With Lee in Virginia: A Story of the American Civil War

  CHAPTER XIII.

  LAID UP.

  "You must see a surgeon, whatever the risk," Lucy said when the othersjoined them, for now that it was light she could see by the paleness ofVincent's face, and the drawn expression of the mouth, how much he hadsuffered.

  "You have made so light of your wound that we have not thought of ithalf as much as we ought to do, and you must have thought me terriblyheartless to be laughing and talking when you were in such pain. But itwill never do to go on like this; it is quite impossible for you to betraveling so far without having your shoulder properly attended to."

  "I should certainly be glad to have it looked to," Vincent replied. "Idon't know whether the bullet's there or if it has made its way out, andif that could be seen to, and some splints or something of that sort puton to keep things in their right place, no doubt I should be easier; butI don't see how it is to be managed. At any rate, for the present wemust go on, and I would much rather that you said nothing about it.There it is, and fretting over it won't do it any good, while if youtalk of other things I may forget it sometimes."

  In two hours they came upon the railway, whose course lay diagonallyacross that they were taking. They followed it until they caught sightof the houses of Mount Pleasant, some two miles away, and then crossedit. After walking some distance farther they came upon a small clearingwith a log-hut, containing apparently three or four rooms, in thecenter.

  "We had better skirt round this," Vincent suggested.

  "No," Lucy said in a determined voice, "I have made up my mind I wouldgo to the first place we came to and see whether anything can be donefor you. I can see you are in such pain you can hardly walk, and itwill be quite impossible for you to go much further. They are sure to beConfederates at heart here, and even if they will not take us in, thereis no fear of their betraying us; at any rate we must risk it."

  Vincent began to remonstrate, but without paying any attention to himthe girl left the shelter of the trees and walked straight toward thehouse. The others followed her. Vincent had opposed her suggestion, buthe had for some time acknowledged to himself that he could not go muchfurther. He had been trying to think what had best be done, and hadconcluded that it would be safest to arrange with some farmer to boardLucy and her nurse for a time, while he himself with Dan went a bitfarther; and then, if they could get no one to take them in, would campup in the woods and rest. He decided that in a day or two, if noimprovement took place in his wound, he would give himself up to theFederals at Mount Pleasant, as he would there be able to get his woundattended to.

  "I don't think there is anyone in the house," Lucy said, looking backover her shoulder; "there is no smoke coming from the chimney, and theshutters are closed, and besides the whole place looks neglected."

  Upon reaching the door of the house it was evident that it had beendeserted. Lucy had now assumed the command.

  "Dan," she said, "there is no shutter to the window of that upper room.You must manage to climb up there and get in at that window, and thenopen the door to us."

  "All right, missie, me manage dat," Dan said cheerfully. Looking abouthe soon found a long pole which would answer his purpose, placed the endof this against the window and climbed up. It was not more than twelvefeet above the ground. He broke one of the windows, and inserting hishand undid the fastening and climbed in at the window. A minute laterthey heard a grating sound, and then the lock shut back under theapplication of his knife, and the door swung open.

  "That will do nicely," Lucy said, entering. "We will take possession.If the owners happen to come back we can pay them for the use of theplace."

  The furniture had been removed with the exception of a few of the heavyarticles, and Chloe and Lucy at once set to work, and with bunches oflong grass swept out one of the rooms. Dan cut a quantity of grass andpiled it upon an old bedstead that stood in the corner, and Lucysmoothed it down.

  "Now, sir," she said peremptorily to Vincent, "you will lie down andkeep yourself quiet, but first of all I will cut your coat off."

  One of the table-knives soon effected the work, and the coat was rolledup as a pillow. Dan removed his boots, and Vincent, who was now beyondeven remonstrating, laid himself down on his cool bed.

  "Now, Chloe," Miss Kingston said when they had left Vincent's room, "Iwill leave him to your care. I am sure that you must be thoroughlytired, for I don't suppose you have walked so many miles since you werea girl."

  "I is tired, missie: but I am ready to do anything you want."

  "I only want you to attend to him, Chloe. First of all you had bettermake some tea. You know what is a good thing to give for a fever, and ifyou can find anything in the garden to make a drink of that sort, do;but I hope he will doze off for some time. When you have done, you hadbetter get this place tidy a little; it is in a terrible litter.Evidently no one has been in since they moved out."

  The room, indeed, was strewed with litter of all sorts, rubbish notworth taking away, old newspapers, and odds and ends of everydescription. Lucy looked about among these for some time, and with anexclamation of satisfaction at last picked up two crumpled envelopes.They were both addressed "William Jenkins, Woodford, near MountPleasant."

  "That is just what I wanted," she said.

  "What am you going to do, Miss Lucy?"

  "I am going to Mount Pleasant," she said.

  "Lor a marcy, dearie, you are not going to walk that distance! You musthave walked twelve miles already."

  "I should, if it were twice as far, Chloe. There are some things we mustget. Don't look alarmed, I shall take Dan with me. Now, let me see. Inthe first place there are lemons for making drink and linseed forpoultices, some meat for making broth, and some flour, and other thingsfor ourselves; we may have to stay here for some time. Tell me just whatyou want and I will get it."

  Chloe made out a list of necessaries.

  "I shan't be gone long," the girl said. "If he asks after me or Dan,tell him we are looking about the place to see what is useful. Don't lethim know I have gone to Mount Pleasant, it might worry him."

  Dan at once agreed to accompany the girl to Mount Pleasant when he heardthat she was going to get things for his master. Looking about he foundan old basket and they started without delay by the one road from theclearing which led, they had no doubt, to the town. It was about twomiles distant, and was really but a large village. A few Federalsoldiers from the camp hard by were lounging about the streets, butthese paid no attention to them. Lucy soon made her purchases, and thenwent to the house that had been pointed out to her as being inhabited bythe doctor who attended to the needs of the people of Mount Pleasant andthe surrounding district. Fortunately he was at home. Lucy looked at himclosely as he entered the room and took his seat. He was a middle-agedman with a shrewd face, and she at once felt that she might haveconfidence in it.

  "Doctor," she said, "I want you to come out to see someone who is veryill."

  "What is the matter with him? or is it him or her?"

  "It is--it's----" and Lucy hesitated, "a hurt he has got."

  "A wound, I suppose?" the doctor said quietly. "You may as well tell meat once, as for me to find out when I get there; then I can takewhatever is required with me."

  "Yes, sir. It is a wound," Lucy said. "His shoulder is broken, Ibelieve, by a pistol bullet."

  "Umph!" the doctor said. "It might have been worse. Do not hesitate totell me all about it, young lady. I have had a vast number of cases onhand since these troubles began. By the way, I do not know your face,and I thought I knew everyone within fifteen miles around."

  "I come from the other side of the Duck River. But at present he islying at a place called Woodford, but two miles from here."

  "Oh, yes! I know it. But I thought it was empty. Let me see, a man namedJenkins lived there. He was killed at the beginning of the troubles in afight near Murfreesboro. His widow moved in here; and she has marriedagain and gone five miles on the other side. I know she was trying tosell the old place."

&nb
sp; "We have not purchased it, sir; we have just squatted there. My friendwas taken so bad that we could go no further. We were trying, doctor, tomake our way further south."

  "Your friend, whoever he is, did a very foolish thing to bring a younglady like yourself on such a long journey. You are not a pair of runawaylovers, are you?"

  "No, indeed," Lucy said, flushing scarlet; "we have no idea of such athing. I was living alone, and the house was attacked by bushwhackers,the band of a villain named Mullens."

  "Oh! I saw all about that in the Nashville paper this morning. They wereattacked by a band of Confederate plunderers, it said."

  "They were attacked by one man," the girl replied. "They were on thepoint of murdering me when he arrived. He shot Mullens and four of hisband and the rest made off, but he got this wound. And as I knew thevillains would return again and burn the house and kill me, I and my oldnurse determined to go southward to join my friends in Georgia."

  "Well, you can tell me more about it as we go," the doctor said. "I willorder my buggy round to the door, and drive you back. I will take myinstruments with me. It is no business of mine whether a sick man is aConfederate or a Federal; all my business is to heal him."

  "Thank you very much, doctor. While the horse is being put in I will godown and tell the negro boy with me to go straight on with a basket ofthings I have been buying."

  "Where is he now?" the doctor asked.

  "I think he is sitting down outside the door, sir."

  "Then you needn't go down," the doctor said. "He can jump up behind andgo with us. He will get there all the quicker."

  In five minutes they were driving down the village, with Dan in the backseat. On the way the doctor obtained from Lucy a more detailed accountof their adventures.

  "So he is one of those Confederate officers who broke prison at Elmira,"he said. "I saw yesterday that one of his companions was captured."

  "Was he, sir? How was that?"

  "It seems that he had made his way down to Washington, and was stayingat one of the hotels there as a Mr. James of Baltimore. As he was goingthrough the streets he was suddenly attacked by a negro, who assaultedhim with such fury that he would have killed him had he not been draggedoff by passers-by. The black would have been very roughly treated, buthe denounced the man he had attacked as one of the Confederate officerswho had escaped from the prison. It seems that the negro had been aslave of his who had been barbarously treated, and finally succeeded inmaking his escape and reaching England, after which he went to Canada;and now that it is safe for an escaped slave to live in the NorthernStates without fear of arrest or ill-treatment, he had come down toWashington with the intention of engaging as a teamster with one of theNorthern armies, in the hope, when he made his way to Richmond, of beingable to gain some news of his wife, whom his master had sold before heran away from him."

  "It served the man right!" Lucy said indignantly. "It's a good thingthat the slaves should turn the table sometimes upon masters whoill-treat them."

  "You don't think my patient would ill-treat his slaves?" the doctorasked with a little smile.

  "I am sure he wouldn't," the girl said indignantly. "Why, the boy behindyou is one of his slaves, and I am sure he would give his life for hismaster."

  Dan had overheard the doctor's story and now exclaimed:

  "No, sah. Massa Vincent de kindest ob masters. If all like him, deslaves eberywhere contented and happy. What was de name of dat man, sah,you was speaking of?"

  "His name was Jackson," the doctor answered.

  "I tought so," Dan exclaimed in excitement. "Massa never mentioned denames ob de two officers who got out wid him, and it war too dark for meto see their faces, but dat story made me tink it must be him. Bery badman dat; he libs close to us, and Massa Vincent one day pretty nigh killhim because he beat dat bery man who has catched him now on de street obWashington. When dat man sell him wife Massa Vincent buy her so as toprevent her falling into bad hands. She safe now wid his mother at deOrangery--dat's the name of her plantation."

  "My patient must be quite an interesting fellow, young lady," the doctorsaid, with a rather slight twinkle of his eye. "A very knight-errant!But there is the house now; we shall soon see all about him."

  Taking with him the case of instruments and medicines he had brought,the doctor entered Vincent's room. Lucy entered first; and althoughsurprised to see a stranger with her, Vincent saw by her face that therewas no cause for alarm.

  "I have brought you a doctor," she said. "You could not go on as youwere, you know. So Dan and I have been to fetch one."

  The doctor now advanced and took Vincent's hand.

  "Feverish," he said, looking at his cheeks, which were now flushed. "Youhave been doing too much, I fancy. Now let us look at this wound ofyours. Has your servant got any warm water?" he asked Lucy.

  Lucy left the room, and returned in a minute with a kettleful of warmwater and a basin, which was among the purchases she had made at MountPleasant.

  "That is right," the doctor said, taking it from her. "Now we will cutopen the shirt-sleeve. I think, young lady, you had better leave us,unless you are accustomed to the sight of wounds."

  "I am not accustomed to them, sir; but as thousands of women have beennursing the wounded in the hospitals, I suppose I can do so now."

  Taking a knife from the case, the doctor cut open the shirt from theneck to the elbow. The shoulder was terribly swollen and inflamed, and alittle exclamation of pain broke from Lucy.

  "That is the effect of walking and inattention," the doctor said. "If Icould have taken him in hand within an hour of his being hit, the matterwould have been simple enough; but I cannot search for the ball, or infact do anything, till we have reduced the swelling. You must put warmpoultices on every half hour, and by to-morrow I hope the inflammationwill have subsided, and I can then see about the ball. It evidently issomewhere there still, for there is no sign of its having made its exitanywhere. In the meantime you must give him two tablespoonfuls of thiscooling draught every two hours, and to-night give him this sleepingdraught. I will be over to-morrow morning to see him. Do not be uneasyabout him; the wound itself is not serious, and when we have got rid ofthe fever and inflammation I have no doubt we shall pull him roundbefore long."

  "I know the wound is nothing," Vincent said; "I have told Miss Kingstonso all along. It is nothing at all to one I got at the first battle ofBull Run, where I had three ribs badly broken by a shell. I was laid upa long time over that business. Now I hope in a week I shall be fit totravel."

  The doctor shook his head. "Not as soon as that. Still we will hope itwill not be long. Now all you have to do is to lie quiet and not worry,and to get to sleep as quick as you can. You must not let your patienttalk, Miss Kingston. It will be satisfactory to you, no doubt," he wenton, turning to Vincent, "to know that there is no fear whatever of yourbeing disturbed here. The road leads nowhere, and is entirely out of theway of traffic. I should say you might be here six months without even achance of a visitor. Everyone knows the house is shut up, and as youhave no neighbor within half a mile no one is likely to call in. Even ifanyone did by accident come here you would be in no danger; we are allone way of thinking about here."

  "Shall we make some broth for him?" Lucy asked after they had left theroom.

  "No; he had better take nothing whatever during the next twenty-fourhours except his medicine and cooling drinks. The great thing is to getdown the fever. We can soon build him up afterward."

  By nightfall the exertions of Dan, Lucy, and Chloe had made the housetidy. Beds of rushes and grass had been made in the room upstairs forthe women, and Dan had no occasion for one for himself, as he was goingto stop up with his master. He, however, brought a bundle of rushes intothe kitchen, and when it became dark threw himself down upon them for afew hours' sleep, Lucy and her old nurse taking their place in Vincent'sroom and promising to rouse Dan at twelve o'clock.

  During the early part of the night Vincent was restless and uneasy, but
toward morning he became more quiet and dozed off, and had but justawoke when the doctor drove up at ten o'clock. He found the inflammationand swelling so much abated that he was able at once to probe for theball. Chloe was his assistant. Lucy felt that her nerves would not beequal to it, and Dan's hand shook so that he could not hold the basin.In a quarter of an hour, which seemed to Lucy to be an age, the doctorcame out of the room.

  "There is the bullet, Miss Kingston."

  "And is he much hurt, sir?"

  "It is a nasty wound," the doctor replied. "The collar-bone is badlybroken, and I fancy the head of the bone of the upper arm, to put it inlanguage you will understand, is fractured; but of that I cannot bequite sure. I will examine it again to-morrow, and will then bandage itin its proper position. At present I have only put a bandage round thearm and body to prevent movement. I should bathe it occasionally withwarm water, and you can give him a little weak broth to-day. I think, onthe whole, he is doing very well. The feeling that you are all for thepresent safe from detection has had as much to do with the abatement ofthe fever as my medicine."

  The next morning the report was still satisfactory. The fever had almostdisappeared, and Vincent was in good spirits. The doctor applied thesplints to keep the shoulder up in its proper position, and then tightlybandaged it.

  "It depends upon yourself now," he said, "whether your shoulders areboth of the same width as before or not. If you will lie quiet, and givethe broken bones time to reunite, I think I can promise you that youwill be as straight as before; but if not--putting aside the chances ofinflammation--that shoulder will be lower than the other, and you willnever get your full strength in it again. Quiet and patience are theonly medicines you require, and as there can be no particular hurry foryou to get south, and as your company here is pleasant and you have twogood nurses, there is no excuse for your not being quiet and contented."

  "Very well, doctor. I promise that, unless there is a risk of our beingdiscovered, I will be as patient as you can wish. As you say, I haveeverything to make me contented and comfortable."

  The doctor had a chat with Lucy, and agreed with her that perhaps itwould be better to inform the mistress of the house that there werestrangers there. Some of the people living along the road might noticehim going or coming, or see Dan on his way to market, and might learnthat the house was inhabited, and communicate the fact to their oldneighbor.

  "I will see her myself, Miss Kingston, and tell her that I have sent apatient of mine to take up his quarters here. I will say he is ready topay some small sum weekly as long as he occupies the house. I have nodoubt she would be willing enough to let you have it without that; for,although I shall say nothing actually, I shall let her guess from mymanner that it is a wounded Confederate, and that will be enough forher. Still I have no doubt that the idea of getting a few dollars forthe rent of an empty house will add to her patriotism. People of herclass are generally pretty close-fisted, and she will look upon this asa little pocket-money. Good-by! I shall not call to-morrow, but will beround next day again."

  On his next visit the doctor told Lucy that he had arranged the matterwith her landlady, and that she was to pay a dollar a week as rent. "Ishould not tell your patient about this," he said. "It will look to himas if I considered his stay was likely to be a long one, and it mightfidget him."

  "How long will it be, doctor, do you think?"

  "That I cannot say. If all goes well, he ought in a month to be fairlycured; but before starting upon a journey which will tax his strength, Ishould say at least six weeks."

  Ten days later Vincent was up, and able to get about. A pile of grasshad been heaped up by the door, so that he could sit down in the sun andenjoy the air. Lucy was in high spirits, and flitted in and out of thehouse, sometimes helping Chloe, at others talking to Vincent.

  "What are you laughing at?" she asked as she came out suddenly on one ofthese occasions.

  "I was just thinking," he said, "that no stranger who dropped in upon uswould dream that we were not at home here. There is Dan tidying up thegarden; Chloe is quite at her ease in the kitchen, and you and I mightpass very well for brother and sister."

  "I don't see any likeness between us--not a bit."

  "No, there is no personal likeness; but I meant in age and that sort ofthing. I think, altogether, we have a very homelike look."

  "The illusion would be very quickly dispelled if your stranger put hishead inside the door. Did anyone ever see such a bare place?"

  "Anyhow, it's very comfortable," Vincent said, "though I grant that itwould be improved by a little furniture."

  "By a great deal of furniture, you mean. Why, there isn't a chair in thehouse, nor a carpet, nor a curtain, nor a cupboard, nor a bed; in factall there is is the rough dresser in the kitchen and that plank table,and your bedstead. I really think that's all. Chloe has the kettle andtwo cooking-pots, and there is the dish and six plates we bought."

  "You bought, you mean," Vincent interrupted.

  "We bought, sir; this is a joint expedition. Then there is the basin anda pail. I think that is the total of our belongings."

  "Well, you see, it shows how little one can be quite comfortable upon,"Vincent said. "I wonder how long it will be before the doctor gives meleave to move. It is all very well for me who am accustomed tocampaigning, but it is awfully rough for you."

  "Don't you put your impatience down to my account, at any rate until youbegin to hear me grumble. It is just your own restlessness, when youare pretending you are comfortable."

  "I can assure you that I am not restless, and that I am in no hurry atall to be off on my own account. I am perfectly contented witheverything. I never thought I was lazy before, but I feel as if I coulddo with a great deal of this sort of thing. You will see that you willbecome impatient for a move before I do."

  "We shall see, sir. Anyhow, I am glad you have said that, because now,whatever you may feel, you will keep your impatience to yourself."

  Another four weeks passed by smoothly and pleasantly. Dan went into thevillage once a week to do the shopping, and the doctor had reduced hisvisits to the same number. He would have come oftener, for his visits tothe lonely cottage amused him; but he feared that his frequent passagein his buggy might attract notice. So far, no one else had broken thesolitude of their lives. If the doctor's calls had been noticed, theneighbors had not taken the trouble to see who had settled in Jenkins'old place. His visits were very welcome, for he brought newspapers andbooks, the former being also purchased by Dan whenever he went into thevillage, and thus they learnt the course of events outside.

  Since Antietam nothing had been done in Northern Virginia; but Burnside,who had succeeded McClellan, was preparing another great army, which wasto march to Richmond and crush out the rebellion. Lee was standing onthe defensive. Along the whole line of the frontier, from New Orleans toTennessee, desultory fighting was going on, and in these conflicts theConfederates had generally the worse of things, having there no generalssuch as Lee, Jackson, and Longstreet, who had made the army of Virginiaalmost invincible.

  At the last of these visits the doctor told Vincent that he consideredhe was nearly sufficiently restored in health to be able to start ontheir journey.

  "At one time I was almost afraid that your shoulder would never be quitesquare again. However, as you can see for yourself, it has come outquite right; and although I should not advise you to put any greatstrain on your left arm, I believe that in a very short time it will beas strong as the other."

  "And now, doctor, how much am I in debt to you? Your kindness cannot berepaid, but your medical bill I will discharge as soon as I get home. Wehave not more than twenty dollars left, which is little enough for thejourney there is before us. You can rely that the instant I get toRichmond I will send you the money. There is no great difficulty insmuggling letters across the frontier."

  "I am very pleased to have been able to be of service to you," thedoctor said. "I should not think of accepting payment for aid renderedt
o an officer of our army; but it will give me real pleasure to receivea letter saying you have reached home in safety. It is a duty to do allwe can for the brave men fighting for our cause. As I have told you, Iam not a very hot partisan, for I see faults on both sides. Still Ibelieve in the principle of our forefathers that each State has its owngovernment and is master of its own army, joining with the others forsuch purposes as it may think fit. If I had been a fighting man, Ishould certainly have joined the army of my State; but as it is, I hopeI can do more good by staying and giving such aid and comfort as I canto my countrymen. You will, I am sure, excuse my saying that I think youmust let me aid you a little farther. I understand you to say that MissKingston will go to friends in Georgia, and I suppose you will see hersafely there. Then you have a considerable journey to make to Richmond,and the sum that you possess is utterly inadequate for all this. It willgive me real pleasure if you will accept the loan of a hundred dollars,which you can repay when you write to me from Richmond. You will needmoney for the sake of your companions rather than your own. When youhave once crossed the line you will then be able to appear in yourproper character."

  Vincent grasped the doctor's hand, and with suffused eyes replied:"Thank you greatly, doctor. I will accept your offer as frankly as itwas made. I had intended telegraphing for money as soon as I was amongour own people, but there would be delay in receiving it, and it will bemuch more pleasant to push on at once."

  "By the way, you cannot cross at Florence, for I hear that Hood hasfallen back across the river, the forces advancing against him from thisside being too strong to be resisted. But I think that this is nodisadvantage to you, for it would have been far more difficult to passthe Federals and get to Florence than to make for some point on theriver as far as possible from the contending armies."

  "We talked that over the last time you were here, doctor, and you knowwe agreed it was better to run the risk of falling into the hands of theYankee troops than into those of one of those partisan bands whoseexploits are always performed at a distance from the army. However, ifHood has retreated across the Tennessee, there is an end of that plan,and we must take some other route. Which do you advise?"

  "The Yankees will be strong all around the great bend of the river tothe west of Florence and along the line to the east, which would, ofcourse, be your direct way. The passage, however, is your realdifficulty, and I should say that, instead of going in that direction,you had better bear nearly due south. There is a road from MountPleasant that strikes into the main road from Columbia up to Camden. Youcan cross the river at that point without any question or suspicion, asyou would be merely traveling to the west of the State. Once across youcould work directly south, crossing into the State of Mississippi, andfrom there take the cars through Alabama to Georgia.

  "It seems a roundabout way, but I think you would find it far thesafest, for there are no armies operating upon that line. Thepopulation, at any rate as you get south, are for us, and there are, sofar as I have heard, very few of these bushwhacking bands about, eitheron one side or the other. The difficult part of the journey is that upto Camden, but as you will be going away from the seat of war instead oftoward it, there will be little risk of being questioned."

  "I had thought of buying a horse and cart," Vincent said. "Jogging alonga road like that, we should attract no attention. I gave up the ideabecause our funds were not sufficient, but, thanks to your kindness, wemight manage now to pick up something of the sort."

  The doctor was silent for a minute.

  "If you will send Dan over to me to-morrow afternoon, I will see whatcan be done," he said. "It would certainly be the safest plan by far;but I must think it over. You will not leave before that, will you?"

  "Certainly not, doctor. In any case we should have stayed another day toget a few more things for our journey."

  The next afternoon Dan went over to Mount Pleasant. He was away twohours longer than they had expected, and they began to feel quite uneasyabout him, when the sound of wheels was heard, and Dan appeared, drivinga cart. Vincent gave a shout of satisfaction in which Lucy and Chloejoined.

  "Here am de cart. Me had to go five miles from de town to get him. Datwhat took me so long. Here am a letter, sah, from the doctor. First-rateman dat. Good man all ober."

  The letter was as follows:

  "My Dear Mr. Wingfield:

  "I did not see how you would be able to buy a cart, and I was sure thatyou could not obtain one with the funds in your possession. As, fromwhat you have said, I knew that you would not in the least mind theexpense, I have taken the matter upon myself, and have bought from yourlandlady a cart and horse, which will, I think, suit you well. I havepaid for them a hundred and fifty dollars, which you can remit me, withthe hundred I handed you yesterday. Sincerely trusting that you maysucceed in carrying out your plans in safety, and with kind regards toyourself and Miss Kingston,

  "I remain, yours truly,"James Spencer."

  "That is a noble fellow," Vincent said, "and I trust, for his sake aswell as our own, that we shall get safely through. Now, Lucy, I thinkyou had better go into town the first thing, and buy some clothes ofgood homely fashion. Dan can go with you and buy a suit for me--thosefitted for a young farmer. Then we shall look like a young farmer andhis sister jogging comfortably along to market; we can stop and buy astock of goods at some farm on the way."

  "That will be capital," the girl said.

  Lucy started early the next morning for the town, and the shopping wassatisfactorily accomplished. They returned by eleven o'clock. The newpurchases were at once donned, and half an hour later they set off inthe cart: Vincent sitting on the side driving; Lucy in the corner facinghim, on a basket turned upside down; Dan and Chloe on a thick bag ofrushes in the bottom of the cart.