CHAPTER VII.
THE EMERGENCY MEN.
"Great Scott!" was Rodney Gray's mental ejaculation. "That is TomPercival if I ever saw him."
If his own father had suddenly been brought into the cabin a prisoner inthe hands of armed men, the Barrington boy could not have been moreamazed. He winked hard and looked again, but his eyes had not deceivedhim; and even if there had been the slightest doubt in his mindregarding the identity of the prisoner who had been denounced as "anabolition horse-thief," it would have vanished when he saw theexpression that came upon Tom's face the moment their eyes met. Tom wasone of Dick Graham's firm friends, but while a student at the BarringtonAcademy he had often declared that if Dick ever so far forgot himself asto enlist in the rebel army, he (Tom) would go into the Union service onpurpose to whip him back into a proper frame of mind; and his beingthere a prisoner led Rodney to believe that he had kept his promise, sofar as enlisting was concerned. But there was one thing about it: Tommight be a Union soldier, but he was neither an abolitionist nor ahorse-thief.
"It is Percival, sure enough, but what in the name of sense and TomWalker is he doing here?" was the next question that came into Rodney'smind.
His first impulse was to seize his old schoolmate by the hand, proclaimhis friendship for him and assure Mr. Westall and the rest that they hadcommitted the worst kind of a blunder--that they had made as great amistake in arresting this boy for a horse-thief, as Nels and his fellowwood-cutters had made in suspecting him of being Tom Percival, simplybecause he happened to have in his possession a watch chain thatsomewhat resembled Tom's. But two things restrained him; the first wasthe reflection that by following this course he would put it entirelyout of his power to help Tom if the opportunity was offered, and thesecond was the way in which Tom himself looked and acted. He didn'tappear to know Rodney at all. The expression of joy and surprise thatfirst overspread his countenance vanished as if by magic, and from thattime forward he gave as little attention to his old friend as he mighthave given to an utter stranger. Rodney was quick to take the hint andgoverned himself accordingly.
"Percival always did have a level head on his shoulders," said thelatter, resuming his seat upon the nail keg and placing himself as faras possible out of reach of Tom's gaze, "and he's got more pluck thanany other fellow I ever saw. He needs it, poor fellow, if Captain Howardtold the truth when he said that every little community in the State isdivided into two hostile camps. But his father owns slaves, and Tomnever stole a horse."
It so happened that all the inmates of the cabin were too muchinterested in what Mr. Westall was doing to notice the swift glance ofrecognition that passed between the two boys when Tom Percival wasbrought in. They were waiting to hear what he had to say regarding thepapers Rodney had given him to read.
"I suppose you are acting is a sort of advance agent for your company tosee what arrangements you can make with General Price?" said Mr. Westallat length.
"No, sir. I am acting on my own hook, and without any regard to thecourse the company may see fit to take," replied Rodney. "The membersdon't want to be sworn into the service of the Confederate States, andthe proposition to leave Louisiana in a body and offer ourselves toPrice, was voted down. I do not know what the rest of the boys will do,but I am going to join the Missouri State militia if they will takeme."
"Oh, they'll take you fast enough," said Mr. Westall, with a laugh."They have already taken everybody they can get their hands on withoutstopping to inquire what State he is from. We five are some of JeffThompson's Emergency men."
"I don't think I ever heard of such men," said Rodney doubtfully.
"Probably not. You don't need them down in Louisiana, and we may nothave much use for them here; though, to judge from the exploits of thisyoung man Percival, we may be called out oftener than we expected tobe."
Rodney hoped that Mr. Westall would go on to tell what his friend Tomhad been guilty of to get himself into such a scrape, and what theyintended doing with him now that they had got him into their power; butin this he was disappointed. The man handed back Mr. Graham's telegramwith the remark that he had never heard of a person of that name, andthen proceeded to read the letter of introduction, which was addressedto a well-known Confederate of the name of Perkins, who lived somewherein the neighborhood of Springfield.
"I am acquainted with this man Perkins in a business way," said Mr.Westall, after he had run his eye over the letter, "and know him to bestrong for Jeff Davis and the cause of Southern independence. He willtreat you as though you were one of the royal blood if you can only getto him; but there's the trouble. He lives in the southwestern part ofthe State, and that's a right smart piece from here."
"I know it; but I have a good horse somewhere outside," answeredRodney.
"So I supposed; but you can't depend upon your horse to tell you whetheryou are talking to a Yankee sympathizer or an honest Confederate, canyou? The ride won't amount to anything, but you have a tough bit ofcountry to go through. Your short experience right here among friendswill serve to show you how very suspicious everybody is. We don't trustour nearest neighbors any more, and so you can imagine what we think ofa stranger, especially if he happens to own a watch chain that lookssomething like one that is worn by a horse-thief," said Mr. Westall,smiling at the boy as he handed his property back to him. "Now, Jeff,how could you have made such a mistake? Can't you see that they don't atall resemble each other?"
"Now that I see them together I can," was Jeff's answer. "But don't helook a trifle as that thief might look if his duds was changed and hiswhiskers took off?"
Rodney thought from the first that his old schoolmate did not look justas he did the last time he saw him, and now he knew the reason. To avery slight mustache Tom Percival, since leaving the Barrington Academy,had added a pair of what the students would have called "side-boards;"but they were so very scant that they could not by any possibility belooked upon as a disguise. Mr. Westall laughed at the idea.
"Jeff, you and your friends are too anxious to do something for thecause," said he. "Of course that is better than being lukewarm, but youdon't want to be too brash or you may get yourselves into trouble. Canyou give us some supper? But first we want to put this prisoner where hewill be safe."
"Couldn't you postpone that part of the programme until _I_ have had abite to eat, or do you think there's nobody hungry but yourselves?"asked the prisoner, in the most unconcerned manner possible; and therewas no mistaking his voice. It was Tom Percival's voice.
"I didn't think about you," answered Mr. Westall. "And perhaps if youhad your dues, you would be left to go hungry. But we are not savages,even if we are down on your way of thinking and acting."
"Better give him a sup of coffee to keep the cold out and then chuck himin the old corncrib," suggested Jeff. "He can lay down on the shucks,and I will give him a blanket to keep himself warm."
"Will he be quite safe there?" asked the Emergency man. "No chance toget out, is there? Or will we have to put a guard over him?"
"There aint no call for nobody to lose sleep guarding on him," wasJeff's confident reply. "There aint no winder to the corncrib, and thedoor fastens with a bar outside. Some of the chinking has fell outatween the logs, but he can't crawl through the cracks less'n he canflatten himself out like a flying squirrel. Furthermore, there's thedogs that will be on to him if he gives a loud wink."
Rodney listened to every word of this conversation, and told himselfthat his friend's chances for escape were very slim indeed.
"Take a keg and sit down over there," said Mr. Westall, pointing to thefarthest chimney corner and addressing himself to the prisoner, whileNels and one of the other wood-cutters began making preparations forsupper. "Now, if you have no objections, Mr. Gray, we should like tohear the rest of your story. You must be set in your ways, or else younever would have come up here simply to carry out your idea of becominga partisan. You will find plenty of them in these parts. Indee
d, youwill find more of them than anything else."
It did not take Rodney long to make Mr. Westall and his four companionsunderstand just how matters stood with him, for there was really littleto tell. He was careful not to let his auditors know that he had actedas drill-sergeant, for Captain Hubbard's company of Rangers, for if hetouched upon that subject, Mr. Westall might ask him where he receivedhis military education; and if he answered that he got it at theBarrington Academy, and Mr. Westall happened to know that his prisonerhad been a student at that very school, then what would happen? The fatwould all be in the fire at once, for the Emergency man would verynaturally want to know why the two boys had not given each other somesign of recognition when they first met. That would never do; so Rodneysteered clear of these dangerous points, and Tom Percival sat in thechimney corner with his elbows on his knees and listened to the story.When it was finished and Mr. Westall and his companions had asked him afew leading questions, Rodney ventured to inquire what an Emergency manwas.
"He is a partisan in the truest sense of the word," was Mr. Westall'sanswer. "He is a soldier who is liable to be called into the ranks in anemergency, and at no other time; but that does not prevent him fromgetting a few friends together and going off on an expedition of his ownas often as he feels like it."
"An expedition of his own?"
"Yes. If the Union men in one county get to make themselves toopromiscuous, and their immediate neighbors haven't the strength or theinclination to deal with them themselves, the Emergency men in the nextcounty can slip in some dark night and run the obnoxious characters out.See?"
"And what does the Emergency man do when his services are not needed?"inquired Rodney, who was profoundly astonished.
"Why, he can stay quietly at home, if he wants to, and cultivate hislittle crops while he watches the Union men in the settlement or acts asspy for the troops, if there are any in the vicinity."
"But suppose the Union men find it out and pop him over from the nearestcanebrake?" said Rodney.
"He must look out for that, and so conduct himself while he is at homethat no one will suspect anything wrong of him," answered Mr. Westallindifferently. "His fate is in his own hands, and if he doesn't know howto take care of himself, he has no business to be an Emergency man. Youmight call us a reserve to the State Guard, and that is what we reallyare."
"I think you are really freebooters. That is just the way the Europeanbrigands act," were the words that sprang to the boy's lips.
Although he was as wild a rebel as he ever had been, Rodney had a highersense of honor than when he wrote that mischievous letter to Bud Goblefor the purpose of getting his cousin Marcy Gray into trouble, and hiswhole soul revolted at the idea of being such a soldier as Mr. Westalldescribed. If that was the way a partisan was expected to act, Rodneywished he had not been so determined to become a partisan. Why didn't hestay in his own State and follow the fortunes of the Mooreville Rangers,as he had promised to do? Finally he said:
"Are the State Guards the same as the Home Guards?"
"Not much; any more than a good Confederate is the same as a sneakingYankee," replied Mr. Westall. "The Home Guards are known to all honestmen as Lyon's Dutchmen. There is hardly a native born citizen amongthem, and yet they have the impudence to tell us Americans what kind ofa government we shall have over us."
"Have you Emergency men had much to do yet?"
"We haven't done any fighting, if that's what you mean, for there hasn'tbeen any to speak of outside of St. Louis; but we have been tolerablebusy making it hot for the Union men in and around the settlements wherewe live. However--"
Here Mr. Westall stopped and nodded in Tom Percival's direction, as ifto intimate that he did not care to say more on that subject while theprisoner was within hearing.
The conversation ran on in this channel during the half hour or morethat Nels and his helper spent in getting ready the corn-bread andbacon, but Rodney, although he appeared to be listening closely, did nothear much of it, or gain any great store of information regarding thecourse he ought to pursue during his prospective ride from Cedar Blufflanding to the city of Springfield. The thoughts that filled his mind tothe exclusion of everything else were: What had Tom Percival done tobring upon him the wrath of the Emergency men, and how was he going tohelp him out of the scrape? For of course he was bound to help him if hecould; that was a settled thing. Tom Percival was Union all through, andRodney had seen the day when he would have been glad to thrash himsoundly for the treasonable sentiments he had so often and fearlesslyuttered while they were at Barrington together; but that was all pastnow. Tom was his schoolmate and he was in trouble. That was enough forRodney Gray, who would have fought until he dropped before he would haveseen a hair of Tom's head injured.
"Now then, gentlemen, retch out and help yourselves," exclaimed Nels,breaking in upon the boy's meditations. "We aint got much, but you're aswelcome as the flowers in May."
The invitation was promptly accepted, the single room the cabincontained being so small that the most of the hungry guests could reachthe viands that had been placed upon the table without moving their nailkegs an inch. Rodney had eaten one good supper aboard the _Mollie Able_,but that did not prevent him from falling to with the rest. Tom Percivalkept his seat in the chimney corner and a well-filled plate was passedover to him, and his cup was replenished as often as he drained it.Whatever else his captors intended to do to him they were not going tostarve him. Of course the talk was all about the war, which Mr. West-alldeclared wasn't coming, and the high-handed action taken by theWashington authorities in sending Captain Stokes across the river fromIllinois to seize ten thousand stand of arms that were stored in the St.Louis Arsenal. Of course this was done to keep the weapons from fallinginto the hands of the Confederates, who were already laying their plansto capture them, but Mr. Westall looked upon it as an insult to hisState, and grew red in the face when he spoke of it.
"That was what made the trouble here in Missouri," said he, with greatindignation. "Up to that time we were strong for the Union, and tookpains to say that the State had no call to sever her connection with it;but at the same time we recommended, as a sure means of avoiding civilwar, that the Federal troops should be withdrawn from all points wherethey were likely to come into collision with the citizens. How was thatrecommendation received? With silent contempt, sir; with silentcontempt, and that is something we will not stand."
Supper being over Mr. Westall, Nels and Jeff left the cabin, to shut TomPercival up in the corn-crib, the latter carrying upon his arm atattered blanket which the prisoner was to use "to keep himself warm."It was with a heavy heart that Rodney saw him go, and as Tom did notonce look his way, the latter could not even give him a glance ofencouragement. When the three men returned at the end of ten minutes Mr.Westall was saying:
"It's a slimpsy place to shut a prisoner up in and I should be afraid totrust it, if it were not for the dogs. He can't crawl out between thelogs, that much is certain; but the door is almost ready to drop fromits hinges, and has a good deal of play back and forth behind the bar.If he had a thin, stout stick he could slip it through the crack, liftthe bar and take himself off."
"But I tell you again that there aint the first thing in the crib thathe can stick through that there crack," exclaimed Jeff, earnestly."There aint nothing but corn ever been in there."
"I reckon he's safe enough," said Mr, Westall. "At any rate we will takeour chances on it and try to get a good night's sleep. It might be wellfor whoever gets up during the night to mend the fire, to step out aridtake a look at him. Now, Jeff, what about sleeping arrangements? Thereare not bunks enough for all of us, and I reckon we'll have to tote thistable of yours out doors to make room for us to lie down on the floor,won't we?"
"Now that your prisoner is out of hearing, would you have any objectionto telling me what he has been doing?" inquired Rodney, as Jeff and Nelspushed back their nail kegs and got up to act upon Mr. Westall'ssuggestion.
"No objection wha
tever, and it will not take me long to do it," repliedthe latter. "He's Union."
"But he doesn't look like a horse-thief," added Rodney.
"Yes, he's Union the worst kind," repeated the Emergency man. "We'vebeen hearing about his father's doings ever since the election. We don'tknow him personally for he doesn't live in our county; but we know ofhim, and we've been told that he is a dangerous man. He owns a lot ofniggers, but last election he walked up to the polls, as brave as youplease, and voted for Abe Lincoln; and there wasn't a man who dared saya word to him or lift a hand to stop him. What do you think of that?"
"I admire his courage," replied Rodney, who had heard the story before.
"So would I, if it had been shown in a good cause," said the Emergencyman. "But that's altogether too much cheek for a traitor, and I don'tsee anything in it to admire. This son of his is more to be feared thanthe old man, for he has been off somewhere and got a military education;and the very first thing he did when he came home from school was to getup a company of Home Guards, and send word to Captain Lyon that if hewanted help all he had to do was to say so."
Mr. Westall proceeded to light his pipe, which he had previously filled,and during the operation he winked at Rodney and nodded as if to ask himwhat he thought of _that_. The latter felt a thrill ran through everynerve in him. He was glad to know that his old schoolmate was notwanting in courage, even if he did sympathize with the Yankee invaders,and we may add that this feeling was characteristic of the Barringtonboys all through the war. If they heard, as they occasionally did, thatsome schoolfellow in the opposing ranks had done something that wasthought to be worthy of praise, they felt an honest pride in it.
"I said that young Percival _sent_ word to Captain Lyon that he wasready to help him, but that was not strictly correct," continued Mr.Westall, taking a few puffs at his pipe to make sure that it was welllighted. "He _took_ word to him personally to be certain he got it,riding alone on horseback all the way from Springfield to St. Louis.What passed between him and Lyon we don't know yet, for he won't openhis mouth; but we may find means to make him tell all we care to hear.When he got through with his business at St. Louis he didn't go directlyhome, and that is what got him into this difficulty. He came back by theway of Pilot Knob, where he has a Union uncle living; but that's where Iand my friends live, too."
"And was it there he stole the horse?" asked Rodney.
"Well, between you and me and the gatepost, he never stole a horse,"replied Mr. Westall slowly, as if he were reluctant to make theadmission.
Rodney Gray crossed his legs, clasped his hands around one knee andsettled back on his nail keg with an air that said, almost as plainly aswords:
"I knew it all the time."
"No, he never stole a horse or anything else that we know of," repeatedMr. Westall. "But he rides a critter that is so near like one that wasstolen from a Confederate by a Union man of the name of Morehouse a fewdays ago, that you could hardly tell them apart."
"And I don't much blame Morehouse for stealing that horse, either," saidone of the Emergency men, who had not spoken before. "He had to get outof the country, he couldn't do it without a horse to carry him, and sohe took the one that came first to his hand."
"I don't know as I blame him, either," assented Mr. Westall. "But I doblame him for holding the opinions he does."
"Well, if another man stole the horse why do you lay it on to Percival?"inquired Rodney, who could hardly keep from showing how angry he was.
"You see the matter is just this way," replied the Emergency man, as ifhe scarcely knew how to explain the situation! "If young Percival hadcalled upon his uncle for a visit, and gone away again without taking somuch interest in the affairs of the settlement, we wouldn't have doneany more than to give him warning that he wasn't wanted there; but whenwe saw him and his uncle with their heads together, and learned fromsome of our spies that Union men had been caught going to and from oldPercival's house at all hours of the day and night, we made up our mindsthat there was something wrong about this young fellow; so wetelegraphed to Springfield, and found out that he was an officer in acompany of Home Guards who had offered their services to Lyon. Well, youbet we were surprised to find that he was the son of the only man in hiscounty who dared to vote for Abe Lincoln, and it made us afraid of him.too."
"A whole settlement afraid of one boy?" exclaimed Rodney.
"Exactly. We didn't know which way to turn for the Union men are in themajority in our county, as they are all through the northern and easternparts of Missouri, and we didn't dare do anything openly for fear ofbeing bushwhacked. As good luck would have it we succeeded in scaringMorehouse out of the country about that time, and when he went, he tookone of the best horses in the settlement with him. That gave ussomething to work on, and we made it up among ourselves that we wouldlay the theft on to young Percival, take him out of his bed that nightand serve him as the law directs."
"Does that mean that you would have hung him?" asked Rodney, with ashudder.
"That's generally the way we do with horse-thieves up here," replied Mr.Westall. "How do you serve them in your part of the country?"
"We put them in jail when they have been proved guilty," answeredRodney. "But you have said, in so many words, that this boy didn't stealthe horse--that he was stolen by a man who ran away with him."
Before replying the Emergency man paused to relight his pipe which hehad allowed to go out.
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