The Rock of Chickamauga - Joseph A. Altsheler (macos ebook reader .txt) 📗
- Author: Joseph A. Altsheler
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He divined the nature of the ordeal through which he had gone. Dick's
face, still badly swollen from the bites of the mosquitoes, showed
all the signs of utter exhaustion. The sergeant could see, despite the
darkness, that it was almost the face of the dead, and he knew that
happy chance had brought him in the moment of Dick's greatest need.
He ceased to whisper, because Dick, without intending it, had gone
to sleep again. Then the wary veteran scouted in a circle about their
refuge, but did not discover the presence of an enemy.
He sat down near the sleeping lad, with his rifle between his knees,
and watched the moon come out. Owing to his wilderness experience he had
been chosen also to go on a scout toward Jackson, though he preferred to
make his on foot, and the sound of Dick's shots at the hounds had drawn
him to an observation which finally turned into a rescue.
After midnight the sergeant slept a little while, but he never awakened
Dick until it was almost morning. Then he told him that he would go with
him on the mission to Hertford, and Dick was very glad.
"What's become of Slade and his men?" asked Dick.
"I don't know," replied the sergeant, "but as they lost the trail in the
night, it's pretty likely they're far from here. At any rate they're not
bothering us just now. How're you feeling, Mr. Mason?"
"Fine, except that my face still burns."
"We'll have to hold up a Confederate house somewhere and get oil of
pennyroyal. That'll cure you, but I guess you've learned now, Mr.
Mason, that mosquitoes in a southern swamp are just about as deadly as
bullets."
"So they are, Sergeant, and this is not my first experience. Luck has
been terribly against me this trip, but it turned when I met you last
night."
"Yes, Mr. Mason. In this case two rifles are better than one. We're
prowling right through the heart of the Confederacy, but I'm thinking
we'll make it. We've got a great general now, and we mustn't fail to
bring up Colonel Hertford and his cavalry. I've an idea in my head that
General Grant is going to carry through big plans."
"Then I think it's time we were starting."
"So do I, Mr. Mason, and now will you take these crackers and smoked
ham? I've plenty in my knapsack. I learned on the plains never to travel
without a food supply. If a soldier starves to death what use is he to
his army? And I reckon you need something to eat. You were about tired
out when I met you last night."
"I surely was, Sergeant, but I'm a new man this morning. You and I
together can't fail."
Dick, in truth, felt an enormous relief. He and his young comrades had
learned to trust Sergeant Whitley implicitly, with his experience of
forest and plain and his infinite resource.
"Where do you figure we are, Sergeant?" he asked.
"In the deep woods, Mr. Mason, but we haven't turned much from the line
leading you to the place where you were to meet Colonel Hertford. You
haven't really lost time, and we'll start again straight ahead, but
we've got to look out for this fellow Slade, who's as tricky and
merciless as they ever make 'em."
"Tell me more about Slade, Sergeant."
"I don't know a lot, but I heard of him from some of our scouts. He was
an overseer of a big plantation before the war. From somewhere up North,
I think, but now he's more of a rebel than the rebels themselves. Often
happens that way. But you've got to reckon with him."
"Glad I know that much. He reminds me of a man I've seen, though I can't
recall where or when. It's enough, though, to watch out for Slade. Come
on, Sergeant, I'm feeling so fine now that with your help I'm able to
fight a whole army."
The two striding through the forest, started toward the meeting place
with Hertford. Now that he had the powerful comradeship of Sergeant
Whitley, the wilderness became beautiful instead of gloomy for Dick.
The live oaks and magnolias were magnificent, and there was a wild
luxuriance of vegetation. Birds of brilliant plumage darted among the
foliage, and squirrels chattered on the boughs. He saw bear tracks
again, and called the sergeant's attention to them.
"It would be nice to be hunting them, instead of men," said Whitley.
"You can find nice, black fellows down here, good to eat, and it's a
deal safer to hunt them than it is the grizzlies and silver-tips of the
Rockies."
They saw now much cleared land, mostly cotton fields, and now and then
a white man or a negro working, but there was always enough forest
for cover. They waded the numerous brooks and creeks, allowing their
clothing to dry in the warm sun, as they marched, and about two hours
before sunrise the sergeant, wary and always suspicious, suggested that
they stop a while.
"I've an idea," he said, "that Slade and his men are still following us.
Oh, he's an ugly fellow, full of sin, and if they're not far behind us
we ought to know it."
"Just as you say," said Dick, glad enough to shift the responsibility
upon such capable shoulders. "How would this clump of bushes serve for a
hiding place while we wait?"
"Good enough. Indians pursued, often ambush the pursuer, and as we've
two good men with two good rifles, Mr. Mason, we'll just see what this
Slade is about."
"When I last saw him," said Dick, "he had the two canoemen with him, and
perhaps they've picked up the owner of the hounds."
"That's sure, and they're likely to be four. We're only two, but we've
got the advantage of the ambush, and that's a big one. If you agree
with me, Mr. Mason, we'll wait here for 'em. We were sent out to take
messages, not to fight, but since these fellows hang on our trail we may
get to Colonel Hertford all the quicker because we do fight."
"Your opinion's mine too, Sergeant. I'm not in love with battle, but I
wouldn't mind taking a shot or two at these men. They've given me a lot
of trouble."
The sergeant smiled.
"That's the way it goes," he said. "You don't get mad at anybody in
particular in a big battle, but if two or three fellows lay around in
the woods popping away at you you soon get so you lose any objections to
killing, and you draw a bead on 'em as soon as a chance comes."
"That's the way I feel, Sergeant. It isn't Christian, but I suppose it
has some sort of excuse."
"Of course it has. Drop a little lower, Mr. Mason. I see the bushes out
there shaking."
"And that's the sign that Slade and his men have come. Well, I'm not
sorry."
Both Dick and the sergeant lay almost flat with their heads raised a
little, and their rifles pushed forward. The bushes ceased to shake,
but Dick had no doubt their pursuers were before them. They had probably
divined, too, that the quarry was at bay and was dangerous. Evidently
the sergeant had been correct when he said Slade was full of craft and
cunning.
While they waited the spirit of Dick's famous ancestor descended upon
him in a yet greater measure. Their pursuers were not Indians, but this
was the deep wilderness and they were merely on a skirt of the great
war. Many of the border conditions were reproduced, and they were to
fight as borderers fought.
"What do you think they're doing?" Dick whispered.
"Feeling around for us. Slade won't take any more risk than he has to.
Did you see those two birds fly away from that bough, sudden-like? I
think one of the men has just crept under it. But the fellow who exposes
himself first won't be Slade."
Dick's inherited instinct was strong, and he watched not only in front,
but to right and left also. He knew that cunning men would seek to flank
and surprise them, and he noticed that the sergeant also watched in a
wide circle. He still drew tremendous comfort from the presence of the
skillful veteran, feeling that his aid would make the repulse of Slade a
certainty.
A rifle cracked suddenly in the bushes to their right, and then another
by his side cracked so suddenly that only a second came between. Dick
heard a bullet whistle over their heads, but he believed that the one
from his comrade's rifle had struck true.
"I've no way of telling just now," said the sergeant, calmly, "but I
don't believe that fellow will bother any more. If we can wing another
they're likely to let us alone and we can go on. They must know by
the trail that we're now two instead of one, and that their danger has
doubled."
Dick had felt that the danger to their pursuers had more than doubled.
He had an immense admiration for the sergeant, who was surely showing
himself a host. The man, trained so long in border war, was thoroughly
in his element. His thick, powerful figure was drawn up in the fashion
of a panther about to spring. Bulky as he was he showed ease and grace,
and wary eyes, capable of reading every sign, continually scanned the
thickets.
"They know just where we are, of course," whispered the sergeant, "but
if we stay close they'll never get a good shot at us."
Dick caught sight of a head among some bushes and fired. The head
dropped back so quickly that he could not tell whether or not his bullet
sped true. After a long wait the sergeant suggested that they creep
away.
"I think they've had enough," he said. "They've certainly lost one man,
and maybe two. Slade won't care to risk much more."
Dick was glad to go and, following the sergeant's lead, he crawled four
or five hundred yards, a most painful but necessary operation. Then they
stood up, and made good time through the forest. Both would have been
willing to stay and fight it out with Slade and what force he had left,
but their mission was calling them, and forward they went.
"Do you think they'll follow us?" asked Dick.
"I reckon they've had enough. They may try to curve ahead of us and give
warning, but the salute from the muzzles of our rifles has been too warm
for any more direct pursuit. Besides, we're going to have a summer storm
soon, and like as not they'll be hunting shelter."
Dick, in the excitement of battle and flight, had not noticed the
darkening skies and the rising wind. Clouds, heavy and menacing, already
shrouded the whole west. Low thunder was heard far in the distance.
"It's going to be a whopper," said the sergeant, "something like those
big storms they have out on the plains. We must find shelter somewhere,
Mr. Mason, or it will leave us so bedraggled and worn out that for a
long time we won't be able to move on."
Dick agreed with him entirely, but neither yet knew where the shelter
was to be found. They hurried on, looking hopefully for a place.
Meanwhile the storm, its van a continual blaze of lightning and roar of
thunder, rolled up fast from the southwest. Then the lightning ceased
for a while and the skies were almost dark. Dick knew that the rain
would come soon, and, as he looked eagerly for shelter, he saw a
clearing in which stood a small building of logs.
"A cornfield, Sergeant," he exclaimed, "and that I take it is a crib."
"A crib that will soon house more than corn," said the sergeant. "Two
good Union soldiers are about to stop there. It's likely the farmer's
house itself is just beyond that line of trees, but he won't be coming
out to this crib to-night."
"Not likely. Too much darkness and rain. Hurry, Sergeant, I can hear
already the rush of the rain in the forest."
They ran across the field, burst open the door of the crib, leaped in
and banged the door shut again, just as the van of the rain beat upon it
with an angry rush.
Save for a crack or two they had no light, but they stood upon a dry
floor covered deep with corn shucks, and heard the rain sweep and roar
upon the roof. On one side was a heap of husked corn which they quickly
piled against the door in order to hold it before the assaults of the
wind, and then they sought warm places among the shucks.
It was a small crib, and the rain drove in at the cracks, but it
furnished abundant shelter for its two new guests. Dick had never been
in a finer hotel. He lay warm and dry in a great heap of shucks,
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