Battle Ground

by Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow

  III

  THE CABIN IN THE WOODS

  At daybreak they took up the march again, Dan walking slowly, with hismusket striking the ground and his arm on Big Abel's shoulder. Where thelane curved in the hollow, they came upon a white cottage, with a womanmilking a spotted cow in the barnyard. As she caught sight of them, shewaved wildly with her linsey apron, holding the milk pail carefully betweenher feet as the spotted cow turned inquiringly.

  "Go 'way, I don't want no stragglers here," she cried, as one havingauthority.

  Leaning upon the fence, Dan placidly regarded her.

  "My dear madam, you commit an error of judgment," he replied, pausing toargue.

  With the cow's udder in her hand the woman looked up from the streamingmilk.

  "Well, ain't you stragglers?" she inquired.

  Dan shook his head reproachfully.

  "What air you, then?"

  "Beggars, madam."

  "I might ha' knowed it!" returned the woman, with a snort. "Well, whateveryou air, you kin jest as eas'ly keep on along that thar road. I ain't gotnothing on this place for you. Some of you broke into my smokehouse nightbefo' last an' stole all the spar' ribs I'd been savin'. Was you the ones?"

  "No, ma'am."

  "Oh, you're all alike," protested the woman, scornfully, "an' a bigger seto' rascals I never seed."

  "Huh! Who's a rascal?" exclaimed Big Abel, angrily.

  "This is the reward of doing your duty, Big Abel," remarked Dan, gravely."Never do it again, remember. The next time Virginia is invaded we'll sitby the fire and warm our feet. Good morning, madam."

  "Why ain't you with the army?" inquired the woman sharply, slapping the cowupon the side as she rose from her seat and took up the milk pail. "Anofficer rode by this morning an' he told me part of the army was campin'ten miles across on the other road."

  "Did he say whose division?"

  "Oh, I reckon you kin fight as well under one general as another, so longas you've got a mind to fight at all. You jest follow this lane about threemiles and then keep straight along the turnpike. If you do that I reckonyou'll git yo' deserts befo' sundown." She came over to the fence and stoodfixing them with hard, bright eyes. "My! You do look used up," she admittedafter a moment. "You'd better come in an' git a glass of this milk befo'you move on. Jest go roun' to the gate and I'll meet you at the po'ch. Thedog won't bite you if you don't touch nothin'."

  "All right, go ahead and hide the spoons," called Dan, as he swung open thegate and went up a little path bordered by prince's feathers.

  The woman met them at the porch and led them into a clean kitchen, whereDan sat down at the table and Big Abel stationed himself behind his chair.

  "Drink a glass of that milk the first thing," she said, bustling heavilyabout the room, and browbeating them into submissive silence, while shemixed the biscuits and broke the eggs into a frying-pan greased with bacongravy. Plump, hearty, with a full double chin and cheeks like winterapples, she moved briskly from the wooden safe to the slow fire, which shestirred with determined gestures.

  "It's time this war had stopped, anyhow," she remarked as she slapped theeggs up into the air and back again into the pan. "An' if General Lee everrides along this way I mean to tell him that he ought to have one goodbattle an' be done with it. Thar's no use piddlin' along like this twilwe're all worn out and thar ain't a corn-field pea left in Virginny. Lookhere (to Big Abel), you set right down on that do' step an' I'll give yousomething along with yo' marster. It's a good thing I happened to lookunder the cow trough yestiddy or thar wouldn't have been an egg left inthis house. That's right, turn right in an' eat hearty--don't mince withme." Big Abel, cowed by her energetic manner, seated himself upon the doorstep, and for a half-hour the woman ceaselessly plied them with hotbiscuits and coffee made from sweet potatoes.

  "You mustn't think I mind doing for the soldiers," she said when they tooktheir leave a little later, "but I've a husban' with General Lee and Ican't bear to see able-bodied men stragglin' about the country. No, don'tgive me nothin'--it ain't worth it. Lord, don't I know that you don't gitenough to buy a bag of flour." Then she pointed out the way again and theyset off with a well-filled paper of luncheon.

  "Beware of hasty judgments, Big Abel," advised Dan, as they strolled alongthe road. "Now that woman there--she's the right sort, though she rathertook my breath away."

  "She 'uz downright ficy at fu'st," replied Big Abel, "but I d'clar doseeggs des melted in my mouf like butter. Whew! don't I wish I had dat olespeckled hen f'om home. I could hev toted her unner my arm thoo dis wah deses well es not."

  The sun was well overhead, and across the landscape the heavy dew waslifted like a veil. Here and there the autumn foliage tinted the woods insplashes of red and yellow; and beyond the low stone wall an old sheeppasture was ablaze in goldenrod. From a pointed aspen beside the road awild grapevine let down a fringe of purple clusters, but Big Abel, with afull stomach, passed them by indifferently. A huge buzzard, rising suddenlyfrom the pasture, sailed slowly across the sky, its heavy shadow skimmingthe field beneath. As yet the flames of war had not blown over this quietspot; in the early morning dew it lay as fresh as the world in itsbeginning.

  At the end of the lane, when they came out upon the turnpike, they met anold farmer riding a mule home from the market.

  "Can you tell me if McClellan has crossed the Potomac?" asked Dan, as hecame up with him. "I was in the hospital at Shepherdstown, and I left itfor fear of capture. No news has reached me, but I am on my way to rejointhe army."

  "Naw, suh, you might as well have stayed whar you were," responded the oldman, eying him with the suspicion which always met a soldier out of ranks."McClellan didn't do no harm on this side of the river--he jest set up abattery on Douglas hill and scolded General Lee for leaving Maryland sosoon. You needn't worry no mo' 'bout the Yankees gittin' on this side--tharain't none of 'em left to come, they're all dead. Why, General Lee cut 'emall up into little pieces, that's what he did. Hooray! it was jest likeBible times come back agin."

  Then, as Dan moved on, the farmer raised himself in his stirrups and calledloudly after him. "Keep to the Scriptures, young man, and remember Joshua,Smite them hip an' thigh, as the Bible says."

  All day in the bright sunshine they crept slowly onward, halting at briefintervals to rest in the short grass by the roadside, and stopping to askinformation of the countrymen or stragglers whom they met. At last in thered glow of the sunset they entered a strip of thin woodland, and found anold negro gathering resinous knots from the bodies of fallen pines.

  "Bless de Lawd!" he exclaimed as he faced them. "Is you done come fer desick sodger at my cabin?"

  "A sick soldier? Why, we are all sick soldiers," answered Dan. "Where didhe come from?" The old man shook his head, as he placed his heavy splitbasket on the ground at his feet.

  "I dunno, marster, he ain' come, he des drapped. 'Twuz yestiddy en I 'uzout hyer pickin' up dis yer lightwood des like I is doin' dis minute, w'enI heah 'a-bookerty! bookerty! bookerty!' out dar in de road 'en a w'itehoss tu'n right inter de woods wid a sick sodger a-hangin' ter de saddle.Yes, suh, de hoss he come right in des like he knowed me, en w'en I heltout my han' he poke his nose spang inter it en w'innied like he moughtyglad ter see me--en he wuz, too, dat's sho'. Well, I ketch holt er hisbridle en lead 'im thoo de woods up ter my do' whar he tu'n right in enbegin ter nibble in de patch er kebbage. All dis time I 'uz 'lowin' dat desodger wuz stone dead, but w'en I took 'im down he opened his eyes en axedfur water. Den I gun 'im a drink outer de goa'd en laid 'im flat on my bed,en in a little w'ile a nigger come by dat sez he b'longed ter 'im, butbefo' day de nigger gone agin en de hoss he gone, too."

  "Well, we'll see about him, uncle, go ahead," said Dan, and as the oldnegro went up the path among the trees, he followed closely on hisfootsteps. When they had gone a little way the woods opened suddenly andthey came upon a small log cabin, with a yellow dog lying before the door.The dog barked shrilly as they approached, and a voice from the dim
roombeyond called out:--

  "Hosea! Are you back so soon, Hosea?"

  At the words Dan stopped as if struck by lightning, midway of the vegetablegarden; then breaking from Big Abel, he ran forward and into the littlecabin.

  "Is the hurt bad, Governor?" he asked in a trembling voice.

  The Governor smiled and held out a steady hand above the ragged patchworkquilt. His neat gray coat lay over him and as Dan caught the glitter andthe collar he remembered the promotion after Seven Pines.

  "Let me help you, General," he implored. "What is it that we can do?"

  "I have come to the end, my boy," replied the Governor, his rich voiceunshaken. "I have seen men struck like this before and I have lived twelvehours longer than the strongest of them. When I could go no farther I sentHosea ahead to make things ready--and now I am keeping alive to hear fromhome. Give me water."

  Dan held the glass to his lips, and looking up, the Governor thanked himwith his old warm glance that was so like Betty's. "There are some thingsthat are worth fighting for," said the older man as he fell back, "and thesight of home is one of them. It was a hard ride, but every stab of paincarried me nearer to Uplands--and there are poor fellows who endure worsethings and yet die in a strange land among strangers." He was silent amoment and then spoke slowly, smiling a little sadly.

  "My memory has failed me," he said, "and when I lay here last night andtried to recall the look of the lawn at home, I couldn't remember--Icouldn't remember. Are there elms or maples at the front, Dan?"

  "Maples, sir," replied Dan, with the deference of a boy. "The long walkbordered by lilacs goes up from the road to the portico with the Doriccolumns--you remember that?"

  "Yes, yes, go on."

  "The maples have grown thick upon the lawn and close beside the house thereis the mimosa tree that your father set out on his twenty-first birthday."

  "The branches touch the library window. I had them trimmed last year thatthe shutters might swing back. What time is it, Dan?"

  Dan turned to the door.

  "What time is it, Big Abel?" he called to the negro outside.

  "Hit's goin' on eight o'clock, suh," replied Big Abel, staring at the west."De little star he shoots up moughty near eight, en dar he is a-comin'."

  "Hosea is there by now," said the Governor, turning his head on a pillow ofpine needles. "He started this morning, and I told him to change horsesupon the road and eat in the saddle. Yes, he is there by now and Julia ison the way. Am I growing weaker, do you think? There is a little brandy onthe chair, give me a few drops--we must make it last all night."

  After taking the brandy he slept a little, and awaking quietly, looked atDan with dazed eyes.

  "Who is it?" he asked, stretching out his hand. "Why, I thought Dick Wythewas dead."

  Dan bent over him, smoothing the hair from his brow with hands that weregentle as a woman's.

  "Surely you haven't forgotten me," he said.

  "No--no, I remember, but it is dark, too dark. Why doesn't Shadrach bringthe candles? And we might as well have a blaze in the fireplace to-night.It has grown chilly; there'll be a white frost before morning."

  There was a basket of resinous pine beside the hearth, and Dan kindled afire from a handful of rich knots. As the flames shot up, the rough littlecabin grew more cheerful, and the Governor laughed softly lying on hispallet.

  "Why, I thought you were Dick Wythe, my boy," he said. "The light was sodim I couldn't see, and, after all, it was no great harm, for there was nota handsomer man in the state than my friend Dick--the ladies used to callhim 'Apollo Unarmed,' you know. Ah, I was jealous enough of Dick in my day,though he never knew it. He rather took Julia's fancy when I first begancourting her, and, for a time, he pretended to reform and refused to toucha drop even at the table. I've seen him sit for hours, too, in Julia'sBible class of little negroes, with his eyes positively glued on her facewhile she read the hymns aloud. Yes, he was over head and ears in love withher, there's no doubt of that--though she has always denied it--and, I daresay, he would have been a much better man if she had married him, and I amuch worse one. Somehow, I can't help feeling that it wasn't quite just,and that I ought to square up things with Dick at Judgment Day. I shouldn'tlike to reap any good from his mistakes, poor fellow." He broke off for aninstant, lay gazing at the lightwood blaze, and then took up the thread."He had his fall at last, and it's been on my conscience ever since that Ididn't toss that bowl of apple toddy through the window when I saw himgoing towards it. We were at Chericoke on Christmas Eve in a big snowstorm,and Dick couldn't resist his glass--he never could so long as there was adrop at the bottom of it--the more he drank, the thirstier he got, he usedto say. Well, he took a good deal, more than he could stand, and when theMajor began toasting the ladies and called them the prettiest things Godever made, Dick flew into a rage and tried to fight him. 'There are twoprettier sights than any woman that ever wore petticoats,' he thundered;'and (here he ripped out an oath) I'll prove it to you at the sword's pointbefore sunrise. God made but one thing, sir, prettier than the cobwebs on abottle of wine, and that's the bottle of wine without the cobwebs!' Then hewent at the Major, and we had to hold him back and rub snow on his temples.That night I drove home with Julia, and she accepted me before we passedthe wild cherry tree on the way to Uplands."

  As he fell silent the old negro, treading softly, came into the room andmade the preparations for his simple supper, which he carried outsidebeneath the trees. In a little bared place amid charred wood, a fire wasstarted, and Dan watched through the open doorway the stooping figures ofthe two negroes as they bent beside the flames. In a little while Big Abelcame into the room and beckoned him, but he shook his head impatiently andturned away, sickened by the thought of food.

  "Go, my boy," said the Governor, as if he had seen it through closed eyes."I never saw a private yet that wasn't hungry--one told me last week thathis diet for a year had varied only three times--blackberries, chinquapins,and persimmons had kept him alive, he said."

  Then his mind wandered again, and he talked in a low voice of the wheatfields at Uplands and of the cradles swinging all day in the sunshine. Dan,moving to the door, stared, with aching eyes, at the rich twilight whichcrept like purple mist among the trees. The very quiet of the scene gratedas a discord upon his mood, and he would have welcomed with a feeling ofrelief any violent manifestation of the savagery of nature. A storm, anearthquake, even the thunder of battle he felt would be less tragic thanjust this pleasant evening with the serene moon rising above the hills.

  Turning back into the room, he drew a split-bottomed chair beside thehearth, and began his patient watch until the daybreak. Under the patchworkquilt the Governor lay motionless, dead from the waist down, only thedesire in his eyes struggling to keep the spirit to the clay. Big Abel andthe old negro made themselves a bed beneath the trees, and as they rakedthe dried leaves together the mournful rustling filled the little cabin.Then they lay down, the yellow dog beside them, and gradually the silenceof the night closed in.

  After midnight, Dan, who had dozed in his chair from weariness, wasawakened by the excited tones of the Governor's voice. The desire wasvanquished at last and the dying man had gone back in delirium to thebattle he had fought beyond the river. On the hearth the resinous pinestill blazed and from somewhere among the stones came the short chirp of acricket.

  "Oh, it's nothing--a mere scratch. Lay me beneath that tree, and tellBarnes to support D. H. Hill at the sunken road. Richardson is charging usacross the ploughed ground and we are fighting from behind the stackedfence rails. Ah, they advance well, those Federals--not a man out of line,and their fire has cut the corn down as with a sickle. If Richardson keepsthis up, he will sweep us from the wood and beyond the slope. No, don'ttake me to the hospital. Please God, I'll die upon the field and hear thecannon at the end. Look! they are charging again, but we still hold ourground. What, Longstreet giving way? They are forcing him from theridge--the enemy hold it now! Ah, well, there is A. P. Hill to
give thecounter stroke. If he falls upon their flank, the day is--"

  His voice ceased, and Dan, crossing the room, gave him brandy from theglass upon the chair. The silence had grown suddenly oppressive, and as theyoung man went back to his seat, he saw a little mouse gliding like ashadow across the floor. Startled by his footsteps, it hesitated an instantin the centre of the room, and then darted along the wall and disappearedbetween the loose logs in the corner. Often during the night it crept outfrom its hiding place, and at last Dan grew to look for it with a certainwistful comfort in its shy companionship.

  Gradually the stars went out above the dim woods, and the dawn whitenedalong the eastern sky. With the first light Dan went to the open door anddrew a deep breath of the refreshing air. A new day was coming, but he metit with dulled eyes and a crippled will. The tragedy of life seemed tooverhang the pleasant prospect upon which he looked, and, as he stoodthere, he saw in his vision of the future only an endless warfare and awasted land. With a start he turned, for the Governor was speaking in avoice that filled the cabin and rang out into the woods.

  "Skirmishers, forward! Second the battalion of direction! Battalions,forward!"

  He had risen upon his pallet and was pointing straight at the open door,but when, with a single stride, Dan reached him, he was already dead.