CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
_Captain Falconer Makes Suggestions_
It was not often that Mr. Sanders had a surprise, but he found oneawaiting him when he left the Lumsden Place, and started in thedirection of home. He had not taken twenty steps before he met the youngCaptain who had charge of the detachment of Federal troops stationed atShady Dale.
"This is Mr. Sanders, I believe," he said without ceremony. "My name isFalconer. I have just been to call on Mr. Clopton, but they tell methere that he is at Mrs. Lumsden's."
"Well, I wouldn't advise you to go there," said Mr. Sanders, bluntly."The lady is in a considerbul state of mind about her gran'son."
"It is a miserable piece of business all the way through," remarkedCaptain Falconer. There was a note of sympathy in his voice, which Mr.Sanders could not fail to catch, and it interested him.
"I called upon my cousin, Mrs. Claiborne, for the first time to-day,"the Captain went on. "She has invited me to tea often, but I haverefused the invitation on account of the state of feeling here. I knowhow high it is. It is natural, of course, but it is not justifiable.Take my case, for instance: I am a Democrat, and I come from a family ofDemocrats, who have never voted anything else but the Democratic ticket,except when Henry Clay was a candidate, and when Lincoln was running fora second term."
"You don't tell me!" cried Mr. Sanders, with genuine astonishment.
"It is a fact," said Captain Falconer, with emphasis. "If you think thatI, or any of the men under me, or any of the men who fought at all,intended to bring about such a condition as now exists in this part ofthe country, you are doing us a great wrong. Don't mistake me! I am notapologising for the part I took. I would do it all over again a hundredtimes if necessary. Yet I do not believe in negro suffrage, and I abhorand detest every exaction that the politicians in Washington have placedupon the people of the South."
Mr. Sanders was too much astonished to make appropriate comment. Hecould only stare at the young man. And Captain Falconer was very good tolook upon. He was of the Kentucky type, tall, broad-shouldered andhandsome. His undress uniform became him well, and he had thedistinctive and pleasing marks that West Point leaves on all young menwho graduate at the academy there.
"Well, as I told you, I called on my cousin to-day for the first time,and after we had talked of various matters, especially the unfortunateevents that have recently occurred, she insisted that I make it mybusiness to see you or Mr. Clopton. She told me," the Captain said,with a pleasant smile, "that you are the man that kidnapped Mr.Lincoln."
"She's wrong about that," replied Mr. Sanders; "I'm the man that didn'tkidnap him. But I want to ask you: ain't you some kin to John BarbourFalconer?"
"He was my father," the Captain replied.
"Well, I've heard Meriwether Clopton talk about him hundreds of times.They ripped around in Congress together before the war."
"Now, that is very interesting to me," said the Captain, his facebrightening.
He was silent for some time, as they walked slowly along, and duringthis period of silence, Meriwether Clopton came up behind them. He wouldhave passed on, with a polite inclination of his head, but Mr. Sandersdrew his attention.
"Mr. Clopton," he said, "here's a gentleman I reckon you'd like toknow--Captain Falconer. He's a son of John Barbour Falconer."
"Is that so?" exclaimed Meriwether Clopton, a wonderful change passingover his face. "Well, I am glad to see a son of my dear old friend,anywhere and at any time." He shook hands very cordially with theCaptain. "Let me see--let me see: if I am not mistaken, your first nameis Garnett; you were named after your maternal grandfather."
"That is true, sir," replied the Captain, with a boyish laugh that waspleasing to the ear--he was not more than thirty. "But I am surprisedthat you should remember these things so well."
"Why, my dear sir, it is not surprising at all. I have dandled you on myknee many and many a time; I know the very house, yes, the very room, inwhich you were born. Some of the happiest hours of my manhood were spentwith your father and mother in Washington. Your father is dead, Ibelieve. Well, he was a good man; among the best I ever knew. What ofyour mother?"
"She has broken greatly," responded the Captain. "The war was a greatburden to her. She was a Virginian, you know."
"Yes--yes!" said Meriwether Clopton. "The war has been a dreadfulnightmare to the people on both sides; and it seems to be still going ondisguised as politics. Only last night, as you perhaps know, a posse ofsoldiers arrested and carried off four of our worthiest young men."
"Yes, sir, I know of it and regret it," responded Captain Falconer. "AndI have no doubt that a majority of the people here are incensed at thesoldiers, forgetting that they are the mere instruments of theirsuperiors, and that their superiors themselves take their orders fromother superiors who are engaged in the game of politics. It is the dutyof a soldier to blindly obey orders. To pause to ask a question would becharged to a spirit of insubordination. The army is at the beck and callof what is called the Government, and to-day the Government happens tobe the radical contingent of the Republican Party. A soldier may detestthe service he is called on to perform, but he is bound to obey orders.I can answer for the officer who was sent to arrest these young men. Hewas boiling over with rage because he had been sent here on such anerrand."
"I am glad to hear that," declared Meriwether Clopton, with greatheartiness.
"His feelings were perfectly natural, sir," said Captain Falconer. "Takethe army as it stands to-day, and it would be hard, if not impossible,to find a man in it who does not shrink from doing the dirty work of thepoliticians. Can you imagine that my mission here is pleasant to me? Ican assure you, sir, it is the most disagreeable duty that ever fell tomy lot. I am glad you spoke of these arrests. At your convenience, Ishould like to have a little conversation with you and Mr. Sanders onthis subject."
"There is no time like the present," replied Meriwether Clopton. "Willyou come with me to my house?"
"Certainly, sir; and with the more pleasure because I called on mycousin Mrs. Claiborne to-day. I have forborne to call on her heretoforeon account of the prejudice against us. But these arrests made itnecessary for me to communicate with some of the influential friends ofthe young men. I was afraid my visit to-day would prove to beembarrassing to her. If I visit you at your invitation, the probabilityis she will have no social penalty to pay. I know what the feeling is."
Indeed, he knew too well. He had passed along the streets apparentlyperfectly oblivious to the attitude and movements of those whom hechanced to meet, but all his faculties had been awake, for he was a manof the keenest sensibilities. He had seen women and young girls curltheir lips in a sneer, and toss their heads in scorn, as he passed themby; and some of them pulled their skirts aside, lest his touch shouldpollute them. He had observed all this, and he was wounded by it; andyet he had no resentment. Being a Southerner himself, he knew that thefeelings which prompted such actions were perfectly natural, the fittingaccompaniment of the humiliation which the radical element compelled thewhites to endure.
In the course of his long and frequent walks in the countryside, CaptainFalconer had made the acquaintance of Gabriel Tolliver, in whose naturethe spirit of a gypsy vagrant seemed to have full sway; and Gabriel wasthe only person native to Shady Dale, except the ancient postmaster,with whom the young officer had held communication. He seemed to be cutoff not only from all social intercourse, but even fromacquaintanceship.
"You may rest assured," declared Meriwether Clopton, "that if I hadknown you were the son of my old friend, I would have sought you out,much as I detest the motives and purposes of those who have inauguratedthis era of bayonet rule. And you may be sure, too, that in my house youwill be a welcome guest."
"I appreciate your kindness, sir, and I shall remember it," said CaptainFalconer.
That portion of Shady Dale which was moving about the streets with itseyes open was surprised and shocked--nay, wellnigh paralysed--to see the"Yankee Captain" on par
ade, as it were, with Meriwether Clopton on oneside of him, and Mr. Sanders on the other. Yes, and the hand of the sonof the First Settler (could their eyes deceive them?) was restingfamiliarly on the shoulder of the "Yankee!" Surely, here was food forthought. Were Meriwether Clopton and Mr. Sanders about to join theradicals? Well, well, well! At last one of the loungers, a man of middleage, who had seen service, raised his voice and put an end to comment.
"You can bet your sweet life," he declared, "that Billy Sanders knowswhat he's up to. He may not git the game he's after, but he'll fetchback a handful of feathers or hair. Mr. Clopton I don't know so well,but I was in the war wi' Billy Sanders, and I wish you'd wake me up andlet me know when somebody fools him. There ain't a living man on thecontinent, nor under it neither, that can git on his blind side."
"Now you are whistlin'!" exclaimed one of his companions, and thisseemed to settle the matter. If Mr. Sanders didn't know what he wasabout, why, then, everybody else in that neighbourhood might as wellgive up, "and let natur' cut her caper."
"I understand now why Mrs. Claiborne referred me to you," said CaptainFalconer, when Mr. Sanders had related the nature and extent of theinformation which he had been able to gather during the morning.
"The lady is kinder partial," remarked Mr. Sanders, "but she's as brightas a new dollar, somethin' I ain't seed sence I cut my wisdom teeth."
"You already know what I intended to tell you," said the Captain. Butit turned out, nevertheless, that he was able to give them some verystartling information. It was the general understanding in Shady Dalethat the prisoners were to be sent to Atlanta; but the militaryauthorities, fearing an attempt at rescue, perhaps, had ordered them tobe sent to Fort Pulaski, below Savannah. There were other reasons, theCaptain explained, for sending the young men there. They would beisolated from their friends, and, so placed, might be induced toconfess; and if the circumstances surrounding them were not sufficientto produce such a result then other measures were to be taken.
Meanwhile, the circumstantial evidence against Gabriel was verystrong--stronger even than Mr. Sanders had imagined. Bridalbin, whomCaptain Falconer knew as Boring, had informed that officer of his ownsupposed discoveries with respect to Gabriel's movements; and theevidence he was prepared to give, coupled with the fact that Hotchkisshad pronounced the lad's name with his last breath, made out a case ofexceptional strength. Urged on by the vindictiveness of the radicalleaders in Congress, it was more than probable that the military courtbefore which the young men were to be tried, would convict any or all ofthem on much slighter evidence than that which had accumulated againstGabriel. It was all circumstantial evidence of course, but even in thecivil courts, and before juries made up of their peers, men accused ofcrime have frequently been convicted on circumstantial evidencealone--that is to say, on probability.
"Now, this is what I wanted to say," remarked Captain Falconer, as theysat in the library at the Clopton Place, and after he had gone over theevidence, item by item: "I was given to understand by the officer whomade the arrests that I would shortly be transferred to Savannah, or,rather, to Fort Pulaski, and placed in charge of the prisoners, the ideabeing that I, knowing something of the young men, would be able toextract a confession from them by fair means. This failing, there areothers who could be depended on to employ foul. The officer, who is avery fine soldier, and thoroughly in love with his profession, dropped ahint that, all other means failing, the young men are to be put througha course of sprouts in order to extort a confession."
Mr. Sanders looked hard at the Captain; he was taking the young man'smeasure. What he saw or divined must have been satisfactory, for hisface, which had been in a somewhat puckered condition, as he himselfwould have expressed it, suddenly cleared up, and he rose from his chairwith a laugh.
"Do you-all know what I've gone an' done?" he asked.
"You do so many clever things, William, that we cannot possibly imaginewhat the newest is," said Meriwether Clopton.
"Well, sir, this is the cleverest yit. I've come off from Lucy Lumsden'san' clean forgot my hoss. It's a wonder I didn't forgit my head. Now,you might 'a' said, an' said truly, that I'd forgit a man, or a 'oman,but when William H. Sanders, Esquire, walks off in the broad light ofday, an' forgits his hoss, an' that hoss the Rackin' Roan, you may knowthat his thinkin' machine has slipped a cog. Ef you'll excuse me, I'llgo right arter that creetur. I'm mighty glad he can't talk--it's aboutthe only thing he can't do--bekaze he'd gi' me a long an' warm piece ofhis mind."
Captain Falconer rose also, but Meriwether Clopton protested. "I shouldbe glad if you would stay to dinner," he said. "I have several things toshow you--some interesting letters from your father, for instance."
"But the ladies?" suggested the Captain, with a comically doubtful liftof the eyebrows. He had no notion of bearding any of the Confederatelionesses in their dens. "You know how they regard us here."
"Only my daughter Sarah is here. She knew your father well, and has avery lively remembrance of him. She was fifteen when you were three, andmany a day she was your volunteer nurse."
So it was arranged that the Captain should remain to dinner, and it maybe said that he spent a very pleasant time, after his long period ofsocial isolation. "I shall call you Garnett, to begin with," said SarahClopton, as she shook his hand, "but you must not expect me to be verycordial to-day. It was only last night, you must remember, that some ofthe people you associate with arrested and carried off a young man whois very dear to me."
"You may be very sure, Miss Clopton, that the officer who did that pieceof work had no relish for it. He simply obeyed orders. He had nodiscretion in the matter whatever."
"Well, I shall be very glad to think that, Garnett, for your sake. Butthat fact doesn't restore our young men," she said with a sigh. "Oh, Iwonder when we'll all be at peace and happy again?"
"In God's own time, and not before," declared Meriwether Cloptonsolemnly.
"Well, we'll try an' help that time to come," said Mr. Sanders, enteringthe room at that moment. He was followed by Cephas, who was one ofGabriel's favourites among the small boys. Cephas was bashful enough,but he always felt at ease at the Clopton Place, where everything movedalong the lines of simplicity and perfect openness. The small boy had asort of chilly feeling when he saw the officer, but he soon got overthat.
"I went an' got my hoss," said Mr. Sanders, "an' he paid me back for myforgitfulness by purty nigh bitin' a piece out'n my arm; an' whilst Iwas a-rubbin' the place, up comes Cephas for to find out somethin' aboutthe boys. When I got through makin' a few remarks sech as you don't hearat church, a kinder blind idee popped in my head, an' so I tuck Cephasup behind me, an' fetched him here."
"Sit on the sofa, Cephas. Have a chair, William, and tell us about yourblind idea."
"Ef you'll promise not to laugh," Mr. Sanders stipulated. "You know Mrs.Ab's sayin' that ef the old sow knowed she was swallerin' a tree ev'rytime she crunched an acorn, she'd grunt a heap louder'n she does: well,I know what I'm fixin' for to swaller, and you won't hear much loudgruntin' from me."
"Well, we are ready to hear from you," said Meriwether Clopton.Whereupon, Mr. Sanders threw his head back and laughed.
Gabriel Tolliver: A Story of Reconstruction Page 25