CHAPTER XXIII.
THE JAWS OF DEATH.
The hospital steamer, with its freight of living skeletons, hadaccomplished its voyage in safety, and lay moored at the wharf inAnnapolis. Nurses and sailors were carrying the emaciated forms from theship to the shore, to the clean and tidy wards of the hospital.
It was a sight which wrung tears from the eyes of those who did notoften weep. The ship was a charnel-house. Death in its most horribleforms was there,--from starvation, from corruption, scurvy, lock-jaw,gangrene, consumption, and fever. How ghastly the scene! Men, oncerobust and strong, weak and helpless as babes, with hollow cheeks,toothless gums, thin pale lips, colorless flesh, sunken eyes, long,tangled hair, uncombed for many months, skeleton fingers with nails likeeagles' claws, lying in rags upon the deck,--some, with strained eyes,looking up for the last time to the dear old flag which waved abovethem, for which they had fought, for which they had starved, for whichthey were dying, gazing in rapture on its blessed folds, till their eyeswere fixed in death, and the slowly-heaving heart stood still forever!They, and all their comrades, sleeping on a hundred battle-fields, andmouldering in the trenches at Andersonville, were the victims ofJefferson Davis and General Lee, whose names shall rot through allcoming time.
There was work for the gentle-hearted nurses who stood waiting in thehospital wards,--work which required tenderest care;--removing the rags,washing the fevered skeletons, bathing the bleeding wounds where thesharp bones had pierced the skin; feeding them,--a crumb at a time;administering cordials drop by drop, to bring back with delicate nursingthe receding tides of life.
With a bleeding heart, but yet with steady nerves, Azalia passed amongthem, doing her appointed work. There was one who was lying as ifasleep, with his hands clasped upon his breast. His beard had been longuncut. His cheeks were wasted, his eyes sunken, but he had a manly brow.A strange fear and trembling crept over her,--a shuddering of the heart.Alarmed and frightened at she knew not what, she brushed back thematted hair from his temples, and laid her hand upon his brow, cold anddamp with the dews of death. The soldier opened his eyes, looked intoher face, stared wildly around him, and tried to speak. It was but oneword, and that a whisper,--her own name, "Azalia!"
A cry rang through the ward, startling the physicians and the nurses,and waking those who were asleep. She clasped him in her arms, fell uponhis face, and kissed his wasted lips. "O Paul! Can it be that you arehere?" she said.
The throbbing of her heart was like the fluttering of a frightened bird.Sweet, calm, and beautiful as the setting sun was the smile upon hisface, and in his eyes the celestial light of Peace! They closed, and helay again as if in slumber.
"They told me that you were dead," she said.
There was no reply; she laid her hand upon his heart, but could feel nobeating there; touched her fingers to his fleshless wrist, but couldfind no throbbing of the pulse. The thin blood was receding from hiscolorless lips,--the tide was going out. "Doctor! Doctor! O come quick!Save him!" she cried.
The doctor came and gazed upon the face of Paul. "He is not quite gone,"he said, then moistened his lips with brandy. There was a quickening ofthe pulse. "If he rallies from this, we may save him," he said.
They wrapped him in warm flannels, rubbed his fleshless limbs, and gavehim cordials, drop by drop. How long the hours,--the weary hours of hopeand fear,--of expectation and distress,--while the faltering spirit, asif tired of earth, was but fluttering awhile along the shore of Timebefore taking its returnless flight over the dark and silent river toanother land! Through the night Azalia sat by his side, watching himwith sleepless eyes, fanning his pale brow. The morning sun beamed uponher still sitting there. Those who were accustomed to watch for herappearance in the early morning, restless with fever, beheld her asclothed with celestial brightness, and said one to another, "There sitsour Angel of Light!"
Through the day she was there, watching the slow heavings of his heart,holding her breath while listening to assure herself that he was stillbreathing; hoping and fearing, holding her hands at times upon her ownheart to still its wild, tumultuous beating,--giving him atom by atomthe needful nourishment,--bending over him to smooth hispillow,--opening the casement for the winds to blow upon his bloodlesscheek,--thus snatching him from the very jaws of death and winning himback to life!
CHAPTER XXIV.
HOME.
A despatch came clicking into the telegraph office in New Hope that PaulParker was alive,--that he had been a prisoner at Andersonville, wasvery feeble, but in a fair way to get well, and would soon be at home.It was from Azalia. Mr. Magnet read it in amazement, then ran as fast ashe could to carry it to the little old cottage. "Good news!" he shouted,rushing into the house out of breath, without knocking. "Paul is alive!Paul is alive!"
"My son alive!" exclaimed Mrs. Parker, her heart leaping wildly.
"Yes; there is the despatch."
She read it in fear and trembling, her brain in a whirl. She must fly tohim! O if she only had wings! Paul alive! The old clock took up theword, "Alive,--alive,--alive," it said. A robin perched in the greatmaple sang all day, "He is coming home,--is coming home," while theswallows from their nests under the eaves looked into the old kitchenthrough the open door, twittering together, as if saying, "How glad weare!" Never so bright the sunshine as on that morning, nor so fragrantthe flowers! All nature was glad, and rejoiced in her joy.
Mr. Magnet told the news through the village, the people listening inwonder. Mr. Chrome threw down his paint-brush, took off his old hat,swung it over his head, and gave three cheers. Through the day he keptsaying to himself, "That beats the Dutch!" The children ran through thestreets shouting, "Paul is alive! Paul is alive!" Father Surplice, JudgeAdams, Colonel Dare, and the neighbors--a dozen at a time--went down toshake hands with Paul's mother, making it such a day of gladness asnever was known before in New Hope.
Impatiently they waited for the day when Paul would be with them again.
"We will let him know that we have not forgotten him," said ColonelDare; "but it is little that we can do for one who has suffered somuch."
So also said Judge Adams, and Mr. Capias, and all the people.
The day came at last. He was on board the train, feeble and weak, butAzalia was by his side, supporting his weary head,--sustaining him whenhis strength was gone. All New Hope was at the depot to receive him,looking with eager eyes down the level track to see the approachingtrain when it rounded the distant curve.
"It is coming! There it is!" shouted the boys. They loved him, theirdear old teacher. The train stopped, and the conductor came out withPaul leaning on his arm, Azalia following. The people were going tohurrah, but when they saw how poor, pale, and emaciated he was, how thinhis cheeks, how hollow and sunken his eyes, how languid and weary, howlittle there was left of one who once was so manly, they held theirbreaths, and felt a strange choking in their throats.
Blessed the meeting of mother and son! He had come back from the grave.He was even then almost a corpse, but he was alive! She had no words toutter; her joy was silent and deep. She could only clasp him in herarms, fold him to her heart, and, looking up to heaven, with streamingeyes, give silent thanks to God.
The people bowed their heads and stood in silent reverence. Colonel Darecame with his carriage. Mr. Chrome took Paul in his arms, and lifted himinto it as if he was but a child. The people came one after another andtouched his hands. The children brought flowers and laid them in hisarms. They all had words of welcome for Azalia. She had saved him. "Godbless you, darling!" said her father, kissing her cheeks, still roundand fair, though watching, anxiety, care, and sorrow had robbed them ofthe bright bloom of other days.
"The Lord sent you in the way, as he sent Joseph into Egypt," saidFather Surplice.
Deep, tender, and hearty the love of friends! Daphne came with choicestdelicacies. How pleasant to hear her voice! How cheery her laugh! Mr.Noggin brought a box of his best honey. Mr. Chrome, who loved to huntand fish, brought quails and
pigeons. Even Miss Dobb sent up to know ifthere was not something that she could get for him. The birds came, therobins and swallows, singing and twittering and brimming over with joy.
How enchanting the music which came swelling up the valley from thewater by the mill, from the woods beyond the river, from the cricketsin the fields, from the church-bell, blending with the night airs, andfilling his soul with peace! But more blessed than everything else onearth was the holy light which beamed upon him from Azalia's eyes, whichwent down deep into his soul.
"You have always been my angel of light and goodness, and nothing butdeath shall part us," he said, as she sat by his side.
"I am glad if I have helped you, Paul," she said, laying her soft handupon his brow, and kissing his lips. Pure and true the love which haddeepened through many years, which had beamed from each other's eyes,but which till then had never been spoken. Like a brook gushing fromsprings in distant mountains, so, far back in childhood, had been thebeginning of their affection, and now it was a river.
Day by day his strength returned, the flesh came again upon his wastedlimbs, and health bloomed upon his cheeks. Then they walked together inthe garden, talking of the dear old times, and looking onward to afuture more golden than the sunniest day of all the past.
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