by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER XXII
THE REBEL FARM-HOUSE
Somers, besides the chagrin caused by his capture, was greatly disturbedby the astounding discoveries he had made in regard to Captain de Banyan.He was extremely anxious to obtain an opportunity to converse with him inrelation to his disgraceful antecedents; but the presence of the rebelsoldiers prevented him from saying a word. Yet his looks must havebetrayed the distrust he felt in his companion; for De Banyan seemed tostudy his face more than the faces of their captors.
By this time, the six trusty soldiers who had been selected toparticipate in the enterprise must have given them up, and returned tothe camp with the sad story of their capture. It was mortifying to Somersto have such a report carried to the general of the division; for itseemed to be an imputation upon his skill and tact; but he found someconsolation in believing that he should not have been taken if it had notbeen for his unfortunate connection with Captain de Banyan, who was rashbeyond measure in venturing within the rebel lines, unless he reallymeant to return to the Third Tennessee.
Whatever the captain was, and whatever he intended to do, Somers couldnot believe that his late friend had deliberately betrayed him into thehands of the enemy. It might be so; or it might be that to save himselffrom the consequences of his alleged desertion, he would claim to havebeen always a faithful adherent of the Southern Confederacy. Somers wasperplexed beyond description by the perils and uncertainties of hissituation. He had, in fact, lost confidence in his companion; and theresult was, that he resolved to make his escape, if he could, from thehands of the rebels without him. Under other circumstances, he would havedeemed it infamous to harbor, for an instant, the thought of deserting afriend in the hour of extremity; and nothing but the remembrance of theThird Tennessee could have induced him to adopt such a resolution. Havingadopted it, he kept his eyes wide open for any opportunity which wouldfavor his purpose. His curiosity, excited to the highest pitch to knowwhat the captain could say in defense of the heinous charge which hadbeen fastened upon him by the rebel cavalry officer, and which he himselfhad substantiated, rendered the intention to part company with him verydisagreeable; but the terror of a rebel prison, and perhaps a worse fate,were potent arguments in its favor.
In the course of half an hour, the breakfast was ready, and the party satdown with a hearty relish to discuss it. The fried bacon and biscuit wereluxuries to Somers, and he partook of them with a keener satisfactionthan he did of the costly viands of the "Continental" and the "National;"but, deeply as he was interested in this pleasant employment, he hardlyceased for a moment to think of the grand project of making his escape.For the time, this had become the great business of existence, and hebanished from his mind all minor questions.
Opportunity is seldom wanting to those who are resolutely determined todo great deeds. Only the slow-molded and irresolute want a time and aplace. The breakfast was finished, and the troopers and their prisonerswere on excellent terms with each other long before the conclusion of therepast. Eating and drinking promote the social feeling; and Captain deBanyan was as brilliant as he had ever been in the camps of theChickahominy. He made the rebels laugh, and excited their wonder by themost improbable stories in which even he had ever indulged. It would havebeen impossible to distinguish between the captives and the captors; forthe latter were extremely considerate, as they had probably beeninstructed to be by the captain of the company.
When the meal was finished, the troopers rose, and proposed to resume thejourney. De Banyan paid the bill in gold; for there was still a smallportion of the precious metal in the army.
"Now we are ready," said the sergeant; "and we will get our horses. It'sa pity we haven't horses for you; but, when you get tired, we will giveyou the use of the saddles for a time."
"Thank you, my friend. That's handsome. You remind me of a Russianmajor-general, who insisted that I should ride his animal while he walkedby my side, after I was taken prisoner in the battle of Austerlitz."
"He was a good fellow," replied the sergeant, who probably did notremember the precise date of the celebrated battle quoted by theversatile captain. "We shall not be behind him; and, if you like, youshall have the first ride on my horse."
"Thank you; but I couldn't think of depriving you of your horse, even fora moment."
"Well, we will settle all that by and by. Come with me now, if youplease," said the sergeant, as he led the way out of the house.
As very little attention seemed to be paid to Somers--for the rebelsevidently did not regard him as either a slippery or a dangerousperson--he was permitted to bring up the rear. Now, it is alwaysmortifying to be held in slight esteem, especially to a sensitive mindlike that of our hero; and he resented the slight by declining to followthe party. Near the outside door, as they passed out, he discoveredanother door, which was ajar, and which led up-stairs. Without any wasteof valuable time, he slyly stepped through the doorway, and ascended thestairs. The rebels were so busy in listening to the great stories ofCaptain de Banyan, that they did not immediately discover the absence ofthe unpretending young man.
When our resolute adventurer saw the stairs through the partially opendoor, they suggested to him a method of operations. It is true, he didnot have time to elaborate the plan, and fully determine what he shoulddo when he went up-stairs; but the general idea, that he could drop outof a window and escape in the rear of the house, struck him forcibly, andhe impulsively embraced the opportunity thus presented. The building wasan ordinary Virginia farm-house, rudely constructed, and very imperfectlyfinished. On ascending the stairs, Somers reached a large, unfinishedapartment, which was used as a store-room. From it opened, at each end ofthe house, a large chamber.
No place of concealment, which was apparently suitable for his purpose,presented itself; and, without loss of time, he mounted a grain chest,and ascended to the loft over one of the rooms; for the beams were notfloored in the middle of the building. The aspect of this place was notat all hopeful; for there were none of those convenient "cubby holes,"which most houses contain, wherein he could bestow his body with any hopeof escaping even a cursory search for him.
In the gable end, on one side of the chimney, which, our readers areaware, is generally built on the outside of the structure, in Virginia,was a small window, one-half of which, in the decay of the glass panes,had been boarded up to exclude the wind and the rain. The job hadevidently been performed by a bungling hand, and had never been more thanhalf done. The wood was as rotten as punk; and without difficulty, andwithout much noise, the fugitive succeeded in removing the board whichhad covered the lower part of the window.
By this time the absence of the prisoner had been discovered, and therebels were in a state of high excitement on account of it; but Somerswas pleased to find they had not rightly conjectured the theory of hisescape. He could hear them swear, and hear them considering the directionin which he had gone. Two of them stood under the window, to which Somershad restored the board he had removed; and he could distinctly hear allthat they said.
"Of course he did," said one of them. "He slipped round the corner of thehouse when we came out."
"If he did, where is he? It's open ground round here; and he couldn'thave gone ten rods before we missed him."
"The captain will give it to me," replied the other, whose voice thefugitive recognized to be that of the sergeant.
"We shall find him," added the other. "He can't be twenty rods from herenow."
"I did not think of the young fellow running off, but kept both eyes onthe other all the time; for I thought he wasn't telling all those storiesfor nothing."
"Maybe he is in the house," suggested the other.
Somers thought that was a very bad suggestion of the rebel soldier; and,if there had been any hope of their believing him, he would himself haveinformed them that he was not in the house, and reconciled his conscienceas best he could to the falsehood.
"Can't yer find 'em?" demanded a third person, which Somers saw, throughthe apertu
re he had left between the board and the window, was thefarmer.
"We haven't lost but one."
"He can't be fur from this yere."
"Isn't he in the house?" demanded the sergeant anxiously.
"No; I saw them both foller yer out."
"So did I," added the farmer's wife, who had come out to learn the causeof the excitement.
"Well, then, we must beat about here, and find him;" and the partybeneath the window moved away in the rear of the house.
Thus far, the project was hopeful; but it was apparent to Somers that therebels would not leave the place without searching the house, after theyhad satisfied themselves that the fugitive was not hidden in any of theout-buildings of the farm. If they did so, his situation would at oncebecome hopeless, if he remained where he was. The remembrance of hisformer experience in a chimney, in another part of Virginia, caused himto cast a wistful eye at the great stone structure which adorned the endof the building. At that time, he had occupied his smoky quarters withthe knowledge and consent of the lady of the house. But now his secretwas lodged in his own breast alone; not even Captain de Banyan knew wherehe was, or what he proposed to do.
When the party beneath the window left the place, he carefully removedthe board, and thrust out his head to reconnoiter the position. The onlyway by which he could enter the chimney, which his former experience andprejudice assured him was the only safe place in the vicinity, was by thetop. To achieve such a result was a difficult piece of gymnastics, evenif it could have been performed without reference to any spectators; butto accomplish it without being seen by any of the party below was as nearan impossibility as any impracticable thing could be.
The rebels, both civil and military, were now out of sight; but hedoubted not from his eyrie on the ridge-pole of the house, if he couldreach it, they could all be seen. Somers was as prudent as he was bold,and he decided not to run any risks until necessity should absolutelycompel such a course. Quietly ensconcing himself beneath the window,where he could hear what transpired below, he waited the issue; but hehad studied out the precise steps which it would be necessary for him totake in order to reach the roof of the house. He knew exactly where hisright and his left foot were to be successfully planted to achieve hispurpose, when it could no longer be postponed. But he indulged a fainthope that the rebels would widen the area of their search, and finallyabandon it when it should be unsuccessful.
A long quarter of an hour elapsed--long enough to be an hour's time asits ordinary flow is measured; so burdened with intense anxiety was eachsecond that made up its sum total. The rebels, assisted by the farmer andhis wife, who were now hardly less zealous than the soldiers, hadexamined every hole and corner in the vicinity of the house, withoutfinding the escaped prisoner.
"I tell you, he must be in the house," said the sergeant, as the partypaused under the window on their return to the front of the house.
"Of course, ye kin look in the house if yer like; but I see 'em both goout of the door with yer," persisted the farmer.
"We will search the house," added the sergeant resolutely.
"Yer kin, if yer like; but I hope yer won't lose the other feller whileye're looking for this one."
"I told Gordon to shoot him if he attempted to get away; and I can trustGordon."
They passed out of hearing, and Somers felt that his time had come. But,as we have several times before had occasion to remark, strategy issuccessful in one only by the blunders and inertness of the other; and hecherished with increased enthusiasm his project of hiding in the chimney.Neither the farmer nor the soldiers were trained detectives, and theblunder they made which rendered Somers's strategy more available was inhunting in crowds instead of singly. They all entered the house together;and even Gordon, in charge of the other prisoner, conducted him to theinterior, that he might have the pleasure of seeing the fugitiveunearthed.
Taking down the board, Somers emerged from the little window, and, by thesteps which he had before marked out, ascended to the roof; a difficultfeat, which would have been impossible to one whose father was not themaster of a vessel, and who had not explored a ship from the step to thetruck of the mainmast. It was done, safely done, and without much noise,which would have been as fatal as a fall. As he sprang from the windowstill to a projecting stone in the chimney, he heard the steps of thewhole party on the stairs below. He was not an instant too soon in theexecution of his project; and, when he reached the ridge-pole of thehouse, he paused to recover the breath which he had lost by excitementand exertion.
The pursuers occupied some time in examining the store-room and theadjoining chambers, and he had a sufficient interval for rest before herenewed his labors. But in a few moments he heard the noise caused by theparty ascending to the loft over the room beneath him, and the movementcould no longer be delayed.
"I tell yer, sergeant, the feller isn't in here!" protested the farmerviolently, and in a tone loud enough for Somers to hear him on the roof."Be keerful there, or you'll break down the plastering."
Somers could not hear what the sergeant said in reply; but the farmer wasso earnest in his protest against any further search of his house, thatthe fugitive was almost willing to believe that the protester knew he wasin the house, was his friend, and meant to save him from the hands of hisenemies. But this supposition was too absurd to be tolerated, for thefarmer could have no possible interest in his welfare.
While watching, he had taken off his shoes, and thrust one into eachside-pocket of the old blouse he wore, partly to save noise, and partlyto prevent his feet from slipping on the smooth stones of the chimney.Thus prepared, he climbed to the top, and commenced the descent of thesmoky avenue. He found the opening much smaller than that of his previousexperience in chimneys; and, after he had descended a few feet, the placebecame inconveniently dark. He could no longer hear the steps or thevoices of his pursuers; and he had begun to congratulate himself on theultimate success of his stratagem, when his foot struck upon somethingwhich moved out of his way. It was an animal--perhaps a cat. He moved on.
"Quit! Lemme alone!" said a snarling voice beneath him.