The Young Lieutenant Part 13

"Very well, young man."

"A plan occurs to me now, by which I could easily enter the Yankee lines."

"Indeed! What is that?"

"When I ran through the enemy's pickets, they fired upon me, and one of them chased me. I brought him down with my pistol," replied Somers, producing the weapon, which he had taken the precaution to bring with him. "I know just where that Yankee lies now; I could borrow his uniform, and go in among the enemy without suspicion."

"Very well arranged, young man."

The major then directed an orderly to attend to the wants of the fugitive, and gave the latter orders to report to him within two hours.

Somers washed his face, and partook of some cold bacon and corn bread, which const.i.tuted the staple of the rebel rations. He then told the orderly that he wanted to look round a little, and find his regiment, if he could; but was informed that the camp regulations did not permit any strolling about the camps. He suggested that the officer of the day would give him a pa.s.s, and he returned to the major to beg this favor. It was readily granted; and the time for him to report was extended to four hours, as his regiment was situated at some distance from the brigade camp, though it belonged to the same division.

Thus provided, Somers commenced his tour of observation. Of course, he had no intention of visiting the Fourth Alabama; for that would have been putting his head into the lion's mouth. We need only say, that he used his time to the best advantage for the country in whose service he had enlisted. He noted the brigades, regiments, and batteries of artillery, which he saw in his walk; and arranged a little scheme in his mind, by which he could remember the number of each.

In the course of his perambulations, he reached the Williamsburg road, and was on the point of extending his observations in the direction of the railroad, when he was stopped by a sentinel. He produced his pa.s.s, which the rebel soldier could not read; and he was conducted to the sergeant of the guard, who was listening to a conversation between a captain and an old man who appeared to be a farmer. They were bargaining about some forage which the captain wanted, and which the farmer was not disposed to sell.

"What have you there?" demanded the officer, as the sentinel brought in the doubtful case.

"Man with a pa.s.s."

"Your pa.s.s is good up to the Williamsburg road, and no farther," said the sergeant when he had read the doc.u.ment.

"I didn't know where the lines were," replied Somers, returning the pa.s.s to his pocket.

"Where are you going?" asked the officer, apparently not satisfied with the appearance of the "man with a pa.s.s."

"Looking for my regiment, sir," replied Somers, giving the military salute; which excess of politeness, however, was lost on the matter-of-fact captain.

"What regiment?"

"The Fourth Alabama."

"The Fourth Alabama! What are you doing over here, then?"

"I am a stranger in these parts; and I don't know where to look. I have just escaped from the Yankees, and don't know much about this part of the country."

"What is your name?"

"Allan Garland, sir."

"What!" exclaimed the old farmer, suddenly becoming interested in the conversation.

"In my opinion, you are a deserter," added the officer in a crabbed tone.

"I advise you to arrest him, sergeant. That pa.s.s is good for nothing on this road."

"No, captain, he is not a deserter," interposed the farmer with energy.

"I know him well; and he is as true and patriotic a young man as there is in the Southern Confederacy."

Somers looked at the farmer with astonishment. He did not remember to have seen him before; and he could not account for the interest he manifested in his case.

"What do you know of him, Mr. Raynes?"

Mr. Raynes! That explained the matter; and Somers could not help shuddering in the presence of the man whose son he had buried in the soft mud of the bog.

"He is my son's friend," replied the farmer. "Both of them belong to the Fourth Alabama."

"That may be, Mr. Raynes; but do you suppose a man looking for the Fourth Alabama would be wandering about here?"

"He is a stranger in Virginia. He came on from Alabama only a few weeks since, and was captured while out on a scouting expedition. I a.s.sure you, captain, it is all right; I will vouch for him."

"Very well, Mr. Raynes! If the sergeant is willing to take your word for it, I have nothing further to say. Indeed, it is no business of mine; but our soldiers are allowed to walk over to the enemy, or back into the woods, without let or hindrance. It's a disgrace to the service. Major Platner gives this man a pa.s.s to go all over the country. Do as you please, sergeant."

"I mean to," replied the sergeant in an undertone; for he was not pleased at this interference on the part of a commissary of subsistence, who had nothing whatever to do with the affair. "I am satisfied," he added aloud.

"Allan, I am very glad to see you; and I thank G.o.d that you have been enabled to escape from the Yankees. Have you seen Owen since you got back?"

Somers trembled at the question; and, while he did not dare to tell the old man the truth, the thought of telling him a falsehood was utterly repulsive to his nature. It was easy enough to deceive the enemy in war--his duty called upon him to do this; but to deceive an old, fond father, in regard to a true and devoted son, seemed terrible to him.

"He was out on picket when I came through," he replied after some hesitation.

"Then you did not meet him. He will be delighted to see you again; for really the boy is as fond of you as he is of his sister."

Somers found himself unable to answer to the warm congratulations of the old man, or to enter into the spirit of the conversation. The staring, death-sealed eyes of Owen Raynes haunted him; and, when he attempted to reciprocate the friendly sentiments of the doting father, his heart seemed to rise up in his throat, and choke his utterance. The only consolation he could derive from the remembrance of the scene in the woods was in the fact that he had not taken the life of Owen Raynes himself. He wore his clothes, and had his diary and letters in his pocket.

"You are very sad, Allan! I should think you would be happy to escape from the Yankees. They would have starved you to death in time."

"I think not, sir! They are not so cruel as that," added Somers, who desired to remove such a reproach from the mind of the old man.

"Perhaps they would not willingly starve their prisoners; but I don't see how they could avoid it. They say that the people of the North are suffering terribly for the want of food. In New York, the laboring cla.s.ses have attacked the banks and the flour-stores, urged on by hunger.

There will be terrible times in the North before many months have gone by. I pity the people there, though it is their own fault. I hope G.o.d will be merciful to them, and spare them from some of the consequences of their own folly. I am thankful that you have escaped from them."

"I don't think they are quite so badly off as you say," answered Somers, provoked by this view of the condition and resources of the North. "I have talked with a great many Yankee soldiers, and they say that plenty abounds in all the Northern States."

"They would tell you so. They are deceived by their officers."

"That's the way it is done," added the rebel sergeant, who had been listening to the conversation.

"But I saw what rations these soldiers have. They live like lords."

"That's the very thing which will starve all the people in the North.

Their big armies will eat them out of house and home in a few months, Allan."

"I think not, Mr. Raynes."

"A gentleman from New York, who got through the lines last week, says the gra.s.s is a foot high in some of the streets of New York. The people can't find anything to do, and are cursing their rulers for plunging them into this horrid war."

"I think the gentleman from New York lied," replied Somers with a smile.

"I saw the New York papers every day while I was in the Yankee lines; and they are full of advertis.e.m.e.nts, which look like business. Why, in one paper I saw four columns of 'Wants,' in which people advertised for farm-laborers, house-servants, clerks and sailors."