Part 35 (1/2)
He, therefore, on horseback, and apparently as a man traveling for pleasure and recreation, proceeded on his way up the valley of the river and towards the objective point of his journey, the rebel capital.
Nothing worthy of note occurred during the day; he stopped at noon at a house by the wayside, and obtained dinner for himself and horse. In a conversation with his host, who was a well-to-do old farmer, he apparently in a careless manner betrayed the fact that he himself followed the same occupation, that he lived on the river in the county of Norfolk, below, and was on his way to visit among friends at Petersburgh.
It was towards evening that he neared the outskirts of the city, when he suddenly encountered the rebel pickets, stationed outside the town, who halted him and demanded to know his name and business. ”My name is Curtis,” replied the operative, ”and I am from Norfolk; my business I will state to your commander when I am taken to him.”
Without further ceremony he was turned over to the officer of the guard, who sent him under escort to General Hill, the general in command.
”Whom have you here?” queried the General, as in the company of his escort the detective was led into his presence.
”A man who says he is from Norfolk,” replied the guard, ”but who refuses to tell his business to any one but yourself.”
”You may retire,” said the General, and the escort immediately left the room. ”Now,” he exclaimed, turning to Curtis, ”What is your business?
Please be as brief as possible, as I am very busy.”
”Well, to come to the point at once,” replied the detective; ”in the first place, then, I spoke falsely to your pickets when I told them I was from Norfolk. My name is Curtis, and I am from Was.h.i.+ngton. As to my business, I deal in what the Yankees are pleased to term contraband goods; yet I don't see how gun-caps, ammunition of all kinds, and quinine should be considered contraband, for the simple reason that I, as a dealer, find a better market South than North for my goods. My desire,” he continued, ”is to get through to Richmond, where I hope to be able to effect contracts, with Secretary Benjamin, to furnish my goods to the Confederate government.”
”How did you get through the Union lines?” asked the General, still, evidently, a little suspicious of the sincerity of the detective's story.
”I came down on the 'Commodore,' General McClellan's boat, three days ago,” he answered, ”was set across the river there, procured a horse from a friend, and here I am.”
”Do you know anything of McClellan's plans for an advance?” asked the General.
”I can tell you nothing about them,” answered Curtis, ”as everything is kept secret from even his own staff, I am told.”
The General mused, thoughtfully, a moment, and then said: ”I will give you a pa.s.s to Richmond, and you can proceed on your way in the morning.”
”Thank you, General,” exclaimed the detective, ”I a.s.sure you the cause shall suffer no loss by any efforts of mine. I shall, in all probability, return by this way, in a few weeks at farthest, when, if I can be of any service to you, you have only to command me.”
”By the way,” said the General, ”I have some letters to parties in Richmond, which ought to go at once. If you will do me the favor to deliver them I shall be obliged to you.”
”I shall be happy to serve you, General, and will take pleasure in seeing that your letters reach their destination all right.”
”Very well, then; call at my quarters in the morning, before you start, and I will have them ready for you, and will give you also your pa.s.s to Richmond.”
Curtis thanked him again, and, bidding him good-night, repaired to the hotel, and secured for himself and horse supper and lodging for the night.
After he had partaken of a hearty meal, and provided himself with an excellent cigar, he sauntered out on to the veranda of the hotel, and, taking a comfortable seat, prepared to enjoy his fragrant weed, and amuse himself with listening to the conversation of those around him.
He soon discovered that the war, and the prospects for a speedy victory for the South, were the subjects under discussion, and he listened with much interest to the ideas advanced, and the confidence that marked their a.s.sertions of the superiority of the Southern troops over the Northern mudsills, as they termed the Federalists.
”You may depend on it, that General Johnson will not permit the Yanks to approach any closer to Richmond than they now are, without contesting every inch of the ground as they advance,” remarked one gentleman of the party near which he was sitting.
”No,” emphatically rejoined another, ”when they take Richmond, it will be when they have annihilated the Southern people, when not a thousand able-bodied men are left on Southern soil to rally to its defense.”
”Well, I am satisfied,” remarked another, ”that right here is to be the contest, that is to decide this matter one way or the other.”
”If the Yankees take Richmond, the South may as well surrender at once; if however they fail, as they are extremely liable to do, _they_, on the other hand, may as well withdraw their forces and acknowledge our independence.”
”If I am not greatly mistaken,” now ventured my operative, ”in the spirit of the Southern people, they will, to use a common phrase, 'fight to the bitter end.' And yet,” he continued, ”to the thoughtful observer, it is not pleasant to contemplate the spectacle of brother arrayed against brother, as they are in this war. I tell you, gentlemen,” he added, ”that while I am a Southern man, it grieves me to see our land so rent with strife and bloodshed and that the North has made it necessary for a resort to arms to settle a matter that should have been amicably adjusted.”
At this juncture, the party was joined by a new-comer, who had evidently just left the supper-room, as he carried an unlighted cigar in one hand, while with the other he was picking his teeth, with the manner of a man who had just eaten a hearty meal and who had enjoyed it.