A Daughter of the Union
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE SIEGE BEGINS
"Then we are safe, safe," cried Jeanne, forgetful of the presence of thesoldiers. "Oh, Mr. Huntsworth, the Federals will soon have the city!"
"I wouldn't be too sure of that, my little lady," remarked Colonel Peytondryly. "Vicksburg is impregnable, and I fear that it will be a waste ofammunition on the part of the Federals."
"I did not mean to be impolite, Colonel," said the girl contritely. "Itwasn't very nice of me to make such a remark. I should be sorry for youif our men did take the city."
"You are a good little girl," said Colonel Peyton warmly. "I like agenerous hearted foe."
"You must be careful not to express your feelings too openly," advisedMr. Huntsworth in a low tone. "These people are rebels but they are goingto be our hosts and the Colonel has certainly interested himself in yourbehalf."
"He has," said Jeanne gratefully, "and I will be careful not to offendthem."
Bob, rather pale and agitated on account of the shells, met them at thedoor.
"Dad, what will we do if they shell the city?" she cried before greetingJeanne.
"I reckon we can't do anything," drawled the Colonel. "I thought you werea soldier, Bob? Soldiers don't mind a few shells."
"I suppose not," and Bob strove to regain her composure. "So you gotJeanne and her brother? Come in and tell me what else that woman hasdone. Here is Aunt Sally! Aunty, this is Jeanne and her brother, DickVance. They're Yankees but they are real nice anyway."
"I am glad to see you, my dear," said the lady, kissing Jeanne. "Anyfriend of Bob's is welcome be she Yankee or Confederate. And this is yourbrother? How pale he is! We must get him right to bed."
She bustled about Dick in a motherly fashion, her sympathies fullyenlisted on his behalf by his illness. Dick was in truth much exhausted byhis journey and sank into slumber as soon as his head touched the pillow.Jeanne sat by him and told Bob and her aunt how Madame had tried tomake him sign the paper.
"Rest and quiet are what he needs," observed Mr. Huntsworth. "He willcome out of this all right, I think, now that he is removed from youraunt's ministrations. What a creature she is! She reminds me of the middleages. Vindictive, passionate and cruel beyond measure as were the womenof those times!"
The slow shelling of Vicksburg went on. The people gradually becameindifferent and resumed their daily avocations. General Pemberton issuedan order for all non-combatants to leave the city, but Bob and her auntrefused to pay any heed to it.
"Where could we go?" asked Bob when her father tried to combat herdecision to stay. "You say the country is overrun with soldiers, andwhere is there a place safer than Vicksburg? The Yankees can never takeit!"
"No; they cannot," returned the Colonel. "I don't know but that youare right, Bob. I will have a cave dug in the hill back of the houseto-morrow, and you can retire to it when the shelling becomes too bad."
And so it was arranged. Men began work the next day and soon dug a cavein the hillside back of them. Cave residence had become quite the thingsince the shelling of the city had begun, and the hillsides were sohoney-combed with excavations that the streets looked like avenues in acemetery.
Bob and Jeanne settled themselves into a happy and quiet existence. Theysewed in the morning and sometimes took excursions to Sky Parlor Hillto view the Federal fleet that lay on the river, and to look through aglass at the Federal encampment near the head of the abandoned canal.Rumors were rife in the city of the advance of the Federal troops. Onenight heavy cannonading was heard for an hour or two, ceasing and thencommencing again early in the morning. All day the noise continued. Thatnight the sky in the South was crimsoned by the light of a large fire.
The lurid glare fell in red and amber light upon the houses, lighting upthe white magnolias, paling the pink crape myrtles, and bringing out inbright distinctness the railing of the terraces where drooped in fragrantwreaths the clustering passion vine. The next day the news came thatthe little village of Warrenton had been burned by shells thrown fromthe boats. Then followed the tidings that a battle was going on betweenthe Federal troops and General Pemberton's forces at Black River. And sothe days passed full of rumors and excitement.
The seventeenth of May dawned, and Vicksburg was thrilled to the centre bythe news of a battle and the tidings that the Confederates were beaten.Soon the streets were filled with bands of tired, worn-looking soldiers.Wan, hollow-eyed, ragged, footsore and bloody the men limped alongunarmed but followed by siege guns, ambulances, gun carriages and wagonsin aimless confusion. At twilight the bands began to play "Dixie,""The Bonnie Blue Flag," and other martial airs on the court-house hillto rally the scattered army.
"Mr. Huntsworth," said Jeanne as they were for a few moments out ofear-shot of the lamenting Bob. "I heard a man say that the Yankees wouldbe here before long. Do you think it can be true?"
"I don't know, child. Let us hope so," was the answer.
But the day passed and no Yankees made their appearance and the citizenssettled once more into a semblance of quiet. But from that time theregular siege of Vicksburg began. Utterly cut off from the world andsurrounded by a circle of fire, the fiery shower of shells went on dayand night. Regular occupations were discontinued, and people did nothingbut eat what they could get, sleep when they could and dodge the shells.
For some time Aunt Sally, Bob, Dick, Jeanne and Mr. Huntsworth, and theservants had been living in the commodious cave prepared for them. Thegirls no longer sewed or walked about. They were content if they couldkeep out of range of the shells. Once every day some one of them ran thegauntlet of shells to buy the meat and milk. Mule meat was the staplearticle of diet, but this Bob and Jeanne utterly refused to touch andconfined themselves to rice and milk.
"It is not at all bad," declared Mr. Huntsworth as he sat at the door ofthe cave one evening a piece of the meat in his hand. "Come here, girls,and let me show you the difference in the shells. There goes a Parrott.That's a mortar shell that curls so beautifully down yon hillside.This"--as he dodged back into the cave to escape one--"is a rifle shell."
"I don't see what difference it makes," said Bob retreating to the backof the cave, "what kind of a shell it is if it kills you. Do you, Jeanne?"
"I think not," answered Jeanne tremblingly. "What a fearful thing war is!Oh!"
A shell fell just without the mouth of the cavern like a flame of fire,making the earth tremble, and with a low, singing sound the fragments spedon in their work of death.
"We seem to be within range this evening," said Mr. Huntsworth as he cameto where the trembling girls crouched.
Shell after shell followed each other in quick succession, and our littleparty stood without speaking, awaiting the sudden death that seemed almostcertain. Jeanne's heart stood still as she heard the reports from theguns and the rushing fearful sound as the shells came toward them. Asthe shells neared the cave the noise became more deafening; the air wasfull of the rushing sound; pains darted through her temples; her earswere full of the confusing noise; and, as one would explode, the reportflashed through her head like an electric shock, leaving her in a stateof terror, painful to be imagined.
The rest of the occupants of the cavern were not much better off. Afterthis paroxysm of fear passed they strove for composure only to be againovercome as the fusillade was repeated.
Morning found them more dead than alive, with blanched faces and tremblinglips, but as the time passed and they were still preserved, although theshells came as fast as ever, they took courage and at last regained ameasure of calmness.
There was not much mental rest for the people of Vicksburg, and addedto Jeanne's apprehensions for their safety was the anxiety over Dick. Thelad had grown as strong as was possible considering the scarcity ofnourishing food and, as the shelling grew worse, a sort of restlessnessseized upon him and he would stand without the entrance of the cavecareless of the shells falling about him, watching their progress intently.
"I am afraid that he will be killed," said
Jeanne tearfully to Bob. "Whydoes he do it, Bob?"
"Mr. Huntsworth says that it is because he is a soldier," said Bob.
"I wish I could take him home. I must as soon as possible," said Jeanne.
Bob looked at her wonderingly. It was a surprise to her how Jeanne stillkept the hope of getting home, and ignored the fact that she and Dick wereprisoners. Opening her lips she was about to reply when the unmistakablewhirring of a shell told her that the battery which they feared themost had turned their guns upon their hill. Running to the entrance shecalled Dick and the servants in. They had just obeyed her summons when aParrott shell came whirring in at the entrance and fell in the centreof the cave before them all, lying there smoking.
Terrified they fastened their eyes upon it. Their fate seemed certain.For one moment they remained thus, and then Dick rushed forward, seizedthe shell and threw it into the street, regaining the cave just as theshell exploded.
"Dick," cried Jeanne running to him, "oh, how brave you are! But what ifyou had been killed!"
"It's time I was throwing them," said Dick emphatically. "I ought to havebeen at the other end of them long ago."
"Oh, but what if you had been killed," sobbed Jeanne. "What would mothersay?"
"That I had but done my duty," answered the lad.
"He is right," said Mr. Huntsworth. "Besides had he not been so brave notonly he but all the rest of us would have been killed also. Let us givethanks for our wonderful escape."