Part 25 (1/2)
”No, indeed,” Lucy said, flus.h.i.+ng scarlet; ”we have no idea of such a thing. I was living alone, and the house was attacked by bushwhackers, the band of a villain named Mullens.”
”Oh! I saw all about that in the Nashville paper this morning.
They were attacked by a band of Confederate plunderers, it said.”
”They were attacked by one man,” the girl replied. ”They were on the point of murdering me when he arrived. He shot Mullens and four of his band and the rest made off, but he got this wound. And as I knew the villains would return again and burn the house and kill me, I and my old nurse determined to go southward to join my friends in Georgia.”
”Well, you can tell me more about it as we go,” the doctor said. ”I will order my buggy round to the door, and drive you back. I will take my instruments and things with me. It is no business of mine whether a sick man is a Confederate or a Federal; all my business is to heal them.”
”Thank you very much, doctor. While the horse is being put in I will go down and tell the negro boy with me to go straight on with a basket of things I have been buying.”
”Where is he now?” the doctor asked.
”I think he is sitting down outside the door, sir.”
”Then you needn't go down,” the doctor said. ”He can jump up behind and go with us. He will get there all the quicker.”
In five minutes they were driving down the village, with Dan in the back seat. On the way the doctor obtained from Lucy a more detailed account of their adventures.
”So he is one of those Confederate officers who broke prison at Elmira,” he said. ”I saw yesterday that one of his companions was captured.”
”Was he, sir? How was that?”
”It seems that he had made his way down to Was.h.i.+ngton, and was staying at one of the hotels there as a Mr. James of Baltimore. As he was going through the street he was suddenly attacked by a negro, who a.s.saulted him with such fury that he would have killed him had he not been dragged off by pa.s.sers-by. The black would have been very roughly treated, but he denounced the man he had attacked as one of the Confederate officers who had escaped from the prison. It seems that the negro had been a slave of his who had been barbarously treated, and finally succeeded in making his escape and reaching England, after which he went to Canada; and now that it is safe for an escaped slave to live in the Northern States without fear of arrest or ill-treatment he had come down to Was.h.i.+ngton with the intention of engaging as a teamster with one of the Northern armies, in the hope when he made his way to Richmond of being able to gain some news of his wife, whom his master had sold before he ran away from him.”
”It served the man right!” Lucy said indignantly. ”It's a good thing that the slaves should turn the tables sometimes upon masters who ill-treat them.”
”You don't think my patient would ill-treat his slaves?” the doctor asked with a little smile.
”I am sure he wouldn't,” the girl said indignantly. ”Why, the boy behind you is one of his slaves, and I am sure he would give his life for his master.”
Dan had overheard the doctor's story, and now exclaimed:
”No, sah. Ma.s.sa Vincent de kindest of masters. If all like him, do slaves everywhere contented and happy. What was de name of dat man, sah, you was speaking of?”
”His name was Jackson,” the doctor answered.
”I tought so,” Dan exclaimed in excitement. ”Ma.s.sa never mentioned de names of de two officers who got out wid him, and it war too dark for me to see their faces, but dat story made me tink it must be him. Berry bad man that; he libs close to us, and Ma.s.sa Vincent one day pretty nigh kill him because he beat dat bery man who has catched him now on de street of Was.h.i.+ngton. When dat man sell him wife Ma.s.sa Vincent buy her so as to prevent her falling into bad hands. She safe now wid his mother at de Orangery--dat's the name of her plantation.”
”My patient must be quite an interesting fellow, young lady,” the doctor said, with a rather slight twinkle of his eye. ”A very knight-errant. But there is the house now; we shall soon see all about him.”
Taking with him the case of instruments and medicines he had brought, the doctor entered Vincent's room. Lucy entered first; and although surprised to see a stranger with her, Vincent saw by her face that there was no cause for alarm.
”I have brought you a doctor,” she said. ”You could not go on as you were, you know. So Dan and I have been to fetch one.”
The doctor now advanced and took Vincent's hand.
”Feverish,” he said, looking at his cheeks, which were now flushed.
”You have been doing too much, I fancy. Now let us look at this wound of yours. Has your servant got any warm water?” he asked Lucy.
Lucy left the room, and returned in a minute with a kettleful of warm water and a basin, which was among the purchases she had made at Mount Pleasant.