Love under Fire

  CHAPTER XVII

  BEGINNING THE NIGHT ADVENTURE

  The colonel of engineers did not delay me long, and, eager to be away, Imade my necessary questions as brief as possible. Riding back throughthe encampment of troops, hampered more or less by the irregularity ofthe different commands, I had ample time in which to outline the night'sadventure. I comprehended fully the danger of the mission, and that theprobability was strongly against success. Reckless audacity, coupledwith rare good fortune, might result in our return with the prisonersought, but it was far more likely that we would be the ones captured,if we escaped with our lives. Yet this knowledge caused no hesitancy onmy part; I was trained to obedience, and deep down in my heart welcomedthe opportunity. The excitement appealed to me, and the knowledge thatthis service was to be performed directly under the eye of the greatGeneral of the West, was in itself an inspiration. If I lived to comeback it meant promotion, the praise of the army, a line on the page ofhistory--enough surely to arouse the ambition of youth.

  It was early in the afternoon when I reached the position of myregiment, and reported to the colonel, asking the privilege of selectinga detail. Then, as I sat at mess, I studied my men, mentally pickingfrom among them those best adapted to the desperate task. I chose thoseI had seen in action, young, unmarried fellows, and for "non-com,"Sergeant Miles, a slender, silent man of thirty, in whom I had implicitconfidence. I checked the names over, satisfying myself I had made nomistake. Leaving Miles to notify these fellows, and prepare them forservice, I crossed to the colonel's tent in search of the ex-slave. Hewas easily found.

  "Le Gaire," I began, choking a bit at the name, "do you remember a bigwhite house, on the right of the pike, the first beyond a log church,south from the Three Corners?"

  He looked up from his work with sparkling eyes.

  "I suah does; I reckon I could find dat place in de dark."

  "Well, that is exactly what I want you to do, my man. I have some workto do there to-night."

  "How yo' goin' to git dar?"

  I explained about the ravine, the positions of the Confederate lines,and where I understood the special guards were stationed. The boylistened in silence, his fingers, clinching and unclinching, aloneevidencing excitement.

  "Will that plan work?" I asked, "or can you suggest any better way?"

  "I reckon it'll work," he admitted, "if yo' don't git cotched afore yo'git dar. I knows a heap 'bout dat ravine; I'se hunted rabbits dar many atime, an' it ain't goin' to be no easy job gittin' through dar inde dark."

  "Will you show us the way?"

  "Well, I don't just know," scratching his head thoughtfully. "Maybe decol'nel wouldn't let me."

  "I can arrange that."

  "Den I don't want fo' to go to dat house; dat's whar I run away from."

  "But I thought you belonged to the Le Gaires of Louisiana?"

  "Dat's what I did, sah; but I done tol' yo' I come up yere wid de army.I was left dere till de captain come back; dose folks was friendso' his."

  "Oh, I see; well, will you go along as far as the end of the ravine?"

  He looked out over the hills, and then back into my face, his eyesnarrowing, his lips setting firm over the white teeth. I little realizedwhat was taking place in the fellow's brain, what real motiveinfluenced his decision, or the issues involved.

  "I reckon I will, sah, providin' de col'nel says so." There was, ofcourse, no difficulty in obtaining the consent of that officer, and bynine o'clock we were ready to depart, ten picked men, young, vigorouslads, though veterans in service, led by Miles, together with the negroLe Gaire and myself. Taking a lesson from the guerillas we were armedonly with revolvers, intending to fight, if fight we must, at closequarters; and the brass buttons, and all insignia of rank liable toattract attention had been removed from our blouses. Upon our heads wewore slouch hats. I had decided to make the attempt on foot, as we couldthus advance in greater silence. Without attracting attention, orstarting any camp rumor, we passed, two by two, out beyond the pickets,and made rendezvous on the bank of the river. It was a dark night. Assoon as the sergeant reported all were present, I led the way up streamfor perhaps a mile until we came to the mouth of the ravine. Here Icalled them around me, barely able to distinguish the dim figures,although within arm's length, explained my plans and gave strict orders.As I ceased speaking I could plainly hear their suppressed breathing, sodeathly still was the night.

  "If any man has a question, ask it now."

  No one spoke, although several moved uneasily, too nervous to remainstill.

  "Le Gaire, here, will go first, as he knows the way, and I will followhim; the rest drop in in single file, with the sergeant at the rear.Keep close enough to distinguish the man in front, and be careful whereyou put your feet. No noise, not a word spoken unless I pass back anorder; then give it to the next man in a whisper. Don't fire under anyconditions except by command." I paused, then added slowly: "You are allintelligent enough to know the danger of our expedition, and thenecessity of striking quick and hard. Our success, our very lives,depend on surprise. If each one of you does exactly as I order, we'vegot a chance to come back; if not, then it means a bullet, or a prison,for all of us. Are you ready?"

  I heard the low responses, and counted them--ten, the negro notanswering.

  "All right, men," then, my voice hardening into a threat: "Now go ahead,Le Gaire, and remember I am next behind, and carry a revolver in myhand. Make a wrong move, lad, and you'll never make another."

  I could faintly discern the whites of his eyes, and heard one of the mensnicker nervously.

  "Lead off! Fall in promptly, men."

  It was a rocky cleft through the hills, perhaps a hundred yards widehere where it opened on the river, with a little stream in its centrefringed with low trees, but narrowing gradually, and becoming blockedwith underbrush as it penetrated deeper into the interior. For a mile ormore the course was not entirely unknown to me, although the darknessobscured all familiar landmarks. The negro, however, apparentlypossessed the instinct of an animal, or else had night eyes, for henever hesitated, keeping close along the edge of the stream. Thetree-branches brushed our faces, but our feet pressed a well definedpath. Farther in, the shadows becoming more dense, this path wound aboutcrazily, seeking the level spots; yet Le Gaire moved steadily forward,his head lowered, and I kept him within reach of my arm, barely able todistinguish the cautious tread of feet behind. Clearly enough he knewthe way, and could follow it with all the certainty of a dog. Relievedas to this, and confident the fellow dare not play us false, I couldtake notice of other things, and permit my thoughts to wander. There waslittle to be seen or heard; except for the musical tinkle of the stream,all to the right was silence, but from the other side there arose anoccasional sound, borne faintly from a distance--a voice calling, theblare of a far-off bugle, the echo of a hammer pounding on iron. Oncethrough the obscuring branches the fitful yellow of a camp-fire wasdimly visible, but the ravine twisted so that I could not determinewhether this was from Federal or Confederate lines. Anyhow no eye saw uscreep past, and no suspicious voice challenged. Indeed we had everyreason to believe the ravine unguarded, although pickets wereundoubtedly patrolling the east bank, and there were places we must goclose in under its shadow.

  So intent had I been upon this adventure, my mind concentrated ondetails, that the personal equation had been entirely forgotten. But nowI began to reflect along that line, yet never for a moment forgettingour situation, or its peril. I was going down into the neighborhoodwhere Willifred Hardy lived--to which she had probably already returned.I was going as an enemy to her cause, guided by an ex-slave of LeGaire's. It was rather an odd turn of Fate's wheel, and, while there wasno probability of our meeting, yet the conditions were suggestive. Myeyes were upon the dim form in advance, and I was strongly tempted toask if he knew where Major Hardy's plantation was. Beyond doubt he did,but this was no time for dalliance with love, and I drove the temptationsternly from me, endeavoring to concentrate my mind o
n present duty. Butin spite of all Billie would intervene, her blue-gray eyes challengingme to forget, and the remembrance of her making my step light. I wasgoing to be near her again, at least, if only for an hour; perhaps,whether I succeeded or failed, she would hear my name mentioned. Eventhat would be better than forgetfulness, and she was one to appreciate adeed like this. I should like to see her eyes when they told her--whenthey spoke my name. I wondered where Captain Le Gaire was, and whetherhe had been her escort back through the Confederate lines. Most probablyyes, and perhaps he had remained at the Hardy house, still incapacitatedfrom duty by the blow I had struck him--an interesting invalid. Eventhis thought did not trouble me as it might have done otherwise, for Ibelieved Billie had already begun to see the real man behind thefellow's handsome face; if so, then time and companionship would onlywiden the breach between them--perhaps my memory also.

  It was a hard three hours' travel, practically feeling a passage throughthe darkness, for the narrow path extended but little beyond a mile,after losing which we stumbled forward through a maze of rock andunderbrush. This finally became so dense that the negro veered to theleft, where there was a grassy ledge, along which we made more rapidprogress, although facing greater danger of discovery. However, thenight was black, and to any picket looking down from above the ravinemust have appeared a dark, impenetrable void, while our feet in thegrass scarcely made a sound. Once we saw a moving figure above us,barely visible against the sky-line, and halted breathlessly, every eyeuplifted, until the apparition vanished; and once, warned by thecracking of a twig, we lay flat on our faces while a spectral companywent past us on foot, heading at right-angles across our path. I countedtwenty men in the party, but could distinguish nothing as to uniform orequipment. We waited motionless until the last straggler haddisappeared. By this time we were well behind the Confederate lines,with troops probably on either side, for this gash in the surface hadboth narrowed and veered sharply to the east. It still remainedsufficiently deep to conceal our movements, and, as we had circled thepicket lines, we could proceed with greater confidence. We were beyondthe vigilance of sentinels, and could be discovered now only throughsome accidental encounter. I touched Le Gaire on the shoulder, andwhispered in his ear:

  "How much farther is it?"

  "'Bout half a mile, sah," staring about into what to me was impenetrabledarkness. "Yo' see de forked tree dar on de lef'?"

  I was not sure, yet there was something in that direction which mightbe what he described.

  "I guess so--why?"

  "I 'members dat tree, for dar's a spring just at de foot ob it."

  "Is the rest of the way hard?"

  "No, sah, not wid me goin' ahead of yo', for dar's a medium good pathfrom de spring up to de top o' de hill. I'se pow'ful feared though wemight run across some ob dem Confed sojers 'round yere."

  I tried to look at him, but could see only the whites of his eyes, buthis voice somehow belied his words--to my mind there was no fear in thefellow. I passed back word along the line, and found all the menpresent. Not a sound came out of the night, and I ordered the ex-slaveto lead on.