XLVII.
_BREAD ON THE WATERS._
The next morning a singular procession set out from the cave. Stretchershad been framed of the trunks and boughs of saplings, and upon these thedead and wounded of yesterday were placed. They were borne by theprisoners of yesterday, who had been paroled for the purpose. Carlwalked by the side of the litter that conveyed his cousin Fritz, talkingcheerfully to him in their native tongue. Behind them was carried thedead body of Salina, followed by old Toby with uncovered head. With himwent Pepperill, charged with the important business of seeing that allwas done for the Villars family which had been stipulated, and ofreporting to Pomp at the cave afterwards.
Last of all came Virginia, leaning on Penn's arm. He was speaking to herearnestly, in low, quivering tones: she listened with downcastcountenance, full of all tender and sad emotions; for they were about topart.
Pepperill was intrusted with a second letter from Bythewood to thecolonel, couched in these terms:--
"_Deslow was taken last night, and slaughtered in cold blood. The samewill happen to me if all is not done as agreed. I am to be retained as ahostage until Pepperill's return. For Heaven's sake, help Mr. Villarsand his family off with all convenient despatch, and oblige,_" &c.
Virginia was going to try her fortune with her father; but Penn's lotwas cast with his friends who remained at the cave. From these he couldnot honorably separate himself until all danger was over; and, much ashe longed to accompany her, he knew well that, even if he should bepermitted to do so, his presence would be productive of little good toeither her or her father. Moreover, it had been wisely resolved not todemand too much of the military authorities. A safe conduct could begranted with good grace to a blind old minister and his daughter, butnot to men who had been in arms against the confederate government. Norwas it thought best to trust or tempt too far these minions of the newslave despotism, whose recklessness of obligations which interest orrevenge prompted them to evade, was so notorious.
Penn would have attended Virginia to the base of the mountain, riskingall things for the melancholy pleasure of prolonging these last moments.But this she would not permit. Hard as it was to utter the word ofseparation,--to see him return to those solitary and dangerous rocks,not knowing that he would ever be able to leave them, or that she wouldever see him again in this world;--still, her love was greater than herselfishness, and she had strength even for that.
"No farther now! O, you must go no farther!" And, resolutely pausing,she called to Carl,--for Carl's lot too lay with his. Toby and Pepperillalso stopped.
"Daniel," said Penn, with impressive solemnity, "into thy hands I committhis precious charge. Be faithful. Good Toby, I trust we shall meetagain in God's good time. Farewell! farewell!"
And the procession went its way; only Penn and Carl remained gazingafter it long, with hearts too full for words.
When it was out of sight, and they were turning silently to retracetheir steps, they saw a man come out of the woods, and beckon to them.It was a negro--it was Barber Jim.
Permitted to approach, he told his story. Since the escape of thearrested Unionists through his cellar, he had been an object ofsuspicion; and last night his house had been attacked by a mob. He hadmanaged to escape, and was now hiding in the woods to save his life.
"Deslow betrayed you with the rest," said Penn; "that explains it."
"My wife--my two daughters: what will become of them?" said the wretchedman. "And my property, that I have been all this while laying up forthem!"
"Do not despair, my friend. Your property is mostly real estate, andcannot be so easily appropriated to rebel uses, as the money depositedfor me in the bank, from which I was never allowed to draw it! It willwait for you. A kind Providence will care for your family, I am sure. Asfor you, I do not see what else you can do but share our fortunes. Thereis one comfort for you,--we are all about as badly off as yourself."
"You shall have your pick of some muskets," said Carl, gayly; "and youvill find us as jolly a set of wagabonds as ever you saw!"
"Have you plenty of arms?"
"Arms is more plenty as prowisions. Vat is vanted is wittles. Vat isvanted most is wegetables. Bears and vild turkeys inwite themselves tobe shot, but potatoes keep wery shy, and ve suffers for sour krout."
Barber Jim mused. "I will go with you. I am glad," he added, as if tohimself, "that I paid Toby off as I did."
What he meant by this last remark will be seen.
* * * * *
Mr. Villars had taken the precaution to invest his available funds inOhio Railroad stock some time before. Arrived in Cincinnati, he would beable to reap the advantages of this timely forethought. But in the meantime the expenses of a long journey must be defrayed; and he found itimpossible now to raise money on his house or household goods. All theready cash he could command was barely sufficient to afford a decentburial to his daughter. He was discussing this serious difficulty withVirginia, whilst preparations for Salina's funeral and their owndeparture were going forward simultaneously, when Toby came trotting in,jubilant and breathless, and laid a little dirty bag in his lap.
"I's fotched 'em! dar ye got 'em, massa!" And the old negro wiped thesweat from his shining face.
"What, Toby! Money!" (for the little bag was heavy). "Where did you getit?"
"Gold, sar! Gold, Miss Jinny! Needn't look 'spicious! I neber got 'em byno underground means!" (He meant to say _underhand_.) "I'll jes' 'splain'bout dat. Ye see, Massa Villars, eber sence ye gib me my freedom, yebeen payin' me right smart wages,--seben dollah a monf! Dunno' how muchdat ar fur a year, but I reckon it ar a heap! An' you rec'lec' you saysto me, you says, 'Hire it out to some honest man, Toby, and ye kin drawinference on it,' you says. So what does I do but go and pay it all toBarber Jim fast as eber you pays me. 'Pears like I neber knowed how muchI was wuf, till tudder day he says to me, 'Toby,' he says, 'times is somighty skeery I's afeard to keep yer money for ye any longer; hyar 'tisfur ye, all in gold.' So he gibs it to me in dis yer little bag, an' Itakes it, an' goes an' buries it 'hind de cow shed, whar 'twould keepsweet, ye know, fur de family. An' hyar it ar, shore enough, massa, jes'de ting fur dis yer 'casion!"
"So you got it by _underground means_, after all!" said Virginia, withmingled laughter and tears, opening the bag and pouring out the brighteagles.
The old clergyman was silent for a space, overcome with emotion.
"God bless you for a faithful servant, Toby! and Barber Jim for anhonest man."
"Dat's nuffin!" said Toby, snuffing and winking ludicrously. "Whyshouldn't a cullud pusson hab de right to be honest, well as whitefolks? If you's gwine to tank anybody, ye better jes' tink and tankyersef! Who gib ol' Toby his freedom, an' den 'pose to pay him wages?Reckon if 't hadn't been fur dat, massa, I neber should hab de bressedchance to do dis yer little ting fur de family!"
"We will thank only our heavenly Father, whose tender care we will neverdoubt, after this!" said the old minister, with deep and solemn joy.
"Wust on't is, Jim hissef's got inter trouble now," said Toby. "He habto put fur de woods; an' his family wants to git to de norf, whar deytinks he'll mabby be gwine to meet 'em; but dey can't seem to manageit."
"O, father, I have an idea! You will have a right to take your_servants_ with you; and Jim's wife and daughters might pass asservants."
"I shall be rejoiced to help them in any way. Go and find them, Toby.Thus the bread we cast on the water sometimes returns to us _before_many days!"
XLVIII.
_EMANCIPATION OF THE BONDMEN.--CONCLUSION._
A week had elapsed since Augustus became a captive; when, one cloudyafternoon, Dan Pepperill returned alone to the mountain cave. Pomp methim at the entrance.
"All safe?"
"I be durned if they ain't!" said Dan, exultant. "The ol' man, and thenigger, and the gal, and Jim's wife and darters inter the bargain! Wentwith 'em myself all the way, by stage and rail, till I seen 'em over theline inter ol' Kentuck'. Durned
if I didn't wish I war gwine for goodmyself."
"You shall go now if you will. I have been waiting only for you. Cudjois dead. All the rest are gone. There is nothing to keep me here. Willyou go back to the rebels, or make a push with us for the free states?Speak quick!"
Pepperill only groaned.
"Nine more have joined since Jim came. They make a strong party, allarmed, and determined to fight their way through. They are alreadytwenty miles away; but we will overtake them to-morrow. I am to guidethem. I know every cave and defile. Will you come?"
"Pomp, ye know I'd be plaguy glad ter; but 'tain't so ter be! I hain'tno gre't fancy fur this secesh business, that ar' a fact. But I'm infur't, and I reckon I sh'll haf' ter put it through;" and Dan heaved adeep sigh of regret. Without knowing it, he was a fatalist. Being tooweak or inert to resist the hand of despotism laid upon him, he yieldedto its weight and accepted it as destiny. The rebel ranks have beenfilled with such.
Pomp smiled with mingled pity and derision. "Good by, then! I hope thiswar will do something for your class as well as for mine--you need it asmuch! Wait here, and you shall have company."
He took a lantern, and entered the interior chamber of the cave. Afterthe lapse of many minutes he returned, dragging, as from a dungeon, intothe light of day, a wretch who could scarcely have expected ever tobehold that blessed boon again,--he was so abject, so filled with joyand trembling. It was Deslow. Then turning to the corner where Augustussat confined, the negro cut his bonds and lifted him to his feet. PoorBythewood, rheumatic, stiff in the joints, and terribly wasted byanxiety and chagrin, presented a scarcely less piteous spectacle thanDeslow; nor were his fallen spirits revived by the sight of this craven,whom he had supposed to be long since past the memory of the wrong hehad done him, and the earthly passion for revenge.
"My friends," said Pomp, leading them to the entrance, and showing themto each other in the gray glimmer of that cloudy afternoon, "our littleaccounts are now closed for the present, and my business with you ends.You are at liberty to depart. Deslow, do not hate too bitterly this manfor betraying you into my hands. Remember that you set the example oftreachery, and that the cause to which you are both sworn is itselffounded on treachery. As for you, Mr. Bythewood, I trust that you willpardon the inconvenience I have found it necessary to subject you to. Ihave restrained you of your liberty for some days. You restrained me ofmine for nearly as many years. I have no longer any ill will towardseither of you. Go in peace. I emancipate you. I shall not hunt you withhounds, because I have been your master for a little while. I shall notput iron collars on your necks. I shall neither brand nor beat you. Youare free! Does the word sound pleasant to your ears? Think then of thoseto whom it would sound just as sweet. Has the rule of a hard masterseemed grievous to you? Remember those to whom it is no less grievous.If might makes right, then you have been as much my property as everblack man was yours. Is there no law, no justice, but the power of thestrongest? You have had a few days' experience of that power, and canjudge what a life's experience of it might be. Reflect upon it, myfriends."
He led them to the opening of the cave. Then he pointed to the clouds."You cannot see the sun; but the sun is there. You do not see God,through the troubled affairs of this world; but God is over all. Hegoverns, although you have left him quite out of your plans. Your plansare, no doubt, very great and mighty,--but see!"--passing over his kneethe cord with which Bythewood had been bound. "This is the chain withwhich you bind my brothers and sisters. It is strong. You have drawn itvery tight about them. But you thought to draw it tighter still, to holdthem fast forever; and look, you have broken it!"
So saying, he displayed with a smile the two fragments of the rope thathad snapped like a mere string in his hands.
"So tyranny is made to defeat itself!"--trampling the ends under hisfeet. "I have said it. Remember!"
Uttering these last words, he walked backwards slowly, resumed his rifleand lantern, and disappeared in the dark recesses of the cave. The freedprisoners then, joining Pepperill, took their way slowly down themountain, sadder if not wiser men.
The reappearance of Bythewood was a signal for sending immediately twofull companies to capture the cave. They succeeded; but they capturednothing else. Pomp, escaping through the sink, was already miles away onthe trail of the refugees.
* * * * *
Thus ends the story of Cudjo's Cave. Other conclusion, to give itdramatic completeness, it ought, perhaps, to have; but the struggles, ofwhich we have here witnessed the beginning, have not yet ended [Nov.,1863]; and one can scarcely be expected to describe events before theytranspire.
We may add, however, that Mr. Villars, Virginia, and Toby, arrivedsafely at their destination,--a small town on the borders ofOhio,--where they were cordially welcomed by relatives of the family.There, three weeks later, they were visited by two very suspiciouslooking characters,--one a bronzed and bearded young man, robust, rough,with an eye like an eagle's gleaming from under his old slouched hat,whom nobody, I am sure, would ever have taken for a Quaker schoolmaster;the other a stout, ruddy, blue-eyed, laughing, ragged lad of sixteen,who certainly did not pass for a rebel deserter. Strange to say, thesepilgrims of the dusty roads and rocky wildernesses were welcomed (not tospeak it profanely) like angels from heaven by the old man, hisdaughter, and Toby,--their brown hands shaken, their coarse, tornclothes embraced, and their sunburnt faces kissed, with a raptureamazing to strangers of the household. They were travelling (as theyounger remarked in an accent which betrayed his Teutonic origin) to"Pennsylwany," the home of the elder; and they had come thus far out oftheir way to make this angels' visit.
With these two Barber Jim had journeyed as far as Cincinnati, where hefound his family comfortably provided for by persons to whosebenevolence Mr. Villars had recommended them. The other refugees hadalso got safely over the mountains, after a march full of toils anddangers; and nearly all were now in the federal camps. A long history,full of deep and painful interest, might be written concerning thesubsequent fortunes of these men, and of their families and neighborsleft behind,--a history of hardships, of forced separations and ruinedhomes,--of starvation in woods and caves to which loyal citizens weredriven by the rage of persecution,--and of terrible retribution.Stackridge, Grudd, and many of their brother refugees, had the joy ofparticipating in those military movements of last summer, by which EastTennessee was relieved; of beholding the tremendous ruin which the blindpride of their foes had pulled down upon itself; and of witnessing thejubilee of a patriotic people released from a remorseless and unsparingtyranny.
A word of Pomp. Have you read the newspaper stories of a certain negroscout, who, by his intrepidity, intelligence, and wonderful celerity ofmovement, has rendered such important services to the Army of theCumberland? He is the man.
Dan Pepperill fell in the battle of Stone River, fighting in a cause henever loved--the type of many such. Bythewood, after losing hisinfluence at home, and trying various fortunes, became attached to thestaff of the notorious Roger A. Pryor, in whose disgrace he shared, whenthat long-haired rebel chief was reduced to the ranks for cowardice.
As for Carl, he is now a stalwart corporal in the --th Pennsylvaniaregiment. He serves under a dear friend of his, known as the "FightingQuaker," and distinguished for that rare combination of military andmoral qualities which constitutes the true hero.
I regret that I cannot brighten these prosaic last pages with the haloof a wedding. But Penn had said, "Our country first!" and Virginia,heroic as he, had answered bravely, "Go!" Whether they will ever behappily united on earth, who can say? But this we know: the golden haloof the love that maketh one has crowned their united souls, and, withperfect patience and perfect trust, they wait.
_L'ENVOY._
The foregoing pages are, as the writer sincerely believes, true tohistory and life in all important particulars. In order to give form andunity to the narrative, characters and incidents have been broughttogether within a much narrowe
r compass, both of time and space, thanthey actually occupied: events have been described as occurring in thesummer of 1861, many of which did not take place till some months later;and certain other liberties have been taken with facts. Two separate anddistinct caves have been connected, in the story, by expanding both intoone, which is for the most part imaginary, but which, I trust, will notbe considered as a too improbable fiction in a region where caves and"sinks" abound.
Lastly, is an apology needed for the scenes of violence heredepicted?--Neither do I, O gentle reader, delight in them. But the bookthat would be a mirror of evil times, must show some repulsive features.And this book was written, not to please merely, but for a sternerpurpose.
For peaceful days, a peaceful and sunny literature: and may Heavenhasten the time when there shall be no more strife, and no more humanbondage; when under the folds of the starry flag, from the lake chain tothe gulf, and from sea to sea, freedom, and peace, and righteousnessshall reign; when all men shall love each other, and the nations shallknow God!
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