CHAPTER VII
CAUGHT
Sharply bidding the black man remain where he was Noel again peered intothe road behind him and listened intently. There was no disguising thefact that men were approaching. Doubtless a part of the force which hadbeen stationed in the road were aware of the corduroy way and hadventured to follow the fugitives, confident that they could find noescape from the place.
The venture on the part of the Confederate soldiers was one that testedtheir courage. The darkness had deepened, and it was well-nighimpossible to distinguish the body of a motionless man from the trunk ofone of the near-by trees. There were strange noises in the swamp, too.There was the flapping of unseen wings and the scurrying and calls ofunseen birds, but in spite of all these things there was no doubt now inthe mind of Noel Curtis that some men were approaching from the rear.
"Dat's de only way," whispered Long John excitedly. "Dere's no oder wayouten de swamp. We des' got toe go back. Maybe Massa Little Ben Fowlerisn't dere any mo' now."
Influenced by the positive manner of the grotesque negro, without aprotest both Noel and Dennis followed him as he led the way in thedirection from which he himself recently had come.
Striving to move noiselessly, at the same time the young soldiers didtheir utmost to advance rapidly. Occasionally some decayed log brokeunder their feet, but there was no other sound to reveal their presence.
Repeatedly the three fugitives glanced behind them, and then fearful ofwhat might be before them glanced frequently in that direction. LongJohn was the only member of the band who apparently was unmoved by theexcitement, a fact which was difficult for Noel to understand, inasmuchas when first he had seen the tall, awkward slave, it was the terror ofthe black man at his unexpected presence that had most impressed him.The flight had continued not more than ten minutes before the youngsoldiers arrived at the end of the road.
"There's somebody here," whispered Noel, as he grasped Dennis by thearm and all three fugitives halted.
"Yis, sor, that's true for shure," replied Dennis in a whisper so loudthat Noel warningly again grasped his arm.
It was too dark to enable the boys to determine just how many were inthe waiting band. It was believed, however, that there were at leasttwenty. Perhaps there was another little force also approaching. The twoboys in blue were caught between the two bands, and their only way ofescape was through the swamp. A hasty inspection, however, convincedboth boys that escape in that way was impossible. Even in the dim lightthey were able to see the water which covered the soft ground, and itwas plain that if either of them should step upon the perilous footinghe might be in greater danger than he would be compelled to face if heshould be caught between the two little bands of their enemies.
Abruptly the lanky negro broke in upon the silence by calling loudly,"Is dat yo', Massa Little Ben Fowler?"
There was silence for a moment, and then the reply came from some onewhom the boys could not distinguish from the body of the men. "Is thatyo' all, Long John?"
"Yas, suh. Yas, suh."
"Are yo' alone?"
"No, suh. No, suh. Dere's two gen'lmen with me."
"Bring them out."
"Yas, suh. Yas, suh," repeated Long John, though he made his way sospeedily to the more solid road that under other circumstances Noelmight have laughed.
As it was, however, both boys were aware, or at least they nowsuspected, that the negro had been sent out by the rebels either to gaininformation or to serve as a decoy for any of the straggling soldiers.
There was, however, apparently no way of escape. In front of them wasthe band of which Little Ben Fowler undoubtedly was a member; while frombehind was approaching part of the force which had followed them intothe swamp after the two young soldiers had gained the corduroy road.
Noel heard a smothered exclamation of anger from Dennis and he knew thatthe feeling of his companion was not unlike his own. However, it wasimpossible now, after the loud warning which Long John had given, forthem to expect to escape.
Suddenly some one called to them from the border of the swamp, "Comeout of there, Yanks! There isn't any use in trying to get away. Thecorduroy is the only safe spot you'll find on either side of the road;so come out and give yourselves up."
"All right," responded Noel, although, as he spoke, Dennis grasped himroughly by the shoulder as if he was protesting against the surrender.
"You keep still, Dennis," whispered Noel to his companion. "You leavethis to me and I'll see what can be done. We can't get away, and wemight as well make the best of a bad bargain. We're coming," he againcalled aloud.
"Don't try any of your Yankee tricks here," called the voice which hadspoken before.
Noel made no response, and in silence the two young soldiers advancedand in a brief time found themselves in the presence of a score of men.They saw that every one was clad in uniform, but it was impossible atfirst to determine to which side the men belonged. However, Noel wasconvinced that the words of Long John had explained who the men were,and in spite of the treachery of the negro he at once decided that heand Dennis must give themselves up.
"Who are you, Yanks?" demanded a man, speaking in a voice which theboys recognized as the one by which they had been addressed before."Step up yere and give an account of yo'selves."
Obediently, Noel and Dennis advanced, and even in the dim light theywere able to see that the man who addressed them wore the uniform of anofficer.
"We are two boys who belong to one of the New York regiments."
"Glad to see you," said the young officer laughingly. "I wish you wereback home where you belong, but as you're down here, I'm glad you metus. We'll see that you go with the rest of the Yanks, and that you don'tdo any more damage to our country. I'm surprised the Yankee soldiersdon't fight better."
The tone in which the officer spoke was almost bantering. Noel's angerwas aroused, but by an effort he restrained himself and said in a lowvoice, "You talk very bravely! You'll get over your surprise prettysoon."
"It will have to be 'pretty soon,' I reckon," said the officergood-naturedly. "The Yanks have been running so fast and so far thatthey haven't gotten their breath yet. About all we have to do nowadaysis to chase the Yankee soldiers. They didn't make a stand at Manassaseither time. They ran from General Lee on the Peninsula, and now, thoughthey have been running after him up here, they will dodge and run in theother direction the minute he turns around."
Noel Curtis was unable to reply to the bantering of his captor. It wastrue that thus far in the struggle the Army of the Potomac had notcovered itself with glory. In Tennessee and Kentucky, too, at the time,the Federal forces were meeting with disaster after disaster, and tomany of the faint-hearted supporters of the North it seemed almost as ifthe end had come.
"We sure are going to march straight to Philadelphia, and then you won'tbe able to stop us before we get into New York and Boston. If we everget inside Boston, we'll show some of those fellows a trick or two thatwill teach them some things they don't know now. If it hadn't been forthat city I don't believe there would have been any war."
"You don't?" demanded Noel, and in spite of his predicament, he wasinterested in what the young officer was saying.
"No, sir! No, sir! There certainly would not have been any war. Thetrouble was that Boston thought she not only could attend to her ownbusiness, but that she could direct the business of all the rest of us.It's a great thing, my son, for a man or for a city to be able to mindits own business. That's what I say; the cocksureness of the Yanks is sogreat that they think they can tell all the rest of the world how toact."
Noel was listening only in part to the words of the leader of the littleband, from which already wild thoughts of escaping had presentedthemselves.
As neither of the young soldiers had been asked to give up his gun,there were thoughts in Noel's mind of suddenly darting to one side ofthe road and trying to flee before the men were aware of his attempt.But the folly of such an effort was so marked that Noel abandon
ed everysuch suggestion.
"You'll come with us," said the young officer at last, his voice stillnot unfriendly.
Under other circumstances Noel knew that he would have been stronglyattracted to the young officer, whom Long John had called "Massa LittleBen Fowler."
That officer now turned to three of his men, and in a voice so low thatNoel was unable to hear what was said gave them instructions as to whatwas to be done with the prisoners. Then, turning once more to the youngsoldiers, the leader said, "We'll have to have yo' guns, Yanks. Yo' allare our prisoners, yo' know, and I cannot permit yo' to retain yo'weapons. Yo' 'll follow these men," he added, indicating the three whohad been detailed for the duty, "and they'll take yo' where yo' all willbe safe for the night, anyway. The rest of us will stay right yere bythe corduroy road and see if we can't catch some more Yanks in ourtrap."
Without a word Noel and Dennis, obediently giving up their rifles,turned and followed the men who had been detailed to conduct them towhat the young officer had described as a "place of safety."