Part 43 (1/2)
Somers grasped the hand of his brave and devoted companion, which he pressed with a warmth that indicated his feelings more eloquently than words could have done. He was entirely satisfied with the explanation, because it was fully sustained by the conduct of the captain, and by the words of the rebel cavalry officer who had claimed his acquaintance. He was even disposed to believe that De Banyan had been a soldier in the European wars and in Mexico; which was a degree of credulity hardly to be expected of a sensible young man.
”You will forgive me for my unjust suspicions, captain? I a.s.sure you it went against my grain to believe that you were a rebel.”
”You had good reason for it. I was more afraid of you, when I confessed my sins to the rebel officer, than I was of him. We are friends again, Somers; that's all I want.”
”You have proved yourself my friend by this last act; and I should have needed no further explanation to convince me that you were a loyal man.”
”I am all that, my dear boy.”
”Where have you been since I parted from you?”
”I got up to Petersburg in the afternoon. I was put in that hole where I found you at first; but, when the provost-marshal learned my story, he sent for me, and I was conducted to his office. Just as I came out of the depot, you went in. He wanted to question me, he said. Well, I happened to know him, though he did not know me. I knew his weak point; and, in a word, I bamboozled him. I a.s.sured him I was an officer in the Third Tennessee, and that, on further inquiry, he would find I was all right; that I had rendered greater service to my country by going over to the Yankees than I could possibly have done by remaining with my regiment; which, you are willing to believe, was strictly true.
”I asked the privilege of putting on my uniform again, which he granted; and, with the gold in my pocket, I purchased a full fit-out of the quartermaster. The provost-marshal told me that I must report at Richmond, which I promised to do; and, my dear boy, I hope I shall be able to do so at no distant day, though it doesn't look much like it just now. He gave me an apartment next to his office, for the night; where, of course, he expected to find me in the morning. In the night, I got up, and went into his office to transact a little business on my own account.
”After I saw you at the depot, my dear fellow, I couldn't forget your sad look. You seemed to be as hopeless as a stray chicken in the wet gra.s.s, and I was trying to think what I could do for you. I couldn't have gone back to Harrison's Landing without you; it would have broken my heart.
And what could I have said to the general, when he asked for you? How could I have made my peace with the officers of the regiment, if I had gone back without you?”
”It was very kind of you, after the shabby manner in which I had treated you,” added Somers.
”That was the very reason why I was bound to help you out of the sc.r.a.pe, if I could. I wanted to set myself right with you. I wanted to convince you I wasn't the man you took me to be.”
”You have convinced me in the fullest manner; and I owe you a debt of grat.i.tude which I shall never be able to pay.”
”Steady, my boy; we are not out of the sc.r.a.pe.”
”No matter whether we get out of the sc.r.a.pe or not, my feelings towards you will be just the same.”
”Thank you, Somers; I am satisfied.”
”But where did you get the pa.s.s you gave the corporal of the guard at the depot?” asked Somers.
”I found the provost-marshal's signature on certain papers, one of which I filled out to suit myself. But there was a sentinel at the door of the office, put there, I suppose, for my benefit; though I was sorry to trouble the poor fellow to stand there on my account. My friend, the provost, had done this little act in the most delicate way in the world.
He did not tell me that I was under guard; but I happened to find out before I put my foot in the trap.
”In a word, not wis.h.i.+ng to disturb the sentinel, I took the liberty of leaving by the way of the window of my chamber, instead of the door.
Luckily there was a one-story shop next to the office; and with the aid of a blanket from my bed, I dropped down upon it, without disturbing the meditations of the sentinel or the slumbers of the provost. I got into the street, and went to the depot. There I told the corporal of the guard a very interesting story about the prisoner who had been brought up in the afternoon, meaning myself; and that the man I wanted was needed immediately as a witness. You know the rest, my dear fellow; and here we are.”
”And here we are likely to remain, I'm afraid,” added Somers.
”Not a bit of it. I haven't exhausted half my expedients yet. On the night before the attack on the Redan, at Sebastopol, I went all over that city, and spent the evening at the house of one of the most distinguished citizens--a gentleman who had a government contract for rations. Of course, he didn't know me.”
”Hus.h.!.+ There is some one coming into the stable below,” said Somers, as he heard a door opened on the floor below.
It was impossible to move then without making noise enough to excite the attention of the person who had entered; for the stable was old and rickety, and the boards creaked at every step they took. The fugitives listened with breathless interest to the movements of the unwelcome visitor. The horse whinnied again; and the person entered the stall, and spoke to him. The sound of his voice filled the occupants of the loft with consternation; for evidently the speaker was not a negro servant, as they had hoped and expected to find him, but a white man, and one who used the English language well.
”Come, Jenny, there's a job on hand for us; and you must postpone your breakfast till we catch the Yankee prisoners,” said the person, who, the fugitives were now satisfied, was an officer of the cavalry service.
While De Banyan was telling his story, they had heard some noise at the house; and they now concluded that the party which had ridden up the street had come to call this officer for duty. They hoped that nothing would require him to pay a visit to the loft, and that, like a good officer, he would be as expeditious as possible in his preparations.