Part 10 (1/2)
”Where did you go after the letter was written?”
No answer.
”Major Lacy said-” began the general, changing his tactics.
”Did he tell you?” cried Sempland, in sudden alarm and great dismay.
”He knew then?” exclaimed the general, triumphant in his clew. ”No, he didn't tell. He never will tell now. I have learned from a picket boat that was captured last night by our patrols, that nothing was seen of the David after the explosion.”
”Poor Lacy!” said Sempland. ”Well, sir, he died the death of his choice.”
”Yes,” said Beauregard, ”little in life became him as the ending of it.”
A little silence fell between the two in the room.
”And I might have been there,” said Sempland at last.
”I had rather see you dead, sir, than in your present case,” commented the general, deftly.
”Yes, sir, and I'd rather be there myself,” returned the young man, ”but I-I beg your pardon, General, were they successful?”
”In a measure. They missed the Wabash, but blew up the Housatonic.”
”Did the cotton s.h.i.+ps get out?”
”Unfortunately, no. One of them was sunk. The other two returned in safety. But all this is beside the question. We are losing sight of the main point. For the last time, will you tell me why you failed to be on hand?”
”General Beauregard, as I said, I would rather be where Lacy is now than have failed as I did, but I cannot tell you what detained me”
”For the last time, Mr. Sempland, I beg of you to answer me. You know the consequences?”
The general spoke sharply now. Such determination and contumacy had at last got the better of his patience and forbearance. He had tried to save Sempland, but the young officer would give him no a.s.sistance. Well, on his own head it would be.
”You realize what is before you, sir?”
”Yes, sir.”
”A court-martial. Possibly-nay, certainly, death. For in the face of your refusal to explain I can do nothing more for you.”
Sempland bowed to the inevitable.
”You have said,” he began, ”that you did not believe I was a coward, nor a traitor. If you will not allow the stigma of either of these charges to rest upon me, I will bear with equanimity whatever punishment the court-martial may award.”
”Even to loss of life?”
”Yes, sir.”
”Very well,” said the general, shrugging his shoulders, a trick of his French ancestry. ”I have done my best, Mr. Sempland, for you. As to my personal beliefs, I can and will express them, but I cannot tell whether the court-martial will receive them or not. Will nothing move you?”