by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER VIII
AN ORDER FROM HEADQUARTERS
While Captain de Banyan and Lieutenant Somers were asleep, the commandinggeneral received the intelligence of a movement on our right by thefamous Stonewall Jackson. The position which had been gained by theadvance at Oak Grove was abandoned, and the troops returned to their oldline. The next day was heard the roar of the guns at Mechanicsville; andon that succeeding was fought the battle of Gaines's Mills--the onlydefeat in the field sustained by the Union army during that battle-week.
General McClellan then decided to change his base of operations; which,rendered into plain English, meant that he had been flanked, and wasobliged to make the best move he could to save his army and material. Thetroops fought all day, and ran all night, till they reached the JamesRiver, where they were protected by the all-powerful gunboats. In thebattles of Savage's Station, Glendale and Malvern Hills, they werevictorious, and fought as no troops had ever fought before. As a retreat,it was successful; but it was the sad and inglorious end of thePeninsular campaign.
The whole brigade to which Lieutenant Somers belonged went on picketevery third day. While the tremendous operations to which we have brieflyalluded were taking place on the right, the soldiers on the left wereleading their ordinary military life. But they were thinking men, and,while they were firm in their devotion to the good cause, they weredisturbed by doubts and fears. They knew not, as they listened to thebooming guns, whether they were in the midst of victory or defeat.Occasionally, they were shelled behind their breastworks; apparently forthe purpose, on the part of the rebels, of keeping our forces frominterfering with the work on the right.
The brigade went on picket, and here the troops were face to face withthe enemy. Lieutenant Somers, by the illness of the captain and theabsence of the first lieutenant, was in command of his company. But therewas no chance to do anything to distinguish himself, except that steadyand patient attention to duty which is the constant opportunity of everygood officer.
"Well, captain, was there anything like this at Magenta?" asked Somers,as he met De Banyan.
"This is tame, Somers. Magenta was a lively scene."
"I fancy it will not remain tame much longer. We shall either be inRichmond as victors or prisoners within a few days."
"Don't croak, Somers. It will all come out right in the end."
"I have no doubt of that; but I feel just as though some big thing wasgoing to happen."
"So do I; and I felt so just before the battle of Solferino. By the way,on the night before that battle, I captured a whole brigade with mysingle company, while I was out on picket-duty."
"Indeed!" laughed Somers.
"I'll tell you how it was."
"Don't take that trouble, captain; for I shall not believe you if youdo."
"Do you mean to doubt my word, even before I utter it?" demanded thecaptain, apparently much hurt by the insinuation.
"Captain de Banyan, I wish I could persuade you to speak the truth at alltimes."
"Come, Somers, that's rather a grave charge; and, if it came from anyother man than yourself, I should challenge him on the spot," added thecaptain, throwing back his head, and looking dignified enough to be thecommander-in-chief.
"You may challenge me if you please; but let us be serious for a moment."
"I am serious, and have been all the time."
"You are a first-rate fellow, captain; I like you almost as well as I domy own brother."
"You are a sensible young man, Somers," replied De Banyan, slightlyrelaxing the rigid muscles of his face.
"You are a brave man, and as brilliant as you are brave. I have only onefault to find with you."
"What's that?"
"You will draw the long-bow."
"In other words, I will lie. Somers, you hurt my feelings. I took a fancyto you the first time I ever saw you, and it pains me to hear you talk inthat manner. Do you think that I, an officer and a gentleman, would stoopto the vice of lying?"
"You certainly do not expect any one to believe those wretched bigstories you tell?"
"Certainly I do," replied the captain with dignity.
"But they contradict themselves."
"Perhaps you don't believe there ever was such an event as the battle ofMagenta."
"Come, come, my friend; just slide off that high horse."
"Lieutenant Somers, my word has been doubted; my good faith maligned; mycharacter for truth and veracity questioned."
"Yes, I know all that very well; but answer me one question, captain.Seriously and solemnly, were you at the battle of Magenta?"
"I decline to answer one who doubts my veracity. If I answered you in theaffirmative, you would not believe me."
"I don't think I should; but, if you should answer me in the negative, Ishould have full faith in your reply."
"I cannot answer on those terms. Somers, I am offended. I don't know butthat I am in duty bound to challenge you. Just after the battle ofMagenta, I felt compelled to challenge a young officer who cast animputation upon my word. We fought, and he fell. His brother challengedme then, and I had to put a bullet through his head. The family wereCorsicans, I believe; and one after another challenged me, till they gotdown to fifth cousins; and I laid out fifteen of them--I think it wasfifteen; I don't remember the exact number, but I could tell by referringto my diary. You are so precise and particular, that I want to give youthe facts just as they are."
"You haven't the diary with you, I suppose?"
"Of course not; I couldn't carry a volume like that around with me. Ionly mention this circumstance to show you the sad results whichsometimes follow in the wake of a duel."
"But I'm not a Corsican; and I don't think you need fear any such resultsin my case, if you should conclude to challenge me," answered Somers withabundant good nature.
"Now, seriously and solemnly, Somers, this doubting a comrade's word is avicious habit. It shows that you have no confidence in what I say."
"That is precisely the truth; but I think you are responsible for thefact, not I. If you would only tell the truth----"
"Tell the truth! My dear fellow, you keep making the matter worse,instead of better."
"So do you; for, instead of abandoning your bad habit, you tell me anabsurd story about killing fifteen men in a series of duels!"
"I told you I couldn't fix the exact number. You are too critical byhalf."
"I am not particular about the number; for I don't believe you killedeven a single person in a duel. You are too good a fellow to do anythingof the sort."
"Somers, I have been laboring to keep my temper; but I am afraid you willmake me mad, if you keep on. I think we had better suspend thisconversation before it leads to any unhappy results;" and the captainrose from the ground, and glanced in the direction of the enemy'spickets.
"The most unhappy result I could conceive of would be your continuingthis bad practice of telling big stories," replied Somers, standing up bythe side of his companion.
"No more; you add insult to injury, Somers."
"Really, captain, you injure yourself by this habit, and----"
Captain de Banyan, at this point of the conversation, suddenly turnedround, and sprang upon the lieutenant, bearing him to the ground beforethe latter could even make a movement in self-defense. Together theyrolled upon the earth, at the foot of the tree whose sheltering brancheshad protected them from the intense heat of the sun. Somers, as thereader already knows, was bold and belligerent before an attack; and, onthe impulse of the moment, he proceeded to repel the sharp assault of hiscompanion.
"If you fight a duel in that way, I am ready to take part in it," saidhe, his face red with anger. "Let go of me!"
"With pleasure, my dear boy," replied De Banyan, edging away from him.
"What do you mean by pitching into me in that way?" demanded Somersangrily.
"I have been trying this half hour to teach you a useful lesson; but youdon't know who your best friends are."
"I think I do. Some of them tell the truth sometimes."
"Somers!" said the captain sternly.
"Captain de Banyan!" replied the lieutenant firmly.
"Do you see that hole in the tree?" continued Captain de Banyan, pointingto a fresh bullet-mark.
"I do."
"I only pulled you down to keep that rifle-ball from going through yourhead. I saw a rebel picket through the trees, ready to fire at us. Theball struck the tree before we struck the ground."
"Forgive me, captain. I did not understand the movement," replied Somers,extending his hand.
"With all my heart," replied the captain, taking the proffered hand. "Wedon't always know who our best friends are."
"Perhaps not; but I know that you are one of my best friends. You havejust given me another reason for wishing you did not----" Somershesitated, not thinking it exactly fair to reproach his companion for hisvile habit, after he had rendered him such a signal service.
"Lie," added De Banyan, finishing the sentence.
"Perhaps it isn't exactly lying; you don't mean to deceive any one. Atthe worst, they are only white lies. Now, captain, don't you think youexaggerate sometimes?"
"Well, perhaps I do; my memory is rather poor. I don't carry my diarywith me."
"Don't you think it would be better if you could confine yourself to theexact truth?" added Somers, who really felt a deep interest in hisassociate.
"I think it very likely it would; but things get a little mixed up in mymind. My memory is poor on details. Just after the battle of Magenta,while I was lying wounded on the ground, one of the emperor's staff rodeup to me, and asked how many cannon my regiment had captured. To save mylife, I couldn't tell whether it was two hundred or three hundred. Mymemory is very treacherous on details."
"I believe you are hopeless, captain," laughed Somers.
"Hopeless?"
"Why, you have told the biggest story that has passed your lips to-day."
"What, about the cannon?"
"Two hundred or three hundred! Why, your regiment captured all the gunsthe Austrians had!"
"Didn't I tell you I couldn't remember whether it was two hundred orthree hundred? You are the most critical young man I ever met in thewhole course of my life!"
"But two hundred would be an abominable exaggeration. Perhaps you meantmuskets?"
"No; cannon."
"But, my dear captain, just consider for one moment. Of course thebatteries were supported?"
"To be sure they were."
"Six guns to a battery would have made fifty batteries; and----"
"Oh, confound your statistics!" exclaimed the captain impatiently.
"But statistics enable us to see the truth. Now, captain, at the battleof Bunker Hill, I saw a man----"
"You?" demanded Captain de Banyan.
"I said so."
"Were you at the battle of Bunker Hill?"
"Didn't you see me there?"
"Come, come, Somers; you shouldn't trifle with the truth. I was not atthe battle you speak of."
"But I was----"
"You! You were not born till sixty years after the battle of BunkerHill."
"But I was--only illustrating your case."
"Here comes an orderly with something from headquarters," said Captain deBanyan, apparently as much rejoiced to change the conversation as thereader will be to have it changed.
The orderly proceeded to the position occupied by the field and staffofficers of the regiment; and, a few moments later, came an order forLieutenant Somers, with twenty of his men, selected for special duty, toreport at the division headquarters.
"You are in luck, Somers; you will have a glorious opportunity todistinguish yourself," said Captain de Banyan, whose second lieutenantwas ordered to the command of Somers's company.
"I don't know what it means," replied our lieutenant.
"Don't you, indeed?" added the captain with a smile. "Don't you know whatspecial duty means? On the night before the battle of Solferino----"
"Excuse me, Captain de Banyan; but I am ordered to report forthwith,"interrupted Somers, who had no desire to hear another "whopper."
The young lieutenant marched off, with his little force, to report as hehad been directed. He knew his men well enough to enable him to make agood selection; and he was confident that they would stand by him to thelast.
"Do you know Senator Guilford?" demanded the general, after Somers hadpassed through all the forms of reporting.
"I do, general," replied the lieutenant, with a fearful blush, and with awish in his heart that the distinguished Senator had minded his ownbusiness.
"He speaks well of you, Lieutenant Somers," added the general.
"I am very much obliged to him for his kindness; but I never saw him butonce in my life."
"He asks a favor for you."
"I am very much obliged to him; but I don't ask any for myself, and Ihope you will not grant it. If any favors are bestowed upon me, I preferto earn them myself."
"Good!" exclaimed the general. "But I assure you and Senator Guilfordthat no man in this division of the army will get a position he does notdeserve. I assure you, Lieutenant Somers, I should have thrown theSenator's letter among the waste paper, if I had not known you before. Iremember you at Williamsburg; and you did a pretty thing in thewheat-field yesterday. You are just the man I want."
"Thank you, sir; I should be very glad to prove that your good opinion iswell founded."
Apart from others, and in a low tone, the general gave his orders toLieutenant Somers to undertake a very difficult and dangerous scoutingexpedition.
"Before sundown you will be a prisoner in Richmond, or a firstlieutenant," added the general as Somers withdrew.