ha!’ exclaimed the foremost of the three officers, who wore the uniform of a general, ‘i don’t know about you, gentlemen, but i am quite ready for my breakfast.—eh! what! who? the dickens!—here, sergeant! orderly-sergeant cox!’
‘sir!’ answered the orderly-sergeant, dashing into the hut at the loud, imperative summons.
‘what is the meaning of this?’ demanded general shields, for it was he. ‘what is the meaning of it, sir?’ he thundered, as sergeant cox simply stared at him without attempting to reply.
‘meaning, sir? meaning of what, sir?’ stammered the bewildered orderly at last.
‘of this,’ vociferated the general, pointing to the table. ‘look at that ham! look at those crackers! observe the jam! where is the milk?’
‘ham, sir! yes, sir. jam, sir! no, sir. milk—crackers, sir,’ stuttered the unfortunate cox, ruefully regarding the denuded table, the lacerated ham, and the empty mugs, which but a few moments before he had himself seen filled with rich creamy milk.
a loud snort burst from lucius, who, between the angry face of the general and the utter amazement of the orderly, found the situation too much for him, and would simply have suffocated had not this timely explosion of mirth suddenly relieved him. fortunately the sound was swallowed up in the shout of laughter which, at the same moment, broke from the other two officers, in the midst of which ephraim found time to whisper hurriedly:
‘it’s too funny, luce. but hold up. don’t ye do that agen, or we’re ruined shore and certain.’
‘ha! ha! ha!’ roared one of the officers, a stout, good-humoured-looking brigadier. ‘evidently a foraging party has been beforehand with us. by george! general, it’s a mercy they left us so much as a single cracker. you had better have taken my advice and had breakfast outside, notwithstanding the tendency of the bugs to drop uninvited into the coffee. ha! ha!’
the angry look died out of general shields’s eyes, the wrinkles at the root of his nose smoothened out again, and after a momentary struggle he gave way and joined heartily in the laughter of his subordinates. ‘well, well, it can’t be helped now,’ he said—‘it is the fortune of war; but if i can lay hands on the rascal who has played us this trick, i’ll—i’ll feed him on jam till he’s so sick of it, he won’t be in a hurry to plunder his general again.’ he broke into fresh laughter, till, remembering the presence of the orderly, he restrained himself, and inquired sharply, ‘what are you doing there?’
orderly-sergeant cox, who, now that his terror and confusion had been sent to the right-about by the hilarity of the officers, would have given a good deal 95to be able to express his own feelings in the same way, saluted silently, swung on his heel, and made for the door.
‘stop!’ ordered the general, and cox swung round again, managing by a violent effort to dismiss the grin which he had allowed to overspread his features the moment he had turned his back.
‘any news of colonel spriggs?’ asked general shields.
‘can’t say, sir.’
‘very good. my compliments to him, when he returns, if he returns, and i wish to see him at once.’
‘here, sir?’
‘anywhere. wherever i happen to be. i can be found, i suppose.’
‘very well, sir,’ and with another salute orderly-sergeant cox withdrew.
‘i believe that beggar knows more of this than he cares to say,’ observed general shields, mournfully regarding the remains of the ham.
‘oh, not he,’ laughed the fat brigadier; ‘i never saw a fellow look so utterly flabbergasted. no, no, general, your thieves have come and gone through this window. see, here are some of the spoils dropped both inside and out.’
ephraim nudged lucius gently, as much as to say: ‘now you see my object in scattering the crackers there. it was to distract attention from our hiding-place.’ and lucius answered by a responsive nudge, which signified comprehension.
‘there are the thieves, or i am much mistaken,’ continued the brigadier, as his eye fell on the soldiers who were resting on their arms at the edge of the 96wood. ‘but i imagine it would be hopeless to try and get an admission out of them.’
‘better make the best of what is left,’ said general shields. ‘fall to, gentlemen. it is half-past six now, and news from the bridge should soon reach us.’
only half-past six! the boys heard this announcement with surprise. true, they had dropped from the clouds very shortly after daybreak; but the long light of the summer morning, and the crowding of so many events into a short space, had confused their sense of time, and they had imagined it to be much later.
the day had begun early for more than lucius and ephraim. movements were afoot which were destined to bring about very important results, and the news from the bridge, which the federal general so calmly anticipated, was likely, when it arrived, to disturb his equilibrium a good deal more than the loss of his breakfast.
for the last four and thirty days, stonewall jackson had been making matters very lively for the northern invaders. he was considerably outnumbered, but with such consummate skill did he handle his forces, that he was able to attack and beat the federal generals in detail, one after another; nor, chase him up and down as they would, could they ever succeed in effecting a combination of their entire armies against him. indeed, the rapidity of jackson’s movements astounded the federals, for scarcely did they receive reliable news of him in one place than he was upon them in another, and considering the number and vigour of their marvellous forced marches, it is no wonder that his brigades proudly christened themselves ‘stonewall jackson’s foot cavalry.’
after defeating milroy, jackson had rushed through the valley to winchester, where he fell upon general banks so fiercely and suddenly that the latter was driven in the wildest confusion clear across the potomac. the dashing confederate leader then retreated up the valley by the great turnpike, hotly pursued by frémont, who could not, however, succeed in bringing him to bay. shields, meanwhile, had moved up the south-eastern bank of the shenandoah, and, by co-operation with him, frémont thought at last to crush the daring rebel. but by a master-stroke jackson burned the bridge at the mouth of elk run valley, over which shields would have led his troops—for owing to heavy rains the shenandoah was not fordable—and took up his position at port republic, a little village situated on the south fork of the river. shields, therefore, advanced to lewiston, the farm of a general lewis, and there awaited instructions from frémont, who was but a few miles off at harrisonburg. but he might as well have been a thousand miles away, for between the two generals rolled the impassable shenandoah, and the building of bridges in face of an enemy so vigilant and daring as stonewall jackson was a proposition that could not be seriously considered. nevertheless, communication had been somehow effected, and it so happened that, on the very night that ephraim and lucius left staunton in the balloon, the federal generals had arranged a combined attack upon the restless jackson for the next day. frémont was to advance from harrisonburg to cross keys and engage the confederate left under ewell, while at the same moment shields, by a successful dash across the bridge 98at port republic, was to carry the little town and crumple up the rebel right. but jackson’s cool head and war-trained mind had foreseen this combination, and his own plans had been formed to keep shields just where he was on the south-eastern bank of the river until frémont had been disposed of. when therefore the boys took refuge in the loft, and the federal officers turned their attention to their desecrated breakfast, frémont and ewell were already confronting one another at cross keys, while shields’s cavalry were on their way to rush the bridge at port republic and clear the road for the passage of the infantry and artillery. for some time the officers devoted themselves exclusively to their breakfast, but at last general shields broke the silence by observing, ‘i think we shall fix jackson this bout.’
‘if the bridge at port republic can be carried,’ agreed the brigadier cautiously.
‘if!’ repeated shields with some irritation. ‘there is no if about it, sir. it must be carried. it cannot fail to be. the whole attention of the enemy will be by this time centred on their left to repulse frémont’s demonstration at cross keys. by ten o’clock my headquarters will be at port republic.’
the brigadier did not answer, but he thought his own thoughts. he was not above learning a lesson, even from an enemy, and his experience of stonewall jackson as a leader and strategist led him to believe that this confident, even boastful tone was not justified in the face of recent happenings in the valley. however, he was silent in the presence of his commanding officer.
‘jackson will not expect an attack on the bridge,’ 99went on shields, enclosing a slice of ham between two biscuits. ‘he will know nothing of the movement until he finds himself driven out of port republic, and then it will be too late.—by the way,’ he broke off, ‘that reconnaissance yesterday was shamefully muddled.’
‘it was,’ agreed the brigadier; ‘and if you will excuse my saying so, i thought it rather an error of judgment to entrust it to colonel spriggs. you remember his appearance at bull run.’
‘his disappearance, you mean,’ corrected general shields with a grim smile. ‘well, perhaps it was; but i couldn’t well help myself.’
‘i am at a loss to know why we are bothered with such a fellow,’ put in the third officer, a staff colonel.
‘yes, heartily confound all these political generals and colonels,’ said shields. ‘if those meddling carpet warriors would only mind their own business, and leave us to manage ours in the field, instead of incessantly pulling the ropes, we should have another story to tell. this fellow spriggs and others like him are pitched into colonelcies and even higher commands by their friends the politicians, while the real soldiers go begging for a place, or, rather than do nothing, serve their country unostentatiously in the ranks.’
‘he has good stuff in his regiment, too,’ said the brigadier. ‘the “trailing terrors,” or whatever ridiculous name he calls them by, are stark fighters when they get a chance, or are properly led.’
‘which they never will be, so long as spriggs is in command of them,’ answered shields testily. ‘i’ve made the most urgent representations about the fellow, and no notice has been taken. i daren’t relieve 100him of his command on my own responsibility, though i am supposed to be at the head of this army.’ he laughed rather bitterly.
‘such a fellow is a disgrace to us all,’ remarked the brigadier emphatically. ‘a bully, a fire-eater, and a’——
‘a dirty coward,’ finished shields for him. ‘you may as well say it at once. i agree with you. he is a disgrace to us—he and a few more like him—a discredit to the whole north. the actions of the ruffianly crew of whom he is a most admirable example do more to inflame the south against us than anything else. confound them!’ he fumed; ‘it is beyond their comprehension that even war may be waged in a gentlemanly fashion.’
‘you’ve got to start with a gentleman, though, you must remember,’ laughed the brigadier.
‘i know,’ said shields discontentedly. ‘oh, hang him! i wish i were well rid of him. he is reported missing since last night, and it may be that some obliging rebel has done what i have not the power to do—relieved him of his command by a timely and well-aimed bullet.’
‘not while there was a tree between him and johnny reb,’ chuckled the brigadier. ‘i am afraid you must not look forward to any such easy solution of your difficulties with him.’
‘pah!’ ejaculated general shields in deep disgust. ‘i’——
the sentence was never finished, for at that moment the door was flung open, and orderly-sergeant cox, advancing into the hut and saluting, announced:
‘colonel spriggs!’
closely following on the orderly’s heels came the subject of the above instructive conversation, and it was with something like a thrill of dismay that the watchers in the loft recognised in him the red-faced tyrant from whose clutches they had so recently escaped. ephraim gave luce’s arm a warning squeeze, and if they had been quiet before, they lay doubly still now.
general shields returned the colonel’s salute with exceeding stiffness and the scantiest courtesy. ‘you were reported missing, sir,’ he observed drily. ‘i congratulate you on your reappearance after the fight.’ at which the brigadier put up his hand to his mouth to conceal a smile.
colonel spriggs, however, did not appear to perceive the sarcasm. ‘yes, general,’ he replied, ‘it was pretty warm work while it lasted. the rebs got us in a tight place, and i fear that a considerable number of my poor lads have stayed behind on the field. but no matter, sir. the “trailing terrors,” with josiah b. spriggs ahead, will go on till the last man is annihilated.’
‘i wish you might be annihilated to start with,’ thought general shields within himself. aloud he said: ‘your reconnaissance was a complete failure, colonel.’
‘it was, sir,’ acknowledged the colonel. ‘i admit it. but it was not my fault. i made the most superhuman efforts to induce the men to advance in the face of the most withering musketry fire it has ever been my lot to stand up to. but they refused.’
‘i thought you said they would follow you anywhere,’ remarked general shields caustically.
‘oh! ah! yes, certainly; so i did,’ answered spriggs, a little flustered. ‘but the circumstances were exceptional. all that men could do they did. i myself’——
‘i see,’ interrupted the general. ‘how many men do you suppose you lost?’
‘company d was pretty well cut to pieces, and of the rest—but really at present i cannot give you accurate information. in leading a charge through the woods i was struck by a spent ball, which yet had sufficient force to stun me. my men passed over me as i lay, and when i came to myself i was alone. what came of that charge i cannot tell you; but, doubtless, the men, deprived of their leader, and convinced already of the desperate nature of the enterprise, would naturally fall back.’
‘no doubt,’ acquiesced general shields; ‘and, no doubt also, your failure to rejoin your regiment completed the disaster, while at the same time it gave rise to the report that you had been killed.—and may i be forgiven for devoutly wishing you had been,’ he added mentally.
‘my failure to rejoin my regiment was due to the fact that i could not find it, sir,’ answered the colonel with some heat, for thick-skinned as he was, he could not fail at last to detect the undertone of contempt in the general’s voice. ‘am i to understand, sir, that you imply that i have in any way failed in my duty?’
‘i imply nothing, colonel,’ replied general shields. ‘i may be permitted to say this, though, that i wish most earnestly that your “trailing terrors,” as i understand you call your men, would now and again trail in the direction of the enemy instead of so persistently keeping their backs turned to them.’
‘general,’ began spriggs, but general shields held up his hand.
‘and i am not to be taken as implying,’ he went on, ‘that your men are any less courageous than others under my command. bad soldiers, properly led, may win a battle. good soldiers, improperly led, will very usually lose one.’
at this stinging speech colonel spriggs’s red, bloated face became purple. here was an implication with a vengeance, and there was but one inference to be drawn from it. moreover, spriggs dared not attempt to reply, for he knew well enough that general shields detested him, and only waited for the opportunity of direct and irrefragable proof of his cowardice to make short work of him. therefore he swallowed his wrath and merely mumbled something about having done his best. but he registered a vow in his heart that four and twenty hours should not pass without a letter from him to his friends the politicians, in which general shield’s name should figure with a very black mark indeed against it.
‘i do not doubt that you do your best, sir,’ returned the general; ‘i do not doubt it at all.’
the irony of the tone was sharp almost to fierceness, and colonel spriggs judged it wiser to give the conversation a rapid turn. it was with something like humility that he remarked:
‘i have a report to make, general, concerning an incident that occurred as i was making my way back to the lines this morning.’
‘proceed, sir,’ said the general stiffly.
104‘i had fallen in with some of our fellows,’ began the colonel, ‘not my own men, and we were just casting about for some means to provide ourselves with some breakfast—which i may tell you we did not succeed in getting,’ he added, casting a longing look at the table.
‘help yourself, sir,’ said general shields with cold courtesy. spriggs did not require any urging, but rapidly made an attack upon the remains of the feast, talking as he ate.
‘we had approached one edge of a clearing on the other side of these woods,’ resumed spriggs, ‘when an exclamation from one of the men called my attention to a singular, i may say, a phenomenal sight. it was nothing less than a balloon, descending into the clearing.’
‘a balloon!’ echoed the three officers.
‘yes, gentlemen, a balloon. it instantly became clear to me that this was a device of the enemy for the purpose of reconnoitring the position of the national forces, and i thanked my stars that i was on the spot with a handful of brave men to stop their treasonable devices.’
the brigadier’s hand again went up to his mouth, and general shields inquired in a dry voice: ‘am i to understand, colonel, that what you saw was a species of air galley, filled with desperate rebels?’
‘ah! no,’ replied the colonel, considerably taken aback; ‘i told you it was a balloon. its occupants were two in number.’
‘two!’ interjected general shields. ‘you and your brave handful would make short work of them, eh?’
‘we did, sir,’ answered spriggs with a ferocious grin. ‘no sooner had they landed than i rushed up to them, and after a determined struggle, during which i was once thrown to the ground, succeeded in overpowering them.’
at this extraordinary farrago of truth and lies, the two boys interchanged nudges.
‘the ruffians were armed to the teeth,’ went on spriggs, ‘and in the balloon car we found a perfect armament. they had evidently meant mischief. i had them searched, and on the person of one of them were found plans of our positions, and papers loaded with accurate statistics of the number and disposition of our forces.’
ephraim’s mouth pursed up as though he were about to whistle, so great was his amazement; and as the colonel paused to take a drink of coffee, general shields said interrogatively: ‘you doubtless have those papers with you now?’
‘ah! no,’ answered spriggs in some confusion. ‘i destroyed them at once, lest by any inadvertence they should fall into the hands of the enemy.’
‘you did wrong, sir,’ said general shields with asperity. ‘those papers should have been brought to camp and handed to the provost-marshal. well, go on with your story.’
‘it is finished in a word,’ resumed spriggs. ‘i regret to say that owing to the extreme carelessness of the men, the two prisoners took to their heels and escaped into the woods, while i was absorbed in the contents of the papers.’
general shields gave vent to an exclamation of impatience. this man tried him almost beyond his powers of endurance.
‘of course i sent the men in pursuit of the spies,’ said the colonel, concluding his surprising statement. ‘they did not belong to my regiment, and they did not reappear; so i finally made my way to the camp to report the circumstances to you.’
general shields thought for a moment. then he said brusquely: ‘thank you. i do not think there is any more to be said. if you have finished your breakfast, you will oblige me by joining the remains of your command, which you will find some two miles to the rear of lewiston.’
spriggs rose and saluted. ‘general,’ he said, ‘i do not like to admit myself beaten. the woods are full of our men, and it is well-nigh impossible that those two spies should have passed our pickets. with your permission i will take half a company and thoroughly beat the woods. as likely as not i shall run them down.’
‘certainly, colonel, you have my full permission,’ answered general shields with great alacrity. ‘you have probably heard,’ he added, with curling lip, ‘that an advance on port republic is just now in progress. but i will not allow a little thing like that to interfere with your laudable desire to volunteer for a dangerous service.’
colonel spriggs bit his lip, and down went another black mark against general shields. but his desire for revenge, and a chance to exhibit his petty tyranny, assisted him to accept the snub in silence, and he simply replied: ‘i am obliged to you, sir. i will start as soon as possible.’
‘by the way, what did you do with the balloon?’ inquired shields.
‘left it where it was,’ answered the colonel. ‘i could not very well do otherwise.’
‘hm!’ said shields. ‘well, i’ll see about it later. good-morning, sir.’
spriggs saluted again, but at the door he turned. ‘i suppose, general,’ he inquired, ‘that if i come up with those two spies, you give me full discretionary powers?’
general shields, who was already deep in thought, heard the question without grasping its significance, and muttered absently, ‘yes, oh yes, of course,’ whereupon spriggs immediately left the hut.
three or four minutes later, the general, coming out of his reverie, and having still the sound of the question in his ears, exclaimed suddenly: ‘discretionary powers! what do you mean by that?’
‘it is very evident,’ answered the brigadier. ‘and you have given him full permission to hang the two fellows out of hand.’
‘confound the man!’ muttered the general, walking quickly to the door. but spriggs was already out of sight. ‘well,’ he said, returning, ‘it does not matter much, for after all they are spies, and it is a hundred to one that he never finds them.’
to the two listeners in the loft it mattered a good deal, but unfortunately their position made protest out of the question.
‘the sight of that red-faced bully always sets my right foot tingling, so great is my desire to kick him,’ went on the general, irritably.
‘his incompetence is on a par with his cowardice. imagine now his allowing those two men to escape.’
‘his anxiety to retake them was very genuine,’ said 108the brigadier. ‘it seems to me,’ he commented shrewdly, ‘that there is a personal motive underlying his zeal, though what, or why, it is difficult to say.—what are you staring at, general?’ he broke off. ‘why, good gracious!’
alas and alas! from the loft was proceeding a most singular shower. plop! plop! plop! plop! one after another in regular succession, a cascade of biscuits descended from the planking to the floor, each as it fell shivering into fragments after the fashion of the renowned humpty dumpty. no wonder that the general stared.
‘ha! ha! ha! ho! ho! ho!’ roared the jovial brigadier. ‘i never thought of that. that is where your breakfast vanished to, general. and where the crackers are, there also is the ham, i’ll bet a trifle.’
‘come out of that, whoever you are!’ ordered the general sternly. ‘come out of that at once.’
this denouement was due to the unfortunate lucius, who, in wriggling into a more comfortable position, had burst open the front of his tunic, in which a quantity of biscuits had been bestowed. as the first of these touched the floor, ephraim grasped his comrade by the back of the neck and pinned him down as in a vice. then as the general’s loud command rang out, he put his mouth close to luce’s ear, and just breathed into it: ‘lie low, luce, lie low. i see a way out er this muss. don’t move now for the life of ye, whatever ye see me do.’
‘come out of that, i say,’ repeated the general. ‘do you want me to come and fetch you?’
this being the very last thing that ephraim desired, he slowly uncoiled his long length, and swinging upon the rafter, dropped to the floor, where he stood the very picture of sheepishness, his mouth wide open, and a most comical expression—half-humorous, half-terrified appeal in his big gray eyes. but he took care to leave the piece of ham behind him.
the fat brigadier retreated to the wall of the hut, and laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks.
‘well, if this doesn’t beat everything i ever saw or heard of!’ he gasped. ‘what will you do with him, general? shall i take him to the provost-marshal for a round dozen, or will you have him shot right away? for my part, i think he deserves the rest of the breakfast for his impudence.’
‘silence!’ said the general severely, though his eyes twinkled.—’ what were you doing there?’ he demanded of ephraim.
the grizzly drew himself up and saluted. ‘i beg yewr parding, ginrul,’ he answered in a weak, whining tone; ‘i war jest parsing the windy, and when i looked in and see that right down, first-clarse spread, i tell yew i jest felt i had ter hev some.’
lucius quivered with amazement. the grizzly was coming out in a new line. the soft southern voice with its clipped syllables was gone, and in its place was the slow drawl and marked nasal twang of the new englander. the very expression of the face was changed, though this lucius could not see. the natural shrewdness was gone out of it, and only good-humoured, dull vacancy reigned in its stead.
‘upon my word, you are a nice young man,’ said the general, smiling in spite of himself at ephraim’s ridiculous appearance. ‘what do you mean, sir, by making free with my breakfast? don’t you know i could have you court-martialed and shot for this?’
‘oh lordy, lordy! don’t you do that, ginrul,’ whined ephraim, seemingly in a paroxysm of terror. ‘i’ll never dew it again. yew don’t know how hungry i war. lemme off, ginrul! lemme off!’ he clasped his hands supplicatingly.
the brigadier exploded again, and shields, with a good-natured laugh, said: ‘well, we’ll consider what is to be done with you. who are you, and to what regiment do you belong?’
‘number twenty, company d, the “trailing terrors,”’ drawled ephraim.
‘what! you are one of spriggs’s “trailing terrors,” are you? by jove! you look it. why did you not come out just now when your commanding officer was here?’
‘bekase he war telling lies!’ boldly answered ephraim to the supreme astonishment of lucius; ‘and i never could abide lies.’
‘lies!’ echoed general shields. ‘what do you mean, sir? are you aware that you are speaking of your superior officer?’
‘i know that, ginrul,’ replied ephraim, adding with a subdued grin: ‘i ain’t saying nuthing worse about him than i’ve heard this morning. all the same, he war telling lies about that balloon. i war thar, so i guess i should know.’
‘you were there!’ repeated general shields. ‘i understood the colonel to say that none of his men were on hand.’