CHAPTER XVIII.
When the boys reached home it was pitch-dark. They found their mothervery anxious about them. They gave an account of the "battle," as theycalled it, telling all about the charge, in which, by their statement,the General and Hugh did wonderful deeds. Their mother and CousinBelle sat and listened with tightly folded hands and blanched faces.
Then they told how they found the wounded Yankee soldier on the bank,and about his death. They were startled by seeing their Cousin Bellesuddenly fall on her knees and throw herself across their mother's lapin a passion of tears. Their mother put her arms around the younggirl, kissed and soothed her.
Early the next morning their mother had an ox-cart (the only vehicleleft on the place), sent down to the spot to bring the body of thesoldier up to Oakland, so that it might be buried in the grave-yardthere. Carpenter William made the coffin, and several men were set towork to dig the grave in the garden.
It was about the middle of the day when the cart came back. A sheetcovered the body. The little cortege was a very solemn one, thesteers pulling slowly up the hill and a man walking on each side. Thenthe body was put into the coffin and reverently carried to the grave.The boys' mother read the burial service out of the prayer-book, andafterward Uncle William Slow offered a prayer. Just as they were aboutto turn away, the boys' mother began to sing, "Abide with me; fastfalls the eventide." She and Cousin Belle and the boys sang the hymntogether, and then all walked sadly away, leaving the fresh mound inthe garden, where birds peeped curiously from the lilac-bushes at thesoldier's grave in the warm, light of the afternoon sun.
A small packet of letters and a gold watch and chain, found in thesoldier's pocket, were sealed up by the boys' mother and put in herbureau drawer, for they could not then be sent through the lines.There was one letter, however, which they buried with him. Itcontained two locks of hair, one gray, the other brown and curly.
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The next few months brought no new incidents, but the following yeardeep gloom fell upon Oakland. It was not only that the times wereharder than they had ever been--though the plantation was now utterlydestitute; there were no provisions and no crops, for there were noteams. It was not merely that a shadow was settling down on all theland; for the boys did not trouble themselves about these things,though such anxieties were bringing gray hairs to their mother'stemples.
The General had been wounded and captured during a cavalry fight. Theboys somehow connected their Cousin Belle with the General's capture,and looked on her with some disfavor. She and the General hadquarrelled a short time before, and it was known that she had returnedhis ring. When, therefore, he was shot through the body and taken bythe enemy, the boys could not admit that their cousin had any right tostay up-stairs in her own room weeping about it. They felt that it wasall her own fault, and they told her so; whereupon she simply burstout crying and ran from the room.
The hard times grew harder. The shadow deepened. Hugh was wounded andcaptured in a charge at Petersburg, and it was not known whether hewas badly hurt or not. Then came the news that Richmond had beenevacuated. The boys knew that this was a defeat; but even then theydid not believe that the Confederates were beaten. Their mother wasdeeply affected by the news.
That night at least a dozen of the negroes disappeared. The otherservants said the missing ones had gone to Richmond "to get theirpapers."
A week or so later the boys heard the rumor that General Lee hadsurrendered at a place called Appomattox. When they came home and toldtheir mother what they had heard, she turned as pale as death, arose,and went into her chamber. The news was corroborated next day. Duringthe following two days, every negro on the plantation left, exceptinglame old Sukey Brown. Some of them came and said they had to go toRichmond, that "the word had come" for them. Others, including evenUncle Balla and Lucy Ann, slipped away by night.
After that their mother had to cook, and the boys milked and did theheavier work. The cooking was not much trouble, however, forblack-eyed pease were about all they had to eat.
One afternoon, the second day after the news of Lee's surrender, theboys, who had gone to drive up the cows to be milked, saw twohorsemen, one behind the other, coming slowly down the road on the farhill. The front horse was white, and, as their father rode a whitehorse, they ran toward the house to carry the news. Their mother andCousin Belle, however, having seen the horsemen, were waiting on theporch as the men came through the middle gate and rode across thefield.
It was their father and his body-servant, Ralph, who had been with himall through the war. They came slowly up the hill; the horses limpingand fagged, the riders dusty and drooping.
It seemed like a funeral. The boys were near the steps, and theirmother stood on the portico with her forehead resting against apillar. No word was spoken. Into the yard they rode at a walk, and upto the porch. Then their father, who had not once looked up, put bothhands to his face, slipped from his horse, and walked up the steps,tears running down his cheeks, and took their mother into his arms. It_was_ a funeral--the Confederacy was dead.
A little later, their father, who had been in the house, came out onthe porch near where Ralph still stood holding the horses.
"Take off the saddles, Ralph, and turn the horses out," he said.
Ralph did so.
"Here,--here's my last dollar. You have been a faithful servant to me.Put the saddles on the porch." It was done. "You are free," he said tothe black, and then he walked back into the house.
Ralph stood where he was for some minutes without moving a muscle. Hiseyes blinked mechanically. Then he looked at the door and at thewindows above him. Suddenly he seemed to come to himself. Turningslowly, he walked solemnly out of the yard.
Two Little Confederates Page 18