The Trowbridge Novels 
 
 By J. T. TROWBRIDQE 
 
 Eight Volumes. Cloth. New uniform binding. Price $1.50 each. 
 
 Neighbor Jackwood. New Revised Edition, with Autobio- 
 graphical Chapter. 
 
 " It sparkles with wit, it is liquid with humor, it has the unmistakable 
 tou-h of nature, and it has a procession of characters like a novel ot fecott ; 
 indeed, in many ways it recalls that great master." John Jiurrougns. 
 
 Neighbor's Wives. 
 
 "A new edition of one of the most successful of this favorite author s 
 books. It will be read with fresh interest by many who have welcomed it 
 in earlier editions, and to those who now give it their first reading it will 
 yield delightful entertainment, and unfold lessons that will live long m the 
 memory." Gospel Banner. 
 
 Coupon Bonds. 
 
 " 'Coupon Bonds' is undoubtedly one of the best stories ever published 
 in this country. It is a most happy and felicitous stroke. It is brim- 
 ful of the very best quality of humor, the humor that grows naturally 
 out of the character and the situation, and it moves along briskly, witnout 
 any urging or pushing by the author. It is full of incident, full of charac- 
 ter, full of novel and ludicrous surprises and situations." bcritmer s 
 Monthly. 
 
 Cudjo's Cave. 
 
 " This is one of Mr. Trowbridge's best stories. His readers are accus- 
 tomed to plenty of lively incidents and exciting adventures, and in this 
 volume the supply is surely abundant. The story opens with the struggle 
 of a Quaker schoolmaster in Tennessee previous to the opening of the late 
 war, and the exciting scenes attendant upon the opening of the great 
 struggle between the North and South are portrayed in a graphic manner. 
 1 Cudjo's Cave ' is a book to make a favorable impression." Capital. 
 
 Three Scouts. 
 
 This story is a companion to " Cudjo's Cave " and " The Drummer Boy," 
 in being a narrative of stormy events in the Civil War, when the army of 
 the Cumberland, under Rosecrans, and the Confederate forces, under 
 Bragg, were battling with each other in 1862. Yet it is complete in itself as 
 a story. 
 
 The Drummer Boy. Illustrated. 
 
 The author of this book is so famous as a story -writer that another ex- 
 cellent one is only what all his readers expect. It is a story of the late war, 
 and of a boy who went into the army as a drummer, and who, from the good 
 instructions of a fond and noble mother, sought to impart to his rude and 
 reckless companions some of the good of his own' character. 
 
 Farnell's Folly. 
 
 All the sterling qualities which have placed Mr. Trowbridge among 
 the foremost of American novelists are to be found in this new romance. 
 It is not a short story or series of sketches that may be " devoured " in an 
 hour, but, as the number of its pages testify, a full-blooded romance, alive 
 with incident, and overflowing with interest. 
 
 Martin Merrivale: His X MARK. 
 
 This story of New England life abounds in passages of rare humor and 
 pathos. Not even in "Coupon Bonds" nor in "Neighbor Jackwood" has 
 Trowbr'dge created characters better fitted to give him enduring fame. 
 Nc one can read the story without seeing that the author has put his whole 
 soul in it. 
 
 For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price. 
 Our Complete Catalogue sent free. 
 
 LEE & SHEPARD, Publishers, Boston
 
 CUDJO'S CAVE 
 
 J. T. TROWBRIDGE 
 
 BOSTON 1904 
 LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year i83, 07 
 
 J. T. TROWBRIDGE, 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Mn 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1891, BY J. T. TROWBRIDGE.
 
 81 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PA3S 
 
 I. THE SCHOOLMASTER IN TROUBLE, 5 
 
 II. PENN AND THE RUFFIANS, , tf 
 
 III. THE SECRET CELLAR, so 
 
 IV. THE SEARCH FOR THE MISSING, 39 
 
 V. CARL AND HIS FRIENDS, 47 
 
 VI. A STRANGE COAT FOR A QUAKER, 57 
 
 VII. THE Two GUESTS, 02 
 
 VIII. THE ROVER, 09 
 
 IX. TOBY'S PATIENT HAS A CALLER, 70 
 
 X. THE WIDOW'S GREEN CHEST, 86 
 
 XI. SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY, 91 
 
 XII. CHIVALROUS PROCEEDINGS, 102 
 
 XIII. THE OLD CLERGYMAN'S NIGHTGOWN HAS AN ADVEN- 
 
 TURE, Ill 
 
 XIV. A MAN'S STORY, 122 
 
 XV. AN ANTI-SLAVERY DOCUMENT ON BLACK PARCHMENT, . IK 
 
 XVI. IN THE CAVE AND ON THE MOUNTAIN, 139 
 
 XVII. PENN'S TOOT KNOCKS DOWN A MUSKET, 147 
 
 XVIII. CONDEMNED TO DEATH, 155 
 
 XIX. THE ESCAPE, l<52 
 
 XX. UNDER THE BRIDGE, 172 
 
 XXI. THE RETURN INTO DANGER l"fl 
 
 (3) 

 
 4 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 XXII. STACKBRIDGE'S COAT AND HAT GET ARRESTED, ... 183 
 
 XXIII. THE FLIGHT OF THE PRISONERS, 1% 
 
 XXIV. THE DEAD REBEL'S MUSKET 209 
 
 XXV. BLACK AND WHITE, 217 
 
 XXVI. WHY AUGUSTUS DID NOT PROPOSE, 230 
 
 XXVII. THE MEN WITH THE DARK LANTERN, . s 238 
 
 XXVIII. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, 244 
 
 XXIX. IN THE BURNING WOODS, 256 
 
 XXX. REFUGE, 276 
 
 XXXI. LYSANDER TAKES POSSESSION, 298 
 
 XXXII. TOBY'S REWARD, 310 
 
 XXXIII. CARL MAKES AN ENGAGEMENT, 319 
 
 XXXIV. CAPTAIN LYSANDER'S JOKE, 331 
 
 XXXV. THE MOONLIGHT EXPEDITION, 347 
 
 XXXVI. CARL FINDS A GEOLOGICAL SPECIMEN, 365 
 
 XXXVII. CARL KEEPS HIS ENGAGEMENT, 372 
 
 XXXVIII. LOVE IN THE WILDERNESS, 383 
 
 XXXIX. A COUNCIL OF WAR, 393 
 
 XL. THE WONDERS OF THE CAVE, 403 
 
 XLI. PROMETHEUS BOUND, 419 
 
 XLTI. PROMETHEUS UNBOUND, 431 
 
 XLIII. THE COMBAT, 441 
 
 XLIV. How AUGUSTUS FINALLY PROPOSED, 456 
 
 XLV. MASTER AND SLAVE CHANGE PLACES, 468 
 
 XLVI. THE TRAITOR, 479 
 
 XLVII. BREAD ON THE WATERS, 490 
 
 XLVTII. CONCLUSION, 496 
 
 L'ENVOY 501
 
 CUDJO'S CAVE. 
 
 THE SCHOOLMASTER IN TROUBLE. 
 
 ARL crept stealthily up the bank, and, 
 peering through the window, saw the mas- 
 ter writing at his desk. 
 In his neat Quaker garb, his slender form bent over 
 his task, his calm young face dimly seen in profile, 
 there he sat. The room was growing dark; the glow 
 of a March sunset was fading fast from the paper on 
 whicn the swift pen traced these words : 
 
 " Tennessee is getting too hot for me. My school is 
 nearly broken up, and my farther stay here is becoming 
 not only useless, but dangerous. There are many loyal 
 men in the neighborhood, but they are overawed by the 
 reckless violence of the secessionists. Mobs sanctioned 
 by self-styled vigilance committees override all law and 
 1 *
 
 6 THE SCHOOLMASTER IN TROUBLE. 
 
 order. As I write, I can hear the yells of a drunken 
 rabble before my school-house door. I am an especial 
 object of hatred to them on account of my northern 
 birth and principles. They have warned me to leave the 
 state, they have threatened me with southern vengeance, 
 but thus far I have escaped injury. How long this reign 
 of terror is to last, or what is to be the end " 
 
 A rap on the window drew the writer's attention, and, 
 looking up, he saw, against the twilight sky, the broad 
 German face of the boy Carl darkening the pane. He 
 stepped to raise the sash. 
 
 " What is it, Carl ? " 
 
 The lad glanced quickly around, first over one shoulder, 
 then the other, and said, in a hoarse whisper, 
 
 " Shpeak wery low ! " 
 
 " Was it you that rapped before ? " 
 
 " I have rapped tree times, not loud, pecause I vas 
 afraid the men would hear." 
 
 " What men are they : '' 
 
 " The Wigilance Committee's men ! They have some 
 tar in a kettle. They have made a fire unter it, and I 
 hear some of 'em say, ' Run, boys, and pring some 
 fedders.' " 
 
 " Tar and feathers ! " The young man grew pale. 
 They have threatened it, but they will not dare ! "' 
 
 " They vill dare do anything ; but you shall prewent 
 'em ! See vat I have prought you ! " Carl opened his 
 jacket, and showed the handle of a revolver. " Stack- 
 ridge sent it."
 
 THE SCHOOLMASTER IX TROUBLE. 7 
 
 " Hide it ! hide it ! " said the master, quickly. " He 
 offered it to me himself. I told him I could not take it." 
 
 " He said, may be when you smell tar and see fed- 
 ders, you vill change your mind," answered Carl. 
 
 The schoolmaster smiled. The pallor of fear which 
 had surprised him for an instant, had vanished. 
 
 " I believe in a different creed from Mr. Stackridge's, 
 honest man as he is. I shall not resist evil, but overcome 
 evil with good, if I can ; if I cannot, I shall suffer it." 
 
 " You show you vili shoot some of 'em, and they vill 
 let you go," said Carl, not understanding the nobler doc- 
 trine. " Shooting vill do some of them willains some 
 good ! " his placid blue eyes kindling, as if he would like 
 to do a little of the shooting. " You take it r " 
 
 " No," said the young man, firmly. " Such weapons 
 are not for me." 
 
 " Wery veil ! " Carl buttoned his jacket over the 
 revolver. ' Then you come mit me, if you please. Get 
 out of the vinder and run. That is pest, I suppose." 
 
 " No, no, my lad. I may as well meet these men first 
 as last." 
 
 " Then I vill go and pring help ! " suddenly exclaimed 
 the boy ; and away he scampered across the fields, leaving 
 the young man alone in the darkening school-room. 
 
 It was not a very pleasant situation to be in, you 
 may well believe. As he closed the sash, a faint odor 
 of tar was wafted in on the evening breeze. The voices 
 of the ruffians at the door grew louder and more menacing.
 
 8 THE SCHOOLMASTER IN TROUBLE. 
 
 He knew they were only waiting for the tar to heat, for 
 the shadows of night to thicken, and for him to make 
 his appearance. He returned to his desk, but it was 
 flow too dark to write. He could barely see to sign his 
 name and superscribe the envelope. This done, he but- 
 toned his straight-fitting brown coat, put on his modest 
 hat, and stood pondering in his mind what he should do. 
 
 A young man scarcely twenty years old, reared in the 
 quiet atmosphere of a community of Friends, and as un- 
 accustomed, hitherto, to scenes of strife and violence as 
 the most innocent child, such was Penn Hapgood, teacher 
 of the " Academy " (as the school was proudly named) 
 in Curry ville. This was the first great trial of his faith 
 and courage. He had not taken Carl's advice, and run, 
 because he did not believe that he could escape the dan- 
 ger in that way. And as for fighting, that was not in his 
 heart any more than it was in his creed. But to say he 
 did not dread to meet his foes at the door, that he felt no 
 fear, would be speaking falsely. He was afraid. His 
 entire nature, delicate body and still more delicate soul, 
 shrank from the ordeal. He went to the outer door, and 
 laid his hand on the bolt, but could not, for a long time, 
 summon resolution to open it. 
 
 As he hesitated, there came a loud thump on one of 
 the panels which nearly crushed it in, and filled the hol- 
 low building with ominous echoes. 
 
 " Make ready in thar, you hound of a abolitionist ! " 
 shouted a brutal voice ; " we're about ready fur ye ! "
 
 THE SCHOOLMASTER IN TROUBLE. 9 
 
 Penn's hand drew back. I dare say it trembled, 1 
 dare say his face turned white again, as he felt the danger 
 so near. How could he confront, with his sensitive spirit, 
 those merciless, coarse men? 
 
 " I'll wait a little," he thought within himself. " Per- 
 haps Carl will bring help." 
 
 There were good sturdy Unionists in the place, men 
 who, unlike the Pennsylvania schoolmaster, believed in 
 opposing evil with evil, force by force. Only last night, 
 one of them entered this very school-room, bolted the door 
 carefully, and sat down to unfold to the young master 
 a scheme for resisting the plans of the secessionists. It 
 was a league for circumventing treason ; for keeping 
 Tennessee in the Union ; for preserving their homes and 
 families from the horrors of the impending civil war. 
 The conspirators had arms concealed ; they met in secret 
 places ; they were watching for the hour to strike. 
 Would the schoolmaster join them ? Strange to say, they 
 believed in him as a man who had abilities as a leader, 
 " an undeveloped fighting man " he, Penn Hapgood, 
 the Quaker ! Penn smiled, as he declined the farmer's 
 offer of a commission in the secret militia, and refused to 
 accept the weapon of self-defence which the same earnest 
 Unionist had proffered him again, through Carl, the Ger- 
 man boy, this night. 
 
 Penn thought of these men now, and hoped that Carl 
 would haste and bring them to the rescue. Then imme- 
 diately he blushed at his own cowardly inconsistency;
 
 10 THE SCHOOLMASTER IN TROUBLE. 
 
 for something in his heart said that he ought not to 
 wish others to do for him what he had conscientious 
 scruples against doing for himself. 
 
 " I'll go out ! " he said, sternly, to his trembling 
 heart. 
 
 But he would first make a reconnoissance through the 
 keyhole. He looked, and saw one ruffian stirring the 
 fire under the tar kettle, another displaying a rope, and 
 two others alternately drinking from a bottle. He started 
 back, as the thundering on the panel was repeated, and 
 the same voice roared out, " You kin be takin' off 
 them clo'es of yourn ; the tar is about het ! " 
 
 " I'll wait a few minutes longer for Carl ! " said Penn 
 to himself, with a long breath. 
 
 Unfortunately, Carl was not just now in a situation 
 to render much assistance. 
 
 Although he had arrived unseen at the window, he did 
 not retire undiscovered. He had run but a short dis- 
 tance when a gruff voice ordered him to stop. He had 
 a way, however, of misunderstanding English when he 
 chose, and interpreted the command to mean, run faster. 
 Receiving it in that sense, he obeyed. Somebody behind 
 him began to run too. In short, it was a chase ; and 
 Carl, glancing backwards, saw long-legged Silas Ropes, 
 one of the ringleaders of the mob, taking appalling 
 strides after him, across the open field. 
 
 There were some woods about a quarter of a mile 
 away, and Carl made for them, trusting to their shelter
 
 THE SCHOOLMASTER IN TROUBLE. 11 
 
 And the shades of night to favor his escape. He was 
 fifteen years old, strong, and an excellent runner. He 
 did not again look behind to see if Silas was gaining on 
 him, but attended strictly to his own business, which 
 was, to get into the thickets as soon as possible. His 
 success seemed almost certain ; a few rods more, and the 
 undergrowth would be reached ; and he was congratulat- 
 ing himself on having thus led away from the school- 
 master one of his most desperate enemies, when he rushed 
 suddenly almost into the arms of two men, or rather, 
 into a feather-bed, which they were fetching by the corner 
 of the wood lot. 
 
 " Ketch that Dutchman ! " roared Silas. And they 
 " ketched " him. 
 
 " What's the Dutchman done r " said one of the men, 
 throwing himself lazily on the feather-bed, while his com- 
 panion held Carl for his pursuer. 
 
 " I don't know," said Carl, opening his eyes with 
 placid wonder. " I tought he vas van ting to run a 
 race mit me." 
 
 " A race, you fool ! " said Silas, seizing and shaking 
 him. " Didn't you hear me tell ye to stop r " 
 
 " Did you say shtop f " asked Carl, with a broad 
 smile. " It ish wery queer ! Ven it sounded so much 
 as if you said shtep ! so I shtepped just as fast as I 
 could." 
 
 " What was you thar at the winder fur ? " 
 
 " Vot vinder ? " said Carl
 
 12 THE SCHOOLMASTER I If TROUBLE. 
 
 " Of the Academy," said Silas. 
 
 " O ! to pe sure ! I vas there," said Carl. " Pe- 
 cause I left my books in there last week, and I vas 
 going to get 'em. But I saw somebody in the house, 
 and I vas afraid." 
 
 " Wasn't it the schoolmaster ? " 
 
 " I shouldn't be wery much surprised if it vas the 
 schoolmaster," said Carl, with blooming simplicity. 
 
 " You lying rascal ! what did you say to him through 
 the winder ? " 
 
 Carl looked all around with an expression of mild 
 wonder, as if expecting somebody else to answer. 
 
 "Why don't you speak?" And Silas gave his arm 
 a fierce wrench. 
 
 " Vat did you say ? " 
 
 " I said, you lying rascal ! " 
 
 " That is not my name," said Carl, " and I tought 
 you vas shpeaking to somebody else. I totight you vas 
 conwersing mit this man," pointing at the fellow on 
 the bed. 
 
 " Dan Pepperill ! " said Silas, turning angrily on the 
 recumbent figure, " what are you stretching your lazy 
 bones thar fur ? We're waiting fur them feathers, and 
 you'll git a coat yourself, if you don't show a little 
 more of the sperrit of a gentleman ! You don't act as 
 if your heart was in this yer act of dooty we're per- 
 formin', any more'n as if you was a northern mudsill 
 yourself! "
 
 THE SCHOOLMASTER IN TROUBLE. 13 
 
 " Wai, the truth is," said Dan Pepperill, reluctantly 
 getting up from the bed, and preparing to shoulder it, 
 " the schoolmaster has allus treated me well, and 
 though I hate his principles, " 
 
 " You don't hate his principles, neither ! You're 
 more'n half a abolitionist yourself! And I swear to 
 gosh," said Silas, " if you don't do your part 
 now " 
 
 " I will ! I'm a-going to ! " said Dan, with some- 
 thing like a groan. " Though, as I said, he has allus 
 used me well " 
 
 " Shet up ! " Silas administered a kick, which Dan 
 adroitly caught in the bed. Mr. Ropes got his foot 
 embarrassed in the feathers, lost his balance, and fell. 
 Dan, either by mistake or design, fell also, tumbling 
 the bed in a smothering mass over the screaming 
 mouth and coarse red nose of the prostrate Silas. 
 
 The third man. who was guarding Carl, began to 
 laugh. Carl laughed too, as if it was the greatest joke 
 in the world ; to enhance the fun of which, he gave 
 his man a sudden push forwards, -tripped him as he went, 
 and so flung him headlong upon the struggling heap. 
 This pleasant feat accomplished, he turned to run ; but 
 changed his mind almost instantly ; and, instead of 
 plunging into the undergrowth, threw himself upon the 
 accumulating pile. 
 
 There he scrambled, and kicked, with his heels in 
 the air, and rolled over the topmost man, who rolled 
 2
 
 14 THE SCHOOLMAS1ER IN TROUBLE. 
 
 over Mr. Pepperill, who rolled over the feather-bed, 
 which rolled again over Mr. Ropes, in a most lively 
 and edifying manner. 
 
 At this interesting juncture Carl's reason for changing 
 his mind and remaining, became manifest. Two more 
 of the chivalry from the tar kettle came rushing to the 
 spot, and would speedily have seized him had he at- 
 tempted to get off. So he staid, thinking he might 
 be helping the master in this way as well as any other. 
 
 And now the miscellaneous heap of legs and feathers 
 began to resolve itself into its original elements. First 
 Carl was .pulled off by one of the new comers ; then 
 Dan and the man Carl had sent to comfort him fell to 
 blows, clinched each other, and rolled upon the earth ; 
 and lastly, Mr. Silas Ropes arose, choked with passion 
 and feathers, from under the rent and bursting bed. 
 The two squabbling men were also quickly on their 
 fert, Mr. Pepperill proving too much for his antagonist. 
 
 *' What did you pitch into me fur ? " demanded Silas, 
 threatening his friend Dan. 
 
 " What did Gad pitch into me fur ? " said the irate 
 Dan, shaking his fist at Gad. 
 
 " What did you push and jump on to me fur ? " 
 said Gad, clutching Carl, who was still laughing. 
 
 Thus the wrath of the whole party was turned against 
 the boy. 
 
 " Pless me ! " said he, staring innocently, " I tou^ht 
 it vas ail for shport ! "
 
 THE SCHOOLMASTER IN TROUBLE. 15 
 
 The furious Mr. Ropes was about to convince him, 
 by some violent act, of his mistake, when cries from 
 the direction of the school-house called his attention. 
 
 " See what's there, boys ! " said Silas. 
 
 " Durn me," said Mr. Pepperill, looking across the 
 field as he brushed the feathers from his clothes, " if 
 it ain't the master himself!" 
 
 In fact, Penn had by this time summoned courage 
 to slip back the bolt, throw open the school-house door, 
 and come out. 
 
 The gentlemen who were heating the tar and drink- 
 ing from the bottle were taken by surprise. They had 
 not expected that the fellow would come out at all, 
 but wait to be dragged out. Their natural conclusion 
 was, that he was armed ; for he appeared with as calm 
 and determined a front as if he had been perfectly 
 safe from injury himself, while it was in his power to 
 do them some fatal mischief. They could not understand 
 how the mere consciousness of his own uprightness, 
 and a sense of reliance on the arm of eternal justice, 
 could inspire a man with courage to face so many. 
 
 " My friends," said Penn, as they beset him with 
 threats and blasphemy, " I have never injured one of 
 you, and you will not harm me." 
 
 And as if some deity held an invisible shield above 
 him, he passed by ; and they, in their astonishment, 
 durst not even lay their hands upon him. 
 
 " I've hearn tell he was a Quaker, and wouldn't
 
 16 THE SCHOOLMASTER IN TROUBLE. 
 
 fight," muttered one ; " but I see a revolver under hi* 
 coat ! " 
 
 " Where's Sile ? Where's Sile Ropes ? " cried others, 
 who, though themselves unwilling to assume the re- 
 sponsibility of seizing the young master, would have 
 been glad to see Silas attempt it. 
 
 Great was the joy of Carl when he saw Mr. Hapgood 
 walking through the guard of ruffians untouched. But, 
 a moment after, he uttered an involuntary groan of 
 despair. It was Penn's custom to cross the fields in 
 going from the Academy to the house where he bcarde^d, 
 and his path wound by the edge of the woods, where 
 Silas and his accomplices were at this moment gather- 
 ing up the spilt feathers. 
 
 " All right ! " said Mr. Ropes, crouching down in 
 order to remain concealed from Penn's view. " This 
 is as comf' table a place to do our dooty by him as 
 any to be found. Keep dark, boys, and let him come ! "
 
 PENN AND THE RUFFIANS. 17 
 
 II. 
 
 PENN AND THE EUFFIANS. 
 
 ENN traversed the field, followed by the 
 gang from the school-house. As he ap- 
 proached the woods, Silas and his friends 
 rose up before him. He was thus surrounded. 
 
 " Thought you'd come and meet us half way, did 
 ye ? " said Mr. Ropes, striding across his path. " Very 
 accommodating in you, to be shore ! " And he laughed 
 a brutal laugh, which was echoed by all his friends 
 except Dan. 
 
 " I have not come to meet you," replied Penn, 
 "but I am going about my own private business, and 
 wish to pass on." 
 
 " Wai, you can't pass on till we've settled a small 
 account with you that's been standing a little too 
 long a'ready. Bring that tar, some on ye ! Come, 
 Pepperill ! show your sperrit ! " 
 
 This Pepperill was a ragged, lank, starved-looking 
 man, whose appearance was on this occasion rendered 
 2*
 
 le PENN AND THE RUFFIANS. 
 
 ludicrous by the feathers sticking all over him, and by 
 an expression of dejection which would draw down the 
 comers of his miserable mouth and roll up his piteous 
 eyes, notwithstanding his efforts to appear, what Silas 
 termed, " sperrited." 
 
 " You, too, among my enemies, Daniel ! " said Penn, 
 reproachfully. 
 
 It was a look of grief, not of anger, which he turned 
 on the wretched man. Poor Pepperill could not stand it. 
 
 " I own, I own," he stammered forth, a picture of 
 mingled fear and contrition, " you've allus used me 
 well, Mr. Hapgood, but," he hastened to add, with a 
 scared glance at Silas, " I hate your principles ! " 
 
 " Look here, Dan Pepperill ! " remarked Mr. Ropes, 
 with grim significance, " you better shet your yaup, 
 and be a bringin' that ar kittle ! " 
 
 Dan groaned, and departed. Penn smiled bitterly. 
 " I have always used him well ; and this is the return 
 I get ! " He thought of another evening, but little more 
 than a week since, when, passing by this very path, he 
 heard a deeper groan than that which the wretch had 
 just uttered. He turned aside into the edge of the 
 woods, and there beheld an object to excite at once his 
 laughter and compassion. What he saw was this. 
 
 Dan Pepperill, astride a rail ; his hands tied together 
 above it, and his feet similarly bound beneath. The 
 rail had been taken from a fence a mile away, and he 
 had been carried all that distance on the shoulders of
 
 PENN AND THE RUFFIANS. 19 
 
 some of these very men. They had taken turns with 
 him, and when, tired at last, had placed the rail in the 
 crotches of two convenient saplings, and there left him. 
 The crotch in front was considerably higher than that 
 behind, which circumstance gave him the appearance 
 of clinging to the back of an animal in the act of rear- 
 ing frightfully, and exposed a delicate part of his ap- 
 parel that had been sadly rent by contact with splinters. 
 And there the wretch was clinging and groaning when 
 Penn came up. 
 
 " For the love of the Lord ! " said Dan, " take me 
 down ! " 
 
 " Why, what is the matter ? How came you here ? " 
 
 " I'm a dead man ; that's the matter ! I've been 
 wipped to death, and then rode on a rail ; that's the 
 way I come here ! " 
 
 " Whipped ! what for ? " said Penn, losing no time 
 in cutting the sufferer's bonds. 
 
 " Ye see," said Dan, when taken down and laid 
 upon the ground, " the patrolmen found Combs' s boy 
 Pete out t'other night without a pass, and took him 
 and tied him to a tree, and licked him." 
 
 The " boy Pete " was a negro man upwards of fifty 
 years old, owned by the said Combs. 
 
 " Wai, ye see, jest cause I found him, and took him 
 home with me, and washed his back fur him, and bound 
 cotton on to it, and kep' him over night, and gin him 
 a good breakfast, and a drink o' suthin' strong in the
 
 20 PENN AND THE EUFFIANS. 
 
 morning, and then went home with him, and talked 
 with his master so'st he wouldn't git another licking, 
 just for that, Sile Ropes and his gang took me and 
 served me wus'n ever they served him ! " And the 
 broken-spirited man cried like a child at the recollec- 
 tion of his injuries. 
 
 He was one of the "white trash" of the south, 
 whom even the negroes belonging to good families look 
 down upon ; a weak, degraded, kind-hearted man, whose 
 offence was not simply that he had shown mercy to 
 the " boy Pete," after his flogging, but that he asso- 
 ciated on familiar terms with such negroes as were not 
 too proud to cultivate his acquaintance, and secretly sold 
 them whiskey. After repeated warnings, he had been 
 flogged, and treated to a ride on a three-cornered rail, and 
 iung up to reflect upon his ungentlemanly conduct and 
 vts sad consequences. 
 
 At sight of him, Penn, who knew nothing of his 
 selling whiskey to the blacks, or of any other offence 
 against the laws or prejudices of the community, than 
 that of befriending a beaten and bleeding slave, felt 
 his indignation roused and his sympathies excited. 
 
 "It's a dreadful state of society in which such out- 
 rages are tolerated ! " he exclaimed. 
 
 " / say, dreadful ! " sobbed Mr. Pepperill. 
 
 " The good Samaritan himself would be in danger 
 of a beating here ! " said Penn. 
 
 " I don't know what good smart 'un you mean," re-
 
 PENN AND THE RUFFIANS. 21 
 
 plied the weeping Dan, whose knowledge of Scripture 
 was extremely limited, " but I bet he'd git some, ef he 
 didn't keep his eyes peeled ! " And he wiped his nose 
 with his sleeve. 
 
 Penn smiled at the man's ignorance, and said, as he 
 lifted him up, 
 
 " Friend Daniel, do you know that it is partly your 
 own fault that this deplorable state of things exists ? " 
 
 " How's it my fault, I'd like to know ? " whimpered 
 Daniel. 
 
 "Come, I'll help thee home, and tell thee what I 
 mean, by the way," said Penn, using the idiom of his 
 sect, into which familiar manner of speech he naturally 
 fell when talking confidentially with any one. 
 
 " I am stiff as any old spavined hoss ! " whined the 
 poor fellow, straightening his legs, and attempting to 
 walk. 
 
 Penn helped him home as he promised, and com- 
 forted him, and said to him many things, which he 
 little supposed were destined to be brought against 
 him so soon, and by this very Daniel Pepperill. 
 
 This was the way of it. When it was known that 
 Penn had befriended the friend of the blacks, Silas 
 Ropes paid Dan a second visit, and by threats of ven- 
 geance, on the one hand, and promises of forgiveness 
 and treatment " like a gentleman," on the other, ex- 
 torted from him a confession of all Penn had said and 
 done.
 
 22 PENN AND THE RUFFIANS. 
 
 " Now, Dan," said Mr. Ropes, patronizingly, " Til 
 tell ye what you do. You jine with us, and show 
 yourself a man of sperrit, a payin' off this yer aboli- 
 tionist for his outrageous interference in our affairs." 
 
 " Sile," interrupted Dan, earnestly, " what 'ge mean 
 I'm to do ? Turn agin' him ? " 
 
 " Exactly," replied Mr. Ropes. 
 
 " Sile," said Dan, excitedly, " I be durned if I do ! " 
 
 " Then, I swear to gosh ! " said Sile, spitting a great 
 stream of tobacco juice across Mrs. PepperilTs not 
 very clean floor, " you'll have a dose yourself before 
 another sun, which like as not '11 be your last ! " 
 
 This terrible menace produced its desired effect ; 
 and the unwilling Dan was here, this night, one of 
 Penn's persecutors, in consequence. 
 
 It was not enough that he had shown his " sperrit " 
 by fetching the victim's own bed from his boarding- 
 house, telling his landlady, the worthy Mrs. Sprowl, 
 that Sile said she must " charge it to her abolition 
 boarder." He must now show still more "sperrit" 
 by bringing the tar. A well-worn broom had been 
 borrowed of Mrs. Pepperill, by those who knew best 
 how the tar in such cases should be applied : the han- 
 dle of this was thrust by one of the men, named 
 Griffin, through the bail of the kettle, and Dan was 
 ordered to " ketch holt o' t'other eend," and help 
 carry. 
 
 Dan " ketched holt " accordingly. But never was
 
 PENN AND THE RUFFIANS. 23 
 
 kettle so heavy as that; its miserable weight made 
 him groan at every step. Suddenly the broom-handle 
 slipped from his hand, and down it went. No doubt 
 his laudable object was to spill the tar, in order to 
 gain time for his benefactor, and perhaps postpone the 
 tarring and feathering altogether. But Griffin grasped 
 the kettle in time to prevent its upsetting, and the 
 next instant nourished the club over Dan's head. 
 
 " I didn't mean tu ! it slipped ! " shrieked the ter- 
 rified wretch. After which he durst no more attempt 
 to thwart the chivalrous designs of his friends, but car- 
 ried the tar like a gentleman. 
 
 " This way ! " said Silas, getting the escaped feathers 
 into a pile with his foot. " Thar ! set it down. Now, 
 sir," throwing away his own coat, " peel off them 
 clo'es o' yourn, Mr. Schoolmaster, mighty quick, if 
 you don't want 'em peeled off fur ye ! " 
 
 Penn gave no sign of compliance, but fixed his eye 
 steadfastly upon Mr. Ropes. 
 
 "I insist," said he, for he had already made the 
 request while the men were bringing the tar, " on 
 knowing what I have done to merit this treatment." 
 
 " Wai, that I don't mind tellin' ye," said Silas, " for 
 we've all night for this yer little job before us. Dan 
 Pepperill, stand up here ! " 
 
 Dan came forward, appearing extremely low-spirited 
 and weak in the knees. 
 
 " Is it you, Daniel, who are to bear witness against
 
 2 PENN AND THE RUFFIANS. 
 
 me ? " said Penn, in a voice of singular gentleness, 
 which chimed in like a sweet and solemn bell after 
 the harsh clangor of Silas's ruffian tones. 
 
 Dan rolled up his eyes, hugged his tattered elbows, 
 and gave a dismal groan. 
 
 " Come ! " said Silas, bestowing a slap on his back 
 which nearly knocked him down, " straighten them 
 knees o' yourn, and be a man. Yes, Mr. Schoolmas- 
 ter, Dan is a-going to bear witness agin' you. He 
 has turned from the error of his ways, and now his 
 noble southern heart is a-burnin' to take vengeance on 
 all the enemies of his beloved country. Ain't it, Dan ? 
 say yes," he hissed in his ear, giving him a second 
 slap, "or else you know ! " 
 
 " O Lord, yes ! " ejaculated Dan, with a start of 
 terror. "What Mr. Ropes says is perfectly per- 
 fectly jes' so ! " 
 
 " Your heart is a-burnin', ain't it ? " said Silas. 
 
 " Ye yes ! I be durned if it ain't ! " said Dan. 
 
 " This man," continued Ropes, who prided himself 
 on being a great orator, with power to " fire the 
 southern heart," and never neglected an occasion to 
 show himself off in that capacity, " this individgle 
 ye see afore ye, gentlemen," once more hitting Dan, 
 this time with the toe of his boot, gently, to indicate 
 the subject of his remarks, " was lately as low-minded 
 a peep as ever you see. He had no more conscience 
 than to 'sociate with niggers, and sell 'em liqiior, and
 
 PENN AND THE RUFFIANS. 25 
 
 even give 'em liquor when they couldn't pay fur 't ; 
 and you all know how he degraded himself by takin' 
 Combs's Pete into his house and doin' for him arter 
 he'd been very properly licked by the patrol. All which, 
 I am happy to say, the deluded man sincerely repents 
 of, and promises to behave more like a gentleman in 
 futur'. Don't you, Dan ? " 
 
 As Dan, attempting to speak, only gasped, Ropes 
 administered a sharp poke in his ribs, whispering 
 fiercely, 
 
 " Say you do, mighty quick, or I'll ! " 
 
 " O ! I repents ! I I be durned if I don't ! " said 
 Dan. 
 
 " And now, as to you ! " Silas turned on the school- 
 master. " Your offence in gineral is bein' a northern 
 abolitionist. Besides which, your offences in partic'- 
 ler is these. Not contented with teachin' the Acad- 
 emy, which was well enough, since it is necessary that 
 a few should have larnin', so they may know how to 
 govern the rest, not contented with that, you must 
 run the thing into the ground, by settin' up a even- 
 in' school, and offerin' to larn readin', writin', and 
 'rithmetic, free gratis, to whosomever wanted to 'tend. 
 Which is contrary to the sperrit of our institootions, as 
 you have been warned more 'n oncet. That's charge 
 Number Two. Charge Number Three is, that you stand 
 up for the old rotten Union, and tell folks, every chance 
 you git, that secession, that noble right of southerners, 
 3
 
 26 PENN AND THE RUFFIANS. 
 
 is a villanous scheme, that '11 ruin the south, if persisted 
 in, and plunge the whole nation into war. Your very 
 words, I believe. Can you deny it ? " 
 
 " Certainly, I have said something very much like that, 
 and it is my honest conviction," replied Penn, firmly. 
 
 " Gentlemen, take notice ! " said Mr. Ropes. " We 
 will now pass on to charge Number Four, and be 
 brief, for the tar is a-coolin'. Suthin' like eight 
 days ago, when the afore-mentioned Dan Pepperill was 
 in the waller of his degradation, some noble-souled sons 
 of the sunny south " the orator smiled with pleasant 
 significance " lifted him up, and hung him up to air, 
 in the crotches of two trees, jest by the edge of the 
 woods here, and went home to supper, intending to 
 come back and finish the purifying process begun with 
 him later in the evenin'. But what did you do, Mr. 
 Schoolmaster, but come along and take him down, 
 prematoorely, and go to corruptin' him agin with your 
 vile northern principles ! Didn't he, Dan ? " 
 
 "I I dun know" faltered Dan. 
 
 " Yes, you do know, too ! Didn't he corrupt you ? " 
 
 These words being accompanied by a severe hint 
 from Sile's boot, Mr. Pepperill remembered that Penn 
 did corrupt him. 
 
 " And if I hadn't took ye in season, you'd have re- 
 turned to your base-born mire, wouldn't you ? " 
 
 "I suppose I would," the miserable Dan admitted. 
 
 "Wai! now!" Sile spread his palm over the
 
 PENN AND THE RUFFIANS. 27 
 
 tar to see if it retained its temperature, " hurry up, 
 Dan, and tell us all this northern agitator said to you 
 that night." 
 
 " O Lord ! " groaned Pepperill, " my memory is so 
 short ! " 
 
 " Bring that rope, boys ! and give him suthin' to 
 stretch it ! " said Silas, growing impatient. 
 
 Dan, knowing that stretching his memory in the 
 manner threatened, implied that his neck was to be 
 stretched along with it, made haste to remember. 
 
 " My friends," said Penn, interrupting the poor 
 man's forced and disconnected testimony, " let me 
 spare him the pain of bearing witness against me. I 
 recall perfectly well every thing I said to him that night. 
 I said it was a shame that such outrages as had been 
 committed on him should be tolerated in a civilized 
 society. I told him it was partly his own fault that 
 such a state of things existed. I said, ' It is owing to 
 the ignorance and degradation of you poor whites that 
 a barbarous system is allowed to flourish and tyran- 
 nize over you.' I said " 
 
 But here Penn was interrupted by a violent outcry, 
 the majority of the persons present coming under the 
 head of " poor whites." 
 
 " Let him go on ! let him perceed ! " said Silas. 
 " What did you mean by ' barbarous system ' ? " 
 
 " I meant," replied Penn, all fear vanishing in the 
 glow of righteous indignation which filled him, "I
 
 28 PENN AND THE RUFFIANS. 
 
 meant the system which makes it a crime to teach a 
 man to read a punishable offence to befriend the 
 poor and down-trodden, or to bind up wounds. A 
 system which makes it dangerous for one to utter his 
 honest opinions, even in private, to a person towards 
 whom he is at the same time showing the mercy which 
 others have denied him." He looked at Dan, who 
 groaned. " A system " 
 
 " Wai, I reckon that '11 do fur one spell," broke in 
 Silas Ropes. " You've said more 'n enough to con- 
 vict you, and to earn a halter 'stead of a mild coat 
 of tar and feathers." 
 
 " I am well aware," said Penn, " that I can ex- 
 pect no mercy at your hands; so I thought I might as 
 well be plain with you." 
 
 " And plain enough you've been, I swear to gosh ! " 
 said Silas. " Boys, strip him ! " 
 
 " Wait a moment ! " said Penn, putting them off with 
 a gesture which they mistook for an appeal to some 
 deadly weapon in his pocket. " What I have said has 
 been to free my mind, and to save Daniel trouble. Now, 
 allow me to speak a few words in my own defence. I 
 have committed no crime against your laws ; if I have, 
 why not let the laws punish me ? " 
 
 " We take the laws into our hands sech times as 
 these," said the man called Gad. 
 
 " You're an abolitionist, and that's enough," said 
 another.
 
 PENN AND THE RUFFIANS. 29 
 
 " If I do not believe slavery to be a good thing, it 
 is not my fault ; I cannot help my belief. But one 
 thing I will declare. I have never interfered with your 
 institution in any way at all dangerous to you, or inju- 
 rious to your slaves. I have not rendered them discon- 
 tented, but, whenever I have had occasion, I have coun- 
 selled them to be patient and faithful to their masters. 
 I came among you a very peaceable man, a simple 
 schoolmaster, and I have tried to do good to every- 
 body, and harm to no one. With this motive I opened 
 an evening school for poor whites. How many men 
 here have any education ? How many can read and 
 write ? Not many, I am sure." 
 
 " What's the odds, so long as they're men of the true 
 sperrit ? " interrupted Silas Ropes. " I can read for 
 one ; and as for the rest, what good would it do 'em 
 to be edecated ? 'Twould only make 'em jes' sech low, 
 sneakin', thievin' white slaves, like the greasy mechanics 
 at the north." 
 
 " The white slaves are not at the north," said Penn. 
 " Education alone makes free men. If you, who threaten 
 me with violence here to-night, had the common school 
 education of the north, you would not be engaged in 
 such business ; you would be ashamed of assaulting a 
 peaceable man on account of his opinions ; you would 
 know that the man who comes to teach you is your 
 best friend. If you were not ignorant men, you, who 
 do not own slaves, would know that slavery is the worst 
 3*
 
 30 PENN AND THE RUFFIANS. 
 
 enemy of your prosperity, and you would not be made 
 its willing tools." 
 
 The firm dignity of the youth, assisted by the illusion 
 that prevailed concerning a revolver in his pocket, had 
 kept his foes at bay, and gained him a hearing. He now 
 attempted to pass on, when the man Gad, stepping 
 behind him, raised the broom-handle, and dealt him a 
 stunning blow on the back of the head. 
 
 " Down with him ! " " Strip him ! " " Give him a 
 thrashing first ! " " Hang him ! " 
 
 And the ruffians threw themselves furiously upon the 
 fallen man. 
 
 " Whar's that Dutch boy ? " cried Silas. " I meant 
 he should help Dan lay on the tar." 
 
 But Carl was nowhere to be seen, having taken ad- 
 vantage of the confusion and darkness to escape into 
 the woods.
 
 'RE SECRET CELLAR. 
 
 III. 
 
 THE SECRET CELLAE. 
 
 O sooner did the lad feel himself safe from 
 pursuit, than he made his way out of the 
 woods again, and ran with all speed to Mr. 
 Stackridge's house. 
 
 To his dismay he learned that that stanch Unionist 
 was absent from home. 
 
 "Is he in the willage ? said the breathless Carl. 
 
 " I reckon he is," said the farmer's wife ; adding in 
 a whisper, for she guessed the nature of Carl's busi- 
 ness, " inquire for him down to barber Jim's." And 
 she told him what to say to the barber. 
 
 Barber Jim was a colored man, who had demon- 
 strated the ability of the African to take care of him- 
 self, by purchasing first his own freedom of his mis- 
 tress, buying his wife and children afterwards, and 
 then accumulating a property as much more valuable 
 than all Silas Ropes and his poor white minions pos- 
 sessed, as his mind was superior to their combined in- 
 telligence.
 
 THE SECRET CELLAR. 
 
 Jim had accomplished this hy uniting with 
 trious hahits a natural shrewdness, which enabled him 
 to make the most of his labor and of his means. 
 He owned the most flourishing barber-shop in the 
 place, and kept in conneccion with it (I am sorry to 
 say) a bar, at which he dealt out to his customers 
 some very bad liquors at very good prices. Had Jim 
 been a white man, he would not, of course, have stooped 
 to make money by any such low business as rum- 
 selling O, no! but being only a "nigger," what 
 else could you expect of him ? 
 
 Well, on this very evening Jim's place began to 
 be thronged almost before it was dark. A few eame 
 in to be shaved, while many more passed through the 
 shop into the little bar-room beyond. What was curi- 
 ous, some went in who appeared never to come out 
 again ; Mr. Stackridge among the number. 
 
 It was not to get shaved, nor yet to get tipsy, 
 that this man visited Jim's premises. The moment 
 they were alone together in the bar-room, he gave 
 the proprietor a knowing wink. 
 
 " Many there ? " 
 
 "I reckon about a dozen," said Jim. "Go in?" 
 Stackridge nodded; and with a grin Jim opened 
 a private door communicating with some back stairs, 
 down which his visitor went groping his way in the 
 dark. 
 
 Customers came and went ; now and then one dis-
 
 THE SECRET CELLAR. 33 
 
 appeared similarly down the back stairs ; many remained 
 in the barber's shop to smoke, and discuss in loud 
 tones the exciting question of the day secession ; 
 when, lastly, a boy of fifteen came rushing in. His 
 face was flushed with running, and he was quite out 
 of breath. 
 
 " What's wanting, Carl ? " said the barber. " A 
 shave ? " 
 
 This was one of Jim's jokes, at which his cus- 
 tomers laughed, to the boy's confusion, for his cheeks 
 were as smooth as a peach. 
 
 " I vants to find Mishter Stackridge," said the 
 lad. 
 
 " He ain't here," said Jim, looking around the 
 room. 
 
 "It is something wery partic'lar. One of his pigs 
 have got choked mit a cob, and he must go home 
 and unchoke him." 
 
 This was what Carl had been directed by the 
 farmer's wife to say to the barber, in case he should 
 profess ignorance concerning her husband. 
 
 " Pity about the pig," said Jim. " Mabby Stack- 
 ridge '11 be in bimeby. Any thing else I can do for 
 ye?" 
 
 Carl stepped up to the barber, and said in a hoarse 
 whisper, loud enough to be heard by every body, 
 
 " A mug of peer, if you pleashe." 
 
 " I got some that '11 make a Dutchman's head
 
 34 THE SECRET CELLAR. 
 
 hum ! " said Jim, leading the way into the little grog 
 rocm. 
 
 " That's Villars's Dutch boy,"' said one of the smokers 
 in the barber-shop. " Beats all nater, how these Dutch 
 will swill down any thing in the shape of beer ! " 
 
 This elegant observation may have had a grain of 
 truth in it, as we who have Teutonic friends may 
 have reason to know. However, the man had mistaken 
 the boy this tune. 
 
 " It is not the peer I vants, it is Mr. Stackridge," 
 whispered Carl, when alone with the proprietor. 
 
 Jim regarded him doubtfully a moment, then said, 
 " I reckon I shall have to open a cask in the suller. 
 You jest tend bar for me while I am gone." 
 
 He descended the stairs, closing the door after him. 
 Carl, who thought of the schoolmaster in the hands 
 of the mob, felt his heart swell and burn with anxiety 
 at each moment's delay. Jim did not keep him long 
 waiting. 
 
 " This way, Carl, if you want some of the right 
 sort," said the negro from the stairs. 
 
 Carl went down in the darkness, Jim taking his 
 hand to guide him. They entered a cellar, crowded 
 with casks and boxes, where there was a dim lamp 
 burning ; but no human being was visible, until sud- 
 denly out of a low, dark passage, between some bar- 
 rels, a stooping figure emerged, giving Carl a momen- 
 tary start of alarm.
 
 THE SECRET CELLAR. 35 
 
 "What's the trouble, Carl?" 
 
 " O ! Mishter Stackridge ! is it you ? " said Carl, 
 as the figure stood erect in the dim light, sallow, 
 bony, grim, attired in coarse clothes. " The school- 
 master that is the trouble!" and he hastily related 
 what he had seen. 
 
 " Wouldn't take the pistol ? the fool ! " muttered 
 the farmer. " But I'll see what I can do for him." 
 He grasped the boy's collar, and said in a suppressed 
 but terribly earnest voice, " Swear never to breathe a 
 word of what I'm going to show you ! " 
 
 " I shwear ! " said Carl. 
 
 " Come ! " 
 
 Stackridge took him by the wrist, and drew him 
 after him into the passage. It was utterly dark, and 
 Carl had to stoop in order to avoid hitting his head. 
 As they approached the end of it, he could distinguish 
 the sound of voices, one louder than the rest giving 
 the word of command. 
 
 " Order arms ! " 
 
 The farmer knocked on the head of a cask, which 
 rolled aside, and opened the way into a cellar beyond, 
 under an old storehouse, which was likewise a part 
 of Barber Jim's property. 
 
 The second cellar was much larger and better lighted 
 than the first, and rendered picturesque by heavy fes- 
 toons of cobwebs hanging from the dark beams above. 
 The rays of the lamps flashed upon gun-barrels, and
 
 36 THE SECRET CELLAR. 
 
 cast against the damp and mouldy walls gigantic 
 shadows of groups of men. Some were conversing, 
 others were practising the soldiers' drill. 
 
 " Neighbors ! " said Stackridge, in a voice which 
 commanded instant attention, and drew around him and 
 Carl an eager group. " It's just as I told you, 
 Ropes and his gang are lynching Hapgood ! " 
 
 " It's the fellow's own fault," said a stern, dark 
 man, the same who had been drilling the men. " He 
 should have taken care of himself." 
 
 " Young Hapgood's a decent sort of cuss," said 
 another whom Carl knew, a farmer named Withers, 
 " and I like him. I believe he means well ; but 
 he ain't one of us." 
 
 " I've been deceived in him," said a third. " He 
 always minded his own business, and kept so quiet 
 about our institutions, I never suspected he was anti- 
 slavery till I talked with him t'other day about join- 
 ing us then he out with it." 
 
 " He thinks we're all wrong," said a bigoted pro- 
 slavery man named Deslow. " He says slavery's the 
 cause of the war, and it's absurd in us to go in for the 
 Union and slavery too ! " For these men, though loyal 
 to the government, and bitterly opposed to secession, 
 were nearly all slaveholders or believers in slavery. 
 
 " May be the fellow ain't far wrong there," said he 
 who had been drilling his comrades " I think myself 
 slavery's the cause of the war, and that's what puts
 
 THE SECRET CELLAR. 3' 
 
 us in such a hard place. The time may come wher, 
 we will have to take a different stand go the whole 
 figure with the free north, or drift with the cotton 
 states. But that time hain't come yet." 
 
 " But the time has come," said Stackridge, impa- 
 tiently, "to do something for Hapgood, if we intend 
 to help him at all. While we are talking, he may 
 be hanging." 
 
 " And what can we do ? " retorted the other. " We 
 can't make a move for him without showing our hand, 
 and it ain't time for that yet." 
 
 " True enough, Captain Grudd," said Stackridge. 
 " But three or four of us, with our revolvers, can 
 happen that way, and take him out of the hands of 
 Ropes and his cowardly crew without much difficulty. 
 I, for one, am going." 
 
 " Hapgood don't even believe in fighting ! " observed 
 Dcslow, with immense disgust ; " and blast me if I am 
 going to fight for him ! " 
 
 Carl was almost driven to despair by the indif- 
 ference of these men and the time wasted in discus- 
 sion. He could have hugged the grim and bony 
 Stackridge when he saw him make a decided move 
 at last. Three others volunteered to accompany them. 
 The cask was once more rolled away from the en- 
 trance, and one by one they crept quickly through 
 the passage into the first cellar. 
 
 Stackridge preceded the rest, to see that the way
 
 88 THE SECRET CELLAR. 
 
 was clear. There was no one at the bar ; the dooi 
 leading into the shop was closed ; and Carl, following 
 the four men, passed out by a long entry communi- 
 cating with the street, the door of which was thrown 
 open to the public on occasions when there was a 
 great rush to Jim's bar, but which was fastened this 
 night by a latch that could be lifted only from the 
 inside.
 
 A KKARCH FOR THE MISSING. 
 
 IV, 
 
 A SEARCH FOR THE MISSING. 
 
 HE academy was situated in a retired spot, 
 half a mile out of the village. Stackridge 
 and his party were soon pushing rapidly 
 towards it along the dark, unfrequented road. Carl 
 ran on before, leading the way to the scene of the 
 lynching. 
 
 The place was deserted and silent. Only the cold 
 wind swept the bleak wood-side, making melancholy 
 moans among the trees. Overhead shone the stars, 
 lighting dimly the desolation of the ground. 
 
 "Now, where's yer tar-and- feathering party?" said 
 Stackridge. " See here, Dutchy ! ye hain't been foolin' 
 us, have ye ? " 
 
 " I vish it vas notting but fooling ! " said Carl, full 
 of distress, fearing the worst. "We have come too 
 late. The willains have took him off." 
 
 " Feathers, men ! " muttered Stackridge, picking up 
 something from beneath his feet. "The boy's right,'
 
 tO A SEARCH FOB THE MISSIN&. 
 
 Now, which way have they gone ? that's the ques- 
 tion." 
 
 " Hark ! " said Carl. " I see a man ! " 
 
 Indeed, just then a dim figure arose from the earth, 
 nd appeared slowly and painfully moving away. 
 
 " Hold on there ! " cried Stackridge. " Needn't be 
 afeared of us. We're your friends." 
 
 The figure stopped, uttering a deep groan. 
 
 " Is it you, Hapgood ? " 
 
 " No," answered the most miserable voice in the 
 world. " It's me." 
 
 "Who's me?" 
 
 " Pepperill Dan Pepperill ; ye know me, don't ye, 
 Stackridge r " 
 
 " You ? you scoundrel ! " said the farmer. " What 
 have ye been doing to the schoolmaster ? Answer me 
 this minute, or I'll " 
 
 " O, don't, don't ! " implored the wretch. " I'll an- 
 swer, I'll tell every thing, only give me a chance ! " 
 
 " Be quick, then, and tell no lies ! " 
 
 The poor man looked around at his captors in the 
 starlight, stooping dejectedly, and rubbing his bent 
 knees. 
 
 " I ain't to blame I'll tell ye that to begin with 
 I've been jest knocked about, from post to pillar, and 
 from pillar tc post, till I don't know who's my friends 
 and who ain't. I reckon more ain't than is ! " added 
 he, dismally
 
 A SEARCH FOR THE MISSING. 41 
 
 " That's neither here nor there ! " said Stackridge 
 'Where's Hapgood ? that's what I want to know.' 
 
 " Ye see," said Dan, endeavoring to collect his wits 
 [you would have thought they were in his kneepans, 
 and he was industriously rubbing them up), " Ropes 
 sent me to tote the kittle home, and when I got back 
 here, I be durned if they wasn't all gone, schoolmaster 
 and all." 
 
 " But what had they done to him ? " 
 
 " I don't know, I'm shore ! That's what L was a 
 comin' back fur to see. He let me down when I 
 was hung up on the rail, and helped me home ; and 
 BO I says to myself, says I, ' Why shouldn't I do as 
 much by him ? ' so I come back, and found him 
 gone." 
 
 " What was in the kittle ? " Stackridge took him 
 by the throat. 
 
 " O, don't go fur to lay in' it to me, and 111 tell ye ! 
 Thar'd been tar in the kittle ! It had been used to 
 give him a coat. That's the fact, durn me if it ain't ! 
 They put it on with the broom my broom they made 
 me bring my own broom, that's the everlastin' truth ! 
 made me do it myself, and spile my wife's best broom 
 into the bargain ! " And Pepperill sobbed. 
 
 " You put on the tar ? " 
 
 " Don't kill me, and I'll own up ! I did put on some 
 on't, that's a fact. Hopes would a' killed me if I 
 hadn't, and now you kill me fur doin' of it. He did 
 4*
 
 42 A SEARCH FOR THE M1SS1XG. 
 
 knock me down, 'cause he said I didn't rub it on hard 
 enough ; and arter that he rubbed it himself." 
 
 "What next, you scoundrel?" 
 
 " Next, they rolled him in the feathers, and sent me, 
 as I told ye, to tote the kittle home. Now don't, don't 
 go fur to hang me, Mr. Stackridge ! Help me, men ! 
 help me, Withers, Devit ! For he means to be the 
 death of me, I'm shore ! " 
 
 Indeed, Stackridge was in a tremendous passion, and 
 would, no doubt, have done the man some serious injury 
 but for the timely interposition of Carl. 
 
 " O, you're a good boy, Carl ! " cried Dan, in an ex- 
 stasy of terror and gratitude. " You know they druv 
 me to it, don't ye ? You know I wouldn't have gone 
 fur to do it no how, if 't hadn't been to save my life. 
 And as fur rubbing on the tar, I know'd they'd rub 
 harder 'n I did ; so I took holt, if only to do it more 
 soft and gentle-like." 
 
 Carl testified to Dan's apparent unwillingness to par- 
 ticipate in the outrage ; and Stackridge, finding that 
 nothing more could be got out of the terror-stricken 
 wretch, flung him off in great rage and disgust. 
 
 " We must find what they have done with Hapgood," 
 be said. " We 're losing time here. We '11 go to his 
 boarding-place first." 
 
 As Pepperill fell backwards upon some stones, and lay 
 there helplessly, Carl ran to him to learn if he was hurt. 
 
 " Wai, I be hurt some," murmured Dan ; " a good
 
 A SEARCH FOR THE MI8SIXG. 43 
 
 deal in my back, and a durned sight more in my 
 feelin's. As if I won't sufferin' a'ready the pangs of 
 death wus'n death ! a thinkin' about the master, 
 and what's been done to him, arter he'd been so kind 
 to me and thinkin' he'd think I'm the ongratefulest 
 cuss out of the bad place ! and then to have it all laid 
 on to me by Stackridge and the rest ! that's the stun 
 that hurts me wust of any ! " 
 
 Carl thought, if that was all, he could not assist 
 him much ; and he ran on after the men, leaving Pep- 
 perill snivelling like a whipped schoolboy on the 
 stones. 
 
 Penn's landlady, the worthy Mrs. Sprowl, lived in a 
 lonesome house that stood far back in the fields, at 
 least a dozen rods from the road. She was a widow, 
 whose daughters were either married or dead, and whose 
 only son was a rover, having been guilty of some crime 
 that rendered it unsafe for him to visit his bereaved 
 parent. Penn had chosen her house for his home, partly 
 because she needed some such assistance in gaining a 
 living, but chiefly, I think, because she did not own 
 slaves. The other inmates of her solitary abode were 
 two large, ferocious dogs, which she kept for the sake 
 of their company and protection. 
 
 But this night the house looked as if forsaken even 
 by these. It was utterly dark and silent. When Stack- 
 ridge shook the door, however, the illusion was dis- 
 pelled by two fierce growls that resounded within.
 
 44 A SEARCH FOR THE MISSING. 
 
 " Hello ! Mrs. Sprowl ! " shouted the farmer, shak- 
 ing the door again, and knocking violently. " Let 
 me in ! " 
 
 At that the growling broke into savage barks, which 
 made Stackridge lay his hand on the revolver Carl had 
 returned to him. A window was then cautiously opened, 
 and a bit of night-cap exposed. 
 
 " If it's you agin," said a shrill feminine voice, 
 " I warn you to be gone ! If you think I can't set 
 the dogs on to you, because you've slep' in my house 
 so long, you're very much mistaken. They'll tear you 
 as they would a pa'tridge ! Go away, go away, I 
 tell ye ; you've been the ruin of me, and I ain't 
 a-going to resk my life a-harboring of you any 
 longer." 
 
 " Mrs. Sprowl ! " answered the stern voice of the 
 farmer. 
 
 " Dear me ! ain't it the schoolmaster ? " cried the as- 
 tonished lady. " I thought it was him come back 
 agin to force his way into my house, after I've twice 
 forbid him ! " 
 
 " Why forbid him ? " 
 
 " Is it you, Mr. Stackridge ? Then I'll be free, and 
 tell ye. I've been informed he's a dangerous man. 
 I've been warned to shet my doors agin' him, if I 
 wouldn't have my house pulled down on to my head." 
 
 " Who warned you ? " 
 
 " Silas Ropes, this very night. He come to me, and
 
 A SEARCH FOR THE MISSING. 45 
 
 says, says he, ' We've gin your abolition boarder a 
 coat, which you must charge to his account ; ' for you 
 see," added the head at the window, pathetically, 
 " they took the bed he has slep' on, right out of my 
 house, and I don't s'pose I shall see ary feather of 
 that bed ever agin ! live goose's feathers they was too ! 
 and a poor lone widder that could ill afford it ! " 
 
 " Where is the master ? " 
 
 " Wai, after Ropes and his friends was gone, he 
 comes too, an awful lookin' object as ever you see ! 
 ' Mrs. Sprowl,' says he, ' don't be scared ; it's only me ; 
 won't ye let me in ? ' for ye see, I'd shet the house 
 agin' him in season, detarmined so dangerous a char- 
 acter should never darken my doors agin." 
 
 " And he was naked ! " 
 
 " I 'spose he was, all but the feathers, and suthin' 
 or other he seemed to have flung over him." 
 
 " Such a night as this ! " exclaimed Stackridge. 
 ; ' You're a heartless jade, Mrs. Sprowl ! I don't wonder 
 the fellow hates slavery," he muttered to himself, " when 
 it makes ruffians of the men and monsters even of the 
 women ! Which way did he go ? " 
 
 " That's more 'n I can tell ! " answered the lady, 
 sharply. " It's none o' my business where he goes, 
 if he don't come here ! That I won't have, call 
 me what names you please ! " And she shut the 
 window. 
 
 " Hang the critter ! after all Hapgood has done for
 
 46 A SEARCH FOR THE MISSING. 
 
 her ! " said the indignant Stackridge, for it was well- 
 known that she was indebted to the gentle and gen- 
 erous Penn for many benefits. " But it's no use to 
 stand here. We'll go to my house, men, may be 
 he's there,"
 
 L'AML AND HIS FRIENDS. 47 
 
 V. 
 
 CARL AND HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 ARL MINNEVICH was the son of a 
 German, who, in company with a brother, 
 had come to America a few years before, 
 and settled in Tennessee. There the Minneviches pur- 
 chased a farm, and were beginning to prosper in their 
 new home, when Carl's father suddenly died. The 
 boy had lost his mother on the voyage to America, 
 lie was now an orphan, destined to experience all the 
 humiliation, dependence, and wrong, which ever an 
 orphan knew. 
 
 Immediately the sole proprietorship of the farm, which 
 had been bought by both, was assumed by the sur- 
 viving brother. This man had a selfish, ill-tempered 
 wife, and a family of great boys. Minnevich himself 
 was naturally a good, honest man ; but Frau Minne- 
 vich wanted the entire property for her own children, 
 hated Carl because he was in the way, and treated him 
 with cruelty. His big cousins followed their mother's
 
 4b CARL AND HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 example, and bullied him. How to obtain protection 
 or redress he knew not. He was a stranger, speaking 
 a strange tongue, in the land of his father's adoption. 
 Ah, how often then did he think of the happy father- 
 land, before that luckless voyage was undertaken, when 
 he still had his mother, ctud his friends, and all his 
 little playfellows, whom he could never see more ! 
 
 So matters went on for a year or two, until the 
 boy's grievances grew intolerable, and he one day took 
 it into his head to please Frau Minnevich for once in 
 his life, if never again. In the night time he made up 
 a little bundle of his clothes, threw it out of the 
 window, got out himself after it, climbed down upon 
 the roof of the shed, jumped to the ground, and trudged 
 away in the early morning starlight, a wanderer. It 
 has been necessary to touch upon this point in Carl's 
 history, in order to explain why it was he ever after- 
 wards felt such deep gratitude towards those who be- 
 friended him in the hour of his need. 
 
 For many days and nights he wandered among the 
 hills of Tennessee, looking in vain for work, and begging 
 his bread. Sometimes he almost wished himself a slave- 
 boy, for then he would have had a home at least, if 
 only a wretched cabin, and friends, if only negroes, 
 those oppressed, beaten, bought-and-sold, yet patient 
 and cheerful people, whose lot seemed, after all, so 
 much happier than his own. Carl had a large, warm 
 heart, and he longed with infinite longing for somebody 
 to love him and treat him kindly.
 
 CARL AND HIS FRIENDS. 49 
 
 At last, as he was sitting one cold evening by the 
 road-side, weary, hungry, despondent, not knowing 
 where he was to find his supper, and seeing nothing 
 else for him to do but to lie down under some bush, 
 there to shiver and starve till morning, a voice of un- 
 'wonted kindness accosted him. 
 
 " My poor boy, you seem to be in trouble ; can I 
 help you ? " 
 
 Poor Carl burst into tears. It was the voice of Penn 
 Hapgood ; and in its tones were sympathy, comfort, hope. 
 Penn took him by the arm, and lifted him up, and 
 carried his bundle for him, talking to him all the time 
 so like a gentle and loving brother, that Carl said in 
 the depths of his soul that he would some day repay 
 him, if he lived ; and he prayed God secretly that 
 he might live, and be able some day to repay him 
 for those sweet and gracious words. 
 
 Penn never quitted him until he had found him a 
 home ; neither after that did he forget him. He took 
 him into his school, gave him his tuition, and be- 
 friended him in a hundred little ways beside. 
 
 And now the time had arrived when Penn himself 
 tood in need of friends. The evening came, and Carl 
 was missing from his new home. 
 
 " Whar's dat ar boy took hisself to, I'd like to 
 know ! " scolded old Toby. " I'll clar away de table, 
 and he'll lose his supper, if he stays anoder minute ! 
 Debil take me, if I don't ! " 
 5
 
 50 CARL AXD HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 He had made the same threat a dozen times, and 
 still he kept Carl's potatoes hot for him, and the table 
 waiting. For the old negro, though he loved dearly 
 to show his importance by making a good deal of blus- 
 ter about his work, had really one of the kindest hearts 
 in the world, and was as devoted to the boy he 
 scolded as any indulgent old grandmother. 
 
 " The ' debil ' will take you, sure enough, I'm afraid, 
 Toby, if you appeal to him so often," said a mildly re- 
 proving voice. 
 
 It was Mr. Villars, the old worn-out clergyman ; a 
 man of seventy winters, pale, white-haired, blind, feeble 
 of body, yet strong and serene of soul. He came softly, 
 groping his way into the kitchen, in order to put his 
 feet to Toby's fire. 
 
 " Laws, massa,'' said old Toby, grinning, " debil 
 knows I ain't in 'arnest ! he knows better 'n to take 
 me at my word, for I speaks his name widout no kind 
 o' respec', allus, I does. Hyar's yer ol' easy char fur 
 ye, Mass' Villars. Now you jes' make yerself comf ta- 
 ble." And he cleared a place on the stove-hearth for 
 the old man's feet. 
 
 "Thank you, Toby." With his elbows resting on 
 the arms of the chair, his hands folded thought- 
 fully before his breast, and his beautiful old face smil- 
 ing the kindness which his blind eyes could not look, 
 Mr. Villars sat by the fire. " Where is Carl to-night 
 Toby ? "
 
 CARL AND HIS FRIENDS. 51 
 
 " Dat ar's de question ; dat's de pint, massa. Mos' 
 I can say is, he ain't whar he ought to be, a eatin' 
 ob his supper. Chocolate's all a bilin' away to nuffin\ 
 ketch dis chile tryin' to keep tings hot for his supper 
 anoder time ! " And Toby added, in a whisper ex- 
 pressive of great astonishment at himself, " What I 
 eber took dat ar boy to keep fur 's one ob de mys- 
 teries ! "' 
 
 For Toby, though only a servant (indeed, he had 
 formerly been a slave in the family), had had his own 
 way so long in every thing that concerned the man- 
 agement of the household, that he had come to believe 
 himself the proprietor, not only of the house and land, 
 and poultry and pigs, but of the family itself. He 
 owned " oF Mass Villars," and an exceedingly precious 
 piece of property he considered him, especially since he 
 had become blind. He was likewise (in his own ex- 
 alted imagination) sole inheritor and guardian-in-chief of 
 " Miss Jinny," Mr. Villars's youngest daughter, child 
 of his old age, of whom Mrs. Villars said, on her death- 
 bed, " Take always good care of my darling, dear To- 
 by!" an injunction which the negro regarded as a 
 sort of last will and testament bequeathing the girl to him 
 beyond mortal question. 
 
 There was, in fact, but one member of the household 
 he did not exclusively claim. This was the married 
 daughter, Salina, whose life had been embittered by a 
 truant husband, no other, in fact, than the erring son
 
 52 CARL AND HIS FBI ENDS. 
 
 of the worthy Mrs. Sprowl. The day when the infat- 
 uated girl niade a marriage so much beneath the family 
 dignity, Toby, in great grief and indignation, gave her 
 up. " I washes my hands ob her ! she ain't no more 
 a chile ob mine ! " said the old servant, passionately 
 weeping, as if the washing of his hands was to be lit- 
 eral, and no other fluid would serve his dark purpose 
 but tears. And when, after Sprowl' s desertion of her, 
 she returned, humiliated and disgraced, to her father's 
 iiouse, that is to say, Toby's house, Toby had com- 
 passion on her, and took her in, but never set up any 
 claim to her again. 
 
 " Where is Carl ? Hasn't Carl come yet ? " asked 
 a sweet but very anxious voice. And Virginia, the 
 youngest daughter, stood in the kitchen door. 
 
 ''He hain't come yet, Miss Jinny; dat ar a fact!" 
 said Toby. " 'Pears like somefin's hap' en' d to dat ar 
 boy. I neber knowed him stay out so, when dar's any 
 eatin' gwine on, for he's a master hand for his supper, 
 dat boy ar ! Laws, I hain't forgot how he laid in de 
 vittles de fust night Massa Penn fetched him hyar ! He 
 was right hungry, he was, and he took holt powerful ! 
 ' I neber can keep dat ar boy in de world,' says I ; 
 ' he'll eat me clar out o' house an' home ! ' says I. 
 But, arter all, it done my ol' heart good to see him put 
 in, ebery ting 'peared to taste so d'effle good to him ! " 
 And Toby chuckled at the reminiscence. 
 
 " My daughter," said Mr. Villars, softly.
 
 CARL AND HIS FRIENDS. 53 
 
 She was already standing behind his chair, and her 
 trembling little hands were smoothing his brow, and her 
 earnest face was looking pale and abstracted over him. 
 He could not see her face, but he knew by her touch 
 that the tender act was done some how mechanically 
 to-night, and that she was thinking of other things. 
 She started as he spoke, and, bending over him, kissed 
 his white forehead. 
 
 " I suspect," he went on, " that you know more of 
 Carl than we do. Has he gone on some errand of 
 yours ? " 
 
 " I will tell you, father ! '' It seemed as if her feel- 
 ings had been long repressed, and it was a relief for her 
 to speak at last. " Carl came to me, and said there 
 was some mischief intended towards Penn. This was 
 long before dark. And he asked permission to go and 
 see what it was. I said, ' Go, but come right back, 
 if there is no danger.' He went, and I have not seen 
 him since." 
 
 " Is this so ? Why didn't you tell me before ? " 
 
 " Because, father, I did not wish to make you anxious. 
 But now, if you will let Toby go " 
 
 "I'll go myself!" said the old man, starting up. 
 " My staff, Toby ! When I was out, I heard voices in 
 the direction of the school-house, I felt then a pre- 
 sentiment that something was happening to Penn. I 
 can control the mob, I can save him, if it is not too 
 late." He grasped the staff Toby put into his hand
 
 54 CARL AND HIS FRIENDS, 
 
 " O, father ! " said the agitated girl ; "are you 
 able?" 
 
 " Able, child ? You shall see how strong I am when 
 our friend is in danger." 
 
 " Let me go, then, and guide you ! " she exclaimed, 
 glad he was so resolved, yet unwilling to trust him out 
 of her sight. 
 
 " No, daughter. Toby will be eyes for me. Yet I 
 scarcely need even him. I can find my way as well as 
 he can in the dark." 
 
 The negro opened the door, and was leading out the 
 blind old minister, when the light from within fell 
 upon a singular object approaching the house. It started 
 back again, like some guilty thing ; but Toby had seen 
 it. Toby uttered a shriek. 
 
 " De debil ! de debil hisself, massa ! " and he pulled 
 the old man back hurriedly into the house. 
 
 " The devil, Toby ? What do you mean ? " demanded 
 Mr. Villars. 
 
 " O, laws, bress ye, massa, ye hain't got no eyes, and 
 ye can't see ! " said Toby, shutting the door in his fright, 
 and rolling his eyes wildly. " It's de bery debil ! he's 
 come for dis niggah dis time, sartin'. Cos I, cos I 
 'pealed to him, as you said, massa ! cos I's got de habit 
 ob speakin' his name widout no kind o' respec' ! " 
 
 And he stood bracing himself, with his back against 
 the door, as if determined that not even that powerful 
 individual himself should get in.
 
 CARL AND RIS FRIENDS. 56 
 
 " You poor old simpleton ! " said Mr. Villars, " there 
 is no fiend except in your own imagination. Open the 
 door ! " 
 
 " No, no, massa ! He's dar ! he's dar ! He'll cotch 
 old Toby, shore!" And the terrified black held the 
 latch and pushed with all his might. 
 
 " What did he see, Virginia ? " 
 
 " I don't know, father ! There was certainly some- 
 body, or something, I could not distinguish what." 
 
 " It's what I tell ye ! " gibbered Toby. " I seed de 
 great coarse bar on his speckled legs, and de wings on 
 his back, and a right smart bag in his hand to put dis 
 niggah in ! ' 
 
 " It might have been Carl," said Virginia. 
 
 " No, no ! Carl don't hab sech legs as dem ar ! 
 Carl don't hab sech great big large ears as dem ar ! 
 O good Lord ! good Lord ! " the negro's voice sank 
 to a terrified whisper, " he's a-knockin' for me now ! " 
 
 " It's a very gentle rap for the devil," said Mr. 
 Villars, who could not but be amused, notwithstanding 
 the strange interruption of his purpose, and Toby's vexa- 
 tious obstinacy in holding the door. "It's some stran- 
 ger ; let him in ! " 
 
 " No, no, no ! " gasped the negro. " I won't say 
 nuffin, and you tell him I ain't to home ! Say Fse clar'd 
 nut, lef, gone you do'no' whar ! " 
 
 " Toby ! " was called from without. 
 
 "" Pat's his voice ! dat ar's his voice ! " said Toby.
 
 56 CARL AND HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 And in his desperate pushing, he pushed his feet from 
 under him, and fell at full length along the floor. 
 
 "It's the voice of Penn Hapgood ! " exclaimed the 
 old minister. " Arise, quick, Toby, and open ! " 
 
 Toby rubbed his head and looked bewildered. 
 
 " Are ye sartin ob dat, massa ? Bress me, I breeve 
 you're right, for oncet ! It ar Mass' Penn's voice, shore 
 enough ! " 
 
 He opened the door, but started back again with 
 another shriek, convinced for an instant that it was, 
 after all, the devil, who had artfully borrowed Penn's 
 voice to deceive him. 
 
 But no ! It was Penn himself, his hat and clothes 
 in his hand, smeared with black tar and covered with 
 feathers from head to foot ; not even his features spared, 
 nor yet his hair; on his cheeks great clumps of gray 
 goose plumes, suggestive of diabolical ears, and with 
 no other covering but this to shield him from the night 
 wind, save the emptied bed-tick, which he had drawn 
 over his shoulders, and which Toby had mistaken for 
 Satanic wings.
 
 STRANGE COAT FOR A QUAKER. 57 
 
 VI. 
 
 A STEANGE COAT FOE A QUAKER. 
 
 OW, Virginia Villars was the very last per- 
 son by whom Penn would have wished to 
 be seen. He was well aware how utterly 
 grotesque and ludicrous he must appear. But he was 
 not in a condition to be very fastidious on this point. 
 Stunned by blows, stripped of his clothing (which could 
 not be put on again, for reasons), cruelly suffering from 
 the violence done him, exposed to the cold, excluded from 
 Mrs. Sprowl's virtuous abode, he had no choice but to 
 seek the protection of those whom he believed to be his 
 truest friends. 
 
 In the little sitting-room of the blind old minister he 
 had always been gladly welcomed. Such minds as his 
 were rare in Curryville. His purity of thought, his 
 Christian charity, his ardent love of justice, and (quite as 
 much as any thing) his delight in the free and friendly 
 discussion of principles, whether moral, political, or 
 theological, made him a great favorite with the lonely
 
 58 A STRANGE COAT FOR A QUAKER. 
 
 old man. His coming made the winter evenings bloom. 
 Then the aged clergyman, deprived of sight, bereft of the 
 companionship of books, and of the varied consolations 
 of an active life, felt his heart warmed and his brain en- 
 livened by the wine of conversation. He and Penn, to 
 be sure, did not always agree. Especially on the subject 
 of non-resistance they had many warm and well-con- 
 tested arguments ; the young Quaker manifesting, by his 
 zeal in the controversy, that he had an abundance of 
 " fight " in him without knowing it. 
 
 Nor to Mr. Villars alone did Penn's visits bring 
 pleasure. They delighted equally young Carl and old 
 Toby. And Virginia ? Why, being altogether devoted 
 to her blind parent, for whose happiness she could 
 never do enough, she was, of course, enchanted with 
 the attentions she saw Pena pay him. That was all; 
 at least, the dear girl thought that was all. 
 
 As for Salina, forsaken spouse of the gay Lysander 
 Sprowl, she too, after sulkily brooding over her mis- 
 fortunes all day, was glad enough to have any intelli- 
 gent person come in and break the monotony of her 
 sad life in the evening. 
 
 Such were Penn's relations with the family to whom 
 alone he durst apply for refuge in his distress. Others 
 might indeed have ventured to shelter him ; but they, 
 like Stackridge, were hated Unionists, and any mercy 
 shown to him would have brought evil upon them- 
 selves. Mr. Villars, however, blind and venerated old
 
 A STRANGE COAT FOR A QUAKER. 59 
 
 man, bad sufficient influence over the people, Penn be- 
 lieved, to serve as a protection to his household even 
 with him in it. 
 
 So hither he came how unwillingly let the proud 
 and sensitive judge. For Penn, though belonging to 
 the meekest of sects, was of a soul by nature aspiring 
 and proud. He had the good sense to know that the 
 outrage committed on him was in reality no disgrace, 
 except to those guilty of perpetrating it. Yet no one 
 likes to appear ridiculous. And the man of elevated 
 spirit instinctively shrinks from making known his mis- 
 fortunes even to his best friends ; he is ashamed of that 
 for which he is in no sense to blame^ and he would rather 
 suffer heroically in secret, than become an object of 
 
 Pity- 
 Most of all, as I have said, Penn dreaded the pure 
 Virginia's eyes. Mr. Villars could not see him, and for 
 Salina he did not care much singularly enough, for she 
 alone was of an acrid and sarcastic temper. What he 
 devoutly desired was, to creep quietly to the kitchen 
 door, call out Carl if he was there, or secretly make 
 known his condition to old Toby, and thus obtain admis- 
 sion to the house, seclusion, and assistance, without 
 letting Virginia, or her father even, know of his pres- 
 ence. 
 
 How this honest wish was thwarted we have seen. 
 When the door was first opened, he had turned to fly. 
 But that was cowardly ; so he returned, and knocked, and
 
 60 A STRANGE COAT FOB A QUAKER. 
 
 called the negro by name, to reassure him. And the 
 door was once more opened, and Virginia saw him 
 recognized him knew in an instant what brutal deed 
 had been done, and covered her eyes instinctively to shut 
 out the hideous sight. 
 
 But it was no time to indulge in feelings of false 
 modesty, if she felt any. It was no time to be weak, 
 or foolish, or frightened, or ashamed. 
 
 "It is Penn ! " she exclaimed in a burst of indigna- 
 tion and grief. " Toby ! Toby ! you great stupid ! 
 
 what are you staring for ? Take him in ! why don't 
 you? 0. father!" And she threw herself on the old 
 man's bosom, and hid her face. 
 
 " What has happened to Penn ? '' asked the old 
 man. 
 
 " I have been tarred- and-feathered," answered Penn, 
 entering, and closing the door behind him. " And I 
 have been shut out of Mrs. Sprowl's house. This is 
 my excuse for coming here. I must go somewhere, you 
 know ! " 
 
 " And where but here ? " answered the old man. 
 He had suppressed an outburst of feeling, and now 
 stood calm, compassionating, extending his hands, his 
 staff fallen upon the floor. " I feared it might come 
 to this ! Terrible times are upon us, and you are only 
 one of the first to suffer. You did well to come to us. 
 Are you hurt?" 
 
 " I hardly know," replied Penn. " I beg of you,
 
 A STRANGE COAT FOR A QUAKER. 61 
 
 don't be alarmed or troubled. I hope you will excuse 
 me. I know I am a fearful object to look at, and did 
 not intend to be seen." 
 
 He stood holding the bed-tick over him, and his 
 clothes before him, to conceal as much as possible 
 his hideous guise, suffering, in that moment of pause, 
 unutterable things. Was ever a hero of romance in 
 such a dismal plight ? Surely no writer of fiction would 
 venture to show his hero in so ridiculous and dam- 
 aging an aspect. But this is not altogether a ro- 
 mance, and I must relate facts as they occurred. 
 
 " Do not be sorry that I have seen you," said 
 Virginia, lifting her face again, flashing with tears. " I 
 see in this shameful disguise only the shame of those 
 who have so cruelly treated you ! Toby will help you. 
 And there is Carl at last ! " 
 
 She retreated from the room by one door just as 
 Carl and Stackridge entered by the other. 
 
 Poor Penn ! gentle and shrinking Penn ! it was pain- 
 ful enough for him to meet even these coarser eyes, 
 friendly though they were. The shock upon his system 
 had been terrible; and now, his strength and reso- 
 lution giving way, his bewildered senses began to reel, 
 and he swooned in the farmer's arms.
 
 62 THE TWO GUESTS. 
 
 VII. 
 
 THE TWO GUESTS. 
 
 IRGINIA entered the sitting-room the 
 same where so many happy evenings had 
 been enjoyed hy the little family, in the 
 society of him who now lay bruised, disfigured, and 
 insensible in Toby's kitchen. 
 
 She walked to and fro, she gazed from the windows 
 out into the darkness, she threw herself on the lounge, 
 scarce able to control the feelings of pity and indigna- 
 tion that agitated her. For almost the first time in her 
 life she was fired with vindictiveness ; she burned to 
 see some swift and terrible retribution overtake the 
 perpetrators of this atrocious deed. 
 
 Mr. Villars soon came out to her. She hastened to 
 lead him to a seat. 
 
 " How is he ? much injured ? " she asked. 
 
 " He has been brutally used," . said the old man. 
 " But he is now in good hands. Where is Salina ? " 
 
 " I don't know. I had been to look for her, when
 
 THE TWO GUE8TS. 63 
 
 I came and found you in the kitchen I fhink she 
 must have gone out." 
 
 "Gone out, to-night? That is very strange!" The 
 old man mused. " She will have to \)<> told that Penn 
 is in the house. But I think the knowledge of the 
 fact ought to go no farther. Mr. Stackridge is of 
 the same opinion. Now that they have hegun to 
 persecute him, they will never cease, so long as he 
 remains alive within their reach." 
 
 " And we must conceal him ? " 
 
 " Yes, until this storm blows over, or he can be 
 safely got out of the state." 
 
 " There is Salina now ! " exclaimed the girl, hearing 
 footsteps approach the piazza. 
 
 " If it is, she is not alone," said the old man, whose 
 blindness had rendered his hearing acute. " It is a 
 man's step. Don't be agitated, my child. Much de- 
 pends on our calmness and self-possession now. If it 
 is a visitor, you must admit him, and appear as hospi- 
 table as usual." 
 
 It was a visitor, and he came alone a young fellow 
 of dashy appearance, handsome black hair and whiskers, 
 and very black eyes. 
 
 " Mr. Bythewood, father," said Virginia, showing him 
 immediately into the sitting-room. 
 
 " I entreat you, do not rise ! " said Mr. Bythewood, 
 with exceeding affability, hastening to prevent that act 
 of politeness on the part of the blind old man.
 
 64 THE TWO GUESTS. 
 
 " Did you not bring my daughter with you ? " asked 
 Mr. Vfflars. 
 
 " Your daughter is here, sir ; " and he of the hand- 
 some whiskers gave Virginia a most captivating bow 
 and smile. 
 
 " He means my sister," said Virginia. " She has 
 gone out, and we are feeling somewhat anxious aboul 
 her." She thought it best to say thus much, in order 
 that, should the visitor perceive any strangeness or ab- 
 straction on her part, he might think it was caused by 
 solicitude for the absent Salina. 
 
 " Nothing can have happened to her, certainly," re- 
 marked Mr. Bythewood, seating himself in an attitude 
 of luxurious ease, approaching almost to indolent reck- 
 lessness. " We are the most chivalrous people in the 
 world. There is no people, I think, on the face of the 
 globe, among whom the innocent and defenceless are 
 so perfectly secure." 
 
 Virginia thought of the hapless victim of the mob 
 in the kitchen yonder, and smiled politely. 
 
 " I have no very great fears for her safety," said the 
 old man. " Yet I have felt some anxiety to know the 
 meaning of the noises I heard in the direction of the 
 academy, an hour ago." 
 
 Bythewood laughed, and stroked his glossy mustache. 
 
 " I don't know, sir. I reckon, however, that the 
 Yankee schoolmaster has been favored with a little 
 demonstration of southern sentiment."
 
 THE TWO GUESTS. 65 
 
 " How ! not mobbed ? " 
 
 " Call it what you please, sir," said Bythewood, with 
 an air of pleasantry. " I think our people have been 
 roused at last ; and if so, they have probably given him 
 a lesson he will never forget." 
 
 " What do you mean by ' our people ' ? " the old man 
 gravely inquired. 
 
 " He means," said Virginia, with quiet but cutting 
 irony, " the most chivalrous people in the world ! among 
 whom the innocent and defenceless are more secure than 
 any where else on the globe ! " 
 
 " Precisely," said Mr. Bythewood, with a placid 
 smile. " But among whom obnoxious persons, dangerous 
 to our institutions, cannot be tolerated. As for this 
 affair," carelessly, as if what had happened to Penn 
 was of no particular consequence to anybody present, 
 least of all to him, "I don't know anything about it. 
 Of course, I would never go near a popular demonstra- 
 tion of the kind. I don't say I approve of it, and I 
 don't say I disapprove of it. These are no ordinary 
 times, Mr. Villars. The south is already plunged into a 
 revolution." 
 
 " Indeed, I fear so ! " 
 
 " Fear so : I glory that it is so ! We are about to 
 build up the most magnificent empire on which the sun 
 has ever shone ! " 
 
 " Cemented with the blood of our own brethren ! ' 
 said the old man, solemnly. 
 6*
 
 66 THE TWO GUESTS. 
 
 " There may be a little bloodshed, but not much. 
 The Yankees won't fight. They are not a military peo- 
 ple. Their armies will scatter before us like chaff before 
 the wind. I know you don't think as I do. I respect 
 the lingering attachment you feel for the old Union 
 it is very natural," said Bythewood, indulgently. 
 
 The old man smiled. His eyes were closed, and his 
 hands were folded before him near his breast, in his 
 favorite attitude. And he answered, 
 
 " You are very tolerant towards me, my young friend. 
 It is because you consider me old, and helpless, and 
 perhaps a little childish, no doubt. But hear my words. 
 You are going to build up a magnificent empire, founded 
 on slavery. But I tell you, the ruin and desolation of 
 our dear country that will be your empire. And as for 
 the institution you mean to perpetuate and strengthen, 
 it will be crushed to atoms between the upper and nether 
 millstones of the war you are bringing upon the nation." 
 
 He spoke with the power of deep and earnest con- 
 viction, and the complacent Bythewood was for a moment 
 abashed. 
 
 " I was well aware of your opinions," he remarked, 
 rallying presently. " It is useless for us to argue the 
 point. And Virginia, I conceive, does not like politics. 
 Will you favor us with a song, Virginia ? " 
 
 " With pleasure, if you wish it," said Virginia, with 
 perfect civility, although a close observer might have seen 
 iiow repulsive to her was the presence of this handsome,
 
 THE TWO QUESTS. 67 
 
 but selfish and unprincipled man. He was their guest ; 
 and she had been bred to habits of generous and self- 
 sacrificing hospitality. However detested a visitor, he 
 must be politely entertained. On this occasion, she led 
 the way to the parlor, where the piano was, all the 
 more readily, perhaps, because it was still farther re- 
 moved from the kitchen. Bythewood followed, support- 
 ing, with an ostentatious show of solicitude, the steps of 
 the feeble old man. 
 
 Bythewood named the pieces he wished her to sing, 
 and bent graciously over the piano to turn the music- 
 leaves for her, and applauded with enthusiasm. And so 
 she entertained him. And all the while were passing 
 around them scenes so very different ! There was Penn, 
 heroically stifling the groans of a wounded spirit, within 
 sound of her sweet voice, and Bythewood so utterly igno- 
 rant of his presence there ! A little farther off, and just 
 outside the house, a young woman was even then parting, 
 with whispers and mystery, from an adventurous rover. 
 Still a little farther, in barber Jim's back room, Silas 
 Hopes was treating his accomplices ; and while these 
 drank and blasphemed, close by, in the secret cellar, 
 Stackridge's companions were practising the soldier's 
 drill. 
 
 Saliua parted from the rover, and came into the house 
 while Virginia was singing, throwing her bonnet negli- 
 gently back, as she sat down. 
 
 " Why, Salina ! where have you been ? " said Vir-
 
 68 THE TWO GUESTS. 
 
 ginia, finishing a strain, and turning eagerly on the 
 piano stool. "We have been wondering what had 
 become of you ! " 
 
 " You need never wonder about me," said Salina, 
 coldly. " I must go out and walk, even if I don't 
 have time till after dark." 
 
 She drummed upon the carpet with her foot, while 
 her upper lip twitched nervously. It was a rather short 
 lip, and she had an unconscious habit of hitching up 
 one corner of it, still more closely, with a spiteful and 
 impatient expression. Aside from this labial peculiarity 
 (and perhaps the disproportionate prominence of a very 
 large white forehead), her features were pretty enough, 
 although they lacked the charming freshness of her 
 younger sister's. 
 
 Virginia knew well that the pretence of not getting 
 time for her walk till after dark was absurd, but, per- 
 ceiving the unhappy mood she was in, forbore to say 
 so. And she resumed her task of entertaining Bythe- 
 wood.
 
 THE ROVES. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 THE ROVER. 
 
 EAN WHILE the nocturnal acquaintance 
 from whom Salina had parted took a last 
 look at the house, and shook his envious 
 head darkly at the room where the light and the music 
 were ; then, thrusting his hands into his pockets, with a 
 swaggering air, went plodding on his lonely way across 
 the fields, in the starlight. 
 
 The direction he took was that from which Penn 
 had arrived ; and in the course of twenty minutes he 
 approached the door of the solitary house with the dark 
 windows and the dogs within. He walked all around, 
 and seeing no light, nor any indication of life, drew 
 near, and rapped softly on a pane. 
 
 The dogs were roused in an instant, and barked 
 furiously. Nothing daunted, he waited for a lull in the 
 storm he had raised, and rapped again. 
 
 " Who's there ? " creaked the stridulous voice of 
 good Mrs. Sprowl.
 
 70 THE ROVES. 
 
 '* You know ! " said the rover, in a suppressed, con- 
 fidential tone. " One who has a right." 
 
 Now, the excellent relict of the late lamented Sprowl 
 reflected, naturally, that, if anybody had a right there, it 
 was he who paid her for his board in advance. 
 
 " You, agin, after all, is it ! " she exclaimed, angrily. 
 " Couldn't you find nowhere else to go to ? But if you 
 imagine I've thought better on't, and will let you in, 
 you're grandly mistaken ! Go away this instant, or I'll 
 let the dogs out ! " 
 
 " Let 'em out, and be ! " 
 
 No matter about the last word of the rover's defiant 
 answer. It was a very irritating word to the temper 
 of the good Mrs. Sprowl. This was the first time (she 
 thought) she had ever heard the mild and benignant 
 schoolmaster swear ; but she was not much surprised, 
 believing that it was scarcely in the power of man to 
 endure what he had that night endured, and not swear. 
 
 " Look out for yourself then, you sir ! for I shall 
 take you at your word ! " And there was a sound of 
 slipping bolts, followed by the careful opening of the 
 door. 
 
 Out bounced the dogs, and leaped upon the intruder ; 
 but, instead of tearing him to pieces, they fell to 
 caressing him in the most vivacious and triumphant 
 manner. 
 
 " Down, Brag ! Off, Grip ! Curse you ! " And he 
 kicked them till they yelped, for their too fond welcome.
 
 THE ROVER. 71 
 
 " How dare you, sir, use my dogs so ! " screamed 
 the lady within, enraged to think they had permitted that 
 miserable schoolmaster to get the better of them. 
 
 " I'll kick them, and you too, for this trick ! " mut- 
 tered the man. " I'll learn ye to shut me out, and 
 make a row, when I'm coming to see you at the risk 
 of my " 
 
 She cut him short, with a cry of amazement. 
 
 " Lysander ! is it you ! " 
 
 " Hold your noise ! " said Lysander, pressing into the 
 house. "Call my name again, and I'll choke you! 
 Where's your schoolmaster ? Won't he hear ? " 
 
 " Dear me ! if it don't beat everything ! " said Mrs. 
 Sprowl, in palpitating accents. " Don't you know I 
 took you for the master ! " 
 
 " No, I didn't know it. This looks more like a 
 welcome, though ! " Lysander began to be mollified. 
 " There, there ! don't smother a fellow ! One kiss is 
 as good as fifty. The master is out, then? Anybody 
 in the house ? " 
 
 " No, I'm so thankful ! It seems quite providential ', 
 O, dearie, dearie, sonny dearie ! I'm so glad to see you 
 agin ! " 
 
 '' Come ! none of your sonny dearies I it makes me 
 sick ! Strike a light, and get me some supper, can't 
 you ? " 
 
 " Yes, my boy, with all my heart ! This is the hap 
 piest day I've seen "
 
 72 THE ROVER. 
 
 " Ah, what's happened to-day ? " said Lysander, 
 treating with levity his mother's blissful confession. 
 
 " I mean, this night ! to have you back again ! How 
 could I mistake you for that dreadful schoolmaster ! * 
 Here her trembling fingers struck a match. 
 
 " Draw the curtains," said Lysander, hastily executing 
 his own order, as the blue sputter kindled up into a 
 flame that lighted the room. " It ain't quite time for 
 me to be seen here yet." 
 
 " Where did you come from ? What are you here 
 for ? O, my dear, dear Lysie ! " (she gazed at him 
 affectionately), " you ain't in no great danger, be 
 you ? " 
 
 " That depends. Soon as Tennessee secedes, I shall 
 be safe enough. I'm going to have a commission in 
 the Confederate army, and that '11 be protection from 
 anything that might happen on account of old scores. 
 I'm going to raise a company in this very place, and 
 let the law touch me if it can ! " 
 
 He tossed his cap into a corner, and sprawled apon 
 a chair before the stove, at which his devoted mother 
 was already blowing her breath away in the endeavor 
 to kindle a blaze. She stopped blowing to gape at 
 his good news, turning up at him her low, skinny 
 forehead, narrow nose, and close-set, winking eyes. 
 
 " There ! I declare ! " said she. " I knowed my 
 boy would come back to me some day a gentle- 
 man ! "
 
 THE ROVER. 3 
 
 " A gentleman ? I'm bound to be that ! " said the 
 man, with a braggart laugh and swagger. " I tell yc, 
 mar, we're going to have the greatest confederacy 
 ever was ! " 
 
 " Do tell if we be ! " said the edified " mar." 
 
 " Six months from now, you'll see the Yankees grovel- 
 ling at our feet, begging for admission along with us. 
 We'll have Washington, and all of the north we want, 
 and defy the world ! " 
 
 " I want to know now ! " said Mrs. Sprowl, over- 
 come with admiration. 
 
 " The slave-trade will be reopened, Yankee ships will 
 bring us cargoes of splendid niggers, not a man in the 
 south but '11 be able to own three or four, they'll be 
 so cheap, and we'll be so rich, you see," said Ly- 
 sander. 
 
 " You don't say, re'lly ! " 
 
 " That's the programme, mar ! You'll see it all with 
 your own eyes in six months." 
 
 " Why, then, why shouldn't the south secede ! " re- 
 plied " mar," hastening to put on the tea-kettle, and 
 then to mix up a corn dodger for her son's supper. 
 " I'm sure, we ought all on us to have our servants, 
 and live without work ; and I knowed all the time there 
 was another side to what Penn Hapgood preaches (for 
 he's dead set agin' secession), though I couldn't answer 
 him as you could, Lysie dear ! " 
 
 " Wai, never mind all that, but hurry up the grub I " 
 1
 
 74 THE ROVER. 
 
 said " Lysie dear," putting sticks in the stove. " 1 
 hain't had a mouthful since breakfast." 
 
 " You hain't seen her, of course," observed Mrs. 
 Sprowl, mysteriously. 
 
 " Her ? who : " 
 
 " Salina ! " in a whisper, as if to be overheard by a 
 mouse in the wall would have been fatal. 
 
 " Wai, I have seen her, I reckon ! Not an hour 
 ago. By appointment. I wrote her I was coming, got 
 a woman to direct the letter, and had a long talk 
 with her to-night. What I want just now is, a little 
 money, and she's got to raise it for me, and what she 
 can't raise I shall look to you for." 
 
 " O dear me ! don't say money to me ! " exclaimed 
 the widow, alarmed. " Partic'larly now I've lost my 
 best feather-bed and my boarder ! " 
 
 " What is it about your boarder ? Out with it, and 
 stop this hinting around ! " 
 
 Thus prompted, Mrs. Sprowl, who had indeed been 
 waiting for the opportunity, related all she knew of 
 what had happened to Penn. Lysander kindled up with 
 interest as she proceeded, and finally broke forth with a 
 startling oath. 
 
 " And I can tell you where he has gone ! " he said 
 " He's gone to the house I can't get into for love noi 
 money ! She refused me admission to-night refused 
 me money ! but he is taken in, and their money will be 
 lavished on him ! "
 
 THE ROVER. 75 
 
 " But how do you know, my son, " 
 
 " How do I know he's there ? Because, when I was 
 with her in the orchard, we saw an object she said it 
 was some old nigger to see Toby go into the kitchen. 
 Then in a little while a man it must have been Stack- 
 ridge, if you say he was looking for him went in with 
 Carl, and didn't come out again, as I could see. I staid 
 till the light from the kitchen went up into the bedroom, 
 in the corner of the house this way. There's yer boarder, 
 mar, I'll bet my life ! But he won't be there long, I 
 can tell ye ! " laughed Lysander, maliciously.
 
 76' TOBY'k! PATIENT HAS A CALLER 
 
 IX. 
 
 TOBY'S PATIENT HAS A CALLER, 
 
 R. BYTHEWOOD had now taken his 
 departure ; Salina had been intrusted with 
 
 the secret ; and Penn had been put to bed 
 (as the rover correctly surmised) in the corner bed- 
 chamber. 
 
 He had been diligently plucked ; as much of the tar 
 had been removed as could be easily taken off by 
 methods known to Stackridge and Toby, and his wounds 
 had been dressed. And there he lay, at last, in the 
 soothing linen, exhausted and suffering, yet somehow 
 happy, thinking with gratitude of the friends God had 
 given him in his sore need. 
 
 " Bress your heart, dear young massa ! " said old 
 Toby, standing by the bed (for he would not sit down), 
 and regarding him with an unlimited variety of winks, 
 and nods, and grins, expressive of satisfaction with his 
 work ; " ye're jest as comf table now us -\m possible 
 under de sarcumstances. If dar's anyting in dis y<w
 
 TOSY'S PATIENT HAS A CALLER. 77 
 
 world ye wants now, say de word, and ol' Toby '11 
 jump at de chance to fetch 'em fur ye." 
 
 " There is nothing I want now, good Toby, but that 
 you and Carl should rest. You have done everything 
 you can and far more than I deserve. I will try to 
 thank you when I am stronger." 
 
 " Can't tink ob quittin' ye dis yer night, nohow, mas- 
 sa ! Mr. Stackridge he's gone ; Carl he can go to bed, 
 he ain't no 'count here, no way. But I'se took de job 
 o' gitt'n you well, Mass' Penn, and I'se gwine to put 
 it frew 'pon honor, do it up han'some ! " 
 
 And notwithstanding Penn's remonstrances, the faith- 
 ful black absolutely refused to leave him. Indeed, the 
 most he could be prevailed upon to do for his own com- 
 fort, was to bring his blanket into the room, and promise 
 that he would lie down upon it when he felt sleepy. 
 Whether he kept his word or not, I cannot say ; but 
 there was no time during the night when, if Penn hap- 
 pened to stir uneasily, he did not see the earnest, tender, 
 cheerful black face at his pillow in an instant, and hear 
 the affectionate voige softly inquire, 
 
 " What can I do fur ye, massa ? Ain't dar nuffin 
 ol' Toby can be a doin' fur ye, jes' to pass away de 
 time ? " 
 
 Sometimes it was water Penn wanted ; but it did him 
 really more good to witness the delight it gave Toby 
 to wait upon him, than to drink the coolest and mos* 
 delicious draught fresh from the well.
 
 78 TOBY'S PATIENT HAS A CALLER. 
 
 At length Penn began to feel hot and stifled. 
 
 " What have you hung over the window, Toby ? " 
 
 " Dat ar ? 'Pears like dat ar's my blanket, sar. Ye 
 see, 'twouldn't do, nohow, to let nary a chink o' light 
 be seen from tudder side, 'cause dat 'ud make folks s'pec' 
 sumfin', dis yer time o' night. So I jes' sticks up my oF 
 blanket 'pears like I can sleep a heap better on de 
 bar floor ! " 
 
 " But I must have some fresh air, you dear old hypo- 
 crite ! " said Penn, deeply touched, for he knew that the 
 African had deprived himself of his blanket because he 
 did not wish to disturb him by leaving the room for 
 another. 
 
 " I'll fix him ! I'll fix him ! " said Toby. And he 
 seemed raised to the very summit of happiness on 
 discovering that there was something, requiring the 
 exercise of his ingenuity, still to be done for his 
 patient. 
 
 After that Penn slept a little. " Tank de good Lord," 
 said the old negro the next morning, " you're lookin' as 
 chirk as can be ! I'se a right smart hand fur to be 
 nussin' ob de sick ; and sakes ! how I likes it ! I'se 
 gwine to hab you well, sar, 'fore eber a soul knows 
 you'se in de house." Yet Toby's -words expressed a 
 great deal more confidence than he felt ; for, though he 
 had little apprehension of Penn's retreat being discov- 
 ered, he saw how weak and feverish he was, and feared 
 the necessity of sending for a doctor.
 
 TOBY'S PATIENT HAS A CALLER, 79 
 
 Penn now insisted strongly that the old servant should 
 not neglect his other duties for him. 
 
 " Now you jes' be easy in yer mind on dat pint ! 
 Dar's Carl, tends to out-door 'rangements, and I'se got 
 him larnt so's't he's bery good, bery good indeed, to 
 look arter my cow, and my pigs, and sech like chores, 
 when I'se got more 'portant tings on hand myself. And 
 dar's Miss Jinny, she's glad enough to git de breakfust 
 herself dis mornin' ; only jes' I kind o' keeps an eye on 
 her, so she shan't do nuffin wrong. She an' Massa 
 Villars come to 'quire bery partic'lar 'bout you, 'fore you 
 was awake, sar." 
 
 These simple words seemed to flood Penn's heart 
 with gratitude. Toby withdrew, but presently returned, 
 bringing a salver. 
 
 " Nuffin but a little broff, massa. And a toasted 
 cracker." 
 
 " O, you are too kind, Toby ! Really, I can't eat this 
 morning." 
 
 " Can't eat, sar ? I declar, now ! " (in a whisper), 
 " how disappinted she'll be ! " 
 
 " Who will be disappointed ? " 
 
 " Who ? Miss Jinny, to be sure ! She made de broff 
 wid her own hands. Under my d'rections, ob course ! 
 But she would make 'em herself, and took a heap ob 
 pains to hab 'em good, and put in de salt wid her 
 own purty fingers, and looked as rosy a stirrin' and 
 toastin ober de fire as eber you see an angel, sar ! "
 
 80 TOBY'S PATIENT HAS A CALLER. 
 
 For some reason Penn began to think better of the 
 broth, and, to Toby's infinite satisfaction, he consented 
 to eat a little. Toby soon had him bolstered up in bed, 
 and held the salver before him, and looked a perfect 
 picture of epicurean enjoyment, just from seeing his 
 patient eat. 
 
 " It is delicious ! " said Penn ; at which brief eulogium 
 the whole rich, exuberant, tropical soul of the unselfish 
 African seemed to expand and blossom forth with joy. 
 " I shall be sure to get well and strong soon, under such 
 treatment. You must let Carl go to Mrs. Sprowl's and 
 fetch my clothes ; I shall want some of them when 1 
 get up." 
 
 " Bress you, sar ! you forgets nobody ain't to know 
 whar you be ! Mass' Villars he say so. You jes' lef ' 
 de clo'es alone, yit awhile. Wouldn't hab dat ar Wid- 
 der Sprowl find out you'se in dis yer house, not if you'd 
 gib me " 
 
 Rap, rap, at the chamber door; two light, hurried 
 knocks. 
 
 " Miss Jinny herself ! " said old Toby, forgetting Mrs. 
 Sprowl in an instant. And setting down the salver, he 
 ran to the door. 
 
 Penn heard quick whispers of consultation ; then Toby 
 came back, his eyes rolling and his ivory shining with 
 a ludicrous expression of wrath and amazement. 
 
 " It's de bery ol' hag herself ! Speak de debil's name 
 and he's allus at de door ! "
 
 TOBY'S PATIENT HAS A CALLER. 81 
 
 "Who? Mrs. Sprowlr" 
 
 " Yes, sar ! and I wish she was furder, sar ! She's 
 a 'quirin' fur you, says she knows you'se in de house, 
 and it's bery 'portant she must see ye. But, tank de 
 Lord, massa ! " chuckled the old negro, " CaiTs forgot 
 his English, and don't know nuffin what she wants ! 
 he, he, he ! Or if she makes him und'stan' one ting, 
 den he talks Dutch, and she don't und'stan.' And so 
 dey'se habin' it, fust one, den tudder, while Miss Jinny 
 she hears 'em and comes fur to let us know. But 
 how de ol' critter eber found you out, dat am one ob 
 de mysteries ! " 
 
 " She merely guesses I am here," said Pcnn. " I'm 
 only afraid Carl will overdo his part, and confirm her 
 suspicions." 
 
 " 'Sh ! " hissed Toby in sudden alarm. " She's a 
 comin ! She's a comin' right up to dis yer door ! " 
 And he flew to fasten it. 
 
 He had scarcely done so when a hand tried the 
 latch, and a voice called, 
 
 " Come ! ye needn't, none of ye, try to impose on 
 me ! I knov/ you're in this very room, Pcnn Hap- 
 good, and you'll let me in, old friends so, I'm shore ! 
 I've bothered long enough with that stupid Dutch boy, 
 and now Virginny wants to keep me, and talk with me ; 
 but I've nothing to do with nobody in this house but 
 yon ! " 
 
 Mrs. Sprowl had not been on amicable terms with
 
 82 TOBY'S PATIENT HAS A CALLER. 
 
 her daughter-in-law's family since Salina and her hus- 
 band separated ; and this last declaration she made 
 loud enough for all in the house to hear. 
 
 Penn motioned for Toby to open the door, believing 
 it the better way to admit the lady and conciliate her. 
 But Toby shook his head and his fist with grim de- 
 fiance. 
 
 " Wai ! " said Mrs. Sprowl, " you can do as you 
 please about lettin' a body in; but I'll give ye to 
 understand one thing I don't stir a foot from this 
 door till it's opened. And if you want it kept secret 
 that you're here, it'll be a great deal better for you, 
 Penn Hapgood, to let me in, than to keep me standin' 
 or settin' all day on the stairs." 
 
 The idea of a long siege struck Toby with dismay. 
 He hesitated ; but Fenn spoke. 
 
 " I am very weak, and very ill, madam. But I have 
 learned what it is to be driven from a door that should 
 be opened to welcome me ; and I am not willing, under 
 any circumstances, to treat another as you last night 
 treated me." 
 
 This was spoken to the lady's face ; for Toby, seeing 
 that concealment was at an end, had slipped the bolt, 
 and she had come in. 
 
 " Wai ! now ! Mr. Hapgood ! " she began, with a 
 simper, which betrayed a little contrition and a good 
 deal of crafty selfishness, " you mustn't go to bein : 
 too hard on me for that. Consider that I'm a poor
 
 TOBY'S PATIENT HAS A CALLER 88 
 
 widder, and my life war threatened, and I had to do as 
 I did." 
 
 ' Well, well," said Penn, " I certainly forgive you. 
 Give her a chair, Toby." 
 
 Toby placed the chair, and widow Sprowl sat down. 
 
 "I couldn't be easy old friends so till I had 
 come over to see how you be," she said, folding her 
 hands, and regarding Penn with a solemn pucker of so- 
 licitude. " I know, 'twas a dreadful thing ; but it's some 
 comfort 'to think it's nothing I'm any ways to blame 
 fur. It's hard enough for me to lose a boarder, jest at 
 this time, say nothing about a friend that's been 
 jest like one of my own family, and that I've cooked, 
 and washed, and ironed fur, as if he war my own 
 son ! " 
 
 And Mrs. Sprowl wiped her eyes, while she carefully 
 watched the effect of her words. 
 
 " I acknowledge, you have cooked, washed, and 
 ironed for me very faithfully," said Penn. 
 
 "And I thought," said she, "old friends so, 
 may be you wouldn't mind making me a present of 
 the trifle you've paid over and above what's due for 
 your board ; for I'm a poor widder, as you know, and 
 my only son is a wanderer on the face of the 'arth." 
 
 Penn readily consented to make the present per- 
 haps reflecting that it would be equally impossible for 
 him ever to board it out, or get her to return the 
 money.
 
 84 TOUT'S PATIENT HA S A CALLER. 
 
 " Then there's that old cloak of yourn," said Mrs. 
 Sprowl, sympathizingly. " I believe you partly promised 
 it to me, didn't you ? I can manage to get me a cape 
 out on't." 
 
 " Yes, yes," said Penn, " you can have the cloak ; " 
 while Toby glared with rage behind her chair. 
 
 " And I considered 'twouldn't be no more'n fair that 
 
 you should pay for the I don't see how in the 
 
 world I can afford to lose it, bein' a poor widder, and 
 
 live geeses' feathers at that, and my only son " 
 
 She hid her face in her apron, overcome with emotion. 
 
 " What am I to pay for ? " asked Penn. 
 
 " Fur, you know," she said, " I never would have 
 parted with it fur any money, and it will take at 
 least ten dollars to replace it, which is hard, bein' a 
 poor widder, and as strong a linen tick as ever you 
 see, that I made myself, and that my blessed husband 
 died on, and helped me pick the geese with his own 
 hands ; and I never thought, Avhen I took you to 
 board, that ever that bed would be sacrificed by it, 
 for 'twas on your account, you are ware, it was took 
 last night and done for." 
 
 " And you think I ought to pay for the bed ! " 
 said Penn, as much astonished as if Silas Ropes had 
 sent in his bill, "To 1 coat tar & feathers, $10.00." 
 
 " They said I must look to you," whined the visitor ; 
 " and if you don't pay fur't, I don't know who will, 
 I'm shore ! for none of them have sot at my board,
 
 TOBY'S PATIENT HAS A CALLER. 85 
 
 and drinked of my coffee, and e't of my good corn 
 dodgers, and slep' in my best bed, alt for four dollars 
 fifty a week, washing and ironing throwed in, and a 
 poor widder at that ! " 
 
 " Mrs. Sprowl," said Pvjim, laughing, ill as he was, 
 " have the kindness not to tell any one that I am 
 here, and as soon as I am able to do so, I will pay 
 you for your excellent feather-bed." 
 
 "Thank you, very good in you, I'm shore!" said 
 the worthy creature, brightening. " And if there's any- 
 thing else among your things you can spare." 
 
 " I'll see ! I'll see ! " said Penn, wearily. " Leave 
 me now, do ! " 
 
 "But if you had a few dollars, this morning, towards 
 the bed," she insisted, " for my son " She al- 
 most betrayed herself; being about to say that Lysan- 
 der had arrived, and must have money ; but she coughed, 
 and added, in a changed voice, " is a wanderer on the 
 face of the 'arth." 
 
 Penn, however, reflecting that she would have more 
 encouragement to keep his secret if he held the reward 
 in reserve, replied, that he could not possibly spare 
 any money before collecting what was due him from 
 the trustees of the Academy. Her countenance fell 
 on hearing this ; and, reluctantly abandoning the object 
 of her mission, she took her leave, and went home to 
 her hopeful son.
 
 86 THE WIDOW'S GREEN CHEST. 
 
 X. 
 
 THE WIDOW'S ORE EN CHEST. 
 
 R. VILLARS kid spoken truly when he 
 said Perm's persecutors would not rest 
 here. In fact, Mr. Ropes, and three of 
 his accomplices, were even now on the way to Mrs. 
 Sprowl's abode, to make inquiries concerning the 
 schoolmaster. 
 
 That lone creature had scarcely reached her own 
 door when she saw them coming. Now, though 
 Penn was not in the house, her son was. Great, 
 therefore, was her trepidation at the sight of visitors ; 
 and she evinced such eagerness to assure them that 
 the object of their pursuit was not there, and ap- 
 peared altogether so frightened and guilty, that Ropes 
 winked knowingly at his companions, and said, 
 
 " He's here, boys, safe enough." 
 
 So they forced their way into the house ; her in- 
 creased tremor and confusion serving only to confirm 
 them in their suspicions.
 
 THE WIDOWS GREEN CHEST. 87 
 
 " Not that we doubt your word in the least, Mrs. 
 Sprowl,'' Ropes smiled sarcastically. " But of course 
 you can't object to our searching the premises, for 
 we're in the performance of a solemn dooty. Any 
 whiskey in the house, widder r " 
 
 The obliging lady went to find a bottle. She was 
 gone so long, however, that the visitors became impa- 
 tient. Ropes accordingly stationed two of his men 
 at the doors, and with the third went in pursuit of 
 Mrs. Sprowl, whom they met coming down stairs. 
 
 " Keep your liquor up there, do ye ? " said Ropes, 
 significantly. 
 
 "I I thought " Mrs. Sprowl gasped for breath 
 before she could proceed " the master had some in 
 his room. But I can't find it. You are at liberty to 
 to look in his room, if you wants to." 
 
 " Wai, it's our dooty to, I suppose. Meantime, you 
 can be bringing the whiskey. Give some to the 
 boys outside, then bring the bottle up to us. That's 
 the way, Gad," said Silas, as she unwillingly obeyed; 
 " allus be perlite . to the sex, ye know." 
 
 " Sartin ! allus ! " said Gad. 
 
 It was evident these men fancied themselves polite. 
 
 " But he ain't here," said Silas, just glancing into 
 Penn's room, " or else she wouldn't have been so 
 willing for us to search. Le's begin at the top of the 
 house, and look along down." They entered a low- 
 roofed, empty garret. " As we can't perceed without
 
 88 THIS WIDOW'S GREEN CHEST. 
 
 the whiskey, we'll wait here. Meantime, I'll tell you 
 what you wanted to know." 
 
 They sat down on a little old green chest, and 
 Ropes, producing a plug of tobacco, gave his friend a 
 bite, and took a bite himself. 
 
 " What I'm going to say is in perfect confidence, 
 between friends ; " chewing and crossing his legs. 
 
 Gad chewed, and crossed his legs, and said, " O, 
 of course ! in perfect confidence ! " 
 
 " Wai, then, I'll tell ye whar the money fur oui job 
 comes from. It comes from Gus Bythewood." 
 
 " Sho ! " said Gad, looking surprised at Silas. 
 
 *' Fact ! " said Silas, looking wise at Gad. 
 
 " But what's he so dead set agin' the master fur ? " 
 
 " I'll tell ye, Gad." And Mr. Ropes rested a finger 
 confidingly on his friend's knee. " Fur as I kin jedge, 
 Gus has a sneakin' notion arter that voungest Villars 
 gal ; Virginny, ye know." 
 
 " Don't blame him ! " chuckled Gad. 
 
 " But ye see, thar's that Hapgood ; he's a great favor- 
 yte with the Villarses, and Gus nat'rally wants to git him 
 out of the way. It won't do, though, for him to have it 
 known he has any thing to do with our operaticns. 
 He pays us, and backs us up with plenty of cash if 
 we get into trouble ; but he keeps dark, you under- 
 stand." 
 
 " The master ought to be hung for his abolitionism ! " 
 said Gad, by way of self-excuse for being made a jealous 
 man's tool.
 
 THE WIDOW'S GREEN CHEST, 89 
 
 " That ar's jest my sentiment," replied Silas. " But 
 then he's allus been a peaceable sort of chap, and held 
 his tongue ; so he might have oeen let alone some time 
 yet, if it hadn't been for - - What in time ! " 
 
 Ropes started, and changed color, glancing first at Gad, 
 then down at the chest. 
 
 " He's in it ! " whispered Gad. 
 
 Both jumped vip, and, facing about, looked at tne 
 green lid, and at each other. 
 
 The chest was so small it had not occurred to them 
 that a man could get into it. Lysander had got into it, 
 however, and there he lay, so cramped, and stifled, and 
 compressed, that he could not endure the torture without 
 an effort to ease it by moving a little. He had stirred ; 
 then all was still again. 
 
 " Think he's heerd us ?" said Silas. 
 
 " Must have heerd something," said Gad. 
 
 " Then he's as good as a dead man ! " 
 
 Silas drew his pistol, resolved to sacrifice the school- 
 master on the altar of secrecy. But as he was about to 
 fire into the chest at a venture (for your cowardly assas- 
 sin does not like to face his victim), the lid flew open, 
 the chivalry stepped hastily back, and up rose out of the 
 chest not the schoolmaster, but Lysander Sprowl. 
 
 Silas had struck his head, against a rafter, and was 
 quite bewildered for a moment by the shock, the multi- 
 tude cf meteors that rushed across his firmament, and the 
 sudden apparition. Gad, at the same time, stood read) 
 8*
 
 90 THE WIDOW'S OREEN CHEST. 
 
 to take a plunge down the stairs in case the schoolmaster 
 should show fight. 
 
 " Gentlemen," said the " wanderer on the face of the 
 'arth,'' straightening his limbs, and saluting with a reck- 
 less air, " I hope I see ye well. Never mind about 
 shooting an old friend, Sile Ropes. I reckon we're 
 about even ; and I'll keep your secret, if you'll keep 
 mine." 
 
 " That's fair," said Ropes, recovering from the falling 
 stars, and putting up his weapon. " Lysander, how are 
 ye ? Good joke, ain't it ? " And they shook hands all 
 around. " But whar's the schoolmaster : " And Silas 
 rubbed his head. 
 
 " I know all about the schoolmaster," said Lysander, 
 stepping out of the chest ; " he ain't in this house, but I 
 know just where he is. And I reckon 'twill be for the 
 interest of me and Gus Bythewood if we can have a little 
 talk together, tell him. If he's got money to spare, 
 that'll be to my advantage ; and what I know will be U 
 his advantage." 
 
 So saying, Lysander closed the chest, and coolly 
 invited the chivalry to resume their seats. They did 
 so, much to the amazement of Mrs. Sprowl, who came 
 up stairs with the whiskey, and found the " wanderer on 
 the face of the 'arth " conversing in the most amicable 
 manner with Gad and Silas.
 
 SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY. 91 
 
 XI. 
 
 SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY. 
 
 F what Silas Ropes had said of his patron, 
 Augustus Kythewood, was true, great must 
 have been the chagrin of that chivalrous 
 young gentleman when an interview was brought about 
 between him and Lysander, and he learned that Penn, 
 instead of being driven from the state, had found refuge 
 in the family of Mr. Villars that he was there even 
 at the moment when he made his delightful little even- 
 ing call, and was entertained so charmingly by Virginia. 
 
 Bythewood gave Sprowl money, and Sprowl gave Bythe- 
 wood information and advice. It was in accordance with 
 the programme decided upon by these two worthies, that 
 Mr. Ropes at the head of his gang presented himself the 
 next night at Mr. Villars' s door. 
 
 Virginia, by her father's direction, admitted them. 
 They crowded into the sitting-room, where the old man 
 rose to receive them, with his usual urbanity. 
 
 " Virginia, have chairs brought for all our friends. I
 
 92 SOUTHERN HOSPJTALITf. 
 
 cannot see to recognize them individually, but I salute 
 them all." 
 
 " Xo matter about the cheers," said Silas. " We can 
 do our business standing. Sorry to trouble you with it, 
 sir, but it's jest this. We understand you're harboring a 
 Yankee abolitionist, and we've called to remind you that 
 sech things can't be allowed in a well-regulated com- 
 munity." 
 
 The old man, holding himself still erect with punctil- 
 ious politeness, for his guests were not seated, and 
 smiling with grand and venerable aspect, made reply in 
 tones full of dignity and sweetness : " My friends, I am 
 an old man ; I am a native of Virginia, and a citizen of 
 Tennessee ; and all my life long I have been accustomed 
 to regard the laws of hospitality as sacred." 
 
 " My sentiments exactly. I won't hear a word said 
 agin' southern horsepitality, or southern perliteness." Mr. 
 Ropes illustrated his remark by spitting copious tobacco- 
 juice on the floor. " Horsepitality I look upon as one of 
 the stable institootions of our country." 
 
 " No doubt it is so," said Mr. Villars, smiling at the 
 unintentional pun. 
 
 " That's one thing," added Silas ; " but harboring a 
 abolitionist is another. That's the question we've jest 
 took the liberty to call and have a little quiet talk about, 
 to-night." 
 
 " Sit down, dear father, do ! " entreated Virginia, re- 
 maining at his side in spite of her dread and abhorrence
 
 SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY. 98 
 
 of these men. Holding his hand, and regarding him 
 with pale and anxious looks, she endeavored with gentle 
 force to get him into his chair. " My father is very 
 feeble," she said, appealing to Silas, " and I beg you 
 will have some consideration for him." 
 
 " Sartin, sartin," said Silas. " Keep yer settin', keep 
 yer settin', Mr. Villars." 
 
 But the old man still remained upon his feet, his 
 tall, spare form, bent with age, his long, thin locks of 
 white hair, and his wan, sightless, calm, and beautiful 
 countenance presenting a wonderful contrast to the bloom- 
 ing figure at his side. It was a picture which might 
 well command the respectful attention of Silas and his 
 compeers. 
 
 " My friends," he said, with a grave smile, " we men 
 of the south are rather boastful of our hospitality. But 
 true hospitality consists in something besides eating and 
 drinking with those whose companionship is a sufficient 
 recompense for all that we do for them. It clothes the 
 naked, feeds the hungry, shelters the distressed. With 
 the Arabs, even an. enemy is sacred who happens to be 
 a guest. Shall an old Virginian think less of the honor 
 of his house than an Arab ? " 
 
 Silas looked abashed, silenced for a moment by these 
 noble words, and the venerable and majestic mien of 
 the blind old clergyman. It would not do, however, to 
 give up his mission so ; and after coughing, turning his 
 quid, and spitting again, he replied, --
 
 94 BOUTBEBy HOSPITALITY. 
 
 " That'll do very well to talk, Mr. Villars. But come 
 to the pint. You've got a Yankee abolitionist in your 
 house that you won't deny." 
 
 " I have in my house," said the old man, " a person 
 whose life is in danger from injuries received at your 
 hands last night. He came to us in a condition which, 
 I should have thought, would excite the pity of the 
 hardest heart. Whether or not he is a Yankee aboli- 
 tionist, I never inquired. It was enough for me that he 
 was a fellow-creature in distress. He is well known in 
 this community, where he has never been guilty of 
 wrong towards any one ; and, even if he were a danger- 
 ous person, he is not now in a condition to do mischief. 
 Gentlemen, my guest is very ill with a fever." 
 
 " Can't help that ; you must git red of him," said 
 Silas. " I'm a talking now for your own good as much 
 as any body's, Mr. Villars. You're a man we all respect ; 
 but already you've made yourself a object of suspicion, 
 by standing up fur the old rotten Union." 
 
 " When I can no longer befriend my guests, or stand 
 np for my country, then I shall have lived long enough ! " 
 laid the old man, with impressive earnestness. 
 
 " The old Union," said Gad, coming to the aid of Silas, 
 " is played out. We couldn't have our rights, and so we 
 secede." 
 
 " What rights couldn't you have under th 
 left to us by Washington ? " 
 
 " That had become corrupted," said Mr. l
 
 SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY. 95 
 
 ** How corrupted, my friend ? " 
 " By the infernal anti-slavery element ! " 
 " You forget," said Mr. Villars, " that Washington, 
 Jefferson, and indeed all the wisest and best men who 
 assisted to frame the government under which we have 
 been so prospered, were anti-slavery men." 
 
 " Wai, I know, some on 'em hadn't got enlightened 
 on the subject," Mr. Ropes admitted. 
 
 " And do you know that if a stranger, endowed with 
 all the virtues of those patriots, should come among 
 you and preach the political doctrines of Washington 
 and Jefferson, you would serve him as you served Penn 
 Hapgood last night ? " 
 
 " Shouldn't wonder the least mite if we should ! " 
 Silas grinned. " But that's nothing to the purpose. 
 We claim the right to carry our slaves into the territo- 
 ries, and Lincoln's party is pledged to keep 'em out, 
 and that's cause enough for secession." 
 
 " How many slaves do you own, Mr Ropes ? " Mr. 
 Villars, still leaning on his daughter's arm, smiled as he 
 put this mild question. 
 
 " I wal truth is, I don't own nary slave myself 
 wish I did ! " said Silas. 
 
 " How many friends have you with you ? " 
 
 " 'Lev'n," said Gad, rapidly counting his companions 
 
 " Well, of the eleven, how many own slaves ? " 
 
 " I do ! " "I do ! " spoke up two eager voices. 
 
 " How many slaves do you own ? "
 
 96 SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY. 
 
 " I've got as right smart a little nigger boy as there is 
 anywheres in Tennessee ! " said the first, proudly. 
 
 " How old is he ? " 
 
 " He'll be nine year' old next grass, I reckon." 
 
 " Well, how many negroes has your friend ? " 
 
 " I've got one old woman, sir." 
 
 " How old is she ? " 
 
 " Wai, plaguy nigh a hunderd, old Bess, you know 
 her." 
 
 " Yes, I know old Bess ; and an excellent creature she 
 is. So it seems that you eleven men own two slaves. 
 And these you wish to take into some of the territories, 
 I suppose." 
 
 The men looked foolish, and were obliged to own that 
 they had never dreamed of conveying either the nine-year- 
 old lad or the female centenarian out of the state of Ten- 
 nessee. 
 
 " Then what is the grievance you complain of ? " 
 asked the old man. They could not name any. " O, 
 now, my friends, look you here ! I believe in the right 
 of revolution when a government oppresses a people 
 beyond endurance. But in this case it appears, by your 
 own showing, that not one of you has suffered any wrong, 
 and that this is not a revolution in behalf of the poor 
 and oppressed. If anybody is to be benefited by it, it 
 is a few rich owners of slaves, who are prosperous enough 
 already, and have really no cause of complaint. It is a 
 revolution precipitated by political leaders, who wish to
 
 SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY. 97 
 
 be rulers ; and what grieves me at the heart is, that the 
 poor and ignorant are thus permitting themselves to be 
 made the tools of this tyranny, which will soon prove 
 more despotic than it was possible for the dear old gov- 
 ernment ever to become. God bless my country ! God 
 bless my poor distracted country ! " 
 
 As he finished speaking, the old man sank down over- 
 come with emotion upon his chair, clasping his daughter's 
 hand, while tears ran down his cheeks. 
 
 His argument was so unanswerable that nothing was 
 left for Silas but to get angry. 
 
 " I see you're not only a Unionist, but more'n half a 
 Yankee abolitionist yourself! We didn't come here to 
 listen to any sech incendiary talk. Kick out the school- 
 master, if you wouldn't git into trouble, I warn you ! 
 That's the business we've come to see to, and you must 
 tend to't." 
 
 " Pity him spare him ! " cried Virginia, shielding 
 her aged father as Ropes approached him. " He cannot 
 turn a sick man out of his house, you know he cannot ! " 
 
 "You're partic'larly interested in the young man, hey?" 
 said Ropes, grinning insolently. 
 
 " I am interested that no harm comes either to my 
 father or to his guests," said the girl. " Go, I implore 
 you ! As soon as Mr. Hapgood is able to leave us, he 
 will do so, he will have no wish to stay, this I 
 promise you." 
 
 " !'>' give him three days to quit the country,'* said 
 9
 
 98 SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY. 
 
 Silas. " Only three days. He'd better be dead than 
 found here at the end of that time. Gentlemen, we've 
 performed this yer painful dooty; now le's adjourn to 
 Barber Jim's and take a drink." 
 
 With these words Mr. Ropes retired. While, how- 
 ever, he was treating his men to whiskey and cigars with 
 Augustus Bythewood's money, advanced for the purpose, 
 one of the eleven, separating himself from the rest, hur- 
 ried back to the minister's house. He had taken part 
 in the patriotic proceedings of his friends with great 
 reluctance, as appeared from the manner in which he 
 shrank from view in corners and behind the backs of his 
 comrades, and drew down his woe-begone mouth, and 
 rolled up his dismal eyes, during the entire interview. 
 And he had returned now, at the risk of his life, to do 
 Penn a service. 
 
 He crept to the kitchen door, and knocked softly. 
 Carl opened it. There stood the wretched figure, ter- 
 rified, panting for breath. 
 
 "Vat is it?" said Carl. 
 
 " I've come fur to tell ye ! " said the man, glancing 
 timidly around into the darkness to see if he was fol- 
 lowed. " They mean to kill him ! They told you they 'd 
 give him three days, but they won't. I heard them say- 
 ing so among themselves. They may be back this very 
 night, for they '11 all git drunk, and nothing will stop 'em 
 then." 
 
 Carl stared, as these hoarsely whispered words were
 
 SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY. 99 
 
 poured forth rapidly by the frightened man at the 
 door. 
 
 " Come in, and shpeak to Mishter Willars." 
 
 " No, no ! I'll be killed if I'm found here ! " 
 
 But Carl, sturdy and resolute, had no idea of per- 
 mitting him to deliver so hasty and alarming a message 
 without subjecting him to a cross-examination. He had 
 already got him by the collar, and now he dragged him 
 into the house, the man not daring to resist for fear of 
 outcry and exposure. 
 
 " What is it ? " asked Mr. Villars. 
 
 " A wisitor ! " said Carl. And he repeated Dan's 
 statement, while Dan was recovei'ing his breath. 
 
 " Is this true, Mr. Pepperill ? " asked the old man, 
 deeply concerned. 
 
 " Yes, I be durned if it ain't ! " said Dan. 
 
 Virginia clung to her father's chair, white with 
 apprehension. Toby was also present, having left his 
 patient an instant to run down stairs, and learn what was 
 the cause of this fresh disturbance. 
 
 " He's a lyin' to ye, Mass' Villars ; he's a lyin' to 
 ye ! White trash can't tell de troof if dey tries ! Don't 
 ye breeve a word he says, massa." 
 
 Yet it was evident from the consternation the old 
 negro's face betrayed that lie believed Dan's story, 
 or at least feared it would prove true if he did not make 
 haste and deny it stoutly ; for Toby, like many persons 
 with whiter skins, always felt on such occasions a vague
 
 100 SOUTHERN HOSPI1ALITX 
 
 faith that if he could get the bad news sufficiently 
 denounced and discredited in season, all would be well. 
 As if simply setting our minds against the truth would 
 de-feat it! 
 
 " But they spoke of fittin' yer neck to a noose too ! " 
 
 " Mine r Ah, if nobody but myself was in danger, I 
 should be well content ! What do you think we ought 
 to do, Mr. Pepperill ? " 
 
 " The master has done me a good turn, and I'll do 
 him one, if I swing fur't ! " said Dan, straightening 
 himself with sudden courage. " Get him out 'fore they 
 suspect what you're at, and I'll take him to my house 
 and hide him, I be durned if I won't ! " 
 
 " It is a kind offer, and I thank you," said the old 
 man. " But how can I resolve to send a guest from 
 my house in this way ? Not to save my own life 
 would I do it ! " 
 
 " But to save his, father ! " 
 
 " It is only of him I am thinking, my child. Would 
 it be safe to move him, Toby : " 
 
 " Safe to move Massa Penn ! " ejaculated the old 
 negro, choking with wrath and grief. " Neber tink 
 o' sech a ting, massa ! He'd die, shore, widout I 
 should go 'long wid him, and tote him in my ol' arms 
 on a fedder-bed jes' like I would a leetle baby, and 
 den stay and nuss him arter I got him dar. For dem 
 'ar white trash, what ye s'pose day knows 'bout takin' 
 keer ob a sick gemman like him ? It's a bery 'tic'lai
 
 bOU'X'ITERN HOSPITALITY. 101 
 
 case. He's got de delirimum a comin' on him now, 
 and I can't be & r .vay from him a minute. I mus' go 
 back to him dis bery minute ! " 
 
 And Toby departed, having suddenly conceived an 
 idea of his own for hiding Penn in the barn until the 
 danger was over. 
 
 He had been absent from the room but a moment, 
 however, when those remaining in it heard a wild out- 
 cry, and presently the old negro reappeared, inspired 
 with superstitious terror, his eyes starting from their 
 sockets, his tongue paralyzed. 
 
 " What's the matter, Toby ? " cried Virginia, per- 
 ceiving that something really alarming had happened. 
 
 The negro tried to speak, but his throat only gurgled 
 incoherently, while the whites of his eyes kept rolling 
 up like saucers. 
 
 " Penn has anything happened to Penn ? " said 
 Mr. Villars. 
 
 " O, debil, debil, Lord bress us ! " gibbered Toby. 
 
 " Dead ? " cried Virginia. 
 
 " Gone ! gone, missis ! " 
 
 Struck with consternation, but refusing to believe the 
 words of the bewildered black, Virginia flew to the sick 
 man's chamber. 
 
 Then she understood the full meaning of Toby's words. 
 Penn was not in his bed, nor in the room, nor anywhere 
 in the house. He had disappeared suddenly, strangely, 
 totally. 
 
 9*
 
 102 CHIVALROUS PROCEEDINGS. 
 
 XII. 
 
 CHIVALR US PE GEE DINGS. 
 
 HUS the question of what should be done 
 with his guest, which Mr. Yillars knew not 
 how to decide, had been decided for him. 
 
 Great was the mystery. There was the bed precisely 
 as Penn had left it a minute since. There was the candle 
 dimly burning. The medicines remained just where Toby 
 had placed them, on the table under the mirror. But the 
 patient had vanished. 
 
 What had become of him ? It was believed that he 
 was too ill to leave his bed without assistance. And, 
 even though he had been strong, it was by no means 
 probable that one so uniformly discreet in his conduct, 
 and ever so regardful of the feelings of others, would 
 have quitted the house in this abrupt and inexplicable 
 manner. 
 
 In vain the premises were searched. Not a trace of 
 him could be anywhere discovered. Neither were there 
 any indications of a struggle. Yet it was Toby's firm
 
 CHIVALROUS PROCEEDINGS. 103 
 
 conviction that the ruffians had entered the house, and 
 seized him ; that Pcpperill was in the plot, the object of 
 whose visit was merely a diversion, while Eopes and the 
 rest accomplished the abduction. This could not, of 
 course, have been done without the aid of magic and 
 the devil ; but Toby believed in magic and the devil. 
 The fact that Dan had taken advantage of the confusion 
 to escape, appeared to the Ethiopian mind conclusive. 
 
 Nor was the negro alone in his bewilderment. Carl 
 was utterly confounded. The old clergyman, usually 
 so calm, was deeply troubled ; Avhile Virginia herself, 
 pierced with the keenest solicitude, could scarce keep 
 her mind free from horrible and superstitious doubts. 
 The doors between the sitting-room and back stairs were 
 all wide open, and it seemed impossible that any one 
 could have come in or gone out that way without being 
 observed. On the other hand, to have reached the front 
 stairs Penn must have passed through Salina's room. 
 But Salina, who was in her room at the time, averred 
 that she had not been disturbed, even by a sound. 
 
 " He has got out the vinder," said Carl. But the 
 window was fifteen feet from the ground. 
 
 Thus all reasonable conjecture failed, and it seemed 
 necessary to accept Toby's theory of the ruffians, magic, 
 and the devil. Only one thing was certain: Penn was 
 gone. And, as if to add to the extreme and painful per- 
 plexity of his friends, the clothes, which had been 
 stripped from him by the lynchers, which he had brought
 
 104 CHIVALROUS PROCEEDINGS. 
 
 away in his hands, and which had been hung up in 
 his room by Toby, were left hanging there still, un- 
 touched. 
 
 The family had not recovered from the dismay his dis- 
 appearance occasioned, when they had cause to rejoice 
 that he was gone. Ropes and his crew returned, as Pep- 
 perill had predicted. They were intoxicated and blood- 
 thirsty. They had brought a rope, with which to hang 
 their victim before the old clergyman's door. They were 
 furious on finding he had eluded them, and searched the 
 house with oaths and uproar. Virginia, on her knees, 
 clung to her father, praying that he might not be harmed, 
 and that Penn, whom all had been so anxious just now to 
 find, might be safe from discovery. 
 
 Exasperated by their unsuccessful search, the villains 
 hesitated about laying violent hands on the blind old 
 man, and concluded to wreak their vengeance on Toby. 
 That he was a freed negro, was alone a sufficient offence 
 in their eyes to merit a whipping. But he had done 
 more ; he had been devoted to the schoolmaster, and 
 they believed he had concealed him. So they seized 
 him, dragged him from the house, bared his back, and 
 tied him to a tree. 
 
 As long as the mob had confined itself to searching 
 the premises, Mr. Villars had held his peace. But the 
 moment his faithful old servant was in danger, he roused 
 himself. He rushed to the door, bareheaded, his white 
 hair flowing, his staff in his hand. Both his children
 
 CHIVALROUS PROCEEDINGS. 105 
 
 accompanied him, Salina, who was really not void of 
 affection, appearing scarcely less anxious and indignant 
 than her sister. 
 
 There, in the light of a wood-pile to which fire had 
 been set, stood the old negro, naked to the waist, lashed 
 fast to the trunk, writhing with pain and terror ; his bru- 
 tal tormentors grouped around him in the glare of the 
 flames, preparing, with laughter, oaths, and much loose, 
 leisurely swaggering, to flay his flesh with rods. 
 
 " My friends ! " cried the old clergyman, with an 
 energy that startled them, " what are you about to do ? " 
 
 " We're gwine to sarve this nigger," said the man Gad, 
 " jest as every free nigger ? 11 git sarved that's found in the 
 state three months from now." 
 
 " Free niggers is a nuisance," added Ropes, now very 
 drunk, and very much inclined to make a speech on a 
 barrel which his friends rolled out for him. " A nui- 
 sance ! " he repeated, with a hiccough, steadying himself 
 on his rostrum by holding a branch of the tree. " And 
 let me say to you, feller-patriots, that one of the glorious 
 fruits of secession is, that every free nigger in the state 
 will either be sold for a slave, or druv out, or hung up. 
 I tell you, gentlemen, we're a goin' to have our own 
 way in these matters, spite of all the ministers in 
 creation ! " 
 
 The men cheered, and one of them struck Toby a 
 couple of preliminary blows, just to try his hand, and to 
 add the poor old negro's howls to the chorus.
 
 106 CHIVALROUS PROCEEDINGS. 
 
 " No doubt," the old clergyman's vuice rose above 
 the tumult, " you will have your way for a season. 
 You will commit injustice with a high hand. You will 
 glut your cruelty upon the defenceless and oppressed. 
 But, as there is a God in heaven," he lifted up his 
 blind white face, and with his trembling hands shook 
 his staff on high, like a prophet foretelling woe, " as 
 there rs a God of justice and mercy who beholds this 
 wickedness, just so sure the hour of your retribution 
 will come ! so sure the treason you are breathing, and 
 the despotism you are inaugurating, will prove a snare 
 and a destruction to yourselves ! Unbind that man ! 
 leave my house in peace ! go home, and learn to prac- 
 tise a little of the mercy of which you will yourselves 
 soon stand in need." His venerable aspect, and the 
 power and authority of his words, awed even that 
 drunken crew. But Silas, vain of his oratorical pow- 
 ers, was enraged that anybody should dispute his influ- 
 ence with the crowd. Holding the branch with one 
 hand, and gesticulating violently with the other, he 
 exclaimed, 
 
 " Who is boss here ? Who ye goin' to mind ? thai 
 old traitor, or me r I say, lick the nigger ! We're a 
 goin' to have our way now, and we're a goin' to have 
 our way to the end of the 'arth, sure as I am a gentle- 
 man standing on this yer barrel ! " 
 
 To emphasize his declaration, he stamped with his 
 foot ; the head of the cask flew in, and down went ora-
 
 CHIVALROUS PROCEEDINGS. 107 
 
 tor, cask, and all, in a fashion rendered all the more 
 ridiculous by the climax of oratory it illustrated. 
 
 " Just so sure will your hollow and inhuman schemes 
 fail from under your feet ! " exclaimed Mr. Villars, as 
 soon as he learned what had happened. " So surely and 
 so suddenly will you fall." 
 
 This incident occurred as Toby's flogging was about 
 to begin in earnest. Virginia had instinctively covered 
 her eyes to shut out the terrible sight, her ears to shut 
 out the sounds of the beating and the poor old fellow's 
 groans. Luckily, Silas had fallen partly in the barrel, 
 and partly across the sharp edge of it, and being too 
 tipsy to help himself, had been seriously hurt, and was 
 now helpless. The ruffians hastened to extricate him, and 
 raise him up. Carl, who, with an open knife concealed 
 in his sleeve, had been waiting for an opportunity, darted 
 at the tree, cut the negro's bonds in a twinkling, and set 
 him free. 
 
 Both took to their heels without an instant's delay. 
 But the trick was discovered. They were pursued imme- 
 diately. Carl was lively on his legs, as we know ; but 
 poor old Toby, never a good runner, and now stiff and 
 decrepit with age, M'as no match even for the slowest of 
 their pursuers. 
 
 They ran straight into the orchard, hoping to lose 
 themselves among the shadows. The glare of the burn- 
 ing wood-pile flickered but faintly and unsteadily among 
 *he trees. Carl might easily have escaped ; but he
 
 108 CHIVALROUS PROCEEDINGS. 
 
 thought only of Toby, and kept faithfully at his side, 
 assisting him, urging him. v A fence was near if they 
 could only reach that ! But Toby was wheezing terribly, 
 and the hand of the foremost ruffian was already extended 
 to seize him. 
 
 " Jump the vence over ! " was Carl's parting injunc- 
 tion to the old negro, who made a last desperate effort to 
 accomplish the feat ; while Carl, turning sharp about, 
 tripped the foot of him of the extended hand, and sent 
 him headlong. The second pursuer he grappled, and 
 both rolled upon the ground together. 
 
 Favored by this diversion, Toby reached the fence, 
 climbed it, and without looking how, he leaped, jumped 
 down upon a human figure, stretched there upon the 
 ground ! 
 
 Notwithstanding his own danger, Toby thought of his 
 patient, and stopped. 
 
 " Is it you, massa ? " 
 
 The man rose slowly to his feet. It was not Penn ; it 
 was, on the contrary, the worst of Penn's enemies, who 
 had stationed himself here, in order to observe, unseen, 
 and from a safe distance, the operations of Silas Ropes 
 and his band of patriots. 
 
 " O, Massa Bythewood ! " ejaculated Toby, inspired 
 with sudden joy and hope ; " help a poor old niggah ! 
 Help ! De Villarses will remember it ob ye de longest 
 day you live, if you on'y will." 
 
 "Why, what's the matter, Toby?" said Augustus,
 
 CHIVALROUS PROCEEDINGS. 109 
 
 full of rage at having been thus discovered, yet assuming 
 a gracious and patronizing manner. 
 
 Toby did not make a very coherent reply ; but proba- 
 bly the young gentleman was already sufficiently aware of 
 what was going on. He had no especial regard for 
 Toby, yet his credit with Virginia and her father was to 
 be sustained. And so Toby was saved. 
 
 Augustus met and rebuked his pursuers, released Carl, 
 who was suffering at the hands of his antagonist, and led 
 the way back to the house. There he expressed to Mr. 
 Villars and his daughters the utmost regret and indigna- 
 tion for what had occurred, and took Mr. Ropes aside to 
 remonstrate with him for such violent proceedings. His 
 influence over that fallen orator was extraordinary. 
 Hopes excused himself on the plea of his patriotic zeal, 
 and called off his men. 
 
 " How fortunate," said Augustus, conducting the old 
 man, with an excessive show of deference and politeness, 
 back into the sitting-room, " how extremely fortunate 
 that I happened to be walking this way ! I trust no seri- 
 ous harm has been done, my dear Virginia ? " 
 
 Bythewood no doubt thought himself entitled to use 
 this affectionate term, after the sendee he had rendered 
 the family. 
 
 After he was gone, Toby, having recovered from his 
 fright and the fatigue of running, and got his clothes on 
 again, rushed into the presence of his master and the 
 young ladies. 
 
 10
 
 110 CHIVALROUS PROCEEDINGS. 
 
 " I've seed Mass' Penn ! " he said. " Arter Byth- 
 wood done got up from under de fence whar I jumped 
 on him, I seed anoder man a crawlin' away on his hands 
 and knees jest a little ways off. 'Twas Mass' Penn ! I 
 know 'twas Mass' Penn." 
 
 But Toby was mistaken. Tne second figure he had 
 seen was Mr. Lysander Sprowl, now the confidential 
 adviser and secret companion of Augustus.
 
 THE OLD CLERGYMAN'S FIGHTGOWN. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 THE OLD CLERGYMAN'S NI(r?r3^WN HAS 
 AN ADVENTURE. 
 
 HERE, then, all this time, was Penu ? 
 He was himself almost as profound 5 y ig- 
 norant on that subject as anybody. For two 
 ^r three hours he had been lost to himself no less than 
 to his friends. 
 
 When he recovered his consciousness he found that he 
 was -lying on the ground, in the open air, in what seemed 
 a barren field, covered with rocks and stunted shrubs. 
 
 How he came there he did not know. He had nothing 
 >n but his night-dress, a loan from the old clergyman, 
 ^-besides a blanket wrapped about him. His feet wer 
 bare, and he now perceived that they were pavnfult 
 aching. 
 
 Almost too weak to lift a hand to his head, he yet trierf 
 to sit up and look around him. All was darkness ; not a 
 sign of human habitation, not a twinkling light was vis- 
 ible. The cold night wind swept over him, sighing
 
 112 THE OLD CLERGYMAN'S NIGHTGOWN. 
 
 drearily among the leafless bushes. Chilled, shivering, 
 his temples throbbing, his brain sick and giddy, he sat 
 down again upon the rocks, so ill and suffering that he 
 could scarcely feel astonishment at his situation, or care 
 whether he lived or died. 
 
 Where had he been during those hours of oblivion : 
 He seemed to have slept, and to have had terrible dreams. 
 Could he have remembered these dreams, it seemed to 
 him that the whole mystery of his removal to this des- 
 olate spot would be explained. And he knew that it 
 required but an effort of his will to remember them. Bat 
 his soul was too weak : he could not make the effort. 
 
 To get upon his feet and walk was impossible. What, 
 then, was left him but to perish here, alone, uncared for, 
 unconsoled by a word of love from any human being: 
 Death he would have welcomed as a relief from his suf- 
 ferings. Yet when he thought of his home far away, in 
 the peaceful community of Friends, of his parents anc 
 sisters now anxiously expecting his return, and again 
 when he remembered the hospitable roof under which he 
 lay, so tenderly nursed, but a little while ago, and though' 
 of the blind old clergyman, of Virginia fresh as a rose, 
 of kind-hearted Carl, and the affectionate old negro, he 
 was stung with the desire to live, and he called feebly, 
 
 "Toby! Toby!" 
 
 Was his cry heard ? Surely, there were footsteps on 
 the rocks ! And was not that a human form moving 
 dimly between him and the sky ? It passed on, and was
 
 THE OLD CLERGYMAN'S NIGHTGOWN. 113 
 
 lost in the shadows of the pines. Was it some animal, 
 or only a phantom of his feverish brain ? 
 
 " Toby ! " he called again, exerting all his force. But 
 only the wailing wind answered him, and, overcome by 
 the effort, he sunk into a swoon. In that swoon it seemed 
 to him that Toby had heard his voice, and that he canu 
 to him. Hands, gentle human hands, groped on him, 
 felt the blanket, felt his bare feet, and his head, pillowed 
 on stones. Then there seemed to be two Tobys, one 
 good and the other evil, holding a strange consultation 
 over him, which he heard as in a dream. 
 
 " We can't leave him dying here ! " said the good 
 Toby. 
 
 " What dat to me, if him die, or whar him die ? " said 
 the other Toby. " Straight har ! " He seemed to be 
 feeling Penn's locks, in order to ascertain to which race 
 he belonged. " Dat's nuff fur me ! Lef him be, I tell 
 ye, and come 'long ! " 
 
 " Straight hair or curly, it's all the same," said Toby 
 the Good. " Take hold here ; we must save him ! " 
 
 " Hyah-yah ! ye don't cotch dis niggah ! " chuckled 
 Toby the Bad, maliciously. " Nuff more ob his kind, in 
 all conscience ! Reckon we kin spar' much as one ! 
 Hyah-yah ! " 
 
 Something like a quarrel ensued, the result of which 
 
 was, that Toby the Good finally prevailed upon Toby the 
 
 Malevolent to assist him. Then Penn was dreamily 
 
 aware of being lifted in the strong arms of this double 
 
 10*
 
 114 THE OLD CLERGYMAN'S NIGHTGOWN. 
 
 individual, and borne away, over rocks, and among thick- 
 ets, along the mountain side ; until even this misty ray 
 of consciousness deserted him, and he fell into a stupor 
 like death. 
 
 And what was this he saw on awaking ? Had he 
 really died, and was this unearthly place a^ vestibule of 
 the infernal regions ? Days and nights of anguish, burn- 
 ing, and delirium, relieved at intervals by the same 
 death-like stupor, had passed over him ; and here he 
 lay at length, exhausted, the terrible fever conquered, 
 and his soul looking feebly forth arid taking note of 
 things. 
 
 And strange enough things appeared to him ! He was 
 in an apartment of prodigious and uncouth architecture, 
 dimly lighted from one side by some opening invisible to 
 him, and by a blazing fire in a little fireplace built on 
 the broad stone floor. The fireplace was without chim- 
 ney, but a steady draught of air, from the side where the 
 opening seemed to be, swept the smoke away into sombre 
 recesses, where it mingled with the shadows of the place, 
 and was lost in gloom which even the glare of the flames 
 failed to illumine. 
 
 J3uch a cavernous room Penn seemed to have seen in 
 his dreams. The same irregular, rocky roof started up 
 from the wall by his bed, and stretched away into vague 
 and obscure distance. All was familiar to him, but all 
 was somehow mixed up with frightful fantasies which had 
 vanished with the fever that had so recently left him.
 
 THE OLD CLERGYMAN'S NIGHTGOWN. 115 
 
 The awful shapes, the struggles of demoniac men, the 
 processions of strange and beautiful forms, which had 
 visited him in his delirious visions, all these were airy 
 nothings ; but the cave was real. 
 
 Here he lay, on a rude bed constructed of four logs, 
 forming the ends and sides, with canvas stretched across 
 them, and secured with nails. Under him was a mat- 
 tress of moss, over him a blanket like that which he re- 
 membered to have had wrapped about him last night 
 in the field. 
 
 Last night ! Poor Penn was deeply perplexed when 
 he endeavored to remember whether his mysterious 
 awaking in the open air occurred last night, or many 
 nights ago. He moved his head feebly to look for Toby. 
 Which Toby ? for all through his sufferings the same two 
 Tobys, one good and the other evil, who had taken him 
 from the field, had appeared still to attend him, and 
 he now more than half expected to see the faithful old 
 negro duplicated, and waiting upon him with two bodies 
 and four hands. 
 
 But neither the better nor even the worse half of that 
 double being was near him now. Penn was alone, in 
 that subterranean solitude. There burned the fire, the 
 shadows flickered, the smoke floated away into the 
 depths of the dark cavern, in such loneliness and silence 
 as he had never experienced before. He would have 
 thought himself in some grotto of the gnomes, or some 
 awful cell of enchantment, whose supernatural fire never
 
 116 THE OLD CLERGYMAN'S NIGHTGOWN. 
 
 went out, and whose smoke rolled away into darkness the 
 same perpetually, but for the sound of the crackling 
 flames, and the sight of piles of wood on the floor, so 
 strongly suggestive of human agency. 
 
 On one side was what appeared to be an artificial 
 chamber built of stones, its door open towards the fire. 
 Ranged about the cave, in something like regular 
 order, were several massy blocks of different sizes, 
 like the stools of a family of giants. But where were 
 the giants ? 
 
 Ah, here came Toby at last, or, at any rate, the twin 
 of him. He approached from the side where the daylight 
 shone, bearing an armful of sticks, and whistling a low 
 tune. With his broad back turned towards Penn, he 
 crouched before the fire, which he poked and scolded 
 with malicious energy, his grotesque and gigantic shadow 
 projected on the wall of the cave. 
 
 " Burn, ye debil ! K-r-r-r ! sputter ! snap ! git mad, 
 why don't ye ? " 
 
 Then throwing himself back upon a heap of skins, 
 with his heels at the fire, and his long arms swinging 
 over his head, in a savage and picturesque attitude, he 
 burst into a shout, like the cry of a wild beast. This he 
 repeated several times, appearing to take delight in hear- 
 ing the echoes resound through the cavern. Then he 
 began to sing, keeping time with his feet, and pausing 
 after each strain of his wild melody to hear it die awaj 
 in the hollow depths of the cave.
 
 TRE OLD CLERGYMAN'S NIGHTGOWN. 117 
 
 "De glory ob de Lord, it am comin', it am comin', 
 
 De glory ob de Lord, let it come! 
 
 De angel ob de Lord, hear his trumpet, hear his trumpet, 
 De angel ob de Lord, he ar come ! " 
 
 At the last words, " He ar come ! " a shadow darkened 
 the entrance, and Penn looked, almost expecting to see 
 a literal fulfilment of the prophecy. A form of im- 
 posing stature appeared. It was that of a negro up- 
 wards of six feet in height, magnificently proportioned, 
 straight as a pillar, and black as ebony. He wore a 
 dress of skins, carried a gun in his hand, and had an 
 opossum slung over his shoulder. 
 
 " Hush your noise ! " he said to the singer, in 
 a tone of authority. " Haven't I told you not to 
 wake him ? " 
 
 " No fear o' dat ! " chuckled the other. " Him's past 
 dat ! Ki ! how fat he ar ! " seizing the opossum, and 
 beginning to dress him, on the spot. 
 
 " Past waking ! I tell you he's asleep, and every 
 ';hing depends on his waking up right. But you set 
 up a howl that would disturb the dead ! " 
 
 " Howl ! dat's what ye call singin' ; me singin', 
 Pomp." 
 
 " Well, keep your singing to yourself till he is able to 
 stand it, you unfeeling, ungrateful fellow ! " 
 
 " What dat ye call dis nigger ? " cried the singer, 
 jumping up in a passion, with his blood-stained knife in 
 his hand. " Ongrateful ! Say dat ar agin, will ye?"
 
 118 THE OLD CLERGYMAN'S NIGHTOOWtf. 
 
 " Yes, Cudjo, as often as you please," said Pomp 
 calmly placing his gun in the artificial chamber. " You 
 are an unfeeling, ungrateful fellow." 
 
 He turned, and stood regarding him with a proud, 
 lofty, compassionating smile. Cudjo' s anger cooled at 
 once. Penn had already recognized in them the twin 
 Tobys of his dreams. And what a contrast between the 
 two ! There was Toby the Good, otherwise called 
 Pomp, dignified, erect, of noble features ; while before 
 him cringed and grimaced Toby the Malign, alias Cudjo, 
 ugly, deformed, with immensely long arms, short bow 
 legs resembling a parenthesis, a body like a frog's, and 
 the countenance of an ape. 
 
 " You know," said Pomp, " you would have left 
 this man to die there on the rocks, if it hadn't been 
 for me." 
 
 ' Gorry ! why not ? " said Cudjo. " What's use ob all 
 dis trouble on his 'count ? " 
 
 '* He has had trouble enough on our account," said 
 Pomp. 
 
 " On our 'count ? Hiyah-yah ! " laughed Cudjo, get- 
 ting down on his knees over the opossum ; " how ye 
 make dat out, hy ? " 
 
 " Pay attention, Cudjo, while I tell ye," said Pomp, 
 stooping, and laying his finger on the deformed shoulder. 
 Cudjo looked up, with his hands and knife still in the 
 opossum's flesh. " This is the way of it, as I heard 
 last night from Pepperill himself, who got into trouble,
 
 THE OLD CLERGYMAN'S NIGHTGOWN. 119 
 
 as you know, by befriending old Pete after his licking, 
 And you know, don't you, how Pete came by his 
 licking ? " 
 
 " Bein' out nights, totin' our meal and taters to de 
 mountains, dough I reckon de patrol didn't know nuf- 
 fin' 'bout dat ar, or him wouldn't got off so easy ! " said 
 Cudjo. 
 
 " Well, it was by befriending Pepperill, who had be- 
 friended Pete, who brings us meal and potatoes, that this 
 man got the ill will of those villains. Do you under- 
 stand ? " 
 
 " Say 'em over agin, Pomp. How, now ? Lef me 
 see ! Dat ar's old Pete," sticking up a ringer to repre- 
 sent him. " Dat ar's Pepperill," sticking up a thumb. 
 ' Now, yonder is dis yer man, and here am we. Now, 
 how is it, Pomp ? " 
 
 Pomp repeated his statement, and Cudjo, pointing to 
 his long, black finger when Pete was alluded to, and tap- 
 ping his thumb when Pepperill was mentioned, suc- 
 ceeded in understanding that it was indirectly in conse- 
 quence of kindness shown to himself that Penn had 
 come to grief. 
 
 " Dat so, Pomp ? " he said, seriously, in a changed 
 voice. " Den 'pears like dar's two white men me don't 
 wish dead as dis yer possom ! Pepperill's one, and him's 
 tudder." 
 
 Pomp, having made this explanation, walked softly to 
 the bedside. He had not before perceived that Penn,
 
 120 THE OLD CLERGYMAN'S NIGHTGOWN. 
 
 lying so still there, was awake. His features lighted up 
 with intelligence and sympathy on making the discovery, 
 and finding him free from feverish symptoms. 
 
 " Well, how are you getting on, sir ? " he said, feeling 
 Penn's pulse, and seating himself on one of the giant's 
 stools near the bedstead. 
 
 " Where am I ? " was Penn's first anxious question. 
 
 " I fancy you don't know very well where you are, sir," 
 said the negro, with a smile ; " and you don't know me 
 either, do you ? " 
 
 " I think you are my preserver are you not ? " 
 
 " That's a subject we will not talk about just now, sir ; 
 for you must keep very quiet." 
 
 " I know," said Penn, not to be put off so, " I owe my 
 life to you ! " 
 
 " Dat's so ! dat ar am a fac' ! " cried Cudjo, approach- 
 ing, and wrapping the warm opossum skin about his 
 naked arm as he spoke. " Gorry ! me sech a brute, me 
 war for leavin' ye dar in de lot. But, Pomp, him 
 wouldn't ; so we toted you hyar, and him's doctored you 
 right smart eber sence. He ar a great doctor, Pomp ar ! 
 Yah ! " And Cudjo laughed, showing two tremendous 
 rows of ivory glittering from ear to ear ; capering, swing- 
 ing the opossum skin over his head, and, on the whole, 
 looking far more like a demon of the cave than a human 
 being. 
 
 " Go about your business, Cudjo ! " said Pomp. " You 
 mustn't mind his freaks, sir," turning to Penn. " You
 
 THE OLD CLERGYMAN'S NIGHTGOWN. 121 
 
 are a great deal better ; and now, if you will only remain 
 quiet and easy in your mind, there's no doubt but you 
 will get along.'' 
 
 Many questions concerning himself and his frienJs 
 came crowding to Penn's lips ; but the negro, with firm 
 and gentle authority, silenced him. 
 
 " By and by, sir, I will tell you everything you wish 
 to know. But you must rest now, while I see to making 
 you a suitable broth." 
 
 . And nothing was left for Penn but to obey. 
 11
 
 122 A MAN'S 
 
 XIV. 
 
 A MAN'S STORY. 
 
 HREE days longer Penn lay there on 
 his rude bed in the cave, helpless still, 
 and still in ignorance. 
 
 Pomp repeatedly assured him that all was well, and 
 that he had no cause for anxiety, but refused to enlighten 
 him. The negro's demeanor was well calculated to in- 
 spire calmness and trust. There was something truly 
 grand and majestic, not only in his person, but in his 
 character also. He was a superb man. Penn was never 
 weary of watching him. He thought him the most 
 perfect specimen of a gentleman he had ever seen ; 
 always cheerful, always courteous, always comporting 
 himself with the ease of an equal in the presence of his 
 guest. His strength was enormous. He lifted Penn 
 in his arms as if he had been an infant. But his 
 grace was no less than his vigor. He was, in short, a 
 lion of a man. 
 
 Cudjo was more like an ape. His gibberings, his
 
 A MAN'S STORY. 123 
 
 grimaces, his antics, his delight in mischief, excited 
 in the mind of the convalescent almost as much sur- 
 prise as the other's princely deportment. For hours to- 
 gether he would lie watching those two wonderfully 
 contrasted beings. Petulant and malicious as Cudjo 
 appeared, he was completely under the control of his 
 noble companion, who would often stand looking down 
 at his tricks and deformity, with composedly folded arms 
 and an air of patient indulgence and compassion beautiful 
 to- witness. 
 
 Meanwhile Penn gradually regained his strength, so 
 that on the fourth day Pomp permitted him to talk a 
 little. 
 
 " Tell me first about my friends," said Penn. " Are 
 they well ? Do they know where I am ? " 
 
 " I hope not, sir," said the negro, with a significant 
 smile, seating himself on the giant's stool. " I trust 
 that no one knows where you are." 
 
 " What, then, must they think ? " said Penn. " How 
 did I leave them ? " 
 
 " That is what they are very much perplexed to find 
 out, sir." 
 
 " You have heard from them, then ? " 
 
 " O, yes ; we have a way of getting news of peo- 
 ple down there. Toby has nearly gone distracted on 
 your account. He is positive that you are dead, tor 
 he believes you could never have got well out of hi 
 hands."
 
 124 A AfAX'S STORY. 
 
 " And Miss Mr. Vfflars ? " 
 
 " They have been so much disturbed about you, that 1 
 would have been glad to inform them of your safety, 
 if I could. But not even they must know of this 
 place." ., 
 
 " Where am I, then r " 
 
 " You are, as you perceive, in a cave. But I suppose 
 you know so little how you came here that you would 
 find some difficulty in tracing your way to us again ? " 
 This Mas spoken interrogatively, with an intelligent 
 smile. 
 
 " I am so ignorant of the place," said Penn, " that 
 it may be in the planet Mars, for aught I know." 
 
 " That is well ! Now, sir," continued the negro, 
 " since you have several times expressed your obliga- 
 tions to us for preserving your life, I wish to ask one 
 favor in return. It is this. You are welcome to re- 
 main here as long as you find your stay beneficial ; 
 but when you conclude to go, we desire the privilege 
 of conducting you away. That is not an unreasonable 
 request ? " 
 
 " Far from it. And I pledge you my word to make 
 no movement without your sanction, and to keep your 
 secret sacredly, But tell me will you not ? how 
 you came to inhabit this dreadful place ? " 
 
 " Dreadful ? There are worse places, my friend, 
 than this. Is it gloomy ? The house of bondage is 
 gloomier. Is it damp ? It is not with the cruel sweat
 
 A MAN'S STORY. 125 
 
 and blood of the slave's brow and back. Is it cold ? 
 The hearts of our tyrants are colder." 
 
 " I understand you," said Penn, whose suspicion 
 was thus confirmed that these men were fugitives. 
 " And I am deeply interested in you. How long have 
 you lived here ? " 
 
 "Would you like to hear something of my story?" 
 said the negro, the expression of his eyes growing 
 deep and stern, his black, closely curling beard stir- 
 ring with a proud smile that curved his lips. " Per- 
 haps it will amuse you.'' 
 
 " Amuse me ? No ! " said Penn. " I know by 
 your looks thaf it will not amuse : it will absorb 
 
 me 
 
 " Well, then," said Pomp, bearing his head upon 
 his massy and flexible neck of polished ebony like a 
 king, yet speaking in tones very gentle and low, 
 and he had a most mellow, musical, deep voice, " you 
 are talking with one who was born a slave." 
 
 " You know what I think of that ! " said Penn. 
 " Even such a birth could not debase the manhood of 
 one like you." 
 
 " It might have done so under different circumstances. 
 But I was so fortunate as to be brought up by a young 
 master who was only too kind and indulgent to me, 
 considering my station. We were playmates when 
 children ; and we were scarcely less intimate when we 
 had both grown up to be men. He went to Paris to 
 11*
 
 126 A AfAtf'S STORY. 
 
 study medicine, and took me with him. I passed foi 
 his body servant, but I was rather his friend. He never 
 took any important step in life without consulting me ; 
 and I am happy to know," added Pomp, with grand 
 simplicity, " that my counsel was always good. He 
 acknowledged as much on his death-bed. ' If I had 
 taken your advice oftener,' said he, ' it would have 
 been better for me. I always meant to reward you. 
 You are to have your freedom your 'freedom, my dear 
 boy ! ' " 
 
 The negro knitted his brows, his breath came thick, 
 aud there was a strange moisture in his eye. 
 
 " I loved my master," he continued, with simple pathos. 
 " And when I saw him troubled on my account, when he 
 ought to have been thinking of his own soul, I begged 
 him not to let a thought of me give him any uneasiness. 
 My free papers had not been made out, and he was for 
 sending at once for a notary. But his younger brother 
 was with him he who was to be his heir. ' Don't 
 vex yourself about Pomp, Edwin,' said he. * I will 
 see that justice is done him.' 
 
 " ' Ah, thank you, brother ! ' said Edwin. ' You will 
 set him free, and give him a few hundred dollars to 
 begin life with. Promise that, and I will rest in peace.' 
 For you must know Edwin had neither, wife nor child, 
 and I was the only person dependent on his bounty. 
 He was not rich ; he had spent a good part of his for- 
 tune abroad, and had but recently established himself
 
 A MAN'S STORY. 127 
 
 in a successful practice in Montgomery. Yet he left 
 enough so that his brother could have well afforded to 
 give me my freedom, and a thousand dollars." 
 
 "And did he not promise to do so?" 
 
 " He promised readily enough. And so my master 
 died, and was buried, and I had another master. 
 For a few days nothing was said about free papers ; 
 and I had been too much absorbed in grief for the 
 only man I loved to think much about them. But when 
 the estate was settled up, and my new master was pre- 
 paring to return to. his home here in Tennessee, I 
 grew uneasy. 
 
 " ' Master,' said I, taking off my hat to him one 
 morning, ' there is nothing more I can do for him who 
 is gone ; so I am thinking I would like to be for myself 
 now, if you please." 
 
 " ' For yourself, you black rascal ? ' said my new 
 master, laughing in my face. 
 
 " I wasn't used to being spoken to in that way, and 
 it cut. But I kept down that which swelled up in 
 here" Pomp laid his hand on his heart "and 
 reminded him, respectfully as I could, of the doctor's 
 last words about me, and of his promise. 
 
 "'You fool!' said he, 'do you think I was in earnest?' 
 
 " ' If you were not,' said I, ' the doctor was.' 
 
 " ' And do you think,' said he, ' that I am to be 
 bound by the last words of a man too far gone to 
 know his own mind in the matter ? '
 
 128 A MAN'S STOBT. 
 
 " ' He always meant I should have my freedom,' I 
 answered him, ' and always said so.' 
 
 " ' Then why didn't he give it to you before, instead 
 of requiring me to make such a sacrifice ? Come, come, 
 Pomp ! ' he patted my shoulder ; ' you are altogether too 
 valuable a nigger to throw away. Why, people say you 
 know almost as much about medicine as my brother 
 did. You '11 be an invaluable fellow to have on a planta- 
 tion ; you can doctor the field hands, and, may be, if 
 you behave yourself, get a chance to prescribe for the 
 family. Come, my boy, you musn't get foolish ideas of 
 freedom into your head ; they're what spoil a nigger, 
 and they '11 have to be whipped out of you, which would 
 be too bad for a fine, handsome darkey like you.' 
 
 " He patted my shoulder again, and looked as pleasant 
 and flattering as if I had been a child to be coaxed, I, 
 as much a man, every bit, as he ! " said Pomp, with a 
 gleam of pride. " I could have torn him like a tiger for 
 his insolence, his heartless injustice. But I repressed 
 myself; I knew nothing was to be gained by violence. 
 
 " ' Master,' said I, ' what you say is no doubt very 
 flattering. But I want what my master gave me what 
 you promised that I should have I shall be contented 
 with nothing else.' 
 
 " ' What ! you persist ? ' he said, kindling up. ' Let 
 me tell you now, Pomp, once for all, you '11 have to be 
 contented with a good deal less ; and never mention the 
 word " freedom " to me again if you would keep that 
 precious hide of yours v/hole ! '
 
 A MAN'S STORY. 129 
 
 " I saw he meant it, and that there was no help for me. 
 Despair and fury were in me. Then, for the only time in 
 my life, I felt what it was to wish to murder a man. I 
 could have smitten the life out of that smiling, handsome 
 face of his ! Thank God I was kept from that. I con- 
 cealed what was burning within. Then first I learned 
 to pray, I learned to trust in God. And so better 
 thoughts came to me ; and I said, ' If he uses me well, I 
 will serve him ; if not, I will run for my life.' 
 
 "'Well, he brought me here to Tennessee. Here he 
 was managing his aunt's estate, which she, soon dying, 
 bequeathed to him. Up to this time I had got on very 
 well ; but he never liked me ; he often said I knew too 
 much, and was too proud. He was determined to humil- 
 iate me ; so one day he said to me, ' Pomp, that Nance 
 has been acting ugly of late, and you permit her.' I was 
 a sort of overseer, you see. ' Now I'll tell you what I am 
 going to have done. Nance is going to be whipped, and 
 you are the fellow that's going to whip her.' 
 
 " ' Pardon, master,' said I, ' that's what I never did 
 to whip a woman.' 
 
 " ' Then it's time for you to begin. I've had enough 
 of your fine manners, Pomp, and now you have got to 
 come down a little.' 
 
 " ' I will do any thing you please to serve your in- 
 terests, sir,' said I. ' But whip a woman I never can, 
 and never will. That's so, master.' 
 
 " ' You villain ! ' he shouted, seizing a riding whip, ' I'll
 
 130 A MAN'S STORY. 
 
 teach you to defy my authority to my face ! ' And he 
 sprang at me, furious with rage. 
 
 " ' Take care, sir ! ' I said, stepping back. ' 'Twill 
 be better for both of us for you not to strike me ! ' 
 
 " ' What ! you threaten, you villain ? ' 
 
 " ' I do not threaten, sir ; but I say what I say. It 
 will be better for both of us. You will never strike me 
 twice. I tell you that.' 
 
 " I reckon he saw something dangerous in me, as 1 
 said this, for, instead of striking, he immediately called 
 for help. ' Sam ! Harry ! Nap ! bind this devil ! Be 
 quick ! ' 
 
 " ' They won't do it ! ' said I. ' Woe to the man that 
 .lays a finger on me, be he master or be he slave ! ' 
 
 " ' I'll see about that ! ' said he, running into the house. 
 He came out again in a minute with his rifle. I was 
 standing there still, the boys all keeping a safe distance, 
 not one daring to touch me. 
 
 " ' Master/ said I, ' hear one word. I am perfectly 
 willing to die. Long enough you have robbed me of my 
 liberty, and now you are welcome to what is less precious 
 my poor life. But for your own sake, for your dead 
 brother's sake, let me warn you to beware what you do. 
 
 " I suppose the allusion to his injustice towards me 
 maddened him. He levelled his piece, and pulled the 
 trigger. Luckily the percussion was damp, or else I 
 should not be talking with you now. His aim was 
 straight at my head. I did not give him time for a
 
 A MAN'S SfORT. l3l 
 
 second attempt. I was on him in an instant. I beat 
 him down, I trampled him with rage. I snatched his 
 gun from him, and lifted it to smash his skull. Just then 
 a voice cried, ' Don't, Pomp ! don't kill master ! ' 
 
 " It was Nance, pleading for the man who would have 
 had her whipped. I couldn't stand that. Her mercy 
 made me merciful. ' Good by, boys ! ' I said. They 
 were all standing around, motionless with terror. ' Good 
 by, Nance ! I am off; live or die, I quit this man's ser- 
 vice forever ! 
 
 " So I left him,'' said Pomp, " and ran for the 
 woods. I was soon ranging these mountains, free, a wild 
 man whom not even their blood-hounds could catch. I 
 took the gun with me a good one : here it is." He re- 
 moved the rifle from its crevice in the rocks. " Do you 
 know that name ? It is that of its former owner the 
 man who called himself my master. Do you think it 
 was taking too much from one who would have robbed 
 me of my soul ? " 
 
 He held the stock over the bed, so that Penn could 
 make out the lettering. Delicately engraved on a sur< 
 fece of inlaid silver, was the well-known name, 
 
 " Augustus Bythewood"
 
 AN ANTI-SLAVERY DOCUMENT. 
 
 XV. 
 
 AN ANTI- SLAVERY DOCUMENT ON BLACK 
 PARCHMENT. 
 
 E N N was not surprised at this discovery. 
 He had already recognized in Pomp the hero 
 of a story which he had heard before. 
 
 " But all this happened before I came to Tennessee, 
 did it not ? Have you lived in this cave ever since ? " 
 
 " It is three years since I took to the mountains. But 
 I have spent but a little of that time here. Sometimes, 
 for weeks together, I am away, tramping the hills, explor- 
 ing the forests, sleeping on the ground in the open air, 
 living on fish, game, and fruits. That is in the summer 
 time. Winters I burrow here." 
 
 " If you are so independent in your movements, why 
 have you never escaped to the north ? " 
 
 " Would I be any better off there ? Does not the 
 color of a negro's skin, even in your free states, render 
 him an object of suspicion and hatred ? What chance is 
 there for a man like me ? "
 
 AN ANTI-SLAVERY DOCUMENT. 133 
 
 " Little very true ! " said Penn, sadly, contem- 
 plating the form of the powerful and intelligent black, 
 and thinking with indignation and shame of the prejudice 
 which excludes men of his race from the privileges of 
 free men, even in the free north. 
 
 " These crags," said the African, " do not look scorn- 
 fully upon me because of the color of my skin. The 
 watercourses sing for me their gladdest songs, black as 
 I am. And the serious trees seem to love me, even as I 
 love them. It is a savage, lonely, but not unhappy life 1 
 lead far better for a man like me than servitude here, 
 or degradation at the north. I have one faithful human 
 friend .at least. Cudjo, cunning and capricious as he 
 seems, is capable of genuine devotion." 
 
 " Have you two been together long ? " 
 
 " One day, a few weeks after I took to the mountains, 
 I was watching for an animal which I heard rustling the 
 foliage of a tree that grows up out of a chasm. I held my 
 gun ready to fire, when I perceived that my animal was 
 something human. It climbed the tree, ran out on one 
 of the branches, leaped, like a squirrel, to some bushes 
 that grew in the wall of the chasm, and soon pulled itself 
 up to the top. Then I saw that it was a man and a 
 black man. He came towards the spot where I was con- 
 cealed, sauntering along, chewing now and then a leaf, 
 and muttering to himself; appearing as happy as a sav, 
 age in his native woods, and perfectly unconscious of 
 being observed. Suddenly I rose up, levelling my gun 
 12
 
 134 A XT ANTI-SLAVERY DOCUMENT. 
 
 He uttered a yell of terror, and started to cast himself 
 again into the chasm. But with a threat I prevented 
 him, and he threw himself at my feet, begging me to 
 grant him his life, and not to take him back to hig 
 master. 
 
 " ' Who is your master ? ' said I. 
 
 " ' Job Coombs was my master,' said he, ' but I left 
 him.' 
 
 " * You are Cudjo, then ! ' said I, for I had heard of 
 him. He ran away from a tolerably good master on 
 account of unmercifully cruel treatment from the over- 
 seer. But as he had been frightfully cut up the night 
 before he disappeared, it was generally believed he had 
 crawled into a hole in the rocks somewhere, and died, 
 and been eaten by buzzards. But it seems that he had 
 been concealed and cured by an old slave on the planta- 
 tion named Pete." 
 
 " Coombs's Pete ! " exclaimed Penn. 
 
 " You have good cause to remember the name ! " said 
 Pomp. " As soon as Cudjo was well enough to tramp, he 
 took to the mountains. It was a couple of years after- 
 wards that I met him. We soon came to an understand- 
 ing, and he conducted m. to his cave. Here he lived. 
 He has always kept up a communication with some of 
 his friends especially with old Pete, who often brings 
 us provisions to a certain place, and supplies us with 
 ammunition. We give him game and skins, which he 
 disposes of when he can, generally to such men as
 
 AN ANTI-SLAVERY DOCUMENT. 135 
 
 Pepperill. He was going to Pepperill's house, after 
 meeting Cudjo, that night when the patrolmen discovered 
 and whipped him. That led to Pepperill's punishment, 
 and that led to your being here. ' 
 
 " Does old Pete visit you since ? " 
 
 " No, but he has sent us a message, and I have seen 
 Pepperill." 
 
 " Not here ! " 
 
 " Nobody ever comes here, sir. We have a place 
 where we meet our friends ; and as for Pepperill, I went 
 to his house." 
 
 " That was bold in you ! " 
 
 "Bold?" The negro smiled. "What will you say 
 then when I tell you I have been in Bythewood's house, 
 since I left him ? I wanted my medicine-case, and the 
 bullet-moulds that belong with the rifle. I entered his 
 room, where he Avas asleep. I stood for a long time and 
 looked at him by the moonlight. It was well for him he 
 didn't Avake ! " said Pomp, Avith a dancing light in his 
 eye. " He did not ; he slept Avell ! Having got Avhat I 
 Avanted, I came aAvay ; but I had changed knives Avith 
 him, and left mine sticking in the bedstead over his head, 
 so that he might knoAv I had been there, and not accuse 
 any one else of the theft." 
 
 " The sight of that knife must have given him a shud- 
 der, when he woke, and saAV Avho had been there, and 
 remembered his Avrongs tOAvards you ! " said Penn. 
 
 " Well it might ! " said Pomp. " Come here, Cudjo.'
 
 135 AN ANTI-SLAVERY DOCUMENT 
 
 Cudjo had just entered the cave, bringing some par- 
 tridges which he had caught in traps. 
 
 " It's allus ' Cudjo ! Cudjo do dis ! Cudjo do dat ! ' 
 What ye want o' Cudjo ? " 
 
 Pomp paid no heed to the ill-natured response, but 
 said calmly, addressing Penn, 
 
 " I have told you my reasons for escaping out of 
 slavery : now I will show you Cudjo s.-" 
 
 The back of the deformed was stripped bare. Penn 
 uttered a groan of horror at the sight. 
 
 " Dem's what ye call lickins ! " said Cudjo, with a 
 hideous grin over his shoulder. "Dat ar am de ober- 
 seer's work." 
 
 " Good Heaven ! " said Penn, sick at the sight of the 
 scars. " I can't endure it ! Take him away ! " 
 
 " Don't be 'fraid ! " said Cudjo. " Feel of 'em, sar ! " 
 And taking Penn's hand, he seemed to experience a vin- 
 dictive joy in passing it over his lash-furrowed flesh. 
 " Xot much skin dar, hey ? Rough streaks along dar, 
 hey ? Needn't pull your hand away dat fashion, and shet 
 yer eyes, and look so white ! It's all ober now. "\Vhat 
 if you'd seen dat back when 'twas fust cut up ? or de 
 mornin' arter ? Shouldn't blame ye, if 't had made ye 
 pick den ! " 
 
 " But what had you done to merit such cruelty ? '' 
 exclaimed Penn, relieved when the back was covered. 
 
 " What me done ? De oberseer didn't hap'm to like 
 me ; dat's what me done. But he did hap'm to like my
 
 ^.V ANTI-SLAVERY DOCUMENT. 137 
 
 gal ; dat's more what me done ! So he cut me up wid 
 his own hand, said me sassv. and wouldn't work. 
 Coombs, hinrs a good man 'nuii, neber found no fault 
 'long wid him ; but debil take dat ar Silas Ropes ! " 
 
 " Silas Ropes ! " 
 
 " Him was Coombs's oberseer dem times," said Cudfo. 
 ''Him gi' me de lickins ; him got my gal me owe 
 him for dat ! " And, with a ferocious grimace, clinching 
 his hands together as if he felt his enemy's throat, he 
 gave a yell of rage which resounded through the cavern. 
 
 " Go about your work, Cudjo," said Pomp. " What 
 do you think of that back, sir ? " 
 
 " It is the most powerful anti-slavery document I ever 
 saw ! " said Penn. 
 
 " He is a native African," said Pomp. " He was 
 brought to this country a young barbarian ; and he has 
 barely got civilized hardly got Christianized yet ! I 
 will make him tell you more of his history some day. 
 Then you Avill no longer wonder that his lessons in Chris- 
 tian love have not made a saint of him ! Now you must 
 rest, while I help him get dinner." 
 
 The manner of cooking practised in the cave was 
 exceedingly primitive. The partridges broiled over the 
 fire, the potatoes roasted in the ashes, and the corn-cake 
 baked in a kettle, the meal was prepared. The artificial 
 chamber was Cudjo's pantry. One of the giant's stools, 
 having a broad, flat surface, served as a table. On this 
 were placed two or three pewter plates, and as many odd 
 12*
 
 138 AN ANTI-SLAVERY DOCUMENT. 
 
 cups and saucers. Cudjo had an old coffee-pot, in which 
 he made strong black coffee. He could afford, however, 
 neither sugar nor milk. 
 
 Penn's wants were first attended to. He picked the 
 bones of a partridge lying in bed, and thought he had 
 never tasted sweeter meat. 
 
 " With how few things men can live, and be comforta- 
 ble ! and what simple fare suffices for a healthy appe- 
 tite ! " he said to himself, watching Pomp and Cudjo at 
 their dinner. Pomp did not even drink coffee, but 
 quenched his thirst with cold water dipped from a po-1 in 
 the cave.
 
 IN THE CAVE AND ON THE MOUNTAIN. 139 
 
 XVI. 
 
 IN TEE CAVE AND ON THE MOUNTAIN. 
 
 HAT afternoon, as Penn was alone, the mys- 
 tery of his removal from Mr. Villars's house 
 was suddenly revealed to him. 
 
 " I remember it very distinctly now," he said to Pomp, 
 who presently came in and sat by his bed. " Ropes and 
 his crew had been to the house for me. Sick and deliri- 
 ous as I was, I knew the danger to my friends, and it 
 seemed to me that I must leave the house. So I watched 
 my opportunity, and when Toby left me for a minute, I 
 darted through his room over the kitchen, climbed down 
 from the window to the roof of the shed, and from there 
 descended by an apple tree to the ground. This is the 
 dream I have been trying to recall. It is all clear to me 
 now. But I do not remember any thing more. The 
 delirium must have given me preternatural strength, if I 
 walked all the distance to the spot where you found 
 me." 
 
 " That you did walk it, your bruised and bleeding feet
 
 140 IN THE CAVE AND ON THE MOUNTAIN. 
 
 were a sufficient evidence,'" said the negro. " You had 
 just such delirious attacks afterwards, when it was as 
 much as Cudjo and I wanted to do to hold you." 
 
 " And the blanket it is Toby's blanket, which I 
 caught up as I fled," added Perm. 
 
 He now became extremely anxious to communicate 
 with his friends, to explain his conduct to them, and let 
 them know of his safety. Besides, he was now getting 
 sufficiently strong to sit up a little, and other clothing 
 was necessary than the old minister's nightgown and 
 Toby's blanket. 
 
 " I have been thinking it all over," said Pomp, " and 
 have concluded to pay your friends a visit." 
 
 " No, no, my dear sir ! " exclaimed Penn, with 
 gratitude. " I can't let you incur any such danger on 
 my account. I can never repay you for half you have 
 done for me already ! " And he pressed the negro's hand 
 as no white man had ever pressed it since the death of his 
 good master, Dr. Bythewood. 
 
 Pomp was deeply affected. His great chest heaved, 
 and his powerful features were charged with emotion. 
 
 " The risk will not be great," said he. "I will take 
 Cudjo with me, and between us we will manage to bring 
 off your clothes." 
 
 At night the two blacks departed, leaving Penn alone 
 in the fire-lit cave, waiting for their return, picturing to 
 himself all the difficulties of then- adventure, and think- 
 ing with warm gratitude and admiration of Pomp, whose
 
 IN THE CAVE AND ON THE MOUNTAIN. 141 
 
 noble nature not even slavery could corrupt, whose benev- 
 olent heart not even wrong could embitter. 
 
 It was late in the evening when the two messengers 
 arrived at Mr. Villars's house. All was dark and still 
 about the premises. But one light was visible, and that 
 was in the room over the kitchen. 
 
 " That is Toby's room," said Pomp. " Stay here, 
 Cudjo, while I give him a call." 
 
 " Stay yuself," said Cudjo, " and lef dis chiT go. Me 
 know Toby ; you don't." 
 
 So Pomp remained on the watch while Cudjo climbed 
 the tree by which Penn had descended, scrambled up over 
 the shed-roof, reached the window, opened it, and thrus* 
 in his head. 
 
 Toby, who was just going to bed, heard the move- 
 ment, saw the frightful apparition, and with a shriek dove 
 under the bed-clothes, where he lay in an agony of fear, 
 completely hidden from sight, while Cudjo, grinning ma- 
 liciously, climbed into the room. 
 
 " See hyar, ye fool ! none ob dat ! none ob your playin' 
 possum wid me ! " said the visitor, rolling Toby over, 
 while Toby held the clothes tighter and tighter, as if to 
 show a lock of wool or the tip of an ear would have been 
 fatal. " He's Cudjo ! don't ye know Cudjo ? Me come 
 for de gemman's clo'es ! " 
 
 " Hey ? dat you, Cudjo ? " said Toby, venturing at 
 length to peep out. " Wha wha what de debil you 
 want hyar ? "
 
 142 7-V THE CAVE AND ON THE MOUNTAIN. 
 
 " De gemman sent me. Dis yer letter's for your 
 massy." 
 
 " De gemman ? " cried Toby, jumping up. " Not 
 Mass' Penn ? not Mass' Hapgood ? " 
 
 Immense was his astonishment on being assured that 
 Penn was alive, recovering, and in need of garments. 
 Carl, who had been awakened in the next room by the 
 noise, now came in to see what was the matter. He 
 recognized Penn's handwriting on the note, and immedi- 
 ately hastened with it to Virginia's room. A minute 
 after she was reading it to her father at his bedside. It 
 was written with a pencil on a leaf torn from a little 
 blank book in which Pomp kept a sort of diary ; but 
 never had gilt-edged or perfumed billet afforded the 
 blind old minister and his daughter such unalloyed 
 delight. 
 
 It was long past midnight when Pomp and Cudjo 
 returned to the cave, bringing with them not only Penn's 
 garments, but a goodly stock of provisions, which Cudjo 
 had hinted to Toby would be acceptable, and, more 
 precious still, a letter from Mr. Villars, written by his 
 daughter's own hand. 
 
 Penn now began to sit up a little every day. Gloomy 
 as the cave was, it was not an unwholesome abode even 
 for an invalid. The atmosphere was pure, cool, and 
 bracing ; the temperature uniform. Nor did Penn suffer 
 inconvenience from dampness ; though often, in the deep 
 r.iiiness of the night, he could hear the far-off, faint, and
 
 IN THIS CAVE AND ON THE MOUNTAIN. 143 
 
 melancholy murmur of dropping water in the hollow 
 recesses of the cavern beyond. 
 
 One day, as soon as he was well enough for the under- 
 taking, Pomp ordered Cudjo to light torches and show 
 them the hidden wonders of his habitation. Cudjo was 
 delighted with the honor. He ran on before, waving the 
 flaring pine knots over his head, and shouting. 
 
 Penn's astonishment was profound. Keen as had been 
 his curiosity as to what was beyond the shadowy walls 
 the fire dimly revealed, he had formed no conception of 
 the extent and sublimity of the various galleries, chanv 
 bers, glittering vaults, and falling waters, embosomed 
 there in the mountain. 
 
 " Dis yer all my own house ! " udjo kept repeating! 
 with fantastic grimaces of satisfaction. " Me found him 
 all my own self. Nobody war eber hyar afore me ; 
 Pomp am de next ; and you's de on'y white man eber 
 seen dis yer cave." 
 
 It grew light as they proceeded, Cudjo's torch paled, 
 and the waters of a subterranean stream they were fol- 
 lowing caught gleams of the struggling day from another 
 opening beyond. Climbing over fragments of huge tum- 
 bled rocks, and up an earthy bank, Penn found himself in 
 the bottom of an immense chasm. It had apparently 
 been formed by the sinking down of the roof of the cave, 
 with a tremendous superincumbent weight of forest trees. 
 There, on an island, so to speak, in the midst of the subo 
 terranean darkness, they were growing still, their foftt 
 tops barely reaching the level of the mountain above.
 
 144 IN THE CAVE AND ON THE MOUNTAIN. 
 
 " It was out of this sink I saw the wild beast climb' 
 ing, that turned out to be Cudjo," said Pomp. 
 
 " Dat ar am de tree,'' said Cudjo. " No oder way but 
 dat ar to get up out ob dis yer hole." 
 
 " What a terrible place ! " said Penn, little thinking at 
 the time how much more terrible it was soon to become 
 as a scene of deadly human conflict. 
 
 Beyond the chasm the stream flowed on into still more 
 remote parts of the cave. But Penn had seen enough for 
 one day, and the torch-bearing Cudjo guided them back 
 to the spot from which they had started. 
 
 Penn had now completely won the confidence of the 
 blacks, who no longer placed any restrictions on his 
 movements. It had been their original purpose never to 
 suffer him to leave the cave without being blindfolded. 
 But now, having shown him one opening, they freely per- 
 mitted him to pass out by the other. This was that by 
 which he had been brought in, and which was used by 
 the blacks themselves on all ordinary occasions. It was a 
 mere fissure in the mountain, hidden from external view 
 by thickets. Above rose steep ledges of rocks, thickly 
 covered with earth and bushes. Below yawned an im- 
 mense ravine, far down in the cool, dark depths of which 
 a little streamlet flowed. 
 
 Pomp piloted his guest through the thickets, and along 
 a narrow shelf, from which the ascent to the barren 
 ledges was easy. Upon these they sat down. It was a 
 beautiful April day. This was Penn's first visit to the
 
 1ST THE CAVE AND ON THE MOUNT A IX. 145 
 
 upper world since he was brought to the cave. The 
 scene filled him with rapture ; the loveliness of earth and 
 sky intoxicated him. Here he was among the rugged 
 ranges of the Cumberland Mountains, in the heart of 
 Tennessee. On either hand they rolled away in tremen- 
 dous billows of forest-crowned rocks. The ravines in 
 their sides opened into little valleys, and these spread out 
 into a broad and magnificent intervale, checkered with 
 farms, streaked with roads, and dotted with dwellings. 
 Spring seemed to have come in a night. It was chill 
 March weather when Penn left the world, which was now 
 warm with sweet south winds, and green with April 
 verdure. 
 
 " How beautiful, how beautiful ! " said he, receiving, 
 with the susceptibility of a convalescent, the exquisite 
 impression made upon the senses by every sight and 
 sound and odor. " O ! and to think that all this divine 
 loveliness is marred by the passions of men ! Up here, 
 what glory, what peace ! Down yonder, what hatred, 
 violence, and sin ! No wonder, Pomp, you love the 
 mountains so ! " 
 
 "It is doubtful if they leave the mountains in peace 
 much longer," said Pomp. He had heard the night 
 before that fighting had begun at Charleston, and the 
 news had stirred his soul. " The country is all alive 
 with excitement, and the waves of its fury will reach us 
 here before long. Take this glass, sir : you can see sol- 
 diers marching through the streets." 
 13
 
 146 IN THE CAVE AXD OX THE MOUNTAIN. 
 
 " They are marching past my school-house ! " said 
 Penn. He became very thoughtful. Ke knew that 
 they were soldiers recruited in the cause of rebellion, 
 although Tennessee had not yet seceded, although the 
 people had voted in February against secession : a dis- 
 honest governor, and a dishonest legislature, aided by 
 reckless demagogues everywhere, being resolved upon pre- 
 cipitating the state into revolution, by fraud and force, 
 if not with the consent of the people, then without it. 
 " I had hoped the storm would soon blow over, and 
 that it would be safe for me to go peaceably about my 
 business." 
 
 " The storm," said Pomp, his soul dilating, his features 
 kindling with a wild joy, " is hardly begun yet ! The 
 great problem of this age, in this country, is going to be 
 solved in blood ! This continent is going to shake with 
 such a convulsion as was never before. It is going to 
 shake till the last chain of the slave is shaken off, and the 
 sin is punished, and God says, ' It is enough ! ' " 
 
 He spoke with such thrilling earnestness that Penn 
 regarded him in astonishment. 
 
 " What makes you think so, Pomp ? " 
 
 " That I can't tell. The feeling rises up here," the 
 negro laid his hand upon his massive chest, " and that 
 is all I know. It is strong as my life it fills and burns 
 me like fire ! The day of deliverance for my race is at 
 hand. That is the meaning of those soldiers down there, 
 arming for they know not what."
 
 PENN'S FOOT KNOCKS DOWN A MUSKET. 147 
 
 XVII. 
 
 PENN'S FOOT KNOCKS DOWN A MUSKET. 
 
 E E K S passed. But now every day brought 
 to Penn increasing anxiety of mind with 
 regard to his situation. His abhorrence of 
 war was as strong as ever ; and his great principle of 
 non-resistance had scarcely been shaken. But how was 
 he to avoid participating in scenes of violence if he re- 
 mained in Tennessee ? And how was his escape from 
 the state to be effected? 
 
 " You are welcome to a home with us as long as 
 you will stay," said Pomp. "I shall miss you even 
 Cudjo will hate to see you go." 
 
 Penn thanked him, fully appreciating their kindness ; 
 but his heart was yearning for other things. 
 
 Day after day he lingered still, however. The diffi- 
 culties in the way of escape thickened, instead of dimin- 
 ishing. In February, as I have said, the people had 
 voted against secession. Not content with this, the gov- 
 ernor called an extra session of the legislature, which pro-
 
 148 .p-E-v-vs FOOT KNOCKS DOWN A MUSKET. 
 
 ceeded to carry the state out of the Union by fraud. On the 
 sixth of May an ordinance of separation was passed, to be 
 submitted to the vote of the people on the eighth of June. 
 But without waiting for the will of the people to be 
 made manifest, the authors of this treason went on to 
 act precisely as if the state had seceded. A league was 
 formed with the confederate states, the control of all the 
 troops raised in Tennessee was given to Davis, and troops 
 from the cotton states were rushed in to make good the 
 work thus begun. The June election, which took place 
 under this reign of terror, resulted as was to have been 
 expected. Rebel soldiers guarded the polls. Few dared 
 to vote openly the Union ticket ; while those who de- 
 posited a close ticket were " spotted/' Thus timid men 
 were frightened from the ballot-box ; while soldiers from 
 the cotton states voted in their places. Then, as it 
 was charged, there were the grossest frauds in counting 
 the votes. And so Tennessee " seceded." 
 
 The state authorities had also achieved a politic stroke 
 by disarming the people. Every owner of a gun was 
 compelled to deliver it up, or pay a heavy fine. The 
 arms thus secured went to equip the troops raised for the 
 Confederacy; while the Union cause was left crippled 
 and defenceless. Many firelocks were of course kept 
 concealed : some were taken to pieces, and the pieces 
 scattered, the barrel here, the stock there, and the 
 lock in still another place, to come together again only 
 at the will of the owner: but, as a general thing, the
 
 PENN'S FOOT KNOCKS DOWN A MUSKET. 149 
 
 loyalists could not be said to have arms. It was in those 
 times that the precaution of Stackridge and his fellow- 
 patriots was justified. The secrecy with which they 
 had conducted their night-meetings and drills, though 
 seemingly unnecessary at first, saved them from much 
 inconvenience when the full tide of persecution set in. 
 They were suspected indeed, and it was believed they 
 had arms ; but they still met in safety, and the place 
 where their arms were deposited remained undiscovered. 
 
 All this time, Penn had no money with which to de- 
 fray the expenses of travel. When his school was 
 broken up, several hundred dollars were due him for 
 his services. This sum the trustees of the Academy 
 placed to his credit in the Curryville Bank ; but, in 
 consequence of a recent enactment, designed to rob 
 and annoy loyal men, he could not draw the money 
 without appearing personally, and first taking the oath 
 of allegiance to the confederate government. This, of 
 course, was out of the question. 
 
 Meanwhile he learned to rough it on the mountain 
 with the fugitives. Pomp taught him the use of the 
 rifle, and he was soon able to shoot, dress, and cook 
 his own dinner. He grew robust with the exercise 
 and exposure. But every day his longing eyes turned 
 towards the valley where the friends were whom h& 
 loved, and whom he resolved at all hazards to visit 
 again, if for the last time. 
 
 At length, one morning at breakfast, he informed 
 13*
 
 150 PEXN'S FOOT KNOCKS DOWN A MUSKET. 
 
 Pomp and Cudjo of his intention to leave them, to 
 return secretly to the village, place himself under the pro- 
 tection of certain Unionists he knew, and attempt, with 
 their assistance, to make his way out of the state. 
 
 " Why go down there at all?" said Pomp. "If you 
 are determined to leave us, let me be your guide. I will 
 take you over the mountains into Kentucky, where you 
 will be safe. It will be a long, hard journey ; but you 
 are strong now ; we will take it leisurely, killing our 
 game by the way." 
 
 " You are very kind and " 
 
 Penn blushed and stammered. The truth was, he 
 was willing to risk his life to see Virginia once more ; 
 and the thought of quitting the state without bidding 
 her good by was intolerable to him. 
 
 " And what ? " said Pomp, smiling intelligently. 
 
 " And I may possibly be glad to accept your pro- 
 posal. But I am determined to try the other way first." 
 
 Both Pomp and Cudjo endeavored to dissuade him 
 from the undertaking, but in vain. That evening he 
 took his departure. The blacks accompanied him to 
 the foot of the mountain. Notwithstanding the friend- 
 ship and gratitude he had all along felt towards them, he 
 had not foreseen how painful would be the separation 
 from them. 
 
 " I never quitted friends more reluctantly ! " he said, 
 choked with his emotion. " Never, never shall I forget 
 you never shall I forget those rambles on the moun-
 
 PENN'S FOOT KNOCKS DOWX A MUSKET. 151 
 
 tains, those days and nights in the cave ! Let me hope 
 we shall meet again, when I can make you some return 
 for your kindness." 
 
 " We may meet again, and sooner than you suppose," 
 said Pomp. " If you find escape too difficult, be sure 
 and come back to us. Ah, I seem to foresee that you 
 will come back ! " 
 
 With this prediction ringing in his ears, and filling 
 him with vague forebodings, Penn went his way ; while 
 the negroes, having shaken hands with him in sorrowful 
 silence, returned to their savage mountain home, which 
 had never looked so lonely to them as now, since their 
 beloved and gentle guest had departed. 
 
 The night was not dark, and Penn, having been 
 guided to a bridle-path that led to the town, experi- 
 enced no difficulty in finding his way on alone. He ap- 
 proached the minister's house from the fields. Although 
 late in the evening, the windows were still lighted. 
 He was surprised to see men walking to and fro by the 
 house, and to hear their footsteps on the piazza floor. 
 He drew near enough to discern that they carried 
 muskets. Then the truth flashed upon him : they were 
 soldiers guarding the house. 
 
 Whether they were there to protect the venerable 
 Unionist from mob-violence, or to prevent his escape, 
 Penn could only conjecture. In either case it would have 
 been extremely indiscreet for him to enter the house. 
 Bitter disappointment filled him, mingled with apprehen-
 
 152 PJSXN'S FOOT KNOCKS DOWN A MUSKET. 
 
 sions for the safety of his friends, and remorse at the 
 thought that he himself had, although unintentionally, 
 been instrumental in drawing down upon them the ven- 
 geance of the secessionists. 
 
 Penn next thought of Stackridge. It was indeed 
 upon that sturdy patriot that he relied chiefly for aid 
 in leaving the state. He took a last, lingering look at 
 the minister's house, the windows whose cheerful 
 light had so often greeted him on his way thither, in 
 those delightful winter evenings which were gone, never 
 to return, the soldiers on the piazza, symbolizing the 
 reign of terror that had commenced, and with a deep 
 inward prayer that God would shield with his all-pow- 
 erful hand the beleaguered family, he once more crossed 
 the fields. 
 
 By a circuitous route he came in sight of Stack- 
 ridge's house. There were lights there also, although 
 it must have been now near midnight. And as Penn 
 discerned them, he became aware of loud voices en- 
 gaged in angry altercation around the farmer's door. 
 It was no time for him to approach. He stole away 
 as noiselessly as he had come. In the still, quiet night 
 be paused, asking himself what he should do. 
 
 The Academy was not far off. He remembered that 
 he had left there, among other things, a pocket Bible, 
 a gift from his sister, which he wished to preserve. 
 Perhaps it was there still; perhaps he could get in 
 and recover it At all events, he had plenty of
 
 PEtflf'S FOOT KNOCKS DOWN A MUSKET. 153 
 
 leisure on his hands, and could afford to make the 
 trial. 
 
 He heard the mounted patrol pass hy, and waited for 
 the sound of hoofs to die in the distance. Then cau- 
 tiously he drew near the gloomy and silent school-house. 
 Xofc doubting but the door was locked, for he still had 
 the key with him which he had turned for the last time 
 when he walked out in defiance of the lynchers, he re- 
 solved not to unlock it, but to keep in the rear of the 
 building, and enter, if possible, by a window. 
 
 The window was unfastened, as it had ever remained 
 since he had opened it, on that memorable occasion, to 
 communicate with Carl. Softly he raised the sash, and 
 softly he crept in. His foot, however, struck an object 
 on the desk, and swept it down. It fell with a loud, 
 rattling sound upon the floor. 
 
 It was a musket ; the owner of which bounded up 
 on the instant from a bench where he was lying, and 
 seized Penn by the leg. The school-house had been 
 turned into a barrack-room for recruits, and the late 
 master found that he had descended upon a squad of 
 confederate soldiers. 
 
 Lights were struck, and the sleepy sentinels, rubbing 
 their eyes open, recognized, struggling in the arms of 
 their companion, the unfortunate young Quaker. 
 
 " I knowed 'twas him ! I knowed 'twas him ! " cried 
 his overjoyed captor, who proved to be no other than 
 Silas Ropes's worthy friend Gad. " I heern him gittin'
 
 154 PJSNtf'S FOOT KNOCKS DOWN A MUSKET. 
 
 inter the winder, but I kept dark till he knocked my gun 
 down ; then I grabbed him ! He's a traitor, and this time 
 will meet a traitor's doom ! " 
 
 " My friends," said Penn, recovering from the agita- 
 tion of his first surprise and struggle, " I am in your 
 power. It is perhaps the best thing that could happen to 
 me ; for I have committed no crime, and I cannot doubt 
 but that I shall receive justice all the sooner for this acci- 
 dent. You need not take the trouble to bind me ; I shall 
 not attempt to escape." 
 
 His captors, however, among whom he recognized with 
 some uneasiness more than one of those who had been 
 engaged in lynching him, persisted in binding him upon 
 a bench, in no very comfortable position, and then set a 
 guard over him for the remainder of the night
 
 CONDEMNED TO DEATH. 155 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 CONDEMNED TO DEATH. 
 
 ARLY the next morning Virg'nia Villars 
 overhea)d the soldiers conversh g on the 
 piazza. The mention of a certain name ar- 
 rested her attention. She listened : what they said ter- 
 rified her. Penn Hapgood had been apprehended during 
 the night, and his trial by drum-head court-martial was 
 at that moment proceeding. 
 
 " Mr. Pepperill ! " she called, in a scarcely audible 
 whisper ; and, looking around, Daniel saw her alarmed 
 face at the window. 
 
 Daniel was one of the soldiers who had been detailed 
 to guard the house. Strongly against his will, he had 
 been compelled to enlist, in order to avoid the persecu- 
 tions of his secession neighbors. Such was already be- 
 coming the fate of many whose hearts were not in the 
 cause, whose sympathies were all with the government 
 against which they were forced to rebel. 
 
 " What, marm ? " said Pepperill, meekly.
 
 156 CONDEMNED TO DEATH. 
 
 " Is it true what that man is saying ? " 
 
 "About the schoolmaster? I I'm afeard it ar true' 
 They've cotched him, marm, and there's men that's swore 
 the death of him, marm-" 
 
 Virginia flew to inform her fattier. The old man rose 
 up instantly, forgetting his blind-ness, forgetting his own 
 feebleness, and the danger into which he would have 
 rushed, to go and plead Penn's cause. 
 
 Fortunately, perhaps, for him, the guard crossed their 
 muskets before him, refusing to let him pass. Their 
 orders were, not only to defend the house, but also to 
 prevent his leaving it. 
 
 " Then I will go alone ! " said Carl, who was to have 
 been his guide. And scarcely waiting to receive instruc- 
 tions from Virginia and her father, he ran out, slipping 
 between the soldiers, who had no orders to detain any 
 person but the minister, and ran to the Academy. 
 
 The mockery, of a trial was over. The prisoner had 
 been condemned. The penalty pronounced against him 
 was death. Already the noose was dangling from a tree, 
 and some soldiers were bringing from the school-house a 
 table to serve as a scaffold. Silas Ropes, who had a 
 feather stuck in his cap, and wore an old rusty scabbard 
 at his side, and flourished a sword, enjoying the title of 
 "lieutenant," obtained for him through Bythewood's 
 influence ; Lysander Sprowl, who had been honored with 
 a captaincy from the same source, and who, though a 
 forger, and late a fugitive from justice, now boldly defie
 
 CONDEMNED TO DEATH. 157 
 
 the power of the civil authorities to arrest him, trusting 
 to that atrocious policy of the confederate government 
 which virtually proclaimed to the robber and murderer, 
 " Become, now, a traitor to your country, and all other 
 crimes shall be forgiven you;" these, and other per- 
 sons of like character, appeared chiefly active in Penn's 
 case. That they had no right whatever to constitute 
 themselves a court-martial, and bring him to trial, they 
 knew perfectly well. They had not waited even for a 
 shadow of authority from their commanding officer. 
 What they were about to do was nothing more nor 
 less than murder. 
 
 Pcnn, with his hands tied behind him, and surrounded 
 by a violent rabble, some armed, and others unarmed, 
 was already mounted upon the table, when Carl arrived, 
 and attempted to force his way through the crowd. 
 
 " Feller-citizens and soldiers !" cried Lieutenant Ropes, 
 standing on a chair beside the scaffold, " this here man 
 has jest been proved to be a traitor and a spy, and he is 
 about to expatiate his guilt on the gallus." 
 
 Two men then mounted the table, passed the noose 
 over Penn's neck, drew it close, and leaped down again. 
 
 " Now," said Ropes, " if you've got any confession to 
 make 'fore the table is jerked out from under ye, you 
 can ease your mind. Only le' me suggest, if you don't 
 mean to confess, you'd better hold yer tongue." 
 
 Penn, pale, but perfectly self-possessed, expecting no 
 mercy, no reprieve, made answer in a clear, strong voice, 
 14
 
 !58 CONDEMNED TO DEATH. 
 
 " I can't confess, for I am not guilty. I die au inno- 
 cent man. I appeal to Heaven, before whose bar we 
 must all appear, for the justice you deny me." 
 
 In his shirt sleeves, his head uncovered, his feet bare, 
 his naked throat enclosed by the murderous cord, his 
 hands bound behind him, he stood awaiting his fate. 
 Carl in the mean time struggled in vain to break through 
 the ring of soldiers that surrounded the extemporized 
 scaffold, screamed in vain to obtain a hearing. 
 
 " Let him go, and you may hang me in his place ! " 
 
 The soldiers answered with a brutal laugh, as if 
 there would be any satisfaction in hanging him ! But 
 the offer of self-sacrifice on the part of the devoted Carl 
 touched one heart, at least. Penn, who had maintained 
 a firm demeanor up to this time, was almost un- 
 manned by it. 
 
 " God bless you, dear Carl ! Remember that I loved 
 you. Be always honest and upright ; then, if you die the 
 victim of wrong, it will be your oppressors, not you, who 
 will be most unhappy. Good by, dear Carl. Bear my 
 farewell to those we love. Don't stay and see me die, I 
 entreat you ! " 
 
 Yet Carl staid, sobbing with grief and rage. 
 
 ' Why don't you hurry up this business ? " cried Ly- 
 <?ander Sprowl, angrily, coming out of the school-house. 
 " Somebody tie a handkerchief over his eyes, and get 
 through some time to-day." 
 
 " All right, cap'm," said Ropes. " Make ready now,
 
 CONDEMNED TO DEATH. 159 
 
 boys, and take away this table in a hurry, when I give 
 the word." 
 
 " Hold on, there ! What's going on ? " cried an un- 
 expected voice, and a recruiting officer from the village 
 made his appearance, riding up on a white horse. 
 
 The summary proceedings were stayed, and the case 
 explained. The man listened with an air of grim official 
 importance, his coarse red countenance betraying not a 
 gleam of sympathy with the prisoner. Yet being the 
 superior in rank to any officer present (Silas called him 
 " kunnel"), besides being the only one of them all who 
 had been regularly commissioned by the confederate gov- 
 ernment, this man held Penn's fate in his hands. 
 
 " Hanging's too good for such scoundrels ! " he said, 
 frowning at the prisoner. " As for this particular case, 
 there's only one thing to be said : his life shall be spared 
 on only one condition." 
 
 Carl's heart almost stood still, in his eagerness to lis- 
 ten. Even Penn felt a faint a very faint pulse of 
 hope in his breast. The "kunnel" went on. 
 
 " Let him take his choice either to hang, or enlist. 
 What do you say, youngster ? Which do you prefer 
 the death of a traitor, or the glorious career of a soldier 
 in the confederate army ? " 
 
 " It is impossible for me, sir," said Penn, in a voice of 
 deep feeling and unalterable conviction " it is impos- 
 sible for me to bear arms against my country ! " 
 
 " But the Confederate States shall be your country, 
 and a country to be proud of! " said the man.
 
 160 CONDEMNED TO DEATH. 
 
 " I am a citizen of the United States ; to the Uni- 
 ted States I owe allegiance," said Penn. " So far from 
 being a traitor, I am willing to die rather than ap^ 
 pear one." 
 
 " Then you won't enlist ? " 
 
 " No, sir." 
 
 " Not even to save your life ? " 
 
 " Not even to save my life ! " 
 
 " Then," growled the man, turning away, " if you will 
 be such a fool, I've nothing more to say." . 
 
 So it only remained for Penn to submit quietly to his 
 fate. The executioners laid hold of the table, and waited 
 for the order to remove it. 
 
 But just then Carl, breaking through the crowd, threw 
 himself before the officer's horse. 
 
 " O, Colonel Derring ! hear me von vord ! " 
 
 " Von vord ! " repeated the officer, with a coarse 
 laugh, mocking him. " What's that, you Dutchman ? " 
 
 " You vill let him go, and I shall wolunteer in his 
 place ! " said Carl. 
 
 " You ! " The officer regarded him critically. Carl, 
 though so young, was very sturdy. " You offer yourself 
 as a substitute, eh, if I will spare his life ? " 
 
 " Carl ! " cried Penn, " I forbid you ! You shall not 
 commit that sin for me ! Better a thousand times that I 
 should die than that you should be a rebel in arms against 
 your country." 
 
 " I have no country," answered Carl, ingeniously
 
 CONDEMNED TO DEATH. 161 
 
 excusing himself. " I am vot this man says, a Tuch- 
 man. I vill enlisht mit him, and he vill shpare your 
 life." 
 
 " Boy, it's a bargain," said Colonel Derring, whose 
 passion for obtaining recruits overruled every other con- 
 sideration. " Cut that fellow's cords, lieutenant, and let 
 him go. Come along with me, Dutchy." 
 
 Ropes obeyed, and Penn, bewildered, almost stunned, 
 by the sudden change in his destiny, saw himself released, 
 and beheld, as in a dream, poor Carl marching off as his 
 substitute to the recruiting station. 
 
 " Now let me give you one word of advice," said Cap- 
 tain Sprowl in his ear. " Don't let another night find 
 you within twenty miles of that halter there, if you 
 wouldn't have your neck in it again." 
 
 " Will you give me a safe conduct ? " said Penn, who 
 thought the advice excellent, and would have been only 
 too glad to act upon it. 
 
 " I've no authority," said Sprowl. " You must take 
 care of yourself." 
 
 Penn looked around upon the ferocious, disappointed 
 faces watching him, and felt that he might about as well 
 have been despatched in the first place, as to be let loose 
 in the midst of such a pack of wolves thirsting for his 
 blood. He did not despair, however, but, putting on his 
 clothes, determined to make one final and desperata 
 effort to escape. 
 
 14*
 
 162 THE ESCAPE. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 THE ESCAPE. 
 
 A L K I N G off quickly across the field towards 
 Mrs. Sprawl's house, he turned suddenly aside 
 from the path and plunged into the woods. 
 
 He soon perceived that he was followed. A man 
 only one came through the undergrowth. Penn 
 stopped. "God forgive me!" he said within himself; 
 " but this is more than human nature can bear! " He 
 had been, as it were, smitten on one cheek and on the 
 other also : it was time to smite back. He picked up a 
 club : his nerves became like steel as he grasped it : his 
 eyes flashed fire. 
 
 The man advanced ; he was unarmed. Suddenly Penn 
 dropped his club, and uttered a cry of joy. It was his 
 friend Stackridge. 
 
 " What ! the Quaker will fight ? " said the farmer, 
 with a grim smile. 
 
 " That shows," said Penn, bursting into tears as he 
 wrung the farmer's hand, " that I have been driven 
 nearly insane ! "
 
 THE ESCAPE. IgS 
 
 " It shows that some of the insanity has been driven 
 out of you ! " replied Stackridge, beginning to have hopes 
 of him. " If you had taken my pistol and used it freely 
 in the first place, or at least shown a good will to use it v 
 you'd have proved yourself a good deal more of a man in 
 my estimation, and been quite as well off." 
 
 " Perhaps," murmured Penn, convinced that this pas- 
 sive submission to martyrdom was but a sorry part to play. 
 
 " But now to business," said Stackridge. " You must 
 get away as quickly and secretly as possible, unless you 
 mean to stay and fight it out. I am here to help you. I 
 have a horse in the woods here, at your disposal. I 
 thought there might be such a thing as your slipping 
 through their hands, and so I took this precaution. I 
 will show you a bridle-road that will take you to the 
 house of a friend of mine, who is a hearty Unionist. 
 You can leave my horse with him. He will help you on 
 to the house of some friend of his, who will do the same, 
 and so you will manage to get out of the state. I advise 
 you to travel by night, as a general thing ; but just now it 
 seems necessary that you should see a little hard riding 
 by daylight. You'll find some luncheon in the saddle- 
 bags. When you get into some pretty thick woods, leave 
 the road, and find a good place to tie up till night ; then 
 go on cautiously to my friend's house. I'll give you full 
 directions, while we're finding the horse." 
 
 They made haste to the spot where the animal was tied. 
 
 " He has been well fed," said the farmer. " You v. il
 
 164 THE ESCAPE. 
 
 water him at the first brook you cross, and let him 
 browse when you stop. Now just trade that coat for one 
 that will make you look a little less like a Quaker school- 
 master." 
 
 He had brought one of his own coats, which he mad 
 Penn put on, and then exchanged hats with him. Penn 
 was admirably disguised. Brief, then, were the thanks 
 he uttered from his overflowing heart, short the leave- 
 takings. He was mounted. Stackridge led the horse 
 through the bushes to the bridle-path. 
 
 " Now, don't let the grass grow under your feet till you 
 are at least five miles away. If you meet anybody, get 
 along without words if you can ; if you can't, let words 
 come to blows as quick as you please, and then put faith 
 in Dobbin's heels." 
 
 Again, for the last time, he made Penn the offer of a 
 pistol. There was no leisure for idle arguments on the 
 subject. The weapon was accepted. The two wrung 
 each other's hands in silence : there were tears in the 
 eyes of both. Then Stackridge gave Dobbin a resound- 
 ing slap, and the horse bounded away, bearing his rider 
 swiftly out of sight in the woods. 
 
 All this had passed so rapidly that Penn had scarcely 
 time to think of any thing but the necessity of immedi- 
 ate flight. But during that solitary ride through the for- 
 est he had ample leisure for reflection. He thought of the 
 mountain cave, whose gloomy but quiet shelter, whose 
 dark but nevertheless humane and hospitable inmates he
 
 THE ESCAPE. 165 
 
 seemed to have quitted weeks ago, so crowded with expe- 
 riences had been the few hours since last he shook Pomp 
 and Cudjo by the hand. He thought of Virginia and her 
 father, to visit whom for perhaps the last time he had 
 incurred the risk of descending into the valley ; whom 
 now he felt, with a strangely swelling heart, that he 
 might never see again. And he thought with grief, pity, 
 and remorse of Carl, a rebel now for his sake. 
 
 These things, and many more, agitated him as he 
 spurred the farmer's horse along the narrow, shaded, 
 lonesome path. He met an old man on horseback, with 
 a bright-faced girl riding behind him on the crupper, who 
 bade him. a pleasant good morning, and pursued their 
 way. Next came some boys driving mules laden with 
 sacks of corn. At last Penn saw two men in butternut 
 suits with muskets on their shoulders. He knew by their 
 looks that they were secessionists hastening to join their 
 friends in town. They regarded him suspiciously as he 
 came galloping up. Penn perceived that some off-hand 
 word was necessary in passing them. 
 
 " Hurry on with those guns ! " he cried ; " they are 
 wanted ! " 
 
 And he dashed away, as if his sole business was to 
 hurry up guns for the confederate cause. 
 
 He met with no other adventure that day. He fol- 
 lowed Stackridge's directions implicitly, and at evening, 
 leaving his horse tied in the woods, approached on foot 
 the house to which he had been sent.
 
 136 THE ESCAPE. 
 
 lie was cordially received by the same old man whom 
 he had seen riding to town in the morning with a bright- 
 faced girl clinging behind him. At a hint from Stack- 
 ridge the man had hastily ridden home again, passing 
 Penn at noon while he lay hidden in the woods ; and 
 here he was, honest, friendly, vigilant, to receive and 
 protect his guest. 
 
 " You did well," he said, " to turn off up the moun- 
 tain ; for I am not the only man that passed you there. 
 You have been pursued. Three persons have gone on 
 after you. I met them as I was going into town ; 
 they inquired of me if I had seen you, and when I got 
 home I found they had passed here in search of you. 
 They have not yet gone back." 
 
 This was unpleasant news. Yet Penn was soon con- 
 vinced that he had been extremely fortunate in thus 
 throwing his pursuers off his track. It was far better 
 that they should have gone on before him, than that 
 they should be following close upon his heels. 
 
 He staid with the farmer all night, and departed with 
 him early the next morning to pursue his journey. It 
 was not safe for him to keep the road, for he might at 
 any moment meet his pursuers returning ; accordingly, 
 the old man showed him a circuitous route along the 
 base of the mountains, which could be travelled only on 
 foot, and by daylight. 
 
 " Here I leave you," said his kind old guide, when they 
 had reached the banks of a mountain stream. " Follow
 
 THE ESCAPE. 167 
 
 this run, and it will take you around to the road, about a 
 mile this side of my brother's house. There's a bridge 
 near which you can wait, when you get to it. If your 
 pursuers go back past my house, then I will harness up 
 and drive on to the bridge, and water my horse there. 
 You will see me, and get in to ride, and I will take you 
 to my brother's, and make some arrangement for helping 
 you on still farther to night." 
 
 So they parted ; the lonely fugitive feeling that the 
 kindness of a few such men, scattered like salt through the 
 state, was enough to redeem it from the fate of Sodom, 
 which otherwise, by its barbarism and injustice, it would 
 have seemed to deserve. 
 
 Following the stream in its windings through a wilder- 
 ness of thickets and rocks, he reached the bridge about 
 the middle of the afternoon. His progress had been lei- 
 surely. The day was warm, bright, and tranquil. The 
 stream poured over ledges, or gushed among mossy 
 stones, or tumbled down jagged rocks in flashing cas- 
 cades. Its music filled him with memories of home, with 
 love that swelled his heart to tears, with longings for 
 peace and rest. Its coolness and beauty made a little 
 Sabbath in his soul, a pause of holy calm, in the midst of 
 the fear and tumult that lay before and behind him. 
 
 During that long, solitary ramble he had pondered 
 much the great question which had of late agitated his 
 mind the question which, in peaceful days, he had 
 thought settled with his own conscience forever. But
 
 168 THE ESCAPE. 
 
 days of stern experience play sad havoc with theories not 
 founded in experience. In all the ordinary emergencies 
 of life Penn had found the doctrine of non-resistance to 
 evil, of overcoming evil with good, beautiful and sublime. 
 But had he not the morning before given way to a natural 
 impulse, when he seized a club, firmly resolved to oppose 
 force with force ? The recollection of that incident had 
 led him into a singular train of reasoning. 
 
 " I know," he said, " that it is still the highest doc- 
 trine. But am I equal to it ? Can I, under all circum- 
 stances, live up to it ? I have seen something of the 
 power and recklessness of the faction that would destroy 
 my country. Would I wish to see my country submit : 
 Never ! Such submission would be the most unchristian 
 thing it could do. It would be the abandonment of the 
 cause of liberty ; it would be to deliver up the whole land 
 to the blighting despotism of slavery ; it would postpone 
 the millennium I hope for thousands of years. I see 
 no other way than that the nation must resist ; and what 
 I would have the nation do I should be prepared, if called 
 upon, to do myself. If this government were a Christian 
 government I would have it use only Christian weapons, 
 and no doubt those would be effectual for its preserva- 
 tion. But there never was a Christian government yet, 
 and probably there will not be for an age or two. Gov- 
 ernments are all founded on human policy, selfishness, 
 and force. Or if / was entirely a Christian, then 1 
 would have no temptation, and no right, to use any but
 
 THE ESCAPE. 16ft 
 
 spiritual weapons. But until I attain to these, may I not 
 use such weapons as I have ? " 
 
 These thoughts revolved slowly and somewhat con- 
 fusedly in the young man's mind, when an incident 
 occurred to bring form, sharply and suddenly, out of that 
 chaos. 
 
 He had reached the bridge. He looked up and down 
 the road, and saw no human being. It was hardly time 
 to expect the farmer yet ; so he climbed down upon 
 some dry stones in the bed of the stream, where he could 
 watch for his coming, and be at the same time hidden 
 from view and sheltered from the sun. 
 
 He had not been long in that situation when he heard 
 the sounds of hoofs. It was not his white-haired farmer 
 whom he saw approaching, but two men on horseback. 
 They were coming from the same direction in which he 
 was looking for the old man. As they drew near, he dis- 
 covered that one was a negro. The face of the other he 
 recognized shortly afterwards. It was that of Mr. Augus- 
 tus Bythewood, who was evidently taking advantage of 
 the fine weather to make a little journey, accompanied bj 
 a black servant. 
 
 Penn's heart contracted within him as he thought of 
 his friend Pomp, and of the wrongs he had suffered at 
 this man's hands. He thought of his own safety too, and 
 crept under the bridge. He had time, however, before 
 he disappeared, to catch a glimpse of three other horse- 
 men coming from the north. His heart beat fast, foi 
 15
 
 170 THE ESCAPE. 
 
 he knew in an instant that these were his pursuers 
 returning. 
 
 He had already prepared for himself a good hiding- 
 place, in a cavity between the two logs that supported 
 the bridge. Upon the butment, close under the trem- 
 bling planks, he lay, when Bythewood and his man rode 
 over. The dust rattled upon him through the cracks, and 
 sifted down into the stream. The thundering and shak- 
 ing of the planks ceased, but he listened in vain to hear 
 the hoofs of the two horses clattering off in the distance. 
 To his alarm he perceived that Bythewood and his man 
 had halted on the other side of the bridge, and were 
 going to water their horses in the bed of the stream- 
 Clashing and rattling down the steep, stony banks, and 
 plashing into the water, came the foam-streaked animals. 
 The negro rode one, and led the other by the bridle. 
 There he sat in the saddle, watching the eager drinking 
 of the thirsty beasts, and pulling up their heads occasion- 
 ally to prevent them from swallowing too fast or too 
 much ; all in full sight of the concealed schoolmaster. 
 Bythewood, after dismounting, also walked down to the 
 edge of the stream in full view. 
 
 Such was the situation when the three horsemen from 
 the north arrived. They all rode their animals down the 
 bank into the water. Penn had not been mistaken as to 
 their character and business. Two of them were the 
 men who had adjusted the noose to his neck the day 
 before. The third was no less a personage than Captain 
 Lysander Sprowl. Peim lay breathless and trembling in
 
 THE ESCAPE. 171 
 
 his kiding-place ; for those men were but a few yards 
 from him, and all in such plain view that it seemed 
 inevitable but they must discover him. 
 
 " What luck ? " said Bythewood, carelessly, seating 
 himself on a rock and lighting a cigar. 
 
 " The rascal has given us the slip," said Lysander., 
 from his horse. " I believe we have passed him, and so, 
 on our way back, we'll search the house of every man 
 suspected of Union sentiments. He started off with 
 Stackridge's horse, and we tracked him easy at first, but 
 to-day we haven't once heard of him." 
 
 " It's my opinion he don't intend to leave the state," 
 said Bythewood, coolly smoking. " Sam, walk those 
 horses up and down the road till I call you : I want a 
 little private talk with the captain." 
 
 The captain's attendants likewise took the hint, reined 
 their horses up out of the water, rode over the shaking 
 bridge and Penn's head under it, and proceeded to search 
 the next house for him, while Sprowl was conversing with 
 Augustus. 
 
 " Let's go over the other side," said Bythewood, 
 " where we can be in the shade. The sun is powerful 
 hot." 
 
 They accordingly walked over Penn's head a moment 
 later, climbed down the same rocks he had descended, 
 picked their way along the dry stones to the bridge, and 
 took their seats in its shadow beneath him, and so neai 
 that he could easily have reached over and taken the 
 captain's cap from his head !
 
 172 UNDER THE BRIDQB. 
 
 XX. 
 
 UNDER THE BRIDGE. 
 
 H E colonel wasn't aware of your sentiments," 
 said Sprowl, " or he wouldn't have let him 
 off for fifty substitutes." 
 
 " Or if you and Ropes," retorted Bythewood, " had 
 only put through the job with the celerity I had a right to 
 expect of you, he would have been strung up before the 
 colonel had a chance to . interfere." And he puffed im- 
 patiently a cloud of smoke, whose fragrance was wafted 
 to the nostrils of the listener under the planks. 
 
 " Well," said Lysander, accepting a cigar from his 
 friend, "if he gets out of the state," biting off 
 the end of it, " and never shows himself here again," 
 rubbing a match on the stones, "you ought to be 
 satisfied. If he stays, or comes back," smoking, 
 " then we'll just finish the little job we begun." 
 
 Penn lay still as death. What his thoughts were I 
 will not attempt to say ; but it must have given him 
 a curious sensation to hear the question of his life or
 
 UNDER THE BRIDQE. \T& 
 
 death thus coolly discussed by his would-be assassins over 
 their cigars. 
 
 "Where are you bound?" asked Lysander. 
 
 " O, a little pleasure excursion," said Bythewood. 
 " There's to be some lively work at home this evening, 
 and I thought I'd better be away." 
 
 " What's going on ? " 
 
 " The colonel is going to make some arrests. About 
 fifteen or twenty Union-shriekers will find themselves 
 snapped up before they think of it. Stackridge among 
 the first. 'Twas he, confound him ! that helped the 
 schoolmaster off." 
 
 " Has the colonel orders to make the arrests ? " 
 
 " No, but he takes the responsibility. It's a military 
 necessity, and the government will bear him out in it. 
 Every man that has been known to drill in the Union 
 Club, and has refused to deliver up his arms, must be 
 secured. There's no other way of putting down these 
 dangerous fellows," said Augustus, running his jewelled 
 fingers through his curls. 
 
 " But why do you prefer to be away when the fun is 
 going on?" 
 
 " There may be somebody's name in the list on whose 
 behalf I might be expected to intercede." 
 
 " Not old Villars ! " exclaimed Lysander. 
 
 " Yes, old Villars ! " laughed Augustus, " if by that 
 lively epithet you mean to designate your venerable 
 father-in-law." 
 
 16*
 
 174 UNDER THE BRIDGE. 
 
 " By George, though, Gus ! ain't it almost too bad ? 
 What will folks say?" 
 
 " Little care I ! Old and blind as he is, he is really one 
 of the most dangerous enemies to our cause. His influ- 
 ence is great with a certain class, and he never misses an 
 opportunity to denounce secession. That he openly talks 
 treason, and harbors and encourages traitors arming 
 against the confederate government, is cause sufficient 
 for arresting him with the others." 
 
 " Really," said Sprowl, chuckling as he thought of it, 
 " 'twill be better for our plans to have him out of the 
 way." 
 
 " Yes," said Bythewood ; " the girls will need pro- 
 tectors, and your wife will welcome you back again." 
 
 " And Virginia," added Sprowl, " will perhaps look a 
 little more favorably on a rich, handsome, influential 
 fellow like you ! I see ! I see ! " 
 
 There was another who saw too, a sudden flash of 
 light, as it were, revealing to Penn all the heartless, 
 scheming villany of the friendly-seeming Augustus. 
 He grasped the Stackridge pistol ; his eyes, glaring in 
 the dark, were fixed in righteous fury on the elegant 
 curly head. 
 
 "If I am discovered, I will surely shoot him ! " he 
 aid within himself. 
 
 " The old man," suggested Sprowl, " won't live long 
 in jail." 
 
 " Very well," said Bythewood. "If the girls come
 
 UNDER THE BRIDGE. 175 
 
 t c^rms, why, we will secure their everlasting gratitude by 
 he'ping him out. If they won't, we will merely promise 
 to do everything we can for him and do nothing." 
 
 'And the property?" said Lysander, somewhat anx- 
 iously. 
 
 " You shall have what you can get of it, I don't care 
 for the property ! " replied By the wood, with haughty 
 conrompt. " I believe the old man, foreseeing these 
 troubles, has been converting his available means into 
 Ohio railroad stock. If so, there won't be much for you 
 to lay hold of until we have whipped the north." 
 
 " That we'll do fast enough," said Lysander, confidently. 
 
 " Well, I must be travelling," said Augustus. 
 
 " And I must be looking for that miserable school- 
 master." 
 
 So saying the young men arose from their cool seats on 
 the stones, Lysander placing his hand, to steady him- 
 self, on the edge of the butment within an inch of 
 Penn's leg. 
 
 Darkness, however, favored the fugitive ; and they 
 passed out from the shadow of the bridge without sus- 
 pecting that they had held confidential discourse within 
 arms' length of the man they were seeking to destroy. 
 They ascended the bank, mounted their horses, and took 
 leave of each other, Bythewood and his black man 
 riding north, while Sprowl hastened to rejoin his conv 
 panions in the search for the schoolmaster.
 
 176 THE RETURN INTO DANGER. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 THE RETURN INTO DANGER. 
 
 REMBLING with excitement Penn got 
 down from the butment, and peering over 
 the bank, saw his enemies in the distance. 
 
 What was to be done ? Had he thought only of his 
 own safety, his way would have been clear. But could 
 he abandon his friends ? forsake Virginia and her father 
 when the toils of villany were tightening around them ? 
 leave Stackridge and his compatriots to their fate, 
 when it might be in his power to forewarn and save 
 them ? 
 
 How he, alone, suspected, pursued, and sorely in 
 need of assistance himself, was to render assistance to 
 others, he did not know. He did not pause to con- 
 sider. He put his faith in the overruling providence 
 of God. 
 
 " With God's aid," he said, " I will save them or 
 sacrifice myself." 
 
 As for fighting, should fighting prove necessary, his
 
 THE RETURN INTO DANGER. 177 
 
 mind was made up. The conversation of the villains 
 under the bridge had settled that question. 
 
 Instead, therefore, of waiting for the friend who was 
 to help him on his journey, he leaped up from under 
 the bridge, and set out at a fast walk to follow his 
 pursuers back to town. 
 
 He had travelled but a mile or two when he saw the 
 farmer driving towards him in a wagon. 
 
 " Are you lost ? are you crazy ? " cried the astonished 
 old man. " You are going in the wrong direction ! 
 The men have been to my house, searched it, and passed 
 on. Get in ! get in ! " 
 
 " I will," said Penn ; " but, Mr. Ellerton, you must 
 turn back." 
 
 He briefly related his adventure under the bridge. 
 The old man listened with increasing amazement. 
 
 " You are right ! you are right ! " he said. " We 
 must get word to Stackridge, somehow ! " And turn- 
 ing his wagon about, he drove back over the road as 
 fast as his horse could carry them. 
 
 It was sunset when they reached his house. There 
 they unharnessed his horse and saddled him. The old 
 man mounted. 
 
 " I'll do my best," he said, " to see Stackridge, or 
 some of them, in season. If I fail, may be you will 
 succeed. But you'd better keep in the woods till dark." 
 
 Ellerton rode off at a fast trot. Penn hastened to the 
 woods, where Stackridge's horse was still concealed
 
 1V8 THE RETURN /ATO DASGER. 
 
 The animal had been recently fed and watered, and wa^ 
 ready for a hard ride. The bridle was soon on his head, 
 and Perm on his back, and he was making his \vay 
 through the woods again towards home. 
 
 As soon as it was dark, Penn came out into the open 
 road ; nor did he turn aside into the bridle-path when he 
 reached it, because he wished to avoid travelling in com- 
 pany with Ellerton, who was to take that route. Ho 
 also supposed that Sprowl's party would be returning 
 that way. In this he was mistaken. Riding at a gallop 
 through the darkness, his heart beating anxiously as the 
 first twinkling lights of the town began to appear, he 
 suddenly became aware of three horsemen riding but a 
 short distance before him. They had evidently been 
 drinking something stronger than water at the house of 
 some good secessionist on the road, perhaps to console 
 themselves for the loss of the schoolmaster, for these 
 were the excellent friends who were so eager to meet 
 with him again ! They were merry and talkative, and 
 Penn, not ambitious of cultivating their acquaintance, 
 checked his horse. 
 
 It was too late. They had already perceived his ap- 
 proach, and hailed him. 
 
 "What should he do ? To wheel about and flee would 
 certainly excite their suspicions ; they would be sure to 
 pursue him ; and though he might escape, his arrival in 
 town would be thus perhaps fatally delayed. The arrest.* 
 might be even at that moment taking place.
 
 THE RETURN INTO DANGER. 179 
 
 He reflected, " There are but three of them ; I may 
 tight my way through, if it comes to that." 
 
 Accordingly he rode boldly up to the assassins, and in 
 a counterfeit voice, answered their hail. He was but little 
 known to either of them, and there was a chance that, 
 in the darkness, they might fail to recognize him. 
 
 " Where you from ? " demanded Sprowl. 
 
 " From a little this side of Bald Mountain," said Perm, 
 - which was true enough. 
 
 " Where bound ? " 
 
 "Can't you see for yourself?" said Penn, assuming 
 a reckless, independent air, " I am following my horse's 
 nose, and that is going pretty straight into Curryville." 
 
 " Glad of your company," said Sprowl, riding gayly 
 alongside. " What's your business in town, stranger ? " 
 
 " Well," replied Penn, " I don't mind telling you that 
 my business is to see if I and my horse can find some- 
 thing to do for old Tennessee." 
 
 " Ah ! cavalry ? " suggested Lysander, well pleased. 
 
 " I should prefer cavalry service to any other," an- 
 swered Penn. 
 
 " There's where you right," said Sprowl; and he pro- 
 ceeded to enlighten Penn on the prospects- of raising a 
 tfavalry company in Curryville. 
 
 " Did you meet any person on the road, travelling 
 north ? " 
 
 " What sort of a person ? " 
 
 ** A young feller, rather slim, brown hair, blue eyes,
 
 180 THE RETURN INTO DANGER. 
 
 with a half- hung look, a perfect specimen of a sneaking 
 abolition schoolmaster." 
 
 "I I don't remember meeting any such a person," 
 said Penn, as if consulting his memory. " I met two 
 men, though, this side of old Bald. One of them was 
 a rather gentlemanly -looking fellow ; but I think his 
 hair was black and curly." 
 
 " The schoolmaster's har is wavy, and purty dark, 
 I call it," said one of Sprowl's companions. 
 
 " He must have been the man ! " said Lysander, 
 suddenly stopping his horse. " What sort of a chap was 
 with him ? Did he look like a Union-shrieker ? " 
 
 " Now I think of it," said Penn, " if that man wasn't 
 a Unionist at heart, I am greatly mistaken. His sym- 
 pathies are with the Lincolnites, I know by his 
 looks ! " He .neglected to add, however, that the man 
 was black. 
 
 Sprowl was excited. 
 
 " It was some tory, piloting the schoolmaster ! Boys, 
 we must wheel about ! It never '11 do for us to go 
 home as long as we can hear of him alive in the state. 
 Remember the pay promised, if we catch him." 
 
 " Luck to you ! " cried Penn, riding on, while Sprowl 
 turned back in ludicrous pursuit of his own worthy 
 friend, Mr. Augustus Bythewood, and his negro man 
 Sam. 
 
 Penn lost no time laughing at the joke. His 
 heart was too full of trouble for that. It had seemed
 
 THE RETURN INTO DANGER. 181 
 
 to him, at each moment of delay, that the blind old 
 minister was even then being torn from his home that 
 he could hear Virginia's sobs of distress and cries for 
 help. He urged his horse into a gallop once more, and 
 struck into a path across the fields. He rode to the edge 
 of the orchard, dismounted, tied the horse, and hastened 
 on foot to the house. 
 
 The guard was gone from the piazza, and all seemed 
 quiet about the premises. The kitchen was dark. He 
 advanced quickly, but noiselessly, to the door. It was 
 open. He went in. 
 
 " Toby ! " No answer. " Carl ! Carl ! " he called in a 
 louder voice. No Carl replied. Then he remembered 
 what it seemed so strange that he could even for an 
 instant forget that Carl was in the rebel ranks, for 
 his sake. 
 
 He had seen a light in the sitting-room. He found 
 the door, and knocked. No answer came. He opened 
 it softly, and entered. There burned the lamp on the 
 table there stood the vacant chairs he was alone 
 in the deserted room. 
 
 " Virginia ! " 
 
 He started at his own voice, which sounded, in the 
 hollow apartment, like the whisper of a ghost. 
 
 He was proceeding still farther, wondering at the 
 
 stillness, terrified by his own forebodings, feeling in his 
 
 appalled heart the contrast between this night, and this 
 
 strange, furtive visit, and the happy nights, and the 
 
 16
 
 182 THE RETURN INTO DANGER. 
 
 many happy visits, he had made to his dear friends 
 there only a few short months before, pausing to 
 assure himself that he was not walking in a dream, 
 when he heard a footstep, a flutter, and saw, spring 
 towards him through the door, pale as an apparition, 
 Virginia. Speechless with emotion, she could not utter 
 his name, but she testified the joy with which she 
 welcomed him by throwing herself, not into his arms, 
 but upon them, as he extended his hands to greet her. 
 
 " What has happened ? " said Penn. 
 
 " O, my father ! " said the girl. And she bowed 
 her face upon his arm, clinging to him as if he were 
 her brother, her only support. 
 
 " Where is he ? " asked Penn, alarmed, and trem- 
 bling with sympathy for that delicate, agitated, fair 
 young creature, whom sorrow had so changed since he 
 saw her last. 
 
 "They have taken him the soldiers!" she said. 
 
 And by these words Pciin knew that he had come 
 loo late.
 
 STACKRIDGE'S COAT AND BAT. 183 
 
 XXII. 
 
 STACKEWGE'S COAT AND HAT GET 
 AERESTED. 
 
 ^, HE outrage had been committed not more 
 than twenty minutes before. Toby had fol- 
 lowed his old master, to see what was to be 
 done with him, and Virginia and her sister were in the 
 street before the house, awaiting the negro's return, when 
 Penn arrived. 
 
 " You could have done no good, even if you had come 
 sooner," said Virginia. " There is but one man who could 
 have prevented this cruelty." 
 
 " Why not send for him ! " 
 
 " Alas ! he left town this very day. He is a secession- 
 ist ; but he has great influence, and appears very friendly 
 to us." 
 
 Penn started, and looked at her keenly. 
 
 " His name ? " 
 
 " Augustus Bythewood." 
 
 Penn recoiled.
 
 184 STACKRIDGE'S COAT AND HAT. 
 
 " What's the matter ? " 
 
 " Virginia, that man is thy worst enemy ? I did not 
 tell thee how I learned that the arrests were to be made. 
 But I will ! " And he told her all. 
 
 " O," said she, " if I had only believed what my 
 heart has always said of that man, and trusted less to 
 my eyes and ears, he would never have deceived me ! If 
 he, then, is an enemy, what hope is there ? O, my 
 father ! " 
 
 " Do not despair ! " answered Penn, as cheerfully as he 
 could. " Something may be done. Stackridge and his 
 friends may have escaped. I will go and see if I can 
 hear any thing of them. Have faith in our heavenly 
 Father, my poor girl ! be patient ! be strong ! All, I am 
 sure, will yet be well." 
 
 " But you too are in danger ! You must not go ! " she 
 exclaimed, instinctively detaining him. 
 
 " I am in greater danger here, perhaps, than else- 
 where." 
 
 " True, -true ! Go to your negro friends in the moun- 
 tain there is yet time ! go ! " and she hurriedly 
 pushed him from her. 
 
 " When I find that nothing can be done for thy father, 
 then I will return to Pomp and Cudjo not before." 
 
 And he glided out of the back door just as Salina 
 entered from the street. 
 
 He left the horse where he had tied him, and hastened 
 on foot to Stackridge's house.
 
 STACKRIDGE'S COAT AND HAT. 185 
 
 He approached with great caution. There was a light 
 burning in the house, as on other summer evenings at 
 that hour. The negroes for Stackridge was a slave- 
 holder had retired to their quarters. There were no 
 indications of any disturbance having taken place. Penn 
 reconnoitred carefully, and, perceiving no one astir about 
 the premises, advanced towards the door 
 
 " Halt ! " shouted a voice of authority. 
 
 And immediately two men jumped out from the well- 
 curb, within which they had been concealed. Others at 
 the same time rushed to the spot from dark corners, 
 where they had lain in wait. Almost in an instant, and 
 before he could recover from his astonishment, Penn 
 found himself surrounded. 
 
 " You are our prisoner, Mr. Stackridge ! " And half a 
 dozen bayonets converged at the focus of his breast. 
 
 The young man comprehended the situation in a mo- 
 ment. Stackridge had not been arrested ; he was absent 
 from home ; these ambushed soldiers had been awaiting 
 his return ; and they had mistaken the schoolmaster for 
 the farmer. 
 
 The night was just light enough to enable them to 
 recognize the coat and, hat which had been Stackridge's, 
 and which Penn still wore as a disguise. Features they 
 could not discern so easily. The prisoner made no re- 
 sistance, for that would have been useless ; no outcry, for 
 that would have revealed to them their mistake. He 
 subimttof 1 without a word ; and they marched him away, 
 16*
 
 186 STACKRIDGE'S COAT A^'D HAT. 
 
 just as his supposed wife and children flew to the door, 
 calling frantically, " Father ! father ! " and lamenting his 
 misfortune. 
 
 By proclaiming his own identity, the prisoner would 
 have gained nothing, probably, biit a halter on the spot. 
 On the other hand, by accepting the part forced upon 
 him, he was at least gaining time. It might be, too, that 
 he was rendering an important service to the real Stack- 
 ridge by thus withdrawing the soldiers from their ambush, 
 and giving him an opportunity to reach home and learn 
 the danger he had escaped. 
 
 These considerations passed rapidly through his mind. 
 He slouched his hat over his eyes, and marched with sul- 
 len, stubborn mien. In this manner he was taken to the 
 village, and conducted to an old storehouse, which had 
 lately been turned into a guard-house by the confederate 
 authorities. 
 
 There was a great crowd around the dimly-lighted door, 
 and other prisoners, similarly escorted, were going in. 
 Arnid the press and huiry, Penn passed the sentinels still 
 unrecognized. He immediately found himself wedged in 
 between the wall and a number of Tennessee Union men, 
 some terrified into silence, others em-aged and defiant, but 
 all captives like himself. 
 
 In the farther end of the room, at a desk behind the 
 counter, with candles at each side, sat the confederate 
 colonel to whom Penn owed his life. He seemed to be 
 receiving the reports of those who had conducted the
 
 STACKRIDGE'S COAT AND HAT. 187 
 
 arrests, and to be examining the prisoners. Beside him 
 sat his aids and clerks. Before him Penn knew that he 
 must soon appear. He was in darkness and disguise as 
 yet, but he could not long avoid facing the light and the 
 eyes of those who knew him well. What, then, would 
 be his fate ? Would he be retained a prisoner, like the 
 rest, or delivered over to the mob that sought his life ? 
 He had time to decide upon a course which he hoped 
 might gain him some favor. 
 
 Taking advantage of the shadow and confusion In 
 which he was, he slipped off his disguise, and, elbowing 
 his way through the crowd of prisoners, appeared, hat in 
 hand and coat on arm, before the interior guard, and de- 
 manded to speak with the commanding officer. 
 
 " Sir, who are you r " said the colonel, failing, at first, 
 to recognize him. Upon which Mr. Ropes, who was at 
 his side, swore a great oath that it was the schoolmaster 
 himself. 
 
 " But I have had no report of his arrest," cried the 
 colonel. " How came you here, sir ? " 
 
 "I wish to place myself under your protection," said 
 Penn. " You received a substitute in my place, and 
 ordered me to be set at liberty. But your commands 
 have been disregarded ; I have been hunted for two days ; 
 and men, calling themselves confederate soldiers, are still 
 pursuing me. Under these circumstances I have thought 
 it best to appeal to you, relying upon your honor as a 
 gentleman and an officer."
 
 188 STACKRIDQE'S COAT AND HAT. 
 
 " But how came you here ? Who brought in this 
 fellow ? " 
 
 Nobody could answer that question, although the leader 
 of the party that had brought him in was at the very 
 moment on the spot, waiting to make his report of Stack- 
 ridge's arrest. 
 
 As soon, therefore, as Penn could gain a hearing, he 
 continued. 
 
 " I came in, sir, with a crowd of soldiers and pris- 
 oners, none of whom recognized me. The sentinels no 
 doubt supposed I was arrested, and so let me pass." 
 
 " Well, sir, you have done a bold thing, and perhaps 
 the best thing for you. Since you have voluntarily deliv- 
 ered yourself up, I shall feel bound to protect you. But 
 I have only one of two alternatives to offer you the 
 same I offer to each of these worthy gentlemen here, 
 giving them their choice. Take the oath of allegiance 
 to the confederate government, and volunteer; that is 
 one condition." 
 
 " I am a northern man," replied Penn, " and owe alle- 
 giance to the United States ; so that condition it is im- 
 possible for me to accept." 
 
 " Very well ; I'll give you time to think of it. In the 
 mean while, my only means of affording the protection 
 you demand will be to retain you a prisoner. Guard, take 
 this man below." 
 
 Not another word was said ; and, indeed, Penn had 
 already gained more than he hoped for, with the eyes of
 
 COAT AND HAT. 189 
 
 Lieutenant Ropes glaring on him so murderously. He 
 was conducted to a stairway that led to the cellar, and 
 ordered to descend. He obeyed, marching down between 
 two soldiers on guard at the door, and two more at the 
 foot of the stairs. 
 
 It was a lugubrious subterranean apartment, lighted by 
 a single lantern suspended from a beam. By its dim rays 
 he discovered the figures of half a dozen fellow-prisoners ; 
 and, in the midst of the group, he recognized one, the 
 sight of whom caused him to forget all his own misfor- 
 tunes in an instant. 
 
 " My dear Mr. Villars ! I have found you at last ! " he 
 exclaimed, grasping the old clergyman's hand. 
 
 " Penn, is it you ? " said the blind old man. 
 
 He was seated on a dry goods box. Trembling and 
 feeble, he arose to greet his young friend, with a noble 
 courtesy very beautiful and touching under the circum- 
 stances. 
 
 " I cannot tell thee," said Penn, in a choked voice, 
 " how grieved I am to see thee here ! " 
 
 " And grieved am I that you should see me here ! " Mr. 
 Villars replied. " I hoped you were a hundred miles 
 away. I was never sorry to have your company till now ! 
 How does it happen ? " 
 
 Penn made him sit down again, giving him Stackridge's 
 coat for a cushion, and related briefly his adventures. 
 
 " It is very singular," said the old man, thoughtfully 
 " It seems almost providential that you arc here."
 
 190 STACKXIDQE'S COAT AND HAT. 
 
 " I think it is so," said Penn. " I think I am here 
 because I may be of service to you." 
 
 " Ah ! " replied the old man, with a tender smile, " my 
 life is of but little value compared with yours. I am a 
 worn-ou,t servant ; my day of usefulness is past ; I am 
 ready to go home. I do not speak repiningly," he added. 
 " If I can serve my country or my God by suffering 
 if nothing remains for me but that then I will cheer- 
 fully suffer. Our heavenly Father orders all things ; and 
 I am content. All will be well with us, if we are obe- 
 dient children ; all will yet be well with our poor country, 
 if it is true to itself and to Him." 
 
 " O, do not say thy day of usefulness is past, as long 
 as thou canst speak such words ! " said Penn, deeply 
 moved. 
 
 " Thank God, I have faith ! Even in this darkest hour 
 of my life and of my country, I think I have more faith 
 than ever. And I have love, too love even for those 
 violent men who have thrown us into this dungeon. 
 They know not what they do. They act in ignorance 
 and passion. They seek to destroy our dear old govern- 
 ment ; but they will only destroy what they are striving 
 so madly to build up." 
 
 " Yes," said one of the prisoners, " the institution will 
 be ruined by those very men ! They are worse than the 
 abolitionists themselves ; and I hate 'em worse ! " 
 
 " Hate their errors, Captain Grudd, hate their crimes, 
 but hate no man," Mr. Villars softly replied.
 
 STACKRIDGE'S COAT AXD HAT. 191 
 
 " And you would have us submit to them ? " 
 
 " Submit, when you can do no better. But even for 
 their sakes, even for the love of them, my friend, resist 
 their crimes when you can. No man will stand by and 
 see a maniac murder his wife and children. It will be 
 better for the poor maddened wretch himself to prevent 
 him ; don't you think so, Penn ? " 
 
 " I do," said Penn, who knew that the argument was 
 meant for himself, not for the rest. " I am thoroughly 
 convinced. You were always right on that subject ; and 
 I was always wrong." 
 
 " I perceive," said the old man, " that you have had 
 experience. It is not I that have convinced you ; it is 
 the logic of events." 
 
 One by one, the prisoners from above followed Penn 
 down the dismal stairs. Only now and then a faint- 
 hearted Unionist consented to regain his liberty by tak ; ng 
 the oath of allegiance, and " volunteering." At length 
 the room above was cleared, and no more prisoners ar- 
 rived. Penn, who had kept anxious watch for his friend 
 Stackridge, ~vas congratulating himself upon the perfect 
 success of his stratagem, when the corporal who ha4 
 brought him in came rushing down the stairs, accompa 
 nied by Lieutenant Ropes. 
 
 " Stackridge ! " he called, searching among the pris- 
 oners ; " is Medad Stackridge here ? " 
 
 No man had seen him. 
 
 -' Then I tell you," said the corporal to Silas, " he ia
 
 192 STACKRIDGE'S COAT AND HAT. 
 
 hid somewhere up stairs, or else he has escaped ; for I 
 can swear I arrested him." 
 
 " I can swear you was drunk," said Silas, much dis- 
 gusted. " You have let the wust man of the lot slip 
 through your fingers ; for it's certain he ain't here." 
 
 Penn trembled for a minute. But both Hopes and the 
 corporal passed him without a suspicion of what was 
 agitating him ; and he felt immensely relieved when they 
 returned up the stairs, and the mystery remained unex- 
 plained. 
 
 The prisoners in the cellar were about twelve in num- 
 ber. Nearly all were sturdy, earnest men. Penn no- 
 ticed that they were not cast down by their misfortunes, 
 but that they whispered among themselves, exchanging 
 glances of intelligence and defiance. At length Cap- 
 tain Grudd came to him, and taking him aside, said, 
 
 "Well, professor, what do you think of the situation?" 
 
 " We seem to be at the mercy of the villains," replied 
 Penn. 
 
 " Not so much at their mercy either, if we choose to 
 be men ! What we want to know is, will you join us ? 
 And if there should be a little fighting to do, will yov. 
 help do it?" 
 
 Penn grasped his hand. " Show me that we have an) 
 chance of escape, and I am with you ! " 
 
 "I thought you would come to it at last!" Grudd 
 smiled grimly. " What we want, to begin with, is a few 
 handy weapons. But we have all been disarmed.
 
 STACKKIDGE'S COAT AND HAT. 193 
 
 you anything ? I noticed they did not search you, 
 probably because you came voluntarily and gave your- 
 self up." 
 
 " I have Stackridge's pistol. It is in the coat Mr. Vil- 
 lars is sitting on." 
 
 Grudd's eyes lighted up at this unexpected good news. 
 " It will come in play ! We must shoot or strangle these 
 fellows, and have their guns," with a glance at the sol- 
 diers on guard. 
 
 " But the room up stairs is full of soldiers, and there is 
 a strong guard posted outside, probably surrounding the 
 building.'' 
 
 " We will have as little to do with them as possible. 
 Yoiing man, I have a secret for you. Do you know whose 
 property this is ? " 
 
 " Barber Jim's, I believe." 
 
 " And do you know there's a secret passage from this 
 cellar into the cellar under Jim's shop ? It was dug by 
 Jim himself, as a hiding-place for his wife and children. 
 He had bought them, but the heirs of their former owner 
 had set up a claim to them. After that matter was set- 
 tled, he showed Stackridge the place ; and that's the 
 way we came to make use of it. We stored our guns in 
 the passage, and came through into this cellar at night to 
 consult and drill. The store being shut, and the windows 
 all fastened and boarded up, made a quiet place of it. As 
 good luck would have it, the night before the military 
 took possession, Jim warned us, and we carefully put 
 17
 
 194 STACKRIDGE'S COAT AXD HAT. 
 
 back every stone in the wall, and left. But some of oui 
 guns are still in the passage, if they have not been dis- 
 covered. We have only to open the wall again to get at 
 them. But before that can be done, the guard must be 
 disposed of." 
 
 Penn, who had listened with intense interest to this 
 recital, drew a long breath. 
 
 " Is the passage behind the spot where Mr. Villars is 
 sitting ? " 
 
 " Within three feet of the box." 
 
 " Then I fear it is discovered. I heard a noise behind 
 that wall not ten minutes ago." 
 
 Grudd started. " Are you sure ? " 
 
 " Quite sure." 
 
 " It must be Jim himself ; or else we have been 
 betrayed." 
 
 " Was the secret known to many ? " 
 
 " To all our club, and one besides," said Grudd, frown- 
 ing anxiously. " Stackridge made a mistake : I told him 
 so ! " 
 
 " How ? " 
 
 " We were drilling here that night when Dutch Carl 
 came to tell us you were in danger. Stackridge said he 
 knew the boy, and would trust him. So he brought him 
 in here. And Carl is now a rebel volunteer." 
 
 " With him your secret is safe ! " Penn hastened to 
 assure the captain. " Stackridge was right. Carl " 
 
 Pie paused suddenly, looking at the stairs. Even while
 
 STACKRIDGE'S COAT AND HAT. 195 
 
 the boy's name was on his lips, the boy himself was 
 entering the cellar. He carried a musket. He wore the 
 confederate uniform. He was accompanied by Gad and 
 an officer. They had come to relieve the guard. The 
 men who had previously been on duty at the foot of the 
 stairs retired with the officer, and Gad and Carl remained 
 in their place. 
 
 Penn at the sight was filled with painful solicitude. 
 To have seen his young friend and pupil shoulder a con- 
 federate musket, knowing that it was the love of him 
 that made him a rebel, would alone have been grief 
 enough. How much worse, then, to see him placed here 
 in a position where it might be necessary, in Grudd's 
 opinion, to " shoot or strangle " him ! But having once 
 exchanged glances with the boy, Fenn's mind was set at 
 rest. 
 
 " He has kept your secret,'' he said to Grudd. " He 
 is very shrewd ; and if AVC need help, he will help us." 
 
 But the noise Penn had heard behind the wall was 
 troubling the captain. They retired to that part of the 
 cellar. They had been there but a short time when a 
 very distinct knock was heard on the stones. It sounded 
 like a signal. Grudd responded, striking the wall with 
 his heel as he leaned his back against it. Then followed 
 a low whistle in the passage. The captain's dark features 
 lighted up. 
 
 " We are safe ! " he whispered in Penn's ear. " It is 
 Stackridge himself ! "
 
 198 THE FLIGHT OF THE PRISONEl-.S. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 THE FLIGHT OF THE PRISONERS. 
 
 HEN commenced strategy. The pric^ners 
 gathered in a group before the closed pas- 
 sage, and talked loud, while Grudd estab- 
 lished a communication with Stackridge. In the course 
 of an hour a single stone in the wall had been removed. 
 Through the aperture thus formed a bottle was intro- 
 duced. This Grudd pretended afterwards to take from 
 his pocket ; and having (apparently) drank, lie offered 
 it to his friends. All drank, or appeared to drink, in 
 a manner that provoked Gad's thirst. He vowed that 
 it was too bad that anything good should moisten the 
 lips of tory prisoners while a soldier like him went 
 thirsty. 
 
 " I never saw the time, Gad," said the captain, 
 " when I wouldn't share a bottle with you, and I will 
 now." 
 
 Gad held his gun with one hand and grasped the 
 bottle with the other. Penn seized the moment when
 
 THE FLIGHT OF THE PRISONERS. 197 
 
 his eyes were directed upwards at the cobweb festoons 
 that adorned the cellar, and the sound of gurgling was 
 in his throat, to whisper in Carl's ear, 
 
 " Appear to drink, and by and by pass the bottle 
 up stairs." 
 
 Carl understood the game in an instant. 
 
 " Here, you fish ! " he said, in the midst of Gad's 
 potation. " Leafe a little trop for me, vill you ? " 
 
 It was some time before the torrent in Gad's throat 
 ceased its murmuring, and he removed his eyes from the 
 cobwebs. Then, smacking his lips, and remarking that 
 it was the right sort of stuff, he passed the bottle to 
 Carl. 
 
 " Y/ho's the fish this time ?" said he, enviously, after 
 Carl had made believe swallow for a few seconds. 
 
 He snatched the bottle, and was drinking as before, 
 when the guard above, hearing what passed, called for a 
 taste. 
 
 " You shust vait a minute till Gad trinks it all up, 
 then you shall pe velcome to vot ish left," said Carl. 
 And, possessing himself of the bottle, he handed it up 
 to his comrades. 
 
 All the soldiers above were asleep except the sen- 
 tinels. They drank freely, and returned the bottle to 
 Gad. He had not finished it before he began to be 
 overcome by drowsiness, its contents having been drugged 
 for the occasion. 
 
 He sat down on the stairs, and soon slid off upon the 
 17*
 
 198 THE FLIGHT OF THE PRISONERS. 
 
 ground. Carl, who had not in reality swallowed a drop, 
 followed his example. Their guns were then taken 
 from them. Penn stole softly up the stairs, and recon- 
 noitred while Grudd and his companions opened the 
 passage in the wall. 
 
 " All asleep ! ' Penn whispered, descending. " Carl .' " 
 
 Carl opened one eye, with a droll expression. 
 
 " Are you asleep : " 
 
 " Wery ! " said Carl. 
 
 " Will you stay here, or go with us ? " 
 
 " You vill take me prisoner r " 
 
 " If you wish it." 
 
 " Say you vill plow my brains out if I say vun vord, 
 or make vun noise. " 
 
 " Come, come ! there's no time for fooling, Carl ! " 
 
 " It ish no vooling ! '' And Carl insisted on Penn's 
 making the threat. " Veil, then, I vill vake up and go 
 'long mit you." 
 
 Mr. Villars had been for some time sleeping soundly ; 
 for it was now long past midnight, and weariness had 
 overcome him. Penn awoke him ; but the old man re- 
 fused to escape. " Go without me. I shall be too great 
 a burden for you." But not one of his fellow-prisoners 
 would consent to leave him behind ; and, listening to their 
 expostulations, he at length arose to accompany them. 
 
 Stackridge was in the passage, with the old man Eller- 
 ton, whom Penn had sent to warn him. They had brought 
 a supply of ammunition for the guns, which they had
 
 THE FLIGHT OF THE PRISONERS. 199 
 
 loaded and placed ready for use. Penn, supporting and 
 guiding the old minister, was the first to pass through into 
 the cellar under Jim's shop. Stackridge, preceding them 
 with a lantern, greeted their escape with silent and grim 
 exultation. Carl came next. Then, one by one, the otherr 
 followed, each grasping his gun ; the rays of the lantern 
 lighting up their determined faces, as they emerged from 
 the low passage, and stood erect, an eager, whispering 
 group, around Stackridge. 
 
 Brief the consultation. Their plans were soon formed. 
 Leaving Gad asleep in the cellar behind them ; the 
 guard asleep, the soldiers all asleep, in the room above ; 
 the sontinels outside the old storehouse keeping watch, 
 pacing to and fro around the cellar, in which not a 
 prisoner remained, Stackridge and his companions 
 filed out noiselessly through Jim's closed and silent 
 shop, upon the other street, and took their way swiftly 
 through the town. 
 
 Having appointed a place of meeting with his friends, 
 Penn left them, and hastened alone to Mr. Villars's house. 
 The lights had long been out. But the sisters were 
 awake ; Virginia had not even gone to bed. She was 
 sitting by her window, gazing out on the hushed, gloomy, 
 breathless summer night, waiting, waiting, she scarce 
 knew for what, when she was aware of a figure ap- 
 proaching, and knew Penn's light, quick tap at the door. 
 
 She ran down to admit him. His story was quick- 
 ly told, Toby was roused up ; blankets were rolled
 
 200 THE FLIGHT OF THE PRISONERS. 
 
 together, and all the available provisions that could bs 
 carried were thrust into baskets. 
 
 " How shall we get news to you ? You will want 
 to hear from your father." Penn hastily thought of a 
 plan. "Send Toby to the round rock, he knows 
 where it is, on the side of the mountain. Be- 
 tween nine and ten o'clock to-morrow night. I will 
 try to communicate with him there." And Penn, bid- 
 ding the young girl be of good cheer, departed as sud- 
 denly as he had arrived. 
 
 The old negro accompanied him* assisting to carry 
 the burdens. They found Stackridge's horse where he 
 had been fastened. Penn made Toby mount, take 
 a basket in each hand, and hold the blankets before 
 him on the neck of the horse ; then, seizing the bridle, 
 and running by his side, he trotted the beast away 
 across the field in a manner that shook the old negro 
 up in lively style. 
 
 " O, Massa Penn ! I can't stan' dis yere ! 1's gwine 
 all to pieces ! I shall drap some o' dese yer tings, 
 shore ! " 
 
 " You must stand it ! hold on to them ! " said Penn. 
 " And now keep still, for we are near the road." 
 
 The party had halted at the rendezvous. Mr. Villars, 
 quite exhausted by his unusual exertions, was seated 
 on the ground when Penn came up with Toby and the 
 horse. Toby dismounted ; the old minister mounted in 
 his place, and the negro was sent back.
 
 THE FLIGHT OF THE PEISONERS. 201 
 
 All this passed swiftly and silently ; the fugitives 
 were once more on the march, Penn walking by the 
 old man's side. Scarce a word was spoken ; the tramp 
 of feet and the sound of the horse's hoofs alone broke 
 the silence of the night. Suddenly a voice hailed 
 them : 
 
 " Who goes there ? " 
 
 And they discovered some horsemen drawn up be- 
 fore them beside the road. It was the night-patrol. 
 
 " Friends," answered Stackridge, marching straight on. 
 
 " Halt, and give an account of yourselves ! " shouted 
 the patrol. 
 
 " We are peaceable citizens, if let alone,'' said Stack- 
 ridge. "You'd better not meddle with us." 
 
 The horsemen waited for them to pass, then, firing 
 their pistols at the fugitives, put spurs to their horses, 
 and galloped away towards the village. 
 
 " Don't fire ! " cried Stackridge, as half a dozen pieces 
 were levelled in the darkness. " We've no ammunition 
 to throw away, and no time to lose. They'll give the 
 alarm. Take straight to the mountains ! " 
 
 Nobody had been hit. Turning aside from the road, 
 they took their way across the broad pasture lands that 
 sloped upwards to the rocky hills. The dark valley 
 spread beneath them; on the other side rose the dim 
 outlines of the shadowy mountain range ; over all spread 
 a still, cloudless sky, thick-strewn with glittering star 
 dust
 
 202 THE FLIGHT OF THE PRISONERS. 
 
 In the village, the ringing of bells startled the night 
 with a wild clamor. Stackridge laughed. 
 
 " They '11 make noise enough now to wake Gad him- 
 self ! But noise won't hurt anybody. Hear the drums ! " 
 
 " They are coming this way," said Penn. 
 
 " Fools, to set out in pursuit of us with drums beat- 
 ing ! " said Captain Grudd. " Very kind in them to 
 give us notice ! They should bring lighted torches, too." 
 
 " Once in the mountains," said Stackridge, " we are 
 safe. There we can defend ourselves against a hundred. 
 Other Union men will join us, or bring us supplies. We 
 ought to have made this move before ; and I'm glad we've 
 been forced to it at last. If every Union man in the 
 south had made a bold stand in the beginning, this 
 cursed rebellion never would have got such a start." 
 
 Suddenly bells and drums were silent. " The less 
 noise the more danger," said Stackridge. The way was 
 growing difficult for the horse's feet. The cow-paths, 
 which it had been easy to follow at first, disappeared 
 among the thickets. At length, on the crest of a hill, 
 the party halted to rest. 
 
 " Daylight ! " said Stackridge, turning his face to the 
 east. 
 
 The sky was brightening ; the shadows in the valley 
 melted slowly away ; far off the cocks crew. 
 
 " Hark ! " said the captain. " Do you hear any- 
 thing ? " 
 
 " I heard a woice ! " said Carl.
 
 THE FLIGHT OF THE PRISONERS. 203 
 
 'Hist!'' said Perm. "Look yonder! there they 
 come ! around those bushes at the foot of the oak ! " 
 
 " Sure as fate, there they are ! " said the captain. 
 
 The fugitives crowded to his side, eager, grasping 
 their gunstocks, and peering with intent eyes through 
 the darkness in the direction in which he pointed. 
 
 " Take the horse," said Stackridge to Penn, " and 
 [cud him up through that gap out of the reach of the 
 bullets. We'll slay and give these rascals a lesson. 
 Go along with him, Carl, if you don't want to fight your 
 friends. ' 
 
 There were not guns enough for all ; and Grudd had 
 Stackridge' s revolver. There was nothing better, then, 
 for Penn and Carl to do than to consent to this arrange- 
 ment. 
 
 Penn went before, leading the horse up the dry bed 
 of a brook. Carl followed, urging the animal from be- 
 hind. Mr. Villars rode with the baggage, which had 
 been lashed to the saddle. Only the clashing of the iron 
 hoofs on the stones broke the stillness of the morning in 
 that mountain solitude. Stackridge and his compatriots 
 had suddenly become invisible, crouching among bushes 
 and behind rocks. 
 
 The retreat of Penn and his companions was discov- 
 ered by the pursuing party, who mistook it for a general 
 Jight of the fugitives. They rushed forward with a 
 .shout They had a rugged and barren hill to ascend. 
 Half way up the slope they saw flashes of fire burst from
 
 204 THE FLIGHT OF THE PRISONERS. 
 
 the rocks above, heard the rapid " crack crackle 
 crack ! *' of a dozen pieces, and retreated in confusion 
 down the hill again. 
 
 Stackridge and his companions coolly proceeded to 
 reload their guns. 
 
 " They didn't know we had arras," said the farmer, 
 with a grim smile. "They'll be more cautious now." 
 
 " We've done for two or three of 'em ! " said Captain 
 Grudd. " There they lie ; one is crawling off/' 
 
 "Let him crawl! 7 ' said Stackridge. "Sorry to kill 
 any of 'em ; but it's about time for 'em to know we're 
 in 'arnest." 
 
 " They 've gone to cover in the laurels," said Grudd. 
 " Let's shift our ground, and watch their movements." 
 
 Pcnn and Carl in the mean time made haste to get the 
 horse and his burden beyond the reach of bullets. Thry 
 toiled up the bed of the brook until it was no longer 
 passable. Huge bowlders lay jammed and crowded in 
 clefts of the mountain before them. Penn remembered 
 the spot. He had been there in spring, when down over 
 the rocks, now covered with lichens and dry scum, poured 
 an impetuous torrent. 
 
 " Now I know where I am," he said. " I don't be- 
 lieve it is possible to get the horse any farther. We will 
 wait here for our friends. Mr. Yillars, if you will dis- 
 mount, we will try to get you up on the bank." 
 
 " I pity you, my children," said the old man. " You 
 should never hare encumbered yourselves with such a
 
 THE FLIGHT OF THE PRISONERS. 20ft 
 
 burden as I am. I can neither fight nor run. Is it sun- 
 rise yet ? " 
 
 " It is sunrise, and a beautiful morning ! -The fresh 
 rays come to us here, sifted through the dewy trees. 
 Sit down on this rock. Find the luncheon, Carl. Ah, 
 Carl ! " Penn regarded the boy affectionately, "I 
 am glad to have you with me again, b'.it I can't forget 
 that you are a rebel ! and a deserter ! " 
 
 "la deserter ? you mishtake," said Carl. " I am a 
 prisoner." 
 
 " You disobeyed me, Carl ! I told you not to enlist. 
 You did wrong." 
 
 " Now shust listen," said Carl, " and I vill tell you. 
 I did right. Cause vy. You are alive and veil now, 
 ain't you ? " 
 
 Penn smilingly admitted the fact. 
 
 " And that is petter as being hung ? " 
 
 " I am not so very certain of that, Carl ! " 
 
 " Veil, I am certain for you. Hanging ish no goot. 
 Hunderts of vellers that don't like the rebels no more 
 as you do, wolunteer rather than to be hung. Shows 
 their goot sense." 
 
 " But you have taken an oath you are under a 
 solemn engagement, Carl, to fight against the govern- 
 ment." 
 
 " You mishtake unce more two times. I make a 
 pargain. I say to that man, ' You let Mishter Hap- 
 goot go free, and not let him be hurt, and I vill be 8 
 18
 
 5>06 THE FLIGHT OF TB PR1SOXH*. 
 
 rebel.' Veil, he agrees. But he don't keep his vord. 
 He lets 'em go for to hang you vunce more. Now, if he 
 preaks his part of the pargain, vy shouldn't I preak 
 mine ? " 
 
 " Well, Carl,'' said Penn, laughing, while his eyes 
 glistened, " I trust thy conscience is clear in the mat- 
 ter. I can only say that, though I don't approve of 
 thy being a rebel, I love thee all the better for it. 
 What do you think, Mr. Villars ? " 
 
 " Sometimes people do wrong from a motive so pure 
 and disinterested that it sanctifies the action. This is 
 Carl's case, I think." 
 
 " Hello ! " cried Carl, jumping up from the bank on 
 which they were seated. " Guns ! They are at it again ! 
 I vill go see ! " 
 
 The boy disappeared, scrambling down the dry bed of 
 the torrent. 
 
 The firing continued at irregular intervals for half an 
 hour. Carl did not return. Penn grew anxious. He 
 stood, intently listening, when he heard a noise behind 
 him, and, turning quickly, saw the glimmer of musket- 
 barrels over the rocks. 
 
 " Fire ! " said a voice. 
 
 And Penn threw himself down under the bank just in 
 time to avoid the discharge of half a dozen pieces aimed 
 at his head. 
 
 " What is the trouble ? " asked the old man. who was 
 lying on some blankets spread for him there in the shade.
 
 TBE FLIGHT OF T3E PR1 SONER S. 20? 
 
 Before Penu could reply, Silas Ropes and six men 
 came rushing down upon them. Stackridge had been 
 out-gencralled. Whilst he and his men were being di- 
 verted by a feigned attack in front, two different parties 
 had been despatched by circuitous routes to get in his 
 rear. In executing the part of the plan intrusted to 
 him, Ropes had unexpectedly come upon the school- 
 master and his companion. A minute later both were 
 seized and dragged up from the bed of the torrent. 
 
 " Ye don't escape me this time ! '' said Silas, with 
 brutal exultation. "Tie him up to the tree thar ; serve 
 the old one the same. We can't be bothered with 
 prisoners." 
 
 " What are you going to do to that helpless, blind 
 old man ? " cried Penn. " Do what you please with 
 me ; I expect no mercy, I ask none. But I entreat 
 you, respect his gray hair ! " 
 
 The appeal seemed to have some effect even oh the 
 savage-hearted Silas. He glanced at his men : they 
 were evidently of the opinion that the slaughter of the 
 old clergyman was uncalled for. 
 
 " Wai, tie the old ranter, and leave him. Quick 
 /vork, boys. Got the schoolmaster fast ? " 
 
 " All right,'' said the men. 
 
 " Wai, How stand back here, and les' have a little 
 bayonet practice." 
 
 Penn knew very well what that meant. His clothes 
 were stripped from him, in order to present a fair
 
 208 THE FLIGHT OF THE PRISONERS. 
 
 mark for the murderous steel ; and he was bound to a 
 tree. 
 
 " One at a time," said Silas. " Try your hand, Griffin. 
 Charge bayonet ! " 
 
 In vain the old minister endeavored to make him- 
 self heard in his friend's behalf. He could only pray 
 for him. 
 
 Penn saw the ferocious soldier springing towards him, 
 the deadly bayonet thrust straight at his heart. In an 
 instant the murder would have been done. But when 
 within two paces of his victim, the steel almost touching 
 his breast, Griffin uttered a yell, dropped his gun, flung 
 up his hands, and fell dead at Penn's feet. 
 
 At the same moment a light curl of smoke was wafted 
 from the heaped bowlders in the chasm above, and the 
 echoes of a rifle-crack reverberated among the rocks. 
 
 The assassins were terror-struck. They looked all 
 around ; not a human being was in sight. Distant firing 
 proclaimed that Stackridge and his men were still on- 
 gaged. The death that struck down Griffin seemed to 
 have fallen from heaven. They waited but a moment, 
 then fled precipitately, leaving Penn still bound, but un- 
 injured, with the dead rebel at his feet. 
 
 Then two figures came gliding swiftly down over the 
 rocks. Penn uttered a cry of joy. It was Pomp and 
 Cudjo.
 
 THE DEAD REBEL'S MUSKET. 209 
 
 XXIY. 
 
 TEE DEAD REBEL'S MUSKET. 
 
 O M P came reloading his rifle, while Cudjo, 
 knife in hand, flew at the cords that confined 
 the schoolmaster. 
 In his gratitude to Heaven and his deliverers, Penn 
 could have hugged that grotesque, half-savage creature 
 to his heart. But no time was to be lost. Snatching 
 the knife, he hastened to release the bewildered cler- 
 gyman. 
 
 " Pomp, my noble fellow ! '' The negro turned from 
 looking after the retreating rebels, with a gleam of tri- 
 umph on his proud and lofty features : Penn wrung his 
 hand. " You have twice saved my life now let me ask 
 one more favor of you ! Take Mr. Yillars to your cave 
 do for him what you have done for me. He is a much 
 better Christian, and far more deserving of your kindness, 
 than I ever was." 
 
 " And you ? " said Pomp, quietly. 
 
 " I will take my chance with the others." And Penn 
 18*
 
 210 THE DEAD REBEL'S MUSKET. 
 
 in few words explained the occurrences of the night and 
 morning. 
 
 Pomp shrugged his shoulders frowningly. The time 
 was at hand when he and Cudjo could no longer enjoy in 
 freedom their wila mountain life ; even they must soon 
 be drawn into the great deadly struggle. This he fore- 
 saw, and his soul was darkened for a moment. 
 
 " Cudjo ! Shall we take this old man to our den ? " 
 
 " No, no ! Don't ye take nobody dar ! on'y Massa 
 Hapgood." 
 
 " But he is blind ! " said Penn. 
 
 " Others will come after who are not blind," said 
 Pomp, his brow still stern and thoughtful. 
 
 " My friends," interposed the old clergyman, mildly, 
 " do nothing for me that will bring danger to yourselves, 
 I entreat you ! " 
 
 These unselfish words, spoken with serious and benig- 
 nant aspect, touched the generous chords in Pomp's 
 breast. 
 
 " Why should we blacks have anything to do with this 
 quarrel ? " he said with earnest feeling. " Your friends 
 down there " meaning Stackridge and his party 
 " are all slaveholders or pro-slavery men. Why should 
 we care which side destroys the other ? " 
 
 " There is a God," answered Mr. Villars, with a beam- 
 ing light in his unterrified countenance, " who is not 
 prejudiced against color ; who loves equally his black and 
 his white children ; and who, by means of this war that
 
 THE DEAD REBEL'S MUSKET. 211 
 
 seems so needless and so cruel, is working out the re- 
 demption, not of the misguided white masters only, but 
 also of the slave. Whether you will or not, this war 
 concerns the black man, and he cannot long keep out of 
 it. Then Avill you side with your avowed enemies, or 
 with those who are already fighting in your cause without 
 knowing it ? " 
 
 These words probed the deep convictions of Pomp's 
 breast. He had from the first believed that the war 
 meant death to slavery ; although of late the persistent 
 and almost universal cry of Union men for the " Union as 
 it was," the Union with the injustice of slavery at its 
 core, had somewhat wearied his patience and weak- 
 ened his faith. 
 
 " Here, Cudjo ! help get this horse up we can find a 
 path for him." 
 
 Reluctantly Cudjo obeyed ; and almost by main 
 strength the two athletic blacks lifted and pulled the 
 animal up the bank, and out of the chasm. 
 
 Penn assisted his old friend to remount, then took 
 leave of him. 
 
 " I will be with you again soon ! " he cried, hope- 
 fully, as the negroes urged the horse forward into the 
 thickets. 
 
 Then the young Quaker, left alone, turned to look at 
 the dead rebel. For a moment horrible nausea and faint- 
 ness made him lean against the tree for support. It was 
 the first violent death of which he had ever been an eye-
 
 212 THE DEAD REBEL'S MUSKET. 
 
 witness. He had known this man, who was indeed 
 the same Griffin, who had assisted the unwilling Pepper- 
 ill to bring the tar-kettle to the wood-side on a certain 
 memorable evening ; ignorant, intemperate, too proud to 
 work in a region where slavery made industry a disgrace, 
 and yet a fierce champion of the system which was his 
 greatest curse. Now there he lay, in his dirt, and rags, 
 and blood, his neck shot through ; the same expression 
 of ferocious hate with which he had rushed to bayonet 
 the schoolmaster still distorting his visage ; an object 
 of horror and loathing. Was it not assuming a terrible 
 responsibility to send this rampant sinner to his long 
 account ? Yet the choice was between his life and 
 Perm's ; and had not Pomp done well ? Still Penn could 
 not help feeling remorse and commiseration for the 
 wretch. 
 
 " Poor Griffin ! I have no murderous hatred for such 
 as you ! But if you come in the way of my country's 
 safety, or of the welfare of my friends, you must take 
 the penalty ! " 
 
 He picked up the musket that had fallen at his feet 
 where he stood bound. Then, stifling his disgust, he felt 
 in the dead man's pockets for ammunition. Cartridges 
 there were none ; but in their place he found some bul- 
 lets and a powder-flask. Then putting in practice the 
 lessons he had learned of Pomp when they hunted to- 
 gether on the mountain, he loaded the gun, resolutely set- 
 ting his teeth and drawing his breath hard when he
 
 THE DEAD REBEL'S MUSKET. 213 
 
 thought of the different kind of game it might now be 
 his duty to shoot. 
 
 While thus occupied he heard footsteps that gave him 
 a sudden start. He turned quickly, catching up the gun. 
 To his immense relief he saw Pomp, approaching with a 
 smile. 
 
 " I thought you were with tylr. Villars ! " 
 
 " Cudjo has gone with him. I am going with you." 
 
 " O Pomp ! " cried Penn, with a joyful sense of reli- 
 ance upon his powerful and sagacious black friend. 
 " But is Mr. Villars safe ? " 
 
 " Cudjo is faithful,'' said Pomp. " He believes the old 
 man is your friend, and a friend of the slave. Besides, I 
 promised, if he would take him to the cave, that my next 
 shot, if I have a chance, should be at his old acquaint- 
 ance, Sile Ropes." 
 
 Pomp took the lead, guiding Penn through hollows 
 and among thickets to a ledge crowned with shrubs of 
 savin, whose summit commanded a view of all that moun- 
 tain-side. 
 
 They crept among the bushes to the edge of the cliff. 
 There they paused. Neither friend nor foe was in sight. 
 Xo sound of fire-arms was heard, only the birds were 
 ringing. 
 
 Penn never forgot that scene. How fresh, and beauti- 
 ful, and still the morning was ! The sunlight flushed the 
 craggy and wooded slopes. Far off, dim with early mist, 
 lay the lovely hills and valleys of East Tennessee. Oil
 
 214 THE DEAD REBEL'S MUSKET. 
 
 the north the peaks of the mountain range soared away, 
 purple, rosy, glorious, in soft suffusing light. In the 
 south-west other peaks receded, billowy and blue. And 
 God's pure, deep sky was over all. 
 
 Touched by the divine beauty of the day, Penn lay 
 thinking with shame of the scenes of human folly and 
 violence with which it had been desecrated, when the 
 negro drew him softly by the sleeve. 
 
 " Look yonder ! down in the edge of that little grove ! " 
 
 Peering through an opening in the savins through 
 which Pomp had thrust his rifle, Penn saw, stealing 
 cautiously out of the grove, a man. 
 
 "It is Stackridge ! He is reconnoitring." 
 
 "It is a retreat," said Pomp. " See, there they all 
 come ! " 
 
 " Carl with the rest, showing them the way ! " added 
 Penn. 
 
 He was watching with intense interest the movements 
 of his friends, and rejoicing that no foe was in sight, 
 when suddenly Pomp uttered a warning whisper. 
 
 " Where ? what ? " said Penn, eagerly looking in the 
 direction in which the negro pointed. 
 
 Down at their left was a long line of dark thickets 
 which marked the edge of a ravine ; out of which he 
 now saw emerging, one by one, a file of armed men. 
 They climbed up a narrow and difficult pass, and 
 halted on the skirts of the thicket. Ten twelve fif- 
 teen, Penn counted. It was the other party that had
 
 THE DEAD REBEL'S MUSKET. 215 
 
 been sent out simultaneously with that under Lieutenant 
 Ropes, to get in the rear of the fugitives. And they had 
 succeeded. Only a bushy ridge concealed them from 
 Stackridge's men, who were coming up under the shelter 
 of the same ridge on the other side. 
 
 Penn trembled with excitement as he saw the rebels 
 cross swiftly forward, skulking among the bushes, to the 
 summit of the ridge. The negro's eyes blazed, but he 
 was perfectly cool. On one knee, his left foot advanced, 
 holding his rifle with one hand, and parting the bushes 
 with the other, he smiled as he observed the situation. 
 
 " Here," said he to Penn, " rest your gun in this little 
 crotch. Now can you see to take aim ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Penn, with his heart in his throat. 
 
 " Calm your nerves ! Everything depends on our first 
 shot. Wait till I give the word. See ! they have dis- 
 covered Stackridge ! " 
 
 " We might shout, and warn him," said Penn, whose 
 nature still shrank from using any more deadly means of 
 saving his friends. 
 
 " And so discover ourselves ! That never 11 do. Have 
 you sighted your man ? " 
 
 " Yes the one lying on his belly behind that cedar." 
 
 "Very well! I'll take the fellow next him. The 
 moment you have fired, keep perfectly still, only draw 
 your gun back and load. Now fire ! " 
 
 Just then Stackridge and his men, in full view of theii 
 bidden friends on the ledge, were appearing to the fifteen
 
 216 THE DEAD REBEL'S MUSKET. 
 
 ambushed rebels also. Suddenly the loud bang of a mus- 
 ket, followed instantly by the sharp crack cf a rilie, 
 echoed down the mountain side. The rebel behind the 
 cedar sprang to his feet, dropping his gun, and throwing 
 up his hands, and rushed back down the ridge, screaming, 
 " I'm hit ! I'm hit ! " while the man next him also at- 
 tempted to rise, but fell again, Pomp having discreetly 
 aimed at an exposed leg. 
 
 " I'm glad we've only wounded them ! " whispered 
 Penn, very pale, his lips compressed, his eyes gleaming. 
 
 " It has the effect ! " said Pomp. " Your friends have 
 discovered the ambush, thanks to that coward's uproar ; 
 and now the rascals are panic-struck ! Fire again as they 
 go into the ravine powder alone will do now a little 
 noise will send them tumbling ! " 
 
 They accordingly fired blank discharges ; at the same 
 time Stackridge and his friends, recovering from their 
 momentary astonishment, charged after the retreating 
 rebels, who had barely time to carry off their wounded 
 and escape into the ravine, when their pursuers scaled the 
 ridge. 
 
 "I'm off!" said Pomp, creeping back through the 
 savins. " These men are not my friends, though they are 
 yours. I'll go and look after Cudjo.'' And bounding 
 down into a hollow, he was quickly out of sight.
 
 AXD WHITE. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 BLACK AND WHITE. 
 
 E N N attached his handkerchief to the end 
 of the musket, and standing upon the ledge, 
 waved it over the bushes. Carl, recognizing 
 him, was the first to scramble up the height. The whole 
 party followed, each sturdy patriot wringing the school- 
 master's hand with hearty congratulations when they 
 learned what use he had made of the rebel musket. 
 
 " But the whole credit of the manoeuvre belongs not to 
 me, but to the negro Pomp ! " And he related the story 
 of his own rescue and theirs. 
 
 The patriots looked grave. 
 
 " Where is the fellow ? " asked Stackridge. 
 
 " Being a fugitive slave, he feared lest he should find 
 little favor in the eyes of his master's neighbors," said 
 Penn. 
 
 " That's where he was right ! " said Deslow, with a 
 bigoted and unforgiving expression. " Nothing under the 
 sun shall make me give encouragement to a nigger's run- 
 ning away." 19
 
 18 SLACK AXD 
 
 Two or three others nodded grim assent to this first 
 principle of the slaveholder's discipline. Penn was fired 
 with exasperation and scorn, and would have separated 
 himself from these narrow-minded patriots on the spot, 
 had not Stackridge jumped up from the ground upon which 
 he had thrown himself, and, striking his gun ban-el fiercely, 
 exclaimed, 
 
 " Now, that's what I call cursed foolishness, Deslow ! 
 and every man that holds to that way of thinking had bet- 
 ter go over to t'other side to oncet ! If we can't make up 
 our minds to sacrifice our property, and, what's more to 
 some folks, our prejudices, in the cause we're fighting for, 
 we may as well stop before we stir a step further. I'm a 
 slaveholder, and always have been ; but I swear, I can't 
 say as I ever felt it was such a divine institution as some 
 try to make it out, and I don't believe there's a man here 
 that thinks in his heart that it's just right. And as for 
 the niggers running away, my private sentiment is, that I 
 don't blame 'em a mite. You or I, Deslow, would run 
 in their place ; you know you would." And Stackridgf 
 wiped his brow savagely. 
 
 " And as for this particular case," said Captain Grudd, 
 with a gleam of light in his lean and swarthy counte- 
 nance, "don't le's be blind to our owe interests; don't 
 le's be downright fools. I've said froir the first that 
 slavery and the rebellion was brother and sister, they go 
 together ; and I've made up my mind to stand by my 
 country and the old flag, whatever comes of tha institu-
 
 BLACK AND WHITE. 219 
 
 ,ion." All, except the conservative Deslow, applauded 
 this resolution. " Then consider," added the captain, his 
 deliberate, impressive manner proving quite as effective as 
 Stackridge's more excited and fiery style, "here we are 
 fighting for our very lives rnd liberties ; and if, as I say, 
 slavery's the cause of this war, then we're fighting against 
 slavery, the best we can fix it. How monstrous absurd 
 'twill be, then, for us to refuse the assistance of any nigger 
 that has it to give ! Bythewood, Pomp's owner, is one of 
 the hottest secessionists I know ; and d'ye think I want 
 Pomp sent back to him, to help that side, when he has 
 shown that he can be of such mighty good service to us ? 
 I move that we send the professor to make a treaty with 
 him. What do you say, Mr. Hapgood ? " 
 
 " I say," replied Penn with enthusiasm, " that he and 
 Cudjo are in a condition to do infinitely more for us than 
 we can do for them ; and if their alliance can be secured, 
 I say that we ought by all means to secure it." 
 
 " That depends," said Grudd, " upon what we intend 
 to do. Are we going to make a stand here, and see if the 
 loyal part of old Tennessee will rise up and sustain us ? or 
 are we going to fight our way over the mountains, and 
 never come back till a Union army comes with us to set 
 things a little to rights here ? " 
 
 " Wa'al," said Withers, who concealed a hardy courage 
 and earnest patriotism under a phlegmatic and droll ex- 
 terior, " while we're discussin' that question, I reckon we 
 may as well have breakfast. This is as good a place as
 
 220 BLACK AXD WHITb. 
 
 any, we can take turns keeping a lookout from that 
 ledge." 
 
 He proceeded to kindle a fire in the hollow. The 
 fugitives, in passing a field of corn, had thrust into their 
 pockets a plentiful supply of green ears, which they now 
 husked and roasted. There was a spring in the rocks 
 near by, from which they drank lying on their faces, and 
 dipping in their beards. This was then* breakfast ; during 
 which Penn's mission to the blacks was fully discussed, 
 and finally decided upon. 
 
 The msal concluded, the refugees resumed their march, 
 and entered an immense thick wood farther up the moun- 
 tain. In a cool and shadowy spot they halted once more ; 
 and here Penn took leave of them, setting out on his visit 
 to the cave. 
 
 He had a mile to travel over a rough, wild region, 
 where the fires that had formerly devastated it had left the 
 only visible marks of a near civilization. In a tranquil 
 little dell that had grown up to wild grass, he came sud- 
 denly upon a horss feeding. It was Stackridge's useful 
 nag. which looked up from his lofty grove-shaded pasture 
 with a low whinny of recognition as Penn patted his neck 
 and passed along. 
 
 A furlong or two farther on the well-known ravine 
 opened, dark, silent, profound, with its shaggy sides, 
 one in shadow and the other in the sun, and its little em- 
 bowered brook trickling far down there amid mossy 
 stones ; as lonesome, wild, and solitary as if no burner: 
 eye had ever beheld it before.
 
 BLACK AND WHITE. 221 
 
 Penn glided over the ledges, and descended along the 
 narrow shelf of rock, behind the thickets that screened the 
 entrance to the cave. Sunlight, and mountain wind, and 
 summer heat he left behind, and entered the cool, still, 
 gloomy abode. 
 
 Cudjo ran to the mouth of the cave to meet him. " Let 
 me frow dis yer blanket ober your shoulders, while ye cool 
 off; cotch yer de'f cold, if ye don't. De ol' man's a 
 'speckin' ye." 
 
 Penn was relieved to learn that Mr. Villars had arrived 
 in safety, and gratified to find him lying comfortably on 
 the bed conversing with Pomp. 
 
 " By the blessing of God, I am very well indeed, my 
 dear Penn. These excellent fellow-Christians have taken 
 the best of care of me. The atmosphere of the cave, 
 which I thought at first chilly, I now find deliciously pure 
 and refreshing. And its gloom, you know, don't trouble 
 me," added the blind old man with a smile. " Have you 
 had any more trouble since Pomp left you ? " 
 
 " No," said Penn ; " thanks to him. Pomp, our friei/ds 
 want to see you and thank you, and they have sent me *.o 
 bring you to them." 
 
 The negro merely shrugged his shoulders, and smiled. 
 
 " What good der tanks do to we ? " cried Cudjo. 
 " Ain't one ob dem ar men but what would been glad to 
 hab us cotched and licked for runnin' away, fur de 'xample 
 to de tudder niggers." 
 
 " If that was true of them once, it is 'not now," said 
 19*
 
 ii'22 BLACK AXD WHITE. 
 
 Penn. " Yet, Pomp, if you feel that there is the least 
 danger in going to them, do not go." 
 
 " Danger ? " The negro's proud and lofty look showed 
 what he thought of that. " Cudjo, make Mr. Hapgood a 
 cup of coffee ; he looks tired. You have had a hard time, 
 I reckon, since you left us." 
 
 " Him stay wid us now till he chirk up again," said 
 Cudjo, running to his coffee-box. " Him and de ol' gem- 
 man stay nobody else." 
 
 While the coffee was making, Penn, sitting on one of 
 the stone blocks which he had named giant's stools, 
 repeated such parts of the late breakfast talk of Stackridge 
 and his friends as he thought would interest Pomp and 
 win his confidence. Then he drank the strong, black 
 beverage in silence, leaving the negro to his own reflec- 
 tions. 
 
 " Are you going again ? " said Pomp. 
 
 " Yes ; I promised them I would return." 
 
 " Take some coffee and a kettle to boil it in ; they will 
 be glad of it, I should think." 
 
 ' O Pomp ! you know how to do good even to your ene- 
 mies ! What shall I say to them for you ? " 
 
 " What I have to say to them I will say myself," said 
 Pomp, taking his rifle in one hand, and the kettle in the 
 other, to Cudjo's great wrath and disgust. 
 
 He set out with Penn immediately. They found the 
 patriots reposing themselves about the roots of the forest 
 trees, on the banks of a stream that came gurgling and
 
 BLACK AND WHITE. 223 
 
 plashing down the mountain side. Above them spread 
 the beautiful green tops of maples, tinted with sunshine 
 and softly rustling in the breeze. The curving banks 
 formed here a little natural amphitheatre, carpeted v.-ith 
 moss and old leaves, on which they sat or reclined, with 
 their hats off 'and their guns at their sides. 
 
 A sentry posted on the edge of the forest brought in 
 Penn and hi* companion. There was a stir of interest 
 among the patriots, and some of them rose to their feet. 
 Stackridge, Grudd, and two or three others cordially 
 offered the negro their hands, and pledged him their grat- 
 itude and friendship. Pomp accepted these tokens of 
 esteem in silence, his countenance maintaining a some- 
 what haughty expression, his lips firm, his eyes kindling 
 with a strange light. 
 
 Penn took the kettle, and proceeded, with Carl's help, 
 to make a fire and prepare coffee for the company, 
 intently listening the while to all that was said. 
 
 Jutting from one bank of the stream, which washed its 
 base, was a huge, square block covered with dark-green 
 moss. Upon this Pomp stepped, and rested his rifle upon 
 it, and bared his massive and splendid head, and stood 
 facing his auditors with a placid smile, under the canopy 
 of leaves. There was not among them all so noble a fig- 
 ure of a man as he who stood upon the rock : and he 
 seemed to have chosen this somewhat theatrical attitude 
 in order to illustrate, by his own imposing personal 
 presence, the words that rose to his lips.
 
 224 BLACK AND WHITE. 
 
 " You will excuse me, gentlemen, if I cannot forget 
 that I am talking with those who buy and sell men 
 like me ! " 
 
 Men like him ! The suggestion seemed for a moment 
 to strike the slave-owning patriots dumb with surprise 
 and embarrassment. 
 
 " No, no, Pomp," cried Stackridge, " not men like 
 you there are few like you anywhere." 
 
 " I wish there was more like him, and that I owned a 
 good gang of 'em ! " muttered the man Deslow. 
 
 " I don't," replied Withers, with a drawl which had a 
 deep meaning in it ; " twould be too much like sleep- 
 ing on a row of powder barrels, with lighted candles 
 stuck in the bung holes. Dangerous, them big knowin' 
 niggers be." 
 
 Pomp did not answer for a minute, but stood as if 
 gathering power into himself, with one long, deep breath 
 inflating his chest, and casting a glance upward through 
 the sun-lit summer foliage. 
 
 " You buy and sell men, and women, and children of 
 my race. If I am not like them, it is because circum- 
 stances have lifted me out of the wretched condition in 
 which it is your constant policy and endeavor to keep us. 
 By your laws the laws you make and uphold I am 
 this day claimed as a slave ; by your laws I am hunted as 
 a slave ; yes, some of you here have joined your neigh- 
 bor in the hunt for me, as if I was no more than a wild 
 beast to be hounded and shot down if I could not be
 
 BLACK AND WHITE. 225 
 
 caught. Now tell me what union or concord there can 
 be between you and me ! " 
 
 "I own," said Deslow, for Pomp's gleaming eyes 
 had darted significant lightnings at him, "I did once 
 come up here with Bythewood to see if we could find you. 
 Not that I had anything against you, Pomp, not a 
 thing ; and as for your quarrel with your master, I ain't 
 sure but you had the right on't ; but you know as well as 
 we do that we can't countenance a nigger's running away, 
 under any circumstances." 
 
 " No ! " said Pomp, with sparkling sarcasm. " Your 
 secessionist neighbors revolt against the mildest govern- 
 ment in the world, and resort to bloodshed on account of 
 some fancied wrongs. You revolt against them because 
 you prefer the old government to theirs. Your forefathers 
 went to war with the mother country on account of a few 
 taxes. But a negro must not revolt, he must not even 
 attempt to run away, although he feels the relentless heel 
 of oppression grinding into the dust all his rights, all that 
 is dear to him, all that he loves ! A white man may take 
 up arms to defend a bit of property ; but a black man has 
 no right to rise up and defend either his wife, or his child, 
 or his liberty, or even his own life, against his master ! " 
 
 Only the narrow-minded Deslow had the confidence to 
 meet this stunning argument, enforced as it was by the 
 speaker's powerful manner, superb physical manhood, and 
 superior intelligence. 
 
 " You know, Pomp, that your condition, to begin with.
 
 226 BLACK AXD WHITE. 
 
 is very different from that of any white man. Your rela- 
 tion to your master is not that of a man to his neighbor, 
 or of a citizen to the government ; it is that of property 
 to its owner." 
 
 " Property ! " There was something almost wicked in 
 the wild, bright glance with which the negro repeated 
 this word. " How came we property, sir : " 
 
 " Our laws make you so, and you have been acquired 
 as property," said Deslow, not unkindly, but in his big- 
 oted, obstinate way. " So, really, Pomp, you can't blame 
 us for the view we take of it, though it does conflict a 
 little with your choice in the matter." 
 
 " But suppose I can show you that you are wrong, and 
 that even by your own laws we are not, and cannot be, 
 property ? " said Pomp, with a princely courtesy, looking 
 down from the rock upon Deslow, so evidently in every 
 way his inferior. " I will admit your title to a lot of 
 land you may purchase, or reclaim from nature : or to an 
 animal you have captured, or bought, or raised. But a 
 man's natural, original owner is himself. Now, I never 
 sold myself. My father never sold himself. My father 
 was stolen by pirates on the coast of Africa, and brought 
 to this country, and sold. The man who bought him 
 bought what had been stolen. By your own laws you 
 cannot hold stolen property. Though it is bought and 
 sold a thousand times, let the original owner appear, and 
 it is his, nobody else has the shadow of a claim. My 
 father was stolen property, if he was property at all He
 
 BLACK AXD WHITE. 227 
 
 was his own rightful owner. Though he had been robbed 
 of himself, that made no difference with the justice of the 
 case. It was so with my mother. It is so with me. It 
 is the same with every black man on this continent. Not 
 one ever sold himself, or can be sold, or can be owned. 
 For to say that what a man steals or takes by force is his, 
 to dispose of as he chooses, is to go back to barbarism : 
 it is not the law of any Christian land. So much," added 
 Pomp, blowing the words from him, as if all the false 
 arguments in favor of slavery were no more to the man's 
 soul, and its eternal, God-given rights, than the breath he 
 blew contemptuously forth into those mountain woods, 
 so much for the claim of PROPERTY ! " 
 
 Perm was so delighted with this triumphant declaration 
 of principles that he could have flung his hat into the 
 maple boughs and shouted " Bravo ! " He deemed it 
 discreet, however, to confine the expression of his enthu- 
 siasm to a tight grasp on Carl's sympathetic hand, and to 
 watch the effect of the speech on the rest. 
 
 " Deslow,'' laughed Stackridge, himself not ill pleased 
 with Pomp's arguments, " what do you say to that ? " 
 
 " Wai," said Deslow, " I never thought on't in just 
 that light before ; and I own he makes out a pooty good 
 show of a case. But yet " He hesitated, scratch- 
 ing for an idea among the stiff black hair that grew on 
 his low, wrinkled forehead. 
 
 " But yet, but yet, but yet ! " said Pomp, ironically. 
 " It's so hard, when our selfish interests are at stake, to
 
 228 BLACK AND WRITE. 
 
 confess our injustice or give up a bad cause ! But I did not 
 come here to argue my right to my own manhood. I take 
 it without arguing. Neither did I come to ask anything 
 for myself. You can do nothing for me but get me into 
 trouble. Yet I believe in the cause in which you have 
 tnken up arms. I have served you this morning without 
 being asked by you to do it ; and I may assist you again 
 when the time comes. In the mean while, if you want 
 anything that I have, it is yours ; for I recognize that we 
 are brothers, though you do not. But I will not join you, 
 for I am neither slave nor inferior, and I have no wish to 
 be acknowledged an equal." And Pomp stepped off the 
 rock with an air that seemed to say, " / know who is the 
 equal of the best of you ; and that is enough." If this 
 man had any fault more prominent than another, it was 
 pride ; yet that haughty self-assertion which would have 
 been offensive in a white man, was vastly becoming to 
 the haughty and powerful black. 
 
 " I, for one," said the impulsive Stackridge, again 
 grasping his hand, " honor the position you take. What 
 I wanted was to thank you for what you have done, and to 
 promise that you are safe from danger as far as regards 
 us. I'm glad you've got your liberty. I hope you will 
 keep it. You deserve it. Every slave deserves the same 
 that has the manliness to strike a blow for the good old 
 government " 
 
 " That has kept him a slave," added Pomp, with a 
 bitter smile.
 
 SLACK AND WHITE. 229 
 
 " Yes ; and so much the more noble in him to fight for 
 it ! " said Stackridge. " Now, if you don't want to let us 
 into the secrets of your way of life, I can't say I blame 
 ye. We're glad to get the coffee ; and if you've any 
 game or potatoes on hand, that you can spare, we'll take 
 'em, and pay ye when we have a chance to forage for our- 
 selves, which won't be long first." 
 
 " I have some salted bear's meat that you'll be wel- 
 come to ; and may be Cudjo can spare a little meal.'' 
 His eye rested on Carl, whose fidelity he knew. " Let 
 that boy come with us ! We will send the provisions by 
 him." 
 
 Carl was delighted with the honor, for Penn was like* 
 wise going back to Mr. Villars with the negro. 
 20
 
 230 WHY AUGUSTUS DID XOT PROPOSE. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 WHY AUGUSTUS DID NOT PROPOSE. 
 
 HE valiant confederates, returning from the 
 pursuit of the escaped prisoners, proved 
 themselves possessed of at least one im- 
 portant qualification for serving the rebel cause. They 
 were able to give a marvellously good account of them- 
 selves. Whatever the military authorities may have 
 thought of it, the people believed that the little band of 
 Union men had been nearly annihilated. 
 
 In the midst of the excitement, Mr. Augustus Bythe- 
 wood returned home, and went in the evening to call 
 upon, counsel, and console the daughters of the old 
 man Villars. 
 
 " O, Massa Bythewood ! " cried Toby, in ' great joy 
 at sight of him, " dey been killin' ol' massa up on de 
 mountain ; and de young ladies O, Massa Bvthewood ! 
 ye must do sumfin' for de young ladies and ol' massa ! " 
 
 Mr. Augustus flattered himself that he had arrived 
 at just the right time.
 
 WHY AUGUSTUS DID NOT PROPOSE. 231 
 
 " My dear Virginia ! you cannot conceive of my aston- 
 ishment and grief on hearing what has happened to your 
 family ! I have but just this hour returned to town, or I 
 should have hastened before to assure you that all I can 
 do for you I will most gladly undertake. My very dear 
 young lady, be comforted, I conjure you ; for it grieves 
 me to the heart to see how pale, how very pale and dis- 
 tressed, you look ! " 
 
 Thus the amiable, the chivalrous, the friendly Gus 
 overflowed with eloquent sympathy and protestation, 
 pressing affectionately the hand of the " very pale and 
 distressed" fair one, and bowing low his dark, aris- 
 tocratic southern curls over it ; appearing, in short, 
 the very courteous, noble, and devoted gentleman he 
 wasn't. 
 
 Virginia breathed hard, compressed her lips, white with 
 indignation as well as with suffering, and let him act his 
 part. And the confident lover did not dream that those 
 eyes, red with grief and surrounded by dark circles, saw 
 through all his hypocritical professions, or that the cold, 
 passive little hand, abandoned through the apathy of 
 despair to his caresses, would have been thrust into the 
 fire, before ever he would have been allowed to win it. 
 
 " Surely," she managed to say in a voice scarce above 
 a whisper, " if ever we needed a true, disinterested friend, 
 it is now. Sit down ; and be so kind as to excuse me a 
 moment. I will call my sister." 
 
 So she withdrew. And Augustus smiled. " Now is
 
 232 WHY AUGUSTUS DID NOT PROPOSE. 
 
 my time ! " he said complacently to himself, resolved to 
 make an offer of that valuable hand of his that very 
 night : forlorn, friendless, wretched, was it possible that 
 she could refuse such a prize ? So he sat, and fondled his 
 curls, and practised sweet smiles, and sympathized with 
 Salina when she came, and waited for Virginia, little 
 knowing what was to happen to her, and to him, and to 
 all, before ever he saw that vanished face again. 
 
 For Virginia had business on her hands that night. 
 She remembered the hurried directions Penn had given 
 for communicating with her father, and she was already 
 preparing to send off Toby to the round rock. 
 
 " Gracious, missis ! " said the old negro, returning 
 hastily to the kitchen door where she stood watching his 
 departure, " dar's a man out dar, a waitin' ! Did ye see 
 him, missis ? " 
 
 She had indeed seen a human figure advance in the 
 darkness, as if with intent to intercept or follow him. 
 Perplexed and indignant at the discovery, she suffered the 
 old servant to return into the house, and remained herself 
 to see what became of the figure. It moved off a little 
 way in the darkness, and disappeared. 
 
 " Wha' sh'll we do ? " Toby rolled up his eyes in 
 consternation. " Do jes' speak to Mr. Bythewood. 
 Miss Jinny ; he's de bestist friend he'll tell what 
 to do." 
 
 " No, no, Toby ! " said Virginia, collecting herself, and 
 speaking with decision. " He is the last person I would
 
 WHY AUGUSTUS DID NOT PROPOSE. 233 
 
 consult. Toby, you must try again ; for either you or I 
 must be at the rock before ten o'clock." 
 
 ' You, Miss Jinny ? Who eber heern o' sich a ting ! " 
 
 " Go yourself, then, good Toby ! " And she earnestly 
 reminded him of the necessity. 
 
 " O, yes, yes ! I'll go ! Massa can't lib widout ol' 
 Toby, dat's a fac' i " 
 
 But looking out again in the dark, his zeal was sud- 
 denly damped. " Dey cotch me, dey sarve me wus 'n 
 dey sarved ol' Pete, shore ! Can't help tinkiu' ob 
 dat ! " 
 
 Virginia saw what serious cause there was to dread 
 such a catastrophe. But her resolution was unshaken. 
 
 " Toby, listen. That man out there is a spy. His 
 object is to see if any of our friends come to the house, 
 or if we send to them. He won't molest you ; but he 
 may follow to see where you go. If he does, then make 
 a wide circuit, and return home, and I will find some 
 other means of communication." 
 
 Thus encouraged, the negro set out a second time. 
 Virginia followed him at a distance. She saw, as she 
 anticipated, the figure start up again, and move off in the 
 direction he was going. Toby accordingly commenced 
 making a large detour through the fields, and both he and 
 the shadow dogging him were soon out of sight. 
 
 Then Virginia lost no time in executing the other plan 
 at which she had hinted. Instead of returning, to give 
 up the undertaking in despair, and listen to matrimonial 
 20*
 
 2o4 WHY AUGUSTUS DID XOT PROPOSE. 
 
 proposals from Gus Bythewood, she took a long breath, 
 gathered up her skirts, and set out for the mountain. 
 
 There was a new moon, but it was hidden by clouds. 
 Still the evening was not very dark. The long twilight 
 of the summer day still lingered in the valley. Here 
 and there she could distinguish landmarks, a knoll, a 
 rock, or a tree, which gave her confidence. I will not 
 say that she feared nothing. She was by nature timid, im- 
 aginative, and she feared many things. Her own footsteps 
 were a terror to her. The moving of a bush in the wind, 
 the starting of a rabbit from her path, caused her flesh to 
 thrill. At sight of an object slowly and noiselessly 
 emerging from the darkness and standing before her, 
 motionless and spectral, she almost fainted, until she 
 discovered that it was an old acquaintance, a tall pine 
 stump. But all these childish terrors she resolutely over- 
 came. Her heart never faltered in its purpose. Affec- 
 tion for her father, anxiety for his welfare, and, it may be, 
 some little solicitude for her father's friend, who had ap- 
 pointed the tryst at the rock, not with herself, indeed, 
 but with Toby, kept her firm and unwavering in her 
 course. And beneath all, deep in her soul, was a strong 
 religious sense, a faith in a divine guidance and protection. 
 
 What most she feared was neither ghost nor wild 
 beast of the mountains. She felt that, if she could avoid 
 encountering the brutal soldiers of secession, keeping 
 watch along the mountain-side, she would willingly risk 
 everything else. With the utmost caution, with breath-
 
 WHY AUGUSTUS DID NOT PROPOSE. 235 
 
 less tread, she drew near the road she was to cross. Her 
 footsteps were less loud than her heart-beats. Dogs 
 barked in the distance. In a pool near by, some happy 
 frogs were singing. The shrill cry of a katydid came 
 from a poplar tree by the road " Katy did! Katy 
 didn't ! " with vehement iteration and contradiction. 
 No other sounds ; she waited and listened long ; then 
 glided across the road. 
 
 She had come far from the village in order to avoid 
 meeting any one. Her course now lay directly up the 
 mountain-side. The round rock was a famous bowlder 
 known to picnic parties that frequented the spot in sum- 
 mer to enjoy a view from its summit, and a luncheon 
 under its shadow. She had been there a dozen times ; 
 but could she find it in the night ? In vain, as she toiled 
 upwards, she strained her eyes to see the huge dim stone 
 jutting out from the shadowy rocks and bushes. 
 
 At length a sudden light, faint and silvery, streamed 
 down upon her. She looked and saw the clouds parted, 
 and below them the crescent moon setting, like a cimeter 
 of white flame withdrawn by an invisible hand behind the 
 vast shadowy summit of the mountain. Almost at the 
 same moment she discovered the object she sought. The 
 rock was close before her ; and close upon her right was 
 the grove which she herself had so often helped to fill 
 with singing and laughter. How little she felt like either 
 singing or laughing now ! 
 
 She remembered indeed, had she not remembered
 
 236 WHY AUGUSTUS DID NOT PROPOSE. 
 
 all the way ? that the last time she visited the spot it 
 was in company with Penn. Now she had come to 
 meet him again ho'.v unmaidenly the act ! In dark- 
 ness, in loneliness, far from the village and its twin- 
 kling lights, to meet an attractive and a very good 
 looking young man ! What would the world say r 
 Virginia did not care what the world would say. But now 
 she began to question within herself, " What would Penn 
 think ? " and almost to shrink from meeting him. 
 Strong, however, in her own conscious purity of heart, 
 strong also in her confidence in him, she put behind 
 her every unworthy thought, and sought the shelter 
 of the rock. 
 
 And there, after all her labors and fears, scratches 
 in her flesh and rents in her clothes, there she was 
 alone, Penn had not come. Perhaps he would not 
 come. It was by this time ten o'clock. What should 
 she do ? Remain, hoping that he would yet fulfil his 
 promise ? or return the way she came, unsatisfied, dis- 
 heartened, weary, her heart and strength sustained by 
 no word of comfort from him, by no tidings from her 
 father ? 
 
 She waited. It was not long before her eager ear 
 caught the sound of footsteps. An active figure was 
 coming along the edge of the grove. How joyously 
 her heart bounded ! In order that Penn might not 
 be too suddenly surprised at finding her in Toby's 
 place, she stepped out from the shadow of the bowlder,
 
 WHY AUGUSTUS DID NOT PROPOSE. 237 
 
 and advanced to meet him. She shrank back again 
 as suddenly, fear curdling her blood. 
 
 The comer was not Penn. He wore the confederate 
 uniform : this was what terrified her. She crouched 
 down under the rock ; but perceiving that the man 
 aid not pass by, that he walked straight up to her, 
 she started forth again, in the vain hope to escape by 
 flight. Almost at the first step she tripped and fell; 
 and the hand of the confederate soldier was on her 
 arm.
 
 238 THE HEX tf IT a THE DARK LANTERN. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 THE MEN WITH THE DARK LANTERN. 
 
 HE moon had now set, and it was dark. 
 The frightened girl could not distinguish the 
 features of him who bent over her ; but 
 through the trance of horror that was upon her, she rec- 
 ognized a voice. 
 
 " Wirginie ! I tought it vas you ! Don't you know 
 me, Wirginie : " 
 
 No voice had ever before brought such joy to her soul. 
 
 " O Carl ! why didn't I know you ? " 
 
 " Vy not ? Pecause maybe you vas looking for some- 
 pody else. Mishter Hapgoot came part vay init me, but 
 he vas so used up I made him shtop till I came to pring 
 Toby up vere he is." 
 
 Then Virginia, recovering from her agitation, had a 
 score of questions to ask about her father, about the 
 fight, and about Penn. 
 
 " If you vill only go up, he vill tell you so much more as 
 I can. Then you vill go and see your fahder. That vill
 
 THE MEN WITH THE DARK LANTERN. 239 
 
 be petter as going back to-night, vere there is no goot 
 shtout fellow in the house to prewail on them willains to 
 keep their dishtance." 
 
 Even at the outset of her adventurous journey Vir- 
 ginia had felt a vague hope that she should visit her 
 father before she returned. What the boy said inspired 
 her with courage to proceed. She would go up as far as 
 where Penn was waiting, at all events : then she would 
 be guided by his advice. 
 
 The two set out, Carl leading her by the hand, and 
 assisting her. It grew darker and darker. The stars 
 were hidden : the sky was almost completely overcast by 
 black clouds. Slowly and with great difficulty they made 
 their way among trees and bushes, through abrupt hol- 
 lows, and over rocks. Virginia felt that she could have 
 done nothing without Carl : and the thought of returning 
 alone, in such darkness, down the mountain, made her 
 shudder. 
 
 But at length even Carl began to sweat with something 
 besides the physical exertion required in making the as- 
 cent. His mind had grown exceedingly perturbed, and 
 Virginia perceived that his course was wavering and un- 
 certain. 
 
 He stopped, blowing and wiping his face. 
 
 " Dish ish de all confoundedesht, meanesht, mosht 
 dishgusting road for a dark night the prince of darkness 
 himself ever inwented ! " he exclaimed, speaking un- 
 usually thick in his heat and excitement. " I shouldn't
 
 240 THE MEN WITH THE DARK LA 2;' TERN. 
 
 be wery much surprised if I vas a leetle out of tht >ight 
 vay. You shtay right here till I look." 
 
 She sat down and waited. Intense darknes^ sur- 
 rounded her; not a star was visible; she could not see 
 her own hand. For a little while Carl's footsteps could 
 be heard feeling for more familiar ground ; and then, oc- 
 casionally, the crackling of a dry twig, as he trod upon it, 
 showed that he was not far off. Then he whistled ; then 
 he softly called, " Hello ! " in the woods ; moving all the 
 time farther and farther away. 
 
 Carl believed that Perm could not be far distant, and, 
 in order to get an answering signal, he kept whistling 
 and calling louder and louder. At length came a response 
 a low warning whistle. So he plodded on, and had 
 nearly reached the spot where he was confident Penn 
 was searching for him, when there came a rush of feet, 
 and he was suddenly and violently seized by invisible 
 assailants. 
 
 " Got him ? " 
 
 "Yes! all right!" 
 
 " Hang on to him ! It's the Dutchman, ain't it ? I 
 thought I knew the brogue ! " 
 
 The last speaker was Lieutenant Silas Ropes ; and Carl 
 perceived that he had fallen into the hands of a squad of 
 confederate soldiers. That he was vastly astonished and 
 altogether disconcerted at first, we may well suppose. 
 But Carl was not a lad to remain long bereft of his wit? 
 when they were so necessary to him.
 
 THE MEN WITH THE DARK LANTERN. 241 
 
 " Ho ! vot for you choke a fellow so ? " he indignantly 
 demanded. " I vas treated petter as that ven I vas a 
 prisoner." 
 
 " What do you mean, you d d deserter ? " 
 
 " Haven't I just got avay from Stackridge ? and vasn't 
 I running to find you as vast as ever a vellow could ? And 
 now you call me a deserter ! " retorted Carl, aggrieved. 
 
 " Running to find us ! " 
 
 " To be sure ! Didn't I say, ' Is it you ? ' For they 
 said you vas on the mountain. Though I did not think I 
 should find you so easy ! " which was indeed the truth. 
 
 Carl persisted so earnestly in regarding the affair from 
 this point of view, that his captors began to think it 
 worth while to question him. 
 
 " Vun of them vellows just says to me, he says, 
 ' Shpeak vun vord, or make vun noise, and I vill plow 
 your prains out ! ' I vasn't wery much in favor to have 
 my prains plowed out, so I complied mit his wery urgent 
 request. That's the vay they took me prisoner." 
 
 " Wai," remarked Silas, " what he says may be true, 
 but I don't believe nary word on't. Got his hands tied ? 
 Now lock arms with him, and bring him along." 
 
 Carl was in despair at this mode of treatment, for it 
 rendered escape impossible, and what would become of 
 Virginia ? His anxiety for her safety became absolute 
 terror when he discovered the errand on which these men 
 were bound. 
 
 By the light of a dark lantern they led him through 
 21
 
 242 THE ^fEy WITH THE DARK LANTERN. 
 
 the grove, across a brook that came tumbling down out 
 of a wild black gorge, and up the mountain slope into 
 the edge of ihe great forest above. Here they stopped. 
 
 " This yer's a good place, boys, to begin. Kick the 
 leaves together. That's the talk." 
 
 They were in a leafy hollow of the dry woods. A 
 blaze was soon kindled, which shot up in the darkness, 
 and threw its ruddy glare upon the trunks and over- 
 hanging canopy of foliage, and upon the malignant, 
 gleaming faces of the soldiers. Little effort was needed 
 to insure the spreading of the flames. They ran over the 
 ground, licking up the dry leaves, crackling the twigs, 
 catching at the bark of trees, and filling the forest, late 
 so silent and black, with their glow and roar. 
 
 " That's to smoke out your d d Union friends ! " said 
 Silas to Carl, with a hideous grin. 
 
 Yes, Carl understood that well enough. In this same for- 
 est, on the banks of the brook above where it fell into the 
 gorge, the patriots were encamped. And Virginia ? Still 
 believing that the worst that could happen to her would 
 be to fall into the hands of these ruffians, the lad sweated 
 in silent agony over the secret he was bound to keep. 
 
 " What makes ye look so down-in-the-mouth, Dutchy ? 
 Fraid your friends will get scorched ? " 
 
 " I vas thinking the fire vill be apt to scorch us as 
 much as it vill them. And I have my hands tied so I 
 can't run." 
 
 " Don't be afraid ; we'll look out for you. I swear,
 
 TBE It UN WITH ?HK DARK LANTERN. 248 
 
 boys ! the fire looks as though 'twas dying down ! Get 
 out o' this yer holler and there ain't no leaves to feed it ; 
 and I be hanged if the wind ain't gitting contrary ! " 
 
 Carl witnessed these effects with a gleam of hope. 
 The soldiers fell to gathering bark and sticks, which they 
 piled at the roots of trees. The lad was left almost alone. 
 Had his hands been free, he would have run. A soldier 
 passed near him, dragging a dead bush. 
 
 " Dan Pepperill ! cut the cord ! " Dan shook his head, 
 with a look of terror. " Drop your knife, then ! " 
 
 " O Lord ! " said Dan. " They'd hang me ! I be 
 durned if they wouldn't ! " 
 
 "Dan, you must! I don't care vim cent for myself. 
 But Wirginie Willars she is just beyond vere you took 
 me. Yill you leave her to die ? And Mishter Hapgoot 
 is just a little vay up the mountain, and there is nopody 
 to let him know ! " 
 
 A look of ghastly intelligence came into Dan's face as 
 he stopped to listen to this explanation. He seemed half 
 inclined to set the boy's limbs free, and risk the conse- 
 quences. But just then Kopss shouted at him, 
 
 " What ye at thar, Pepperill ? Why don't ye bring 
 along that ar brush ? " 
 
 So the brief conference ended, and the cords remained 
 uncut. And a great, dangerous fire was kindling in the 
 woods. And now Carl's only hope for Virginia was, that 
 she would take advantage of its light to make good her 
 retreat from the mountain.
 
 244 BEAUTY AND TH BEAST. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. 
 
 NFORTUNATELY the poor girl had no 
 suspicion of the mischance that had overta- 
 ken her guide. She heard voices, and believed 
 that he had fallen in with some friends. Thus she waited, 
 expecting momently that he would return to her. She 
 saw a single gleam of light that vanished in the darkness. 
 Then the voices grew fainter and fainter, and at length 
 died in the distance. And she was once more utterly 
 alone. 
 
 Fearful doubt and uncertainty agitated her. In a 
 moment of despair, yielding to the terrors of her situation, 
 she wrung her hands and called on Carl imploringly not to 
 abandon her, but to come back " O, dear, dear Carl, 
 come back ! " 
 
 Suddenly she checked herself. Why was she sitting 
 there, wasting the time in tears and reproaches ? 
 
 " Poor Carl never meant to desert me in this way, I 
 know. If I ever see him again, he will make me sorry
 
 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. 245 
 
 that I have blamed him. No doubt he has done his best. 
 But, whatever has become of him, I am sure he cannot 
 find his way back to me now. I'll follow him ; perhaps 
 I may find him, or Penn, or some of their friends.'' 
 
 She arose accordingly, and groped her way in the 
 direction in which she had seen the light and heard the 
 voices. And soon another and very different light glad- 
 dened her eyes a faint glow, far off, as of a fire kindled 
 among the forest trees. It was the camp of the patriots, 
 she thought. 
 
 She came to the brook, which, invisible, mysterious, 
 murmuring, rolled along in the midnight blackness, and 
 seemed tco formidable for her to ford. She felt the cold 
 rush of the hurrying water, the slippery slime of the 
 mossy and treacherous stones, and withdrew her appalled 
 hands. To find a shallow place to cross, she followed up 
 the bank : and as the light was still before her, higher on 
 the mountain, she kept on, groping among trees, climbing 
 over logs and rocks, falling often, but always resolutely 
 rising again, until, to her dismay, the glow began to dis- 
 appear. She had, without knowing it, followed the 
 stream up into the deep gorge through which it poured ; 
 and now the precipitous wood-crowned wall, rising beside 
 her, overhanging her, shut out the last glimpse of the fire. 
 
 She v,-as by this time exceedingly fatigued. It seemed 
 useless to advance farther ; she felt certain that she was 
 only getting deeper and deeper into the entangling diffi- 
 culties of that unknown, horrible place. Neither had she 
 21*
 
 246 BEAUTY AST) THE BEAST. 
 
 the courage or strength to retrace her steps. Nothing 
 then remained for her but to pass the remainder of the 
 night where she was, and wait patiently for the morning. 
 
 Little knowing that the light she had seen was the 
 glare of the kindled forest, she endeavored to convince 
 herself that she had nothing to fear. At all events, she 
 knew that trembling and tears could avail her nothing. 
 She had not ventured to call very loudly for help, fearing 
 lest her voice might bring foe instead of friend. And 
 now it occurred to her that perhaps Carl had been taken 
 by the soldiers : yes, it must be so : she explained it all to 
 herself, and wondered why she had not thought of it before. 
 It would therefore be folly in her now to scream for aid. 
 
 Comfortless, yet calm, she explored the ground for a 
 resting-place. She cleared the twigs away from the roots 
 of a tree, and laid herself down there on the moss and 
 old leaves. Everything seemed dank with the never- 
 failing dews of the deep and sheltered gorge ; but she 
 did not mind the dampness of her couch. A strong 
 wind was rising, and the great trees above her swayed 
 and moaned. She was vexed by mosquitoes that bit as 
 if they then for the first time tasted blood, and never 
 expected to taste it again ; but she was too weary to 
 care much for them either. She rested her arm on the 
 mossy root ; she rested her head on her arm ; she drew 
 her handkerchief over her face ; she shut out from her 
 soul all the miseries and dangers of her situation, and 
 quietly said her prayers.
 
 BEAUTY AXD THE BEAST. 247 
 
 There is nothing that calms the perturbations of the 
 mind like that inward looking for the light of God's peace 
 which descends upon us when in silence and sweet trust 
 we pray to him. A delicious sense of repose ensued, 
 and her thoughts floated off in dreams. 
 
 She dreamed she was flying with her father from the 
 fury of armed men. She led him into a wilderness ; and 
 it was night ; and great rocks rose up suddenly before 
 them in the gloom, and awful chasms yawned. Then she 
 was wandering alone ; she had lost her father, and was 
 seeking him up and down. Then it seemed that Penn 
 was by her side ; and when she asked for her father he 
 smilingly pointed upward at a wondrously beautiful light 
 that shone from the summit of a hill. She sought to go 
 up thither, but grew weary, and sat down to rest in a 
 deep grove, with an ice-cold mountain stream dashing at 
 her feet. Then the light on the hill became a lake of fire, 
 and it poured its waves into the stream, and the stream 
 flowed past her a roaring river of flame. Lightnings 
 crackled in the air above her. Thunderbolts fell. The 
 heat was intolerable. The river had overflowed, and set 
 the world on fire. And she could not fly, for terror 
 chained her limbs. She struggled, screamed, awoke. She 
 started up. Her dream was a reality. 
 
 Either the fire set by the soldiers had spread, driven 
 by the wind over the dry leaves, into the grove below 
 her, or else they had fired the grove itself on their 
 retreat. Her eyes opened upon a vision of appalling
 
 248 BEAUTY A^'D THE BEAST 
 
 brightness. For a moment she stood utterly dazzled and 
 bewildered, not knowing where she was. Memory and 
 reason were paralyzed : she could not remember, she could 
 not think : amazement and terror possessed her. 
 
 Instinctively shielding her eyes, she looked down. Tho 
 ground where she had lain, the log, the sticks, the moss, 
 and her handkerchief fallen upon it, were illumined with 
 a glare brighter than noonday. At sight of the handker- 
 chief came recollection. Her terrible adventure, the glow 
 she had seen in the woods, her bed on the earth, she 
 remembered everything. And now the actual perils of 
 her position became apparent to her returning faculties. 
 
 Where all was blackness when she lay down, now all 
 was preternatural light. Every bush and jutting rock of 
 the wild overhanging cliffs stood out in fearful distinct- 
 ness. The saplings and trees on their summits, fifty feet 
 above her head, seemed huddling together, and leaning 
 forward terror-stricken, in an atmosphere of whirling 
 flame and smoke. Climb those cliffs she could not, 
 though she were to die. 
 
 She must then flee farther up into the deep and narrow 
 gorge, or endeavor to escape by the way she had come. 
 But the way she had come was fire. 
 
 The conflagration already enveloped the mouth of the 
 gorge, shutting her in. The trunks of near trees stood 
 like the bars of a stupendous cage, through which she 
 looked at the raering demons beyond. Burning limbs 
 fell, shooting through the air with trails of flame
 
 BEAUTY AXD THE BEAST. 249 
 
 Every tree was a pillar of fire. Here a bough, still un- 
 touched, hung, dark and impassive, against the lurid, sur- 
 ging chaos. Then the whirlwind of heated air struck it, 
 and you could see it writhe and twist, until its darkness 
 burst into flame. There stood what was late a lordly maple, 
 but now, trunk, and limb, and branch, a tree of 
 living coal. And down under this gulf of fire flowed the 
 brook, into which showers of sparks fell hissing, while 
 over all, fearfully illumined clouds of smoke and cinders 
 and leaves went rolling up into the sky. 
 
 Virginia approached near enough to be impressed with 
 the dreadful certainty that there was no outlet whatever, 
 for any mortal foot, in that direction. Tortured by the 
 heat, and pursued by lighted twigs, that fell like fiery 
 darts around her, she fled back into the gorge. 
 
 The conflagration was still spreading rapidly. The tim- 
 ber along both sides of the gorge, at its opening, began 
 to burn upwards towards the summits of the clifls. Soon 
 the very spot where she had slept, and where she now 
 paused once more in her terrible perplexity and fear, 
 \vould be an abyss of flame. 
 
 Again she took to flight, hasting along the edge of 
 the stream, up into the heart of the gorge. Over roots 
 of trees, over old decaying trunks, over barricades of dead 
 limbs brought down by freshets and left lodged, she 
 climbed, she sprang, she ran. All too brightly her way 
 was lighted now. A ghastly yellow radiance was on 
 every object. The waters sparkled and gleamed as they
 
 250 BtAUTY AXD TBE BEAST. 
 
 poured over the dark brown stones. Every slender, deli- 
 cate fern, every poor little startled wild flower nestled in 
 cool, dim nooks, was glaringly revealed. Little the 
 frightened girl heeded these darlings of the forest now. 
 
 All the way she looked eagerly for some slant or cleft in 
 the mountain walls where she might hope to ascend. 
 Here, over the accumulated soil of centuries, fastened by 
 interwoven roots to the base of the cliff, she might have 
 climbed a dozen feet or more. Yonder, by the aid of 
 shrubs and boughs, she might have drawn herself up a 
 few feet farther. But, wherever her eye ranged along the 
 ledges above, she beheld them dizzy-steep and unsca- 
 lable. And so she kept on until even the way before her 
 was closed up. 
 
 On the brink of a rock-rimmed, flashing basin she 
 stopped. Down into this, from a shelf twenty feet 
 in height, fell the brook in a bright, fire-tinted cascade. 
 Fear-inspired as she was, she could not but pause 
 and wonder at the strange beauty of the scene, the 
 plashy pool before her, the flame-color on the veil of 
 silver foam dropped from the brow of the ledge, and 
 for a wild background to the picture the wooded, fire-lit, 
 shadowy gorge, opening on a higher level above. 
 
 During the moment that she stood there, a great bird, 
 like an owl, that had probably been driven from his hol- 
 low tree or fissure in the rocks by the conflagration, 
 flapped past her face, almost touching her with his wings, 
 and dashed blindly against the waterfall. He was swept
 
 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. 251 
 
 down into the pool. After some violent fluttering and 
 floundering in the water, he extricated himself, perched 
 on a stone at its edge, shook out his wet feathers, and 
 stared at her with large cat-like eyes, without fear. She 
 was near enough to reach him with her hand ; but either 
 he was so dazzled and stunned that he took no notice of 
 her, or else the greater terror had rendered him tame to 
 human approach. She believed the latter was the case, 
 and saw something exceedingly awful in the incident. 
 When even the wild winged creatures of the forest were 
 stricken dov. n with fear, what cause had she to apprehend 
 danger to herself ! 
 
 On reaching the waterfall she had felt for a moment 
 that all was over that certain death awaited her. Then, 
 out of her very despair, came a gleam of hope. She 
 might creep under the cascade, or behind it, and that 
 would protect her. But when she looked up, and saw, 
 around and above her, the forest trees with the frightful 
 and ever-increasing glow upon them, and knew that they 
 too soon must kindle, and thought of firebrands rained 
 down upon her, and falling columns of fire filling the gorge 
 with burning rubbish, then her soul sickened : what 
 protection would a little sheet of water prove against such 
 furnace heat ? 
 
 No : she must escape, or perish. Beside the cascade 
 there was a broken angle of the rocks, by which, if she 
 could reach it, she might at least, she thought, climb 
 to the upper part of the gorge. But the nearest foothold
 
 252 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. 
 
 she could discover was ten feet above the basin, in shee? 
 ascent. The ledge was dank and slippery with the dash- 
 ing spray. Gain the top of it, however, she must. She ran 
 up the embankment under the cliff. Here a sapling gave 
 *ier support ; she clung to a crevice or projection there ; a 
 Irooping bough saved her from falling when the soft earth 
 slid from beneath hsr feet farther on. So she climb _\1 
 along the side of the precipice, until the broken corner 
 of the cliff was hardly two yards off before her. Yes, a 
 secure foothold was there, and above it rose irregular 
 pointed stairs, leading steeply to the top of the cascade. 
 O, to reach that shattered ledge ! A space of perpendicu- 
 lar wall intervened. No shrub, no drooping bough, was 
 there. Here was only a slight projection, just enough to 
 rest the edge of a foot upon. She placed her foot upon 
 it. She found a crevice above, and thrust her fingers into 
 it as if there was no such thing as pain. She clung, she 
 took a step she was half a yard nvarer the angle. 
 But what next could she do ? She was hanging in the 
 air above the basin, into which the slightest slip would 
 precipitate her. To change hands relieve the one 
 advanced and insert the fingers of the other in its place, 
 --was a perilous undertaking. But she did it. Then 
 she reached forward again with hand and foot, found an- 
 other spot to cling to, and took another step. She was 
 thankful for the great light that lighted tho rocks before 
 her. Close by now was the fractured angle of the cliff: 
 one more step, and she could set her foot upon the iieth
 
 BEAUTY A NJL> THIS JSAST. 253 
 
 ermost stair. Her strength was almost gone ; her hands, 
 though insensible to pain, were conscious of slipping. To 
 fall would be to lose all she had gained, and all the 
 strength she had exhausted in the effort. Her feet now 
 or rather one of them had a tolerably secure hold on the 
 rib of the ledge. She made one last effort with her 
 hands, and, just as she was falling, gave a spring. She 
 knew that all was staked upon that one dizzy instant of 
 time. But for that knowledge she could never have 
 accomplished what she did. She fell forwards towards 
 the angle, caught a point of the rock with her hands, and 
 clung there until she had safely placed her feot. 
 
 This done, it was absolutely necessary to stop a moment 
 to rest. She looked downwards and behind her, to see 
 what she had done. The sight made her dizzy it 
 seemed such a miracle that she could ever have scaled 
 that wall ! 
 
 Nearer and louder roared the conflagration, and she had 
 little time to delay. Her labor was not ended, neither 
 was the danger past. She cast a hurried glance upwards 
 over the ridge she was to climb, and advanced cautiously, 
 step by step. Her soul kept saying within her, " I will 
 not fall ; I will not fall ; " but she dared not look back- 
 wards again, lest even then she should grow giddy and 
 miss her hold. 
 
 As she ascended, the ridge inclined nearer and nearer to 
 the side of the cascade, until she found the stones slimy 
 and dripping. This was an unforeseen peril. Still she 
 22
 
 254 BEAUTY AND THE BF.AS'i. 
 
 resolutely advanced, taking the utmost precaution at each 
 step against slipping. At length she -was at the top of 
 the -waterfall. She could look up into the upper gorge, 
 and see the water come rushing down. There was space 
 beside the brook for her to continue her flight : and the 
 sides of the gorge above were far less steep and rugged 
 than below. She was thrilled with hope. She had but 
 one steep, high stair to surmount. She was getting her 
 knee upon it, when a crashing sound in the underbrush 
 arrested her attention. The crashing was followed by a 
 commotion in the water, and she saw a huge black object 
 plunge into the stream, and come sweeping down to- 
 wards her. 
 
 On it came, straight at the rock on which she clung, 
 and from which a motion, a touch, might ' suffice to hurl 
 her back into the lower gorge. She saw what it was; 
 and for a moment she was frozen with terror. She was 
 directly in its path : it would not stop for her. The sight 
 of the blazing woods below, however, brought it to a 
 sudden halt. And there, close by the brink of the water- 
 fall, facing her, not a yard distant, in the full glare of the 
 lire, it rose slowly on its hind feet to look a monster 
 of the forest, an immense black bear. 
 
 And now, but for the nightmare of horror that was 
 upon her, Virginia might have perceived that the forest 
 abcve the cascade was likewise wrapped in flames. The 
 bear had been driven by the terror of them down the 
 stream ; and here, between the two fires, on the verge of
 
 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. 255 
 
 the waterfall, the slight young girl and the great shaggy 
 wild beast had met. She would have shrieked, but she 
 had no voice. The bear also was silent ; with his huge 
 hairy bulk reared up before her, his paws pendant, and 
 his jaws half open in a sort of stupid amazement, he stood 
 and gazed, uttering never a growl.
 
 258 IN THE BURNING WOOL, It, 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 IN THE BURNING WOODS. 
 
 H E incessant excitement and fatigue of the 
 past few days had caused Penn to fall asleep 
 
 almost immediately after Carl left him. The 
 rude ground on which he stretched himself proved a bliss- 
 ful couch of repose. Virginia climbed the ' mountain to 
 meet him, and no fine intuitive sense of her approach 
 thrilled him with wakeful expectancy. Carl was captured, 
 and still he slept. The lost young girl wandered within 
 fifty yards of where he lay steeped in forgetfulness, dream- 
 ing, perhaps, of her ; and all the time they were as uncon- 
 scious of each other's presence as were Evangeline and 
 her lover when they passed each other at night on the 
 great river. 
 
 Penn was the first to wake ; and still his stupid heart 
 whispered to him no syllable of the strange secret of the 
 beautiful sleeper whom he might have looked down upon 
 from the edge of the cliff so near. 
 
 The grove had been but recently fired, and it wouW
 
 IN THE BURNING WOODS. 257 
 
 have been easy enough thon for him to rush into the gorge 
 and rescue her. From what terrors, from what perils 
 would she have been saved ! But he wasted the precious 
 moments in staring amazement ; then, thinking of his own 
 safety, he commenced running away from her, his escape 
 lighted by the same fatal flames that were enclosing her 
 within the gorge. 
 
 She never knew whether, on aAvaking, she cried for 
 help or remained dumb ; nor did it matter much then : he 
 was already too far off to hear. 
 
 The glow on the clouds lighted all the broad mountain 
 side. Under the ruddy canopy he ran, now through 
 dimly illumined woods, and now over bare rocks faintly 
 flushed by the glare of the sky. 
 
 As he drew near the cave, he saw, on a rock high above 
 him, a wild human figure making fantastic gestures, and 
 prostrating itself towards the burning forests. He ran up 
 to it, and, all out of breath, stood on the ledge. 
 
 " Cudjo ! Cudjo ! what are you doing here ?" 
 
 The negro made no reply, but, folding his arms above 
 his head, spread them forth towards the fire, bowing him 
 self again and again, until his forehead touched the stone. 
 
 Penn shuddered with awe. For the first time in his 
 "life he found himself in the presence of an idolater. Cudjo 
 belonged to a tribe of African fire-worshippers, from whom 
 he had been stolen in his youth ; and, although the sen- 
 timent of the old barbarous religion had smouldered for 
 years forgotten in his breast, this night it had burst forth 
 22*
 
 258 IN THE BURNING WOODS. 
 
 again, kindled by the terrible splendors of the burning 
 mountain. 
 
 Perm waited for him to rise, then grasped his arm. 
 The negro, startled into a consciousness of his presence, 
 stared at him wildly. 
 
 " That is not God, Cudjo ! " 
 
 " No, no, not your God, massa ! My God ! " and the 
 African smote his breast. " Me mos' forgit him ; nov/ me 
 'members ! Him comin' fur burn up de white folks, and 
 set de brack man free ! " 
 
 Penn stood silent, thinking the negro might not be 
 altogether wrong. No doubt the dim, dark soul of him 
 saw vaguely, with that prophetic sense which is in all 
 races of men, a great truth. A fire was indeed coming 
 was already kindled which was to set the bondman 
 free : and God was in the fire. But of that mightier con- 
 flagration, the combustion of the forests was but a feeble 
 type. 
 
 Penn turned from Cudjo to watch the burning, and 
 became aware of its threatening and rapidly increasing 
 magnitude. The woods had been set in several places, 
 but the different fires were fast growing into one, swept by 
 a strong wind diagonally across and up the mountain. It 
 seemed then as if nothing could prevent all the forest 
 growths that lay to the southward and westward along the 
 range from being consumed. 
 
 As he gazed, he became extremely alarmed for the 
 of Stackridge and his friends : and where all thi
 
 IN THE BURNING WOODS. 259 
 
 time was Carl ? In vain he questioned Cudjo. He 
 turned, and was hastening to the cave when he met Pomp 
 coming towards him. Tall, majestic, naked to the waist, 
 wearing a garment of panther-skins, with the red gleam of 
 the fire on his dusky face and limbs, the negro looked like 
 a native monarch of the hills. 
 
 " O Pomp ! what a fire that is ! " 
 
 " What a fire it is going to be ! " answered Pomp, with 
 a lurid smile. " Our new neighbors have brought us bad 
 luck. All those woods are gone. The fire is sweeping up 
 directly towards us it will pass over all the mountain 
 nothing will be left." Yet he spoke with a lofty calmness 
 that astonished Penn. 
 
 "And our friends! Carl! have you heard from 
 them ? " 
 
 " I have not seen Carl since he left the cave with you, 
 nor any of Stackridge's people to-night." 
 
 " Then they are in the Avoods yet ! " 
 
 " Yes ; unless they have been wise enough to get out 
 of them ! I was just starting out to look for them. 
 Who comes there ? " poising bis rifle. 
 
 " It's Carl ! " exclaimed Penn, recognizing the confed- 
 erate coat. But in an instant he saw his mistake. 
 
 " It is one of Ropes's men ! " said Pomp. " He has 
 discovered us he shall die for setting my mountains on 
 fire ! " 
 
 " Hold ! " Penn grasped his arm. " He is beckoning 
 and calling ! "
 
 *2QQ IN THE BURNING WOODS. 
 
 Pomp frowned as he lowered his rifle, and waited for 
 the soldier to come up. 
 
 " What ! is it you ? I didn't know you in that dress, 
 and came near shooting you, as you deserve, for wearing 
 it ! " And Pomp turned scornfully away. 
 
 The comer was Dan Pepperill, breathless with haste, 
 horror-struck, haggard. It was some time before he 
 could reply to Penn's impetuous demand what had 
 brought him up thither ? 
 
 " Carl ! " he gasped. 
 
 " What has happened to Carl ? " 
 
 " Ben tuck ! durned if he hain't ! But that ar ain't the 
 wust ! " 
 
 " What, then, is the worst ? " for that seemed bad 
 enough. 
 
 " Virginny Miss Villars ! " 
 
 " Virginia ! what of her ? " 
 
 " She's down thar ! in the fire !" 
 
 " Virginia in the fire ! " 
 
 " She ar, durned if she ain't ! Carl said she war on 
 the mountain, and wanted me to hurry up and help her or 
 find you ; and I'd a done it, but I couldn't git off till we 
 was runnin' from the fires we'd sot; then I kinder got 
 scattered a puppus ; t'other ones hung on to Carl, though, 
 so I had to come alone." 
 
 Penn interrupted the loose and confused narrative 
 Virginia : had he seen her ? 
 
 " Wai, I reckon I hev ! Ye see I war huntin' fur he/ 
 thar, above the round rock ; fur Carl said,
 
 IN THE BURNING WOODS. 261 
 
 A short, sharp groan broke from the lips of Penn. At 
 first the idea of Virginia being on the mountain had 
 appeared to him incredible. But at the mention of the 
 place of rendezvous the truth smote him : she had come up 
 there with Toby, or in his stead. With spasmodic grip 
 he wrung Pepperill's arm as if he would have wrung the 
 truth out of him that way. 
 
 " You saw her ! where ? " 
 
 His hoarse voice, his terrible look, bewildered the poor 
 man more and more. 
 
 " I war a tellin' ye ! Don't break my arm, and don't 
 look so durned f 'erce at me, and I'll out with the hull 
 story. Ye see, I warn't to blame, now, no how. They 
 sot the fires ; they sot the grove on our way back ; 
 and if I helped any, 'twas cause I had ter. But about 
 her. Wai, I begun to the big rock, and war a huntin' 
 up along, till the grove got all in a blaze, and the red 
 limbs begun ter fall, and I see 'twas high time for me to 
 put. Says I ter myself, ' She hain't hyar ; she ar off the 
 mountain and safe ter hum afore this time, shore ! ' But 
 jest then I heern a screech ; it sounded right inter the 
 grove, and I run up as clust ter the fire 's I could, and 
 looked, and thar I seen right in the middle on't, amongst 
 the burnin' trees, a woman's gownd, and then a face : 
 'twas her face, I knowed it, fur she hadn't nary bunnit 
 on, and the fire shone on it bright as lightnin' ! But 
 thar war half a acre o' blazin' timber atween her and 
 me; and besides, I was so struck up all of a heap, J
 
 262 IN THE BURNING WOODS. 
 
 couldn't do nary thing fur nigh about a minute 1 
 couldn't even holler ter let her know I war thar. And 
 'fore I knowed what I war about, durned if she hadn't 
 gone ! " 
 
 Penn afterwards understood that Dan had actually had 
 a glimpse of Virginia when she ran out to the entrance 
 of the gorge, and stood there a moment in the terrible 
 heat and glare. 
 
 " Where show me where ! " he exclaimed with 
 fierce vehemence, dragging Pepperill after him down 
 the rocks. 
 
 "It war a considerable piece this side the round 
 rock, nigh the upper eend o' the grove," said Dan, in a 
 jarred voice, clattering after him, as fast as he could. 
 " I reckon I kin find it, if 'tain't too late." 
 
 Too late ? It must not be too late ! Penn leaps 
 down the ledges, and rushes through the thickets, as 
 if he would overtake time itself. They reach the burn- 
 ing grove. Pepperill points out as nearly as he can the 
 spot where he stood when he saw Virginia. Great God ! 
 if she was in there, what a frightful end was hers ! 
 
 " Daniel ! are you sure ? " for Penn cannot, will 
 not believe it is too terrible ! 
 
 Daniel is very sure ; and he withdraws from th? in- 
 sufferable heat, to which his companion appears in- 
 sensible. 
 
 " There is a gorge just above there ; perhaps she 
 escaped into the gorge. O, if I had known ! " groans
 
 IK THE BURNING WOODS. 263 
 
 the half-distracted youth, thinking how near he must 
 have been to her when the fire awoke him. 
 
 He still hopes that Dan's vision of her in the fire 
 was hut the hallucination of a bewildered brain. Yet 
 no effort will he spare, no danger will he shun. The 
 entrance to the gorge is all a gulf of flame ; and the 
 woods are blazing upwards along the cliffs, and all the 
 forest beyond is turning to a sea of fire. Yet the gorge 
 must be reached. Back again up the steep slope they 
 climb. Penn flies to the verge of the cliff. He looks 
 down : the chasm is all a glare of light. There runs the 
 red-gleaming brook. He sees the logs, the stones, the 
 mosses, all the wild entanglement, deep below. But no 
 Virginia. He runs almost into the crackling flames, in 
 order to peer farther down the gorge. Then he darts 
 away in the opposite direction, along the very brink of 
 the precipice, among the fire-lit trees, Pepperill stupidly 
 following. He seizes hold of a sapling, and, with his 
 foot braced against its root, swings his body forward over 
 the chasm, the better to gaze into its depths. From that 
 position he casts his eye up the gorge. He sees the cas- 
 cade falling over the ledge in a sheet of ruddy foam. 
 He discovers the upper gorge; sees a monster of the 
 forest come plunging and plashing down to the fall, 
 and there lift himself on his haunches to look ; and 
 what is that other object, half hidden by a drooping 
 bough ? It is Virginia clinging to the rocks. 
 
 A moment before, had Penn made the discovery of
 
 264 IN THE BURNING WOODS. 
 
 the young girl still unharmed by fire, his happiness would 
 have been supreme. But now joy was checked by an 
 appalling fear. The bear might seize her, or with a 
 stroke of his paw hurl her from his path. 
 
 Penn caught hold of the bough that impeded his view, 
 and saw how precarious was her hold. He dared not 
 so much as call to her, or shout to frighten the monster 
 away, lest, her attention being for an instant distracted, 
 she might turn her head, lose her balance, and fall back- 
 wards from the rocks. 
 
 " Durned if she ain't thar ! " said Dan, excitedly. 
 " But she's got a powerful slim chance with the bar ! " 
 
 " Come with me ! " said Penn. 
 
 He ran to the upper gorge, showed himself on the 
 bank above the cascade, and shouted. The bear, as he 
 anticipated, turned and looked up at him. Virginia at 
 the same time saw her deliverer. 
 
 " Hold on ! I'll be with you in a minute ! " he cried 
 in a voice heard above the noise of the waterfall and the 
 roar of the conflagration. 
 
 She clung fast, hope and gladness thrilling her soul, 
 and giving her new strength. 
 
 To reach her, Penn had a precipitous descent of near 
 thirty feet to make. He did not pause to consider the 
 difficulty of getting up again, or the peril of encountering 
 the bear. He jumped down over a perpendicular ledge 
 upon a projection ten feet below. Beyond that was a 
 rapid slope covered with moss and thin patches of soil,
 
 TK THE BURNING WOODS. 265 
 
 with here and there a shrub, and here and there a tree, 
 Striking his heels into the soil, and catching at whatevei 
 branch or stem presented itself, he took the plunge. 
 Clinging, sliding, falling, he arrived at the bottom. It 
 a posture half sitting, half standing, and considerably 
 jarred, he found himself face to face with Bruin. The 
 animal had settled down on all fours, and now, with his 
 surly, depressed head turned sullenly to one side, he 
 looked at Penn, and growled. Penn looked at him, and 
 said nothing. He had heard of staring wild beasts out 
 of countenance an experiment that could be conducted 
 strictly on peace principles, if the bear w'ould only prove 
 as good a Quaker as himself. He resolved to try it : 
 indeed, all unarmed as he was, what else could he do ? 
 He might at least, by diverting the brute's attention, 
 give Virginia time to get into a position of safety. So 
 he stood up, and fixed his eyes on the red-blinking eyes 
 of the ferocious beast. Something Bruin did not like : it 
 might have been the youth's company and valiant bearing, 
 but more probably his observation of the fire had satis- 
 fied him that he was out of his place. With another 
 growl, that seemed to say, " All I ask is to be let alone," 
 he seceded, turning his head still more, twisting his 
 body around after it, and retreating up the gorge. 
 
 In an instant Penn was at the young girl's side : his 
 hand clasped hers ; he drew her up over the rock. 
 
 Not a word was uttered. He was too agitated to 
 speak ; and she, after the terror and the strain to which 
 23
 
 266 IN THE BURNING WOODS. 
 
 her nerves had been subjected so long, felt all her strength 
 give way. But as he lifted her in his arms, a faint 
 smile of happiness flitted over her white face, and her 
 lips moved with a whisper of gratitude he did not hear. 
 
 In spite of all the dangers behind them, and of the 
 dangers still before, both felt, in that moment, a shock 
 of mutual bliss. Neither had ever known till then how 
 dear the other was. 
 
 Pepperill had by this time leaped down upon the bulge 
 of the bank. There he waited for them, shouting, 
 
 " Hurry up ! the bar '11 meet the fire up thar, and 
 be comin' down agin ! " 
 
 Penn required no spur to his exertions : he knew too 
 well the necessity of getting speedily beyond the reach, 
 not of the bear only, but also of the fire, which threat- 
 ened them now on three sides below, above, and on the 
 farther bank of the gorge. 
 
 Clasping the burden more precious to him than life, 
 resolved in his soul to part with it only with life, he 
 toiled heavily up the bank, down which he had de- 
 scended with such tremendous swiftness a few minutes 
 before. 
 
 But it was not in Virginia's nature to remain long a 
 helpless encumbrance. Seeing the labor and peril still 
 before them, her will returned, and with it her strength. 
 She grasped a branch by which he was trying in vain with 
 one hand, holding her with the other, to draw them both 
 up a steep place. Her prompt action enabled him to seize
 
 IN THE BURNING WOODS. 267 
 
 the trunk of a young tree : she assisted still, and slipping 
 from his hands, clung to it until he had reached the next 
 tree above. He pulled her up after him, and then pushed 
 her on still farther, until Pepperill could reach her from 
 where he stood. A minute later the three were together 
 on the summit of the slope. 
 
 But now they had above them the ten feet of sheer 
 perpendicularity down which Dan had indiscreetly jumped, 
 following Perm's lead. A single hand above them would 
 now be worth several hands below. 
 
 " What a fool I war ! durned if I warn't ! " said Dan, 
 endeavoring unsuccessfully to find a place by which he 
 could reascend. 
 
 " Get on my shoulders ! " And Penn braced himself 
 against the ledge. 
 
 Dan made the attempt, but fell, and rolled down the 
 bank. 
 
 Just then a grinning black face appeared above. 
 
 " Gib me de gal ! gib me de gal ! " and a prodigiously 
 long arm reached down. 
 
 " O Cudjo ! you are an angel ! " cried Penn. " Daniel ! 
 Here ! " 
 
 Pepperill was up the bank again in a minute, at 
 Penn's side. They lifted Virginia above their heads. 
 Holding on by a sapling with one hand, the negro ex, 
 tended the other far down over the ledge. Those mirac- 
 ulous arms of his seemed to have been made expressly 
 for this service. He grasped a wrist of the girl ; with
 
 268 IN THE BURNING WOODS. 
 
 the other hand she clung to his arm until he had drawn 
 her up to the sapling ; this she seized, and helped her- 
 self out. Then once more Penn gave Daniel his shoul- 
 der, while Cudjo gave him a hand from ahove ; and 
 Daniel was safe. Last of all, Penn remained. 
 
 " Cotch holt hyar ! " said Cudjo, extending towards 
 him the end of a branch he had broken from a tree. 
 
 To this Penn held fast, assisting himself with his feet 
 against the ledge, while Cudjo and Dan hauled him up. 
 
 " Good Cudjo ! how came you here ? " 
 
 " Me see you and Pepperill a gwine inter de fire. 
 So me foller." 
 
 " This is the old man's daughter, Cudjo." 
 
 Cudjo regarded the beautiful young girl with a look 
 of vague wonder and admiration. 
 
 "He remembers me," said Virginia. " I saw him the 
 night he climbed in at Toby's window." She gave him 
 her hand ; it trembled with emotion. " I thank you, 
 Cudjo, for what you have done for my father and for 
 me." 
 
 '* Now, Cudjo ! show us the nearest and easiest path. 
 We must take her to the cave there is no other 
 way." 
 
 " You must be right spry, dc-n ! " said Cudjo. " De fire 
 am a runnin' ober dat way powerful ! " 
 
 Indeed, it had already crossed the upper end of the 
 gorge, where the forest brook fell into it ; and, getting 
 into some beds of leaves, and thence into dense and
 
 Itf THE BURNING WOODS. 26S 
 
 inflammable thickets, it was now blazing directly across 
 their line of retreat. 
 
 Penn would have carried Virginia in his arms, but she 
 would not suffer him. 
 
 " I can go where you can ! " she cried, once more full 
 of spirit and daring. " Just give me your hand you 
 hall see ! " 
 
 Penn took one of her hands, Pepperill the other, and 
 with their aid, supporting her, lifting her, she sprang 
 lightly up the ledges, and from rock to rock. 
 
 Cudjo, carrying Dan's gun, ran on before, leading the 
 way through hollows and among bushes, by a route 
 known only to himself. So they reached a piece of 
 woods, by the thin skirts of which he hoped to head ofi' 
 the fire. Too late it was there before them. It ran 
 swiftly among the fallen leaves and twigs, and spread 
 far into the woods. 
 
 The negro turned back. There was a wild grimace in 
 his face, and a glitter in his eyes, as he threw up his 
 hand, by way of signal that their flight in that direction 
 was cut off. 
 
 " Cudjo ! what is to be done ! " And Penn drew Vir- 
 ginia towards him with a look that showed his fears were 
 all for her. 
 
 " We can't git off down the mountain, nuther ! " said 
 Dan. " It's gittin' into the woods down thar. It '11 be 
 all around us in no time ! " 
 
 " You let Cudjo do what him pleases ? " said the black 
 23*
 
 270 IN THE BURNING WOODS. 
 
 " I can trust you ! Can you, Virginia ? " 
 
 " He should know what is hest. Yes, I will trust 
 him." 
 
 " Take dat 'ar ! " Pepperill received his gun. " Now 
 you look out fur youselves. Me tote de gal." 
 
 And catching up Virginia, hefore Penn could stop 
 him, or question him, he rushed with her into the 
 fire. 
 
 Penn ran after him, perceiving at once the meaning of 
 this hold act. The woods were not yet fairly kindled ; 
 only now and then the loose bark of a dry trunk was 
 beginning to blaze. Cudjo leaped over the line of flame 
 that was running along the ground, and bore Virginia 
 high above it to the other side. Penn followed, and Dan 
 came close behind. They then had before them a tract 
 of blackened ground which the flames had swept, leav- 
 ing here and there a dead limb or mat of leaves still 
 burning. 
 
 These little fires were easily avoided. But they soon 
 came to another line of flame raging on the upper side of 
 the burnt tract. They were almost out of the woods : 
 >nly that red, crackling hedge fenced them in ; but that 
 'hey could not pass : the underbrush all along the forest 
 *;dge was burning. And there they were, brought to a 
 halt, half-stifled with smoke, in the midst of woods 
 kindling and blazing all around them. 
 
 " May as well pull up hyar, and take a href," re- 
 marked Cudjo, grimly, placing Virginia on a log too dank
 
 IX THE BURNIN-G WOODS. 271 
 
 with decay and moss to catch fire easily. " Den we's try 
 'em agin." 
 
 A horrible suspicion crossed Penn's mind ; the fanati- 
 cal fire-worshipper had brought them there to destroy 
 them to sacrifice them to his god ! 
 
 " Virginia ! " eagerly laying hold of her arm, 
 " we must retreat ! It will soon be too late ! We can 
 get out of the woods where we came in, if we go 
 at once ! " 
 
 " Beg pai'don, sar," said Cudjo, stamping out fire in the 
 leaves by the end of the log, and he looked up through 
 the smoke at Penn, with the old malignant grin on his 
 apish face. 
 
 " What do you mean, Cudjo ? " said Penn, in an ago- 
 ny of doubt. 
 
 " Can't get back dat way, sar ! " 
 
 " Then you have led us here to destroy us ! " 
 
 " You's no longer trust Cudjo ! " was the negro's only 
 reply. 
 
 " Didn't we trust you ? Haven't we come through fire, 
 following you ? O Cudjo ! more than once you have 
 helped to save my life ! You have helped to save 
 this life, dearer than mine ! Why do you desert us 
 now ? " 
 
 " 'Sert you ? Cudjo no 'sert you." But the negro 
 spoke sullenly, and there was still a sparkle of malignancy 
 in his look. 
 
 " Then why do you stop here ? "
 
 272 /A T THE BURtflXG JfOOl 8 
 
 " Hugh ! tink we's go trough dat fire like we done 
 trough tudder ? " 
 
 " What then are we to do ? " 
 
 " You's no longer trust Cudjo ! " was once more the 
 sullen response. 
 
 Virginia, with her quick perceptions, saw at once what 
 Penn was cither too dull or too much excited to see. Cudjo 
 felt himself aggrieved ; but he was not unfaithful. 
 
 " / trust you, Cudjo ! " and she laid her hand frank- 
 ly and confidingly on his shoulder. " Did I tremble, did 
 I shrink when you carried me through the fire ? I shall 
 never forget how brave, how good you are ! He trusts 
 you too, only he is so afraid for me ! You can forgive 
 that, Cudjo." 
 
 "She is right," said Penn, though still in doubt. " If 
 you know a way to save her, don't lose a moment ! " 
 
 " He knows ; on'y let him take his time/' said Pepper- 
 ill, whose firm faith in the negro's good will shamed Penn 
 for his distrust. And yet Pepperill did not love, as Penu 
 loved, the girl whose life was in danger ; and he had not 
 seen the evidences of Cudjo' s fire- worshipping fanaticism 
 which Penn had seen. 
 
 Under the influence of Virginia's gentle and soothing 
 words, the glitter of resentment died out of the negro's 
 face. But his aspect was still morose. 
 
 " De fire take his time to burn out; so we's take our 
 time too," said he. " You try your chance wid Cudjo
 
 IN THE BURNING WOODS. 273 
 
 " Certainly ! for I am sure you will take us safely 
 through yet ! " s:iid Virginia, without a shadow of doubt 
 or hesitation on her face, however dark may have been 
 the shadow on her heart. 
 
 The negro was evidently well pleased. He examined 
 carefully the line of fire in the undergrowth. And now 
 Penn discovered, what Cudjo had known very well from 
 the first, that there were barren ledges above, and that 
 the fire was rapidly burning itself out along their base. 
 An opening through which a courageous and active man 
 might dash unscathed soon presented itself. Then Cudjo 
 waited no longer to " take bref." He caught Virginia in 
 his arms, and bore her through the second line of fire, as 
 he had borne her through the first, and placed her in 
 safety on the rocks above. 
 
 " Cudjo, my brave, my noble fellow ! " said Penn, 
 deeply affected, " I have wronged you ; I confess it with 
 shame. Forgive me ! " 
 
 " Cudjo hab nuffin to forgib," replied the negro, with a 
 laugh of pleasure " Neber mention um, massa ! All 
 right now ! Reckon we's better be gitt'n out o' dis yer 
 smudge ! " 
 
 He showed the way, and Penn and Daniel helped Vir- 
 ginia up the rocks as before. 
 
 They had reached a smooth and unsheltered ledge near 
 the ravine, a little below the mouth of the cave, when a 
 hideous and inhuman shriek rent the air. 
 
 " What dat ? " cried Cudjo, stopping short ; and his TIS-
 
 274 IN THE BURNING WOODS. 
 
 age in the smoky and lurid light looked wild with super- 
 stitious alarm. 
 
 The sound was repeated, louder, nearer, more hideous 
 than before, seeming to make the very atmosphere shud- 
 der above their heads. 
 
 " Go on, Cudjo ! go on ! " Penn commanded. 
 
 The terrified black crouched and gibbered, but would 
 not stir. Then straightway a sharp clatter, as of iron 
 hoofs flying at a furious gallop, resounded along the 
 mountain-side. By a simultaneous impulse the little 
 party huddled together, and turned their faces towards 
 the fire, and saw coming down towards them a horse with 
 the speed of the wind. 
 
 " Stand close ! " said Penn ; and he threw himself 
 before Virginia, to shield her, shouting and swinging his 
 hat to frighten the animal from his course. 
 
 " Stackridge's hoss ! " exclaimed Cudjo, recovering from 
 his fright, leaping up, and flinging abroad his long arms 
 in the air. " Wiv some poor debil onter him's back ! " 
 
 It was so. The little group stood motionless, chilled 
 with horror. The beast came thundering on, with lips of 
 terror parted, nostrils wide and snorting, mane and tail 
 flying in the wild air, hoofs striking fire from the rocks. 
 A human being a man was lying close to his neck, 
 and clinging fast: the face hidden by the tossing and 
 streaming mane : a fearful ride ! the mystery surround- 
 ing him, and the awful glare and smoke, enhancing the 
 horror of it.
 
 IN THE BURNTW WOOD. 275 
 
 Approaching the group on the ledge, the animal veered, 
 and shot past them like a thunderbolt ; clearing rocks, 
 hollows, bushes, with incredible bounds ; nearing the 
 ravine, but halting not ; dashing into the thickets there, 
 missing suddenly the ground beneath his feet, striking 
 only the air and yielding oougns with frantic hoofs ; then 
 plunging down with a dull, reverberant crash, horse and 
 unknown rider rolling together over rocks and spiked 
 limbs to the bottom of the ravine. 
 
 Then all svas still again : it had passed like a vision of 
 fear,
 
 276 REFUGE. 
 
 XXX, 
 
 REFUGE. 
 
 O R a moment the little group stood dumr 
 and motionless on the ledge, in the flare of 
 the vast flame-curtains. They looked at 
 each other. Penn was the first to speak. 
 
 " Which of us goes down into the ravine ? " 
 
 "Wha' fur?" said Cudjo. 
 
 " To find him ! " And Penn gazed anxiously towards 
 the thickets into which the horse and horseman had 
 gone down. 
 
 " Dat no j>ood ! Deader 'n de debil, shore ! " 
 
 " O, may be he is not ! " exclaimed Virginia, full of 
 compassion for the unfortunate unknown. " T>o go and 
 see, Cudjo ! " 
 
 " Fire '11 be dar in less'n no time. Him nuffin to Cudjo. 
 We's best be gwine." And the negro started off, dog- 
 gedly, towards the cave. 
 
 Then Penn took the resolution which he would have 
 taken at once but for Virginia. " Stay with her, 
 Daniel ! I will go ! "
 
 REFUGE. 277 
 
 Virginia turned pale ; she had not thought of that 
 But immediately she controlled her fears : she would 
 not be selfish : if he was brave and generous enough to 
 descend into the ravine for one he did not know, she 
 would be equally brave and generous, and let him go. 
 She clasped her hands together so that they should not 
 hold him back, and forced her lips to say, 
 
 " I will wait for you here." 
 
 " No, I be durned if ye shall ! Hapgood, you stick 
 to her : take this yer gun, and I'll slip down inter the 
 holler, and see whuther the cuss's alive or dead, any 
 how." 
 
 " O, Mr. Pepperill, if you will ! " said Virginia, 
 overjoyed. 
 
 Penn remonstrated, rather feebly, it must be con- 
 fessed, for the determination to part from her had cost 
 him a struggle, and the privilege of keeping by her 
 side till all danger was past, seemed too sweet to refuse. 
 
 " I'll take her to her father, and hurry back, and meet 
 you." 
 
 " All right ! " came the response from Dan, already 
 far down the rocks. 
 
 " The cave is close by," said Penn. " There is 
 Cudjo, waiting for us ! " 
 
 Coming up with the black, and once more following 
 his lead, they descended along the shelf of rocks, be- 
 tween the thickets and the overhanging ledge. So they 
 came to the still dark jaws of the cavern. A grateful 
 24
 
 278 
 
 coolness breathed in their faces from within. But htrw 
 dismal the entrance seemed to eyes lately dazzled by 
 the blazing woods! Virginia clung tightly to Penn's 
 hand, as they groped their way in. 
 
 At first nothing was visible but a few smouldering 
 embers, winking their sleepy eyes in the dark. Out of 
 these Cudjo soon blew a little blaze, which he fed with 
 sticks and bits of bark until it lighted up fitfully the 
 dim interior and shadowy walls of his abode. 
 
 Penn hushed Virginia with a finger on his lips, and 
 restrained her from throwing herself forward upon the 
 rude bed, where the blind old man was just awaking 
 from a sound sleep. 
 
 In that profound subterranean solitude the roar of 
 the fiery breakers, dashing on the mountain side, was 
 subdued to a faint murmur, less distinct than the 
 dripping of water from roof to floor in the farther re- 
 cesses of the cave. There, left alone, lulled by the 
 dull, monotonous trickle, thinking, if he heard the roar 
 at all, that it was the mountain wind blowing among 
 the pines, Mr. Villars had slept tranquilly through all 
 the horrors of that night. 
 
 "Is it you, Penn ? Safs again ! " And sitting up, 
 he grasped the young man's hand. " What news from 
 my dear girl : from my two dear girls ? " he added, 
 remembering Virginia was not his only child. 
 
 " Toby did not come to the rock," said Penn, stil] 
 holding Virginia back.
 
 REFUGE. 279- 
 
 " O ! did he not ? " It seemed a heavy disappoint- 
 ment ; but the patient old man rallied straightway, 
 saying, with his accustomed cheerfulness, " No doubt 
 something hindered him ; no doubt he would have come 
 if he could. My poor, dear girl, how I wish I could 
 have got word to her that I am safe ! But I thank you 
 all the same ; it was kind in you to give yourself all 
 that trouble." 
 
 " I believe all is for the best," said Penn, his voice 
 trembling. 
 
 " No doubt, no doubt. It will be some time before 
 I can have the consolation of my dear girl's presence 
 again ; I, who never knew till now how necessary she 
 is to my happiness, I may say, to my very life ! " 
 Mr. Villars wiped a tear he could not repress, and 
 smiled. " Yes, Penn, God knows what is best for us 
 all. His will be done i " 
 
 But now Virginia could restrain herself no longer ; 
 her sobs would burst forth. 
 
 " Father ! father ! " throwing herself upon his neck. 
 "0, my dear, dear father ! " 
 
 Penn had feared the effect of the sudden surprise upon 
 the old and feeble man, and had meant to break the good 
 news to him softly. But human nature was too strong ; 
 his own emotions had baffled him, and the pious little 
 artifice proved a complete failure. So now he could 
 do nothing but stand by and make grim faces, struggling 
 to keep down what was mastering him, and turning 
 away blindly from the bed.
 
 280 REFUGE. 
 
 Even Cudjo appeared deeply affected, staring stupidly, 
 and winking something like a tear from the whites of 
 his eyes at sight of the father embracing his child, and 
 the white locks mingling with the wet, tangled curls on 
 her cheek. He was a ludicrous, pathetic object, wink- 
 ing and staring thus ; and Penn laughed and cried too, 
 at sight of him. 
 
 " Luk dar ! " said Cudjo, coming up to him, and 
 pointing at the little walled chamber that served as his 
 pantry. " She hab dat fur her dressum room. Sleep 
 dar, too, if she likes." 
 
 " Thank you, Cudjo ! it will be very acceptable, I 
 am sure." 
 
 " Me clar it up fur her all scrumptious ! " added the 
 negro, with a grin. 
 
 Penn had thought of that. But now he had other 
 business on his hands : he must hasten to find Pep- 
 perill : nor could he keep anxious thoughts of Stackridge 
 and his friends out of his mind. And Pomp where 
 all this time was Pomp ? He had hoped to find him 
 and the patriots all safely arrived in the cave. 
 
 Virginia was seated on the bed by her father's side. 
 Penn threw a blanket over the dear young shoulders, 
 to shield her from the sudden cold of the cave ; then 
 left her relating her adventures, beckoning to Cudjo, 
 who followed him out. 
 
 "Cudjo!" the black glided to his side as they 
 emerged from the ravine, "you must go and find 
 Pomp."
 
 281 
 
 Cudjo laughed and shrugged. 
 
 " No use't ! Reckon Pomp take keer o' hisself heap 
 better 'n we's take keer on him ! " 
 
 True. Pomp knew the woods. He was athletic, 
 cautious, brave. But he had gone to extricate from 
 peril others, in whose fate he himself might become 
 Involved. Cudjo refused to take this view of the matter ; 
 And it was evident that, while he comforted himself with 
 his deep convictions of Pomp's ability to look out foi 
 his own safety, he was, to say the least, quite indif- 
 ferent as to the welfare of the patriots. 
 
 Forgetting Dan and the unknown horseman in his 
 great solicitude for his absent friends, Penn climbed 
 the ledges, and gazed away in the direction of the camp 
 and beheld the forest there a raging gulf of fire. 
 
 Assuredly, they must have fled from it before this 
 time ; but whither had they gone ? Had Pomp been 
 able to find them ? Or might they not all have become 
 entangled in the intricacies of the wilderness until en- 
 compassed by the fire and destroyed ? 
 
 Penn watched in vain for their coming in vain for 
 some signal of their safety on the crags above the for- 
 est. Had they reached the crags, he thought he might 
 discover them somewhere with a glass, so vividly were 
 those grim rock-foreheads of the hills lighted up beneatl 
 the red sky. 
 
 He sent Cudjo to find Dan, ran to the cave for 
 Pomp's glass, and returned to the ledge. There hr 
 24*
 
 282 REFUGE. 
 
 waited ; there he watched ; still in vain. Wider and 
 wider spread the destroying sea ; fiercer and fiercer leaped 
 the billows of flame the billows that did not fall again, 
 but broke away in rent sheets, in red-rolling scrolls, and 
 vanished upward in their own smoke. 
 
 And now Penn, lowering the glass, perceived what he 
 must long since have been made aware of, had not the 
 greater light concealed the less. It was morning ; a dull 
 and sunless dawn ; the despairing daylight, filtered of all 
 warmth and color, spreading dim and gray on the misty 
 valleys, and on the sombre, far-off hills, under an inter- 
 minable canopy of cloud. 
 
 Pepperill came clambering up the rocks. Penn turned 
 eagerly to meet and question him. 
 
 "Find him?" 
 
 " Wai, a piece on him." 
 
 "Killed?" 
 
 " I reckon he ar that ! " 
 
 " Who is it ? " 
 
 " Durned if I kin tell! He's jammed in thar 'twixt 
 two gre't stuns, and the hoss is piled on top, and you 
 can't see nary featur' of his face, only the legs, but 
 durned if I know the legs ! " 
 
 " Couldn't you move the horse ? " 
 
 " Nary a bit. His neck is broke, and he lays wedged 
 so clust, right on top o' the poor cuss, 'twould take a yoke 
 o' oxen to drag him out." 
 
 " Are you sure the man is dead ? "
 
 REFUGE. 283 
 
 " Shore ? I reckon ! He had one arm loose. I jest 
 lifted it, and it drapped jest like a club when I let go ; 
 then I see 'twas broke square off jest above the elbow, 
 about where the backbone o' the hoss comes. Made me 
 durned sick ! " 
 
 " What have you got in your hand ? " 
 
 " A boot one o' his'n thought I'd pull it off, his 
 leg stuck up so kind o' handy ; didn't know but some on 
 ye might know the boot." And Dan held it up for 
 Penn's inspection. 
 
 " What is this on it ? Blood ? " 
 
 " It ar so ! Mebby it's the hoss's, and then agin 
 mebby it's his'n ; I hadn't noticed it afore." 
 
 " I'll go back with you, Daniel. Together perhaps we 
 can move the horse." 
 
 "Ye're behind time for that! The fire's thar. I 
 hadn't only jest time to git cl'ar on't myself. The poor 
 cuss is a br'ilin' ! " 
 
 " K-r-r-r ! hi ! don't ye har me callin' ! " Cudjo sprang 
 up the ledge. " Fire's a comin' to de cave ! All in de 
 brush dar ! Can't get in widout ye go now ! " 
 
 " And Pomp and the rest ! They will be shut out, if 
 they are not lost already ! " 
 
 " Pomp know well 'nuff what him 'bout, tell ye ! 
 Gorry, massa ! ye got to come, if Cudjo hab to tote ye ! " 
 
 Yielding to his importunity, Penn quitted the ledge. 
 On the shelf of rock Cudjo paused to gnash his teeth at 
 the flames sweeping up towards them. He had long since
 
 284 REFUGE. 
 
 recovered from his fit of superstitious frenzy. He had 
 seen the fire burning the woods that sheltered him in his 
 mountain retreat, instead of going intelligently to work to 
 destroy the dwellings of the whites ; and he no longer 
 regarded it as a deity worthy of his worship. 
 
 " All dis yer brush be burnt up ! Den nuffin' to hide 
 Cudjo's house ! " 
 
 " Don't despair, Cudjo. We will trust in Him who is 
 God even of the fire." 
 
 Even as Penn spoke, he felt a cool spatter on his hand. 
 He looked up ; sudden, plashy drops smote his face. 
 
 " Rain ! It is coming ! Thank Heaven for the rain ! " 
 
 At the same time, the wind shifted, and blew fitful 
 gusts down the mountain. Then it lulled ; and the rain 
 poured. 
 
 " Cudjo, your thickets are saved ! '' said Penn, exult- 
 antly. Then immediately he thought of the absent ones, 
 for whom the rain might be too late ; of the beautiful 
 forests, whose burning not cataracts could quench ; of 
 the unknown corpse far below in the ravine there, and 
 the swift soul gone to God. 
 
 " What news ? " asked the old man as he entered the 
 cave. 
 
 " It is morning, and it rains ; but your friends are still 
 away. The man is dead," aside to Virginia. 
 
 " Heaven grant they be safe somewhere ! " said the old 
 man. " And Pomp ? " 
 
 " He is missing too."
 
 REFUGE. 285 
 
 There was a long, deep silence. A painful suspense 
 seemed to hold every heart still, while they listened. Sud- 
 denly a strange noise was heard, as of a ghost walking. 
 Louder and louder it sounded, hollow, faint, far-off. Was 
 it on the rocks over their heads ? or in caverns beneath their 
 feet? 
 
 " Told ye so ! told ye so ! " said Cudjo, laughing with 
 wild glee. 
 
 The fire had burnt low again, and he was in the act of 
 kindling it, when a novel idea seemed to strike him, and, 
 seizing a pan, he inverted it over the little remnant of a 
 flame. In an instant the cave was dark. It was some 
 seconds before the eyes of the inmates grew accustomed to 
 the gloom, and perceived the glimmer of mingled daylight 
 and firelight that shone in at the entrance. 
 
 " Luk a dar ! luk a dar ! " said Cudjo. 
 
 And turning their eyes in the opposite direction, they 
 saw a faint golden glow in the recesses of the cave. The 
 footsteps approached ; the glow increased ; then the 
 superb dark form of Pomp advanced in the light of his 
 own torch. Penn hastened to meet him, and to demand 
 tidings of Stackridge's party. 
 
 Pomp first saluted Virginia, with somewhat lofty polite- 
 ness, holding the torch above his head as he bowed. Then 
 turning to Penn, 
 
 " Your friends are all safe, I believe." 
 
 " All ? " Penn eagerly asked, his thoughts on the luck 
 less horseman. " None missing ? "
 
 286 REFUGE. 
 
 " There were three absent when I reached their cairp 
 They had gone on a foraging expedition. I found the rest 
 waiting for them, standing their ground against the fire, 
 which was roaring up towards them at a tremendous rate. 
 Soon the foragers came in. They brought a basket 
 of potatoes and a bag of meal, but no meat. With- 
 ers had caught a pig, but it had got away from him 
 before he could kill it, and he lost it in the dark. The 
 others were cursing the rascals who had set the woods 
 afire, but Withers lamented the pig. 
 
 " ' Gentlemen,' said I, ' you have not much time to 
 mourn either for the woods or the pork. We must take 
 care of ourselves.' And I offered to bring them here. 
 But just then we heard a rushing noise ; it sounded like 
 some animal coming up the course of the brook ; and the 
 next minute it was amongst us a big black bear, fright- 
 ened out of his wits, singed by the fire, and furious." 
 
 " Your acquaintance of the gorge, Virginia ! " said 
 Penn. 
 
 " You will readily believe that such an unexpected sup- 
 ply of fresh meat, sent by Providence within their reach, 
 proved a temptation to the hungry. Withers, in his hurry 
 to make up for the loss of the pig, ran to head the fellow 
 off, and attempted to stop him with his musket after it had 
 missed fire. In an instant the gun was lying on the 
 ground several yards off, and Withers was sprawling. 
 The bear had done the little business for him with a sin- 
 gle stroke of his paw ; then he passed on, directly over
 
 REFUGE, 287 
 
 Withers' s body, which happened to be in his way, but 
 which he minded no more than as if it had been a bundle 
 of rags. All this time we couldn't fire a shot; there was 
 the risk, you see, of hitting Withers instead of the bear. 
 Even after he was knocked down, he seemed to think he 
 had nothing more formidable than his stray pig to deal 
 with, and tried to catch the bear by the tail as he ran 
 over him." 
 
 " So ye lost de bar ! " cried Cudjo, greatly excited. 
 " Fool, tink o' cotchin' on him by de tail ! " 
 
 " Still we couldn't fire, for he was on his legs again in 
 a second, chasing the bear's tail directly before our muz- 
 zles," said Pomp, quietly laughing. " But luckily a stick 
 flew up under his feet. Down he went again. That gave 
 two or three of us a chance to send some lead after the 
 beast. He got a wound we tracked him by his blood 
 on the ground we could see it plain as day by the glare 
 of light it led straight towards the fire that was running 
 up through the leaves and thickets on the north. I ex- 
 pected that when he met that he would turn again ; but 
 he did not : we were just in time to see him plough 
 through it, and hear him growl and snarl at the flames 
 that maddened him, and which he was foolish enough to 
 stop and fight. Then he went on again. We followed. 
 Nobody minded the scorching. We kept him in sight till 
 he met the fire again for it was now all around us. 
 This time his heart failed him ; he turned back only to 
 meet us and get a handful of bullets in his head. That 
 finished him, and he fell dead."
 
 288 
 
 " Poor brute ! " said Mr. Yillars ; " he found his human 
 enemies more merciless than the fire ! " 
 
 " That's so," said Pomp, with a smile. " But we had 
 not much time to moralize on the subject then. The fire 
 we had leaped through had become impassable behind us. 
 The men hurried this way and that to find an outlet. 
 They found only the fire it was on every side of us like 
 a sea the spot where we were was only an island in the 
 midst of it that too would soon be covered. The bear 
 was forgotten where he lay; the men grew wild with 
 excitement, as again and again they attempted to break 
 through different parts of the ring that was narrowing 
 upon us, and failed. Brave men they are, but death by 
 fire, you know, is too horrible ! " 
 
 " How large was this spot, this island ? " asked Penn. 
 
 " It might have comprised perhaps twenty acres when 
 we first found ourselves enclosed in it. But every minute 
 it was diminishing ; and the heat there was something 
 terrific. The men were rather surprised, after trying in 
 vain on every side to discover a break in the circle of fire, 
 to come back and find me calm. 
 
 44 ' Gentlemen,' said I, ' keep cool. I understand this 
 ground perhaps better than you do. Don't abandon 
 your game ; you have lost your meal and potatoes, and 
 you will have need of the bear.' 
 
 " ' But what is the use of roast meat, if we are to 
 be roasted too ? ' said Withers, who will always be 
 droll, whatever happens.
 
 REFUGE. 289 
 
 " Then Stackridge spoke. He proposed that they should 
 place themselves under my command ; for I knew the 
 woods, and while they had been running to and fro in 
 disorder, I had been carefully observing the ground, 
 and forming my plans. I laughed within myself to see 
 Deslow alone hang back ; he was unwilling to owe hif 
 life to one of my complexion one who had been t 
 slave. For there are men, do you know," said Pomp 
 with a smile of mingled haughtiness and pity, " wb 
 would rather that even their country should perish tha 
 owe in any measure its salvation to the race they hav. 
 always hated and wronged ! " 
 
 " I trust," said Mr. Villars, " that you had the noble 
 satisfaction of teaching these men the lesson which our 
 country too must learn before it can be worthy to be 
 saved." 
 
 " I showed them that even the despised black may 
 under God's providence, be of some use to white men, 
 besides being their slave : I had that satisfaction ! " 
 said Pomp, proudly smiling. " Stackridge was right : 
 I had observed : I saw what I could do. On one side 
 was a chasm which you know, Mr. Hapgood." 
 
 " Yes ! I had thought of it ! But I knew it was in 
 the midst of the burning forest, and never supposed 
 you could get to it." 
 
 " The fire was beyond ; and it also burned a little 
 on the side nearest to us. But the vegetation there is 
 25
 
 290 REFUGE. 
 
 thin, you remember. The chasm could be reached with- 
 out difficulty. 
 
 " ' Follow me who will ! ' said I. ' The rest are at 
 liberty to shirk for themselves.' 
 
 " ' Follow where ? ' said Deslow. I couldn't help 
 smiling at the man's distress. All the rest were pre- 
 pared to obey my directions ; and it was hard for him 
 to separate himself from them. But it seemed harder 
 still for him to trust in me. I was not a Moses ; I could 
 not take them through that Red Sea. What then ? 
 
 " I made for the chasm. All followed, even Deslow, 
 dragging and lugging the bear. We came to the brink. 
 The place, I must confess, had an awful look, in the 
 light of the trees burning all around it ! Deslow was 
 not the only one who shrank back then ; for though the 
 spot was known to some of them, they had never ex- 
 plored it, and could not guess what it led to. It was diffi- 
 cult, hi the first place, to descend into it ; it looked still 
 more difficult ever to get out again ; and there was noth- 
 ing to prevent the burning limbs above from falling into 
 it, or the trees that grew in it from catching fire. For 
 this is the sink, Mr. Villars, which you have probably 
 heard of, where the woods have been undermined by 
 the action of water in the limestone rocks, and an 
 acre or more of the mountain has fallen in, with all its 
 trees, so that what was once the roof of an immense 
 cavern is now a little patch of the forest growing 
 seventy feet below the surface of the earth The sides
 
 291 
 
 are precipitous and projecting. Only one tree throws a 
 strong branch upwards to the edge of the sink. 
 
 " ' This way, gentlemen,' said I, ' and you are safe ! ' 
 
 It was a trial of their faith ; for I waited to explain 
 nothing. First, I tumbled the bear off the brink. We 
 heard him go crashing down into the abyss, and strike 
 the bottom with a sound full of awfulness to the un- 
 initiated. Then, with my rifle swung on my back, I 
 seized the limb, and threw myself into the tree. 
 
 " ' Where he can go, we can ! ' I heard Stackridge 
 say ; and he followed me. I took his gun, and handed 
 it to him again when he was safe in the tree. He did 
 the same for another ; and so all got into the branches, 
 and climbed down after us. The trunk has no limbs 
 within twenty feet of the bottom, but there is a smaller 
 tree leaning into it which we got into, and so reached the 
 ground. 
 
 " ' Now, gentlemen,' said I, when all were down, ' I 
 will show you where you are.' And opening the bushes, 
 I discovered a path leading down the rocks into the 
 caverns, of which this cave is only a branch. Then I 
 made them all take an oath never to betray the secret 
 of what I had shown them. Then I lighted one of the 
 torches Cudjo and I keep for our convenience when we 
 come in that way, and gave it to them ; lighted another 
 for my own use ; invited them to make themselves quite 
 at home in my absence ; left them to their reflections ; 
 and here I am."
 
 292 REFUGE. 
 
 Still the mystery with regard to the unknown horse- 
 man was in no wise explained. Pomp, informed of what 
 had happened, arose hastily. Penn followed him from 
 the cave. Pepperill accompanied them, to show the way. 
 It was raining steadily ; but the thickets in which lay 
 the dead horse and his rider were burning still. 
 
 " As I was going to Stackridge's camp," said Pomp, 
 " I thought I saw a man crawling over the rocks above 
 where the horse was tied. I ran up to find him, but he 
 was gone. Peace to his ashes, if it was he ! " 
 
 " Won't be much o' the cuss left but ashes ! " re- 
 marked Pepperill. 
 
 Pomp ascended the ledges, and stood, silent and stem, 
 gazing at the destruction of his beloved woods. 
 
 The winds had died. The fires had evidently ceased to 
 spread. Portions of the forest that had been kindled 
 and not consumed were burning now with slow, sullen 
 combustion, like brands without flame. Stripped of their 
 foliage, shorn of then- boughs, and seen in the dull and 
 smoky daylight, through the rain, they looked like a 
 forest of skeletons, all of glowing coal, brightening, 
 darkening, and ever crumbling away. 
 
 All at once Pomp seemed to rouse himself, and 
 direct his attention more particularly at the part of the 
 tv-oods in which the patriots' camp had been. 
 
 " Come with me, Pepperill. if you would help do a 
 good job ! " 
 
 They started off, and were soon out of sight. As Penn
 
 293 
 
 turned from gazing after them, he heard a voice calling 
 from the opposite side of the ravine. He looked, but 
 could see no one. The figure to which the voice belonged 
 was hidden by the bushes. The bushes moved, however ; 
 the figure was descending into the ravine. It arrived at 
 the bottom, crossed, and began to ascend the steep side 
 towards the cave. Penn concealed himself, and waited 
 until it had nearly emerged from the thickets beneath 
 him, and he could distinctly hear the breath of a man 
 panting and blowing with the toil of climbing. Then a 
 well-known voice said in a hoarse whisper, 
 
 " Massa Hapgood ! dat you ? " 
 
 And peering over the bank, he saw, upturned in the 
 rain and murky light, among the wet bushes, the black, 
 grinning face of old Toby. 
 
 He responded by reaching down, grasping the negro's 
 hand, and drawing him up. 
 
 The grin on the old man's face was a ghastly one, and 
 his eyes rolled as he stammered forth, 
 
 " Miss Jinny ye seen Miss Jinny?" 
 
 Penn did not. answer immediately ; he was considering 
 whether it would be safe to conduct Toby into the cave. 
 Toby grew terrified. 
 
 " Don't say ye hain't seen her, Massa Penn ! ye kill 
 ol' Toby if ye do ! I done lost her ! " And the poor 
 old faithful fellow sobbed out his story, how Virginia 
 had disappeared, and how, on discovering the woods to 
 be on fire, he had set out in search of her, and been wan- 
 95 #
 
 294 REFUGE. 
 
 dering he scarcely knew where ever since. " Now don't 
 say ye don't know nuffin' about her ! don't say dat ! " 
 falling on his knees, and reaching up his hands beseech- 
 ingly, as if he had only to prevail on Penn to say that all 
 was well with " Miss Jinny,'' and that would make it so. 
 Such faith is in simple souls. 
 
 " I'll say anything you wish me to, good old Toby ! 
 only give me a chance." 
 
 " Den say you has seen her." 
 
 " I has seen her," repeated Penn. 
 
 " O, bress you, Massa Penn ! And she ar safe say 
 dat too ! " 
 
 " She ar safe" said Penn, laughing. 
 
 " Bress ye for dat ! " And Toby, weeping with joy, 
 kissed the young man's hand again and again. " And ye 
 knows whar she ar ? " 
 
 " Yes, Toby ! So now get up : don't be kneeling on 
 the rocks here in the rain ! " 
 
 " Jes' one word more ! Say ye got her and ol' Massa 
 Villars safe stowed away, and ye'll take me to see 'em : 
 den dis ol' nigger '11 bress you and de Lord and dem, and 
 be willin' fur to die ! only say dat, massa ! " 
 
 " Ah ! did I promise to say all you wished ? " 
 
 " Yes, you did, you did so, Massa Penn ! " cried Toby, 
 triumphantly. 
 
 " Then I suppose I must say that, too. So come, you 
 dear old simpleton \ Cudjo ! " to the proprietor of the 
 cave, who just then put out his head to reconnoitre,
 
 REFUGE. 295 
 
 " Cudjo ! Here is your friend Toby, come to pay his 
 master and mistress a visit ! " 
 
 " What business he got hyar ? " said Cudjo, crossly. 
 " We's hab all de wuld, and creation besides, comin' 
 bime-by ! " 
 
 " Cudjo! You knows ol' Toby, Cudjo ! " said Toby, in 
 the softest and most conciliatory tone imaginable. 
 
 " Nose ye ! " Cudjo snuffed disdainfully. " Yes ! and 
 wish you'd keep fudder off! " 
 
 " Why, Cudjo ! don't you 'member Toby ? Las' time 
 I seed you ! ye 'member dat, Cudjo ! " 
 
 " Don't 'member nuffi.ii' ! " 
 
 " 'Twan't you, den, got inter my winder, and done 
 skeert me mos' t' def 'fore I found out 'twas my ol' 
 'quaintance Cudjo, come fur Massa Penn's clo'es ! Dat 
 ar wan't you, hey ? " And Toby's honest indignation 
 cropped out through the thin crust of deprecating obse- 
 quiousness which he still thought it politic to maintain. 
 
 Perm got under the shelter of the ledge, and waited 
 for the dispute to end. It was evident to him that Cudjo 
 was not half so ill-natured as he appeared ; but, feeling 
 himself in a position of something like official impor- 
 tance, he had the human weakness to wish to make the 
 most of it. 
 
 " Your massa and missis bery well off. Dey in my 
 house. No room dar for you. Ain't wanted hyar, no- 
 how ! " turning his back very much like a personage of 
 lighter complexion, clad in brief authority.
 
 296 
 
 " Ain't wanted, Cudjo r You don't know what you's 
 sayin' now. Whar my ol' raassa and young missis is, dar 
 ol' Toby's wanted. Can't lib widout me, dey can't ! Ol' 
 massa wants me to nuss him. Ye don't tink you's a 
 nigger widout no kind ob 'sideration, Cudjo." 
 
 " Talk o' you nussin' him when him's got Pomp ! " 
 
 " Pomp ! what can Pomp do ? Wouldn't trust him to 
 nuss a chick sicken ! " Toby talked backwards in his 
 excitement. 
 
 " Ki ! didn't him take Massa Hapgood and make him 
 well ? Don't ye know nuffin' ? " 
 
 Toby seemed staggered for a moment. But he rallied 
 quickly, and said, 
 
 " He cure Massa Hapgood r He done jes' nuffin' 't all 
 fur him. De fac's is, I had de nussin' en him for a spell 
 at fust, and gib him a start. Dar's ebery ting in a start, 
 Cudjo." 
 
 " O, what a stupid nigger ! " said Cudjo. ' Hyar's 
 Massa Hapgood hisself ! leab it to him now ! " 
 
 " You are both right," said Penn. " Toby did nurse 
 me, and give me a good start ; for which I shall always 
 thank him." 
 
 " Dar ! tol' ye so, tol' ye so ! " said Toby. 
 
 " But it was Pomp who afterwards cured me," added 
 Penn. 
 
 " Dar ! tol' you so ! " cried Cudjo, while Toby's coun- 
 tenance fell. 
 
 " For while Toby is a capital nurse " (Toby bright-
 
 REFUGE. 297 
 
 ened), "Pomp is a first-rate doctor" (Cudjo grinned). 
 " So don't dispute any more. Shake hands with your old 
 friend, Cudjo, and show him into your house." 
 
 Cudjo was still reluctant ; but just then occurred a 
 pleasing incident, which made him feel good-natured 
 towards everybody. Pomp and Pepperill arrived, bring- 
 ing the bag of meal and the basket of potatoes which the 
 bear-hunters had forsaken in the woods, and which the 
 rain had preserved from the fire.
 
 298 LTSANDER TAKES POSSESSION. 
 
 XXXT. 
 
 LTSANDEE TAKES POSSESSION. 
 
 AD the " Sleeper" (he had earned that title) 
 had been himself placed under guard for 
 drinking too much of the prisoners' liquor, 
 and suffering them to escape. Miserable, sullen, thirsty, 
 he languished in confinement. 
 
 " Let 'em shoot me, and done with it, if that's the 
 penalty," said this chivalrous son of the south ; " only 
 give a feller suthin' to drink ! " 
 
 But that policy of the confederates, which opened the 
 jails of the country, and put arms in the hands of th^ 
 convicts, and pardoned every felon that would fight, 
 might be expected to find a better use for an able-bodied 
 fellow, like Gad, than to shoot him. 
 
 The use they found for him was this : He had been 
 a mighty hunter before the Lord, ere he became too be- 
 sotted and lazy for such sport ; and he professed to know 
 the mountains better than any other man. Accord- 
 ingly, on the recommendation of his friend Lieutenant
 
 LYSANDER TAKES POSSESSION. 299 
 
 Ropes, it was resolved to send him to spy out the po- 
 sition of the patriots. It was an enterprise of some dan- 
 ger, and, to encourage him in it, he was promised two 
 things pardon for his offence, and, what was of more 
 importance to him, a hottle of old whiskey. 
 
 " I'll see that you have light enough," said Ropes, 
 significantly. 
 
 It was the evening of the firing of the forests. How 
 well the lieutenant fulfilled his part of the engagement, 
 we have seen. 
 
 Gad put the bottle in his pocket, and set off at dark by 
 routes obscure and circuitous to get upon the trail of the 
 patriots. How well lie succeeded will appear by and by. 
 
 The burning of the forests caused a great excitement 
 in the valley, especially among those families whose hus- 
 bands and fathers were known to have taken refuge in 
 them. Who had committed the barbarous act ? The 
 confederates denounced it with virtuous indignation, 
 charging the patriots with it, of course. There was in 
 the village but one witness who could have disputed this 
 charge, and he now occupied Gad's place in the guard- 
 house. It was the deserter Carl. 
 
 All the morning Gad's return was anxiously awaited. 
 No doubt there were good reasons why he did not come. 
 So said his friend Silas ; and his friend Silas was right : 
 there were good reasons. 
 
 " Anyhow, I kep' my word I giv him light enough, 
 I reckon ! " chuckled Silas.
 
 300 LYSANDER TAKES POSSESSION. 
 
 That was true : Gad had had light enough, and tc 
 spare. 
 
 The rain continued all the morning. Perhaps that was 
 what detained the scout ; for it was known that he had 
 a great aversion 4o water. 
 
 In the afternoon came one with tidings from the 
 mountain. It was not Gad. It was old Toby. 
 
 He was seized by some soldiers and taken before Cap- 
 tain Sprowl, at the school-house. 
 
 " Toby, you black devil, where have you been ? " 
 This was Lysander's chivalrous way of addressing an 
 inferior whom he wished to terrify. 
 
 Now, if there was a person in the world whom Toby 
 detested, it was this roving Lysander, who had disgraced 
 the Villars family by marrying into it. However, he con- 
 cealed his contempt with a politic hypocrisy worthy of 
 a whiter skin. 
 
 " Please, sar," said the old negro, cap in hand, " I'se 
 been lookin' for my ol' massa and my young missis." 
 
 " Well, what luck, you lying scoundrel ? " 
 
 " O, no luck 't all, I 'sure you, sar ! " 
 
 " What ! couldn't you find 'em ? Don't you lie, you 
 
 ." (We may as well omit the captain's energetic 
 
 epithets.) 
 
 " O, sar ! " Toby looked up earnestly with counter- 
 feit grief in his wrinkled old face, " dey ain't nowbare 
 on de face ob de 'arth ! " 
 
 " Not ou the face of the earth ! "
 
 LTSANDER TAKES POSSESSION. 301 
 
 " If dey is, den de fire's done burnt 'em all up. I 
 seen, down in a big holler, a place \vhar somebody's been 
 burnt, shore ! Dar's a man, and a hoss on top on him, 
 and de boss's har am all burnt off, and de man's trouse's- 
 legs am all burnt off too, and one foot 's got a fried boot 
 onto it, and tudder han't got nuffin' on, but jes' de skin 
 and bone all roasted to a crisp ; and I 'specs dar's 'nuff 
 sight more dead folks down in dar, on'y I didn't da's to 
 look, it make me feel so skeerylike ! " 
 
 All which, and much more, Toby related so circum- 
 stantially, that Captain Sprowl was strongly impressed 
 with the truth of the story. Great, therefore, was the 
 joy of the captain. Perhaps the patriots had been 
 destroyed : he hoped so ! Still more ardently he hoped 
 that Virginia had perished with her father. For was he 
 not the husband of Salina ? and the snug Kttle Villars 
 property, did he not covet it ? 
 
 " Can you show me that spot, Toby?" 
 
 " ' Don'o', sar : I specs I could, sar." 
 
 " Don't you forget about it ! Now, Toby, go home to 
 your mistress, my wife 's your mistress, you know, 
 and wait till you are wanted." 
 
 " Yes, sar," bowing, and pulling his foretop. 
 
 Captain Sprowl did not overhear the irrepressible 
 chuckle of satisfaction in which the old negro indulged 
 as he retired, or he would have perceived that he had 
 been trifled with. We are apt to be extremely credulous 
 when listening to what we wish to believe ; and Lysan- 
 26
 
 302 LYSANDER TAKES POSSESSION. 
 
 der's delight left no room in his heart for suspicion. All 
 he desired now was that Gad should appear and confirm 
 Toby's report ; for surely Gad must know something 
 about the dead horse and the dead man under him ; and 
 why did not the fellow return ? 
 
 As for Toby, he hastened home as fast as his tired 
 old legs could carry him, chuckling all the way over his 
 lucky escape, and the cunning answers by which he had 
 mystified the captain without telling a downright false- 
 hood. " Ob course, dey ain't on de face ob de 'arth, 
 long as dey's inside on't ! Hi, hi, hi ! " 
 
 He did not greatly relish reporting himself to Salina : 
 nevertheless, he had been ordered to do so, not only by 
 the captain, but by those whose authority he respected 
 more. 
 
 Salina, though so bitter, was not without natural affec- 
 tion, and she had suffered much and waited anxiously 
 ever since Toby, terrified into the avowal of his belief 
 that Virginia was in the burning woods, had set out in 
 search of her. She was not patient ; she was wanting in 
 religious trust. She had not slept. All night and all 
 day she had tortured herself with terrible fancies. In- 
 stead of calming her spirit with prayer, she had kept it 
 irritated with spiteful thoughts against what she deemed 
 her evil destiny. 
 
 There are certain natures to which every misfortune 
 brings a blessing ; for, whatever it may take away, it is 
 sure to leave that divine influence which comes from
 
 LYSANDER TAKES POSSESSION. 303 
 
 resignation and a deepened sense of reliance upon God. 
 Such a nature was the old clergyman's. Every blow his 
 heart had received had softened it ; and a softened heart 
 is a well of interior happiness ; it is more precious to its 
 possessor than all outward gifts of friends and fortune. 
 Such a nature, too, M r as Virginia's. She too, through all 
 things, kept warm in her bosom that holy instinct of 
 faith, that blessed babe named Love, ever humbly born, 
 whose life within is a light that transfigures the world. 
 To such, despair cannot come ; for when the worst arrives, 
 when all they cherished is gone, heaven is still left to 
 them ; and they look up and smile. To them sorrow is 
 but a preparation for a diviner joy. All things indeed 
 work together for their good ; since, whether fair fortune 
 comes, or ill, they possess the spiritual alchemy that trans- 
 mutes it into blessing. 
 
 This love, this faith, Salina lacked. She fostered in 
 their place that selfishness and discontent which sour the 
 soul. Every blow upon her heart had hardened it 
 Every trial embittered and angered her. Hence the 
 swollen and flaming eyes, the impatient and scowling 
 looks, with which she met the returning Toby. 
 
 " Where is Virginia ? " 
 
 " Dat I can't bery well say, Miss Salina," replied 
 Toby, scratching his woolly head. He would never sac- 
 rifice his family pride so far as to call her Mrs. Sprowl. 
 
 " How dare you come back without her ? " And she 
 heaped upon him the bitterest reproaches. It was he
 
 304 LTSANDER TAKES POSSESSION. 
 
 who, through his cowardice, had been the cause of Vir- 
 ginia's night adventure. It was he who had ruined every- 
 thing by concealing her departure until it was too late. 
 Then he might have found her, if he had so resolved. 
 But if he could not, why had he remained absent all day ? 
 Under this sharp foe of accusations Toby stood with 
 ludicrous indifference, grinning, and scratching his head. 
 At length he scratched out of it a little roll of paper that 
 had been confided to his wool for safe keeping, in case he 
 should be seized and searched. It fell upon the floor. 
 He hastily snatched it up, and gave it, with obsequious 
 alacrity, to Mrs. Sprowl. She took, unrolled it, and read. 
 It was a pencilled note in the handwriting of Virginia. 
 
 " DEAE SISTER : Thanks to a kind Providence and to 
 kind friends, we are safe. I was rescued last night from 
 the most frightful dangers in the burning woods. I had 
 come, without your knowledge, to get news of our dear 
 father. I am now with him. He has excellent shelter, 
 and devoted attendants ; but the comforts of his home 
 are wanting, and I have learned how much he is depend- 
 ent upon us for his happiness. For this reason I shall 
 remain with him as long as I can. To relieve your mind 
 we send Toby back to you. V." 
 
 That evening Captain Sprowl entered the house of the 
 absent Mr. Villars with the air of one who had just come 
 into possession of that little piece of property. He nod- 
 ded with satisfaction at the walls, glanced approvingly at
 
 LYSANDER TAKES POSSESSTOy. 305 
 
 the furniture, curved his lip rather contemptuously at the 
 books (as much as to say, " I'll sell off all that sort of 
 rubbish"), and expressed decided pleasure at sight of old 
 Toby. " Worth eight hundred dollars, that nigger is ! " 
 He had either forgotten that Mr. Villars had given Toby 
 his freedom, or he believed that, under the new order of 
 things, in a confederacy founded on slavery, such gifts 
 would not be held valid. 
 
 " Well, Sallie, my girl," throwing himself into the 
 old clergyman's easy chair, " here we are at home ! 
 Bring me the bootjack, Toby." 
 
 " I don't know about your being at home ! " said 
 Salina, indignantly. 
 
 And it was evident that Toby did not know about 
 bringing the bootjack. He looked as if he would have 
 preferred to jerk the chair from beneath the sprawling 
 Lysander, and break it over him. 
 
 " I suppose Toby has told you the nev;s ? Awful 
 news ! a fearful dispensation of Providence ! Pepperill 
 came in this afternoon and confirmed it. We thought 
 he had deserted, but it appears he had only got lost in 
 the woods. He reports some dead bodies in a ravine, and 
 his account tallies very well with Toby's. We'll wear 
 mourning, of course, Sallie." 
 
 Lysander stroked his chin. Mrs. Lysander tapped the 
 floor with her impatient foot, gnawed her lip, and scowled. 
 
 " Come, my dear ! " said the captain, coaxingly ; " we 
 may as well understand each other. Times is changed. 
 26*
 
 306 LYSANDER TAKES POSSESSION. 
 
 I tell ye, I'm going to be one of the big men under the 
 new government. Now, Sal, see here. I'm your hus- 
 band, and there's no getting away from it. And what's 
 the use of getting away from it, even if we could ? 
 Let's settle down, and be respectable. We've had quar- 
 rels enough, and I've got tired of 'em. Toby, why don't 
 you bring that bootjack ? " 
 
 Lysander swung his chair around towards Salina. She 
 turned hers away from him, still knitting her brows and 
 gnawing that disdainful lip. 
 
 " Now what's the use, Sal ? Since the way is opened 
 for us to live together again, why can't you make up your 
 mind to it, let bygones be bygones, and begin life over 
 again ? When I was a poor devil, dodging the officers, 
 and never daring to see you except in the dark, I couldn't 
 blame you for feeling cross with me ; for it was a cursed 
 miserable state of things. But you're a captain's wife 
 now. You'll be a general's wife by and by. I shall be 
 off fighting the battles of my country, and you'll be proud 
 to hear of my exploits." 
 
 Salina was touched. Weary of the life she led, mor- 
 bidly eager for change, she was a secessionist from the 
 first, and had welcomed the war. Moreover, strange as it 
 may seem, she loved this worthless Lysander. She hated 
 him for the misery he had caused her ; she was exceed- 
 ingly bitter against him ; yet love lurked under all. She 
 was secretly proud to see him a captain. It was hard to 
 forgive him for all the wrongs she had suffered ; but her 
 heart was lonely, and it yearned for reconciliation. Her
 
 LYSANDER TAKES POSSESSION. 3l>7 
 
 scornful lip quivered, and there was a convulsive move- 
 ment in her throat. 
 
 "Go away!'' she exclaimed, violently, as he ap- 
 proached to caress her. "I am as unhappy as I can be ! 
 O, if I had never seen you ! Why do you come to tor- 
 ture me now ? " 
 
 This passion pleased Lysander : it was a sign that her 
 spirit was breaking. He caught her in his arms, called 
 her pet names, laughed, and kissed her. And this wo- 
 man, after all, loved to be called pet names, and kissed. 
 
 " Toby ! you devil ! " roared Lysander, " why don't 
 you bring that bootjack ? " 
 
 The old negro stood behind the door, with the bootjack 
 in his hand, furious, ready to hurl it at the captain's head. 
 He hesitated a moment, then turned, discreetly, and flung 
 it out of the kitchen window. 
 
 " Ain't a bootjack nowars in de house, sar ! " 
 
 " Then come here yourself ! " 
 
 And the gay captain made a bootjack of the old negro. 
 
 " Now shut up the house and go to bed ! " he said, 
 dismissing him with a kick. 
 
 After Toby had retired, and Salina had wiped her eyes 
 and Lysander had got his feet comfortably installed in the 
 old clergyman's slippers, the long-estranged couple grew 
 affectionate and confidential. 
 
 " Law, Sallie ! " said the captain, caressingly, " we can 
 be as happy as two pigs in clover ! " And he pro- 
 ceeded to interpret, in plain prosaic detail, those bliss- 
 f d possibilities expressed by the choice poetic figure.
 
 308 LYSANDER TAKS POSSESSION. 
 
 It was evident to Salina that all his domestic plans 
 were founded on the supposition that the slippers he had 
 on were the dead man's shoes he had been waiting for. 
 Was she shocked by this cold, atrocious spirit of calcula- 
 tion ? At first she was ; but since she had begun to par- 
 don his faults, she could easily overlook that. She, who 
 had lately been so spiteful and bitter, was now all charity 
 towards this man. Even the image of her blind and aged 
 father faded from her mind ; even the pure and beautiful 
 image of her sister grew dim ; and the old, revivified 
 attachment became supreme. Shall we condemn the 
 weakness ? Or shall we pity it, rather ? So long her 
 affections had been thwarted ! So long she had carried 
 that lonely and hungry heart ! So long, like a starved, 
 sick child, it had fretted and cried, till now, at last, nur- 
 ture and warmth made it grateful and glad ! A babe is a 
 sacred thing ; and so is love. But if you starve and beat 
 them ? Perhaps Salina's unhappiness of temper owed its 
 development chiefly to this cause. No wonder, then, that 
 Vfe find her melancholy, morbid, unreasonable, and now 
 so ready to cling again to this wretch, this scamp, her 
 husband, forgiving all, forgetting all (for the moment at 
 least), in the wild flood of love and tears that drowned 
 the past. 
 
 " 0, yes ! I do think we can be happy ! " she said 
 " if you will only be kind and good to me ! If not here, 
 why, then, somewhere else ; for place is of no conse- 
 quence ; all I want is love." 
 
 " Ah ! " said Lysander, knocking the ashes from his
 
 L.TSANDER TAKES POSSESSION. 309 
 
 cigar, " but I have a fancy for this place ! And what 
 should we leave it for ? " 
 
 " Because you know there is no certainty I 
 believe father is alive yet, and well." 
 
 " Xot unless Toby lied to me ! Did he ? " 
 
 " Pshaw ! you can't place any reliance on what Toby 
 says ! " evasively. 
 
 " But I tell you Pepperill confirms his report about the 
 dead bodies in the ravine ! Now, what do you know to 
 *he contrary ? Lysander appeared very much excited, and 
 a quarrel was imminent. Salina dreaded a quarrel. She 
 broke into a laugh. 
 
 " The truth is, Toby did fool you. He couldn't help 
 bragging to me about it." 
 
 O Toby, Toby ! that little innocent vanity of yours is 
 destined to cost you, and others besides you, very dear ! 
 Lysander sprang upon his feet ; his eyes sparkled with 
 rage. Salina saw that it was now too late to keep the 
 secret from him ; there was no way but to tell him all. 
 She showed Virginia's note. Virginia and her father 
 alive and safe that was what maddened Lysander ! 
 
 But where were they ? 
 
 Salina could not answer that question ; for the most 
 she had been able to get out of Toby was only a vague 
 hint that they were hidden somewhere in a cave. 
 
 " No matter ! " said Lysander, with a diabolical laugh 
 showing his clinched and tobacco-stained teeth. " I'll 
 have the nigger licked ! I'll have the truth out of him, or 
 I'll have his life ? "
 
 810 TOBY'S REWARD. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 TOBY'S REWARD. 
 
 ILL ED with disgust and wrath, Toby had 
 obeyed the man who assumed to be his mas- 
 ter, and gone to bed. But he was scarcely 
 asleep, when he felt somebody shaking him, and awoke 
 to see bending over him, with smiling countenance, lamp 
 in hand, Captain Lysander. 
 
 " What's wantin', sar ? " 
 
 " I want you to do an errand for me, Toby,'' Lysandei* 
 kindly replied. 
 
 "Wai, sar, I don'o', sar," said Toby, reluctant, sit- 
 ting up in bed and rubbing his elbows. " You know I 
 had a right smart tramp. I's a tuckered-out nigger, sar ; 
 dat's de troof." 
 
 " Yes, you had a hard time, Toby. But you'll just run 
 over to the school-house for me, I know. That's a good 
 fellow ! " 
 
 Toby hardly knew what to make of Lysander' s ex- 
 traordinarily persuasive and indulgent manner. He didn't
 
 TOBY'S REWARD. 311 
 
 know before that a Sprowl could smile so pleasantly, and 
 behave so much like a gentleman. Then, the captain had 
 called him a good fellow, and his African soul was not 
 above flattery. Weary, sleepy as he was, he felt strongly 
 inclined to get up out of his delicious bed, and go and do 
 Lysander's errand. 
 
 " You've only to hand this note to Lieutenant Ropes. 
 And I'll give you something when you come back some- 
 thing you don't get every day, Toby ! Something you've 
 deserved, and ought to have had long ago ! " And Ly- 
 sander, all smiles, patted the old servant's shoulder. 
 
 This was too much for Toby. He laughed with pleas- 
 ure, got up, pulled on his clothes, took the note, and 
 started off with alacrity, to convince the captain that he 
 merited all the good that was said of him, and that in- 
 definite " something" besides. 
 
 What could that something be ? He thought of many 
 things by the way : a dollar ; a knife ; a new pair of 
 boots with red tops, such as Lysander himself wore ; 
 which last item reminded him of the bootjrck he had 
 been used for, and the kick he had receive \. 
 
 He stopped in the street, his wrath n sing up again 
 at the recollection. "Good mind ter go lack, and not 
 do his old arrant." But then he thought o c th smiles 
 and compliments, and the promised reward. " S< mefin' 
 kinder decent 'bout dat mis'ble Sprowl, 'long fid heap 
 o' mean tings, arter all ! " And he started on a^ain. 
 
 Lvsander's note was in these words :
 
 312 TOBY'S REWARD. 
 
 " Leiutent Ropes Send me with the bearrer of This 2 
 Btrappin felloes capble of doin a touhgh Job." 
 
 This letter was duly signed, and duly delivered, and it 
 brought the " 2 strappin felloes." The internal evidence 
 it bore, that Lysander had not pursued his studies at 
 school half as earnestly as he had of late pursued the 
 schoolmaster, made no difference with the result. 
 
 The two strapping fellows returned with Toby. They 
 were raw recruits, who had travelled a long distance on 
 foot in order to enlist in the confederate ranks. They 
 had an unmistakable foreign air. They called themselves 
 Germans. They were brothers. 
 
 " All right, Toby ! " said Lysander, well pleased. 
 " What are you bowing and grinning at me for ? O, I 
 was to give you something ! " 
 
 "If you please, sar," said Toby wretched, deceived, 
 cajoled, devoted Toby. 
 
 " Well, you go to the woodshed and bring the clothes 
 line for these fellows to make a swing for the ladies, 
 you know then I'll tell you what you're to have." 
 
 " Sartin, sar." And Toby ran for the clothes line. 
 
 " Good old Toby ! Now, what you have deserved so 
 long, and what these stout Dutchmen will proceed to give 
 you, is the damnedest licking you ever had in your life!" 
 
 Toby almost fainted ; falling, upon his knees, and 
 rolling up his eyes in consternation. Sprowl smiled. 
 The " Dutchmen" grinned. Just then Salina darted into 
 the room.
 
 TOBY'S REWARD. 313 
 
 " Lysander ! what are you going to do with that old 
 man ? " 
 
 She put the demand sharply, her short upper lip quiv- 
 ering, cheeks flushed, eyes flaming. 
 
 " I'm going to have him whipped." 
 
 " No, you are not. You promised me you wouldn't. 
 You told me that if he would go to the Academy for 
 you, and be respectful, you would forgive him. If I had 
 known what you were sending for, he should never have 
 left this house. Now send those men back, and let 
 him go." 
 
 " Not exactly, my lady. I am master in this house, 
 whatever turns up. I am this nigger's master, too." 
 
 " You are not ; you never were. Toby has his free- 
 dom. He shall not be whipped ! " And with a gesture 
 of authority, and with a stamp of her foot, Salina placed 
 herself between the kneeling old servant and the grinning 
 brothers. 
 
 Alas ! this woman's dream of love and happiness had 
 been brief, as all such dreams, false in their very nature, 
 must ever be. She loved him well enough to concede 
 much. She was not going to quarrel with him any more. 
 To avoid a threatened quarrel, she betrayed Toby. But 
 she was not heartless : she had a sense of justice, pride, 
 temper, an impetuous will, not yet given over in perpe- 
 tuity to the keeping of her husband. 
 
 The captain laughed devilishly, and threw his arms 
 about his wife (this time in no loving embrace), and eeiz- 
 27
 
 314 TOUT'S REWARD. 
 
 ing her wrists, held them, and nodded to the soldiers A 
 begin their work. 
 
 They laid hold of Toby, still kneeling and pleading, 
 bound his arms behind him with the cord, and then 
 looked calmly at Lysander for instructions. 
 
 " Take him to the shed," said the captain. " One of 
 you carry this light. You can string him up to a cross- 
 beam. If you don't understand how that's done, I'll go 
 and show you. He's to have twenty lashes to begin 
 with, for lying to me. Then he's to be whipped till he 
 tells where our escaped prisoners are hid in the moun- 
 tains. You understand ? " 
 
 " Ve unterstan," said the brothers, coldly. 
 
 Toby groaned. They took hold of him, and dragged 
 him away. 
 
 " Now will you behave, my girl ? A pretty row you're 
 making ! Ye see it's no use. I am master. The nig- 
 ger '11 only get it the worse for your interference." 
 
 Lysander looked insolently in his wife's face. It 
 was livid. 
 
 " Hey ? " he said. " One of your tantrums ? " 
 
 He placed her on a chair. She was rigid ; she did not 
 speak ; he would have thought she was in a fit but foi 
 the eyes which she never took off of him eyes fixed 
 with deep, unutterable, deadly, despairing hate. 
 
 " I reckon you'll behave you'd better ! " he said 
 shaking his finger warningly at her as he retired back 
 wards from the room.
 
 TOBY'S REWARD. 315 
 
 She saw the door close behind him. She did not 
 move : her eyes were still fixed on that door : heavy and 
 cold as stone, she sat there, and gazed, with that same 
 look of unutterable hate. Perhaps five minutes. Then 
 she heard blows and shrieks. Toby's shrieks : he had no 
 Carl now to rush in and cut his bands. 
 
 The twenty lashes for lying had been administered on 
 the negro's bare back. Then Lysander put the question : 
 Was he prepared to tell all he knew about the fugitives 
 and the cave ? 
 
 " O, pardon, sar ! pardon, sar ! " the old man im- 
 plored ; "I can't tell ruflin', dat am de troof ! " 
 
 " Work away, boys," said Lysander. 
 
 Was it supposed that the good old practice of applying 
 torture to enforce confession had long since been done 
 away with ? A great mistake, my friend. Driven from 
 that ancient stronghold of conservatism, the Spanish 
 Inquisition, it found refuge in this modern stronghold of 
 conservatism, American Slavery. Here the records of its 
 deeds are written on many a back. 
 
 But Toby was not a slave. No matter for that. For 
 in the school of slavery, this is the lesson that soon or 
 late is learned : Not simply that there are two castes, 
 freeman and slave ; two races, white and black ; but thai 
 there are two great classes, the rich and the poor, tha 
 strong and the weak, the lord and the laborer, one born 
 to rule, and the other to be ruled. All, who are not 
 masters, are, or ought to be, slaves : black or white, i*
 
 316 TOBY'S REWARD. 
 
 makes no difference ; and the slave has no rights. This 
 is the first principle of human slavery. This every slave 
 society tends directly to develop. It may be kept care- 
 fully out of sight, but there it lurks, in the hardened 
 hearts of men, like water within rocks. It is forever 
 gushing up in little springs of despotism. Once it 
 burst forth in a vast convulsive flood, and that was the 
 Rebellion. 
 
 Although Lysander had never owned a slave, he had all 
 his life breathed the atmosphere of the institution, and 
 imbibed its spirit. He hated labor. He was ambitious 
 But he was poor. Like a flying fish, he had forced him- 
 self out of the lower element of society, to which he 
 naturally belonged, and had long desperately endeavored 
 to soar. The struggle it had cost him to attain his pres- 
 ent position rendered him all the more violent in his 
 hatred of the inferior class, and all the more eager to 
 enjoy the privileges of the aristocracy. Do not blame 
 this man too much. The injustice, the cruelty, the atro- 
 cious selfishness he displays, do not belong so much to 
 the individual as to the institution. The milk of this 
 wolf makes the child it nourishes wolfish. 
 
 Torture to the extent of ten lashes was applied ; then 
 once more the question was put. Gashed, bleeding, 
 strung up by his thumbs to the crossbeam ; every blow of 
 the extemporized whips extorting from him a howl of 
 agony ; no rescue at hand ; Lysander looking on with a 
 merciless smile ; the brothers doing their assigned \vork
 
 TOBY'S REWARD. 317 
 
 with merciless nonchalance ; well might poor Toby cry 
 out, in the wild insanity of pain, 
 
 " Yes, sar ! I'll tell, I'll tell, sar ! " 
 
 " Very good," said Lysander. " Let him breathe a 
 minute, boys." 
 
 But in that minute Toby gathered up his soul again, 
 dismissed the traitor, Cowardice, and took counsel of his 
 fidelity. Betray his good old master to these ruffians ? 
 Break his promise to Virginia, his oath to Cudjo and 
 Pomp ? No, he couldn't do that. He thought of Penn, 
 who would certainly be hung if captured ; and hung 
 through his treachery ! 
 
 " Now, out with it," said Lysander. " All about the 
 cave. And don't ye lie, for you'll have to go and show it 
 to us when we're ready." 
 
 " I can't tell ! " said Toby. " Dar ain't no cave ! 
 none 't I knows about dat's shore!" This was of 
 course a downright lie ; but it was told to save from ruin 
 those he loved; and I do not think it stands charged 
 against his soul on the books of the recording angel. 
 
 " Ten more, boys," said Lysander. 
 
 " O, wait, wait, sar ! " shrieked Toby. " Des guv me 
 time to tink ! " 
 
 He thought of ten lashes ; ten more afterwards ; and 
 still another ten ; for he knew that the whipping would 
 not cease until either he betrayed the fugitives or died ; 
 and every lash was to him an agony. 
 
 " Think quick," said Captain Sprowl. 
 27*
 
 318 TOBY'S HE WARD. 
 
 Just then the door of the kitchen opened. Toby 
 grasped wildly at that straw of hope. It broke instantly. 
 The comer was Salina. She had had the power to be- 
 tray him, but not the power to save. She stood with 
 folded arms, and smiled. 
 
 " I can't help you, Toby, but I can be revenged." 
 
 " Hello ! " cried Lysander, with a start. " What smoke 
 is that?" 
 
 She had left the door open, and a draught of air 
 wafted a strange smell of burning cloth and pine wood to 
 his nostrils. 
 
 " Nothing," replied Salina, " only the house is afire."
 
 CARL MAKES AN ENGAGEMENT. 319 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 GAEL MAKES AN ENGAGEMENT. 
 
 YSANDER looked in through the doors 
 and saw flames. She had touched the lamp 
 to the sitting-room curtains, and they had 
 ignited the wood-work. 
 
 " Your own house," he said, furiously. " What a 
 fiend ! " 
 
 " It was my father's house until you took possession of 
 it," she answered. " Now it shall burn." 
 
 If he had not already considered that he had an interest 
 at stake, that gentle remark reminded him. 
 
 " Boys ! come quick ! By ! we must put out 
 
 the fire ! " 
 
 He rushed into the kitchen. The German brothers had 
 come to execute his commands : whether to flay a negro 
 or extinguish a fire, was to them a matter of indifference ; 
 and they followed him, seizing pails. 
 
 Salina was prepared for the emergency. She held a 
 butcher-knife concealed under her folded arms. With
 
 320 CARL MAKES AN ENGAGEMENT. 
 
 this she cut the cords above Toby's thumbs. It was done 
 in an instant. 
 
 " Now, take this and run ! If they go to take you, kill 
 them ! " 
 
 She thrust the handle of the knife into his hand, and 
 pushed him from the shed. Terrified, bewildered, weak, 
 he seemed moving in a kind of nightmare. But somehow 
 he got around the corner of the shed, and disappeared in 
 the darkness. 
 
 The brothers saw him go. They were drawing water 
 at the well, and handing it to Lysander in the house. 
 But they had been told to hand water, not to catch the 
 negro. So they looked placidly at each other, and said 
 nothing. 
 
 The fire was soon extinguished ; and Lysander, with 
 his coat off, pail in hand, excited, turned and saw his 
 " fiend" of a wife seated composedly in a chair, regard- 
 ing him with a smile sarcastic and triumphant. He 
 uttered a frightful oath. 
 
 " Any more of your tantrums, and I'll kill you ! " 
 
 " Any more of yours," she replied, " and I'll burn you 
 up. I can set fires faster than you can put them out. I 
 don't care for the house any more than I care for my life, 
 and that's precious little." 
 
 By the tone in which she said these words, level, deter- 
 mined, distinct, with that spice which compressed fury 
 lends, Captain Lysander Sprowl knew perfectly well thai 
 she meant them.
 
 CARL MAKES AN ENGAGEMENT. 321 
 
 The brothers looked at each other intelligently. One 
 said something in German, which we may translate by the 
 words " Incompatibility of temper ; " and he smiled with 
 dry humor. The other responded in the same tongue, 
 and with a sleepy nod, glancing phlegmatically at Sprowl. 
 What he said may be rendered by the phrase " Caught 
 a Tartar." 
 
 Although Lysander did not understand the idiom, he 
 seemed to be quite of the Teutonic opinion. He regarded 
 Mrs. Sprowl with a sort of impotent rage. If he was reck- 
 less, she had shown herself more reckless. Though he 
 was so desperate, she had outdone him in desperation. 
 He saw plainly that if he touched her now, that touch 
 must be kindness, or it must be death. 
 
 " Have you let Toby go ? " 
 
 " Yes," replied Salina. 
 
 " We can catch him," said Lysander. 
 
 " If you do you will be sorry. I warn you in season." 
 
 Since she said so, Lysander did not doubt but that it 
 Would be so. He concluded, therefore, not to catch Toby 
 = that night. Moreover, he resolved to go back to his 
 quarters and sleep. He was afraid of that wildcat ; he 
 dreaded the thought of trusting himself in the house with 
 her. He durst not kill her, and he durst not go to sleep, 
 leaving her alive. The Germans, perceiving his fear, 
 looked at each other and grunted. That grunt was the 
 German for " mean cuss." They saw through Lysander. 
 
 After all were gone, Salina went out and called Toby.
 
 322 CARL MAKES AN ENGAGEMENT. 
 
 The old negro had fled for his life, and did not hear. She 
 returned into the house, the aspect of which was rendered 
 all the more desolate and drear by the marks of fire, the 
 water that drenched the floor, the smoky atmosphere, and 
 the dim and bluish lamp- light. The unhappy woman sat 
 down in the lonely apartment, and thought of her 
 brief dream of happiness, of this last quarrel which could 
 never be made up, and of the hopeless, loveless, miserable 
 future, until it seemed that the last drop of womanly 
 blood in her veins was turned to gall. 
 
 At the same hour, not many miles away, on a rude 
 couch in a mountain cave, by her father's side, Virginia 
 was tranquilly sleeping, and dreaming of angel visits. 
 Across the entrance of the cavern, like an ogre keeping 
 guard, Cudjo was stretched on a bed of skins. The 
 fire, which rarely went out. illumined faintly the subter- 
 ranean gloom. By its light came one, and looked at the 
 old man and his child sleeping there, so peacefully, so 
 innocently, side by side. The face of the father was 
 solemn, white, and calm ; that of the maiden, smiling and 
 sweet. The heart of the young man yearned within him ; 
 his eyes, as they gazed, filled with tears; and his lips 
 murmured with pure emotion, 
 
 " O Lord, I thank thee for their sakes ! O Lord, pre- 
 serve them and bless them ! " 
 
 And he moved softly away, his whole soul suffused with 
 ineffable tenderness towards that good old man and the 
 dear, beautiful girl. He had stolen thither to see that all
 
 CARL MAKES AN ENGAGEMENT. 323 
 
 was well. All was indeed well. And now he retired 
 once more to a recess in the rock, where he and Pomp 
 had made their bed of blankets and dry moss. 
 
 The footsteps on the solid floor of stone had not 
 awakened her. And what was more remarkable, the lov- 
 er's beating heart and worshipping gaze had not disturbed 
 her slumber. But now the slightest movement on the 
 part of her blind parent banishes sleep in an instant. 
 
 " Daughter, are you here ? " 
 
 " I am here, father ! " 
 
 " Are you well, my child ? " 
 
 " O, very well ! I have had ouch a sweet sleep ! Can 
 I do anything for you ? " 
 
 " Yes. Let me feel tha.t you are near me. That is all." 
 She kissed him. " Heaven is good to me ! " he said. 
 
 She watched him until he slept again. Then, her soul 
 filled v.'ith thankfulness and peace, she closed her eyes 
 once more, and happy thoughts became happy dreams. 
 
 At about that time Salina threw herself despairingly 
 upon her bed, at home, gnashing her teeth, and wishing 
 she had never been born. And these two were sisters. 
 And Salina had the house and all its comforts left to her, 
 while Virginia had nothing of outward solace for her deli- 
 cate nature but the rudest entertainment. So true it is 
 that not place, and apparel, and pride make us happy, 
 but piety, affection, and the disposition of the mind. 
 
 The night passed, and morning dawned, and they who 
 had slept awoke, and they who had not slept watched
 
 324 CARL MAKES AN ENGAGEMENT. 
 
 bitterly the quickening light which "brought to them, not 
 joy and refreshment, but only another phase of weariness 
 and misery. 
 
 Captain Lysander Sprowl was observed to be in a sav- 
 age mood that day. The cares of married life did not 
 agree with him : they do not with some people. Because 
 Salina had baffled him, and Toby had escaped, his infe- 
 riors had to suffer. He was sharp even with Lieutenant 
 Ropes, who came to report a fact of which he had received 
 information. 
 
 " Stackridge was in the village last night ! " 
 
 " What's that to me ? " said Lysander. 
 
 " The lieutenant- colonel " whispered Silas. Sprowl 
 grew attentive. By the lieutenant- colonel was meant no 
 other person than Augustus Bythewood, who had received 
 his commission the day before. Well might Lysander, at 
 the mention of him to whom both these aspiring officers 
 owed everything, bend a little and listen. Ropes pro- 
 ceeded. " He feels a cussed sight badder now he believes 
 the gal is in a cave somewhars with the schoolmaster, than 
 he did when he thought she was burnt up in the woods. 
 He entirely approves of your conduct last night, and says 
 Toby must be ketched, and the secret licked out of him. 
 In the mean while he thinks sunthin' can be done with 
 Stackridge' s family. Stackridge was home last night, and 
 of course his wife will know about the cave. The secret 
 might be frightened out on her, or, I swear ! " said 
 Silas, " I wouldn't object to using a little of the same sort
 
 CARL MAKES AN NEGAGEMENT. 325 
 
 of coercion you tried with Toby ; and Bythcwood wouldn't 
 nuther. Only, you understand, he musn't be supposed 
 to know anything about it." 
 
 Lysander's eyes gleamed. He showed his tobacco- 
 stained teeth in a way that boded no good to any of the 
 name of Stackridge. 
 
 " Good idee ? " said Silas, with a coarse and brutal 
 grin. 
 
 " Damned good ! " said Lysander. Indeed, it just 
 suited his ferocious mood. " Go yourself, lieutenant, and 
 put it into execution." 
 
 " There's one objection to that," replied Silas, thrusting 
 a quid into his cheek. " I know the old woman so well. 
 It's best that none of us in authority should be supposed 
 to have a hand in't. Send somebody that don't know her, 
 and that you can depend on to do the job up harnsome. 
 How's them Dutchmen ?" 
 
 " Just the chaps ! " said Lysander, growing good- 
 natured as the pleasant idea of whipping a woman de- 
 veloped itself more and more to his appreciative mind. 
 
 From flogging a slave, to flogging a free negro, the step 
 is short and easy. From the familiar and long-established 
 usage of beating slave-women, to the novel fashion of 
 whipping the patriotic wives of Union men, the step is 
 scarcely longer, or more difficult. Even the chivalrous 
 Bythewood, who was certainly a gentleman in the common 
 acceptation of the term, magnificently hospitable to his 
 equals, gallant to excess among ladies worthy of his 
 28
 
 326 CARL MAKES AN ENGAGEMENT. 
 
 smiles, yet who never interfered to prevent the flogging 
 of slave-mothers on his estates, saw nothing extraordi- 
 nary or revolting in the idea of extorting a secret from a 
 hated Union woman by means of the lash. To such gross 
 appetites for cruelty as Ropes had cultivated, the thing 
 relished hugely. The keen, malignant palate of Lysander 
 tasted the flavor of a good joke in it. 
 
 The project was freely discussed, and in the hilarity of 
 their hearts the two officers let fall certain words, like 
 crumbs from their table, which a miserable dog chanced 
 to pick up. 
 
 That miserable dog was Dan Pepperill, whose heart was 
 so much bigger than his wit. He knew that mischief was 
 meant towards Mrs. Stackridge. How could he warn her? 
 The drums were already beating for company drill, and he 
 despaired of doing anything to save her, when by good 
 fortune or is there something besides good fortune in 
 such things ? he saw one of his children approaching. 
 
 The little Pepperill came with a message from hei 
 mother. Dan heard it unheedingly, then whispered in 
 the girl's ear, 
 
 " Go and tell Mrs. Stackridge her and the childern's 
 invited over to our house this forenoon. Right away now ! 
 Partic'lar reasons, tell her ! " added Dan, reflecting that 
 ladies in Mrs. Stackridge's station did not visit those in 
 his wife's without particular reasons. 
 
 The child ran away, and Pepperill fell into the ranks, 
 only to get repeatedly and severely reprimanded by the
 
 CARL MAKES AN ENGAGEMENT. o27 
 
 drill-officer for his heedlessness that morning. He did 
 everything awkwardly, if not altogether wrong. His mind 
 was on the child and the errand on which he had sent 
 her, and he kept wondering within himself whether she 
 would do it correctly (children are so apt to do errands 
 amiss!), and whether Mrs. Stackridge would be wise 
 enough, or humble enough, to go quietly and give Mrs. 
 P. a call. 
 
 After company drill the brothers were summoned, 
 and Lysander gave them secret orders. They were to 
 visit Stackridge's house, seize Mrs. Stackridge and com- 
 pel her, by blows if necessary, to tell where her husband 
 was concealed. 
 
 " You understand ? " said the captain. 
 
 " Ve unterstan," said they, dryly. 
 
 Scarcely had the brothers departed, when a prisoner 
 was brought in. It was Toby, who had been caught 
 endeavoring to make his way up into the mountains. 
 
 " Now we've got the nigger, mabby we'd better send 
 and call the Dutchmen back," said Silas Ropes. 
 
 " No, no ! " said Lysander, through his teeth. " 'Twon't 
 do any harm to give the jade a good dressing down. I 
 wish every man, woman, and child, that shrieks for the old 
 rotten Union, could be served in the same way." 
 
 Having set his heart on this little indulgence, Sprowl 
 could not easily be persuaded to give it up. It was abso- 
 lutely necessary to his peace of mind that somebody should 
 be flogged. The interesting affair with Toby, which had
 
 328 CARL MAKES AN ENGAGEMENT. 
 
 been so abruptly broken off, left, like a novelette in 
 the newspapers, to be continued, must be concluded in 
 some shape : it mattered little upon whose flesh the final 
 chapters were struck off. 
 
 In the mean time the recaptured negro was taken to the 
 guard-house. There he found a sympathizing companion. 
 It was Carl. To him he told his story, and showed his 
 wounds, the sight of which filled the heart of the lad with 
 rage, and pity, and grief. 
 
 " Vot sort of Tutchmen vos they ? " Toby described 
 them. Carl's eyes kindled. " I shouldn't be wery much 
 susprised," said he, " if they vos no matter ! " 
 
 Lieutenant Ropes arrived, bringing into the guard- 
 house a formidable cat-o' -nine-tails. 
 
 " String that nigger up," said Silas. 
 
 Ropes was not the man to await patiently the issue of 
 the woman-whipping, while here was a chance for a little 
 private sport. He remembered how Toby had got away 
 from him once that he too owed him a flogging. 
 Debts of this kind, if no others, Silas delighted to pay ; 
 and accordingly the negro was strung up. It was well for 
 the lieutenant that Carl had irons on his wrists. 
 
 The sound of the poor old man's groans, the sight of 
 his gashed, oozing, and inflamed back, bared again to the 
 whip, was to Carl unendurable. But as it was not in 
 his power to obey the impulse of his soul, to spring for a 
 musket and slay that monster of cruelty, Ropes, on the 
 spot, he must try other means, perhaps equally unwise 
 and desperate, to save Toby from torture.
 
 CARL MAKES AN EN Q A G E M E NT. 329 
 
 " Vait, sir, if you please, vim leetle moment," he called 
 out to Silas. " I have a vord or two to shpeak." 
 
 He had as yet, however, scarcely made up his mind 
 what to propose. A moment's reflection convinced him 
 that only one thing could purchase .Toby's reprieve ; and 
 perhaps even that would fail. Regardless of consequences 
 to himself, he resolved to try it. 
 
 " I know petter as he does about the cave ; I vos 
 there," he cried out, boldly. 
 
 " Hey ? You offer yourself to be whipped in this old 
 nigger's place ? " said Ropes. 
 
 " Not wery much," replied Carl. " I can go mit you 
 or anypody you vill send, and show vair the cave is. I 
 remember. But if you vill have me whipped, I shouldn't 
 be wery much surprised if that vould make me to forget. 
 Whippins," he added, significantly, " is wery pad for the 
 memory." 
 
 " You mean to say, if you are licked, then you won't 
 tell ? " 
 
 " That ish the idea I vished to conwey." 
 
 "We'll see about that." Silas laughed. "In the 
 mean time we'll try what can be got out of this nigger." 
 
 Toby, who had had a gleam of hope, now fell again 
 into despair. Just then Captain Sprowl came in. 
 
 " Hold ! What are you doing with that nigger ? " 
 
 Silas explained, and Carl repeated his proposal. Lysan- 
 der caught eagerly at it. He remembered Salina's warn- 
 ing, and was glad of any excuse to liberate the old negro. 
 28*
 
 330 CAPTAIN LYSANDER'S JOKE. 
 
 " You promise to take me to the cave ? " Carl as- 
 sented. " Why, then, lieutenant, that's all we "want, and 
 I order this boy to be set free." 
 
 " This boy " was Toby, who was accordingly let off, to 
 his own inexpressible joy and Ropes' s infinite disgust. 
 
 " If Carl he take de responsumbility to show de cave, 
 dat ain't my fault. 'Sides, dat boy am bright, he am; 
 de secesh can't git much de start o' him ! " 
 
 Thus the old negro congratulated himself on his way 
 home. At the same time Carl, still in irons, was saying 
 to himself , 
 
 " So far so goot. If they had whipped Toby, two things 
 vould be wery pad the whipping, for one, and he would 
 have told, for another. But I have made vun promise. It 
 vas a pad promise, and a pad promise is petter proken as 
 kept. But if I preak it, they vill preak my head. Vo* 
 shall I do ? Now let me see ! " said Carl. 
 
 And he remained plunged in thought.
 
 CARL MAKES AX ENGAGEMENT. 331 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 CAPTAIN LYS ANDES' S JOKE. 
 
 INGE the time when she lost her best 
 feather-bed and her boarder, the worthy 
 
 widow Sprowl had suffered serious pecuniary 
 embarrassment. She missed sadly the regular four dol- 
 lars a week, and the irregular gratuities, she had received 
 from Penn. So much secession had cost her, without 
 yielding as yet any of its promised benefits. The Yankees 
 had not stepped up with the alacrity expected of them, and 
 thrust their servile necks into the yoke of their natural 
 masters. The slave trade was not reopened. Niggers 
 were not yet so cheap that every poor widow could, at a 
 trifling expense, provide herself with several, and grow 
 rich on their labor. In the pride of seeing her son made 
 what she called a " capting," and in the hope of enjoying 
 some of the golden fruits of his valor, she had given him 
 her last penny, and received up to the present time not a 
 penny from him in return. In short, Lysander was un- 
 grateful, and the widow was a disappointed woman.
 
 382 CAPTAIN LYSANDER'S JOKE. 
 
 So it happened that the sugar-bowl and tea-canister were 
 often empty, and the poor widow had no legitimate means 
 of replenishing them. In this extremity she resorted to 
 borrowing. She borrowed of everybody, and never re- 
 paid. She borrowed even of the hated Unionists in the 
 neighborhood, and confessed with bitterness to her son 
 that she found them more ready to lend to her than the 
 families of secessionists. 
 
 Again, on the morning of the events related in the last 
 chapter, she found herself in want of many things 
 tea, sugar, meal, beans, potatoes, snuff, and tobacco ; for 
 this excellent woman snuffed, " dipped," and smoked. 
 
 " Where shall I go and borry to-day ? " said she, 
 counting her patrons, and the number of times she had 
 been to borrow of each, on her fingers. " Thar's Mis' 
 Stackridge. I hain't been to her but oncet. I'll go 
 agin, and carry the big basket." 
 
 With her basket on her arm, and an ancient brown 
 bonnet (which had been black at the time of the demise 
 of the late lamented Sprowl,) on her head, and a multi- 
 tude of excuses on her tongue, she set out, and walked 
 to the farmer's house. This had one of those great, 
 shed-like openings through it, so common in Tennessee. 
 A door on the left, as you entered this covered space, 
 led to the kitchen and living-room of the family. Here 
 the widow knocked. 
 
 There was no response. She knocked again, with the 
 same result. Then she pulled the latch-string for the
 
 CAPTAIN LYSANDER'S JOKE. 333 
 
 door even of this well-to-do farmer had a latch-string, 
 She entered. The house was deserted. 
 
 " Ain't to home, none of 'em, hey ? " said the widow, 
 peering about her with a disagreeable scowl. " HOUS& 
 wan't locked, nuther. Wonder if Mis' Stackridge and 
 the childern have gone to the mountains too ? And 
 whar's old Aunt Deb ? " 
 
 Her first feeling was that of resentment. What rigH, 
 had Mrs. Stackridge to be absent when she came to 
 borrow ? As she explored the pantry and closets, how- 
 ever, and became convinced that she was absolutely 
 alone in a well-provisioned farm-house, her countenance 
 lighted up with a smile. 
 
 " I can borry what I want jest exac'ly as well as if 
 Mis' Stackridge war to home," thought the widow. 
 
 And she proceeded to fill her basket. She helped her- 
 self to a pan of meal, borrowing the pan with it. " I'll 
 fetch home the pan," said she, " when I do the meal," 
 exposing her craggy teeth with a grim smile. " If I 
 don't before, I'm a feared Mis' Stackridge '11 haf to wait 
 for 't a considerable spell ! What's in this box ? Coffee J 
 May as well take box and all. Bring back the box when 
 I do the coffee. Wish I could find some tobacky some- 
 whars wonder whar they keep their tobacky ! " 
 
 Now, the excellent creature did not indulge in these 
 liberties without some apprehension that Mrs. Stackridge 
 might return suddenly and interrupt them. Perhaps she 
 had not followed Mr. Stackridge to the mountains.
 
 334 CAPTAIN LYSANDJSS'S JOKE. 
 
 Perhaps she had only gone into the village to "buy shoes 
 for her children, or to call on a neighbor. " If she 
 should come back and ketch me at it, why, then, 
 I'll tell her I'm only jest a borryin', and see what she'll 
 do about it. The prop'ty of these yer durned Union- 
 shriekers is all gwine to be confisticated, and I reckon 
 I may as well take my sheer Avhen I can git it. Thar's 
 a paper o' black pepper, and I'll take it jest as 'tis. 
 Thar's a jar o' lump butter, wish I could tote jar and 
 all! have some of the lumps on a plate anyhow!" 
 
 She had soon filled her basket, and was regretting 
 she had not brought two, or a larger one, when a hand- 
 some, new tin pail, hanging in the pantry, caught her 
 eye. " Been wantin' jest sich a pail as that, this long 
 while ! " And she proceeded to fill that also. 
 
 Just as she was putting the cover on, she was very 
 much startled by hearing footsteps at the door. 
 
 " O, dear me ! What shall I do ? If it should be 
 Mr. Stackridge ! But it can't be him ! If it's only Mis' 
 Stackridge or one of the niggers, I'll face it out ! They 
 won't das' to make a fuss, for they're Union- shriek ers, 
 and my son's a capting in the confederate army ! " 
 
 Thump, thump, thump ! loud knocking at the door. 
 
 " My, it's visitors ! Who can it be ? " She set down 
 her pail and basket. " I'll act jest as if I had a right 
 here, anyhow ! " 
 
 She was hesitating, when the string was pulled, 
 and two strangers, stout, square built, with foreign
 
 CAPTA:?} JLYSANDER'S JOKE. 335 
 
 iov hiing faces, carrying Wt.uskets, and dressed in confed- 
 erate? uniform, entered. 
 
 " MVs. Stackridge ? " said they, in a heavy Teutonic 
 accent. 
 
 "Ye -ye yes " stamwe^ed the widow, trying to 
 hide the guilty basket and pail behind her skirts. 
 " What do you want of Mis' Stackridge ? " 
 
 One of the strangers said to the other, in German, 
 indicating the plander, 
 
 " This is the woman. She is getting provisions ready 
 to send to her husband in the mountains." 
 
 " Let us see what there is good to eat," said the 
 other. 
 
 Mrs. Sprowl, although understanding no word that was 
 spoken, perceived that the borrowed property formed the 
 theme of their remarks. 
 
 " Have some ? " she hastened to say, with extreme 
 politeness, as the Germans approached the provisions. 
 
 " Tank ye," said they, finding some bread and cold 
 meat. And they ate with appetite, exchanging glances, 
 and grunting with satisfaction. 
 
 " O, take all you want ! " said the widow. " You're 
 welcome to anything there is in the house, I'm shore ! " 
 adding, within herself, "I am so glad these soldiers 
 have come ! Now, whatever is missing will be laid to 
 them." 
 
 " You de lady of de house ? " said the foreigners, 
 munching.
 
 336 CAPTAIN LYSAXDER'S JOKE. 
 
 " Yes, help yourselves ! " smiled the hospitable widow. 
 
 " You Mrs. Stackridge ? " they inquired, more particu- 
 larly. 
 
 " Yes ; take anything you like ! " replied the widow. 
 
 " Where your husband ? " 
 
 " My husband ! ray poor dear husband ! he has been 
 dead these " 
 
 She checked herself, remembering that the soldiers took 
 her for Mrs. Stackridge. If she undeceived them, then 
 they would know she had been stealing. 
 
 " Dead ? " The Germans shook their heads and smiled. 
 " No ! He was here last night. He was seen. You 
 take dese tings to him up in de mountain." 
 
 " Would you like some cheese ? " said the embarrassed 
 widow. 
 
 " Tank ye. Dis is better as rations." 
 
 Mrs. Sprowl returned to the pantry, in order to replace 
 the provisions she had so generously given away, and 
 prepared to depart with the basket and pail ; inviting 
 the guests repeatedly to make themselves quite at home, 
 and to take whatever they could find. 
 
 " Wait ! " said they. Each had a knee on the floor, 
 and one hand full of bread and cheese. They looked up 
 at her with broad, complacent, unctuous faces, smiling, 
 yet resolute. And one, with his unoccupied hand, laid 
 hold of the handle of the basket, while the other detained 
 the pail. " You will tell us where is your husband," said 
 they.
 
 CAPTAIN LYSANDER'S JOKE. 337 
 
 " O, dear me, I don't know ! I'm a poor lone wo- 
 man, and where my husband is I can't consaive, I'm 
 shore ! " 
 
 " You will tell us where is your husband," repeated 
 the men ; and one of them, getting upon his feet, stood 
 before her at the door. 
 
 " He's on the mountain somewhars. I don't know 
 whar, and I don't keer," cried the widow, excited. There 
 was something in the stolid, determined looks of the 
 brothers she did not like. " He's a bad man, Mr. 
 Stackridge is ! I'm a secessionist myself. You are 
 welcome to everything in the house only let me go 
 now." 
 
 " You will not go," said the soldier at the door, " till 
 you tell us. We come for dat." 
 
 On entering, they had placed their muskets in the cor- 
 ner. The speaker took them, and handed one to his 
 comrade. And now the widow observed that out of the 
 muzzle of each protruded the butt-end of a small cowhide. 
 Each soldier held his gun at his side, and laying hold of 
 the said butt-end, drew out the long taper belly and 
 dangling lash of the whip, like a black snake by the neck. 
 
 The widow screamed. 
 
 " It's all a mistake. Let me go! I ain't Mis' Stack- 
 ridge ! " 
 
 Nothing so natural as that the wife of the notorious 
 Unionist should deny her identity at sight of the whips. 
 The soldiers looked at each other, muttered something in 
 29
 
 33S CAPTAIN LYSANDER'S JOKE. 
 
 German, smiled, and replaced their muskets in the 
 corner. 
 
 " You tell us where is your husband. Or else we whip 
 you. Dat is our orders." 
 
 This they said in low tones, with mild looks, and with 
 a calmness which was frightful. The widow saw that she 
 had to do with men who obeyed orders literally, and knew 
 no mercy. 
 
 " I hain't got no husband. I ain't Mis' Stackridge. 
 I'm a poor lone widder, that jest come over here to borry 
 a few things, and that's all." 
 
 " Ve unterstan. You say shust now you are Mrs. 
 Stackridge. Now you say not. Dat make no difruns. 
 Ve know. You tell us where is your husband, or ve 
 string you up." 
 
 This speech was pronounced by both the foreigners, a 
 sentence by each, alternately. At the conclusion one drew 
 a strong cord from his pocket, while the other looked 
 with satisfaction at certain hooks in the plastering over- 
 head, designed originally for the support of a kitchen pole, 
 but now destined for another use. 
 
 " Don't you dast to tech me !" screamed the false 
 Mrs. Stackridge. " I'm a secessionist myself, that hates 
 the Union-shriekers wus 'n you do, and I've got a son 
 that's a capting, and a poor lone widder at that ! " 
 
 " Dat we don't know. What we know is, you tell 
 what we say, or we whip you. Dat's Captain Shprowl's 
 orders."
 
 CAPTAIN LYSANDER'S JOKE. 339 
 
 " Capting Sprowl ! That's my son ! my own son ! If he 
 sent you, then it's all right ! " 
 
 " So we tink. All right." And the soldiers, seizing 
 her, tied her thumbs as Lysander had taught them, passed 
 the cords over the hook as they had passed the clothes- 
 line over the cross-beam the night before, and drew the 
 shrieking woman's hands above her head, precisely as they 
 had hauled up Toby's. They then turned her skirts up 
 over her head, and fastened them. This also they had 
 been instructed to do by Lysander. It was, you will say, 
 shameful : for this woman was free and white. Had she 
 been a slave, with a different complexion, although per- 
 haps quite as white, would it have been any the less 
 shameful ? Answer, ye believers in the divine rights of 
 slave-masters ! 
 
 " Now you vill tell ? " said the phlegmatic Teutons, 
 measuring out their whips. 
 
 " Go for my son ! My son is Capting Sprowl ! " gasped 
 the stifled and terror-stricken widow. 
 
 " Dat trick won't do. You shpeak, or we shtrike." 
 
 "Jt is true, it is true ! I am Mrs. Sprowl, and my 
 husband is dead, and my son is Capting Sprowl, and a 
 poor lone widder, that if you strike her a single blow 
 he'll have you took and hung ! " 
 
 " If he is your son, den by your own son's orders we 
 whip you. He vill not hang us for dat. You vill not 
 tell ? Den we give you ten lash." 
 
 Blow upon blow, shriek upon shriek, followed. The
 
 340 CAPTAIN LYSAXDJSK'S JOKE. 
 
 soldiers counted the strokes aloud, deliberately, conscien- 
 tiously, as they gave them, " Vun, two, tree," &c., up to 
 ten. There they stopped. But the screams did not stop. 
 This punishment, which it was sport to inflict upon a 
 faithful old negro, which it -would have been such a good 
 joke to have bestowed upon the wife of a stanch Union- 
 ist, was no sport, no joke, but altogether a tragic affair 
 to thy mother, O Lysander ! 
 
 Then she, who had so often wished that she too owned 
 slaves, that when she was angry she might have them 
 strung up and flogged, knew by fearful experience what 
 it was to be strung up and flogged. Then she, who sym- 
 pathized with her son in his desire to see every man, 
 woman, and child, that loved the old Union, served in this 
 fashion, felt in her own writhing and bleeding fle'sh the 
 stings of that inhuman vengeance. Terrible blunder, for 
 which she had only herself to thank ! Robbery of her 
 neighbor's house the dishonest "borrowing," not of 
 these ill-gotten goods only, but also of her neighbor's 
 name had brought her, by what we call fatality, to 
 ihis strait. 
 
 Fatality is but another name for Providence. 
 
 The soldiers waited for a lull in the shrieks, then put 
 vnce more the question. 
 
 " You tell now ? Where is your husband ? No ? Den 
 you git ten lash more. Always ten lash till you tell." 
 
 A storm of incoherent denial, angry threats, sobs, and 
 screams, was the response. One of the soldiers drew her
 
 CAPTAIN LYSANDER'S JOKE. 341 
 
 sKirts over her head again, and gave another pull at the 
 cords that hauled up her thumbs, while the other stood 
 off and measured out his whip. 
 
 Just then the door opened, and Captain Sprowl 
 looked in. 
 
 " How are you getting on, boys ? " 
 
 The question was accompanied by an approving smile, 
 which seemed to say, " I see you are getting on very 
 well." 
 
 " We whip her once. We give her ten lash. She not 
 tell." 
 
 " Very well. Give her ten more." 
 
 The widow struggled and screamed. Had she recog- 
 nized her son's voice ? Muffled as she was, he did not 
 recognize hers. Nor was it surprising that, in the unu- 
 sual posture in which he found her, he did not know her 
 from Mrs. Stackridge. 
 
 He stood in the door and smiled while the soldier 
 laid on. 
 
 " Make it a dozen," he quietly remarked. " And 
 smart ones, to wind up with ! " 
 
 So it happened that, thanks to her son's presence, the 
 screeching victim got two " smart ones " additional. 
 
 " Now uncover her face. Ease away on her thumbs a 
 little. I'll question her mys Good Lucifer ! " ex- 
 claimed the captain, finding himself face to face with hie 
 own mother. 
 
 Twenty-two lashes and the torture of the strung-uj 
 29*
 
 342 CAPTAIN LYSANDER'S JOKE. 
 
 thumbs had proved too much even for the strong nerves 
 of Widow Sprowl. She fell down in a swoon. 
 
 Lysander, furious, whipped out his sword, and turned 
 upon the soldiers. They quietly stepped back, and took 
 their guns from the corner. He would certainly have 
 killed one of them on the spot had he not seen by the 
 glance of their eyes that the other would, at the same 
 instant, as certainly have killed him. 
 
 " You scoundrels ! you have whipped my own 
 mother ! " 
 
 " Captain," they calmly answered, " we opey orders." 
 
 " Fools ! " and Lysander ground his teeth, " you 
 should have known ! " 
 
 " Captain," they replied, " if you not know, how 
 should we know ? We never see dis woman pefore. 
 We come. We find her taking prowisions from de house. 
 We say, ' She take dem to her husband in de mountains.' 
 We say, ' You Mrs. Stackridge ? ' She say yes to 
 everyting. We not know she lie. We not know she 
 steal. We not say, ' You somepody else.' We opey 
 orders. W T e take and we whip her. You come in and 
 say, ' Whip more.' We whip more. Now you say to us, 
 ' Scoundrels ! ' You say, ' Fools ! ' We say, ' Captain 
 it was your orders ; we opey.' " 
 
 Having by a joint effort at sententious English pro- 
 nounced this speech, the brothers stood stolidly awaiting 
 the result ; while the captain, still gnashing his teeth, 
 bent over the prostrate form of his mother.
 
 CAPTAIN LYSANDER' S JOKE, 343 
 
 " Bring some water and throw on her ! you idiots ! " he 
 yelled at them. " Would you see her die ? " 
 
 They looked at each other. " Water ? " Yes, that 
 was what was wanted. They remembered their practice 
 of the previous evening. One found a wooden pail. The 
 other emptied upon the floor the contents of the tin pail 
 the widow had " borrowed/' They went to the well. 
 They brought water. " To throw on her ? " Yes, that 
 was what he said. And together they dashed a sudden 
 drenching flood over the poor woman, as if the swoon 
 were another fire to be extinguished. 
 
 These fellows obeyed orders literally a merit which 
 Lysander now failed to appreciate. He swore at them 
 terribly. But he did not countermand his last order. 
 Accordingly they proceeded stoically to bring more water. 
 Lysander had got his mother's head on his knee, and she 
 had just opened her eyes to look and her mouth to gasp, 
 when there came another double ice-cold wave, blinding, 
 stifling, drowning her. Too much of water hadst thou, 
 poor lone widow ! 
 
 Lysander let fall the maternal head, and bounded to his 
 feet, roaring with wrath. The brothers, imperturbable, 
 with the empty pails at their sides, stared at him with 
 mute wonder. 
 
 " Captain, dat was your orders. You say, ' Pring vas- 
 ser and trow on.' We pring vasser and trow on Dat 
 is all." 
 
 " But I didn't tell you to fetch pailfuls ! "
 
 844 CAPTAIN LYSANDEA'S JOKE. 
 
 This sentence rushed out of Lysatider's soul like a 
 rocket, culminated in a loud, explosive oath, and was fol- 
 lowed by a shower of fiery curses falling harmless on the 
 heads of the unmoved Teutons. 
 
 They waited patiently until the pyrotechnic rain ceased, 
 then answered, speaking alternately, each a sentence, is 
 if with one mind, but with two organs. 
 
 " Captain, you hear. Last night vas de house afire. 
 You say, ' Pring vasser.' We pring a little. Den you 
 say to us, ' Tarn you ! why in hell you shtop ? ' And you 
 say, ' Ven I tell you pring vasser, pring till I say shtop.' 
 Vun time more to-day you say, ' Pring vasser,' and you 
 never say shtop. You say, ' Trow on.' We trow on. 
 Vat you say we do. You not say vat you mean, dat is 
 mishtake for you." 
 
 It is not to be supposed that Lysander listened meekly 
 to the end of this speech. He had caught the sound of 
 voices without that interested him more ; and, looking, he 
 saw Mrs. Stackridge returning, with her children. 
 
 The Pepperill young-one had faithfully done her errand ; 
 and the farmer's wife, believing something important was 
 meant by it, had hastened to accept the singular and 
 urgent invitation. But, arrived at the poor man's shanty, 
 she was astonished to find Mrs. Pepperill astonished to 
 see her. They talked the matter over, questioned the 
 child, and finally concluded that Daniel had said some- 
 thing quite different, which the child had misunderstood. 
 
 " Well," said Mrs. Stackridge, after sitting a-while, " 1
 
 CAPTAIN LYSANDEK'S JOKE. 345 
 
 reckon I may as well be going back, for I've left only old 
 Aunt Deb to home, and she's scar't to death to be left 
 alone these times ; thinks the secesh soldiers '11 kill her. 
 But I tell her not to be afeared of 'em. I ain't ! " 
 
 So this woman, little knowing how much real cause 
 she had to be afraid, returned home with her family. 
 When near the house she met Gaff and Jake, negroes 
 belonging to the farm, who had been in the field at work, 
 running towards her, in great terror, declaring that they 
 heard somebody killing Aunt Deb. 
 
 " Nonsense ! " said she ; and in spite of their assur- 
 ances and entreaties, she marched straight towards the 
 door through which the captain saw her coming. 
 
 " Clear out ! " said Lysander to the soldiers. " Go to 
 your quarters. I'll have your case attended to ! " This 
 was spoken very threateningly. Then, as soon as they 
 were out of hearing, he said to Mrs. Stackridge, " I'm 
 sorry to say a couple of my men have been plundering 
 your house. Them Dutchmen you just saw go out. 
 Worse than that, my mother was going by, and she came 
 in to save your stuff, and they, it seems, took her for you, 
 and beat her. You see, they have beat her most to 
 death," said Lysander. 
 
 " Lordy massy ! " said Mrs. Stackridge. 
 
 " Do help me ! do take off my clo'es ! a poor lone 
 widder ! " faintly moaned Mrs. Sprowl. 
 
 " When I got here," added the captain, " she had 
 fainted, and they had used her basket to pack things in, 
 P.S you see, and filled this pail, which they emptied after-
 
 346 CAPTAIN LYS ADDER'S JOKE. 
 
 wards, so as to bring water and fetch her to. Scoun- 
 drels ! I'm glad they ain't native-born southerners ! " 
 
 " And where is Aunt Deb ? " said Mrs. Stackridge, 
 hastening to raise the widow up. 
 
 " I dono' ; I hain't seen her. O, dear, them villains ! " 
 groaned Mrs. Sprowl. " I was just comin' over to borry a 
 few things, you know." 
 
 " Going by ; she wasn't coming here," said Lysander. 
 
 " Going by," repeated the widow. " O, shall I ever 
 git over it ! O, dear me, I'm all cut to pieces ! A poor 
 forlorn widder, and my only son O, dear ! " 
 
 " Her only son," cried Lysander in a loud voice, 
 " couldn't get here in time to prevent the outrage. 
 That's what she wants to say. I leave her in your care, 
 Mrs. Stackridge. She was doing a neighborly thing for 
 you when she came in to stop the pillaging, and I'm sure 
 you'll do as much for her." 
 
 And the captain retired, his appetite for woman- 
 whipping cloyed for the present. 
 
 " Where is Aunt Deb ? " repeated Mrs. Stackridge. 
 " Aunt Deb ! " she called, " where are you ? I want you 
 this minute ! " 
 
 " Here I is ! " answered a voice from heaven, or at 
 least from that direction. 
 
 It was the voice of the old negress, who had hid her- 
 self in the chambers, and now spoke through a stove-pipe 
 hole from which she had observed all that was passing 
 from the time when the widow entered with her empty 
 basket.
 
 TRE MOONLIGHT EXPEDITION. 347 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 THE MOONLIGHT EXPEDITION. 
 
 OBY had been released. Mrs. Stackridge 
 had been whipped by proxy, and had kept 
 her husband's secret. Gad, the spy, Avas still 
 unaccountably absent. These three sources of informa- 
 tion were, therefore, for the time, considered closed ; 
 and it was determined to have recourse to the fourth, 
 namely, Carl. 
 
 Here it should, perhaps, be explained that the confed- 
 erate government, informed of the position of armed re- 
 sistance assumed by the little band of patriots, had im- 
 mediately telegraphed orders to recapture the insurgents. 
 Among the Union-loving mountaineers of East Tennessee 
 the mutterings of a threatened rebellion against the new- 
 despotism had long been heard, and it was deemed ex- 
 pedient to suppress at once this outbreak. 
 
 " Try the ringleaders by drum-head court-martial, 
 and, if guilty, hang them on the spot," said a second 
 despatch.
 
 348 THE MOONLIGHT EXPEDITION, 
 
 These instructions were purposely made public, in 
 order to strike terror among the Unionists. They were 
 discussed by the soldiers, and reached the ears of Carl. 
 
 " Hang them on the spot." That meant Stackridge 
 and Penn, and he knew not now many more. " And 
 I," said Carl, " have agreed to show the vay to the 
 cave." 
 
 He was sweating fearfully over the dilemma in which 
 he had placed himself, when a sergeant and two men 
 came to conduct him to head-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 the presence of the red-faced 
 colonel. 
 
 " I hate a damned Dutchman ! " said Lysander, who 
 happened to be at head-quarters. 
 
 He had had experience, and his prejudice was 
 natural. 
 
 The colonel po^ed his cigar, and regarded Carl sternly. 
 The boy's heart 'hrobbed anxiously, and he was afraid 
 that he looked pale. Nevertheless, he stood calmly 
 erect on his sturdy young legs, and answered the 
 officer's frown with an expression of placid and innocent 
 wonder. 
 
 " Your name is Carl," said the colonel. 
 
 " I s*ishpect that is true," replied Carl, on his guard 
 making inadvertent admissions,
 
 THE MOONLIGHT EXPEDITION. 849 
 
 " 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 school- 
 master's neck, ain't you ? " 
 
 " 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 him aftervards to hang him, I vas 
 conwinced I vas mishtaken." 
 
 This quiet reply, delivered in the lad's quaint style, 
 with perfect deliberation, and with a countenance shining 
 with simplicity, was in effect a keen thrust at the 
 perfidy of the confederate officers. The colonel's face 
 became a shade redder, if possible, and he frowningly 
 exclaimed, 
 
 " 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 tools, 
 prisoner." 
 
 " And do you maintain that you did not go will- 
 ingly ? " 
 
 " I don't know just vat you mean by viiiingly
 
 350 THE MOONLIGHT EXPEDITION. 
 
 Yen vun of them fellows puts his muzzle to my head 
 and says, ' You come mit us, and make no noise or 1 
 plow out your prains,' I vas prewailed upon to go. 
 I vas more villing to go as I vas to have my prains 
 spilt. If that is vat you mean by villing, I vas 
 villing." 
 
 " Why did they take you prisoner ? " 
 
 " Pecause. I vill tell you. Gad vas shleeping like 
 thunder : you know vat I mean shnoring. Nothing 
 could make him vake up ; so they let him shnore. But 
 I vake up, and they say, I suppose, they must kill me 
 or take 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, and it 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 and 
 his friends are hid in a cave. We sent out a scout, 
 who has come in and corroborated both their state- 
 ments. Gad discovered the cave ; but he has sprained 
 his ankle. He describes the spot accurately, but he's 
 too lame to 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 prove your
 
 THE MOONLIGHT EXPEDITION. 351 
 
 loyalty. You promised Captain Sprowl, did you not, 
 that you would conduct him to the cave ? " 
 
 Carl, overwhelmed by the colonel's confident asser- 
 tions, breathed a moment, 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 vould not tell, and I shall not tell. But 
 if you vill go mit me to the cave, I vill go mit you and 
 take you. Then I keep my promise to you and my 
 oath to them. You see, I did not shwear not to take 
 you," he added, with a smile. 
 
 With a smile on his face, but with profound perturba- 
 tions 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. " Ser- 
 geant, have those irons taken off. Captain Sprowl, 
 you will manage the affair, and take this boy as your 
 guide. I advise you to trust him. But until he has 
 thoroughly proved his honesty, keep a careful eye on 
 him, and if you become convinced that he is deceiving 
 you, shoot him down on the spot. I say, shoot 
 him on the spot," repeated the colonel, impressively. 
 " You both understand that. Do you, Minny-fish ? " 
 
 ** I vas never shot," said Carl, " but I sushpect I
 
 352 THE MOONLIGHT EXPEDITION. 
 
 know vat shooting is." And he smiled again, with 
 trouble in his heart, that would have quite disconcerted 
 a youth of less nerve and phlegm. 
 
 " Well," said Captain Sprowl, " if you don't, you 
 will know, if you undertake to play any of your Dutch 
 tricks with me ! " 
 
 " O, sir ! " said Carl, humbly, " if I knowed any 
 trick I vouldn't ever think of playing it on you, you 
 are so wery shmart ! " 
 
 " How do you know I am ? " said Lysander, who 
 felt flattered, and thought it would be interesting to hear 
 the lad's reasons ; for neither he, nor any one present, 
 hud perceived the craft and sarcasm concealed under 
 that simple, earnest manner. 
 
 " How do I know you are shmart ? Pecause," re- 
 plied Carl, " you have such a pig head. And such a 
 pig nose. And such a pig mouth. That shows you 
 are a pig man." 
 
 This was said with an air of intense seriousness, which 
 never changed amid the peals of laughter that followed. 
 Nobody suspected Carl of an intentional joke ; and the 
 round-eyed innocent surprise with which he regarded 
 the merriment added hugely to the humor of it. Every- 
 body laughed except Lysander, who only grimaced a 
 little to disguise his chagrin. This upstart officer was 
 greatly disliked for his conceited ways, and it was not 
 long before the " Dutch boy's compliments " became 
 the joke of the camp, and wherever Lysander appeared
 
 THE MOONLIGHT EXPEDITION. 353 
 
 some whisper was sure to be heard concerning either the 
 " pig mouth," or " pig nose," of that truly " pig man." 
 
 As for Carl, he had something far more serious to do 
 than to laugh. How to circumvent the designs of these 
 men? That was the question. 
 
 In the first place, it is necessary to state that his con- 
 science acquitted him entirely of all obligations to them 
 or their cause. He was no secessionist. He had en- 
 listed to save his benefactor and friend. He had said, 
 " I will give you my services if you will give that man 
 his life." They had immediately afterwards broken the 
 contract by seeking to kill his friend, and he felt that he 
 no longer owed them anything. But they held him by 
 force, against which he had no weapon but his own good 
 wit. This, therefore, he determined to use, if possible, 
 to their discomfiture, and the salvation of those to whom 
 he owed everything. But how ? 
 
 He had saved Toby from torture and confession by 
 promising what he never intended literally to perform. 
 
 Once more in the guard-house, retained a prisoner un- 
 til wanted as a guide, he reasoned with himself thus : 
 
 " If I do not go, then they vill make Gad go, lame or 
 no lame, and he vill not be half so lucky to show the 
 wrong road as I can be ; " for Carl never suspected that 
 what had been said with regard to Mrs. Stackridge's 
 arrest and confession, and Gad's successful re'connoissance 
 and return, was all a lie framed to induce him to under- 
 take this very thing. " And if I did net make pelieve 
 30*
 
 354 THE MOONLIGHT EXPEDITION. 
 
 I vas villing to go, then they vould not give me my hands 
 free, and some chances for myself. I think there viii be 
 some chances. But Sprowl is to watch, and be ready 
 to shoot me down ? " He shook his head dubiously, and 
 added, " That is vat I do not like quite so veil ! " 
 
 He remained in a deep study until dusk. Then Cap- 
 tain 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 of indifference, 
 
 " To-night ? " 
 
 " Yes. At once. Stir ! " 
 
 " I have not quite finished my supper ; but I can put 
 some of it in my pockets, and be eating on the road." 
 And he added to himself, " I am glad it is in the night, 
 for that vill be a wery good excuse if I should be so 
 misfortunate as not to find the cave ! " 
 
 " Here," said Lysander, imperiously, giving him a twi&t 
 and push, " march before me ! And fast ! Now, not 
 a word unless you are spoken to ; and don't you dodge 
 unless you want a shot." 
 
 Thus instructed, Carl led the way. He did not speak, 
 and he did not dodge. One circumstance overjoyed him. 
 He saw no signs of a military expedition on foot. Was 
 Lysander going alone with him to the mountains ? "I 
 sushpect I can find some trick for him, shmart as he is ! " 
 thought Carl. 
 
 They left the town behind them. They took to the
 
 THE MOONLIGHT EXPEDITION. 355 
 
 fields ; they entered the shadow of the mountains, the 
 western sky above whose tops was yet silvery bright with 
 the shining wake of the sunset. A few faint stars were 
 visible, and just a glimmer of moonlight was becoming 
 apparent in the still twilight gloom. 
 
 " We are going to have a quiet little adwenture to- 
 gether ! " chuckled Carl. One thing was singular, how- 
 ever. Lysander did not tamely follow his lead : on the 
 contrary, he directed him where to go ; and Carl saw, to 
 his dismay, that they were proceeding in a very direct 
 route towards the cave. 
 
 " Never mind ! Ven ve come to some conwenient 
 place maybe something vill happen," he said consolingly 
 to himself. 
 
 Then suddenly consternation met him, as it were face 
 to face. The enigma was solved. From the crest of a 
 knoll over which Lysander drove him like a lamb, he saw, 
 lying on the ground in a little glen before them, the dark 
 forms of some forty men. 
 
 One of these rose to his feet and advanced to meet 
 Lysander. It was Silas Ropes. 
 
 " All ready ? " said Sprowl. 
 
 " Ready and waiting," said Silas. 
 
 " Well, push on," said the captain. " We'll go to the 
 dead bodies in the ravine first. Where's Pepperill ? " 
 
 " Here," replied Ropes ; and at a summons Dan ap- 
 peared. 
 
 Carl's heart sank within him. Toby in the guard-house
 
 356 THE MOONLIGHT EXPEDITION. 
 
 had told him about the dead bodies, and he knew that 
 they were not far from the cave. He was aware, too, 
 that Pepperill knew far more than one of such shallow 
 mental resources and feeble will, wearing that uniform, 
 and now in the power of these men, ought to know. 
 
 There in the little moonlit glen they met and exchanged 
 glances the sturdy, calm-faced boy, and the weak- 
 kneed, trembling man. Pepperill had not recovered from 
 the terror with which he had been inspired, when sum- 
 moned to guide a reconnoitring party to the ravine. But 
 he had not yet lisped a syllable of what he knew concern- 
 ing the cave. Carl gave him a look, and turned his eyes 
 away again indifferently. That look said. " Be wery care- 
 ful, Dan, and leave a good deal to me." And Dan, man 
 as he was, felt somehow encouraged and strengthened by 
 the presence of this boy. 
 
 " Now, Peppevill," said Sprowl, " can you move ahead 
 and make no mistake ? " 
 
 "I kin try," answered Pepperill, dismally. "But it's a 
 heap harder to find the way in the night so ; durned if 
 'tain't ! " 
 
 " None o' that, now, Dan," said Ropes, " or you'll git 
 sunthin' to put sperrit inter ye ! " 
 
 Dan made no reply, but shivered. The mountain air 
 was chill, the prospect dreary. Close by, the woods, 
 blackened by the recent fire, lay shadowy and spectral 
 in the moon. Far above, the dim summits towards which 
 their course lay whitened silently. There was no noise
 
 THE MOONLIGHT EXPEDITION. 357 
 
 but the low murmur of these men, bent on bloody pur- 
 poses. No wonder Dan's teeth chattered. 
 
 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 on his mind than the insect's slaughter. 
 
 "Who told you to speak?" said Lysander sharply. 
 
 " Vas that shpeaking ? " Carl scratched his cheek 
 complacently. " I vas only making 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 barren ridges 
 crowned by a few thistles and mulleins, and by the edges 
 of thickets which the fires had not reached. At length 
 they came to a tract of the burned woods. The word 
 " halt ! " was whispered. The sound of tramping feet 
 was suddenly hushed, and the slender column of troops, 
 -winding like a dark serpent up the side of the mountain, 
 became motionless. 
 
 " All right so far, Pepperill ? " 
 
 " Wai, I hain't made nary mistake yet, cap'm." 
 
 Pepperill recognized the woods in which, when flying 
 to the cave with Virginia, Penn, and Cudjo, they had 
 found themselves surrounded by fires.
 
 358 THE MOONLIGHT EXPEDITION. 
 
 " 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 if we try." 
 
 " The moon sets early. We'd better take the nearest 
 way," said the captain. " Well, Dutchy," for the first 
 time deigning to consult Carl, "this route is taking 
 us to the cave, too, ain't it ? " 
 
 " Wery certain," said Carl, " prowided you go far 
 enough, and turn often enough, and never lose the vay." 
 
 " That'll be your risk, Dutchy. Look out for the land- 
 marks, so that when Pepperill 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 checked by the rain. Many trunks were still 
 standing, naked, charred, stretching their black despairing 
 arms to the moon. The shadows of these ghostly trees 
 slanted along the silent field of desolation, or lay entan- 
 gled with the dark logs and limbs of trees which had 
 fallen, and from which, at short distances, they were 
 scarcely distinguishable. Here and there smouldered a 
 heap of rubbish, its pallid smoke rising noiselessly in the 
 bluish light. There were heaps of ashes still hot ; half- 
 burned brands sparkled in the darkness ; and now and 
 then a stump or branch emitted a still bright flame. 
 
 Through this scene of blackness and ruin, rendered
 
 THE MOONLIGHT EXPEDITION. 359 
 
 gloomily picturesque by the moonlight, the men picked 
 their way. Not a word was spoken ; but occasionally a 
 muttered curse told that some ill-protected foot had come 
 in contact with live cinders, or that some unlucky leg had 
 slumped down into one of those mines of fire, formed by 
 roots of old dead stumps, eaten slowly away to ashes undei 
 ground. 
 
 Carl had hoped that the Avoods would prove impassable, 
 and that the party would be compelled to turnback. That 
 would gain for him time and opportunity. But the men 
 pushed on. " Vill nothing happen ? " he said to himself, 
 in despair at seeing how directly they were travelling 
 towards the cave. The burned tract was not extensive, and 
 he soon saw, glimmering through the blackened columns, 
 the clear moonlight on the slopes above. 
 
 Pepperill, not daring to assume the responsibility of 
 misleading the party, 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 deep and quiet gulf 
 of shadow was the ravine. They had but to follow this 
 up, he knew 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.
 
 36D" THE MOONLIGHT EXPEDITION. 
 
 " Do you see any landmarks yet ? " Sprowl whispered 
 to him. 
 
 " I can almost see some," answered Carl, peering ear- 
 nestly over a moonlit bushy space. " Ve shall pe coming 
 to them py and py." 
 
 " Do you know this ravine ? " 
 
 " I remember some rav/ines. I shouldn't be wery much 
 surprised if this vas vun of 'em." 
 
 " Look here," said Lysander. Carl looked, and saw a 
 pistol-barrel. " Understand ? " significantly. 
 
 "Is it for me ? '' And Carl extended his hand ingen- 
 uously. 
 
 " For you ? yes." But instead of giving the weapon 
 to the boy, he returned it to his pocket, with a smile the 
 boy did not like. 
 
 " Ah, yes ! a goot joke ! " And Carl smiled too, his 
 good-humored face beaming in the moon. 
 
 At the same time he said to himself, " He hates me 
 pecause 1 am Hapgood's friend; 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 troops halted. 
 
 " 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, and but partially illumined by the moon.
 
 THE MOONLIGHT EXPEDITION. 361 
 
 The babble of the brook flowing through 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 down and 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 live traitors are of more consequence than 
 the dead ones. Supposing we go to the cave first, and 
 come back and find the bodies afterwards. Have you got 
 your bearings yet, Carl ?" 
 
 " I am peginning," said Carl, staring about him, with 
 his hands in his pockets. " I think I vill have 'em soon." 
 
 Sprowl looked at him \vith suppressed rage. " How 
 cussed provoking ! " he muttered. 
 
 " 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 be looking. Ven you come up again, I shouldn't 
 be surprised if I could see vair the cave is." 
 
 " Ropes," said Sprowl, " take a couple of men, and go 
 down in there with Pepperill. I think it's best to stay 
 with this boy." 
 
 This arrangement did not please Carl at all ; but, as he 
 could not reasonably complain of it, he said, stoically, 
 " Yes, it vill be petter so." 
 31
 
 362 THE MOONLIGHT EXPEDITION. 
 
 Ropes selected his two men, and left the rest concealed 
 in the shadows of 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 a secret hope. Once more alone with 
 this villain, would not some interesting thing occur ? 
 " "Wait, though ! " said Sprowl ; and he called a corporal 
 to his side. " Come with us. Keep close to this boy. 
 At the first 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 and smiled his good-humored, placid smile. 
 
 " You do right. But you vill see I shall not give you 
 the shlip. Now come, and be wery still." 
 
 In the mean time, Pepperill, with the three rebels, de- 
 scended into the ravine. 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 
 the rocks between which his back was wedged, and rolled 
 down lower into the ravine. A broad, shallow hole had 
 been dug there, as if to bury him. But the work had 
 been interrupted. There was a shovel lying on the heap 
 of earth. Near by was another spot where the soil had 
 been recently stirred 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
 
 THE MOONLIGHT EXPEDITION. 363 
 
 have put him in very deep, 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 came to something 
 which was neither rock nor soil. He pulled it up. It 
 was a man's arm. 
 
 "You didn't guess fur from right this time, Dan! 
 Scrape off a little more dirt, and we'll haul up the carcass. 
 Needn't be partic'lar 'bout scrapin' 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 ! 
 Hope we shall find five or six more. Ketch holt, Dan ! " 
 
 Dan caught hold. The body was dragged from tht 
 lonely resting-place to which it had been consigned. 
 Parts of it, which had not been protected by the superin- 
 cumbent bulk of ths horse, were hideously burned. Ropes 
 rolled it over on the back, and kicked it, to knock off the 
 dirt. He turned up the face in the moonlight a fright- 
 ful face ! One side was roasted ; 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 with horror. They knew their comrade. It 
 was the spy who had been sent out to watch the fugitives. 
 It was " the sleeper," whom nought could waken more 
 It was Gad.
 
 364 THE MOONLIGHT EXPEDITION. 
 
 " Wai, if I ain't beat ! " said Silas, with a ghastly look. 
 '* Fool ! how did he come hyar ? " 
 
 This question has never been satisfactorily answered. 
 The fatal leap of the terrified horse with his rider is 
 known ; but how came Gad on the horse ? Those who 
 knew the character of the man account for it in this way : 
 He had been something of a horse-thief in his day ; and 
 it is supposed that, finding Stackridge's horse on the 
 mountain, he fell once more into temptation. He was 
 probably a little drunk at the time ; and he was a man 
 who would never walk if he could ride, especially when he 
 was tipsy. So he mounted. But he had no sooner com- 
 menced the descent of the mountain, than the fire, which 
 had been previously concealed from the animal by the 
 clump of trees behind which he was hampered, burst upon 
 his sight, and filled him with uncontrollable frenzy. 
 
 Dan, who had witnessed the flight and plunge, could 
 have contributed an item towards the solution of the mys- 
 tery. But he opened not his mouth. 
 
 " Them cussed traitors shall pay fur this ! " said Ropes. 
 This was the only consolatory thought that occurred to 
 him. Having uttered it, he looked remorsefully at the 
 spade with which he had rudely wiped the face of his 
 dead friend. " I thought 'twas one o' them rotten scoun- 
 drels, or I But never mind ! Kiver him up agin, boys ! 
 We can't take him with us, and we've no time to lose." 
 
 So they laid the corpse once more in the grave, and 
 heaped the sand upon it.
 
 CAUL FINDS A GEOLOGICAL SPECIMEN. 365 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 CARL FINDS A GEOLOGICAL SPECIMEN. 
 
 N the mean time Carl ascended the moonlit 
 slope, with Sprawl's pistol on one side of 
 him, and the corporal's bayonet on the other. 
 Between the two he felt that he had little chance. But 
 he did not despair. He reasoned thus with himself : 
 
 " These two men vill not think to take the cave alone. 
 They must go back for retinfor cements. That shall make 
 a diwersion in my favor. If I show them some dark 
 place, and make them think it is there, they vill not go 
 wery near to examine." And he arrived at this con- 
 clusion : " I suppose I shall inwent a cave." 
 
 They were advancing cautiously towards the summit 
 of a bushy ridge. Suddenly Carl stopped. 
 
 " Anything ? " said Sprowl. Carl nodded, with a 
 pleased and confident smile. " What ? " 
 
 " You shall see wery soon. Shtoop low." He himselt 
 crouched close to the ground. The men followed his 
 example. " Come a little more on. Now you see
 
 366 CARL FINDS A GEOLOGICAL SPECIMEN. 
 
 that rock ? " Lysander saw it. " Veil, it is not 
 there." 
 
 They crept forward a little farther. Then Carl stopped 
 again, and said, 
 
 " You see that tree ? " 
 
 " Which ? " 
 
 " All alone in the moonshine." Lysander perceived it. 
 
 " Veil," said Carl, " it is not there." 
 
 Again they advanced, and again he paused and pointed. 
 
 " You see them little saplings ? " Lysander distin- 
 guished them revealed against the sky. 
 
 " Veil," said Carl, " it is not there neither." 
 
 He was crawling on again, when Sprowl seized his 
 collar. 
 
 " What the devil do you mean ? if I see these 
 things ! " 
 
 Carl turned on his side, smiled intelligently, and, beck- 
 oning the captain to bring his ear close, put his lips to it, 
 covered them with his hand, with an air of secrecy, and 
 whispered hoarsely, 
 
 " LANDMARKS ! " 
 
 " Ah ! well ! " said Lysander, suffering him to proceed. 
 
 Carl crept slowly, raising his head at every moment to 
 observe. The bayonet came behind ; the captain con- 
 tinued at his side. " The further I take these willains 
 from the others, the petter," thought he. At length he 
 came in view of the high ledge upon which Penn had 
 discovered Cudjo at his idolatrous devotions, on the night
 
 CAUL FINDS A GEOLOGICAL SPECIMEN. 367 
 
 of the fire. The moon was getting behind the mountain, 
 and there were dark shadows beneath this ledge. Though 
 he should travel a mile, he might not find a more suitable 
 spot to locate his fictitious cave. He hesitated ; con- 
 sidered well ; then gently tapped Lysander's arm. 
 
 " You see vair the rock comes down ? And some 
 pushes just under it? Veil, the cave is pehind the 
 pushes, ven you find it ! " Which was indeed true. 
 
 Lysander crept a few paces nearer, stealthily, flat on 
 his belly, with his head slightly elevated, like a dark rep- 
 tile gliding over the moonlit ground. 
 
 " Now is my time ! " thought Carl. His heart beat 
 violently. He raised himself on his knees, preparing to 
 spring. Lysander was at least ten feet in advance of 
 him, and he thought he would risk the pistol. " I run 
 he fires he vill miss me I shall get avay." But the 
 corporal ? Just then he felt a piercing pressure in his 
 side. It was the corporal, nudging him with the bayonet 
 to make him lie down. 
 
 " I vas shust going a little nearer." 
 
 The corporal seemed satisfied with the explanation; 
 but, as the boy advanced on his hands and knees, he 
 advanced close behind him, holding the bayoneted gun 
 ready for a thrust. 
 
 So Carl succeeded only in getting a little nearer Ly- 
 sander, without increasing at all the distance between him 
 and the corporal. It was a state of affairs that required 
 serious consideration. He lay down again, and pretended
 
 368 CARL FINDS A GEOLOGICAL SPECIMEN. 
 
 to be anxiously looking for the mouth of the cave, whilst 
 watching and reflecting. 
 
 Just then occurred a circumstance which seemed al- 
 most providentially designed to favor the boy's strategy. 
 Upon the ledge appeared two human figures, male and 
 female, touched by the moonlight, and defined against the 
 sky. They remained but a moment on the summit, then 
 began to descend in the shadow of the ledge. Their 
 movements were slow, uncertain, mysterious. Below the 
 base of the rock they stood once more in the moonlight, 
 and after appearing to consult together for a few seconds, 
 disappeared behind the bushes where Carl had placed his 
 imaginary cave. 
 
 If Sprowl had any doubts on the subject before, hs 
 was now entirely satisfied. He believed the forms to be 
 those of Virginia and the schoolmaster ; they had been 
 out to enjoy solitude and sentiment in the moonlight ; 
 and now they were returning reluctantly to the cave. 
 
 " Wouldn't Gus be edified if he was in my place ! " 
 Lysander little thought that he was the one to be edified, 
 as he Avould certainly have been, to an amazing degree, 
 had he known the truth. " But we'll spoil their fun in 
 a few minutes ! " he said to himself, as he crept back 
 towards his former position. 
 
 As for Carl, it was he who had been most astonished by 
 the phenomenon. No sooner had he invented a cave, 
 than two phantoms made their appearance, and walked 
 into it ! The illusion was so perfect, that he himself was
 
 CAUL FINDS A GEOLOGICAL SPECIMEN. 369 
 
 almost deceived by it. Only for an instant, however. 
 Continuing to gaze, he had another glimpse of the appa- 
 ritions, when, having merely passed behind the bushes, 
 they came out beyond them, in the direction of the real 
 cave, and were lost once more in shadow. Lysander, 
 engaged in making his retrograde movement, did not no- 
 tice this very important circumstance ; and the corporal 
 was too intently occupied in watching Carl to observe 
 anything else. 
 
 The captain got behind the shelter of a cluster of this- 
 tles, and beckoned for the two to approach. 
 
 " Corporal," said he, " hurry back and tell Ropes to 
 bring up his men. I'll wait here." 
 
 The corporal crawled off. 
 
 Carl heard the order, saw the movement, and felt 
 thrilled to the heart's core with joy. He was now alone 
 with the captain. And he was no longer unarmed. In 
 creeping towards the thistles, he had laid his hand on a 
 wonderful little stone. Somehow, his fingers had closed 
 upon it. It was about the size of an apple, slightly flat- 
 tened, rough, and heavy. " I thought," he said after- 
 wards, " if anything vas to happen, that stone might be 
 waluable." And so it proved. Lysander, considering 
 that the cave was found, had become less suspicious. 
 " These Dutch are stupid, and that's all," he thought. 
 
 " You vas going to shoot me," said Carl, with an hon- 
 est laugh at the ludicrousness of the idea. 
 
 " And so I would," said Sprowl, with an oath, " if you 
 hadn't brought us to the cave."
 
 370 VARL FINDS A GEOLOGICAL SPECIMEN. 
 
 " That means," thought Carl, " he vill kill me yet if 
 he can, ven he finds out." He observed, also, that 
 Sprawl, lying on his left side, had 'his right hand free, and 
 near the pocket where his pistol was. It was not yet too 
 late for him to be shot if he attempted an escape without 
 first attempting something else. The violent beating of 
 his heart recommenced. He felt a strange tremor of 
 excitement thrilling through every nerve. His hand still 
 held the pebble, covering and concealing it as he leaned 
 forward on the ground. He crept a little nearer Ly- 
 sander. 
 
 " The vay they go into the cave," he said, " is wery 
 queer." 
 
 " How so ? " asked the captain. 
 
 They were facing each other. Carl drew still a little 
 nearer, and raised himself slightly on the hand that 
 grasped the geological specimen. 
 
 " I promised to take you in. I vill take you in on 
 vun condition." 
 
 " Condition ? " repeated Lysander. 
 
 " That is vat I said. Vun leetle condition. Let me 
 whishper." 
 
 Carl put up his left hand as if to cover the communi- 
 cation he was about to breathe into Lysander's ear. 
 
 " The condition is THIS ! " 
 
 As he uttered the last words, he seized Lysander's 
 wrist with his left hand, and at the same instant, with a 
 stroke rapid as lightning, smote him on the temple with 
 the stone.
 
 CAJtL FINDS A GEOLOGICAL SPECIMEN. 371 
 
 All this, being interpreted, meant, " I take you to the 
 cave on condition that you go as my prisoner." Thus 
 Carl designed to keep his promise. 
 
 As he struck he sprang up, to be ready for any emer- 
 gency. He had expected a struggle, an outcry. He never 
 dreamed that he could strike a man dead with a single 
 blow ! 
 
 Without a shriek, without even a moan, Lysander 
 merely sunk back upon the ground, gasped, shuddered, 
 and lay still. 
 
 Carl was stupefied. He looked at the prostrate man. 
 Then he cast his eye all around him on the moonlit 
 mountain slope. No one was in sight. Was this murder 
 he had committed? He knelt down, bending over the 
 horribly motionless form. He gazed on the ghastly-pale 
 face, and saw issuing from the nostrils a dark stream. It 
 was blood. 
 
 Was it not all a dream ? He still held the stone in 
 his hand. He looked at it, and mechanically placed it 
 in his pocket. Nothing now seemed left for him but 
 to escape to the cave ; and yet he remained fixed with 
 horror to the spot, regarding what he had done.
 
 372 CARL KEEPS HIS ENGAGEMENT. 
 
 XXXVIT. 
 
 GAEL KEEPS HIS ENGAGEMENT. 
 
 the two forms that had been seen on the 
 ledge, the female was not Virginia, and the 
 other was not Penn. A word of explana- 
 tion is necessary. 
 
 Filled with hatred for her husband, filled with shame 
 and disgust, too, on hearing how he had caused his own 
 mother to be whipped (for the secret was out, thanks to 
 Aunt Deb at the stove-pipe hole), resolved in her soul 
 never to forgive him, never even to see him again if 
 she could help it, yet intolerably wretched in her loneli- 
 ness, SaJina had that afternoon taken Toby into her 
 counsel. 
 
 " Toby, what are we to do ? "" 
 
 " Dat's what I do'no' myself ! '' the sore old fellow con- 
 fessed ; even his superior wisdom, usually sufficient (in 
 his own estimation) for the whole family, failing him now. 
 " When it comes to lickin' white women and 'spec'able 
 servants, ain't nobody safe. I's glad ol' massa and Miss
 
 CARL KEEPS HIS ENGAGEMENT. 873 
 
 Jinny's safe up dar in de cave ; and I on'y wish we war 
 safe up dar too." 
 
 " Toby," said Salina, " we will go there. Can you find 
 the way ? " 
 
 " Reckon I kin," said Tohy, delighted at the pro- 
 posal. 
 
 They set out early. They succeeded in reaching the 
 woods without exciting suspicion. They kept well to the 
 south, in order to approach the cave on the same side 
 of the ravine from which Toby had discovered it, or 
 rather Perm near the entrance of it, before. He thought 
 he would be more sure to find it by that route. At the 
 same time he avoided the burned woods, and, without 
 knowing it, the soldiers. 
 
 But, the best they could do, the daylight was gone 
 when they came to the ravine ; and Toby could not find 
 the place where he had previously crossed. He passed 
 beyond it. Then they crossed at random in the easiest 
 place. Once on the side where the cave was, Toby 
 decided that they were above it ; and, owing to the steep- 
 ness of the banks, it was necessary to go around over the 
 rocks, at a short distance from the ravine, in order to 
 reach the shelf behind the thickets. It was in making 
 this movement that they had been seen to descend the 
 ledge and pass behind the bushes at its base. 
 
 " Now," said Toby, " you jes' wait while I makes a 
 reckonoyster ! " 
 
 Salina, weary, sat down in the shadow of a juniper-tree 
 M
 
 374 CARL KEEPS HIS ENGAGEMENT. 
 
 Toby made his reconnoissance, discovered nothing, and 
 returned. She, sitting still there, had been more success- 
 ful. She pointed. 
 
 " What dar ? " whispered Toby, frightened. 
 
 " There is somebody. Don't you see ? By those 
 shrub -like things." 
 
 " Dey ain't nobody dar ! " with a shiver. 
 
 " Yes there is. I saw a man jump up. Ke is bending 
 over something now, trying to lift it. It must be Penn, 
 or some of his friends. Go softly, and see." 
 
 Toby, imaginative, superstitious, did not like to move. 
 But Salina urged him ; and something must be done. 
 
 "I I's mos' afeard to ! But dar's somebody, shore ! " 
 
 He advanced, with eyes strained wide and cold chills 
 creeping over him. What was the man doing there ? 
 What was he trying to lift and drag along the ground ? 
 It was the body of another man. 
 
 " Who dar ? " said Toby. 
 
 " Be quiet. Come here ! " was the answer. 
 
 " What ! Carl ! Carl ! dat you? What you doin' dar ? 
 massy sakes ! " said Toby. 
 
 " I've got a prisoner," said Carl. 
 
 " Dead ! O de debil ! " said Toby. 
 
 " I've knocked him on the head a little, but he is 
 not dead," said Carl. " Be still, for there's forty more 
 vithin hearing ! '' 
 
 Toby, with mouth agape, and hands on knees, crouch- 
 ing, looked in the face of the lifeless man. That jaunty
 
 CAUL KEEPS HIS ENGAGEMENT. 375 
 
 mustache, with the blood from the nostrils trickling into 
 it, was unmistakable. 
 
 " Dat Sprowl ! " ejaculated the old negro, with horri- 
 fied recoil. 
 
 " He won't hurt you ! Take holt ! I pelief Ropes is 
 coming, mit his men, now ! " 
 
 " Le' 'm drap, den. Wha' ye totin' on him fur ? " 
 
 Carl had quite recovered from his stupefaction. His 
 wits were clear again. Why did he not leave the body ? 
 His reasons against such a course were too many to be 
 enumerated on the spot to Toby. In the first place, he 
 had promised to take the captain to the cave ; and he 
 felt a stubborn pride in keeping his engagement. Sec- 
 ondly, the man might die if he abandoned him. More- 
 over, the troops arriving, and finding him, would know at 
 once what had happened ; while, on the contrary, if both 
 Carl and the captain should be missing, it would be sup- 
 posed that they had gone to make observations in another 
 quarter ; they would be waited for, and thus much time 
 would be gained. 
 
 Carl had all these arguments in his brain. But instead 
 of stopping to explain anything, he once more, and alone, 
 lifted the head and shoulders of the limp man, and recom- 
 menced bearing him along. 
 
 " Toby, who is that ? " 
 
 " Dat am Miss Salina." 
 
 Carl asked no explanations. " Vimmen scream some- 
 times. Tell her she is not to scream. You get her hand- 
 kersheaf. And do not say it is Shprowl."
 
 376 CARL KEEPS HIS ENGAGEMENT. 
 
 " Who what is it ? : ' Salina inquired. 
 
 " Our Carl ! don't ye know ? " said Toby. " He's got 
 one ob dem secesh he's knocked on de head." 
 
 " Has he killed him ? " 
 
 " Part killed him, and part took him prisoner, - about 
 six o' one and half a dozen o' tudder. Pie say you's spec- 
 fully 'quested not to scream; and he Avants your hank- 
 'cher." 
 
 " What does he want of it ? " giving it. 
 
 " Dat he best know hisself ; but if my 'pinion am 
 axed, I should say, to wipe de fellah's nose wiv." 
 
 Having delivered this profound judgment, Toby carried 
 the handkerchief to Carl, who spread it over the wounded 
 man's face. 
 
 " That prewents her seeing him, and prewents his see- 
 ing the vay to the cave." 
 
 " Who eber knowed you's sech a powerful smart 
 chu" ? " said old Toby, amazed. 
 
 A new perception of Carl's character had burst sudden- 
 ly, with a wonderful light, upon his dazzled understand- 
 ing. In the terror of their first encounter, in this strange 
 place, he had comprehended nothing of the situation. 
 He had not even remembered that he last saw Carl in the 
 guard-house, with irons on his wrists. It was like a 
 fragment of some dream to find him here, holding the 
 lifeless Lysander in his arms. But now he remembered ; 
 now he comprehended. Carl had saved him from torture 
 by engaging to bring this man to the cave ; whom by
 
 CARL KEEPS HIS ENGAGEMENT. 377 
 
 some miracle of courage and valor, he had overcome and 
 captured, and brought thus far over the lonely rocks. 
 All was yet vague to the old negro's mind ; but it was 
 nevertheless strange, great, prodigious. And this lal, 
 this Carl, whom Penn had brought, a sort of vagabond, a 
 little hungry beggar, to Mr. Villars's house that is to 
 say, Toby's ; whom the vain, tender, pompous, affection- 
 ate old servant had had the immense satisfaction of adopt- 
 ing into the family, patronizing, scolding, tyrannizing over, 
 and tenderly loving ; who had always been to him " Dat 
 chil' ! " " dat good-for-nuffin' ! " " dat mis'ble Carl ! " 
 the same now loomed before his imagination a IIEKO. 
 The simple spreading of the handkerchief over the face 
 appeared to him a master-stroke of cool sagacity. He 
 himself, with ail that stupendous wisdom of his, would 
 not have thought of that ! He actually found himself on 
 the point of saying " Massa Carl ! " 
 
 Ah, this foolish old negro is not the only person who, 
 in these times of national trouble, has been thus aston- 
 ished! Carl is not the only hero who has suddenly 
 emerged, to thrilled and wondering eyes, from the dis- 
 guises of common life. How many a beloved " good-for- 
 nothiag" has gone from our streets and firesides, to reap- 
 pear far off in a vision of glory ! The school-fellows 
 know not their comrade ; the mother knows not her own 
 son. The stripling, whose outgoing and incoming were so 
 familiar to us, impulsive, fun-loving, a little vain, a lit- 
 tle selfish, apt to be cross when the supper was not ready, 
 32*
 
 378 CARL KEEPS HIS ENGAGEMENT. 
 
 apt to come late and make you cross when the supper 
 was ready and waiting, who ever guessed what noble- 
 ness was in him ! His country called, and he rose up 
 a patriot. The fatigue of marches, the hardships of 
 camp and bivouac, the hard fare, the injustice that must 
 be submitted to, all the terrible trials of the body's 
 strength and the soul's patient endurance, these he bore 
 with the superb buoyancy of spirit which denotes the 
 heu. Who was it that caught up the colors, and 
 rushed forward with them into the thick of the battle, 
 after the fifth man who attempted it had been shot down ? 
 Not that village loafer, who used to go about the streets 
 dressed so shabbily ? Yes, the same. He fell, covered 
 with wounds and glory. The rusty, and seemingly useless 
 instrument we saw hang so long idle on the walls of soci- 
 ety, none dreamed to be a trumpet of sonorous note until 
 the Soul came and blew a blast. And what has become 
 of that white-gloved, perfumed, handsome cousin of yours, 
 devoted to his pleasures, weary even of those, to whom 
 life, with all its luxuries, had become a bore ? He fell 
 in the trenches at Wagner. He had distinguished him- 
 self by his daring, his hardihood, his fiery love of liberty. 
 When the nation's alarum beat, his manhood stood erect ; 
 he shook himself; all his past frivolities wer3 no more 
 than dust to the mane of this young lion. The war has 
 proved useful if only in this, that it has developed the 
 latent heroism in our young men, and taught us what 
 is in humanity, in our fellows, in ourselves. Because
 
 CARL KEEPS HIS ENGAGEMENT. 879 
 
 it has called into action all this generosity and courage, 
 if for no other cause, let us forgive its cruelty, though 
 the chair of the beloved one be vacant, the bed unslept 
 in, and the hand cold that penned the letters in that 
 sacred drawer, which cannot even now be opened without 
 grief. 
 
 As Toby had never been conscious what stuff there 
 was in Carl, so he had never known how much he really 
 loved, admired, and relied upon him. He stood staring 
 at him there in the moonlight as if he then for the first 
 time perceived what a little prodigy he was. 
 
 " Take holt, why don't you ? " said Carl. 
 
 And this time Toby obeyed : he secretly acknowledged 
 the authority of a master. 
 
 " Sartin, sah ! " 
 
 He had checked himself when on the point of saying 
 " Massa Carl ; " but the respectful " sah " slipped from his 
 tongue before he was aware of it. 
 
 Among the bushes, and in the shadows of the rocks, 
 they bore the body in swiftness and silence. Salina fol- 
 lowed. 
 
 In the cave the usual fire was burning ; by the light of 
 which only Virginia and her father were to be seen. The 
 sisters fell into each other's arms. Salina was softened : 
 here, after all her sufferings, was refuge at last : here, in 
 the warmth of a father's and a sister's affection, was the 
 only comfort she could hope for now, in the world she had 
 found so bitter.
 
 380 CARL KEEPS HIS EXGAGEXEXT. 
 
 " Who is with you? " said the old man. " Toby ? and 
 Carl ? What is the matter ? " 
 
 " I vants Mr. Hapgood, or Pomp, or Cudjo ! " said 
 Carl, laying down his burden. 
 
 " They have gone to bury the man in the rawine," said 
 Virginia. 
 
 Carl opened great eyes. " The man in the rawine ? 
 That's vair Ropes and the soldiers have gone." 
 
 " What soldiers ? Who is this ? " 
 
 " This is their waliant captain ! I am wery sorry, 
 ladies, but I have given him a leetle nose-pleed. Some 
 vater, Toby ! Your handkersheaf, ma'am, and wery 
 much obliged." 
 
 Salina stooped to take the handkerchief. A flash of 
 the fire shone upon the uncovered face. The eyes 
 opened ; they looked up, and met hers looking down. 
 
 " Lysander ! " 
 
 " Sal, is it you ? Where am I, anyhow ? " And the 
 husband tried to raise himself. " Carl, what's this ? " 
 
 " Don't be wiolent ! " said Carl, gently laying him 
 down again, " and I vill tell you. I vas your prisoner, and 
 I vas showing you the cave. Veil, this is the cave ; but 
 things is a little inwerted. You are my prisoner." 
 
 " Is that so?" said the astonished Lysander. 
 
 " Wery much so," replied Carl. 
 
 " Didn't somebody knock me on the head ? " 
 
 " I shouldn't be wastly surprised if somepody did 
 knock YOU on the head."
 
 CARL KEEPS HIS ENGAGEMENT. 381 
 
 " Was it you ? " 
 
 " I rather sushpect it vas me." 
 
 Lysander rubbed his bruised temple feebly, looking 
 amazed. 
 
 " But how came she here ? " 
 
 " It vas she and Toby we saw going into the cave." 
 
 " What's that ? " to Toby, bringing a gourd. 
 
 " It is vater ; it vill improve your wysiognomy. You 
 can trink a little. You feel pretty sound in your witals, 
 don't you ? I vas careful not to hurt your witals," said 
 Carl, kindly, raising Sprowl's head and holding the water 
 for him to drink. 
 
 Lysander, ungrateful, instead of drinking, started up 
 with sudden fury, struck the gourd from him with one 
 hand, and thrust the other into the pocket where his pis- 
 tol was, at last accounts. 
 
 " Vat is vanting? " Carl inquired, complacently. 
 
 Lysander, fumbling in vain for his weapon, muttered, 
 " Vengeance ! " 
 
 " Wery good," said Carl. " Ve vill discuss the ques- 
 tion of wengeance, if you like." And drawing the pistol 
 from his pocket, he coolly presented it at Sprowl's head. 
 " Vat for you dodge ? You think, maybe, the discussion 
 vould not be greatly to your adwantage ? " 
 
 Lysander felt for his sword, found that gone also, and 
 muttered again, " Villain ! " 
 
 " Did somepody say somepody is a willain ? " re- 
 marked Carl. " I should not be wery much surprised if
 
 382 CARL KEEPS HIS ENGAGEMENT. 
 
 that vas so. Willains no \v days is cheap. I have known a 
 great wariety since secesh times pegan. But as for your 
 particular case, sir, I peg to give some adwice. There is 
 some ladies present, and you must keep quiet. Do you 
 remember how I vas kept quiet ven I vas your prisoner ? 
 I had pracelets on. And do you remember I vas putting 
 some supper in my pocket ven you took me to show you 
 the cave ? Veil, I make von great mishtake ; instead of 
 supper, vat I vas putting in my pocket vas them wery 
 pracelets ! " 
 
 And Carl produced the handcuffs. At that moment 
 Penn and Cudjo arrived ; and Lysander, observing them, 
 submitted to his fate with beautiful resignation. The 
 irons were put on, and Carl mounted guard over him 
 with the pistol.
 
 WILDE tiSSS. 88i 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 LOVE IN THE WILDERNESS. 
 
 U D J O was highly exasperated to find 
 strangers in the cave. He became quickly 
 reconciled to the presence of Virginia's sister, 
 but not to that of Lysander. To pacify him, Carl made 
 him a present of the sword which he had removed from 
 the captain's noble person on arriving. 
 
 Cudjo received the weapon with unbounded delight, and 
 proceeded to adjust the belt to his own Ethiopian waist. 
 It mattered little with him that he got the scabbard on 
 the wrong side of his body : a sword was a sword ; and 
 he wore it in awkward and ridiculous fashion, strut- 
 ting up and down in the fire-lighted cave, to the envy and 
 disgust of old Toby, the rage of Lysander, and the amuse- 
 ment of the rest. 
 
 Penn meanwhile related to his friends his evening's 
 adventures. He had gone down to the ravine with the 
 negroes to bury the horse and his dead rider. He was 
 keeping watch while they worked ; the man was interred,
 
 384 LOVE IN THE WILDERNESS. 
 
 and they were digging a pit for the animal, when they 
 discovered the approach of the soldiers, and retired to a 
 hiding-place close by. There they lay concealed, whilst 
 Ropes and his men descended to the spot, exhumed the 
 corpse with Cudjo's shovel, made their comments upon it, 
 and put it back into the ground. During this operation 
 it had required all Pomp's authority, and the restraint of 
 his strong hand, to keep Cudjo from pouncing upon his 
 old enemy and former overseer, Silas Ropes. 
 
 " There were three of us," said Penn, " and only three 
 of them, besides Pepperill ; and no doubt a struggle would 
 have resulted in our favor. But we did not want to be 
 troubled with prisoners ; and Pomp and I could not see 
 that anything was to be gained by killing them. Besides, 
 we knew they had a strong reserve within call. So we 
 waited patiently until they finished their work, and climbed 
 up out of the ravine ; then we climbed up after them. 
 We thought their main object must be to find the cave, 
 and Pomp strongly suspected Pepperill of treachery. We 
 found a large number of soldiers lying under some bushes, 
 and crept near enough to hear what they were saying. 
 The) 7 were going to take the cave by surprise, and an 
 order had just come for them to move farther up the 
 mountain. They set off with scarcely any noise, remind- 
 ing me of the ' Forty Thieves,' as they filed away in 
 the moonlight, and disappeared among the bushes and 
 shadows. Pomp is on their trail now; he has his rifle 
 with him, and it may be heard from if he sees them change 
 their course and approach too near the cave."
 
 LOVE IN THE WILDERNESS. 385 
 
 Penn had come in for his musket. It was the same 
 that had fallen from the hands of the man Griffin at the 
 moment when that unhappy rebel was in the act of char- 
 ging bayonet at his breast. Assuring Virginia who 
 could not conceal her alarm at seeing him take it from its 
 corner that he was merely going out to reconnoitre, he 
 left the cave. 
 
 He was gone several hours. At length he and Pomp 
 returned together. The moon had long since set, but it 
 was beautiful starlight ; and, themselves unseen, they had 
 watched carefully the movements of the soldiers. 
 
 " You would have laughed to have been in my place, 
 Carl ! " said Perm, laying his hand affectionately on the 
 shoulder of his beloved pupil. " They besieged the ledge 
 where your imaginary cave is for full two hours after I 
 went out, apparently without daring to go very near it." 
 
 "I suppose," replied Carl, "they vas vaiting for me 
 and the captain. It vas really too pad now for us to make 
 them lose so much waluable time ! But they vill excuse 
 Mishter Shprowl ; his absence is unawoidable." And 
 lifting his brows with a commiserating expression, he gave 
 a comical side-glance from under them at the languishing 
 Lysander. 
 
 All laughed at the lad's humor except the captain him- 
 self and Salina. 
 
 After besieging the imaginary cave as Penn had de- 
 scribed, several of the confederates, he said, at last ven- 
 tured with extreme caution to approach it.
 
 386 LOVE IS" THE WILDERNESS. 
 
 " And found," added Carl, " they had been made the 
 wictims of von leetle stratagem ! " 
 
 " I suppose so," said Penn ; " for immediately an unu- 
 sual stir took place amongst them." 
 
 " In searching for the entrance," laughed Pomp, leaning 
 on his rifle, " they came close under a juniper-tree I had 
 climbed into, and I could hear them cursing the little 
 Dutchman " 
 
 " I suppose that vas me," smiled the good-natured Carl. 
 
 " And the ' pig-headed captain' who had gone off with 
 him." 
 
 " The pig-headed captain is this indiwidual " indi- 
 cating Sprowl. " But it is wery unjust to be cursing him, 
 for it vas not his fa-sit. It vas my legs and Toby's that 
 conweyed him ; and he had a handkersheaf over his face 
 for a wail." 
 
 " I suspected how it was, even before I met Penn and 
 learned what had happened. I am sorry to see this fellow 
 in this place," Pomp turned a frowning look at the 
 corner where Lysander lay, " but now that he is here, 
 he must stay." 
 
 Carl, upon whom the only noticeable effect produced 
 by his exciting adventure was a lively disposition to talk, 
 quite unusual with him, entered upon a full explanation 
 of the circumstances which had led to Lysander's capture. 
 His narrative was altogether so simple, so honest, so droll, 
 that even the bitter Salina had to smile at it, while all the 
 rest, the old clergyman included, joined in a hearty laugh 
 of admiring approval at its conclusion.
 
 LOVE 7A T THE WILDERNESS. 387 
 
 " I don't see but that you did the best that could be 
 done," said Pomp. " At all events, the villains seem to 
 have been completely baffled. The last I saw of them 
 they were retreating through the burned woods, as if afraid 
 to have daylight find them on the mountain." 
 
 The daylight had now come ; and Penn, who went out 
 to take an observation, could discover no trace of the van- 
 ished rebels. The eastern sky was like a sheet of diapha- 
 nous silver, faintly crimsoned above the edges of the hills 
 with streaks of the brightening dawn. All the valley be- 
 low was inundated by a lake of level mist, whose subtle 
 wave made islands of the hills, and shining inlets of the 
 intervales. Above this sea of white silence rose the moun- 
 tain ranges, inexpressibly calm and beautiful, fresh from 
 their bath of starlight and dew, and empurpled with 
 softest tints of the early morning. 
 
 Penn heard a footstep, and felt a touch on his arm. 
 Was it the beauty of the earth and sky that made him 
 shiver with so sudden and sweet a thrill ? or was it the 
 lovely presence at his side, in whom was incarnated, for 
 him, all the beauty, all the light, all the joy of the uni- 
 verse ? 
 
 It was Virginia, who leaned so gently on his arm, that 
 not the slight pressure of her weight, but rather the im- 
 palpable shock of bliss her very nearness brought, made 
 him aware of her approach. Toby followed, supporting 
 her along the shelf of rock a dark cloud in the wake 
 of that rosy and perfumed dawn.
 
 388 LOVE IN THE WILDERNESS. 
 
 " O, how delicious it is out here ! " said the voice, which, 
 if we were to describe it from the lover's point of view, 
 could be likened only to the songs of birds, the musical 
 utterance of purest flutes, or the blowing of wild winds 
 through those grand harp-strings, the mountain pines ; for 
 there was more of poetry and passion compressed in the 
 heart of this quiet young Quaker than we shall venture 
 to give breath to in these pages. 
 
 " It is delicious ! " he quiveringly answered, in his 
 happy confusion blending her with his perception of the 
 daybreak. 
 
 She inhaled deep draughts of the mountain air. 
 
 " How I love it ! The breath of trees, and grass, and 
 flowers is in it, those dear friends of mine, that I pine 
 for, shut up here in prison ! " 
 
 " Do you ? " said Penn, vaguely, half wishing that he 
 was a flower, a blade of grass, or a tree, so that she might 
 pine for him. 
 
 " The air of the cave," she said, " is cold ; it is odor- 
 less. The cave seems to me like the great, chill hearts 
 of some of your profound philosophers ! Some of those 
 tremendous books father makes me read to him came out 
 of such hearts, I am sure ; great hollow caverns, full of 
 mystery and darkness, and so cold and dull they make 
 me shudder to touch them ; but don't you, for the 
 world, tell him I said so, for, to please him, I let him 
 think I am ever so much edified by everything that he 
 likes."
 
 LOVE IN THE WILDERNESS. 389 
 
 " What sort of books do you like ? " 
 
 " O, I like books with daylight in them ! I want them 
 to be living, upper-air, joyous books. There must be 
 sunshine, and birds, and brooks, human nature, life, 
 suffering, aspiration, and " 
 
 " And love ? " 
 
 " Of course, there should be a little love in books, 
 since there is sometimes a little, I believe, in real life." 
 But she touched this subject with such airy lightness, 
 just hovering over it for an instant, and then away, like 
 a butterfly not to be caught, that Penn felt a jealous 
 trouble. " How long," she added immediately, " do you 
 imagine we shall have to stay here ? " 
 
 " It is impossible to say," replied Penn, turning with 
 reluctance to the more practical topic. " One would 
 think that the government cannot leave us much longer 
 subject to this atrocious tyranny. An army may be 
 already marching to our relief. But it may be weeks, it 
 may be months, and I am not sure," he added seriously, 
 " but it may be years, before Tennessee is relieved." 
 
 " Why, that is terrible ! Toby says that poor old man, 
 Mr. Ellerton, who assisted you to escape, was caught and 
 hung by some of the soldiers yesterday." 
 
 " I have no doubt but it is true. Although he had 
 returned to his home, he was known to be a Unionist, 
 and probably he was suspected of having aided us ; in 
 which case not even his white hairs could save him." 
 
 " But it is horrible ! They have commenced woman- 
 33*
 
 390 LOVE IN THE WILDERNESS. 
 
 whipping. And Toby says a negro was hung six times a 
 couple of days ago, and afterwards cut to pieces, for say- 
 ing to another negro he met, ' Good news ; Lincoln's 
 army is coming ! ' What is going to become of us, if re- 
 lief doesn't arrive soon : O, to look at the beautiful world 
 \vs are driven from by these wicked, wicked men ! " 
 
 " And are you so very weary of the cave r " 
 
 Penn gave her a look full of electric tenderness, which 
 seemed to say, " Have not I been with you ? and am I 
 nothing to you ? " 
 
 She smiled, and her voice was tremulous as she an- 
 swered, 
 
 " I wish I could go out into the sunshine again ! But 
 I have not been unhappy. Indeed, I think I have been 
 very happy." 
 
 There was an indescribable pause ; Virginia's eyes 
 modestly veiled, her face suffused with a blissful light, 
 as if her soul saw some soft and exquisite dream ; while 
 Perm's bosom swelled with the long undulations of hope 
 and transport. Toby still lingered in the entrance of the 
 cave. 
 
 "Toby," said Penn, such a radiance flashing from his 
 brow as the negro had never seen before, " my good 
 Toby," and what ineffable human sympathy vibrated in 
 his tones ! "I wish you would go in and tell our friends 
 that the enemy has quite disappeared : will you ? " 
 
 " Yes, massa ! " said Toby, a ray of that happiness 
 penetrating even the old freedman's breast. For such is
 
 LOVE IN THE WILDERNESS. 391 
 
 the beautiful law of our nature, that love cannot be con- 
 cealed ; it cannot be monopolized by one, nor yet by 
 two ; but when its divine glow is kindled in any soul, it 
 beams forth from the eyes, it thrills in the tones of the 
 voice, it breathes from all the invisible magnetic pores of 
 being, and sheds sunshine arid warmth on all. 
 
 Toby went. Then an arm of manly strength, yet of 
 all manly gentleness, stole about the wuist of the girl, 
 and drew her softly, close, closer ; while something else, 
 impalpable, ravishing, holy, drew her by a still more po- 
 tent attraction ; until, for the first time in her young and 
 pure life, her mouth met another mouth with the soul's 
 virgin kiss. Her lips had kissed many times before, but 
 her soul never. How long it lasted, that sweet pertur- 
 bation, that fervent experience of a touch, neither, I 
 suppose, ever knew ; for at such times a moment is an 
 eternity. As a lightning flash in a dark night reveals, 
 for a dazzling instant, a world concealed before, so the 
 elertric interchange of two hearts charged with love's 
 lightning seems to open the very doors of infinity ; and it 
 is the glory of heaven that shines upon them. 
 
 Not a word was spoken. 
 
 Then Penn held Virginia before him, and looked deep 
 into her eyes, and said, with a strange tremor of lip and 
 voice, using the gentle speech of the Friends, into which 
 old familiar channel his thoughts flowed naturally in mo- 
 ments of strong feeling, 
 
 " Wherever this dear face smiles upon me, there is my
 
 392 LOVE IN THE WILDERNESS. 
 
 sunshine. I must be very selfish ; for notwithstanding 
 all the dangers and discomforts by which I see thee and 
 thy father surrounded, the hours we have passed together 
 here have been the happiest of my life. Yea, and suf- 
 fering and privation would be never anything to me, if 
 I could always have thee with me, Virginia ! " 
 
 How different, meanwhile, was the scene within the 
 cave ! How chafed the fiery Lysander ! How spitefully 
 Salina bit her lips ever at sight of him ! And these 
 two had once been lovers, and had seen rainbows span 
 their future also ! Is it love that unites such, or is it only 
 the yearning for love ? For love, the reality, fuses all 
 qualities, and brings into harmony all clashing chords. 
 
 Toby entered, the gleam of others' happiness still in 
 his countenance. 
 
 " De enemy hab dis'peared ; all gone down in de frog." 
 
 "The frog, Toby?" said Mr. Villars. 
 
 " Yes, sar ; right smart frog down 'ar in de volley ! " 
 
 " He means, a fog in the walley," said Carl.
 
 A COUNCIL OF WAR. 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 A COUNCIL OF WAR. 
 
 WING to the disturbances of the night 
 the old clergyman had slept little. He 
 now lay down on the conch, and soon sank 
 into a profound slumber. When he awoke he heard 
 the hum of voices. The cave was filled with armed 
 men. 
 
 " It is Mr. Stackridge and his friends," said Vir- 
 ginia. " They have come to hold a council of w r ar ; 
 and they look upon you as their grand sachem." 
 
 " I have brought them here," said Pomp, " at their 
 request all except Deslow." 
 
 " Where is he ? " 
 
 " Deslow, I believe, has deserted ! " said Stack- 
 ridge. 
 
 " Ah ! What makes you think so ? " 
 
 " Well, I've watched him right close, and I've seen 
 a good deal of what's been working in his mind. He's 
 one o' them fools that believe Slavery is God ; and he
 
 394 A COUNCIL OF WAI-:. 
 
 can't get over it. Pomp, here, saved our lives in 
 the fire the other night ; and Desiow couldn't stand 
 it. To owe his life to a runaway slave that was 
 too dreadful ! " said Stackridge with savage sarcasm. 
 " He's a man that would rather be roasted alive, 
 and see his country ruined, I suppose, than do any- 
 thing that might damage in the least degree his divine 
 institution ! There's the difference 'twixt him and me. 
 Sence slavery has made war agin' the Union, and turned 
 as out of our homes, I say, by the Lord ! let it go 
 down to hell, as it desarves ! " 
 
 " You use strong language, neighbor ! " 
 
 "I do ; and it's time, I reckon, when strong lan- 
 guage, and strong actions too, are called fur. You hate 
 a man that you've befriended, and that's turned traitor 
 agin' ye, worse'n you hate an open inemy, don't ye ? 
 Wai, I've befriended slavery, and it's turned traitor 
 agin' me, and all I hold most sacred in this world, and 
 I'm jest getting my eyes open to it ; and so I say, let 
 it go down ! I've no patience with such men as Des- 
 low, and I'm glad, on the whole, he's gone. He don't 
 belong with us anyhow. I say, any man that loves 
 any kind of property, or any party, or institution, bet- 
 ter than he loves the old Union " Stackridge said 
 this with tears of passion in his eyes, "such a man 
 belongs with the rebels, and the sooner we sift 'em 
 out of our ranks the better." 
 
 vt When did he go ? "
 
 A COUNCIL OF WAS. 395 
 
 " Some of us were out foraging again last night ; 
 Withers and Deslow with the rest. Tell what he said to 
 you, Withers." 
 
 The group of fugitives had gathered about the bed 
 on which the old clergyman sat. Withers was scraping 
 his long horny nails with a huge jackknife. 
 
 " He says to me, says he, ' Withers, we've got inter a 
 bad scrape.' ' How so ? ' says I ; for I thought we war 
 gittin' out of a right bad scrape when we got out of 
 that temp'rary jail. ' The wust hain't happened yet,' 
 says he. ' That's bad,' says I, ' fur it's allus good fur 
 a feller to know the wust has happened.' And so I told 
 him a little story. Says I, ' When I was a little boy 
 'bout that high, I was helping my daddy one day 
 secure some hay. Wai, it looked like rain, and we 
 put in right smart till the fust sprinkles begun to fall, 
 great drops, big as ox-eyes, and they skeert me, 
 for I war awful 'fraid of gittin' wet. So what did I 
 do but run and git vinder some boards. My daddy war 
 so busy he didn't see me, till bime-by he come that 
 way, rolling up the hay-cocks to kill, and looked, and 
 thar I war under the pile o' boards, curled up like a 
 hedgehog to keep dry. " Josh," says he, " what ye 
 doin' thar ? Why ain't ye to work ? " " 'Fraid c' 
 gittin' wet ! " says I. Ton that he didn't say a word, 
 but jest come and took me by the collar, and led me 
 to a little run close by, and jest casoused me in the 
 water, head over heels, and then jest pulled me out
 
 396 A COUNCIL OF WAR. 
 
 agin. " Now," says he, " ye can go to work, and you 
 won't be the leastest mite afeard o' gittin' wet." Wai, 
 twas about so. I didn't mind the rain, arter that. Wai, 
 Deslow,' says I, ' that larnt me a lesson ; and ever sence 
 I've always thought 'twas a good thing fur us, when 
 trouble comes, to have the wust happen, and know it's 
 the wust, fur then we'se prepared fur't, and ain't no 
 longer to be skeert by a little shower.' That's what I 
 said to Deslow." And Withers continued scraping his 
 nails. 
 
 " Very good philosophy, indeed ! " said Mr. Villars. 
 ' And what did he reply ? '' 
 
 " He said, when the wust happened to us, we'd find 
 we had no home, no property, and no country left ; and 
 fur his part he had been thinking we'd better go and 
 give ourselves up, make peace with the authorities, and 
 take the oath of allegiance. ' Lincoln won't send no 
 army to relieve us yet a-while,' says he, ' and even if he 
 does, you know, victory for the Federals means the death 
 of our institootions ! So I see where the shoe pinched 
 with hinj ; and I said, ' If that continners to be your 
 ways of thinkin', I hain't the least objections to 
 partin' comp'ny with ye, as the house dog said to the 
 skunk ; only,' says I, ' don't ye go to betrayin' us, if you 
 conclude to go.' Soon arter that we separated, and that's 
 the last any on us have seen of him." 
 
 " They've begun to whip women, too," said Stackridge, 
 " But, by right good luck, when this scamp here *
 
 A COUNCIL OS WAi*. 397 
 
 glowering upon Lysander " sent to have my wife 
 whipped, he got his own mother whipped in her place ! 
 He's a connection o' your family, I know, Mr. Villars ; 
 but I never spile a story for relation's sake." 
 
 " Nor need you, friend Stackridge. Sorry I am for 
 that deluded young man ; but he reaps what he has 
 sown, and he has only himself to blame." 
 
 " 'Twas a regular secesh operation, that of having his 
 own mother strung up," said Captain Grudd. " They 
 are working against their own interests and families 
 without knowing it. When they think they are destroy- 
 ing the Union, they are destroying their own honor and 
 influence ; for so it 'ill be sure to turn out." 
 
 " It was Liberty they intended to have beaten," said 
 Penn ; " but they will find that it is the back of their 
 own mother, Slavery, that receives the rods." 
 
 " Just what I meant to say ; but it took the professor 
 to put it into the right shape. By the way, neighbors, 
 we owe the professor an apology. Some of us found 
 fault with his views of slavery and secession ; but we've 
 all come around to 'em pretty generally, I believe, by this 
 time. Here's my hand, professor, and let me say I think 
 you was right enough in all but one thing your plaguy 
 non-resistance." 
 
 " He has thought better of that," said Mr. Villars, 
 pleasantly. 
 
 " Yes, zhentlemen," said Carl, anxious to exonerate 
 his friend, " he has been conwerted." 
 34
 
 398 A COUNCIL OF WAR. 
 
 " We have found that out, to his credit," said Stack- 
 ridge. 
 
 And, one after another, all took Penn cordially by the 
 hand. 
 
 " We are all brothers in one cause, OUR COUNTKY," 
 said Penn. Nor did he stop when the hand of the last 
 patriot was shaken ; he took the hand of Pomp also. 
 " We are all men in the sight of God ! '' His heart was 
 full ; there was a thrill of fervent emotion in his voice. 
 His calm young face, his firm and finely-cut features, 
 always noticeable for a certain massiveness and strength, 
 were singularly illumined. He went on, the light of the 
 cave-fire throwing its ruddy flash on the group. " We 
 are all His children. He has brought us together here for 
 a purpose. The work to be done is for all men, for 
 humanity : it is God's work. To that we should be will- 
 ing to give everything even our lives ; even our selfish 
 prejudices, dearer to some than their lives. I believe that 
 upon the success of our cause depends, not the prosperity 
 of any class of men, or of any race of men, only, but 
 of all men, and all races. For America marches in the 
 van of human progress, and if she falters, if she ignobly 
 turns back, woe is to the world ! Perhaps you do not see 
 this yet : but never mind. One thing we all see a 
 p:\th straight before us. our duty to our country. We 
 must put every other consideration aside, forget all minor 
 differences, and unite in this the defence of the nation's 
 life."
 
 A COUNCIL OF WAR. 399 
 
 An involuntary burst of applause testified how ardently 
 the hearts of the patriots responded to these words. 
 Some wrung Penn s hand again. Pomp meanwhile, erect, 
 and proud as a prince, with his arms folded upon his mas- 
 sive and swelling chest, smiled with deep and quiet satis- 
 faction at the scene. There was another who smiled, too, 
 her face suffused with love and pride ineffable, as her eyes 
 watched the young Quaker, and her soul drank in his 
 words. 
 
 " That's the sentiment ! " said Stackridge. " And 
 now, what is to be done ? We have been disappointed 
 in one thing. Our friends don't join us. One reason is, 
 no doubt, they hain't got arms. But the main reason is, 
 they look upon our cause as desperate. Desperate or 
 not, it can't be helped, as I see. With or without help, 
 we must fight it through, or go back, like that putty-head 
 Deslow, and take the oath of allegiance to the bogus gov- 
 ernment. Mr. Villars, you're wise, and we want your 
 opinion." 
 
 " That, I fear, will be worth little to you ! " answered 
 the old man, bowing his head with true humility. " It 
 seems to me that you are not to rely upon any open as- 
 sistance from your friends. And sorry I am to add, I 
 think you should not rely, either, upon any immediate 
 aid from the government. The government has its hands 
 full. The time is coming when you who have eyes will 
 see the old flag once more floating on the breezes of 
 East Tennessee. But it may be long first. And
 
 400 A COUNCIL OF WAR. 
 
 in the mean time it is your duty to look out for your- 
 selves." 
 
 " That is it," said Stackridge. " But how ? " 
 
 " It seems to me that your retreat cannot remain long 
 concealed. Therefore, this is what I advise. Make your 
 preparations to disperse at any moment. You may 
 be compelled to hide for months in the mountains and 
 woods, hunted continually, and never permitted to sleep 
 in safety twice in the same place. That will be the fate 
 of hundreds. There is but one thing better for you to 
 do. It is this. Force your way over the mountains into 
 Kentucky, join the national army, and hasten its advance." 
 
 " And you ? " said Captain Grudd. 
 
 The old man smiled with beautiful serenity. 
 
 " Perhaps I shall have my choice, after all. You re- 
 member what that was ? To remain in the hands of our 
 enemies. I ought never to have attempted to escape. 
 I cannot help myself; lam only a burden to you. My 
 daughters cannot continue to be with me here in this cave ; 
 and, if I am to be separated from them, I may as well 
 be in a confederate prison as elsewhere. If the traitors 
 seek my life, they are welcome to it." 
 
 " O, father ! what do you say ! " exclaimed Virginia, 
 in terror at his words. 
 
 " I advise what I feel to be best. I will give myself 
 up to the military authorities. You, and Salina, if she 
 chooses, will, I am certain, be permitted to go to yom 
 friend* in Ohio. But before I take this step, let all hero
 
 A COUNCIL OF WAR. 401 
 
 who have strong arms to lend their country be already on 
 their way over the mountains. Penn and Carl must go 
 with them. Nor do I forget Pomp and Cudjo. They 
 Bhill go too, and you will protect them." 
 
 Penn turned suddenly pale. It was the soundness of 
 the good old man's counsel that terrified him. Separa- 
 tion from Virginia ! She to be left at the mercy of the 
 confederates ! This was the one thing in the world he 
 had personally to dread. 
 
 " It may be good advice," he said. " It is certainly a 
 noble self-sacrifice, Mr. Villars proposes. But I do not 
 believe there is one here who will consent to it. I say, 
 let us keep together. If necessary, we can die together. 
 We cannot separate, if by so doing we must leave him 
 behind." 
 
 He spoke with intense feeling, yet his words were but 
 feebly echoed by the patriots. The truth was, th?y were 
 already convinced that they ought to be making their way 
 out of the state, and had said so among themselves ; but, 
 being unwilling to abandon the old minister, and knowing 
 well that he could never think of undertaking the terrible 
 journey they saw before them, hither they had come to 
 hear what he had to suggest. 
 
 " What do you think, Pomp ? '' Penn asked, in 
 despair. 
 
 " I think that what Mr. Villars advises these men 
 to do is the best thing." 
 
 Penn was stupefied. He saw that he stood alone, 
 34*
 
 402 A COUNCIL OF WAR 
 
 opposed to the general opinion. And something within 
 himself said that he was selfish, that he was wrong. He 
 did not venture to glance at Virginia, but bent his eyes 
 downward with a stunned expression at the floor of the 
 cave. 
 
 " But as for himself, and us, I am not so sure. 
 There are recesses in this cave that cannot easily be 
 discovered. He shall remain, and we will stay and 
 take care of him, if he will." 
 
 These calm words of the negro sounded like a re- 
 prieve to Penn's soul. He caught eagerly at the sug- 
 gestion. 
 
 " Yes, if there must be a separation, Pomp is right. 
 If many go, it will be believed that all are gone, and 
 the rest ".an remain in safety." 
 
 " You are all too generous towards me," said the old 
 minister- " But I have nothing more to say. 1 am very 
 patient. I am willing to accept whatever God sends, 
 and to wait his own blessed time for it. When you, 
 Penn, were sick in my house, and the ruffians were com- 
 ing to kill you, and I could not determine what to do, the 
 question was decided for me : Providence decided it by 
 taking you, by what seemed a miracle, beyond the reach 
 of all of us. So I believe this question, which troubles 
 us now, will be decided for us soon. Something is to 
 happen that will show us plainly what must be done." 
 
 So it was : something was indeed to happen, soonei 
 even than he supposed.
 
 THE WONDEBS OF THE CAVE. 408 
 
 XL. 
 
 THE WONDERS OF TEE CAVE. 
 
 HE other inmates of the cave had break- 
 fasted whilst the old clergyman was asleep. 
 Toby was now occupied in preparing his dish 
 of coffee, and Mr. Villars invited the patriots to remain 
 and take a cup with him. 
 
 Penn noticed Cudjo's discontent at seeing Toby usurp 
 his function. He remembered also a rare pleasure 
 he had been promising himself whenever he should find 
 Cudjo at leisure and circumstances favorable for his pur- 
 pose. 
 
 " Now is our time," he whispered Virginia. " Will 
 Salina come too ? " 
 
 " What to do ? " Salina asked. 
 
 " To explore the cave," said Penn, courteously, y^t 
 trembling lest the invitation should be accepted. 
 
 She excused herself: she was feeling extremely fa- 
 tigued ; much to Penn's relief that is to say, regret, as 
 tie hypocritically gave her to understand.
 
 404 THE WONDERS OF THE CAVE. 
 
 Sbe smiled : though she had declined, Virginia was 
 going, and she thought he looked consoled. 
 
 " What does anybody care for me ? " she said bitterly 
 to herself. 
 
 It was to save her the pain of a slight that Penn, 
 always too honest to resort to dissimulation from selfish 
 motives, had assumed towards her a regard he did not 
 feel. But the little artifice failed. She saw she was not 
 wanted, and was jealous angry with him, with Vir- 
 ginia, with herself. For thus it is with the discontented 
 and envious. They cannot endure to see others happy 
 without them. They gladly make the most of a slight, 
 pressing it like a thistle to the breast, and embracing it 
 all the more fiercely as it pierces and wounds. But he 
 who has humility and love in his heart says consolingly at 
 such times, " If they can be happy without me, why, 
 Heaven be thanked ! If I am neglected, then I must 
 draw upon the infinite resources within myself. And if I 
 am unloved, whose fault is it but my own ? I will culti- 
 vate that sweetness of soul, the grace, and goodness, and 
 affection, which shall compel love ! " 
 
 Something like this Carl found occasion to say to him- 
 self ; for if you think he saw the master he loved, and her 
 who was dear to him as ever sister was to younger 
 brother, depart with Cudjo and the torches, without long- 
 ing to go with them and share their pleasure, you know 
 not the heart of the boy. He was almost choking with 
 tears as he saw the torches go out of sight. But just as
 
 TEE WONDERS OF THE CAVE. 405 
 
 he had arrived at this philosophical conclusion, O joy ! 
 what did he see ? Penn returning ! Yes, and hastening 
 straight to him ! " Carl, why don't you come too ? " 
 
 There was no mistaking the sincerity of Penn's frank, 
 animated face. Again the tears came into Carl's eyes ; 
 but this time they were tears of gratitude. 
 
 " Vould you really be pleased to have me ? " 
 
 " Certainly, Carl ! Virginia and I both spoke of it, 
 and wondered why we had not thought to ask you 
 before." 
 
 " Then I vill get my wery goot friend the captain to 
 excuse me. I sushpect he vill be wexed to part from me ; 
 but I shall take care that the ties that bind us shall not 
 be proken." 
 
 In pursuance of this friendly design, Carl produced a 
 good strong cord which he had found in the cave. This 
 he attached to the handcuffs by a knot in the middle ; 
 then, carrying the two ends in opposite directions 
 around one of the giant's stools, he fastened them se- 
 curely on the side farthest from the prisoner. This 
 done, he gave the pistol to Toby, and invested him 
 with the important and highly gratifying office of guard- 
 ing " dat Shprowl." 
 
 " If you see him too much unhappy for my absence, 
 and trying for some diwersion by making himself free," 
 said Carl, instructing him in the use of the weapon, " you 
 shall shust cock it so, present it at his head or stomach, 
 vichever is conwenient so, then pull the trigger as
 
 406 THE WONDERS OF THE CAVE. 
 
 you please, till he is vunce more quiet. That is all. Nott 
 I shall say goot pie to him till I come pack." 
 
 " Why don't you kill and eat him ? " asked Withers, 
 watching the boy's operations with humorous enjoyment. 
 
 " Him ? " said Carl, dryly. " Thank ye, sir ; I am not 
 fond of weal." 
 
 As Pomp and the patriots remained in the cave, it was 
 not anticipated that Lysander would give any trouble. 
 
 With Carl at his side, Penn bore the torch above his 
 head, and plunged into the darkness, which seemed to 
 retreat before them only to reappear behind, surrounding 
 and pursuing their little circle of light as it advanced. 
 
 A gallery, tortuous, lofty, sculptured by the gnomes into 
 grotesque and astonishing forms, led from the inhabited 
 vestibule to the wonders beyond. They had gone but a 
 few rods when they saw a faint glimmer before them, 
 which increased to a mild yellowish radiance nickering on 
 the walls. It was the light of Cudjo's torch. 
 
 They found Cudjo and Virginia waiting for them at the 
 entrance of a long and spacious hall, whose floor was 
 heaped with fragments of rock, some of huge size, which 
 had evidently fallen from the roof. 
 
 " De cave whar us lives, des' like dis yer when me find 
 um in de fust place," the negro was saying to Virginia- 
 " Right smart stuns dar." 
 
 " What did you do with them ? " 
 
 " Tuk all me could tote to make your little dressum-room 
 wiv. Lef de big 'uns fur cheers when me hab comp'ny,
 
 THE WONDERS OF THE CAVE. 407 
 
 hiah yah ! When Pomp come, him help me place 'em 
 around scrumptious like. Pomp bery strong lif like 
 you neber see ! " 
 
 Climbing over the stones, they reached, at the farther 
 end of the hall, an abrupt termination of the floor. A 
 black abyss yawned beyond. In its invisible depths the 
 moan of waters could be heard. Virginia, who had been 
 thrilled with wonder and fear, standing in the hall of the 
 stones, and thinking of those crushing masses showered 
 from the roof, now found it impossible not to yield to the 
 terrors of her excited imagination. 
 
 " I cannot go any farther ! " she said, recoiling from the 
 gulf, and drawing Penn back from it. 
 
 " Come right 'long ! " cried Cudjo ; " no trouble, 
 missis ! " 
 
 " See, he has piled stones in here and made soms very 
 good and safe stairs. Take my torch, Carl, and follow ; 
 Cudjo will go before with his. Now, one step at a time. 
 I will not let thee fall." 
 
 Thus assured, she ventured to make the descent. A 
 strong arm was about her waist ; a strong and supporting 
 spirit was at her side ; and from that moment she felt no 
 fear. 
 
 The limestone, out of which the cave was formed, lay 
 in nearly horizontal strata ; and, at the bottom of Cudjo's 
 stairs, they came upon another level floor. It was smooth 
 and free from rubbish. A gray vault glimmered above 
 their heads in the torchlight. The walls showed strange
 
 408 THE WONDERS OF THE CAVE. 
 
 and grotesque forms in bas-relief, similar to those of the 
 first gallery : here a couchant lion, so distinctly outlined 
 that it seemed as if it must have been chiselled by human 
 art ; an Indian sitting in a posture of woe, with his face 
 buried in h 8 hands ; an Arctic hunter wrestling with a 
 polar bear : 'he head of a turbaned Turk ; and, most 
 wonderful c. all, the semblance of a vine (Penn named it 
 " Jonah's gourd "), which spread its massive branches on 
 the wall, and, climbing under the arched roof, hung its 
 heavy fruit above their heads. 
 
 Close by " Jonah's gourd " a little stream gushed from 
 the side of the rock, and fell into a fathomless well. The 
 torches were held over it, and the visitors looked down. 
 Solid darkness was below. Carl took from his pocket a 
 stone. 
 
 " It is the same," he said, " that Mishter Sprowl 
 pumped his head against. I thought I should find some 
 use for it ; and now let's see." 
 
 He dropped it into the well. It sunk without a sound, 
 the noise of its distant fall being lost in the solemn and 
 profound murmur of the descending water. 
 
 " What make de cave, anyhow ? " asked Cudjo. 
 
 " The wery question I vas going to ask,'' said Carl. 
 
 " It will take but a few words to tell you all I know 
 about it," said Penn. " Water containing carbonic acid 
 gas has the quality of dissolving such rock as this part 
 of the mountain is made of. It is limestone ; and the 
 water, working its way through it, dissolves it as it would 
 sugar, only very slowly. Do you understand ? "
 
 THE WONDERS OF THE CAVE. 409 
 
 " O, yes, massa ! de carbunkum asses tote it away ! " 
 
 Penn smiled, and continued his explanation, addressing 
 himself to Carl. 
 
 " So, little by little, the interior of the rock is worn, until 
 these great cavities are formed." 
 
 " But what comes o' de rock ? " cried Cudjo ; " dat's 
 de question ! " 
 
 " What becomes of the sugar that dissolves in your 
 coffee ? '' 
 
 " Soaks up, I reckon ; so ye can't see it widout it 
 settles." 
 
 " Just so with the limestone, Cudjo. It soaks up, as 
 you say. And see ! I will show you where a little of it 
 has settled. Notice this long white spear hanging from 
 the roof." 
 
 " Dat ? Dat ar a stun icicle. Me broke de pint off 
 oncet, but 'pears like it growed agin. Times de water 
 draps from it right smart." 
 
 " A good idea a stone icicle ! It grew as an icicle 
 grows downward from the eaves. It was formed by the 
 particles of lime in the water, which have collected there 
 and hardened into what is called stalactite. These curious 
 smooth white folds of stone under it, which look so much 
 like a cushion, were formed by the water as it dropped. 
 This is called stalagmite" 
 
 " Heap o' dem 'ar sticktights furder 'long hyar," ob- 
 served Cudjo, anxious to be showing the wonders. 
 
 They came into a vast chamber, from the floor of which 
 35
 
 410 THE WOSTDERS OF THE CA VE. 
 
 rose against the darkness columns resembling a grove of 
 petrified forest trees. The flaming torches, raised aloft in 
 the midst of them, revealed, supported by them, a wonder- 
 ful gothic roof, with cornice, and frieze, and groined 
 arches, like the interior of a cathedral. A very distinct 
 fresco could also be seen, formed by mineral incrustations, 
 on the ceiling and walls. On a cloudy background could 
 be traced forms of men and beasts, of forests and flowers, 
 armies, castles, and ships, not sculptured like the figures 
 before described, but designed by the subtile pencil of 
 some sprite, who, Virginia suggested, must have been the 
 subterranean brother of the Frost. 
 
 " How wonderful ! " she said. " And is it not strange 
 how Nature copies herself, reproducing silently here in 
 the dark the very same forms we find in the world above ! 
 Here is a rose, perfect ! " 
 
 " With petals of pure white gypsum," said Penn. 
 
 Whilst they were talking, Cudjo passed on. They foJ 
 lowed a little distance, then halted. The light of his torca 
 had gone out in the blackness, and the sound of his foot- 
 steps had died away. Carl remained with the other torch ; 
 and there they stood together, without speaking, in the 
 midst of immense darkness ingulfing their little isle of 
 light, and silence the most intense. 
 
 Suddenly they heard a voice far off, singing ; then two, 
 then three voices ; then a chorus filling the heart of the 
 mountain with a strange spiritual melody. Virginia was 
 enraptured, and Carl amazed.
 
 THE WONDERS OF THE CAVE. 411 
 
 Penn, who had known what was coming, looked upon 
 them with pride and delight. At length the music, grow- 
 ing faint and fainter, melted and was lost in the mysteri- 
 ous vaults through which it had seemed to wander and 
 soar away. 
 
 It was a minute after all was still before either spoke. 
 
 " Certainly/' Virginia exclaimed, " if I had not heard 
 of a similar effect produced in the Mammoth Cave, I should 
 never have believed that marvellous chorus was sung by a 
 single voice ! " 
 
 " A single woice ! " repeated Carl, incredulous. " There 
 vas more as a dozen woices ! " 
 
 " Right, Carl ! " laughed Penn. " The first was Cud- 
 jo's ; and all the rest were those of the nymph Echo 
 and her companions." 
 
 They continued their course through the halls of the 
 echoes, and soon came to an arched passage, at the 
 entrance of which Penn paused and placed the torch in a 
 niche. A projection of the rock prevented the light from 
 shining before them, yet their way was softly illumined from 
 beyond, as by a dim phosphorescence. They advanced, 
 and in a moment their eyes, grown accustomed to the 
 obscurity, came upon a scene of surprising and magical 
 beauty. 
 
 " The Grotto of Undine," said Penn. 
 
 It was, to all appearances, a nearly spherical concavity, 
 *ome thirty yards in length, and perhaps twenty in per- 
 pendicular diameter. Carl's torch was concealed in the
 
 412 THE WONDERS OF THE CAVE. 
 
 niche, and Cudjo's was nowhere visible; yet the whole 
 interior was luminous with a dim and silvery halo. A 
 narrow corridor ran round the sides, and resembled a dark 
 ring swimming in nebulous light, midway between the 
 upper and nether hemispheres of the wondrous hollow 
 globe. Within this horizontal rim, floor there was none ; 
 and they stood upon its brink ; and, looking up, they saw 
 the marvellous vault all sparkling with stars and beaming 
 with pale, pendent, taper, crystalline flames, noiseless and 
 still ; and, looking down, beheld beneath their feet, and 
 shining with a yet more soft and dreamy lustre, the per- 
 fect counterpart of the vault above. 
 
 Penn held Virginia upon the verge. A bewildering 
 ecstasy captivated her reason as she gazed. They seemed 
 to be really in the grotto of some nymph who had fled the 
 instant she saw her privacy invaded, or veiled the immor- 
 tal mystery and loveliness of her charms in some mesh of 
 the glimmering nimbus that baffled and entangled the 
 sight. Save one or two stifled cries of rapture from 
 Virginia and Carl, not a syllable was uttered : perfect 
 stillness prevailed, until Penn said, in a whisper, 
 
 " Wouldst thou like to see the face of Undine r Bend 
 forward. Do not fear : I hold thee ! " 
 
 By gentle compulsion he induced her to comply. She 
 bent over the brink, and looked down, when, lo ! out of 
 the hazy effulgence beneath, emerged a face looking up at 
 her a face dimly seen, yet full of vague wonder and sur- 
 prise a face of unrivalled sweetness and beauty, Penn
 
 THE WONDERS OF THE CAVE. 413 
 
 thought. What did Virginia think ? for it was the 
 reflection of her own. 
 
 " O, Penn ! how it startled me ! " 
 
 " But isn't she a Grace ? Isn't she loveliness itself? " 
 
 " I hope you think so ! " she whispered, with arch 
 frankness, a sweet coquettish confidence ravishing tc 
 his soul. 
 
 "I do ! " And in the privacy of telling her so, his 
 lips just brushed her ear. Did you ever, in whispering 
 some secret trifle, some all-important, heavenly nothing, 
 just brush the dearest little ear in the world with your 
 lips ? or, in listening to the syllables of divine nonsense, 
 feel the warm breath and light touch of the magnetic 
 thrilling mouth ? Then you know something of what 
 Penn and Virginia experienced for a brief moment in the 
 Grotto of Undine. 
 
 Just then a duplicate glow, like a double sunrise, one 
 part above and the other below the horizon, appeared at 
 the farther end of the grotto. It increased, until they 
 saw come forth from behind an upright rock an upright 
 torch ; and at the same time, from behind a suspended 
 rock beneath, an inverted torch. Immediately after two 
 Cudjoes came in sight ; one standing erect on the rock 
 above, and the other standing upside down on or rathei 
 under the rock below. 
 
 " Take your torch, Carl," said Penn, " and go around 
 and meet him." 
 
 The boy retxirned to the niche ; and presently two 
 35*
 
 414 THE WONDERS OF THE CAVE. 
 
 Carls, with tAvo torches, were seen moving around the rim 
 of the corridor, one upright above, the other walking mi- 
 raculously, head downwards, below. 
 
 The two Carls had not reached the rock, when the two 
 Cudjoes stooped, and took up each a stone and threw 
 them. One fell upward (so to speak), as the oth,er fell 
 downward : they met in the centre : there was a strange 
 clash, which echoed through the hollow halls ; and in a 
 moment the entire nether hemisphere of the enchanted 
 grotto was shattered into numberless flashing and undu- 
 lating fragments. 
 
 Virginia had already perceived that the appearance of a 
 concave sphere was an illusion produced by the ceiling 
 lighted by Cudjo's hidden torch, and mirrored in a floor of 
 glassy water. Yet she was entirely unprepared for this 
 astonishing result ; and at sight of the Cudjo beneath 
 instantaneously annihilated by the plashing of a stone, 
 she started back with a scream. Fortunately, Penn still 
 held her close, no doubt in a fit of abstraction, forgetting 
 that his arms were no longer necessary to prevent her 
 falling, as when she leaned to look at the shadowy 
 Undine. 
 
 "All those stalactites," said he, as the two torches were 
 held towards the roof, " are of the most beautiful crystal- 
 line structure ; and the spaces between are all studded 
 with brilliant spars. The first time I was here, it was 
 April ; the mountain springs were full, and every one 
 of these stone ieicles was dripping with water that perco-
 
 THE WONDERS OF THE CAVE. 415 
 
 lated through the strata above. The effect was almost as 
 surprising as what we saw before Cudjo cast the stone. 
 The surface of the pool seemed all leaping and alive with 
 perpetual showers of dancing pearls. But now the 
 springs are low, or the water has found another channel. 
 Yet this basin is always full." 
 
 " Why, so it is! I had no idea the water was so near! " 
 And Virginia, stooping, dipped her hand. 
 
 The mirrored crystals were still coruscating and wav- 
 ing in the ripples, as they passed around the rim of 
 rock, and followed Cudjo into a scarcely less beautiful 
 chamber beyond. 
 
 Here was no water ; but in its place was a floor of ala- 
 baster, from which arose a great variety of pure white 
 stalagmites, to meet each its twin stalactite pendent from 
 above. In some cases they did actually meet and grow 
 together in perfect pillars, reaching from floor to roof. 
 
 " The stalagmites are very beautiful," said Virginia ; 
 " biit the stalactites are still more beautiful." 
 
 " I think," said Penn, " there is a moral truth sym- 
 boliz-^d by them. As the rock above gives forth its 
 streaming life, it benefits and beautifies the rock below, 
 while at the same time it adorns still more richly its own 
 beautiful breast. So it always is with Charity : it blesses 
 him that receives, but it blesses far more richly him that 
 gives." 
 
 " O, must we pass on ?" said Virginia, casting long 
 ing eyes towards all those lovely forms.
 
 416 THE WONDERS OF THE CAVE. 
 
 " We are to return the same way," replied Perm. 
 " But now Cudjo seems to be in a hurry." 
 
 " Dat's de last ob de sticktights," cried the black, 
 standing at the end of the colonnade, and waving his torch 
 above his head. " Now we's comin' to de run." 
 
 " Come," said Penn, " and I will show thee what Hood 
 must have meant by the ' dark arch of the black flowing 
 river.' " 
 
 A stupendous cavern of seemingly endless extent opened 
 before them. Cudjo ran on ahead, shouting wildly under 
 the hollow, reverberating dome, and waving his torch, 
 which soon appeared far off, like a flaming star amid a night 
 of darkness. Then there were two stars, which separated, 
 and, standing one above the other, remained stationary. 
 
 " Listen ! " said Penn. And they heard the liquid 
 murmur of flowing water. 
 
 He took the torch from Carl, and advancing towards 
 the right wall of the cavern, showed, flowing out of it, 
 through a black, arched opening, a river of inky black- 
 ness. It rolled, with scarce a ripple, slow, and solemn, 
 and still, out of that impenetrable mystery, and swept 
 along between the wall on one side and a rocky bank on 
 the other. By this bank they followed it, until they came 
 to a natural bridge, formed by a limestone cliff, through 
 which it had worn its channel, and under which it disap- 
 peared. On this bridge they found Cudjo perched above 
 the water with his torch. 
 
 They passed the bridge without crossing, for the
 
 THE WONDERS OF THE CAVE. 417 
 
 farther end abutted high upon the cavern wall, and 
 found the river again flowing out on the lower side. 
 Few words were spoken. The vastness of the cave, the 
 darkness, the mystery, the inky and solemn stream pur- 
 suing its noiseless course, impressed them all. Suddenly 
 Virginia exclaimed, 
 
 " Light ahead ! " though Carl was with her, and Cudjo 
 now walked behind. 
 
 It was a gray glimmer, which rapidly grew to daylight 
 as they advanced. 
 
 " It is the chasm, or sink, where the roof of the cave 
 has fallen in," said Penn. 
 
 While he spoke, a muffled rustling of wings was heard 
 above their heads. They looked up, and saw numbers 
 of large black bats, startled by the torches, darting hither 
 and thither under the dismal vault. Birds, too, flew out 
 from their hiding-places as they advanced, and flapped 
 and screamed in the awful gloom. 
 
 To save the torches for their return, Cudjo now extin- 
 guished them. They walked in the brghtcning twi- 
 light along the bank of the stream, and found, to the 
 surprise and delight of Virginia, some delicate ferns and 
 pale green shrubs growing in the crevices of the rock. 
 Vegetation increased as they proceeded, until they arrived 
 at the sink, and saw before them steep banks covered 
 with vines, thickets, and forcr-t trees. 
 
 The river, whose former course had evidently been 
 Btopped by the falling in of the forest, here made a curve to
 
 418 THE WONDERS OF THE CAVE. 
 
 the right around the banks, and half disappeared in a 
 channel it had hollowed for itself under the cliff. Here 
 they left it, and climbed to the open day. 
 
 " How strangely yellow the sunshine looks ! " snid Vir- 
 ginia. " It seems as though I had colored glasses on. 
 And how sultry the air ! " 
 
 She looked up at the towering rocks that walled the 
 chasm, and at the trees upon whose roots she stood, and 
 whose tops waved in the summer breeze and sunshine, at 
 the level of the mountain slope so far above. She could 
 also see, on the summit of the cliffs, the charred skeletons 
 of trees the late fire had destroyed. 
 
 " It was here," said Penn, " that Stackridge and his 
 friends escaped. This leaning tree with its low branches 
 forms a sort of ladder to the limbs of that larger one ; 
 and by these it is easy to climb '' 
 
 As he was speaking, all eyes were turned upwards ; when 
 suddenly Cudjo uttered a v.-aming whistle, and dropped 
 flat upon the ground. 
 
 " A man ! " said Carl, crouching at the foot of the 
 tree. 
 
 Penn did not fall or crouch, nor did Virginia scream, 
 although, looking up through the scant leafage, they saw, 
 standing on the cliff, and looking down straight at them, 
 at the same time waving his hand exultantly, one whom 
 they well knew their enemv, SILAS ROPES.
 
 t-ROMETHEUS BOUND. 419 
 
 XLI. 
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND. 
 
 ^^ T the wave of the lieutenant's hand, a squad 
 of soldiers rushed to the spot. In a minute their 
 muskets were pointed downwards, and aimed. 
 
 " Fly ! " said Penn, thrusting Virginia from him. 
 " Carl, take her away ! " 
 
 The boy drew her back down the rocks, following 
 Cudjo, who was descending on all fours, like an ape. She 
 turned her face in terror to look after Penn. There he 
 stood, where she had left him, intrepid, his fine head un- 
 covered, looking steadfastly up at the men on the cliff, and 
 waving his hat, defiantly. At once she recognized his 
 noble self-sacrifice. It was his object to attract their 
 fire, and so shield her from the bullets as she fled. 
 
 She struggled from Carl's grasp. " O, Penn/' she 
 cried, extending her hands beseechingly, and starting to 
 return to him. 
 
 " Fire ! " shouted Silas" Ropes. 
 
 Crack ! went a gun, immediately succeeded by a
 
 420 PROMETHEUS KG UNO. 
 
 irregular volley, like a string of exploding fire-crackers. 
 Penn, expecting death, saw first the rapid flashes, then the 
 soldiers half concealed by the smoke of their own guns. 
 The smoke cleared, and there he still stood, smiling 
 for Virginia was unhurt. 
 
 " Your practice is very poor ! " he shouted up at the 
 soldiers ; and, putting on his hat, he walked calmly away. 
 
 The bullets had struck the trees and flattened on the 
 stones all around him ; but he was untouched. And be- 
 fore the rebels could reload their pieces, he was safe with 
 his companions in the cavern. 
 
 He found Cudjo hastily relighting his torch. Virginia 
 was sitting on a stone where Carl had placed her ; pow- 
 erless with the reaction of fear ; her countenance, white 
 as that of a snow-image in the gloom, turned upon Penn 
 as if she knew not whether it was really he, or his ap- 
 parition. She did not rise to meet him. She could not 
 speak. Her eyes were as the eyes of one that beholds a 
 miracle of God's mercy. 
 
 " Is no guns here : " cried Carl. 
 
 " De men hab all urn's guns," said Cudjo, over his 
 kindlings. " Me gwine fotch 'em ! " And, his torch 
 lighted, he darted away. In a minute he was out of 
 sight and hearing ; only the flame he bore could be seen 
 dancing like an ignis fatuus in the darkness of the 
 cavern. 
 
 " O, if I had only that pistol", Carl ! " said Penn. " I 
 could manage to defend the chasm with it until they
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND. 421 
 
 come. But wishes won't help us. Virginia, Deslow has 
 turned traitor ! He must have known his friends were 
 going this morning to visit thy father, or else he could 
 not so well have chosen his time for betraying them." 
 He lighted his torch, and lifted Virginia to her feet. 
 " Have no fear. Even if the rebels get possession here, 
 the subterranean passages can be held by a dozen men 
 against a hundred." 
 
 " I am not afraid now ; I am quite strong." 
 
 " That is well. Carl, take the light and go with her." 
 
 " And vat shall you do ? " 
 
 " I will stay and watch the movements of the soldiers." 
 
 " Wery goot. But I have vun little obshection." 
 
 " What is it ? " 
 
 " You know the vay petter, and you vill take her safer 
 as I can. But my eyes is wery wigorons, and I vill engage 
 to vatch the cusses myself." 
 
 " Thou art right, my Carl ! " said Penn, who indeed 
 felt that it was for him, and for no other, to convey Vir- 
 ginia back to her father and safety. 
 
 He crept upon the rocks, and took a last observation 
 of the cliffs. Not a soldier was in sight. But that fac't 
 did not delight him much. 
 
 ' They fear a possible shot or two. No doubt they 
 are making preparations, and when all is ready they will 
 descend. I only hope they will delay long enough ! 
 Farewell, Carl ! " 
 
 " Goot pie, Penn ! Goot pie, Wirginie ! " cried Carl, 
 36
 
 422 PROMETHEUS SOU XI). 
 
 with stout heart and cheery voice. And as he saw their, 
 depart, Penn's arm supporting her, listened for the 
 last murmur of their voices, and watched for the last 
 glimmer of the torch as it was swallowed by the dark- 
 ness, and he was left alone, he continued to smile 
 grimly ; but his eyes were dim. 
 
 " They are wery happy together ! And I susphect the 
 time vill come ven he vill marry her ; and then they vill 
 neither of 'em care much for me. Veil, I shall love 'em, 
 and wish 'em happy all the "ame ! '' 
 
 With which thought he smiled still more resolutely 
 than before, and squeezed the tears from his eyes very 
 tenderly, in order, probably, to keep those useful organs 
 as " wigorous " as possible for the work before him. 
 
 Handcuffed and securely bound to the rock, that mod- 
 ern Prometheus, Captain Lysander Sprowl, like his 
 mythical prototype, felt the vulture's beak in his vitals. 
 Chagrin devoured his liver. An overflow of southern 
 bile was the result, and he turned yellow to the whites 
 of his eyes. 
 
 Old Toby noticed the phenomenon. Poor old Toby, 
 with that foolish head and large tropical heart of his, 
 knew no better than to feel a movement of compassion. 
 
 " Kin uh do anyting fur ye, sar ? " 
 
 The unfeigned sympathy of the question gave the wily 
 Prometheus his cue. He uttered a feeble moan, and 
 studied to look as much sicker than he was as possible.
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND. 423 
 
 Pity at the sight made the old negro forget much which 
 a white man would have been apt to remember the 
 disgrace this wretch had brought upon " the family ; " 
 and the recent cruel whipping, from which his own back 
 was still sore. 
 
 " Ye pooty sick, sar : " 
 
 " Water ! " gasped Lysander. 
 
 The patriots had finished their coffee and taken their 
 guns. Toby ran to them. 
 
 " Some on ye be so good as keep an eye skinned on 
 de prisoner, while I's gittin' him a drink ! " 
 
 He hastened with the gourd to a dark interior niche 
 where a little trickling spring dripped, drop by drop, into 
 a basin hollowed in the rocky floor. As he bore it, cool 
 and brimming, to his captive-patient, Withers said, 
 
 " I don't keer ! it's a sight to make most white folks 
 ashamed of their Christianity, to see that old nigger wait- 
 ing on that rascal, 'fore his own back has done smarting ! " 
 
 " If, as I believe," said Mr. Villars, " men stand ap- 
 proved before God, not for their pride of intellect or of 
 birth, but far the love that is in their hearts, who can 
 doubt but there will be higher seats in heaven for many 
 a poor black man than for their haughty masters ? " 
 
 " According to that," replied Withers, " maybe some 
 besides the haughty masters will be a little astonished 
 if they ever git into heaven nigger-haters that won't 
 set in a car, or a meeting-house, or to see. a theatre-play, 
 if there's a nigger allowed the same privilege ! Now I
 
 424 PROMETHEUS BOtXD. 
 
 never was any thing of an emancipationist ; but by 
 George ! if there's anything I detest, it's this etarnal and 
 unreasonable prejudice agin' niggers ! How do you ac- 
 count for it, Mr. Villars : " 
 
 " Prejudice," said the old man, " is always a mark of 
 narrowness and ignorance. You might almost, I think, 
 decide the question of a man's Christianity by his answer 
 to this : ' What is your feeling towards the negro ? ' The 
 larger his heart and mind, the more compassionate and 
 generous will be his views. But where you find most 
 bigotry and ignorance, there you will find the negro hated 
 most violently. I think there are men in the free states 
 whose sins of prejudice and blind passion against the un- 
 happy race are greater than those of the slaveholders 
 themselves." 
 
 " Our interest is in our property that's nat'ral ; but 
 what possesses them to want to see the nigger's face held 
 tight to the grindstone, and never let up ? " said Withers. 
 ; ' Their howl now is, ' Put down the rebellion ! but don't 
 tech slaver)', and don't bring in the nigger!' As if, 
 arter dogs had been killing my sheep, you should preach 
 to me, ' Save your sheep, neighbor, but don't agitate the 
 dog question ! You mustn't tech the dogs ! ' I say, if 
 the dogs begin the trouble, they must take the conse- 
 quences, even if my dog's one." 
 
 " They maintain," said Grudd, " that, no matter what 
 slavery may have done, there is no power in the consti- 
 tution to destroy it."
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND. 425 
 
 " I am reminded of a story my daughter Virginia was 
 reading to me not long ago, how the great polar bear is 
 sometimes killed. The hunter has a spear, near the pointed 
 end of which is securely fastened a strong cross-piece. The 
 bear, you know, is aggressive ; he advances, meets the 
 levelled shaft, seizes the cross-piece with his powerful 
 arms, and with a growl of rage hugs the spear-head into his 
 heart. Now, slavery is just such another great, stupid, 
 ferocious monster. The constitution is the spear of Lib- 
 erty. The cross-piece, if you like, is the republican policy 
 which has been nailed to it, and which has given the bear 
 a hold upon it. He is hugging it into his heart. He is 
 destroying himself.'' 
 
 The story was scarcely ended when Cudjo leaped into 
 the circle, crying, 
 
 " De sogers ! de sogers ! " 
 
 " Where ?" said Pomp, instinctively springing to his rifle. 
 
 " In de sink ! Dey fire onto we and de young lady ! " 
 
 " Any one hurt ? " 
 
 " No. Massa Hapgood cotch de bullets in him's hat ! " 
 for this was the impression the negro had brought away 
 with him. " Hull passel sogers ! Sile Ropes, seed 
 him fust ob all ! " 
 
 It was some moments before the patriots fully compre- 
 hended this alarming intelligence. But Pomp understood 
 it instantly. 
 
 " Gentlemen, will you fight ? Your side of the house 
 is attacked ! " 
 
 36*
 
 426 PROMETHEUS BOUND. 
 
 There was a moment's confusion. Then those who had 
 not already taken their guns, sprang to them. They had 
 brought lanterns, which were now burning. They plunged 
 into the gallery, following Pomp. Cudjo ran for his sword, 
 drew it from the scabbard, and ran yelling after them. 
 
 The sudden tumult died in the depths of the cavern ; 
 and all was still again before those left behind had recov- 
 ered from their astonishment. 
 
 There was one whose astonishment was largely mixed 
 with joy. A moment since he was lying like a man near 
 the last gasp ; but now he started up, singularly forgetful 
 of his dying condition, until reminded of it by feeling the 
 restraint of the rope and seeing Toby. Lysander sank 
 back with a groan. 
 
 " 'Pears like you's a little more chirk," said Toby. 
 
 " My head ! my head ! " said Lysander. " My skull is 
 fractured. Can't you loose the rope a little ? The strain 
 on my wrists is '" ending the sentence with a faint 
 moan. 
 
 Had Toby forgotten the strain on his wrists, and the 
 anguish of the thumbs, when this same cruel Lysander 
 had him strung up ? 
 
 " Bery sorry, 'deed, sar ! But I can't unloosen de 
 rope fur ye." 
 
 And, full of pity as he was, the old negro resolutely 
 remained faithful to his charge. Sprowl tried complaints, 
 coaxing, promises, but in vain. 
 
 " Well, then," said he, " I have only one request to
 
 JPROMETHEUS ROUND. 427 
 
 make. Let me see my wife, and ask her forgiveness 
 before I die." 
 
 " Dat am bery reason'ble ; I'll speak to her, sar." 
 And, without losing sight of his prisoner, Toby went to 
 Cudjo's pantry, now Virginia's dressing-room, into which 
 Salina had retreated, and notified her of the dying 
 request. 
 
 Salina was in one of her most discontented moods. 
 What had she fled to the mountain for ? she angrily asked 
 herself. After the first gush of grateful emotion on meet- 
 ing her father and sister, she had begun quickly to see 
 that she was not wanted there. Then she looked around 
 despairingly on the dismal accommodations of the cave. 
 She had not that sustaining affection, that nobleness of 
 purpose, which enabled her father and sister to endure so 
 cheerfully all the hardships of their present situation. 
 The rude, coarse life up there, the inconveniences, the 
 miseries, which provoked only smiles of patience from 
 them, filled her with disgust and spleen. 
 
 But there was one sorer sight to those irritated eyes 
 than all else they saw her captive husband. She could 
 not forget that he was her husband ; and, whether she 
 loved or hated him, she could not bear to witness his 
 degradation. Yet she could not keep her eyes off of him ; 
 and so she had shut herself up. 
 
 " He wishes to speak with me ? To ask my forgive- 
 ness ? Well ! he shall have a chance ! " 
 
 She went and stood over the prisoner, looking down 
 upon him coldly, but with compressed lips.
 
 428 PROMETHEUS BOUND. 
 
 " Well, what do you want of me ? " 
 
 Sprowl made a motion for Toby to retire. Humbly 
 the old negro obeyed, feeling that he ought not to intrude 
 upon the interview ; yet keeping his eye still on the pris- 
 oner, and his hand on the pistol. 
 
 " Sal," in a low voice, looking up at her, and show- 
 ing his manacled hands, " are you pleased to see me in 
 this condition ? " 
 
 " I'd rather see you dead ! If I were you, I'd kill 
 myself ! " 
 
 " There's a knife on the table behind you. Give it to 
 me, free my hands, and you won't have to repeat your 
 advice." 
 
 She merely glanced over her shoulder at the knife, then 
 bent her scowling looks once more on him. 
 
 " A captain in the confederate army ! outwitted and 
 taken prisoner by a boy ! kept a prisoner by an old 
 negro ! This, then, is the military glory you bragged of 
 in advance ! And I was going to be so proud of being 
 your wife ! Well, I am proud ! " 
 
 There was gall in her words. They made Lysander 
 writhe. 
 
 " Bad luck will happen, you know. Once out of this 
 gcrape, you'll see what I'll do ! Come, Sal, now be good 
 to me." 
 
 " Good to you ! I've tried that, and what did J 
 get for it?" 
 
 " I own I've given you good cause to hate me. I'm
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND. 429 
 
 sorry for it. The truth is, we never understood each 
 other, Sal. You was always quick and sharp yourself; 
 you'll confess that. You know how easy it is to irritate 
 me ; and I'm a devil when in a passion. But all that's 
 past. Hate me, if you will I deserve it. But you 
 don't want to see me eternally disgraced, I know." 
 
 She laughed disdainfully. " If you will disgrace your- 
 self, how can I help it ? " 
 
 ' The other end of the cave is attacked, and it is sure 
 to be carried. I shall soon be in the hands of my own 
 men. If I don't succeed in doing something for myself 
 first, it'll be impossible for me to regain the position 
 I've lost." 
 
 "Well, do something for yourself! What hinders 
 
 you ? " 
 
 " This cursed rope ! I wouldn't mind the handcuffs 
 if the rope was away. Just a touch with that knife 
 that's all, Sal." 
 
 " Yes ! and then what would you do ? " 
 
 " Run." 
 
 " And lose no time in sending your men to attack this 
 end of the cave, too ! O, I know you ! " 
 
 " I swear to you, Sal ! I never will take advantage of 
 it in that way, if you will do me just this little favor. It 
 will be worth my life to me ; and it shall cost you nothing, 
 nor your friends." 
 
 " Hush ! I know too well what your promises amount 
 to. How can I depend even upon your oath ? There's 
 no truth or honor in you ! "
 
 430 PROMETHEUS HOUND. 
 
 " Well ? " said Lysander, despairingly. 
 
 " Well, I am going to help you, for all that. Only it 
 must not appear as if I did it. And you shall keep your 
 oath, or one of us shall die for it ! Now be still ! " 
 
 She walked back past the block that served as a table, 
 and, when between it and Toby, quietly took the knife 
 from it, concealing it in her sleeve. 
 
 " Don't come for me to hear any more dying requests," 
 she said to the old negro, with a sneer. " Your pris- 
 oner will survive. Only give him a little coffee, if luere 
 is any. Here is some : I will wait upon him." 
 
 And, carrying the coffee, she dropped the knife . Ly- 
 sander' s side.
 
 PROMETHEUS UNBOUND. 481 
 
 XLII. 
 
 PROMETHEUS UNBOUND. 
 
 IVE minutes later Penn and Virginia arrived. 
 Penn ran eagerly for his musket. At the 
 same time, looking about the cave, he was 
 surprised to see only the old clergyman sitting by the fire, 
 and Prometheus reclining by his rock. 
 
 " Where is Salina ? Where is Toby ? " 
 
 " Toby has just left his charge to see what discovery 
 Salina has made outside. She went out previously and 
 thought she saw soldiers." 
 
 At that moment Toby came running in. 
 
 " Bar's some men way down by the ravine ! O, sar ! 
 I's bery glad you's come, sar ! " 
 
 Having announced the discovery, and greeted Penn 
 and Virginia, he went to look at his prisoner. He had 
 been absent from him but a minute : he found him ly- 
 ing as he had left him, and did not reflect, simple old 
 soul, how much may be secretly accomplished by a des- 
 perate villain in that brief space of time.
 
 432 PEOMETHEUS UNBOUND. 
 
 Penn took Pomp's glass, climbed along the rocky shelf, 
 peered over the thickets, and saw on the bank of the 
 ravine, where Salina pointed them out to him, several 
 men. They were some distance below Gad's Leap (as 
 he named the place where the spy met his death), and 
 seemed to be occupied in extinguishing a fire. He lev- 
 elled the glass. The recent burning of the trees and 
 undergrowth had cleared the field for its operation. His 
 eye sparkled as he lowered it. 
 
 " I recognize one of our friends in a new uniform ! " 
 handing the glass to Salina. 
 
 Returning to the cave, he added, in Virginia's ear, 
 
 " Augustus Bythewood ! " 
 
 The bright young brow contracted : " Not coming 
 here ? " 
 
 " I trust not. Yet his proximity means mischief. 
 Pomp will be interested ! " 
 
 He took his torch and gun. There was no time for 
 adieus. In a moment he was gone. There was one who 
 had been waiting with anxious eyes and handcuffed hands 
 to see him go. 
 
 Meanwhile Mr. Villars had called Toby to him, and 
 said, in a low voice, 
 
 " Is all right with your prisoner ? " 
 
 " O, yes ; he am bery quiet, 'pears like." 
 
 " You must look out for him. He is crafty. I feel 
 that all is not right. When you were out, I thought I 
 heard something like the sawing or tearing of a cord 
 Look to him, Toby."
 
 PROMETHEUS UNBOUND. 438 
 
 " O, yes, sar, I shall ! " And the confident old negr 
 approached the rock. 
 
 There lay the rope about the base of it, still firmly tied 
 on the side opposite the prisoner. And there crouched 
 he, in the same posture of durance as before, except thaf 
 now he had his legs well under him. His handcuffed 
 hands lay on the rope. 
 
 " Right glad ter see ye convanescent, sar ! " 
 
 Toby was bending over, examining his captive with a 
 grin of satisfaction ; when the latter, in a weak voice, 
 made a humble request. 
 
 " I wish you would put on my cap." 
 
 " Wiv all de pleasure in de wuld, sar." 
 
 The cap had been thrown off purposely. Unsuspecting 
 old Toby ! The pistol was in his pocket. He stooped to 
 pick up the cap and place it on Sprowl's head ; when, 
 like a jumping devil in a box when the cover is touched, 
 up leaped Lysander on his legs, knocking him down with 
 the handcuffs, and springing over him. 
 
 Before the old man was fully aware of what had hap- 
 pened, and long before he had regained his feet, Lysander 
 was in the thickets. In his hurry he thrust his wife re- 
 morselessly from the ledge before him, and flung her rudely 
 down upon the sharp boughs and stones, as he sped by 
 her. There Toby found her, when he came too late with 
 his pistol. Her hands were cut ; but she did not care f r 
 her hands. Ingratitude wounds more cruelly than sharp- 
 edged rocks. 
 
 37
 
 434 PROMETHEUS UNBOUND. 
 
 Perm had judged correctly in two particulars. Desknv 
 had turned traitor. And the personage in the new uni- 
 form down by the ravine was Lieutenant-Colonel Bythe- 
 wood. 
 
 Deslow had gone straight to head-quarters after quitting 
 Withers the previous night, given himself up, taken the 
 oath of allegiance to the confederacy, and engaged to join 
 the army or provide a substitute. As if this were not 
 enough, he had also been required to expose the secret 
 retreat of his late companions. To this, we know not 
 whether reluctantly, he had consented; and it was this 
 act of treachery that had brought Silas Ropes to the sink, 
 and Bythewood to the ravine. 
 
 Advantage had been taken of the fog in the morning 
 to march back again, up the mountain, the men who had 
 marched down, baffled and inglorious, after the wild- 
 goose chase Carl led them the night before. Bythewood 
 commanded the expedition at his own request, being par- 
 ticularly interested in two persons it was designed to cap- 
 ture Virginia and Pomp. It is supposed that he took a 
 sinister interest in Penn also. 
 
 But Bythewood was not anxious to deprive Ropes of 
 his laurels ; and perhaps he felt himself to be too fine a 
 gentleman to mix in a vulgar fight. He accordingly sent 
 Ropes forward to surprise the patriots at the sink, while 
 he moved with a small force cautiously up towards Gad's 
 Leap, with two objects in view. One was, to make some 
 discovery, if possible, with regard to the missing Lysan-
 
 PROMETHEUS UNBOUND. 435 
 
 der ; the other, to intercept the retreat of the fugitives, 
 should they be driven irom the cave through the open- 
 ing unknown to Deslow, but which he believed to be in 
 this direction. 
 
 The firing on the right apprised Augustus that the 
 attack had commenced. This was the signal for him 
 to advance boldly up from the ravine, and establish 
 himself on an elevation commanding a view of the 
 slopes. Here he had been discovered very opportunely 
 by Salina, Avho was seeking some pretext for calling Toby 
 from his prisoner. In the shade of some bushes that had 
 escaped the fire, he sat comfortably smoking his cigar on 
 one end of a log, which was smoking on its own account 
 at the other end. 
 
 " Put out that fire, some of you," said Augustus. 
 
 This was scarcely done, when suddenly a man came 
 leaping down the slope, holding his hands together 
 in a very singular manner. Bythewood started to his 
 feet. 
 
 " Deuce take me ! " said he, " if it ain't Lysander ! 
 But what's the matter with his hands, sergeant ? " 
 
 " Looks to me as though he had bracelets on," replied 
 the experienced sergeant. 
 
 Some men were despatched to meet and bring the cap- 
 tain in. The sergeant found a key in his pocket to unlock 
 the handcuffs. Then Lysander told the story of his cap- 
 ture, which, though modified to suit himself, excited 
 Bythewood's derision. This stung the proud captain,
 
 436 PROMETHEUS UNBOUND 
 
 who, to wash the stain from his honor, proposed to 
 take a squad of men and surprise the cave. 
 
 Fired by the prospect of seeing Virginia in his power, 
 Augustus had but one important order to give : " Bring 
 your prisoners to me here ! " 
 
 Instead of proceeding directly to the cave, Lysander 
 used strategy. He knew that if his movements were 
 observed, and their object suspected, Virginia would 
 have ample time to escape with her father and old Toby 
 into the interior caverns, where it might be extremely 
 difficult to discover them. He accordingly started in the 
 direction of the sink, as if with intent to reenforce the 
 soldiers fighting there ; then, dropping suddenly into a 
 hollow, he made a short turn to the left, and advanced 
 swiftly, under cover of rocks and bushes, towards the 
 ledge that concealed the cave. 
 
 " How could you let him go, Toby ! " cried Virginia, 
 filled with consternation at the prisoner's escape. For 
 she saw all the mischievous consequences that were likely 
 to follow in the track of that fatal error: Cudjo's secret, 
 so long faithfully kept, now in evil hour betrayed ; the 
 lave attacked and captured, and the brave men fighting at 
 the sink, believing their retreat secure, taken suddenly in 
 the rear ; and so disaster, if not death, resulting to her 
 father, to Penn, to all. 
 
 The anguish of her tones pierced the poor old negro's 
 soul.
 
 PROMETHEUS UNBOUND. 437 
 
 ', missis, no more'n you do! 'Pears like he 
 done gnawed off de rope wiv his teef ! " For Lysander, 
 having used the knife, had hidden it under the skins on 
 which he sat. 
 
 Then Salina spoke, and denounced herself. After all 
 the pains she had taken to conceal her agency in Sprowl's 
 escape, inconsistent, impetuous, filled with rage against 
 herself and him, she exclaimed, 
 
 " I did it ! Here is the knife I gave him ! " 
 
 Virginia stood white and dumb, looking at her sister. 
 Tohy could only tear his old white wool and groan. 
 
 " Salina," said her father, solemnly, " you have done 
 a very treacherous and wicked thing ! I pity you ! " 
 
 Severest reproaches could not have stung her as these 
 words, and the terrified look of her sister, stung the proud 
 and sensitive Salina. 
 
 " I have done a damnable thing ! I know it. Do you 
 ask what made me ? The devil made me. I knew it 
 was the devil at the time ; but I did it." 
 
 " O, what shall we do, father ? " said Virginia. 
 
 " There is nothing you can do, my daughter, unless 
 you can reach our friends and warn them." 
 
 " O," she said, in despair, " there is not a lamp or 
 a torch ! All have been taken ! " 
 
 " And it is well ! It would take you at least an hour 
 to go and return ; and that man '" Mr. Villars would 
 never, if he could help it, speak Lysauder's name " will 
 be here again before that time, if he is coming." 
 37*
 
 438 PROMETHEUS UNBOUND. 
 
 " He is not coming," said Salina. " He SAvore to 
 me that he would not take advantage of his escape to 
 betray or injure any of you. He will keep his oath. 
 If he does not " 
 
 She paused. There was a long, painful silence ; the 
 old man musing, Virginia wringing her hands, Toby 
 keeping watch outside. 
 
 " Listen ! " said Salina. " I am a woman. But I 
 will defend this place. I will stand there, and not 
 a man shall enter till I am dead. As for you, Jinny, 
 take him, and go. You can hide somewhere in the 
 caves. Leave me and Toby. I will not ask you to 
 forgive me ; but perhaps some time you will think 
 differently of me from what you do now." 
 
 " Sister ! " said Virginia, with emotion, " I do for- 
 give you ! God will forgive you too ; for he knows 
 better than we do how unhappy you have been, and 
 that you could not, perhaps, have done differently from 
 what you have done." 
 
 Salina was touched. She threw her arms about Vir- 
 ginia's neck. 
 
 " O, I have been a bad, selfish girl ! I have made 
 both you and father very unhappy; and you have been 
 only too kind to me al ways ! Now leave me alone 
 go ! I hope I shall not trouble you much longer." 
 
 She brushed back her hair from her large white 
 forehead, and smiled a strange and vacant smile. Vir- 
 ginia saw that her wish was to die.
 
 PROMETHEUS UNBOUND. 43& 
 
 4< Sister," she said gently, " we will all stay together, if 
 you stay. We must not give up this placo ! Our friends 
 are lost we are lost if we give it up ! Perhaps we 
 can do something. Indeed, I think we can ! If we only 
 had arms ! Women have used arms before now ! " 
 
 Toby entered. " Dey ain't comin' dis yer way, no- 
 how ! Dey's gwine off to de norf, hull passel on 'em." 
 
 " Give me that pistol, Toby," said Salina. " You 
 can use Cudjo's axe, if we are attacked. Place it where 
 you can reach it, and then return to your lookout. 
 Don't be deceived ; but warn us at once if there is 
 danger." 
 
 " My children," said the old man, " come near to 
 me ! I would I could look upon you once ; for I feel 
 that a separation is near. Dear daughters ! " he took 
 a hand of each, "if I am to leave you, grieve not 
 for me ; but love one another. LOVE ONE ANOTHER. 
 To you, Salina, more especially, I say this ; for though 
 I know that deep down in your heart there is a fountain 
 of affection, you are apt to repress your best feelings, 
 and to cherish uncharitable thoughts. For your own 
 good, O, do not do so any more ! Believe in God. Be a 
 child of God. Then no misfortune can happen to you. 
 My children, there is no great misfortune, other than 
 this to lose our faith in God, and our love for one 
 another. I do not fear bodily harm, for that is compara- 
 tively nothing. For many years I have been blind ; yet 
 have I been blest with sight; for night and d^y I have
 
 440 PROMETHEUS UNBOUND. 
 
 seen God. And as there is a more precious sight than 
 that of the eyes, so there is a more precious life than this 
 of the body. The life of the spirit is love and faith. Let 
 me know that you have this, and I shall no longer fear 
 for you. You will be happy, wherever you are. Why is 
 it I feel such trust that Virginia will be provided for ? 
 Salina, let your heart be like hers, and I shall no longer 
 fear for you ! " 
 
 " I wish it was ! I wish it was ! " said Salina, pouring 
 out the anguish of her heart in those words. " But I 
 cannot make it so. I cannot be good ! I am Salina ! 
 Is there fatality in a name ? " 
 
 " I know the infirmity of your natural disposition, my 
 child. I know, too, what circumstances have done to 
 embitter it. Our heavenly Father will take all that into 
 account. Yet there is no one who has not within himself 
 faults and temptations to contend with. Many have far 
 greater than yours to combat, and yet they conquer glori- 
 ously. I cannot say more. My children, the hour has 
 come which is to decide much for us all. Remember my 
 legacy to you, HAVE FAITH AND LOVE." 
 
 They knelt before him. He laid his hands upon their 
 heads, and in a brief and fervent prayer blessed them. 
 Both were sobbing. Tears ran down his cheeks also ; 
 but his countenance was bright in its uplifted serenity. 
 wearing a strange expression of grandeur and of joy.
 
 THE COMBAT 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 THE COMBAT. 
 
 O M P , rifle in h&nd, bearing a torch, led the 
 patriots on their rapid return through the 
 caverns. 
 
 " Lights down ! " he said, as they approached the vi- 
 cinity of the sink. " We shall see them ; but they must 
 not see us." 
 
 They halted at the natural bridge ; the torch was ex- 
 tinguished, and the patriots placed their lanterns under a 
 rock. They then advanced as swiftly as possible in the 
 obscurity, along the bank of the stream. In the hall of 
 the bats they met Carl, who had seen their lights and 
 come towards them. 
 
 " Hurry ! hurry ! " he said. " They are coming down 
 the trees like the devil's monkeys ! a whole carawan 
 proke loose ! " 
 
 Captain Grudd commanded the patriots; but Pomp 
 commanded Captain Grudd. 
 
 " Quick, and make no noise ! We have every advan-
 
 442 THE COMBAT. 
 
 tage ; the darkness is on our side those loose rocks 
 will shelter us." 
 
 They advanced until within a hundred yards of where 
 the shaft of daylight came down. There they could dis- 
 tinguish, in the shining cleft under the brow of the cav- 
 ern, and above the rocky embankment, th forms of their 
 assailants. Some had already gained a footing. Others 
 were descending the tree-trunks in a dark chain, each 
 link the body of a rebel. 
 
 " We must stop that ! " said Pomp. 
 
 The men were deployed forward rapidly, and a halt 
 ordered, each choosing his position. 
 
 " Ready ! Aim ! " 
 
 At that moment, half a dozen men of the attacking 
 party advanced, feeling their way over the rocks down 
 which Penn and his companions had been seen to escape. 
 The leader, shielding his eyes with his hand, peered into 
 the gloom of the cavern. Coming from the light, he 
 could see nothing distinctly. Suddenly he paused : had 
 he heard the words of command whispered ? or was he 
 impressed by the awful mystery and silence ? 
 
 " Fire ! " said Captain Grudd. 
 
 Instantly a jagged line of flashes leaped across the 
 breast of the darkness, accompanied by a detonation truly 
 terrible. Each gun with its echoes, in those cavernou? 
 solitudes, thundered like a whole park of artillery : what, 
 then, was the effect of the volley? The patriots were 
 themselves appalled by it. The mountain trembled, and
 
 THE COMBAT. 443 
 
 a gusty roar swept through its shuddering chambers, 
 throbbing and pulsing long after the smoke of the dis- 
 charge had cleared away. 
 
 Pomp laughed quietly, while Withers exclaimed, " By 
 the Etarnal ! if I didn't fancy the hull ruf of the moun- 
 tain had caved in ! " 
 
 " Load ! " said Captain Grudd, sternly. 
 
 The rebels advancing over the rocks had suddenly 
 disappeared, having either fallen in the crevices or 
 scrambled back up the bank while hidden from view by 
 the smoke. The chain descending the tree had broken ; 
 those near the ground leaped down or slid, while those 
 above seemed seized by a wild impulse to climb back 
 with all haste to the summit of the wall. A few threw 
 away their guns, which fell upon the heads of those be- 
 low. At the same time those below might have been 
 seen scampering to places of shelter behind rocks and 
 trees. 
 
 If ever panic were excusable, this surely was. Since 
 the patriots were terrified by their own firing, we need not 
 wonder at the alarm of the rebels. Some had seen the 
 flashes sever the darkness, and their comrades fall ; while 
 all had felt the earthquake and the thundering. To those 
 at the entrance it had seemed that these were the jaws 
 and throat of a monster mountain-huge, which at their 
 approach spat flame and bellowed. 
 
 " Now is our time ! Clear them out ! " said Grudd. 
 
 " Rush in and finish them with the bayonet ! " said
 
 444 THE COMBAT. 
 
 Stackridge. Six of the guns had bayonets, and his was 
 one of them. 
 
 " Not yet ! " said Pomp. " They will fire on you from 
 above. We must first attend to that. Shall I show you: 
 Then do as I do ! " 
 
 Instinctively they accepted his lead. Loading his 
 piece, he ran forward until, himself concealed under the 
 brow of the cavern, he could see the rebels in the tree 
 and on the cliff. 
 
 " Once more ! All together ! " he said, taking aim. 
 " Give the word, captain 1 " 
 
 The men knelt among the loosely tumbled rocks, \vhicb 
 served at once as a breastwork and as rests for their guns. 
 The projecting roof of the cave was over them ; through 
 the obscure opening they pointed their pieces. Above 
 them, in the full light, were the frightened confederates, 
 some on the tree, some on the cliff, some leaping from 
 the tree to the cliff; while their comrades in the sink 
 lurked on the side opposite that where the patriots were. 
 
 " Take the cusses on the top of the rocks! " said Stack- 
 ridge. " The rest are harmless." 
 
 "It's all them in the tree can do to take keer of them- 
 selves," added Withers. " Reg'lar secesh ! All they ax 
 is to be let alone." 
 
 Grudd gave the word. Flame from a dozen muzzles 
 shot upwards from the edge of the pit. When the smoke 
 rolled away, the cliff was cleared. Not a rebel was t<? 
 be seen, except those in the tree franticly scrambling
 
 THE COMBAT. 445 
 
 to get out, and two others. One of these had fallen on 
 the cliff: his head and one arm hung horribly over the 
 brink. The other, in his too eager haste to escape from 
 the tree, had slipped from the limb, and been saved from 
 dashing to pieces on the rocks below only by a projection 
 of the Avail, to which he had caught, and where he now 
 clung, a dozen feet from the top, and far above the river 
 that rolled black and slow in its channel beneath the cliff. 
 
 " Now with your bayonets ! " said Pomp. " This 
 way ! " 
 
 There were six bayonets before ; now there were eight. 
 
 " That Carl is worth his weight in gold ! " said the en- 
 thusiastic Stackridge. 
 
 While the patriots, preparing for their second volley, 
 were getting positions among the rocks on the left, Carl 
 had crept up the embankment in front, and brought away 
 two muskets from two dead rebels. These were they who 
 had fallen at the first fire. Both guns had bayonets. 
 Pomp took one; Carl kept the other. Cudjo with his 
 sword accompanied the charging party; Grudd and the 
 rest remaining at their post, ready to pick off any rebel 
 that should appear on the cliff. 
 
 Swift and stealthy as a panther, Pomp crept around 
 still farther to the left, under the projecting wall, raising 
 his head cautiously now and then to look for the fugitives. 
 
 " As I expected ! They are over there, afraid to follow 
 the stream into the cave, and hesitating whether to make 
 , rush for the tree. All ready ? " 
 38
 
 446 THE COtiBAT. 
 
 He looked around on his little force and smiled. In- 
 stead of eight bayonets, there were now nine. Penn had 
 arrived. 
 
 " All ready ! " answered Stackridge. 
 
 Pomp bounded upon the rocks and over them, with a 
 yell which the rest took up as they followed, charging 
 headlong after him. Cudjo, brandishing his sword, leaped 
 and yelled with the foremost a figure fantastically ter- 
 rible. Penn, with the fiery Stackridge on one side, and 
 his beloved Carl on the other, forgot that he had ever 
 been a Quaker, hating strife. Not that he loved it now ; 
 but, remembering that these were the deadly foes of his 
 country, and of those he loved, and feeling it a righteous 
 duty to exterminate them, he went to the work, not like 
 an apprentice, but a master, without fear, self-possessed, 
 impetuous, kindled with fierce excitement. 
 
 The rebels in the sink, fifteen in number, had had time 
 to rally from their panic ; and they now seemed inclined 
 to make resistance. They were behind a natural breast- 
 work, similar to that which had sheltered the patriots on 
 the other side. They levelled their guns hastily and fired. 
 One of the patriots fell : it was Withers. 
 
 " Give it to them ! " shouted Pomp. 
 
 " Every cussed scoundrel of 'em ! " Stackridge cried. 
 
 "Kill! kill! kill!" shrieked Cudjo. 
 
 " Surrender ! surrender ! " thundered Penn. 
 
 With such cries they charged over the rocks, straight 
 at tho faces and breasts of the confederates. Some turned
 
 THE COMBAT. 447 
 
 to fly ; but beyond them was the unknown darkness into 
 which the river flowed : they recoiled aghast from that. 
 A few stood their ground. The bayonet, which Penn 
 had first made acquaintance with when it was thrust at 
 his own breast, he shoved through the shoulder of a rebel 
 whose clubbed musket was descending on Carl's head. 
 Three inches of the blade come out of his back ; and, 
 bearing him downwards in his irresistible onset, Penn 
 literally pinned him to the ground. Cudjo slashed an- 
 other hideously across the face with the sword. Pomp 
 took the first prisoner : it was Dan Pepperill. The rest 
 soon followed Dan's example, cried quarter, and threw 
 down their arms. 
 
 " Quarter ! " gasped the wretch Penn had pinned. 
 
 " You spoke too late I am sorry ! " said Penn, with 
 austere pity, as, placing his foot across the man's armpit 
 to hold him while he pulled, he put forth his strength, 
 and drew out the steel. A gush of blood followed, and, 
 with a groan, the soldier swooned. 
 
 " It is one of them wagabonds that gave you the tar 
 and fedders ! " said Carl. 
 
 " And assisted at my hanging afterwards ! " added 
 Penn, remembering the ghastly face. 
 
 Thus retribution followed these men. Gad and Griffin 
 he had seen dead. Was it any satisfaction for him to 
 feel that he was thus avenged ? I think, not much. The 
 devil of revenge had no place in his soul ; and never for 
 any personal wrong he had received would he have wished 
 to see bloody violence done.
 
 448 THE COMBAT. 
 
 The prisoners were disarmed, and ordered to remain 
 where they were. 
 
 " Bring the wounded to me," said Pomp, hastening 
 back to the spot where Withers had fallen. 
 
 Stackridge and another were lifting the fallen patriot 
 and bearing him to the shelter of the cave. Pomp 
 assisted, skilfully and tenderly. Then followed those 
 who bore away the wounded prisoners and the guns that 
 had been captured. Pepperill had been ordered to help. 
 He and Carl carried the man whose face Cudjo had 
 slashed. This was the only rebel who had fought obsti- 
 nately : he had not given up until an arm was broken, 
 and he was blinded by his own blood. Penn and Devitt 
 brought up the rear with the swooning soldier. When 
 half way over they were fired upon by the rebels rallying 
 to the edge of the cliff. Grudd and his men responded 
 sharply, covering then- retreat. Penn felt a bullet graze 
 his shoulder. It made but a slight flesh wound there ; 
 but, passing down, it entered the heart of the wounded 
 man, whose swoon became the swoon of death. This 
 was the only serious result of the confederate fire. 
 
 " I am glad I did not kill him ! " said Penn, as they 
 laid the corpse beside the stream. 
 
 Then out of the mask of blood which covered the face 
 of the stout fellow who had fought so well, there issued a 
 Toice that spoke, in a strange tongue, these words : 
 
 " Was hat man mir gethan ? Wo bin ich, mutter f " 
 
 But the words were not strange to Carl ; neither was 
 the voice strange.
 
 THE COMBAT. 449 
 
 " Fritz ! Fritz ! " he answered, in the same language, 
 " is it you ? " 
 
 "I am Fritz Minnevich ; that is true. And you, I 
 think, are my cousin Carl." 
 
 They laid the wounded man near the stream, where 
 Pomp was examining Withers's hurt. 
 
 " O, Fritz ! " said Carl, " how came you here ? " 
 
 " They said the Yankees were coming to take our farm. 
 So Hans and I enlisted to fight. I got in here because I 
 was ordered. We do as we are ordered. It was we who 
 whipped the woman. We whipped her well. I hope my 
 good looks will not be spoiled ; for that would grieve our 
 mother." 
 
 Thus the soldier talked in his native tongue, while 
 Carl, in sorrow and silence, washed the blood from his 
 face. He remembered he was his father's brother's son; 
 a good fellow, in his way ; dull, but faithful ; and he had 
 not always treated him cruelly. Indeed, Carl thought not 
 of his cruelty now at all, but only of the good times they 
 had had together, in days when they were friends, and 
 Frau Minnevich had not taught her boys to be as ill- 
 natured as herself. 
 
 " What for do you do this, Carl ? " said Fritz. " There 
 is no cause that you should be kind to me. I did you 
 some ill turns. You did right to run away. But our 
 father swears you shall have your share of the property if 
 you ever come back for it, and the Yankees do not 
 take it." 
 
 38*
 
 450 THE COMBAT. 
 
 " It is all lies they tell you about the Yankees ! " said 
 Carl. " O Pomp ! this is my cousin see what you can 
 do for him." 
 
 Pomp had been reluctantly convinced that he could do 
 nothing for Withers : his wound was mortal. And With- 
 ers had said to him, in cheerful, feeble tones, " I feel 
 I'm about to the eend of my tether. So don't waste yer 
 time on me." 
 
 So Pomp turned his attention to the Minnevich. But 
 Penn and Stackridge remained with the dying patriot. 
 
 " Wish ye had a Union flag to wrap me in when I'm 
 dead, boys ! That's what I've fit fur ; that's what I 
 meant to die fur, if 'twas so ordered. It's all right, 
 boys ! Jest look arter my family a little, won't ye ? 
 And don't give up old Tennessee ! " 
 
 These were his last words. 
 
 Penn and Stackridge rejoined their comrades in the 
 fight. 
 
 " Shoot him ! shoot him ! shoot him ! " cried Cu.ljo, in 
 a frenzy of excitement, pointing at the rebel who had 
 fallen from the tree upon the projection of the chasm 
 wall. " Him dar ! Dat Sile Ropes ! " 
 
 " Ropes ? " said Penn, looking up through the opening. 
 44 That he ! " raising his gun. " But he can do no harm 
 there ; and he can't get out." 
 
 " Don' ye see ? Dey's got a rope to help him wif ! 
 Gib him a shot fust ' 0, gib him a shot ! " 
 
 The projection to which the lieutenant clung was a
 
 THE COMBAT, 451 
 
 broken shelf less than half a yard in breadth. There he 
 cowered in abject terror betwixt two dangers, that of 
 falling if he attempted to move, and that of being picked 
 off if he remained stationary and in sight. To avoid 
 both, he got upon his hands and knees, and hid his face 
 in the angle of the ledge, leaving the posterior part of his 
 person prominent, no doubt thinking, like an ostrich, that 
 if his head was in a hole, he was safe. The very ludi- 
 crousness of his situation saved him. The patriots re- 
 served him to laugh at, and fired over him at the rebels 
 on the cliff. At each shot, Silas could be seen to root 
 his nose still more industriously into the rock. At 
 length, however, as Cudjo had declared, a rope was 
 brought and let down to him. 
 
 " Take hold there ! " shouted the rebels on the cliff. 
 Ropes could feel the cord dangling on his back. " Tie it 
 around your waist ! " 
 
 Silas, without daring to look up, put out his hand, 
 which groped awkwardly and blindly for the rope as it 
 swung to and fro all around it. Finally, he seized it, but 
 ran imminent risk of falling as he drew it under his 
 body. At length he seemed to have it secured ; but in 
 his hurry and trepidation he had fastened it considerably 
 nearer his hips than his arms. The result, when the 
 rebels above began to haul, can be imagined. Hips and 
 heels were hoisted, while arms and head hung down, 
 causing him to resemble very strikingly a frog hooked on 
 for bait at the end of a fish-line. The affrighted face
 
 452 THE COMBAT. 
 
 drawn out of its hole, looked down ridiculously hideous 
 into the rocky and bristling gulf over which he swung. 
 
 " Fire ! " said Captain Grudd. 
 
 The volley was aimed, not at Silas, but at those who 
 were hauling him up. Cudjo shrieked with frantic joy, 
 expecting to see his old enemy plunge bead foremost among 
 the stones on the bank of the stream. Such, no doubt, 
 would have been the result, but for one sturdy and brave 
 fellow at the rope. The rest, struck either with bullets or 
 terror, fell back, loosing their hold. But this man clung 
 fast, imperturbable. Alone, slowly, hand over hand, he 
 hauled and hauled ; grim, unterrified, faithful. But it 
 was a tedious and laborious task for one, even the 
 stoutest. The man had but a precarious foothold, and 
 the rope rubbsd hard on the edge of the cliff. Cudjo 
 shrieked again, this time with despair at seeing his 
 former overseer about to escape. 
 
 " That's a plucky fellow ! said Stackridge, with stern 
 admiration of the soldier's courage. " I like his grit ; 
 but he must stop that ! " 
 
 He reached for a loaded gun. He took Carl's. The 
 boy turned pale, but said never a word, setting his lips 
 firmly as he looked up at the cliff. Silas was swinging. 
 The soldier was pulling in the rope, hitch by hitch, over 
 the ledge. Stackridge took deliberate aim, and fired. 
 
 For a moment no very surprising effect was percepti- 
 ble, only the man stopped hauling. Then he went 
 down on one knee, paying out several inches of the
 
 THE COMBAT. 458 
 
 rope, and letting the suspended Silas dip accordingly. 
 It became evident that he was hit ; he still grasped the 
 rope, but it began to glide through his hands. Silas set 
 up a howl. 
 
 " Hold me ! hold me ! " at the same time extend- 
 ing all his fingers to grasp the rocks. 
 
 The brave fellow made one last effort, and took a turn 
 of the rope about his wrist. It did not slip through his 
 hands any more. But soon he began to slip forward 
 forward on both knees now his head reeling like 
 that of a drunken man, and at last pitching heavily over 
 the cliff. 
 
 Some of the cowards who had deserted their post 
 sprang to save him ; but too late : the man was gone. 
 
 It was fortunate for Silas that he had been let down 
 several feet thus gradually. He was near the ledge from 
 which he had been lifted, and had just time to grasp it 
 again and crawl upon it, when the man fell, turning a 
 complete somerset over him, fearful to witness ! revolving 
 slowly in his swift descent through the air ; still holding 
 with tenacious grip the rope ; plunging through tho 
 boughs like a mere log tumbled from the cliff, and 
 striking the rocks below dead. 
 
 He had taken the rope with him ; and Silas had 
 been preserved from sharing his fate only by a lucky 
 accident. The knot at his hips loosened itself as he 
 clutched the ledge, and let the coil fly off as the man 
 shot down.
 
 454 THE COMBAT. 
 
 Not a gun was fired : rebels and patriots seemed 
 struck dumb with horror at the brave fellow's fate. 
 Then Carl whispered, 
 
 " That vas my other cousin ! That vas Hans ! " 
 
 " Cudjo ! Cudjo ! what are you about ? " cried Penn. 
 
 The black did not answer. Beside himself with ex- 
 citement, he ran to the leaning tree and climbed it 
 like an ape. The naked sword gleamed among the 
 twigs. Reaching the trunk of the tall tree he ascended 
 that as nimbly, never stopping until he had reached the 
 upper limbs. There was one that branched towards the 
 ledge where Silas clung. At a glance choosing that, 
 Cudjo ran out upon it, until it bent beneath his weight. 
 There he tried in vain to reach his ancient enemy with 
 the sword ; the distance was too great, even for his 
 long arms. 
 
 " Sile Ropes ! ye ol' oberseer ! g'e know Cudjo ? Me 
 Cudjo ! " he yelled, slashing the end of the branch as 
 if it had been his victim's flesh. " 'Member de lickins r 
 'Member my gal ye got away ? Now ye git yer pay ! " 
 
 While he was raving thus, one of the soldiers above, 
 sheltering himself from the fire of the patriots by lying 
 almost flat on the ground, levelled his gun at the half- 
 crazed negro's breast, and pulled the trigger. 
 
 A flash a report the sword fell, and went clatter- 
 ing down upon the rocks. Cudjo turned one wild look 
 upward, clapping his hand to his breast. Then, with a 
 terrible grimace, he cast his eyes down again at
 
 THE COMBAT. 455 
 
 Ropes, crept still farther out on the branch, and 
 leaped. 
 
 Silas had his nose in the angle of the ledge again, and 
 scarcely knew what had happened until he felt the negro 
 alight on his back and fling his arms about him. 
 
 " Cudjo shot ! Cudjo die ! But you go too, Sile 
 Ropes ! " 
 
 As he gibbered forth these words, his long hands 
 found the lieutenant's throat, and tightened upon it. A 
 fearfully quiet moment ensued ; then living and dying 
 rolled together from the ledge, and dropped into the 
 chasm. They struck the body of the dead Hans ; that 
 broke the fall ; and Cudjo was beneath his victim. 
 Ropes, stunned only, struggled to rise ; but, held in 
 that deadly embrace, he only succeeded in rolling him- 
 self down the embankment, Cudjo accompanying. The 
 stream flowed beneath, black, with scarce a murmur. 
 Silas neither saw nor heard it ; but, continuing to strug- 
 gle, and so continuing to roll, he reached the verge of 
 the rocks, and fell with a splash into the current. 
 
 Penn ran to the spot just in time to see the two 
 bodies disappear together ; the dying Cudjo and the 
 drowning Silas sinking as one, and drifting away intc 
 the cavernous darkness of the subterranean river.
 
 456 HOW AUGUSTUS FINALLl PROPOSED. 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 HOW AUGUSTUS FINALLY PROPOSED. 
 
 FTER this there was a lull; and Penn, 
 who had forgotten every thing else whilst the 
 conflict was raging, remembered that he had 
 seen Bythewood at the ravine, and hastened to inform 
 Pomp of the circumstance. 
 
 The death of Cudjo had plunged Pomp into a fit of 
 stern, sad reverie. His surgical task performed, he stood 
 leaning on his rifle, gazing abstractedly at the darkly 
 gliding waves, when Penn's communication roused him. 
 
 " Ha ! " said he, with a slight start. " We must look 
 to that ! The danger here is over for the present, and 
 two or three of us can be spared." 
 
 " Shall I go, too ? " said Carl. " It is time I vas seeing 
 to my prisoner." 
 
 " Come," said Pomp. And the three set out to return. 
 
 Having but slight anticipations of trouble from the side 
 of the ravine, they came suddenly, wholly unprepared, 
 upon a scene which filled them with horror and amaze- 
 ment.
 
 BOW AUGUSTUS FINALLY PROPOSED. 457 
 
 The prisoner, as we know, had fled. We left him on 
 his way back to the cave with a squad of men. Since 
 which time, this is what had occurred. 
 
 The assailants had approached so stealthily over the 
 ledges, below which Toby was stationed, looking intently 
 for them in another direction, that he had no suspicions 
 of their coming until they suddenly dropped upon him as 
 from the clouds. He had no time to run for his axe ; and 
 he had scarcely given the alarm when he was overpowered, 
 knocked down, and rolled out of the way off the rocks. 
 
 The assailants then, with Lysander at their head, rushed 
 to the entrance of the cave. But there they encountered 
 unexpected resistance : the two sisters Salina with the 
 pistol, Virginia with the axe. 
 
 " Hello ! Sal ! " cried Lysander, recoiling into the arms 
 of his men ; " what the devil do you mean ? " 
 
 " I mean to kill you, or any man that sets foot in this 
 place ! That is what I mean ! " 
 
 There could be no doubt about it : her eyes, her atti- 
 tude, her whole form, from head to foot, looked what she 
 said. She was flushed ; a smile of wild and reckless scorn 
 curved her mouth, and her countenance gleamed with a 
 wicked light. 
 
 By her side was Virginia, with the uplifted axe, ex- 
 pressing no less determination by her posture and looks, 
 though she did not speak, though there was no smile on 
 her pale lips, and though her features were as white as 
 death. 
 
 39
 
 458 HOW AUGUSTUS FINALLY PROPOSED. 
 
 " It's no use, gals ! " said Sprowl. " Don't make 
 fools of yourselves ! You won't be hurt ; but I'm bound 
 to come in ! " 
 
 " Do not attempt it ! You have broken your oath to 
 me. But I have made an oath I shall not break ! " 
 
 What that oath was Salina did not say ; but Lysander's 
 changing color betrayed that he guessed it pretty well. 
 
 " I don't care a d n for you ! Virginia, drop that 
 axe, and come out here with your father, and I pledge my 
 sacred honor that neither of you shall receive the least 
 harm." 
 
 " Your sacred honor ! " sneered Salina. 
 
 But Virginia said nothing. She stood like a clothed 
 statue; only the eyes through Avhich the fire of the ex- 
 cited spirit shone were not those of a statue ; and the 
 advanced white arm, beautiful and bare, from which the 
 loose sleeve fell as it reared the axe, was of God's sculp- 
 ture, not man's. 
 
 She seemed not to hear Lysander ; for the promise of 
 safety for herself was as nothing to her : she felt that she 
 was there to defend, with her life, if needs were, the 
 friends whom he had betrayed. Only a holy and great 
 purpose like this could have nerved that gentle nature for 
 such work, and made those tender sinews firm as steel. 
 
 There was something slightly devilish in the aspect of 
 Salina ; but Virginia was all the angel ; yet it was the 
 angel roused to strife. 
 
 " Call off your gals, Mr. Villars ! " said Sprowl.
 
 HOW AUGUSTUS FINALLY PROPOSED. 459 
 
 " Lysander ! " said the solemn voice of the old minister 
 from within, " hear me ! We are but three here, as you 
 see : a blind and helpless old man and two girls. Why 
 do you follow to persecute us ? Go your way, and learn 
 to be a man. The business you are engaged in is un- 
 worthy of a man. My daughters do right to defend this 
 place, which you, false and ungrateful, have betrayed. 
 Attempt nothing farther ; for we are not afraid to die ! " 
 
 " Go in, boys ! " shouted Lysander, himself shrinking 
 aside to let the soldiers pass. 
 
 Salina fired the pistol not at the soldiers. 
 
 " She has shot me ! " said Lysander, staggering back. 
 " Kill the fiend ! kill her ! " 
 
 Instantly two bayonets darted at her breast. One of 
 them was struck down by Virginia's axe, which half 
 severed the soldier's wrist. But before the axe could rise 
 and descend again, the other bayonet had done its work ; 
 and the soldiers rushed in. 
 
 It was all over in a minute. The axe was seized and 
 wrenched violently away. Toby lay senseless on the 
 rocks without. Lysander was leaning dizzily, clutching 
 at the ledge, a ghastly whiteness settling about the gay 
 mustache, and a strange glassiness dimming his eyes. 
 The soldiers had possession. Virginia was a prisoner, 
 and her father; but not Salina. There was the body 
 which had been hers, transfixed by the bayonet, and 
 fallen upon the ground : that was palpable : but who shall 
 capture the escaping soul ?
 
 460 HOW AUGUffT-US FINALLY PROPOSED. 
 
 When Penn and his companions arrived, not a living 
 person was there ; but alone, stretched upon the cold stone 
 floor, where the gray light from the entrance fell, pulse- 
 less, pallid, with pale hands crossed peacefully on her 
 breast, hiding the wound, and features faintly smiling in 
 their stony calm, lay the corpse of her that was Salina. 
 The fair cup that had brimmed with the bitterness of life 
 was shattered. The soul that drank thereat had fled away 
 in haughtiness and scorn. 
 
 Toby, groaning on the stones outside, felt somebody 
 shaking him, and heard the voice of Carl asking how he 
 was. 
 
 " Dunno' ; sort o' common," said the old negro, trying 
 to rise. 
 
 He knew nothing of what had happened, except that he 
 had been fallen upon and beaten down : for the rest, it 
 was useless to question him : not even Penn's agonies of 
 doubt and fear could rouse his recollection. 
 
 Lieutenant-colonel Bythewood had committed the error 
 of an officer green in his profession. The cave surprised, 
 and the prisoners taken, the men retired in all haste, sim- 
 ply because they had received no orders to the contrary. 
 Th'.is no advantage whatever was taken of the very im- 
 portant position which had been gained. 
 
 Leaving the dead behind, and carrying off the wounded 
 and the prisoners, the sergeant, upon whom the command 
 devolved after his captain was disabled, lost no time in 
 reporting to the lieutenant-colonel.
 
 HOW AUGUSTUS FINALLY PROPOSED. 461 
 
 Augustus stood up to receive the report and the prison- 
 ers, extremely pale, but appearing preternaturally cour- 
 teous and composed. He bowed very low to the old cler- 
 gyman (who, he forgot, could not witness and appreciate 
 that graceful act of homage), and expressed infinite regret 
 that " his duty had rendered it necessary," and so forth. 
 Then turning to Virginia, whose look was scarcely less 
 stony than that of her dead sister in the cave, he bowed 
 low to her also, but without speaking, and without raising 
 his eyes to her face. 
 
 " Have this old gentleman carried to his own house, 
 and see that every attention is paid to him." 
 
 " And my daughter ? " said the blind old man, meekly. 
 
 " She shall follow you. I will myself accompany her." 
 
 " And my dead child up yonder ? " 
 
 " She shall be brought to you at the earliest possible 
 moment." 
 
 " And my faithful servant ? " 
 
 " He shall be cared for." 
 
 " Thank you." And Mr. Villars bowed his white head 
 upon his breast. 
 
 " Take the captain immediately to the hospital ! And 
 you fellow with the hacked wrist, go with him." 
 
 The number of men required to execute these orders 
 (since both the old clergyman and the wounded captain had 
 to be carried) left Augustus almost alone with Virginia. 
 Having previously sent off all his available force to Ropes 
 at the sink, in answer to a pressing call for ree'nforcements,
 
 462 HOW AUGUSTUS FINALLY PROPOSED, 
 
 he had now only the sergeant and two men at his beck. 
 But perhaps this was as he wished it to be. He ap- 
 proached Virginia, and, bowing formally, still without 
 speaking, offered her his arm. 
 
 " Thank you. I can -walk without assistance." Like 
 marble still, but with the same wild fire in her eyes. 
 " The only favor I ask of you is to be permitted to leave 
 you." 
 
 Bythewood made a motion to the sergeant, who re- 
 moved his men farther off. 
 
 " I wish to have a few words of conversation with you, 
 Miss Villars. I beg you to be seated here in the shade." 
 
 Virginia remained standing, regarding him with features 
 pale and firm as when she held the axe. It was evident 
 to her that here was another struggle before her, scarcely 
 less to be dreaded than the first. Augustus looked at 
 her, and smiled pallidly. 
 
 " If eyes could kill, Miss Villars, I think yours would 
 kiU me ! " 
 
 " If polite cruelty can kill, YOU HAVE killed my sister ! " 
 
 " O, I beg your pardon, dear Miss Villars, but it was 
 not I ! " 
 
 " I beg no pardon, but I say it WAS you ! And now 
 you will murder my father perhaps me." 
 
 " O, my excellent young lady, how you have misunder- 
 stood me ! By Heaven, I swear ! " his voice shook with 
 sincere emotion, " if I have committed a fault, it has 
 been for the love of you ! Such faults surely may be
 
 HOW AUGUSTUS FINALLY PROPOSED 463 
 
 pardoned. Virginia ! will you accept my life as an atone- 
 ment for all I have done amiss ? You shall bear my 
 name, possess my wealth, and, if you do not like the cause 
 I am engaged in, I will throw up my commission to-mor- 
 row. I will take you to France Italy Switzerland 
 wherever you wish to go. Nor do I forget your father. 
 Whatever you ask for him shall be granted. I have 
 money influence position every thing that can 
 make you happy." 
 
 There was a minute's pause, the intense glances of 
 the girl piercing through and through that pale, polite 
 mask to his soul. A selfish, chivalrous man ; not a 
 great villain, by any means ; moved by a genuine, eager, 
 unscrupulous passion for her sincere at least in that ; 
 one who might be influenced to good, and made a most 
 convenient and devoted husband : this she saw. 
 
 " Well, what more ? " 
 
 " What more ? Ah, you are thinking of your friends 
 I should say, of your friend ! It is natural. I have no ill 
 will against him. Whatever you ask for him shall be 
 granted. At a word from me, the fighting up there 
 ceases ; and he and the rest shall be permitted to go 
 wherever they choose, unharmed." 
 
 " Well, and if I reject your generous offer ? " 
 
 Augustus smiled as he answered, with a hard, inexora- 
 ble purpose in his tones, 
 
 " Then, much as I love you, I can do nothing ! " 
 
 " Nothing for my father ? "
 
 464 HOW AUGUSTUS FINALLY PROPOSED. 
 
 Nothing ! " 
 *' Nor for me ? " 
 
 " Not even for you ! " 
 
 " Why, then, God pity us all! " said Virginia, calmly. 
 
 " Truly you may say, God pity you ! For do you kno\r 
 what will happen ? Your father will die in prison : you 
 will never see him again. Your friends will be massacred 
 to a man. I will be frank with you : to a man they will 
 be given to the sword. They are but a dozen ; we are 
 fifty a hundred a thousand, if necessary. The sink 
 has already been taken, and a force is on its way to occupy 
 this end of the cave. If your friends hold out, they will 
 be starved. If they fight, they will be bayoneted and 
 shot. If they surrender, every living man of them shall 
 be hung. There is no help for them. Lincoln's army, 
 that has been coming so long, is a chimera ; it will never 
 come. The power is all in our hands ; and not even God 
 can help them. That sounds blasphemous, I know ; but 
 it is true. They are doomed. But I can save them 
 and you can save them." 
 
 " And what is to become of me ? " asked Virginia, 
 calmly as before. 
 
 " Your future is entirely in your own hands. On the 
 
 one side, what I have promised. On the other " 
 
 Augustus thought he heard a crackling of sticks, and 
 looked around. 
 
 "On the other," Virginia took up the unfinished 
 speech, "the fate of a friendless, fatherless, Union-
 
 HOW AUGUSTUS FINALLY PROPOSED. 465 
 
 loving woman in this chivalrous south ! I know how you 
 treat such women. I know what awaits me on that side. 
 And I accept it. My friends can die. My father can die ; 
 and I can. All this I accept ; all the rest, you and your 
 offers, I reject. I would not be your wife to save the 
 world. Because I not only do not love you, but because 
 I detest you. You have my answer." 
 
 With swelling breast and set teeth Augustus kept his 
 eyes upon her for full a minute, then replied, in a low 
 voice shaken by passion, 
 
 " I hoped your decision would be different. But it is 
 spoken. I cannot hope to change it ? " 
 
 " Can you change these rocks under our feet with empty 
 words ? " she said, with a white smile. 
 
 " All is over, then! Without cause you hate me, Miss 
 Villars. Hitherto, in all that has happened to you and 
 your friends, I have been blameless. If in the future I 
 am not so, remember it is your own fault." 
 
 Then the fire flashed into Virginia's cheeks, and indig- 
 nation rang in her tones as she denounced the falsehood. 
 
 " Hitherto, in the wrong that has happened to me and 
 my friends, you have XOT been blameless ! In the future 
 you cannot do more to injure us than you have already 
 done, or meant to do. Look at me, and listen while 1 
 prove what I say." 
 
 Again there was a slight noise in the thicket behind 
 them, and he would have been glad to make that an ex- 
 cuse for leaving her a moment ; but her spirit held him.
 
 466 now AUGUSTUS FINALLY PROPOSED. 
 
 " I listen," he said, inwardly quaking at he knew not 
 what. 
 
 " Do you remember the night my father was arrested ? " 
 
 " I do." 
 
 " And how you that day took a journey to be away 
 from us in our trouble ? " 
 
 " I certainly took a short journey that day, but '' his 
 eyes flickering with the uneasiness of guilt. 
 
 " And do you remember a conversation you had with 
 Lysander under a bridge ? " 
 
 His face suddenly flushed purple. " The villain has 
 betrayed me ! '' he thought. Then he stammered, " I 
 hope you have not been listening to any of that fellow's 
 slanders ! " 
 
 " You talked with Lysander under the bridge. Your 
 conversation was heard, every word of it, by a third person, 
 who lay concealed under the planks, behind you." 
 
 " A villanous spy ! " articulated Augustus. 
 
 " No spy but the man you two were at that moment 
 seeking to kill : PEXN HAPGOOD, THE SCHOOLMASTER." 
 
 It was a blow. Poor Bythewood, too luxurious and 
 inert to be a great villain, was only a weak one ; and, 
 wounded in his most sensitive point, his pride, he writhed 
 for a space with unutterable chagrin and rage. Then he 
 recovered himself. He had heard the worst; and now 
 there was nothing left for him but to cast down and tram- 
 ple with his feet (so to speak) the mask that had been 
 torn from his face.
 
 HOW AUGUSTUS FINALLY PROPOSED. 467 
 
 " Very well ! You think you know me, then ! " He 
 seized her wrists. " Now hear me ! I am not to be 
 spurned like a dog, even by the foot of the woman I love. 
 You reject, despise, insult me. As for me, I say this : 
 all shall be as I have pronounced. Your father, your 
 lover, not Fate itself shall intervene to save them ! 
 And as for you " 
 
 Again he heard a rustling by the ravine ; this time so 
 near that it startled him. He looked quickly around, and 
 saw, slowly peering through the bushes, a dark human 
 face. Had it been the terrible front of the Fate he had 
 just defied, the soul of Augustus Bythewood could not 
 have shrunk with a more sudden and appalling fear. It 
 was the face of Pomp.
 
 468 MASTER AND SLAVE CHANGE PLACES. 
 
 XLV. 
 
 MASTER AND SLAVE CHANGE PLACES. 
 
 H E sergeant and his men were several rods 
 distant : the bush through which that men- 
 acing visage peered was within as many feet. 
 Augustus reached for his revolver. 
 
 " Make a single move speak a single word and 
 you are food for the buzzards ! " came a whisper from 
 the bush that well might chill his blood. " You know 
 this rifle and you know me ! " And in the negro's 
 face shone a persuasive glitter of the old, untamable, 
 torrid ferocity of his tribe not pleasing to Augustus. 
 
 " What do you want ? " 
 
 " Give your revolver to that girl instantly ! " 
 
 " I have men within call ! " 
 
 " So have I!" 
 
 Through the bush, advancing noiselessly, came the 
 straight steel barrel of a rifle that had never missed fire 
 but once : that was when it had been aimed by Augustus 
 at the head of Po-.np. Now it was aimed by Pomp at
 
 MASTER AND SLAVE CHANGE PLACES. 469 
 
 the head of Augustus ; and it was hardly to be expected 
 that it would be so obliging as to remember that one fault, 
 and, for the sake of fairness, repeat it, now that positions 
 were reversed. Bythewood hesitated, in mortal fear. 
 
 " Obey me ! I shall not speak again ! " 
 
 And there was heard in the bush another slight noise, 
 too short, quick, and clicking, to be the crackle of a 
 twig. Neither was that pleasing to the mind of Augustus. 
 He turned, and with trembling hand made Virginia a 
 present of the revolver. 
 
 "Do you know how to use it?" Pomp asked. She 
 nodded, breathless. " And you will use it if necessary r " 
 She nodded again, and held the weapon prepared. 
 " Now," to Bythewood, " send those men away." 
 
 " What do you mean to do:" 
 
 " I mean to spare their lives and yours, if you obey 
 me. To kill you without much delay if you do not." 
 
 " If you shoot," Bythewood was beginning to regain 
 his dignity, " they will rush to the spot before you 
 can escape, and avenge me well ! " 
 
 A superb, masterful smile mounted to the ebon visage, 
 and the answer came from the bush, 
 
 " Look where the bowlder lies, up there by the ravine. 
 You will see a twinkle of steel among the leaves. There 
 are guns aimed at your men. You understand." 
 
 Perhaps Augustus did not distinguish the guns ; but 
 he understood. At a signal, his men would be shot 
 down. 
 
 40
 
 470 MASTER AND SLAVE CHANGE PLACES. 
 
 " I would prefer not to shed blood. So decide and 
 that quickly ! " said Pomp. 
 
 " And if I comply ? " 
 
 " Comply readily with all I shall demand of you, and 
 not a hair of your head shall be harmed. Now I count 
 ten. At the word ten, I send a bullet through your heart 
 if those men are still there." He commenced, like one 
 
 telling the strokes of a tolling bell : " One two 
 
 three four five " 
 
 " Sergeant," called Augustus, " take your men and 
 report to Lieutenant Ropes at the sink." 
 
 " A fine time to be taken up with a love affair ! " 
 growled the sergeant, as he obeyed. 
 
 " Now what : " said Bythewood, under an air of bra- 
 vado concealing the despair of his heart. 
 
 " Come ! " said Pomp, with savage impatience, for 
 he knew well that, if Bythewood had not yet learned of 
 Ropes' s death, messengers must be on the way to him, 
 and therefore not a moment was to be lost. He opened 
 the bushes. Augustus crept into them : Virginia followed. 
 But then suddenly the negro seemed to change his plans, 
 the spirit and firmness of the girl inspiring him with a 
 fresh idea. 
 
 " Miss Villars, we are going to the cave. Look down 
 the ravine there ; you see this path is rough." 
 
 " O, I can go anywhere, you know ! " 
 
 " But haste is necessary. You shall return the way 
 you came. Take this man with you. If you are seen
 
 MASTER AND SLAVE CHANGE PLACES. 471 
 
 by his soldiers, they will think all is well. Make him 
 go before. Shoot him if he turns his head. Dare you ? " 
 
 " I will ! " said Virginia. 
 
 " Keep near the ravine. My rifle will be there. If 
 you have any difficulty, I will end it. Now march ! " 
 
 thrusting Bythewood out of the thicket. " Straight 
 on ! Carry your pistol cocked, young lady ! " 
 
 Bitterly then did the noble Augustus repent him of 
 having sent his guard away : "I ought to have died 
 first ! " But it was too late to recall them ; and there 
 was no way left him but to yield or appear to yield 
 
 implicit obedience. 
 
 What a situation for a son of the chivalrous south ! 
 He had reviled Lysander for having been made prisoner 
 by a boy ; and here was he, the haughty, the proud, the 
 ambitious, overawed by a negro's threats, and carried 
 away captive by a girl ! However, he had a hope a 
 desperate one, indeed. He would watch for an opportu- 
 nity, wheel suddenly upon Virginia, sci/e the pistol, and 
 escape, risking a shot from it, which he knew she was 
 firmly determined to deliver in case of need (for had he 
 not seen the soldier's gashed wrist ?) and risking also 
 (what was more serious still) a shot from the rifle in the 
 ravine. 
 
 But when they came to the bowlder, there the resolu- 
 tion he had taken fell back leaden and dead upon his 
 heart. He had, on reflection, concluded that the twinkle 
 of guns in the leaves there was but a fiction of the wily
 
 472 MASTER AND SLAVE CHANGE PLACES. 
 
 African brain. As he passed, however, he perceived two 
 guns peeping through. He knew not what exultant hearts 
 were behind them, what eager eyes beneath the boughs 
 were watching him, led thus tamely into captivity ; but he 
 was impressed with a wholesome respect for them, and 
 from that moment thought no more of escape. 
 
 As Virginia approached the cave with her prisoner, the 
 two guns, having followed them closely all the way, came 
 up out of the ravine. They were accompanied by Penn 
 and Carl. In the gladness of that sight Virginia almost 
 forgot her dead sister and her captive father. Those 
 two dear familiar faces beamed upun her with joy and 
 triumph. But there was one who was not so glad. This 
 Quaker schoolmaster, turned fighting man, was the last 
 person Augustus (who was unpleasantly reminded of the 
 conversation under the bridge) would have wished to see 
 under such embarrassing circumstances. 
 
 In the cave was Toby, wailing over the dead body of 
 Salina. But at sight of the living sister he rose up and 
 was comforted. 
 
 Pomp had remained to cover the retreat. When all 
 were safely arrived, he came bounding into the cave, 
 jubilant. His bold and sagacious plans were thus far 
 successful ; and it only remained to carry them out with 
 the same inexorable energy. 
 
 " Sit here." Augustus took one of the giant's stools. 
 " I have a few words to say to this man : in the mean 
 while, one of you" turning to Penn and Carl " has-
 
 MASTER AND SLAVE CHANGE PLACES. 473 
 
 ten to the sink, and ask Stackridge to send me as many 
 men as he can spare. Bring a couple of the prisoners 
 we shall need them." 
 
 " I'll go ! " Carl cried with alacrity. 
 
 " And," added Pomp, " if there are any wounded 
 Aeeding my assistance, have them brought here. I shall 
 not, probably, be able to go to them." 
 
 While he was giving these directions, with the air of 
 one who felt that he had a momentous task before him, 
 Bythewood sat on the rock, his head heavy and hot, his 
 feet like clods of ice, and his heart collapsing with in- 
 tolerable suspense. The gloom of the cave, and the 
 strangeness of all things in it ; the sight of the corpse 
 near the entrance, of Toby, at Virginia's suggestion, 
 wiping up the pools of blood, Virginia herself per- 
 fectly calm ; Penn carefully untying and straightening 
 the pieces of rope that had served to bind Lysander, 
 all this impressed him powerfully. 
 
 " I suppose," said he, "I am to be treated as a 
 prisoner of war." 
 
 Pomp smiled. " Answer me a question. If you had 
 caught me, would you have treated me as a prisoner of 
 war ? Yes or no ; we have no time for parley." 
 
 " No," said Augustus, frankly. 
 
 " Very well ! I have caught you ! " 
 
 Fearfully significant words to the prisoner, who re- 
 membered all his injustice to this man, and the tortures 
 he had prepared for him when he should be taken! 
 40*
 
 474 MASTER AND SLAVE CHANGE PLACES, 
 
 But he had not been taken. On the contrary, he, the 
 slave, could stand there, calm and smiling, before him, 
 the master, and say, with peculiar and compressed em- 
 phasis, " Very well ! I have caught yoit, /" 
 
 " You promised that not a hair of my head should be 
 injured." 
 
 " The hair of your head is not the flesh of your body. 
 No, I will not injure the hair ! " Pomp waited for his 
 prisoner to take in all the horrible suggestiveness of this 
 equivocation; then resumed. "Is not that what you 
 would have said to me if you had found me in your 
 power after making me such a promise ? The black 
 man has no rights which the white man is bound to re- 
 spect ! The most solemn pledges made by one of your 
 race to one of mine are to be heeded only so long as 
 suits your convenience. Did you not promise your dying 
 brother in your presence to give me my freedom? 
 Answer, yes or no." 
 
 " Yes," faltered Augustus. 
 
 " And did you give it me ? " 
 
 " No." And Augustus felt that out of his own mouth 
 he was condemned. 
 
 " Well, I shall keep my promise better than you kept 
 yours. Comply with all I demand of you (this is what 
 I said), and no part of you, neither flesh nor hair, shall 
 be harmed." 
 
 " What do you demand of me ? " 
 
 " This. Here are pen and ink. Write as I dictate," 
 
 " What ? "
 
 MASTER AND SLAVE CHANGE PLACES. 475 
 
 " An order to have the fighting on your side discon- 
 tinued, and your forces withdrawn." 
 
 Augustus hesitated to take the pen. 
 
 " I have no words to waste. If you do not comply 
 readily with what I require, it is no object for me that 
 you should comply at all." 
 
 Penn came and stood by Pomp, looking calm and de- 
 termined as he. Virginia came also, and looked upon 
 the prisoner, without a smile, without a frown, but 
 strangely serious and still. These were the three against 
 whom he had sinned in the days of his power and pride ; 
 and now his shame was bare before them. He took the 
 quill, bit the feather-end of it in supreme perplexity of 
 soul, then wrote. 
 
 " Very well," said Pomp, reading the order. " But 
 you have forgotten to sign it." Augustus signed. '-Now 
 write again. A letter to your colonel. Mr. Hapgood, 
 please dictate the terms." 
 
 Penn understood the whole scheme ; he had consulted 
 with Virginia, and he was prepared. 
 
 " A safe conduct for Mr. Villars, his daughter and ser- 
 vants, beyond the confederate lines. This is all I have to 
 insist upon." 
 
 " I," said Pomp, " ask more. The man who betrayed 
 us must be sent here." 
 
 " If you mean Sprowl," said Bytliewood, " his wife 
 has no doubt saved the trouble." 
 
 " Not Sprowl, but DZSLOW."
 
 476 MASTER AXD SLATE CHAXQE PLACES. 
 
 Bythewood was terrified. Pomp had spoken with the 
 positiveness of clear knowledge and unalterable determi- 
 nation. But how was it possible to comply with his 
 demand ? Deslow had b^en promised not only pardon, 
 but protection from the very men he betrayed ! There- 
 fore he could not be given up to them without the most 
 cowardly and shameful perfidy. 
 
 " I have no influence whatever with the military au- 
 thorities," the prisoner said, after taking ample time for 
 consideration. 
 
 " You forget what you boasted to Sprowl, under the 
 bridge," said Penn. 
 
 " You forget what you just now boasted to me," said 
 Virginia. 
 
 " Call it boasting,'' said Bythewood, doggedly. " Ab- 
 solutely, I have not the power to effect what you require." 
 
 " It is your misfortune, then," said Pomp. " To have 
 boasted so, and now to fail to perform, will simply cost 
 you your life. Will you write ? or not ? " 
 
 The prisoner remained sullen, abject, silent, for some 
 seconds. Then, with a deep breath which shook all his 
 frame, and an expression of the most agonizing despair 
 on his face, he took the pen. 
 
 " I will write ; but I assure you it will do no good." 
 
 " So much the worse for you," was the grim response. 
 
 Mechanically and briefly Bythewood drew up a paper, 
 signed his name, and shoved it across the table. 
 
 " Does that suit you ? " 
 
 Pomp did not offer to take it.
 
 MASTER AXD SLAVE CHANGE PLACES. 477 
 
 "If it suits you, well. I shall not read it. It is not 
 the letter that interests us ; it is the result." 
 
 Eythewood suddenly drew back the paper, pondered its 
 contents a moment, and cast it into the fire. 
 
 " I think I had better write another." 
 
 " I think so too. I fear you have not done what you 
 might to impress upon the colonel's mind the importance 
 of these simple terms a safe conduct for Mr. Villars 
 and family, the troops withdrawn entirely from the 
 mountains, and Deslow delivered here to-night. This is 
 plain enough ; and you see the rest of us ask nothing for 
 ourselves. I advise you to write freely. Open your mind 
 to your friend. And beware," Pomp perceived by a 
 strange expression which had come into the prisoner's 
 face that this counsel was necessary, " beware that he 
 does not misunderstand you, and send a force to rescue 
 you from our hands. Tf such a thing is attempted, this 
 cave will be found barricaded. With what, you wonder ? 
 With those stones ? With your dead body, my friend ! " 
 
 After that hint, it was evident Augustus did not choose 
 to write what had first entered his mind on learning that 
 his address to the colonel was not to be examined. Penn 
 handed him a fresh sheet, and he filled it a long and con- 
 fidential letter, of which we regret that no copy now exists. 
 
 Before it was finished, Carl returned, accompanied by 
 four of the patriots and two of the prisoners. One of 
 these last was Pepperill. He was immediately paroled, 
 and sent off to the sink with the order that had been 
 previously written. The letter completed, it was folded,
 
 478 MASTER AND SLAVE CHANGE PLACES. 
 
 sealed, and despatched by the other prisoner to Colonel 
 Derring's head-quarters. 
 
 " Do you believe Deslow will be delivered up ? " said 
 Stackridge, in consultation with Penn in a corner of the cave ; 
 the farmer's gray eye gleaming with anticipated vengeance. 
 
 " I believe the confederate authorities, as a general 
 thing, are capable of any meanness. Their policy is 
 fraud, their whole system is one of injustice and selfish- 
 ness. If Derring, who is Bythewood's devoted friend, 
 can find means to give up the traitor without too gross 
 an exposure of his perfidy, he will do it. But I regret 
 that Pomp insisted on that hard condition. He was de- 
 termined, and it was useless to reason with him." 
 
 " And he is right ! " said Stackridge. " Deslow, if 
 guilty, must pay for this day's work ! " 
 
 " There is no doubt of his guilt. Pepperill knew of it 
 he whispered it to Pomp at the sink." 
 
 " Then Deslow dies the death ! He Avas sworn to us ! 
 He was sworn to Pomp ; and Pomp had saved his life ! 
 The blood of Withers, my best friend " The farm- 
 er's voice was lost in a throe of rage and grief. 
 
 " And the blood of Cudjo, whom Pomp loved ! " said 
 Penn. "I feel all you feel all Pomp feels. But for 
 me, I would leave vengeance with the Lord." 
 
 " So Avould I," said Pomp, standing behind him, com- 
 posed and grand. " And I would be the Lord's instru- 
 ment, when called. I am called. Deslow comes to me, 
 or I go to him." 
 
 " Then the Lord have mercy on his soul ! "
 
 THE TRAITOU. 
 
 479 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 THE TRAITOR. 
 
 H E news of the disaster at the sink, and 
 of the loss of prisoners, had reached Colonel 
 Derring, and he was preparing to forward 
 reinforcements, when Bythewood's letter arrived. 
 
 Of the colonel's reflections on the receipt of that sin- 
 gular missive little is known. He was unwontedly cross 
 and abstracted for an hour. At the end of that time he 
 asked for the renegade Deslow. 
 
 At the end of another hour Deslow had heen found and 
 brought to head-quarters. The colonel, having now quite 
 recovered his equanimity of temper, received him with 
 the most flattering attentions. 
 
 " You have done an honorable and patriotic work, Mr. 
 D^slow. Your friends are coming to terms. Bythewnod is 
 at this moment engaged in an amicable conference with 
 th~m. Your example has had a most salutary effect. 
 They all desire to give themselves up on similar terms. 
 But they will not believe as yet that you have been par- 
 doned and received into favor."
 
 180 THE TEAITOB. 
 
 The dark brow of the traitor brightened. 
 
 " And they have no suspicions ? " 
 
 " None whatever. They do not imagine you had any- 
 thing to do with the discovery of their retreat. Now, I've 
 been thinking you might help along matters immensely, 
 if you would go up and join Bythewood, and represent to 
 your friends the folly of holding out any longer, and show 
 them the advantage of following your example." 
 
 DC slow felt strong misgivings about undertaking this 
 delicate business. But persuasions, flatteries, and prom- 
 ises prevailed upon him at last. And at sundown he set 
 out, accompanied by the man who had brought Bythe- 
 wood' s letter. 
 
 In consequence of the messenger's long absence, it was 
 beginning to be feared, by those who had sent him, that 
 he had gone on a fruitless errand. Evening came. There 
 was sadness on the faces of Penn and Virginia, as they sat 
 by the corpse of Salina. Pomp was gloomy and silent. 
 Bythewood, bound to Lysander's rock, sat waiting, with 
 feelings we will not seek to penetrate, for the answer to 
 his letter. In that letter he had mentioned, among other 
 things, a certain pair of horses that were in his stable. Had 
 he known that the colonel, during his hour of moroseness, 
 had gone over to look at these horses, and that he was 
 now driving them about the village, well satisfied with the 
 munificent bribe, he would, no doubt, have felt easier in 
 his mind. 
 
 " You will not go to your father to-night," said Penn,
 
 THE TRAITOR. 481 
 
 having looked out into the gathering darkness, and re- 
 turned to Virginia's side. "We have one night more 
 together. May be it is the last." 
 
 Carl was comforting his wounded cousin, who had been 
 brought and placed on some skins on the floor. The patri- 
 ots were holding a consultation. Suddenly the sentinel 
 at the door announced an arrival ; and to the amazement 
 of all, the messenger entered, followed by Deslow. 
 
 The traitor came in, smiling in most friendly fashion 
 upon his late companions, even offering his hand to 
 Pomp, who did not accept it. Then he saw in the fares 
 that looked upon him a stern and terrible triumph. By 
 the rock he beheld Bythewood bound. And his hear 1 - 
 sank. 
 
 The messenger brought a letter for Augustus. Pomp 
 took it. 
 
 " This interests us!" he said, breaking the seal. " Ex- 
 cuse me, sir ! " to Bythewood. "I was once your 
 servant ; and I had forgotten that circumstances have 
 slightly changed ! As your hands are confined, I will 
 read it for you." 
 
 He read aloud. 
 
 " DEAR Gus : This is an awful bad scrape you have got 
 into ; but I suppose I must get you out of it. Villars 
 shall have passports, and an escort, if ho likes. I'll kr^ep 
 the soldiers from the mountains. The hardest thing to 
 arrange is the Deslow affair. I don't care a curse for th9 
 41
 
 482 THE TRAITOR 
 
 fellow but I don't want the name of giving him up. So, 
 if I succeed in sending him, keep mum. Probably he 
 never will come away to tell a tale. 
 
 " Yours, &c., DERBING. 
 
 "P. S. Thank you for the horses." 
 
 Then Pomp turned and looked upon the traitor, who 
 had been himself betrayed. His ghastly face was of the 
 color of grayish yellow parchment. His hat was in his 
 hand, and his short, stiff hair stood erect with terror. 
 If up to this moment there had been any doubt of his 
 guilt in Pomp's mind, it vanished. The wretch had not 
 the power to proclaim his innocence, or to plead for mercy. 
 No explanations were needed : he understood all : with 
 that vivid perception of truth which often comes Avith the 
 approach of death, he knew that he was there to die. 
 
 " Have you anything to confess ?" Pomp said to him, 
 with the solemnity of a priest preparing a sacrifice. " If 
 so, speak, for your time is short." 
 
 Deslow said nothing : indeed, his organs of speech were 
 paralyzed. 
 
 " Very well : then I will tell you, we know all. We 
 trusted you. You have betrayed us. Withers is dead : 
 you killed him. Cudjo is dead : his blood is upon your 
 soul. For this you are now to die." 
 
 There was another besides Deslow whom these calm 
 and terrible words appalled. It was By the wood, who 
 feared lest, after all he had accomplished, his turn might 
 come next.
 
 THE TRAITOR. 483 
 
 It was some time before the fear-stricken culprit could 
 recover the power of speech. Then, in a sudden, hoarse, 
 cr.d scarcely articulate shriek, his voice burst forth : 
 
 " Save me ! save me ! " 
 
 He rushed to where the patriots stood. But they 
 thrust him back sternly. 
 
 ' ; This is Pomp's business. Deal with him ! " 
 
 " Will no one save me ? Will no one speak for my 
 life ? " These words were ejaculated with the ghastly 
 accent and volubility of terror. 
 
 " Your life is forfeited. Pomp saved it once ; now he 
 takes it. It is just," said Stackridge. 
 
 " My God ! my God ! my God ! " Thrice the doomed 
 man uttered that sacred name with wild despair, and with 
 intervals of strange and silent horror between. " Then 
 I must die ! " 
 
 li / will speak for you," said a voice of solemn compas- 
 sion. And Penn stepped forward. 
 
 " You ? you ? you will ? " 
 
 " Do not hope too much. Pomp is inexorable as he is 
 just. But I will plead for you." 
 
 " O, do ! do ! There is something in his face I can- 
 not bear it but you can move him ! " 
 
 Pomp was leaning thoughtfully by one of the giant's 
 stools. Penn drew near to him. Deslow crouched be- 
 hind, his whole frame shaking visibly. 
 
 " Pomp, if you love me, grant me this one favor. 
 Leave this wretch to his God. What satisfaction cat
 
 484 THE TRAITOR. 
 
 there be in taking the life of so degraded and abject a 
 creature r " 
 
 "There is satisfaction injustice," replied Pomp, quietly 
 smiling. 
 
 " O, but the satisfaction there is in mercy is infinitely 
 sweeter ! Forgiveness is a holy thing, Pomp ! It brings 
 the blessing of Heaven with it, and it is more effective 
 than vengeance. This man has a wife ; he has children ; 
 think of them ! " 
 
 These words, and many more to the same purpose, 
 Penn poured forth with all the earnestness of his soul. 
 He pleaded : he argued ; he left no means untried to 
 melt that adamantine will. In vain all. When he fin- 
 ished, Pomp took his hand in one of his, and laying the 
 other kindly on his shoulder, said in his deepest, tenderest 
 tones, 
 
 " I have heard you because I love you. What you say 
 is just. But another thing is just that this man should 
 die. Ask anything but this of me, and you will see how 
 gladly I will grant all you desire." 
 
 "I have done." Penn turned sadly away. "It is 
 as I feared. Deslow, I will not flatter you. There is 
 no hope." 
 
 Then Deslow, regaining somewhat of his manhood, 
 drew himself up, and prepared to meet his fate. 
 
 " Soon ? " he asked, more firmly than he had yet 
 spoken. 
 
 " Now," said Pomp. He lighted a lantern. " You
 
 THE TRAITOR. 485 
 
 must go with me. There are eyes here that would not 
 look upon your death." He took his rifle. " Go 
 before." And he conducted his victim into the recesses 
 in the cave. 
 
 They came to the well, into the unfathomable mystery 
 of which Carl had dropped the stone. There Pomp 
 stopped. 
 
 " This is your grave. Would you take a look at it ? " 
 He held the lantern over the fearful place. The falling 
 waters made in those unimaginable depths the noise of 
 far-off thunders. Half dead with fear already, the wretch 
 looked down into the hideous pit. 
 
 " Must I die ? " he uttered in a ghastly whisper. 
 
 " You must ! I will shoot you first in mercy to you ; 
 for I am not cruel. Have you prayers to make ? I will 
 wait." 
 
 Deslow sank upon his knees. He tried to confess him- 
 self to God, to commit his soul with decency into His 
 hands. But the words of his petition stuck in his throat: 
 the dread of immediate death absorbed all feeling else. 
 
 Pomp, who had retired a short distance, supposed he 
 had made an end. 
 
 " Are you ready ?" he asked, placing his lantern on the 
 rock, and poising his rifle. 
 
 " I cannot pray ! " said Deslow. " Send for a minister 
 for Mr. Villars ! I cannot die so." 
 
 " It is too late," answered Pomp, sorrowful, yet stern. 
 " Mr. Villars has been carried away by the soldiers you 
 41*
 
 486 THE TRAITOR. 
 
 sent. If you cannot pray for yourself, then there is none 
 to pray for you." 
 
 Scarce had he spoken, when out of the darkness benr"" 1 
 him came a voice, saying with solemn sweetness, as if an 
 angel responded from the invisible profound, 
 
 " I will pray for him ! " 
 
 He turned, and saw in the lantern's misty glimmer a 
 spectral form advancing. It drew near. It was a female 
 figure, shadowy, noiseless ; the right hand raised with 
 piteous entreaty ; the countenance pale to whiteness, 
 its fresh and youthful beauty clothed with sadness and 
 compassion as with a veil. 
 
 It was Virginia. All the way through the dismal 
 galleries of the cave, and down Cudjo's stairs, she had 
 followed the executioner and his victim, in order to plead 
 at the last moment for that mercy for which Penn had 
 pleaded in vain. 
 
 Struck with amazement, Pomp gazed at her for a mo- 
 ment as if she had been really a spirit. 
 
 " How came you here ? " 
 
 She laid one hand upon his arm ; with the other she 
 pointed upwards ; her eyes all the while shining upon him 
 with a wondrous brilliancy, Avhich was of the spirit indeed, 
 and not of the flesh. 
 
 " Heaven sent me to pray for him and for you." 
 
 " For me, Miss Villars ? " 
 
 " For you, Pomp ! " Her voice also had that strange 
 melting quality which comes only from the soul. It
 
 THE TRAITOR. 487 
 
 was low, and full of love and sorrow. " For if you 
 slay this man, then you will have more need of prayers 
 than he." 
 
 Pomp was shaken. The touch on his arm, the tones 
 of that voice, the electric light of those inspired eyes, 
 moved him with a power that penetrated to his inmost 
 soul. Yet he retained his haughty firmness, and said 
 coldly, 
 
 " If there had been mercy for this man, Penn would 
 have obtained it. The hardest thing I ever did was to 
 deny him. What is there to be said which he did 
 not say ? " 
 
 " O, he spoke earnestly and well ! '' replied Virginia. 
 " I wondered how you could listen to him and not yield. 
 But he is a man ; and as a man he gave up all hope when 
 reason failed, and he saw you so implacable. But I 
 would never have given up. I would have clung to your 
 knees, and pleaded with you so long as there was breath 
 in me to ask or heart to feel. I would not have let you 
 go till you had shouTi mercy to this poor man ! " 
 (Deslow had crawled to her feet : there he knelt grov- 
 elling), "and to yourself, Pomp! If he dies repent- 
 Ing, and you kill him unrelenting, I would rather be 
 he than you. When we shut the gate of mercy on others 
 we shut it on ourselves. For all that you have done for 
 my father and friends, and for me, I am filled with gratitude 
 and friendship. Your manly traits have inspired me with 
 an admiration that was almost hero-worship. For thi
 
 488 THE TRAITOR. 
 
 reason I would save you from a great crime. O, Pomp, if 
 only for my sake, do not annihilate the noble and grand 
 image of you which has built itself up in my heart, and 
 leave only the memory of a strange horror and dread in 
 its place ! " 
 
 Pomp had turned his eyes away from hers, knowing that 
 if he continued to be fascinated by them, he must end by 
 yielding. He drooped his head, leaning on his rifle, and 
 looking down upon the wretch at their feet. A strong 
 convulsion shook his whole frame, as she ceased speaking. 
 There was silence for some seconds. Then he spoke, 
 still without raising his eyes, in a deep, subdued voice. 
 
 " This man is the hater of my race. He is of those who 
 rob us of our labor, our lives, our wives, and children, 
 and happiness. They enslave both body and soul. They 
 damn us with ignorance and vice. To take from us the 
 profits of our toil is littlo ; but they take from us our 
 manhood also. Yet here he came, and accepted life and 
 safety at my hands. He made an oath, and I made an 
 oath. His oath was never to betray my poor Cucljo's 
 secret. The oath I made was to kill him as I would a 
 dog if his should be broken. It has been broken. 
 My poor Cudjo is dead. Withers is dead. Your sister 
 is dead. I see it to be just that this traitor too should 
 now die ! " 
 
 Again he poised his rifle. But Virginia threw herself 
 upon the victim, covering with her own pure bosom his 
 miserable, guilty breast.
 
 THE TRAITOR. 489 
 
 Pomp smiled. " Do not fear. For your sake I have 
 pardoned him." 
 
 " O, this is the noblest act of your life, Pomp ! " she 
 exclaimed, clasping his hand with joy and gratitude. 
 
 He looked in her face. A great weight was taken from 
 his soul. His countenance was bright and glad. 
 
 " Do you think it was not a bitter cup for me ? You 
 have taken it from me, and I thank you. But Bythe- 
 wood must not know I have relented. We have yet a 
 work to do with him." 
 
 Then those who had been left behind in the cave, 
 listening for the death-signal, heard the report of a rifle 
 ringing through the chambers of rock. Not long after 
 Pomp and Virginia returned ; and Deslow was not with 
 them. Augustus heard Augustus saw nor knew he 
 any reason why the fate of Deslow should not presently 
 be his own. 
 
 " Is justice done ? " said Stackridge, with stern eyes 
 fixed on Pomp. 
 
 " Is justice done ?" said Pomp, turning to Virginia. 
 
 " Justice is done ! " she answered, in a serious, firm
 
 490 BREAD ON THE WATERS, 
 
 XLVII. 
 
 BREAD ON THE WATERS. 
 
 H E next morning a singular procession set out 
 from the cave. Stretchers had been framed 
 of the trunks and boughs of saplings, and upon 
 these the dead and wounded of yesterday were placed. 
 They were borne by the prisoners of yesterday, who had 
 been paroled for the purpose. Carl walked by the side 
 of the litter that conveyed his cousin Fritz, talking cheer- 
 fully to him in then* native tongue. Behind them was 
 carried the dead body of Salina, followed by old Toby 
 with uncovered head. With him went Peppcrill, charged 
 with the important business of seeing that all was done 
 for the Villars family which had been stipulated, and of 
 reporting to Pomp at the cave afterwards. 
 
 Last of all came Virginia, leaning on Penn's arm. Ke 
 was speaking to her earnestly, in low, quivering tones : 
 she listened with downcast countenance, full of all tender 
 and sad emotions ; for they were about to part. 
 
 Pepperill was intrusted with a second letter from Bythe 
 Wood to the colonel, couched in these terms :
 
 KBEAD ON THE WATKRS. 491 
 
 Deslow was taken last night, and slaughtered in cold 
 Wood. The same will happen to me if all is not done as 
 agreed. I am to be retained as a hostage until PepperilTs 
 return. For Heaven's sake, help Mr. Villars and his fam- 
 ily off with all convenient despatch, and oblige,''' &c. 
 
 Virginia was going to try her fortune with her father ; 
 but Penn's lot was cast with his friends who remained at, 
 the cave. From these he could not honorably separate 
 himself until all danger was over ; and, much as he longed 
 to accompany her, he knew well that, even if he should 
 be permitted to do so, his presence would be productive 
 of little good to either her or her father. Moreover, it 
 had been wisely resolved not to demand too much of the 
 military authorities. A safe conduct could be granted 
 with good grace to a blind old minister and his daughter, 
 but not to men who had been in arms against the confed- 
 erate government. Nor was it thought best to trust or 
 tempt too far these minions of the new slave despotism, 
 whose recklessness of obligations which interest or re- 
 venge prompted them to evade, was so notorious. 
 
 Penn would have attended Virginia to the base of the 
 mountain, risking all things for the melancholy pleasure 
 of prolonging these last moments. But this she would 
 not permit. Hard as it was to utter the word of sep- 
 aration, to see him return to those solitary and danger- 
 ous rocks, not knowing that he would ever be able to 
 leave them, or that she would ever see him again in this 
 world ; still, her love was greater than her selfishness, 
 and she had strength even for that.
 
 492 BREAD ON THE WATERS. 
 
 " No farther now ! O. you must go no farther ! " 
 And, resolutely pausing, she called to Carl, for Carl's 
 lot too lay with his. Toby and Pepperill also stopped. 
 
 " Daniel," said Penn, with impressive solemnity, " into 
 thy hands I commit this precious charge. Be faithful. 
 Good Toby, I trust we shall meet again in God's good 
 time. Farewell ! farewell ! " 
 
 And the procession went its way ; only Penn and Carl 
 remained gazing after it long, with hearts too full for 
 words. 
 
 When it was out of sight, and they were turning 
 silently to retrace their steps, they saw a man come out 
 of the woods, and beckon to them. It was a negro it 
 was Barber Jim. 
 
 Permitted to approach, he told his story. Since the 
 escape of the arrested Unionists through his cellar, he 
 had been an object of suspicion ; and last night his house 
 had been attacked by a mob. He had managed to 
 escape, and was now hiding in the woods to save his 
 life. 
 
 " Deslow betrayed you with the rest/' said Penn ; 
 4 that explains it." 
 
 " My wife my two daughters : what will become of 
 them ? " said the wretched man. " And my property, 
 that I have been all this while laying up for them ! " 
 
 " Do not despair, my friend. Your property is mostly 
 real estate, and cannot be so easily appropriated to rebel 
 uses, as the money deposited for me in the bank, from
 
 BIIEAD ON THE WATERS. 493 
 
 which I was never allowed to draw it ! It will wait for' 
 you. A kind Providence will care for your family, I am 
 sure. As for you, I do not see what else you can do but 
 share our fortunes. There is one comfort for you, we 
 are all about as badly off as yourself." 
 
 "l^ou shall have your pick of some muskets," said 
 Carl, gayly ; " and you vill find us as jolly a set of waga- 
 bonds as ever you saw ! " 
 
 " Have you plenty of arms ? " 
 
 " Arms is more plenty as prowisions. Vat is vanted is 
 wittles. Vat is vanted most is wegetables. Bears and 
 vild turkeys inwite themselves to be shot, but potatoes 
 keep wery shy, and ve suffers for sour krout." 
 
 Barber Jim mused. " I will go with you. I am 
 glad," he added, as if to himself, " that I paid Toby off 
 us I did." 
 
 What he meant by this last remark will be seen. 
 
 Mr. Villars had taken the precaution to invest his 
 available funds in Ohio Railroad stock some time before. 
 Arrived in Cincinnati, he would be able to reap the 
 advantages of this timely forethought. But in the mean 
 time the expenses of a long journey must be defrayed 1 , 
 and he found it impossible now to raise money on h?s 
 house or household goods. All the ready cash he could 
 command was barely sufficient to afford a decent burial 
 to his daughter. He was discussing this serious diffi- 
 culty with Virginia, whilst preparations for Salina's fu< 
 42
 
 494 BREAD 0-V THL WATERS. 
 
 neral and their own departure were going forward simul- 
 taneously, when Toby came trotting in, jubilant and 
 breathless, and laid a little dirty bag in his lap. 
 
 " I's fetched 'em ! dar ye got 'em, massa ! " And 
 the old negro wiped the sweat from his shining face. 
 
 " What, Toby ! Money ! " (for the little bag was heavy). 
 " Where did you get it ? " 
 
 " Gold, sar ! Gold, Miss Jinny ! Needn't look 'spi- 
 cious ! I neber got 'em by no underground means ! " 
 (He meant to say underhand.} " I'll jes' 'splain 'bout 
 dat. Ye see, Massa Villars, eber sence ye gib me my 
 freedom, ye been payin' me right smart wages, seben 
 dollah a monf ! Dunno' how much dat ar f ur a year, but 
 I reckon it ar a heap ! An' you rec'lec' you says to me, 
 you says, ' Hire it out to some honest man, Toby, and 
 ye kin draw inference on it,' you says. So what does I do 
 but go and pay it all to Barber Jim fast as eber you pays 
 me. 'Pears like I neber knowed how much I was wuf, 
 till tudder day he says to me, ' Toby,' he says, ' times is 
 so mighty skeery I's afeard to keep yer money for ye any 
 longer ; hyar 'tis fur ye, all in gold.' So he gibs it to me 
 in dis yer little bag, an' I takes it, an' goes an' buries it 
 'hind de cow shed, whar 'twould keep sweet, ye know, fur 
 de family. An' hyar it ar, shore enough, massa, jes' de 
 ting fur dis yer 'casion ! " 
 
 " So you got it by underground means, after all ! " 
 said Virginia, with mingled laughter and tears, opening 
 the bag and pouring out the bright eagles.
 
 BREAD ON THE WATERS. 495 
 
 The old clergyman was silent for a space, overcome 
 with emotion. 
 
 " God bless you for a faithful servant, Toby ! and Bar- 
 ber Jim for an honest man." 
 
 " Dat's nuffin ! " said Toby, snuffing and winking ludi- 
 crously. " Why shouldn't a cullud pusson hab de right to 
 be honest, well as white folks ? If you's gwine to tank 
 anybody, ye better jes' tink and tank yersef ! Who gib 
 ol' Toby his freedom, an' den 'pose to pay him wages ? 
 Reckon if 't hadn't been fur dat, massa, I neber should 
 hab de bressed chance to do dis yer little ting fur de 
 family ! " 
 
 " We will thank only our heavenly Father, whose ten- 
 der care we will never doubt, after this ! " said the old 
 minister, with deep and solemn joy. 
 
 " Wust on't is, Jim hissef's got inter trouble now," 
 said Toby. "He hab to put fur de woods; an' his 
 family wants to git to de norf, whar dey tinks he'll 
 mabby be gwine to meet 'em; but dey can't seem to 
 manage it." 
 
 " O, father, I have an idea ! You will have a right to 
 take your servants with you ; and Jim's wife and daugh- 
 ters might pass as servants." 
 
 " I shall be rejoiced to help them in any way. Go and 
 find them, Toby. Thus the bread we cast on the water 
 ometimes returns to us before many daya ! "
 
 496 EMANCIPATION OF THE BOSDMEN. 
 
 XLVIII 
 
 EMANCIPATION OF TEE BONDMEN. CON- 
 CLUSION. 
 
 WEEK had elapsed since Augustus became 
 a captive ; when, one cloudy afternoon, Dan 
 Pepperill returned alone to the mountain cave. 
 Pomp met him at the entrance. 
 
 "All safe?" 
 
 " I be durued if they ain't ! " said Dan, exultant. 
 " The ol' man, and the nigger, and the gal, and Jim's 
 wife and darters inter the bargain ! Went with 'em 
 myself all the way, by stage and rail, till I seen 'em ovei 
 the line inter ol' Kentuck'. Durned if I didn't wish I war 
 gwine for good myself." 
 
 " You shall go now if you will. I have been waiting 
 only for you. Cudjo is dead. All the rest are gone. 
 There is nothing to keep me here. Will you go back to 
 the rebels, or make a push with us for the free states ? 
 Speak quick ! " 
 
 Pepperill only groaned.
 
 EMANCIPATION OF THE BONDMEN. 497 
 
 " Nine more have joined since Jim came. They 
 make a strong party, all armed, and determined to fight 
 their way through. They are already twenty miles away , 
 but we will overtake them to-morrow. I am to guide them 
 I know every cave and defile. Will you come ? " 
 
 " Pomp, ye know I'd be plaguy glad ter ; but 'tain't sc 
 ter be ! I hain't no gre't fancy fur this secesh business, 
 that ar' a fact. But I'm in fur't, and I reckon I sh'll haf ' 
 ter put it through ; '' and Dan heaved a deep sigh of regret. 
 Without knowing it, he was a fatalist. Being too weak 
 or inert to resist the hand of despotism laid upon him, he 
 yielded to its weight and accepted it as destiny. The 
 rebel ranks have been filled with such. 
 
 Pomp smiled with mingled pity and derision. " Good 
 by, then ! I hope this war will do something for your 
 class as well as for mine you need it as much ! Wait 
 here, and you shall have company." 
 
 He took a lantern, and entered the interior chambei 
 of the cave. After the lapse of many minutes he re- 
 turned, dragging, as from a dungeon, into the light of 
 day, a wretch who could scarcely have expected ever to 
 behold that blessed boon again, he was so abject, so 
 filled with joy and trembling. It was Deslow. Then 
 turning to the corner where Augustus sat confined, the 
 negro cut his bonds and lifted him to his feet. Poor 
 Bythewood, rheumatic, stiff in the joints, and terribly 
 wasted by anxiety and chagrin, presented a scarcely less 
 piteous spectacle than Deslow ; nor were his fallen spirits 
 42*
 
 498 EMANCIPATION OF THE BONDMEN. 
 
 revived by the sight of this craven, whom he had sup- 
 posed to be long since past the memory of the wrong he 
 had done him, and the earthly passion for revenge. 
 
 " My friends," said Pomp, leading them to the en- 
 trance, and showing them to each other in the gray glim- 
 mer of that cloudy afternoon, " our little accounts are 
 now closed for the present, and my business with you 
 ends. You are at liberty to depart. Deslow, do not 
 hate too bitterly this man for betraying you into my 
 hands. Remember that you set the example of treach- 
 ery, and that the cause to which you are both sworn is 
 itself founded on treachery. As for you, Mr. Bythewood, 
 I trust that you will pardon the inconvenience I have 
 found it necessary to subject you to. I have restrained 
 you of your liberty for some days. You restrained me of 
 mine for nearly as many years. I have no longer any 
 ill will towards either of you. Go in peace. I emanci- 
 pate you. I shall not hunt you with hounds, because I have 
 been your master for a little while. I shall not put iron 
 collars on your necks. I shall neither brand nor beat you. 
 You are free ! Does the word sound pleasant to your 
 ears ? Think then of those to whom it would sound just 
 as sweet. Has the rule of a. hard master seemed grievous 
 to you ? Remember those to whom it is no less grievous. 
 If might makes right, then you have been as much my 
 property as ever black man was yours. Is there no law, 
 no justice, but the power of the strongest? You have 
 had a few days' experience of that power, and can judge
 
 EMANCIPATION OF THE BONDMEX. 499 
 
 what a life's experience of it might be. Reflect upon it, 
 my friends." 
 
 He led them to the opening of the cave. Then he 
 pointed to the clouds. " You cannot see the sun ; but 
 the sun is there. You do not see God, through the trou- 
 bled affairs of this world ; but God is over all. He gov- 
 erns, although you have left him quite out of your plans. 
 Your plans are, no doubt, very great and mighty, but 
 see ! " passing over his knee the cord with which 
 Bythewood had been bound. " This is the chain with 
 which you bind my brothers and sisters. It is strong. 
 You have drawn it very tight about them. But you 
 thought to draw it tighter still, to hold them fast forever ; 
 and look, you have broken it ! " 
 
 So saying, he displayed with a smile the two fragments 
 of the rope that had snapped like a mere string in his 
 hands. 
 
 "So tyranny is made to defeat itself!" trampling 
 the ends under hig feet. " I have said it. Remem- 
 ber ! " 
 
 Uttering these last words, he walked backwards slowly, 
 resumed his rifle and lantern, and disappeared in the dark 
 recesses of the cave. The freed prisoners then, joining 
 Pepperill, took their way slowly down the mountain, sad- 
 der if not wiser men. 
 
 The reappearance of Bythewood was a signal for send- 
 ing immediately two full companies to capture the cave. 
 They succeeded ; but they captured nothing else. Pomp,
 
 500 EMANCIPATION OF THE BONDMEN. 
 
 escaping tiirough the sink, was already miles away on the 
 trail of the refugees. 
 
 Thus ends the story of Cudjo's Cave. Other conclu- 
 sion, to give it dramatic completeness, it ought, perhaps, 
 to have ; but the struggles, of which we have here wit- 
 nessed the beginning, have not yet ended [Nov., 1863] ; 
 and one can scarcely be expected to describe events 
 before they transpire. 
 
 We may add, however, that Mr. Villars, Virginia, and 
 Toby, arrived safely at their destination, a small town 
 on the borders of Ohio, where they were cordially wel- 
 comed by relatives of the family. There, three weeks 
 later, they "were visited by two very suspicious looking 
 characters, one a bronzed and bearded young man, 
 robust, rough, with an eye like an eagle's gleaming from 
 under his old slouched hat, whom nobody, I am sure, 
 would ever have taken for a Quaker schoolmaster ; the 
 other a stout, ruddy, blue-eyed, laughing, ragged lad of 
 sixteen, who certainly did not pass for a rebel deserter. 
 Strange to say, these pilgrims of the dusty roads and 
 rocky wildernesses were welcomed (not to speak it pro- 
 fanely) like angels from heaven by the old man, his 
 daughter, and Toby, their brown hands shaken, their 
 coarse, torn clothes embraced, and their sunburnt faces 
 kissed, with a rapture amazing to strangers of the house- 
 hold. They were travelling (as the younger remarked in 
 an accent which betrayed his Teutonic origin) to
 
 EMANCIPATION OF THE BONDMEN. 501 
 
 eylwany,'* the home of the elder; and they had come 
 thus far out of their way to make this angels' visit. 
 
 With these two Barber Jim had journeyed as far as 
 Cincinnati, where he found his family comfortably pro- 
 vided for by persons to whose benevolence Mr. Villars 
 had recommended them. The other refugees had also got 
 safely over the mountains, after a march full of toils and 
 dangers ; and nearly all were now in the federal camps. 
 A long history, full of deep and painful interest, might be 
 written concerning the subsequent fortunes of these men, 
 and of their families and neighbors left behind, a his- 
 tory of hardships, of forced separations and ruined homes, 
 of starvation in woods and caves to which loyal citi- 
 zens were driven by the rage of persecution, and of 
 terrible retribution. Stackridge, Grudd, and many of 
 their brother refugees, had the joy of participating in 
 those military movements of last summer, by which East 
 Tennessee was relieved ; of beholding the tremendous 
 ruin which the blind pride of their foes had pulled down 
 upon itself; and of witnessing the jubilee of a patriotic 
 people released from a remorseless and unsparing tyranny. 
 
 A word of Pomp. Have you read the newspaper 
 stories of a certain negro scout, who, by his intrepidity, 
 intelligence, and wonderful celerity of movement, has ren- 
 dered such important services to the Army of the Cum- 
 berland ? He is the man. 
 
 Dan Pepperill fell in the battle of Stone River, fight- 
 ing in a cause he never loved the type of many such-
 
 502 EMANCIPATION OF THE 
 
 Bythewood, after losing his influence at home, and trying 
 various fortunes, became attached to the staff of the noto- 
 rious Roger A. Pryor, in whose disgrace he shared, when 
 that long-haired rebel chief was reduced to the ranks for 
 cowardice. 
 
 As for Carl, he is now a stalwart corporal in the th 
 Pennsylvania regiment. He serves under a dear friend 
 of his, known as the " Fighting Quaker," and distin- 
 guished for that rare combination of military and moral 
 qualities which constitutes the true hero. 
 
 I regret that I cannot brighten these prosaic last pages 
 with the halo of a wedding. But Penn had said, " Our 
 country first ! " and Virginia, heroic as he, had answered 
 bravely, " Go ! " Whether they will ever be happily 
 united on earth, who can say ? But this we know : the 
 golden halo of the love that maketh one has crowned 
 their united souls, and, with perfect patience and perfect 
 trust, they wait.
 
 i ' ENVOY. 508 
 
 L' ENVOY. 
 
 HE foregoing pages are, as the writer sin- 
 J cerely believes, true to history and life in 
 ' all important particulars. In order to give 
 form and unity to the narrative, characters and inci- 
 dents have been brought together within a much nar- 
 rower compass, both of time and space, than they actually 
 occupied : events have been described as occurring in the 
 summer of 1861, many of which did not take place till 
 some months later ; and certain other liberties have been 
 taken with facts. Two separate and distinct caves have 
 been connected, in the story, by expanding both into one, 
 which is for the most part imaginary, but which, I trust, 
 will not be considered as a too improbable fiction in a 
 region where caves and " sinks " abound. 
 
 Lastly, is an apology needed for the scenes of violence 
 here depicted ? Neither do I, O gentle reader, delight 
 in them. But the book that would be a mirror of evil 
 times, must show some repulsive features. And this book
 
 504 L 'ENVOY 
 
 was written, not to please merely, but for a sterner 
 purpose. 
 
 For peaceful days, a peaceful and sunny literature : 
 and may Heaven hasten the time when there shall be no 
 more strife, and no more human bondage ; when under 
 the folds of the starry flag, from the lake chain to the 
 gulf, and from sea to sea, freedom, and peace, and right- 
 eousness shall reign ; when all men shall love each other, 
 and the nations shall know P<od !
 
 THE TOBY TRAFFORD SERIES 
 
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 Tlvree Volumes. . . Cloth. . . Illustrated 
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 books like this." St. Botolph. 
 
 For sale by all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt of price 
 by the publishers. Our Illustrated Catalogue sent free. 
 
 LEE & SHEPARD, Publishers, Boston
 
 The Tide=MHl Stories 
 
 By J. T. TROWBRlDCiE 
 
 Six Volumes. Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume, $1.25 
 
 Phil and Mis Friends. 
 
 The hero is the son of a man who from drink got into debt, and, after hav- 
 ing given a paper to a creditor authorizing him to keep the sou as a se- 
 curity for his claim, ran away, leaving poor Phil a bond slave. The story 
 involves a great many unexpected incidents, some of which are painful and 
 some couiic. Phil manfully works for a year cancelling his father's debt, 
 and then escapes. The characters are strongly drawn, and the story is ab- 
 sorbingly interesting. 
 
 The Tinkham Brothers' Tide-Mill. 
 
 " : The Tinkham Brothers ' were the devoted sous of an invalid mother. The 
 story tells bow they purchased a tide-mill, which afterwards, by the ill-will 
 and obstinacy of neighbors, became a source of much trouble to them. It 
 tells also how, by discretion and the exercise of a peaceable spirit, they at 
 last overcame all difficulties." Christian Observer, Louisville, Ky. 
 
 The .Satin-wood Box. 
 
 " Mr. Trowbridge has always a purpose in his writings, and this time he 
 has undertaken to show how very near an innocent boy can come to the 
 guilty edge and yet be able by fortunate circumstances to rid himself of all 
 suspicion of evil. There is something winsome about the hero ; but he has 
 a singular way of falling into bad luck, although the careful render will 
 never feel the least disposed to doubt his honesty." Syracuse Standard. 
 
 The Little Master. 
 
 This is the story of a schoolmaster, his trials, disappointments, and final 
 ' ! experience in teaching pupils, and 
 
 in managing their opinionated and self-willed parents. The story has the 
 Mcfcisal - J " JJ 
 
 victory. It will recall to many a man nis 
 in managing their opinionated and self- 
 charm which is always found in Mr. Trowbridge'S works. 
 
 " Many a teacher could profit by reading of this plucky little school- 
 master." Journal of Education. 
 
 His One Fault. 
 
 " As for the hero of this story ' His One Fault ' was absent-mindedness. 
 He forgot to lock his uncle's stable door, and the horse was stolen. In 
 seeking to recover the stolen horse, he unintentionally stole another. In 
 trying to restore the wrong horse to his rightful owner, he was himself ar- 
 rested. After no end of comic and dolorous adventures, he surmounted all 
 his misfortunes by downright pluck and genuine good feeling. It is a noble 
 contribution to juvenile literature." woman's Journal. 
 
 Peter Budstone. 
 
 " Mr. J. T. Trowbridge'S ' Peter Budstone ' is another of those altogether 
 good and wholesome books for boys of which it is hardly possible to speak too 
 highly. This author shows us convincingly how juvenile reading may be 
 made vivacious and interesting, and yet teach sound and clean lessons. 
 'Peter Budstone ' shows forcibly the folly and crime of ' hazing.' It is the 
 story of a noble young fellow whose reason is irreparably overthrown by 
 the savage treatment he received from some of his associates at college. 
 It is a powerful little book, and we wish every schoolboy and college youth 
 could read it." Philadelphia American. 
 
 Illustrated Catalogue sent free on application. 
 
 UEE & SHEPARD, Publishers, Boston
 
 The Silver Medal Stories 
 
 By J. T. TROWBRIDGE 
 
 Six Volumes. Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume, $1.25 
 The Silver Medal, AND OTHER STORIES. 
 
 There were some schoolboys who had turned housebreakers, and among 
 their plunder was a silver medal that had been given to one John Harrison 
 by the Humane Society for rescuing from drowning a certain Bentou 
 Barry. Isow Benton Barry was one of the wretched housebreakers. This is 
 the summary of the opening chapter. The story is intensely interesting in 
 its serious as well as its humorous parts. 
 
 His Own Master. 
 
 " This is a book after the typical boy's own heart. Its hero is a plucky 
 young tellow, who, seeing no chance for himself at home, determines to 
 make his own way in the world. ... He sets out accordingly, trudges to the 
 far West, and finds the road to fortune an unpleasantly rough one." Phil- 
 adelphia Inquirer. 
 
 Bound in Honor. 
 
 This story is of a lad, who, though not guilty of any bad action, has been 
 an eye-witness of the conduct of his comrades, and felt " Bound in Honor " 
 not to tell. 
 
 " A capital book in all respects, overflowing with all sorts of fun and 
 adventure ; just the sort of book, in short, that the young folks will be 
 anxious to read and :-e-read with as much continuous interest as the most 
 favored of their story oooks." Philadelphia Leader. 
 
 The Pocket Rifle. 
 
 "A boy's story which will be read with avidity, as it ought to be, it is so 
 brightly and frankly written, and with such evident knowledge of the tem- 
 peraments and habits, the friendships and enmities of schoolboys." New 
 York Mail. 
 
 " This is a capital story for boys. It teaches honesty, integrity, and friend- 
 ship, and how best they can be promoted. It shows the danger of hasty 
 judgment and circumstantial evidence ; that right-doing pays, and dishon- 
 esty never." Chicago Inter-Ocean. 
 
 The Jolly Rover. 
 
 " This book will help to neutralize the ill effects of any poison which chil- 
 dren may have swallowed in the way of sham-adventurous stories and wildly 
 fictitious tales. ' The Jolly Rover ' runs away from home, and meets life as 
 it is, till he is glad enough to seek again his father's house. Mr. Trowbridge 
 has the power of making an instructive story absorbing in its interest, and 
 of covering a moral so that it is easy to take." Christian Intelligencer. 
 
 Young Joe, AND OTHER BOYS. 
 
 " Young Joe," who lived at Bass Cove, where he shot wild ducks, took 
 some to town for sale, and attracted the attention of a portly gentleman 
 fond of shooting. This gentleman went duck shooting with Joe, and their 
 adventures were more amusing to the boy than to the amateur sportsman. 
 
 There are thirteen other short stories in the book which will be sure to 
 please the young folks. 
 
 Complete Illustrated Catalogue sent free on application. 
 
 LEE & SHEPARD, Publishers, Boston
 
 THE START IN LIFE SERIES 
 
 By J. T. TROWBRIDQE 
 Cloth Illustrated Price per volume, $1.00 
 
 A Start in Life : A STORY OF THE 
 
 GENESEE COUNTRY, 
 
 In this story the author recounts the hard- 
 ships of a young lad in his first endeavor to 
 start out for himself. It is a tale that is full 
 of enthusiasm and budding hopes. The 
 hero is a striking example of the honest boy, 
 who is not too lazy to work, nor too dull to 
 thoroughly appreciate a joke. 
 
 Biding His Time. 
 
 "It is full of spirit and adventure, and 
 presents a plucky hero who was willing to 
 bide his time,' no matter how great the ex- 
 pectations that he indulged in from his 
 uncle's vast wealth, which he did not in 
 the louii cj% r et." Boston Home Journal. 
 
 The Kelp Gatherers * A STORY OF THE MAINE COAST. 
 
 This book is full of interesting information upon the plant life of the 
 sea-shore, and the life of marine animals; but it is also a bright and read- 
 able story, with all the hints of character and the vicissitudes of human 
 life, in depicting which the author is an acknowledged master. 
 
 The Scarlet Tanager, AND OTHER BIPEDS. 
 
 Every new story which Mr. TROWBRIDGE begins is followed through 
 successive chapters by thousands who have read and re-read many times 
 his preceding tales. One of his greatest charms is his absolute truthful- 
 ness. He does not depict little saints, or incorrigible rascals, but just 
 toys. The same fidelity to nature is seen in his latest book, " The Scarlet 
 Tanager, and Other Bipeds." 
 
 The Lottery Ticket. 
 
 "This is one of the many popular stories written by this well-known 
 author, whose name on the title page of a book makes it a welcome arri- 
 val to most of the young people who read. The moral is always good, 
 the influence in the right direction, and the characters so portrayed that 
 the right is always rewarded and the wrong fails to prosper." Dubuquc, 
 Iowa, Herald. 
 
 For sale by all booksellers, or sent, postpaid, on receipt of price by 
 
 LEE AND SHEPARD, Publishers, 
 
 BOSTON.
 
 PHILLIPS EXETER SERIES 
 
 By A. T. DUDLEY 
 Illustrated by Charles Cope/and. Cloth. Price per vol., $1.25 
 
 FIRST VOLUME 
 FOLLOWING THE BALL 
 
 Here is an up-to-date story presenting 
 American boarding-school life and modern 
 athletics. The scene will readily be recog- 
 nized as at Exeter. Of course football is 
 an important feature, and in tracing the 
 development of thehero from a green player 
 to an expert it might serve as a guide. 
 Other branches of athletics are also finely 
 dealt with. But it is far more than a foot- 
 ball book. It is a story of character forma- 
 tion told in a most wholesome and manly 
 way. In this development athletics play 
 an important part, to be sure, but are only 
 one feature in carrying the hero, "Dick 
 Melvin," on to a worthy manhood. 
 " A seasonable school and football story, by a writer who knows the game 
 
 and knows boys as well. It is of the ' Tom Brown' type, an uplifting as well 
 
 as a lively story." Advance, Chicago, 111. 
 
 SECOND VOLUME 
 MAKING THE NINE 
 
 The cordial reception of the great foot- 
 ball story, " Following the Ball," which had 
 the distinction of so fine a spirit in its de- 
 velopment of the hero's school life that not 
 only the boys but their elders were enthusi- 
 astic over it, has led to this second book, in 
 which baseball is sufficiently prominent to 
 suggest the title. It is a pleasure for a pub- 
 lisher to present such a book as this, in. 
 every way worthy to continue the success 
 of the previous volume. The special points 
 of excellence are that the story is lively and 
 worth telling, and the life presented is that 
 of a real school, interesting, diversified, and 
 full of striking incidents, while the char- 
 acters are true and consistent types of American boyhood and 
 youth. The athletics are technically correct, abounding in 
 helpful suggestions, soundly and wisely given, and the moral 
 tone is high and set by action rather than preaching. 
 
 LEE & SHEPARD, Publishers, Boston
 
 TOM WINSTONE,"WIDE AWAKE" 
 
 By MARTHA JAMES 
 
 Author of " My Friend Jim " and " Jack Tenfleld's Star " 
 
 Urge 12mo. Clotb. Illustrated by W. Herbert Dunton. Price $1.00 
 
 ' ' Another book equally worthy of a 
 place in our Sunday-school libraries 
 is TOM WINSTONE, ' WIDE AWAKE,' by 
 Martha James. It iss a thorovigh-going 
 boy'sbookof the right sort, full of life, 
 bubbling over with high spirits and 
 noble ambition ; a most intelligent 
 interpretation of boy life and charac- 
 ter. The young hero of this narrative, 
 equally efficient in athletics at school 
 and in the harder school of manly 
 sacrifice, is a character well worth 
 knowing." Pilgrim Teacher, Boston. 
 "The young hero of the story, equally efficient in athletic 
 sports and in noble deeds, is well worth the acquaintance of every 
 healthy boy reader." Boston Transcript 
 
 " Any healthy boy will delight in this book." Lilting Cliwch, 
 Milwaukee, Wis. 
 
 "Another excellent story for boys is TOM WINSTONE, ' WIDE 
 AWAKE,' by Martha James. Here is a recital of adventure, 
 with much account of boyish sport, in a pure tone and with 
 Christian teaching. " Fall River News. 
 
 " This is a real ' boy's story,' full of incidents and interesting 
 characters drawn to the life, while the tone is wholesome and 
 genuine." Portland Press. 
 
 " The author has done a good work for the lads of the gener- 
 ation, and her effort will doubtless meet with the popularity it 
 deserves." Indianapolis Sentinel. 
 
 For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the publishers. 
 
 LEE & SHEPARD, Publishers, Boston
 
 University of California Library 
 Los Angeles 
 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 MAY 21 
 DUE2Viw>rno*iui|itntuEIVED 
 
 REC'D LD-URL 
 
 AUGZ31936 
 
 4 WK NOV 03l< 
 RICH IT 
 
 SOCT19