Two Little Confederates

by Thomas Nelson Page

  CHAPTER XV.

  The raiders were up early next morning scouring the woods and countryaround. They knew that the fugitive soldiers could not have gone far,for the Federals had every road picketed, and their main body was notfar away. As the morning wore on, it became a grave question atOakland how the two soldiers were to subsist. They had no provisionswith them, and the roads were so closely watched that there was nochance of their obtaining any. The matter was talked over, and theboys' mother and Cousin Belle were in despair.

  "They can eat their shoes," said Willy, reflectively.

  The ladies exclaimed in horror.

  "That's what men always do when they get lost in a wilderness wherethere is no game."

  This piece of information from Willy did not impress his hearers asmuch as he supposed it would.

  "I'll tell you! Let me and Frank go and carry 'em something to eat!"

  "How do you know where they are?"

  "They are at our Robber's Cave, aren't they, Cousin Belle? We toldthe General yesterday how to get there, didn't we?"

  "Yes, and he said last night that he would go there."

  Willy's idea seemed a good one, and the offer was accepted. The boyswere to go out as if to see the troops, and were to take as much foodas they thought could pass for their luncheon. Their mother cooked andput up a luncheon large enough to have satisfied the appetites of twoyoung Brobdingnagians, and they set out on their relief expedition.

  The two sturdy little figures looked full of importance as they strodeoff up the road. They carried many loving messages. Their Cousin Bellegave to each separately a long whispered message which each by himselfwas to deliver to the General. It was thought best not to hazard anote.

  They were watched by the ladies from the portico until theydisappeared over the hill. They took a path which led into the woods,and walked cautiously for fear some of the raiders might be lurkingabout. However, the boys saw none of the enemy, and in a little whilethey came to a point where the pines began. Then they turned into thewoods, for the pines were so thick the boys could not be seen, and thepine tags made it so soft under foot that they could walk withoutmaking any noise.

  They were pushing their way through the bushes, when Frank suddenlystopped.

  "Hush!" he said.

  Willy halted and listened.

  "There they are."

  From a little distance to one side, in the direction of the path theyhad just left, they heard the trampling of a number of horses' feet.

  "That's not our men," said Willy. "Hugh and the General haven't anyhorses."

  "No; that's the Yankees," said Frank. "Let's lie down. They may hearus."

  The boys flung themselves upon the ground and almost held their breathuntil the horses had passed out of hearing.

  "Do you reckon they are hunting for us?" asked Willy in an awedwhisper.

  "No, for Hugh and the General. Come on."

  They rose, went tipping a little deeper into the pines, and again madetheir way toward the cave.

  "Maybe they've caught 'em," suggested Willy.

  "They can't catch 'em in these pines," replied Frank. "You can't seeany distance at all. A horse can't get through, and the General andHugh could shoot 'em, and then get away before they could catch 'em."

  They hurried on.

  "Frank, suppose they take us for Yankees?"

  Evidently Willy's mind had been busy since Frank's last speech.

  "They aren't going to shoot _us_," said Frank; but it was anunpleasant suggestion, for they were not very far from the dense clumpof pines between two gullies, which the boys called their cave.

  "We can whistle," he said, presently.

  "Won't Hugh and the General think we are enemies trying to surroundthem?" Willy objected. The dilemma was a serious one. "We'll have tocrawl up," said Frank, after a pause.

  And this was agreed upon. They were soon on the edge of the deep gullywhich, on one side, protected the spot from all approach. Theyscrambled down its steep side and began to creep along, peeping overits other edge from time to time, to see if they could discover theclearing which marked the little green spot on top of the hill, whereonce had stood an old cabin. The base of the ruined chimney, with itsimmense fire-place, constituted the boys' "cave." They were close toit, now, and felt themselves to be in imminent danger of a sweepingfusillade. They had just crept up to the top of the ravine and wereconsulting, when some one immediately behind them, not twenty feetaway, called out:

  "Hello! What are you boys doing here? Are you trying to capture us?"

  They jumped at the unexpected voice. The General broke into a laugh.He had been sitting on the ground on the other side of the declivity,and had been watching their manoeuvres for some time.

  He brought them to the house-spot where Hugh was asleep on the ground;he had been on watch all the morning, and, during the General's turn,was making up for his lost sleep. He was soon wide awake enough, andhe and the General, with appetites bearing witness to their long fast,were without delay engaged in disposing of the provisions which theboys had brought.

  The boys were delighted with the mystery of their surroundings. Eachin turn took the General aside and held a long interview with him, andgave him all their Cousin Belle's messages. No one had ever treatedthem with such consideration as the General showed them. The two menasked the boys all about the dispositions of the enemy, but the boyshad little to tell.

  "They are after us pretty hotly," said the General. "I think they aregoing away shortly. It's nothing but a raid, and they are moving on.We must get back to camp to-night."

  "How are you going?" asked the boys. "You haven't any horses."

  "We are going to get some of their horses," said the officer. "Theyhave taken ours--now they must furnish us with others."

  It was about time for the boys to start for home. The General tookeach of them aside, and talked for a long time. He was speaking toWilly, on the edge of the clearing, when there was a crack of a twigin the pines. In a second he had laid the boy on his back in the softgrass and whipped out a pistol. Then, with a low, quick call to Hugh,he sprang swiftly into the pines toward the sound.

  "Crawl down into the ravine, boys," called Hugh, following hiscompanion. The boys rolled down over the bank like little ground-hogs;but in a second they heard a familiar drawling voice call out in asubdued tone:

  "Hold on, Cunnel! it's nobody but me; don't you know me?" And, in amoment, they heard the General's astonished and somewhat stern reply:

  "Mills, what are you doing here? Who's with you? What do you want?"

  "Well," said the new-comer, slowly, "I 'lowed I'd come to see if Icould be o' any use to you. I heard the Yankees had run you 'way fromOakland last night, and was sort o' huntin' for you. Fact is, they'sbeen up my way, and I sort o' 'lowed I'd come an' see ef I could helpyou git back to camp."

  "Where have you been all this time? I wonder you are not ashamed tolook me in the face!"

  The General's voice was still stern. He had turned around and walkedback to the cleared space.

  The deserter scratched his head in perplexity.

  "I needn' 'a' come," he said, doggedly. "Where's them boys? I don'want the boys hurted. I seen 'em comin' here, an' I jes' followed 'emto see they didn't get in no trouble. But----"

  This speech about the boys effected what the offer of personal serviceto the General himself had failed to bring about.

  "Sit down and let me talk to you," said the General, throwing himselfon the grass.

  Mills seated himself cross-legged near the officer, with his gunacross his knees, and began to bite a straw which he pulled from atuft by his side.

  The boys had come up out of their retreat, and taken places on eachside of the General.

  "You all take to grass like young partridges," said the hunter. Theboys were flattered, for they considered any notice from him acompliment.

  "What made you fool us, and send us to catch that conscript-guard?"Frank asked.

  "Well, you ketc
hed him, didn't you? You're the only ones ever beenable to ketch him," he said, with a low chuckle.

  "Now, Mills, you know how things stand," said the General. "It's ashame for you to have been acting this way. You know what people sayabout you. But if you come back to camp and do your duty, I'll have itall straightened out. If you don't, I'll have you shot."

  His voice was as calm and his manner as composed as if he werepromising the man opposite him a reward for good conduct. He lookedMills steadily in the eyes all the time. The boys felt as if theirfriend were about to be executed. The General seemed an immeasurabledistance above them.

  The deserter blinked twice or thrice, slowly bit his shred of straw,looked casually first toward one boy and then toward the other, butwithout the slightest change of expression in his face.

  "Cun'l," he said, at length, "I ain't no deserter. I ain't feared ofbein' shot. Ef I was, I wouldn' 'a' come here now. I'm gwine wid you,an' I'm gwine back to my company; an' I'm gwine fight, ef Yankees gitsin my way; but ef I gits tired, I's comin' home; an' 'tain't no use totell you I ain't, 'cause I _is_,--an' ef anybody flings up to me thatI's a-runnin' away, I'm gwine to kill 'em!"

  He rose to his feet in the intensity of his feeling, and his eyes,usually so dull, were like live coals.

  The General looked at him quietly a few seconds, then himself aroseand laid his hand on Tim Mills' shoulder.

  "All right," he said.

  "I got a little snack M'lindy put up," said Mills, pulling asubstantial bundle out of his game-bag. "I 'lowed maybe you might besort o' hongry. Jes' two or three squirrels I shot," he said,apologetically.

  "You boys better git 'long home, I reckon," said Mills to Willy. "Youain' 'fraid, is you? 'Cause if you is, I'll go with you."

  His voice had resumed its customary drawl.

  "Oh, no," said both boys, eagerly. "We aren't afraid."

  "An' tell your ma I ain' let nobody tetch nothin' on the Oaklandplantation; not sence that day you all went huntin' deserters; not ifI knowed 'bout it."

  "Yes, sir."

  "An' tell her I'm gwine take good keer o' Hugh an' the Cunnel.Good-bye!--now run along!"

  "All right, sir,--good-bye."

  "An' ef you hear anybody say Tim Mills is a d'serter, tell 'em it's alie, an' you know it. Good-bye." He turned away as if relieved.

  The boys said good-bye to all three, and started in the direction ofhome.