Part 77 (1/2)
Colonel Fauquier Cary, riding by, heard the last remark and answered it.
”Ma.r.s.e Robert and Longstreet are marching by the road we've marched before them. To-night, perhaps, we'll be again a united family.”
”Colonel, are we going to have a battle?”
”I wasn't at the council, friends, but I can tell you what I think.”
”Yes, yes! We think that you think pretty straight--”
”McCall and Heintzelman and Fitz John Porter have joined General Pope.”
”Yes. So we hear.”
”And others of the Army of the Potomac are on the way.”
”Yes, undoubtedly.”
”But are not here yet.”
”No.”
”Well, then, I think that the thing above all others that General Lee wants is an immediate battle.”
He rode on. The men to whom he had been speaking looked after him approvingly. ”He's a fine piece of steel! Always liked that whole family--Isn't he a cousin of ----? Yes. Wonder what he thinks about that matter! Heigho! Look at the stealing light and the grey shadows!
Mana.s.sas!”
Cary, riding by Ewell's lines, came upon Maury Stafford lying stretched beneath an oak, studying, too, the old battlefield. The sun was up; the morning cool, fresh, and pure. Dismounting, Cary seated himself beside the other. ”You were not in the battle here? On the Peninsula, were you not?”
”Yes, with Magruder. Look at that shaft of light.”
”Yes. It strikes the crest of the hill--just where was the Stonewall Brigade.”
Silence fell. The two sat, brooding over the scene, each with his own thoughts. ”This field will be red again,” said Stafford at last.
”No doubt. Yes, red again. I look for heavy fighting.”
”I saw you when you came in with A. P. Hill on the second. But we have not spoken together, I think, since Richmond.”
”No,” said Cary. ”Not since Richmond.”
”One of your men told me that, coming up, you stopped in Albemarle.”
”Yes, I went home for a few hours.”
”All at Greenwood are well and--happy?”
”All at Greenwood are well. Southern women are not precisely happy. They are, however, extremely courageous.”
”May I ask if Miss Cary is at Greenwood?”
”She remained at her work in Richmond through July. Then the need at the hospital lessening, she went home. Yes, she is at Greenwood.”