Part 12 (1/2)
”Yes, I kin tell you,” replied the man, somewhat flattered. ”They're posted everywhere. What, with their army and them boats of theirs in the river, they've got a high fence around us, all staked and ridered.”
”It doesn't take any more work to tear a fence down than it does to build it up.”
”I reckon you're right thar, stranger. But was you at Champion Hill?”
”No, I missed that.”
”Then it was a good thing for you that you did. I didn't set much store by the Yanks when this war began. One good Southerner could whip five of 'em any time, our rip-roarin', fire-eatin' speech-makers said. I knowed then, too, that they was right, but I was up thar in Kentucky a while, an' after Donelson I reckoned that four was about as many as I wanted to tackle all to oncet. Then thar was s.h.i.+loh, an' I kinder had a thought that if three of 'em jumped on me at one time I'd hev my hands purty full to lick 'em. Then come Corinth, an,' reasonin' with myself, I said I wouldn't take on more'n two Yanks at the same time. An' now, since I've been at Champion Hill, I know that the Yank is a pow'ful good fighter, an' I reckon one to one jest about suits me, an' even then I'd like to have a leetle advantage in the draw.”
”I feel that way about it, too. The Yankees are going to make a heap of trouble for us here. But I must be going. What's the best path into Vicksburg?”
”See that little openin' in the bushes. Follow it. Jest over the hill you'll run into a pa.s.sel of our fellers, but pay no 'tention to 'em. If they ask you who you are an' whar you're boun' tell 'em to go straight to blazes, while you go to Vicksburg.”
”Thank you,” said d.i.c.k, ”I like to meet an obliging and polite man like you. It helps even in war.”
”Don't mention it. When I wuz a little shaver my ma told me always to mind my manners, an' when I didn't she whaled the life out of me. An', do you know, stranger, she's just a leetle, withered old woman, but if she could 'pear here right now I'd be willin' to set down right in these bushes an' say, 'Ma, take up that stick over thar an' beat me across the shoulders an' back with it as hard as you kin.' I'd feel good all over.”
”I believe you,” said d.i.c.k, who thought of his own mother.
He followed the indicated path until he was out of sight of everybody, and then he plunged into the bushes and marsh toward the river. When he was well hidden he stopped and considered.
It was quite evident that he had wandered from the right road, but it was no easy task to get back into it. There was an unconscious Confederate cordon about him and he must pa.s.s through it somewhere. He moved farther toward the river, but only went deeper into the swamp.
He turned to the south and soon reached firm ground, but he heard Confederate pickets talking in front of him. Then he caught glimpses of two or three men watching among the trees, and he lay down in a clump of bushes. He might pa.s.s them as he had pa.s.sed the others, but he thought it wiser not to take the risk.
He was willing also to rest a little, as he had done a lot of hard walking. His clothing was now dry, and the mud had dried upon it.
He turned aside into one of the deep ravines and then into a smaller one leading from it. The bushes were dense there and he lay down among them, so completely hidden that he was invisible ten feet away. Here he still heard the mutter of the guns, which came in a long, droning sound, and occasionally a rifle cracked at some point closer by. The Union army was still busy and he felt a few moments of despondency. His dispatch undoubtedly was of great importance, and yet he was not able to deliver it. It was highly probable that for precaution's sake other messengers bore the same dispatch, but he was anxious to arrive with his nevertheless, and he wanted, too, to arrive first. The last now seemed impossible and the first improbable.
The crackling fire came nearer. Owing to the lack of percussion caps, Pemberton had ordered his men to use their rifles sparingly, but evidently a considerable body of sharpshooters near d.i.c.k were attempting a flanking movement of some kind, and meant to carry it out with bullets. He was impatient to see, but prudence kept him in his covert, a prudence that was soon justified, as presently he heard voices very near him and then the sound of footsteps.
He rose up a little and saw several hundred Confederate soldiers pa.s.sing on the slopes not more than a hundred yards away. They went south of him, and he recognized with growing alarm that the wall across his way was growing higher. When they were gone and he could no longer hear their tread among the bushes he slipped from his hiding place and went directly toward Vicksburg. Being within an iron ring he thought that perhaps he would be safer somewhere near the center. He might make his way without much trouble through the vast confused crowd in Vicksburg, and then in the night go down the river's edge and to the fleet.
It was a daring idea, so very daring that it appealed to the strain of high adventure in the lad. He was encouraged, too, by his earlier and easy success in pa.s.sing among the Confederate soldiers. But in order not to appear reckless and to satisfy his own conscience he tried once more for the way to the south. But the soldiers entirely barred the path there, and, being on some duty that required extreme vigilance, they were likely to prove exacting.
He advanced with a clear mind toward Vicksburg, picking his way among the forests and ravines, but, after long walking over most difficult ground, he saw before him extensive earthworks thronged with Southern troops. When he turned westward the result was the same, and then it became evident that there was no flaw in the iron ring. He could not go through to Porter, he could not go back to his own army, but Vicksburg invited him as a guest.
He would make the trial at night. It was a long wait, but he dared not risk it by day, and, going back into one of the ravines, he sought a secluded and sheltered place. Thres.h.i.+ng the bushes to drive away possible snakes, he crawled into a clump and lay there. Resolved to be patient in spite of everything, he did not stir, but listened to the far throbbing of the cannon which poured an incessant storm of missiles upon unhappy Vicksburg.
The warmth and the heavy air in the ravine were relaxing. His brain grew so dull and heavy that he fell asleep, and when he awoke the twilight was coming. And yet he had lost nothing. He had gained rather. The time had pa.s.sed. His body had been strengthened and his nerves steadied while he slept.
The distant booming of the guns still came. He had expected it. That was Grant. He had wrapped the coil of steel around Vicksburg and he would never relax. d.i.c.k felt that there was no hope for the town, unless Johnston outside could gather a powerful army and fight Grant on even terms. But he considered it impossible, and there, too, was the great artery of the river along which flowed men and supplies of every kind for the Union.
The Southern twilight turned swiftly into night and, coming from his lair, d.i.c.k walked boldly toward the town. He had eaten nothing since morning, but he had not noticed it, until this moment, when he began to feel a little faintness. He resolved that Vicksburg should supply him. It was curious how much help he expected of Vicksburg, a hostile town.
He saw lights soon both to right and to left and he strengthened his soul. He knew that he must be calm, but alert and quick with the right answer. With his singular capacity for meeting a crisis he advanced into the thick of danger with a smiling face, even as his great ancestor, Paul Cotter, had often done.
His calm was of short duration. There was a rus.h.i.+ng sound, something struck violently, and a tremendous explosion followed. Fire flashed before d.i.c.k's eyes, pieces of red hot metal whistled past his head, earth spattered him and he was thrown to the ground.
He sprang up again, understanding all instantly. A sh.e.l.l from his own army had burst near him, and he had been thrown down by the concussion. But he had not been hurt, and in a few seconds his pulse beat steadily.
He heard a shout of laughter as he stood, brus.h.i.+ng the fresh dirt from his clothing. He glanced up in some anger, but he saw at once that the arrival of the sh.e.l.l had been most fortunate for his plan. To come near annihilation by a Federal gun certainly invested him with a Confederate character.
It was a group of young soldiers who were laughing and their amus.e.m.e.nt was entirely good-natured. They would have laughed the same way had the harmless adventure befallen one of their own number. d.i.c.k judged that they were from the Southwest.
”Close call,” he said, smiling that attractive smile, which was visible even in the twilight.
”It was a friendly sh.e.l.l,” said one of the youths, ”and it concluded not to come too close to you. These Yankee sh.e.l.ls are so loving that sometimes they spray themselves in little pieces all over a fellow, like a shower of rice over a bride at a wedding.”
”How long do you think the Yankees will keep it up?” asked d.i.c.k, putting indignation in his tone. ”Haven't they any respect for the night?”
”Not a bit. That fellow Grant is a pounder. They say he'll blow away the whole plateau of Vicksburg if we don't drive him off.”
”Well, we'll do it. You wait till old Joe Johnston comes up. Then we'll shut him between the jaws of a vise and squeeze the life out of him.”
”Hope so. Where've you been?”
”Down below the town. I'm coming back with messages.”
”So long. Good luck. Keep straight ahead, and you'll find all the generals you want.”
The lights increased and he went into a small tavern, where he bought food and a cup of coffee, paying in gold. The tavern keeper asked no questions, but his eyes gleamed at sight of the yellow coin.
”Mighty little of this comes my way now,” he said frankly, ”and our own money is worth less and less every day. If things keep on the way they're headed it'll take a bale of it as big as a bale of cotton to pay for one good, square meal.”
d.i.c.k laughed.
”Not so bad as that,” he said. ”You wait until we've given Grant a big thras.h.i.+ng and have cleared their boats out of the river. Then you'll see our money becoming real.”
The man shook his head.
”Seein' will be believin',” he said, ”an' as I ain't seein' I ain't believin'.”
d.i.c.k with a friendly good night went out. Grant, the persistent, was still at work. His cannon flared on the dark horizon and the sh.e.l.ls crashed in Vicksburg. Scarcely any portion of the town was safe. Now and then a house was smashed in and often the sh.e.l.ls found victims.
The town was full of terror and confusion. Many of the rich planters had come there with their families for refuge. Women and children hid from the terrible fire, and the civilians already had begun to burrow. Caves had been dug deep into the sides of the ravines and hundreds found in them a rude but safe shelter.
d.i.c.k now found that his plans were going wrong. He could wander about almost at will and to any one to whom he spoke he still claimed to be a Tennesseean, but he knew that it could not last forever. Sooner or later, some officer would question him closely, and then his tale would be too thin for truth.
Unable to make a way toward the river, he returned to the slopes and ravines, where they were digging the caves, and then fortune which had been smiling upon him turned its face the other way. A small man in b.u.t.ternut and an enormous felt hat pa.s.sed near. He did not see d.i.c.k, but his very presence gave the lad a s.h.i.+ver. He believed afterward that before he saw him he had felt the proximity of Slade.
The man, carrying a rifle, was hurrying toward the center of the town, and d.i.c.k, after one long look, hurried at equal speed the other way. He knew that Slade, if he saw him, would recognize him at once. Dusk and a muddy uniform would not protect him.
It was his idea now to go down through the ravines and make another trial toward the South. He saw ahead of him a line of intrenchments, which he was resolved to pa.s.s in some fas.h.i.+on, but the face of fortune was still away from him. The unknown officers who at any time might ask too many questions appeared.
A captain, a sunbrowned, alert man, stopped him at the edge of the bushes which clothed the slopes of the ravine.
”Your regiment?” he asked sharply.