Part 8 (1/2)
”So far so good,” said Rodney, as he and his father went out upon the street. ”Now let that Yankee cotton-factor watch the St. Louis wharf-boats if he wants to, and see how much he will make by it. I knew I could throw them off the scent.”
”You may not have done it as completely as you think,” replied Mr. Gray, ”I shall not draw an easy breath until I hear that you are safe under Mr. Graham's roof. When you get aboard the steamer be careful what acquaintances you make. Take warning by what Griffin told you last night and take n.o.body into your confidence.”
That afternoon their host learned, through business channels, that the steamer Mollie Able was in New Orleans loading for St. Louis, and might be expected to arrive at Baton Rouge bright and early on the following morning, provided she was not impressed by the Confederate quarter-master. She came on time, and Rodney afterward learned that he was fortunate in securing pa.s.sage on her, far she was one of the last boats that went up the river. Navigation was closed soon after she reached St. Louis, and all communication between the North and South was cut off by the Confederate batteries that were erected along the Mississippi. The telegraph lines, which up to this time had been used by both Union men and rebels alike, were seized by the Government; and if Rodney had been a week later, he would not have been able to get that dispatch through to St. Louis. But that would not have interfered with his arrangements, for he did not now expect to meet d.i.c.k's father in St. Louis. He had used the telegram simply to deceive Tom Randolph and the Baton Rouge operators.
Rodney Gray and his father, as well as the roan colt and a goodly supply of hay and grain that had been provided for him, were on the levee waiting for the Mollie Able when she turned in for the landing, and Rodney did not fail to notice that in the crowd of lookers-on there was one young fellow who made it a point to keep pretty close to him, although he did not appear to do so intentionally.
”It's one of the operators Randolph set to watch me,” he whispered to his father. ”I hope he will follow us up to the clerk's office and stand around within earshot while I buy my ticket.”
His wish was gratified, for that was just what the young operator had been sent there for-to find out whether or not Rodney secured pa.s.sage to St. Louis. When the latter had seen his horse and forage disposed of on the main deck he ascended to the office, and there was the spy, standing with his hands behind his back and his gaze directed across the river. He stood close to the rail, but still he could hear every word that pa.s.sed between Rodney and the clerk; and when the latter turned away with his ticket in his hand, the spy ran down the stairs and started for his office to tell Drummond the Moorville operator that he had seen Rodney Gray pay his pa.s.sage to St. Louis.
”Good-by, my boy,” said Mr. Gray, when the steamer's bell rang out the warning that the gang-plank was about to be hauled in.
”Write to us as often as you can, and remember your mother's parting words. As often as I hear from you I shall expect to hear that you did your duty. Remember too, that you are fighting in a just cause. The North has forced this thing upon us, and we would be the veriest cowards in the world if we did not defend ourselves. Good-by.”
A moment later Rodney Gray was standing alone on the boiler deck, waving his handkerchief to his father, and the Mollie Able's bow was swinging rapidly away from the landing. Young as he was the boy had traveled a good deal and was accustomed to being among strangers; but now he was homesick, and when it was too late he began to wonder at the step he had so hastily taken, and ask himself how he could possibly endure a whole year's separation from his father and mother.
”I've played a fool's part,” thought he, bitterly, ”and now I am going to reap a fool's reward. Why didn't I stay with the company and share its fortunes, as I said I was going to do, or why didn't father put his foot down and tell me I couldn't go to Missouri? Heigh-ho! This is what comes of being patriotic.”
Then Rodney tilted his chair back on its hind legs, placed his feet on the top of the railing and fell to wondering what had become of the rest of the boys in his cla.s.s, and whether or not all the Union fellows had been as true to their colors as his cousin Marcy Gray had tried to be. Some of the Barrington students who were strong for the Union were from Missouri, and they did not believe in neutrality as d.i.c.k Graham did. They believed in keeping the rebellious States in the Union by force of arms if they would not stay in peaceably. Had they joined Lyon's army, and would he and d.i.c.k have to meet them on the field of battle? He hoped not, but if he did, he would be careful to follow the advice Ed Billings gave his cousin Marcy and shoot high.
The journey up the river was an uneventful one. The tables were pretty well filled at meal time, but Rodney could not have been more alone if he had been stranded on some sandbar in the middle of the stream. His horse was the only companion he had, and the animal seemed to be as lonely and homesick as his master was. Rodney visited him a dozen times a day to make sure that he did not want for anything, and the colt always rubbed his head against the boy's shoulder and told him by other signs, as plainly as a horse could tell it, that he was glad to see him. There was an utter lack of that sociability and unrestrained intercourse among the pa.s.sengers that Rodney had always noticed during his trips up and down the river. Some of them were solitary and alone like himself, while others, having formed themselves into little groups, had nothing to do with the rest of the pa.s.sengers, but kept entirely on their own side of the boiler deck. Rodney thought they acted as though they were afraid of one another. This state of affairs continued until the Mollie Able reached Memphis, where the Confederates were building a fleet of gunboats, and then a remark made by one of the pa.s.sengers broke down all reserve, and showed some of them, Rodney Gray among the rest, that they had been keeping aloof from their friends.
”When these boats are completed,” Rodney heard the pa.s.senger say to one of his companions, ”you will see fun on this river. The first point of a.s.sault will be Cairo, and then we'll go on up and take St. Louis away from Lyon's Dutchmen. Those Missourians are a pretty set of cowards to let a lot of ignorant foreigners take their city out of their hands.”
Well, they couldn't help it, and besides, the loyal Germans were by no means as ignorant as some of the men who fought against them. They were good soldiers and hard to whip; and it was owing to their patriotism and courage that such fellows as Rodney Gray and d.i.c.k Graham did not succeed in their efforts to ”run the Yankees out of Missouri.” And as for the Confederate gunboats of which such great things were expected, they were, with a single exception, destroyed in a fight of less than an hour's duration by the Union fleet under the command of Flag Officer Davis. The Van Dorn alone escaped, and she was never heard of afterward.
When the Mollie Able resumed her journey Rodney waited and watched for an opportunity to question the outspoken Confederate, for he believed he could trust him. As he had often told himself, he was ”going it blind,” and a little information from some one who knew how things were going on up the river, might be of the greatest use to him. The opportunity he sought was presented the very next day. While he was feeding his horse the Confederate sauntered along and stopped and looked at the colt with the air of a man who knew a good thing when he saw it.
”There ought to be some 'go' in that fellow,” said he.
”I think there is,” replied Rodney. ”But I have never tried him at his best, and don't expect to unless the Yankees get after me.”
”Well, if you keep on up the river you will go right where the Yankees are,” said the gentleman, who looked a little surprised. ”If you are on our side what are you doing here?”
”Pardon me, but I might ask you the same question,” answered the boy cautiously.
”My business is no secret,” was the smiling reply. ”I am going up into Ohio after my family. I want to get them home while I can. All our highways will be shut up after a while.”
”Do you think there will be any fighting?”
”Lots of it, and I have promised to help”; and as the man said this he put his hand into his pocket and drew out an official envelope. He looked around the deck to make sure that there was no one within earshot, and then produced a printed doc.u.ment which he unfolded and handed over for Rodney's inspection. ”I knew you were a Southerner the minute I saw you, and have several times been on the point of speaking to you, for you seemed lonesome and downhearted,” he continued ”But when one is about to beard the lion in his den as I am, it behooves him to be careful whom he addresses.”
”That was the reason I kept to myself,” answered Rodney, handing back the paper which proved that his new acquaintance was a captain in the Confederate army. ”I should think you would be afraid to have that commission about you. I left all my soldier things at home.”
”I reckon I am safe now, but I might not be a week hence,” said the captain. ”Who are you any way, if it is a fair question, and where are you going?”
Rodney explained in a few hasty words, and was sorry to hear the captain declare, as he shook his finger at him:
”You are making a great mistake. The place for a young man with a military education is in the regular army; not the volunteers, understand, but the regulars, who will be continued in the service after our independence has been acknowledged. I am surprised that your friends didn't point that out to you.”