; "thar's some right +bad dogs down thar in the pines,--mons'us bad; an' I's gwine cut +through the woods an' see ef I can't pick up a squ'rr'l, gwine 'long, +for the ole 'ooman's supper, as I got to go 'way to-night or +to-morrow; she's mighty poorly." + +"Is she poorly much?" asked Willy, greatly concerned. "We'll get mamma +to come and see her to-morrow, and bring her some bread." + +"Nor, she ain' so sick; that is to say, she jis' poorly and 'sturbed +in her mind. She gittin' sort o' old. Here, y' all take these +squ'rr'ls," he said, taking the squirrels from his old game-bag and +tossing them at Willy's feet. Both boys protested, but he insisted. +"Oh, yes; I kin get some mo' fur her. + +"Y' all better go home. Well, good-bye, much obliged to you," and he +strolled off with his gun in the bend of his arm, leaving the boys to +admire and talk over his courage. + +They turned back, and had gone about a quarter of a mile, when they +heard a great trampling of horses behind them. They stopped to listen, +and in a little while a squadron of cavalry came in sight. The boys +stepped to one side of the road to wait for them, eager to tell the +important information they had received from their friend, that there +were no deserters in that section. In a hurried consultation they +agreed not to tell that they had been hunting deserters themselves, as +they knew the soldiers would only have a laugh at their expense. + +"Hello, boys, what luck?" called the officer in the lead, in a +friendly manner. + +They told him they had not shot anything; that the squirrels had been +given to them; and then both boys inquired: + +"You all hunting for deserters?" + +"You seen any?" asked the leader, carelessly, while one or two men +pressed their horses forward eagerly. + +"No, th' ain't any deserters in this direction at all," said the boys, +with conviction in their manner. + +"How do you know?" asked the officer. + +"'Cause a gentleman told us so." + +"Who? When? What gentleman?" + +"A gentleman who met us a little while ago." + +"How long ago? Who was he?" + +"Don't know who he was," said Frank. + +"When we were eating our snack," put in Willy, not to be left out. + +"How was he dressed? Where was it? What sort of man was he?" eagerly +inquired the leading trooper. + +The boys proceeded to describe their friend, impressed by the intense +interest accorded them by the listeners. + +"He was a sort of man with red hair, and wore a pair of gray breeches +and an old pair of shoes, and was in his shirt-sleeves." Frank was the +spokesman. + +"And he had a gun--a long squirrel-gun," added Willy, "and he said he +belonged to Colonel Marshall's regiment." + +"Why, that's Tim Mills. He's a deserter himself," exclaimed the +captain. + +"No, he ain't--_he_ ain't any deserter," protested both at once. "He +is a mighty brave soldier, and he's been home on a furlough to get +well of a wound on his leg where he was shot." + +"Yes, and it ain't well yet, but he's going back to his command +to-night or to-morrow morning; and he's got another wound in his side +where a Yankee ran him through with his sword. We know _he_ ain't any +deserter." + +"How do you know all this?" asked the officer. + +"He told us so himself, just now--a little while ago, that is," said +the boys. + +The man laughed. + +"Why, he's fooled you to death. That's Tim himself, that's been doing +all the devilment about here. He is the worst deserter in the whole +gang." + +"We saw the wound on his shoulder," declared the boys, still doubting. + +"I know it; he's got one there,--that's what I know him by. Which way +did he go,--and how long has it been?" + +"He went that way, down in the woods; and it's been some time. He's +got away now." + +The lads by this time were almost convinced of their mistake; but they +could not prevent their sympathy from being on the side of their late +agreeable companion. + +"We'll catch the rascal," declared the leader, very fiercely. "Come +on, men,--he can't have gone far;" and he wheeled his horse about and +dashed back up the road at a great pace, followed by his men. The boys +were half inclined to follow and aid in the capture; but Frank, after +a moment's thought, said solemnly: + +"No, Willy; an Arab never betrays a man who has eaten his salt. This +man has broken bread with us; we cannot give him up. I don't think we +ought to have told about him as much as we did." + +This was an argument not to be despised. + +A little later, as the boys trudged home, they heard the horns blowing +again a regular "toot-toot" for "Millindy." It struck them that +supper followed dinner very quickly in Holetown. + +When the troop passed by in the evening the men were in very bad +humor. They had had a fruitless addition to their ride, and some of +them were inclined to say that the boys had never seen any man at all, +which the boys thought was pretty silly, as the man had eaten at least +two-thirds of their lunch. + +Somehow the story got out, and Hugh was very scornful because the boys +had given their lunch to a deserter. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +As time went by the condition of things at Oakland changed--as it did +everywhere else. The boys' mother, like all the other ladies of the +country, was so devoted to the cause that she gave to the soldiers +until there was nothing left. After that there was a failure of the +crops, and the immediate necessities of the family and the hands on +the place were great. + +There was no sugar nor coffee nor tea. These luxuries had been given +up long before. An attempt was made to manufacture sugar out of the +sorghum, or sugar-cane, which was now being cultivated as an +experiment; but it proved unsuccessful, and molasses made from the +cane was the only sweetening. The boys, however, never liked anything +sweetened with molasses, so they gave up everything that had molasses +in it. Sassafras tea was tried as a substitute for tea, and a drink +made out of parched corn and wheat, of burnt sweet potato and other +things, in the place of coffee; but none of them were fit to drink--at +least so the boys thought. The wheat crop proved a failure; but the +corn turned out very fine, and the boys learned to live on corn bread, +as there was no wheat bread. + +The soldiers still came by, and the house was often full of young +officers who came to see the boys' cousins. The boys used to ride the +horses to and from the stables, and, being perfectly fearless, became +very fine riders. + +Several times, among the visitors, came the young colonel who had +commanded the regiment that had camped at the bridge the first year of +the war. It did not seem to the boys that Cousin Belle liked him, for +she took much longer to dress when he came; and if there were other +officers present she would take very little notice of the colonel. + +Both boys were in love with her, and after considerable hesitation had +written her a joint letter to tell her so, at which she laughed +heartily and kissed them both and called them her sweethearts. But, +though they were jealous of several young officers who came from time +to time, they felt sorry for the colonel,--their cousin was so mean to +him. They were on the best terms with him, and had announced their +intention of going into his regiment if only the war should last long +enough. When he came there was always a scramble to get his horse; +though of all who came to Oakland he rode the wildest horses, as both +boys knew by practical experience. + +At length the soldiers moved off too far to permit them to come on +visits, and things were very dull. So it was for a long while. + +But one evening in May, about sunset, as the boys were playing in the +yard, a man came riding through the place on the way to Richmond. His +horse showed that he had been riding hard. He asked the nearest way to +"Ground-Squirrel Bridge." The Yankees, he said, were coming. It was a +raid. He had ridden ahead of them, and had left them about Greenbay +depot, which they had set on fire. He was in too great a hurry to stop +and get something to eat, and he rode off, leaving much excitement +behind him; for Greenbay was only eight miles away, and Oakland lay +right between two roads to Richmond, down one or the other of which +the party of raiders must certainly pass. + +It was the first time the boys ever saw their mother exhibit so much +emotion as she then did. She came to the door and called: + +"Balla, come here." Her voice sounded to the boys a little strained +and troubled, and they ran up the steps and stood by her. Balla came +to the portico, and looked up with an air of inquiry. He, too, showed +excitement. + +"Balla, I want you to know that if you wish to go, you can do so." + +"Hi, Mistis----" began Balla, with an air of reproach; but she cut him +short and kept on. + +"I want you all to know it." She was speaking now so as to be heard by +the cook and the maids who were standing about the yard listening to +her. "I want you all to know it--every one on the place! You can go if +you wish; but, if you go, you can never come back!" + +"Hi, Mistis," broke in Uncle Balla, "whar is I got to go? I wuz born +on dis place an' I 'spec' to die here, an' be buried right _yonder_;" +and he turned and pointed up to the dark clumps of trees that marked +the graveyard on the hill, a half mile away, where the colored people +were buried. "Dat I does," he affirmed positively. "Y' all sticks by +us, and we'll stick by you." + +"I know I ain't gwine nowhar wid no Yankees or nothin'," said Lucy +Ann, in an undertone. + +"Dee tell me dee got hoofs and horns," laughed one of the women in the +yard. + +The boys' mother started to say something further to Balla, but though +she opened her lips, she did not speak; she turned suddenly and walked +into the house and into her chamber, where she shut the door behind +her. The boys thought she was angry, but when they softly followed her +a few minutes afterward, she got up hastily from where she had been +kneeling beside the bed, and they saw that she had been crying. A +murmur under the window called them back to the portico. It had begun +to grow dark; but a bright spot was glowing on the horizon, and on +this every one's gaze was fixed. + +"Where is it, Balla? What is it?" asked the boys' mother, her voice +no longer strained and harsh, but even softer than usual. + +"It's the depot, madam. They's burnin' it. That man told me they was +burnin' ev'ywhar they went." + +"Will they be here to-night?" asked his mistress. + +"No, marm; I don' hardly think they will. That man said they couldn't +travel more than thirty miles a day; but they'll be plenty of 'em here +to-morrow--to breakfast." He gave a nervous sort of laugh. + +"Here,--you all come here," said their mistress to the servants. She +went to the smoke-house and unlocked it. "Go in there and get down the +bacon--take a piece, each of you." A great deal was still left. +"Balla, step here." She called him aside and spoke earnestly in an +undertone. + +"Yes'm, that's so; that's jes' what I wuz gwine do," the boys heard +him say. + +Their mother sent the boys out. She went and locked herself in her +room, but they heard her footsteps as she turned about within, and now +and then they heard her opening and shutting drawers and moving +chairs. + +In a little while she came out. + +"Frank, you and Willy go and tell Balla to come to the chamber door. +He may be out in the stable." + +They dashed out, proud to bear so important a message. They could not +find him, but an hour later they heard him, coming from the stable. +He at once went into the house. They rushed into the chamber, where +they found the door of the closet open. + +"Balla, come in here," called their mother from within. "Have you got +them safe?" she asked. + +"Yes'm; jes' as safe as they kin be. I want to be 'bout here when they +come, or I'd go down an' stay whar they is." + +"What is it?" asked the boys. + +"Where is the best place to put that?" she said, pointing to a large, +strong box in which, they knew, the finest silver was kept; indeed, +all excepting what was used every day on the table. + +"Well, I declar', Mistis, that's hard to tell," said the old driver, +"without it's in the stable." + +"They may burn that down." + +"That's so; you might bury it under the floor of the smoke-house?" + +"I have heard that they always look for silver there," said the boys' +mother. "How would it do to bury it in the garden?" + +"That's the very place I was gwine name," said Balla, with flattering +approval. "They can't burn _that_ down, and if they gwine dig for it +then they'll have to dig a long time before they git over that big +garden." He stooped and lifted up one end of the box to test its +weight. + +"I thought of the other end of the flower-bed, between the big +rose-bush and the lilac." + +"That's the very place I had in my mind," declared the old man. "They +won' never fine it dyah!" + +"We know a good place," said the boys both together; "it's a heap +better than that. It's where we bury our treasures when we play +'Black-beard the Pirate.'" + +"Very well," said their mother; "I don't care to know where it is +until after to-morrow, anyhow. I know I can trust you," she added, +addressing Balla. + +"Yes'm, you know dat," said he, simply. "I'll jes' go an' git my hoe." + +"The garden hasn't got a roof to it, has it, Unc' Balla?" asked Willy, +quietly. + +"Go 'way from here, boy," said the old man, making a sweep at him with +his hand. "That boy ain' never done talkin' 'bout that thing yit," he +added, with a pleased laugh, to his mistress. + +"And you ain't ever given me all those chickens either," responded +Willy, forgetting his grammar. + +"Oh, well, I'm _gwi'_ do it; ain't you hear me say I'm gwine do it?" +he laughed as he went out. + +The boys were too excited to get sleepy before the silver was hidden. +Their mother told them they might go down into the garden and help +Balla, on condition that they would not talk. + +"That's the way we always do when we bury the treasure. Ain't it, +Willy?" asked Frank. + +"If a man speaks, it's death!" declared Willy, slapping his hand on +his side as if to draw a sword, striking a theatrical attitude and +speaking in a deep voice. + +"Give the 'galleon' to us," said Frank. + +"No; be off with you," said their mother. + +"That ain't the way," said Frank. "A pirate never digs the hole until +he has his treasure at hand. To do so would prove him but a novice; +wouldn't it, Willy?" + +"Well, I leave it all to you, my little Buccaneers," said their +mother, laughing. "I'll take care of the spoons and forks we use every +day. I'll just hide them away in a hole somewhere." + +The boys started off after Balla with a shout, but remembered their +errand and suddenly hushed down to a little squeal of delight at being +actually engaged in burying treasure--real silver. It seemed too good +to be true, and withal there was a real excitement about it, for how +could they know but that some one might watch them from some +hiding-place, or might even fire into them as they worked? + +They met the old fellow as he was coming from the carriage-house with +a hoe and a spade in his hands. He was on his way to the garden in a +very straightforward manner, but the boys made him understand that to +bury treasure it was necessary to be particularly secret, and after +some little grumbling, Balla humored them. + +The difficulty of getting the box of silver out of the house secretly, +whilst all the family were up, and the servants were moving about, was +so great that this part of the affair had to be carried on in a manner +different from the usual programme of pirates of the first water. Even +the boys had to admit this; and they yielded to old Balla's advice on +this point, but made up for it by additional formality, ceremony, and +secrecy in pointing out the spot where the box was to be hid. + +Old Balla was quite accustomed to their games and fun--their "pranks," +as he called them. He accordingly yielded willingly when they marched +him to a point at the lower end of the yard, on the opposite side from +the garden, and left him. But he was inclined to give trouble when +they both reappeared with a gun, and in a whisper announced that they +must march first up the ditch which ran by the spring around the foot +of the garden. + +"Look here, boys; I ain' got time to fool with you chillern," said the +old man. "Ain't you hear your ma tell me she 'pend on me to bury that +silver what yo' gran'ma and gran'pa used to eat off o'--an' don' wan' +nobody to know nothin' 'bout it? An' y' all comin' here with guns, +like you huntin' squ'rr'ls, an' now talkin' 'bout wadin' in the +ditch!" + +"But, Unc' Balla, that's the way all buccaneers do," protested Frank. + +"Yes, buccaneers always go by water," said Willy. + +"And we can stoop in the ditch and come in at the far end of the +garden, so nobody can see us," added Frank. + +"Bookanear or bookafar,--I's gwine in dat garden and dig a hole wid my +hoe, an' I is too ole to be wadin' in a ditch like chillern. I got the +misery in my knee now, so bad I'se sca'cely able to stand. I don't +know huccome y' all ain't satisfied with the place you' ma an' I done +pick, anyways." + +This was too serious a mutiny for the boys. So it was finally greed +that one gun should be returned to the office, and that they should +enter by the gate, after which Balla was to go with the boys by the +way they should show him, and see the spot they thought of. + +They took him down through the weeds around the garden, crouching +under the rose-bushes, and at last stopped at a spot under the slope, +completely surrounded by shrubbery. + +"Here is the spot," said Frank in a whisper, pointing under one of the +bushes. + +"It's in a line with the longest limb of the big oak-tree by the +gate," added Willy, "and when this locust bush and that cedar grow to +be big trees, it will be just half-way between them." + +As this seemed to Balla a very good place, he set to work at once to +dig, the two boys helping him as well as they could. It took a great +deal longer to dig the hole in the dark than they had expected, and +when they got back to the house everything was quiet. + +The boys had their hats pulled over their eyes, and had turned their +jackets inside out to disguise themselves. + +"It's a first-rate place! Ain't it, Unc' Balla?" they said, as they +entered the chamber where their mother and aunt were waiting for them. + +"Do you think it will do, Balla?" their mother asked. + +"Oh, yes, madam; it's far enough, an' they got mighty comical ways to +get dyah, wadin' in ditch an' things--it will do. I ain' sho' I kin +fin' it ag'in myself." He was not particularly enthusiastic. Now, +however, he shouldered the box, with a grunt at its weight, and the +party went slowly out through the back door into the dark. The glow of +the burning depot was still visible in the west. + +Then it was decided that Willy should go before--he said to +"reconnoitre," Balla said "to open the gate and lead the way,"--and +that Frank should bring up the rear. + +They trudged slowly on through the darkness, Frank and Willy watching +on every side, old Balla stooping under the weight of the big box. + +After they were some distance in the garden they heard, or thought +they heard, a sound back at the gate, but decided that it was nothing +but the latch clicking; and they went on down to their hiding place. + +In a little while the black box was well settled in the hole, and the +dirt was thrown upon it. The replaced earth made something of a mound, +which was unfortunate. They had not thought of this; but they covered +it with leaves, and agreed that it was so well hidden, the Yankees +would never dream of looking there. + +"Unc' Balla, where are your horses?" asked one of the boys. + +"That's for me to know, an' them to find out what kin," replied the +old fellow with a chuckle of satisfaction. + +The whole party crept back out of the garden, and the boys were soon +dreaming of buccaneers and pirates. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +The boys were not sure that they had even fallen asleep when they +heard Lucy Ann call, outside. They turned over to take another nap. +She was coming up to the door. No, for it was a man's step, it must be +Uncle Balla's; they heard horses trampling and people talking. In a +second the door was flung open, and a man strode into the room, +followed by one, two, a half-dozen others, all white and all in +uniform. They were Yankees. The boys were too frightened to speak. +They thought they were arrested for hiding the silver. + +"Get up, you lazy little rebels," cried one of the intruders, not +unpleasantly. As the boys were not very quick in obeying, being really +too frightened to do more than sit up in bed, the man caught the +mattress by the end, and lifting it with a jerk emptied them and all +the bedclothes out into the middle of the floor in a heap. At this all +the other men laughed. A minute more and he had drawn his sword. The +boys expected no less than to be immediately killed. They were almost +paralyzed. But instead of plunging his sword into them, the man began +to stick it into the mattresses and to rip them up; while others +pulled open the drawers of the bureau and pitched the things on the +floor. + +The boys felt themselves to be in a very exposed and defenceless +condition; and Willy, who had become tangled in the bedclothes, and +had been a little hurt in falling, now that the strain was somewhat +over, began to cry. + +In a minute a shadow darkened the doorway and their mother stood in +the room. + +"Leave the room instantly!" she cried. "Aren't you ashamed to frighten +children!" + +"We haven't hurt the brats," said the man with the sword +good-naturedly. + +"Well, you terrify them to death. It's just as bad. Give me those +clothes!" and she sprang forward and snatched the boys' clothes from +the hands of a man who had taken them up. She flung the suits to the +boys, who lost no time in slipping into them. + +They had at once recovered their courage in the presence of their +mother. She seemed to them, as she braved the intruders, the grandest +person they had ever seen. Her face was white, but her eyes were like +coals of fire. They were very glad she had never looked or talked so +to them. + +When they got outdoors the yard was full of soldiers. They were upon +the porches, in the entry, and in the house. The smoke-house was open +and so were the doors of all the other outhouses, and now and then a +man passed, carrying some article which the boys recognized. + +In a little while the soldiers had taken everything they could carry +conveniently, and even things which must have caused them some +inconvenience. They had secured all the bacon that had been left in +the smoke-house, as well as all other eatables they could find. It was +a queer sight, to see the fellows sitting on their horses with a ham +or a pair of fowls tied to one side of the saddle and an engraving or +a package of books, or some ornament, to the other. + +A new party of men had by this time come up from the direction of the +stables. + +"Old man, come here!" called some of them to Balla, who was standing +near expostulating with the men who were about the fire. + +"Who?--me?" asked Balla. + +"B'ain't you the carriage driver?" + +"Ain't I the keridge driver?" + +"Yes, _you_; we know you are, so you need not be lying about it." + +"Hi! yes; I the keridge driver. Who say I ain't?" + +"Well, where have you hid those horses? Come, we want to know, quick," +said the fellow roughly, taking out his pistol in a threatening way. + +The old man's eyes grew wide. "Hi! befo' de Lord! Marster, how I know +anything of the horses ef they ain't in the stable,--there's where we +keep horses!" + +"Here, you come with us. We won't have no foolin' 'bout this," said +his questioner, seizing him by the shoulder and jerking him angrily +around. "If you don't show us pretty quick where those horses are, +we'll put a bullet or two into you. March off there!" + +He was backed by a half-a-dozen more, but the pistol, which was at old +Balla's head, was his most efficient ally. + +"Hi! Marster, don't pint dat thing at me that way. I ain't ready to +die yit--an' I ain' like dem things, no-ways," protested Balla. + +There is no telling how much further his courage could have withstood +their threats, for the boys' mother made her appearance. She was about +to bid Balla show where the horses were, when a party rode into the +yard leading them. + +"Hi! there are Bill and John, now," exclaimed the boys, recognizing +the black carriage-horses which were being led along. + +"Well, ef dee ain't got 'em, sho' 'nough!" exclaimed the old driver, +forgetting his fear of the cocked pistols. + +"Gentlemen, marsters, don't teck my horses, ef you _please_," he +pleaded, pushing through the group that surrounded him, and +approaching the man who led the horses. + +They only laughed at him. + +[Illustration: "GENTLEMEN, MARSTERS, DON'T TECK MY HORSES, EF YOU +PLEASE," SAID UNCLE BALLA.] + +Both the boys ran to their mother, and flinging their arms about her, +burst out crying. + +In a few minutes the men started off, riding across the fields; and in +a little while not a soldier was in sight. + +"I wish Marse William could see you ridin' 'cross them fields," said +Balla, looking after the retiring troop in futile indignation. + +Investigation revealed the fact that every horse and mule on the +plantation had been carried off, except only two or three old mules, +which were evidently considered not worth taking. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +After this, times were very hard on the plantation. But the boys' +mother struggled to provide as best she could for the family and +hands. She used to ride all over the county to secure the supplies +which were necessary for their support; one of the boys usually being +her escort and riding behind her on one of the old mules that the +raiders had left. In this way the boys became acquainted with the +roads of the county and even with all the bridle-paths in the +neighborhood of their home. Many of these were dim enough too, running +through stretches of pine forest, across old fields which were little +better than jungle, along gullies, up ditches, and through woods mile +after mile. They were generally useful only to a race, such as the +negroes, which had an instinct for direction like that shown by some +animals but the boys learned to follow them unerringly, and soon +became as skilful in "keepin' de parf" as any night-walker on the +plantation. + +As the year passed the times grew harder and harder, and the +expeditions made by the boys' mother became longer and longer, and +more and more frequent. + +The meat gave out, and, worst of all, they had no hogs left for next +year. The plantation usually subsisted on bacon; but now there was not +a pig left on the place--unless the old wild sow in the big woods (who +had refused to be "driven up" the fall before) still survived, which +was doubtful; for the most diligent search was made for her without +success, and it was conceded that even she had fallen prey to the +deserters. Nothing was heard of her for months. + +One day, in the autumn, the boys were out hunting in the big woods, in +the most distant and wildest part, where they sloped down toward a +little marshy branch that ran into the river a mile or two away. + +It was a very dry spell and squirrels were hard to find, owing, the +boys agreed, to the noise made in tramping through the dry leaves. +Finally, they decided to station themselves each at the foot of a +hickory and wait for the squirrels. They found two large hickory trees +not too far apart, and took their positions each on the ground, with +his back to a tree. + +It was very dull, waiting, and a half-whispered colloquy was passing +between them as to the advisability of giving it up, when a faint +"cranch, cranch, cranch," sounded in the dry leaves. At first the boys +thought it was a squirrel, and both of them grasped their guns. Then +the sound came again, but this time there appeared to be, not one, +but a number of animals, rustling slowly along. + +"What is it?" asked Frank of Willy, whose tree was a little nearer the +direction from which the sound came. + +"'Tain't anything but some cows or sheep, I believe," said Willy, in a +disappointed tone. The look of interest died out of Frank's face, but +he still kept his eyes in the direction of the sound, which was now +very distinct. The underbrush, however, was too thick for them to see +anything. At length Willy rose and pushed his way rapidly through the +bushes toward the animals. There was a sudden "oof, oof," and Frank +heard them rushing back down through the woods toward the marsh. + +"Somebody's hogs," he muttered, in disgust. + +"Frank! Frank!" called Willy, in a most excited tone. + +"What?" + +"It's the old spotted sow, and she's got a lot of pigs with her--great +big shoats, nearly grown!" + +Frank sprang up and ran through the bushes. + +"At least six of 'em!" + +"Let's follow 'em!" + +"All right." + +The boys, stooping their heads, struck out through the bushes in the +direction from which the yet retreating animals could still be heard. + +"Let's shoot 'em." + +"All right." + +On they kept as hard as they could. What great news it was! What royal +game! + +"It's like hunting wild boars, isn't it?" shouted Willy, joyfully. + +They followed the track left by the animals in the leaves kicked up in +their mad flight. It led down over the hill, through the thicket, and +came to an end at the marsh which marked the beginning of the swamp. +Beyond that it could not be traced; but it was evident that the wild +hogs had taken refuge in the impenetrable recesses of the marsh which +was their home. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +After circling the edge of the swamp for some time the boys, as it was +now growing late, turned toward home. They were full of their valuable +discovery, and laid all sorts of plans for the capture of the hogs. +They would not tell even their mother, as they wished to surprise her. +They were, of course, familiar with all the modes of trapping game, as +described in the story books, and they discussed them all. The easiest +way to get the hogs was to shoot them, and this would be the most +"fun"; but it would never do, for the meat would spoil. When they +reached home they hunted up Uncle Balla and told him about their +discovery. He was very much inclined to laugh at them. The hogs they +had seen were nothing, he told them, but some of the neighbors' hogs +which had wandered into the woods. + +When the boys went to bed they talked it over once more, and +determined that next day they would thoroughly explore the woods and +the swamp also, as far as they could. + +The following afternoon, therefore, they set out, and made immediately +for that part of the woods where they had seen and heard the hogs the +day before. One of them carried a gun and the other a long +jumping-pole. After finding the trail they followed it straight down +to the swamp. + +Rolling their trousers up above their knees, they waded boldly in, +selecting an opening between the bushes which looked like a hog-path. +They proceeded slowly, for the briers were so thick in many places +that they could hardly make any progress at all when they neared the +branch. So they turned and worked their way painfully down the stream. +At last, however, they reached a place where the brambles and bushes +seemed to form a perfect wall before them. It was impossible to get +through. + +"Let's go home," said Willy. "'Tain't any use to try to get through +there. My legs are scratched all to pieces now." + +"Let's try and get out here," said Frank, and he turned from the wall +of brambles. They crept along, springing from hummock to hummock. +Presently they came to a spot where the oozy mud extended at least +eight or ten feet before the next tuft of grass. + +"How am I to get the gun across?" asked Willy, dolefully. + +"That's a fact! It's too far to throw it, even with the caps off." + +At length they concluded to go back for a piece of log they had seen, +and to throw this down so as to lessen the distance. + +They pulled the log out of the sand, carried it to the muddy spot, and +threw it into the mud where they wanted it. + +Frank stuck his pole down and felt until he had what he thought a +secure hold on it, fixed his eye on the tuft of grass beyond, and +sprang into air. + +As he jumped the pole slipped from its insecure support into the miry +mud, and Frank, instead of landing on the hummock for which he had +aimed, lost his direction, and soused flat on his side with a loud +"spa-lash," in the water and mud three feet to the left. + +He was a queer object as he staggered to his feet in the quagmire; but +at the instant a loud "oof, oof," came from, the thicket, not a dozen +yards away, and the whole herd of hogs, roused, by his fall, from +slumber in their muddy lair, dashed away through the swamp with "oofs" +of fear. + +"There they go, there they go!" shouted both boys, eagerly,--Willy, in +his excitement, splashing across the perilous-looking quagmire, and +finding it not so deep as it had looked. + +"There's where they go in and out," exclaimed Frank, pointing to a low +round opening, not more than eighteen inches high, a little further +beyond them, which formed an arch in the almost solid wall of +brambles surrounding the place. + +As it was now late they returned home, resolving to wait until the +next afternoon before taking any further steps. There was not a pound +of bacon to be obtained anywhere in the country for love or money, and +the flock of sheep was almost gone. + +Their mother's anxiety as to means for keeping her dependents from +starving was so great that the boys were on the point of telling her +what they knew; and when they heard her wishing she had a few hogs to +fatten, they could scarcely keep from letting her know their plans. At +last they had to jump up, and run out of the room. + +Next day the boys each hunted up a pair of old boots which they had +used the winter before. The leather was so dry and worn that the boots +hurt their growing feet cruelly, but they brought the boots along to +put on when they reached the swamp. This time, each took a gun, and +they also carried an axe, for now they had determined on a plan for +capturing the hogs. + +"I wish we had let Peter and Cole come," said Willy, dolefully, +sitting on the butt end of a log they had cut, and wiping his face on +his sleeve. + +"Or had asked Uncle Balla to help us," added Frank. + +"They'd be certain to tell all about it." + +"Yes; so they would." + +They settled down in silence, and panted. + +"I tell you what we ought to do! Bait the hog-path, as you would for +fish." This was the suggestion of the angler, Frank. + +"With what?" + +"Acorns." + +The acorns were tolerably plentiful around the roots of the big oaks, +so the boys set to work to pick them up. It was an easier job than +cutting the log, and it was not long before each had his hat full. + +As they started down to the swamp, Frank exclaimed, suddenly, "Look +there, Willy!" + +Willy looked, and not fifty yards away, with their ends resting on old +stumps, were three or four "hacks," or piles of rails, which had been +mauled the season before and left there, probably having been +forgotten or overlooked. + +Willy gave a hurrah, while bending under the weight of a large rail. + +At the spot where the hog-path came out of the thicket they commenced +to build their trap. + +First they laid a floor of rails; then they built a pen, five or six +rails high, which they strengthened with "outriders." When the pen was +finished, they pried up the side nearest the thicket, from the bottom +rail, about a foot; that is, high enough for the animals to enter. +This they did by means of two rails, using one as a fulcrum and one +as a lever, having shortened them enough to enable the work to be done +from inside the pen. + +The lever they pulled down at the farther end until it touched the +bottom of the trap, and fastened it by another rail, a thin one, run +at right-angles to the lever, and across the pen. This would slip +easily when pushed away from the gap, and needed to be moved only +about an inch to slip from the end of the lever and release it; the +weight of the pen would then close the gap. Behind this rail the +acorns were to be thrown; and the hogs, in trying to get the bait, +would push the rail, free the lever or trigger, and the gap would be +closed by the fall of the pen when the lever was released. + +It was nearly night when the boys finished. + +They scattered a portion of the acorns for bait along the path and up +into the pen, to toll the hogs in. The rest they strewed inside the +pen, beyond their sliding rail. + +They could scarcely tear themselves away from the pen; but it was so +late they had to hurry home. + +Next day was Sunday. But Monday morning, by daylight, they were up and +went out with their guns, apparently to hunt squirrels. They went, +however, straight to their trap. As they approached they thought they +heard the hogs grunting in the pen. Willy was sure of it; and they ran +as hard as they could. But there were no hogs there. After going every +morning and evening for two weeks, there never had been even an acorn +missed, so they stopped their visits. + +Peter and Cole found out about the pen, and then the servants learned +of it, and the boys were joked and laughed at unmercifully. + +"I believe them boys is distracted," said old Balla, in the kitchen; +"settin' a pen in them woods for to ketch hogs,--with the gap open! +Think hogs goin' stay in pen with gap open--ef any wuz dyah to went +in!" + +"Well, you come out and help us hunt for them," said the boys to the +old driver. + +"Go 'way, boy, I ain' got time foolin' wid you chillern, buildin' pen +in swamp. There ain't no hogs in them woods, onless they got in dyah +sence las' fall." + +"You saw 'em, didn't you, Willy?" declared Frank. + +"Yes, I did." + +"Go 'way. Don't you know, ef that old sow had been in them woods, the +boys would have got her up las' fall--an' ef they hadn't, she'd come +up long befo' this?" + +"Mister Hall ketch you boys puttin' his hogs up in pen, he'll teck you +up," said Lucy Ann, in her usual teasing way. + +This was too much for the boys to stand after all they had done. Uncle +Balla must be right. They would have to admit it. The hogs must have +belonged to some one else. And their mother was in such desperate +straits about meat! + +Lucy Ann's last shot, about catching Mr. Hall's hogs, took effect; and +the boys agreed that they would go out some afternoon and pull the pen +down. + +The next afternoon they took their guns, and started out on a +squirrel-hunt. + +They did not have much luck, however. + +"Let's go by there, and pull the old pen down," said Frank, as they +started homeward from the far side of the woods. + +"It's out of the way,--let the old thing rip." + +"We'd better pull it down. If a hog were to be caught there, it +wouldn't do." + +"I wish he would!--but there ain't any hogs going to get caught," +growled Willy. + +"He might starve to death." + +This suggestion persuaded Willy, who could not bear to have anything +suffer. + +So they sauntered down toward the swamp. + +As they approached it, a squirrel ran up a tree, and both boys were +after it in a second. They were standing, one on each side of the +tree, gazing up, trying to get a sight of the little animal among the +gray branches, when a sound came to the ears of both of them at the +same moment. + +"What's that?" both asked together. + +"It's hogs, grunting." + +"No, they are fighting. They are in the swamp. Let's run," said Willy. + +"No; we'll scare them away. They may be near the trap," was Frank's +prudent suggestion. "Let's creep up." + +"I hear young pigs squealing. Do you think they are ours?" + +The squirrel was left, flattened out and trembling on top of a large +limb, and the boys stole down the hill toward the pen. The hogs were +not in sight, though they could be heard grunting and scuffling. They +crept closer. Willy crawled through a thick clump of bushes, and +sprang to his feet with a shout. "We've got 'em! We've got 'em!" he +cried, running toward the pen, followed by Frank. + +Sure enough! There they were, fast in the pen, fighting and snorting +to get out, and tearing around with the bristles high on their round +backs, the old sow and seven large young hogs; while a litter of eight +little pigs, as the boys ran up, squeezed through the rails, and, +squealing, dashed away into the grass. + +The hogs were almost frantic at the sight of the boys, and rushed +madly at the sides of the pen; but the boys had made it too strong to +be broken. + +After gazing at their capture awhile, and piling a few more outriders +on the corners of the pen to make it more secure, the two trappers +rushed home. They dashed breathless and panting into their mother's +room, shouting, "We've got 'em!--we've got 'em!" and, seizing her, +began to dance up and down with her. + +In a little while the whole plantation was aware of the capture, and +old Balla was sent out with them to look at the hogs to make sure they +did not belong to some one else,--as he insisted they did. The boys +went with him. It was quite dark when he returned, but as he came in +the proof of the boys' success was written on his face. He was in a +broad grin. To his mistress's inquiry he replied, "Yes'm, they's got +'em, sho' 'nough. They's the beatenes' boys!" + +For some time afterward he would every now and then break into a +chuckle of amused content and exclaim, "Them's right smart chillern." +And at Christmas, when the hogs were killed, this was the opinion of +the whole plantation. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +The gibes of Lucy Ann, and the occasional little thrusts of Hugh about +the "deserter business," continued and kept the boys stirred up. At +length they could stand it no longer. It was decided between them that +they must retrieve their reputations by capturing a real deserter and +turning him over to the conscript-officer whose office was at the +depot. + +Accordingly, one Saturday they started out on an expedition, the +object of which was to capture a deserter though they should die in +the attempt. + +The conscript-guard had been unusually active lately, and it was said +that several deserters had been caught. + +The boys turned in at their old road, and made their way into +Holetown. Their guns were loaded with large slugs, and they felt the +ardor of battle thrill them as they marched along down the narrow +roadway. They were trudging on when they were hailed by name from +behind. Turning, they saw their friend Tim Mills, coming along at the +same slouching gait in which he always walked. His old single-barrel +gun was thrown across his arm, and he looked a little rustier than on +the day he had shared their lunch. The boys held a little whispered +conversation, and decided on a treaty of friendship. + +"Good-mornin'," he said, on coming up to them. "How's your ma?" + +"Good-morning. She's right well." + +"What y' all doin'? Huntin' d'serters agin?" he asked. + +"Yes. Come on and help us catch them." + +"No; I can't do that--exactly;--but I tell you what I _can_ do. I can +tell you whar one is!" + +The boys' faces glowed. "All right!" + +"Let me see," he began, reflectively, chewing a stick. "Does y' all +know Billy Johnson?" + +The boys did not know him. + +"You _sure_ you don't know him? He's a tall, long fellow, 'bout forty +years old, and breshes his hair mighty slick; got a big nose, and a +gap-tooth, and a mustache. He lives down in the lower neighborhood." + +Even after this description the boys failed to recognize him. + +"Well, he's the feller. I can tell you right whar he is, this minute. +He did me a mean trick, an' I'm gwine to give him up. Come along." + +"What did he do to you?" inquired the boys, as they followed him down +the road. + +"Why--he--; but 't's no use to be rakin' it up agin. You know he +always passes hisself off as one o' the conscrip'-guards,--that's his +dodge. Like as not, that's what he's gwine try and put off on y' all +now; but don't you let him fool you." + +"We're not going to," said the boys. + +"He rigs hisself up in a uniform--jes' like as not he stole it, +too,--an' goes roun' foolin' people, meckin' out he's such a soldier. +If he fools with me, I'm gwine to finish him!" Here Tim gripped his +gun fiercely. + +The boys promised not to be fooled by the wily Johnson. All they asked +was to have him pointed out to them. + +"Don't you let him put up any game on you 'bout bein' a +conscrip'-guard hisself," continued their friend. + +"No, indeed we won't. We are obliged to you for telling us." + +"He ain't so very fur from here. He's mighty tecken up with John +Hall's gal, and is tryin' to meck out like he's Gen'l Lee hisself, an' +she ain't got no mo' sense than to b'lieve him." + +"Why, we heard, Mr. Mills, she was going to marry _you_." + +"Oh, no, _I_ ain't a good enough soldier for her; she wants to marry +_Gen'l Lee_." + +The boys laughed at his dry tone. + +As they walked along they consulted how the capture should be made. + +"I tell you how to take him," said their companion. "He is a monstrous +coward, and all you got to do is jest to bring your guns down on him. +I wouldn't shoot him--'nless he tried to run; but if he did that, when +he got a little distance I'd pepper him about his legs. Make him give +up his sword and pistol and don't let him ride; 'cause if you do, +he'll git away. Make him walk--the rascal!" + +The boys promised to carry out these kindly suggestions. + +They soon came in sight of the little house where Mills said the +deserter was. A soldier's horse was standing tied at the gate, with a +sword hung from the saddle. The owner, in full uniform, was sitting on +the porch. + +"I can't go any furder," whispered their friend; "but that's +him--that's 'Gen'l Lee'--the triflin' scoundrel!--loafin' 'roun' here +'sted o' goin' in the army! I b'lieve y' all is 'fraid to take him," +eyeing the boys suspiciously. + +"No, we ain't; you'll see," said both boys, fired at the doubt. + +"All right; I'm goin' to wait right here and watch you. Go ahead." + +The boys looked at the guns to see if they were all right, and marched +up the road keeping their eyes on the enemy. It was agreed that Frank +was to do the talking and give the orders. + +They said not a word until they reached the gate. They could see a +young woman moving about in the house, setting a table. At the gate +they stopped, so as to prevent the man from getting to his horse. + +The soldier eyed them curiously. "I wonder whose boys they is?" he +said to himself. "They's certainly actin' comical! Playin' soldiers, I +reckon." + +"Cock your gun--easy," said Frank, in a low tone, suiting his own +action to the word. + +Willy obeyed. + +"Come out here, if you please," Frank called to the man. He could not +keep his voice from shaking a little, but the man rose and lounged out +toward them. His prompt compliance reassured them. + +They stood, gripping their guns and watching him as he advanced. + +"Come outside the gate!" He did as Frank said. + +"What do you want?" he asked impatiently. + +"You are our prisoner," said Frank, sternly, dropping down his gun +with the muzzle toward the captive, and giving a glance at Willy to +see that he was supported. + +"Your _what_? What do you mean?" + +"We arrest you as a deserter." + +How proud Willy was of Frank! + +"Go 'way from here; I ain't no deserter. I'm a-huntin' for deserters, +myself," the man replied, laughing. + +Frank smiled at Willy with a nod, as much as to say, "You see,--just +what Tim told us!" + +"Ain't your name Mr. Billy Johnson?" + +"Yes; that's my name." + +"You are the man we're looking for. March down that road. But don't +run,--if you do, we'll shoot you!" + +As the boys seemed perfectly serious and the muzzles of both guns were +pointing directly at him, the man began to think that they were in +earnest. But he could hardly credit his senses. A suspicion flashed +into his mind. + +"Look here, boys," he said, rather angrily, "I don't want any of your +foolin' with me. I'm too old to play with children. If you all don't +go 'long home and stop giving me impudence, I'll slap you over!" He +started angrily toward Frank. As he did so, Frank brought the gun to +his shoulder. + +"Stand back!" he said, looking along the barrel, right into the man's +eyes. "If you move a step, I'll blow your head off!" + +The soldier's jaw fell. He stopped and threw up his arm before his +eyes. + +"Hold on!" he called, "don't shoot! Boys, ain't you got better sense +'n that?" + +"March on down that road. Willy, you get the horse," said Frank, +decidedly. + +The soldier glanced over toward the house. The voice of the young +woman was heard singing a war song in a high key. + +"Ef Millindy sees me, I'm a goner," he reflected. "Jes' come down the +road a little piece, will you?" he asked, persuasively. + +"No talking,--march!" ordered Frank. + +He looked at each of the boys; the guns still kept their perilous +direction. The boys' eyes looked fiery to his surprised senses. + +"Who is y' all?" he asked. + +"We are two little Confederates! That's who we are," said Willy. + +"Is any of your parents ever--ever been in a asylum?" he asked, as +calmly as he could. + +"That's none of your business," said Captain Frank. "March on!" + +The man cast a despairing glance toward the house, where "The years" +were "creeping slowly by, Lorena," in a very high pitch,--and then +moved on. + +"I hope she ain't seen nothin'," he thought. "If I jest can git them +guns away from 'em----" + +Frank followed close behind him with his old gun held ready for need, +and Willy untied the horse and led it. The bushes concealed them from +the dwelling. + +As soon as they were well out of sight of the house, Frank gave the +order: + +"Halt!" They all halted. + +"Willy, tie the horse." It was done. + +"I wonder if those boys is thinkin' 'bout shootin' me?" thought the +soldier, turning and putting his hand on his pistol. + +As he did so, Frank's gun came to his shoulder. + +"Throw up your hands or you are a dead man." The hands went up. + +"Willy, keep your gun on him, while I search him for any weapons." +Willy cocked the old musket and brought it to bear on the prisoner. + +"Little boy, don't handle that thing so reckless," the man +expostulated. "Ef that musket was to go off, it might kill me!" + +"No talking," demanded Frank, going up to him. "Hold up your hands. +Willy, shoot him if he moves." + +Frank drew a long pistol from its holster with an air of business. He +searched carefully, but there was no more. + +The fellow gritted his teeth. "If she ever hears of _this_, Tim's got +her certain," he groaned; "but she won't never hear." + +At a turn in the road his heart sank within him; for just around the +curve they came upon Tim Mills sitting quietly on a stump. He looked +at them with a quizzical eye, but said not a word. + +The prisoner's face was a study when he recognized his rival and +enemy. As Mills did not move, his courage returned. + +"Good mornin', Tim," he said, with great politeness. + +The man on the stump said nothing; he only looked on with complacent +enjoyment. + +"Tim, is these two boys crazy?" he asked slowly. + +"They're crazy 'bout shootin' deserters," replied Tim. + +"Tim, tell 'em I ain't no deserter." His voice was full of entreaty. + +"Well, if you ain't a d'serter, what you doin' outn the army?" + +"You know----" began the fellow fiercely; but Tim shifted his long +single-barrel lazily into his hand and looked the man straight in the +eyes, and the prisoner stopped. + +"Yes, I know," said Tim with a sudden spark in his eyes. "An' _you_ +know," he added after a pause, during which his face resumed its usual +listless look. "An' my edvice to you is to go 'long with them boys, if +you don't want to git three loads of slugs in you. They _may_ put 'em +in you anyway. They's sort of 'stracted 'bout d'serters, and I can +swear to it." He touched his forehead expressively. + +"March on!" said Frank. + +[Illustration: FRANK AND WILLY CAPTURE A MEMBER OF THE +CONSCRIPT-GUARD.] + +The prisoner, grinding his teeth, moved forward, followed by his +guards. + +As the enemies parted each man sent the same ugly look after the +other. + +"It's all over! He's got her," groaned Johnson. As they passed out of +sight, Mills rose and sauntered somewhat briskly (for him) in the +direction of John Hall's. + +They soon reached a little stream, not far from the depot where the +provost-guard was stationed. On its banks the man made his last stand; +but his obstinacy brought a black muzzle close to his head with a +stern little face behind it, and he was fain to march straight through +the water, as he was ordered. + +Just as he was emerging on the other bank, with his boots full of +water and his trousers dripping, closely followed by Frank brandishing +a pistol, a small body of soldiers rode up. They were the +conscript-guard. Johnson's look was despairing. + +"Why, Billy, what in thunder----? Thought you were sick in bed!" + +Another minute and the soldiers took in the situation by instinct--and +Johnson's rage was drowned in the universal explosion of laughter. + +The boys had captured a member of the conscript-guard. + +In the midst of all, Frank and Willy, overwhelmed by their ridiculous +error, took to their heels as hard as they could, and the last sounds +that reached them were the roars of the soldiers as the scampering +boys disappeared in a cloud of dust. + +Johnson went back, in a few days, to see John Hall's daughter; but the +young lady declared she wouldn't marry any man who let two boys make +him wade through a creek; and a month or two later she married Tim +Mills. + +To all the gibes he heard on the subject of his capture, and they were +many, Johnson made but one reply: + +"Them boys's had parents in a a--sylum, _sure_!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +It was now nearing the end of the third year of the war. Hugh was +seventeen, and was eager to go into the army. His mother would have +liked to keep him at home; but she felt that it was her duty not to +withhold anything, and Colonel Marshall offered Hugh a place with him. +So a horse was bought, and Hugh went to Richmond and came back with a +uniform and a sabre. The boys truly thought that General Lee himself +was not so imposing or so great a soldier as Hugh. They followed him +about like two pet dogs, and when he sat down they stood and gazed at +him adoringly. + +When Hugh rode away to the army it was harder to part with him than +they had expected; and though he had left them his gun and dog, to +console them during his absence, it was difficult to keep from crying. +Everyone on the plantation was moved. Uncle Balla, who up to the last +moment had been very lively attending to the horse, as the young +soldier galloped away sank down on the end of the steps of the office, +and, dropping his hands on his knees, followed Hugh with his eyes +until he disappeared over the hill. The old driver said nothing, but +his face expressed a great deal. + +The boys' mother cried a great deal, but it was generally when she was +by herself. + +"She's afraid Hugh'll be kilt," Willy said to Uncle Balla, in +explanation of her tears,--the old servant having remarked that he +"b'lieved she cried more when Hugh went away, than she did when Marse +John and Marse William both went." + +"Hi! warn't she 'fred they'll be kilt, too?" he asked in some scorn. + +This was beyond Willy's logic, so he pondered over it. + +"Yes, but she's afraid Hugh'll be kilt, as _well_ as them," he said +finally, as the best solution of the problem. + +It did not seem to wholly satisfy Uncle Balla's mind, for when he +moved off he said, as though talking to himself: + +"She sutn'ey is 'sot' on that boy. He'll be a gen'l hisself, the first +thing she know." + +There was a bond of sympathy between Uncle Balla and his mistress +which did not exist so strongly between her and any of the other +servants. It was due perhaps to the fact that he was the companion and +friend of her boys. + +That winter the place where the army went into winter quarters was +some distance from Oakland; but the young officers used to ride over, +from time to time, two or three together, and stay for a day or two. + +Times were harder than they had been before, but the young people were +as gay as ever. + +The colonel, who had been dreadfully wounded in the summer, had been +made a brigadier-general for gallantry. Hugh had received a slight +wound in the same action. The General had written to the boy's mother +about him; but he had not been home. The General had gone back to his +command. He had never been to Oakland since he was wounded. + +One evening, the boys had just teased their Cousin Belle into reading +them their nightly portion of "The Talisman," as they sat before a +bright lightwood fire, when two horsemen galloped up to the gate, +their horses splashed with mud from fetlocks to ears. In a second, +Lucy Ann dashed headlong into the room, with her teeth gleaming: + +"Here Marse Hugh, out here!" + +There was a scamper to the door--the boys first, shouting at the tops +of their voices, Cousin Belle next, and Lucy Ann close at her heels. + +"Who's with him, Lucy Ann?" asked Miss Belle, as they reached the +passage-way, and heard several voices outside. + +"The Cunel's with 'im." + +The young lady turned and fled up the steps as fast as she could. + +"You see I brought my welcome with me," said the General, addressing +the boy's mother, and laying his hand on his young aide's shoulder, as +they stood, a little later, "thawing out" by the roaring log-fire in +the sitting-room. + +"You always bring that; but you are doubly welcome for bringing this +young soldier back to me," said she, putting her arm affectionately +around her son. + +Just then the boys came rushing in from taking the horses to the +stable. They made a dive toward the fire to warm their little chapped +hands. + +"I told you Hugh warn't as tall as the General," said Frank, across +the hearth to Willy. + +"Who said he was?" + +"You!" + +"I didn't." + +"You did." + +They were a contradictory pair of youngsters, and their voices, +pitched in a youthful treble, were apt in discussion to strike a +somewhat higher key; but it did not follow that they were in an +ill-humor merely because they contradicted each other. + +"What _did_ you say, if you didn't say that?" insisted Frank. + +"I said he _looked_ as if he _thought_ himself as tall as the +General," declared Willy, defiantly, oblivious in his excitement of +the eldest brother's presence. There was a general laugh at Hugh's +confusion; but Hugh had carried an order across a field under a hot +fire, and had brought a regiment up in the nick of time, riding by its +colonel's side in a charge which had changed the issue of the fight, +and had a sabre wound in the arm to show for it. He could therefore +afford to pass over such an accusation with a little tweak of Willy's +ear. + +"Where's Cousin Belle?" asked Frank. + +"I s'peck she's putting on her fine clothes for the General to see. +Didn't she run when she heard he was here!" + +"Willy!" said his mother, reprovingly. + +"Well, she did, Ma." + +His mother shook her head at him; but the General put his hand on the +boy, and drew him closer. + +"You say she ran?" he asked, with a pleasant light in his eyes. + +"Yes, sirree; she did _that_." + +Just then the door opened, and their Cousin Belle entered the room. +She looked perfectly beautiful. The greetings were very cordial--to +Hugh especially. She threw her arms around his neck, and kissed him. + +"You young hero!" she cried. "Oh, Hugh, I am so proud of +you!"--kissing him again, and laughing at him, with her face glowing, +and her big brown eyes full of light. "Where were you wounded? Oh! I +was so frightened when I heard about it!" + +"Where was it? Show it to us, Hugh; please do," exclaimed both boys at +once, jumping around him, and pulling at his arm. + +"Oh, Hugh, is it still very painful?" asked his cousin, her pretty +face filled with sudden sympathy. + +"Oh! no, it was nothing--nothing but a scratch," said Hugh, shaking +the boys off, his expression being divided between feigned +indifference and sheepishness, at this praise in the presence of his +chief. + +"No such thing, Miss Belle," put in the General, glad of the chance to +secure her commendation. "It might have been very serious, and it was +a splendid ride he made." + +"Were you not ashamed of yourself to send him into such danger?" she +said, turning on him suddenly. "Why did you not go yourself?" + +The young man laughed. Her beauty entranced him. He had scars enough +to justify him in keeping silence under her pretended reproach. + +"Well, you see, I couldn't leave the place where I was. I had to send +some one, and I knew Hugh would do it. He led the regiment after the +colonel and major fell--and he did it splendidly, too." + +There was a chorus from the young lady and the boys together. + +"Oh, Hugh, you hear what he says!" exclaimed the former, turning to +her cousin. "Oh, I am so glad that he thinks so!" Then, recollecting +that she was paying him the highest compliment, she suddenly began to +blush, and turned once more to him. "Well, you talk as if you were +surprised. Did you expect anything else?" + +There was a fine scorn in her voice, if it had been real. + +"Certainly not; you are all too clever at making an attack," he said +coolly, looking her in the eyes. "But I have heard even of _your_ +running away," he added, with a twinkle in his eyes. + +"When?" she asked quickly, with a little guilty color deepening in her +face as she glanced at the boys. "I never did." + +"Oh, she did!" exclaimed both boys in a breath, breaking in, now that +the conversation was within their range. "You ought to have seen her. +She just _flew_!" exclaimed Frank. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +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 near where 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 from the 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, I know,----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 had gone, 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. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +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, Cousin Belle? 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 shoot _us_," 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 manoeuvres 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 only ones 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 I _is_,--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. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +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 remain here 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. + +[Illustration: 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 listened with 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. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +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 the Federal 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 was passed 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 boys could 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, where it 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?" + +[Illustration: "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 preferred to 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 each other 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's _my_ Yankee!" 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. + +"_I_ ain' gwine that way," said Cole. + +The soldier groaned. + +"_I'll_ go 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!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +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 was a 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 themselves about 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 what they 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 forehead resting 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. It +_was_ a 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. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +The boys' Uncle William came the next day. The two weeks which +followed were the hardest the boys had ever known. As yet nothing had +been heard of Hugh or the General, though the boys' father went to +Richmond to see whether they had been released. + +The family lived on corn-bread and black-eyed pease. There was not a +mouthful of meat on the plantation. A few aged animals were all that +remained on the place. + +The boys' mother bought a little sugar and made some cakes, and the +boys, day after day, carried them over to the depot and left them with +a man there to be sold. Such a thing had never been known before in +the history of the family. + +A company of Yankees were camped very near, but they did not interfere +with the boys. They bought the cakes and paid for them in greenbacks, +which were the first new money they had at Oakland. One day the boys +were walking along the road, coming back from the camp, when they met +a little old one-horse wagon driven by a man who lived near the depot. +In it were a boy about Willy's size and an old lady with white hair, +both in deep mourning. The boy was better dressed than any boy they +had ever seen. They were strangers. + +The boys touched their limp little hats to the lady, and felt somewhat +ashamed of their own patched clothes in the presence of the +well-dressed stranger. Frank and Willy passed on. They happened to +look back. The wagon stopped just then, and the lady called them: + +"Little boys!" + +They halted and returned. + +"We are looking for my son; and this gentleman tells me that you live +about here, and know more of the country than any one else I may +meet." + +"Do you know where any graves is?--Yankee graves?" asked the driver, +cutting matters short. + +"Yes, there are several down on the road by Pigeon Hill, where the +battle was, and two or three by the creek down yonder, and there's one +in our garden." + +"Where was your son killed, ma'am? Do you know that he was killed?" +asked the driver. + +"I do not know. We fear that he was; but, of course, we still hope +there may have been some mistake. The last seen of him was when +General Sheridan went through this country, last year. He was with his +company in the rear-guard, and was wounded and left on the field. We +hoped he might have been found in one of the prisons; but there is no +trace of him, and we fear----" + +[Illustration: THE BOYS SELL THEIR CAKES TO THE YANKEES.] + +She broke down and began to cry. "He was my only son," she sobbed, "my +only son--and I gave him up for the Union, and----" She could say no +more. + +Her distress affected the boys deeply. + +"If I could but find his grave. Even that would be better than this +agonizing suspense." + +"What was your son's name?" asked the boys, gently. + +She told them. + +"Why, that's our soldier!" exclaimed both boys. + +"Do you know him?" she asked eagerly. "Is--? Is----?" Her voice +refused to frame the fearful question. + +"Yes'm. In our garden," said the boys, almost inaudibly. + +The mother bent her head over on her grandson's shoulder and wept +aloud. Awful as the suspense had been, now that the last hope was +removed the shock was terrible. She gave a stifled cry, then wept with +uncontrollable grief. + +The boys, with pale faces and eyes moist with sympathy, turned away +their heads and stood silent. At length she grew calmer. + +"Won't you come home with us? Our father and mother will be so glad to +have you," they said hospitably. + +After questioning them a little further, she decided to go. The boys +climbed into the back of the wagon. As they went along, the boys told +her all about her son,--his carrying Frank, their finding him wounded +near the road, and about his death and burial. + +"He was a real brave soldier," they told her consolingly. + +As they approached the house, she asked whether they could give her +grandson something to eat. + +"Oh, yes, indeed. Certainly," they answered. Then, thinking perhaps +they were raising her hopes too high, they exclaimed apologetically: + +"We haven't got much. We didn't kill any squirrels this morning. Both +our guns are broken and don't shoot very well, now." + +She was much impressed by the appearance of the place, which looked +very beautiful among the trees. + +"Oh, yes, they're big folks," said the driver. + +She would have waited at the gate when they reached the house, but the +boys insisted that they all should come in at once. One of them ran +forward and, meeting his mother just coming out to the porch, told who +the visitor was. + +Their mother instantly came down the steps and walked toward the gate. +The women met face to face. There was no introduction. None was +needed. + +"My son----" faltered the elder lady, her strength giving out. + +The boys' mother put her handkerchief to her eyes. + +"I have one, too;--God alone knows where he is," she sobbed. + +Each knew how great was the other's loss, and in sympathy with +another's grief found consolation for her own. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +The visitors remained at Oakland for several days, as the lady wished +to have her son's remains removed to the old homestead in Delaware. +She was greatly distressed over the want which she saw at Oakland--for +there was literally nothing to eat but black-eyed pease and the boys' +chickens. Every incident of the war interested her. She was delighted +with their Cousin Belle, and took much interest in her story, which +was told by the boys' mother. + +Her grandson, Dupont, was a fine, brave, and generous young fellow. He +had spent his boyhood near a town, and could neither ride, swim, nor +shoot as the Oakland boys did; but he was never afraid to try +anything, and the boys took a great liking to him, and he to them. + +When the young soldier's body had been removed, the visitors left; +not, however, until the boys had made their companion promise to pay +them a visit. After the departure of these friends they were much +missed. + +But the next day there was a great rejoicing at Oakland. Every one was +in the dining-room at dinner, and the boys' father had just risen from +the table and walked out of the room. A second later they heard an +exclamation of astonishment from him, and he called eagerly to his +wife, "Come here, quickly!" and ran down the steps. Every one rose and +ran out. Hugh and the General were just entering the yard. + +They were pale and thin and looked ill; but all the past was forgotten +in the greeting. + + * * * * * + +The boys soon knew that the General was making his peace with their +Cousin Belle, who looked prettier than ever. It required several long +walks before all was made right; but there was no disposition toward +severity on either side. It was determined that the wedding was to +take place very soon. The boys' father suggested, as an objection to +an immediate wedding, that since the General was just half his usual +size, it would be better to wait until he should regain his former +proportions, so that all of him might be married; but the General +would not accept the proposition for delay, and Cousin Belle finally +consented to be married at once. + +The old place was in a great stir over the preparations. A number of +the old servants, including Uncle Balla and Lucy Ann, had one by one +come back to their old home. The trunks in the garret were ransacked +once more, and enough was found to make up a wedding trousseau of two +dresses. + +Hugh was to be the General's best man, and the boys were to be the +ushers. The only difficulty was that their patched clothes made them +feel a little abashed at the prominent roles they were to assume. +However, their mother made them each a nice jacket from a striped +dress, one of her only two dresses, and she adorned them with the +military brass buttons their father had had taken from his coat; so +they felt very proud. Their father, of course, was to give the bride +away,--an office he accepted with pleasure, he said, provided he did +not have to move too far, which might be hazardous so long as he had +to wear his spurs to keep the soles on his boots. + + * * * * * + +Thus, even amid the ruins, the boys found life joyous, and if they +were without everything else, they had life, health, and hope. The old +guns were broken, and they had to ride in the ox-cart; but they hoped +to have others and to do better, some day. + +The "some day" came sooner than they expected. + +The morning before the wedding, word came that there were at the +railroad station several boxes for their mother. The ox-cart was sent +for them. When the boxes arrived, that evening, there was a letter +from their friend in Delaware, congratulating Cousin Belle and +apologizing for having sent "a few things" to her Southern friends. + +[Illustration: SOME OF THE SERVANTS CAME BACK TO THEIR OLD HOME.] + +The "few things" consisted not only of necessaries, but of everything +which good taste could suggest. There was a complete trousseau for +Cousin Belle, and clothes for each member of the family. The boys had +new suits of fine cloth with shirts and underclothes in plenty. + +But the best surprise of all was found when they came to the bottom of +the biggest box, and found two long, narrow cases, marked, "For the +Oakland boys." These cases held beautiful, new double-barrelled guns +of the finest make. There was a large supply of ammunition, and in +each case there was a letter from Dupont promising to come and spend +his vacation with them, and sending his love and good wishes and +thanks to his friends--the "Two Little Confederates." + +THE END. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's Notes + +Original spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, and punctuation have +been retained except for the following changes: + +Page 20: oe in Coeur was originally a ligature (C[oe]ur de Lion.) + +Page 20: hen-roots changed to hen-roosts (hen-roots were robbed). + +Page 86: litttle changed to little (looked a litttle rustier). + +Page 107: throughly changed to thoroughly (throughly enjoyed their +holiday;). + +Page 121: oe in manoeuvres was originally a ligature (their +man[oe]uvres for some time.). + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWO LITTLE CONFEDERATES*** + + +******* This file should be named 26725-8.txt or 26725-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/6/7/2/26725 + + + +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. 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