Cudjo's Cave

  XXXV.

  _THE MOONLIGHT EXPEDITION._

  Toby had been released. Mrs. Stackridge had been whipped by proxy, andhad kept her husband's secret. Gad, the spy, was still unaccountablyabsent. These three sources of information were, therefore, for thetime, considered closed; and it was determined to have recourse to thefourth, namely, Carl.

  Here it should, perhaps, be explained that the confederate government,informed of the position of armed resistance assumed by the little bandof patriots, had immediately telegraphed orders to recapture theinsurgents. Among the Union-loving mountaineers of East Tennessee themutterings of a threatened rebellion against the new despotism had longbeen heard, and it was deemed expedient to suppress at once thisoutbreak.

  "Try the ringleaders by drum-head court-martial, and, if guilty, hangthem on the spot," said a second despatch.

  These instructions were purposely made public, in order to strike terroramong the Unionists. They were discussed by the soldiers, and reachedthe ears of Carl.

  "Hang them on the spot." That meant Stackridge and Penn, and he knew nothow many more. "And I," said Carl, "have agreed to show the vay to thecave."

  He was sweating fearfully over the dilemma in which he had placedhimself, when a sergeant and two men came to conduct him tohead-quarters.

  "Now it begins," said Carl to himself, drawing a deep breath.

  The irons remained on his wrists. In this plight he was brought into thepresence of the red-faced colonel.

  "I hate a damned Dutchman!" said Lysander, who happened to be athead-quarters.

  He had had experience, and his prejudice was natural.

  The colonel poised his cigar, and regarded Carl sternly. The boy's heartthrobbed anxiously, and he was afraid that he looked pale. Nevertheless,he stood calmly erect on his sturdy young legs, and answered theofficer's frown with an expression of placid and innocent wonder.

  "Your name is Carl," said the colonel.

  "I sushpect that is true," replied Carl, on his guard against makinginadvertent admissions.

  "Carl what?"

  "Minnevich."

  "Minny-fish? That's a scaly name. And they say you are a scaly fellow.What have you got those bracelets on for?"

  "That is vat I should pe wery much glad to find out," said Carl,affectionately regarding his handcuffs.

  "You are the fellow that enlisted to save the schoolmaster's neck, ain'tyou?"

  "I suppose that is true too."

  "Suppose? Don't you know?"

  "I thought I knowed, for you told me so; but as they vas hunting for himaftervards to hang him, I vas conwinced I vas mishtaken."

  This quiet reply, delivered in the lad's quaint style, with perfectdeliberation, and with a countenance shining with simplicity, was ineffect a keen thrust at the perfidy of the confederate officers. Thecolonel's face became a shade redder, if possible, and he frowninglyexclaimed,--

  "And so you deserted!"

  "That," said Carl, "ish not quite so true."

  "What! you deny the fact?"

  "I peg your pardon, it ish not a fact. I vas took prisoner."

  "And do you maintain that you did not go willingly?"

  "I don't know just vat you mean by villingly. Ven vun of them fellowsputs his muzzle to my head and says, 'You come mit us, and make no noiseor I plow out your prains,' I vas prewailed upon to go. I vas morevilling to go as I vas to have my prains spilt. If that is vat you meanby villing, I vas villing."

  "Why did they take you prisoner?"

  "Pecause. I vill tell you. Gad vas shleeping like thunder: you know vatI mean--shnoring. Nothing could make him vake up; so they let himshnore. But I vake up, and they say, I suppose, they must kill me ortake me off, for if I vas left pehind I vould raise the alarm too soon."

  "Well, where did they take you?"

  Carl was silent a moment, then looking Colonel Derring full in the face,he said earnestly,--

  "They make me shwear I vould not tell."

  "Minny-fish," said the colonel, "this won't do. The secret is out, andit is too late for you to try to keep it back. Toby betrayed it. Mrs.Stackridge has been arrested, and she has confessed that her husband andhis friends are hid in a cave. We sent out a scout, who has come in andcorroborated both their statements. Gad discovered the cave; but he hassprained his ankle. He describes the spot accurately, but he's too lameto climb the hills again. What we want is a guide to go in his place.Now, Minny-fish, here's a chance for you to earn a pardon, and proveyour loyalty. You promised Captain Sprowl, did you not, that you wouldconduct him to the cave?"

  Carl, overwhelmed by the colonel's confident assertions, breathed amoment, then replied,--

  "I pelieve I vas making him some promise."

  "Notwithstanding your oath that you would not tell?" said Lysander,eager to cross and corner him.

  "To show the vay, that is not to tell," replied Carl. "I shwore I vouldnot tell, and I shall not tell. But if you vill go mit me to the cave, Ivill go mit you and take you. Then I keep my promise to you and my oathto them. You see, I did not shwear not to take you," he added, with asmile.

  With a smile on his face, but with profound perturbations of the soul.For he saw himself sinking deeper and deeper into this miry difficulty,and how he was to extricate himself without dragging his friends down,was still a terrible enigma.

  "I believe the boy is honest," said Derring. "Sergeant, have those ironstaken off. Captain Sprowl, you will manage the affair, and take this boyas your guide. I advise you to trust him. But until he has thoroughlyproved his honesty, keep a careful eye on him, and if you becomeconvinced that he is deceiving you, shoot him down on the spot. I say,shoot him on the spot," repeated the colonel, impressively. "You bothunderstand that. Do you, Minny-fish?"

  "I vas never shot," said Carl, "but I sushpect I know vat shooting is."And he smiled again, with trouble in his heart, that would have quitedisconcerted a youth of less nerve and phlegm.

  "Well," said Captain Sprowl, "if you don't, you will know, if youundertake to play any of your Dutch tricks with me!"

  "O, sir!" said Carl, humbly, "if I knowed any trick I vouldn't everthink of playing it on you, you are so wery shmart!"

  "How do you know I am?" said Lysander, who felt flattered, and thoughtit would be interesting to hear the lad's reasons; for neither he, norany one present, had perceived the craft and sarcasm concealed underthat simple, earnest manner.

  "How do I know you are shmart? Pecause," replied Carl, "you have such apig head. And such a pig nose. And such a pig mouth. That shows you area pig man."

  This was said with an air of intense seriousness, which never changedamid the peals of laughter that followed. Nobody suspected Carl of anintentional joke; and the round-eyed innocent surprise with which heregarded the merriment added hugely to the humor of it. Everybodylaughed except Lysander, who only grimaced a little to disguise hischagrin. This upstart officer was greatly disliked for his conceitedways, and it was not long before the "Dutch boy's compliments" becamethe joke of the camp, and wherever Lysander appeared some whisper wassure to be heard concerning either the "pig mouth," or "pig nose," ofthat truly "pig man."

  As for Carl, he had something far more serious to do than to laugh. Howto circumvent the designs of these men? That was the question.

  In the first place, it is necessary to state that his conscienceacquitted him entirely of all obligations to them or their cause. He wasno secessionist. He had enlisted to save his benefactor and friend. Hehad said, "I will give you my services if you will give that man hislife." They had immediately afterwards broken the contract by seeking tokill his friend, and he felt that he no longer owed them anything. Butthey held _him_ by force, against which he had no weapon but his owngood wit. This, therefore, he determined to use, if possible, to theirdiscomfiture, and the salvation of those to whom he owed everything. Buthow?

  He had saved Toby from torture and confession by promising what he neverintended literally to perform.

  Once more in the gua
rd-house, retained a prisoner until wanted as aguide, he reasoned with himself thus:--

  "If I do not go, then they vill make Gad go, lame or no lame, and hevill not be half so lucky to show the wrong road as I can be;"--for Carlnever suspected that what had been said with regard to Mrs. Stackridge'sarrest and confession, and Gad's successful reconnoissance and return,was all a lie framed to induce him to undertake this very thing. "And ifI did not make pelieve I vas villing to go, then they vould not give memy hands free, and some chances for myself. I think there vill be somechances. But Sprowl is to watch, and be ready to shoot me down?" Heshook his head dubiously, and added, "That is vat I do not like quite sovell!"

  He remained in a deep study until dusk. Then Captain Sprowl appeared,and said to him,--

  "Come! you are to go with me."

  Carl's heart gave a great bound; but he answered with an air ofindifference,--

  "To-night?"

  "Yes. At once. Stir!"

  "I have not quite finished my supper; but I can put some of it in mypockets, and be eating on the road." And he added to himself, "I am gladit is in the night, for that vill be a wery good excuse if I should beso misfortunate as not to find the cave!"

  "Here," said Lysander, imperiously, giving him a twist and push,--"marchbefore me! And fast! Now, not a word unless you are spoken to; and don'tyou dodge unless you want a shot."

  Thus instructed, Carl led the way. He did not speak, and he did notdodge. One circumstance overjoyed him. He saw no signs of a militaryexpedition on foot. Was Lysander going alone with him to the mountains?"I sushpect I can find some trick for him, shmart as he is!" thoughtCarl.

  They left the town behind them. They took to the fields; they enteredthe shadow of the mountains, the western sky above whose tops was yetsilvery bright with the shining wake of the sunset. A few faint starswere visible, and just a glimmer of moonlight was becoming apparent inthe still twilight gloom.

  "We are going to have a quiet little adwenture together!" chuckled Carl.One thing was singular, however. Lysander did not tamely follow hislead: on the contrary, he directed him where to go; and Carl saw, to hisdismay, that they were proceeding in a very direct route towards thecave.

  "Never mind! Ven ve come to some conwenient place maybe something villhappen," he said consolingly to himself.

  Then suddenly consternation met him, as it were face to face. The enigmawas solved. From the crest of a knoll over which Lysander drove him likea lamb, he saw, lying on the ground in a little glen before them, thedark forms of some forty men.

  One of these rose to his feet and advanced to meet Lysander. It wasSilas Ropes.

  "All ready?" said Sprowl.

  "Ready and waiting," said Silas.

  "Well, push on," said the captain. "We'll go to the dead bodies in theravine first. Where's Pepperill?"

  "Here," replied Ropes; and at a summons Dan appeared.

  Carl's heart sank within him. Toby in the guard-house had told him aboutthe dead bodies, and he knew that they were not far from the cave. Hewas aware, too, that Pepperill knew far more than one of such shallowmental resources and feeble will, wearing that uniform, and now in thepower of these men, ought to know.

  There in the little moonlit glen they met and exchanged glances--thesturdy, calm-faced boy, and the weak-kneed, trembling man. Pepperill hadnot recovered from the terror with which he had been inspired, whensummoned to guide a reconnoitring party to the ravine. But he had notyet lisped a syllable of what he knew concerning the cave. Carl gave hima look, and turned his eyes away again indifferently. That look said,"Be wery careful, Dan, and leave a good deal to me." And Dan, man as hewas, felt somehow encouraged and strengthened by the presence of thisboy.

  "Now, Pepperill," said Sprowl, "can you move ahead and make no mistake?"

  "I kin try," answered Pepperill, dismally. "But it's a heap harder tofind the way in the night so; durned if 'tain't!"

  "None o' that, now, Dan," said Ropes, "or you'll git sunthin' to putsperrit inter ye!"

  Dan made no reply, but shivered. The mountain air was chill, theprospect dreary. Close by, the woods, blackened by the recent fire, layshadowy and spectral in the moon. Far above, the dim summits towardswhich their course lay whitened silently. There was no noise but the lowmurmur of these men, bent on bloody purposes. No wonder Dan's teethchattered.

  As for Carl, he killed a mosquito on his cheek, and smiled triumphantly.

  "You got a shlap, you warmint!" he said, as if he had no other care onhis mind than the insect's slaughter.

  "Who told you to speak?" said Lysander sharply.

  "Vas that shpeaking?" Carl scratched his cheek complacently. "I vas onlymaking a little obserwation to the mosquito."

  "Well, keep your observations to yourself!"

  "That is vat I vill try to do."

  The order to march was given. Lysander proceeded a few paces in advance,accompanied by Ropes and the two guides. The troops followed in silence,with dull, irregular tramp, filing through obscure hollows, over barrenridges crowned by a few thistles and mulleins, and by the edges ofthickets which the fires had not reached. At length they came to a tractof the burned woods. The word "halt!" was whispered. The sound oftramping feet was suddenly hushed, and the slender column of troops,winding like a dark serpent up the side of the mountain, becamemotionless.

  "All right so far, Pepperill?"

  "Wal, I hain't made nary mistake yet, cap'm."

  Pepperill recognized the woods in which, when flying to the cave withVirginia, Penn, and Cudjo, they had found themselves surrounded byfires.

  "How far is it now to your ravine?"

  "Nigh on to half a mile, I reckon."

  "Shall we go through these woods?"

  "It's the nighest to go through 'em. But I s'pose we can git around ifwe try."

  "The moon sets early. We'd better take the nearest way," said thecaptain. "Well, Dutchy,"--for the first time deigning to consultCarl,--"this route is taking us to the cave, too, ain't it?"

  "Wery certain," said Carl, "prowided you go far enough, and turn oftenenough, and never lose the vay."

  "That'll be your risk, Dutchy. Look out for the landmarks, so that whenPepperill stops you can keep on."

  "I vill look out, but if they have all been purnt up since I vas here,how wery wexing!"

  This wood had been but partially consumed when the flames were checkedby the rain. Many trunks were still standing, naked, charred, stretchingtheir black despairing arms to the moon. The shadows of these ghostlytrees slanted along the silent field of desolation, or lay entangledwith the dark logs and limbs of trees which had fallen, and from which,at short distances, they were scarcely distinguishable. Here and theresmouldered a heap of rubbish, its pallid smoke rising noiselessly in thebluish light. There were heaps of ashes still hot; half-burned brandssparkled in the darkness; and now and then a stump or branch emitted astill bright flame.

  Through this scene of blackness and ruin, rendered gloomily picturesqueby the moonlight, the men picked their way. Not a word was spoken; butoccasionally a muttered curse told that some ill-protected foot had comein contact with live cinders, or that some unlucky leg had slumped downinto one of those mines of fire, formed by roots of old dead stumps,eaten slowly away to ashes under ground.

  Carl had hoped that the woods would prove impassable, and that the partywould be compelled to turn back. That would gain for him time andopportunity. But the men pushed on. "Vill nothing happen?" he said tohimself, in despair at seeing how directly they were travelling towardsthe cave. The burned tract was not extensive, and he soon saw,glimmering through the blackened columns, the clear moonlight on theslopes above.

  Pepperill, not daring to assume the responsibility of misleading theparty, knew no better than to go stumbling straight on.

  "I vish he would shtumple and preak his shtupid neck!" thought Carl.

  They emerged from the burned woods, and came out upon the ledges beyond;and now the lad saw plainly where they were. On the left, the de
ep andquiet gulf of shadow was the ravine. They had but to follow this up, heknew not just how far, to reach the cave. And still Pepperill advanced.Carl's heart contracted. He knew that the critical moment of the night,for him and for his fugitive friends, was now at hand.

  "Do you see any landmarks yet?" Sprowl whispered to him.

  "I can almost see some," answered Carl, peering earnestly over a moonlitbushy space. "Ve shall pe coming to them py and py."

  "Do you know this ravine?"

  "I remember some rawines. I shouldn't be wery much surprised if this vasvun of 'em."

  "Look here," said Lysander. Carl looked, and saw a pistol-barrel."Understand?"--significantly.

  "Is it for me?"' And Carl extended his hand ingenuously.

  "For you?--yes." But instead of giving the weapon to the boy, hereturned it to his pocket, with a smile the boy did not like.

  "Ah, yes! a goot joke!" And Carl smiled too, his good-humored facebeaming in the moon.

  At the same time he said to himself, "He hates me pecause I am Hapgood'sfriend; and he vill be much pleased to have cause to shoot me."

  Just then Dan stopped. Lysander put up his hand as a signal. The troopshalted.

  "It's somewhars down in hyar, cap'm," Pepperill whispered.

  "It's a horrid place!" muttered Sprowl.

  "It ar so, durned if 'tain't!" said Dan, discouragingly.

  Before them yawned the ravine, bristling with half-burned saplings, andbut partially illumined by the moon. The babble of the brook flowingthrough its hidden depths was faintly audible.

  "See the bodies anywhere?" said Lysander.

  "Can't see ary thing by this light," replied Dan. "But we can go downand find 'em."

  Sprowl did not much fancy the idea of descending.

  "It will be a waste of time to stop here," he said to Silas. "The livetraitors are of more consequence than the dead ones. Supposing we go tothe cave first, and come back and find the bodies afterwards. Have yougot your bearings yet, Carl?"

  "I am peginning," said Carl, staring about him, with his hands in hispockets. "I think I vill have 'em soon."

  Sprowl looked at him with suppressed rage. "How cussed provoking!" hemuttered.

  "It is--wery prowoking!" said Carl, looking at the moon. "Aggrawating!"

  "Well, make up your mind quick! What will you do?"

  Then it seemed as if a bright idea occurred to Carl.

  "I vill tell you. You go down and find the podies, and I vill belooking. Ven you come up again, I shouldn't be surprised if I could seevair the cave is."

  "Ropes," said Sprowl, "take a couple of men, and go down in there withPepperill. I think it's best to stay with this boy."

  This arrangement did not please Carl at all; but, as he could notreasonably complain of it, he said, stoically, "Yes, it vill be petterso."

  Ropes selected his two men, and left the rest concealed in the shadowsof the thickets.

  "If I could go up on the rocks there, I suppose I could see something,"said Carl.

  "Well, I'll go with you. I mean to give you a fair chance." Carl felt asecret hope. Once more alone with this villain, would not someinteresting thing occur? "Wait, though!" said Sprowl; and he called acorporal to his side. "Come with us. Keep close to this boy. At thefirst sign of his giving us the slip, put your bayonet through him."

  "I will," said the corporal.

  This was discouraging again. But Carl looked up at the captain andsmiled--his good-humored, placid smile.

  "You do right. But you vill see I shall not give you the shlip. Nowcome, and be wery still."

  In the mean time, Pepperill, with the three rebels, descended into theravine. The spot where the dead man and horse had been was soon found.But now no dead man was to be seen. The horse had been removed from therocks between which his back was wedged, and rolled down lower into theravine. A broad, shallow hole had been dug there, as if to bury him. Butthe work had been interrupted. There was a shovel lying on the heap ofearth. Near by was another spot where the soil had been recentlystirred--a little mound: it was shaped like a grave.

  "They've buried the poor cuss hyar," said Dan.

  "We'll see." Ropes took the shovel. "They can't have put him in verydeep, fur they've struck the rock in this yer t'other hole."

  He threw up a little dirt, then gave the shovel to one of the soldiers.The moon shone full upon the place. The man dug a few minutes, and cameto something which was neither rock nor soil. He pulled it up. It was aman's arm.

  "You didn't guess fur from right this time, Dan! Scrape off a littlemore dirt, and we'll haul up the carcass. Needn't be partic'lar 'boutscrapin' very keerful, nuther. He's a mean shoat, whoever he is; one o'them cussed Union-shriekers. Wish they was all planted like he is! Hopewe shall find five or six more. Ketch holt, Dan!"

  Dan caught hold. The body was dragged from the lonely resting-place towhich it had been consigned. Parts of it, which had not been protectedby the superincumbent bulk of the horse, were hideously burned. Ropesrolled it over on the back, and kicked it, to knock off the dirt. Heturned up the face in the moonlight--a frightful face! One side wasroasted; and what was left of the hair and beard was full of sand.

  "Damn him!" said Ropes, giving it a wipe with the spade.

  The eyes were open, and they too were full of sand.

  But the features were still recognizable. The men started back withhorror. They knew their comrade. It was the spy who had been sent out towatch the fugitives. It was "the sleeper," whom nought could waken more.It was Gad.

  "Wal, if I ain't beat!" said Silas, with a ghastly look. "Fool! how didhe come hyar?"

  This question has never been satisfactorily answered. The fatal leap ofthe terrified horse with his rider is known; but how came Gad on thehorse? Those who knew the character of the man account for it in thisway: He had been something of a horse-thief in his day; and it issupposed that, finding Stackridge's horse on the mountain, he fell oncemore into temptation. He was probably a little drunk at the time; and hewas a man who would never walk if he could ride, especially when he wastipsy. So he mounted. But he had no sooner commenced the descent of themountain, than the fire, which had been previously concealed from theanimal by the clump of trees behind which he was hampered, burst uponhis sight, and filled him with uncontrollable frenzy.

  Dan, who had witnessed the flight and plunge, could have contributed anitem towards the solution of the mystery. But he opened not his mouth.

  "Them cussed traitors shall pay fur this!" said Ropes. This was the onlyconsolatory thought that occurred to him. Having uttered it, he lookedremorsefully at the spade with which he had rudely wiped the face of hisdead friend. "I thought 'twas one o' them rotten scoundrels, or I--Butnever mind! Kiver him up agin, boys! We can't take him with us, andwe've no time to lose."

  So they laid the corpse once more in the grave, and heaped the sand uponit.