CHAPTER VII
THE HOMECOMING
A great and exultant cheer went up from the massed thousands inCharleston. A smile passed over Beauregard's swarthy face and he showedhis white teeth. Colonel Leonidas Talbot regarded the white flag withfeelings in which triumph and sadness were mingled strangely. Butthe emotions of Harry and his comrades were, for the moment, those ofvictory only.
Boats put out both from the fort and the shore. Discipline was relaxednow, and Harry, St. Clair and Langdon went outside the battery. A lightbreeze had sprung up, and it was very grateful to Harry, who for hourshad breathed the heavy odors of smoke and burned gunpowder. The smokeitself, which had formed a vast cloud over harbor, forts and city,was now drifting out to sea, leaving all things etched sharply in thedazzling sunlight of a Southern spring day.
"Well, old Wait-and-See, you have waited, and you have seen," saidLangdon to Harry. "That white flag and those boats going out mean thatSumter is ours. Everything is for the best and we win everywhere andall the time."
Harry was silent. He was watching the boats. But the negotiations weresoon completed. Sumter, a mass of ruins, was given up, and the Star andBars, taking the place of the Stars and Stripes, gaily snapped defianceto the whole North. "It begins to look well there," said Beauregard,gazing proudly at the new flag.
All the amenities were preserved between the captured garrison and theircaptors. Anderson was sent to the Baltic, which still hovered outside,and the Union vessels disappeared on their way back to the North.Peace, but now the peace of triumph, settled again over Charleston,and throughout the South went the joyous tidings that Sumter had beentaken. The great state of Virginia, Mother of Presidents, went out ofthe Union at last, and North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas followedher, but Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri still hung in the balance.
Lincoln had called for volunteers to put down a rebellion, but Harryheard everywhere in Charleston that the Confederacy was now secure.The Southerners were rising by the thousands to defend it. The women,too, were full of zeal and enthusiasm and they urged the men to go tothe front. With the full consent of the lower South the capital was tobe moved from Montgomery to Richmond, the capital of Virginia, on thevery border of the Confederacy, to look defiantly, as it were, acrossat Washington over a space which was to become the vast battlefield ofAmerica, although few then dreamed it. The progress of President Davisto the new capital, set in the very face of the foe, was to be one hugetriumph of faith and loyalty.
Harry heard nothing in Charleston but joyful news. There was not asingle note of gloom. Europe, which must have its cotton, would favorthe success of the South. Women who had never worked before, sewednight and day on clothing for the soldiers. Men gave freely and withoutasking to the new government. An extraordinary wave of emotion sweptover the South, carrying everybody with it. Charleston shouted anew asthe newspapers announced the news of distinguished officers who had goneout with the Southern States. There were the two Johnstons, the one ofVirginia and the other of Kentucky; Lee, Bragg, of Buena Vista fame;Longstreet, and many others, some already celebrated in the Mexican War,and others with a greater fame yet to make.
Harry heard it all and it was transfused into his own blood. Now aletter came from his father. That obstinate faction in Kentucky stillheld the state to the Union. Since Sumter had fallen and Charleston wassafe, he wished his son to rejoin him in Pendleton, whence they wouldproceed together to Frankfort, and help the Southern party. Hispersonal account of the glowing deed that had been done in Charlestonharbor would help. He was sure that his old friend, General Beauregard,would release him for this important duty.
Harry's heart and judgment alike responded to the call. He took theletter to General Beauregard, finding him at the Charleston Hotel withGovernor Pickens and officers of his staff, and stood aside while thegeneral read it. Beauregard at once wrote an order.
"This is your discharge from the Palmetto Guards," he said. "ColonelKenton writes wisely. We need Kentucky and I understand that a verylittle more may bring the state to us. Go with your father. Iunderstand that you have been a brave young soldier here and may youdo as well up there."
Harry, feeling pride but not showing it, saluted and left the room,going at once to Madame Delaunay's, where he had left his baggage.He intended to leave early in the morning, but first he sought hisfriends and told them good-bye.
"Don't forget that we're going to have a great war," said ColonelLeonidas Talbot, "and the first battle line will be far north ofCharleston. I shall look for you there."
"God bless you, my boy," said Major Hector St. Hilaire. "May you comeback some day to this beautiful Charleston of ours, and find it morebeautiful than ever."
"I'll meet you at Richmond later on," said Arthur St. Clair, "and thenwe'll serve together again."
"I'll join you at the White House in Washington," said Tom Langdon,"and I'll give you the next best bed to sleep in with your boots on."
Harry gave his farewells with deep and genuine regret. Whether theirmanner was grave or frivolous, he knew that these were good friendsof his, and he sincerely hoped that he would meet them again. MadameDelaunay spoke to him almost as if he had been a son of hers, and therewas dew in his eyes, because he could never forget her kindness to thelad who had been a stranger.
He resumed his civilian clothing and put his gray uniform, fine and new,of which he was so proud, in his saddle bags. Kentucky had declaredherself neutral ground, warning the armies of both North and South tokeep off her sacred soil, and he did not wish to invite undue attention.He intended, moreover, to leave the train when he neared Pendleton,at the same little station at which he had taken it when he startedsouth.
It was a different Harry who started home late in April. Four monthshad made great changes. He bore himself more like a man. His mannerwas much more considered and grave. He had seen great things and he haddone his share of them. He gazed upon a world full of responsibilitiesand perils.
But he looked back at Charleston the gay, the volatile and the beautiful,with real affection. It was almost buried now in flowers and foliage.Spring was at the full, every breeze was sharply sweet with grassyflavors. The very triumph and joy of living penetrated his soul.Youth swept aside the terrors of war. He was going home after victory.He soon left Charleston out of sight. A last roof or steeple glitteredfor a moment in the sun and then was gone. Before him lay the uplandsand the ridges, and in another day he would be in another land.
He crossed the low mountains, passed through Nashville again, althoughhe did not stop there, his train making immediate connection, and oncemore and with a thrill, entered his own state. He learned from casualtalk on the trains that affairs in Kentucky were very hot. The specialsession of the Legislature, called by Governor Magoffin, was to meet atFrankfort early in May. The women of the state had already prepared anappeal to the Legislature to save them from the horrors of civil war.
Harry saw that he had not left active life behind him when he came awayfrom Charleston. The feeling of strife had spread over a vast area.The atmosphere of Kentucky, like that of South Carolina, was surchargedwith intensity and passion, but it had a difference. All the windsblew in the same direction in South Carolina and they sang one song oftriumph, but in Kentucky they were variable and conflicting, and theirvoices were many.
He felt the difference as soon as he reached the hills of his nativestate. People were cooler here and they were more prone to look atthe two sides of a question. The air, too, was unlike that of SouthCarolina. There was a sharper tang to it. It whipped his blood as itblew down from the slopes and crests.
It was afternoon when he reached the little station of Winton and leftthe train, a tall, sturdy boy, the superior of many a man in size,strength and agility. His saddle bags over his arm, he went at onceto the liveryman with whom he had left his horse on his journey toCharleston, and asked for another, his best, for the return ride toPendleton. The liveryman stared
at him a moment or two and then burstinto an exclamation of surprise.
"Why, it's Harry Kenton!" he said. "Harry, you've changed a lot in soshort a time! You were at the bombardment of Fort Sumter, they tell me!It's made a mighty stir in these parts! There were never before suchtimes in old Kentucky! Yes, Harry, I'll give you the best horse I'vegot, there ain't one more powerful in the state, but pushin' as hard asyou will you can't reach Pendleton before dark, an' you look out."
"Look out for what?"
"Bill Skelly an' his gang. Them mountaineers are up. They say they'regoin' to beat the rich men of the lowlands an' keep Kentucky in theUnion, but between you an' me, Harry, it's the hate they feel forthem that think harder an' work harder an' make more than themselves.Bill Skelly is the worst man in the mountains an' he has gathered abouthim a big gang of toughs. They're carin' mighty little about the Unionor the freedom of the slaves, but they expect to make a lot out of thisfor themselves. Now I tell you again, Harry, to look out as you gothrough the dark to Pendleton. The country is mighty troubled."
"I will," replied Harry, with vivid recollection of his ride fromPendleton to Winton. "I am armed, Mr. Collins, and I have seen war.I served in one of the batteries that reduced Fort Sumter."
He did not say the last as a boast, but merely as an assurance to theliveryman, who he saw was anxious on his account.
"If you've got pistols, just you think once before you shoot," saidCollins. "Things are shorely mighty troubled in these parts an' they'regoin' to be worse."
"Have you heard anything of my father? Is he at Pendleton?"
"He was two days ago. He'd been up to Louisville where the Southernleaders had a meetin', but couldn't make things go as they wanted 'emto go, an' so he come back to Pendleton. People are tellin' that he'sgoin' to Frankfort soon."
Harry thanked him, threw his saddle bags across the horse, a powerfulbay, and, giving a final wave of his hand to the sympathetic liveryman,rode away. He had little fear. He carried a pair of heavydouble-barreled pistols in holsters, and a smaller weapon in his pocket.The horse, as he soon saw, was of uncommon power and spirit and hesnapped his fingers at Skelly and his gang.
He rode first at a long, easy walk, knowing too well to push hard atthe beginning, and the afternoon passed without anything worthy of hisnotice save the loneliness of the road. In the two hours before sundownhe met less than half a dozen persons. All were men, and with a merenod they went on quickly, regarding him with suspicion. This was notthe fashion of a year ago, when they exchanged a friendly word or two,but Harry knew its cause. Now nobody could trust anybody else.
The setting sun was uncommonly red, tinting all the forest with a fieryglow and Harry looked apprehensively at the line of blue hills now onhis right, whence danger had come before. But he saw nothing that movedthere. No signal lights twinkled. The intervening space was a mass ofheavy green foliage, which the eye, now that the twilight was at hand,could penetrate only a few score yards. A northeast wind off thedistant mountain tops was cold and sharp, and Harry, who wore noovercoat, shivered a little.
Young though he was, he remembered the liveryman's caution, and hewatched the forest on either side, as well as he could. But he dependedmore upon his keenness of ear. He did not believe the stirring of anylarge force in the thickets could pass him unheard, and, having nursedthe strength of his great horse, he felt that he could leave almost anypursuit far behind.
The twilight sank into a dark and heavy night. The moon and stars laybehind drifting clouds and, now and then, came a swish of cold rain.Harry was not able to see more than a few yards to right or left,when the road ran through the woods, as it did most of the time, andnot much further when fields chanced to lie on either side.
He was within a mile of Pendleton, and his heart began to throb, notwith thoughts of Skelly, but because he would soon be in his old homeagain. Ten or fifteen minutes more, and he would see the solid redbrick house rising among the clipped pines. But as he passed thejunction of a small road coming down from the hills, his attentive eargave warning. He heard the sound of hoofs and many of them. He drewin for a moment under the boughs and listened.
Harry's instinct warned him against the troop of men that he heard.Collins, the liveryman, had told him that the country was full oftrouble. This region was neither North nor South. It was debatableland, of which raiding bands would take full advantage, and, despite therisk, he wished to know what was on foot. He was almost invisible underthe boughs of a great oak which hung over the road, and the horse,after so many miles of hard riding, was willing enough to stand still.The rain swished in his face and the leaves gave forth a chilly rustle,but he held himself firmly to his task.
The hoofbeats came nearer and then ceased. The horsemen stopped atthe point, where the narrower road merged into the larger and, as theywere clear of the foliage, Harry caught a view of them. There was nomoonlight, but his eyes had grown so well used to the darkness that hewas able to recognize Skelly, who was in advance, an old army rifleacross his saddle bow. Behind him were at least fifty men, and Harryknew they were all mountaineers. They rode the scrubby mountain horses,more like ponies, and every man carried a rifle.
Harry divined instantly that they had come down from the hills to make araid upon the Confederate stronghold, Pendleton. War was on, and herewas their chance to take revenge upon the more civilized people of thelowlands. Skelly was giving his final orders and Harry could hear him.
"We'll leave the main road, pull down the fences an' ride across thefields," he said. "We'll first take the house of that rebel and traitor,Colonel Kenton. It'll be helpin' the cause if we burn it clean down tothe ground. If anybody tries to stop you, shoot. Then we'll go on tothe others."
A growl of approval came from the men, and some shook their rifles as asign of what they would do. Harry knew them. Mostly moonshiners andfugitives from justice, they cared far more for revenge and spoil thanfor the Union. He shuddered as he heard their talk. His own home wasto be their first point of attack, and those who resisted were to beshot down.
He waited to hear no more, but, keeping in the shadow of the boughs andriding at first in a walk, he went on toward Pendleton. He was surethat Skelly's men had not heard his hoofbeats, as there was no sound ofpursuit, and, three or four hundred yards further, he changed from awalk to a gallop. Careless of the dark and of all risks of the road,he drove the horse faster and faster. He was on familiar ground.He knew every hill and dip, almost every tree, but he did not pause tonotice anything.
Soon he saw a light, then a dark outline, and his heart throbbedgreatly. It was his father's house, standing among the clipped pines,and he was in time! Now his horse's feet thundered on the brief stretchof road that was left, and in another minute he was at the gate openingon the lawn. A man, rifle in hand, stood on the front steps, anddemanded to know who had come.
"It is I, Harry, father!" cried Harry. "Skelly and his crowd are only amile behind me, coming to destroy the place!"
Harry heard his father mutter, "Thank God!" which he knew was for hiscoming. Then he quickly led the horse inside the gate, turned him looseand ran forward. Colonel Kenton was already coming to meet him and thehands of father and son met in a strong and affectionate clasp.
"We will have to get out and go into the town," said Harry. "You and Ialone can't hold them off. Skelly has at least fifty men. I saw themin the road."
"I'm not afraid since you've got safely through," replied ColonelKenton. "We had a hint that Skelly was coming. That's why you seeme with this rifle. I'd have sent you a telegram to stop at Winton,but couldn't reach you in time. Come into the house. Some friends ofours are here, ready to help us hold it against anybody and everybodythat Skelly may bring."
Harry, with his saddle bags and holsters over his arm, entered the fronthall with his father, who closed the door behind him. A single lampburned in the hall, but fifteen men, all armed with rifles, stood there.He saw among them Steve Alli
son, the constable, Bracken the farmer,Senator Culver, and even old Judge Kendrick. Most of them, besides therifles, carried pistols, and the party, though small, was resolute andgrim. They greeted Harry with warmth, but said few words.
"We've food and hot coffee here," said Colonel Kenton. "After your longride, Harry, you'd better eat."
"A cup of coffee will do," replied the boy. "But let me have a rifle.Skelly and his men will be here in ten minutes."
Old Judge Kendrick smiled.
"You can't complain, colonel," he said, "that your son has not inheritedyour temperament."
A rifle, loaded and ready, was handed to Harry, and, at the same time hedrank a cup of hot coffee, brought by a trembling black boy. Allisonmeanwhile had opened the door a little and was listening.
"I don't hear 'em yet," he said.
"They'll approach cautiously," said Colonel Kenton. "I think they'relikely to leave their horses at the edge of the wood and enter the lawnon foot. We'll put out the light and go outside."
"Good tactics," said Culver, as he promptly blew out the single light.Then all went upon the great front portico, where they stood for a fewmoments waiting. They could neither see nor hear anything hostile.Drifting clouds still hid the moon and stars, and a swish of light,cold rain came now and then.
There were piazzas on both sides of the house, and a porch in the rear.Colonel Kenton disposed his men deftly in order to meet the foe at anypoint. The stone pillars would afford protection for the riflemen.He, his son and old Judge Kendrick, held the portico in front.
Harry crouched behind a pillar, his fingers on the trigger of a rifle,and his holster containing the big double-barreled pistols lying at hisfeet. Impressionable, and with a horror of injustice, his heart wasfilled with rage. It was merely a band of outlaws who were coming toplunder and destroy his beautiful home and to kill any who resisted.He had respected those who held Sumter so long, but these fought onlyfor their own hand.
A slight sound came from the road, a little distance to the south.He waited until it was repeated and then he was sure.
"They're out there," he whispered to his father at the next pillar.
"I heard them," replied the colonel. "They'll come upon the lawn,hiding behind the pines, and hoping to surprise the house. I fancy thesurprise will be theirs, not ours. When you shoot, Harry, shoot to kill,or they will surely kill us. Keep as much as you can behind the pillar,and don't get excited."
Colonel Kenton was quite calm. The old soldier had returned to hiswork. Wary and prepared, he was not loath to meet the enemy. Harry,keeping his father's orders well in mind, crouched a little lower andwaited. Presently he heard a slight rustling, and he knew that Skelly'smen were among the dwarf pines on the lawn. The rustling continued andcame nearer. Harry glanced at his father, who was behind a pillar notten feet away.
"Who are you, and what do you want?" called Colonel Kenton into thedarkness.
There was no answer and the rustling ceased. Harry heard nothing butthe gentle fall of the rain.
"Speak up!" called the colonel once more. "Who are you?"
The answer came. Forty or fifty rifles cracked among the pines.Harry saw little flashes of fire, and he heard bullets hiss sovenomously that a chill ran along his spine. There was a patter of leadon every side of the house, but most of the shots came from the frontlawn. It was well that the colonel, Harry and the judge, were shelteredby the big pillars, or two or three shots out of so many would havefound a mark.
Harry's rage, which had cooled somewhat while he was waiting, returned.He began to peer around the edge of the pillar, and seek a target,but the colonel whispered to him to hold his fire.
"Getting no reply, they'll creep a little closer presently and fire asecond volley," he said.
Harry pressed closer to the pillar, kneeling low, as he had learnedalready that nine out of ten men fire too high in battle. He heard oncemore the rustling among the pines, and he knew that Skelly's men wereadvancing. Doubtless they believed that the defenders had fled withinthe house at the first volley.
He heard suddenly the clicking of gun locks, and the rifles crashedtogether again, but now the fire was given at much closer range.Harry saw a dusky figure beside a pine not thirty feet away, and heinstantly pulled trigger upon it. His father's own rifle cracked at thesame time, and two cries of pain came from the lawn. The boy, hot withthe fire of battle, snatched the pistols out of the holsters and sentin four more shots.
Rapid reports from the other side of the house showed that the defendersthere were also repelling attacks.
But Skelly's men, finding that they could not rush the house, kept upa siege from the ambush of the pines. Bullets rattled like hailstonesagainst the thick brick walls of the house, and several times thesmashing of glass told that windows had been shot in. Harry's blood nowgrew feverishly hot and his anger mounted with it. It was intolerablethat these outlaws should attack people in their own homes. Lyingalmost flat on the floor of the portico he reloaded his rifle andpistols. As he raised his head to seek a new shot, a bullet tipped hisear, burning it like a streak of fire, and flattened against the wallbehind him. He fired instantly at the base of the flash and a cry ofpain showed that the bullet had struck a human target.
Harry, in his excitement, raised himself a little for another shot,and a second bullet cut dangerously near. A warning command came fromhis father, veteran warrior of the plains, to keep down, and he obeyedpromptly. Then followed a period of long and intensely anxious waiting.Harry thought that if the night would only lighten they could get aclean sweep of the lawn and drive away the mountaineers, but it grewdarker instead and the wind rose. He heard the boughs of the clippedpines rustle as they were whipped together, and the cold drops lashedhim in the face. He had become soaking wet, lying on the floor of theportico, but he did not notice it.
Harry saw far to his left a single dim light in the dip beyond theforest, and he knew that it shone through a window in one of the housesof Pendleton.
It seemed amazing that so bitter a combat should be going on here,while the people slept peacefully in the town below. But there was notone chance in a thousand that they would hear of the battle on such anight. Then an idea came to him, and creeping to his father he made hisproposition. Colonel Kenton opposed it vigorously, but Harry insisted.He knew every inch of the grounds. Why should he not? He had playedover them all his life, and he could be in the fields and away in lessthan two minutes.
Colonel Kenton finally consulted Judge Kendrick, and the judge agreedwith Harry. Besieged by so many, they needed help and the boy was theone to bring it. Then Colonel Kenton consented that Harry should go,but pressed his hand and told him to be very careful.
The boy went back into the house, passing through the dark rooms to therear. As he went, he heard the sound of sobbing. It was the coloredservants crying with terror. He found the constable and Senator Culveron watch on the back porch and whispered to them his errand.
"For God's sake, be careful, Harry," the Senator whispered back."Bad blood is boiling now. Some of Skelly's men have been hit hard,and if they caught you they'd shoot you without mercy."
"But they won't catch me," replied the boy with confidence. Thinkingit would be in the way in his rapid flight, he gave his rifle to thesenator, and taking the heavy pistols from the holsters, thrust them inthe pockets of his coat. Then he dropped lightly from the porch andlay for a few moments in the darkness and on the wet ground, absolutelystill.
A strange thrill ran through Harry Kenton when his body touched thedamp earth. The contact seemed to bring to him strength and courage.Doubts fled away. He would succeed in the trial. He could not possiblyfail. His great-grandfather, Henry Ware, had been a renowned bordererand Indian fighter, one of the most famous in all the annals of Kentucky,gifted with almost preternatural power, surpassing the Indiansthemselves in the lore and craft of forest and trail. It was said too,that the girl, Lucy Upton, who became Henry Ware's wife a
nd who wasHarry's great-grandmother, had received this same gift of forestdivination. His own first name had been given to him in honor of thatredoubtable great-grandfather.
Now all the instincts of Harry's famous ancestors became intensely alivein him. The blood of those who had been compelled for so many years towatch and fight poured in a full tide through his veins. His bearingbecame sharper, his eyes saw through the darkness like those of a cat,and a certain sixth sense, hitherto a dormant instinct which would warnof danger, came suddenly to life.
Two parallel rows of honeysuckle bushes ran back some distance to avegetable garden. He reckoned that the mountaineers would be hidingbehind these, and therefore he turned away to the right, where dwarfpines, clipped into cones, grew as on the front lawn. The grass,helped by a wet spring, had grown already to a height of several inches,and Harry was surprised at the ease with which he drew his body throughit. Every inch of garment upon him was soaked with rain, but he took nothought of the fact. He felt a certain fierce joy in the wildness ofnight and storm, and he was ready to defy any number of mountaineers.
The sixth and new sense suddenly gave warning and he lay flat in thewet grass just under one of the pines. Then he saw three men rise fromtheir shelter behind a honeysuckle bush, walk forward, and stand in agroup talking about ten feet behind him. Although they were not visiblefrom the house he saw them clearly enough. One of them was Skellyhimself, and all three were of villainous face. Straining his ear hecould hear what they said and now he was very glad indeed that he hadcome.
It was the plan of Skelly to wait in silence and patience a long time.The defenders would conclude that he and his men had gone away, and thenthe mountaineers could either rush the house or set it on fire. If thefinal resort was fire, they could easily shoot Colonel Kenton and hisfriends as they ran out. It was Skelly who spoke of this hideous plan,laughing as he spoke, and Harry's hand went instinctively toward thebutt of one of the pistols. But his will made him draw it away again,and, motionless in the grass, lying flat upon his face, he continued tolisten.
Skelly's plan was accepted and they moved away to tell the others.Harry rose a little, and crept rapidly through the grass toward thevegetable garden.
Again he was surprised at his own skill. Acute of ear as he had becomehe could scarcely hear the brushing of the grass as he passed. As heapproached the garden he saw two more men, rifles in hand, walking about,but paying little heed to them he kept on until he lay against the fenceenclosing the garden.
It was a fence of palings, spiked at the top, and climbing it was aproblem. Studying the question for a moment or two he decided that itwas too dangerous to be risked, and moving cautiously along he beganto feel of the palings. At last he came to one that was loose, and hepulled it entirely free at the bottom. Then he slipped through and intothe garden. Here were long rows of grapevines, fastened on sticks, and,for a few moments, he lay flat behind one of the rows. He knew that hewas not yet entirely safe, as the mountaineers were keen of eye and ear,and an outer guard of skirmishers might be lying in the garden itself.But he was now even keener of eye and hearing than they, and he coulddetect nothing living near him. The house also, and all about it,was silent. Evidently Skelly's men had settled down to a long siege,and Harry rejoiced in the amount of time they gave him.
He rose to his feet, but, stooped to only half his height, he ranswiftly behind the row of grapevines to the far end of the garden,leaped over the fence and continued his rapid flight toward Pendleton,where the single light still burned. He surmised that his father hadreceived the warning too late to gather more than a few friends, andthat the rest of the town was yet in deep ignorance.
The first house he reached, the one in which the light burned, was thatof Gardner, the editor, and he beat heavily upon the door. Gardnerhimself opened it, and he started back in astonishment at the wildfigure covered with mud, a heavy pistol clutched in the right hand.
"In Heaven's name, who are you?" he cried.
"Don't you know me, Mr. Gardner? I'm Harry Kenton, come back fromCharleston! Bill Skelly and fifty of his men have ridden down from themountains and are besieging us in our house, intending to rob and kill!The constable is there and so are Judge Kendrick, Senator Culver,and a few others, but we need help and I've come for it!"
He spoke in such a rapid, tense manner that every word carriedconviction.
"Excuse me for not knowing you, Harry," Gardner said, "but you'recalling at a rather unusual time in a rather unusual manner, and youhave the most thorough mask of mud I ever saw on anybody. Wait a minuteand I'll be with you."
He returned in half the time, and the two of them soon had the town upand stirring. Pendleton was largely Southern in sympathy, and eventhose who held other views did not wholly relish an attack upon one ofits prominent men by a band of unclassified mountaineers. Lights sprangup all over the town. Men poured from the houses and there was no housethen that did not contain at least one rifle.
In a half hour sixty or seventy men, well armed with rifles and pistols,were on their way to Colonel Kenton's house. Only a few drops of rainwere falling now, and the thin edge of the moon appeared between clouds.There was a little light. The relieving party advanced swiftly andwithout noise. They were all accustomed to outdoor life and the use ofweapons, and they needed few commands. Gardner came nearer than anyoneelse to being the leader, although Harry kept by his side.
They went on Harry's own trail, passing through the garden and hurryingtoward the house. Three or four dim figures fled before them, runningbetween the rows of vines. The Pendleton men fired at them, and thenraised a great shout, as they rushed for the lawn. The mountaineerstook to instant flight, making for the woods, where they had left theirhorses.
Colonel Kenton and his friends came from the house, shaking handsjoyfully with their deliverers. Lanterns were produced, and theysearched the lawn. Three men lay stiff and cold behind the dwarf pines.Harry shuddered. He was seeing for the first time the terrible fruitsof civil war. It was not merely the pitched battles of armies, butoften neighbor against neighbor, and sometimes the cloak of North orSouth would be used as a disguise for the basest of motives.
They also found two sanguinary trails leading to the wood in which themountaineers had hitched their horses, indicating that the defenders ofthe Kenton house had shot well. But by the next morning Skelly's menhad made good their flight far into the hills where no one could followthem. They sent no request for their own dead who were buried by thePendleton people.
But the town raised a home guard to defend itself against raiders of anykind, and Colonel Kenton and Harry promptly made ready for their journeyto Frankfort, where the choice of the state must soon be made, andwhither Raymond Bertrand, the South Carolinian, had gone already.Colonel Kenton feared no charge because of the fight with Skelly's men.He was but defending his own home and here, as in the motherland,a man's house was his castle.
The Guns of Bull Run: A Story of the Civil War's Eve Page 8