Rodney The Partisan

by Harry Castlemon

  CHAPTER VI.

  UNDER SUSPICION.

  From that time forward Rodney Gray had no reason to complain of beinglonely. Captain Howard--that was the name of his new acquaintance--introduced him to more than a dozen gentleman, all of whom wereenthusiastic rebels and firm in their belief that if the South didnot have a "walk over" she would have the next thing to it, for therewas no fight to speak of in the Northern people. They told Rodney thatwhile they gloried in his pluck, they were afraid he had undertaken morethan he could accomplish.

  It may seem strange to some of our readers that these enemies of thegovernment should have the audacity to show their faces among loyal men,and that the authorities should permit them to go and come whenever theyfelt like it, but stranger things than this were being done in the East,and right under the noses of the President and his cabinet. Rebel agentsin Washington kept their friends in the South posted in all that wassaid and done at the capital, and Commander (afterward Admiral) Semmeshad made a business trip through the Northern States, purchasing largequantities of percussion caps which "were sent by express without anydisguise to Montgomery," making contracts for artillery, powder andother munitions of war, as well as for a complete set of machinery forrifling cannon, and had searched the harbor of New York in the hope offinding a steamer or two that might be armed and used for coast defense.None of these people were molested, and that was one thing that led theSoutherners to believe that the North would not fight.

  Cairo was reached in due time, but there was little in or around theplace to indicate that there was a war at hand except the outlines of asmall fort which was being thrown up to command the river and Bird'sPoint on the Missouri shore. There were a few soldiers strolling abouton the levee, and at that time the garrison numbered six hundred andfifty men. A few months later there was a much larger force in Cairo,and among the blue coats there was one who was often seen walking alongthe levee with his hands behind him and his eyes fastened thoughtfullyupon the ground. He generally wore an old linen duster, a black slouchhat, and a pair of light blue pants thrust into the tops of heavy bootswhich were seldom blacked, but often splashed with Cairo mud. Buteverybody stepped respectfully aside to let him pass, and the spruceyoung staff officers never failed to salute. It was General Grant.

  Once more the _Mollie Able_ swung out into the stream, and at the end ofhalf an hour rounded the point below the fort and resumed her journey upthe Mississippi. Now Rodney Gray began to show signs of excitement.Every turn of the paddle wheels brought him nearer to the place where hemust leave the boat, and the new-made friends who had done so much tocheer him up since they found out who and what he was, and set out aloneon a journey of nearly two hundred and fifty miles.

  "Being a born Southerner you are accustomed to the saddle, and the rideitself would be nothing but a pleasure trip; but there are the peopleyou are likely to meet on the way," said Captain Howard, seating himselfby Rodney's side as the _Mollie Able_ rounded the point. "Are youarmed?"

  The boy replied that he had a revolver.

  "You may need it," continued the captain. "You see the pro-slavery menand abolitionists are scattered all over the State, and I don't believeyou can find a town or village in it that is not divided into twohostile camps. That's where I am afraid you are going to have trouble,and you must be all things to all men until you find out who you aretalking to. Now here are two letters of introduction that one of myfriends gave me for you this morning, and they are addressed to partiesliving near Springfield, one of whom is a Union man and the other aConfederate. You must use them--"

  "Must I ask favors of a Union man and then turn about and fight him?"exclaimed Rodney.

  The captain shrugged his shoulders.

  "You want to get through, don't you?" said he. "All's fair in war times,and if I were in your place, and a reference to this Springfield Unionman would take me in safety through a community of Yankee sympathizers,I should not hesitate to use his name. If you fall in with some of ourown people and they suspect your loyalty, why then you can use the nameof the Confederate. It's all right."

  The captain was called away at that moment, and Rodney, glancing at theenvelopes he held in his hand, was somewhat startled to find that one ofthem was addressed to Erastus Percival.

  "I wonder if that can be Tom Percival's father," said he. "If I thoughtit was, I wouldn't present this letter to him for all the money there isin Missouri. He would turn me over to the Yankees at once."

  We have had occasion to speak of Tom Percival just once, and that wasduring the sham fight which was started in the lower hall of theBarrington Academy to give Dick Graham a chance to steal the Union flagfrom the colonel's room. We then referred to the fact that Tom's fatherhad cast his vote against secession with one hand while holding a cockedrevolver in the other. Rodney, of course, was not sure that this letterof introduction was addressed to this particular Percival, but still hehad no desire to make the gentleman's acquaintance if he could help it.While he was turning the matter over in his mind, the captain of the_Mollie Able_ stepped out of the clerk's office and tapped him on theshoulder.

  "The very best thing I can do for you," said he, "is to set you ashoreat Cedar Bluff landing."

  Rodney was surprised, but it was clear to him that the captain knew whohe was and where he wanted to go.

  "There are only a few people who live there, and they are principallywood-cutters," continued the skipper. "But they are true as steel, andyou can trust them with your life. I have bought wood of them for yearsand know them like a book. I will go ashore with you and give you a goodsend-off. We shall get there about ten o'clock to-night."

  Rodney opened his lips to thank the captain for his kindness, but he wasgone. The old steamboat-man sympathized with the South, and CaptainHoward and his friends had found it out, and induced him to do what hecould to help Rodney escape the expectant Yankee cotton-factor at St.Louis. The boy laughed aloud when he thought how astonished and angryTom Randolph would be to learn that he had wasted time and telegrams tono purpose. He passed the rest of the day in company with Captain Howardand his friends, nearly all of whom held some position of trust underthe new government, and at nine o'clock, in obedience to a significantwink and nod from the skipper, he went below and put the saddle andbridle on his horse. Just then the whistle sounded for Cedar Blufflanding, and some of the passengers came down to bid him good-by and seehim safely ashore.

  "A boy with your ability and pluck ought to make his mark in theservice, and I wish I could keep track of you," said Captain Howard,giving Rodney's hand a cordial shake. "But I shall most likely beordered East, hundreds of miles away from here, and possibly I may neverhear of you again; but I shall often think of you. Good-by, and goodluck."

  This was the way in which all his new friends took leave of him, and ifgood wishes were all that were needed to bring him safely through,Rodney would have had no fears of the future. When the _Mollie Able's_bow touched the bank and a line had been thrown out, a gang-plank wasshoved ashore, and the skipper came down from the hurricane deck to givehis passenger a "send-off." The blazing torch, which one of thedeck-hands had placed in the steamer's bow, threw a flickering lightupon half a dozen long-haired, roughly dressed men who had been broughtto the bank by the sound of the whistle, and who gazed in surprise whenthey saw a stout negro coming off with Rodney's trunk on his shoulder,followed by Rodney himself, who was leading the roan colt. It wasn'toften that a passenger was landed in that out-of-the-way place.

  "Set the trunk down anywhere, Sam, and go aboard. A word with you,Jeff," said the _Mollie Able's_ captain, beckoning to the tallest androughest looking man in the party. "Where's Price?"

  "Dunno. Jeff Thompson has just been round behind the Cape pulling up therailroad, but some of the Yankee critter-fellers went out there and runhim off," replied the long-haired Missourian. "Last I heared of Price hewas down about the Arkansas line."

  (The "Cape" referred to was the t
own of Cape Girardeau, and the"critter-fellers" were the Union cavalry which at that time garrisonedthe place. The "Arkansas line" was the southwestern part of Missouriwhere Price raised his army, which grew in numbers the nearer he marchedwith it to the Missouri River).

  "That's bad news for my young friend here," said the captain of the_Mollie Able_. "Springfield is off in that direction, and that's rightwhere he wants to go. He is one of Price's men, and is anxious to findhis commander. Say, Jeff, you take care of him and see him safely on hisway, and I'll make it all right with you when I stop for my next load ofwood."

  "It's all right now, cap'n," answered Jeff. "He'll be safe as long as hestays here, seeing that he's a friend of your'n, but when he gets backin the country--I dunno; I dunno."

  The steamboat captain didn't know either, but he couldn't stop to talkabout it. He had done the best he could to keep Rodney out of theclutches of that Yankee cotton-factor in St. Louis, and now the boy mustlook out for himself. He gave the latter's hand a hasty shake, told himto keep a stiff upper lip and give a good account of himself when he metthe Lincoln invaders in battle, and shouted to the deck-hands to "let goand haul in." The steamer gave him a parting salute from her whistle asshe backed out into the river, Captain Howard and his friends on theboiler deck waved their hands to him, and Rodney was left alone with thewood-choppers. A Northern boy would not have been at all pleased withthe situation, for they were a rough looking set, and probably there wasnot one among them who did not plume himself upon his skill as afighter; but Rodney was not afraid of them, for he had seen such menbefore.

  "One of you fellers put that hoss under kiver, and stranger, you comewith me," said Jeff, raising Rodney's trunk from the ground and placingit upon his shoulder. "It's little we've got to offer you, and you lookas though you might be used to good living; but you're welcome to suchas we've got, and we're glad to see you. Now we'd like to have you tellus, if you can, what all this here furse is about," he went on, when hehad conducted his guest into a log cabin that stood at the top of thebank, and deposited the trunk beside the open fire-place. "What madethem abolitionists come down here all of a sudden to take our niggersaway from us?"

  "Because they are envious--jealous of our prosperity," replied Rodney,drawing up a nail keg and seating himself upon it. "They have to workevery day and we don't; and that's what's the matter with them. Theydon't care a cent for the negroes. They used to own slaves themselves."

  All the wood-choppers, with the exception of the one who had taken itupon himself to "put the hoss under kiver," had followed Jeff and Rodneyinto the cabin, and they were profoundly astonished by the last wordsthat fell from the boy's lips. It was a matter of history that was quitenew to them.

  "Where be them slaves now?" asked Jeff.

  "They were given their freedom."

  "Well, I always knowed them Yankees was fules, but I don't for the lifeof me see what they done that fur."

  "Oh, it wasn't because they were sorry for the negro," exclaimed Rodney."It was because they couldn't use him. They would have slaves to-day ifthey could make a dollar by it. You let the Yanks alone for that. Why,when these troubles began, we didn't have percussion caps enough tofight a battle with, and Captain Semmes went up North and bought a bigsupply; and the men of whom he bought them knew what he was going to dowith them, and offered to make contracts with him to send him all hewanted and could pay for."

  "What's the reason they couldn't use the niggers up there?" asked one ofthe woodchoppers.

  "Because their land is mostly mountains and rocks, and they can't workit on as a big a scale as we do," replied Rodney, trying to use languagethat his ignorant auditors could readily understand. "They gain theirliving by catching codfish and herring, and by making things, such asshoes for the niggers, and cloth and axes and machinery and--Oh,everything. And the blacks couldn't do that sort of work so that theirowners could make anything out of them, and that's the reason they letthem go free."

  "And because they can't use the niggers do they say that we-uns musn'tuse 'em nuther?" demanded Jeff, angrily.

  "That's it exactly," said Rodney. "They are dogs in the manger. Theycan't eat the hay themselves and they won't let the critters eat it."

  Although the wood-choppers didn't quite understand this, it was plainenough to the Barrington boy that they were impressed by his words.

  "And what are we-uns going to do about it?" inquired Jeff, after alittle pause.

  "We're going to dissolve partnership with them--break up the firm and gointo business for ourselves," replied Rodney, throwing so muchenthusiasm into his words that he succeeded in creating some excitementamong the wood-choppers. One, in particular, was so deeply interestedthat he pulled his nail keg close in front of the speaker; but whetherhe was listening to his words, or making a mental calculation of thevalue of his gold watch chain, Rodney did not think to inquire.

  "And do they say that we-uns mustn't do it?" Jeff demanded.

  "You've hit it again," was Rodney's reply. "That is just what they dosay; and they say, further, that they won't give us our share of thegoods. See how they hung on to that fort in Charleston Harbor until ourgallant fellows made them give it up? That fort belonged to SouthCarolina; but when she broke up the firm, by which I mean the Union, theYanks wouldn't give it up. Who ever heard of such impudence?"

  "I never," answered Jeff. "We did lick 'em sure enough, didn't we?"

  "Of course we did, and that isn't the worst of it. We're going to whipthem as often as we get a chance at them. But what am I talking about.The Yankees won't fight."

  "Didn't they have a sorter rucus up in St. Louis?"

  "Those were not Yankees. They were Dutchmen--old country soldiers, whodon't know enough about war to keep them from shooting into their ownmen. Who's afraid of such soldiers?"

  "We're mighty glad you stopped off here, stranger," said Jeff, atlength. "We didn't rightly know what all the furse was about, and therewasn't nobody who could tell us, because the steamboat cap'ns who comehere for wood couldn't wait to talk about it. But we know now, and I dothink that some on us had oughter have a hand in making them Yankeesstay where they b'long. I'd go in a minute if it wasn't fur the olewoman and the young ones."

  "I aint got none of them things to hold me back, and I'll go in yourplace, Jeff," said one of the wood-cutters. It was the man who had drawnhis seat close in front of Rodney, and seemed to be so much interestedin the boy's watch chain.

  "Will you go with me and join Price?" asked the latter, eagerly.

  "I reckon I might as well," replied the man.

  "Do you know the country?"

  "Well, no; I can't say that I do. But I know where to look to find theroad that runs from Jackson to Hartsville, forty miles this side ofSpringfield, and when you get there, mebbe you'll know where you are."

  "No, I won't," answered Rodney. "I have never been in this part ofMissouri before. I have been in St. Louis two or three times, but when Igot out of sight of the Planters' House I was lost completely."

  "Why, didn't the cap'n of the _Mollie Able_ tell Jeff that you was oneof Price's men? How could you have jined him if you haven't been wherehe was?"

  Rodney did not at all like the tone in which this question was asked,and it was right on the end of his tongue to tell the wood-cutter thatit was none of his business; but on second thought he decided that thatwouldn't do. The man talked and acted as if he suspected him ofsomething; and if the others suspected him too, they might make troublefor him. The steamboat captain did say that he was one of Price's men,and Rodney wished now that he hadn't done it.

  "I suppose I could arrange all that by letter or telegraph, couldn't I?"was the answer he made, as he produced his note book and took from itthe dispatch he had received from Dick Graham's father, and one of theletters of introduction that had been given to him by Captain Howard.These he passed over to the suspicious wood-cutter, rightly believingthat the latter could not read a word of them. "You will see that thattelegram reads, 'Price will a
ccept,'" continued Rodney. "I belong to acompany of Rangers that was raised down the river, and at my captain'srequest I telegraphed to Price inquiring if he would take us and let usoperate on our own hook, and he said he would. Read it for yourself.What are you afraid of?"

  "Nothing much."

  "You see," explained Jeff, who during this conversation had sat with hiselbows resting on his knees and his eyes fastened upon the floor,"things is getting sorter ticklish down here in this neck of the woodsalready. Nobody don't know who he can trust."

  "Don't you believe what the _Able's_ captain said about me?" inquiredRodney, who had little dreamed that he would become an object ofsuspicion almost as soon as he set his foot on Missouri soil. "He toldme you were true blue."

  "And so we are, when we know the feller we're talking to." said the manwho was sitting in front of him, and whom he afterward heard addressedas Nels. "Now I want you to answer me a few questions: where did youboard the _Mollie Able?_"

  Rodney, who was not at all used to this sort of thing, began to grow redin the face, but fortunately he did not hesitate an instant.

  "I got on at Baton Rouge," he said.

  "Is that place this side of Cairo?"

  "No; it is the other side."

  "Did you stop at Cairo on your way up?"

  "The _Able_ was there perhaps half an hour."

  "Then I can see through some of it as plain as daylight," exclaimedNels, straightening up on his nail keg and shaking his hand at Jeff. "Hewas at Cairo long enough to change his clothes, swap hosses and have hiswhiskers shaved off; but why he should have the cap'n of the _Able_ sethim ashore here at this landing, beats my time. Don't it your'n?" Therewere signs of excitement in the cabin, and Rodney felt the cold chillscreeping over him. The wood-cutters were wofully ignorant, quite as opento reason as so many wooden men would have been, and if they suspectedhim of trying to play some trick upon them, Rodney could not imagine howhe should go to work to set them right. He glanced at their scowlingfaces and told himself that he would not have been in greater danger ifhe had been a prisoner in the hands of the Yankees.

  "I should like to know what you mean by this foolishness?" exclaimedRodney, growing excited in his turn.

  "Mebbe you'll find that there aint no great foolishness about it beforewe've got through with you," answered Nels; and Rodney noticed that oneof the wood-cutters moved his seat so as to get between him and thedoor.

  "I shall know more about that after you have told me who and what youtake me for," continued Rodney. "Do you think you ever saw me before?"

  "Well, as to your face and clothes we might be mistook," replied Nels,slowly. "But you had oughter hid that watch chain before you come backamongst we-uns."

  He reached out to lay hold of the article in question, but the angry boypushed his hand away.

  "This watch and chain were a birthday present from my mother four yearsago," said he, taking the watch from his pocket and unhooking the chain,"and the fact is recorded on the inside of the case, if you have senseenough to read it, which I begin to doubt. You are at liberty to look atthem, but you mustn't try to get out of the door with them."

  Nels took the articles in question and looked fixedly at Rodney, as ifhe did not know whether to smile at him or get angry. He decided on theformer course when one of his companions said, in an audible whisper:

  "You sartingly be mistook, Nels. That abolition hoss-thief was a mightypalavering sort of chap, but he didn't have no such grit."

  "Is that what you take me for," exclaimed Rodney,--"a horse-thief and anabolitionist besides? You certainly are mistaken, for I haven't got thatlow down in the world yet. Jeff, you are the only man in the party whoseems to have a level head on his shoulders, and I wish you wouldexplain this thing to me. Begin at the beginning so that I may know justhow the case stands."

  Before Jeff could reply to the request one of the small army of huntingdogs which found shelter in the wood-cutters' camp set up a yelp, therest of the pack joined in, and for a minute or two there was a terrifichubbub. When it lulled a little the hail rang out sharp and clear fromsome place in the surrounding woods:

  "Hallo the house! Don't let your dogs bite!"

  The words brought all the wood-choppers to their feet and sent allexcept two of them--Nels and the man who had taken his seat near thedoor--out into the darkness. These remained behind in obedience to asign from Jeff, and Rodney knew that they meant to keep an eye on him.

  "Who's out there?" he inquired.

  "Don't you recognize his voice?" asked Nels in reply. "There's more'none of 'em, and they are the men who have been hunting for you for aweek past."

  "I am glad to hear it," said Rodney. "Perhaps they will be able to clearaway some of the ridiculous suspicions you seem to have got into yourheads concerning me."

  "Get out, ye whelps," shouted Jeff, when he stepped out of the door;whereupon the dogs ceased their clamor and slunk away behind the cabinto escape the clubs he threw among them to enforce obedience to hisorder. "Come on, strangers. They won't pester you."

  Then came a tramping of hoofs, as if a small body of cavalry was makingits way through the bushes, and a minute afterward Rodney could lookthrough the open door and see half a dozen men dismounting from theirhorses. He saw Jeff exchange a few hasty words with the tall,black-whiskered man who was the first to touch the ground, and heard theexclamations of surprise which the latter uttered as he listened tothem. He could not understand what the man said, but the woodcutter nearthe door did, for he called out:

  "He's come back sure's you live, and Nels has got his watch to prove it.He knowed him the minute he seed the chain that's fast to it."

  "Well, if that is the case, whom have we got here?" said theblack-whiskered man; and this time Rodney heard the words very plainly."Where is he? Let me have a look at him."

  Jeff waved his hand toward the door and the man stepped in and facedRodney, who arose to his feet and met his gaze without flinching. Oneglance brought from him a sigh of relief. He had an intelligent man totalk to now--one who could be reasoned with.

  "There's the watch that has brought suspicion upon me in a way I cannotunderstand," said Rodney, nodding toward Nels, who promptly handed itover. "Will you be kind enough to open it and read the inscription youwill find on the inside of the case."

  The man took the watch, and while he was opening it kept his eyesfastened upon Rodney's face. He seemed both amused and angry.

  "Jeff," he exclaimed at length. "I never knew before that you were sucha blockhead. There is about as much resemblance between this younggentleman and that horse-thief outside as there is between you and me."

  "But Mr. Westall, just look at the chain," protested Jeff.

  "But, Mr. West-all, just look at the chain," protested Jeff.

  "Well, look at the chain. You're a Jackson man, I suppose?" he added,nodding at Rodney.

  "Every day in the week," replied the boy. "And that's what brought me uphere from Louisiana. I belong to a company of partisans; but ourGovernor wouldn't take us the way we wanted to go, and here I am. I wantto find Price as soon as I can. Run your eye over that telegram, if youplease, and then read this letter."

  While the man, who had been addressed as Mr. Westall, was reading thedocuments Rodney passed over to him, his four companions came into thecabin bringing with them a fifth, at the sight of whom Rodney Graystarted as if he had been shot.