Erskine Dale-Pioneer Part 18

The negro's eyes s.h.i.+fted.

"She's well. Ya.s.suh, she's well as common."

"Wasn't one of those soldiers who just rode away Mr. Dane Grey?"

The negro hesitated.

"Ya.s.suh."

"What's he doing in a British uniform?"

The boy s.h.i.+fted his great shoulders uneasily and looked aside.

"I don't know, suh-I don't know nuttin'."

Erskine knew he was lying, but respected his loyalty.

"Go tell Miss Barbara I'm here and then feed my horse."

"Ya.s.suh."

Ephraim went swiftly and Erskine followed along the hedge and through the rose-bushes to the kitchen door, where Barbara's faithful old Mammy was waiting for him with a smile of welcome but with deep trouble in her eyes.

"I done tol' Miss Barbary, suh. She's waitin' fer yuh in de hall."

Barbara, standing in the hall doorway, heard his step.

"Erskine!" she cried softly, and she came to meet him, with both hands outstretched, and raised her lovely face to be kissed. "What are you doing here?"

"I am on my way to join General Lafayette."

"But you will be captured. It is dangerous. The country is full of British soldiers."

"So I know," Erskine said dryly.

"When did you get here?"

"Twenty minutes ago. I would not have been welcome just then. I waited in the hedge. I saw you had company."

"Did you see them?" she faltered.

"I even recognized one of them." Barbara sank into a chair, her elbow on one arm, her chin in her hand, her face turned, her eyes looking outdoors. She said nothing, but the toe of her slipper began to tap the floor gently. There was no further use for indirection or concealment.

"Barbara," Erskine said with some sternness, and his tone quickened the tapping of the slipper and made her little mouth tighten, "what does all this mean?"

"Did you see," she answered, without looking at him, "that the crops were all destroyed and the cattle and horses were all gone?"

"Why did they spare the house?" The girl's bosom rose with one quick, defiant intake of breath, and for a moment she held it.

"Dane Grey saved our home."

"How?"

"He had known Colonel Tarleton in London and had done something for him over there."

"How did he get in communication with Colonel Tarleton when he was an officer in the American army?" The girl would not answer.

"Was he taken prisoner?" Still she was silent, for the sarcasm in Erskine's voice was angering her.

"He fought once under Benedict Arnold-perhaps he is fighting with him now."

"No!" she cried hotly.

"Then he must be a--"

She did not allow him to utter the word.

"Why Mr. Grey is in British uniform is his secret-not mine."

"And why he is here is-yours."

"Exactly!" she flamed. "You are a soldier. Learn what you want to know from him. You are my cousin, but you are going beyond the rights of blood. I won't stand it-I won't stand it-from anybody."

"I don't understand you, Barbara-I don't know you. That last time it was Grey, you-and now-" He paused and, in spite of herself, her eyes flashed toward the door. Erskine saw it, drew himself erect, bowed and strode straight out. Nor did the irony of the situation so much as cross his mind-that he should be turned from his own home by the woman he loved and to whom he had given that home. Nor did he look back-else he might have seen her sink, sobbing, to the floor.

When he turned the corner of the house old Mammy and Ephraim were waiting for him at the kitchen door.

"Get Firefly, Ephraim!" he said sharply.

"Ya.s.suh!"

At the first sight of his face Mammy had caught her hands together at her breast.

"You ain't gwine, Ma.r.s.e Erskine," she said tremulously. "You ain't gwine away?"

"Yes, Mammy-I must."

"You an' Miss Barbary been quoilin', Ma.r.s.e Erskine-you been quoilin'"-and without waiting for an answer she went on pa.s.sionately: "Ole Ma.r.s.e an' young Ma.r.s.e an' Ma.r.s.e Hugh done gone, de n.i.g.g.ahs all gone, an' n.o.body lef' but me an' Ephraim-n.o.body lef' but me an'

Ephraim-to give dat little chile one crumb o' comfort. n.o.body come to de house but de redcoats an' dat mean Dane Grey, an' ev'y time he come he leave Miss Barbary cryin' her little heart out. 'Tain't Miss Barbary in dar-hit's some other pusson. She ain't de same pusson-no, suh. An' lemme tell yu-lemme tell yu-ef some o' de men folks doan come back heah somehow an' look out fer dat little gal-she's a-gwine to run away wid dat mean low-down man whut just rid away from heah in a white uniform."

She had startled Erskine now and she knew it.

"Dat man has got little Missus plum' witched, I tell ye-plum' witched.

Hit's jes like a snake wid a catbird."

"Men have to fight, Mammy--"

"I doan keer nothin' 'bout de war."