CHAPTER XII.
CONFLICTING REPORTS.
During the next three weeks Marcy Gray would have lived in a fever ofsuspense had it not been for the presence of courageous, happy-go-luckysailor Jack. He could not for a moment forget the letters which, atCaptain Beardsley's request, he had delivered to Colonel Shelby and therest. Did they convey to those who received them the information thatBeardsley no longer believed that there was money concealed in Mrs.Gray's house, or did they contain instructions concerning a new plotthat was to be worked up against Marcy and his mother? The boys did notknow, and never found out for certain what it was that the captain wrotein those letters. That night, after placing the captured Confederateflag upon the wall of the sitting-room, Jack turned the proceeds of thesale of his "venture" over to his mother, buried Marcy's prize money inone of the flower beds, and bright and early the next morning went towork to disguise the _Fairy Belle_ so that "her own brother wouldn'tknow her." If the neighboring planters who visited them, and whom theyvisited in return, had any suspicion that the captured flag in thesitting-room did not express the political sentiments of the family,they said nothing to indicate it. Their life apparently was as quiet andpeaceful as though such a thing as a slaveholders' rebellion had neverbeen heard of; but one day it was broken up most unexpectedly, and youngAllison was the first to tell them of it.
"Glorious victory of the Confederate arms," he shouted, jumping off thesteps of the store in which the post-office was located, and runningfull tilt toward the place where Jack and Marcy were hitching theirhorses. "Didn't we always say the Northern people had no businessalongside of us? The crowd in the post-office have cheered themselveshoarse, and you fellows ought to have been here to join in."
"Has there been another fight?" asked Jack. "Where did it take place andhow much of a fight was it?"
"Well, you see," said Allison, "there hasn't exactly been any fight yet,but there's going to be if the cowardly Yankees will only give us achance to get at them."
"Oh," said Jack, while an expression of disgust settled on his face."Where is it going to come off and how do you happen to know so muchabout it?"
"Why, the authorities know all about it, and I suppose the papers gotthe information from them," replied Allison. "At any rate, there's astrong land and naval expedition being fitted out at Fortress Monroe,and it is coming down here to destroy forts Hatteras and Clark and blockup Hatteras Inlet."
"And that expedition hasn't got here yet?"
"No. It's going to sail on Monday. We know all about it in spite of theefforts the Yankees have made to keep it secret."
"If the ships haven't even sailed yet, why do you raise such a row overa Confederate victory that is not won?" asked Jack.
"Oh, it's going to be won," said Allison confidently. "Everybody saysso, and we thought we would begin to holler in time. What we are afraidof is, that old Hatteras will turn in and fight the battle for us bykicking up such a sea that the Yankee ships won't dare come near theInlet. That would be bad for us, for of course if they keep beyond therange of our guns we can't sink them. Oh, they're bound to get awhipping if we can only get a chance to give it to them."
Although the Confederates boasted loudly of the strong fortificationswhich (so they said) had been thrown up everywhere along their coast,and even went so far as to warn the Federal government that the mostpowerful expedition that could be fitted out against thesefortifications would be sure to meet with disaster, Marcy Gray was wellaware that the coast was almost defenseless, because one of his papers,the Augusta _Chronicle and Sentinel_ was brave enough to tell the truthnow and then. Only a few days before, this paper had called upon thegovernment to provide for coast defense by "organizing and drillinginfantry and guerrillas at home," so that there would be no need to callupon the Confederate President for troops. The same paper also statedthat the Union naval officers knew the bays and inlets along the coastlike a book from surveys in their possession, and if so disposed, therewere many places where they might raid and do damage before they couldbe driven off. But events proved that the Union forces did not go downto the coast of the Carolinas just to give the Confederates the fun ofdriving them off. When once they got a foothold there they kept it, inspite of all the efforts that were made to dislodge them.
Having secured their horses and listened to all that young Allison hadto tell them concerning the glorious victory that had not yet been won,the brothers bent their steps toward the post-office, where they found acrowd of men and boys who seemed to be trying to make themselvesridiculous. They acted in the same senseless way that those travellingcompanions did whom Marcy Gray found on the train when he leftBarrington, and could not have been more excited and jubilant if thefive war ships and two transport steamers, that were to operate againstthe forts at Hatteras Inlet, had already been wrecked on the bar or sentto the bottom by Confederate shells. One of these two things was sure tohappen to that expedition; they had not the slightest doubt on thatpoint.
Marcy and his brother did not linger long at the post-office after theyreceived their mail, for the boyish antics and confident boastings ofthe crowd that filled every foot of space between the two counters, weremore than they could stand. Pleading business as an excuse, they gotaway as soon as they could, and unfolded their papers when they were intheir saddles, only to find that Allison had told them about all therewas to be learned regarding the Hatteras expedition. There were theeditorials, of course, and when the boys glanced over them they knewwhere that crowd in the post-office got its inspiration.
"These editors remind me of Allison," said Marcy. "Seated in theircomfortable rooms, hundreds of miles away from the threatened point,they speak of _our_ coming victory and the pounding _we_ are going togive the Yankee ships the minute they come within range. But I'll tellyou one thing, Jack--that expedition isn't strong enough."
"Don't worry about that," replied Jack. "Uncle Sam won't send a boy tomill as long as he's got a man handy. If they sail from Fortress Monroeon Monday, they ought to get here on Tuesday afternoon at the latest.Probably the fight will begin on Wednesday. Now let's watch the weather,and see whether or not Allison's amiable wish is likely to be gratified.Now Marcy, I will tell you something. If the Federals win a victory theywill garrison those forts to break up blockade running, and carry onoperations farther down the coast. As soon as we hear they are doingthat, you must stand by with the _Fairy Belle_."
"She'll be ready when you want her, but it is the hardest task onebrother ever put upon another," answered Marcy.
"I am sorry to ask you to do it," said Jack, "but it is my only chance;and you can see for yourself that I can't live at home. Our whole familyis under suspicion; and if I don't get away while I can, there will besuch a pressure brought to bear upon me by and by, that I shall beforced to enter the rebel service or take to the swamps."
"Why Jack, you know you wouldn't do such a thing as that," exclaimedMarcy.
"Hide in the swamps? I'd do it in a minute sooner than lift a handagainst the flag that your grandfather and mine died under, and underwhich I have sailed the world over. Why Marcy, you claim to love the oldflag, but I tell you that you don't know any more about it than the manin the moon. Now don't get huffy, but wait until you have laid for longweeks in a foreign port, thousands of miles from home and friends,looking for a cargo which takes its own time in coming, and surroundedby people whose hostility to all white men is such that they would cutyour throat in a second if they were not afraid of the consequences, andlet some one on deck report a stranger inside. You look over the sideand see a handsome ship standing in with the Stars and Stripes waving inthe air. When you have felt every nerve in you thrill with excitementand pride, as I have on such occasions, then you can talk of your lovefor the old flag. I'll fight for it as long as I can stand; but I'llstarve and die in the swamp before I will fight against it."
Sailor Jack spoke with unusual warmth, and if Marcy's patriotism hadbeen on th
e wane, his brother's earnest words would have infused newlife and strength into it. If the Northern people, with their immenseresources, were animated by the same spirit, it would not be long, hetold himself, before the old flag would crowd its secession rival to thewall. Of course Mrs. Gray was very much alarmed by the startling newsthe boys brought from Nashville, and she straightway began talking ofhiding the money Jack had given her, and of stowing the family silver insome safe place; but Jack laughed at the idea.
"Why, mother, the Northern soldiers are not coming down here to stealour valuables," said he. "They are not robbers."
"But have you never read how lawless all soldiers are?" inquired Mrs.Gray. "They take delight in despoiling an enemy. It seems to be part oftheir creed. And then--look a' that," she added, pointing toward therebel flag.
"That will not be in sight when the Federals come around here," repliedMarcy. "I'll make it my business to get it out of the way, and then I'llrip up one of my bed quilts and show them my Union colors."
The fear that had taken possession of Marcy's mother--that possibly theUnion forces might ascend the Roanoke River, capture Plymouth, anddevastate the surrounding country--now took possession of Marcy also.Northern soldiers had not yet been given an opportunity to show themerciful way in which the inhabitants of captured cities were to betreated during the war, and Marcy may be pardoned for looking into thefuture with fear and trembling. The neighboring planters and theirfamilies did much to add to Mrs. Gray's fears and Marcy's, as well as toincrease the general feeling of uneasiness which began spreading throughthe settlement as soon as the newspapers arrived. If they believed, asthe Charleston and Newbern editors seemed to believe,--that the attackon Hatteras Inlet was sure to end in failure,--they nevertheless thoughtit the part of wisdom to prepare for the worst; and they at once beganthe work of concealing everything that was likely to excite the cupidityof the lawless Union soldiers. Remembering what their Mobile papers hadsaid about the ragged, half-starved appearance of the Massachusettstroops who marched through the streets of Baltimore, they even hid theirclothing and carted the contents of their smoke-houses and corn-cribsinto the woods. But busy as they were, some of the women found time torun over and compare notes with Mrs. Gray, and see what she thoughtabout it; and because she tried to accept Jack's view of the situation,and believed that there would be no invasion of the Union forces, thevisitors went away to spread the report elsewhere that Mrs. Gray wasn'tafraid of the Yankees because she sympathized with them.
"Would you believe it, she isn't hiding a thing," said one of thesegossips. "She looks white, but she can't make me think that she'sfrightened as long as she sits there in her rocking-chair as cool as acucumber. I know that Jack belongs to a blockade-runner, that Jackpiloted a Yankee smuggler into one of our ports, and that Mrs. Gray hasa Confederate flag hung up in her sitting-room; but I don't care forthat. She's Union, the whole family is Union, and I know it."
Mrs. Gray and the boys always looked troubled after an interview withone of these busybodies, who did not scruple to magnify every rumor thatcame to their ears, and wished from the bottom of their hearts that theywould stay at home and attend to the business of hiding their valuables;but when the day drew to a close the gossips ceased to trouble them, forthey were afraid to go out of doors after dark.
"And between you and me I don't blame them for being afraid," said Jack,when he and Marcy went up to bed. "It is in times like these that theturbulent and vicious members of the community show their hands. Therebels have been maltreating Union people all over the South, and Idon't know why we should expect to escape. Well," he added, shoving abrace of revolvers under his pillow, while Marcy provided for his owndefence in the same way, "if anybody comes we'll give him as good as hesends, provided he gives us half a chance."
The moment Jack Gray opened his eyes the next morning he jumped out ofbed and drew the curtain. "All right so far," said he, in a satisfiedtone; "and that rebel Allison is in a fair way to be disappointed."
"But you must remember that the fleet hasn't arrived off the cape yet,"Marcy reminded him. "With the best of luck it cannot get there untillate this afternoon. I wish we could go down and watch the fight."
"I wish we could be in it," replied Jack, "for I just know it will endin a Union victory."
But as they could do neither one thing nor the other, they were obligedto possess their souls in patience. Of course they went to Nashvilleafter breakfast, and of course, too, they found in the post-office thesame excited and confident crowd they had met the day before, who hadall sorts of stories to tell them.
"Report says that the most of the Union ships foundered before they werefairly out of sight of Fortress Monroe," shouted Allison, in great glee."I am sorry for that, for I wanted our boys to have the honor of sendingthem to the bottom."
"Another report says that one of the old tubs that the Yankees wereusing for a transport ship sprung a leak and went down with every soulon board," said a second speaker.
"Why didn't the other vessels save them?" asked Marcy.
"They couldn't. There was a heavy gale on."
"Who brought these reports?" inquired Jack.
"The papers, of course."
"How did the papers get them, seeing that all telegraphic communicationwith the North is cut off?" continued Jack.
"It makes no difference how they got the news so long as they got it,"exclaimed Allison. "You talk and act as though you don't want to believeit."
"It is no concern of yours how I talk and act, you stay-at-homeblow-hard. My common sense will not let me believe any such reports,which are not reports at all, but something those newspaper men made upall out of their own heads, on purpose to give such fellows as you asubject to talk about. Some of the fleet may have sprung aleak--probably they did if they were not seaworthy; but it wasn't in agale. I watched the weather closely last night, and if there had been ablow outside we should have felt some of the force of it," said Jack. Hespoke calmly enough, but he gave Allison such a look that the latter didnot think it safe to say another word until the brothers were well ontheir way toward home.
During the rest of the day Jack and Marcy did little else but strollabout the grounds and talk--they had no heart for work of any sort.Every time Jack took out his watch he would offer some such remark asthis: "If the expedition has had no bad luck, it ought to be off suchand such a place by this time;" and at three in the afternoon heelectrified his brother by declaring confidently: "Now the ships are offHatteras, and are probably looking about for a good place to put thetroops ashore." And subsequent events proved that he guessed prettyclose to the mark, for history says, "By two o'clock on Tuesday thefleet arrived off Hatteras, and the _Monticello_ was despatched toreconnoiter the position, and to look out a suitable landing-place."
Thus far everything had gone well. The weather was all that could bedesired, and the hearts of the loyal people along that coast beat highwith hope; but when Jack Gray drew the window curtain on Wednesdaymorning, he turned to his brother with a look of disappointment on hisface.
"They will probably try to land some of the troops to-day to cut off theretreat of the Fort Hatteras garrison after the war ships have whippedthem," said he. "But if they don't get about it pretty soon, I am afraidthey'll not make it. It's going to blow by-and-by, and if the wind comesfrom the southeast, as it generally does, the ships will have to make anoffing to secure their own safety."
And that was just the way things turned out. That morning some ofGeneral Butler's troops were landed a few miles from the forts undercover of some of the gunboats, while the others opened a hot fire uponthe fortifications. The battle thus commenced lasted from nine o'clockuntil almost night, and then Fort Clark was abandoned, while the flagwas hauled down on Fort Hatteras in token of surrender, whereupon the_Monticello_ steamed into the inlet; but when she came within a fewhundred yards of the fort, the heavy guns of the Confederates openedupon her with such terrible effect that she was badly cut up, and indanger of sinking. The
man in command of the fort who was guilty of thisact of treachery was Commodore Barron, formerly of the United StatesNavy. He would have scorned to do such a thing while the old flag wavedabove him, but when he threw off his allegiance to the government he hadsworn to defend, he threw off his manhood with it. But he gained nothingby it. The battle was fiercely renewed by the Union forces, and the nextday Commodore Barron hoisted the white flag and surrendered himself andhis garrison unconditionally. In going off to the fleet he was obligedto pass close under the guns of the _Wabash_, a fine vessel which, sixmonths before, he had himself commanded with honor.
While these events were taking place at Hatteras Inlet, Marcy and hisbrother remained at home, waiting with as much patience as they could tosee how the battle was going to end. They knew there was a battle goingon, for they heard about it when they went to the post-office onThursday morning; and if they had believed all that was told them, theywould have gone home very much disheartened. One man assured them (andhe got his information from his papers) that the remnant of the fleet,that is to say all the vessels that had not been wrecked when theexpedition left Fortress Monroe, had made its appearance in due time,begun the assault in the most gallant manner, and the few that had notbeen sunk or disabled by the seventeen heavy guns of the forts, had beenscattered by the gale. The flag of the Confederacy waved triumphant, andHatteras Inlet was yet open to blockade-runners.
When the two were on their way home, and each had read all he cared toread in papers that did not give any reliable information, Marcyinquired:
"How much of those stories do you believe?"
"Not quite half," replied Jack. "Perhaps some of the attacking fleetwere sunk; they are liable to be when they go into action. But I believethat if our fellows were whipped, they were whipped by the gale and notby the forts. We ought to hear something definite in the course of a fewdays."
And they heard something the very next morning; but even then, to quotefrom Jack, who was very much disgusted when he said it, they "didn't getthe straight of the story." Young Allison did not come out to greet themwhen they drew up their horses at the hitching-rack (he objected tobeing called a stay-at-home blow-hard), but Colonel Shelby and hisintimate friend, Dillon, were standing close by, and the boys noticedthat they looked very solemn.
"Well, the agony is over," said the colonel.
"Have you received some reliable news at last?" exclaimed Jack. "How didit come out? Which whipped?"
"Oh, the Federals overcame us with the force of numbers aided by theirlong-range guns," answered the colonel. "My paper acknowledges a defeat,but says it doesn't amount to anything, for it will not help the enemyin any way."
"It will close Hatteras against blockade-runners, will it not?" saidMarcy.
"Oh, that doesn't amount to a row of pins," said the colonel. "We haveWilmington, Charleston, and a dozen other ports that the Yankees can'tshut up for want of a suitable fleet. They haven't stationed a ship offCrooked Inlet yet, and you and Captain Beardsley----"
"I know they haven't put a ship there," Marcy interposed. "But if theydidn't have the wickedest kind of a steam launch at that very place thelast time I came through, I don't want to lay up anything for old age.That night's work put the blockaders on their guard, and we can't usethat Inlet any more. Beyond a doubt they pulled up our buoys, and morethan that, they'll watch it as a terrier watches a rathole. Beardsleywill have to lay his schooner up or go somewhere else."
"You will go with him, I suppose?" said Dillon carelessly.
"I am ordered to report at the end of ninety days," replied Marcy, whoknew that the question was meant for a "feeler." "If I live I shall doso; and I expect to stay with the schooner as long as she is in thebusiness."
"As for me, I shall report in less than ninety days," said Jack. "I've anotion to start for Newbern to-morrow; and if I find that things areworking as I should like to have them, I will return and say good-bye tomother, and some fine morning you'll see Marcy ride down to thepost-office alone."
"Good for you, Jack!" exclaimed the colonel, thrusting out his hand. "Ilooked for something like this when I heard that you had purchased aConfederate flag and brought it home with you. Where did you get theflag, if it is a fair question?"
"Of a good Confederate," replied Jack readily. "He left it in a certainplace, and when I saw my chance I took it."
"Had to take it on the sly, did you? Then there must have been someUnion men hanging around."
"There were, several of them; and they were fighting mad, too. But I gotaway with the flag."
"I hope it will not be the means of bringing mischief to you and yourmother," said the colonel; "but if I were in your place, I wouldn't makeit so conspicuous. Now, when you go to Newbern to enlist in the army----"
"But if I go there, it will not be for any such purpose," interruptedJack. "On land I am as awkward as a mud-turtle; but when I am at sea, Ican get about with the best of them. I shall go into the navy if I canget the chance."
"Never fear. You'll get the chance easy enough. When you return I shouldlike to have you tell me how things look on our side, and what theYankees are doing at the Inlet."
"You mustn't be surprised if I don't," answered Jack, "for I may slipback and slip out again without taking time to say good-bye to anybody.When I fail to come to town with Marcy, you may know that I am in thenavy."
When the boys went in after their mail, they found a silent andsulky-looking company leaning against the counters. They said not a wordto the new-comers or to one another, but simply stared at the floor,apparently absorbed with gloomy reflections. Jack and his brother wereglad to find them so, for it gave them an opportunity to secure theirmail without delay and get away by themselves, where they could exult totheir hearts' content over the victory at Hatteras.
"What is this new notion you have taken into your head all of a sudden?"was the first question Marcy propounded. "You haven't any idea of goingto Newbern."
"Yes, I think it would be a good plan," said Jack. "I want to know justwhere the Union fleet is, and what it is doing, and I can't depend uponthese lying rebel papers to tell me. So the only thing I can do is tofind out for myself; for of course I don't want to run outside in the_Fairy Belle_ unless I know of a certainty that there is a gunboat thereto receive me. If Beardsley's schooner is in port I'll take a look ather, and then I can tell whether or not she is the one that chased the_Sabine_."
"She's the one," replied Marcy. "But you'll not know her. She isdisguised."
Jack said he didn't care if she had been painted a dozen differentcolors since he saw her, she couldn't fool him. He would look at her"general make-up;" and while he was describing some peculiarities in the_Hattie's_ rigging that Marcy had not noticed himself, they rode throughthe gate into the yard.