Part 25 (1/2)
”So I supposed. He is a jovial, good-hearted fellow; but I'll wager my shoulder-straps he was tight at the time,” laughed the general.
”Very tight, sir.”
”Well, he is a fighting man, drunk or sober; but I should rather lead than follow him in action. Where have you been all day?”
”Shall I tell my story in full, or only give you the information I obtained?”
”Tell the story, so that I can determine whether the information is good for anything or not.”
Somers drank the tin cup of coffee which the general's servant brought to him, and then proceeded to relate the incidents of the day in the rebel camp. His distinguished auditor, who, in the Army of the Potomac, had well earned the t.i.tle of ”the bravest of the brave,” listened with eager interest to the details of the lieutenant's story, asking occasional questions upon points which were not only calculated to elicit particular information, but to display the skill and intelligence of the scout. The interview was prolonged for several hours; and at its close a staff-officer was despatched to the corps commander; for what purpose, of course, Somers had no intimation.
”Lieutenant Somers, you have earned your promotion; and if you don't have it, it will be because I have not influence enough to procure it. You have done well.”
”Thank you, sir.”
”Your friend, Senator Guilford, shall hear of you within forty-eight hours.”
”I beg your pardon, sir; but, grateful as I am to Senator Guilford for the interest he has expressed in me, I don't care to be patronized by any man in civil life.”
”Whew!” laughed the general. ”I wish some of our colonels and brigadiers would take a lesson from you. Never mind, Lieutenant Somers; you will deserve all you ever get.”
”Thank you, sir.”
”Go to your quarters now. Here,” he added, das.h.i.+ng off a note at his table, in which he desired that Somers might be excused from duty for the next two days, to enable him to recover from the fatigues of his arduous expedition.
I need not inform my readers how soundly our hero slept in his shelter tent that night, nor how his slumbers were disturbed by a horrid rebel with a bowie-knife, and a horrid feminine monstrosity which seemed to be called Sue by her attendant demons; but he slept as a tired boy only can sleep.
The next morning the brigade was relieved from picket duty, and the regiment returned to its camp. Captain de Banyan had neither seen nor heard from his young friend since his departure on the forenoon of the preceding day. Of course he was overjoyed to see him, as well as intensely curious to know where he had been, what he had done, and whether he had been promoted. Somers told his adventures to the mess, omitting such military information as was ”contraband” in the camp.
”Somers, my dear fellow, you are a man after my own heart!” exclaimed the captain, grasping his hand, and wringing it with all the enthusiasm of his fervid nature. ”Somers, my boy, did you ever hear of a man having his double?”
”I have read of such things in old legends.”
”I believe in it, Somers. You are my double! You are my second self! You are as near like me as one pea is like another! Just before the battle of Magenta----”
At this interesting point in the conversation, the officers of the mess burst into an involuntary roar of laughter, ending up Magenta with a long dash.
”Not exactly like you, Captain de Banyan,” added Somers.
”You can't tell half so big a story,” said Lieutenant Munroe.
”Gentlemen,” interposed the captain with dignity, ”you interrupted me at the wrong moment. I was about to prove to you wherein Lieutenant Somers was my double; and with your permission, I will proceed with my argument.
Just before the battle of Magenta, I was sent out on a scout; and I went at the particular request of the Emperor Napoleon, who--permit me to add, in the presence of a company which seems to be inimical to my antecedents, if not to me--had unlimited confidence in my ability to perform this delicate duty with skill and success. Well, gentlemen, I pa.s.sed our pickets; of course I mean the French pickets; for I was, as you are all aware, a colonel in the French infantry at that time.”
”We are all aware of it,” laughed Munroe--”over the left.”
”That is a slang phrase, and repulsive to the ears of a cultivated gentleman. As I was saying, gentlemen, I pa.s.sed our pickets, and soon encountered a Russian general of division.”
”Russian?”