CHAPTER XI
A VAIN PURSUIT
Youth was strong in Harry, and, while he danced and the music played,he forgot all about the incident in the smoking-room. With him it wasjust one pretty girl after another. He had heart enough for them all,and only one who was so young and who had been so long on battlefieldscould well understand what a keen, even poignant, pleasure it was to bewith them.
Those were the days when a ball lasted long. Pleasures did not comeoften, but when they came they were to be enjoyed to the full. But asthe morning hours grew the manner of the older people became slightlyfeverish and unnatural. They were pursuing pleasure and forgetfulnesswith so much zeal and energy that it bore the aspect of force ratherthan spontaneity. Harry noticed it and divined the cause. Beneath hishigh spirits he now felt it himself. It was that looming shadow in theNorth and that other in that far Southwest hovering over lostVicksburg. Serious men and serious women could not keep these shadowsfrom their eyes long.
The incident of the smoking-room and the missing map came back to himwith renewed force. It could not have walked away. They had searchedthe room and the court so thoroughly that they would have found it, hadit been there. The disappearance of a document, which men of authorityand knowledge had built up almost unconsciously, puzzled and alarmedhim.
It was almost day when he and Dalton left. They paid their respects toMr. and Mrs. Curtis, and said many good-bys to "the girls they leftbehind them." Then they went out into the street, and inhaled greatdraughts of the cool night air.
"A splendid night," said Dalton.
"Yes, truly," said Harry.
"I hope you didn't propose to more than six girls."
"To none. But I love them all together."
"I'm glad to hear it, because you're entirely too young to marry, andyour occupation is precarious."
"You needn't be so preachy. You're not more'n a hundred years oldyourself."
"But I'm two months older than you are and often two months makes avast difference, particularly in our cases. I notice about you, Harry,at times, a certain juvenility which I feel it my duty to repress."
"Don't do it, George. Let's enjoy it while we can, because as you saymy occupation is precarious and yours is the same."
They stopped at the corner of the iron fence enclosing the Curtis home,in which many lights were still shining. It was near a dark alleyopening on the street and running by this side of the house.
"I'm going to see what's behind Mr. Curtis's house," said Harry.
Dalton stared at him.
"What's got into your head, Harry!" he exclaimed. "Do you mean to be aburglar prowling about the home of the man who has entertained you?"
Harry hesitated. He was sorry that Dalton was with him. Then he couldhave gone on without question, but he must make some excuse to Dalton.
"George," he said at last, "will you swear to keep a secret, a mostimportant one which I am pledged to tell to nobody, but which I mustconfide in you in order to give a good reason for what I am about todo."
"If you are pledged to keep such a secret," replied Dalton, "then don'texplain it to me. Your word is good enough, Harry. Go ahead and dowhat you want to do. I'll ask nothing about any of your actions, nomatter how strange it may look."
"You're a man in a million, George. Come on, your confidence is goingto be tested. Besides, you'll run the danger of being shot."
But Dalton followed him fearlessly as he led the way down the alley.Richmond was not lighted then, save along the main streets, and a fewsteps took them into the full dark. The brilliant windows threw brightbands across the lines, but they themselves were in darkness.
The alley ran through the next street and so did the Curtis grounds.They were as extensive in the rear of the house as in front, andcontained small pines carefully trimmed, banks of roses and two grapearbors. Harry could hear no sound of any one stirring among them, butpeople, obviously the cooks and other servants, were talking in the bigkitchen at the rear of the house.
The street itself running in the rear of the building was as welllighted as it was in front, but Harry saw no one in it save a member ofthe city police, who seemed to be keeping a good watch. But as he didnot wish to be observed by the man he waited a little while in themouth of the alley, until he had moved on and was out of sight.
"Now, George," he said, "you and I are going to do a little scouting.You know I'm descended from the greatest natural scout and trailer everknown in the West, one whose senses were preternaturally acute, one whocould almost track a bird in the air by its flight."
"Yes, I've heard of the renowned Henry Ware, and I know that you'veinherited a lot of his skill and intuition. Go ahead. I promised thatI would help you and ask no questions. I keep my word."
Harry climbed silently over the low fence, and Dalton followed in thesame manner. The light from the street and house did not penetrate thepines and rosebushes, where Harry quickly found a refuge, Dalton asusual following him.
"What next?" whispered Dalton.
"Now, I do my trailing and scouting, and you help me all you can,George, but be sure you don't make any noise. There's enough moonlightfiltering through the pines to show the ground to me, but not enough todisclose us to anybody twenty feet away."
He dropped to his hands and knees, and, crawling back and forth, beganto examine every inch of ground with minute care, while Dalton staredat him in amazement.
"I'd help," whispered Dalton, "if I only knew what you were doing."
"Suppose, George, that somebody wanted to see the Curtis house, and yetnot be seen, wanted to observe as well as he could, without detection,what was going on there. He'd watch his chance, jump over the fence aswe have done and enter this group of pines. He could ask no finerpoint of observation. We are perfectly hidden and yet we can see thewhole rear of the house and one side of it."
"So we can. I infer that you are looking for some one who you thinkhas been acting as a spy."
"Ah! here we are. The earth is a bit soft by this pine, and I see thetrace of a footstep! And here is another trace, close by it,undoubtedly the imprint of the other foot. It's as plain as day."
Dalton knelt, looked at the traces, and shook his head. "I can't makeout any of them," he said. "I see nothing but a slight displacement ofthe grass caused by the wind."
"That's because you haven't my keen eye, an inherited and naturalability as a trailer, although you may beat me out of sight in otherthings. The shape of these traces indicates that they were made byhuman feet, and their closeness together shows that the man stoodlooking at the house. If he had been walking along they would be muchwider apart."
He examined the traces again with long and minute care.
"The toes point toward the house, consequently he was looking at it,"he said. "He was a heavy man, and he stood here a long time, notmoving from his tracks. That's why he left these traces, which are soclear and evident to me, George, although they're hidden from a blindman like you."
"Well, what of it?"
"Nothing much to you, but a lot to me."
He rose to his feet and examined the boughs of the pine.
"As I thought," he whispered with great satisfaction. "Despite hiscourage and power over himself, both of which were very great, hebecame a little excited. Doubtless he saw something that stirred himdeeply."
"What under the stars are you talking about, Harry?"
"See, he broke off three twigs of the pine. Just snapped them in twowith nervous fingers. Here are pieces lying on the ground. Now, a mandoes that sort of thing almost unconsciously. He will not reach up forthe twig or down for it, but he breaks it because it presents itself tohim at the corner of his eye. This man was six feet in height or moreand built very powerfully. I think I know him! Yes, I'm sure I knowhim! Nor is it at all strange that he should be here."
"Shall we make a thorough search for him among the pines? You say he'stall and built powerfully. But maybe the two o
f us could master him,and if not we could call for help."
"Too late, George. He left a long time ago, and he took with him whathe wanted. We needn't look any farther."
"Lead on, then, King of Trailers and Master of Secrets! If the mightyCaliph, Haroun al Kenton, wishes to prowl in these grounds, seeking theheart of some great conspiracy, it is not for his loyal vizier, theSheikh Ul Dalton to ask him questions."
"I'm not certain that a vizier is a sheikh."
"Nor am I, but I'm certain that I want to go home and go to bed.Vikings of the land like ourselves can't stand much luxury. It weakensthe tissues, made strong on the march and in the fields."
They left the grounds silently and unobserved and soon were in theirown quarters, where they slept nearly the whole day. Then they spentthree or four days more in the social affairs which were such a keenpleasure to them after such a long deprivation. But wherever theywent, and they were in demand everywhere, Harry was always looking forsomebody, a man, tall, heavy and broad shouldered, not a man who wouldcome into a room where he was, or who would join a company of peoplethat he had joined, but one who would hang upon the outskirts, and hidebehind the corners of buildings or trees. He did not see the shadow,but once or twice he felt that it was there.
The officer, Bathurst, told him one night that some important papershad been stolen from the White House of the Confederacy itself.
"They pertain to our army," said Bathurst, "and they will be of valueto the enemy, if they reach him."
"I'm quite certain that the most daring and dangerous of all northernspies is in Richmond," said Harry.
Then he told Bathurst of Shepard and of the trails that he had seenamong the pines behind Curtis's house.
"Do you think this man got our map?" asked Bathurst.
"It may have been so. Perhaps he was hidden in the court and when hesaw us go out, leaving the map on the table, he slipped in at thewindow and seized it."
"But the court was enclosed. He would have had to go with the paperthrough the house itself."
"That's where my theory fails. I can provide for his taking the paper,but I can't provide for his escape."
"I'll tell the General about it. I think you're right, Harry. I'veheard of Shepard myself, and he's worth ten thousand men to theYankees. It's more than that. At such a critical stage of our affairshe might ruin us. We'll make a general search for him. We'll rake thecity with a fine tooth comb."
The search was made everywhere. Soldiers pried in every possibleplace, but they found nobody who could not give an adequate account ofhis presence in Richmond. Harry felt sure nevertheless that Shepardwas somewhere in the capital, protected by his infinite daring andresource, and they received the startling news the next day after thesearch that a messenger sent northward with dispatches for Lee had beenattacked only a short distance from the city. He had been struck frombehind, and did not see his assailant, but the wound in the head--theman had been found unconscious--and the missing dispatches weresufficient proof.
A night later precious documents were purloined from the office of theSecretary of War and a list of important earthworks on the North andSouth Carolina coast disappeared from the office of the Secretary ofthe Navy. Alarm spread through all the departments of the Confederacy.Some one, spy and burglar too, had come into the very capital, and hewas having uncommon success.
Harry had not the least doubt that it was Shepard, and he was filledwith an ambition to capture this man, whom he really liked. If Shepardwere caught he would certainly be hanged, but then a spy must take hischances.
They heard meanwhile that General Lee had gone to a former camp of hison the Opequan, but that later in response to maneuvers by GeneralMeade, he moved to a position near Front Royal. No orders came forHarry or Dalton to rejoin him, and, as a period of inactivity seemed tobe at hand, they were glad to remain a while longer in Richmond. Theystill stayed with the Lanhams, who refused to take any pay, althoughthe two young officers, chipping together, bought for Mrs. Lanham alittle watch which had just come through the blockade from England.
Thus their days lengthened in Richmond, and, despite the shadow of thespy and his doings which was over Harry, they were still very pleasant.The members of the Mosaic Club, although older men, made much of them,and Harry and Dalton, being youths of sprighty wit, were able to holdtheir own in such company. The time had now passed into August, andthey sat one afternoon in the lobby of the big hotel with their newfriends. Richmond without was quiet and blazing in the sun. Harry hadreceived a second letter from his father from an unnamed point inGeorgia. It did not contain much news, but it was full ofcheerfulness, and it intimated in more than one place that Bragg's armywas going to strike a great blow.
All eyes were turned toward the West. The opinion had been spreadingin the Confederacy that the chief danger was on that line. It seemedthat the Army of Northern Virginia could take care of anything to thenorth and east, but in the south and west affairs did not go well.
"It's a pity that General Bragg is President Davis' brother-in-law,"said Randolph.
"Why?" asked Daniel.
"Then he wouldn't be in command of our Western Army."
"Bragg's a fighter, though."
"But not a reaper."
"What do you mean?"
"He wins the victory, but lets the enemy take it."
"It may be so. But to come closer home, what about the Yankee spy inRichmond? It's an established fact that a man of most uncommon daringand skill is here."
"No doubt of it, what's the latest from him?"
"The house of William Curtis was entered last night and robbed."
"Robbed of what?"
"Papers. The man never takes any valuables."
"But Curtis is not in the government!"
"No, but he carries on a lot of blockade running, chiefly throughNorfolk and Wilmington. I think the papers related to several blockaderunning vessels coming out from England, and of course the Yankeeblockading ships will be ready for them. There's not a trace of theman who took them."
"Something is deucedly sinister about it," said Bagby. "It seems to bethe work of one man, and he must have a hiding place in Richmond, butwe can't find it. Kenton, you and Dalton are army officers, supposedlyof intelligence. Now, why don't you find this mysterious terror? Ah,will you excuse me for a minute! I see Miss Carden leaving the counterwith her basket, and there is no other seamstress in Richmond who canput the ruffles on a man's finest shirt as she can. She's been doingwork for me for some time."
He arose, and, leaving them, bowed very politely to the seamstress. Herface, although thin and lined, was that of an educated woman of strongcharacter. Harry thought it probable that she was a lady in theconventional meaning of the word. Many a woman of breeding and culturewas now compelled to earn her own living in the South. She and Bagbyexchanged only a few words, he returning to his chair, and she leavingthe hotel at a side door, walking with dignity.
"I've seen Miss Carden three times before, once on the train, once atthis hotel and once at Mr. Curtis's house; can you tell me anythingabout her?" said Harry.
"It's an ordinary tale," replied Bagby. "I think she lived well up thevalley and her house being destroyed in some raid of the Federal troopsshe came down to the capital to earn a living. She's been doing workfor me and others I know for a year past, and I know she's not been outof Richmond in that time."
The talk changed now to the books that had come through from Europe inthe blockade runners. There was a new novel by Dickens and another byThackeray, new at least to the South, and the members of the MosaicClub were soon deep in criticism and defense.
Harry strolled away after a while. He did not tell hisfriends--nothing was to be gained by telling them--that he wasabsolutely sure of the identity of the spy, that it was Shepard. Thequestion of identity did not matter if they caught him, and his oldfeeling that it was a duel between Shepard and himself returned. Hebelieved that the duty to catch the man
had been laid upon him.
He began to haunt Richmond at all hours of the night. More than oncehe had to give explanations to watchmen about public buildings, but heclung to the task that he had imposed upon himself. He explained toDalton and the Virginian found no fault except for Harry's loss of timethat might be devoted to amusement. Harry sometimes rebuked himselffor his own persistency, but Bagby's taunt had stung a little, and hefelt that it applied more to himself than to Dalton. He knew Shepardand he knew something of his ways. Moreover, his was the blood of thegreatest of all trailers, and it was incumbent upon him to find thespy. Yet he was trailing in a city and not in a forest. In spite ofeverything he clung to his work.
On a later night about one o'clock in the morning he was near thebuilding that housed army headquarters, and he noticed a figure comefrom some bushes near it. He instantly stepped back into the shadowand saw a man glance up and down the street, probably to see if it wasclear. It was a night to favor the spy, dark, with heavy clouds andgusts of rain.
The figure, evidently satisfied that no one was watching, walkedbriskly down the street, and Harry's heart beat hard against his side.He knew that it was Shepard, the king of spies, against whom he hadmatched himself. He could not mistake, despite the darkness, hisfigure, his walk and the swing of his powerful shoulders.
His impulse was to cry for help, to shout that the spy was here, but atthe first sound of his voice Shepard would at once dart into theshrubbery, and escape through the alleys of Richmond. No, his oldfeeling that it was a duel between Shepard and himself was right, andso they must fight it out.
Shepard walked swiftly toward the narrower and more obscure streets,and Harry followed at equal speed. The night grew darker and the rain,instead of coming in gusts, now fell steadily. Twice Shepard stoppedand looked back. But on each occasion Harry flattened himself againsta plank fence and he did not believe the spy had seen him.
Then Shepard went faster and his pursuer had difficulty in keeping himin view. He went through an alley, turned into a street, and Harry ranin order not to lose sight of him.
The alley came into the street at a right angle, and, when Harry turnedthe corner, a heavy, dark figure thrust itself into his path.
"Shepard!" he cried.
"Yes!" said the man, "and I hate to do this, but I must."
His heavy fist shot out and caught his pursuer on the jaw. Harry sawstars in constellations, then floated away into blackness, and, when hecame out of it, found himself lying on a bed in a small room. His jawwas bandaged and very sore, but otherwise he felt all right. A candlewas burning on a table near him and an unshuttered window on the otherside of the room told him that it was still night and raining.
Harry looked leisurely about the room, into which he had been wafted onthe magic carpet of the Arabian genii, so far as he knew. It was smalland without splendor and he knew at once from the character of itsbelongings that it was a woman's room.
He sat up. His head throbbed, but touching it cautiously he knew thathe had sustained no serious injury. But he felt chagrin, and a lot ofit. Shepard had known that he was following him and had laid a trap,into which he had walked without hesitation. The man, however, hadspared his life, although he could have killed him as easily as he hadstunned him. Then he laughed bitterly at himself. A duel between them,he had called it! Shepard wouldn't regard it as much of a duel.
His head became so dizzy that he lay down again rather abruptly andbegan to wonder. What was he doing in a woman's room, and who was thewoman and how had he got there? This would be a great joke for Daltonand St. Clair and Happy Tom.
He was fully dressed, except for his boots, and he saw them standing onthe floor against the wall. He surveyed once more the immaculateneatness of the room. It was certainly a woman's, and most likely thatof an old maid. He sat up again, but his head throbbed so fearfullythat he was compelled to lie down quickly. Shepard had certainly put alot in that right hand punch of his and he had obtained a considerablepercentage of revenge for his defeat in the river.
Then Harry forgot his pain in the intensity of his curiosity. He hadsustained a certain temporary numbing of the faculties from the blowand his fancy, though vivid now, was vague. He was not at all surethat he was still in Richmond. The window still showed that it wasnight, and the rain was pouring so hard that he could hear it beatingagainst the walls. At all events, he thought whimsically, he hadsecured shelter, though at an uncommon high price.
He heard a creak, and a door at the end of the room opened, revealingthe figure and the strong, haggard features of Henrietta Carden.Evidently she had taken off a hood and cloak in an outer room, as therewere rain drops on her hair and her shoes were wet.
"How are you feeling, Mr. Kenton?" she asked.
"Full of aches and wonder."
"Both will pass."
She smiled, and, although she was not young, Harry thought herdistinctly handsome, when she smiled.
"I seem to have driven you out of your room and to have taken your bedfrom you, Miss Carden," he said, "but I assure you it wasunintentional. I ran against something pretty hard, and since then Ihaven't been exactly responsible for what I was doing."
She smiled again, and this time Harry found the smile positivelywinning.
"I'm responsible for your being here," she said.
Then she went back to the door and said to some one waiting in theouter room:
"You can come in, Lieutenant Dalton. He's all right except for hisheadache, and an extraordinary spell of curiosity."
Dalton stalked solemnly in, and regarded Harry with a stern andreproving eye.
"You're a fine fellow," he said. "A lady finds you dripping blood fromthe chin, and out of your head, wandering about the street in thedarkness and rain. Fortunately she knows who you are, takes you intoher own house, gives you an opiate or some kind of a drug, binds upyour jaw where some man good and true has hit you with all his goodnessand truth, and then goes for me, your guardian, who should never havelet you out of his sight. I was awakened out of a sound sleep in ourvery comfortable room at the Lanham house, and I've come here through apouring rain with Miss Carden to see you."
"I do seem to be the original trouble maker," said Harry. "How did youhappen to find me, Miss Carden?"
"I was sitting at my window, working very late on a dress that Mrs.Curtis wants to-morrow. It was not raining hard then, and I could seevery well outside. I saw a dark shadow in the street at the mouth ofthe alley. I saw that it was the figure of a man staggering very much.I ran out and found that it was you, Lieutenant Kenton. You werebleeding at the chin, where apparently some one had struck you veryhard, and you were so thoroughly dazed that you did not know where youwere or who you were."
"Yes, he hit me very hard, just as you supposed, Miss Carden," saidHarry, feeling gently his sore and swollen chin.
"I half led and half dragged you into my house--there was nowhere elseI could take you--and, as you were sinking into a stupor, I managed tomake you lie down on my bed. I bound up your wound, while you wereunconscious, and then I went for Lieutenant Dalton."
"And she saved your life, too, you young wanderer. No doubt of that,"said Dalton reprovingly. "This is what you get for roaming away frommy care. Lucky you were that an angel like Miss Carden saved you fromdying of exposure. If I didn't know you so well, Harry, I should saythat you had been in some drunken row."
"Oh, no! not that!" exclaimed Miss Carden. "There was no odor ofliquor on his breath."
"I was merely joking, Miss Carden," said Dalton. "Old Harry here isone of the best of boys, and I'm grateful to you for saving him andcoming to me. If there is any way we can repay you we'll do it."
"I don't want any repayment. We must all help in these times."
"But we won't forget it. We can't. How are you feeling, Harry?"
"My head doesn't throb so hard. The jarred works inside are graduallygetting into place, and I think that in a half-hour I can walk again,th
at is, resting upon that stout right arm of yours, George."
"Then we'll go. I've brought an extra coat that will protect you fromthe rain."
"You are welcome to stay here!" exclaimed Miss Carden. "Perhaps you'dbe wiser to do so."
"We thank you for such generous hospitality," said Dalton gallantly,"but it will be best for many reasons that we go back to Mrs. Lanham'sas soon as we can. But first can we ask one favor of you, Miss Carden?"
"Of course."
"That you say nothing of Mr. Kenton's accident. Remember that he wason military duty and that in the darkness and rain he fell, strikingupon his jaw."
"I'll remember it. Our first impression that he had been struck bysomebody was a mistake, of course. You can depend upon me, both ofyou. Neither of you was ever in my house. The incident never occurred."
"But we're just as grateful to you as if it had happened."
A half-hour later they left the cottage, Miss Carden holding open thedoor a little to watch them until they were out of sight. But Harryhad recovered his strength and he was able to walk without Dalton'sassistance, although the Virginian kept close by his side in case ofnecessity.
"Harry," said Dalton, when they were nearly to the Lanham house, "areyou willing to tell what happened?"
"As nearly as I know. I got upon the trail of that spy who has beeninfesting Richmond. I knew at the time that it couldn't have been anyone else. I followed him up an alley, but he waited for me at theturn, and before I could defend myself he let loose with his right.When I came drifting back into the world I was lying upon the bed inMiss Carden's cottage."
"He showed you some consideration. He might have quietly put you outof the way with a knife."
"Shepard and I don't care to kill each other. Each wants to defeat theother's plans. It's got to be a sort of duel between us."
"So I see, and he has scored latest."
"But not last."
"We'd better stick to the tale about the fall. Such a thing couldhappen to anybody in these dark streets. But that Miss Carden is afine woman. She showed true human sympathy, and what's more, she gavehelp."
"She's all that," agreed Harry heartily.
They had their own keys to the Lanham house and slipped in withoutawakening anybody. Their explanations the next day were receivedwithout question and in another day Harry's jaw was no longer sore,though his spirit was. Yet the taking of important documents ceasedsuddenly, and Harry was quite sure that his encounter with Shepard hadat least caused him to leave the city.
The Shades of the Wilderness: A Story of Lee's Great Stand Page 13