The Master of Warlock: A Virginia War Story

by George Cary Eggleston

  XXII

  _SAM AS A STRATEGIST_

  Agatha's second progress northward was far more difficult ofaccomplishment than the first had been. Under McClellan's skilledvigilance the armed mob which he found "cowering on the Potomac" inAugust, had been converted into an army, drilled, disciplined, andfamiliar with every detail of that military art which it was called uponto practise. The lines west of Washington were far more rigidly drawnand more fully manned than before, and the officers and men who heldthem exercised a vigilance that had not been thought of a few monthsearlier.

  And this was not the only difficulty that Agatha encountered in hereffort to reach Baltimore. A passport system had been inaugurated at theNorth, under operation of which those who would travel, and especiallythose who travelled toward Baltimore,--a city whose loyalty to theUnion lay under grave suspicion,--must give a satisfactory account ofthemselves in order to secure the necessary papers. War had begun tobring the country under that despotism which military force always andeverywhere regards as the necessary condition of its effectiveness.

  It was a strange spectacle that the country presented during that fouryears of fratricidal strife. A great, free people, the freest on earth,fell to fighting, one part with another part. Each side was battling, aseach side sincerely believed, for the cause of liberty; each wasunsparingly spending its blood and treasure in order, in Mr. Lincoln'sphrase, that "government of the people, by the people, and for thepeople might not perish from the earth." Yet on both sides a militaryrule as rigorous as that of Russia laid its iron hand upon the people,and the people submitted themselves to its exactions almost without amurmur. Arbitrary, inquisitorial, intolerant, this military despotismwrought its will both at the North and at the South, overriding laws anddisregarding constitutions, making a mockery of chartered rights, andrestraining personal liberty in ways that would have caused instant anduniversal revolt, had such things been attempted by civil authority.

  The military arm is a servant which is apt to make itself theunrelenting master of those who invoke its assistance.

  Agatha encountered this difficulty while yet inside the Confederatelines. She was not permitted to pass in any northward direction upon anypretence. The authorities at one place under Confederate control forbadeher to go to another place under like control. She appealed to Stuart inthis emergency, and although his authority did not extend into theShenandoah Valley, he made such representations to the commandants inthat quarter as were sufficient for her purposes.

  To get within the Federal lines was a still more perplexing problem. Onedevice after another proved ineffectual, and the girl was almost indespair. She appealed at last to the general in command of the cavalryin that region,--one of those to whom Stuart had written in herbehalf,--and he promptly responded:

  "At precisely what point have you friends in cooperation with you?"

  She named a little town within the Federal line where lived some of hernearest friends.

  "I can manage that," he said. "The point is an insignificant one tenmiles within their lines. There are pretty certainly no troops there,and the picket-lines in front are not very strong, as nothing could bemore improbable than the raid I shall make in that direction. You canride, of course."

  "Of course."

  "Very well. I'll take a strong force, make a dash through thepicket-lines, gallop into the town, and make a foray through the regionround about. You will follow my column as closely as you can withoutplacing yourself under fire, and when we reach the town, settle yourselfwith your friends there, turning your horse loose lest he attractattention. You'd better do that just before we reach the town, and walkthe rest of the way. Can you wear a walking-skirt under yourriding-habit, and slip off the outer--you see I'm a bachelor, MissRonald, and don't understand such things."

  "You may safely leave all that to my superior feminine sagacity. Whenshall we start?"

  "Whenever you wish. Only we'd better march in the afternoon and reachthe town after nightfall. The nights are very dark now, and you willperhaps be able to escape observation in the town. Let me see," lookingat his watch, "it's now half past one. We could do the thing thisafternoon, if you were ready."

  "I can be ready in fifteen minutes," she replied.

  "You're very prompt," the officer said, with a suggestion of admirationin his voice.

  "O, I'm half-soldier, you know. General Stuart approves me."

  "Very well, then. We'll march in half an hour."

  The operation was a very simple one, in its military part, at least. Theexpedition was composed of a force much too strong for resistance by thehandful of men available for immediate use on the enemy's part. In theguise of a foraging party it easily dispersed the picket-lines andpushed forward rapidly, taking the little town in its course, but makingno halt there. It scoured the country round about, and as soon asFederal forces began to gather for its destruction, it retreated byquite a different route from that by which it had advanced.

  It was nine o'clock in the evening when Agatha slipped off her horse inthe little Maryland town and left it in charge of a trooper. Afive-minutes' walk brought her to the house of her friends, where shewas safe.

  With her walked her negro maid, who had ridden behind her. That maid'sname was Sam, and he quickly divested himself of the feminine outergarments which he had worn over his own clothes. This device had been ofSam's own invention, for that worthy, under stress of circumstances, wasrapidly developing into something like genius that gift of diplomacywhich he had before employed in discouraging his mammy's efforts to makehim her assistant in the kitchen. Sam was a consummate liar wheneverlying seemed to him to be necessary or even useful. In the service ofhis master he had no hesitation in saying, or indeed in doing, anythingthat might be convenient, and during her long stay north of the PotomacAgatha was far more deeply indebted to Sam's unscrupulousness than sheknew. For when he found that his mistress had conscientious objectionsto his methods, he simply forbore to mention them to her, and carriedout his plans on his own responsibility. Long afterward, in relating theexperiences of this time to his black companions at Warlock, he made itan interesting feature of his discourse to keep reminding his hearersthat, "Mis' Agatha's so dam' hones' dat she wouldn't tell a lie _even toa Yankee_."

  This declaration never failed to open the eyes of the auditors inwonder, and to bring from their lips the half-incredulous response:

  "Well, I 'clar to gracious!"

  It was Sam who devised and suggested the next step in the presentjourney. Agatha's arrival at the house, under cover of a very darknight, had been unobserved by any one outside the household, but it wasobvious that her remaining there would involve grave danger ofdiscovery. Her presence could not be concealed from the servants of thehousehold, and however loyal these might be to their mistress and herthree daughters, who constituted the family, they would very certainlytalk, the more especially, if any efforts were made to keep the visitorin hiding in the house. In a town so small--it was only a village, infact--gossip has quick wings, and there were sure to be some personsthere who would promptly report to the military that a young woman frombeyond the lines was in hiding in the town.

  The whole matter was discussed in family conclave during the night ofAgatha's coming, and fortunately Sam was present, for the reason that itwas specially necessary to conceal from the household servants theinteresting fact that the "maid" who had accompanied a young lady to theplace was in truth a stalwart negro boy. He remained in the room,therefore, from which all the servants were rigidly excluded, and thusbecame familiar with every detail of the puzzling situation. Afteringenuity had been fairly exhausted in devising plans only to rejectthem one after another as impracticable, Sam, whose modesty had neveramounted to shyness, boldly broke into the conversation.

  "As I figgers it out, Mis' Agatha," he said, "de case is puffec'ly clar.We cawn't stay heah, 'thout a-gittin' tuk up. We cawn't go back South'thout a-gittin' tuk up an' maybe gittin' hung in de bargain. So we mus'jes' go on Norf, now,
immediately, at once."

  "But we can't, Sam. You don't understand. We can't travel withoutpassports."

  "Couldn't de ladies git a skyar into 'em, an' tell de Yankees dey jes'cawn't an' won't stay any longer in a town whar de rebels is a-comin'gallopin' through de streets, a-yellin' an' a-shootin' an' a-kickin' upde ole Harry? Wouldn't de Yankees give 'em passpo'ts to de Norf den?Wouldn't dey think it natch'rel dat a houseful o' jes' ladies what's gotno men-folks to pertect 'em, would be skyar'd out o' der seven sensesafter sich a performance as dis heah?"

  "But, Sam," interposed his mistress, "that wouldn't do me any good oryou either. If anybody asked for passports for you and me, the officerswould ask who we are and where we came from, and all about it."

  "Don't ax 'em fer no passpo't fer you. Jes' let de other ladies ax ferpasspo'ts fer demselves, an' a nigga boy to drive de carriage. I'll bede nigga boy. Den one o' de young ladies mout git over her skyar an'jes' stay at home, quiet like, an' let you take her place in decarriage. De young lady wouldn't have to go roun' tellin' folks she'sdone git over her skyar an' stayed at home. Nobody'd know nuffin' abouther bein' heah fer a week, an' by dat time de Yankees would 'a' donefergitten how many folks went away in de carriage."

  After some discussion it was agreed that Sam's plan, in its generaloutline at least, was feasible, and as there was no alternative way out,it was finally decided to adopt the scheme.

  "You mus' do it right away den," suggested Sam, "while de skyar is on tofolks. Ef you wait, de Yankees'll fin' out de trigger o' de trap, sho'.An' after awhile, all de ladies 'ceptin' you, Mis' Agatha, can git overde skyar an' come home agin."

  Sam's plan was aided in its execution by the fact that several otherfamilies in the town were genuinely scared by the Confederate raid, and,as soon as the Federal posts were reestablished, asked for passportsunder which they might send their women and children to less exposedpoints. When Agatha's hostess made a like application for herself anddaughters, with their negro, "Sam, aged eighteen, five feet seveninches high," and all the rest of the description, no difficulty wasencountered in securing the desired papers.

  In order that Agatha might go as far northward as possible withouthaving to renew her passport, it was decided that their destinationshould be at a point well beyond the Pennsylvania border. Agatha had nofriends there, and she knew no one of Southern sympathies in the townselected. But thanks to Marshall Pollard, she had command of money inplenty, or would have, as soon as she could send the papers he had givenher to New York. It was arranged, therefore, that the little party, inthe character of refugees, should take quarters at a hotel until suchtime as Agatha could renew her journey without her companions. In themeantime, Agatha, by means of correspondence with her friends inBaltimore and Washington, could prosecute her inquiries as to BailliePegram's condition and whereabouts.