IRON GAME
 
 
 
 
 

 
 ZTbe llron Oarne 
 
 A TALE OF THE WAR 
 
 BY 
 HENRY F. KEENAN 
 
 AUTHOR OF THE ALIENS, TRAJAN, ETC. 
 
 ' ffieab? antt aolemn t&e cloirtJg column 
 toer tjje jjreen ficltus marrljfnfl came, 
 jftteasureless spreati Utte a table Tireati 
 JFot tje coltJ flrfm lifce of t|je fron same.' 
 
 NEW YORK 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 
 1898
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1891, 
 BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.
 
 TO 
 
 BERNARD JOHN McGRANN 
 WHOSE LIFE AND CONDUCT EMBODY AND ILLUSTRATE 
 
 THE MANLINESS, MODESTY, AND WORTH 
 THAT FANCY DELIGHTS TO EMBALM IN FICTION 
 
 THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED 
 
 BY ONE AMONG THE MANY WITNESSES OF HIS NOBLE CAREER 
 HENRY F. KEENAN 
 
 NEW YORK, Kth March, 1891. 
 
 2O6193G
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 THE CARIBEES. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. THE BOY IN BLUE . ...... , . . 5 
 
 II. FLAG AND FAITH , .11 
 
 III. MALBROOK S'EN VA-T-EN GUERRE . . . , .19 
 IV. GUELPH AND GHIBELLINE . . . . ," . 80 
 
 V. A NAPOLEONIC EPIGRAM .40 
 
 VI. ON THE POTOMAC . , . . . . ' . .47 
 
 VII. THE STEP THAT COSTS 55 
 
 VIII. AN ARMY WITH BANNERS 65 
 
 IX. " THE ASSYRIAN CAME DOWN LIKE THE WOLF ox THE 
 
 FOLD" 72 
 
 X. BLOOD AND IRON . . . . . . .85 
 
 XL THE LEGIONS OF VARUS . 99 
 
 BOOK II. 
 THE HOSTAGES. 
 
 XII. THE AFTERMATH 108 
 
 XIII. A COMEDY OF TERRORS 124 
 
 XIV. UNDER Two FLAGS 136 
 
 XV. ROSEDALK 144 
 
 XVI. A MASQUE IN ARCADY 159 
 
 XVII. TREASON AND STRATAGEMS 177 
 
 X VIII. A CAMPAIGN OF PLOTS 187 
 
 XIX. "HE EITHER FEARS HIS FATE TOO MUCH" . . .199 
 
 XX. A CATASTROPHE 219 
 
 XXL THE STORY OF THE NIGHT . .231
 
 THE IROX GAME. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 XXII. A CARPET-KNIGHT 
 
 XXIII. ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR 
 
 BOOK III. 
 THE DESERTERS. 
 
 XXIV. BETWEEN THE LINES 2*76 
 
 XXV. PHANTASMAGORIA 287 
 
 XXVI. IN THE UNION LINES 301 
 
 XXVII. "THE ABSENT ARE ALWAYS IN THE WRONG" . . 817 
 XXVIII. THE WORLD WENT VERY ILL THEN . . . .331 
 
 XXIX. A WOMAN'S REASON 339 
 
 XXX. A GAME OF CHANCE 350 
 
 XXXI. Two BLADES OF THE SAME STEEL . . . .364 
 
 XXXIL THE LOST CARIBEES 382 
 
 XXXIII. FATHER ABRAHAM'S JOKE ... .395
 
 BOOK I. 
 THE CARIBEES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE BOY IN BLUE. 
 
 WHEN expulsion from college, in his junior years, was 
 visited upon Jack Sprague, he straightway became the hero 
 of Acredale. And, though the grave faculty had felt con- 
 strained to vindicate college authority, it was well known 
 that they sympathized with the infraction of decorum that 
 obliged them to put this mark of disgrace upon one of the 
 most promising of their students. 
 
 All his young life Jack had dreamed of West Point and 
 the years of training that were to fit him for the glories of 
 war. He knew the battles of the Revolution as other boys 
 knew the child-lore of the n ursery. He had the campaigns 
 of Marlborough, the strategy of Turenne, the inspirations of 
 the great Frederick, and the prodigies of Napoleon, as readily 
 on the end of his tongue as his comrades had the struggles 
 of the Giant Killer or the tactics of Robinson Crusoe. 
 When, inspired by the promise of West Point, he had mas- 
 tered the repugnant rubrics of the village academy, the 
 statesman of his district conferred the promised nomination 
 upon his school rival, Wesley Boone, Jack passionately re- 
 fused to pursue the arid paths of learning, and declared his 
 purpose of becoming a pirate, a scout, or some other equally 
 fascinating child of nature delightful to the boyish mind. 
 
 When Jack Sprague entered Warchester College, he car- 
 ried with him the light baggage of learning picked up at 
 the Acredale Academy. At his entrance to the sequestered
 
 (5 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 quadrangles of Dessau Hall, Jack's frame of mind was very 
 much like the passionate discontent of the younger son of a 
 feudal lord whose discrepant birthright doomed him to the 
 gown instead of the sword. 
 
 Long before the senior year he had allured a chosen band 
 about him who shared his eager aspiration for war, and when 
 the other fellows dawdled in society or wrangled in debate, 
 these young Alexanders set their tents in the college campus 
 and fought the campaigns of Frederick or Napoleon over 
 again. Jack did not give much heed to the menacing signs 
 of civil war that came day by day from the tempestuous 
 spirits North and South. A Democrat, as his fathers had 
 been before him, he saw no probability of the pomp and cir- 
 cumstance of glorious war in the noisy wrangling of poli- 
 ticians. The defeat of Douglas, the Navarre of the young 
 Democracy of the North, amazed him ; but all thought of 
 Lincoln asserting the national authority, and reviving the 
 splendor of Jackson and Madison, was looked upon as the 
 step between the sublime and the ridiculous that reasoning 
 men refuse to consider. 
 
 When, however, the stupefying news came that a national 
 garrison had been fired upon by the South Carolinians, in 
 Charleston Harbor, the college boys took sides strongly. 
 There were many in the classes from Maryland and Vir- 
 ginia. These were as ardent in admiration of their Southern 
 compatriots as the Northern boys were for the insulted Union. 
 Months passed, and, although the forces of war were arraying 
 themselves behind the thin veil of compromise and negotia- 
 tion, the public mind only languidly convinced itself that 
 actual war would come. 
 
 The college was divided into hostile camps. The "Se- 
 cessionists," led by Vincent Atterbury, Jack's old-time chief 
 crony, went so far as to hoist the flag of the Montgomery 
 (Jen Davis's) government on the campus pole, one morn- 
 ing in April. A fierce fight followed, in which Jack's 
 ardent partisans made painful havoc with the limbs of the 
 enemy Atterbury, their leader, being carted from the cam- 
 pus, under the horrified eyes of the faculty, dying, as it was
 
 THE BOY IN BLUE. f 
 
 thought. Then followed expulsion. When the solemn words 
 were spoken in chapel, the culprit bore up with great serenity. 
 But when he announced that he had enlisted in the army, 
 then such an uproar, such an outburst, that the session was 
 at an end. Even the grave president looked sympathetic. 
 The like of it was never seen in a sober college since Antony 
 with Cleopatra invaded the Academy at Alexandria. The 
 boys flung themselves upon the abashed Jack. They hugged 
 him, raised him on their shoulders, carried him out on the 
 campus, and, forming a ring round him, swore, in the classic 
 form dear to collegians, that they would follow him ; that 
 they would be his soldiers, and fight for thepatria in danger. 
 
 " I have nothing to offer you, boys. I'm only sergeant ; 
 but if you will join now, I'm authorized to swear you in 
 provisionally," Jack said, shrewdly, seizing the flood at high 
 tide. 
 
 So soon as the names could be written the whole senior 
 class (forty-three) were enrolled. Jack refused the prayer- 
 ful urgings of the juniors, who pleaded tearfully to join 
 him. But the president coming out confirmed Jack's decis- 
 ion until the juniors could get the written consent of their 
 parents. 
 
 The recitations were sadly disjointed that day, and the 
 excited professors were glad when rest came. The humani- 
 ties had received disjointed exposition during that session. 
 Jack had been summoned to the president's sanctuary, where 
 he had been received with a parental tenderness that brought 
 the tears to his big brown eyes. 
 
 "Ah, ha! soldiers mustn't know tears. You must be 
 made of sterner stuff now, sergeant," the doctor cried, cheeri- 
 ly, as the culprit stood confusedly before him. '' O Jack, 
 Jack, why did you put this hard task upon me ? Why make 
 me drive from Dessau the brightest fellow in the classes ? 
 What will your mother say ? I would as soon have lost my 
 own child as be forced to put this mark on you ? But you 
 know I am bound by the laws of the college. You know I 
 have time and again overlooked your wild pranks. We 
 have already suffered a good deal from the press for wink-
 
 8 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 ing at the sympathy the college has shown in this political 
 quarrel." 
 
 " Yes, professor, I haven't a word to say. You did your 
 duty. Now I want you to bear witness how I do mine. I 
 do not complain that I am condemned rather through the 
 form than the fact. I was carried out of my senses by the 
 sight of that rebel flag." 
 
 The Warch ester press, known for many years as the 
 most sprightly and enterprising of the country, was too 
 much taken up with the direful news from Baltimore to 
 even make a note of Jack Sprague's expulsion, and the sol- 
 dier boy was spared that mortification. Nor did he meet 
 the tearful lament and heart-broken remonstrance at home, 
 to which he had looked forward with lively dread. His 
 friends in the village of Acredale were so astonished by his 
 blue regimentals that he reached the homestead door un- 
 questioned. His mother, at the dining-room window, caught 
 sight of the uniform, and did not recognize her son until she 
 was almost smothered in his hearty embrace. 
 
 " Why, John ! What does this mean ? What what 
 have you on ? " 
 
 " Mother, I am twenty-two years old. A man who won't 
 fight for his country isn't a good son. He has no right 
 to stay in a country that he isn't willing to fight for ! " and 
 with this specious dictum he drew himself up and met the 
 astonished eyes of his sister Olympia, who had been apprised 
 of his coming. But the maternal fears clouded patriotic 
 conceptions where her darling was involved, and his mother 
 sobbed : 
 
 u O Jack, Jack ! what shall we do ? How can we live 
 without you ? And oh, my son, you are too young to go 
 to the war. You will break down. You can't manage a 
 a musket, and the the heavy load the soldiers carry. 
 My son, don't break your mother's heart. Don't go don't, 
 Jack, Jack! What shall I do? O Polly, what shall 
 we do?" 
 
 " What shall we do ? Why, we'll just show Jack that 
 all of war isn't in soldiering ; that the women who stay at
 
 THE BOY IN BLUE. 9 
 
 home help the heroes, though they may not take part in 
 the battle. As to you and me, mamma, we shall be the 
 proudest women in Acredale, for our Jack's the first " she 
 was going to say " boy," but, catching the coming protest in 
 the warrior's glowing eye, substituted " man " with timely 
 magnanimity " the first man that volunteered from Acre- 
 dale. And how shamed you would have been we would 
 have been if Jack hadn't kept up the tradition of the 
 family ! He comes naturally by his sense of duty. Your 
 father's father was the first to join Gates at Saratoga. My 
 father's father was the right hand of Warren at Bunker 
 Hill ! If ever blood ran like water in our Jack's veins, I 
 should put on trousers and go to the war myself. I'm 
 not sure that I sha'n't as it is," and, affecting Spartan forti- 
 tude, Olympia pretended to be deeply absorbed in adjusting 
 a disarranged furbelow in her attire to conceal the quaver- 
 ing in her voice and the dewy something in her dark eyes. 
 The mother, disconcerted by this defection where she had 
 counted on the blindest adhesion, sank back in the cane 
 rocker, helpless, speechless. 
 
 " Yes, mother, Polly is right. How could you ever lift 
 up your head if it were said that son of John Sprague's 
 Governor, Senator, minister abroad was the last to fly to 
 his country's call ? Why, Jackson would turn in his grave 
 if a son of John Sprague were not the first to take up arms 
 when the Union that he loved, as he loved his life, was in 
 peril ! " 
 
 Mrs. Sprague listened with woe-begone perplexity to 
 these sounding periods, conscious only that her darling, her 
 adored scapegrace, had suddenly turned serious, and was 
 using the weapons she had so often employed to justify his 
 conduct. For it was using one of the standing arms in the 
 maternal arsenal, to remind the wild and headstrong lad that 
 his father had been Jackson's confidant, that he had been 
 Governor of Imperia, that he had enforced the demands of 
 the United States upon European statesmen, that after a life 
 spent in the public service he had died, reverenced by his 
 party and by his neighbors. Jack, as an infant, had been
 
 10 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 fondled by Webster, by Clay, and, one never-to-be-forgot- 
 ten day, Jackson, the Scipio of tbe republic, had placed his 
 brawny hand upon the infant's head and declared that he 
 would be " worthy of Jack Sprague, who was man enough 
 to make two Kentuckians." 
 
 " But you you ought to be a colonel. Your father was 
 a major-general in the Mexican War at twenty-five. A 
 Sprague can't be a private soldier ! " she cried, seizing on this 
 as the only tenable ground where she could begin the con- 
 test against the two children confederated against her. 
 
 " I don't want to owe everything to my father. This is a 
 republic, mamma, and a man is, or ought to be, what he 
 makes himself. I saw in a paper, the other day, that the 
 Government has more brigadiers and colonels and and 
 officers than it knows what to do with. I saw it stated that a 
 stone thrown from Willard's Hotel in Washington hit a dozen 
 brigadiers. I want to earn a commission before I assume it. 
 I'll be an officer soon enough, no fear. I could have had a 
 lieutenant's commission if I had gone in Blandon's regi- 
 ment. But I hate Blandon! He is one of those canting 
 sneaks father detested, and I won't serve under such cattle." 
 
 Mrs. Sprague, like millions of mothers in those days, was 
 cruelly divided in mind. When the neighbors felicitated 
 her on the valor and patriotism of Mr. Jack she was elated 
 and fitfully reconciled. When, in the long watches of the 
 night, she reflected on the hardships, temptations, the dread- 
 ful companions her darling must be thrown with, country, 
 lineage, everything faded into the dreadful reality that her 
 darling was in peril, body and soul. He was so like his 
 father gay, impressionable, easily influenced he would be 
 saint or sinner, just as his surroundings incited him. This 
 was the woe that ate the mother's heart ; this was the sorrow 
 that clouded millions of homes when mothers saw their 
 boys pranked out in the trappings of war. 
 
 Our jaunty Jack enjoyed the worship that came to him. 
 He was the first boy in blue that appeared in the sandy 
 streets of Acredale. Never had the rascal been so petted, so 
 feted, so adored. He might have been a pasha, had he been
 
 FLAG AND FAITH. 11 
 
 a Turk. The promising down oil his upper lip the object 
 of his own secret solicitude and Olympia's gibes during the 
 junior year was quite worn away by the kissing he under- 
 went among the impulsive Jeannettes of the village, who 
 had a vague notion that soldiers, like sailors, were indurated 
 for battle by adosculation. Jack may have believed this 
 himself, for he took no pains to disabuse the maidens as to 
 the inefficacy of the rite, and bore with galliard fortitude the 
 wear and tear of the nascent mustache, without which, to his 
 mind, a soldier would figure very much as a monk without a 
 shaven crown or a mandarin without a queue. And though 
 presently big Tom Tooker, chief of the rival faction in Acre- 
 dale, gave his name to the recruiting officer in Warchester, 
 and a score more of Jack's rivals and cronies, he was the 
 soldier of the village. For hadn't he given up the glory of 
 graduation and the delights of " commencement % ' to take up 
 his musket for the Union ? And then the fife was heard in 
 the village street delicious airs from Arcady and a great 
 flag was flung out from the post-office, and Master Jack was 
 installed recruiting sergeant for Colonel Ulrich Oswald's 
 regiment, that was to be raised in Warchester County. For 
 Colonel Oswald, having failed in a third nomination for 
 Congress, had gallantly proffered his services to the Gov- 
 ernor of the State, and, in consideration of his influence with 
 his German compatriots, had been granted a commission, 
 though with reluctance, as he had supported the Democratic 
 party and was not yet trusted in the Republican councils. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 FLAG AND FAITH. 
 
 IF Acredale had not been for a century the ancestral seat 
 of the Spragues, and in its widest sense typical of the sub- 
 urban Northern town, there would be merely an objective
 
 12 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 and extrinsic interest in portraying its sequestered life, its 
 monotonous activities. But Acredale was not only a very 
 complete reflex of Northern local sentiment ; its war epoch 
 represented the normal conduct of every hamlet in the land 
 during the conflict with the South. Now that the war is 
 becoming a memory, even to those who were actors hi it, 
 the facts distorted and the incidents warped to serve partisan 
 ends or personal pique, the photograph of the time may have 
 its value. 
 
 Made up of thriving farmers and semi-retired city men, 
 Acredale mingled the simple conditions of a country village 
 and the easy refinement of city life. The houses were large, 
 the grounds ornate and ample, the society decorously con- 
 vivial. People could be fine at least they were thought 
 very fine without going to the British Isles to recast their 
 home manners or take hints for the fashioning of their 
 grounds and mansions. There was what would be called 
 to-day the English air about the place and some of the peo- 
 ple ; but it was an inheritance, not an imitation. Save in 
 the bustling business segment, abutting the four corners, 
 where the old United States road bore off westward to Bu- 
 cephalo and the lakes, the few score houses were set far back 
 from the highway in a wilderness of shrubbery, secluded by 
 hedges and shaded by an almost primeval growth of elms or 
 maples. The whole hamlet might be mistaken for a lordly 
 park or an old-fashioned German Spa. Family marketing 
 was mostly done in Warchester ; hence the village shops 
 were like Arabian bazaars, few but all-supplying. The most 
 pi*egnant evidence of the approach of modern ways that 
 tinged the primitive color of the village life, was the then 
 new railway skirting furtively through the meadows on the 
 northern limits, as if decently ashamed of intruding upon 
 such idyllic tranquillity. The little Gothic station, cunningly 
 hidden behind a clustering grove of oaks at a respectful 
 distance from the Corners, like the lodge of a great estate, 
 reconciled those who had at first fought the iron mischief- 
 maker. 
 
 The public edifices of the town the Episcopal church,
 
 FLAG AND FAITH. 13 
 
 the free academy, the bank, the young ladies' seminary 
 were very unlike such institutions in the bustling, treeless 
 towns of to-day. Corinthian columns and Greek friezes 
 adorned these architectural evidences of Acredale's affluence 
 and taste. The village had grown up on private grounds 
 conceded to the public year by year as the children and de- 
 pendents of the founders increased. The Spragues were the 
 founders, and they had never been anxious to alienate their 
 patrimony. Acredale is not now the sylvan sanctuary of 
 rural simplicity it was thirty years ago before the war. The 
 febrile tentacles of Warchester had not yet reached out to 
 make its vernal recesses the court quarter for the " new rich." 
 In Jack Sprague's young warrior days the village was three 
 miles from the most suburban limits of the city. There was 
 not even a horse-car, or, as fashionable Warchesterians have 
 it, a " tram," to remind the tranquil villagers that life had 
 any need more pressing than a jaunt to the post twice a day. 
 Some " city folks " did hold villas on the outskirts, but they 
 used them only for short seasons in the late summer, when 
 the air at the lake began to grow too sharp for outdoor 
 pleasures. 
 
 Society in the place was patriarchal as an English shire 
 town. The large Sprague mansion, about which the village 
 clustered at a respectful distance, was the " Castle " of local 
 phrase. Much of the glory of early days had departed, how- 
 ever, when the Senator Jack's papa died. The widow 
 found herself unable to maintain the affluent state her lord 
 had loved. His legal practice, rather than the wide acres of 
 his domain, had supported a hospitality famous from Bu- 
 cephalo to Washington. But with prudent management the 
 family had abundance, and, as Jack often said, he was a for- 
 tune in himself. When the time came he would revive the 
 splendors his father loved to associate with the home of his 
 ancestors. 
 
 " But where are we to get this splendor now, Jack ? " Olym- 
 pia inquired, as the youth was dilating to his mother on the 
 wonders to come. " Private soldiers get just thirteen dollars 
 a month ; and if you continue smoking as I am informed
 
 'U TUE IRON GAME. 
 
 all men do in the army I expect to have to stint my pin- 
 money expenses to eke out your tobacco bills." 
 
 "Oh, I'll bring home glory. Napoleon said that every 
 soldier carried a marshal's bdtOn in his knapsack." 
 
 " I'm afraid you won't have room for it if you carry all 
 the things that I know of intended for you in this and other 
 families." 
 
 " Yes ; but, Polly, you know, or perhaps you don't know, 
 a bdton is like a college love no matter how full your heart 
 is, you can always find room for another ! " 
 
 " John," Mistress Sprague reproves mildly ; " how can 
 you ? I don't like to hear my son talk like that even in jest. 
 Don't get the idea that it is soldierly to treat sacred things 
 with levity. Love is a very sacred thing; it ought to be 
 part of a man's religion; it was of your father's." 
 
 " Then Jack must be a high priest, for there are a dozen 
 girls here and in the city who believe themselves enshrined 
 in that elastic heart. " 
 
 '' Olympia, you are a baleful influence on your brother. 
 If anything could reconcile me to his going it is the thought, 
 that he will escape the extraordinary speech and manners 
 you have brought back from New York. Do the Misses 
 Pomfret graduate all their young ladies with such a tone 
 and laxity of speech as you have lately shown? Strangers 
 would naturally think that you had no training at home." 
 
 '' Don't fear, mamma; strangers are not favored with my 
 lighter vein ; I assume that for you and Jack, to keep your 
 minds from graver things. I preserve the senatorial suavity 
 of speech and the Sprague austerity of manner ' before folks,' 
 as Aunt Merry would say. Which reminds me, Jack, Kitty 
 Moore declares that you are responsible for Barney's enlist- 
 ing. The family look to you to bring him home safe a 
 colonel at least." 
 
 " Well, by George, I like that ! Why, the beggar was 
 bent on going long ago. He was the first to ask me to run 
 away and enlist. The other day he wanted me to have him 
 sworn in, and I told him to wait until until I got a com- 
 mission." Jack was going to say until he was older, but he
 
 FLAG AND FAITH. 15 
 
 suddenly recollected that Barney was his own age, and that, 
 in view of his mother's argument, struck him as unfortunate. 
 He saw Olympia smiling mischievously and turned the sub- 
 ject abruptly. " I suppose you know, Polly, that Vincent is 
 going home to join the rebels ? " 
 
 " Is he ? " She had turned swiftly to gather a ball of 
 worsted, and when it was secured began to rummage in her 
 work-basket for something that seemed from her intentness 
 to be vitally necessary to her at the moment. 
 
 " Yes, he wrote to President Grandison that he should go 
 as soon as his passports and remittances came. He's prom- 
 ised a captain's commission. I'm very, very sorry. Vint 
 is the noblest of fellows. I hate to think of him in the rebel 
 army. " 
 
 " That's the reason you half killed him the other day, I 
 suppose," Olympia said, sweetly, still investigating the con- 
 tents of the basket. 
 
 " What, John, you've not been in a broil fighting ? " and 
 Mistress Sprague could not, even in imagination, go further 
 in such an odious direction, and let her eyes finish the in- 
 terrogatory. 
 
 Jack, a good deal subdued by what Olympia had left un- 
 said, rather than what she had said, blurted out: "It was a 
 campus shindy : Vint led the rebel side and they got licked, 
 that's all." 
 
 " Oh, was that all ? " Olympia had ended her search in 
 the basket and fastened a glance of satiric good humor upon 
 the culprit, which did not tend to relieve the awkwardness 
 of the moment. Jack blushed under the glance and began 
 to hum an air from Figaro, as if the conversation had ebbed 
 into an impass from which it could only be rescued by a 
 lively air. 
 
 Mrs. Sprague looked at the uneasy warrior, then at her 
 daughter, darting the crochet-needles placidly through the 
 wool. 
 
 " Well," she said, " never mind what's past ; we must have 
 Vincent out here for a visit before he goes. I must send 
 Mrs. Atterbury a number of things. I hope she won't think
 
 16 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 "that we intend to let the war make any difference in our 
 feeling toward the family." 
 
 Jack was very glad to set out at once for his quondam 
 foe, and in ten minutes was driving down the road to War- 
 chester. Vincent's bruises were nearly healed, and he sa- 
 luted Jack as a " chum " rather than as the agent of his late 
 discomfiture. 
 
 "I'm mighty glad you've come to-day. I didn't know 
 whether you meant to break off or not. I don't cherish any 
 rancor. I don't see any use in carrying the war into friend- 
 ships. We made the best fight we could. We did better 
 than your side. You had the most men and the- biggest fel- 
 lows. We showed good pluck, if we did get licked. If you 
 hadn't come to-day I should have been gone without seeing 
 you, for I began to think that you were as narrow as these 
 prating abolitionists. My commission is ready for me now 
 at Richmond, and I'm just aching to get my regimentals 
 on. I'm to be with Johnston in the Shenandoah, you know, 
 and" 
 
 " You mustn't tell me your army plans, Vint. I'm a sol- 
 dier," and Jack drew himself up w r ith martial pomposity, 
 " and and perhaps I ought to arrest you now as an enemy, 
 you know. I will look in the articles of war and find out 
 my duty in such cases." Jack waved his arm reassuringly, 
 as if to bid the rebel take heart for the moment he would 
 not hurry in the matter. Vincent eyed his comrade with 
 such a woe-begone mingling of alarm and comic indignation 
 that Jack forgot his possible part as agent of his counti-y's 
 laws, and said, soothingly : " Never mind, Vint, I'm not real- 
 ly a full soldier in the technical sense until the regiment is 
 mustered in at Washington. After that, of course, you know 
 very well it would be treason to give aid or comfort to the 
 country's enemies." 
 
 Vincent didn't leave next day, nor for a good many days. 
 He seemed to get a good deal of " aid and comfort " from 
 those who should have been his enemies. Mistress Sprague 
 found that he was not in a fit state to travel ; that he needed 
 nursing to prepare him for his journey, and that no place
 
 FLAG AND FAITH. 17 
 
 was so fit as the great guest-chamber in the baronial Sprague 
 mansion, near his friend Jack. Strange to say, Vincent's 
 eagerness to get to Richmond and his shoulder-straps were 
 forgotten in the agreeable pastimes of the big house, where 
 he spent hours enlightening Olympia on the wonders the 
 Southern soldiers were to perform and the glory that he 
 (Vincent) was to win. He went of a morning to the post- 
 office, where Jack was installed recruiting-agent for Acre- 
 dale township, and made very merry over the homespun stuff 
 enrolled in defense of the Union. 
 
 " Our strapping cavaliers will make short work of your 
 gawky bumpkins," he remarked to Jack as the recruits loi- 
 tered about the wide, shaded streets, waiting to be forwarded 
 to the rendezvous. 
 
 " Don't be too sure of that. These young, boyish-looking 
 fellows are just the sort of men that met the British at Bun- 
 ker Hill. They laughed too, when they saw them ; but they 
 didn't laugh after they met them, nor will your cavaliers," 
 Jack cried, loftily. 
 
 " But there's not a full-grown man among all these I've 
 seen. How do you suppose they are to endure march and 
 battle ? None of them can ride. All our young men ride, 
 and cavalry is the main thing in modern armies." 
 
 In the Sprague parlors conversation of this risky sort was 
 eschewed. Mistress Sprague was anxious that the son of her 
 oldest friend should return to his mother with only the mem- 
 ory of amiable hospitality in his heart to show that, although 
 war raged between the people, families were still friends. 
 Vincent's mother had been one of Mistress Sprague's brides- 
 maids, and it was her wish that the children might grow 
 up in the old kindly ties. So Vincent was made much of. 
 There were companies every night, and drives and boating 
 in the afternoons, and such merry-making as it was thought 
 a lad of his years would enjoy. He was a very entertaining 
 guest; that all Acredale had known in the old vacations 
 when, with his sister, the pretty Rosa, he spent a summer 
 with the Spragues. 
 
 But, now that there was to be a separation involving the
 
 18 . THE IRON GAME. 
 
 unknown in its vaguest form, the lad was treated with a ten- 
 derness that made the swift days very sweet to the young 
 rebel. It was from Olympia that he met the only distinct 
 formality in the manners of his hosts. He had known and 
 adored her in a boyish way for years, and now, as he contem- 
 plated going, he thought that she ought to exhibit some- 
 thing of the old-time warmth. In other days she had ridden, 
 walked, and flirted to his heart's desire. Now she avoided 
 him when Jack was not at hand, and when she talked it was 
 in a flippant vein that drove him wild with battled hope. 
 The day before he was to bid the kind house adieu he had 
 his wish. She was riding with him over the shaded road- 
 way that curves in bewildering beauty toward the lake. 
 She seemed in a gentler mood than he had lately seen her. 
 They rode slowly side by side, but Vincent had a dismal 
 awkwardness of speech in whimsical contrast to his habitual 
 fluency. 
 
 "There's only one thing hateful to me in this war," he 
 said, caressing the arching neck of his horse, '' and that is, 
 the better we do our duty as soldiers the more sorrow we 
 must bring upon our own friends." 
 
 " That's a rather solemn view to take of what Jack re- 
 gards as the path of glory." 
 
 " Oh T you know what I mean : under the flag there can 
 or ought to be no friendships the bullet sent from the mus- 
 ket, the sword drawn hi fight, must be aimed blindly. It 
 might be my fate, for example, to meet Jack, to to" 
 
 "Yes," Olympia laughed demurely, ignoring the senti- 
 mental aspect of Vincent's remark. " Yes, that might para- 
 lyze the arm of valor ; but, then, you and Jack have met be- 
 fore, when duty demanded one thing and affection another: 
 I don't see that the dilemma softened the blows, or that either 
 of you are any the worse for them." 
 
 Vincent was the real Southerner of his epoch impulsive, 
 sentimental, ardent in all that he espoused, without the 
 slightest notion of humor, though imaginative as a dream- 
 er; love, war, and his State, Virginia, were passions that 
 he thought it a duty to uphold at any and all times. He
 
 MALBROOK S'EN VA-T-EX GUERRE. 19 
 
 colored under the girl's satiric sally. If she had been a man 
 he would have bid her to battle on the spot. Her sly fun 
 and gentle malice he resented as insulting, coarse, and un- 
 womanly. He flashed a look of piteous, surprised reproach 
 at her as she flecked the flies from the neck of her horse. 
 He rode along moodily too angry, too wretched to trust 
 himself to speak, for he felt sure he must say something bit- 
 ter. But, as she gave no sign of resuming the discourse, he 
 was foi'ced to take up the burden again. Venturing nearer 
 her side, he said in a conciliating, argumentative tone, as if 
 he had not heard the foregoing speech : 
 
 " Do you know, it seems to me, Olympia, that you of the 
 North do not seem to realize the seriousness of the war, the 
 determination of our side to make the South free ? Here 
 you go about the common business of life, parties, balls, dress, 
 and all the follies of peace, as if war could not affect you at 
 all. Your newspapers are full of coarse jokes at the expense 
 of your own soldiers, your own President. There seems no 
 devotion to your own cause, such as we feel in the South. 
 I believe that if put to a vote more than half the North 
 would side with us to-day." 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 MALBROOK S'EN VA-T-EN GUERRE. 
 
 OLYMPIA had been jogging along, apparently oblivious 
 to everything but the blazing vision of sun and cloud above 
 the lake, purpling shapes of mirage, reflecting the smooth 
 surface of the glowing water. But as the young man's voice 
 fallen into a melodious murmur ceased, she took up the 
 theme with unexpected earnestness. 
 
 " That's the error the South has made from the first. You 
 know my father was a public man. I have been educated 
 more at our dinner-table and in his talks with guests than at
 
 20 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 school. That is, the things that have taken strongest hold 
 of my mind young girls rarely hear or understand. Now I 
 think I can tell you something that may be of value to you 
 in official places where you are going. The North is not 
 only in earnest it is religiously in earnest. If you know 
 Puritan history you know what that means. For example : 
 If Jack had hesitated a moment or made delay to get rank 
 in the army, I should have abhorred him. So would our 
 mother, though she seems to be dismayed at his serving as a 
 common soldier. I adore Jack ; I think him the finest, the 
 most perfect nature after my father's that lives. But I 
 give him up gladly, because to keep him would be to degrade 
 him. We know that he may fall ; that he may come back 
 to us a cripple, or worse. But, as you see, we make no sign. 
 Not a line of routine has been changed in the house. Jack 
 will march away and never see a tear in my eye or feel my 
 pulse tremble. It is not in our Northern blood to give much 
 expression to sentiment ; but we feel none the less deeply 
 much more deeply, I think, than you exuberant Southerners ; 
 you are impulsive, mercurial, and fickle." 
 
 "Oh, don't say that; I can't bear to hear you say it; we 
 have deep feelings, we are constant, true as steel, chival- 
 rous ' 
 
 " Yes, you are delightful people; but you are always liv- 
 ing in the past. Shall I say it ? You are womanlike; you 
 can't reason. What you want at the moment is right, and 
 only that; with us nothing is real until we have tried and 
 proved it. If you count on Northern apathy you will soon 
 see your mistake. When Beauregard fired on Fort Sumter 
 the North was of one mind, and will stay so until all is again 
 as it was." 
 
 " Pray don't let us talk on this subject. I'm free to own 
 that it does not interest me. Then," he added adroitly, ' you 
 are readier in argument than I, because you were brought 
 up in it. But what I want to say is, that it seems base for 
 me to turn upon the goodness I have met in this house, and 
 and" 
 
 "But you need not turn. In battle do your duty like
 
 MALBROOK S'EN VA-T-EN GUERRE. 21 
 
 a man. If it should fall to you to do a kindness to the 
 wounded, do it in memory of the friends you have here. 
 War is less savage now than it was when your ancestors and 
 mine tortured each other in the name of God and the king." 
 
 " All murder is done for love of one sort or another: war 
 is love of country ; revenge is love of some one else men 
 rarely kill from hate," Vincent stammered, his heart beating 
 at the nearness of what he was dying to say. 
 
 u In that case I hope I shall be hated. I shall shun people 
 who love me," and with that she struck the horse a lively 
 tap and soon was far ahead of her tongue-tied wooer. Was 
 this a challenge ? Vincent asked himself, as he sped after 
 her. When he reached her side the tender words were 
 chilled on his lips, for Olympia had in her laughing eye the, 
 to him, odious expression he saw there when she made the 
 irritating speech about himself and Jack a few minutes be- 
 fore. Fearing a teasing retort, he bridled the tender outburst 
 and rode along pensively, revolving pretexts for another 
 day's stay in Acredale. But when they reached home he 
 found an imperative mandate to set out at once, as his lin- 
 gering in the North was subjecting himself and kinsmen 
 to doubt among the zealous partisans of the Davis party. 
 Olympia was alone in the library when he ran down to tell 
 Jack that he must start at once. He took it as an omen, and 
 said, confusedly: 
 
 u It is decided ; I must go in the morning." 
 
 As this had been the plan all along, she looked up at him 
 in surprise, not knowing, of course, that he ha'd been think- 
 ing of putting off the fixed time. 
 
 " Yes, everything has been made ready ; Jack will take 
 you to Warchester, and we shall drive over to see you en 
 route." 
 
 "It is fortunate the letter from my mother came to- 
 night." He stood quite, over her chair, his eyes glittering 
 strangely, his manner excited. 
 
 " Do you know what they think at home ? They say that 
 I I am not true to my cause ; that my heart is with the 
 North that I w r ant to stay here."
 
 22 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 " They won't think that when they hear you, as we have, 
 breathing fury and wrath against the Lincolnites," Olympia 
 briskly replied, as if to proffer her services as witness to his 
 misguided loyalty to the South. 
 
 " Ah. don't be so ungenerous, now at this time. I never 
 talk like that now here never before you." He hesitated, 
 and his voice dropped. "Why will you put a fellow in a 
 ridiculous light ? Your sneers almost make me ashamed 
 of my honest pride in my State my enthusiasm for our 
 sacred cause." 
 
 "Deep feeling isn't so easily shaken; true love should 
 brave all things even sneers and blows." 
 
 " If I should tell you that I loved somebody, I am sure 
 you would make me seem ridiculous or ignorant of my own 
 mind." 
 
 " Then pray be wise and don't tell me. It's bad enough 
 to be in love, without being photographed in the agony." 
 
 He looked at her in angry perplexity. Could she ever be 
 serious ? Was all the tenderness of the past only heedless 
 coquetry ? Had she danced with him, drove with him, sailed 
 with him, walked in the moonlight and made much of him 
 in mere wanton mischief ? What right had she to be so 
 pretty and so without heart or sensibility? A Southern 
 girl with the word love on a young man's lips would have 
 become a Circe of seductive wooing until the tale were told, 
 even though she could not give her heart in return. 
 
 " I I am going to-morrow, you know, and " Then he 
 almost laughed himself, for the droll inconsequence of this 
 intelligence, after what had passed, touched even his small 
 sense of humor. " O Olympia, I mean that I shall be far 
 away ; that I shall not see you after to-morrow. Won't you 
 say something to encourage me to give me heart for the 
 future ? " 
 
 " Let me see," and she leaned on her elbow musingly, as 
 if construing his words literally, and quite unaware of the 
 tender intent of his prayer. " It ought to be a line to go on 
 your sword there's where you have the advantage of poor 
 Jack, he has only a musket. But, no, you being a South-
 
 MALBROOK S'EN VA-T-EN GUERRE. 23 
 
 erner, have a coat of arms, and the line must go on that. 
 I used to know plenty of stirring phrases suitable to young 
 men setting out for the wars. Perhaps you know them, too ; 
 they are to be found in the copy-books. ' The pen is mightier 
 than the sword ' wouldn't do, would it? Pens are only fit for 
 poets and men of peace ? We should have something brief 
 and epigrammatic. ' That hour is regal when the sentinel 
 mounts on guard.' There is sublimity in that, but you won't 
 go on guard, being an officer. 
 
 ' No blood-stained woes in mankind's story 
 Should daunt the heart that's set on glory.' 
 
 That's too trivial the sort of doggerel for newspaper poets' 
 corners rather than a warrior's shield. 
 
 ' Think on the perils that environ 
 The man that meddles with cold iron ! ' 
 
 "That's too much like a caution, and a soldier's motto 
 should urge to daring. So we'll none of that. What do 
 you say to the distich in honor of your great ancestor, Poca- 
 hontas's husband, John Smith: 
 
 ' I never yet knew a warrior but thee, 
 From wine, tobacco, debt, and vice so free.' 
 
 " Perhaps, however, that might be regarded as vaunting 
 over your comrades, who, I've no doubt, relax the tedium 
 of war in temperate indulgence of some of these vices. ' Put 
 up thy sword ; states may be saved without it,' would sound 
 out of keeping for a warrior whose States drew the sword 
 when the olive-branch was offered them. You see, I can 
 not select any text quite suitable to your case ? " 
 
 " O Olympia, I did not believe you could be so heartless ! 
 Be serious." 
 
 " Well, Mr. Soldier, if you insist, I know nothing better 
 for a warrior to bear in mind in war than these simple lines : 
 
 ' The bravest are the tenderest, 
 The loving are the daring.' "
 
 24 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 " You are right, Olympia those are noble lines. It gives 
 me courage; the loving are the daring! I love you; I dare 
 to tell you that I love you ! Ah, Olympia, I love you so 
 well that I have been traitor to my fatherland ! I have loi- 
 tered here in the hope that you would give me some sign- 
 some word to take with me in the dark path Fate has set for 
 me to follow." 
 
 He came back to her side now, passion and seal in his 
 shining eyes, ardent, elate, expectant. But she put the hand 
 behind her that he reached out to seize as he fell upon one 
 knee by her chair. Her voice softened and a warm light 
 shone in her eye when she spoke: 
 
 " I beg you to get up ; we cold-blooded people up here 
 don't understand that old-fashioned way." As he started 
 back with something like a groan she gave him a quick 
 glance that electrified him. He seized her hand before she 
 could snatch it away, and pressed it to his lips. 
 
 " Pray, be serious. You are too young to talk of love." 
 
 "I am twenty -two; my father was married at nineteen." 
 
 "No, dear' Vincent, don't talk of this now. You don't 
 know your own mind yet. I am sure that when you go 
 home and think over the matter you will see that it would 
 be impossible. But, even if you were sure of yourself, I 
 never could think of it. You arc going to take up arms 
 against all I hold dear sacred. If I were your affianced, 
 with the love for you that you deserve, I would break the 
 pledge when you joined in arms against my family and 
 country." 
 
 "You have known for years, Olympia, that I loved you; 
 that I was only waiting to finish college to tell you of my 
 love. Why didn't you tell me" 
 
 " Tell you what ? " 
 
 " I say, Polly," Jack cried, bursting in, radiant and eager. 
 "I have the last man of the one hundred " Observing 
 Vincent he stopped. It seemed to him a sort of treason to 
 talk of his regiment before the man who was so soon to be 
 in the ranks against them. " Oh, I can't tell our secrets be- 
 fore the enemy," he ended, jocosely. The word went to Vin-
 
 MALBROOK S'EN VA-T-EN GUERRE. 25 
 
 cent's heart like the prod of sharp sleel. He gave Olympia 
 one pathetic glance, and, without a word, hastened from the 
 room. In spite of a great many adroit efforts, Vincent could 
 get no further speech with Olympia alone|that night. Early 
 in the morning he was driven, with Mrs. Sprague and Jack 
 to the station. Olympia sent down excuses and adieus, al- 
 leging some not incredible ailing of the sort that is always 
 gallantly at the disposal of damsels not minded to do things 
 people expect. 
 
 Presently, when the lorn lover had been gone three days, 
 a letter came from Washington to Olympia, and, though it 
 was handed to her by her mother, the maiden made no 
 proffer to confide its contents to the naturally curious par- 
 ent. But we, who can look over the reader's shoulder, need 
 not be kept in the dark. 
 
 " Dear Olympia " (the letter said), u it was hard to leave 
 without a last word. All the way here I have been think- 
 ing of our little talk if that can be called a talk where one 
 side has lost his senses and the other is trifling or mystify- 
 ing. I told you that I loved you. I thrill even yet with 
 the joy of that. You are so wayward and capricious, so 
 coy, that I began to fear that I never could get your ear long 
 enough to tell you what I felt you must have long known. You 
 didn't say that you loved me; but, dear Olympia, neither did 
 you say that you did not. The rose has fallen on the hem 
 of your robe. When its fragrance steals into your senses, 
 you will stoop and put the blossom in your bosom. It is tho 
 war that divides us, you say. It will soon pass. And who 
 knows what may happen to make you glad that, since there 
 must be strife, I am one of the enemy rather than a stranger? 
 I feel that we shall be brought together in danger, when it 
 may be my happiness to serve you or yours. But, even if I 
 am not so favored, I shall still ask your love. You know 
 our Southern ways. Whom I love my mother loves. But 
 my mother and sister Rosa have loved you long and dearly. 
 They have known you as long as I have, and when you con- 
 sent to come to us you will take no stranger's place in the
 
 26 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 heart and home of the family. Remember the motto you 
 gave me. You are a woman, therefore tender ; I am daring, 
 Heaven knows, in aspiring to such a reward as your love. 
 But I dare to love 'you ; if you cast that love from you, love 
 will lose its tenderness, bravery its daring. One of the high 
 mountains of hope whereon I sun my fainting soul is the 
 knowledge that you love no one else. I won't say that you 
 should in love hold to the rule ' first come first served,' but I 
 do say, ' first dare, first win.' And when you reflect on what 
 you said about the accident of war separating us, just put 
 Jack in my place. What would you think of a Southern 
 girl -who should refuse him because he fought on the side of 
 his family and his State ? What is the old line ? ' I could 
 not love thee, dear, so much, loved I not honor more.' I'm 
 sure I couldn't ask your love if there were not honor in my 
 own. The war will be over and forgotten in six months, 
 but you and I are young; we have long years before us. 
 The right will win in the contest, and, right or wrong, I am 
 yours, and only yours, while there are life in my body and 
 hope in my soul. VINCENT." 
 
 In a little glow of what was plainly not displeasure, the 
 young woman "filed" this "writ of pre-emption," as Jack 
 afterward called it, in careful hiding, and resumed meditation 
 of the writer. It could not now be answered, for letters be 
 tween the lines were subject to censorship, and Olympia per- 
 haps shrank from adding to her lover's misery by exposing 
 his rejection to the unfeeling eyes of the postal agents. 
 There was pity in the resolve as well as prudence. Had 
 Vincent been able to read the workings of the lady's mind, 
 he would have donned his rebel gray with more buoyant joy 
 that day in Richmond. Another ally of the absent came in 
 the course of the day. Miss Boone, the daughter of the 
 opulent contractor and chief local magnate, called to plan 
 work for the soldiers. Vincent's name being mentioned, 
 Miss Boone said, in the apparent effusion of girlish inti 
 macy: 
 
 "I like Mr. Atterbury very much. He is a charming
 
 MALBROOK S'EN VA-T-EN GUERRE. 27 
 
 fellow. But, for your family's sake, I am glad he is away 
 from this hoiise." At Olympia's surprised start she nodded 
 as if to emphasize this, continuing : " Yes, and for good 
 reasons. You know our house is the high court of aboli- 
 tionism ? Well, papa's cronies have made Mr. Atterbury's 
 visit cause of suspicion." 
 
 " Suspicion? What do you mean? " 
 
 Miss Boone was paling and blushing painfully. " Dear 
 Olympia, I hate to say it ; but you should know it. You 
 will hear it elsewhere. Cruel things like this always come 
 out. You know that feeling has been very bitter here since 
 the dreadful attack on the Massachusetts soldiers in Balti- 
 more ? Radicals make no distinction between Democrats and 
 rebels, and I'm to say it but Mr. Atterbury is charged 
 with being a spy here and and your family, being Demo- 
 crats, are thought to sympathize with the rebels. Of course, 
 your friends know better. I and many more know that the 
 Atterburys and Spragues have been intimate for thirty years. 
 But in war-time people seem to lose their senses and change 
 their opinions like lake breezes ; prejudices grow like gourds, 
 and the people who do least and talk loudest make public 
 sentiment." 
 
 " What an outrageous state of things ! " Olympia cried, 
 hotly. "Our family sympathize with traitors indeed ! 
 Why, it was my father who, in the Senate, upheld Jackson 
 when he stamped out South Carolina in its rebellion. Oh ! 
 it is monstrous, such a calumny. Why, just think of it! 
 The only man in the family is a private soldier, when he 
 might have been high in rank, with such influences as we 
 could bring to bear. O Kate! it almost makes one pray 
 for a defeat to punish such ingrates ! " 
 
 " Yes ; but for Heaven's sake don't let any one hear you 
 say such a thing for your brother's sake ! He is already 
 the victim of the feeling I have spoken about. He was to 
 have had the captaincy of the first one hundred men he 
 raised. But the Governor has been made to change the 
 usual rule, and the colonel is to appoint the officers." 
 
 "And Jack isn't to have a commission? "
 
 28 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 " No, not now ; only men of the war party are to be made 
 officers." 
 
 " Good heavens ! Nobody could be more eager for the 
 war than Jack. It is his passion. His delight in it shocks 
 my mother, who hates war. What stronger evidence of 
 sympathy for the cause could he show than joining the 
 army before finishing college?" 
 
 " But he is a Democrat and and only Republicans are 
 to be trusted at first." Miss Boone blushed as she stam- 
 mered this, for it was her own father, in his function as chair- 
 man of the war committee, who had insisted upon this dis- 
 crimination. Worse still but this Kate did not mention- 
 it was Boone's own work that kept Jack from his expected 
 epaulets. There had long been a feud between Boone and 
 the late Senator Sprague, and Olympia conjectured most of 
 what the daughter reserved. 
 
 " Your brother has done wonders, everybody says ; he 
 has the finest fellows in the township, and he ought to be 
 colonel, at least," Miss Boone said, rising to go. 
 
 " Oh, I have no fear that he will not win his way," Olym- 
 pia replied, cheerfully. " The brave in battle are captains, 
 no matter what rank they hold." 
 
 The odious partisanship and ready calumny of her own 
 compatriots gave a strange bent to her mind in dealing 
 with another problem. Vincent, too, had suffered from the 
 wretched tattle of his family's enemies. After all, might he 
 not be right? Might the war not be a mere game of havoc 
 played by the base and unscrupulous? Country, right or 
 wrong, had been her family watchword since her ancestor 
 flew to fight the British invaders. It was Jack's watchword, 
 too, and his conduct in battle should put these wretches 
 to shame. She thought more kindly of the rebel in this 
 vengeful mood, and straightway ran up-stairs, where, sitting 
 by the open window and lulled by the piping of the robins, 
 she took the letter from its pretty covert, read it again with 
 heightened color, and, smiling rosily at the face she saw in 
 the mirror, raised it to her lips and sighed softly. 
 
 When a whole people have but one thought in mind
 
 MALBROOK S'EN VA-T-EN GUERRE. 29 
 
 that thought becomes mania. Acredale had but this one 
 thought, " Beat rebellion and punish rebels." " On to Rich- 
 mond ! " was the cry, and forming ranks to go there the busi- 
 ness that everybody took in hand. These had been great 
 days to Jack. " He began to feel something of the burden 
 that a feudal chief must have borne at the summoning of 
 the clans. So soon as it spread in the country-side that 
 " young Sprague had 'listed," all the " ageable " sons of the 
 soil were fired with a burning zeal to take up arms and bear 
 him company. Boys from sixteen to twenty these were for 
 the most part, and there was bitter grumbling- when Jack 
 firmly refused to take the names of any under twenty. 
 Some he solaced with a gun, a pistol, or such object as he 
 knew was dear to the country boy's heart. They returned 
 to the relieved hearthstone loud in Jack's praise, having his 
 promise to enlist them when they were twenty, if the war 
 lasted so long; and if the wise smiled at this, wasn't it well 
 known that the great army now gathering was to set out at 
 latest by the 4th of July ? And didn't everybody know that 
 it was going to march direct to Richmond ? There were 
 trying scenes too, in the role Jack had assumed so gayly. 
 He began to see that war had ministers of pain and sorrow 
 hardly less cruel than those dealing death and wounds. 
 Tearful parents came to him day by day to beg his help in 
 restoring sons who had fled to the wars. Others came to 
 warn him that if their boys applied to him he must refuse 
 them, as they were under age. 
 
 In this list the Perley sisters, Dick's three maiden aunts, 
 came on a respectful embassy to implore Jack to discourage 
 their nephew, who had quite deserted school and gave all his 
 time to drilling with the "college squad." Jack pledged 
 himself that he would hand Dick over to the justice of the 
 peace, to be detained at the house of refuge, if he didn't give 
 up his evil designs. But, when that young aspirant ap- 
 peared, so soon as his aunts had gone, and reminded Jack of 
 years of intimate companionship in dare-deviltry, the elder 
 saw that his own safety would be in flight, and that night, 
 his company was removed to Warchester. There in the
 
 30 THE IROX GAME. 
 
 great camp, surrounded by sentinels, his Acredale cro- 
 nies were shut out, and Jack began in earnest his soldier 
 life. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 GUELPH AND GHIBELLINE. 
 
 THE shifting of Jack's company to the regimental camp 
 in Warchester left a broad gap in the lines of the social life 
 of Acredale. Jack's going alone, to say nothing of the 
 others, would have eclipsed the gayety of many home groups 
 besides his own, in which the Sprague primacy in a social 
 sense was acknowledged. Since the influx of the new-made 
 rich, under the stimulus of the war and Acredale's advan- 
 tages as a resort, there were a good many who disputed the 
 Sprague leadership tacitly conceded rather than asserted. 
 Chief of the dissidents was Elisha Boone, who, by virtue of 
 longer tenure, vast wealth, and political precedence, divided 
 not unequally the homage paid the patrician family. Boone 
 was fond of speaking of himself as a " self-made man," and 
 the satirical were not slow to add that he had no other wor- 
 ship than his "creator." This was a gibe made rather for 
 the antithesis than its accuracy, for even Boone's enemies 
 owned that he was a good neighbor, and, where his preju- 
 dices were not in question, a man with few distinctly re- 
 pellent traits. He delighted in showing his affluence not 
 always in good taste. He filled his fine house with bizarre 
 crowds, and made no stint to his friends who needed his 
 purse or his influence. He had in the early days when he 
 came to Acredale aspired to political leadership in the Demo- 
 cratic party. 
 
 But Senator Sprague was too firmly enshrined in the loy- 
 alty of the district to be overcome by the parvenu's manoeu- 
 vres or his money. His ambition in time turned to rancor 
 as he marked the patrician's disdainful disregard of his
 
 GUELPH AND GHIBELLINE. 31 
 
 (Boone's) efforts to supplant him. Hatred of the Spragues 
 became something like a passion in Boone. Sarcasms and 
 disparagement leveled at his social and political pretensions 
 he attributed to the Senator and his family. All sorts of 
 slurs and gossip were reported to him by busybodies, until it 
 became a settled purpose with Boone to make the Sprague 
 family feel heavy heart-burnings for the sum of the affronts 
 he had endured. It was to them he attributed the whis- 
 pered gibes about his illiteracy; his shady business meth- 
 ods ; the awful story of his handiwork in the ruin of Rich- 
 ard Perley, the spendthrift brother of the Misses Perley. 
 Once, too, when he had so well manipulated the district 
 delegates that he was sure of nomination in the convention, 
 Senator Sprague had hurried home from Washington and 
 defeated him just as the prize was in his grasp. The Senator 
 made a speech to the delegates, in which he pointedly de- 
 clared that it was men of honor and brains, not men of 
 money, that should be chosen to make the laws. 
 
 "The time will come, Senator, that you'll be sorry for 
 this hour's work," Boone said, joining Sprague at the door 
 as he was leaving the hall. 
 
 " How's that ? " the other asked, with just the shade of 
 superciliousness in the tone admired in the Senate for suav- 
 ity. " I hope I am always sorry when I do wrong, in speech 
 or act; I teach my children to be." 
 
 " Well, if you think it right to run the party for a few 
 lordly idlers too proud to mix with the people men who 
 think they are better born and better bred than the rest of 
 us I don't want to have anything more to do with it. .1 
 will go elsewhere." 
 
 " That's your privilege, sir. The Whigs have plenty of 
 room for self-made men. Though I do think you are tak- 
 ing too personal a view of to-day's contest, your defeat was 
 purely a matter of duty. Moore, whom we have chosen, 
 was a poor Irish settler here before you came. He was 
 promised the nomination two years ago." With a lofty 
 bow the Senator turned and stalked in another direction as 
 if he did not care for the other's further companv. Even 
 3
 
 32 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 this small and wholly unintended affront worked in the 
 poor, misjudging victim of morbid self-esteem, as a cinder in 
 the eye will torture and blind the sufferer to all the land- 
 scape. Boone mingled no more with the Democrats. He 
 threw himself with the fervor of the convert into the radi- 
 cal wing of the Whigs, and was brought into close relation 
 with some of the most admired of the band of great men 
 who created the young Republican party. If Douglas, 
 Dickinson, Cass, Van Buren, Seymour, or any eminent 
 Democrat passing through Warchester stopped to break 
 bread with their colleague Sprague in his Acredale retreat, 
 straightway the splendid Sumner, the Ciceronian Phillips, 
 or the Walpole-Seward, or some other of the shining galaxy 
 of agitators, whose light so shone before men that the whole 
 land was presently brought out of darkness, met at Boone's 
 table to maintain the balance in distinction. 
 
 It was Boone's liberal purse that paid the expenses of the 
 memorable campaign in the Warchester district, wherein the 
 Democrats were first shaken in their hold. It was his money 
 that finally secured the seat in Congress for Oswald, who 
 was his tenant and debtor. It was therefore no surprise 
 when Oswald who had been greatly aided in business af- 
 fairs by Senator Sprague passed over the prior claims of 
 his old patron's son, and gave the cadetship to Wesley 
 Boone. the son of his new liege. It was looked upon as 
 another step in the ladder of gratitude when Wesley carried 
 off the captaincy in the Acredale company, though every- 
 body knew that young Boone was not in any way so well 
 fitted for the " straps " as Jack. When one day an item ap- 
 peared in the local paper to the effect that President Lincoln 
 had shown the t; sagacity for which he was so well known, 
 in honoring our distinguished townsman, Elisha Boone, Esq., 
 with the appointment of ambassador to Russia," everybody 
 thought the statement only natural. There were many 
 congratulations. But when, having declined this splen- 
 did proffer, the authorities pressed the place of " Assistant 
 Secretary of the Treasury " upon their townsman, the 
 whole village awoke to the fact that all its greatness had
 
 GUELPH AND GIUBELLINE. 33 
 
 not gone when Senator Sprague was gathered to his fa- 
 thers. 
 
 The event was potent as the cross Constantino saw, or 
 dreamed he saw, in the sky, in the conversion of party 
 workers to the new Administration. Everybody looked for- 
 ward to an eminent future for the potent partisan and mill- 
 ionaire, the first of that now not uncommon hierarchy 
 that replace the feudal barons in modern social forces. Had 
 he listened to the eager urging of Kate, his daughter and 
 prime minister, Boone would have accepted the foreign mis- 
 sion ; but he stubbornly refused to listen to her in this. 
 
 Kate Boone was like her father only in strong will, 
 vehement purpose, and a certain humorous independence 
 that made her a great delight among even the anti-Boone 
 partisans in both Acredale and Warchester. Since the death 
 of her mother, Kate had been head of her father's household 
 an imperious, capricious, kind-hearted tyrant, who ruled 
 mostly by jokes and persuasions of the gentler sort. It was 
 her father's one lament that Kate was not " the boy of the 
 family, for she had more of the stuff that makes the man in 
 her little finger than Wes had in his whole body." She kept 
 him in a perpetual unrest of delight and dismay. She es- 
 poused none of his piques or prejudices; she was as apt to 
 bring people he disliked to his dinner-table as those he liked. 
 She was forever making him forgive wrongs, or what he 
 fancied to be wrongs, and causing him seem at fault in all 
 his squabbles, so that he was often heard to say, when things 
 went as he didn't want them : 
 
 " I don't know whether I am to blame or the other fellow 
 until Kate hears the story." 
 
 His illiteracy and lack of polish were the secret grief of 
 the rich man's life. Kate was quick in detecting this. Much 
 of it she saw was due to the shyness that unschooled men 
 feel in the presence of college men, or those who have been 
 trained. On returning from her seminary life, the young 
 girl set about remedying the single break in her father's per- 
 fections. She was far too clever to let him know her ambi- 
 tious purpose. With a patience almost maternal and an
 
 34 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 exquisite adroitness, she interested him in her own reading, 
 which was comprehensive, if not very well ordered. But she 
 won the main point. During the long winter evenings her 
 father found no pleasure like that Kate had always ready 
 for him. in the cheery library. He was soon amazed at his 
 keen interest in the world of mind unrolled to his under- 
 standing ; more than all, he retained with the receptivity of 
 a boy all that was read to him. Kate made believe that she 
 needed his help in reviewing her own studies, and so carried 
 him through all she had gone over in the seminary classes. 
 Boone began presently to see that education is not the result 
 of mere attendance in schools and the parroting of the 
 classics in a few semesters in college. Without suspecting 
 it, his varied business enterprises and his wide experience of 
 men had grounded him as well in the ordinary forms of 
 knowledge as nine in ten college men attain. 
 
 " Education, after all, papa, is like a trade. A man may 
 be able to handle all the tools and not know their names. 
 Now, you are a well-informed man, but, because you didn't 
 know logic, grammar, scientific terms, and the like, you 
 thought yourself ignorant." 
 
 In the new confidence in himself he was surprised at his 
 own ability in launching a subject in the presence of his 
 eminent friends when especially Kate was on hand to sup- 
 port the conversation. She got him not only to buy fine 
 pictures, as most rich men do, but she made him see wherein 
 their value lay, so that when artists and amateurs came to 
 admire his treasures, he could talk to them without gross 
 solecisms. 
 
 " I'm not a liberal education to you, papa, as Steele said 
 of the Duchess of Devonshire. That implies too much, but 
 I am an index. You can find out what you need to know 
 by keeping track of my ignorance." 
 
 Elisha Boone's domestic circle was a termagancy as 
 Kate often told his guests tempered by wit and good- 
 humor. He was prouder of his daughter than of his self- 
 made rank or his revered million. In moments of expan- 
 sive good-nature he invited business or political associates to
 
 GUELPH AND GHIBELLINE. 35 
 
 " Acre Villa," as his place was called, to enjoy the surprise 
 Kate's graces wrought in the "guests. But these were not 
 always times of delight to the doting parent. Kate was a 
 shrewd judge of the amenities ; and if the personages who 
 came, at the father's bidding, gave the least sign of a not 
 unnatural surprise to find a girl so well bred and self-con- 
 tained in the daughter of such a man as Boone, she became 
 very frigid and left the father to do the honors of the even- 
 ing visit. No entreaty could move her to reappear on the 
 scene. In time, the prodigal papa was careful to submit a 
 list of the names of his proposed guests, as chamberlains 
 give royalty a descriptive list of those to be bidden to 
 court. 
 
 Kate was on terms that, if not cordial, were not con- 
 strained, with the Spragues. She had gone to the same 
 seminary with Olympia, had danced with Jack, and, in the 
 cadetship affair, had plainly given her opinion that her 
 brother Wesley, having no taste or fitness for military life, 
 Jack, who had, should have the prize. But two motives en- 
 tered into the father's determination : one was to annoy and 
 humiliate the Spragues ; the other, the sleepless craving of the 
 parvenu to get for his son what had not been his, in spite of 
 all the adulation paid him the conceded equality of social 
 condition. The army was then, as I believe it is considered 
 now, the surest sign of higher caste in a democracy. Wes- 
 ley, by the mere right to epaulets, would be of the acknowl- 
 edged gentility. Nobody could sneer at him ; no doors could 
 be opened grudgingly when he called. He would, in virtue 
 of his West Point insignia, be a knighted member of the 
 blood royal of the republic. Some of this mysterious unc- 
 tion would distill itself into the unconsecrated ichor of the 
 rest of the family, and Kate, as well as himself, would be 
 part of the patrician caste. The daughter looked upon all 
 this good-humoredly ; she shared none of her father's mor- 
 bid delusions on the subject. She rallied the cadet a good 
 deal on his mission. When Wesley, after the June exami- 
 nations, which he passed by the narrowest squeeze 'twas 
 said by outside influence came home to display his cadet
 
 36 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 buttons and his neat gray uniform in Acredale, Kate ban- 
 tered the complacent young warrior jocosely. 
 
 "We shall all have to live up to your shoulder-straps 
 and brass buttons after this, Wesley," she cried, as the 
 proud young dandy strutted over the arabesques of the li- 
 brary, where the delighted papa marched him, the better to 
 survey the boy's splendor. "And think of the fate that 
 awaits you if, in the esteem of Acredale, you should turn out 
 less than a Napoleon." 
 
 " Be serious, Kate, and don't tease the boy. Wesley knows 
 what's expected of him ; he has an opportunity to show what 
 is in his stock. Thank God, men in the North can now 
 come to their own without going down on their knees to the 
 South ! " 
 
 Wesley grinned. He was no match for his sister in the 
 humorous bouts waged over his head against his father's 
 prejudices and cherished social schemes. During the vaca- 
 tion she put a heavy penalty of raillery upon his swelling 
 pride and vanity, sarcasm that tried the paternal patience as 
 well as his own. Wesley, however, had a large fund of the 
 philosophy that comes from a high estimate of one's self. 
 He was well favored in looks and build, though somewhat ef- 
 feminate, with his small hands and carefully shod feet. He 
 would have been called a " dude " had the word been known 
 in its present significance ; as it was, he was regarded as a cox- 
 comb by the derisive group hostile to the father's social pre- 
 tensions. He was the first of the golden youth of his set to 
 adopt the then reviving mode of parting the hair on the 
 middle of the head. In the teeth of the village derision, he 
 persisted in this with a tenacity that Kate declared gave 
 promise of a "Wellington." For many who had at first 
 adopted the foreign freak had been ridiculed out of it, dis- 
 couraged by the obstinate refusal of the generality to follow 
 the lead. In those sturdily primitive days the rich youth of 
 the land had not so universally gone abroad as they do now, 
 and " the proper thing " among the " well born " was not so 
 distinctly laid down in the code of the 6lite. The accent and 
 manners that now mark "good form" seemed queer, not to
 
 GUELPH AND GHIBELLINE. 37 
 
 say bouffe, to even the first circles of home society, and the 
 first disciples of " Anglomania" had a very hard time polish- 
 ing the raw material. The home life of the Boones was 
 something better and sincerer than the impression made 
 upon their neighbors by the father's invincible push and 
 high-handed ways. His daughter and son had been born to 
 him in middle age. They had the reverence for the parent 
 marked in the conduct of children who associate gray hairs 
 with the venerable. With all her strong sense and self- 
 assertion, Kate was proud of the fact that she was her father's 
 daughter. It was a distinction to bear his name. His solid- 
 ity, his masterful will, his well-defined, if narrow, convic- 
 tions, were to her the sanctities one is apt to associate with 
 lineage or magistracy. Wesley, though less impressionable 
 than his sister, shared these secret devotions to the parent's 
 parts, and bowed before his father's behests, in the filial rev- 
 erence of the sons of the patriarchs. When Elisha Boone 
 denounced the outbreak of John Brown at Harper's Ferry 
 as more criminal than Aaron Burr's treason, his children 
 made his prepossessions their own ; when, three years later, 
 the father proudly eulogized the uprising he had so luridly 
 condemned, his children saw no tergiversation in the swift 
 conversion. When to this full measure of lay perfection 
 the complexion of Levite godliness was superadded by elec- 
 tion to the deaconate in the Baptist Church, it will readily 
 be seen that two young people, in whom the hard worldliness 
 of wealth and easy conditions had not bred home agnosti- 
 cism, were material for all the credulities of parent worship. 
 Kate, a year older than Wesley, soon encountered the in- 
 fluences which gave the first shock to her faith and gradually 
 tinctured her sentiments with a clearer insight into her 
 father's character. Oddly enough, it was through the rival 
 "house this came. Olympia, a sort of ablegate in the social 
 hierarchy of the village, had been thrown much with Kate, 
 and was greatly amused with her point of view in many of 
 the snarls arising in a provincial society. The intimacy had 
 been begun in the New York school, where both had been 
 in the same classes, and, though the families saw nothing of
 
 38 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 each other, the girls did. Kate was soon led to see that the 
 Spragues had none of the patrician pretension her father at- 
 tributed to them. Jack, too, had made much of her, and 
 seemed to delight in her sharp retorts to the inanities of would- 
 be wits. The episode in Elisha Boone's life, that all his suc- 
 cess, wealth, and after exemplary conduct had not condoned 
 in the village mind, was his handiwork in the ruin of Richard 
 Perley. I set this down with something of the delight Car- 
 lyle expresses when in the rubbish of history he found, among 
 the shams called kings and nobles, anything like a man. 
 
 It is worth the noting, this trait of Acredale, at a time when 
 riches and success are looked upon as condoning every breach 
 of the decalogue. Just how the intimacy between the two 
 men came about was not known. It, however, was known 
 that when Boone first came to Acredale he had been helped 
 in his affairs by Dick Perley's lavish means. In a few years 
 Boone was the patron and Perley the client. As Boone grew 
 rich Perley grew poor, until finally all was gone. Then the 
 fairest lands of the Perley inheritance passed to Boone. It 
 was the fireside history of the whole Caribee Valley that the 
 rich contractor had encouraged the ruined gentleman in the 
 excesses that ended the profligate's career; that the two men 
 had staked large sums at play in Bucephalo, and that ina- 
 bility to meet his losses to Boone had caused Dick Perley's 
 flight. He had been seen by one of the village people a year 
 or two before the war in Richmond, and had been heard of 
 in California later, but no word had ever reached his family, 
 not even when his wife died, two years after his exile. There 
 were those who said that Boone was in correspondence with 
 his victim, and it was known that drafts, made by Dick Per- 
 ley, had been paid by Boone at the bank in Warchester. Be- 
 tween Boone and the Perley ladies, whose house was sepa- 
 rated from " Acre Villa " by a wide lawn and hedge, there 
 had always been the tacit enmity that wrong on one side 
 and meek unreproach on the other breeds. The rancor that 
 manifested itself in Boone's treatment of the Misses Perley 
 was not imitated by them. They never alluded to their afflu- 
 ent neighbor, never suffered gossip concerning the Booues in
 
 GUELPH AND GHIBELLINE. 39 
 
 what Olympia humorously called the " Orphic adytum," the 
 " tabby-shop," as Wesley named the Perley parlors. Young 
 Dick, however, had none of the scruples that kept his aunts 
 silent. One dreadful day, when he had been nagged to fisti- 
 cuffs with Wesley, whose dudish dignity exacted a certain 
 restraint with the hot-headed youngster, Elisha Boone, be- 
 hind the thick hedge, heard on the highway outside his 
 grounds this outrageous anathema: 
 
 " You're no more than a thief, Wes Boone ; your father 
 stole all he's got. Some day I'll make him give it back, or 
 send him to jail, where he ought to be now." 
 
 Schoolboy though the railer was, Boone staggered 
 against the hedge, the words brought a dreadful flush and 
 then a livid pallor to the miserable parent's cheek. He 
 dared not trust himself to speak then. Nor was the an- 
 tipathy the outbreak caused mitigated by the savage thrash- 
 ing that Wesley, throwing aside his dignity, proceeded to 
 administer to the unbridled accuser. After that, by the 
 father's sternest command, neither of his children was to 
 return the courteous salutation the Perley ladies had never 
 ceased to bestow in meeting the Boones walking or in com- 
 pany. Now, Dick was the kind of boy that those who know 
 boy nature would calf adorable. To the Philistine, without 
 humor or sympathy, I'm afraid he was a very bad boy.. He 
 was until late in his teens painfully shy with grown people 
 and strangers ; even under the eyes of his aunts and with 
 youths of his own age, diffident to awkwardness. He had 
 the face of a well-fed cherub and the gentle, dreamy, and 
 wistful eye of a girl in love. With his elders he had the 
 halting, confused speech of a new boy in a big school. But 
 in the woods or on the playground he was the merriest, 
 most daring, and winningly obstreperous lad that ever filled 
 three maiden aunts with terror and delight.
 
 40 THE IROX GAME. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 A NAPOLEONIC EPIGRAM. 
 
 FOR weeks the regiment expected every day the order to 
 inarch. The guns had been distributed and all their fasci- 
 nating secrets mastered. In evolution and manual the men 
 regarded themselves as quite equal to the regulars. The 
 strict orders forbidding absence overnight were hardly 
 needed, as no one ventured far, fearing that the regiment 
 would be whirled away to Washington during the night. 
 Had the men been older or more experienced in war, the 
 weeks of waiting would have been delightful rather than 
 dreary. The regiment was the object of universal interest 
 in the town. Base-ball and the alluring outdoor pastimes 
 that now divert the dawdlers of cities were unknown. 
 Hence the camp-ground of the Caribees was the matinee, 
 ball-match, tennis, boating, all in one of the idle afternoon 
 world of Warchester. At parade and battalion drill the 
 scene was like the race-ground on gala days. 
 
 All the fine equipages of the town drew up in the roads 
 and lanes flanking the camp, where with leveled glasses the 
 mothers, sisters, and sweethearts watched the columns as 
 they skirmished, formed squares, or " passed the defile," quite 
 sure that the rebels would fly in confusion before such sur- 
 prising manoeuvres. This daily audience stimulated such a 
 fierce rivalry among the companies that the men turned out 
 at all hours of the day to drill and practice in squads, rather 
 than loiter about the camp. One day great news aroused 
 the camp : the Governor was to review the regiment and 
 send it to the front. All Warchester poured out to the 
 Holly Hills, and when at five o'clock the companies filed 
 out on the shining green there was such a cheer that the 
 men felt repaid for the tiresome wait of months. The civic 
 commander-in- chief watched the movements with affa- 
 ble scrutiny, surrounded by a profusely uniformed staff, 
 to whom he expressed the most politic approval. He 
 was heard to remark that no such soldiers had been seen
 
 A NAPOLEONIC EPIGRAM. 41 
 
 on this continent since Scott had marched to Lundy's 
 Lane. 
 
 There was a throb of passionate joy in the ranks when 
 this eulogium reached the men, for the words were hardly 
 spoken when they were known in every company by that 
 mysterious telegraphy which makes the human body a con- 
 ductor swift as an electric wire among large masses of men. 
 Nor were the words less relished that the eulogist was as 
 ignorant of military excellence as a Malay of the uses of a 
 patent mower. The men, it was easy to see, were much 
 more efficient in movement than the officers in handling 
 them. Colonel Oswald had wasted weeks in the study of 
 the occult evolutions of the battalion ; they were still a 
 maddening mystery to him that fatal day. For six weeks 
 his dreams had been haunted by airy battalions filing over 
 impossible defiles. The commands he gave that day would 
 have thrown the companies into hopeless confusion had the 
 junior officers not boldly substituted the right ones for the 
 colonel's blunders. This, however, passed unnoted, for the 
 crowds, and even the men, were not the sharp critics they 
 afterward became when mistakes by an incompetent officer 
 were saluted by shouts of ridicule, and the men contemptu- 
 ously disregarded them. When Colonel Oswald ordered 
 them to " present arms " from a " place rest " there was more 
 perplexity than merriment, and the admiring crowd saw 
 nothing peculiar in one company snatching up bayonets to 
 present while others remained perfectly still. 
 
 Jack, to whom the manual was a very sacred thing, broke 
 into fierce ridicule of the commander, declaring that he was 
 better fitted for sutler than colonel. When the savage speech 
 was reported to headquarters that young fellow's prospects 
 for the straps never the best were by no means improved. 
 The review brought bitter disappointment to the regiment. 
 The inspector-general, who was present, informed the colonel 
 that no more than a thousand men could be accepted in one 
 body ; that five hundred of the Caribees would have to be 
 divided among other troops in the State. The order aroused 
 wild excitement. Half the men looked upon the edict as a
 
 42 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 scheme to give the politicians more places for their feuda- 
 tories. Indeed, though that was not the origin of the order, 
 that was the use made of it. Some of the junior officers, who 
 disliked Oswald and distrusted his capacity to command, 
 drew out very willingly, and of course carried many of their 
 men with them. 
 
 But in the end the matter had to be decided by lot. Now 
 this chance threw Wesley Boone out, and there was great 
 rejoicing in the Acredale group, who hoped that this stroke 
 of luck would make place for their favorite, Jack Sprague. 
 But, to everybody's astonishment, a day or two alter the 
 event, Wesley resumed his place in Company K, and gave 
 out that it was by order of the Governor. J ack was urged 
 by the major of the regiment, who had gone with the five 
 hundred, to cast his fortunes with the new body, promising 
 a speedy lieutenancy. But Jack would not desert the Cari- 
 bees. All of Company K, and many in the others, had en- 
 listed on his word, and he could not in honor leave them. 
 The opposition journals had from the first denounced the 
 division of the Caribees as a trick of the partisans, and, sure 
 enough, the men were given to understand that there would 
 be no move to Washington until after the election, then 
 pending. This was a municipal contest, and the Adminis- 
 tration party made good use of the incipient soldiery to ob- 
 tain a majority in the town. 
 
 Promotion was quite openly held out as a reward for 
 those Avho could influence most votes for the Administration 
 candidates. At night the various companies were sent into 
 the city to take part in the political propaganda ; to march 
 in processions or occupy conspicuous places at the party 
 meetings. The private soldiers were almost to a man Demo- 
 crats, but the chance to escape the long and irksome evenings 
 of the camp and join the frolic and adventure of the street 
 made most of them willing enough to play the part of claque 
 or figurantes. Jack, of course, refused to take part in these 
 scenic rallies, making known his sentiments in vehement 
 disdain. He detested Oswald, who had quit his party, not 
 on a question of principle, but merely for place, and Jack
 
 A NAPOLEONIC EPIGRAM. 43 
 
 did not spare him in his satirical allusions to the new uses 
 invented for the military. 
 
 A still more trying injustice befell the luckless Jack. 
 For a long time he had, as senior, acted as orderly sergeant 
 of Company K. This officer is virtually the executive func- 
 tionary in the company. It is his place to form the men in 
 rank, make out details, and prepare everything for the cap- 
 tain. The orderly sergeant is to the company what the adju- 
 tant is to the regiment. He carries a musket and marches 
 with the ranks, but in responsibility is not inferior to an 
 officer. One evening when it was known that orders had 
 come for the regiment to march, Jack, having formed the 
 company for parade, received a paper from the captain's or- 
 derly to read. He opened it without suspicion, and, among 
 other changes in the corps, read, " Thomas Trask to be first 
 sergeant of Company K, and he will be obeyed and respected 
 accordingly." Jack read the monstrous wrong without a 
 tremor. The men flung down their arms and broke into a 
 fierce clamor of rage and grief. Many of them were Jack's 
 classmates. These swarmed about him. One, assuming the 
 part of spokesman, cried out: 
 
 "It's an infamous outrage. They cheated you out of 
 your captaincy ; they have put every slight they could upon 
 you. But we have some rights. We won't stand this. 
 There are thirty of your classmates who will do whatever 
 you say to show these people that they can't act like this." 
 
 There were mutiny and desperation in the air. It needed 
 but a spark to destroy the usefulness of the company. But, 
 as is often the case with impetuous, hot-headed spirits, Jack 
 cooled as his friends grew hot. He .was the more patient 
 that the injustice was his injury alone. He remained in his 
 place at the right of the company, and confronted the re- 
 bellious group with amazing self-control. Then loud above 
 the murmuring his voice rang out: 
 
 " Company, attention ! fall in, fall in ! Any man out of 
 the ranks will be sent to the guard-house. Right dress, 
 steady on the left." 
 
 Many a time afterward these angry mutineers heard that
 
 44 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 sonorous, clear, boyish treble in stern and determined com- 
 mand ; but they never heard it signalize a more heroic tem- 
 per than at that moment, when, himself deeply wronged, he 
 forced them to go back in the ranks to receive the interloper. 
 They " dressed up " sullenly as Jack called the roll for the 
 last time, and received Trask, the new orderly, at a "pre- 
 sent," which, though not in the tactics, Jack exacted as a 
 penitence for the momentary revolt. Poor Trask looked 
 very unhappy indeed as his displaced rival stepped back to the 
 rear and left the new orderly to march the company out from 
 the narrow way to take its place in the parade. It was easy 
 to see that he would have been very glad to postpone or 
 evade his new honors, on any pretext, for the time. He was 
 so confused that Jack, from the flank, was obliged to re- 
 peat the few commands needed to get the company to the 
 field. 
 
 Fortunately for the efficiency of the raw army, as this 
 public discontent reached its most acute stage orders came to 
 march the troops to Washington. The Caribees were the 
 first body of soldiers sent from Warchester, and there was a 
 memorable scene when the jaunty ranks filed through the 
 streets to the station. By the time the men reached the 
 train they discovered that they could never make war laden 
 down as they were by knapsacks filled with the preposter- 
 ous impedimenta feminine foresight had provided. 
 
 The men's backs bulged out with such a pack of supplies 
 that when the regiment halted each man was forced to 
 kneel and let a comrade take off or put on his knapsack. 
 And then the march through the streets every man known 
 to scores in the throng! The brisk, high-stepping drum 
 corps rat-a-tattiiig at intervals ; then tempests of cheers, flash- 
 ing banners and patriotic symbols at every window; tears, 
 laughter, humorous cries, .jokes, sobbing outbreaks. The 
 whole city was in march as the Caribees reached the thronged 
 main thoroughfare. Ready hands relieved the soldiers of 
 their burden as the line filed in sight of the Governor, who 
 had come to speed the parting braves. 
 
 Lads and lasses made merry with the elated warriors.
 
 A NAPOLEONIC EPIGRAM. 45 
 
 The muskets were turned into bouquet-holders, and the first 
 move toward real war took on the air of a floral/fife. There 
 were popping corks and sounds of convivial revelry that 
 made the scene anything but warlike. Jack, in a cluster of 
 his town cronies, caught sight of his mother at one of the 
 windows of the Parthenon Hotel. He wafted her a joyous 
 kiss, pretending not to see the tears falling down her cheeks. 
 Olympia was not apparently very deeply affected. She 
 made her way through the crowd to her brother's side, and 
 with an air of the liveliest interest demanded : 
 
 " Jack, what have you in your knapsack ? Let me see." 
 
 " O Polly, it's such a job to close it ! What do you want ? 
 It is harder to manage than a Saratoga trunk. I can't real- 
 ly stuff another pin or needle in, so pray keep what you 
 have for my furlough." 
 
 " No, I am not going to put anything in." She bent over 
 while Barney Moore, one of Jack's Acredale comrades, gal- 
 lantly loosed the straps. She searched carefully through 
 the divers articles, taking everything out, Jack looking on 
 ruefully while his companions gathered about in vague curi- 
 osity. When she had removed and restored everything she 
 arose, saying: " I feel easier now. I merely looked to see if 
 that marshal's bdton I have heard so much about was there. 
 I shall feel easy in my mind now, because a bdton in your 
 baggage would have made you too adventurous." 
 
 There was a great shout of laughter as the fun of the in- 
 cident flashed upon the listeners, many of whom had heard 
 the ingenuous Jack often in other days sighing for war, and 
 the chance that Napoleon said every man had of finding a 
 marshal's bdton in his knapsack. Jack bore the banter 
 very equably, knowing that Olympia was rather striving to 
 keep his spirits up and divert him from the tears in his 
 mother's eyes than indulge her own humor. Indeed, most 
 of the gayety at this moment was contributed by those 
 whose hearts were heaviest. The consecrated priesthood 
 of patriotism must see no weakness in those left behind. 
 The only sou, now brought face to face with the meaning 
 and consequence of his rashly seized chance for glory, must
 
 46 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 not be reminded that perhaps a grave lay beyond the thin 
 veil of the near future ; must not be reminded that heavy 
 hearts and dim eyes were left behind, feeding day by day, 
 hour by hour, on terror and dread, unsupported by the 
 changing scenes, the wild excitement, and the joyous vicissi- 
 tudes of the soldier's life. It was a cruel comedy acted every 
 day between 1861 and 1865. They laughed who were not gay, 
 and they seemed indifferent who were fainting with despair. 
 The courage of battle is mere brutish insensibility compared 
 with the abnegation of the million mothers who gave their 
 boys to the bestial maw of war. 
 
 The harrowing ceremonial of parting is ended. The 
 train moves slowly out of the station, and a murmur of sobs 
 and cheers echoes until it is far beyond the easternmost lim- 
 its of the city. After a journey of two days and a night the 
 train reached Philadelphia. Jack was all eyes and ears 
 for the spectacle the country presented. In every station 
 through which the regiment passed crowds welcomed the 
 blue-coats. Women fed them, or those who seemed in need, 
 thinking, perhaps, of their own distant darliugs receiving 
 like tenderness from the stranger. 
 
 In Philadelphia the regiment marched across the city to 
 resume its journey. It was a cold spring night, and the 
 regimental quartermaster and commissary had made no pro- 
 vision for the men. Indeed, as the observant Jack afterward 
 learned, it was part of the plan of the groups that first began 
 to create great fortunes during the war to make the soldiers 
 pay for their rations en route to the seat of war, or depend 
 upon the charity of citizens along the railway lines. The 
 Government paid for the supplies just the same, while the 
 money went into the pockets of contractors and quarter- 
 masters. After a weary tramp through what seemed to the 
 soldiers the biggest city in the world, the regiment, with 
 blistered feet, hungry and cross, were halted before a long, 
 low wooden building, through whose rough glass windows 
 cheerful lights could be seen. A rumor spread that they 
 were to have a hot supper, and, sure enough, they were 
 marched in, dividing on each side of four long tables that
 
 ON THE POTOMAC. 47 
 
 stretched into spectral distance, in the feeble glimmer of the 
 oil-lamps hanging from the ceiling. Most of the men in 
 Jack's company, at least, were gently nurtured, but the 
 steaming oysters, cold beef, and generous " chunks " of 
 bread, filled their eyes with a magnificence and their stom- 
 achs with a gentle repletion no banquet before or after ever 
 equaled. The feast was set in the same place during four 
 years, by the Sanitary Society, I think, but the memory of 
 that homely board, plenteously spread, is in the mind of 
 many a veteran who faced warward during the conflict. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ON THE POTOMAC. 
 
 THE next morning, when the men debarked to march 
 through Baltimore, every one was on the qui vive to fasten 
 in his memory the scene of the shameful attack upon the 
 soldiers of Massachusetts on the 19th of April. But, as the 
 line marched proudly down Pratt Street, there were no signs 
 of the hostile spirit that made Baltimore a center of doubt 
 and suspicion in the North for many a day afterward. It 
 was, however, when the train dashed out from among the 
 hills to the northwest of the sheet of water behind the capitol 
 that the Caribees glued their eyes to the panes in awe not 
 unmingled with delight. No American will ever look upon 
 that imperial dome again with the sensations that filled the 
 breasts of those who first saw its rounded outlines in the war 
 epoch. What the ark of the covenant was to the armies 
 that marched in the wilderness, or the cross of St. Peter to 
 the pilgrims approaching Rome, that the great dome, tower- 
 ing cloudward in the perpetual blue, was to the wondering 
 eye of the soldier as his glance first fell upon it ; that it was 
 for months yes, ever after on the plains of Arlington and 
 in the deadly exhalations of the Chickahominy. Every one 
 4
 
 48 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 looked anxiously to see signs of war indeed, since leaving 
 Baltimore, there was a delicious feeling of suspense as the 
 train shot over embankments or skirted the deep pine woods. 
 Perhaps an adventurous rebel vanguard might attack them. 
 Perhaps they might have the glory of fighting their way to 
 the beleaguered capital. Perhaps Father Abraham might 
 come out and smile benignantly at them for a brave deed 
 well done. Faces flushed and eyes sparkled in the delight- 
 ful anticipation : and some of the ardent spirits, more eager 
 than the others, loaded their muskets to be ready ! But, be- 
 yond the Federal picket-post at the stations, no sign of war 
 was seen, nor much sign of hostilities, such as the vivid 
 fancies of the raw young warriors conjured. 
 
 But now the train was at rest, and the officers who had 
 not been seen during the journey turned out in resplendent 
 plumery. The station in those days a tumble-down bar- 
 rack was already crowded with soldiery. The Caribees 
 were aligned along the track, the officers so bewildered by 
 the confusion that it was by a miracle some of the groups of 
 moving men were not run over by the backing engines. 
 After an interminable delay, the band set up " We're coming 
 down to "Washington to fight for Abraham's daughter ! " and 
 with exuberant joy a thousand pairs of legs kept brisk step 
 and elastic movement to the inspiriting strain. Now the 
 longing eyes see the circumstance and even some of the pomp 
 of war. The regiment debouches into Pennsylvania Avenue, 
 under the very shadow of the Capitol, which looks sadly 
 shabby and disproportioned to the eyes that had an hour or 
 two before opened in such admiration at the first view. But 
 there is no time for architectural criticism. They are mov- 
 ing down the avenue toward the White House, toward the 
 home of that patient, kindly, sorely-tried ruler the Democ- 
 ritus of his grisly epoch. The Caribees excite none of the 
 sensation here they have been accustomed to. The streets 
 are not crowded, and the few civilians passing hardly turn 
 their heads. Mounted orderlies dash hurriedly, with hideous 
 clatter of sabre and equipments, across the line of march, 
 through the very regiment's ranks, answering with a dis-
 
 OX THE POTOM-AC. 49 
 
 dainful oath or mocking gibe when an outraged shoulder- 
 strap raised a remonstrating voice. At Fourteenth Street 
 the Caribees were halted until the colonel could take his 
 bearings from headquarters, just around the corner. The 
 wide sidewalks were dense with bestarred and epauleted per- 
 sonages in various keys of discussion. Jack and his crony, 
 Barney Moore, studied the scene in wonder. Their company 
 was halted exactly at the corner of Fourteenth Street and 
 Pennsylvania Avenue, and the two were standing at Wil- 
 lard's corner. 
 
 " I wonder if the President just stands and throws the 
 stars down from that balcony ? " Jack said, as the crowd of 
 brigadiers thickened before the hotel door. " What on earth 
 are they all doing here ? " 
 
 " Oh, they come to make requisition on General Bacchus ; 
 he's the commissary -general of the brigadiers don't you 
 know ? " Barney said, innocently. 
 
 " General Bacchus ? Barney, you're crazy there's no 
 such officer in the army I know all the names you mean 
 General Banks, don't you ? " 
 
 " Oh, no, I'm not mistaken General Bacchus has been 
 selected to deal out the esprit de corps ! " 
 
 u L'esprit de corps ? Barney, you're certainly tipsy. 
 I'm ashamed of you ! " 
 
 " Yes, the spirit of that corps, as you can tel] from the 
 whiffs that come this way, is the whisky-bottle. Bacchus 
 presides over that spirit. One would think you'd never 
 read an eclogue of Virgil you're duller than a doctor of 
 divinity's after-dinner speech! A tutor's joke is the utmost 
 wit you ought to bear." 
 
 " And so you call that a joke ? " 
 
 " Well, it isn't a cough, a song, an oath, or or anything 
 old Oswald would say, so it must be a joke." 
 
 " Well, in that sense it may pass, like a tipsy soldier with- 
 out the countersign." 
 
 " Oh, come now, Jack, these stars are really dazzling you ! " 
 
 " Not but I'll make you see some that will dazzle you, if 
 you don't treat your superior more respectfully."
 
 50 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 " Oh, the punch you think of giving me wouldn't solve 
 this star problem; it requires to be made in the old the 
 milky way." 
 
 But Barney's astral jokes were brought to a period by 
 the sharp note of the bugle, as Colonel Oswald, very im- 
 portant under the eye of so many big-wigs, magnificently 
 ordered the march. The regiment passed up the steep hill, 
 out Fourteenth Street then a red clay thoroughfare of sticky 
 mire with only here and there a negro's shanty where the 
 palaces of the rich rise to-day. The men learned something 
 of their future enemy, Virginia mud, as they climbed the 
 red gorge and debouched on Meridian Hill, where, pres- 
 ently, an aide-de-camp marked the ground assigned the regi- 
 ment, and the real life of the soldier began. How tame to 
 tell, but how " imperial the hour " when these one thousand 
 lads first went on guard ! Yes, the fact was now before 
 them. They were no longer segregated atoms, inert, inef- 
 fective, eccentric. They were part of that mighty bulwark 
 of blood and iron that stood between law and rebellion, 
 between the nation's heart and the assassin dagger of dis- 
 T2Hr.on. 
 
 How proud and glad and manly they felt, these bright- 
 eyed boys for boys they mostly were; not a hundred in the 
 regiment had seen their five-and-twentieth year. One razor 
 would have been ample for the beards of the whole battal- 
 ion. And oh, the nameless, the intoxicating sense of soli- 
 darity as they swept the vast reach of hillsides, and saw the 
 white tents in brooding immensity on either hand ! Yes, 
 yonder, far across the wondrous belt of water, touching loy- 
 alty and rebellion in its mighty rush seaward, they could dis- 
 tinguish the cities of canvas on the distant Virginia shore. 
 
 u It makes a fellow feel as Godfrey's hosts felt when they 
 came in sight of the Bosporus, and the hordes of the Sara- 
 cens on the plains of the Hellespont," Jack said, exultingly, 
 as Barney stood on a pile of camp equipages above him, sur- 
 veying the quickening spectacle. 
 
 " I don't know how Godfrey's fellows felt, Jack, but it do 
 make a man feel kinder able to do something with so many
 
 ON THE POTOMAC. 51 
 
 near by to lend a hand. But, stars and garters ! what a head 
 it must take to manage all these ! Fair and square, now, 
 Jack, you feel the fires of military genius in your big head 
 do you think that you could disentangle this enormous 
 coil put each corps, division, and regiment, in its proper 
 place at a day's notice ? " 
 
 "Oh, I couldn't perhaps do it just to-day; but give me 
 time ! " 
 
 " Yes, I'll give you to the age of Methuselah, and then if 
 you can manage it I shall not lose faith in you." 
 
 " Come, men, the tents must be up before dark. Sergeant 
 Sprague, your squad has five tents for its detail. You'll find 
 axes and tools at the quartermaster's wagon on the hill yon- 
 der ! " It was the captain who spoke, and, an instant later, 
 the plot of ground, perhaps an acre and a half in area, was 
 a scene of rollicking labor. Each company had a street, the 
 tents calculated to hold four each, but the number varied, 
 going up often as high as six faced each other, leaving room 
 enough for the company to march in column or in line be- 
 tween the white walls. As the regiment would be presuma- 
 bly some time on the ground, the canvas tents rested on the 
 top of a palisade of logs cut in the neighboring woods. 
 These were five feet or more in length, and when driven 
 into the ground a foot, and banked by the sticky clay, served 
 excellently as walls upon which to rest the A tents. Two 
 berths, sometimes four, were fastened laterally on these 
 walls, frames running up to the center of the A held the 
 guns, while lines stretched across from above served as 
 wardrobes for such garments as could be hung up. 
 
 All this manoeuvring for space in such close quarters was 
 great fun for lads accustomed to roomy houses, and careless, 
 almost to slovenliness, in the matter of keeping things in 
 place. Absurd as these details may seem, they were all 
 parts, and very important parts, in the life and training of 
 that mighty host that carried the destiny of the country in 
 its discipline during four years. There was rigid inspection 
 of quarters every Sunday morning, and during the week the 
 non-commissioned officers were expected to see that cleanli-
 
 52 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 ness was not intermitted. The company " street " was " po- 
 liced " every morning after breakfast, swept and garnished, 
 that is, with the care of a Dutch housewife. Order is the 
 first law of the soldier as well as of Heaven, and many a 
 careless lad brought from his four years' drill method and 
 painstaking that made him of more value to himself and 
 his neighbors. 
 
 Personal traits, too, could be divined in these toy-like in- 
 teriors. The regulations prescribed the arrangement of the 
 " bunks," blankets folded, knapsacks laid at' the head of the 
 bed, accoutrements burnished until, at first sight, the four 
 guns in the rack seemed to be a mirror for the orderly spirit 
 of this thrifty grot. The shining plates, cups, and spoons, 
 would have done no discredit to the most energetic house- 
 wife, as they hung from pegs either above the bunks or along 
 the wall. If running water were not accessible, every tent 
 had a tin basin for the morning ablution, each soldier taking 
 turn good-humoredly. The household duties were scrupu- 
 lously observed, each man assuming his role in the compli- 
 cated menage. 
 
 It was fully a week before the Caribees were installed 
 ready for Sunday inspection, as no exigency was permitted 
 to interfere with morning and afternoon drill, guard-mount, 
 and parade. Battalion and brigade drill, too, were new di- 
 versions for the Caribees, as now, camped near other troops, 
 these more complicated movements were part of the regi- 
 ment's allotted duty. After they were sufficiently trained 
 in this they were to take part in a grand review by the gen- 
 eral-in-chief, when the President, the Secretary of War, and 
 all the great folks in Washington rode out to witness the 
 spectacle. 
 
 There was no time for dullness. Every hour had its 
 duty, and these soon became second nature to the zealous 
 young warriors. Such rivalry to best master the manual, to 
 hold the most soldierly stature in the ranks, to detect the 
 drill-sergeant when, to test their attention, he gave a false 
 command ! And then the coronal joy of a reward of merit 
 for efficiency and alertness on guard ! The rapture the bit
 
 ON THE POTOMAC. 53 
 
 of paper brought, and the exultation with which the hro 
 thus signalized went off to town for the day, wandered 
 through the waste of streets, stood before Willard's and ad- 
 mired in awe and wonder the indolent groups from whose 
 shoulders gleamed one and sometimes two stars! One day 
 Jack and Barney, walking in Fifteenth Street, saw a stout 
 man, with no insignia to indicate rank or station, coming 
 out of the headquarters hurriedly. He walked to the edge 
 of the pavement, and, looking up and down, seemed discon- 
 certed. Noticing the two lads, he came to where Jack was 
 standing in a preoccupied way, and the two saluted deco- 
 rously. He returned the salute and asked : 
 
 " Sergeant, are you on duty ? " 
 
 " No, sir; I'm on leave for the day." 
 
 "Ah, good; my orderly was here a moment ago, but I 
 don't see him anywhere. Would you mind taking this tele- 
 gram to the War Department, through the park yonder ? " 
 
 He gave Jack an envelope and hurried back into the 
 building as the two lads started with alacrity across the 
 street. 
 
 " I've seen that chap before, somewhere," Barney said, 
 panting with the rapid pace. 
 
 " He's a staff officer, I suppose, not very high rank, for 
 he only had a blouse on. General officers always wear 
 double-button frocks even if they don't carry the insignia." 
 
 The War Department was easy of access, an old building 
 not unlike Jack's own home in Acredale. He asked the sen- 
 try at the door where his envelops was to be delivered. The 
 man looked at it, pointed to a closed door, and Jack, receiv- 
 ing no response to his knock, entered. Three men were in 
 the room. One was seated at a vast desk with papers, maps, 
 dispatches, and books piled in disheartening confusion, with- 
 in reach of his hand. Behind him a young captain in uni- 
 form sat writing. But the figure that fixed Jack's reveren- 
 tial attention was half sprawling, half lying over the heaped- 
 up impediments of the big desk. The young soldier caught 
 sight of the serious, sad face, the wistful humorous eyes, and 
 he knew, with a thrill through all his body and an adoring
 
 54: THE IRON GAME. 
 
 throb in his breast, that it was the President hapless heritor 
 of generations of disjointed time. Ail thought of his er- 
 rand, all thought of place and person, faded as he realized 
 this presence. How long he would have remained in this 
 mute adoration there is no telling. The restless, keen eyes 
 looked up sharply and a dissonant, imperious, repellent voice 
 jerked out: 
 
 " Well, my man, what is it ? " 
 
 Without a word Jack handed him the envelope, and with 
 a sort of reverence to the tall figure whose face was turned 
 kindly toward him he backed to the door. 
 
 " O Barney, I've seen the President ! " 
 
 " Seen the President ! No? Oh! Why could not I have 
 gone in with you ? It's always my luck." 
 
 ''No; it was my luck. But take heart. He will come 
 out pretty soon, and we'll loaf about here. Perhaps we can 
 see him as he goes back to the White House yonder." 
 
 But though they waited far into the afternoon, forget- 
 ting their dinner in the impulse of homage, they did not 
 catch sight of the well-known figure, for the President's way 
 to the Secretary's room was a private one, and when he went 
 away the boys of course could not see him. But Jack's good 
 fortune was the talk of the regiment for many a day, and 
 for months when the fellows of the Caribee got leave they 
 lingered expectantly about the modest headquarters, hoping 
 that a missing orderly might bring them Jack Sprague's 
 proud distinction of seeing the President face to face. On 
 the grand review, a few days later, Jack and his crony were 
 reminded of the encounter at headquarters, for the man who 
 had given the envelope to carry to the war office was riding 
 a splendid horse next to the President. Two stars glittered 
 on his shoulder now, and as he answered the cheers that sa- 
 luted the group, the young men saw that it was General 
 McDowell, the commander of the forces. The President 
 rode along the lines, with a kindly wistfulness in the honest 
 eyes that studied with no superficial glance the long line of 
 shouting soldiery. He was not an imposing figure in the 
 sense of cavalier bravery, but no man that watched as he
 
 THE STEP THAT COSTS. 55 
 
 moved in the glittering group, conspicuous by his somber 
 black and high hat, ever forgot the melancholy, rapt regard 
 he gave the ranks, as at an easy canter he passed the fronts 
 of the squares or sat solemnly at the march past that con- 
 cluded the review. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE STEP THAT COSTS. 
 
 WHAT between the doings of the camp and the daily visit 
 to Washington, " soldiering " grew into an enchanting exist- 
 ence for the young warriors of the Caribee. Their quarters 
 were on the high plateaus north and west of the city which 
 were in those days shaded slopes, that made suburban Wash- 
 ington a vale of Tempe. In the streets they saw bedizened 
 officers, from commanders of armies down to presidential 
 orderlies. In the Senate and House they heard the voices 
 of men afterward potent in public councils. 
 
 What an exuberant, vagrant life it was ! The blood 
 warms and the nerves tingle after the tensions and heats of 
 a quarter of a century as those days of sublime vagabondage 
 come back. The melodious morning calls that waked the 
 sleepy, lusty young bodies ; the echoing bugle and the ab- 
 rupt drum ! And then the roll-call, in the misty morning 
 when the sun, blear and very red, rose as if blushing, or 
 apoplectic after the night's carouse ! It was an army of po- 
 etsof Homers that began the never monotonous routine 
 of these memorable days, for the incense of national sympa- 
 thy came faint but intoxicating to the soldier's nostrils in 
 the visits of great statesmen, the picnics of civilians, the 
 copious descriptive letters of correspondents and the daily 
 scrawls from far-away valleys, where fond eyes watched the 
 sun rise, noted the stars, to mark the special duties their dar- 
 lings were doing in the watches of the night. And then the 
 mad music of cheers when the news came that the young
 
 53 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 McClellan in West Virginia had scattered the adventurous 
 columns of Lee, capturing guns, men, and arms, and forever 
 saving the great Kanawha country to the Union ! And in 
 Kentucky the rebels had been outmanoeuvred ; while in Mis- 
 souri the glorious Lyon and the crafty Blair had, one in the 
 Cabinet, the other in the camp, routed the secret, black, and 
 Janus-like rabble of treason and anarchy. 
 
 To feel that he was part of all this ; that, at rest in the 
 iron ring girdling the capital, he was might in leash ; that 
 to-morrow he would be vengeance let loose this was the 
 sustaining, exulting thought that made the volunteer the 
 best of soldiers. His heart was all in the glorious ardor 
 for action. Night and morning he looked proudly at the 
 sacred ensign waving lightly in the summer breeze, and he 
 remembered that the eyes of Washington had rested on the. 
 same standard at Valley Forge ; that the sullen battalions 
 of Cornwallis had saluted it at Yorktown. 
 
 It was a beautiful ardor that filled the young hosts that 
 waited in leash on the green hills of the Potomac those 
 months of turmoil, when Scott and McDowell were strain- 
 ing the crude machinery of war to get ready for the vital 
 lunge. Jack and his Acredale squad, as the college fellows 
 were called, lived in a perpetual dream, from which the 
 hard realities of drill, now six hours a day, could not waken 
 them. In days of release they scoured the Maryland hills, 
 secretly hoping that an adventurous rebel picket might ap- 
 pear and give them occasion to return to camp decked with 
 preluding laurels. Mile after mile of the charming wood- 
 land country they scoured, their hearts beating at the ap- 
 pearance of any animate thing that for a brief, intoxicat- 
 ing moment they could conjure into a rebel advance post. 
 But, beyond wan and reticent yokels, engaged in the primi- 
 tive husbandry of this slave section, they never encountered 
 any one that could be counted overt enemies of the cause. 
 Money was plenty among these excursive groups, and they 
 were welcomed in Company K with effusive outbreaks by 
 their less restive comrades. 
 
 As July wore on, the signs of movement grew. Regi-
 
 THE STEP THAT COSTS. 57 
 
 ments were moved away mysteriously, and soon the Cari- 
 bees were almost alone on Meridian Hill. Jack was filled 
 with dire fears that the commanding officer, having discov- 
 ered the incompetency of Oswald, feared to take the Caribees 
 to the front. Something of the rumor spread through the 
 regiment, and if, as reputed, " Old Sauerkraut " (this was the 
 name he got behind his back) had spies in all the companies, 
 the adage about listeners was abundantly confirmed. In the 
 secrecy of Jack's tent, however, the subject was freely dis- 
 cussed. Nick Marsh, the poet of the class, as became the 
 mystic tendencies of his tribe, was for poisoning the detested 
 Pomeranian Oswald was a compatriot of Bismarck, often 
 boasting, as the then slowly emerging statesman became 
 more widely known, that he lived in his near neighborhood. 
 Marsh's suggestion fell upon fruitful perceptions. Bernard 
 Moore Barney, for short was to be a physician, and "had 
 already passed an apprenticeship in a pharmacy, coincident 
 with his college term in Jack's class. 
 
 " By the powers of mud and blood, Nick, dear, I have 
 it!" 
 
 " Have what, Barney, me b'y ? " Nick asked, mimicking 
 Barney's quaintly displaced vowels. 
 
 " Why, the way to get rid of Old Schnapps and Blitzen 
 more power to me ! " 
 
 ''All the power you want, if you'll only do that; and 
 your voice will be as sweet as ' the harp that once in Tara's 
 halls'" 
 
 "Never moind the harp Sassenach here's what we 
 can do. Tim Hussey is Oswald's orderly ; he and I are good 
 friends. I know a preparation that will turn the sauerkraut 
 and sausages, that Oswald eats so much of, into degluted fire 
 and brimstone, warranted to keep him on the broad of his 
 back for ten days or a fortnight. Will ye all swear secrecy ? " 
 
 " We will ! We will ! " 
 
 " On what ? " 
 
 "On the double crown on your head," Jack answered, 
 solemnly, " which you have often told us was considered a 
 sign that an angel had touched you I'm sure nothing could
 
 58 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 be more solemn than that. It isn't every fellow that can 
 get an angel to touch the top of his head." 
 
 "No; most fellows can consider themselves lucky if an 
 angel touches their lips or heart," Barney cried, naively. 
 
 " Well, never mind that sort of angel now, Barney," Nick 
 said, pettishly ; " I notice that you always bring up with some- 
 thing about the girls, no matter what the subject we set off 
 on. It's the jalap isn't that what it's called ? we want to 
 hear about." 
 
 " There isn't enough poetry or sentiment in the two o' 
 ye to fill a wind-blown buttercup. No wonder ye don't care 
 to talk of the gurls they'll have none of ye." 
 
 " We'll be satisfied if they'll have you, Barney. I'm sure 
 that's magnanimous. But if your jalap takes as much time 
 in working Old Schnapps as you take in explaining it, the 
 war will be over, and we shall have seen none of it." 
 
 " It's too great a conception to be hastily set forth. Give 
 me time. I'll lay a guinea that Oswald goes to the hospital 
 before this day week. Let us see. This is the 14th ; before 
 the 20th " and Barney gave the barrel of his gun, near him, 
 a furtive wipe with his coat-sleeve. 
 
 " Barney, if you'll do that, I'll gather every four-leaved 
 clover between here and Richmond to give you ; and, what's 
 more, if I die I'll leave you my bones to operate." 
 
 " Ah, Nick, dear, I'd rather have your little. finger living 
 than all the possessions of your father's bank. If you were 
 dead " And honest Barney seized the poet's hand senti- 
 mentally. 
 
 " Come, come, fellows, what sort of soldiering do you call 
 this ? You remind me of two school-girls," Jack remon- 
 strated, as in duty bound to keep up the warrior spirit. 
 
 " Yer acquaintances among females being chiefly of the 
 silly sort, it's no wonder we remind you of the only things 
 you can look back on without blushing," Barney retorted ; 
 and a neighbor poking his head in the door to learn the 
 cause of the hilarity, the conspirators sallied out for a jaunt 
 until parade-time. Now, what means Barney employed, or 
 whether he had any handiwork in what befell, it does not
 
 THE STEP THAT COSTS. 59 
 
 fall to me to say, but this is what happened: A market 
 hawker came into camp the next morning and went straight 
 to the big marquee tent where Colonel Oswald stood, in all 
 the bravery of a new broadcloth uniform with spreading 
 eagles on the shoulders. The savory fumes of hot sauer- 
 kraut aroused the warrior from his reveries, and he asked, 
 in vociferous delight: 
 
 "Was haben sie ? Kohlen, nicht wahr sauerkraut 
 das is aber schon ? " 
 
 "Yes, mein golonel, I hof cabbage und sauerkraut und 1 ' 
 looking about circumspectly " etwas schnapps aus Ant- 
 werpen gebracht f " 
 
 The " golonel's " eyes glistened and he made a motion 
 for the vender to go to the rear of the marquee. Passing 
 through from the front, he met him at the rear, and the bar- 
 gain was hastily concluded, Marsh secreting three portly 
 bottles in his chest, and turning the edibles over to Hussey 
 to store in the larder. There had been a good deal of uneasi- 
 ness in camp over rumors of cholera, yellow fever, and other 
 dismal epidemics. When, therefore, the evening after the 
 colonel's purchase the regimental surgeon was summoned 
 in alarm, it was instantly believed in the regiment that " Old 
 Sauerkraut " was stricken with cholera. He at first suffered 
 hideous pains in the stomachic regions. This was followed 
 by a raging thirst, and, unknown to the physician, the three 
 bottles of schnapps were quite emptied. On the fourth day 
 the poor man, very woe-begone, but now suffering no pain, 
 was carried to 'the hospital, and the next day, as the cam- 
 paign was about to begin, he was sent North, to leave room 
 near the field for those who should be wounded in the com- 
 ing engagement. 
 
 Company K was drilling on the wide plateau between 
 the camp and the highway when the ambulance bearing the 
 afflicted officer came slowly over the road worn through the 
 greensward. Hussey sat solemnly on the seat with the 
 driver, and as the vehicle reached the company, standing at 
 rest, Barney Moore in the rear rank spoke up: 
 
 " Tim, is the poor colonel no better ? "
 
 60 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 " Divil a betther ; it's worse he's intirely. God be good 
 till 'im ! " 
 
 Neither Jack nor Nick Marsh dared trust himself to 
 meet the other's eyes as the helpless chief disappeared down 
 the hillside, while Barney entered into an exhaustive treatise 
 on the symptoms of cholera and the liability of the most 
 robust to meet sudden disaster in this malarious upland, cir- 
 cumvallated by ages of decaying matter in the damp swamps 
 on every hand. But when, an hour later, Company K's 
 whole street was aroused by peal on peal of Abderian laugh- 
 ter, Jack and Nick were found helpless in their bunks, and 
 Barney was engaged in presenting a potion to settle their 
 collapsed nerves ! 
 
 " Well, haven't I won the guinea, now ? It cost me just 
 twice that. If ye's have a spark of honor ye'll pay your just 
 dues, so ye will," Barney said, in the evening, returning from 
 parade, where Lieutenant-Colonel Grandison officiated as 
 commander, to the unconcealed delight of all but the Oswald 
 parasites among the officers. 
 
 "Don't say a word, Barney to whom the medicos of 
 mythology and all the wizards of antique story are clowns 
 and mountebanks you shall have the guinea or its equiva- 
 lent." 
 
 " Twenty -one shillings gold, bear in mind. Yer father's 
 a banker, ye ought to know that ! " 
 
 " I do. You shall have the twenty -one shillings in the 
 shinplasters of the republic." 
 
 The colonel had been routed none too soon. The very 
 next morning, when the Caribees " fell in " for roll-call, the 
 orderly received a paper from the commander's orderly 
 which read, " Tents to be struck at twelve o'clock and the 
 men ready to march, with ten days' rations." 
 
 At last ! All the future, glowing with heroism, exciting 
 with the march, the attack, the battle ah ! what after ? 
 With something of joy and regret the comely tents, that 
 had given them home and harbor, were taken down, folded 
 in precise line, and carried away for storage for in the 
 field the ranks were to bivouac in the open air. Such gay-
 
 THE STEP THAT COSTS. 61 
 
 ety ; such jokes ; such, bravado ; and augury of the to be ! 
 And the rumors ! Telephones, had they been invented; 
 stenographers, had they been present in legion, could not 
 have kept track of the momentous tales that were instantly 
 bruited about. General Scott was going to lead the army in 
 person. His charger had been seen before the headquarters. 
 The rebels were going to be swooped up by another such 
 famous dash as the flank march from Vera Cruz to the pla- 
 teau of Mexico ! Then came a numbing fear that Beaure- 
 gard's bragging host had fled, and that the movement would 
 turn out a tedious stern chase to Richmond. In the agony 
 of all this Jack, returning from a '" detail " to the quartermas- 
 ter's tent, heard his name shouted where his tent had been. 
 He hurried to the spot and Nick saluted him with the cry 
 
 " Here, Jack, are two recruits who declare they must enter 
 Company K." 
 
 His gun was on his arm and his knapsack on his back, 
 but only the realization that a score of eyes were upon him 
 saved Jack from dropping limply on the ground, as, looking 
 in the group, he saw Dick Perley and Tom Twigg grinning 
 ingratiatingly at him. 
 
 " Where how in the name of all that's sacred did you 
 get here ? " he gasped. 
 
 " Why, we enlisted for drummers in the Caribees, but the 
 recruiting officer told us as we were eighteen we could carry 
 muskets if we wanted to. We do want to, and we're going 
 to come into Company K." 
 
 They looked him confidently in the face as Dick repeated 
 this evidently long-practiced explanation. It would not do 
 to take them to task before the company. Jack waited until 
 the rest were scattered, and then, leading the boys aside, said, 
 sternly : 
 
 " Don't you know you can be put in prison for this ? 
 You have run away from your parents and guardians. No 
 one had a lawful right to enlist you. I shall send for 
 the provost marshal and have you put in prison until 
 your parents can come and get your enlistment an- 
 nulled."
 
 G2 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 Appalled by Jack's stern manner as much as by his 
 words, the two lads began to whimper and expostulate tear- 
 fully. They had trusted to his ancient friendship. They 
 could have gone into any other regiment, but they had en- 
 listed to be with him. Whatever happened, they were sol- 
 diers, and, if Tom Twigg wasn't eighteen until September, it 
 was perfectly lawful for him to enlist as a drummer. Per- 
 ley was eighteen in April last, and he was a soldier in spite 
 of all that Jack could do. Jack was deeply perplexed. What 
 could be done ? If he attempted to put the machinery of 
 reclamation in order, the boys would be subjected to all sorts 
 of vicissitudes, prisons, everything distressing and demoral- 
 izing to tender youth. 
 
 " Do they know at home what you have done ? " Jack 
 asked, doubtingly. 
 
 " Yes," Dick said, noting with boyish quickness the inde 
 cision in Jack's troubled face. li l sent a letter to Aunt 
 Pliny, from New York, telling her we were soldiers, and 
 that we were happy and well." 
 
 " You impudent young scamp to write that to your best 
 friend ! Don't you know it will kill her ? " 
 
 Dick had no answer for this, and looked perplexedly at 
 Tom, who was lost in admiration of a neighboring group 
 engaged in athletic exercises. He felt rather than heard the 
 question put by the Mentor, and observing Dick's discomfi- 
 ture, stammered : 
 
 " It didn't kill your mother when you went for a soldier, 
 
 The astute young rascal had hit upon the weak place, and 
 Jack stood in anxious doubt wondering what to do. An aide 
 that he recognized from division headquarters rode past 
 at the moment and Jack turned to watch him. He leaped 
 from his horse at the colonel's tent. Jack again looked at 
 the boys. They were lost in delight at the scene and oblivi- 
 ous of the debate going on in their guardian's mind. 
 
 "Stay here till I come back," he said, authoritatively, and 
 strode off to Grandison's tent. As he reached it the major, 
 McGoyle, was entering, and Jack waited until that officer
 
 THE STEP THAT COSTS. 63 
 
 should come out. He came presently, and Colonel Grandi- 
 son with him. Jack saluted, and stated his dilemma to the 
 commander, who listened with amused interest. 
 
 " I don't see that anything can be done now, Jack. I'm 
 just about leaving the regiment. I have been assigned to 
 General Tyler's staff during the campaign. McGoyle takes 
 command of the regiment. He will need orderlies, and the 
 boys can serve with him until we can get time to look into 
 the business. I will settle the matter with him, and if you 
 will write a telegram to the lad's family I will have it sent 
 as I go to headquarters." 
 
 Jack's relief and gratitude were best seen in the brighten- 
 ing eye and the more buoyant movement that succeeded the 
 heaviness and agitation of his first impression. The boys' 
 coming would weigh upon him every minute until he was 
 in some sort relieved of even passive complicity. He would 
 feel that the kind-hearted " Pearls," as the aunts were often 
 called, would look upon him as having led the truants into 
 the army. But Grandison's interposition had shifted from 
 him a weighty anxiety. The boys would not be left friend- 
 less and irresponsible in the turbulent streets of Washing- 
 ton. Nor would they, as orderlies, be in continuous or in- 
 extricable danger in battle for whereas the soldier in the 
 line must keep in ranks even when not in actual battle, with 
 the enemy's missiles as destructive as in the charge or com- 
 bat, the orderlies may take advantage of the inequalities of 
 ground and natural objects. Jack explained something of 
 this to the young Marlboroughs, and was fairly irritated at 
 the crest-fallen look that came into their eager, shining faces 
 when they comprehended that they were not to be with their 
 hero. 
 
 " But you couldn't be in the company in any event. You 
 look more like rebels than soldiers, with your gray jackets 
 and trousers " for the boys still wore their Acredale uni- 
 form, an imitation of the West Point cadet's costume. " We 
 shall be on the march in a few minutes, and there is only 
 one of two things to be done. Pvemain here in the ' unas- 
 signed ' camp, where you may be transferred into any regi- 
 5
 
 64 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 ment in the service that needs recruits; or go, as Colonel 
 Grandison has very kindly consented to have you, as order- 
 lies or clerks." 
 
 The very possibility of being sent into some unknown 
 regiment was a terror so great that the other alternative be- 
 came less odious to the boys, and they trotted after Jack, as 
 he stalked moody and distracted to Major Mike McGoyle's 
 tent, now the only habitable spot left where a few hours be- 
 fore a symmetrical little city had stood. 
 
 "And so ye want to be solgers, me foine b'yes ? Well, 
 well, 'tis fitter for yer mothers' knees ye are, with yer rosy 
 cheeks and curling locks. It's a poor place here for yer 
 bright oies and soft hands, me lads ; but I'm not the wan to 
 throw the dish after th' milk when it's spilt ! " 
 
 He stroked the bared heads of the blushing lads, and, turn- 
 ing to their unhappy sponsor, he added with official brevity : 
 " I will put Twiggs's son at me papers in the adjutant's office. 
 Young Pearley can remain with your company until I make 
 out a detail for him." 
 
 It was impossible for Jack to sustain the role of frowning 
 displeasure as Dick skipped back with him to the company. 
 He remembered his own delight three months before, even 
 with the haunting thoughts of his mother's reproaches to 
 dampen his ardor, and he was soon dazzling the neophyte 
 with the wonders that were just about to begin. 
 
 It was the afternoon of the 16th of July, and the hill- 
 sides, which the day before were covered with tents as far 
 as the eye, could see on every hand, were now blue with 
 masses of men, while other masses had been passing on the 
 red highways since early morning, taking the direction of 
 the Potomac bridges.
 
 AN ARMY WITH BANNERS. 65 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 AN ARMY WITH BANNERS. 
 
 IT has always seemed to me that the life, the routine, the 
 many small haps in the daily function of a soldier, which in 
 sum made up to him all that there was in the devoir of death, 
 ought to be read with interest by the millions whose kin 
 were part of the civil war, as well as by those who knew of 
 it only as we know Napoleon's wars or Washington's. For 
 my part, I would find a livelier pleasure in the diary of a 
 common soldier, in any of the great wars, than I do in the 
 confusing pamphlets, bound in volumes called history. I 
 like to read of war as our Uncle Toby related it. I like to 
 know what two observing eyes saw and the feelings that 
 sometimes made the timidest heroes sometimes cravens. 
 
 For a month yes, months the burden of the press, the 
 prayers of the North, had been, " On to Richmond ! " Jack, 
 through Colonel Grandison, knew that General McDowell 
 and the commander-in-chief, the venerable soldier Scott, had 
 pleaded and protested against a move until the new levies 
 under the three-months' call could be drilled and disciplined. 
 But on the Fourth of July Congress had assembled, and the 
 raw statesmen with an eye to future elections took up 
 the public clamor. They gave the Cabinet, the President, no 
 peace until General Scott and McDowell had given way and 
 promised the pending movement. 
 
 " Our soldiers are so green that I shall move with fear," 
 McDowell said to the President. 
 
 " Well, they " (meaning the rebels) " are green too, and 
 one greenness will offset the other," Lincoln responded with 
 kindly malice. It was useless to argue further ; useless to 
 point out that the rebels were not so " green," for the young 
 men of che semi - aristocratic society of the South were 
 trained to arms, whereas it was a mark of lawlessness and 
 vulgarity to carry arms in the Puritan ranks of the North. 
 Something of the unreadiness of the army, every reflecting 
 soldier in the ranks comprehended, when he saw within
 
 66 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 the precincts of his own brigades the hap-hazard conduct 
 of the quartermaster's and staff departments. Some regi- 
 ments had raw flour dealt them for rations and no bake- 
 ovens to turn it into bread ; some regiments had abundance 
 of bread, but no coffee or meat rations. As to vegetables 
 beans, or anything of the sort if the pockets of the soldiers 
 had not been well supplied from home, the army that set out 
 for Manassas would have been eaten with scurvy and the 
 skin diseases that come from unseasoned food. 
 
 Now, at the very moment the legions were stripped for 
 the march, many of them were without proper ammunition. 
 Various arms were in use, and the same cartridge did not fit 
 them all. Eager groups could be seen all through the brigades 
 filing down the leaden end of the cartridge to make their 
 weapons effective, until a proper supply could be obtained. 
 This was promised at Fairfax Station, or Centreville, where 
 the army's supplies were to be sent. So, in spite of the high 
 hopes and feverish unrest for the forward movement, there 
 was a good deal of sober foreboding among the men, who 
 held to the American right to criticise as the Briton main- 
 tains his right to grumble. For the soldier in camp or on 
 the march is as garrulous as a tea gossip, and no problem in 
 war or statecraft is too complex or sacred for him to attempt 
 the solution. Of the thirty thousand men leaving the banks 
 of the Potomac that 16th of July there were, at a low esti- 
 mate, ten thousand who believed themselves as fitted to 
 command as the chieftains who led them. 
 
 By two o'clock the Caribees were in the line that had 
 been passing city- ward since daylight. . The sun had baked 
 the sticky clay into brick-like hardness, and the hours of 
 trampling, the tread of heavy teams, and the still heavier ar- 
 tillery, had filled the air with an opaque atmosphere of red- 
 dish powder, through which the masses passed in almost 
 spectral vagueness. The city crowds, usually alert, when 
 great masses of men moved, were discouraged by heat and 
 dust, and the streets were quite given over to the military. 
 Eager as Jack and his friends were to note the impression 
 the march made upon the civilians, most of whom were
 
 AN ARMY WITH BANNERS. 67 
 
 thought to be secretly in sympathy with the rebellion, it was 
 impossible to even catch sight of any but soldiers. Pennsyl- 
 vania Avenue, when they reached it, was a billowy channel of 
 impalpable powder. But at the Long Bridge the breeze from 
 the wide channel of the river cleared the clouds of dust, and 
 the men, catching glimpses of each other, broke into jocose 
 banter. On the bridge they looked eagerly down the river, 
 where the low roofs of Alexandria were visible, and upward 
 on the Virginia shore where the gleaming walls of Arling- 
 ton recalled to Jack far different times and scenes. 
 
 " Now we're in Jeff Davis's land," Barney called out from 
 one of the rear files, as the company reached midway in the 
 bridge. 
 
 " Not by a long shot," Nick Marsh cried. " Davis's land 
 begins and ends within cannon-shot of himself. He is like 
 the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen he has to beg his neighbor's 
 permission to hold battalion drill." 
 
 u He isn't so polite as the duke ; he takes it without ask- 
 ing," Barney retorts. 
 
 " But now we are on the ' sacred soil,' " Jack cries, as the 
 company debouched from the bridge up the steep, narrow 
 road that seemed to be taking them to Arlington. In spite 
 of the burning heat and the exhaustion of the three hours' 
 march, the scene was, or rather the imagination of the men, 
 invested each step with a sort of awe. They were at last in 
 the enemy's territory. It had been held by the Union forces, 
 only by dint of large numbers and strong fortifications. 
 There wasn't a man in the company that didn't resent the 
 fact, constantly obtruding itself on the ranks as they 
 marched eagerly onward by every knoll, every bush in the 
 landscape, that Union soldiers had been there before them ! 
 that their devouring eyes were not the first to mark these 
 historic spots. 
 
 Tired as they were and burdensome as the heavy knap- 
 sacks ajid still heavier ammunition had become, they heard 
 an aide give the order to bivouac with chagrin ! They so 
 longed to put undebatable ground behind them and really 
 be where the distant coppice might be a curtain to the ene-
 
 68 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 my! The Caribees marked with indignant surprise that, 
 when they had turned into a field about seven o'clock, the 
 long line following them pushed onward until far into the 
 night, and they envied the contiguity this would give the 
 lucky laggards to first see and engage the enemy ! But they 
 turned-to very merrily, in this first night of real soldiering. 
 They were " in the field." All the parade part of military 
 life was now relaxed. The hot little dress coats were left 
 behind ; there was no display. Even guard-mount was re- 
 duced to the simplest possible form. 
 
 With one impulse all the men that is, all who had been 
 alert enough to provide pen and paper bestowed themselves 
 about the candles allotted each group, and began letters 
 " home," dated magniloquently " Headquarters in the Field. 
 Tyler's Division, Sherman's Brigade, 16th July, 1861." The 
 imperial impulse manifested itself in these curt epistles. I 
 can't resist giving Jack's : 
 
 " DEAR MOTHER : How I wish you and Polly could see us 
 now ! We are really on the march at last. The battle can't 
 be far off. We are not many miles from the enemy, and, if 
 he stands, what glorious news you will hear very soon ! I 
 wish you could have seen us to-day. Colonel Sherman, who 
 is the sternest-looking man I ever saw, a regular army offi- 
 cer, once a professor, told the major you know McGoyle is 
 commanding us now he is a brick Sherman told him that 
 the Caribees did as good marching as the regulars, who came 
 behind us. Dear old Mick, with his brogue and his blarney, 
 has won every heart in the regiment, and you may be sure 
 we shall see the whites of the enemy's eyes under him, which 
 we never should have done under that odious Hessian, Os- 
 wald in hospital now, thank Heaven though some time, 
 when I tell you the story, you will see that in this, as in 
 most other things, Heaven helps those who help themselves. 
 Taps will sound in five minutes, and I can only add that I 
 am in good health, glorious spirits, and unshaken confidence 
 that we shall return to Acredale before your longing to see 
 your son overcomes your love of glory. We shall return
 
 AN ARMY WITII BANNERS. 69 
 
 victors, if not heroes at least I know that you and Polly 
 will believe this of your affectionate and dutiful son 
 
 "JACK." 
 
 Barney read one or two phrases of his composition to the 
 indulgent ear of Jack and the poet, over which they laughed 
 a good deal. " We are," he said, " before the enemy. I feel 
 as our great ancestor, Baron Moore, felt at Fontenoy when 
 the Sassenachs were over against the French lines as if all 
 the blood in Munster was in my veins and I wanted to spill 
 it on the villains ferninst us." 
 
 The poet declined to quote from his epistle, and the three 
 friends sat in the dim light until midnight, wondering over 
 what the morrow had in store. Dick Perley listened in awe 
 to Jack's wonderful ratiocinations on what was to come se- 
 cretly believing him much more learned in war than this 
 General McDowell who was commanding the army. The 
 first bugle sounded at three in the morning in the Caribees' 
 camp, and when the coffee had "been hastily dispatched, the 
 men began to understand the cause of their being shunted 
 into the field so early the evening before while the rear of 
 the column marched ahead of them. The Caribees passed a 
 mile or more of encampments, the men not yet aroused, and 
 when at daylight the whole body was in motion they were 
 in advance, with nothing before them but a few hundred 
 cavalry. 
 
 A delirious expectation, a rapturous sense of holding the 
 post of danger, kept every sense in such a thrill of anticipa- 
 tion that the hours passed like minutes. The dusty roads, 
 the intolerable thirst, and the nauseous, tepid water, the blis- 
 tered feet, the abraded hips, where the cartridge-box began 
 to wear the flesh all these woes of the march were ignored 
 in the one impulse to see the ground ahead, to note the first 
 sight of the enemy. It was not until four o'clock in the aft- 
 ernoon that the column was halted, and two companies, K 
 and H, were marched out of the column and formed in pla- 
 toons across the line of march, that the regiment learned 
 with mortification that hitherto the route had been inside
 
 70 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 the Union lines ! They soon saw the difference in the tactics 
 of the march. The company was spread out in groups of 
 four; these again were separated by a few yards, and in this 
 order, sweeping like a drag-net, they advanced over the dry 
 fields, through the clustering pines or into cultivated acres, 
 and through great farm-yards. 
 
 Back of them the long column came, slowly winding 
 over the sandy highway which curved through the undu- 
 lating land. Here and there the skirmishers for that was 
 the office the two companies were now filling came upon 
 signs of picket-posts ; and once, as Jack hurried beyond his 
 group to the thicket, near a wretched cabin, a horse and rider 
 were visible tearing through the foliage of a winding lane. 
 He drew up his musket in prompt recognition of his duty, 
 but he saw with mortification that the horse and rider con- 
 tinued unharmed. Other shots from the skirmish-line fol- 
 lowed, but Jack's rebel was the only enemy seen, when, in 
 the early dusk, an orderly from the main column brought 
 the command to set pickets and bivouac for the night. Jack 
 would have written with better grounds for his solemnity 
 if he had waited until this evening; but now there was no 
 chance. 
 
 The companies were the extreme advance of the army ; 
 nothing between them and the enemy but detached pickets 
 of cavalry, at long distances apart, to fly back with the re- 
 port of the least signs made by the rebels. These meager 
 groups were forbidden fires, or any evidence of their pres- 
 ence that might guide hostile movement, and the infantry 
 outposts felt that they were really the guardians of the sleep- 
 ing thousands a mile or so behind them. No one minded 
 the cold water and hard bread which for the first time 
 formed the company's fare that night. Like the cavalry, 
 fire was forbidden them. They formed little groups in the 
 rear of the outer line of pickets, discussing with animation 
 even levity the likelihood of an engagement the next 
 day. It was the general opinion that if Beauregard meant 
 to fight he would have made a stand at some of the excel- 
 lent points of vantage that had been encountered in the
 
 AN ARMY WITH BANNERS. 71 
 
 day's inarch. Jack smiled wisely over these amateur guesses, 
 and quite abashed the rest when he said : 
 
 " Beauregard is no fool. His army is massed near the 
 point that he is guarding Manassas Junction. You seem 
 to think that war is a game of chance, armies fighting just 
 where they happen to meet each other. Not at all. Our 
 business is to march to Richmond ; Beauregard's business is 
 to prevent us. To do this he must, first of all, keep his lines 
 of supply safe. An army without that is like a ship at sea 
 without food the more of a crew, the worse the situation. 
 Of course, Beauregard had his skirmishers spread out in 
 front of us, but, as there is no use in killing until some end 
 is to be gained, they have got out of our way. If the spies 
 that are in our ranks should send information that promised 
 to give the rebels a chance to get at a big body of our men, 
 before the whole army came up, you'd see a change of things 
 very quick. We've got fifty thousand men, or thereabout" 
 (Jack was wrong ; there were but thirty thousand). "Now, 
 these men are stretched back of us to Washington, fifteen 
 miles or more, because the artillery must be guarded, and in- 
 fantry only can do that. Now, suppose Beauregard finds that 
 there is a gap somewhere between the forces stretching back, 
 and he happens to have ten or fifteen thousand men handy ? 
 Why, he just swoops down upon us, and, if we can't defend 
 ourselves until the rest of the army comes up, he has won 
 what is called a tactical victory, and endangered our strategy." 
 
 " Goodness, Jack, you ought to have been commander-in- 
 chief ! You talk war like a book ! " Barney cried, in mock 
 admiration. 
 
 The war-talk went on late into the night, for the com- 
 pany, detached from camp, was not obliged to follow the 
 signals of the bugles that came in melodious echoes over the 
 fragrant fields. It was a thrilling sight as the lone watch- 
 ers peered backward. The June fields for miles were dotted 
 with blazing spires, as if the earth had opened to pour out 
 columns of flame, guiding the wanderers on their trying 
 way. The sleep of the night was desultory and fitful, ex- 
 citement stimulating everybody to wakefulness.
 
 72 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 "THE ASSYRIAN CAME DOWN LIKE THE WOLF ON THE FOLD." 
 
 THE next morning the march was resumed by daylight, 
 the two companies remaining on the skirmish-line. The 
 country gradually became more rugged as the route brought 
 them near Centreville. There were no hills a bare but not 
 bleak champaign, mostly without houses or farms, as the 
 North knows them. Sluggish brooks became more frequent, 
 but none that were not easily fordable. There were no 
 landmarks to hold the mind to the scene, nor, in case of bat- 
 tle, give the strategists points of vantage for the iron game. 
 About noon, the detached groups stalking a little negli- 
 gently now over the tedious plains, were startled by the un- 
 expected. 
 
 On the green slope of a hill, a mile or more ahead, a score 
 of little puffs of white smoke were seen, then a sharp report, 
 and, in some places near by, the ground was broken as if by a 
 thrust of a spear, and little scraps of clay scattered over the 
 greensward. Then the bugle sounded a halt. A few minutes 
 later the horsemen spread in a chain across the line of march, 
 rode swiftly to a common center, formed in a solid group, 
 turned to the rear and rode back of the skirmishers to the 
 main body. Company K watched them as they galloped 
 back, and as they reached the group at the head of the long 
 line, a half-mile or so distant, a body of men hastened for- 
 ward laden with stretchers and hospital appliances. Ah ! at 
 last ! It is now real war. The bugle sounds Forward ! and 
 with an elastic spring the groups of four push daimtlessly 
 ahead. Their eyes are fixed on the brow of the hill, sepa- 
 rated from them by a narrow depression. 
 
 The whole line perhaps three miles wide but, of course, 
 not at all regular, conforming largely to the difficulties en- 
 countered, moves down the sloping bank on a run. Before 
 they reach the bottom they are an excellent target, and for 
 the first time that most blood-curdling of sounds the half- 
 singing, half-hissing z-z-z-ip of the minie-ball numbs the
 
 "THE ASSYRIAN CAME DOWN LIKE THE WOLF." 73 
 
 ardor of the bravest. It is such a malignant, direct, devilish 
 admonition of murder ; it comes so unexpectedly, no matter 
 how well you are prepared, that Achilles himself would feel 
 a spasm of fear. And when it strikes it does its work with 
 such a venomous, exultant splutter, that there seems some- 
 thing animate, demoniac in it. The volley, as I said, came 
 as the men were hurried down the hill by their own momen- 
 tum and by the sharp fall in the ground. The balls passed 
 too high or too low, but they impressed the fact on enthusi- 
 asts, who had longed for battle, that one might die for one's 
 country and not die gloriously. It seemed such an ignoble, 
 such a dastardly, outrageous thing, that death could come to 
 them from unseen hands, for as yet they had not seen a soul. 
 But now they are at the foot of the hill though it is not 
 correct to so call it, for it was a long, winding valley, through 
 which ran a dancing streamlet, very welcome to the thirsty 
 warriors when they had succeeded in breaking through the 
 vicious natural chevaux de frise of blackberry-briers and 
 nettles. But now there wasn't much time to slake thirst. 
 The bullets had begun to come regularly ; and suddenly, as 
 Jack conducted his squad across the stream, he was startled 
 by the exclamation, uttered rather in reverence, it seemed to 
 him, than surprise or pain : 
 
 " My God, I'm hit ! " 
 
 Yes, a fair-haired lad one of his class tottered a second 
 in a limp, helpless way, and fell headlong, pitching into the 
 little stream. Jack ran and lifted him out; but even before 
 the hospital corps came the boy was dead. The bullet had 
 gone quite through his heart. 
 
 However, now the first numbing terror of the bullet was 
 changed to a sort of revengeful delight. Relinquishing any 
 return fire for a moment, the company, with a great shout, 
 that sounded all along its front, dashed up the hill, through 
 the scrub-oak at the brow, and then they could see the enemy 
 slowly retiring, a chain of them a mile or more wide. While 
 one of the rebel ranks fired the other knelt, or lay flat upon the 
 ground loading, where there were no natural obstacles to take 
 shelter behind. A vengeful shout ran along the Union lines.
 
 74 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 " Capture them don't fire ! " and with one impulse the 
 groups fled forward so swiftly that the enemy, believing the 
 rush only momentary, delayed too long, and in two minutes 
 the Union line was pell-mell among them. 
 
 " Surrender ! " Jack shouted to the squad just ahead of 
 him " surrender, or we'll blow your heads off ! " and along 
 the line for some distance to his left and right he could hear 
 his own exultant demand echoed. There was nothing to do 
 for the rebels, who had neglected to keep their enemies at 
 the proper distance, but throw up their hands. Jack's squad 
 sent back twenty-three prisoners to Major Mike, who took 
 them in proud triumph to General Tyler, riding with the 
 head of the column, now that the tenacity of the rebel skir- 
 mishers made it seem probable that there would be serious 
 work. But though the firing kept up as the Union forces 
 advanced, no obstacle more serious than the thin lines of 
 the skirmishers revealed itself. 
 
 At dusk the bugles, moving with the captains in the rear, 
 sounded the rally, and then the scattered groups came to- 
 gether in company. They were to bivouac on the spot to 
 await their regiment when it arrived. Meanwhile, to the 
 bitter discontent of the Caribee companies, their post of 
 honor was taken by new troops, and they knew that next 
 day they would march in line. They had so enjoyed the 
 glory of the first volleys, the first deaths, and the first pris- 
 soners, that, not remembering military procedure, they re- 
 sented the change as an aspersion upon their valor. 
 
 When the regiment came up, however, they forgot their 
 mortification in the eager questioning and envious joculari- 
 ties of the rest. Companies K and H were so beset that 
 they forgot to boil their coffee, and would have gone thirsty 
 to their dewy beds, if the other companies' cooks had not 
 shared their rations with the gossiping heroes. As darkness 
 fell, the sky was reddened for miles with pillars of fire, and 
 for a time the Caribees thought it was the enemy. But Tom 
 Twigg, who had been with the major at headquarters, ex- 
 plained to Jack that the army was divided into three bodies 
 of about ten thousand men each, and 'that Tyler's column,
 
 "THE ASSYRIAN CAME DOWN LIKE THE WOLF." 75 
 
 of which the Caribees were the advance, were the extreme 
 northern body ; that they were now at Vienna, far north of 
 Manassas, where Schenck had been beset a month before in 
 his never-enough-ridiculed reconnaissance by train ; that in 
 the morning they were to push on to Fairfax Court-House 
 and thence to Centreville, where the army was to come to- 
 gether for the blow at the rebels. Jack and his friends were 
 a good deal chagrined to learn that they were not as near 
 the enemy as the column to the south of them, whose fires 
 had been mistaken for Beauregard's. Though the levee 
 came to an end at " taps," no one felt sleepy, and the excite- 
 ment banished the pains of fatigue. Major Mike, saunter- 
 ing through the dark lines near midnight, heard the tale 
 still going on in drowsy monotone, but, good-naturedly, made 
 no sign. 
 
 Though not given the skirmish-line next day the 17th 
 Jack was delighted to find that the Caribees led all the rest. 
 With them rode the commander of the brigade, Colonel 
 Sherman, whom the soldiers thought a very crabbed and 
 " grumpy " sort of a fellow. His red hair bristled straight 
 up and out when he took his slouch hat off, as he did very 
 often, for the heat was intolerable. His eyes had a merry 
 twinkle, however, that won the hearts of the lads as he rode 
 by, scrupulously striking into the fields to save the panting 
 and heavily laden line every extra step he could. Often, in 
 after-days when Sherman had become the Turenne of the 
 armies Jack, who was often heard to brag of his gift of 
 detecting greatness, used to turn very red in the face when 
 he was reminded of a saying of his on that hot July day: 
 
 " That chap is too lean and hungry to have much stomach 
 for a fight ; he looks better fitted for wielding the ferule than 
 the sword. Schoolmaster is written in every line of his face 
 and stamped in his pedagogue manner." 
 
 The march that day was south by a little west, and about 
 nine o'clock a cool morning breeze lifted the clouds of dust 
 far enough above the horizon to reveal the distant blue of the 
 mountains. The whole line seemed to come to a pause in 
 the enchanting, mirage-like spectacle. " The Shenandoah,"
 
 Y6 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 Jack said, mopping the dust, or rather the thin coating of 
 mud, from his face and brow, for the perspiration, oozing at 
 every pore, naturally covered the exposed skin with an unpre- 
 meditated cosmetic. The march to Fairfax Court-House, for 
 which judicial temple the curious soldier looked in vain, was 
 but eight miles from the point of departure in the morn- 
 ing, but it was two o'clock in the afternoon when the Cari- 
 bees passed the hamlet, turning sharply to the right. They 
 marched up the deep cut of projected railway, where, for a 
 time, they were shaded from the sun by the high banks. 
 But, emerging presently on the Warrenton pike, they saw 
 evidences that other columns whether friends or foes they 
 couldn't tell had recently preceded them. Scores of the 
 raw and overworked were breaking down now every hour. 
 
 The dust and heat were insupportable. Whenever the 
 march came near water, all thought of discipline was for- 
 gotten, and the panting, miner-like hosts broke for the in- 
 viting stream. The officers were powerless to enforce dis- 
 cipline ; when these breaks happened the column was forced 
 to come to a halt until every man had filled his canteen 
 and here is one, among the many trivial causes, that brought 
 about the reverses of McDowell's masterly campaign. A 
 march that ought to have been made in twenty-four hours, 
 or thirty at the utmost, took more than three days ! One of 
 those days saved to the army would have enabled McDowell 
 to finish Beauregard before the ten thousand re-enforcements 
 from the Shenandoah came upon his flank at Bull Run. But 
 we shall see that in proper time, for there is nothing more 
 dramatically timely, or untimely, than this incident in the 
 history of battles, unless it be Bliicher's miraculous appear- 
 ance at Waterloo, when Napoleon supposed that Grouchy 
 was pummeling him twenty miles away. 
 
 There was no provost guard to spur on the stragglers ; and 
 when, late in the afternoon, the way-worn columns spread 
 themselves on the western slope of the hamlet of Centreville, 
 at least a third of each regiment was far in the rear. Nearly 
 every man had, in the heat and burden of the march, thrown 
 away the provisions in his haversack, and that night ten
 
 "THE ASSYRIAN CAME DOWN LIKE THE WOLF." ?7 
 
 thousand men lay down supperless on the grateful green- 
 sward, happy to rest and sleep. Mother Earth must have 
 ministered to the weary flesh, for at sunrise, when the music 
 of the bugles aroused them, they started up with the alert 
 vivacity of old campaigners. Provisions, that should have 
 been with the column the night before, arrived in the morn- 
 ing. While the reinvigorated ranks were at coffee, there 
 was a great clatter in the rear, and presently a cortege of 
 mounted officers appeared, General McDowell among them. 
 Dick Perley, who was at the brigade headquarters, with 
 Grandison, came to the Caribees presently with great news. 
 
 The battle was to begin that very day. General Tyler 
 was to go forward to a river called Bull Run, where Beaure- 
 gard was waiting. The whole army was to spread out like 
 a fan and fight him. He had seen the map on the table, and 
 the place couldn't be more than four miles away. Yes, they 
 all looked eagerly to the westward now. The mountains in 
 the distance rolled themselves down into lower and lower 
 ridges, and just about four miles ahead could be seen a range 
 that seemed to melt into a wide plateau fringed deeply with 
 scrub-oak and clusters of pine. Jack had provided himself 
 with a field-glass. Standing in the middle of the Warren- 
 ton pike, a fine highway, that ran downward as solid as a 
 Roman causeway, for four or five miles, he could see the 
 break made by the Bull Run River, and yes, by the glaive 
 of battle ! he could see the glistening of bayonets now and 
 then, where the screen of woods grew thinner. 
 
 The general, too, was examining the distant lines, and 
 Jack took it as a good omen that Sherman grew jocose and 
 appeared to be making merry with Tyler, whose face looked 
 troubled, now that the decisive moment seemed at hand. 
 But the day passed, and there was no advance. It was not 
 until late in the evening that the cause became known. The 
 army had been waiting for supplies, ammunition, and what 
 not, that should have been on the field the day before. The 
 Caribees were made frantic, too, by what seemed a battle 
 going on to the south of them, a few miles to the left. The 
 camp that night was a grand debating society, every man
 
 78 THE IRON GAME.. 
 
 propounding a theory of strategy that would have edified 
 General McDowell, no doubt, if he could have been given a 
 precis of the whole. How such things become known it is 
 difficult to guess, but every man in the columns knew that 
 the general had planned to put forward his thirty thousand 
 men in the form of a half -moon, covering about ten miles 
 from tip to tip. The right or northward horn was to be con- 
 siderably thicker and of more body than the left or south- 
 ern. When the time came this right was to curve in like a 
 hook and cut the ground out from the left wing of the rebel 
 army. 
 
 This is the homely way these unscientific strategists made 
 the movement known to each other, and it very aptly de- 
 scribes the formulated plan of battle, save that, of course, 
 there were gaps between the forces here and there along this 
 human crescent. Long before daylight Sherman's brigade, 
 with a battery of guns and a squadron of cavalry, set out 
 due south, leaving the broad Warrenton pike far to their 
 right hand. Such a country as the march led into, no one 
 had ever seen in the North outside of mountain regions deep 
 gullies; wastes of gnarled and aggressive oaks, that tore 
 clothes and flesh in the passage; sudden hillocks rising coni- 
 cal and inconsequent every few rods ; deep chasms conduct- 
 ing driblets of water ; morasses covered with dark and 
 stagnant pools, where the pioneers fairly picked their steps 
 among squirming reptiles. A stream, sometimes large as a 
 river, crawling languidly through deep fissures in the red 
 shale, protected the left flank of the column. The cavalry 
 was forced to hold the narrow wood- road, as the bush was 
 hardly passable for men. 
 
 " Hi, Jack ! " Barney cries, catching his breath at the edge 
 of a muddy stream, " what sort of a place must the rebels be 
 in if they let us promenade through such a jungle as this 
 unopposed ? " 
 
 " I have been thinking of that," Jack replies. And so 
 had every man in the expedition for to think was one of 
 the drawbacks as well as one of the excellences of the soldier 
 in the civil war. But presently, after five hours of labo-
 
 "THE ASSYRIAN CAME DOWN LIKE THE WOLF." 79 
 
 rious work, a halt is called. The men dive into their hav- 
 ersacks, and even the brackish water in the nearest sedge 
 pond has a flavor of nectar and the invigoration of a tonic. 
 On they tear again, the whole body pushing on in skirmish- 
 like dispersion. Suddenly the land changes. They are 
 climbing a rolling table-land, cleared in some places as 
 though the axe of the settler had been at work. The march 
 is now easier and the picket-lines are strengthened. Then a 
 sharp volley comes, as if from the tree-tops. 
 
 The march is instantly halted. The mass, moving in a 
 column, is deployed that is, stretched out to cover a mile 
 or more as it moves forward ; the cavalry divides and rides 
 far to right and left, to see that no ambush is set to enable 
 the rebels to sneak in behind the vast human broom, as it 
 sweeps through the solemn aisles of the pines, now rising in 
 vernal columns thicker and thicker. The firing is going on 
 now in scattering volleys, and soon the wounded a dozen 
 or more are carried back through the silent ranks. Joking 
 has now ceased. Lips are compressed ; eyes glitter, and the 
 men avoid meeting each other's gaze. It is the moment of 
 all moments, the most trying to the soldier, when he is ex- 
 pecting every instant a hurricane of bullets, and yet sees no 
 one to avenge his anguish on or forestall in the deadly 
 work. But they have been moving forward all the time, 
 the hurtling bullets sweeping through the leafy covering, 
 now and then thumping into the soft pine with a vicious 
 joyousness, as if to say to each man, " The next is for you, 
 see how well our work is done." For these hideous missiles 
 have a language of their own, as every man that stood fire 
 can tell. The skirmishers are now all drawn in. The solid 
 line must do the work at hand. No one but the commander 
 and his confidants knew the work intended, save that to kill 
 and be killed was the business to be done. The panting 
 lines are on high cleared ground now, and they can see ab- 
 solutely nothing but the irregular depressions that mark 
 the channel of the Bull Run, as it rushes down to the Rap- 
 pahannock. The line is moving along steadily. Looking 
 to left and right, Jack can see the colors of three regiments,
 
 80 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 and his eye rests with pleasure on the bright, shining folds 
 of the Caribees' dark-blue State flag spread to the breeze 
 beside the stars of the Union. Are they to cross the river ? 
 Evidently, for the command is still " Forward, bear center, 
 bear right." Then, square in front, where the thick, broad 
 leaves of the oak glitter in the sun, there is seen a cylinder 
 of steamilike smoke, with fiery gleams at the end, a crack- 
 ling explosion of a hogshead of fire-crackers, then a rushing, 
 screaming sound in their veiy faces, then a few rods behind 
 a ringing, vicious explosion. They are in the very teeth of 
 a masked battery. The Union skirmishei's have been with- 
 drawn too soon. The main line will be torn to pieces, for 
 retreat is as fatal as advance. 
 
 " Lie down, men ! " The command rings out and is 
 echoed along the column. The guns have the range, and 
 the enemy knows the ground. The Caribees are directly in 
 the sweep of the artillery, and the command comes to them 
 by company to crawl backward, exposing themselves as lit- 
 tle as may be. Presently two brass guns are brought up 
 behind the Caribeea. The gunners have noted the point of 
 the enemy's fire. The men point the big muzzles with in- 
 trepid equanimity, firing over the prostrate blue coats. For 
 twenty minutes, perhaps half an hour, this is kept up ; then 
 there is silence on the hill beyond. The column rises to its 
 feet, and at the command, " Forward ! " they start with a rush 
 and a cheer. Five hundred yards onward, and a solid mass 
 of gray coats confront them. A volley is fired and returned ; 
 the exulting Caribees, with two lines behind them, give a 
 loud cheer and, in an instant, the gray mass has disappeared, 
 as if the earth had opened. The skirmish -line, advancing 
 now, picks up a half-dozen or more wounded rebels, besides 
 two or three who had become confused in the hasty retreat 
 and run toward the " Yankees " instead of their own line. 
 Jack's comrade held this conversation with one of the pris- 
 oners : 
 
 " I say, reb, what place is this ? " 
 
 "Mitchell's Ford." 
 
 " Much of your army here ? "
 
 "THE ASSYRIAN CAME DOWN LIKE THE WOLF." 81 
 
 " 'Nuff to lick you uns out of your boots, I reckon." 
 
 " What did they run across the ford tor, then ? " 
 
 " Oh, you'll see soon enough when our folks get ready." 
 
 " Who's in command here ? " 
 
 " General Bonham, of South Carolina." 
 
 " How many men, about ? " 
 
 . "Well, there's right smart on to a million, I reckon. 
 They had to cut the trees down, yonder, to get room for 
 'em." 
 
 The man's eyes twinkled as he gave this precise approxi- 
 mation ; but Barney, who had brought the humorist in, 
 whispered to the captain to let him have a moment's speech 
 with the man before he was sent away. The captain nodded, 
 and Barney said innocently : 
 
 " Had anything to eat to-day ? " 
 
 " Not a mouthful. The trains were all taken up with 
 soldiers coming from Richmond." 
 
 " Have a bit of beef and here's a cracker or two. You 
 can have some coffee if the guards will let you make it." 
 
 " Old Longstreet himself would envy me now," the rebel 
 cried, his mouth stuffed with the cold meat and hard-tack, 
 almost as fresh and crisp as soda-crackers, for the contractors 
 had not yet learned the trick of making them out of saw- 
 dust, white sand, and other inexpensive substitutes for flour. 
 
 " Longstreet ? " Barney said, carelessly. 
 
 " Yes, that's the commander of the right wing, just below, 
 at Blackburn's Ford." 
 
 " Blackburn's Ford ? " 
 
 " Yes, that's a mile down, and really behind you uns, for 
 the run makes a big elbow to the east. I tell you what it 
 is, Yank, you'll see snakes right soon, for our folks are be- 
 hind you." 
 
 Sure enough, a crackling to the left confirmed this, and 
 the captain, who had listened to Barney's adroit cross-ques- 
 tioning, sent the man with a note to Colonel Sherman, a 
 few rods in the rear. Ten minutes later the column fell into 
 ranks again and moved off swiftly southeastward. A march 
 of a mile or so brought them to a bold ridge" cutting down
 
 82 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 almost aslant to the clear water of the run. The skirmish- 
 ers, for some reason, had not pushed ahead to explore the 
 ground, and the regiments, marching in close masses, came 
 out in a rather disorderly multitude on the ridged crest. A 
 hundred yards nearly below the water-course was fringed 
 with thick copses of oak, and the gently ascending slopes on 
 the western bank were completely hidden from the Union 
 lines. A few gaunt, almost limbless trees rose up spectrally 
 on the ridge, offering the compact masses neither shelter 
 from the sun nor security from the enemy if there were an 
 enemy near. 
 
 Dick came up to Jack out of breath with great news, just 
 as the Caribees were aligning themselves to move forward. 
 
 " General Tyler just told Richardson " a brigade com- 
 mander " that the rebels had retreated from Manassas, and 
 he (Tyler) is going to have the glory of occupying the works; 
 that McDowell thought the army would have to fight a big 
 battle to get" 
 
 " Glory!" the group shouted, near enough to hear; and 
 the delightful story ran up and down the lines by a tele- 
 phone process that was much swifter than Edison's electric 
 invention. A roar of gratulatory triumph broke a roar so 
 loud and inspiring that for a moment the densely packed 
 masses did not distinguish an ear-splitting outburst just in 
 front of them. But on the instant piercing shrieks among 
 the huddled cheerers cries of death and agony changed 
 the paeans of triumph into wails of anguish and mortal pain. 
 A panic instant, unreasoning, irresistible fell upon the 
 mass, a breath before so confident. A third of the regiment 
 seemed to wither away. The colors fell in the struggling 
 group in the center. Hoarse shouts, indistinguishable and 
 ominous, could be vaguely heard from the staff and line. 
 
 Direr still, hideous clamor of masked cannon, right in 
 their very faces, added the horror of surprise to the disorder 
 of attack, and the thick blue lines broke in irrestrainable 
 confusion. The terror of the unknown seized officers and 
 men alike. In five minutes the crest was cleared, and the 
 ignoble vanity, ignorance, and self-sufficiency of one man
 
 "THE ASSYRIAN CAME DOWN LIKE THE WOLF." 83 
 
 had undone in an hour the splendid work of the Com- 
 mander-in-chief. A m$Ue of miserable, disgraceful dis- 
 order ensued. The rebel sharpshooters, hurrying to the 
 flank, poured in hurtling, murderous volleys, filling the 
 minds of the panic-stricken mob with the idea, the most 
 awful that can enter a soldier's mind, that his line is sur- 
 rounded. Hundreds threw away guns and everything that 
 could impede flight. Other hundreds fired wildly wherever 
 they saw moving men, and thus aided the rebels in killing 
 their own comrades, for it was into the supporting Union 
 forces they directed their random shots. The fire grew 
 every instant more bewildering. Shots came in volleys 
 from every direction, and the helpless hordes darted wildly 
 together sometimes toward, instead of from the enemy. 
 Had the rebels been as numerous as they were crafty, the 
 brigade could have been seized en masse. But now Sher- 
 man is at hand with fresh regiments, others are at his heels, 
 and the contest takes on some of the order of intelligent 
 action. The rebels, too, are re-enforced, but the dispositions 
 made by the Union chiefs bring the combat to equal terms. 
 The clamor of cannon and musketry continues an hour, 
 though the lines are now among the friendly undergrowth, 
 and the losses are not serious. But the Caribees, with the 
 regiment supporting them, have been blotted from the scene 
 as a factor. For hours the scattering groups fled fled in 
 ever-increasing panic, and it was long after dark before the 
 remnants of the regiment came into camp at Centreville. 
 
 Poor Jack ! He gave no heed to supper that dreadful 
 night. He threw himself on the ground, too exhausted to 
 think and too disheartened to talk. He couldn't under- 
 stand the shameful panic. The Caribees were not cowards ; 
 every man in the regiment had longed for the battle. When 
 under fire at Mitchell's Ford, an hour earlier than the disas- 
 ter at Blackburn, all had stood firmly in place, fought with 
 coolness, and gave no sign of fear. The volume of fire when 
 they broke was not much greater than the Mitchell's Ford 
 volleys. During the night Grandison came to camp and as- 
 sembled the officers. He expressed his sorrow at the sudden
 
 84 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 shadow that had fallen on the fair fame of the regiment, but 
 since the panic had not been followed, as such outbreaks 
 often are, by the total destruction of the men, there would 
 be abundant chance to redeem the disgrace of the day. He 
 had himself begged the division commander to give the 
 men another trial, and he had staked his commission on 
 their doing such duty as would remove the tarnish of the 
 afternoon from their banners. 
 
 The officers had been dispirited. Major Mike had raged 
 over the field, through the woods, a very angry man indeed, 
 belaboring the fleeing men with his sword and imploring 
 those he couldn't reach to " come to me here. Dress on me. 
 There's no call to be afeard. We've more men than they 
 have, and we'll soon wallop them." 
 
 But the resounding blows on the backs of those near the 
 officer did not give the encouraging emphasis to his appeal 
 that captivates men whose reasoning faculties are almost 
 gone for the moment. Before daylight on the next morn- 
 ing Saturday, the 20th the companies were called togeth- 
 er and little addresses were made to the men by the officers. 
 The substance of Colonel Grandison's words was imparted, 
 and the hope expressed that when, in the course of that or 
 the next day the regiment was again under fire, they would 
 show that the panic of yesterday had not been cowardice. 
 The men said nothing, and every one was glad that the light 
 was so dim that the officers could not look in their faces, 
 though, as a matter of fact, the shoulder-straps had shown 
 as little fortitude as the muskets in the dispersion. All that 
 day the forces rested, the Caribees providing themselves with 
 new arms and equipments, or the two or three hundred who 
 had flung their own away. During the afternoon an inci- 
 dent happened in the division that lessened the mortifica- 
 tion of the Caribees. A splendid regiment and a battery of 
 bronze guns came into the highway from the extreme of the 
 line that was expected to take part in the battle which all 
 knew would be opened the next morning. Every one was 
 surprised to see the men moving without muskets and the 
 colors wrapped in their cases.
 
 BLOOD AND IRON. 85 
 
 " Where you bound for ? " some one at the roadside yelled 
 curiously. 
 
 " Our time is out ; we're going home." 
 
 Then a derisive howl followed the line as it passed through 
 the masses of the army, and remarks of an acrid nature were 
 made that were not gratifying to the departing patriots : 
 
 " Don't you want a guard to protect you ? " 
 
 " Does your mamma know you're out alone ? " 
 
 " Wait till to-morrow and we'll send Beauregard's forces 
 to see you safe home." 
 
 The men and officers looked very conscious and uncom- 
 fortable under the gamut of jeers, for word went along the 
 line, and all along the route to the rear they passed through 
 this clamor of contemptuous outcry. 
 
 ''Well, I thought we had reached the eminent deadly 
 pinnacle of disgrace," Barney said, with a sigh, as a group 
 of Company K watched the considerable number taken out 
 of McDowell's small army, " but this sight makes me feel 
 like the man on trial for murder who escapes with a verdict 
 of manslaughter." 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 BLOOD AND IRON. 
 
 LATE at night Dick came down to Jack's bivouac with a 
 strange tale. McDowell had come to Tyler's quarters storm- 
 ing with rage. He had accused that officer of disobeying 
 orders in forcing a fight on the fords of Bull Run where he 
 had been told to merely reconnoitre. 
 
 The staff believed that Tyler would be cashiered, for he 
 had not only wrecked the general's plan of battle, but he had 
 given the rebels the secret of the movement and demoralized 
 one wing of the army by putting raw soldiers in front of 
 masked batteries that could have been detected by proper 
 outpost work. Then one of the staff reported a speech
 
 86 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 Tyler had made when his troops rushed over the empty rebel 
 breastworks and forts around Centreville. His officers were 
 discussing the probable forces Beauregard had behind the 
 crooked stream beyond. 
 
 " I believe we've got them on the run," Tyler said, exult- 
 ingly, " from what we see here. I tell you the great man of 
 this war is the man that plants the flag at Manassas, and I'm 
 going through to Richmond to-night." 
 
 " Not much comfort in knowing we've got such a fool for 
 a commander," Jack cried, thinking of the disgrace of the 
 day before and of the small chance the regiment had under 
 such a chief to redeem its prestige on the morrow. All per- 
 sonal griefs, everything but the pending battle, were driven 
 from the men's minds as the signs of the momentous work 
 of the morrow accumulated. The hospital corps was up in 
 force. The yellow flag floated from an immense tent near 
 the roadway. A great cortege of general officers rode away 
 from McDowell's quarters about ten in the evening. The 
 haversacks were filled with three days' cooked rations. One 
 hundred rounds of ammunition to a man were dealt out to 
 each company. Everything not absolutely necessary was 
 ordered to the company wagons. 
 
 The talk in the camp that night was of home of any- 
 thing and everything but the dreadful to-morrow, so long 
 looked forward to with eager hope, now regarded with un- 
 certainty that was not so much fear as the memory of the 
 panic at Blackburn's Ford. Jack was provided with a large 
 atlas map of Virginia, and with the bits of information given 
 by Dick he was able to conjecture the probable plan of the 
 next day. The cronies of Company K listened in delight to 
 his exposition of the action. 
 
 '' Here," he said, " is the Bull Run. It makes two big 
 elbows eastward toward us one about four miles to the 
 northwest of us, the other about eight miles to the south- 
 east of that, and about four miles from our right hand 
 here ! The rebel we quizzed yesterday says that there are 
 five fords between the Warrenton pike bridge that's just 
 ahead of us yonder at the end of the road we are on the
 
 BLOOD AND IRON. 87 
 
 last one is McLean's Ford, at the very knuckle of the elbow 
 that is crooked toward us a mile west of where we were yes- 
 terday. That is near the railway, which it is Beauregard's 
 business to fight for and our business to get, for then he will 
 have to fall back near Richmond to feed his army. Now 
 from the railway where it crosses Bull Run near Mitchell's 
 Ford to the Warrenton road, which Beauregard must also 
 hold, is about nine miles. He must guard all these fords, 
 and we must fight for any one or two of them that we need 
 to cross by. The only problem is, whether our general is 
 going to strike with his right arm at Mitchell's Ford, his left 
 arm at this very Warrenton road we are on, or whether he 
 means to butt the middle of the line of Beauregard's battle 
 to break him into two pieces ? " 
 
 " What would Frederick the Great or Napoleon do ? " 
 Nick asked, absorbed in Jack's confident predications. 
 
 " If Frederick had equal forces he would have a reserve 
 just where we shall be in the morning there at that point 
 marked ' Stone Ridge,' and move a heavy mass to the south- 
 west below McLean's Ford there, where you see the railway 
 runs along the run for a half-mile or more. Or he would 
 send this body to the northeast, over there where you see 
 Sudley Springs marked in rather large letters, and he would 
 by either one of these movements turn the enemy's flank 
 that is, get in behind him and force him to change front to 
 fight, something that is rarely done successfully in battle. 
 Napoleon would, on the contrary, mass all his best troops at 
 the stone bridge, open the fight with every piece of artillery 
 he could bring to bear, and in the panic send divisions ten 
 deep across the bridge." 
 
 " Which would be the better plan ? " 
 
 " Ah ! that no one can say. The first is sure enough and 
 less dangerous, if the commander is not certain of his men, 
 because you notice that we felt excellent and confident all 
 day, so long as we were marching forward and pushing the 
 enemy from our path. The trial in battle is to be kept stand- 
 ing under fire, not sure "where your enemy is; and then you 
 noticed that our own guns behind us, sending shot and shells
 
 88 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 over us, were just as trying as the rebels'. Only soldiers of the 
 very first class can be depended on in the Napoleon tactics. 
 We are not soldiers of the first class; and you may be sure 
 McDowell, who was many years in Europe, and who is a 
 trained officer, will make use of the manoeuvres best calcu- 
 lated to bring out whatever there is in his men. As a mat- 
 ter of opinion, I should say that, in view of the miserable 
 affair on the right yesterday, he will strike out for Sudley 
 Springs, where we shall have the rebels just as you would 
 have me if you were at my side, held my left arm behind 
 me, ready to break my back with your knee planted in it." 
 
 Jack was sergeant of the guard that night, and it was in 
 the group of sentries awaiting their relief every two hours, 
 re-enforced by his tent-mates of Company K, that these 
 learned dissertations on war were carried on. It was a 
 never-to-be-forgotten Saturday night to millions yet living. 
 In Washington the President and his Cabinet sat far into 
 the morning hours receiving the dispatches from the weary 
 and disappointed chief for, if Tyler had not made his mis- 
 erable attempt to reach Manassas, the battle would have been 
 fought that vital Saturday, and the result would have been 
 another story in history. As the morning broke, red and 
 murky, the army was up and in line, but without the usual 
 noisy signals. The artillery-horses began to move first 
 wherever it was possible. The heavy guns were pushed for- 
 ward on the sward, to prevent the loud. metallic clangor that 
 penetrated the still air like clashing anvils. By half after 
 six, the advance brigade, the Caribees in their old place, were 
 within gunshot of the stone bridge. 
 
 " Ah ha, Jack ! It is the Napoleonic plan ! " Barney cried, 
 as the artillery took places in front of the masses lying on 
 the ground. 
 
 " Wait," Jack cried, owlishly. " The battle isn't fought 
 always where the guns are loudest." 
 
 But the guns were now loud and quick. The rebels, be- 
 hind a thick screen of trees, took up the challenge, and every 
 sound was drowned in the roar of the artillery. A few far 
 in the rear were wounded those nearest the rebels were in
 
 BLOOD AND IRON. 89 
 
 the least danger, whether because the guns could not be suffi- 
 ciently depressed, or because the gunners were poor hands, 
 couldn't be determined. A breathless suspense, an insatiate 
 craving to see, to move, to fly forward, or do anything, de- 
 voured the prostrate ranks. The firing had gone on two 
 hours or more, which seemed only so many minutes, when 
 to the group near General Tyler a courier, panting and 
 dusty, rode in great excitement. 
 
 " General Tyler, the major-general has just learned that 
 the enemy have crossed in force at Blackburn's Ford, below 
 you. You are at once to take measures to protect your left 
 flank." 
 
 " Ah ha, Jack ; Frederick's on the other side, eh ? " Bar- 
 ney said, as, standing near the group, these words reached 
 their ears. 
 
 " Perhaps there are two Fredericks at work. Look yon- 
 der ! " handing him his glass as he spoke. 
 
 " Thunder ! our whole army is marching over there to 
 the right, and we sha'n't even see the battle. They are four 
 miles off. Why, what an immense army we must have ! I 
 thought this was the bulk of it, but we're not a brigade com- 
 pared to that." 
 
 " Now, Barney, I feel confident that is the grand move- 
 ment. Look how they fly along ! The fields are as good as 
 roads out there, and if it were not for the artillery they could 
 make five miles an hour. Now, keep your ears open, my 
 lad; you'll hear music off there to the northwest music 
 that will make Beauregard sick, if that courier's information 
 is exact. For, don't you see, as we are placed here, with 
 that gully to our left and the thick woods in front, we could 
 hold this ground against six times our number." 
 
 Company K were now sent forward to the right to re- 
 lieve a body of skirmishers that had been hidden on the 
 margin of Bull Run, some distance to the westward of the 
 stone bridge. Jack, going forward with his glass, noticed 
 an officer among the men, but not catching sight of his face 
 did not recognize him. 
 
 " Is that a rebel or one of our fellows?" one of the men
 
 90 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 said, pointing to a horseman disappearing in the woods four 
 hundred yards to the right and in front of the company, 
 marching in a straggling line two abreast, " by the flank," as 
 it is called. Jack took his glass to discover, but the rider 
 had disappeared. An instant after from a knoll, Jack, glass 
 at eye, was examining eagerly the field on the other side of 
 the river, when a horseman suddenly shot into view, ridiDg 
 desperately. 
 
 " By George, it is the same man ! I wonder how he 
 crossed the stream? There must be a bridge down there 
 among those thick trees and bushes," Jack said, excitedly. 
 
 " Are you sure, sergeant, that is the same man that was 
 in the woods to the right there, five minutes ago ? " 
 
 Jack turned ; the officer was at his shoulder. He saluted 
 respectfully, recognizing, with a thrill of joy, old Red Top, 
 as the company called Sherman. 
 
 " Yes, colonel, it's the same man. He was in his shirt- 
 sleeves and had a blue scarf tied about his ann. There can 
 be no mistake; several of us saw him quite plainly." 
 
 " If that be true, we've gained a half-day's work in two 
 minutes." He was looking diligently through the glass as 
 he spoke, and his eye brightened as he marked the man un- 
 til he disappeared. He turned to an orderly that was fol- 
 lowing at a distance leading a horse. Mounting this lightly 
 the colonel rode to the head of the company and said in a 
 short, decisive tone : 
 
 " Come ahead men, at a double-quick, until you strike the 
 stream." He kept beside the men as they moved. In fifteen 
 minutes they were at the water's edge. Then the company 
 was deployed as skirmishers, two thirds halting where they 
 struck the water and the rest keeping on up the bank of the 
 river for a few hundred yards. Sherman was eying every 
 inch of the bank until, suddenly reaching a break where 
 fresh tracks of a horse were visible, he directed his orderly 
 to follow, and plunged into the water. It was not up to the 
 horses' knees from bank to bank. Riding back, his face 
 aglow, the colonel ordered the captain to cross half his men 
 and station them up and down on the bank where they would
 
 BLOOD AND IRON. 91 
 
 not be seen by the rebels on the high ground above. Then, 
 addressing Jack, he said : 
 
 " Sergeant, select two or three trusty men. Follow the 
 bank of the stream until you come to General Hunter's di- 
 vision, which may be a mile, perhaps more, to the right yon- 
 der; you can tell by the firing soon. Tell General Hunter 
 that we have discovered a ford and shall not have to fight 
 lor the stone bridge. We shall be across in no time and 
 take the enemy in the rear. If you can't find Hunter, give 
 this intelligence to any officer in command. Stay." 
 
 He scribbled a line on a sheet of his order-book, saying: 
 " This will be your authority. It's better not to write the 
 rest for fear you should be captured. In case you are in 
 danger tell each man with you what to say, so that there 
 will be more chances of getting the information where it 
 will do good; and remember, sergeant, that this news in 
 Hunter's hands will be almost equivalent to victory. Ah 1 " 
 
 He, paused again. Reverberating crashes came from the 
 high grounds up the river. " You will have no trouble in 
 finding him now. Those are Hunter's guns. Hurry." 
 
 Glowing, grateful, big with the fate of the battle, Jack 
 had Barney, Nick, and another, whom he charged with the 
 duty of historian, detailed for this duty of glory. The group 
 set off with a fervent Godspeed from the company sheltered 
 among the thick pines and oaks. 
 
 "Now, boys," Jack said, every inch the captain, "we 
 must spread out like skirmishers. Our chief danger will be 
 from the left, as no one will be likely to be in the water but 
 our own men, and we must look as sharply for them as for 
 the enemy. I will take the center; you, Barney, the left, 
 next to me; and you, Nick, four paces farther to the left. 
 Jack looked at his watch. It was just 9.30, Sunday morn- 
 ing, July 21, 1861. The crash of musketry ahead now be- 
 came one unbroken roar, with a crescendo of artillery that 
 fairly shook the ground the messengers were darting over, 
 for all were on a dead run. The bushes grew thick on the 
 hillside and their branches were stubborn as crab thorns. 
 Hell, as Barney afterward remarked, would have been cool
 
 92 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 in comparison to the heat as the adventurers tugged and 
 wrestled forward. Now guns were roaring on every side 
 save the river. Behind, before, to the left, the thunders 
 played upon the parched land. At the end of a half-hour 
 the bullets and shells passed over the group as Jack and his 
 squad pushed along the hilly way. Twice, commands, and 
 even the clicking, of what Jack knew must be rebel guns 
 sounded not twenty paces away, but, thanks to the thick 
 bushes, the scouts passed unseen, and, thanks to the noise of 
 battle, unheard. But now the danger is from friends, not 
 enemies. Balls come hurtling through the trees across the 
 stream, and in a low voice Jack bids Barney summon Nick. 
 Then all slip down to the water's edge, and make their way 
 painfully through the marshy swamps, the cane-like rushes 
 that fill the narrow valley. The run has been a fearful 
 strain upon Nick, and at length he falls, gasping, in a clump 
 of cat-tails. 
 
 " What is it, old fellow ? " Jack cries in alarm. 
 
 " O Jack ! I can't go a step farther. You go on and 
 leave me. I shall follow when I get breath." 
 
 He was white and gasping. Barney filled his canteen 
 from the running water, and, wetting his handkerchief, laid 
 it on Nick's parboiled head and temples. 
 
 "Rest a few minutes," Jack said, soothingly. "I will 
 reconnoitre a bit." Stripping off his accoutrements, he 
 clasped a tall sycamore growing at the crest of the ravine, 
 and when far up brought his glass to bear. A third of a 
 mile to the left and southward, he could see a regiment with 
 a flag bearing a single star, surrounding a small stone farm- 
 house, on the brow of a gentle hill. They were firing to the 
 west and toward the north, where the black clouds obscured 
 his view. But the red gleam in the smoke told of at least a 
 dozen guns, and he knew that the main battle was there, 
 though the fury of it reached far to the east, near the stone 
 bridge which he had quit an hour before. Then through 
 the veil of smoke long, deep masses of blue emerge and 
 make for the rebel front on the brow of the hill, fairly at 
 Jack's feet ; the enemy redoubles the fire ; two guns at their
 
 BLOOD AND IRON. 93 
 
 left pour canister into the advancing wall of blue. It never 
 wavers, but, as a group falls to the earth, the rest close to- 
 gether and the mass whirls on. 
 
 Jack feels like flying. Oh, the grandeur of it, the fear- 
 lessness, the intoxication ! He almost falls from the tree in 
 his excitement. But he takes a last sweep of the belching 
 hill. Hark ! Loud cheers in the trees back of the rebels, far 
 to the southeast, perhaps a mile and a half ; then the flaunt- 
 ing Palmetto flag flying forward in the center of deep masses 
 of gray. Which will reach the hill first ? He can not quit 
 the deadly sight. Ah ! the blue lines are pressing on now ; 
 the cannon-shots pass over their heads into the devoted line 
 of gray, desperately thinned, but clinging to the key of the 
 battle-field. But, great God ! Perhaps his delay is aiding 
 the enemy. He sees the route now clear straight to the 
 west and no rebels near enough to intervene. He descends 
 so fast that his hands and legs are blistered, but he is down. 
 
 " Look sharp, boys ; you must follow me as best you can. 
 1 know the route there is a forest path directly to our lines, 
 and we shall be there in twenty minutes I shall, at least." 
 He doesn't stop to see whether he is followed or not, but 
 dashes on, and the rest after him. He is far out of sight in 
 an instant. It is only by the crackling of the branches that 
 the others keep his course. The way is between steep, pre- 
 cipitous hills, which explains how they could be so near the 
 battle and yet not in it, nor harmed by the missiles flying 
 sometimes very near them. At a deep branch of the stream 
 the three rearmost came in sight of Jack, up to his arm-pits 
 in water and pushing for the shore. 
 
 While they are hailing him exultantly he sinks out of 
 sight ; an awful anguish almost stops the others, but Bar- 
 ney, flinging his musket and impediments off as he runs, 
 leaps far into the stream, and when the rest reach the spot 
 he has Jack by the hair, dragging him to the bank. He is 
 fairly worn out by the stress, and the others loosen his coat, 
 stretch him on the brown sward and rub his hands, his body. 
 It is ten minutes, it seemed an hour, before he is able to get 
 up, and the rest insist on carrying his accoutrements. Then
 
 94 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 the wild race is begun again, every instant bringing them 
 nearer the pandemonium of battle. Suddenly the sharp 
 commands of officers are heard in front and to the left. Is 
 it the enemy, or is it friends ? The group halts in an agony 
 of doubt. How can they find out ? Barney takes out his 
 handkerchief and puts it on his gun, which he was careful 
 to go back and recover when Jack was on the bank. A ray 
 of bright red suddenly flits above the thick tops of the scrub- 
 
 Yes, God be praised, there is the flag of stars, and there 
 are blue uniforms! With a wild hurrah, drowned in the 
 musketry to the left, they rush forward, are halted by a 
 picket guard, exhibit Sherman's order, and are directed to 
 the commanding officer. That personage has no knowledge 
 of General Hunter's whereabouts, but Colonel Andrew Por- 
 ter is just beyond, commanding the brigade. To him Jack 
 makes known Sherman's message, and is directed farther to 
 the southwest, the Union right now facing nearly to the 
 east in the execution of McDowell's admirable flank ma- 
 noeuvre. 
 
 Now among their own, Sherman's couriers run more 
 peril than when skirting the edge of the battle, for the shells 
 are directed at the line they are pursuing. They push to the 
 rear and continue southeastward, where Hunter's head- 
 quarters are supposed to be. But Jack is easy on the score 
 of his mission, since the general, who is nearest the stone 
 bridge, has been apprised, and well knows that the fire 
 which has been coming near his left flank is Sherman's. 
 Until, however, he has executed his orders literally Jack 
 won't be satisfied, and plunges on, the others- following, 
 nothing loath. But it is a way of pain for the lads now. 
 Every step they come upon the dead and dying. The air is 
 filled with moaning men, whinnying horses, the hurried 
 movement of stretchers, the solemn solicitude of the hospital 
 corps. The line of foremost battle is less terrifying, less try- 
 ing than this inner way of Golgotha, and the four are well- 
 nigh unnerved when they reach a group where the com- 
 manding officer has been pointed out.
 
 BLOOD AND IRON. 95 
 
 " General Hunter ? " Jack says, addressing an officer with 
 a star. 
 
 " My name is Franklin. General Hunter was wounded 
 an hour ago. What's the matter ? " 
 
 Jack gave his message, and Franklin said, cheerfully : 
 " That's good news. You're a very brave fellow. Go a few 
 yards in the rear yonder and you'll find General McDowell. 
 He'll enjoy your message." 
 
 On the hill they halt electrified. 
 
 Thick copses of scrub-pine dot the gently sloping sward. 
 Here and there clumps of tall pines stand in the bare, brown 
 sod as if to guard the young outshoots clustering about them 
 in wanton dispersion. Cow-paths, marked only by the worn 
 edges of the bushes, run in zigzags across the hillside and 
 up to the plateau. The remnants of rail fences strew the 
 ground here and there. The low roof of the farm-house 
 can be seen far back even from the depression, where the 
 lines of blue are now resting a brief, deadly half -hour. 
 
 The sun is now behind the halted line of blue ; the bay- 
 onets, catching the light, make a sea of liquid, mirror-like 
 rivulets hovering in the air, with the bushy branches of pine 
 rising like green isles in the shimmering tide. The men are 
 filling their cartridge-boxes ; new regiments are gliding into 
 the gaps where death has cut the widest swath. From the 
 woods, cries, groans, commands, clashing steel as the men 
 hustle against each other in the rush into line, prelude the 
 Vulcan clamor soon to begin. Men, bent, sometimes crawl- 
 ing, with stretchers on their shoulders, glide through the 
 maimed and shrieking fragments of bodies, picking out hero 
 and there those seeming capable of carriage. Other men, 
 prone on their faces, hold canteens of tepid, muddy water 
 but ah ! a draught to the feverish lips which seems godlike 
 nectar. Against the stout bodies of the trees, armless men, 
 legless trunks, the maimed in every condition of death's fan- 
 tastic sport, hold themselves limply erect, to gain succor or 
 save some of the vital stream pouring from their gaping 
 wounds. 
 
 Couriers dash up to the impassive chief, calm-eyed, keen, 
 7
 
 96 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 alert, surveying the line, dispatching brief commands, re- 
 ceiving reports. It is Franklin. With the air of a mar- 
 shal on a civic pageant, perplexed only by some geometrical 
 problem denying the possibility of two right lines on the 
 same plane, he glances upward toward the brow of the pla- 
 teau. The four flags had been increased by half a dozen. 
 Ah, they have received aid ! A tremendous crash comes 
 from the left. That must be Sherman. He is on the rebel 
 rear. One strong pull, and the two bodies will be united, his 
 left arm reaching Sherman's right. The shining mirage of 
 steel above the green isle sinks. The clash of hurtling ac- 
 coutrements comes up musically, tranquilly from the low 
 ground. The blue mass, first deliberately, then in a quiet, 
 regular run, passes like a moving barricade up the sloping 
 hillside. Then from one end of the long wall to the other 
 white puffs as of some monster breathing spasmodically. 
 
 The air is a blur of sulphurous blackness. The bullets 
 are as thick as if a swarm of leaden locusts had been routed 
 from the foliage, and taken wing hillward. Then behind, 
 through the gaps in the trees, big, whining, screeching 
 swarms of another-caliber shells fly over the wall of blue. 
 In a moment the ground of the plateau is torn, the red clay 
 flying far into the air. But now the blue wall is gird- 
 ling the very crest of the hill ; it stops, shrivels. Long gaps 
 are cut in its broken surface. The hillside is dotted with 
 sprawling figures. The crest is a ragged edge of writhing 
 bodies and struggling limbs. Forward ! The wall is advanc- 
 ing, but shorter. It is within reach of the shining guns 
 spouting flame and iron in the very face of the dauntless 
 wall. Then there is a pause. The smoke hides everything 
 but the maimed and quivering heaps that strive to crawl 
 backward, back to the crest, back to the deeps that are not 
 rest nor security. The hillside is like a field, covered with 
 sheaved grain with a thousand mangled bodies that had 
 been men. 
 
 Then to these wrestling specters for in the dim smoke 
 and Tartarean atmosphere the actions of loading and aiming 
 take the shape of huge writhing, convulsing, monstrous,
 
 BLOOD AND IRON. 97 
 
 grappling come quick-moving lines of help. They rush 
 through them, over them. The thirteen cannon behind the 
 struggling hydra of gray seem one vortex sulphurous, 
 naming, spitting, as from one vast mouth, scorching fire, 
 huge mouthfuls of granite venom. Back back, the gray 
 masses break in sinuous, definite,- slow-yielding disruption. 
 
 Then a sudden inrush from the left of the broken gray, 
 where smoke and^space play fantastic tricks with the sun- 
 shine. Miraculously a dark mass is projected on the shim- 
 mering spectrum, and a ringing voice is heard : 
 
 " We are saved ; we are re-enforced. We will die here ! " 
 Then high above the din, in the exultant tumult of the deadly 
 won ground, the nearest in blue hear a stentorian voice 
 grim, deliberate, exultant: 
 
 " Look where Jackson stands like a stone - wall ! At 
 them, men! Let us determine to die here, and we will 
 conquer." 
 
 Die he did, when the yelling horde in the sudden outrush 
 grazed the edge of the Union besom sweeping over the plain 
 in a rush of death. Then behind these spectral shapes came 
 others thousands with wild, fierce shouts. The blue mass 
 is thinned to a single line. Men in command look anxiously 
 to the rear. Where is Burnside ? Where are the twelve 
 thousand men whom Hunter and Heintzelman deployed in 
 these woods two hours since ? Back, slowly, fiercely, but 
 backward, the slender wall of blue is forced ; not defeated, 
 but not victorious. All this Jack sees, and he turns heart- 
 sick from the sight. 
 
 When the straggling couriers reached the point designated 
 as McDowell's headquarters, he had gone to the eastward of 
 the line, and, faithful to the command given him, Jack set 
 out with Barney, leaving the others to deliver the message 
 in case he missed the general. They emerged presently on 
 the edge of a plateau, whence nearly the whole battle could 
 be seen. Jack climbed a tall oak to reconnoitre the ground 
 for McDowell, but, as his glass revealed the battling lines, he 
 shouted to Barney to climb for a moment, to impress the 
 frightful yet grandiose spectacle upon his mind. Far off
 
 98 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 toward the stone bridge, now a mile or more northeast of 
 them, they could see the Union flags waving, and mark the 
 white puffs of smoke that preceded the booming of the can- 
 non. Every instant the clouds of smoke came southward, 
 where the rebel lines were concealed by the thick copses. 
 But they were breaking always breaking back anew. In 
 twenty minutes more, at the same rate, the hill upon which 
 the rebel lines nearest the tree held the Union right at bay 
 would be surrounded on two sides. 
 
 This, for the moment, was a sulphurous crater, the fire- 
 belching demons, invisible in the smoke. Through the glass 
 Jack could see the lines clearly or the smoke arising above 
 them. The enemy had been pushed back nearly two miles 
 since he had left Colonel Sherman a few rods above the 
 stone bridge. The Union force, as marked by the veil of 
 smoke, curved about the foemen, a vast crescent, seven miles 
 or more from tip to tip. The bodies opposing were scattered 
 like a gigantic staircase, with the angles of the steps con- 
 fronting each other step by step. But now the Union ranks 
 at Jack's feet rush forward ; a group of riders are coming to 
 the tree, and Jack descends hastily to meet the general. He 
 is again disappointed. It is not McDowell. At a loss what 
 to do, he salutes one of the officers and states his case, recog- 
 nizing, as he turns, General Franklin. 
 
 " I don't see that you can do better than remain where 
 you are, or, still better, push to the brow of that hill yonder 
 and act as a picket. In case you see any force approaching 
 from this side, which is not likely, give warning. Our cav- 
 alry ought to be here, but it isn't. If you are called to ac- 
 count when the battle is done, give me as your authority. 
 I take it your brigade will be around here pretty soon, if 
 they make as rapid work all the way as they have made 
 since eleven o'clock. If the cavalry come, you can report to 
 the nearest officer for assignment."
 
 THE LEGIONS OF VARUS. 99 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 THE LEGIONS OF VARUS. 
 
 THE two free lances set out now, relieved of all responsi- 
 bility, and determined to watch the open fields and woods to 
 see that this part of the field was not surprised. The hill to 
 which the general had directed them was farther from the 
 battle than they had yet been, but the work going on to the 
 northeast showed that this would soon be the western edge 
 of the combat if Sherman continued advancing. They are 
 soon on the hill, and Jack posts himself in a tree with his 
 glass. There is a lull in the quarter they have just quit. 
 The smoke rolls away, and now he can see streams of gray- 
 coats hurrying to the edge of the plateau, where, two hours 
 before, he had encountered Porter's brigade. Can it be pos- 
 sible that Porter's troops do not see these on-rushing hordes ? 
 They are moving on the right point of the crescent, and un- 
 less the Union commander is alert they will break in on the 
 back of the point ; for Jack, without knowing it, was virtu- 
 ally in the rebel lines that is, he was nearer the rebel left 
 flank, the foot of the long, bow-shaped staircase, than he was 
 to the tip of the Union crescent. 
 
 But no ! The Stars and Stripes fly forward; they are on 
 the very crest whence the defiant guns spat upon them. But 
 now the smoke covers everything. Then there is a calm. 
 The ground is clear again. The gray masses are pouring up 
 to the crest in still greater numbers; a large body of them 
 march down the hill in the rear of the Union line con- 
 cealed by the woods ; they march right up to the ranks 
 where the red-barred flag is flying ! What can it mean ? 
 Neither side fires. There must surely be some mistake. 
 Hark ! now the blue line discovers too late that the mass 
 is the enemy, and half the line withers in the point-blank 
 discharge. They are swept from the ground. Jack is trem- 
 bling demoniac. The gray mass springs forward; they 
 have seized the guns four of them and turn them upon 
 the disappearing blue. Then a hoarse shout of delirious
 
 100 THE IROX GAME. 
 
 triumph. The guns are lost ; the day is lost, for now there 
 are no blue-coats in sight. But no ! A still wilder shout- 
 electrifying, stentorian comes across the plateau. The blue 
 mass reappears; they come with a wild rush in well-ordered 
 array; they are the regulars, Jack can tell by their move- 
 ments. It must be the famous Eickett's battery he saw at 
 Centreville in the morning. In five minutes the tale was 
 retold, and the guns, snatched from the worsted gray -coats, 
 are safe in the hands of their masters. Again the smoke 
 obscures the picture ; again it clears away, and now the gray 
 are in greater force than before, and the horseless batteries 
 are again the prize of this rapacious grapple. Swarming in 
 from three sides, the gray again hold the contested pieces. 
 The blue vanish into the thick bushes. Another irruption, 
 another pall of smoke, and Jack's heart bounds in exultant 
 joy, for he sees the New York flag in the van. Sherman 
 has reached the point of dispute. But alas ! the guns 
 are run back, and as the gray lines sway rearward in bil- 
 lowy, regular measure, they retain the Titanically contested 
 trophies. 
 
 The sun is now far beyund the meridian. The Union 
 lines are closing up compactly. One more such grapple as 
 the last and the broad plateau where the rebel artillery is 
 massed, pointing westward, northward, eastward, will be 
 won. But a palsy seems to have settled on the lines of blue. 
 They are motionless, while their adversaries ' are hurrying 
 men f rom some secret place, where they seem to be inexhausti- 
 ble. The whole battle is now within the compass of a mile. 
 But where can these hordes come from ? Surely, General 
 McDowell has never, been mad enough to leave them disen- 
 gaged along the fords! No; they do not come from that 
 direction. They come at the very center of the rebel rear. 
 Can it be that troops are arriving from Kichmond ? The 
 Southern lines are longer than the Northern, but they have 
 been since the first moment Jack got a glimpse of them. He 
 could see, too, that they were thinner; that on the spur of 
 the plateau in front of the massed rebel artillery a single 
 brigade was holding the Union mass at bay. He can almost
 
 THE LEGIONS OF VARUS. 101 
 
 hear the rebel commands as the re-enforcements pour in. 
 But now the thunder breaks out anew, rolls in vengeful 
 fury around the western and northern base of the plateau. 
 The gray lines stagger; the falling men block the steps of 
 the living. Surely now McDowell is going to do or die. 
 Yes. The iron game goes on the blue lines jostle and 
 cmsh forward. They are at the last wall of resistance. But 
 what is the sound at his very feet ? As Jack looks down in 
 the narrow way between the hill he is on and the plateau on 
 the very edge of the Union line in fact, behind it now, for 
 it has moved forward since he took post a rushing mass of 
 gray-clad soldiery is moving forward on the dead run. In 
 one instant the head of the column is where General Franklin 
 rode but an hour or two before. He looks for Barney. He 
 can see him nowhere. He climbs down in haste and dis- 
 covers liis comrade soundly sleeping against the base of 
 the tree. 
 
 " Barney, the army is ruined ! " 
 
 " Is the battle over ? " 
 
 " Oh, no, no, but it will be in a moment. Hark, hear 
 that!" 
 
 A roar of musketry it seemed at their very feet. Then 
 an outbreak of yells, so sharp, so piercing, so devilish the 
 sound, that the marrow froze in their veins, arose, as if from 
 the whole thicket about them. 
 
 " Is it too late to warn General Franklin ? " Barney 
 asked, trembling. 
 
 " Ah, Barney, we are as bad as traitors ; we ought to have 
 seen these rebels before they got near. If we had done our 
 duty this would never have happened. Perhaps it is not too 
 late to get back. Let me go up and see where we can find 
 a way without running into the enemy." 
 
 Reaching his perch again, Jack cast his despairing eyes 
 toward the fatal hill. It was now clear of smoke, and there 
 wasn't a regiment left on it. His heart leaped for an in- 
 stant, the next it was lead, for the ranks that had disap- 
 peared were down on the brow of the hill in the valley 
 rushing forward, unresisted, the red and blue of the Union,
 
 102 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 mixed with the stars and bars of the rebellion ; but, worse 
 than all, the ranks of gray were sweeping in overwhelming 
 masses quite behind the lines of blue, cutting them down as 
 a scythe when near the end of the furrow. To the eastward 
 Sherman still clung desperately to the crests he had won, 
 but Jack saw with agony that, slipping between him and the 
 river, a great wedge of gray was hurrying forward. His 
 last despairing glance caught a body of jet-black horses gal- 
 loping wildly into the dispersing ranks of blue. He came 
 down from the tree limp, nerveless, unmanned. 
 
 " Well ? " Barney asked. 
 
 " It's all over we are ruined ! " 
 
 " The army, you mean ? " 
 
 "Ah, yes! the army and we too." 
 
 " But what's going to become of us ? " 
 
 " I don't much care what becomes of us at least I don't 
 care what becomes of me ! " 
 
 " But if we don't get back to our regiment, they'll think 
 we're deserters." 
 
 "Good God, yes! I forgot that; I think I can find the 
 way back. But we'll have to be careful, the enemy are all 
 around us. I can hear them plainly, vei'y near. Follow 
 me, and don't speak above a whisper." 
 
 Then, with swift movement, always as near the thick 
 bushes as they could push, they fled faster and faster, as fear 
 fell more and more heavily upon their quickened fancies. 
 The thought of the repute of deserters lent them endurance, 
 or they must have broken down before the weary shif tings 
 of that dreadful flight. They are now near the spot where 
 they had met Porter's pickets in the morning. The sounds 
 of battle had died out at intervals, renewed now and again 
 by an outcry of cheers, a quick fusillade, then more cheers, 
 and then an ominous silence. But now there is a continu- 
 ous roll of musketry near the knoll, back of the Warrenton 
 road. The two wanderers, breathless, with torn uniforms, 
 swollen faces, halt, gasping, to take their bearings. They 
 can see the turnpike far beyond the stone bridge half-way to 
 Centreville ; they see crowds fleeing in zigzag lines over the
 
 THE LEGIONS OF VARUS. 103 
 
 open fields, see horses plunging wildly, laden down by two 
 and even three men on their backs ; they see vehicles over- 
 turned at the roadside, whence the horses have been cut or 
 killed by the rebel shells ; they see an army, in every sense 
 a mob, swarming behind the deserted rebel forts ; they see 
 orderly ranks of shining black horses this side the stone 
 bridge charging the fleeing lines of blue; they see shells 
 whirling like huge blackbirds in the sky, suddenly falling 
 among the skurrying thousands; they see a shell finally 
 burst on the bridge, shiver a caisson to fragments, and then 
 all sign of organized flight comes to an end. 
 
 But near them, meanwhile, a sullen fire replies with des- 
 perate promptitude to the rebel shots. 
 
 " If we can get over to the men fighting at the edge of 
 the woods, we may be killed or captured, but we won't be 
 disgraced ! " Jack cries. 
 
 Again they make a wide circuit through the woods, and 
 now the firing is near at hand, coming slowly toward them. 
 They have only to wait and they will be among the forlorn 
 hope. Ah, with what fervent joy Jack marks the Union 
 banner, flapping its twin streamers among the hurtling 
 pines! They are near it; they are under it! Their own 
 guns are no longer available ; hundreds are lying at hand ; 
 they seize them. The line is firing in retreat. It is a sadly 
 depleted battalion of Keyes's regulars, steadfast, impertur- 
 bable, devoted. A handful of them has been forgotten or 
 misdirected. The rebels, uncertain whether it was not a trap 
 to snare them, move with caution, while fez- to the left a 
 turning column is hurrying to hem the Union group in on 
 every side. There are hardly three hundred blue-coats in 
 the mass, but their volleys are so swift, so regular, so steady ; 
 that they make the impression of a thousand. The enemy 
 felt sure, as was afterward learned, that there was at least a 
 regiment. 
 
 A young captain, soiled, ragged, his sleeves hanging in 
 ribbons, the whole skirt of his coat gone, moves alertly, com- 
 posedly in the center, seizing a gun when one comes handy 
 on the ground, where there are plenty scattered.
 
 104: THE IRON GAME. 
 
 " Steady, men, steady ! We shall be at the water's edge, 
 soon, and then we can give them hell ! " 
 
 Never music sounded sweeter in Jack's ear than that jaunty 
 epithet " hell " ! How inspiring ! How little of the ordinary 
 association the word brought up ! Now they were travers- 
 ing slowly the very ground Jack and his comrades had flown 
 over in the morning. Still firing still working with all 
 his heart in the deadly play, Jack sidles to the officer and 
 cries out : 
 
 " Captain, I know a ford that will take us across above 
 the stone bridge. We discovered it this morning. Shall I 
 guide that way ? " 
 
 " Guide if you can ; but fire like seven devils, above all ! " 
 the captain cried, seizing two or three pouches lying in a 
 mass and emptying the cartridges into his pockets. 
 
 " There, keep to the left sharp, and we shall come to a 
 deep gully where the water is only knee-deep," Jack cries, 
 also replenishing his cartridge-box, which had shrunk under 
 the rapid work of the last half-hour. 
 
 "What regiment are you, sergeant?" the captain cries, 
 looking for a moment at the tattered recruit. 
 
 "Caribees of New York, Sherman's brigade." 
 
 " And how came you off here ? Your brigade was near 
 the right of the line at the stone bridge." The captain 
 asked this with a shade of suspicion in his voice. 
 
 Jack explained his mission, and the officer, who had been 
 dealing out the timely windfall of ammunition, nodded. 
 
 " Poor Hunter was shot early in the advance. It would 
 have been victory to our flag if the poor old fellow had been 
 wounded before the action began. He lost three hours in 
 the attack, and gave the rebels a chance to come up from 
 Winchester." 
 
 Now Jack understood the mysterious legions that seemed 
 to spring from the earth. They were Johnston's army from 
 the Shenandoah. 
 
 " Keep up heart, men ; Burnside and Schenck are near us 
 somewhere. They are in reserve, and they'll give these devils 
 a warm welcome, if they push far enough after us. "
 
 THE LEGIONS OF VARUS. 105 
 
 Then the steady volleys grew swifter, if that were pos- 
 sible, the enemy moving steadily after the slowly retiring 
 group. But now there is a clear field to cross, so wide that 
 the smallness of the force must be detected. The captain 
 halts the line, takes his bearings, divides the little army into 
 two bodies, orders one to move at a double-quick directly 
 across the open ; the rest are stretched out as skirmishers, 
 lie retires with the first squad across the field, directing the 
 skirmishers to hold the ground until they hear three musket- 
 shots from the wood behind. The rebels can now be seen 
 closing in very near. But the skirmish-line, spreading over 
 a wider front, evidently perplexes them, and they halt. The 
 three shots are presently heard, then the skirmish-line flees 
 in groups across the bare downs, the vociferating yells of 
 the gray-coats fairly drowning the hideous clamor of the 
 muskets. 
 
 "Ah! we're saved," a lieutenant cries, waving his cap like 
 a madman. " Look ! there are men in the wood yonder, to 
 our right; they are coming this way ! " 
 
 Jack turned, he was near the captain ; and he marked, 
 with deadly panic, a look of despair settle down on the 
 heroic, handsome face. What could it mean? Didn't he 
 believe that there were men there ? Jack handed him his 
 own glass the captain had none. 
 
 " By Heaven, our flag ! But what troops can they be in 
 that quarter ? They must be surrounded, like ourselves. 
 Sergeant, can you undertake a dangerous duty ? " 
 
 " With all my heart," Jack cried, heartily. 
 
 " What's your name and company ? " 
 
 "John Sprague, Caribees, Company K." 
 
 ; ' Slip around the edge of the skirt of bushes. You'll be 
 v/ithin an arm's length of the enemy all the way. Reach the 
 place where we saw those men a moment since. When you get 
 there, if they are friendly, fire a shot. Here, take this pistol. 
 Fire that ; I shall recognize it from the musketry. If they 
 are the enemy, fire all the barrels as fast as you can and 
 retreat. You run great danger ; you can only by a miracle 
 escape capture; but it is our only resource for the next
 
 106 THE IROX GAME. 
 
 charge. We must surrender or die," he added, looking 1 
 wofully at the meager remnant of his company. Before the 
 words had fairly ended, Jack is off like a shot, forgetting 
 Barney, forgetting everything but the extrication of this 
 grand young Roman. As he skurried along, sometimes on 
 hands and knees, he blames himself for not learning the 
 captain's name. He feels sure that a day will come when 
 the world will know and admire it. He has gained the 
 other corner, and in a moment he will be in the thick copse 
 where the Union flag had been seen, but as he makes a dash 
 through a clump of laurel he is confronted by two men, 
 muskets in hand. 
 
 " A Yank, by the Lord ! Surrender, you damned mudsill ! " 
 
 For answer Jack raised the pistol in his hand and fired. 
 The man fell, with a frightful yell. The other leveled his 
 musket fairly in Jack's face ; but before he could pull the 
 trigger a report at his ear deafened Jack, and the second 
 man staggered against the tree. 
 
 " Ah, ha ! me boy, the rear rank did the best work there," 
 Barney cried, as Jack turned to see whence the timely aid 
 had come. " A day after the fair's better than the fair itself, 
 if the rain has kept the girls away," and Barney laughed 
 good-humoredly. 
 
 " Well, 'pon my soul, Barney, it's a shameful thing to say, 
 but all thought of you had gone from my mind. I should 
 not have let you come if you had proposed it, but now we're 
 in for it. Ah!" 
 
 As he spoke the Union flag he had seen came forward, 
 but it was in the hands of a rebel bearer, and was upside 
 down in mockery. The sight was enough. He fired the 
 shots as agreed upon, firing two at the group marching heed- 
 lessly forward, as the skirmish-line was far ahead, or they 
 supposed it was, for the two men disabled by Jack and Bar- 
 ney were the advance, as it was not supposed that any but 
 stragglers were near at hand, and the company were return- 
 ing to their regiment. In an instant a fierce volley is re- 
 turned, and Barney, who is fairly in the bush behind a huge 
 tree, hears a low groan. He looks where Jack had been and
 
 THE LEGIONS OF VARUS. 107 
 
 sees him lying on the ground, stifling an agonized cry by 
 holding his left arm over his mouth. Barney might have 
 escaped, at least he might have delayed capture, hut coming 
 from behind the tree, he holds up his hands, and flinging 
 himself on the ground beside his comrade takes his head upon 
 his knee and awaits the worst.
 
 BOOK II. 
 THE HOSTAGES. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE AFTERMATH. 
 
 THERE were not so many millions of Americans in 1861 
 as there are to-day. But they were more American then 
 than they are now. That is, the Old World had not sent the 
 millions to our shores that now people the waste places of 
 the West. It was not until after the civil war that those 
 prodigious hosts came enough to make the populace of 
 such empires as fill the largest space in history. That part 
 of the land that loved the flag cherished it with a fervor 
 deeper than the half -alien race that first flung it to the breeze 
 under Washington. They loved the republic with some- 
 thing of that passionate idolatry that made the Greek's ideal 
 joy death for the fatherland ; some of th'at burning zeal 
 and godlike pride that made the earlier Roman esteem his 
 citizenship more precious than a foreign crown. But until 
 the battle on that awful 21st of July proved the war real 
 with the added horror of civil hate Secretary Seward's epi- 
 gram of ninety days clung fast in the public mind. 
 
 Up to Bull Run there was a vague feeling that our army, 
 in proper time, would march down upon the rebels like the 
 hosts of Joshua, and scatter them and the rebellion to utter- 
 most destruction in one action. It was upon this assump- 
 tion that the journals of the North satirized, abused, vilified 
 Scott, and clamored day by day for an " advance upon Rich- 
 mond." The damnation of public clamor, and not the in- 
 competency of the general, set the inchoate armies of Scott
 
 THE AFTERMATH. 109 
 
 upon that fatal adventure. But that humiliating, incredible, 
 and for years misunderstood Sunday, on the plateaus of Ma- 
 nassas, where, after all, blundering and imbecility brought 
 disaster, but not shame, upon the devoted soldiery, aroused 
 the sense of the North to the reality of war, as the overthrow 
 at Jemmapes in 1793 convinced the Prussian oligarchy that 
 the republic in France was a fact. 
 
 It was a dreadful Monday in the North when the first 
 hideous bulletins were sent broadcast through the cities and 
 carried by couriers into every hamlet. For hours sick- 
 ening hours it was not believed. We have awakened many 
 a morning since 1861 to hear of thrones overturned, armies 
 vanquished, dynasties obliterated ; to hear of great men 
 gone by sudden and cruel death : but the anger and despair 
 when Booth's cruel work was known ; the shuddering hor- 
 ror over Garfield's taking off ; the amazement when the 
 hand of Nihilism laid an emperor dead ; the overthrow of 
 Austria in a single day ; the extinction of the Bonapartes 
 these things were heard and digested with something like 
 repose compared to the bewildering outbreak that met the 
 destruction of our army at Manassas. 
 
 It was not the dazed, panic-stricken, panic anguish that 
 followed Fredericksburg or the second Bull Run. It was 
 not the indignant, fretful wrath that rebuked official culpa- 
 bility for the destruction of the grand campaign on the Pen- 
 insula. It was a startled, incredulous, angry amazement, in 
 which blame afterward visited upon generals or Cabinet, 
 was humbly taken on the people's shoulders and echoed in 
 a moaning mea culpa. For days all the people were close 
 kin. In the streets strangers talked to strangers ; the pulpit 
 echoed the inextinguishable wrath of the streets ; the jour- 
 nals, for a moment restrained into solemnity, echoed for 
 once the real voice of an elevated humanity and not the 
 drivel of partisanship nor the ulterior purposes of wealth 
 and sham. Even schoolboys, arrested in the merry-making 
 of youth, looked in wonder at the sudden reversal of con- 
 ditions. Boys well remember in the school that Monday, 
 when the northern heavens were hung in black and grief
 
 HO THE IRON GAME. 
 
 wrung its crystal tresses in the air, the master began the 
 work of the day with a brief, pathetic review of the public 
 agony, and dismissed the classes that he was too agitated to 
 instruct. There were no games on the greensward, no swim- 
 ming in the river, no excursion to the Malvern cherry groves. 
 The streets were filled with blank faces and whispering 
 crowds unable to endure the restraint of routine or the ordi- 
 nary callings of life. Parties were obliterated, or rather 
 from the flux of this white heat, came out in solidified unity 
 that compact of parties which for four years breathed the 
 breath of the nation's life, spoke the purposes of the republic, 
 and amid stupendous reverses and triumphs held the public 
 conscience clear in its sublime duty. The woes of bereave- 
 ment were not wide-spread ; the killed at Manassas were 
 hardly more than we read of now in a disaster at sea or a 
 catastrophe in the mines. The whole army engaged hardly 
 outnumbered the slaughtered at Antietam, Gettysburg, or 
 Burnside's butchery at St. Mary's Hill. 
 
 Hence the marvel of the instant fusion, the swift resolve 
 of the Northern mind. The battle was the sudden grapple 
 of aggressive weakness catching the half - contemptuous 
 strong man unaware and rolling him in the dust. Brought 
 to earth by this unlooked-for blow, the North arose with re- 
 newed force and the deathless determination that could have 
 but one issue. The people, when the benumbing force of 
 the surprise was mastered, flew together with one mind, one 
 voice, one impulse. The churches, the public halls, the 
 street corners, moving trains, and rushing steamers, were 
 such hustings as the Athenian improvised in the porticoes, 
 when her orators inflamed the heart of Greece to repel the 
 barbarians, to die with Leonidas in the gorges of the Ther- 
 mopylae. 
 
 Ah, what an imposing spectacle it was! The blood of 
 wrath leaped fiercely in the chilled veins of age ; the ardor 
 of youth became the delirium of the Crusaders, the lofty 
 zeal of the Puritans, the chivalrous daring of Rupert's troop- 
 ers, and the Dutch devotees of Orange. A half-million men 
 had been called out ; a million were waiting in passionate
 
 THE AFTERMATH. HI 
 
 eagerness within a month ; two hundred and fifty millions 
 of money had been voted ten times that amount was offered 
 in a day. Every interest in life became suddenly centered 
 in one duty war. It touched the heart of the whole people, 
 and for the time they arose, purified, contrite, as the armies 
 of Moses under the chastening of the rod. 
 
 In Acredale there were sore hearts as the dreadful news 
 became more and more definite. For days the death lists 
 were mere guess-work ; but when the routed forces returned 
 to their camps in Washington the awful gaps in the ranks 
 were ascertained with certainty. The Caribees were nearly 
 obliterated. Of the thousand men and over who had marched 
 from Meridian Hill only four hundred were found ten days 
 after the battle. Elisha Boone had hurried at once to Wash- 
 ington, charged by all the fathers, mothers, brothers, and 
 sisters of the regiment to make swift report of the absent 
 darlings. Kate was besieged in the grand house with tear- 
 ful watchers, waiting in agonizing impatience for the fatal 
 finality. Olympia, to spare her mother the distress of the 
 vague responses her telegrams brought from Washington, 
 spent most of the time at the Boones', where, thanks to the 
 father's high standing with the Administration, the earliest, 
 most accurate information came. Finally he wrote. He 
 had seen Nick Marsh, who gave the first coherent narrative 
 of Jack, Barney, and Dick Perley. They had been seen 
 the first two in the last desperate conflict. An officer (the 
 hero whom Jack had so much admired, and who turned out 
 to be Gouverneur K. Warren) had escaped from the forlorn 
 hope left to dispute the rebel charge upon the flying col- 
 umns. He gave particulars that pointed with heart-break- 
 ing certainty to the death of the two boys. Young Perley 
 had been lost sight of since noon of the battle. He had fol- 
 lowed the path taken by Jack and his comrades across the 
 flank of the enemy. He had been seen at Heintzelman's 
 headquarters, but after that no one could trace him. Wes- 
 ley, too, had been left near the stone bridge with a ball in 
 either his arm or thigh, the informant was not quite sure 
 which, as he fell in a charge of the line. Boone telegraphed 
 8
 
 112 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 to Kate that he was going through the lines with a flag of 
 truce so soon as the affair could be regulated, and proffered 
 his best offices for the Acredale victims. 
 
 Everything had been prepared by Olyinpia and her 
 mother for an instant departure so soon as positive informa- 
 tion came. With them Marcia Perley went, trembling and 
 tearful, and Telemachus Twigg, to extricate his son from 
 danger, for it was uncertain what his status was in the 
 forces. Kate, too, joined the melancholy pilgrimage that 
 set out one morning followed to the station by weeping kins- 
 men imploring the good offices of these ambassadors of woe. 
 The sleeping-car gave the miserable company seclusion, if 
 not rest. They were not the only ones in quest of the miss- 
 ing, for as yet there was no certainty as to the fate of those 
 left on the field of battle. Later reports had been more en- 
 couraging, for hundreds who were set down as prisoners or 
 missing began to be heard from as far northward as the 
 Maryland line. In the station at Washington Boone met 
 his daughter. Twigg hurried to him and asked : 
 
 " Any further news, Mr. Boone ? We're all here about 
 half Acredale." 
 
 " Yes, I see ; but there is no more news of the Caribees. 
 We learn that the wounded have been sent to Richmond, 
 and I shall set out for there to-morrow." 
 
 Mrs. Sprague, with Olympia and Merry, drove to the 
 house of a friend she had known years before, whose hus- 
 band was a Senator. The Boones or rather Kate bade 
 them a cordial adieu as they drove off to the National Hotel. 
 
 Then the most trying part of the quest began. The War 
 Department was besieged with applicants, mostly women. 
 Orders had been issued to forbid all crossing the lines, and 
 the despairing kinsfolk of the lost were in a panic of im- 
 patient terror. In vain Olympia called upon eminent Sena- 
 tors who had been friends of her father; in vain she in- 
 voked the aid of the Secretary of State, who had been the 
 family's guest at Acredale. Once she penetrated, by the aid 
 of strong letters, to the Secretary of War. He was sur- 
 rounded by a hurried throng of orderlies, officers, and clerks,
 
 THE AFTERMATH. 113 
 
 and even after she had been admitted to his office Olympia 
 was left unnoticed on a settee, waiting some sign to approach 
 the dreaded presence. His imperious and abrupt manner, 
 his alternation of deferential concern for some and disdain- 
 ful impatience for others, gave her small hope that he would 
 heed her prayer. She waited hours, sitting in the crowded 
 room, ill from the oppressive air, the fixed stare of the offi- 
 cers, and the sobbing of others like herself waiting a word 
 with the autocrat. At length, late in the afternoon, when 
 the crowd had quite gone, she heard the Secretary say in an 
 undertone : 
 
 "Send an orderly to those women and see what they 
 want." 
 
 Each of the waiting women handed credentials to the 
 young man, and each iii turn arose trembling and stood be- 
 fore the decisive official at the great, paper-strewn desk. 
 There was no attempt to soften the refusal, as he turned 
 curtly from the pleaders ; and Olympia, shrinking from the 
 ordeal, was about to step out of the room, when a tall, care- 
 worn man shambled in, glancing pityingly at her as she 
 arose, half trembling, recognizing the President. 
 
 She stepped in front of him in a desperate impulse, and, 
 throwing up her veil, cried piteously : 
 
 "O Mr. Lincoln, you are a father, you have a tender 
 heart ; you will listen to the bereaved ! " He stopped, look- 
 ing at her kindly, and put his left arm wearily on the desk 
 by his side. 
 
 " Yes, my poor girl, I am a father and have a heart ; the 
 more's the pity, for just now something else is needed in its 
 place. I suppose your father is over yonder," and he nod- 
 ded toward the Virginia shore. 
 
 "O Mr. Lincoln, my father is farther away than that. 
 My father was Senator Sprague you served with him in 
 Congress I I thought that perhaps you might take pity 
 on his widow, his daughter, his son, if the poor boy is still 
 living, and and" 
 
 " Send you across the lines ? " 
 
 " Oh, if God would put it in your heart ! "
 
 114 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 " It's in my heart fast enough, my poor child, but ' 
 
 " Impossible, Mr. President ! The enemy, as it is, can 
 open a Sabine campaign on us, and tie our hands by stretch- 
 ing Northern women out in a line of battle between the 
 ranks !" 
 
 It was the weary, discouraging voice of the Secretary, 
 imperiously implying that the Executive must not interpose 
 weakness and mercy where Draconian rigor sat enthroned. 
 The President smiled sadly. 
 
 " Ah, Mr. Secretary, a sister a mother give a great deal 
 for the country. We can not err much in granting their 
 prayer. Make out an order for whom ? " 
 
 Olympia, speechless with gratitude reverence could 
 hardly articulate : 
 
 "My mother, myself, and Miss Marcia Perley." 
 
 " Another mother ? " 
 
 " Her boy is not of age, and ran away to join my brother's 
 company." She had a woman's presence of mind to answer 
 with this diplomatic evasion. 
 
 " I'm afraid you will only add to your distress, my poor 
 child ; but you shall go." He inclined his head benignantly 
 and passed into the inner sanctuary behind the rail, when 
 Olympia heard the Secretary say, grimly: 
 
 " I shall take measures to stop this sort of thing, Mr. Presi- 
 dent. Hereafter you shall only come to this department at 
 certain hours. At all other times the doors shall be guarded." 
 
 A gray-haired man in undress uniform presently ap- 
 peared, and as he handed Olympia the large official enve- 
 lope he said, respectfully: 
 
 "You never heard of me, Miss Sprague ? Many years 
 ago the Senator, your father, did a kind turn for my brother 
 an employe in the Treasury. If I can be of any aid to you 
 in this painful business, pray give me a chance to show a 
 kindness to the family of a great and good man. My name 
 is Charles Bevan, and it is signed to one of the papers in this 
 letter." 
 
 Within an hour all was ready, but they could not set out 
 until the next morning, when, by eight o'clock, the three
 
 THE AFTERMATH. 115 
 
 ladies were en route. There was a large company with 
 them, all under a flag of truce. They passed through the 
 long lines of soldiery that lay intrenched on the Virginia side 
 of the Potomac, and pushed on to Annandale, where the 
 rebel outpost received them. Olympia's eyes dwelt 011 the 
 wide-stretching lands of pine and oak, remembering the 
 pictures Jack had given in his letters of this very same route. 
 But there were few signs of war. The cleared places lay red 
 and baking under the hot August sun ; the trees seemed crisp 
 and sapless. 
 
 At Fairfax Court-House, where the first signs of real war- 
 like tenure were seen, the visitors were taken into a low 
 frame house, and each in turn asked to explain the objects of 
 her mission. Then the hospital reports were searched. In 
 half a dozen or more instances the sad-eyed mothers were 
 thrown into tremulous hope by the tidings of their darlings' 
 whereabouts. But for Olympia and Aunt Merry there was 
 no clew. No such names as Sprague or Perley were recorded 
 in the fateful pages of the hospital corps. But there were 
 several badly wounded in the hospital at Mauassas, where 
 fuller particulars were accessible. 
 
 They were conducted very politely by a young lieutenant 
 in a shabby gray uniform to an ambulance and driven four 
 miles southward to Fairfax Station on the railway, when, 
 after despairing hours of waiting, they were taken by train 
 to Manassas. An orderly accompanied them, and 'as the 
 train passed beyond Union Mills, where the Bull Run River 
 runs along the railway a mile or more before crossing under 
 it, the young soldier pointed out the distant plateau, near the 
 famous stone bridge, and, when the train crossed the river, 
 the high bluffs, a half-mile to the northward, where the ac- 
 tion had begun at Blackburn's Ford. He was very respect- 
 ful and gentle in alluding to the battle, and said, ingenuous- 
 ly, pointing to the plateau jutting out from the Bull Run 
 Mountains : 
 
 " At two o'clock on Sunday we would have cried quits to 
 McDowell to hold his ground and let us alone. But just as 
 we were on our heel to turn, Joe Johnston came piling in
 
 116 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 here, right where you see that gully yonder, with ten thou- 
 sand fresh men, and in twenty minutes we were three to one, 
 and then your folks had the worst of it. President Davis got 
 off the train at the junction yonder, and as he rode across 
 this field, where we are now, the woods yonder were full of 
 our men, flying from the Henry House Hill, where Sherman 
 had cut General Bee's brigade to pieces and was routing 
 Jackson ' Stonewall,' we call him now, because General 
 Bonham, when he brought up the reserves, shouted, 'See, 
 there, where Jackson stands like a stone wall ! ' He's a college 
 professor and very pious; he makes his men pray before 
 fighting, and has ' meetings ' in the commissary tent twice a 
 week." 
 
 " Did Mr. Davis join in the battle? " Olympia asked, more 
 to seem interested in the garrulous warrior's narrative than 
 because she really had her mind on the story. 
 
 " Oh, dear, no. Old Johnston had finished the job before 
 the President (Olympia noticed that all Southerners dwelt 
 upon this title with complacent insistence) could reach the 
 field. He was barely in time to see the cavalry of 'Jeb' 
 Stuart charge the regulars on the Warrentou road." 
 
 The train came to a halt, and the young man said, cheer- 
 fully: 
 
 " Here we are. The hospital's still right smart over yon- 
 der in the trees." 
 
 " But you will go with us, will you not ? " Olympia asked 
 in alarm, for it was wearing toward night. 
 
 " Oh, yes ; I'm detailed to remain with you until you have 
 found out about your kinsfolk." 
 
 In the mellow sunset the three women followed the 
 orderly across the fields strewed with armaments, supplies, 
 and the rough depot paraphernalia of an army at rest. The 
 hospital consisted of a large tent for the slightly hurt, and a 
 few old buildings and a barn for the more serious cases. The 
 search was futile. There were two or three of the Caribees 
 in the place, but they knew nothing of their missing com- 
 rades. Indeed, Jack's detail by Colonel Sherman had effect- 
 ually cut off all trace of his movements after the battle began.
 
 THE AFTERMATH. 117 
 
 Mrs. Sprague's tears were falling softly as the orderly led 
 them to the surgeon's office. They were there shown the 
 records of all who had been buried on the field. Many, he 
 informed them, sympathetically, had been buried where they 
 fell, in great ditches dug by the sappers. In every case the 
 garments had been stripped from the bodies before burial, so 
 that there was absolutely no means of identification. Most 
 of the wounded had, however, been sent to Richmond with 
 the prisoners. " It would not do," he added, kindly, " to give 
 up all hope of the lost ones, until they had seen the roster of 
 the prisoners and the wounded in the Richmond prisons and 
 hospitals." 
 
 Quarters were given to them in a tent put at their disposal 
 by the surgeons, and in the long, wakeful hours of the night 
 Olympia heard the guard pacing monotonously before the 
 door. The music of the bugles aroused them at sunrise a 
 wan, haggard group, sad-eyed and silent. The girl made 
 desperate efforts to cheer the wretched mother, and even 
 privily took Merry to task for giving way before what was 
 as yet but a shadow. 'Twould be time enough for tears when 
 they found evidence that the stout, vigorous boys had been 
 killed. As they finished the very plain breakfast of half- 
 baked bread, pea-coffee, and eggs, bought by the orderly at an 
 exorbitant rate, he said, good-naturedly: 
 
 "The train don't come till about ten o'clock. If you'd 
 like to see the battle-field, I can get the ambulance and take 
 you over." 
 
 Olympia eagerly assented anything was preferable to 
 this mute misery of her mother and Merry's sepulchral 
 struggles to be conversational and tearless. They drove 
 through bewildering numbers of tents, most of them, Olym- 
 pia's sharp eyes noted, marked " U. S. A.," and she reflected, 
 almost angrily, that the chief part of war, after all, was pil- 
 lage. .The men looked shabby, and the uniforms were as 
 varied as a carnival, though by no means so gay. Whenever 
 they crossed a stream, which was not seldom, groups of men 
 were standing in the water to their middle, washing their 
 clothing, very much as Olympia had seen the washer-women
 
 118 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 on the Continent, in Europe. They were very merry, even 
 boisterous in this unaccustomed work, responding to rough 
 jests by resounding slashes of the tightly wrung garments 
 upon the heads or backs of the unwary wags. 
 
 " Why, there must be a million men here," Merry cried, 
 as the tents stretched for miles, as far as she could see. 
 
 "No; not quite a million, I reckon," the orderly said, 
 proudly ; " but we shall have a million when we march on 
 Washington. ' ' 
 
 " March on Washington ! " Merry gasped, as though it 
 was an official order she had just heard promulgated. " But 
 but we aren't ready yet. We " Then she halted in 
 dismay. Was she giving information to the enemy ? Would 
 they instantly make use of it ? Ah ! she must, at any cost, 
 undo this fatal treason, big with disaster to the republic. '' I 
 mean we are not ready yet to put our many million men on 
 the march." 
 
 The orderly laughed. " I reckon your many million will 
 be ready as soon as our one million. You know we have a 
 big country to cover with them. You folks have only Wash- 
 ington to guard and Richmond to take. We have the Missis- 
 sippi and fifteen hundred miles of coast to guard. Now, this 
 corner is Newmarket, where Johnston waited for his troops on 
 Sunday and led them right along the road we are on to the 
 pine wood yonder just noi'tb of us. We won't go through 
 there, because we ain't making a flank movement," and he 
 laughed pleasantly. They drove on at a rapid rate as they 
 came upon the southern shelf of the Mansassas plateau. 
 
 " This," the orderly said, pointing to a small stone build- 
 ing in a bare and ragged waste of trees, shrubs, and ruined 
 implements of war, " is the Henry House what is left of it 
 the key of our position when Jackson formed his stone 
 wall facing toward the northwest, over there where your 
 folks very cleverly flanked us and waited an hour or two, 
 Heaven only knows what for, unless it was to give us time 
 to bring up our re-enforcements. Your officers lay the blame 
 on Burnside and Hunter, who, they declare, just sat still 
 half the day, while Sherman got in behind us and would
 
 THE AFTERMATH. 119 
 
 have captured every man Jack of our fellows, if Johnston 
 hadn't come up, whei-e I showed you, in the very nick of 
 time." 
 
 The women were looking eagerly at the field of death. 
 It was still as on the day of the battle, save that instead of 
 the thousands of beating hearts, the flaunting flags, and 
 roaring guns, there were countless ridges torn in the sod, as 
 if a plow had run through at random, limbs and trees torn 
 down and whirled across each other, broken wheels, musket 
 stocks and barrels, twisted and sticking, gaunt and eloquent, 
 in the tough, grassy fiber of the earth. 
 
 " In this circle of a mile and a half fifty thousand men 
 pelted each other from two o'clock that Sunday morning 
 until four in the afternoon. Up to two o'clock we were on 
 the defensive. We were driven from the broad, smooth 
 road yonder that you see cutting through the trees, north- 
 ward a mile from here. Jackson alone made a stand ; if it 
 hadn't been for him we should have been prisoners in Wash- 
 ington now, I reckon. You see those men at work ? They 
 are picking up lead. We reckon that it takes a ton of lead 
 to kill a man." 
 
 " A ton of lead ? " Olympia repeated. 
 
 " Yes. You wouldn't believe that thousands of men can 
 stand in front of each other a whole day and pour lead into 
 each other's faces, and not one in fifty is hit ? " 
 
 " Ah ! " Olyrapia commented, thinking that, after all, 
 Jack might not have been hit. 
 
 " These are the trenches of the dead. Our dead are not 
 here. They were all taken and sent to friends. There are 
 five hundred of your dead here and near the stone bridge 
 yonder. We lost three hundred killed in the fight." 
 
 " And are there no other marks than this plain board ? " 
 Olympia pointed to a rough pine plank, sticking loosely in 
 the ground, with the words painted in lampblack: "85 
 Yanks. By the Hospital Corps, Bee's Brigade." 
 
 " That's all. They were all stripped no means of identi- 
 fying them. The sun was very hot; the rain next day made 
 the bodies rot, and the men had to just shovel them, in "
 
 120 fHElRON GAME. 
 
 "Oh, oh! don't, pray don't >'' Olympia cried, as her 
 mother tottered against the ambulance. 
 
 " I ask your pardon, ladies ; I forgot that these are "not 
 things for ladies to hear." He spoke in sincere contrition. 
 
 To relieve him Olympia smiled sadly, saying, "Won't 
 you take us back, please ? " 
 
 The ambulance drove on into the Warrenton pike, and, 
 if Olympia had known it, within a stone's-throw of Jack's 
 last effort, where the cavalry picket came upon him. It was 
 noon when they reached the station. The orderly returned 
 the ambulance to the hospital, brought down the luggage, 
 and the three women made a luncheon of fruit and dry 
 bread, declining the orderly's invitation to eat at the hospi- 
 tal. The train came on three hours late. It was filled with 
 military men, most of them officers; but so soon as the 
 orderly entered the rear coach, ushering in his charges, two 
 or three young men with official insignia on their collars 
 arose with alacrity and begged the ladies to take the vacant 
 places. At Bristow Station many of the officers got out and 
 a number of civilians entered from the coach ahead and took 
 their places. Mrs. Sprague, worn out by the fatigue of the 
 journey and the strain upon her mind, quite broke down in 
 the hot, ill-ventilated car. There was no water to be had, 
 and Olympia turned inquiringly to the person opposite her, 
 asking: 
 
 " Could we possibly get any water my mother is very 
 much overcome ? " 
 
 " Certainly, madam. There must be plenty of canteens on 
 the train. I will bring you some in a moment." 
 
 An officer who had been sharing the seat with Merry 
 arose on hearing this and said, kindly : 
 
 " Madam, if you will make use of your seat as a couch, 
 perhaps your mother will feel more comfortable reclining. 
 I will get a seat elsewhere." 
 
 Olympia was too much distressed to think of acknowl- 
 edging this courteous action, but Merry spoke up timidly : 
 
 "We are most grateful to you, sir." 
 
 " Oh, don't mention it. Are you going far ? "
 
 THE AFTEKJIATH. 121 
 
 " Yes, we're going to Richmond, to to find our boys, 
 lost in the battle two weeks ago." 
 
 "Oh, you're from the North." He was a young man, 
 perhaps thirty, evidently proud of his unsoiled uniform 
 and the glittering insignia of rank on the sleeve and collar. 
 
 " Yes, sir ; we're from Acredale, near Warchester," Merry 
 said, as though Acredale must be known even in this remote 
 place, and that the knowing of it would bring a certain con- 
 sideration to the travelers. 
 
 " Oh, yes, Warchester. I fell in with an officer from 
 there after the battle, a Captain Boone. Do you know 
 him ? " 
 
 " Oh, dear me, yes. He is from Acredale. He is captain 
 of Company K of the Caribee Regiment" 
 
 " Caribee ? Why, yes, I remember that name. We got 
 their flags and sent them to Richmond ; we " 
 
 '' And, oh, sir, did you take the prisoners ? I mean the 
 Caribees were there many ? Oh, dear sir, it is among them 
 our boys were ; they were mere boys." 
 
 " Yes, ma'am, there were a good smart lot of them, and 
 as you say all very young. Boone himself can't be twenty- 
 five." 
 
 ' And are they treated well ? Do they have care ? Of 
 course you did not ask any of their names ? " Merry asked 
 eagerly, comforted to be able to talk with some one who 
 knew of the Caribees, for heretofore, of' the scores they had 
 questioned, no one had ever heard of the regiment. 
 
 " Oh, as to that, ma'am, you know a soldier's life is hard, 
 and a prisoner's is a good deal harder. Most of your men 
 are in Castle Thunder a large tobacco warehouse." He 
 hesitated, and looked furtively at Olympia administering 
 water to her mother. " Perhaps," he said, heartily, " if you 
 would put a drop of whisky in the cup it would brace up 
 your mother's nerves. We find it a good friend down here, 
 when it isn't an enemy, he added, smiling as Olympia looked 
 at the proffered flask hesitatingly. 
 
 " I assure you, madam " (Southerners, in the old time at 
 least, imitated the pleasant continental custom of addressing
 
 \ 
 V 
 
 122 THE l^ON GAME. 
 
 all women by this comprehensivKterm), " you will be the 
 better for a sip yourself. It was upon that we did most of 
 our fighting the otber day, and it is a mighty good brace-up, 
 I assure you." 
 
 But Olympia shook her head, smiling. Her mother had 
 taken a fair dose, and was, as she owned, greatly benefited 
 by it. The young man sat on the arm of the opposite seat, 
 anxious to continue the conversation, but divided in mind. 
 Merry was trying to hide her tears, and kept her head ob- 
 stinately toward the window. Olympia, with her mother's 
 head pillowed on her lap, strove to fan a current of air into 
 circulation. She gave the young man a reassuring glance, 
 and he resumed his seat in front of her, beside the distracted 
 Merry. 
 
 "You are from Eichmond?" Olympia asked as he sat 
 puzzling for a pretext to renew the talk with her. 
 
 " Oh, no ; I am from Wilmington, but I have kinsfolk in 
 Richmond. I am on General Beauregard's staff. My name 
 is Ballman Captain Ballman." 
 
 She vaguely remembered that Vincent Atterbury was on 
 staff duty. Perhaps this young man knew him. 
 
 "Do you know a Mr. Atterbury in in your army?" she 
 asked, blushing foolishly. 
 
 " Atterbury Atterbury why, yes ! I know there is such 
 a man. He is in General Jackson's forces whether on the 
 staff or not I can't say. Stay. I saw his name in The Whig 
 this very day." He took out the paper and glanced down 
 the columns. "Ah, yes ; is this the man ?" And he read: 
 '' Major Vincent Atterbury, whose wounds were at first 
 pronounced serious, is now at his mother's country-house 
 on the river. He is doing excellently, and all fears have 
 been removed." 
 
 " Yes, that is he. We know him quite well." And she 
 turned her head window-ward, with a feeling of confidence 
 in the mission, heretofore so blank and wild. Vincent would 
 aid them. He could bring official intervention to bear, with- 
 out which Jack might, even though alive and well, be hid- 
 den from them. She whispered this confidence to her mother
 
 THE AFTERMATH. 123 
 
 as the train jolted along noisily over the rough road, and, a 
 good deal inspired by it, Mrs. Sprague began to take some- 
 thing like interest in the melancholy country that flew past 
 the window, as if seeking a place to hide its bareness in the 
 blue line of uplands that marked the receding mountain 
 spurs. 
 
 The captain was much more potential in providing a sup- 
 per at the evening station than the orderly, who was looked 
 upon with some suspicion when he told the story of his pro- 
 teges. The zeal of the new Confederates did not extend to 
 aiding the enemy, even though weak women and within the 
 Confederate lines. It was nearly morning when the train 
 finally drew up in the Richmond station, and the captain, 
 with many protestations of being at their service, gave them 
 his army address, and, relinquishing them to the orderly, 
 withdrew. It had been decided that the party should not 
 attempt to find quarters in the hotels, which their escort de- 
 clared were crowded by the government and the thousands 
 of curious flocking to the city since the battle. 
 
 He could, however, he thought, get them plain accommo- 
 dations with an aunt, who lived a little from the center of 
 the town. They were forced to walk thither, no conveyance 
 being obtainable. After a long delay they were admitted, the 
 widow explaining that she had been a good deal troubled by 
 marauding volunteers. The orderly explained the situation 
 to his kinswoman, and without parley the three ladies were 
 shown into two plain rooms adjoining. They were very 
 prim and clean ; the morning air came through the open 
 windows, bearing an almost stupefying odor. It may have 
 been the narcotic influence of the flowers that brought sleep 
 to the three women, for in ten minutes they were at rest as 
 tranquilly as if in the security of Acredale.
 
 124: THE IRON GAME. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 A COMEDY OF TERRORS. 
 
 WHEN Jack, the day after the battle, found himself able 
 to take account of what was going on, he closed his eyes 
 again with a deep groan, believing in a vague glimpse of 
 peaceful rest that his last confused sensation was real that 
 he was dead. But there were no airy aids of languorous 
 ease to perpetuate or encourage this delusion. Sharp pains 
 racked his head ; his right arm burned and twinged as 
 though he had thrust it into pricking flames. Loud voices 
 about, but invisible to him, were swearing and gibing. He 
 was lying on his back, his head on a line with his body. A 
 regular movement, broken by joltings that sent torturing 
 darts through his whole frame, told him without much con- 
 jecture that he was. in an ambulance. The accent of the 
 voices outside told him that it was a rebel ambulance and 
 not a Northern one he was in. He tried to raise his head 
 to see his 'companions, but he might as well have been 
 nailed to the cross, so far as pain and helplessness went. 
 Then he lost the thread of his thought. He heard, in a 
 vague, far-off voice, men talking : 
 
 " We'll catch old Abe on our next trip ef we go on like 
 this eh, Ben ? " 
 
 " I reckon. I'm jess going to take a furlough now. 
 Hain't seen my girl fo' foah months." 
 
 " How much did you pick up ? " 
 
 "I've got five gold watches and right smart o' shin- 
 plasters. I don't reckon they'll pass in our parts, but I'm 
 going to trade 'em off with some of these wounded chaps. 
 They'll give gold for 'em fast enough." 
 
 " I got a heap of gold watches, jackknives, and sech. I 
 don't know what in the land to do with 'em. Suppose we 
 can sell 'em in Richmond ? " 
 
 " Yes but how are we going to get to Richmond ? We're 
 ordered to dump these Yanks at Newmarket and go back. 
 Ef we don't get to Richmond, our watches ain't worth a red
 
 A COMEDY OF TERRORS. 125 
 
 cent. Jess like's not old Bory'll issue an order to turn 
 everything in. I'm blamed if I will ! " 
 
 " Look yere, Ben, do you see that road off there to the 
 right ? " 
 
 "Yes, I do, but I don't see that it's different from any 
 other road." 
 
 " Don't you ? Well, honey, it's mitey sight different 
 from all the roads you ever saw. It takes you where you 
 don't want to go." 
 
 " What do you mean, Bob ? " 
 
 "I jess mean that ar road goes to Newmarket, where 
 these Yanks are ordered, but we've lost it and we shall come 
 out in about an hour and a half at the junction, whar th' 
 train goes on to Richmond. See ? " 
 
 " Bob Purvis, you are a general, suah," and then there 
 followed low, rollicking laughter, mingled with a gurgling 
 as of a liquid swallowed from a flask. " But how'll we 
 manage at the junction ? We can't go right on the cars ? 
 There is some hocus-pocus about everything you do in the 
 army." 
 
 " Oh, jess you keep your eye on your dad, and you'll see 
 things you never saw afore. The minit them cavalry sneaks 
 left us back thar, I made up my mind I'd skip Newmarket. 
 They've gone back to pick up more loot. No one at the 
 junction knows what our orders was. Besides, it'll be dark 
 when we get thar. The trains'll be full of our wounded. 
 We'll slip these Yanks in as if under orders. No one will 
 know but we're hospital guards on a detail for the wounded. 
 When it is found out we shall be in Richmond, and, if the 
 provost folk get hold of me afore I've been home and planted 
 my haul, then I'm a Yank." 
 
 "By mitey, Ben, you are a general, suah." Then sup- 
 pressed laughter and the gurgling of the flowing enlivener. 
 Jack blissfully fell into dreams, wherein home things and 
 warlike doings mingled in grotesque medley. Relapses into 
 consciousness followed at he knew not what intervals there- 
 after. He was conscious of cruel torment and a clumsy 
 transfer into another vehicle, confused sounds of groans,
 
 126 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 curses, waving lights, and the hissing of escaping steam al- 
 most in his very ears. Then the anguish of thundering 
 wheels, until his cracked brain reeled and he was mercifully 
 unconscious. How long ? His eyes opened on a clean white 
 wall, flowers hung from the windows in plumy festoons, birds 
 sang in the yellow dazzling sunlight. What could it mean ? 
 Was he at home ? Surely there was nothing of war in these 
 comfortable surroundings. His left arm was free, there was 
 no one lying near to impede its movement. So it wasn't a 
 hospital. He took vague note of all this before he tried to 
 lift his arm. He raised his hand to rub his eyes and to as- 
 sure himself that it was not a cruel delusion. When he took 
 it away, a kind face the face of a woman was bending 
 over him. 
 
 "You are feeling better, aren't you, lieutenant ?" 
 
 " Lieutenant " ? Why did she call him lieutenant ? Had 
 he been promoted on the battle-field ? Was he in the Union 
 lines ? Oh, yes ; else he would have been in a hospital, 
 with moaning men all about him. He tried to speak. The 
 woman put her finger to her lips, warningly. 
 
 " The doctor says you roust not speak or be spoken to until 
 you get strong." 
 
 Days passed. He couldn't tell how many, for he lay, 
 long hours at a time, unconscious, the mental faculties 
 mercifully dead while the wounded ligatui*es knit themselves 
 anew. His right arm had been cut by a saber-stroke, and a 
 pistol : ball had entered above the shoulder-blade. Prompt 
 attention would have given him recovery in a few days, but 
 the twenty-four hours in a cart and the cars made his condi- 
 tion, for a time, serious. 
 
 But now he is visibly stronger, and his nurse brings peo- 
 ple into the room to see him. They look at him with won- 
 der and admiration, while the good lady is all in a flutter of 
 delight. He hears himself spoken of always as the " lieu- 
 tenant," and hesitates to ask an explanation. The physician 
 comes but seldom, the lady explaining that all the doctors in 
 town are busy in the hospitals. The truth flashed upon him 
 one morning, when his hostess came bursting in to say :
 
 A COMEDY OF TERRORS. 127 
 
 "The provost guard has come to take your name. I 
 don't know it, for when you were brought here my son only 
 heard you called lieutenant." 
 
 " My name is John Sprague " Jack lifted himself to his 
 elbow in excitement and disregard of everything " and my 
 regiment is the ah!" He fell back, and the frightened 
 dame hurried to him as she saw his changed look and deadly 
 pallor. 
 
 " Oh, how careless of me ; how unthinking ! There, lie 
 perfectly still. I will send the guard away and come back." 
 
 She was gone before he could recover his speech or enough 
 coherence to say what was in his mind. She informed the 
 orderly that the ailing man was John Sprague, a lieutenant 
 in the First Virginia Volunteers, for that was the regiment 
 the hospital guards had named, when, on the night of the 
 arrival, the eager citizens swarmed at the station to take the 
 wounded to their homes, the hospitals being sadly unready. 
 Jack instantly suspected the situation, the conversation in 
 the ambulance coming back to him now distinctly. What 
 should he do ? He was in honor bound to undeceive the 
 kind-hearted and unwitting accomplice of the fraud practiced 
 on herself as well as on him. She came in presently with 
 an officer. Jack was not familiar with the rebel insignia, 
 and could not discover his rank or service, but he expected 
 to hear himself denounced as a spy or anything odious. 
 
 "Our surgeon has been sent to Manassas, and Dr. Van 
 Ness is come to take care of you in his place," the matron 
 said, as Jack stared silent and quavering at the new-comer. 
 That gentleman examined the patient, shook his head dubi- 
 ously and declared high fever at work, and ordered absolute 
 quiet for at least twenty-four hours, when, if he could, he 
 would return. " Continue the prescriptions you have now, 
 Mrs. Eaines. All he needs is quiet. The hospital steward 
 will come to dress his wounds as usual." 
 
 Mrs. Raines came in with tea and toast in the evening, 
 and as she spread the napkin on the bed she prattled cheerily. 
 
 " I'm so happy to-night. I've just received a letter from 
 my son. He's at Manassas. He's been promoted to lieuten-
 
 128 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 ant from sergeant. It was read at the head of the regiment 
 for gallant service at the Henry House, where he captured 
 part of a company of Yankees with a squad of cavalry. He's 
 only twenty-two, and if he lives he may be a general if those 
 cowardly Yankees will only fight long enough. But I'm 
 afraid they won't. The Whig says this morning that that 
 beast Lincoln has to keep himself guarded by a regiment of 
 negroes, as the Northern people want to kill him. I hope 
 they won't, for if they did then they might put some one in 
 his place that has some sense, and then the war would come 
 to an end and we should be cheated in a settlement, for the 
 Yankees are sharper than our big-hearted, generous men. 
 No, sir, no; you mustn't talk. I've promised to keep you 
 quiet, so lie still. I'll read The Whig to you." 
 
 She ran over the meager dispatches made up of hearsay 
 and speculation how the North had fallen into a rage with 
 the Washington authorities; how Lincoln's life wasn't safe; 
 how the Cabinet had all resigned ; how the Democrats had 
 arisen in Congress and in the State Legislatures and de- 
 manded negotiations with " President Davis " ; how England 
 was drawing up a treaty with the new Confederacy. Then 
 she turned to the local page. She ran over a dozen para- 
 graphs recounting the deeds of well-known Richmond he- 
 roes, but these made no impression upon the listener, until 
 she read: 
 
 " Major Vincent Atterbury, whose gallantry at the battle of 
 the 21st Richmond is a subject of pride to his friends, was 
 transferred to his country home, on the James, yesterday. 
 He is still very low, but the surgeons declare that home quiet 
 and careful nursing will restore him to his duties in time 
 for the autumn campaign if the Yankees do not surrender 
 before that time." 
 
 Jack's eyes were so bright when Mrs. Raines looked at 
 him, as she lowered the sheet, that she arose, exclaiming 
 quickly: 
 
 " There, I have brought the fever back ! Your eyes are 
 glittering and your cheeks are flushed. No, do not speak." 
 
 She moved precipitately from the room, and Jack sank
 
 A COMEDY OF TERRORS. 129 
 
 back with a groan. His danger, if not his difficulties, might 
 be overcome now. He would write to Mrs. Atterbury, and 
 through Vincent arrange for an exchange. But a still deeper 
 trouble had been on his mind. Where were Barney and 
 Nick, and, worse than all, young Dick Perley ? If any mishap 
 had befallen that boy, he would shrink from returning to 
 Acredale. And his mother, what must her state of mind 
 be ? How many days had passed since the battle ? He had 
 no means of knowing. Ah, yes! The paper was there on 
 the stand, where Mrs. Raines had thrown it. He raised him- 
 self slowly and seized it. Heavens ! Saturday, August 4th ? 
 Two weeks since that fatal Sunday ! And his mother ? Oh, 
 he must find means to write, to telegraph. " Mrs. Raines," 
 he called, hoarsely, " Mrs. Raines ! " She came running to 
 his side in alarm. 
 
 " Oh, what has happened ? You are worse ! " 
 
 " I am very comfortable; but, my kind friend, I must I 
 must let my mother know that I am alive ; she will think 
 me dead." 
 
 " That's what I meant to ask you just as soon as you 
 seemed able to talk. I would have gladly sent her word and 
 invited her to come here, but I didn't know the name nor 
 the address. You didn't have a stitch of clothes when you 
 came except your underwear ; the rest had been taken off, 
 the men said, because they were soiled and bloody, and there 
 wasn't a clew of any sort to your identity, except that you 
 were a lieutenant in a Virginia regiment. I thought we 
 should find out when the provost came, but they have sent to 
 Manassas, and no answer has come back yet." 
 
 "The men who brought me here deceived you, Mrs. 
 Raines. I do not belong to a Virginia regiment; I belong 
 to a New York regiment, and I am a a Union soldier." 
 
 " Great Father ! A Yankee ? " The poor woman sank 
 on the nearest chair, as some one who has been nursing a 
 patient that suddenly turns out to have small -pox or 
 leprosy. 
 
 " Yes, Mrs. Raines : if you prefer that name, I'm a Yan- 
 keebut we call only New - Englanders Yankees." He
 
 130 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 waited for her to speak, but as she sat dumb, helpless, over- 
 come, he continued : *' I tried to explain the mistake before, 
 but your kindness cut me off. I can only say that, though 
 you have given me a mother's care and a Christian's consid- 
 eration under a misunderstanding, I trust you will not blame 
 me for willful deception nor regret the goodness you have 
 shown the stranger in your hands." 
 
 " And those men that brought you here were they Yan- 
 kees, too ? " she asked, her mind dwelling, womanlike, on 
 the least essential factor of the problem in order to keep the 
 grievous fact as far away as possible. 
 
 "Oh, no! they were your own people. There was no 
 collusion, I assure you." Jack almost laughed now, as the 
 dialogue in the ambulance recurred to him, and the adroit 
 use the men had made of their unconscious charges to secure 
 a furlough. u No ; I was more amazed than I can say when 
 I came to myself in this charming chamber a paradise it 
 seemed to me, a home pai-adise when your kind face bent 
 over my pillow." 
 
 " It's a cruel disappointment," she said, rising and hold- 
 ing the back of the chair as she tilted it toward the bed. 
 " We were so proud of you so proud to have any one that 
 had fought for our dear State in our own house to nurse, to 
 bring back to -life. Every one on the street has some one 
 from the battle, and oh, what will be said of us when people 
 know that we we " But here the cruelty of the conclu- 
 sion came too sharply to her mind, and she walked to the 
 window, sobbing softly. 
 
 " I can understand, believe me, Mrs. Raines, and I am 
 going to propose a means to you whereby I shall be taken 
 from here, and your neighbors shall never know that you 
 entertained an enemy unawares, though God knows I don't 
 see why we should be enemies when the battle is over. If 
 your son were in my condition I should think very hard of 
 my mother if she were not to him what you have been 
 to me." 
 
 " But I can't believe you're a Yankee; you were so gen- 
 tle, so patient in all the dreadful times when the surgeon
 
 A COMEDY OF TERRORS. 131 
 
 was cutting and hacking. Oh, I can't believe it ! Oh, please 
 say you are joking that you wanted to give me a fright. 
 And you have a mother ? " She came over near the bed 
 again and stood looking at him dismally, half in doubt, half 
 in perplexed wonder; for Yankee, in her mind, suggested 
 some such monster as the Greeks conjured when the Goths 
 poured into the peninsula, maiming the men and debauch- 
 ing the women. " I said Sprague wasn't a Virginia name," 
 she murmered, plaintively, in a last desperate attempt to 
 fortify herself against the worst; "but there's no telling 
 what names are in Virginia now, since Norfolk has grown 
 so big and folks come in that way from all over the world." 
 
 Jack could scarcely keep a serious face, as this humorous 
 lament displayed the pride of the Dominion and the uncon- 
 scious Bceotianism of the provincial. 
 
 " Now, Mrs. Raines, here is what I propose : Major Atter- 
 bury, of whom you read to me, is my nearest friend. We 
 have been college comrades; he has passed weeks at my 
 home, and I have been asked to his, and meant to come this 
 autumn vacation, if the war had not broken out. I will 
 write to his mother, and she will have me removed to her 
 house, and it need never be known that you gave aid and 
 comfort to the enemy." 
 
 " But the Atterburys will never receive you. They were 
 the first to favor secession, when all the rest of us opposed 
 it. To tell you the truth, Mr. Sprague, it is partly because 
 we were abused a good deal for holding back when the 
 secession excitement was first started, that I am so so anx- 
 ious about the story getting out that we entertained a Yan- 
 kee prisoner. My husband is in the service of the govern- 
 ment in Norfolk, and my son is in the army. But you know 
 what neighborhood gossip is." 
 
 So, after a friendly talk in which the poor lady cried a 
 great deal and besought Jack's good -will for her darling 
 William, if ever he were luckless enough to be captured, the 
 note was written and dispatched to the Atterburys, whose 
 city house was near the capital square. The messenger re- 
 turned a half -hour later, reporting the family out of town ;
 
 132 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 that they had taken the major to their country-place near 
 Williamsburg, on the banks of the James. The messenger 
 had given the letter to the housekeeper, who said that it 
 would go out an hour later with the mail sent daily to the 
 family. 
 
 " Williamsburg is two hours' ride on the train," Mrs. 
 Raines explained, " and we sha'n't hear from them until to- 
 morrow." 
 
 Jack said nothing; his mind was on his mother and the 
 misery she must be enduring. He turned restlessly on his 
 pillow that night, and woke feverish in the morning. Mrs. 
 Kaines now took as much pains to keep people who called 
 from seeing her hero as she had before put herself out to 
 display the invalid. Even the doctor, calling about nine 
 o'clock, was sent away on some pretext, and the poor lady 
 waited with an anxiety, almost as poignant as Jack's own, 
 for the response to his note. About noon it came. Mrs. 
 Raines went to the door herself, not daring to trust the col- 
 ored girl, who had lavished untold pains on Jack's linen 
 and the manual part of his care. Jack heard low voices in 
 the hallway, then on the stairs, and he knew some one had 
 come. 
 
 " Here is Miss Atterbury sent to fetch you, lieutenant," 
 Mrs. Raines said, now very much relieved, and impressed, 
 too, by the powerful friends her dangerous prot&g& was able 
 to summon so promptly by a line. 
 
 " You are Rosalind ? " Jack said, smiling at a pair of the 
 brownest and most bewitching eyes fixed soberly on him. 
 " I should have known you if I had met you in the street, 
 although you were a small girl when I saw you last." 
 
 " You needn't take much credit for that, sir, since Vin- 
 cent probably had my portrait in all his coat-pockets and 
 his room frescoed with them it's a trick of his. So you 
 needn't pretend that it was family likeness I know better. 
 Vincent has all the good looks of the family, and I have all 
 the good qualities." 
 
 " That's why you've come to console the afflicted ? " 
 
 "Yes, duty you know how disagreeable that is. Vin-
 
 A COMEDY OF TERRORS. 133 
 
 cent declared he would come himself, if I didn't, and mamma 
 wouldn't hear of your being moved by servants alone, so I 
 am here. But I give you fair warning that I am a rebel of 
 the most ferocious sort. You shall ride under the ' bonnie 
 blue flag ' to Eosedale, and you shall salute our flag every 
 morning when it is hoisted." 
 
 " I am the most docile of men and the easiest of invalids. 
 I will ride under Captain Kidd's flag and salute the standard 
 of the Grand Turk, to be near Vincent just now." 
 
 When Kosalind's colored aids had placed him hi the big 
 family carriage, and he had bidden Mrs. Raines farewell, the 
 young lady resumed : " Ah, I know you ! Vincent has told 
 me about your Yankee ways. Not another word, sir. I'll 
 act as guide, and tell you all we see of note as we go on. 
 There where your eyes are resting now is the Confederate 
 Hall of Independence ; that modest house on the corner is 
 President Davis's. We are going to build him another by 
 and by after we capture Washington and get our belong- 
 ingsno no you needn't speak. I know what you want 
 to say. That's Washington's monument, and there is our 
 dear old Jefferson. Doesn't it quicken even your slow 
 Yankee blood to pass the walls that heard Jefferson at his 
 greatest, that held Patrick Henry, that covered Washington ? 
 Ah ! if you Northern Pharisees were not money-grubbers 
 and souless to everything but the almighty dollar, you 
 would join hands with us in creating our new Confederacy. 
 Yes, sir, you're my prisoner. We shall see that one Yankee 
 is kept out of mischief if the war lasis which is not likely, 
 as your folks are quite cowed by the victory at Bull Run. 
 Wasn't it a splendid fight ? I shall never forgive Vin for 
 not letting me know it was coming off. Vin, you know, is 
 on General Early's staff. He knew two days before that 
 there was to be a fight, for he started from Winchester to 
 keep the railway clear and lead the troops to the Henry 
 House when they got off the cars. He was in the thickest 
 of the fight, near Professor Jackson Stonawall, they call 
 him now. He Vin had three horses killed, and was made 
 a major on the field by General Joe Johnston. What ? "
 
 134 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 " Please let the carriage stop a moment. I want to ab- 
 soi'b that lovely view." 
 
 He pointed to the James, debouching from the hills over 
 which the carriage was slowly rolling. The afternoon sun 
 was behind them ; but far, far to the eastward the noble 
 river wound through masses of dark, deep green until it 
 was lost in a glow of shimmering mirage in the low horizon. 
 
 " Isn't it lovely ? We shall have a nobler capital city 
 than Washington, with its horrid red streets, its wilderness 
 of bare squares, its interminable distances " 
 
 " Carcassonne," Jack murmured. 
 
 " Carcassonne what's that ? " 
 
 " An exquisite bit of verse and a touching story. I ' 
 
 " There, there stop. You are talking again. You shall 
 read the poem to me that is, if it isn't a glorification of the 
 North." 
 
 "No ; Carcassonne was a city of the South." 
 
 " Really you must not talk. I'm not going to open my 
 lips again until we get to the boat." 
 
 She settled back in her place and took out a book, look- 
 ing over the top at him from time to time. The motion of 
 the vehicle, the warmth of the day, and the odorous breath 
 of flowers and shrubs gradually dulled his mischievous 
 spirits, and he slept tranquilly until the carriage drew up at 
 the wharf at Harrison's Landing, whence, taken on a primi- 
 tive ferry, they in an hour or more arrived at a long wooden 
 pier extending into the river. It was nearly six o'clock when 
 the carriage entered a solemn aisle of pines ending in a 
 labyrinth of oleanders and the tropic-like plants of the South. 
 Then an old-fashioned porticoed mansion came into view, 
 and on signal from the driver a posse of colored servants 
 came trooping out noisily to carry the invalid in. Mrs. At- 
 terbury was on the veranda, and stepped down to the car- 
 riage to welcome the guest. She greeted him with the affec- 
 tionate cordiality of a mother, and asked : 
 
 " How have you borne the fatigue ? I hope Rosa hasn't 
 let you talk ? " 
 
 " If I may speak now it will be to bear testimony that I
 
 A COMEDY OF TERRORS. 135 
 
 have been made a mummy since noon. I haven't been per- 
 mitted to ask the local habitation or name of the scenic de- 
 lights that have made the journey a panorama of beauty 
 and my guide a tyrant, to whom, by comparison, Caligula 
 was a tender master ! " 
 
 '' Since you slept most of the way you must have dreamed 
 the beauty, as you certainly have invented the tyrant," Rosa 
 retorted, as the brawny servants lifted Jack bodily and car- 
 ried him up the three steps and into the sitting-room. 
 
 " Your quarters are next to my son's, if you think you 
 can endure the constant outbreaks of that locality. We are 
 with him in all but his sleeping hours, so you will do well 
 to reflect before you decide." 
 
 " Oh, I shall insist on being near Vincent. He's too 
 badly hurt to overcome me in case we are tempted to fight 
 our battles over again." 
 
 u But he has allies here, sir. and you must remember that 
 you are a prisoner of war," Rosa cried from the landing 
 above, en route to minister to her hero before the Yankee 
 invaded him. Vincent was propped up in the bed with a 
 mass of pillows, and the two friends embraced in college-boy 
 fashion, too much moved for a moment to begin the flood of 
 questions each was eager to ask and answer. 
 
 " Before I say a word of anything else, Vint, I want you 
 to do me a great service. It is two weeks since the battle. 
 I am sure my mother can not have any certain information 
 about me. Can you manage any way to get a letter or tele- 
 gram sent her ? " 
 
 " Of course I can. Nothing easier. Write your telegram. 
 I will send it under cover to General Early. He will for- 
 ward it by flag of truce to Washington, and it will be sent 
 North from there." 
 
 But Jack's letter was never sent, for when the post came 
 from Richmond the next day, Vincent read in the morning 
 paper a surprising personal item : 
 
 " ' Among the distinguished arrivals in the city within 
 the week, we have just learned of the presence of Mrs.
 
 136 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 Sprague, wife of the famous Senator, a contemporary with 
 Clay and Webster. Mrs. Sprague has come to Richmond in 
 search of her son, who was captured or killed on the field 
 near the Henry House. She comes with her daughter un- 
 der a safeguard from General Johnston, who knew the 
 family when he was at West Point. Mrs. Sprague is stop- 
 ping with Mrs. Be van, on Vernon Street, and is under the 
 escort of Private William Bevan of the general headquar- 
 ters.' " 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 UNDER TWO FLAGS. 
 
 THAT modest paragraph in the morning paper wrought 
 amazing results in the fortunes of many of the people we are 
 interested in. A regiment of cavalry encamped near the 
 outskirts of the city on the line of the Virginia Central had 
 broken camp early in the morning to march northward. 
 One company detailed to bring up the rear was still loiter- 
 ing near the station when the newspapers were thrown off 
 the train and eagerly seized by the men, who bestrewed 
 themselves in groups to hear the news read aloud. 
 
 " Here, you Towhead, you're company clerk ; you read so 
 that we can all hear." 
 
 In response to this a stripling, in the most extraordinary 
 costume, came out from the impedimenta of the company 
 with a springy step and consequential air. You wouldn't 
 have recognized the scapegrace, Dick Perley, in the carnival 
 figure that came forward, for his curling blond hair was 
 closely cropped, his face was smeared with the soilure of 
 pots and pans, and it was evident that the eager warrior had 
 exchanged the weapons of war for the utensils of the com- 
 pany kitchen. He read in a high, clear treble the tele- 
 graphic dispatches, the sanguinary editorial ratiocinations, 
 Orphic in their prophetic sententiousness, and then turned 
 to the local columns.
 
 UNDER TWO FLAGS. 137 
 
 Any one listening to the lad would never have suspected 
 that he was not a Southron. He prolonged the a's and o's, 
 as the Southern trick is, and imitated to such perfection the 
 pleasant localisms of Virginian pronunciation, that keener 
 critics of speech and accent than these galliard troops would 
 have been deceived. But suddenly his voice breaks, he falls 
 into the clear, distinct enunciation of New York the only 
 speech in the Union that betrays no sign of locality. He is 
 reading the lines about the distinguished arrivals. Fortu- 
 nately at the instant there is a blast from the bugles " Fall 
 in ! " and the men rush- to their horses. In twenty minutes 
 the company is clattering out 011 the Mechanicsville road, 
 and at noon, when the squadron halted for dinner, the com- 
 pany cook had to rely on the clumsy ministrations of his 
 colored aides. " Towhead " had disappeared. 
 
 Olympia, after a night of anguish, began the new day 
 with a heavy burden on her mind. Mrs. Sprague was de- 
 lirious. The physician summoned during the night shook 
 his head gravely. She was suffering from overexertion, 
 heat, and anxiety. He was unable to do more than miti- 
 gate her sufferings. He recommended country air and ab- 
 solute repose. Merry, too, though holding up bravely, gave 
 signs of breaking down. The two women Olympia and 
 Merry under the escort of young Bevan, had gone through 
 the prisons, the dreadful Castle Winder, and through the hos- 
 pitals, with hope dying at every new disappointment. They 
 came across many of the Caribees, and saw a member of 
 Congress, caught on the battle-field, who knew the regiment 
 well. 
 
 Jack had been traced to Porter's lines, then far to the 
 Jeft, where Nick had been told to wait. Nick was among 
 the sweltering mass at Castle Winder, but he could trace 
 the missing no farther. He told of Jack's persistent valor 
 to the last, and the dreadful moment, when he, Jack, had 
 been separated. Dick he had not seen at all. Olympia 
 made intercession for Nick's release, but was informed that 
 nothing could be done until a cartel of exchange had been 
 arranged. The Yankee authorities had in the first five
 
 138 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 months of the war refused to make any arrangement, while 
 the Union forces were capturing the Confederate armies in 
 West Virginia and Missouri. Now that the Confederates 
 held an equal number, they were going to retaliate upon 
 the overconfident North. Olympia placed five hundred 
 dollars at Nick's disposal in the hands of the comman- 
 dant to supply the lad with better food than the com- 
 missary furnished, and, promising him strenuous aid so 
 soon as she got back to Washington, she resumed the quest 
 for the lost. She had written out an advertisement, to be 
 inserted in all the city papers, and was to visit the offices 
 herself with young Bevan that evening. She had her bon- 
 net on, and was charging Merry how to minister to the ail- 
 ing mother, when the hostess knocked at the door. " A lady 
 is in the parlor who says she must see Mrs. Sprague imme- 
 diately." Olympia followed Mrs. Bevan down tremblingly, 
 far from any anticipation of what was in store for her; 
 rather in the belief that it was some wretched mother from 
 Acredale who had learned of their presence and hoped to get 
 aid for an imprisoned son, husband, or brother. But when 
 she saw the kind, matronly face of Mrs. Raines beaming 
 with the delight of bearing good news, she sank into a 
 chair, saying faintly : 
 
 " Did you wish to see me, Mrs. Mrs. " 
 
 " You are not Mrs. Sprague ? " 
 
 " No; my mother is very ill. I am Mrs. Sprague's daugh- 
 ter. Can I" 
 
 " Well, Miss Sprague, I think I can cure your mother. I " 
 
 She arose and walked mysteriously to the door and looked 
 into the hallway. 
 
 "I know what the disease is your mother is suffering 
 from." 
 
 She couldn't resist prolonging the consequence of her 
 mission. All women have the dramatic instinct. All love 
 to intensify the unexpected. But Olympia's listless manner 
 and touching desolation spurred her on. She put her fin- 
 gers to her lips warningly, and coming quite near her whis- 
 pered, as she had seen people do on the stage :
 
 UNDER TWO FLAGS. 139 
 
 " Don't make any disturbance ; don't faint. Your brother 
 is alive and well! There, there I told you." 
 
 Olympia was hugging the astonished woman, who glanced 
 in terror over her shoulder to see that feminine curiosity was 
 not dangerously alert. " You will ruin me," she whispered, 
 " if you don't be calm." Then Olympia suddenly recovered 
 herself, sobbing behind her handkerchief. " He has been at 
 my house two weeks. He left yesterday and is now with 
 Major Atterbury's family on the James Eiver, near Williams- 
 burg. Miss Atterbury came herself to take him there yes- 
 terday morning. I saw your name in The Examiner only 
 an hour ago, and I came at once to relieve the distress I 
 knew you must be suffering." 
 
 Then the kind soul told the story, charging the sister 
 never to reveal the facts. She withdrew very happy and 
 contented, for Olympia had said many tender things ; she al- 
 most felt that she had done the Confederacy a great service, 
 to have laid so many people under an obligation that might 
 in the future result in something remarkable for the cause. 
 
 Olympia's purpose of breaking the news gradually to the 
 invalid was frustrated by her tell-tale eyes and buoyant 
 movements. 
 
 "O Olympia, you have seen John! " she screamed, start- 
 ing up " where is he ? Oh, where is he ? I know you have 
 seen him ! " And then there were subdued laughter and 
 tears, and mamma instantly declared her intention of flying 
 to the hero. But there was considerable diplomacy still 
 requisite. Mrs. Raines must not be compromised, and 
 young Bevan must get transportation for them to the Atter- 
 burys. It was past noon when the carriage came for them. 
 Olympia had come down-stairs to give Mrs. Bevan final in- 
 struction regarding letters and luggage, when a resounding 
 knock came upon the door. Mrs. Bevan opened it herself, 
 and Olympia, standing in the hall, heard a well-known 
 voice, quick, eager, joyous : 
 
 " Is Mrs. Sprague, here ? 
 
 " O Richard," Olympia cried, rushing at him '' ah, you 
 darling boy ! Aunt Merry Aunt Merry ! Come come
 
 140 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 quick! He is here." But Aunt Merry at the head of the 
 stairs had heard the voice, and Dick, tearing himself uugal- 
 lantly from the embrace of beauty, was up the stairs in four 
 leaps and in the arms of the fainting spinster. 
 
 "It is Miss Perley's nephew," Olympia said, joyously, to 
 the amazed lady of the house, who stood speechless. "We 
 had given up all hope of seeing him, as his name was not 
 on our army list. He ran away to be with my brother, and 
 we felt like murderers, as you may imagine, and are almost 
 as much relieved to find him as our own flesh and blood." 
 
 The subsequent conversation between the matron and 
 the young girl seemed to put the mistress of the house in 
 excellent humor, and when. the carriage drove off she kissed 
 all the ladies quite as rapturously as if she had never vowed 
 undying hatred and vengeance upon the Yankee people. 
 In the carriage the prodigal Dick rattled off the story of 
 his adventures. He had come to Company K after Jack 
 had been sent out on the skirmish-line. He had followed in 
 wild despair the direction pointed out to him. He had lost 
 his way until he met Colonel Sherman's orderlies. They 
 had told him where the company, was halted on the banks 
 of the stream. 
 
 When he reached the place indicated he learned of Jack's 
 detail to the extreme right of the army. He dared not set 
 out openly to follow. He ran back in the bushes, out of 
 sight, and then by a detour struck the stream far above to 
 the right. The volleys away to the west guided him, and he 
 tore forward, bruising his flesh and tearing his raiment to 
 tatters. The stream seemed too deep to cross, for a mile or 
 more, but finally, finding that the firing seemed to go swiftly 
 to the southward, he plunged in. The banks on the other 
 side were rugged and precipitous, and he was obliged to push 
 on in the morass that the stream wound through. But na- 
 ture gave out, and on a sunny slope he sat down to rest. He 
 soon fell into a sound sleep, and. when he woke there was 
 noise of men laughing and shouting about him. He started 
 to his feet. 
 
 " Hello ! buster," a voice said near him. " What are you
 
 UNDER TWO FLAGS. 141 
 
 doin' away from yer mammy ? Reckon she'll think the 
 Yanks have got you if you ain't home for bedtime." 
 
 The man who said this was lying peacefully under a 
 laurel-bush. Others were sprawled about, feasting on the 
 spoil of Union haversacks. 
 
 " I knew then that I was in a rebel camp," Dick continued, 
 " but I wasn't afraid, because my clothes were not military ; 
 and, even if they had been, they were so torn and muddy, no 
 one would have thought of them as a uniform. But, for that 
 matter, a good many of the rebels had blue trousers ; and, as 
 for regimentals, there really were none, as we have them. I 
 made believe that I lived in the neighborhood, imitated the 
 Southern twang, and was set to work right away helping the 
 company cook. The firing was still going on very near us, to 
 the south, west, and east. But the men didn't seem to mind 
 it much. In about a half -hour there was a sudden move. 
 
 " A volley was poured into us from the east, and in an in- 
 stant all the graybacks were in commotion. I heard the offi- 
 cers shout : ' We are surrounded ! Die at your post, men ! ' 
 But the men didn't want to die at their posts, or anywhere else, 
 but made off like frightened rabbits. In a few minutes we 
 were all marching between two lines of Richardson's Union 
 brigade. I had no trouble in stepping out, and then I pushed 
 on in Jack's direction. But I could not find him when I 
 got to Hunter's headquarters. An orderly remembered see- 
 ing him, or rather seeing the men that brought the good 
 news that Sherman was on the rebel side of the stone bridge 
 early in the battle. There I found an orderly of Franklin's, 
 who had seen two men I described, sent off to the right to 
 picket, until the cavalry could be sent there. I came upon 
 Nick Marsh near the general's headquarters, and he told 
 me the direction the others had gone, but urged me to 
 remain with him as Jack would surely be back there, 
 horsemen having ridden out in that direction to relieve 
 him. I don't know how far I went, but it must have been 
 a mile. 
 
 "There I had to lie in the bushes, for two columns of 
 troops were coming and going, the flying fellows that Sher-
 
 142 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 man had routed near the stone bridge and the re-enforce- 
 ments that were tearing up from the Manassas Bail way . The 
 men coming were laughing and singing as they ran. The 
 men flying were silent, and seemed too frightened to notice 
 the forces coming to their support. I broke out of the bush- 
 es and ran toward the line of thick trees that seemed to mark 
 the course of the river. As I came out on a deep sandy road 
 I ran right into troops, halting. There were great cheering 
 and hurrah ; then a cavalcade of civilians came through 
 the rushing ranks at a gallop. ' Hurrah for President Da- 
 vis ! Hip, hip, hurrah ! ' I saw him. He was riding a splen- 
 did gray horse, and as the men broke into shouts he raised 
 his hat and bowed right and left. He was stopped for a few 
 minutes just in front of where I stood, or, rather, I ran to 
 where he halted. There were long trains of wounded filing 
 down the road, and men without guns, knapsacks, or side- 
 arms, breaking through the bushes on all sides. 
 
 '"They've routed us, Mr. President,' a wounded officer 
 cried, as the stretcher upon which he was lying passed near 
 Jeff Davis. 
 
 "'What part of the field are you from ?' Davis asked, 
 huskily. 
 
 " ' Bartow's brigade, stone bridge. They've captured all 
 our guns, and are pouring down on the fords. You will be 
 in danger Mr. President, if you continue northward a hun- 
 dred yards.' 
 
 " Sure enough, there was a mighty cheer, hardly a half-mile 
 to the north of us, and clouds of dust arose in the air. Davis 
 watched the movement through his glass, and, turning to a 
 horseman at his side, cried, exultantly : 
 
 "'The breeze is from the northwest; that dust is going 
 toward the Warrenton Pike. Johnston has got up in time ; 
 we've won the day ! ' 
 
 " With this he put spurs to his horse, and the squadron 
 halted on the road set off at a wild gallop. The words of 
 the President were repeated from man to man, and then a 
 mighty shout broke out. It seemed to clip the leaves from 
 the trees, as I saw them cut, an hour or two before, by
 
 UNDER TWO FLAGS. 143 
 
 the swarming volleys of musketry. A horseman suddenly 
 broke from a path just behind where I was. 
 
 " ' Is President Davis here ? ' he asked, riding close to me, 
 but not halting. 
 
 " ' He has just ridden off yonder.' I pointed toward the 
 cloud of dust east and north of us. 
 
 " ' Split your throats, boys ! General Beauregard has just 
 sent me to the President to welcome him with the news that 
 the Yankees are licked and flying in all directions ! Not a 
 man of them can escape. General Longstreet is on their 
 rear at Centreville.' 
 
 " There were deafening, crazy shouts ; hats, canteens, 
 even muskets, were flung in the air, and the wounded, lying 
 on the ground, were struck by some of these things as they 
 fell, in a cloud, about them. The shouts grew louder and 
 louder, they rose and fell, far, far away right and left. 
 Everybody embraced everybody else. Men who had been 
 limping and despondent before broke into wild dances of 
 joy. Everybody wanted to go toward the field of battle 
 now, but a provost guard filed down the road presently, and 
 in a few minutes I saw a sight that made tears of rage and 
 shame blind me. Whole regiments of blue-coats came at 
 a quick-step through the dusty roadway, the rebel guards 
 prodding them brutally with their bayonets. The fellows 
 near me, who had been running from the fight, set up insult- 
 ing cheers and cat-calls. 
 
 " ' Did you'ns leave a lock of your hair with old Mas'r 
 Lincoln ? ' 
 
 " ' Come down to Dixie to marry niggers, have ye ? ' and 
 scores of taunts more insulting and obscene. Our men never 
 answered. They were worn and dusty. They had no weap- 
 ons, of course, for the first thing the rebels did was to search 
 every man, take his money, watch, studs, even his coat and 
 shoes, when they were better than their own. Hundreds of 
 our men were in their stocking-feet, or, rather, in their bare 
 feet, as they tramped wearily through the burning sand and 
 twisted roots. I heard one of the rebels near me, an officer, 
 say that the prisoners were all going to the junction to take 
 10
 
 144 THE IBON GAME. 
 
 the cars. President Davis had ordered that they should be 
 marched through the streets of Richmond to show the people 
 of the capital the extent of the victory. Then the thought 
 flashed into my head that if our army had been captured, 
 my best chance of finding Jack would be to follow to Rich- 
 mond and watch the bluecoats. I easily slipped among the 
 prisoners, came to the city and saw every man that went to 
 Castle Winder. But no one that I knew was among them, 
 and I made up my mind that Jack had escaped. I saw Wes- 
 ley Boone's father and sister at the Spottswood House yester- 
 day, but I was too late to catch them, and, when 1 asked the 
 clerk at the desk, he said they had taken quarters in the 
 town he didn't know where." 
 
 " That's a fact," Olympia exclaimed ; " they left Washing- 
 ton before us. I wonder if they found Wesley ? " 
 
 *'I don't know," Dick continued. "The officers were 
 brought in a gang by themselves, and I didn't see them. 
 Well, I hung about the town, visiting all the places I thought 
 it likely Jack might be, and then I joined a cavalry company 
 that belonged to Early's brigade, at Manassas. I was going 
 there with them this morning to get back to our lines and find 
 Jack, when I saw the paragraph in The Examiner, telling 
 of your coming and whereabouts." 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 ROSEDALE. 
 
 " WHAT an intrepid young brave you are, Dick ! " Olym- 
 pia cried, as the artless narrative came to an end. 
 
 " What a cruel boy, to leave his family and and run 
 into such dreadful danger ! " Merry expostulated. 
 
 " What a devoted boy, to risk his life and liberty for our 
 poor Jack!" Mrs. Sprague said, bending forward to stroke 
 the tow-head. The carriage passed down the same road that
 
 ROSEDALE. ^45 
 
 Jack had gone the day before, whistling sarcasms at his 
 keeper. At Harrison's Landing thei e was a delay of several 
 hours, and the impatient party wandered on the shores of 
 the majestic James glittering, like a sylvan lake, in its rich 
 border of woodland. The sun was too hot to permit of the ex- 
 cursion Dick suggested, and late in the afternoon the wheezy 
 ferry carried them down the lake-like stream. On every 
 hand there were signs of peace not a fort, not a breastwork 
 gave token that this was in a few months to be the shambles 
 of mighty armies, the anchorage of that new wonder, the 
 iron battle-ship; the scene of McClellan's miraculous vic- 
 tory at Malvern, of Grant's slaughtering grapplmgs with re- 
 bellion at bay, of Butler's comic joustings, and the last des- 
 perate onslaughts of Hancock's legions. The air, tempered 
 by the faint flavor of salt in the water, filled the travelers 
 with an intoxicating vigor, lent strength to their jaded 
 forces, which, while tense with expectation, could not wholly 
 resist the delicious aroma, the lovely outlines of primeval 
 forest, the melody of strange birds, startled along the shore 
 by the wheezy puffing of the ferry. There were cries of ad- 
 miring delight as the carriage ran from the long wooden 
 pier into the dim arcade of sycamore and pine, through 
 which the road wound, all the way to Rosedale. Then they 
 emerged into a gentle, rolling, upland, where cultivated 
 fields spread far into the horizon, and in the distance a dense 
 grove, which proved to be the park about the house. The 
 coming of the carriage was a signal to a swarm of small 
 black urchins to scramble, grinning and delighted, to the 
 wide lawn. There was no need to sound the great knocker ; 
 no need to explain, when Rosalind, hurrying to the door, 
 saw Olympia emerging from the vehicle. They had not 
 seen each other in four years, but they were in each other's 
 arms laughing, sobbing exclaiming : 
 
 " How did you know ? When did you come ? " 
 " Jack, Jack ! Where is he ? How is he ? " 
 " Jack's able to eat," Rosa cried, darting down to embrace 
 Mrs. Sprague, and starting with a little cry of wonder as 
 Aunt Merry exclaimed, timidly:
 
 146 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 " We're all here. You've captured the best part of Acre- 
 dale, though you haven't got Washington yet." 
 
 "Why, how delightful! We shall think. it is Acredale," 
 Rosa cried, welcoming the blushing lady. " And I should 
 say, if he were not so much like like ' we uns,' that this 
 was my old friend, the naughty Richard," she said, welcom- 
 ing the blushing youth cordially. (Dick avowed afterward, 
 in confidence to Jack, that she would have kissed him if 
 he hadn't held back, remembering his unkempt condition.) 
 Mamma and Olympia were shown up to the door of Jack's 
 room, where Rosalind very discreetly left them, to introduce 
 the other guests to Mrs. Atterbury, attracted to the place by 
 the unwonted sounds. When presently the visitors were 
 shown into Vincent's room, Jack called out to them to come 
 and see valor conquered by love ; and, when they entered, 
 mamma was brushing her eyes furtively, while she still 
 held Jack's unwounded hand under the counterpane. Mas- 
 ter Dick excited the maternal alarm by throwing himself 
 rapturously on the wounded hero and giving him the kiss 
 he had denied Rosalind. Indeed, he showered kisses on the 
 abashed hero, whose eyes were suspiciously sparkling at the 
 evidence of the boy's delight. He established himself in 
 Jack's room, and no urging, prayer, or reproof could induce 
 him to quit his hero's sight. 
 
 " I Jost him once," he said, doggedly, " and I'm not going 
 to lose him again. Where he goes, I'm going; where he 
 stays, I'll stay sha'n't I, Jack ? " 
 
 " You shall, indeed, my dauntless Orestes ; you shall 
 share my fortunes, whatever they be." 
 
 He insisted on a cot in the room, and there, during the 
 convalescence of his idol, he persisted in sleeping ruling 
 all who had to do with the invalid in his own capri- 
 cious humor, hardly excepting Mrs. Sprague, whom he 
 tolerated with some impatience. Letters were dispatched 
 northward to relieve the anxiety of Pliny and Phemie, as 
 well as the Marshes. But it hung heavily on Jack's heart 
 that no trace of Barney had been found. Advertisements 
 were sent to the Richmond papers, and he waited in
 
 ROSEDAL^. 147 
 
 restless impatience for some sign of the kind lad's well- 
 being. 
 
 " Well, Jack, this isn't much like the pomp and circum- 
 stance of glorious war," Olympia cried, the next morning, 
 coming in from an excursion about the " plantation," as she 
 insisted on calling the estate, attended by Merry, Rosa, and 
 Dick. " I never saw such foliage ! The roses are as large as 
 sunflowers, and there are whole fields of them! " 
 
 "Yes; I believe the Atterburys make merchandise of 
 them." 
 
 "But who buys them about here ? They seem to grow 
 wild as fine in form and color as our hot-house varieties. 
 Surely they are not bought by the colored people, and there 
 seems to be no one else no other inhabitants, I mean." 
 
 " Oh, no; they are shipped North in the season for them; 
 but I don't think the family has paid much attention to that 
 branch of the business of late years. Their revenues come 
 from tobacco and cotton. Their cotton-fields are in South 
 Carolina and along the Atlantic coast." 
 
 " And are these colored people all slaves ? " Her voice 
 sank to a whisper, for Vincent's door was ajar. 
 
 " Yes, every man jack of them. Did you ever see such 
 merry rogues ? They laugh and sing half the night, and 
 sing and work half the day." 
 
 " They don't seem unhappy, that's a fact," Olympia said, 
 reflectively, "but I should think ownership in flesh and 
 blood would harden people; and yet the Atterburys are 
 very kind and gentle. I saw tears in Mrs. Atterbury's eyes, 
 yesterday, when mamnia was sitting here with you." 
 
 " Yes," Jack said, unconsciously, " women enjoy crying ' 
 
 " You insufferable braggart, how dare you talk like that ? 
 Pray, what do you know about women's likes and dislikes ? " 
 
 " Oh, I beg pardon, Polly ; I'm sure I didn't mean any- 
 thing I was taking the minor for the major. All women 
 like babies; babies pass most of their time crying; therefore 
 women like crying." 
 
 " Well, if that is the sum of your college training, it is a 
 good thing the war came "
 
 148 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 " "What about the war ? No treason in Rosedale, remem- 
 ber ! " Vincent shouted from the next room. " You pledged 
 me that when you talked war you would talk in open as- 
 sembly." The voice neared the open doorway as he spoke. 
 The servant had moved the invalid's cot, where Vincent 
 could look in on Jack. 
 
 " There was really no war talk, Vint, except such war as 
 women always raise, contention ' 
 
 " I object, Jack, to your generalization," Olympia retort- 
 ed. " It is a habit of boyishness and immaturity. He said 
 a moment ago " (she turned to Vincent) " that women loved 
 crying, and then sneaked out by a very shallow evasion." 
 
 " I'll leave it to Vint : All women love babies ; babies 
 do nothing but cry; therefore, women love crying; there 
 couldn't be a syllogism more irrefutable." 
 
 " Unless it be that all women love liars," Vincent vent- 
 ured, jocosely. 
 
 " How do you prove that ? " 
 
 " All men are liars ; women love men ; therefore" 
 
 " Oh, pshaw ! you have to assume in that premise. I 
 don't in mine. It is notorious that women love babies, 
 while you have only the spiteful saying of a very uncertain 
 old prophet for your major " 
 
 " Whose major ? " Rosa asked, appearing suddenly. " I'll 
 have you to know, sir, that this major is mamma's, and no 
 one else can have, hold, or make eyes at him." 
 
 " It was the major in logic we were making free with," 
 Jack mumbled, laughing. " I hope logic isn't a heresy in 
 your new Confederacy, as religion was in the French Con- 
 stitution of '93 ? " 
 
 Rosa looked at Olympia, a little perplexed, and, seating 
 herself on the cot with Vincent, where she could caress him 
 furtively, said, with piquant deliberation : 
 
 " I don't know about logic, but we've got everything 
 needed to make us happy in the Montgomery Constitution." 
 
 " Have you read it ? " Jack asked, innocently. 
 
 " How insulting ! Of course I have. I read it the very 
 first thing when it appeared in the newspapers."
 
 ROSED ALE. 149 
 
 " Catch our Northern women doing that ! " Jack inter- 
 jected, loftily. " There is my learned sister, she doesn't 
 know the Constitution from Plato's Dialogues." 
 
 "Indeed, I do not; nor do I know Plato's Dialogues," 
 Olympia returned, quite at ease in this state of ignorance. 
 
 " Wherein does the Montgomery Constitution differ from 
 the old one ? " Jack asked, looking at Vincent. 
 
 " I'm blessed if I know. I've read neither. I did read the 
 Declaration of Independence once at a Fourth-of-July bar- 
 becue. I always thought that was the Constitution. Indeed, 
 every fellow about here does! You know in the South the 
 women do all the thinking for the men. Rosa keeps my 
 political conscience." 
 
 " Well, then, Lord High Chancellor, tell us the vital ar- 
 ticles in the Montgomery document that have inspired you 
 to arm Mars for the conflict, plunge millions into strife and 
 thousands into hades, as Socrates would have said, employ- 
 ing his method ? " Jack continued derisively. 
 
 *' Our Constitution assures us the eternal right to own our 
 own property." 
 
 " Slaves ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " No one denied you that right, so far as the law went, 
 under the old; it was only the justice, the humanity, that 
 was questioned. The right would have endured a hundred 
 years, perhaps forever, if you had kept still" 
 
 " Come, Jack, I won't listen to politics," Olympia cried, 
 with a warning look. 
 
 " No, the time for talk is past; it is battle, and God defend 
 the right!" Rosa said, solemnly. 
 
 "And you may be sure he will," Jack added, softly, as 
 though to himself. 
 
 " But we've got far away from the crying and the babies," 
 Vincent began, when Jack interrupted, fervently : 
 
 "Thank Heaven!" 
 
 " You monster! " the two girls cried in a breath. 
 
 " No, I can't conceive a sillier paradox than ' A babe in 
 the house is a well-spring of joy.' A woman must have
 
 150 THE IllOX GAME. 
 
 written it first. Now, my idea of perfect happiness for a 
 house is to have two wounded warriors like Vincent and me, 
 tractable, amiable, always ready to join in rational conver- 
 sation and make love if necessary, providing we're encour- 
 aged." 
 
 " Really, Olympia, your Northern men are not what I 
 fancied," Rosa cried, with a laugh. 
 
 " What did you fancy them ? " 
 
 " Oh, ever so different, from this this saucy fellow 
 modest, timid, shy; needing ever so much encouragement 
 to to " 
 
 " Claim their due ? " Jack added, slyly. 
 
 " Well, there is one that doesn't require much encourage- 
 ment to claim everything that comes 'in his way," Rosa re- 
 torts, and Olympia adds : 
 
 " And to spare my feelings you won't name him now." 
 
 11 Exactly," said Rosa. 
 
 "How touching!" exclaimed Vincent. 
 
 " I left all my blood to enrich your soil, or I'd blush," re- 
 plied Jack. 
 
 '' Oh, no ; it won't enrich the soil ; it will bring out a crop 
 of Johnny Jump-ups, a weed that we don't relish in the 
 South," retorted Rosa. 
 
 " Ah, Jack, you're hit there ! Rosa, I'm proud of you. 
 This odious Yankee needs combing down ; he ran over us so 
 long at college that he is conceited in his own impudence," 
 and Vincent exploded in shouts of laughter. 
 
 '' I fear you're not a botanist, Miss Rosa. It's ' Jack in 
 the pulpit ' that will spring from Northern blood, and they'll 
 preach such truths that the very herbage will bring the les- 
 son of liberty and toleration to you." 
 
 " What is this very serious discussion, my children ? " 
 Mrs. Atterbury said, beaming sweetly upon the group. " I 
 couldn't imagine what had started Vincent in such boister- 
 ous laughter ; and now, that I come, Mr. Jack is as serious 
 as we were at school when Madame Clarice told us of our 
 sins." 
 
 '' Jack was telling his, mamma, and that is still more
 
 ROSEDALE. 151 
 
 serious than to hear one's own," Vincent said, grinning at 
 the moralist. 
 
 u But, to be serious a moment, I have written to my old 
 friend General Robert Lee, of Arlington, about Miss Perley. 
 I know that he will grant her permission to take Richard 
 home with her, and the question now is whether it is safe to 
 let them go together alone ? " Mrs. Atterbury addressed the 
 question to Olympia, making no account of Jack. 
 
 " Oh, let us leave the decision until you get General Lee's 
 answer. If they get the message in Acredale that Dick is 
 safe and sound, I don't see why they need go back before we 
 do. I shall be able to travel in a few weeks. If the roads 
 were not so rickety I wouldn't be afraid to set out now," 
 Jack answered. 
 
 " Impossible ! You can't leave for a month yet, if then," 
 Vincent proclaimed, authoritatively. "I know what gun- 
 shot wounds are : you think they are healed, and begin 
 fooling about, when you find yourself laid up worse than 
 ever. There's no hurry. The campaign can't begin before 
 October. I'm as anxious to be back as you are, but I don't 
 mean to stir before October. Perhaps you think it will be 
 dull here ? Just wait until you are strong enough to knock 
 about a bit ; we shall have royal rides. We'll go to Will- 
 iamsburg and see the oldest college in the country. We'll 
 go down the James, and you shall see some of the richest 
 lands in the world. We'll get a lot of fellows out from 
 Richmond and have our regular barbecue in September. 
 We wind up the season here every year with a grand dance, 
 and Olympia shall lead the Queen Anne minuet with mam- 
 ma's kinsman, General Lee, who is the President's chief of 
 staff." 
 
 " This doesn't sound much like soldiering," Jack said, 
 dreamily. 
 
 " No. When in the field, let us fight ; when at home, let 
 us be merry." 
 
 " A very proper sentiment, young men. We want you 
 to be very merry, for you must remember the time comes 
 when we can't be anything but sad when you are away
 
 152 TIIE IRON GAME - 
 
 and the night of doubt settles upon our weak women's 
 hearts.'' It was Mrs. Atterbury who spoke, and the sentence 
 seemed to bring silence upon the group. 
 
 Meanwhile, all the inquiries set on foot through the 
 agency of the Atterbury s failed to bring any tidings of Bar- 
 ney Moore. It suddenly occurred to Jack that the poor fel- 
 low was masquerading as a rebel in the bosom of some eager 
 patriot like Mrs. Raines and he reluctantly consented to let 
 Dick go to Richmond to investigate. Perhaps Mrs. Raines 
 might know where the wounded men were taken that had 
 come with him. Some of the stragglers could at least be 
 found. The advertisement asking information concerning 
 a wounded man arriving in Richmond with himself was 
 kept in all the journals. But Merry wouldn't consent to 
 let Dick go on the dangerous quest without her. She 
 would never dare face her sisters if any mishap came to 
 the lad, and, though Vincent put him under the care of an 
 experienced overseer, and ordered the town-house to be 
 opened for his entertainment, the timorous aunt was im- 
 movable. 
 
 'You must go and call on the President, Miss Merry. 
 He receives Thursdays at the State-House. Then you'll see 
 a really great man in authority, not the backwoods clowns 
 that have brought this country into ridicule such a man as 
 Virginia used to give the people for President," Rosa said in 
 the tone a lady of Louis XVIII's court might have used to 
 an adherent of the Bonapartes. 
 
 " Ah, Rosa, we saw a gentle, tender-hearted man in Wash- 
 ington the very ideal of a people's father. No one else can 
 ever be President to me while he lives," Olympia said, se- 
 riously. 
 
 " Lincoln ? " Rosa asked, a little disdainfully. 
 
 "Yes, Abraham Lincoln. We have all misunderstood 
 him Oh if you could have seen him as I saw him so 
 patient, so considerate : the sorrows of the nation in his 
 heart and its burdens on his shoulders ; but confident, calm, 
 serene, with the benignant humility of a man sent by God," 
 Olympia added almost reverently. " It was he who came to
 
 ROSED ALE. 153 
 
 our aid and ordered the rules to be broken that our mother 
 might seek Jack." 
 
 Rosa was about to retort, but a warning glance from Vin- 
 cent checked her, and she said nothing. 
 
 " I say, Dick, don't try to capture Jeff Davis or blow up 
 the Confederate Congress, or any other of the casual master 
 strokes that may enter your wild head. Remember that we 
 have given double hostages to the enemy. We have ac- 
 cepted their hospitality, and we have made ourselves their 
 guests," Jack said, half seriously, as the young Hotspur 
 wrung his hand in a tearful embrace. 
 
 "Above all, remember, Mr. -Yankee, that you are in a 
 certain sense a civilian now ; you must not compromise us 
 by free speech in Richmond," Rosa added. 
 
 " Ah, I know very well there's none of that in the South ; 
 you folks object to free speech ; they killed poor old Brown 
 for it ; that's what you made war for, to silence free speech," 
 Dick cried hotly, while Merry pinched his arm in terror. 
 
 Dick began his campaign in the morning with long- 
 headed address. He visited the prison under ample powers 
 from General Lee procured though Vincent's mediation. 
 There were a score of the Caribees in Castle Winder, and to 
 these the boy came as a good fairy in the tale. For he dis- 
 tributed money, tobacco, and other things, which enabled the 
 unfortunates to beguile the tedious hours of confinement. 
 The prisoners were crowded like cattle in the immense ware- 
 house in squads of a hundred or more. They had blankets to 
 stretch on the floor for beds, a general basin to wash in, and 
 for some time amused themselves watching through the 
 barred windows the crowds outside that flocked to the place 
 to see the Yankees, and, when not checked by the guards, to 
 revile and taunt them. 
 
 Dick was enraged to see how contentedly the men bore 
 the irksome confinement, the meager food, and harsh per- 
 emptoriness of the beardless boys set over them as guards. 
 Most of the prisoners passed the time in cards, playing for 
 buttons, trinkets, or what not that formed their scanty pos- 
 sessions. Dick learned that all the commissioned officers of
 
 154 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 the company with Wesley Boone had been wounded or killed 
 in the charge near the stone bridge. Wesley had been with 
 the prisoners at first.. He had been struck on the head, and 
 was in a raging fever when his father and sister came to the 
 prison to take him away. No one could tell where he was 
 now, but Dick knew that he must be in the city, since there 
 were no exchanges, the Confederates allowing no one to 
 leave the lines except women with the dead, or those who 
 came from the North on special permits. 
 
 Then he visited the provost headquarters, and was shown 
 the complete list of names recorded in the books there ; but 
 Barney's was not among them. At the Spottswood Hotel, 
 the day after his coming, he met Elisha Boone, haggard, de- 
 pressed, almost despairing. Dick had no love for the hard- 
 headed plutocrat, but he couldn't resist making himself 
 known. 
 
 " How d'ye do, Mr. Boone ? I hope Wesley is coming on 
 well, sir." 
 
 Boone brought his wandering eyes down to the stripling 
 in dull amazement. 
 
 "Why, where on earth do you come from? How is it 
 you are free and allowed in the streets ? " 
 
 " Oh, I am a privileged person, sir. I am looking up 
 Company K. You haven't heard anything of young Moore, 
 Barney, who lives on the Callao road south of Acredale ? " 
 
 "No, my mind has been taken up with my son"; his 
 voice grew softer. " He is in a very bad way, and the 
 worst is there is no decent doctor to be got here for love or 
 money; all the capable ones are in the army, and those that 
 are here refuse to take any interest in a Yankee." 
 
 The father's grief and the unhappy situation of his whi- 
 lom enemy touched the lad ; forgetting Jack's and Vincent's 
 warning, Dick said, impulsively : 
 
 "Oh, I can get him a good doctor. We have friends 
 here." He knew, the moment he had spoken the words, 
 that he had been. imprudent how imprudent the sudden, 
 suspicious gleam in Boone's eye at once admonished him. 
 
 " Friends here ? Union men have no friends here. There
 
 ROSEDALE. 155 
 
 are men here with whom I have done business for years, 
 men that owe prosperity to me, but when I called on them 
 they almost insulted me. If you have friends, you must 
 have sympathies that they appreciate." 
 
 Dick knew what this meant. To be a Democrat had been, 
 in Acredale, to be charged with secret leanings to rebellion. 
 He restrained his wrath manfully, and said, simply : 
 
 " An old college friend of Jack's has been yery kind to us." 
 
 " Us ? I take it you mean the Spragues. They are stop- 
 ping with Jeff Davis, I suppose ? It's the least he could do 
 for allies so steadfast." 
 
 "You shouldn't talk that way, sir. Every man in the 
 Caribees, except old Oswald's gang, is a Democrat, but they 
 are for the country before party." 
 
 " Yes, yes, it may be so but, the North don't think that 
 way. Well, I'm going to Washington to see if I can't get 
 my boy out of this infernal place, where a man can't even 
 get shaved decently." 
 
 "And Miss Kate, Mr. Boone, where is she ?" 
 
 "She is nursing Wesley, poor girl. She is having a 
 harder trial than any of us ; for these devilish women fairly 
 push into the sick-room to abuse the North and berate the 
 soldiers that fought at Manassas." 
 
 "I should like to call on Wesley if you don't mind," 
 Dick said, hesitatingly. 
 
 "I shall be only too glad; and I'll tell you what it is, 
 Eichard, if you'll make use of your friends here, to get Kate 
 and Wesley some comforts, some consideration, I'll make it 
 worth your while. I'll see that you do not have to wait long 
 for a commission, and I'll pay you any reasonable sum so 
 soon as you get back North." 
 
 Dick restrained his anger under this insulting blow, per- 
 ceiving, even in the hotness of his wrath, that the other was 
 unconscious of the double ignominy implied in dealing with 
 soldiers' rewards as personal bribes, and proffering money 
 for common brotherly offices. It was only when Jack com- 
 mended his astuteness, afterward, that Dick realized the 
 adroitness of his own diplomacy.
 
 15G THE IRON GAME. 
 
 " Thank you, Mr. Boone. I shouldn't care for promotion 
 that I didn't win in war; and, as for money, I shall have 
 enough when I need it. But any man in the Caribees shall 
 have my help. Under the flag every man is a friend." 
 
 "True. Yes; you are quite right. Kate will be very 
 glad to see you." 
 
 They walked along, neither disposed to talk after this 
 narrow shave from a quarrel. Booue led the way to the 
 northern outskirts of the city, until they reached a dull- 
 brown frame building, back some distance from the street. 
 A colored woman, with a flaming turban on her head, opened 
 the door as she saw them coming up the trim walk lined 
 with shells and gay with poppies, bergamot, asters, and helio- 
 trope. 
 
 u This woman is a slave. She belongs to the proprietor 
 of the hotel who refused to receive Wesley. It was a great 
 concession to let him come here, they told me. But the poor 
 boy might as well be in a Michigan logging camp, for all the 
 care he can get. But I'm mighty glad I met you. I know 
 you can help Kate while I am gone. I hated to leave her, 
 but I can do nothing here, and unless Wesley is removed he 
 will never leave this cussed town alive. I sha'n't be gone 
 more than ten days." 
 
 Kate had been called by the turbaned mistress, and came 
 into the room with a little shriek of pleasure. 
 
 "O, Richard, what a delightful surprise! Have you seen 
 your aunt ? Ah ! I am so glad ; she must be so relieved ! 
 And Mr. Sprague have they found him ?" 
 
 Dick retailed as much of the story as he thought safe, but 
 he had to say that the Spragues were all with the Atterburys 
 in the country. 
 
 " How providential ! Ah, if our poor Wesley could find 
 some such friends ! He is very low. He recognizes no one. 
 Unless papa can get leave to take him North I am afraid of 
 the worst. Indeed, I doubt whether he could stand so long a 
 journey. You must stay the day with us. I am so lonely, 
 and I dread being more lonely still when papa leaves this 
 evening."
 
 ROSED ALE. 157 
 
 Dick remained until late in the afternoon, sending word 
 to Merry, who came promptly to the aid of the afflicted. The 
 next day Dick left his aunt at the cottage with Kate, and 
 warning them that he should be gone all day, and perhaps 
 not see them until the next morning, he set off for Rosedale, 
 where he told Jack Kate's plight. Vincent heard the story, 
 too, and when it was ended he said, decisively : 
 
 " Jack, we must send for them. It would never do to 
 have the story told in Acredale that you had found friends 
 in the South because you are a Democrat, and Boone was 
 thrust into negro quarters because he is an abolitionist." 
 
 It was the very thought on Jack's mind, and straightway 
 the carriage was made ready, with ample pillows and what 
 not. Dick set out in great state, filled with the importance 
 of his mission and the glory of Jack's cordial praises. He 
 was to stop on the way through town and carry the Atter- 
 bury's family physician to direct the removal. When he 
 appeared before Kate, with Mrs. Atterbury's commands that 
 she and her brother should make Rosedale their home until 
 the invalid could be removed North, the poor girl broke 
 down in the sudden sense of relief the certainty of .salvation 
 to the slowly dying brother. The physician spent many 
 hours redressing the wounds. Gangrene had begun to eat 
 away the flesh of the head above the temple, and poor Wes- 
 ley was unrecognizable. He was quite unconscious of the 
 burning bromine and the clipping of flesh that the skillful 
 hand of the practitioner carried on. When the little group 
 started on the long journey, the invalid looked more like 
 himself than he had since Kate found him. The drive lasted 
 many hours. Wesley was stretched in an ambulance, Kate 
 sitting on the seat with the driver, the physician and Dick 
 following in the carriage. Merry went back to the city 
 house, where her nephew was to return as soon as Wesley 
 had been delivered at Rosedale. Her charge placed in the 
 hands of the kind hostess, Mrs. Atterbury, Kate broke down. 
 She had borne up while her head and heart alone stood be- 
 tween her brother and death ; but now, relieved of the strain, 
 she fell into an alarming fever. A Williamsburg veteran,
 
 158 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 who had practiced in that ancient college town, since the 
 early days of the century, took the Richmond surgeon's 
 place, and the gay summer house became, for the time, a 
 hospital. 
 
 Meanwhile the rebel provost-marshal had simplified Dick's 
 task a good deal. An order was issued that all houses where 
 wounded or ailing men were lying should signalize the fact 
 by a yellow flag or ribbon, attached to the front in a con- 
 spicuous place. Thus directed, Dick walked street after 
 street, asking to see the wounded ; and the fourth day, com- 
 ing to a residence, rather handsomer than the others on the 
 street, not two blocks from Mrs. Raines, Jack's Samaritan, 
 he found a wasted figure, with bandaged head and unmean- 
 ing eyes, that he recognized as Barney. 
 
 " We haven't been able to get any clew as to his name or 
 regiment. The guards at the station said he belonged to the 
 Twelfth Virginia, but none of the members of that body in 
 the city recognize him. You know him ? " 
 
 " Yes. He is of my regiment," Dick said, neglecting to 
 mention the regiment. " I will send word to his friends at 
 once and have him removed." 
 
 " Oh, we are proud and happy to have him here. Our 
 only anxiety was lest he should die and his family remain in 
 ignorance. But, now that you identify him, we hope that 
 we may be permitted to keep him until his recovery." 
 
 It was a stately matron who spoke with such a manner, as 
 Dick thought, must be the mark of nobility in other lands. 
 He learned, with surprise, that the Atterbury physician was 
 ministering to Barney, though there was nothing strange in 
 that, since the doctor was the favorite practitioner of the 
 well-to-do in the city. That night he wrote to Jack, asking 
 instructions, and the next day received a note, written by 
 Olympia, advising that Barney be left with his present hosts 
 until he recovered consciousness ; that by that time Vincent 
 would be able to come up to town and explain matters to the 
 deluded family. The better to carry out this plan, Dick was 
 bidden to return to Rosedale, and thus, six weeks after the 
 battle and dispersion, all our Acredale personages, by the
 
 A MASQUE IN ARCADY. 159 
 
 strange chances of war, were assembled within sight of the 
 rebel capital, and, though in the hands of friends, as abso- 
 lutely cut off from their home and duties as if they had been 
 captured in a combat with the Indians. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 A MASQUE IN ARCADY. 
 
 IN the latter days of September, the life at Eosedale was 
 but a faint reminder of the hospital it had seemed in August. 
 The young men were able to take part in all the simple 
 gayeties devised by Rosa to make the time pass agreeably. 
 Wesley was still subject to dizziness if exposed to the sun, 
 but Jack and Vincent were robust as lumbermen. Mrs. 
 Sprague and Merry sighed wearily in the seclusion of their 
 chambers for the Northern homeside, but they banished all 
 signs of discontent before their warm-hearted hosts. There 
 was as yet no exchange arranged between the hostile Cabi- 
 nets of Richmond and Washington. Even Booue's potent 
 influence among the magnates of his party had not served 
 him to effect Wesley's release nor enabled him to return to 
 watch over the boy's fortunes. There was no one at Rose- 
 dale sorry for the latter calamity outside of Wesley and 
 Kate. I believe even she was secretly not heart-broken, for 
 she knew that her father would be antipathetic to the out- 
 spoken ladies of Rosedale. 
 
 There had been an almost total suspension of military 
 movements East and West. Both sides were straining every 
 resource to bring drilled armies into the field, when the 
 decisive blow fell. In his drives and walks about the James 
 and Williamsburg, Jack saw that the country was stripped 
 of the white male population. The negroes carried on all 
 the domestic concerns of the land. In these excursions, too, 
 he marked, with a keen military instinct, the points of de- 
 11
 
 160 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 fense General Magruder, who commanded the department, 
 had left untouched. He wondered if the Union arms would 
 ever get as far down as this. If they did, and he were of 
 the force, he would like to have a cavalry regiment to lead ! 
 Vincent was to rejoin his command at Manassas in October. 
 Jack looked forward to the event with the most dismal dis- 
 content. To be tied up here, far from his companions ; to 
 seem to enjoy ease, when his regiment was indurating itself 
 by drills, marches, and the -rough Life of the soldier for the 
 great work it was to do, maddened him. 
 
 "I give you fair warning, Vint, if an exchange isn't ar- 
 ranged before you leave here, I shall cut stick the best way 
 I can." 
 
 " Good ! How will you manage ? It's a long pull be- 
 tween here and our front at Manassas. How will you work 
 it ? Just as soon as you quit the shelter of Rosedale, you 
 are a suspect. Even the negroes will halt you. If you 
 should make for Fortress Monroe, you have all of Magruder's 
 army to get through. You would surely be caught in the 
 act, and then I could do nothing for you. You would be 
 sent to Castle Winder, and that isn't a very comfortable 
 billet." 
 
 Some hint of Jack's discontent, or rather of his vague 
 dream of flight, came into Dick's busy head, and when one 
 day they were tramping down by the James together, he 
 said, owlishly: 
 
 " I say, Jack, when Vincent goes, let us clear out ! " 
 
 " I say yes, with all my heart, but how can it be done ? 
 We are more than forty miles from the nearest Union lines. 
 Whole armies are between us. Any white man found on 
 the highway is questioned, and if he can't give a clear ac- 
 count of himself is sent to the provost prison. You remem- 
 ber the other day, when we left the rest to go through the 
 swamp-road near Williamsburg. we were hailed by a patrol, 
 and if Vincent hadn't been within reach we would have 
 been sent to the provost prison. Even the negroes act as 
 guards." 
 
 " Don't be too sure of that. I've been talking to some of
 
 A MASQUE IN ARCADY. 161 
 
 them. They are 'fraid as sin of the overseers, but you notice 
 they shut up all the negroes in their own quarters at night, 
 don't you? If they were all right, why should they do that? " 
 
 " Good heavens ! you haven't been trying to make an up- 
 rising among the Kosedale servants, Dick? Don't you know 
 that no end of ours could justify that? These people have 
 been like brothers like our own family to us. It would be 
 infamous infamous without power in the language for 
 comparison if we should requite their humanity by stir- 
 ring up servile strife. I should be the first to take arms 
 against the slaves in such revolt, and give my life rather 
 than be instrumental in bringing misery upon the Atter- 
 burys." 
 
 " Oh, keep your powder dry, Jack ! I never dreamed of 
 stirring 'em up. What I mean is, that they are all restless 
 and uneasy. They have an idea that ' Massa Linculm ' is 
 coming down with a big army to set them free. Many of 
 them want to fly to meet this army. Many, too, would al- 
 most rather die than leave their mistress. None of them 
 but the very bad ones could be induced under any circum- 
 stances to lift their hands against the family or its property." 
 
 " I should hope not at least through our instrumentality. 
 The time must come when they will leave the family, for 
 the one call only and in one way; that is, by cutting out 
 slavery root and branch. However, that's for the politicians 
 to manage ; all we have to do is to stand by the colors and 
 fight." 
 
 lt I don't see much chance of standing by the colors here," 
 Dick retorted, wrathf ully. " If you'll give me the word, I'll 
 arrange a plan, and, as soon as Vincent goes we'll be off." 
 
 " I'm not your master, you young hornet ; I can't see 
 what you're doing all the time. All I can do is to approve 
 or reject such doings of yours as you bring me to decide on." 
 
 Dick's eyes sparkled. " All right, I'll keep you posted, 
 never fear." 
 
 They were a very jovial group that prattled about the 
 long Rosedale dining-table daily now, since every one was 
 able to come down. The house was furnished in the easy
 
 1G2 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 unpretentiousness that prevailed in the South in other days. 
 Cool matting covered all the floors, the hallways, and bed- 
 chambers. The dining-room opened into a drawing-room, 
 where Kate and Olympia took turns at the big piano. The 
 day was divided, English fashion, into breakfast, luncheon, 
 dinner, and supper, the latter as late as nine o'clock in the 
 night. Jack being unprovided with regimentals, Vincent 
 wore civilian garb, to spare the " prisoner " (as Jack jocosely 
 called himself) mortification. Gray was the " only wear " ob- 
 tainable in Richmond, Mrs. Atterbury enjoying with gentle 
 malice the rueful perplexities of her prisoner guests, Jack, 
 Wesley, and Richard, as they surrounded the board in this 
 rebel attire. 
 
 ' ' I shall feel as uncertain of myself when I get back to 
 blue, as I do in chess, after I have played a long while with 
 the black, changing to white. I manoeuvre for some time 
 for the discarded color," Jack said, one evening. 
 
 " Oh, you'll hardly forget in this case," Rosa said, saucily; 
 " it is for the blacks you are manoeuvring constantly." 
 
 Jack looked up, startled, and glanced swiftly at Dick. 
 Had that headstrong young marplot been detected in trea : 
 son with the colored people ? No. Dick met his glance 
 clear-eyed, unconstrained. The shot must have been a ran- 
 dom one. 
 
 " I think you do us injustice, Miss Rosa," Wesley said. 
 " I, for one, am not interested in the blacks. All I want is 
 the Union ; after that I don't care a rush ! " 
 
 "I protest against politics," Mrs. Atterbury intervened, 
 gently. " When I was a girl the young people found much 
 more interesting subjects than politics." 
 
 Rosa: " Crops, mamma ? " 
 
 Vincent : " A mistress's eyebrow ? " 
 
 Dick : " Some other fellow's sister ? " 
 
 Olympia: " Some other girl's brother ? " 
 
 Mrs. Sprague : u Giddy girls ? " 
 
 Merry: "Bad boys?" 
 
 "Well, something about all of these," Mrs. Atterbury 
 resumed, laughing. " I don't think young people in these
 
 A MASQUE IN ARCADY. 163 
 
 times are as attached to each other as we used to be in our 
 day do you, Mrs. Sprague ? " 
 
 " I don't know how it is with you in the South ; but we 
 no longer have young people in the North. Our children 
 bring us up now we do not bring them up." 
 
 "That accounts for the higher average of intelligence 
 among parents noted in the last census," Olympia interrupts 
 her mother to say. 
 
 " There, do you see ? " Mrs. Sprague continues, with a 
 smile, and in a tone that has none of the asperity the words 
 might imply. " No reverence, no waiting for the elders, as 
 we were taught." 
 
 " It depends a good deal, does it not, whether the elders 
 are lovers ? " Vincent asked, innocently. 
 
 " Oh, don't look at me, Mrs. Sprague, for support or sym- 
 pathy. Vincent is your handiwork ; he was formed in the 
 North. He is one of your new school of youth; he is 
 Southern only in loyalty to his State. For a time I had 
 painful apprehensions that that, too, had been educated 
 away." 
 
 " It was his reason that kept him faithful there," Rosa 
 ventured, and catches Vincent dropping his eyes in confusion 
 from the demure glances of Olympia. 
 
 "Oh, no; pride. A Virginian is like a Roman, he is 
 prouder to be a citizen in the Dominion than a king in an- 
 other country," Mrs. Atterbury says, with stately decision. 
 " No matter where his heart may be," and she glanced casu- 
 ally at Olympia, "his duty is to his State." 
 
 " Politics, mamma, politics ; remember your young days. 
 Talk of kings, courts, romance, madrigals but leave out 
 politics," Rosa cried, remonstratingly. 
 
 " Let's turn to political economy. How do you propose 
 disposing of your tobacco and cotton this year ? " Jack asked, 
 gravely. 
 
 l ' We are under contract to deliver ten thousand bales at 
 Wilmington to our agent," Vincent replied. "As for to- 
 bacco, we expect to sell all we can raise to the Yankee gen- 
 erals. We have already begun negotiations with some of
 
 ]31 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 your commanders who are too good Yankees to miss the 
 main chance." 
 
 " You're not in earnest ? " Jack cried, aghast. 
 
 " As earnest as a maid with her first love." 
 
 *' But who who is the miscreant that degrades his 
 cause by such traffic ? " 
 
 " Oh, if you wait until you learn from me, you'll never 
 bo a dangerous accuser. I learn in letters from friends in 
 the West that all the cotton crop has been contracted for by 
 men either in the Northern army or high in the confidence 
 of the Administration. You see, Jack, we are not the Arca- 
 dian simpletons you think us. This war is to be paid for 
 out of Northern pockets, any way you look at it. We've got 
 cotton and tobacco, you must have both ; you've got money, 
 we must have that. What we don't sell to you we'll send to 
 England." 
 
 All at the table had listened absorbedly to this strange 
 revelation, and Jack rose from the table shocked and dis- 
 couraged. 
 
 Olympia seated herself at the piano, and, slipping out, 
 as he supposed, unseen, Jack strolled off into the fragrant 
 alleys of oleander and laurel. Dick, however, was at his 
 heels. The two continued on in silence, Dick trolling along, 
 switching the bugs from the pink blossoms that filled the 
 air with an enervating odor. 
 
 "I say. Jack, I've found out something." 
 
 " What have you found out, you young conspirator ? " 
 
 " Wesley Boone's trying to get the negroes to help him 
 off." 
 
 "The devil he is!" 
 
 " Yes. Last night I was down in the rose-fields. Young 
 Clem, Aunt Penelope's boy, was sitting under a bush talking 
 with a crony. I heard him say, ' De cap'n'll take you, too, 
 ef you doan say noffin'. He guv Pompey ten gold dollars.' 
 
 " ' De Lor' ! Will he take ev'ybody 'long, too, Clem ? ' 
 
 " ' Good Lor', no ! He's goin' to get his army, and den 
 he'll come an' fetch all de niggahs.' 
 
 " ' De Lor' ! '
 
 A MASQUE IN ARCADY. 165 
 
 " Trying to get closer, I made a rustling of the bushes, 
 and the young imps shot through them like weasles before I 
 could lay hands on them. Now, what do you think of that ? " 
 
 " If it is only to escape, all right ; but if it is an attempt 
 to stir up insurrection, I will stop Wesley myself, rather than 
 let him carry it out ! " 
 
 " Wouldn't it be the best thing to warn Vincent ? It 
 would be a dreadful thing to let him go and leave his poor 
 mother and sister here unprotected." 
 
 '' Let me think it over. I will hit on some plan to keep 
 Wesley from making an ingrate of himself without bring- 
 ing danger on our benefactors." 
 
 Kate was dawdling on the lawn as the two returned to 
 the house. Jack challenged her to a jaunt. 
 
 " Where shall it be ? " she asked, readily, moving toward 
 him. " The garden of the gods ? " 
 
 " The garden of the goddesses, you mean, if it is the rose- 
 field." 
 
 " That's true ; a god's garden would be filled with thorns 
 and warlike blossoms." 
 
 " I don't know ; a rose-garden grew the wars of the houses 
 of York and Lancaster." 
 
 " Do you remember the scene in Shakespeare where Bol- 
 ingbroke and Gaunt pluck the roses ? " 
 
 " Quite well. There is always something pathetic to me 
 in the fables historians invent to excuse or palliate, or, per- 
 haps it would be juster to say, make tolerable, the stained 
 pages of the past. It is brought doubly nearer and distinct 
 by this miserable war, and the strange fate that has fallen 
 upon us to be the guests of a family whose hopes are fixed 
 upon what would make us miserable if it ever happened." 
 
 " It never will. That's the reason I listen with pity to 
 the childish vauntings of these kind people. They have, 
 you see, no conception of the Northern people 110 idea of 
 the deep-seated purpose that moves the States as one man to 
 stifle this monstrous attempt." 
 
 They walked on in silence a few paces, and Kate con- 
 tinued :
 
 166 TUB IRON GAME. 
 
 "I don't know how you feel, Mr. Sprague, but I am 
 wretched here. I feel like a traitor, receiving such kind- 
 ness, treated with such guileless confidence, and yet my 
 heart is filled with everything they abhor. It is not so hard 
 for you, because you and Vincent have been close friends. 
 He has made your house his home, but I certainly feel that 
 Wesley and I should go elsewhere, now that he is able to be 
 about." 
 
 " Does Wesley feel this this embarrassment ? " 
 
 " Passionately. He said, last night, he felt like a sneak. 
 He would fly in an instant, if he could see any possible way 
 to our lines." 
 
 " Pray, Miss Boone, tell him to be very circumspect. I 
 know the Southern nature. When they give you their 
 heart they give entirely. But the least sign of of distrust 
 will turn them into something worse than indifference. We 
 may nee our way out soon. .Caution Wesley against any act 
 any act" he emphasized the words " that may lead these 
 kind people to think that he doesn't trust them, or that he 
 would take advantage of servile insurrection to gain his lib- 
 erty. Of course, they know that we are all restive here; 
 that we shall be even more impatient when Vincent goes 
 but they could not understand any surreptitious movement 
 on our part, to enable -us to get away." 
 
 He hoped that, if she were in Wesley's confidence, she 
 would understand his meaning. But she gave no sign. She 
 assented with an affirmative movement of the head, and they 
 walked through the fragrant paths, plucking a rose now and 
 then that seemed more tempting than its fellows. At the 
 end of the field of roses a Cherokee hedge grew so thick and 
 high that it formed a screen and rampart between the house 
 land and a dense grove of pines which was itself bor- 
 dered by a stream that here and there spread out into tiny 
 lakelets. On the larger of these there were rude " dug-outs," 
 made by the darkies to cut off the long walk from their 
 quarters to the tobacco and corn fields. 
 
 "Was there ever an Eden more perfect than this delicious 
 place ? " Kate cried, as the flaming sun sent banners of gold,
 
 A MASQUE IN ARCADY. 167 
 
 mingled in a rainbow baldric with the blooming parterres of 
 
 " I don't know much about Eden, and the little I do know 
 doesn't give me a sympathetic reminiscence of the place; 
 but I agree with you that Rosedale is about as near a para- 
 dise as one can come to on this earth," Jack qualifledly re- 
 plied. 
 
 " And yet we want to fly from it ? " 
 
 " Ah, yes ; because the tree of our life, the volume of our 
 knowledge, or, in plain prose, our hearts, are not here, and 
 scenic beauty is a poor substitute for that. Duty, I am con- 
 vinced, is the key of the best life. There are hearts here, 
 noble ones duties here, inspiring ones. But they do not 
 satisfy us ; they are become a torment to me. I feel like a 
 soldier brought from duty; a priest fallen into the ways of 
 the flesh." 
 
 "Your rhapsodies are like most fine-sounding things, 
 more to the hope than the heart," Kate murmured, gazing 
 dreamily into the purple mass of color hovering changefully 
 over the opaque water at their feet. " You mean they do not 
 reach your heart ; that your soul is far away as to what is 
 here. I think Vincent and Rosa would not agree that life 
 has any more or narrower limitations here than we recog- 
 nize at Acredale." 
 
 " Let us go on the water." He pulled the rude shallop to 
 her feet and they got in and went on, Jack not heeding her 
 gibe. "These brackish, threatening deeps remind me of all 
 sorts of weird and uncanny things ; Stygian pools Lethe 
 what not mystic and terrifying. See, the tiny waves that 
 curl before our boat are like thin ink; a thousand roots and 
 herbs and who knows what mysterious vegetable mixture 
 colors these dark deeps ? I could fancy myself on an un- 
 canny pilgrimage, seeking some demon delight." 
 
 There was but one oar in the boat, which the negroes used 
 as a scull. Jack made a poor fist with this, but there was no 
 need of rowing. Kate, catching a projecting limb from the 
 thick bushes on the margin, sent the little, wabbling craft on- 
 ward in noisless, spasmodic plunges. Deep fringes of wild
 
 1G8 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 columbine fell in fluffy sprays from the higher hanks as 
 the boat drifted along the other side. The thickets were 
 musical with the chattering cat-birds and whip-poor-wills, 
 mingled with a scoi-e of woodland melodists that Jack's limit- 
 ed woodcraft did not enable him to recognize. 
 
 " Who would think that we are within a half-mile of a 
 completely appointed country house ? We are as isolated 
 here from all vestiges of civilization as we should be in a 
 Florida everglade," Kate said, as the little craft swam along 
 in an eddy. 
 
 " It seems to me typical of the people this curiously wild 
 transition from blooming, well-kept gardens, to such still 
 and solemn nature. The place might be called primeval: 
 look at those gnarled roots, like prodigious serpents ; see the 
 shining bark of the larch I think it is larch I should call 
 it ' slippery ' elm if it were at Acredale ; but see the fantastic 
 effects of the little lances of sunlight breaking through! 
 Isn't it the realization of all you ever read in ' Uncle Tom ' 
 or ' Dred ' ? " 
 
 Kate glanced into the weird deeps of foliage, where a 
 bird, fluttering 011 the wing, aroused strange echoes. " Ugh ! " 
 she said, in a half whisper, " I can imagine it the meeting- 
 place of ' Tarn o' Shanter's ' eldritches seeing this but, all 
 the same, do you know it is fascinating beyond words to me ? 
 Should you mind going in a little farther I should like the 
 sensation of awe the place suggests, since there can be no 
 danger while you are here ? " 
 
 He gave her a quick glance, but her eyes were fastened on 
 the dark recesses beyond. 
 
 " I should be delighted, but I won't insure your gown, 
 nor nor half promise that we shall come out alive." 
 
 " Oh, as to that, I'll take the risk." 
 
 " I don't know the habits of Southern snakes ; but if they 
 are as well-bred as ours, they retire from the ken of wicked 
 men at sundown, so we needn't fear them, as the sun is too 
 far down for the snake of tradition to see or molest us." 
 
 They stepped out of the boat at a green, sedgy point, ex- 
 tending from a labyrinth of flowering vines and creepers.
 
 A MASQUE IN ARCADY. . 169 
 
 Once inside the delicious odorous screen, they found them- 
 selves in an archipelago of green islets, connected by monster 
 roots or moss-covered trunks that seemed laid by elfin hands 
 for the penetration of this leafy jungle. 
 
 " Yes ; I was going to say," Jack continued, " this swift 
 transposition from the cultivation of civilization to the handi- 
 work of Nature is whimsically illustrative of the people. Did 
 you ever see or hear or read of such open-handed, honest- 
 hearted hospitality as theirs; such refinement of manners; 
 such sincerity in speech and act ? Contrast this with their 
 fairly pagan creed as to the slaves; their intolerance of the 
 Northern people; their clannish reverence for family." 
 
 " But isn't the inequality of the Southern character due to 
 their strange lack of education ? Few of them are cultivated 
 as we understand education. Do you notice that among the 
 people we met at Williamsburg officers as well as civilians 
 none of them were equal to even a very limited range of 
 subjects ? All who are educated have been in the North. 
 Ah good Heavens ! " 
 
 Kate's exclamation was due to a sudden sinking in the 
 mossy causeway until she was almost buried in the tall ferns. 
 Jack helped her out, shivered a moment, doubtingly, as he 
 exclaimed : 
 
 ' The sun is nearly down now, though the air is trans- 
 parent, or would be if we were in the free play of daylight. 
 I think it would be better to go back." But they made no 
 haste. Such trophies of ferns and lace-like mosses were not 
 to be plucked in every walk, and they dawdled on and on 
 skirmishing, with delighted hardihood, against the pitfalls of 
 bog that covered morass and pitch-black mud. When the 
 impulse finally came to hasten back, they were somewhat 
 cbagrined to discover that they had lost their own trail. 
 The point where they had quit the stream could not be 
 found. Clambering plants, burdened with blossoms, fra- 
 grant as honeysuckle, grew all along the bank, and the bush 
 that had attracted them was no longer a landmark. 
 
 " Well," Jack said, confidently, " the sun disappeared 
 over tbere ; that is southwest. The house is in that direction
 
 170 TUB IRON GAME. 
 
 northeast. Now, if you will keep that big sycamore in 
 your eye and follow me, we shall be Hearing the house, as 
 I calculate." 
 
 They pushed on in that direction, but had only gone a 
 few yards when the ground became a perfect quagmire of 
 black loam, that looked like coal ground to powder, and was 
 thin as mush. 
 
 "This is a brilliant stroke on my part, I must say," 
 Jack cried, facing Kate ruefully. " We must go back and 
 examine the ground, as Indians do, and find our entrance 
 trail in that way. I will watch the ground and you keep an 
 eye on the shrubs. Wherever you see havoc among them 
 you may be sure my manly foot has fallen there." 
 
 Suddenly they were conscious of an indescribable change 
 in the place. Neither knew what it was. It had corne on in 
 the excitement of their march into the morass or it had 
 come the instant they both became conscious of it. What 
 was it ? Kate turned and looked into Jack's blank face ! 
 
 " I'm blessed if I know what it is, but it seems as if some- 
 thing had suddenly gone out of the order of things ! What 
 is it ? Do you feel it ; do you notice it ? " 
 
 " Feel it see it why, it is as palpable, or, rather to speak 
 accurately, it is as clearly absent as the color from an oil- 
 painting, leaving mere black and white outlines." 
 
 " How besotted I am ! " Jack cried ; " why, I know. The 
 sun has wholly gone, and the birds and living things have 
 ceased to sing and move." 
 
 " That's it ; could you believe that it would make such a 
 change ? Why, I thought, when we came in, the place was 
 a temple of silence, but it was a mad world compared to 
 this." 
 
 " Yes, and we must hurry and get out while we have 
 daylight to help us. I take it you wouldn't care to swim the 
 lagoon. Let us call it lagoon, for this place makes the name 
 appropriate." 
 
 " Call it whatever you like, but don't ask me to swim it," 
 Kate cried, pushing on. 
 
 " Ah ! I have our trail," Jack cries in triumph. " By
 
 A MASQUE IN ARCADY. ]71 
 
 George, it is wide enough ! " he added, bending over where 
 the thick grasses were crushed and broken. " See the ad- 
 vantage of large feet. Now, if you had been alone, 'twould 
 have been as hard as to trace a bird's track." 
 
 " Is that an implication that I have Chinese feet ? " 
 " No, too literal young woman. It was meant to show 
 you that I am very much relieved, for, 'pon my soul, I was 
 afraid we were in a very disagreeable scrape." 
 " And you are now quite sure we are not ? " 
 " Quite sure. Don't you want to take my arm ? " 
 " Oh, no, thank you. I'm not at all tired. I'm used to 
 longer walks than this." 
 
 " Longer, possibly, but not over such trying ground." 
 " Oh, yes. I've gone with Wesley and his friends to the 
 lakes in the North Woods." 
 
 " Ah ! I've never been there. Are they as bad travel as 
 this ? " 
 
 " Infinitely worse Why, what was that ? " 
 " It sounded very like the report of a pistol." 
 Both stopped, Kate coming quite close to the young man, 
 who was bent over with his hand to his ear, trumpet-fashion. 
 u Do you" He made a warning gesture with his hand, 
 and motioned her to stoop among the ferns. A halloo was 
 heard in the distance ; then a response just ahead of where 
 the two crouched in the breast-high ferns, through which 
 the path made by their recent footsteps led. When the 
 echoing halloo died away, a bird in the distance seemed to 
 catch up the refrain and dwell upon the note with an exqui- 
 site, painful melody. 
 
 " Why. it's the throat interlude in the Magic Flute ! How 
 lovely it is ! " Kate whispered. " If you were my knight, I 
 should put on you the task of caging that lovely sound for 
 me." 
 
 The distant bird-note ceased, and then suddenly, from 
 the bushes just ahead of them, it was caught up and an- 
 swered, note for note, in a wild pibroch strain, harsher but 
 inexpressibly moving. Jack turned to Kate, his face quite 
 pale, and whispered :
 
 1Y2 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 k ' It is not a bird. They are negroes. I have read of 
 these sounds. They are marauding slaves, and we must not 
 let them see us. We must get to those thick clumps of 
 bushes. Do you think you can remain bent until we reach 
 them ? If not, we will rest every few paces." 
 
 " Go on. I can try." 
 
 The pibroch strains still continued, rising into a mourn- 
 ful wail, then sinking into the soft cries of the whip-poor-will. 
 In a few minutes the perplexed fugitives were deep in a clump 
 of wild hawberries, invisible to any one who should pass. 
 The strains had ceased as suddenly as they began. Then a 
 faint hallo-o-o sounded, being answered in the bushes, as it 
 seemed, just in front of where Jack and his companion 
 stood ; voices soon became audible farther along, ten or 
 more paces. Motioning to Kate, Jack crept along noiseless- 
 ly, and fancied he could distinguish forms through the thick 
 screen of bushes. A voice, not a negro's, said : 
 
 " I went to the cove for you what was the matter ? " 
 
 " I had the devil's work to get through the posts. For 
 some reason or other they're getting mighty sharp. I must 
 be back before twelve ; what's been done ?" 
 
 " Well, the mokes consent to go, but they won't touch 
 the ranch. You'll have to bring up a few hands; the fewer 
 the better. If them damned feather-bed sojers wasn't there, 
 we could do the job ourselves." 
 
 " When does the boss get out ? " 
 
 " Next week. I don't know what day. They'd pay high 
 for him both ways." 
 
 "No, we can't nibble there. The cap'n'll pay well. 
 That's square. We can't afford to try the other now, at any 
 rate. Is the skiff here ? " 
 
 "Yes; well, get in." 
 
 There was a plash and the receding sound of voices. 
 Jack darted through the screen of branches, but he could not 
 distinguish the figures, for it was growing every instant 
 dimmer twilight. He turned to Kate. She was at his side. 
 
 " Who were they what were they planning ? Were 
 they soldiers ? " she asked.
 
 A MASQUE IN ARCADY. 173 
 
 " Never mind them now. We must find a way out of 
 this. Our boat caii't be far off. We must follow this line 
 of bushes until we come to the spot we left. I know I can 
 recognize it, for there was an enormous tree fallen a few 
 steps from the sedge bank we landed on." 
 
 It was a very toilsome journey now, obliged as they were 
 to hug the obstinate growth of haws, wild alder, and dog 
 roses, which tore flesh and garments in the hurried flight. 
 They came to the dead tree finally, and Jack almost shouted 
 in grateful relief : 
 
 " You were a true prophet, Miss Boone. You gave utter- 
 ance to some Druid-like remarks as we crossed the Stygian 
 pool. The worst your fancy painted couldn't equal what 
 we've seen and heard. ' 
 
 " I have seen nothing dreadful, and I can't say that I un- 
 derstand very much of what we heard." 
 
 " There is some ' caper ' going on to give these cut-throats 
 a chance to get booty or something of the sort." 
 
 " They are probably rebel soldiers planning to sack the 
 commissary." 
 
 They were in the boat now, and Jack was sending it for- 
 ward by lusty lunges against every protruding object he 
 could get a stroke at; when these failed he managed to scull 
 after a fashion. They found the household in consternation 
 when they got back, but Jack gave a picturesque narrative of 
 their escapade, omitting the encounter with the negroes which 
 he had charged Kate to say nothing about, as it would only 
 alarm Mrs. Atterbury. The garments of the explorers told 
 the tale of their mishaps, and when they had clothed them- 
 selves anew supper was announced. The feast was of the 
 lightest sort : sherbet or tea for those who liked it ; fruit and 
 crackers, honey or marmalade a triumph in the cultivation 
 of dyspepsia, Jack said when he first began the eating. But 
 it was observed that the disease had no teri*ors for him, for 
 he sat at the table as long as he could get any one to remain 
 with him, and did his share in testing all the 'dishes. He 
 outsat everybody that night except Dick, who never got 
 tired of any place that brought him near his idol.
 
 174: THE IRON GAME. 
 
 " I'm going up-stairs in a moment, Towhead. Come up 
 after me." 
 
 Dick nodded, a gleam of delightful expectation in his 
 eyes. He was just in the ardent period when boys love to 
 make mysteries of very ordinary things, and Jack's sotto 
 voce command was like the hero's voice in the play, " Meet 
 me by the ruined well when midnight strikes. " He followed 
 Jack up the wide staircase and into his own room, for greater 
 security, as no one would think of looking for them there. 
 
 " Now, tell me all you have found out," Jack commanded 
 as he shut the door. " Have you been among the darkys ? " 
 
 " I've found out this much. The old negroes are opposed 
 to going away or in any shape annoying their masters. The 
 young bucks and the women are very eager to fly. It seems 
 that some one has spread the story among them that Lincoln 
 has sent Butler to Fort Monroe to receive all the negroes on 
 the Peninsula. They have been assured that they are to 
 have ' their freedom, one hundred acres of land, and an ox- 
 team.' Where the report comes from, I can't find out ; but 
 there is some communication between here and the Union 
 lines, I'm positive." 
 
 " Has Wesley been with the negroes again ? " 
 
 " No. I have kept an eye on him all day." 
 
 " Where does he go at night ? " 
 
 " The doctor has forbidden him to be in the night air for 
 the present." 
 
 " Well, you keep an eye on Wesley," and then Jack nar- 
 rated the strange scene in the swamp, the mysterious calls, 
 and the conversation. 
 
 Dick listened in awe, mingled with rapture. " Oh, why 
 wasn't I there ? Just my blamed luck ! I would have fol- 
 lowed them, and then we should have known what they 
 were up to. Did you know that a company of cavalry had 
 gone into camp just below the grove ? " 
 
 " No when ? " 
 
 " This evening. Vincent is down there now." 
 
 " Well, you may be sure they suspect something. I won- 
 der if it wouldn't be better to speak to Vincent ? "
 
 A MASQUE IN ARCADY. 175 
 
 " Of course not ! What have we to tell him ? Simply my 
 suspicions and Clem's chatter. The little moke may have 
 bcsen lying ; I can't see that any of them do much else." 
 
 " The worst of it is, these Southerners are very sensitive 
 about any allusion to the negroes. They would pooh-pooh 
 anything we might say that was not backed by proof. It's 
 a mighty uncomfortable fix to be in, Dick, my boy ; though, 
 'pon my soul, I believe you enjoy it ! " 
 
 Dick grinned deprecating] y. 
 
 " I think you do, you unfledged Guy Fawkes. I know 
 nothing would give you greater joy than to put on a mask, 
 grasp a dagger in your hand, and go to Wesley, crying, ' Vil- 
 lain, your secret or your life ! ' Dick, you're a stage hero ; 
 you're a thing of sawdust and tinsel. Come to the parlor 
 and hear Kate play the divine songs of Mendelssohn ; per- 
 haps, night-eyed conspirator, to whirl Polly or Miss Rosa in 
 the delirium of the ' Blaue DonauS Come." 
 
 But there was neither dance nor music when they reached 
 the drawing-room. Everybody was there ; Vincent had just 
 come, and the first words Jack and Dick heard glued them 
 to their places. 
 
 "Yes, all the iiegroes on the Lawless', Skinner's, and 
 Lomas's plantations have gone. Butler has declared them 
 contrabands of war, and a lot of Yankee speculators have 
 been sneaking thi'ough the plantations, filling their ignorant 
 minds with promises of freedom, a farm, and a share of their 
 masters' property. Their real purpose is to get the negroes 
 and bold them until the two governments come to terms, and 
 then they will get rewards for every nigger they hold. Oh, 
 these Yankees can see ways of making money through a 
 stone-wall," and Vincent laughed lightly, as though the in- 
 cident in nq way concerned him. " Captain Cram, who is in 
 camp just below in the oak clearing, is ordered to scour the 
 river-bank to the enemy's lines near Hampton, so we need 
 have no fear of these enterprising apostles of freedom inter- 
 fering with our niggers." 
 
 " I don't think one of them could be induced to leave us 
 if offered all our farms," Mrs. Atterbury said, a little proudly. 
 12
 
 176 THE IROX GAME. 
 
 " There isn't one of them that I haven't brought through 
 sickness or trouble of one sort or another, and there isn't 
 one that wouldn't take my command before the gold of a 
 stranger. " 
 
 " I don't know, Mrs. Atterbury," Mrs. Sprague ventured, 
 mildly. " Gold is a mighty weight in an argument. I have 
 known it to change the convictions of a lifetime in a mo- 
 ment. I have known it to make a man renounce his father, 
 dishonor his name, belie his whole life, deny his family." 
 
 " When a fortune beyond reasonable dreams was placed 
 upon the head of Charles Stuart, for whom our ancestors 
 fought and beggared themselves, his secret was in the keep- 
 ing of scores of peasants, and the blood-money lay idle. I 
 could cite hundreds of similar proofs, that gold is not God 
 everywhere. I mean no offense, but you will agree with ine 
 that you Northern people are given up to the getting and 
 worship of money. It is not so with us. Perhaps because 
 we have it, and with it something that makes it secondary 
 birth. I have no fear of the infidelity of any of my people. 
 I would as soon doubt Rosa or Vincent as the smallest black 
 on my estate." 
 
 She spoke with mild, high-bred dignity, not a particle of 
 assertion or captious intolerance, but as a pi-elate might as- 
 sert the majesty of the word on the altar, neither looking 
 for dissent nor dreaming that the spirit of it could exist. 
 
 " I'm glad to hear your mother express such confidence, 
 Vint," Jack said as they walked out on the veranda to take 
 a good-night smoke; "but just let me give you a maxim 
 of my own, the lock's not sure unless the key is in your 
 pocket." 
 
 "Sententious, my boy, but vague. My mother is per- 
 fectly right. Our niggers are fidelity itself. But since we 
 are so near the Butler lines, where his agents can sneak up 
 on the river and kidnap the new sort of contraband, I think 
 it better to take some precaution. Hereafter General Ma- 
 gruder will have a picket post within two miles of us, be- 
 tween here and the creek, which offers a convenient point 
 for smuggling."
 
 TREASON AND STRATAGEMS. 177 
 
 "I am heartily relieved to hear it," Jack cried, giving 
 something too much fervor to his relief, for Vincent turned 
 and looked at him in surprise, but it was too dark in the 
 shadow of the clematis to see his face, and after a silence 
 Vincent said : 
 
 " Mamma has told you that the President is coming to 
 Williamsburg to review Magruder's troops ? " 
 
 " No ; she hadn't mentioned it. Is he ? " 
 
 ' Yes ; he will be there Thursday afternoon, and we shall 
 have the ball the same evening. He will be here with Gen- 
 eral Lee, his chief of staff, and remain all night; so that you 
 will be able to say when you go back North something that 
 few Yankees will be able to say during the war that you 
 have broken bread with the first President of the Confed- 
 eracy." 
 
 u I will strive to bear m;y honors with humility," Jack 
 said. 
 
 " It befits the conquered to be humble." 
 
 " If I hadn't come in time, you two would have been in a 
 squabble own it ! " and Rosa drew a chair between them as 
 a peacemaker. 
 
 CHAPTER XVH. 
 
 TREASON AND STRATAGEMS. 
 
 ROSEDALE was, indeed, Eden in the most orthodox sense' 
 to the group so strangely billeted in its lovely tranquillity. 
 No sooner was the anguish concerning the invalids off Kate's, 
 Olympia's, and Rosa's minds, than new perplexities beset 
 them. Rosa was barely eighteen, Kate and Olympia older 
 by three or four years, but the younger girl was in many 
 essential things quite as mature as her Northern comrades. 
 But Jack could not comprehend this, and quite innocently 
 did and said things to arouse the young girl's dreams. I 
 think I have said that Jack was a very comely fellow ? He
 
 178 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 was big and brawny, and tireless in good-humor, and the 
 attractive little gallantries that women adore. He looked 
 as sentimentally sincere, uttering a paradox, as another vow- 
 ing eternal fidelity. He gave every woman the impression 
 that his mind was lost wondering how he should exist until 
 she gave him the right to call her his own. Though, as a 
 matter of fact, it is the man who is the woman's own when 
 the final word comes. 
 
 Rosa was not long in discovering Vincent's happy tumult 
 in Olympia's presence, and she secretly misunderstood Jack 
 the more that he was so lavish and open in his adulations. 
 If he rode, he exhausted eulogy in describing her pose, her 
 daring, her skill ; if they danced, as they did nearly every 
 night until poor Merry's fingers ached from drumming the 
 unholy strains of Faust, Strausr, and what not, in the old- 
 fashioned waltzes he pan ting] y declared that she made the 
 music seem a celestial choir by her lightness; in long walks 
 in the rose-fields he exhausted a not very laborious store of 
 botanical conceits, to make her cheeks resemble the roses. 
 This assurance, this recklessness, this aplomb, quite bewil- 
 dered the girl, who posed in Richmond for a passed mistress 
 . of flirting. She had, unless rumor was badly at fault, jilted 
 an appalling list of the striplings who believed that beard- 
 growing and love-making were conventionally contempo- 
 raneous events. But they had "mooned" about her and 
 made themselves absurd in vain, while this unconscious 
 Adonis calmly walked, talked, and acted as if she could know 
 nothing else than love him, and one day she started in deli- 
 cious misery to find that she did that is, she thought she 
 might if if ? But there her dreams became nebulous they 
 were rosy in outline, however, and she was content to rest 
 there. 
 
 The morning after the coming of the cavalry-troop, Wes- 
 ley was discussing the never-ending theme of how he was 
 going to get home with Kate busy arranging the ferns she 
 had brought from the swamp. 
 
 "Really, Wesley, just now you ought to be content. 
 There is no likelihood of any movement; besides, philoso-
 
 TREASON AND STRATAGEMS. 179 
 
 phy is as much a merit in a soldier as valor it is valor, it is 
 endurance. You complain of your unhappy fate, housed 
 here with a lot of women and idlers. How would you bear up 
 in Libby Prison ? There are as good men as you there, my 
 dear; shall I say better or older soldiers, Brutus ? You may 
 take your choice, and ' count on a sister's blind partiality to 
 justify you !'" 
 
 "Oh, don't always talk nonsense, Kate. You're worse 
 than Jack Sprague. He doesn't seem to have a serious 
 thought in his head from daylight till bedtime." 
 
 "Perhaps he keeps all his sober thoughts for the night, 
 to give them good company." 
 
 u No, but do say what I ought to do." 
 
 "You ought to study to make yourself tolerable to your 
 sister, dear, and agreeable to the other fellows' sisters. I 
 have remarked that the young man who does that, keeps 
 out of despondency and other uncomfortable conditions that 
 too much brooding on an empty head brings about." 
 
 " I'd like to know what heart I can have to make myself 
 agreeable to other fellows' sisters when you are always lam- 
 pooning me ; you delight in making me think I am no- 
 body." 
 
 "Don't fear, my dear; if that were my delight I should 
 die an old maid, never having known delight, for it would 
 need more force than I can muster to make Wesley Boone, 
 captain U. S. A., anything else than he is his father's pride 
 and his sister's joy. No, dear, my delight is to see you gay 
 and open and frank and manly, self-dependent, grateful for 
 the consideration shown you, and recognizant of the con- 
 stant admonition of your sagacious sister. " 
 
 "You talk exactly like the woman in George Sand's 
 stupid stories ; they always remind me of men in petti- 
 coats." 
 
 " That's a weak and strained comparison ; not, however, 
 unworthy a soldier. We always compare, in speech, to 
 strengthen assertion or adorn it, and when we do we com- 
 pare what is equivocal or vague, with what is well known 
 and usual. Now, I do not remember -any men in petticoats,
 
 180 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 unless you mean the Orientals, who wear a sort of skirt, and 
 the Scots, who used to wear kilts but strictly speaking ' 
 
 " Do, Kate, for Heaven's sake, be serious for a moment ! 
 I have a chance to escape, no matter how, but I can make 
 my way to our lines without running any great risk. Now, 
 is it or is it not dishonorable for me to do it ? " 
 
 ' Seriously, Wesley, just now it would be, while Vincent 
 is here, for he is in a sense pledged for you to his superior. 
 Further, there is no need to hurry. You are barely recov- 
 ered. If you were North you would be in Acredale ; if you 
 were, there is no immediate want of your presence in the 
 army. The articles we see in the Richmond papers every 
 day, copied from Northern journals, show that this new gen- 
 eral, McClellan, means to bring a trained, drilled, disciplined 
 army down when he moves. It took six months to prepare 
 McDowell's useless mass. It will certainly take a year to 
 put the million men now arming in shape to fight. I may 
 be wrong, but at the earliest there can be no movement be- 
 fore late in October. By that time we shall probably have 
 the problem solved by the Government, and you will go 
 North, having made delightful friends of all this charming 
 family." 
 
 Wesley was even more afraid of Kate's strong sense of 
 honor than of her biting sarcasm, and he ended the inter- 
 view without daring to tell her how far he had compromised 
 himself with the secret agents that were surrounding the 
 plantation. Dick, running down-stairs in his wake, encount- 
 ered Rosa, with her garden hat covering her like the roof 
 of a disrupted pagoda. She arrested his stride as he was 
 darting toward the door. 
 
 " Here you Richard, just come and be of some use to 
 me. I'm housekeeper to-day, and I want to go to the quar- 
 ters. Come along." 
 
 Now Dick had a double grievance against this imperious 
 young person. He had fallen into the most violent love 
 with her brown eyes and pink cheeks the moment he saw 
 her ; he had assiduously striven both to conceal and reveal 
 this maddening condition of mind. But he remarked with
 
 TREASON* AND STRATAGEMS. 181 
 
 ungovernable wrath that, whenever Jack or Wesley came 
 about, the heartless young jilt, made as if she didn't know 
 him ; quite ignored him, and cared no more for his simple 
 adoration than she did for the frisky gambols of Pizarro, the 
 mastiff. But she was so adorable ; her Southern accent was 
 so bewitching ; she put so much softness in those amusing 
 idioms " I reckon " and " Seems like," " You others," and the 
 countless little tricks of the Southern vernacular, that Dick 
 passed sleepless hours and delicious days dreaming and sigh- 
 ing and groaning and doing all manner of unreasonable 
 things that we all do when we meet our first Rosas and 
 they light the torch for other feet more favored than our own. 
 
 So, when Rosa called him to accompany her, Dick took 
 the round basket she held out to him, and walked sulkily 
 ahead of her, never opening his mouth. When he had 
 stalked along through the currant bushes, he half turned his 
 face ; she was walking demurely behind him. and he made a 
 pretext of picking a currant to give her a chance to come 
 abreast. She did, and passed him trippingly, saying, as she 
 cast a sympathetic side glance at him : 
 
 " Toothache ? " 
 
 He stood rooted to the spot with indignant amazement. 
 The heartless little minx ! How dare she talk like that to a 
 soldier ? 
 
 "Did you call some one. Miss Atterbury ?" he said, with 
 chilling dignity. Usually he called her plain Rosa. 
 
 " I thought may be you had the toothache you kept so 
 quiet." 
 
 " No ; I haven't got the toothache." Poor Dick ! He said, 
 to himself, that he had much worse. But he wouldn't grat- 
 ify her with the acknowledgment of her triumph, and he 
 stalked along with the basket over his head, as he had often 
 seen the darkeys in the sun. There was a faint little ap- 
 pealing cry from behind. 
 
 Oh oh dear ! " 
 
 " What is it; are you hurt ?" he cried, rushing to where 
 Rosa stood, balanced on one foot. 
 
 " There is a crab thorn an inch long in my foot ; it's gone
 
 182 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 through shoe and all. That wretched Sardanapalus never 
 clears the limbs away when he cuts the hedge. I'll have 
 him horsewhipped. Oh, dear ! " 
 
 " Let me hold you while I look for the thorn." 
 
 Dick cleverly slipped his arm about her waist and set the 
 basket endwise for her to sit on. Then kneeling, he picked 
 out the thorn, which was a great deal less than the dimen- 
 sions Rosa had described. But he said nothing to her about 
 picking the torment out and slipping it in his vest pocket. 
 He held the foot, examining the sole critically. Finally, as 
 she moved impatiently, he asked : 
 
 " Does it hurt yet ? " 
 
 " Of course it does, you stupid fellow. Do you suppose I 
 would sit here like a goose on a gridiron and let you hold 
 my foot if it didn't hurt ? Men never have any sense when 
 they ought to." 
 
 He affected to examine the sole of the thin leather of the 
 upper still more minutely. As she gave no sign of ending 
 the comedy, he said : 
 
 " I'm sure, Rosa, if it relieves the pain to have me hold 
 your foot, I'll sit here in the sun all day if you'll bring the 
 rim of your hat over a little but, as for the thorn, it has 
 been out this ten minutes." 
 
 She gave him a sudden push and darted away. He fol- 
 lowed laughing, admonishing her against another thorn. 
 But she deigned no answer. Coming to the bee-hives, she 
 stopped a moment to watch the busy swarm, and Dick stole 
 up beside her. She turned pettishly, and he said, insinuat- 
 ingly : 
 
 "Toothache?" 
 
 " You know, Dick, you're too trying for anything hold- 
 ing my foot there like a ninny in the hot sun. You haven't 
 a thimbleful of sense." 
 
 " Well, now we'll test these propositions, as Jack does, by 
 syllogisms. Let me see. All men are trying. Dick Perley 
 is a man; therefore he is trying." 
 
 " No ; your premise isn't that what you call it ? is 
 wrong. Dick Perley is only a boy."
 
 TREASON AND STRATAGEMS. 183 
 
 " I'll be nineteen in January next." 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 "Well, your father was married at nineteen. You've 
 said it yourself, Rosa, and thought it greatly to his credit 
 at least Vint does." 
 
 "You can't imitate my father in that, at least." 
 
 "I might." 
 
 " How ? " 
 
 " You could help me, Rosa." 
 
 " How ? " 
 
 " Would you if you could ? " 
 
 "That depends." 
 
 " On what ? " 
 
 "On the girl." 
 
 "Ah ! she's a perfect girl, but she's very young," and 
 Dick eyed Rosa with ineffable complacency. 
 
 "That's bad." 
 
 " But she's older than she looks." 
 
 " That's worse; you'd grow tired of her." 
 
 " No, no ; I don't mean she's older than she looks ; her 
 mind is older than her looks." 
 
 " Women with minds make troublesome wives. I have 
 refused to let Vincent marry several of that kind." 
 
 "But, my girl hasn't got that kind of mind; it is all 
 sweetness and wit and gayety and loveliness and and ' 
 
 " Your girl ? Who gave her to you ? " 
 
 " Love gave her to me." 
 
 " Oh, well, since love gave her to you, I don't see how I 
 can be of any service. Down here the mother always gives 
 the girl, unless 'she have no mother; then some other kin 
 gives her. But if your girl has all these qualities you de- 
 scribe, I advise you to get her into your own keeping just as 
 soon as you can, for that's the sort of girl all the fellows 
 about here are seeking." 
 
 " Very well, I'm ready. Will you help me ? It comes 
 back where we started." 
 
 "But you evaded my question." 
 
 " What question did I evade ? I answered like an ency-
 
 151 TEE IRON" GAME. 
 
 clopaxlia '. " Dick cried, immensely satisfied with his own 
 
 " That convicts you ; an encyclopaedia has nothing about 
 living people/' 
 
 "Oh, yes; the new ones do." Dick was now very near 
 her as she stood contemplating the bees, swarming in the 
 comb. " O Eosa Rosa, you know I love you. and you 
 know I can never love anybody else. Why will you pre- 
 tend not to understand me ? I don't want you to marry me 
 now. but by and by. when I shall have made a name as a 
 soldier, or or something." he added in painful turbulence 
 of joy and fear over the great words which he had been 
 racking his small wits to fashion for weeks past. and. now 
 that they were spoken, were not nearly so impressive as he 
 had intended they should be. 
 
 " My dear Eichard, you are a perfect boy a very delight- 
 ful boy. too, and I am extremely fond of you oh. very, very 
 fond of you but you really must not make love to me. It 
 isn't proper," and Rosa glanced into his eyes with a tender 
 little gleam, that gave more encouragement than rebuff 
 for it came into her mind, in a moment, that it was not a 
 time to hurt the bright eager love so winning, if boyish. 
 
 " Nonsense, Rosa, it is perfectly proper; everybody makes 
 love to you : Jack makes love to you, and he is as good as 
 engaged " But here it suddenly flashed in Dick's mad 
 head that he was meddling, and he stopped short Rosa 
 had turned upon him with a flash of such scorn, such indig- 
 nant pain, that he cried : 
 
 " No. no : I don't mean that ; but you know fellows do 
 make love to you. and why mayn't I .' 
 
 She flirted away from him too angry or mortified to 
 speak. He could not see her face, for she pulled the ample 
 breadth of the hat-brim down, which served at once as a veil 
 to shut out her visage and a sweeping sort of funnel to keep 
 him far from her side, as she tripped determinedly to the 
 pleasant group of clean, whitewashed cabins, where the ne- 
 groes abode. Poor Dick, vexed with himself angry at her 
 for being irritated waited in the hot sun until she had end-
 
 TREASON AND STRATAGEMS. 185 
 
 ed her commands, and when she came out to return he re- 
 pentantly sidled up, imploring pardon in every movement. 
 She couldn't resist the big. pleading blue eyes, and said, 
 quite as if there had been deep discussion on the point : 
 u I don't think you mean to be a bad boy." 
 " I'm not a boy. I'm a soldier. It isn't fair in you to call 
 me a boy." 
 
 ** You're not a girl." 1 
 
 u If I were I wouldn't be so heartless as some I know/' 
 " And if I were a boy I wouldn't be so silly as some I 
 know." 
 
 " Yes, I think Southern boys are quite soft.'' 
 '* Come, sir, my brother icas a Southern boy." 
 " Yes, but he always lived North, and is like us." 
 u Jackanapes I " 
 
 " How dare you, sir ? " 
 
 u Oh, just as easy, I dare do all that becomes a man who 
 dares do more is none. You are Rosa, and you are dear" 
 
 - Not to you." 
 
 u You cost me enough to be dear and you are lovely 
 enough to be ' Rosa ' in Latin, Rose hi English, and sweet- 
 heart in any tongue." 
 
 " You're much too pert. Boys so glib as you never really 
 love. They think thev do and perhaps they do just a lit- 
 tle." 
 
 "Ah ! a ' little more than a little,' dear Rosa." 
 
 u You're quoting Shakespeare. I suppose you know ? Til 
 quote more: A little more than a little is much too much.' " 
 
 "A little less than all is much too little for me. So, 
 Rosa, give all or none." 
 
 " I don't understand you." 
 
 That's proof you love me. Girls never love fellows 
 they understand." 
 
 '' Prove that I love you." 
 
 "Well, you don't hate me. You don't hate Vincent 
 Therefore you love him. Ergo, you love me." 
 
 "Simpleton."
 
 186 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 "True love is always simple. Here, take this white rose 
 as a sign that you don't hate me." He plucked a large half- 
 opened bud from a great sprouting branch and held it to- 
 ward her. 
 
 " But the red rose is my favorite." 
 
 " Well, here is a red one. Give me the white. That is 
 my favorite. Now we've exchanged tokens. The rose al- 
 ways goes before the ring. I'll get that. " 
 
 " If you were a true lover you would wear my colors." 
 
 ''These white leaves will grow red resting on my 
 heart." 
 
 " When they do I will listen to you." 
 
 " Will you, though ? It is a promise ; when this white 
 rose is red you will love me ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, I can promise that." 
 
 " Dear Rosa ! " He was very near her as she disentangled 
 an obtruding vine from her garments, and before she was 
 aware of his purpose he had audaciously snatched a kiss 
 from her astonished lips. 
 
 " You odious Yankee ! I haven't words to express my dis- 
 gust abhorrence ! " 
 
 " Don't try, love needs no words ; but I'll tell you : let me 
 put this white rose to your lips ; it will turn red at the touch, 
 and in that way you can take your kiss back, if you really 
 want it ; then there'll be a fair exchange. I " 
 
 " Hello, there ! are you two grafting roses ? " 
 
 It was Wesley, coming from the lower garden, where the 
 stream was narrowest beyond the high wall of hedge. 
 
 " Oh, no, Mr. Boone : Richard here is studying the color 
 in flowers. He has a theory that eclipses Goethe's ' Farben- 
 lehre.' " 
 
 " Oh, indeed ! " Wesley was quite unconscious of what 
 Goethe's doctrine of colors might be, so he prudently avoid- 
 ed urging fuller particulars regarding Dick's theory, and 
 said, vaguely: 
 
 "You have color enough here to theorize on, I'm sure." 
 
 " Yes, we have had very satisfactory experiments," Dick 
 assented naively, stealing a glance at Rosa.
 
 A CAMPAIGN OF PLOTS. 187 
 
 " But quite inconclusive," she rejoined, moving onward, 
 the two young men following in the penumbra of her wide 
 hat. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 A CAMPAIGN OF PLOTS. 
 
 MEANWHILE, there were curious events passing and coin- 
 ing to pass on the seven hills upon which the proud young 
 capital of the proud young Confederacy stood. Rome, in 
 her most imperial days, never dreamed of the scenic glories 
 that Richmond, like a spoiled beauty, was hardly conscious 
 of holding as her dower. Indeed, such is the necromantic 
 mastery of the passion of the beautiful that, once standing 
 on the glorious hill, that commands the James for twenty 
 miles twenty miles of such varied loveliness of color, con- 
 figuration, and mis en scene, that the purple distances of 
 Naples seem common to it standing there, I say, one day, 
 when the sword had long been rusting in the scabbard, and 
 the memory of those who raised it in revolt had faded 
 from all minds save those who wanted office this historian 
 thought that, had it been his lot to be born in that lovely 
 spot, he, too, would have fought for State caprices just as a 
 gallant man will take up. the quarrel of beauty, right or 
 wrong ! 
 
 Thoughts of this sort filled Barney Moore's mind too, 
 that delicious September afternoon as he stood gazing dream- 
 ily down the river, toward that vague morning-land of the 
 sun's rising, where his mind saw the long lines of blue his 
 eyes ached to rest on. Barney had left the kindly roof where 
 he had been nursed back to vigor. He had quit it in a fash- 
 ion that left a rankling sorrow in his grateful heart. Vin- 
 cent had represented to Jack the inconvenience it would be, 
 the peril, rather, for him to assume the guardianship of so 
 many enemies of the Confederacy. Scores of the old fami-
 
 188 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 lies of the city were under the ban simply because they had 
 pleaded for deliberation before deciding on the secession 
 ordinance. The Atterburys had their enemies too. It was 
 pointed out that Vincent and Rosa had been educated in 
 the North ; that Mrs. Atterbury had spent many of her re- 
 cent summers there. Their devotion to the Confederacy 
 must be shown by deeds. It was true they had given twenty 
 thousand dollars to the cause, but what was that to threefold 
 millionaires ? General Lee, their kinsman, had shaken his 
 Socratic head solemnly when Rosa, at the War Department, 
 told him, as an excellent joke, the strange chance that had 
 brought Vincent's college chum and his family under the 
 kind Rosedale roof. 
 
 Richard Perley was, therefore, deputized to rescue Barney 
 from his false position and give him a chance for exchange 
 when the time came. He journeyed up to Richmond, and, 
 one day, laid these facts before Barney, who instantly saw 
 his friend's dilemma, and at once set about inventing a ruse 
 that should extricate him, without mortifying the kind peo- 
 ple who had befriended him. When he was able to be 
 about, he feigned a desire to go to his friends in Arrowfield 
 County, south of the James, and was bidden hearty God- 
 speed. Then, with funds supplied by Jack, he gained ad- 
 mittance to a modest house far out on Main Street, where 
 the city merges into the country. They were simple people, 
 and his thrilling tale of being a refugee from Harper's Ferry 
 was plausible enough to be accepted by more skeptical peo- 
 ple than the Gannats. 
 
 Day after day Barney skirted furtively about the uncom- 
 promising walls of Libby and Castle Thunder, where once 
 or twice he had gone with his hosts to make a mental dia- 
 gram of the place for future use. Little by little he became 
 familiar with Richmond, which, like a new bride, gave the 
 visitor welcome to admire her splendid spouse, the Confed- 
 erate government. He learned all the plots of the prison, 
 and became the confidant of Letitia Lanview, known to 
 every exile in Richmond as the friend of the suffering St. 
 Veronica she was called after a poem dedicated to her by a
 
 A CAMPAIGN OF PLOTS. 189 
 
 young Harvard graduate, rescued by her perseverance from 
 death in Libby Prison. With this lady he drove all about 
 the environs of Richmond, and several times far out toward 
 the meditated route of flight, in order that he might be able to 
 lead the bewildered refugees. He got the whole landscape by 
 heart, and could have led a battalion over it in the dark. Then 
 he passed days wandering over the Libby Hill, down in the bed 
 of the "Rockets," as the bed of the James was known in those 
 days ; he learned the ground to the very beat of the patrols 
 that guarded the wretched prisoners in the towering sham- 
 bles. One whole night, too, he spent in marking the course 
 of the guards as they changed in two-hour reliefs. With 
 his facts well collected he visited Mrs. Lanview, and at last 
 he was confronted by Butler's agent. This agent was a mid- 
 dle-aged man, who had evidently once been very handsome, 
 but dissipation had left pitiable traces upon his fine features, 
 and his once large, open eyes, that perplexingly suggested 
 some one Barney tried in vain to recall vainly ? The man 
 didn't say much in the lady's presence, but when the two 
 were in the open air, facing toward the center of the town, 
 he divulged a good deal that surprised Barney. 
 
 " You are from Acredale, young man. I lived there when 
 I was younger than I am now. My name ? People call me 
 a good many names. I don't mind at all, so that I have rum 
 enough and a bed and a bite to eat. No man can have more 
 than that, my boy. I am plain Dick Jones now. It's an easy 
 name, and plenty of the same in the land ; and if I should 
 die suddenly there would be lots o' folks to feel sorry, eh ? 
 But as you are from Acredale I don't mind telling you that 
 it is Elisha Boone that foots the bill. Butler is a friend of 
 Boone's, and he has given me authority to summon all the 
 troops within reach to my aid. My business is to carry 
 young Wes Boone to Fort Monroe. Butler doesn't know 
 that. He thinks I am spying Jeff Davis and piping for the 
 prisoners. He didn't say that he wanted me to kill Davis, 
 but if we could carry him to Fort Monroe, my boy, there'd 
 be about a million dollars swag to divide ! How does that 
 strike you ? "
 
 190 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 " It doesn't strike me at all. I think it is for the interest 
 of the Union that Davis should be where he is. He is vain, 
 arrogant, silly, and dull. He will alone wreck the rebel 
 cause if he is given time. There couldn't be a greater 
 misfortune for the North than to have Davis displaced by 
 some one of real ability, such as Stephens, Lee, Benjamin, 
 Mason, Breckenridge, or, in fact, any of the men identified 
 with secession." 
 
 " You surprise me, my son. Still, admitting all you say, 
 the men who should surprise the North some fine morn- 
 ing with a present of Jeff Davis on their breakfast-plates, 
 wouldn't be without honor, to say nothing of promotion and 
 profit ? " 
 
 " Oh, if we can carry Jeff off without compromising the 
 safety of the prisoners, I'll -join you heartily. But first of all 
 we must rescue them." - 
 
 " Unquestionably ; now, here's the programme : Butler's 
 forces will be within gunshot of Magruder's lines on War- 
 wick Creek Thursday that's three days from now. The 
 prisoners will be out of the sewer Wednesday after mid- 
 night. You know the roads eastward. You will lead 
 them to the swamps near Williamsburg. There we will 
 have boats to take part down the river; the rest will make 
 through the swamps under my lead. I have been spying 
 out the land for a week. At a place called Rosedale we 
 pick up young Boone, who is really the object of my jour- 
 ney. I couldn't find him for weeks, and inquired of all the 
 prisoners. Mrs. Lanview finally put me on the track, and 
 I saw Wes Boone as I came up here. He thought the 
 chances were better with a big party than alone. I saw him 
 again yesterday, and he told me that Davis and Lee, his 
 chief of staff, were to be at a party in the Rosedale house on 
 Thursday next. Now, we can pick up Davis just as well as 
 Boone. There is the whole plan." 
 
 " Oh, that's a different matter. Davis will not be near 
 the city, and his keeping will not add to our danger. I see 
 no reason why we shouldn't grab him. Heavens, what a 
 sensation it will make! We shall be the wonder of the
 
 A CAMPAIGN OF PLOTS. 191 
 
 North we shall be like the men that discovered Andre and 
 Arnold Paulding and and "but here Barney's historical 
 facts came to an end " we shall be famous for forever ! " 
 
 " For a week, my son ; wonders don't live long in these 
 fast days. For a week the North will glorify us; then, if 
 they find that we voted for Douglas, as I did, they will say 
 we had some sinister design in bringing Davis North, and 
 likely send us to Fort Lafayette." 
 
 Barney stopped dead ; they had come under a gas-lamp 
 between Grace and Franklin Streets. He looked at the 
 man. He was quite sober. His eyes answered the young 
 man's indignant protesting glance, openly, unshrinkingly, 
 humorously. 
 
 "I should be sorry to think that, Mr. Jones." 
 
 " Well, wait. When you get North you will see a mighty 
 change in things. Sentiment, my boy, follows the main 
 chance. It's money, my boy, money. Enough money would 
 have made Judas respectable ; he was fool enough to put his 
 price too low." 
 
 " Ugh ! you almost make me hate the North ! Who can 
 have heart to fight for such heartless traffickers ? " 
 
 " The North doesn't ask your heart. It has counted the 
 cost, and finds that it can pay a million of men thirteen dol- 
 lars a month for three years, and still make a good thing 
 out of it that's about the breadth of it. Here's an oasis in 
 the desert of darkness. Come and have a drink ? " 
 
 But Barney not caring for a drink, the cynic gave him 
 his address, and, dreadfully cast down in spirit, the eager 
 partisan moped up the long hill homeward. The next day 
 Mrs. Lanview gave him the details of the meditated escape. 
 There were only sixty or a hundred in position to avail them- 
 selves of the subterranean way that had been toilsomely dug, 
 by a few devoted spirits, with tools casually dropped among 
 them by the guileless Veronica during her daily visits. The 
 plotters counted on at least six hours' start before discovery. 
 The guards were not to be disturbed, and the evasion would 
 not be known until eight o'clock, when the miserable break- 
 fast ration was distributed. 
 13
 
 192 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 Of that amazing exploit, the digging through twenty solid 
 feet of earth and stone, I do not propose to tell. It is to be 
 found in the journals of tho day : it is contained in the hun- 
 dred pathetic narratives of the men who took part. It has 
 nothing to do with this history beyond the use made of it to 
 mislead the ingenious Barney, and in the end complicate 
 the careers of those in whom we are interested. Suffice it, 
 therefore, to say that in the dim morning mist, as arranged, 
 a shadowy host emerged on the river-bottom, now dry and 
 footable; that each man, as he crawled from the pit, was 
 directed into the thick willows bordering the banks; that 
 when six score or more had clambered out they obeyed a 
 whispered command, for which Veronica had prepared them, 
 and noiselessly, in shadowy single file, they followed the 
 bed of the stream, even where the water flowed deep and 
 dangerous, until they came to the gentle slopes of Church 
 Hill. Then, under guidance of Barney, those who we.ro 
 wise followed swiftly down the river-road until daylight, 
 when they hid in the dim recesses of the white-oak swamps, 
 where they lay concealed many hours. As night fell they 
 faced hopefully forward down the Williamsburg road, until 
 a flaming wave in the air admonished them to strike to the 
 right, and they plunged into the pathless swamps of the 
 Chickahominy. Here they were secure. No force able to 
 cope with them could" enter; no force at the command of 
 Magruder could surround them. But Barney's guiding hand 
 was now replaced by another. Jones had appeared, and 
 with him men bearing Butler's commission. The prison- 
 ers of Libby set up a defiant cheer. They were once more 
 under the flag. Father Abraham was again their com- 
 mander. 
 
 There were sedate, fatherly men among these rescued 
 bands. There were men with gray hairs and sober behav- 
 ior; men who could bow meekly under the chastening rod; 
 but the antics of the juvenile group, in which we are main- 
 ly interested, were grave and decorous compared with the 
 abandoned, delirious joy of these grave men as they reached 
 the recesses of a swamp that denied admission to all save
 
 A CAMPAIGN OF PLOTS. 193 
 
 practiced explorers. Why, here they could subsist for 
 weeks ! The rebels might spy them, might surround them, 
 but they need not starve the buds were food, the bushes 
 refreshment, the pellucid pools drink and life. Barney 
 stared in speechless amazement at the unseemly gambols of 
 the motley mass. 
 
 Delirium ! it was a mild term for the embracing, the pranc- 
 ing, the Carrnagnole-like ecstasy of the half-clad madmen 
 running amuck in the almost unendurable joy of liberation. 
 Barney knew that this condition of things would never do. 
 All who bore commissions in the army were selected from 
 the men. The highest in rank, who proved to be a colonel, 
 was invested with the command, Barney serving as adju- 
 tant, and Jones as guide. The rabble, having made a good 
 meal from the spoil of a sweet-potato patch, pushed forward 
 through the fretwork of fern, rank morass, and verdure, 
 toward security. But the march was a snail's pace, as may 
 be imagined. The men, worn to skeletons by months of 
 captivity, insufficient food, and stinted exercise, were forced 
 to halt often for rest in such toilsome marching as the half- 
 aquatic surface of the swamp involved. 
 
 By Thursday noon they were still far from the river. 
 Foragers were detailed to procure food, and pending their 
 return the wearied band sank to the earth to rest. In less 
 than two hours the predatory platoon returned with a syba- 
 ritic store chickens, young lamb, green corn, onions. Only 
 the stern command of the colonel suppressed a mighty cheer. 
 When the march was resumed the colonel led the main col- 
 umn south by east. Jones, with Barney and a dozen men, 
 struck due east. In answer to Barney's surprised question, 
 Jones informed him they were to pick up " Wes " Boone by 
 taking that route. Difficult as the way had been heretofore, 
 it now became laborious in the extreme for this smaller 
 band.. The bottom was all under water, and before they 
 had proceeded a mile half the group were drenched. In 
 many cases an imprudent plunger was compelled to call a 
 halt to rescue his shoes that is, those who were lucky 
 enough to have shoes from the deep mud, hidden by a fair
 
 194: THE IRON GAME. 
 
 green surface of moss or tendrils. It was a wondrous jour- 
 ney to Barney. The pages of Sindbad alone seemed to have 
 a parallel for the awful mysteries of that long, long flight 
 through jungles of towering timber, whose leaves and bark 
 were as unfamiliar as Brazilian growth to the troops of Pi- 
 zarro or the Congo vegetation to the French pioneer. Jones 
 and his comrades saw nothing but the hardships of the 
 march and the delay of the painful detours in the solemn 
 glades. The direction was kept by compass, many of the 
 men having been supplied with a miniature instrument by 
 the prudent foresight of Mrs. Lanview, who was niggard of 
 neither time nor money in the cause she had at heart. In 
 spite of every effort a march so swift that it would have ex- 
 hausted cavalry, Jones's ranks did not reach the rendezvous 
 until midnight. At about that hour the exhausted fugitives 
 came suddenly upon a w r ide, open plain, and far below them, 
 in the valley, a vision of light and life shone through the 
 dark. 
 
 u There, boys, we're at the end of our first stage. Unless 
 I'm much mistaken, that bit of merry-making yonder will 
 cost the Confederacy a chief." 
 
 " But is it certain that Davis is there ? " asked the man 
 Jones called Moon, who seemed to be his intimate. 
 
 " Ah, that we will learn so soon as Nasmyd reports. We 
 will give the signal when we reach that fringe of wood yon- 
 der. It's back of the grounds, separated from them by a 
 hard piece of swamp and water. Men, you must follow now 
 in single file, and when we get in the swamp, mind, a single 
 step out of line will cost you your lives, for, sucked into that 
 morass, wild horses can't pull you out." 
 
 Then, as they plunged anew in the gloomy deeps of 
 swamp and brake, the friendly lights were lost and the de- 
 pressed wayfarers struggled on with something of the feel- 
 ing of a crew cast away at sea, who, thrown upon the crest 
 of a rising billow, catch a near glimpse of a great ship, light 
 and taut, riding serenely havenward to lose it the next in 
 the dire waste. Presently the melancholy bird-notes that had 
 puzzled Jack in the same vicinity days before broke out just
 
 A CAMPAIGN OF PLOTS. 195 
 
 in front of Barney, who was clambering along, the third 
 man from the head of the little column. Again, after a long 
 pause, the sweet, plaintive note was re-echoed from a dis- 
 tance. 
 
 " Ah, all is well ! " he heard Jones ejaculate triumph- 
 antly. " We are in time and we are waited for. Now, 
 men, put all the heart that's in you to the next half- 
 hour's work. No danger, but just cool heads and strong 
 arms. " 
 
 This good news was conveyed from man to man, and the 
 toilsome movement briskly accelerated under the inspiring 
 watchword. Shortly afterward the larger growth cypress 
 and oak diminished, as the band straggled into the open, 
 starry night at the margin of what they could tell was 
 water by the croaking of frogs and plashing of night birds 
 and reptiles. Then the train was halted. Jones left Nas- 
 myd in command and plunged into a thick skirt of bushes. 
 Now Barney, hot and dirty from the march, had shot ahead 
 when he heard the ripple of the water. He had taken off 
 his shoes to bathe his blistered and swollen feet, and sat 
 quite still and restful under the leafy sprays of an odorous 
 bush that even in the dark he knew to be honeysuckle. 
 
 " Well," he heard Jones cry in an exultant whisper, 
 " we've done it. The woman is a trump. There are a hun- 
 dred nearly of the prisoners gone to the boats. Now we are 
 ready for Boone. Is Davis here ? " 
 
 " Yes ; he came over from Williamsburg at eight o'clock-, 
 they were feasting when Clem came away a three or more 
 ago." 
 
 u Any cavalry at the house ? " 
 
 " A squadron ; but they are ordered to be in saddle for 
 their quarters at midnight. There's the bugle for boots and 
 saddles now." 
 
 " Yes ; by the Eternal, what luck ! Davis will sleep 
 there." 
 
 "So Clem says ; the state chamber has been prepared 
 for him ; all the rest except Lee go back to Williams- 
 burg."
 
 196 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 "We couldn't have arranged it better if we had been 
 given the ordering of it. Are all the boats here ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " And the negroes how many have you ? " 
 
 " I can't sav. They've been dropping across in twos and 
 threes since ten o'clock. The curious thing is that the 
 women are more taken with the idea of fight than the men. 
 We shall have enough too many, I fear. " 
 
 " We'll make them our safety, Jim, my boy ; we'll divide 
 them up, and, in case of pursuit, send them in different di- 
 rections to confuse the troops." 
 
 " How many men are you going to take to the house ? " 
 
 " Six, with you and me. It will be unsafe to take more, 
 as the boats are small. I will go back and select the men. 
 You get the boats ready." 
 
 Barney hurried on his shoes, crawled through the bushes, 
 and was in his place when Jones presently appeared. The 
 men, dead tired, were disposed about on the ground asleep, 
 not minding the damp grass or the heavy dew that made the 
 air fairly misty. 
 
 "Wake four of the men," Jones whispered, and when 
 they were aroused he said to a tall, reeling shadow, idly wait- 
 ing orders : 
 
 '' We'll be back in a half-hour, or an hour at the farthest. 
 Let the men sleep ; they need it. Sleep yourself if you want 
 to. Moon or I will come to rouse you, and we will bring 
 you plenty of bacon and hominy. Have no fears if you hear 
 movements just beyond you ; there are a couple of contra- 
 bands here who go with us. Here's a ration of tobacco for 
 the men when they wake, and a gallon of whisky, which 
 you must serve out gradually." 
 
 Revived by this stimulating news quite as much as by 
 the whisky, Barney and his three comrades followed Jones 
 to the boats. There were four the dug-outs we saw Jack 
 manoeuvring in the same waters a few nights before. A 
 negro ?at silent, shadowy in each, and, when Jones gave the 
 word, " Let drive ! " the barks shot through the waters, pro- 
 pelled by the single scull, as swiftly as an Indian canoe. In
 
 A CAMPAIGN OF PLOTS. 197 
 
 a few moments all debarked on the grassy knoll behind the 
 black line of hedge. Jones made straight for the high door- 
 way, and inserting a key it was noiselessly opened. 
 
 " Men," he whispered, " no names must be used in any 
 case. I'm number one, Jim here is number two, Moore 
 number three, and so on. Each one remember his number. 
 Clem will remain here with number six to guard the gate. 
 All the rest follow me." 
 
 Two negroes joined tho-party that stole forward through 
 the rose-field to the nogro quarters. All was silent. As 
 they reached the great kitchen behind the house and con- 
 nected with it by a trellised pavilion, only an occasional 
 light could be seen in the house. All were apparently there. 
 The ball had ended. Leaving Barney in charge of the rest, 
 Jones and Number Two crept along the trellis toward the 
 house and soon disappeared around the southern corner. 
 Jones presently returned and said, exultingly : 
 
 "The cavalry is gone; we have nothing to fear. Plato, 
 you go with Number Two to the stables and bring the horses 
 out ; hold six and send the rest scattering in the fields, so 
 that in case of anybody's being in the mind to follow hell 
 have to use his legs, and we can beat them at that game. 
 Where are the ropes ?" he asked the black man left in the 
 group. 
 
 "In de kitchen, massa." 
 
 " Get them ! " 
 
 " Must I go alone, massa ?" 
 
 "That's a fact. There, Moore, you go with the boy 
 don't be a minute." 
 
 Barney followed the sable marauder through the grounds 
 to the rear of the trellis, and crept with him through a win- 
 dow which stood open. The kitchen was dark, but the 
 negro seemed perfectly familiar with the place. He made 
 directly for a dark panel in the northern wall, opened a 
 cupboard-door, knelt down and began to grope among bot- 
 tles, boxes, and what not that housewives gather in such 
 receptacles. 
 
 " Oh, de lor' ! dey ain't no rope ! It's done gone ! "
 
 198 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 " Have you a match ? " Barney asked. 
 
 "No, massa, but dey is some yondah." 
 
 "Find them." 
 
 The boy crept cautiously in the direction of the passage 
 leading into the house ; he fumbled about, an age, as it 
 seemed to the impatient Barney, and at last uttered an 
 exclamation : 
 
 "Got 'em?" 
 
 " No, massa, but Ise suah deys kep dar." 
 
 "Take my hand and lead me." 
 
 " It's molasses, massa, and Ise all stickem," the voice in 
 the dark whispered, delightedly, and Barney could see a 
 double row of glistening white ivory in the dim light that 
 came through the window. He came neai-er the clumsy 
 wight, and saw that it was a pan of batter the cook had left 
 on the table, probably the morning griddle-cakes. The ne- 
 gro was a mass of white, pasty glue, and knelt on the floor, 
 licking his hands passively. 
 
 " Where are the matches ? " 
 
 "Under de clock, in a tin safe, massa right da." 
 
 Barney groped angrily about the table, on the clock- 
 shelf, knocking down a tin dish, that fell with the clatter 
 of a bursting magazine in the dense stillness of the night. 
 Both drew back in shadow, waiting with heart-beats that 
 sounded in their ears like tramping horses on thick sward. 
 The clamor of rushing steeds in the lane suddenly drowned 
 this; a loud, joyous whinny sounded in the very kitchen it 
 seemed, and there was a rush houseward past the pantry 
 as of a troop of cavalry. Then a blood-curdling outcry of 
 voices, then shots. Barney, leaving the negro writhing in 
 convulsions under the table, darted to the window to the 
 rendezvous. It was deserted.
 
 "HE EITHER FEARS HIS FATE TOO MUCH." 199 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 "HE EITHER FEARS HIS FATE TOO MUCH." 
 
 WHEN Vincent visited the stables on the morning of that 
 eagerly-looked-for Thursday, he found three of the horses 
 clammy with perspiration and giving every sign of having 
 been ridden! The awkward and evasive answers of the 
 stablemen would not have been enough for any other than a 
 man preoccupied by love. When Rosa went to the kitchen, 
 if her head had not been taken up with the love in her heart, 
 she must certainly have remarked that the stores of food 
 prepared for the household were curiously diminished and 
 the kitchen girls unwontedly reserved. Indeed, in any other 
 condition than that in which the family now found them- 
 selves, they must have remarked a singular change in the 
 black brigade in kitchen and garden. But, preocupied each 
 with a different interest, as well as the preparation for the 
 President's fete, the Atterburys remarked nothing sinister 
 in the distracted conduct of their servants, and had only a 
 vague feeling that the great event had in some sort para- 
 lyzed their wonted noisy activities and repressed their usual 
 chatter. Kate's uneasiness and restless vagaries, her dis- 
 jointed talk and half -guilty evasions, would have been re- 
 marked by her prepossessed hosts ; while Wesley's shifting 
 and moody silence would have warned his comrades that 
 he was suffering the pangs of an evil done or meditated. 
 Precursive signs like these and much more, which need 
 not be dwelt on the kind hosts of Rosedale made no note 
 of. But when Vincent opened the mail-bag brought by 
 an orderly from Williamsburg every morning, the first sur- 
 prise and shock of the day was felt though in varying 
 degrees by all the diverse inmates of the house. 
 
 ''Hah! glory to the Lord of hosts! " the exultant reader 
 cried, as he passed to his mother a large official envelope 
 at the breakfast-table. 
 
 "I'm ordered to the field." he cried, as Jack looked in- 
 quiringly ; " I'm to set out to-night and report for duty with
 
 200 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 General Johnston to-morrow at Manassas. No more loiter- 
 ing in my lady's bower; Jack, my boy, the carpet will be 
 clear for your knightly pranks after to-night." 
 
 " If it were Aladdin's magic rug, I should caper nimbly 
 enough, I warrant you." 
 
 " What would you wish if it were under your feet, with 
 its slaves at your command ? " 
 
 " I should whisk you all off North instanter." 
 
 " Ingrate ! plunge us into the chilly blasts of the North, 
 in return for our glorious Southern sun ? Fie, Jack ! I'm 
 surprised at such selfish ingratitude. We expected better 
 things of our prisoners," Mrs. Atterbury murmured, and 
 affected a reproving frown at the culprit, as she handed her 
 son back the order, with a stifled sigh. 
 
 " The sun of the South is not the sun of York to us, you 
 know; all the clouds that lower on our house are doubly 
 darkened by this Southern sun ; even the warmth of Eose- 
 dale hearts can not make up for our eclipsed Northern star," 
 Jack said, sadly, with a wistful look at the rival warrior 
 reading with sparkling eyes the instructions accompanying 
 the order to march. 
 
 " Since Vincent is going so far northward, I think it will 
 be a good time for us to go home," Mrs. Sprague began, 
 tentatively. 
 
 "Oh no no! Oh, we could never think of such a 
 thing," Rosa cried " could we, mamma ? " 
 
 " Why should you go ? " Mrs. Atterbury asked. " Until 
 Jack is exchanged, you've certainly no duty in the North so 
 important as watching over this headstrong fellow. We 
 can't think of your going unless you are weary of us." 
 
 " O Mrs. Atterbury, pray don't put it in that way ! 
 You know better. Our visit here has been perfect. But 
 you can understand my anxiety to be at home ; to be where 
 I can aid my son's release. I have been anxious for some 
 time to broach the subject, but I saw that our going would 
 be a trouble to you; now, since fortune offers this chance, 
 we must seize it that is, those of us who feel it a duty to 
 go " ; and she looked meaningly at Merry and her daughter.
 
 "HE EITHER FEARS HIS FATE TOO MUCH." 01 
 
 " Nonsense ! You are hostages for Vincent, in case he is 
 captured, as long as you are here ; I can't let you go under 
 the laws of war I can not. Can I, Vincent ? " 
 
 Vincent looked at Jack solemnly, but made no answer. 
 
 u Mamma is quite right. While you are with us no harm 
 can come to Vincent; for, if he should be taken prisoner, we 
 can threaten the Yankee Government to put you to torture 
 unless he is well treated," Rosa interrupted, reassuringly. 
 
 " We should be far more aid and comfort to Vincent if 
 we were in the North than we could be here. If he were 
 taken prisoner and wounded, we could return him the kind- 
 ness we have received here. In any event, we could lessen 
 the hardships of prison life." 
 
 " Oh, you would have to minister to a mind diseased, if 
 such a fate should befall me ! " Vincent cried, sentimentally ; 
 with a glance into Olympia's eyes, which met his at the mo- 
 ment. Both blushed ; and Olympia, to relieve the embarrass- 
 ment, said, decisively: 
 
 "Mamma is right. Jack must have his family on the 
 ground, to watch over his interests. I am sure there is 
 some underhand work responsible for this long delay in his 
 case, for I saw by The Whig, last week, that exchanges of 
 prisoners had been made ; I think that " But, suddenly re- 
 membering the presence of Kate and Wesley, she did not 
 finish the thought, which implied a belief in the intervention 
 of the elder Boone to Jack's detriment. In the end when 
 the two mothers talked the matter over Mrs. Sprague car- 
 ried the point. She convinced Mrs.. Atterbury that there 
 was danger to Jack in a longer stay of his family in the Con- 
 federate lines. Vague reports had already reached them 
 from Acredale of the suspicious hostility in which the Demo- 
 crats were held after Bull Run. The Northern papers, which 
 came through the lines quite regularly, left no doubt that 
 Democratic leanings were universally interpreted in the 
 North as evidences of rebel sympathy, if not partisanship. 
 Such a charge, as things stood, would be fatal to Jack; and 
 the mother's duty was plain. She had friends in Washing- 
 ton, once powerful, who could stand between her son and
 
 202 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 calumny perhaps more serious danger when she was pres- 
 ent in person to explain his conduct. If she could not at 
 once secure his exchange, she could save him from compro- 
 mise in the present inflammable and capricious state of the 
 public mind. Understanding this, and the enmity of Boone, 
 Mrs. Atterbury not only made no further objection, but ac- 
 knowledged the urgent necessity of the mother's presence in 
 the North. The idle life of Eosedale had grown unbearably 
 irksome to Merry, too. 
 
 " I feel as if I were a rebel," she confided to Mrs. Sprague 
 in the evening talks, when the piano sounded and the young 
 people were making the hours pass in gayety. " It's a sin for 
 us to laugh and be contented here, when our friends are bear- 
 ing the burdens of war. I shall be ashamed to show my face 
 in Acredale. Oh, I wish I could carry a musket ! " 
 
 "You might carry a canteen, my dear. I believe the 
 regiments take out vivandidres there would be an outlet 
 for your warlike emotions," Mrs. Sprague said, with the 
 purpose of cheering the unhappy spinster. 
 
 " Ah, no ; I must not give encouragement to that dreadful 
 Richard. But we shall go now, thank Heaven, and it will 
 comfort my sisters to have the boy back on Northern soil, 
 even if he persists in being a soldier." 
 
 She had a long talk with Jack on the subject. That tem- 
 pest-tossed knight convinced her that it would only incite 
 the boy to more unruliness to persist in his quitting the army, 
 or to urge him northward now, before an exchange was 
 properly arranged. Indeed, he was a prisoner taken in 
 battle though his name did not appear on the lists. So 
 Vincent's sudden going was welcomed as a stroke of good 
 fortune. The Atterburys, understanding the natural feelings 
 of the family, made only perfunctory opposition. Olympia 
 and Kate were to remain until their brothers' fates were de- 
 cided. Vincent, who had been for weeks wildly impatient 
 to return to the field, was divided in mind now by joy and 
 despair. He had put off and put off a last appeal to Olym- 
 pia. He had not had an opportunity, or rather had too much 
 opportunity and had, from day to day, deferred the longed-
 
 "HE EITHER FEARS HIS FATE TOO MUCH." 203 
 
 for yet dreaded decision. When ready to speak, prudence 
 whispered that it would be better to leave the question open 
 until it should come up of itself. She would learn every day 
 to know him better in his own home, where all the artificiali- 
 ties of life are stripped from a man, by the concurrent abra- 
 sions of family love and domestic devoirs. She would see 
 that, however unworthy of her love he might have seemed 
 in the old boyish days at Acredale, now he could be a man 
 when manliness was demanded ; that he could be patient, reti- 
 cent, humble in the trials her caprice or coquetry put upon 
 him. She had, it seemed to him, deepened and broadened 
 the current of his love during these blissful weeks of waiting. 
 Her very reserve, under the new conditions surrounding her, 
 had made more luminous the beauty of her heart and mind. 
 She was no longer the airy, capricious Olympia of his college 
 days. The pensive gravity of misfortune and premature re- 
 sponsibility had ennobled and made more tangible the traits 
 that had won him in her Northern home. She had not 
 avoided him during these weeks of purifying probation, as he 
 feared she would. Of late Jack's state being secure she 
 had revived much of the old vivacity, and deepened the thrall 
 that held him. 
 
 But now the merry-making season which had opened be- 
 fore them was at an end. The madrigals that welled up in 
 his soft heart must sing themselves in the silence of the night, 
 in the camp yonder, with no ears to comprehend, no heart to 
 melt to them. He should probably not get a chance to see her 
 again during the conflict. How long ? Perhaps a year for 
 it would take two campaigns, as the rebel leaders reckoned, 
 to convince the North that the Confederacy was unconquer- 
 able ! And what might not happen during those momentous 
 months ? Perhaps Jack's death ? and then they would be 
 divided as by fire or, if the conflict resulted victoriously for 
 the South, as he knew it must, he foresaw that the soldier of 
 the conquering army would not be received as a wooer in the 
 family of the defeated. He knew her so well ! She would, 
 in the very pride of outraged patriotism, give her love to one 
 of the defeated, rather than add to the triumphs of the hated
 
 204 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 South. She had strong convictions on the war. She hated 
 slavery, and she could not be made to see that the South was 
 warring for liberty, not to sustain slavery. These thoughts 
 ran through Vincent's troubled mind as his mother directed 
 the preparations for the fete of the President. 
 
 Kate, Jack, and Dick were pressed into the service of 
 decorating the apartments. Olympia left the room with her 
 mother, to advise and assist in making ready for the journey 
 North; and Vincent, aiding his mother with a sadly divided 
 mind, kept furtive watch on the hallway. She held him 
 hours in suspense, he thought, almost wrathfully, of deliber- 
 ate purpose; for she must have read in his eyes that he 
 wanted to talk with her. The artless Dick finally gave him 
 a chance. 
 
 "I say, Vint, get Polly to show you the roses needed for 
 the tables ; I'll be with you by-and-by to cut the ferns. Do 
 you think you could make yourself of that muc\ use ? 
 You're not worth a straw here." 
 
 " Send for Miss Polly and I'll do my best," Vincent said, 
 with a gulp, to conceal his joy. She appeared presently; 
 and, as they were passing out of the door, Rosa cried, im- 
 periously : 
 
 " Oh, yes, Vint, we need ever so much honeysuckle ; you 
 know where it hangs thickest in the Owl's Glen. Olympia 
 will like to see that the haunt of her favorite bird " ; and 
 the busy little maid laughed cheerily, like a disordered god- 
 dess, intoxicated by the exhaling odors of. the floral chaos. 
 
 " En route for Roumelia, then," Vincent cried in military 
 cadence, as the florists set out. Roumelia was the name 
 Jack had given the rose-lands near the stream, in fanciful 
 allusion to the Turkish province of flowers. Halting at the 
 gardener's cottage, Vincent procured an immense pair of 
 shears, like a double rapier in size, and, bidding the man 
 follow to gather the blossoms, he pushed into the blooming 
 vineyard. 
 
 " With such an instrument I should say it was the gold- 
 en fleece you were after," Olympia cried, as he reached her 
 side, "though I believe Jason didn't do the shearing."
 
 "HE EITHER FEARS HIS FATE TOO MUCH." 05 
 
 " No, the powers of air worked for him, and he found his 
 quest ready to his hand." 
 
 " I'm sure the powers of air have not denied you ; look 
 at those radiant ranks of blossoms bending to be gath- 
 ered." 
 
 " Ah, yes, beauty stoops sometimes to welcome the trem- 
 bling hand of the suitor." 
 
 " Your hand is rather unsteady infirm of purpose ; give 
 me the blades." She took them laughingly, and snipped the 
 green stems rapidly and dexterously. 
 
 " Yes, I believe men are infirm in moral purposes, as com- 
 pared to women. It is only in the brutalities of life that 
 men are decisive." 
 
 " Do you mean that women approach the trials of life 
 less thinkingly and act less rationally than men ? " 
 
 " Yes and no. The daring too much is always before a 
 man; the daring too little is, I think, the only trouble a 
 woman has." 
 
 " Oh, that is a large question, involving too much mental 
 strain in a garden of roses, where the senses sleep and one 
 is content with mere breath and the faintest motion." 
 
 " There are enough roses ; now we will go for the wild 
 smilax and honeysuckle ; perhaps the cool air of the pools 
 will restore your mental activities." 
 
 They left the dismembered roses scattered in fragrant 
 heaps on the shaded path and walked slowly toward the 
 dense hedge. 
 
 "What a perfect fortress this green wall makes of the 
 gardens ! " Olympia said, glancing around the great square, 
 where the solid green wall could be seen running up much 
 higher than their heads. 
 
 " Yes, as I said the other day, it would take hard work 
 for an invading force to get at the house unless traitors with- 
 in gave up the gates. This one," he added, unlocking a 
 massive oak door, crossed with thick planks and studded 
 with iron bolts, " alone admits from the creek and swamp. 
 It is locked all the time ; no one has the key except the gar- 
 dener, who delivers it to mamma every night."
 
 206 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 " A feudal demesne ; it takes one back to the so-called 
 days of chivalry." 
 
 " Why do you say ' so-called ' ? To me they are the de- 
 light of the past when men went to battle for the smile of 
 the women they loved, when knights rode the world over 
 in search of adventure, and my lady, in her donjon, listened 
 with pleasure to the lover's roundelay. Ah, it was a perfect 
 life, an enchanting time. We are living in a coarse, brutal 
 age ; chivalry was the creed of civilization, the knights the 
 priesthood of the higher life." 
 
 "There's the Southerner through and through in that 
 sentimentality. To me chivalry means all that is narrow, 
 cruel, and rapacious in man. The philandering knights 
 were sensual boobies, the simpering dames soulless wan- 
 tons. Life meant simply the rule of the strong, the slaughter 
 of the weak. Servitude was its law and robbery its methods. 
 Have you ever traveled in out-of-the-way places in Ger- 
 many, Austria, or Italy ? " 
 
 " No, I've never been abroad." 
 
 " You would know better what I mean if you had seen the 
 monstrous relics of the age you admire. The few ruled the 
 many ; the knights were simply a brotherhood of blood and 
 rapine; men were slaves, women were worse. The bravest 
 were as unlettered as your body-servant, the most beautiful 
 dames as termagant as Penelope the cook. At the tabl<j 
 men and women ate from a common dish, without forks 
 or spoons. Men guzzled gallons of un fermented wine. A 
 bath was unknown. Cleanliness was as unpracticed as 
 Islamism in New York. Ugh ! anything but chivalry for 
 me." 
 
 " But surely the great lords were not what you represent. 
 They were gentle born, gentle bred. They could not be rob- 
 bers; they lived from great estates." 
 
 " They were the ' Knights of St. Nicholas,' which, in the 
 slang of the middle ages, meant what they call in the West 
 road agents; indeed, plain highwaymen they were called in 
 England in Bacon's day." 
 
 Vincent bent over discomfited, and held the little shallop
 
 "HE EITHER FEARS HIS FATE TOO MUCH." 207 
 
 until Olympia was seated, and then pushed off into the 
 murky stream. 
 
 " Do you see those streamers of loveliness waving wel- 
 come to you, fair damsel Nature knows its kind ? " 
 
 " That's one word for me and one for yourself," she cried, 
 seizing the dainty pink sprays that now trailed over her head 
 and shoulders as the boat glided along the fringe of bushes 
 supporting the clinging vines. 
 
 "Oh, no, Olympia; I can't speak even one word for my- 
 self. I have been trembling to do it this six weeks, but your 
 eye had none of the invitation these starry blossoms offer 
 us. I am going to say now, Olympia, what I have to say 
 f 01- after to-day there will be no chance ; what has been on 
 my mind you have long known. You know that I love 
 you ; how much I love you, how impossible it is to think of 
 life without you, I dare not venture to say to you, for you 
 distrust our Southern exaggeration. But I do love you; ah, 
 my God ! all the world else my mother, my sister, my duty 
 seem nothing compared to the one passionate hope in my 
 breast. Do you believe me, Olympia do you doubt me ? " 
 
 " Far from it, Vincent dear Vincent no no sit where 
 you are and listen to me " She was deeply moved, and the 
 lover in his heart cursed the luckless veils of blossom that 
 she apparently, without design, drew before her face. " I do 
 believe all you say ; I knew it before you said it. But you 
 remember we went over this very same ground before. 
 Since then, it is true, you have been the means of saving us 
 much misery; how much I hardly dare think of when I look 
 bock to that dreadful day, when mamma lay in the fever of 
 coming disease and the hopelessness of despair. All I can 
 say, dear, dear Vincent, is what I said before. Wait until 
 thine and mine are no longer at war. Wait until one flag 
 covers us" 
 
 " But that can never be ! " 
 
 " Wait ! I have faith that it will be ! " 
 
 "If one flag should cover us my flag would you 
 would you ? " 
 
 " Ah, Vincent ! don't ask me ; don't force me to say some- 
 14
 
 208 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 thing that will make you unhappy, since I don't know my 
 own mind well enough yet to answer as you wish me to an- 
 swer " 
 
 " But you can tell me now whether you love me, or, at 
 least, whether there is any one you love more ? " 
 
 " I don't think I love you. I know, however, that I think 
 no more of any one else than I think of you ; pray, let that 
 suffice." 
 
 " But how cruel that is, Olympia ! It is as much as to 
 say that you won't wait and see whether you may meet some 
 one that you can be surer of than you are of me ? " 
 
 " I must distress you whatever I say, Vincent ! Frankly, 
 I don't think you can decide just now whether your heart 
 is really engaged. I think you do not know me as a man 
 should know the woman he makes his wife. I am certain I 
 do not know you. If you had been born and bred in the 
 North, I should have no difficulty in deciding; but your 
 ways are so different here: women are accorded so much 
 before marriage, and made so little of a man's life after mar- 
 riage, that I shrink from a promise which, if lightly or in- 
 considerately given, would bring the last misery a woman 
 can confront." 
 
 " What, Olympia ! you think Southern men do not hold 
 marriage to be sacred ? " 
 
 " I think that the Southern man has a good deal of the 
 knight you spoke of in him, and, like the Frenchman, mar- 
 ries inconsiderately, and does penance in infidelity, at least 
 to the form, if not the fact, of the relation." 
 
 " O Olympia ! where do you get such repulsive ideas of 
 us ; who has been traducing us to you ? " 
 
 " I judge from the Southern men I have seen North ; par- 
 don me, Vincent, I do not see how it can be otherwise in a 
 society based upon human servitude. To live on the labors 
 of a helot people blunts the finer sensibilities of men and 
 women alike ; when you can look unshrinkingly at the sep- 
 aration of husband and wife on the auction-block, when you 
 can see innocent children taken from their mothers and sold 
 into eternal separation, I think it is not unnatural in me to
 
 "HE EITHER FEARS HIS FATE TOO MUCH." 209 
 
 fear that a woman with my convictions would not be happy 
 mated with a Southerner. All this is cruel, I fear you will 
 think, but it would be crueller for me to encourage a love 
 that, under present circumstances, would bring misery to 
 both of us." 
 
 " You are an abolitionist ? " 
 
 "Yes; every right-thinking person in the North is an 
 abolitionist to this extent ; we want the South to take the 
 remedy into its own hands, to free its slaves voluntarily; 
 the radical abolitionists prefer a violent means. That I do 
 not seek or did not ; but now, Vincent, it is bound to 
 come." 
 
 " And, if it should come, what would you answer to my 
 question ? " 
 
 " Here is a white rose : I picked it with my hand, and, you 
 see, a drop of my blood is on it ; when you can give me a 
 rose with a drop of your blood on it as free from taint as the 
 stain mine makes, I shall have an answer that will not be 
 unworthy your waiting for ! " 
 
 "Unworthy! I don't understand you. Surely, you don't 
 think me a profligate ? " 
 
 " When the time comes that no human being acknowl- 
 edges your ownership, perhaps you may receive a voluntary 
 bond-maid, bound to you by stronger ties than the chattel of 
 the slave." 
 
 " But you love me, then, Olympia ? " 
 
 " I can not love where I do not reverence." 
 
 " But it is not my faiilt that slaves are my inheritance ! " 
 
 " It will be your fault if they are your support when you 
 are your own master." 
 
 " You love an idea better than you love a man who would 
 die for you ! " 
 
 " I love manliness and the sense of right, which is called 
 duty, better than I love a man who is blind to the first 
 impulse of real manhood " 
 
 " Would you ask a Jew to give up his synagogue to gain 
 your hand ? " 
 
 " The synagogue is the temple of a creed as divine as my
 
 210 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 own, and the faith of the man I loved would never swerve 
 me in accepting or refusing him." 
 
 " We of the South believe slavery a divine institution 
 that is, first established by the fathers ! " 
 
 "The tribes in the Fiji Islands believe man-eating an 
 ordinance of the gods ! " 
 
 "Well, this sort of discussion leads to nothing," Vin- 
 cent said, ruefully. " The world is well lost for the woman 
 one loves, when I come to you shorn of my world ! " 
 
 " Ah ! then, Vincent, you will find another ! " 
 
 He drew her hand from the clinging vines and kissed it. 
 
 " I am very happy. I shall lose my world with a very 
 light heart." 
 
 "The world is a very tough brier; we sometimes bring 
 it closer, when its thorns prick us more painfully in the 
 struggles to cast it off." 
 
 " Then I'll cut the brambles, and not risk tearing my 
 flesh !" 
 
 " That's the soldier's way the heroic way; but wait for 
 the future; I am young and you are not old." 
 
 Vincent's gayety when they returned to the drawing- 
 room attracted the observant Dick, and he slyly whispered 
 to the warrior, " Been practicing the Roman strategy witli 
 the Sabines ? " 
 
 "No, I've been at the Temple of Minerva and taken a 
 pledge to hold my tongue." 
 
 " Ah ! the goddess of the owls ; but, as they see light only 
 in darkness, I fear you groped in blackness." 
 
 The whole household were to meet President Davis and 
 his party in Williamsburg, assist at the review, and get 
 back with the distinguished guests in time for a state din- 
 ner. Merry and Mrs. Sprague were reluctant to go, but 
 they feared a refusal would be misunderstood. Poor Merry 
 was very tearful and disconsolate at the thought of leaving 
 Dick, but she strove heroically to hide her grief when the 
 cavalcade set out, the elder ladies driving, the young people 
 mounted. The ancient capital of Virginia was aflame with 
 the new rebel bunting. President Davis, with Generals Lee
 
 "HE EITHER FEARS HIS FATE TOO MUCH." 211 
 
 and Magruder, were in place on the pretty green before the 
 old colonial college edifice when the Rosedale people came 
 up. Davis saluted Mrs. Atterbury with cordial urbanity; 
 but, as the troops were already in column, there was only 
 time for hasty presentation of the strangers. 
 
 Jack watched the rather piebald pageant with absorbed 
 interest. The infantry marched wretchedly. The arms 
 were as varied as the uniforms, and the artillery seemed a 
 relic of Jackson's time. But the cavalry was superb. Never 
 had he seen such splendid ranks, such noble horses. At 
 sight of the tall, elegant figure of the President, the troops 
 broke into the peculiar shrill cheer that afterward became a 
 sound of wonder, almost terror, to unaccustomed Northern 
 ears. It was a mingling of the boyish treble of college cries 
 and the menacing shriek of the wild-cat. Jack was secretly 
 very much delighted with the review. More than half the 
 rank and file were mere boys ; and he could see that they 
 were unruly, almost to point-blank disregard of their officers' 
 commands, or the prescriptions of the manual. It would 
 take short work for the disciplined hosts the new Northern 
 general was training, to sweep such chaff from the field of 
 war. Vincent saw something of this in his comrade's eye, 
 and a good deal nettled himself by the slovenly march and 
 humorous abandon of the men, he said : 
 
 "You must remember, Jack, our army is made up of 
 gentlemen's sons ; the gentry of the South are all in arms, 
 and we can't at once reduce them to the mere machines a 
 more heterogeneous soldiery can be made. The men who 
 won Manassas passed in review a day or two before the 
 battle, and they made the same impression upon me upon 
 Beauregard himself that I see these men have made on 
 you. Depend upon it, in a fight they will be good soldiers." 
 
 " Let me have the poor comfort of underrating my ene- 
 my, the thing above all others that a wise man shuns and a 
 fool indulges." 
 
 " Oh, on that theory revile them if you like." 
 
 " No, indeed ; I'm far from reviling them. The cavalry 
 is magnificent. I don't think we have a regiment in our
 
 212 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 army that can compare with that brigade. Who commands 
 it?" 
 
 "Jeb Stuart the Murat of the South," Vincent said, 
 proudly. " I'm going to tell the President what you said of 
 the brigade ; you know he is passionately fond of the army, 
 and really wanted to be the commander-in-chief, when they 
 made him President at Montgomery." 
 
 At sunset the President and General Lee entered the car- 
 riage with Mrs. Atterbury and Mrs. Sprague, Merry driving 
 in a phaeton with Kate, who didn't enjoy so long a ride on 
 the horse. 
 
 " I'm glad we've got such important hostages as yourself 
 and son," Davis said gallantly to Mrs. Sprague, as the car- 
 riage passed out of the clamor of acclamation the crowd set 
 up. " I knew the Senator, your husband, intimately. If he 
 had lived, I doubt whether we should have been driven out 
 of the Union. He was, in my mind, one of the most prudent 
 statesmen that came from the North to Congress." 
 
 " He certainly never would have consented to break up 
 the Union," Mrs. Sprague said, in embarrassment. 
 
 "Nor should I, madam, if there had been any further 
 security in it. The truth is, there was nothing left for us 
 but to go out or be kicked out. The leaders of the Abolition 
 party long ago proclaimed that. However, war settles all 
 such problems. When it is settled by the sword we shall be 
 satisfied." 
 
 Mrs. Atterbury changed the conversation by asking how 
 Mrs. Davis liked Richmond. 
 
 " Oh, she has been treated royally by the people there. 
 I declare Richmond is as Southern a city as Charleston. I 
 have been agreeably surprised by the absolute unanimity of 
 gentle and simple in the cause. My wife receives a clothes- 
 basketful of letters every morning from the mothers of the 
 Confederacy proffering time, money, and service wherever 
 she can suggest anything for them to do. I propose later 
 on establishing an order something like the Golden Fleece, 
 which shall confer a certain social precedence upon the 
 wearers. I have thousands of letters on the subject, and as
 
 "HE EITHER FEARS HIS FATE TOO MUCH." 213 
 
 the society of the South is, as a matter of fact, a society of 
 gentle-folk for the most part lineally descended from the 
 nobility of older countries I think it proper and right that 
 lineage should have certain acknowledged advantages in the 
 new commonwealth. But I propose to go further, and in- 
 stitute an order of something like nobility for women who 
 have thus far given us great help and encouragement. In- 
 deed, there are many in the Congress a dozen Senators I 
 could name who think that we ought to make our regime 
 entirely different from the North, and that we should adopt 
 a monarchical form ' 
 
 " I'm sure, I think we should," Mrs. Atterbury exclaimed, 
 delightedly. We are really as unlike the Northern people 
 as the French or the Germans." 
 
 " The strongest argument for declaring the Confederacy 
 an empire is the one that weighed with Napoleon I. We 
 should at one stroke secure the alliance of all the mon- 
 archies. They have never looked with favor on the experi- 
 ment of a powerful republic over here, and it is almost cer- 
 tain they would befriend us for transforming this mighty 
 infant state into an empire. However, that is for future 
 action. Our agents abroad have sent us full reports on the 
 matter." 
 
 " I doubt the wisdom of ever hinting such a thing," Gen- 
 eral Lee said, gravely. " We must show that we are able to 
 act independently in selecting our form of government. I 
 doubt very much whether the masses would listen favorably 
 to an empire established by foreign aid." 
 
 <k Possibly, general, possibly. As I said before, there will 
 be time enough for that when, like Napoleon, we have made 
 our armies the masters of this continent. Then, with bound- 
 aries embracing Mexico, Canada, and the Western States 
 for they can never exist independent of us we can choose 
 empire, republic, or a Venetian oligarchy." 
 
 As they came in sight of Rosedale, Davis stood up in the 
 carriage to get a better view of the landscape, which showed 
 swift alternations of dense thickets and wood and rolling 
 acres of rich crops.
 
 214: THE IRON GAME. 
 
 "What a State Virginia is !" he exclaimed with enthu- 
 siasm. " It has the climate and soil to support half of Eu- 
 rope. Mother of Presidents in the past, it will he the gran- 
 ary and magazine of the Confederacy in ten years. My 
 own State, Mississippi, is rich in land, but the climate is hard 
 for the stranger. It enervates the European at first. But 
 we are an agricultural people, or rather we 'give our energies 
 to our staple, cotton ; that is to be the chief treasure of the 
 Confederacy. " 
 
 Dinner was ready for the table when the guests came 
 from their rooms. Davis excused his lack of ceremonial 
 dress, saying, pleasantly : 
 
 " I am something of a soldier, you know, and travel with 
 a light train. Lee, there, has the advantage of me. A sol- 
 dier's uniform is court costume the world over. 1 ' 
 
 "But you are the commander-in-chief, Mr. President. 
 Don't you have a uniform ? " 
 
 " No. I am commander-in-chief only in law. Congress 
 is really the commander-in-chief. The man that assumes 
 those duties can attend to them alone. He is, of course, 
 subject to the executive ; but only in general plans, rarely 
 in details." 
 
 Davis was placed at Mrs. Atterbury's rijht, Mrs. Sprague 
 at her left. General Lee sat at Vincent's right, vis-ct-vis to 
 Jack, who was lost in prodigious admiration of the Socratic- 
 like chieftain Lee was as yet unknown to all but a dis- 
 criminating few in the Confederacy. He was as tall as 
 Davis fully six feet but more rounded and symmetrical. 
 He spoke with great gravity, but seemed to enjoy the jests 
 that the young people found opportunities to indulge in, 
 when it was seen that the President devoted his talk exclu- 
 sively to the hostess or Mrs. Sprague. Davis was a good 
 talker, and charmed the company with reminiscences of old 
 times in Congress. 
 
 " I don't remember Lincoln distinctly," he said, conclud- 
 ing a reminiscence,." but I think he's the man that used to 
 be so popular in the House cloak-room, telling stories which 
 were said to be extremely droll."
 
 "HE EITHER FEARS HIS FATE TOO MUCH." 215 
 
 "Mrs. Lincoln is in some sort kin to Mrs. Davis, isn't 
 she ? " Mrs. Atterbury asked. " I have read it somewhere." 
 
 "Very distant. Mrs. Lincoln is of the Kentucky Tods, 
 and they were in some way kin of my wife's family, the 
 Howells. Not enough to put on mourning, if Mrs. Lincoln 
 should become a widow." 
 
 " Is it true, Mr. President, that a society in the North ha& 
 offered a million dollars for your capture abduction ? I 
 heard it in Williamsburg, and saw an allusion to it in The 
 Examiner the other day." 
 
 " Oh, I'm sure I can't say. If the offer were authenti- 
 cated, I should be tempted to go and get the reward myself. 
 With a million dollars I could do a good deal more for the 
 cause in the North than I can here, making brigadiers and 
 settling questions of precedence between Cabinet ministers, 
 judges, and Senators." 
 
 " Mr. President, give me an exchange North, and I will 
 ascertain the facts in the million-dollar offer and write you 
 faithfully how to set about getting the money," Jack said, 
 very soberly, from his end of the table. 
 
 " Ah ! the Yankee spoke there nothing if not a bar- 
 gain. Sir, you deserve your clearance papers, but I'm too 
 good a friend of Mi's. Atterbury and her daughter to bring 
 about the loss of company that I am sure must be agreeable. 
 Then, too, there's no telling the miracles of conversion that 
 may be brought about by such ministers as Miss Rosa there." 
 
 Rosa blushed, Jack felt foolish, and everybody laughed 
 except Dick, who looked unutterable things at his adored, 
 and boldly entered the lists against the great personage by 
 asking, in a quivering treble : 
 
 " Doesn't the Bible say that the wife shall cleave to the 
 husband ; that his people shall be her people, his God her 
 God, where he goes she goes ? " 
 
 " It is so said in the Bible, sir ; but it was a woman that 
 uttered it, and she was in love. When you know more of 
 the sex, you will understand that women in love are like 
 poets ; they say much that they don't mean, and more that 
 they don't understand."
 
 216 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 " But, Mr. President, what the one woman said in the 
 Bible all women practice. You never knew a woman that 
 didn't believe her husband's beliefs, hate his hates, love his 
 loves." 
 
 Davis smiled, and his eyes twinkled kindly on his boyish 
 inquisitor. 
 
 " I know only one woman. That is as much as a man 
 can speak for. She doesn't hate my hates, love my loves, 
 or enter unprotestingly into all my ways. Indeed, I may 
 say that, being a peaceful man, I wanted to remain in Wash- 
 ington, for I believed that Seward was sincere in pleading 
 for a compromise ; but the woman I speak of had her own 
 opinion, convinced me that she was right, and I came to my 
 own people." 
 
 At this moment there was a diversion. A soldier, booted 
 and spurred, entered the room, walked to the head of the 
 table, and bending deferentially to the President, said : 
 
 " I am ordered to deliver this message wherever you may 
 be found." He handed Davis a large envelope and retreated 
 respectfully two or three paces backward. Everybody af- 
 fected to resume conversation as the President, breaking the 
 seal, said : 
 
 " Pardon me a moment, madam." But he had no sooner 
 ran over the lines than he turned to the courier, crying, in 
 visible discomfiture : 
 
 " When did you leave the war office ? " 
 
 "At five o'clock, sir." 
 
 " General, we must return instantly to Eichmond ; a hun- 
 dred or more of the prisoners have broken out of Libby ! It 
 is reported that a column of the enemy with gunboats have 
 passed up the James. Madam, this is one of the exigencies 
 of a time of war. I needn't say to an Atterbury that every- 
 thing must give way to public business ! " He called Lee 
 aside, spoke rapidly to him, and the latter, beckoning Vin- 
 cent, left the room. He returned in ten minutes, announc- 
 ing that everything was in readiness to set out. The car- 
 riage with Mrs. Sprague's and Merry's small luggage was 
 ready when the cavalcade set out, Davis riding with them
 
 "HE EITHER FEARS HIS FATE TOO MUCH." 217 
 
 and the cavalry company from below, divided into squad- 
 rons before and behind the carriage. It was eleven o'clock 
 as the last dark line of the troop disappeared. Olympia and 
 Jack stood at the great gate in mournful silence. The swift- 
 ness of the parting had lessened the pain, but their minds 
 were full of the sorrow that follows the inevitable. Mrs. 
 Sprague had herself declined to postpone the ordeal when 
 Mrs. Atterbury pointed out the untimely hour. No, it was 
 better to suffer this slight inconvenience to have Vincent's 
 protecting presence all the way to the Union lines ; and 
 Jack, acknowledging this, didn't say a word to dissuade her. 
 Vincent's last act was to call Jack to his room. 
 
 " I wanted to tell you, Jack, what a great joy it has been 
 to me it has been to all of us to have you in our home at 
 this trying time. I can not tell you how much comfort it 
 has been to me now, but some time you shall know," Vin- 
 cent stammered, and began to open a drawer in the bureau. 
 " Here is something I want you to accept as a keepsake from 
 me." He drew forth a pistol-case and opened it. "It will 
 be a melancholy pleasure for me to feel, in the dark days to 
 come, that these weapons may prove your friend in battle, 
 where I must be your enemy." 
 
 " By George, they're beauties ! " Jack cried, taking the 
 weapons out. 
 
 "Yes; they were bought last year, and I have had J. S. 
 cut on one, and V. A. on the other. I meant them for your 
 Christmas last year, but they were mislaid." 
 
 "What a kind fellow you are, Vint! I don't think I 
 ought to take these." 
 
 "Why not ? I have others! I shall feel easier, knowing 
 that you have them. You can stow them about you easily, 
 they are so small." 
 
 "But it's against the laws of war for a prisoner to be 
 armed." 
 
 " That's just the reason I haven't asked you to take them 
 before. You can leave them here in my room until you are 
 exchanged, and then you can carry them with impunity." 
 
 The household assembled at the gate leading into the
 
 218 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 roadway as the cavalcade took up the march. There were 
 sad, sobbing farewells spoken the kindly night covering the 
 tears, and the loud neighing of the horses drowning the sobs. 
 
 The Northern group remained in the roadway, straining 
 their eyes to catch the last glimpse of the wanderers as they 
 disappeared in the misty foliage, far up the roadway. 
 
 The horizon to the zenith was full of shimmering star- 
 points. Olympia, with Jack, turned slowly toward the 
 house, silent and not wholly sad. Dick, in a low treble, 
 could be heard just behind them, quoting melancholy verses 
 to Rosa ; and the brother and sister returned slowly up the 
 dewy, odorous path. At the porch Rosa exclaimed, in sur- 
 
 " I wonder where Pizarro is ? I haven't seen him while 
 we have been out. It can't be possible he has followed 
 Vincent ! What shall we do if he has ? " 
 
 "Make Dick take his place. A terrier is sometimes as 
 faithful as a mastiff," Jack said, quickly. 
 
 " Oh ! Miss Atterbury wants something with a bite, rather 
 than a bark, and a terrier wouldn't do," the boy answered. 
 
 " I want Pizarro. I shall never sleep a wink all night if 
 he isn't here," Rosa said, in consternation ; " he is better than 
 a regiment of soldiers, for he won't let a human being come 
 near the house after the doors are closed, not even the serv- 
 ants." 
 
 An expedition, calling upon Pizarro in many keys, set out 
 and wandered through the grounds, back to the quarters, to 
 the gates leading to the rose-fields, to the stable, but Pizarro 
 was not to be found. Lights were burning in the hall only 
 when the four re-entered, and with a very grave face Rosa 
 bade the rest good-night.
 
 A CATASTROPHE. 219 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 A CATASTROPHE. 
 
 ROSEDALE had been a bed of thorns to Wesley Boone 
 since his recovery. He felt that he was an incongruous vis- 
 itor among the rest, as a hawk might feel in a dove-cote. He 
 would have willingly returned to Richmond even at the 
 risk of re-entering the prison if Kate had not been on his 
 hands. The life of the place, the constant necessity of mask- 
 ing his aversion to the Spragues, his detestation of Dick, the 
 simple merry-making and intimate amenities of such close 
 quarters, tasked his small art of dissimulation beyond even 
 the most practiced powers. The garment of duplicity was 
 gossamer, he felt, after all, in such atmosphere of loyalty 
 and trust as surrounded him at Rosedale. 
 
 He knew that in the daily attrition and conventional 
 intimacies of the table, the drawing-room, or the prome- 
 nade, the cloak covering his resentful antipathy, his moral 
 perversities, his thinly veiled impatience, was worn to such 
 thin shreds that eyes keen as Jack's must see and know 
 him as he was. What was hatefulest and most unendura- 
 ble of all was the bondage of truce in which the Atter- 
 burys held him. Wesley was no coward, and he ached 
 to meet Jack face to face, arm to arm, and settle with that 
 thoughtless insubordinate a rankling list of griefs heaped 
 up in moments of over - vivacious frankness. He would 
 make Jack smart for his arrogance, his insolence, his 
 cursed condescension so soon as they were back among the 
 Caribees. 
 
 But meanwhile, here, daily tortured by harmless things 
 tortured by his soul's imaginings Wesley was becoming 
 a burden to Kate, who saw too plainly that he was in mis- 
 ery, and realized that it was largely through his own inher- 
 ent weakness and insincerity. He had all the coarse fiber 
 of his father without the same force in its texture. With 
 merely superficial good manners, he was never certain 
 whether the punctilious niceties observed toward him by
 
 220 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 the Spragues and Atterburys were not a species of studied 
 satire. Vincent, who had never shown him the slightest 
 consideration in Acredale, treated him here with the chival- 
 rous decorum that the code of the South demanded in those 
 days to a guest. Wesley ground his teeth under the bur- 
 den, not quite sure whether it was mockery or malevolence. 
 He watched with malignant attentiveness the imperceptible 
 change of tone and manner that marked the family's treat- 
 ment of the Spragues. There was none of the grave cere- 
 moniousness he resented in the Atterburys' behavior with 
 them. 
 
 Jack was a hobbledehoy son of the house, almost as 
 much as Vincent. Kate, too, was, he felt certain, treated 
 with a reserve not shown to Mrs. Sprague or Merry. Brood- 
 ing on this, brooding on the unhappiness of his own dispo- 
 sition, which denied him the privilege of enjoying the best 
 at the moment, indifferent to what might be behind, Wes- 
 ley had come to hate the Atterburys for the burden of an 
 obligation that he could never lift. He hated Mrs. Atter- 
 bury for her high-bred, easy ignoring of all conditions save 
 those that she exacted. He hated Eosa for her gayety, her 
 absorption in the young scamp Dick. He hated Vincent 
 because he seemed to think there was no one in the North 
 but the Spragues worthy a moment's consideration. It is in 
 hate as in love what we seek we find. Every innocent 
 word and sign that passed in the group, in which he did not 
 seek to make himself one, Wesley construed as a gird at 
 him or his family. Constantly on the watch for slights 
 or disparagements, the most thoughtless acts of the two 
 groups were taken by the tormented egotist as in some 
 sense a disparagement to his own good repute or his family 
 standing. 
 
 Nor were the marked affection and confidence shown 
 Kate by everybody in the house a mitigation of this malign 
 fabric of humiliation. Jack's fondness for Kate had not 
 escaped the observant eyes of Dick, who had confided the 
 secret to Eosa, who had likewise unraveled it to mamma, 
 and, as she kept nothing from Vincent, the Atterburys had
 
 A CATASTROPHE. 221 
 
 that sort of interest in Kate that intimate spectators always 
 show in love affairs, where there are no clashing interests 
 involved. It was a moot question, however, between the 
 three, when, after weeks of observation, Mrs. Atterbury de- 
 clared that Jack was not in love with Miss Boone. "He 
 can't be," she declared. "He doesn't seek her alone; he 
 doesn't make up to her in the evening. Half the time when 
 they come together it is by Dick's arrangement. He seems 
 to be in love with Kate." 
 
 " How absurd ! " Eosa cried, with a laugh ; " a boy like 
 him! Why, he would be in school, if there were no war." 
 
 " Well, Rosa, I fancy that Dick hasn't found war very 
 much different from school, so far. He seems to recite a 
 good deal to the mistress, and occupies the dunce's block 
 quite regularly," Vincent retorted, with a provoking signifi- 
 cance that set mamma in a brown study and suspended the 
 comments on Kate's and Jack's probable sentiments. 
 
 Mrs. Sprague and Wesley were the only people in the 
 house who had no suspicion of a deeper feeling than mere 
 passing goodfellowship between Jack and Kate. Both were 
 blinded by the same confidence. The mother could never 
 conceive a son of the house of Sprague making such a breach 
 on the family traditions as a union with a Boone. Wesley 
 could not conceive a sister of his giving her heart to the son 
 of a family that had insolently refused to concede social 
 equality to her father. Something of Wesley's miserable 
 inner unrest could not fail to be visible to the Atterburys, 
 but the less congenial he became the more watchfully con- 
 siderate they made their treatment of him. He was their 
 guest, with all the sacred rights and immunities that quality- 
 implies, in the exaggerated code of the Southern host. Kate 
 was the single power that Wesley had bent his headstrong 
 will before, ever since he was a boy. His father he obeyed, 
 while in his presence, trusting to wheedling to make his 
 peace in the event of disobedience. But Kate he couldn't 
 wheedle. 
 
 She was relentless in her scorn for his meannesses and 
 follies, and, though he did not always heed her counsels, he
 
 222 THE IKON GAME. 
 
 proved their justness by finding his own course wrong. 
 Kate, however, hesitated about remonstrating with him on 
 his deepening moodiness, for she was not quite sure whether 
 it was mad jealousy of Dick's favor in Rosa's eyes, or a secret 
 purpose to attempt to fly from the gentle bondage of Rose- 
 dale. Wesley with Rosa it was remarked by Kate, was, or 
 seemed to be, his better self, or rather better than the self 
 with which others identified him. It was, however, she 
 feared, more to torment Dick, than because she found Wes- 
 ley to her liking, that the little maid often carried the 
 moody captain off into the garden, pretending to teach him 
 the varied flora of that blooming domain. Dick remarked 
 these excursions with growing impatience, and visited his 
 anger upon Rosa in protests so pungent and woe-begone 
 that she was forced to own to him that she only pretended 
 an interest in the captain, so that he might not think he was 
 shut out of the confidence of the circle. 
 
 '' And who cares if he does think he is shut out, I should 
 like to know ? He is a sneak, and I don't like to have you 
 talking with him alone," Dick cries, quite in the tone of the 
 Benedict who has passed the marriage portal and feels safe 
 to make his will known. 
 
 " I should like to know what right you have to order 
 what I shall or shall not do ? " Rosa protests, half angry, 
 half laughing. " Why, you talk like a grown man like a 
 husband. How dare you ? " 
 
 Dick pauses confused, and looks guiltily about at this. 
 
 " Ah, if you put it that way I have no right except this : 
 My whole heart is yours. You know that. You may not 
 have given mo all yours." (Protesting shrug from Rosa's 
 shoulders.) "Well, all the same; if my heart is all your 
 own you have a duty in the case. You ought to spare your 
 own property from pain." (Rosa laughs softly.) " Of course 
 you are right. You are always right. How could such a 
 beautiful being be wrong ! " The artful rogue slips his arm 
 about her waist at this, and, after a feeble struggle, he is per- 
 mitted to hold this outwork unprotested. 
 
 " And, Rosa, if I speak like a man, it is because I am a
 
 A CATASTROPHE. 223 
 
 man. Wasn't it the part of maids in the old timas to in- 
 spire the arm of their sweethearts ; to make them constant 
 in danger, brave in battle, and patient in defeat ? Are you 
 less than any of the damsels we read of in chivalry ? Am I 
 not a man when I look in your dear eyes and see nothing 
 worldlier than love, nothing earthlier than truth there ? " 
 
 " What a blarney you are ! I must really get Vint to 
 send you away, or he will have a Yankee brother-in-law." 
 
 " And the Perleys will have a rebel at the head of the 
 house." 
 
 Now, this silly prattle had been carried on in the arbor 
 near the library, and Wesley, sitting under the curtain, had 
 heard every word of it. Neither the words nor the unmis- 
 takable sounds that lips meeting lips make, which followed, 
 served to soothe his angry discontent. This was early on 
 the great Davis gala day, and thereafter he disappeared from 
 the scene. He made one of the party to Williamsburg, 
 and, though distraught in the conversation, was keenly alert 
 to all he saw. 
 
 Rallied upon his reticence, he had snubbed Kate and 
 turned disdainfully from Jack's polite proffers to guide him 
 through the review. He had studied Davis all through the 
 manoeuvres with a furtive, fascinated attention, which Mrs. 
 Atterbury remarked with complacency, attributing it to awe. 
 At the dinner-table, seated between Kate and Merry, he had 
 never taken his eye from the chief of the Confederacy. 
 Twice the President, courteously addressing him, he had 
 blushed guiltily and dropped his gaze. Before the dinner 
 was half over he pleaded a severe headache, and, bidding 
 his hostess good-night, hurried from the room. The wide 
 hall was deserted; the moon threw broad swaths of light 
 on the cool matting, and he halted for an instant, breathing 
 rapidly. Something lying on the rug at the door moved 
 languidly. Wesley, looking carefully about, moved swiftly 
 to the spot and stopped. Pizarro raised his head, whining 
 amicably, and, as Wesley bent over to pat him, wagged his 
 tail with a spasmodic thud against the floor, in sign of good- 
 fellowship. 
 
 15
 
 22i THE IRON GAME. 
 
 " Come, Pizarro, come with me," Wesley said, coaxingly. 
 But the dog, redoubling the tattoo with, his -tail, remained 
 obstinately at his post. Wesley stole to the end of the hall 
 and listened, then, hearing the busy clamor of the servants 
 moving from the kitchen to the dining-room, he retraced his 
 steps to the stairs, bounded lightly up and in three minutes 
 reappeared, and, keeping his eyes on the half -closed doors, 
 slipped softly to Pizarro. The dog sniffed excitedly, and as 
 Wesley took a thick parcel from his coat-pocket the beast 
 leaped up and attempted to seize it. 
 
 "Follow me, Pizarro, and you shall have it." He held 
 up the packet, a red, glistening slice of raw beef. The dog 
 whined ecstatically and Wesley, holding a morsel of it just 
 out of his reach, retreated up the stairs. Pizarro bounded 
 after him as if construing the by-play into a challenge, and 
 frisking in all sorts of fantastic shapes to win the savory 
 prize. The door of Wesley's room was open, and as the 
 dog came abreast of it he flung a piece into the apartment. 
 Pizarro, lowering his sniffing nose, looked at the tempting 
 bit sidewise, and then wagging his tail in modest deprecation 
 of his boldness, made a start inward. It was swallowed in 
 an instant, and then, as Wesley entered, the door was closed. 
 Pizarro, by the humility of his manner, the lowered head 
 and sidelong glance, asked pardon for intruding upon the 
 privacy of a guest, but argued with his ears and by short 
 yelps, in extenuation, that such a feast as a bit of meat 
 after an active day, when the servants had forgotten to feed 
 him no dog with a healthy appetite could resist, no matter 
 how perfect his breeding. He was ready for the larger ra- 
 tion Wesley held in his hand. 
 
 Wesley held the temptation in his hand until he had 
 lured the dog into a large closet communicating with the 
 bedroom by a locked door. Once in, the door was shut, and 
 the young man sank on a seat in a thrill of grateful relief. 
 
 "That danger's over," he muttered. "Now to see who is 
 in the upper rooms. " 
 
 Perfect silence on the upper floor ; only the solemn 
 shadows of the night, as the moon rises higher and higher,
 
 A CATASTROPHE. 225 
 
 and the plaintive cries of the night-birds alone betoken life. 
 Through the windows the white-jacketed house-servants are 
 rushing gayly to and from the dining-room. All the rooms 
 are dimly lighted. The President's apartment is fragrant 
 with blossoms, and the lace counterpane turned down. Re- 
 tracing his steps, Wesley enters Vincent's room on the cor- 
 ridor with his own. The candle is burning dimly on the 
 mantel. He seems to know his whereabouts very well, for 
 he makes straight for a bureau between the bed and the win- 
 dow. He takes from the top drawer a pistol-case, which he 
 has evidently handled before, as he touches the spring at 
 once. He takes out one pistol, and, rapidly extracting the 
 loads, puts it back. He has taken four out of the five barrels 
 of the second when a sound of footsteps in the hall startles 
 him. He has barely time to replace the weapons, close the 
 case, put it in the drawer and crawl under the bed, when 
 Vincent and Jack enter. 
 
 His suspense and terror are so overmastering that he can 
 only hear an occasional word. His own heart-beats sound 
 in his ears like the thumping of a paddle. Is Vincent going 
 to bed ? Are Jack and he going to sit and smoke, as they 
 often do ? No, relief beyond words, they are going out ! 
 Perhaps to Jack's room ? They often sit there until very 
 late, and then Vincent slips in stocking-feet to his own room. 
 But they are gone, and he must fly. He dares not return to 
 extract the last charge. But one ball can't do much hurt 
 in the dark, and, if his plans are carried out with care, 
 there will be no chance for any one to use the weapons 
 on the rescuing party, even if he were disposed to. In a 
 moment Wesley is back in his room, marking, with sur- 
 prise,' that there is no sound from Jack's or Dick's room. 
 But all is well. He is in his own room and secure from 
 surprise. 
 
 He sat down to think. He must keep everything in mind. 
 One whippoorwill cry from outside would mean that all was 
 well ; two that he must hurry to the rendezvous. It seemed 
 like a dream. Davis, the arch-rebel, the chief architect of 
 the Confederacy, under the same roof: in an hour, if no hitch
 
 226 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 come, the traitor would be bound and flying in trusty Union 
 hands. And when they got North ? when he, Wesley 
 Boone, handed over to the authorities in Washington this 
 hateful chief of a hateful cause, what fame would be his ! 
 No one could dispute it. He had informed Butler's agent; 
 he had watched day and night; had given the Unionists 
 plans of the grounds ; was now periling his own rescue to 
 bring the arch-traitor to his doom. Ah ! what in all his- 
 tory would compare with this glorious daring ? He sat 
 glowing in dreams of such delicious, roseate delight, that 
 he took no heed of time, and was startled when he heard 
 Dick and Jack bidding each other good-night. Then in a 
 few minutes he heard Jack's door open and a tap at Dick's 
 door. 
 
 " Come to my room. I want to show you a present I got 
 to-night." Then silence. Wesley had no watch. The rebels 
 had relieved him of that at Bull Run. But it must be quite 
 midnight. He opened one of the windows softly. Oh, the 
 glory of the night, harbinger of his high emprise, his death- 
 less glory ! The wondrous, wondrous stillness of the scene 
 and to think that over yonder, in the dark depths of the 
 forest, fifty, perhaps a hundred, men were waiting for him 
 for him ? Yes, the mighty arms of the Union were about 
 him j the trump of a fame, such as no song had ever sung, was 
 poised to blow to the world his daring. Hark ! Heavens, 
 yes; the long> tender plaint of the whippoorwill. Ah ! now, 
 now there was no doubt. In swooning delight he waits. Good 
 Heaven ! What's that sound ? Angels and ministers of 
 grace, the dead in wailing woe over the deed about to be 
 done ? Ah ! he breathes. 
 
 Pizarro has grown tired of imprisonment and has set up 
 an expostulatory wail, facetiously impatient at first, but now 
 breaking into sharp yelps. This will never do. He must 
 stop that ear-splitting outcry, or the househould will be 
 awakened. That sharp-eyed, razor-tongued young devil, 
 Dick, is just across the hall. Wesley opens the closet door, 
 and Pizarro bounds out, licking his jailer's hands in grateful 
 acknowledgment. He frisks, appealing to the room door,
 
 A CATASTROPHE. 227 
 
 inviting the further favor of being permitted to go to his 
 post, his wagging tail explaining how necessary it is that a 
 dog intrusted with such important duties as the guardian- 
 ship of the household can not suffer the casual claims of 
 friendlessness or the comity of surreptitious feeding to lure 
 him into infidelity. The tail proving ineffectual in argu- 
 ment, Pizarro supplemented its eloquence by sharp admoni- 
 tory yelps, tempered by a sharp crescendo whining, of which 
 he seemed rather proud as an accomplishment. 
 
 " Damn the brute ! He will ruin everything. I must kill 
 him." But how ? He had no weapon. He looked about 
 the room in gasping terror the dog accepting the move as a 
 sign that the eloquence of the tail argument had proved 
 overpowering, supplemented this by an explosion of ecstatic 
 yelps of a deep, bass volume, that murdered the deep silence 
 of the night, like salvos of pistols. The curtains to the 
 windows were held in place by stout dimity bands. Whis- 
 pering soothingly to the dog, Wesley knotted four of these 
 together, and, making as if to open the door, slipped the 
 bands like a lasso over the head of the unsuspecting brute. 
 In an instant his howls were silenced. The dog, with pro- 
 truding tongue and eyes that had the piteous pleading and 
 reproach of the human, looked up at him, bloodshot and fail- 
 ing. But now the second signal must be near ! He may 
 have missed it in the infernal howling of the brute. Yes, 
 that was it. He looks out of the window ; his room is in 
 view of the covered way to the kitchen. He sees moving 
 figures ; he hears voices. They are there. He has missed 
 the signal ; he must hasten to them. He puts out the lights 
 and opens the door cautiously. All is invitingly, reassur- 
 ingly still. He is at the hall door in a minute, in another 
 he is with the shadows in the rear of the house. 
 
 " Jones, is it you ? " 
 
 "Ah, captain, we are waiting for ropes to secure the 
 prize. " 
 
 " There is no time to wait. The dog has made such a noise 
 that I didn't hear your signal. I saw you from my window. 
 Come, we must not lose a minute, for I couldn't fasten the
 
 228 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 brute very well. Davis is here, and we have only to take 
 him from his room. The cavalry went about eleven; I 
 heard them march away an hour ago." 
 
 " Now, give me the exact situation here, that there may 
 be no surprise. How many men are we likely to encounter 
 in the event of a fracas ? " 
 
 " Counting Davis and Lee, four in the house. How near 
 the orderlies and guards are you know better than I. Besides 
 Davis, there's Jack Sprague, young Atterbury, and Dick 
 but he don't count." 
 
 " No ! Why ? " 
 
 " He is not over his wound, and besides he's but a boy. 
 They had two pistols loaded, but I managed to draw all the 
 charges except one. So that if Jack and Atterbury should 
 come to the rescue they could do no damage." 
 
 " They sleep at this end of the house ? " 
 
 "Yes, and our work is at the other." 
 
 "Well, then, in that case I will get ladders I saw near 
 the carriage-house and put them up to Davis's window as a 
 means of escape in case these young men get after us before 
 we finish the job. Even with their unloaded pistols, two 
 full grown men and the boy could make trouble." 
 
 He called Number Two and gave him orders to place a 
 ladder at each of the two windows of Davis's room, and to 
 have a man at the top of each armed. When the men had 
 hurried away, Jones continued: 
 
 " Here's a pistol for you. It is a six-shooter bull-dog, and 
 will do sure work. Now move on to the stairway ; others 
 will join us in a moment. You're sure you know Davis's 
 room ? It would be mighty awkward to poke into any of 
 the others." 
 
 " Yes ; everybody in the house was taken to see it. It is 
 the old lady's room, occupied by mother and daughter, gen- 
 erally; but given up to the President for the night." 
 
 They are in the hall, stealing softly over the thick mat- 
 ting; they are in the broad corridor running the whole 
 length of the house Jack's, Olympia's, Dick's, and Kate's 
 rooms all behind them south ward. Wesley, with Jones
 
 A CATASTROPHE. 229 
 
 touching his right arm aud Number Two at his left, is mov- 
 ing slowly, silently northward to the left of the stairs. 
 " Great God ! What was that ? " 
 
 A sound as of a clattering troop of cavalry, the neighing 
 of horses in the grounds! Wesley halted, trembling, dis- 
 mayed. 
 
 " That's all right," Jones whispered. " I ordered the sta- 
 bles opened so that the horses wouldn't be handy, if any one 
 should happen to be at hand who felt like pursuing us, or 
 going for the cavalry." 
 
 " It was a mistake ; the horses will arouse the house. We 
 must hurry." 
 
 In a moment they were before the door of the Davis room. 
 Wesley raised the latch. It was an old-fashioned fastening. 
 Number Two was directed to stand at the threshold while 
 Wesley and Jones secured Davis. 
 
 Now they are in the room. There is no sound ; but from 
 the open window, looking upon the carriage-road, there is the 
 tramping of horses, drowning all sounds in the room. They 
 are nearly to the large canopied bed between the open win- 
 dows, when Jones, who is nearest, discovers a startled ap- 
 parition half rising from the bed. He is discovered by the 
 figure at the same instant, and a piercing scream, so loud, 
 prolonged, and ear-splitting that it echoes over the house, 
 ends the wild dream of the marauders. Wesley reels in 
 panic. But Jones is an old campaigner. If he can't have 
 victory, there must be no recapture. He rushes at the 
 white figure, and snatches Eosa, limp, nerveless, and 
 swooning ! 
 
 "See who's in the bed! I'm damned if you haven't 
 brought us to the wrong room see, quick ! " 
 
 But there was no necessity for seeing. Mrs. Atterbury 
 uttered a stifled cry : <k Help ! help ! murder ! " 
 
 " You, Boone, know the place ; stand by me and I'll see 
 that we are not nabbed ; but you've made a nice mess of the 
 affair. " 
 
 But the comments of the indignant Jones were suddenly 
 drowned in a blood-curdling sound in the doorway : the sav-
 
 230 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 ago, suppressed growl of a dog, and the responsive impreca- 
 tions of Number Two. With this came the apparition of 
 two figures, at sight of which Jones darted to the window, 
 -the two figures, Jack and Dick, following to his right and 
 left. 
 
 " Save your powder, whoever you are. Fire at me, and 
 you hit the young woman. I don't know who she is, but 
 her body is my protection." Saying this, Jones coolly, de- 
 terminedly retreated backward to the window; but Dick, 
 hardly hearing, and certainly not comprehending, had come 
 within arm's length of the two, somewhat to the "left of 
 Jones. 
 
 "Don't fear, Eosa," Dick exclaimed, between his teeth. 
 " I can see you. Ah, ah ! " Then four reports, that sounded 
 as one, split the air. 
 
 Rosa broke from the thick cloud of smoke as a fifth re- 
 port rang out, and a scream of death went up between the 
 bed and the door where Jack stood. 
 
 At the instant Dick spoke, Jack, in the doorway, heard an 
 exclamation at his side. He half turned, and as he did so 
 his eye caught the outlines of a man, with a shining some- 
 thing raised in the air, coming toward him from the bedside. 
 He pointed his own pistol at the figure, there were three si- 
 multaneous reports, and the oncoming figure fell with a 
 hoarse cry of pain. The man at Jack's back now cried : 
 
 " Get through the window ; they're coming through the 
 house ! " 
 
 " It's only a dog; come on." 
 
 Then there was a sound of flying feet in the wide passage. 
 
 " Are you hurt, Rosa ? Tell me did they hit you ? 
 Speak, oh, speak ! " It was Dick's voice, in a convulsive sob. 
 Now, the boy again, that danger was gone. 
 
 Jack meanwhile had struck a match, and soon found the 
 candles on the night-table near the bed. There was, at the 
 same instant, the audible sound of scurrying along the pas- 
 sage. He ran out. The man assailed by the dog had reached 
 the head of the stairs. As Jack got half-way down the cor- 
 ridor, man and dog disappeared over the balustrade. When
 
 THE STORY OF THE NIGIIT. 231- 
 
 he reached the hall the dog was inside, growling furiously, 
 the door was closed and the man gone. Jack opened tho 
 door. Pizarro bounded out, and Jack followed. The dog 
 stopped a moment, sniffed the ground, and made for tho 
 kitchen. A loud bark, followed by a ferocious growl, and c, 
 scream of mortal pain broke on the air ; then a pistol-shot 
 and a long, pitiful gasp, and silence. 
 
 " Well, that dog won't trouble any one now," Jack heard, 
 and the voice made his hair rise into bristling quills. 
 
 " Barney ! " he cried; u Barney Moore, is that you ? " 
 
 <v It is; no one else. If I'm not drunk or dreaming, that's 
 my own Jack. God be praised ! " 
 
 " How in Heaven's name did you get here ? " 
 
 " I might ask you the same question, but you have prior- 
 ity of query, as they say in court. I came here first to help 
 rescue Captain Wesley Boone, and second to capture his rebel 
 Excellency Jeff Davis." 
 
 " O my God ! my God ! Barney, Barney, tell me all, 
 and tell me quickly ! " 
 
 Barney told all he knew, and told it rapidly, Jack catch- 
 ing his arm almost fiercely, as the miserable truth began to 
 define itself in his whirling senses. Then the meaning of 
 the two marauders in the ladies' apartments became plain. 
 Jack and Barney were hurrying toward the chamber as the 
 latter talked, Jack filled with an awful fear. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE STORY OF THE NIGHT. 
 
 Now, the timely or untimely appearance of Jack and 
 Dick in the crisis of the-plot came about in this way : Dick, 
 on returning from Jack's room, had remarked, with quicken- 
 ing suspicion, a gleam of light under Wesley's door. Per- 
 haps he is ill, the boy thought, compunctiously ; if he were,
 
 .232 THE mox GAME. 
 
 he (Dick) ought to offer his services. He started to carry 
 this kind thought into effect, when he heard suspicious 
 sounds in the room. Some one was moving. He waited, 
 now in alert anticipation. The plaintive signal of the whip- 
 poorwill bringing passionate energy to Wesley reached 
 Dick's ears ; he heard the opening of the window ; then si- 
 lence. Could Wesley be descending thence to the ground ? 
 He blew out his candle, drew the curtain, and cautiously 
 raised the window. No ; Wesley was not getting out. Then 
 the sound of the Pizarro episode came dimly through the 
 walls. He thought the dog's expostulatory growls a voice. 
 There was some one in the room with Wesley. Perhaps it 
 was Kate. It wouldn't do to act until he was sure that his 
 suspicions were a certainty. Besides, Jack had warned him 
 not to interfere with a mere escape on Wesley's part, unless 
 it seemed to involve depredations upon the Atterburys. 
 Then he heard the faint sound of the scuffle, when Wesley 
 throttled the compromising mastiff. Should he slip over 
 and warn Jack ? He was moving toward the door, when, 
 through the stillness of the night, a sound came up from 'the 
 direction of the quarters. He ran lightly to the window 
 again. His eyes, now accustomed to the darkness hi his 
 room, distinguished clearly in the pale starlight. He thrilled 
 with a sudden sensation of choking. .Yonder, stealing house- 
 ward from the rose-gardens, he could plainly discern two 
 four six moving figures. Heavens, the slaves were out ! 
 There was to be a servile uprising. Now he must go and 
 warn Jack ; but he must note first whither the assassins were 
 directing their attack. Perhaps, with the aid of Jack's pis- 
 tols, they could be frightened away by a few shots from the 
 windows. He ran noiselessly to Jack's room, to his bed, 
 and whispered in his sleeping ear : 
 
 "Jack, make no noise; dress yourself and come. The 
 negroes are surrounding the house, and Wesley is in mis- 
 chief." 
 
 Jack was awake and in his clothes in a few seconds. He 
 handed Dick one of the pistols, and, armed with the other, 
 hastened toward Wesley's room. The door was open and
 
 THE STORY OF THE NIGHT. 233 
 
 all was silent. Dick looked in hastily, marked the open 
 window, and exclaimed : 
 
 " He is gone ! Come to my room. I know exactly where 
 to locate them from my window; it is nearer the point they 
 halted at than Wesley's." 
 
 Yes; figures were moving swiftly against the trellised 
 walls that led to the kitchen. They moved, too, with the 
 precision of people thoroughly acquainted with the place. 
 Then some one appeared swiftly from under the shadow of 
 the house ; then three came toward it and passed under the 
 veranda near Wesley's window. Jack leaned far out to dis- 
 cover what this diversion meant. At the same instant the 
 sounding gallopade of hoofs came from the tranquil roadway 
 leading to the stables. The shrill whinny of horses broke 
 on the air. 
 
 " They are mounted. There are a score of them ! " Jack 
 cried, desperately. " We can at least keep them out of the 
 house.'' 
 
 " We can, if Wesley hasn't opened the doors to them," 
 Dick said, shrewdly. 
 
 " That's a fact. But is it sure Wesley is not in his room ? 
 Bring matches and let us examine it." 
 
 There was no sign of Wesley in the room. The cool 
 night air poured in from the open window. 
 
 " Draw the curtain before you strike the match," Jack 
 whispered. " We must not let a light be seen from the out- 
 side." 
 
 " But the curtains are thin, the light will shine through." 
 
 " Sh ! Come here. By Heaven, it is Wesley, and he is 
 dead ! No the devil ! it is Pizarro dead ! Kneel down 
 and strike a match, keeping between the light and the win- 
 dow. One glance will be enough." 
 
 One glimpse revealed the dog with distended tongue and 
 half -glazed eyes, but still alive. Jack loosed the band from 
 the neck. The dog gave a convulsive thrill and uttered a 
 plaintive moan. 
 
 " Set a basin of water down here. He may recover. Poor 
 fellow ! This was a cruel return for his kindness to Wesley,"
 
 234 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 Jack said, forcing the dog's nose into the basin. He began 
 to lap the cool water greedily. But now Dick, in the door- 
 way, uttered a cry. 
 
 "They are in the house. I hear them moving in the 
 vestibule. Come, for God's sake, Jack ! They are making 
 for Mrs. Atterbury's apartment. Evidently some one who 
 knows that the family jewels are there, for what else can 
 they want ? " 
 
 The dog staggered to his feet as the two stole softly from 
 the room. They followed with high-wrought, loudly-beating 
 hearts and tingling nerves. The marauders in front of them 
 moved 011 like men accustomed to the house. They made, 
 as the light footfalls indicated, straight for Mrs. Atterbury's 
 door, which, unlike the others, fronted the length of the hall 
 in a small vestibule sunk into the lateral wall. The invaders 
 were thus screened from Jack and Dick when they had 
 turned the corner, and the latter were forced to move with 
 painful caution to get the advantage of surprise to offset 
 superior numbers. But now a new peril menaces them. A 
 shuffling in the long corridor behind them freezes the cur- 
 rent of their blood. They have been caught in a trap. There 
 are two forces in the house. They both turn and halt, silent 
 and trembling, against the south wall and wait. The steps 
 still advance, the scraping of the nailed boots tears the light 
 matting. 
 
 " We will wait until the new-comer or new-comers are 
 abreast," Jack breathes in Dick's ear, " and then fire a volley 
 into them point blank." 
 
 At the instant Rosa's shriek, blood-curdling and electric, 
 breaks from the corner. Dick is over the intervening steps 
 in two mighty bounds, Jack at his heels and the foe in the 
 rear following. Against the open window Dick catches the 
 outlines of his darling in the brawny arms of Tarquin. He 
 has the advantage of the light, and, as the ruffian retreats to 
 the window, Dick is at his side, and in an instant deals him 
 a stunning blow on the head. Jack, in the dim light, sees 
 the dark figure dashing at him with the gleam of steel in 
 his hand. He levels his weapon, three reports ring out at
 
 THE STORY OF TIIE NIGHT. 235 
 
 once, and the miserable Wesley falls with a dreadful gur- 
 gling gasp on the floor. 
 
 But there are interlopers in the rear as well ! Jack turned 
 to confront them. He realized vaguely hearing a struggle as 
 he confronted the robbers. Ah! yes, the dog; the dog has 
 come upon the scene. There is sound of low, fierce, growl- 
 ing, flying footsteps on the floor, and Jack, assuring himself 
 by a quick glance that there were no more marauders in the 
 room, hurried to see that the front door was closed before 
 re-enforcements could come to the invaders. But Pizarro's 
 lusty growls, denoting recovered strength, attracted him 
 kitchen ward, and he encountered Barney, and with Barney 
 something of a clew to the hideous attempt. One prayer 
 was in his heart one hope that Wesley had escaped; but 
 with shuddering horror he hastened with Barney back to 
 the scene of blood and death. The great candelabra on the 
 mantel had been lighted, and the room was visible as in 
 daylight. Jack halted, transfixed, horror-stricken, in the 
 doorway. The women in hastily snatched robes were all 
 there, and on the floor, wailing over the dead body of Wes- 
 ley, Kate sat, prone and disheveled, calling to him to look 
 at her, to speak to her, as she kissed the cold lips in incredu- 
 lous despair. She paid no heed to Mrs. Atterbury, to Olym- 
 pia, kneeling beside her all her heart, all her senses be- 
 numbed in the agony of the cruel blow. Jack moved to the 
 piteous group, and, dropping on his knees, felt the lifeless 
 pulse, and sank back, pale and shrinking, with the feeling 
 that he was a murderer. Mrs. Atterbury turned to him, 
 crying convulsively : 
 
 " Oh, what does it mean, Mr. Sprague ? what does it 
 mean ? " 
 
 " It is a dreadful game of cross-purposes. These unhappy 
 men believed Mr. Davis to be in this room when they en- 
 tered. They meant to capture him and carry him North." 
 
 " Ah, thank God ! thank God ! who carried our President 
 away in time," and the matron clasped her hands fervently 
 as she sank in a chair. But the sight of Kate, woe-begone, 
 feverishly caressing the dead brother, brought the tenderer
 
 236 THE IROX GAME. 
 
 instincts back. She rose again, and, clasping her arms about 
 the poor girl, said pleadingly : 
 
 " Let him be carried to his room ; you are covered with 
 blood." 
 
 " Ah, it is his blood, his innocent blood ! Murdered, when 
 he should have found merry." 
 
 Jack found tongue now. He was hideously calm the 
 frightful calm of great-hearted men, who use mirth, levity, 
 and indolency to hide emotion. 
 
 ''Miss Boone Kate it was perhaps the shot from my 
 pistol that killed Wesley. I did it in defense of women in 
 peril, in defense of my own life. It was an accident in one 
 sense. Had I known the circumstances I certainly shouldn't 
 have fired, but you must put the blame on me, not upon this 
 guiltless household." 
 
 She looked up at him looked with a wild, despairing, 
 unbelieving gaze, pressing the handsome dead face to her 
 bosom, and then, with a wild, wailing sob, bent her head 
 until the shining dark mass of hair fell like a funeral veil 
 over her own and the dead face. Rosa, who had disappeared 
 in the dressing-room, now entered the chamber. Turning 
 from the woful group on the floor, she glanced hastily about, 
 as if in search of some one. Her eyes fell upon Dick, dazed 
 and bleeding, on the couch. She ran to him with a ten- 
 der cry. 
 
 " O Richard ! are you hurt ? Great heavens ! your face is 
 all blood. You are wounded. O mamma, come come 
 Richard is dying! " 
 
 The boy tried his best to smile, holding his hand over his 
 left side, as if stifling pain. He smiled a bright, contented 
 happy smile as Rosa knelt, sobbing, by his side, and, open- 
 ing his jacket, baring the blood-stained shirt, plucked a pur- 
 plish rose from the bleeding bosom. 
 
 " The white rose is red now, Rosa." 
 
 "Oh, my darling! my darling!" Rosa sobbed; and the 
 boy, smiling in the joy of it, tried to raise himself to fold 
 her in his arms. But the long tension had been too much 
 he fell back unconscious.
 
 THE STORY OF THE NIGHT. 237 
 
 Olympia saw that Mrs. Atterbury, the natural head of the 
 house, was unequal to the dismal burden of control. She 
 took the painful duty of order upon herself, sent Jack to 
 summon the servants, called Barney to her aid in removing 1 
 Dick to his room, and, when the terrified housemaids came, 
 distributed the rest to the nearest apartments. Morning 
 had dawned when the work was done, and then Jack set 
 out to investigate the condition of the quarters. Twenty or 
 more of the negroes had disappeared. It was easy to trace 
 them to the swamp, but Jack made no attempt to organize 
 a pursuit. Blood could be traced on the white shell path 
 leading to the rose-fields, and the pond gate was wide open. 
 He reported the state of affairs to Mrs. Atterbury. She 
 begged him to take horse to Williamsburg, bring the sur- 
 geon, and deliver a note to the commanding officer. He 
 returned in two hours with the surgeon, and a half-hour 
 later a cavalry troop clattered into the grounds. 
 
 Dick's wound was first examined. The ball had entered 
 the fleshy part of his chest, just under the armpit. It was 
 readily extracted, and, if so much blood had not been lost, 
 the boy would not be in serious danger. Wesley had died 
 almost instantly. The ball entered his breast just above 
 the heart. He had passed away painlessly. Jones was shot 
 through the right shoulder, the ball passing clear across the 
 breast, grazing the upper ribs, and lodging just above the 
 left lung. He was, by Mrs. Atterbury's command, removed 
 to the quarters and delivered to the commander of the cav- 
 alry troop as a spy, an inciter of servile insurrection. By 
 order of the department commander, civilians were refused 
 all communication with him, as the Davis cabinet meant to 
 make a stern example so soon as he was able to bear trial. 
 Mrs. Atterbury announced to Jack and Olympia that so soon 
 as Dick could bear removal the house would be closed and 
 the family return to Richmond. They heard this with 
 relief, for the place had become hideous to all now. To 
 Jack it was a reminder of his misfortune, and to every one 
 of the group it was associated with crime, treason, and blood. 
 The hardest part of poor Jack's burden was the seizure of
 
 238 THE IROX GAME. 
 
 Barney, who was marched off by the cavalry commander. 
 Vincent gone, Jack had no one to reach the ear of authority, 
 and he shrank from asking the intervention of the mistress 
 whose home had been invaded by the guiltless culprit. The 
 case was stated with all the eloquence Jack was master of 
 to the captain in command. 
 
 " You are a soldier, sir," the officer replied. " You know 
 I have no latitude in the matter. This Moore has no status 
 as a regular prisoner of war ; he is found on the premises 
 of a non-combatant aiding servile insurrection. Even Presi- 
 dent Davis himself could not intervene. The Southern 
 people are deeply agitated by Butler's attempts to arouse 
 the negroes. We have been weakened, robbed by the ab- 
 duction of hundreds right here on the Peninsula. The gang 
 that Moore came here with was led by this scoundrel Jones, 
 who is Butler's agent. A very vigorous example must be 
 made of these wretches, or the country-side will be deserted 
 and the government will be without produce. We must 
 inspire confidence in the owners of plantations, or the sol- 
 diers in the army will have to come back to guard their 
 homes." 
 
 Jack saw the futility of further pleading. The officer 
 was unquestionably right. Such scenes as Rosedale had 
 witnessed would end in the desertion of the rural regions of 
 the Confederacy. At Mrs. Atterbury's urgent intercession 
 Kate was permitted to leave the lines with her dead. She was 
 conducted to the rebel outposts in the Atterbury carriage, and 
 under a flag of truce entered the Union lines near Hampton. 
 Olympia accompanied her in the carriage, Jack riding with 
 the escort. Kate refused every suggestion to see Jack ; re- 
 fused his own prayerful message, and sternly, solemnly with 
 her dead passed from the scene of her sorrows. 
 
 Youth and something else stronger than medicine, more 
 tenacious than any other motive that keeps the life-current 
 brisk and vigorous, made Dick's recovery swift and sure. 
 Rosa had no torments for him now. The blood-red rose 
 had proved a magician's amulet to confirm her mind in the 
 sweet teachings of her heart. But the patrician mother was
 
 A CARPET-KNIGHT. 239 
 
 with difficulty brought to listen to the tying of this love- 
 knot. She had looked forward to a grand alliance for the 
 heiress of Rosedale an alliance that should hring the fam- 
 ily .high up in the dominant hierarchy of the South. Sho 
 listened silently to the young girl's pleading prattle of tho 
 boy's bravery, his wit, his manliness. She did not say no, 
 but she hoped to find a way to distract her daughter from 
 a mesalliance, which would not only diminish her child's 
 rank, but compromise the family politically. Such a sacri^ 
 fice could not be. Fortunately, both were mere children, 
 and the knot would unravel itself without perplexities that 
 maturer love would have involved. So the mother smiled 
 on the happy girl, kissed Dick tenderly morning and night, 
 for he had been a hero ha their defense, and she was too 
 kindly of heart, too loyal to obligation, to permit Dick's atti- 
 tude of suitor to lessen her fondness and admiration for the 
 bright, handsome lad. Olympia was the confidante of both 
 the lovers, listened with her usual good-humor to the boy's 
 raptures and the girl's panegyrics, and soon came to share 
 Jack's high place in the happy lovers' devotion. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 A CARPET-KNIGHT. 
 
 JACK meanwhile sank into incurable gloom. The mem- 
 ory of Kate's mute, reproachful look, her heart-broken out- 
 cry, never quitted him. He woke at times with the dead 
 eyes of Wesley staring into the night at him, the convicting 
 gaze of Kate fastened upon him. He must fly, or he must 
 die in this abhorred, guilt-haunted atmosphere. Olympia 
 saw this, Mrs. Atterbury saw it, and the first week in No- 
 vember Rosedale was turned over to the military and the 
 household re-established in the stately house in the official 
 quarter of Richmond, where the bustle and movement of new 
 16
 
 2iO THE IROX GAME. 
 
 conditions gave Jack's mind another direction, or, rather, 
 took it from the bitter brooding that threatened madness. 
 
 When the sun accepted the wind's challenge to contest 
 for the traveler's cloak, I dare say all the spectators of the 
 novel highway robbery the moon, the stars, the trees, birds 
 and beasts, and others that the fable does not mention took 
 odds that the wind would snatch off the wayfarer's garment 
 in triumph. However, the wind whipped and thrashed the 
 poor man in vain. The stronger it blew and the more it 
 walloped the cloak's folds, the tighter and more determinedly 
 the traveler held on to it, as he plodded wearily over the 
 hillside. But when the sun came caressingly, inspiring gen- 
 tle confidence, bathing the body in warm moisture, the tena- 
 cious hold was relaxed, then the disputed coat was thrown 
 over his arm, and, as the vista spread far away in golden 
 light, the victim cast the garment by the wayside and the 
 sun came off victor. Youth is despoiled of the garment of 
 grief in this sort. Congenial warmth, the sunshine of 
 friendliness, soon relax the mantle of woe, and the path that 
 looks wintry and hard becomes a way of light and gayety. 
 
 It was by mingling at first perfunctorily in the gay- 
 ety of the Confederate capital that Jack lost the melan- 
 choly in which the tragedy at Rosedale had clothed his 
 spirits. At worst, the calamity was over; he had been a 
 guiltless vengeance in the punishment of Wesley's treason. 
 So he took bond in hope of better things to come. With a 
 stout heart, strong limbs, a plowman's appetite, and a natu- 
 ral bent to joyousness, a youth of twenty-two or three is not 
 apt to mistake his memories for his hopes and hang the 
 horizon in black when the sun is shining in his eyes ! 
 
 Richmond, always the center of a fascinating society, 
 was at that time exuberant in her young metropolitan glo- 
 ries. It was the gayest capital in the Western hemisphere. 
 To resist its seductions would have tasked the self-denial of 
 a more constant anchorite than our dashing Jack ever 
 aspired to be, in the lowest stage of his martial vicissi- 
 tudes. There was nothing of the garishness of the parvenu 
 in the capitol's display. The patrician caste ruled in camp
 
 A CARPET-KXIGHT. 211 
 
 and court. The walls that had echoed to the oratory of 
 Jefferson, Henry, Washington, Randolph, now housed the 
 young Congress of the new Confederacy. An hundred 
 years of political, military, legal, and social precedence were 
 the inheritance of the men chief in the cabinet, the council, 
 and the camp. Stirring traditions clung about every quar- 
 ter of the town, now devoted to the offices of administra- 
 tion, from the Mayo wharves to the lodgings of Washington 
 and Lafayette. On the stately square yonder, where the 
 musing eye of the rebel chief might study its history, stood 
 the suggestive mansion where Burr's treason was brought 
 home to that first great rebel. 
 
 Not far distant the disdainful pointed out the tenement 
 where Fremont had instructed the Richmond youth in far 
 other doctrines than those which made him the abolitionist 
 choice for President in after-times. Royalist and republican 
 glories mingled in the reliquary edifices that met the won- 
 dering eyes of the provincial Confederates drawn to the 
 capital in the generous enthusiasm of that first prodigious 
 achievement at Bull Run. Here a royal Governor had 
 dwelt, yonder a Bonaparte had sojourned and beguiled the 
 famous beauties of Powhatan, as the patriarchs loved to 
 call the city. A Lee was the chief of the military staff, a 
 Randolph ruled the war office ; scions of the Washingtons 
 family filled a dozen subordinate places; the kin of Patrick 
 Henry revived their ancestor's glory by as zealous a devo- 
 tion to the new revolution. With personages like these in 
 every office the society of the new capital revived the brill- 
 iancy of the French Directory and also the character of 
 the States-General, while Holland held the Spains at bay. 
 The blockade had not yet pinched the affluent, nor beggared 
 the industries of the well-to-do. Always famous for a brill- 
 iant bar, a learned judiciary, and a cultivated taste among 
 its women, Richmond in 1861 was the ideal of a political, 
 military, and social rendezvous of a young nation. 
 
 The raw legions had been victorious in the first pitched 
 battle of the war on the plains of Manassas, and what might 
 not be reasonably hoped from them under the training of
 
 242 THE IROX GAME. 
 
 such master-minds as Johnston, Beauregard, Jackson, and 
 Lee ? Wasn't it the common talk among diplomats, the 
 concurrent opinion of the French and English press, the 
 -despairing admission of the half-hearted and panic-stricken 
 North, that one more such decisive victory would bring the 
 South peace and independence ? Wasn't it, indeed, well 
 known among the favored juntas that those sagacious diplo- 
 mats, Senators Mason and Slidell, had delayed their journey 
 to Europe in order to aid the President in the treaty of peace 
 that the victorious legions of Johnston were to exact in 
 Washington ? 
 
 Jack was amazed and disheartened at what he saw and 
 heard. The activity, resources, gayety, and confidence of the 
 authorities and people, recalled to his mind, Oxford, the 
 jocund capital of Charles II and the royalists, while the 
 Commonwealth leaders were drilling their armies. But in- 
 stead of the chaos of rapine, the wanton excesses, the pillage 
 of churches and colleges that marked the tenure of the miser- 
 able Charles, Richmond was as orderly, serene, the Congress 
 as deliberate, and the people as content, as the Rome of the 
 conquest of Persia or France after Jemmapes. The army 
 was hot for battle, and as confident of the result as the Guard 
 at Austerlitz or McClellan at Malvern. The work done and 
 the way of its doing showed that the populace, as well as 
 the rulers, were convinced of the destiny of the city to be 
 henceforth mistress of herself, the preordained metropolis 
 of half the continent perhaps the whole continent for, 
 would the North be able to resist joining States with a des- 
 tiny so glorious a regal republic where birth and rank 
 were tacitly enthroned ? The city's greatness was taken by 
 the mass, as a matter of course like an heir in chancery 
 who has won all but the final decree in the suit, or like a 
 great nobleman who has come to his inheritance. 
 
 Though it was the first week of November when the 
 Atterburys found home affairs going on smoothly in the 
 town-house, summer still disputed with winter the short 
 lovely days of fall, as Jack described the lingering May-day 
 mildness of this seductive Southern autumn. It was the first
 
 A CARPET-KNIGHT. 243 
 
 season he had ever spent south of New York, and, like most 
 Americans, he realized, with wonder, that the wind which 
 brought ice and snow to New York, visited lower Virginia 
 with only a sharp evening and morning reminder that sum- 
 mer was gone. The balm and beauty of the climate came 
 with something of healing to the hurt his heart and hope 
 had suffered at Eosedale. If anything could have mitigated 
 the pangs of a young warrior perplexed in love and held in 
 leash in war, it was such an existence as the Atterburys in- 
 veigled him into leading. The part of carpet-knight is not 
 difficult to learn, and the awkwardness of it is to some ex- 
 tent atoned for when the service is constrained. At least 
 Jack took this philosophical view of it, and soon gave himself 
 up to the merry social life of his surroundings with an ani- 
 mation that led his hosts to hope that he might be won over to 
 the Confederate cause. Very young men do not sorrow long 
 or deeply, and Jack was young. He was neither reckless 
 nor trifling, but I am sure that none of the adulating groups 
 that made much of the handsome Yankee in Richmond that 
 season would have suspected that the young man looked in 
 his mirror night and morning, frowned darkly at the reflect- 
 ed image he saw there, and said, solemnly, " You are a mur- 
 derer ! " It was by no means a tragic accent in which this 
 thrilling apostrophe was spoken. It was very much in the 
 tone that a woman employs when she looks hastily in the 
 mirror and utters a soft " What a fright I am ! " apparently 
 receiving comforting contradiction enough from the mirror 
 to make the remark worth frequent repetition. 
 
 As a matter of fact, however, Jack was not insensible to 
 the awkward complication of his predicament. Grief as a 
 mantle is difficult to adjust to the shoulders of the young ; 
 It is melted by the ardor of companionship as swiftly as it 
 is spun by the loom of adversity. His interest in the strange 
 scenes that the war brought to pass, his association with peo- 
 ple intimate in a sense with the leading forces of rebellion, 
 the airs of incipient grandeur, these raw instruments of gov- 
 ernment gave themselves all these things engrossed the 
 observant faculties of the young man, -who looked out upon
 
 24t THE IRON GAME. 
 
 the serio-comic harlequinade playing about him as a hostage 
 of the Eoundheads might have taken part in the showy fes- 
 tivities of the Cavaliers, in the years when the chances of bat- 
 tle had .not gone over wholly to the Puritans. Not that the 
 figure illustrates the contrasting conditions adequately. For, 
 if the South prided itself at all and the South did pride it- 
 self vauntingly, clamorously, and incessantly it made its 
 chief boast the point that its people were the gentry of the 
 land, and that under the rebel banner the hosts of chivalry 
 had assembled anew to make all manner of fine things the 
 rule of life. Jack, writing and talking of his few months' 
 experience, dwelt with wonder upon the curious ignorance 
 of the two peoples respecting each other. Mason and Dixon's 
 line separated two civilizations as markedly unlike as the 
 peoples that confront each other on either side the Vistula 
 or the Baltic Sea. The hierarchy not only seemed to love 
 war for war's sake ; they possessed that feudal faculty, so in- 
 comprehensible in the middle ages, the power of making 
 those who suffered most by it believe in it too, and sacrifice 
 themselves for it. 
 
 The people Jack sagaciously remarked, in discussing the 
 topic with Olympia seemed made for such a climate, rather 
 than made by it. They would have been out of place in the 
 bleak autumn blasts, and wan, colorless seasons of Acredale, 
 where the sun, bleary and dim, furtively skirted the low 
 horizon from November until April, as if ashamed to be 
 identified with the glorious courser that rode the radiant 
 summer sky. Here the sun came up of a morning a little 
 tardy, 'tis true, but quite in the manner of the people warm 
 and engaging, and when he went down in the afternoon he 
 covered the western sky with a roseate mantle that fairly 
 kept out the chill of the Northern night. "No wonder," 
 Jack oaid to his sister, watching this daily spectacle "no 
 wonder these people are warm, impulsive, and even ener- 
 getic; here is an Italian climate without the enervating lan- 
 guor of that sensuous sunshine." 
 
 The Atterbury house was the gayest in Richmond. Mrs. 
 Atterbury, though the mother of a son in the army ami a
 
 A CARPET-KNIGHT. 245 
 
 daughter with a coterie of her own in society, insisted on 
 maintaining the leadership she had long held among the 
 social forces of the capital. " All Richmond," and that 
 meant a good deal in a city whose women had been adored 
 for beauty and wit on two continents, received Mrs. Atter- 
 bury's bidding to her drawing-room with proud alacrity. 
 Never had her " teas," her musicales, her receptions, and 
 fetes been merrier or more convivial than during this mem- 
 orable autumn that Jack and Olympia passed as prisoners 
 of war. It was generally believed that the brother and sis- 
 ter were occult agents of the Federal power, negotiating 
 with the Davis Cabinet, and Jack's whimsical sobriety of 
 speech and manner, contrasting with his former high animal 
 spirits, carried out the notion of his being a secret ambassa- 
 dor. 
 
 It was at a reception given to the Cabinet by Mrs. Atter- 
 bury that the rumor of this accredited function came to 
 Jack's ears. " All Richmond " was among the guests. Olym- 
 pia, in spite of her abhorrence of the cause, couldn't resist 
 a glow of sympathetic admiration of the women who, in 
 dress, in speech, in tact, in all the artifices which make femi- 
 nine diplomacy so potent an agency in statecraft, bent every 
 faculty to inspire confidence in the new Administration. 
 Mrs. Davis herself was not the least of the factors that made 
 the President's policy the creed of the land. There was no 
 elaboration of costume no obtrusive jewels. The most 
 richly dressed dame in the company was a Madame Gannat, 
 the deity of the most charming drawing-room at the capital. 
 At her house society was always sure to meet the European 
 noblemen traveling in the country, the quasi official agents 
 of France, England, and Austria, accredited to the new Con- 
 federacy, the generals of the Southern armies on leave in the 
 city, and the political leaders able to snatch an evening's re- 
 laxation. For some reason this potential personage let Olym- 
 pia and Jack see that she was deeply interested in them. 
 She took the young man's arm late in the evening, and 
 whispering, " Find a place where we can have a little talk," 
 accompanied him to a small apartment joining a conserva-
 
 246 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 tory, where Mrs. Atterbury transacted business with her 
 agents. 
 
 " You must take down a book, so that, in case the curious 
 remark us, our ttte-a-tete may not be regarded as conspir- 
 acy." 
 
 " No one would be apt to associate you with such a thing," 
 Jack said, vaguely. 
 
 "I don't know. Like all conspiracies, this Confederate 
 comedy is suspicious." 
 
 " Comedy, Mrs. Gannat ? Why, I never saw people so ear- 
 nest ! I can't imagine the surroundings of Cromwell more 
 methodic." 
 
 " Ah, yes; those who have all to lose by the crash, when 
 it comes, are bending every energy to impress the North that 
 we are all of one mind down here ; we are not. I am talking 
 frankly with you, because my friend Mrs. Lanview has made 
 me fully acquainted with your circumstances. I have asked 
 you for a talk here because I dare not have you at my house. 
 No one suspects my loyalty to this Davis masquerade ; but 
 there are many of us who are doing, and shall do, all the 
 better work for the Union cause. You are just the man 
 needed for a great work here ; you are believed to be secretly 
 in favor of the Confederate cause an ambassador, in short. 
 Now, the special purpose of this talk is this : The men caught 
 at Rosedale three weeks ago are to be tried before a military 
 court. If you and this young man Perley could escape be- 
 fore the event, it would bs impossible to convict them. Mrs. 
 Lanview tells me that you are very closely allied to the 
 younger prisoner, Moore, and that for his sake you will do 
 all in your power to avoid testifying." 
 
 " I will cut out my tongue before a syllable from me shall 
 bring danger to that noble fellow ! " 
 
 " Exactly. I expected as much. Now, can you not man- 
 age to inspire Perley with the same sentiment ? If you can, 
 we feel confident that the court will be unable to secure evi- 
 dence sufficient to convict. I leave the details to your own 
 ingenuity. Your absence would deprive the judge-advocate 
 of the vital witnesses, but your refusal to testify would only
 
 A CARPET-KNIGHT. 247 
 
 bring you into danger, and prolong the proceedings; and 
 with time we hope to effect an escape. Sh ! As I say, Mr. 
 Sprague, the heart of the South beats with one impulse, the 
 triumph of the noblest inspiration of a great people." 
 
 The warning and sudden change in topic were caused by 
 the apparition of a dame who came rustling in, a vision of 
 youthful charms and vivaciousness. 
 
 " Mrs. Didier Rodney Mr. Sprague," Mrs. Gannat said, 
 cordially. " You are sent by inspiration, -for I am doing my 
 poor best to convince this obdurate Yankee to turn from evil 
 courses and do a duty by the country that will in future 
 make his name illustrious." 
 
 " And I have no doubt you have shaken his obstinacy, if 
 there be any left," Mrs. Eodney murmured, studying Jack 
 attentively. " I have just been dining at the Executive Man- 
 sion, and Mr. Davis, hearing your name, lamented that wom- 
 en were not eligible to office. If they were, he declared thai 
 Mistress Garniat should be appointed ambassadress to France, 
 and that, within ten days of her reception at the Tuileries, 
 there would be a treaty of alliance signed between France 
 and the Confederacy ! " 
 
 " I take that as rather an admission of weakness on your 
 President's part," Jack said, as the lady glanced inquiringly 
 at him, " since it is a poor cause that requires the strongest 
 advocates." 
 
 " Ah ! a Southern man would never have said a thing so 
 uncivil as that," Mrs. Rodney cried, reproachfully. " You 
 pay Mrs. Gannat a compliment at the cost of the Confeder- 
 acy." 
 
 " And Mr. Davis paid me a compliment at the expense of 
 the truth, so the account is squared," the elder lady said, se- 
 renely. 
 
 " Well, Mr. Davis is here himself by this time, and you 
 shall talk it out with him," Mrs. Rodney retorted, as a rustle 
 at the door announced new-comers. A half-dozen ladies 
 came trooping in, among them Mrs. Davis and several of the 
 Cabinet ladies. 
 
 " We heard you wei'e here, Madame Gannat," the Presi-
 
 248 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 dent's wife murmured, graciously. " And since you wouldn't 
 come to us, we have come to you." 
 
 Mrs. Gannat arose to receive the great lady, and when she 
 had exchanged salutations with the rest she presented Jack. 
 
 " Ah ! the hero of the Rosedale affair," and as Mrs. Davis 
 said this she looked keenly at the young man. She was, he 
 owned, an extremely graceful woman, of a mature beauty, 
 admirable manner, and, as she talked, he remarked keen in- 
 telligence, with an occasional evidence of reading, if not 
 high education. She was dressed in simpler taste than her 
 u court," as it was the fashion then to style the Cabinet group. 
 A few jewels were half hidden in the rare lace that covered 
 her bodice, but she was ungloved, and in no sense in the 
 full-dress understood in the North, at a gathering of the 
 sort. The talk became general. Jack, not knowing the 
 personages, simply listened. There was animated discus- 
 sion as to whether Mistress Judge this, and Mistress General 
 that, or Mistress Senator the other, would be in the capital in 
 time for the opening of the new Congress in December. 
 
 " Mr. Davis is very anxious to have the occasion made a 
 grand one, and I reckon that every one of account in the 
 Confederacy will be here," Mrs. Davis said, with conviction. 
 
 " The scene will be worthy of a great painting, like the 
 Long Parliament, or the meeting of the Three Estates, at 
 Versailles," Mrs. Rodney added, in a glow of anticipation. 
 
 This amusing pedantry rather taxed the historical knowl- 
 edge of most of the ladies, and to divert the talk Mrs. Mon- 
 teith, a Cabinet lady, said : 
 
 " Who has read the account in the Yankee papers of Lin- 
 coln and his wife at a reception of the diplomatic corps ? It 
 is too funny. The Lincoln woman was a Southerner. She 
 has some good blood, and ought to know better. She was 
 dressed like a dowdy, and when the ministers bowed she 
 gave them her hand and said, ' How d'ye do ? ' " 
 
 " It will really be a liberal education to the North to have 
 a capital like ours near them, where their public men can 
 learn manners, and where Northern ladies can see how to 
 conduct themselves in public," Mrs. Rodney broke in, laugh-
 
 A CARPET-KXIGIIT. 219 
 
 ing. " It is not often a great people go to war for an idea, 
 but we are taking up the gage of battle to teach our inferiors 
 manners. " 
 
 " We taught them how to run at Manassas," Mrs. Starlow, 
 a Senator's dame, remarked. 
 
 " I'm afraid they have learned the lesson so well that 
 we shall never teach them -how to stand," Mrs. Davis added, 
 gayly. 
 
 " Ah ! friends, we are teaching each other how to die let 
 us not forget that," Mrs. Gannat murmured, gently, and 
 there was a sudden hush in the exchange of vivacities. Be- 
 fore the strain could be renewed, Mrs. Atterbury entered 
 hastily, crying: 
 
 "The gentlemen are all distracted. We are going to 
 have an old-time minuet, such as my mother used to dance 
 with Justice Marshall and Tom Mayo. The President is 
 going to lead with Mistress Weiidolph, and all the rest of 
 you are assigned, by command of the Executive." 
 
 " Humph ! a military despotism ? " asked Mrs. Renfrew, 
 a young bride of the Executive Mansion, whose husband was 
 confidential adviser of the President. " I don't think I shall 
 obey. I shall show the honesty of my rebel blood by select- 
 ing my own partner, unless some one asks me very humbly." 
 
 " Shall I go on my knees," Mrs. Renfrew ? I know no 
 humbler attitude." Jack said, hastily presenting himself. 
 
 " Oh, yes, sir ; there is something humbler than the knees." 
 
 " Yes ? What, pray ? " 
 
 " Repentance. Deny your name ; no longer be a Mon- 
 taguethat is, a Yankee. Give me the hand of a rebel. 
 Then I shall believe you." 
 
 "I am a rebel." 
 
 " Ah ! you have been converted ? " 
 
 u I never was perverted." 
 
 " You have been with us all the time ? " 
 
 " I have been here a long time ! " 
 
 " And you are a rebel. Oh, I must tell Mr. Davis ! " 
 
 " He knows it, I think." 
 
 " Oh, no, he can not ; for it was only a few moments
 
 250 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 since that he said to Mrs. Atterlmry that the son of Senator 
 Sprague, the friend of Calhoun and the comrade of Hayne, 
 should be in the ranks of the young nobility upholding our 
 sacred cause." 
 
 " I am, however, a rebel a rebel to all these fascinations 
 I see about me, a rebel to your beauty, a rebel to all you de- 
 sire." 
 
 " Pah ! you odious Yankee ; I felt certain that you had 
 not come to your senses." 
 
 "I don't think I ever lost them though I never had 
 enough to make such a spirit as yours lament their loss." 
 The rest of the ladies had passed out; and, as this repartee 
 went on, Jack led his petulant companion into the large 
 drawing-room, where he instantly recognized the President 
 with Mrs. Wendolph on his arm. He towered above the 
 mass of the dancers, eying the admiring groups with atten- 
 tive scrutiny. He was in evening dress, but, unlike the 
 larger number of the eminent partisans in the rooms, had 
 no insignia, military or otherwise, to denote exalted rank. 
 
 As the President was to lead off, to keep up the character 
 of a court minuet, the middle of the large room was left un- 
 crowded. The music began what Jack thought at first was 
 a funeral march, but with the first bars the tall, slender 
 figure of the President bent almost double, while the lady 
 seemed fairly seated on the floor, she bent down and back 
 so far. She had adjusted a prodigious silken train, which 
 swept and swirled in many bewildering folds as she slowly 
 turned, courtesied, tripped forward and retreated, with such 
 bending and twisting as would turn a ballet-master mad 
 with envy. In all the movement of the overture the two 
 dancers merely touched the tips of each other's fingers, and 
 when the solemn measure came to a close the President slid 
 across the floor in one graceful, immense pirouette, handing 
 the lady who confronted him, bent nearly to the ground, 
 into her seat. There was an outburst of applause, and then 
 the assembly took places, repeating, in as far as the mass 
 would permit, the stately evolutions of the leader. 
 
 Later, a Virginia reel followed, danced with old-time
 
 A CARPET-KNIGHT. 251 
 
 verve, some of the more accomplished dancers bounding 
 over the floor in pigeon-wings, such as were cut by the nim- 
 ble a hundred years ago, when Richmond danced in honor 
 of Washington and Lafayette. There was no end of drink- 
 ing among the men, and as soon as the dancing seemed at 
 its height the matrons began to gather into groups and send 
 out signals to the younger ladies. The feast ended in drink- 
 ing-bouts between dispersed bodies, who seemed to know the 
 names of all the servants, and ordered as liberally as if in 
 their own houses. In the melee of separation, Jack felt a 
 hand on his shoulder. 
 
 " Remember, every moment is precious. Many lives, 
 perhaps a great campaign, depend upon your discretion, 
 promptitude, and loyalty. Be ready when the signal reaches 
 you, and remember you do not know me beyond the civility 
 of a presentation, and do not like me." 
 
 Jack had hardly turned as these words were whispered 
 in his ear, and he gave the kind lady's hand a warm press- 
 ure, as she moved away unremarked in the throng. 
 
 Jack, confiding Mrs. Gannat's disclosures to Olympia, was 
 elated by his sister's enthusiasm, and was strengthened in his 
 conviction that he was doing right by her approval. 
 
 " But you^ know, Polly, that I I, too, must be of the 
 party? I must fly to the Union lines." 
 
 " Of course you will ! I should be ashamed of you were 
 you to let such a chance pass. It is the only thing to do ; it 
 is your duty as a soldier to be with your flag ; any means to 
 get to it is justified. The Atterburys will feel hurt, perhaps 
 outraged, but I can soon convince them that you have only 
 done what Vincent would do, and whatever he would do 
 they will soon see is right for you to do, even though it may 
 bring them into temporary disgrace with the authorities. 
 Of late I have begun to suspect that the Atterburys are to 
 blame for your detention." 
 
 " What do you mean to blame ? Surely they can not 
 hasten the slow business of negotiation ? " 
 
 " No ; but I'm convinced that they have given out hopes 
 that you can be seduced into a soldier of secession. It is
 
 252 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 common talk in the drawing-rooms I have visited, where I 
 was not always recognized as your sister. The silly tale has 
 angered me, but for prudence' sake I kept silent. I have 
 heard in a score of places that the Atterburys were detaining 
 you until another reverse to the Union arms should convince 
 you of the uselessness of remaining in the service of the abo- 
 litionists." 
 
 " O Polly, it must be a joke ! They little know me, who 
 could suspect me of such dishonor ! Surely the Atterburys 
 can't think me so base as that. What have I ever done to 
 justify such a stigma ? " 
 
 " You wrong them there. They hold that you are want- 
 ing in loyalty to our father's memory in espousing the cause 
 of men who were his enemies men who strove to ruin his 
 political life. It is in being a soldier of the Union that they 
 look upon you as recreant to the traditions of your family 
 and your party." 
 
 " Well, I shall make a hard struggle for escape. If I fail, 
 they will at least see that I am in earnest that I put coun- 
 try before family or party, or anything else that men hold 
 dear. Heavens ! to think of being held in such bondage ! I 
 could stand it w r ith more patience if I were in prison sharing 
 the hard lines of the fellows. But to be here; to be hand 
 in glove with these boasting, audacious coxcombs, and forced 
 to listen to their callow banter of us and our army, it 
 makes me feel like a sneak and a traitor, and I'm glad that 
 I see the end." 
 
 " But do you see the end ? Prudence is one of the wisest 
 counselors in war. You are very rash, and you must take 
 all your measures carefully. It won't do to rush into a trap, 
 as you did at Manassas ; and, O Jack, what is to become of 
 Dick ? He is not in the lists. He has no standing here, and 
 is at the mercy of any one who chooses to accuse him of be- 
 ing a spy." 
 
 " By George, you're right ! I hadn't thought of that. 
 He must go with me. I had thought it better to leave him. 
 He is so happy with Rosa that I fancied he would remain 
 contentedly until the war ends. But he is in constant dan-
 
 A CARPET-KNIGHT. 253 
 
 ger. He is forever tantalizing the people that visit the 
 house, who make slighting allusions to the Northern armies, 
 and very likely some rebel patriot will take the trouble to 
 inquire about him." 
 
 " But even if this were not a peril, he would never con- 
 sent to remain here if you were gone. I think he would 
 give up Rosa rather than be separated from you." 
 
 " Yes, the impulsive little beggar, I believe he would," 
 Jack said, his eyes glistening. " That will compel us to take 
 him into the secret. In fact, I don't see how it can be man- 
 aged without him; and then his testimony would convict 
 the prisoners. I hadn't thought of that. But now, Polly, 
 about yourself. What's to become of you ? " 
 
 " I have my plans laid. Mrs. Myrason, the wife of one 
 of Johnston's generals, is going to the front next week. 
 I shall insist to-night on accompanying her, as some of our 
 physicians are going to be sent through the lines at the same 
 time. There is really no reason for my remaining here, 
 now that you are well. I have already broached the subject 
 to Mrs. Atterbury, and I shall inform her at once that I am 
 decided. She will not suspect anything, as she knew I was 
 half -tempted to go North when mamma went. The impor- 
 tant thing for you, now, is to give your whole mind to the 
 rescue, and have no fears for me. If you can convince Dick 
 to go with you, all will be well. If he proves obstinate, hand 
 him over to me." Jack laughed. 
 
 " Polly, you should have been the first-born of the house 
 of Sprague; you have twice the sense that I have." 
 
 '' It isn't sense that wins in war; it is daring and resolu- 
 tion, and you have all that." 
 
 When Jack had cautiously laid the situation before his 
 young Patroclus, that precocious warrior at once justified 
 the confidence reposed in him. 
 
 " Rosa has promised to marry me as soon as the war is 
 over. She can't expect me to hang around here like a peg- 
 top on a string. Besides, I wouldn't stay where you are not, 
 Jacko, even if I lost my sweetheart for good and all." 
 
 There was a piteous quaver in the treble voice, and, for-
 
 254 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 getting that he was no longer a school-boy, he brushed his 
 eyes furtively with his coat-sleeve, as Jack pretended pre- 
 occupation with his shoe-string. 
 
 " You're a brick, Dick. I think I have confided that to 
 you before but you are a brick, made of the best straw in 
 the field of life, and you shall be a general one of these 
 days your shrill voice shall let slip the dogs of war and 
 cry havoc to the eneruy. You shall return to Acredale 
 proud Acredale your brows bound with victorious wreaths, 
 and all the small boys perched 011 the spreading oaks to sa- 
 lute you." 
 
 % 'I think I have heard something like that before, my 
 blarneying Plantagenet. You shall be the Percy of the 
 North, and command the great battle. You shall meet and 
 vanquish fifty Harrys, and cry, ' God for Union, liberty, and 
 the laws.' " 
 
 " Bravo ! You know your Shakespeare if you don't know 
 prudence. However, we're plotters now, and you must take 
 on your wisest humor. You must not breathe a word to 
 Rosa. Love is a freebooter in confidences. It has no con- 
 science, as it has no law. It is an immense friction on the 
 sober relations of life. It is cousin to the god of lies Mer- 
 cury. So be warned that while your heart is Rosa's your 
 reason's your country's, your friends', and you have a chance 
 now to employ it to the profit of both ! You must be ready 
 to evade Rosa's infinite questioning with innocent plausibili- 
 ties, for you must bear in mind that, however much she may 
 love you, she, like you, loves her cause, her people more, 
 in fact, for you have seen that these passionate Southerners 
 have made a religion of the war, and, like all enthusiasts, 
 they will go any lengths, deny all ties; glory, faith, in 
 personal sacrifices and heart-wrenchings, to make the South 
 triumph. So, without being false to your love, you must 
 deceive, to be true to your country ; for to lull love's suspi- 
 cions a man must regulate the two currents of his life, the 
 heart and brain. Keep the heart in check and let the brain 
 vule in such affairs as we have on hand." 
 
 "Phew Jack! you talk like a college professor. You're
 
 A CARPET-KNIGHT. 255 
 
 deeper than a well ; and what was the other thing Mercutio 
 said ? " 
 
 " Ah ! Mercutio said so much that Shakespeare got fright- 
 ened and let Tybalt kill him. So beware of saying too much. 
 That's your great danger, Dick; your tongue is terrible 
 mostly to your friends." 
 
 "Is it, indeed ? I have a friend who doesn't think so." 
 
 " No, because she considers your tongue part of herself 
 now." 
 
 " I don't see why she should ; she has enough of her own. " 
 
 "In wooing-time no woman ever had enough tongue." 
 
 " How changed you are from what you were at Acredale, 
 Jack ! I never heard you talk so deep and bookish." 
 
 " I had no need at Acredale, Dick. There I was a boy- 
 lived as a boy, romped as a boy, and loved boyish things. 
 But a man ripens swiftly in war you yourself have. You 
 are no longer the mischief-maker and torn-boy that terrified 
 your family and set the gossips agog in the dear old village. 
 Mind broadens swiftly in war. That one dreadful day at 
 Bull Run enlarged my faculties, or trained them rather, as 
 much as a course in college. Something very serious came 
 into my life that day. It had its effect on you too. It fairly 
 revolutionized Vint ; we may not have exactly put away 
 boyishness and boyish things please God, I hope to be a 
 boy many a year yet but we have been made to think as 
 men, act as men, and realize that there are consequences 
 and responsibilities in life such as we could not have real- 
 ized in ten years in time of peace." 
 
 Dick listened during this solemn comedy of immature 
 doctrinal induction, his eyes dilating with wonder and ad- 
 miration. Jack, in the rdle of sage, delighted him, and he 
 straightway confided to Rosa that he couldn't understand 
 how any girl could love another man while Jack was to be 
 had. 
 
 " He's so clever, so brave, so manly. He knows so much, 
 and yet never takes the trouble to let any one see it. Ah, 
 Rosa, I wish I were like Jack ! " 
 
 " I think Jack's very nice, but I know somebody that's 
 17
 
 256 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 much nicer," Rosa replied, busy with a rough material that 
 was plainly intended for the Southern warriors. 
 
 " Ah ! but if you really knew all about Jack, you wouldn't 
 look at anybody else," Dick cried, pensively, tangling his 
 long legs in the young girl's work. 
 
 "There, you clumsy fellow; you've ruined this seam, and 
 I must get this work done before noon. We're all going to 
 the provost prison to take garments to the recruits. You 
 may come if you'll be very good and help me with these 
 supplies." 
 
 " May I ? I will sew on the buttons. Oh, you think I 
 can't? Just give me a needle." And sure enough Dick, 
 gravely arming himself from the store in Rosa's "catch- 
 all," set to fastening the big buttons as composedly as if he 
 had been brought up in a tailor's shop. It was in this sar- 
 torial industry that Jack, coming in, presently discovered 
 the pair. 
 
 " You've turned Dick into a seamstress, have you, Rosa- 
 lind ? You're an amazing little magician. Dick's sewing 
 heretofore has been of the common boy-sort wild oats." 
 
 "No, Mr. Jack, I'm no magician. Dick is a very sensible 
 fellow, and, like Richelieu in the play, he ekes out the lion's 
 skin with the fox's." 
 
 " I didn't come to add to the stores of your wisdom. This 
 is the day set, as I understand it, for us to go to the prison 
 and relieve the distress of the victims of war. Do I under- 
 stand that we, Dick and I, are to go and have our patriotic 
 hearts torn by the sight of woes that fortune, in the shape of 
 the Atterburys, keeps us from ? " 
 
 " Of course you are. We couldn't think of going with- 
 out you. There, my work is done. We'll have lunch and 
 then start," Rosa said, rising and directing Dick to fill the 
 large wicker basket with the garments. 
 
 Fashion and idleness make strange pastimes. The recre- 
 ation to which Jack and Dick were bidden was a visit to the 
 melancholy shambles where the heterogeneous mass of un- 
 classified prisoners were detained. It was a long, gabled 
 building on the bf jik of the river, from whose low, grated
 
 A CARPET-KXIGIIT. 257 
 
 windows the culprits could catch glimpses of the James, tum- 
 bling over its sedgy, sometimes rocky bed. A few yards 
 from it arose the grim walls of what had been a tobacco-fac- 
 tory, now the never-to-be forgotten Libby Prison. 
 
 It was an animated and curious group that made up 
 Jack's party. They were piloted by a young aide on the staff 
 of General Lee, and, as his entire mind was engrossed in 
 making his court to Rosa, the pilgrims were given the widest 
 latitude for investigation. On the lower tier he pointed out 
 the cells of the Rosedale prisoners, where, as you may im- 
 agine, Jack and Dick, without giving a sign, kept their wits 
 alert. Jones the " most desperate of the conspirators again st 
 the President, the special agent of Butler" was in a cell by 
 himself, constantly guarded by a sentinel. 
 
 kl This, Sprague," said the young aide, lowering his voice 
 as he came abreast of Jones's cell, " is the man the Govern- 
 ment has the strongest proof against. He is proved to have 
 come into our lines from the Warwick River, to have man- 
 aged to escape from Castle Thunder, and to have led the mis- 
 creants to Rosedale. Your own and young Perley's testi- 
 mony after that will swing him higher than a spy was ever 
 swung before. " 
 
 These words, begun in a low tone, were made clearer 
 and louder by the sudden cessation of chatter among the 
 visiting group. Jones, who seemed to have come to his 
 grating when the suppressed laughter sounded in the dark 
 corridor, heard every word of the official's speech. He was 
 no longer the bearded desperado Jack had seen in the m$Ue 
 at Rosedale there was a certain distinction in the poise of 
 the head, an inborn gentility in the impassive contemplation 
 with which he met the furtive scrutiny of the curious vis- 
 itors. Jack he eyed with something of surprise, but when 
 Dick pushed suddenly in front of the timorous group of 
 young women, he started, changed color, and averted his 
 face ; then, as if suddenly recalling himself, turned and de- 
 voured the lad with a strange, yearning tenderness. Dick 
 met the gaze with his habitual easy gayety, and, turning to 
 Jack, said, impulsively:
 
 258 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 " I should never recognize this man as the bandit who 
 fired the shot that night are you really the Jones that 
 choked and wounded me at Rosedale ? " Dick advanced 
 quite close to the wicket as he asked this. 
 
 " And who may you be, if I am permitted to ask a ques- 
 tion ? " the prisoner replied vaguely, all the time devouring 
 the boy with his dilating eyes. 
 
 '' I am Richard Perley, of Acredale, a soldier of the Union 
 and a friend of all who suffer in its cause." Dick murmured 
 the last words so low that the group of visitors did not catch 
 them, and, adding to them an emphasis of the eye that the 
 prisoner seemed too agitated to notice, he continued, as Jack 
 pushed nearer: ''This is certainly not the man we saw at 
 Rosedale. But I have seen you somewhere. Tell me, have 
 I not?" 
 
 " I can tell you nothing I I " As he said this Jones 
 backed against the wall. The guard sprang forward in 
 alarm. The women, of course, cried out in many keys, 
 most of them skurrying away toward the staircase. 
 
 " Water ! " Jack cried. u Guard, have you no water 
 handy?" 
 
 "No, sir; the canteen was broken, and there is none 
 nearer than the guard-room." 
 
 " Run and get some. I will see that the prisoner does 
 not get out. Run ! " 
 
 The aide had gallantly gone forward in the passage to re- 
 assure the ladies, and Jack, seizing the chance, for which the 
 prisoner seemed to be prepared, whispered : 
 
 " Here is an auger, a chisel, and a knife. Secrete them. 
 Work straight out under your window. We shall be ready 
 for you by Wednesday night. Don't fail to give a signal 
 if anything happens that prevents your cutting through. 
 There is only an old stone wall between you and the river. 
 You must take precautions against the water, if it is high 
 enough to reach your cut." 
 
 Jones played his part admirably. He remained limp 
 and stolid in the supporting arms of Jack, while Dick, hov- 
 ering in the doorway, kept the prying remnant of the visit-
 
 A CARPET-KMGHT. 259 
 
 ors, eager to witness the scene, at a safe distance. When 
 the water came Jack yielded his place to the guard and the 
 party moved on. 
 
 " Here we have a real Yankee, a regular nutmeg," the 
 young aide cried, as the party came to a room not far from 
 Jones's. " This youngster was one of the chief devils in the 
 attack on Rosedale. The judge-advocate has tried every 
 means to coax a confession from him, but without result. 
 He is as gay as a bridegroom, and answers all threats with a 
 joke." 
 
 " Ah ! the old Barney under all," Jack said, half sadly. 
 
 " Do you know him, Mr. Sprague ? " 
 
 " Like a brother. He is from my town." 
 
 " Ah, perhaps you can convince him that his best course 
 is open confession ? " 
 
 "No, I fear not. He is very headstrong, and would 
 rather have his joke on the gibbet than own himself in the 
 wrong." 
 
 u But, Mr. Jack, if you should talk to him, show him the 
 wickedness of conspiring against a peaceful family, inciting 
 a servile race to murder, I'm sure you could move him, and 
 it would be such a comfort to have the criminals them- 
 selves expose the atrocious plot." 
 
 This was said by Miss Delmayne, a niece of Mrs. Gannat. 
 Jack caught her eye as she spoke, and instantly realized the 
 covert meaning. How stupid he had been ! Of course, Bar- 
 ney must be apprised of the rescue, and what time more pro- 
 pitious than the present ? But, unfortunately, he had not 
 provided himself with the tools for the emergency. What 
 could be done ? He suddenly remembered a bayonet he had 
 seen near the guard-room. It was lying unnoticed on the 
 bench. 
 
 " I must have a drink before I answer a plea so urgent. 
 Amuse the prisoner while I slake my thirst." 
 
 Barney was lying at the far end of the narrow, boarded 
 cage. He raised his head as the group halted before his 
 door, but gave no sign of interest as this dialogue was car- 
 ried on :
 
 280 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 "Prisoner," said the aide, magisterially, "come to the 
 door." 
 
 " Jailer, what shall I come to the door for ? " Barney 
 mimicked indolently. 
 
 "Because I bid you, sir." 
 
 "Not a reason in law, sir." 
 
 " I'll have the guard haul you here." 
 
 " Then he'll have a mighty poor haul, as King James 
 said when he caught the Orange troopers in the Boyne." 
 
 " I'll teach you, sir, to defy a commissioned officer ! " 
 
 " I've learned that already; but if you're a school-teacher 
 I'll decline the verb ' will ' for you." 
 
 " Guard, hustle that beast forward." 
 
 " Guard, don't give yourself the trouble." And Barney 
 arose nimbly and came to the grating. " O captain, dear, 
 why didn't ye tell me there were ladies here ? You could 
 have spared your eloquence and your authority if you had 
 tould me that the star of beauty, the smile of angels, the " 
 
 " Never mind, sir ; be respectful, and wait till you're 
 spoken to." 
 
 " Then, captain, dear, do you profit by your own advice ; 
 let the ladies talk. I'm all ears, as the rabbit said to the 
 weasel. " 
 
 But at this interesting point of the combat Jack returned, 
 and, pushing-to the door, cried, as if in surprise, " Hello, 
 Barney, boy, what are you doing here ? " 
 
 " Diverting the ladies, Jack, dear, and giving the captain 
 a chance to practice command, for fear he'll not get a show 
 in battle." The roar that saluted this retort subdued the 
 bumptious cavalier, and he affected deep interest in the 
 whispered . questions of one of the young women in the rear 
 of the group. 
 
 " You're the same old Barney. Marc Anthony gave up 
 the world for a kiss, you'd capitulate a kingdom for a joke," 
 Jack said, striving to catch Barney's eye and warn him to 
 be prudent. 
 
 " Well, Jack, dear, between the joke and the kiss, I think 
 I'd go out of the world better satisfied with the kiss ; at all
 
 A CARPET-KNIGHT. 261 
 
 events, it wouldn't be dacent to say less with so many red 
 lips forninst me," and Barney winked untold admiration at 
 the laughing group before him, all plainly delighted with 
 his conquest of the captain. 
 
 " But, Barney, you should be thinking of more serious 
 things." 
 
 "Sure I've thought of nothing else for three months. 
 The trees can't go naked all the year ; the brook can't keep 
 ice on it in summer ; the swan sings before it dies ; the 
 grasshopper whirrs loudest when its grave is ready. Why 
 shouldn't I have me joke when I've had nothing but hard 
 knocks, loneliness, and the company of the prison for half 
 the year ? " 
 
 " Poor fellow ! " Rosa murmured in Dick's ear, who had 
 not trusted himself in sight of his old comrade. " I don't 
 believe he's a bad man ; I don't believe he came to our house. 
 Oh ! pray, Mr. Jack, do talk with him. Encourage him to 
 be frank, and we will get Mr. Davis to pardon him." 
 
 " Pardon, is it, me dear? Sure there's no pardon could 
 be as sweet as your honest e'en God be good to ye ! an' if 
 I were Peter after the third denial of me Maker, your sweet 
 lips would drag the truth from me ! What is it you would 
 have me tell ? " 
 
 "The captain, here, desires me to talk with you. He 
 thinks that perhaps I can convince you of the wiser course 
 to follow," Jack said, with a meaning light in his eye. 
 
 "Oh, if that's what's wanted, I will listen to you 'till 
 yer arms give out, as Judy McMoyne said, when Teddy 
 tould his love. I promise, in advance, to do what you 
 advise." 
 
 ''I knew you would," Jack said, approvingly. "Now, 
 captain, if you can give me five minutes ' 
 
 The captain beckoned the guard, whispered a moment, 
 and then said, exultingly : 
 
 " The guard will stand in the passage until you have fin- 
 ished with the prisoner. We shall await you in the porch." 
 
 " Now, Barney, I must be brief, and you must not lose a 
 syllable I say. Here, sit on the cot, so that I may slip this
 
 262 THE IROX GAME. 
 
 bayonet under the blanket. You can work through this 
 wall with that. You must do it to-night and to-morrow. 
 Be ready Thursday at daylight. You will be met on the out- 
 side either by Dick or myself. We have the route all ar- 
 ranged, and friends in many places to lull suspicion." 
 
 " But I won't stir a foot without Jones. Do you know 
 who he is?" Barney whispered, eying Jack curiously. 
 
 " No other than that he seems a very desperate devil-may- 
 care fellow. Who is he? " 
 
 " An agent and crony of Boone's." 
 
 "Good God!" 
 
 " It's a long story. I can't tell it now, but if your plan 
 takes him in, I'm ready, and will be on hand." 
 
 " I have seen him, and have given him better tools than 
 I have brought you for the work. " 
 
 " That's all right. I ask nothing better than the bayonet. 
 The other fellows that got out of Libby didn't have nearly 
 so good." 
 
 "You know how I am fixed here. I have grown tired of 
 this sort of hostage life, and I am going North with you. So, 
 Barney, I beg of you to be careful, for other lives than your 
 own are at stake. I should be specially hateful to the au- 
 thorities if I were retaken for the whole Southern people 
 clamor to have an example made of the assassins of the 
 President, as they call you." 
 
 "Don't fear, Jack ; I'll be quiet as a sucking pig in 
 starlight. I'll be yer shadow and never open me mouth, 
 even if a jug, big as Teddy Fin's praty-patch, stud fur- 
 ninst me!" 
 
 " It isn't your tongue I'm so much afraid of as your pro- 
 pensity to combat. You must resist that delight of yours 
 whacking stray heads and flourishing your big fists." 
 
 " My fists, is it? Then I'll engage to keep them still as 
 O'Connell's legs in Pho3nix Square." 
 
 " Now, I shall report that you are considering my advice. 
 You must be very gentle and placating to the guard, and let 
 on that you have something on your mind." 
 
 " Indeed, I needn't let on at all. I have as much on me
 
 ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR. 263 
 
 mind as Biddy McGinniss had on her back when she carried 
 Mick home from the gallows." 
 
 " O Barney, Barney, you would joke if the halter were 
 ahout your neck ! " 
 
 "An' why wouldn't I, me bye? What chance would I 
 have if I didn't? I couldn't joke when I was dead, could I? " 
 
 "Well, well, think over what I've said, and remember 
 that penitence half absolves guilt." 
 
 This was said for the benefit of the guard, who had ap- 
 proached as Jack arose to take his leave. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR. 
 
 OPPORTUNITY is an instinct to the man who dares. To 
 him the law of the impossible has no meaning. To him 
 there is no such thing as the unexpected. What he wants 
 comes to pass, because he can not see danger, difficulty, 
 nor any of the obstacles that daunt the prudent and the tem- 
 porizing. It is, therefore, the impossible that is fulfilled in 
 many of the crises of life. By the same token it is the fool- 
 hardy and preposterous thing that is most readily done in 
 determinate conjunctures. We guard against the possible, 
 but we take little note of the enterprises that involve fool- 
 hardiness or desperation. Daring has safeguards of its own 
 that are understood only when mad ventures have come to 
 successful issue. Helpless and hopeless as Jack's situation 
 seemed, the very poverty of his resources, helped the daring 
 scheme of escape that filled his mind night and day during 
 these apparently indolent weeks of pleasuring in the ranks 
 of his enemies. Then, too, the arrogant self-confidence of 
 his captors was an inestimable aid. Military discipline and 
 provost vigilance were at their slackest stage in the rebel 
 lines at this triumphant epoch in the fortunes of the Con-
 
 264: THE IRON GAME. 
 
 feieracy. The easily won combat at Bull Run had filled 
 trie authorities as well as the rank and file with over- 
 weening contempt for the resources of the North, or the en- 
 terprise of its soldiers. It was not until long after the time 
 I am now writing about, that the prisoners were closely 
 guarded and access refused to the idle and curious. But, as 
 a matter of fact, nothing in the fortunes of our friends 
 equals the truth of the thrilling and desperate chances taken 
 by Northern captives to escape the lingering death of prison 
 in the South. Since the war, volumes have been written of 
 personal experience, amply attested, that would in romance 
 receive the derisive mark of the critics. Danger daily met 
 becomes a commonplace to men of resolution. Things which 
 appall us when we read them become a simple part of our 
 purpose when we live in an atmosphere of peril and put our 
 hope only in ending the ordeal. 
 
 The incidents I am narrating were the work of many 
 hands. Mrs. Gannat had from the first given her heart to the 
 Union cause. A woman of high standing in society, well 
 known throughout the State for her mind, her manners, and 
 her benevolence, it was not difficult for her, by adroit man- 
 agement, to aid such prisoners as fell into rebel hands dur- 
 ing the early years of the war. Before Richmond became a 
 mart in the modern sense, the Gannat mansion, set far back 
 among the trees of a noble grove, was a shrine to the tradi- 
 tion-loving citizens, for, beyond any Southern city, save per- 
 haps New Orleans, Richmond folk cherished the memory 
 of aristocratic and semi-regal ancestors. There were those 
 still living when the war began, who had heard their fathers 
 and mothers talk of the last royal Governor and the splen- 
 did state of the great noblemen who had flocked to the city 
 of Powhatan when Virginia was the gem of England's colo- 
 nial coronet. The patrician caste of the city still held its 
 own, aided by the helot hand of slavery. Among the most 
 reverently considered in this sanctified group, Mrs. Gannat 
 was, if not first, the conceded equal. She was the dowager 
 of the ancient noblesse. The young Virginian received in 
 her drawing-rooms carried away a distinction which was
 
 ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR. 265. 
 
 recognized throughout the State. The dame admitted to 
 Mrs. Gannat's semi-literary levees was accepted as all that 
 society demanded of its votaries. 
 
 In other years this great lady had been the admired 
 center of the court circle in Washington. There she had 
 known very intimately Senator then Congressman 
 Sprague. Jack remembered vaguely the gossip of an en- 
 gagement between his father and a famous Southern beauty ; 
 and when the lady in the course of the conspiring said, as 
 they talked, u My son, I might have been your mother," he 
 knew that this gentle-voiced, kindly-eyed matron was the 
 woman his father had loved and lost. I don't propose to 
 rehearse the ingenuities of the complicated plans whereby 
 the group we are interested in were to be delivered. Mrs. 
 Gannat's perfect knowledge of the city, her intimacy with 
 the President, Cabinet, and leading men, her vogue with the 
 officials, all tended to make very simple and easy that which 
 would seem in the telling hare-brained and impossible. 
 Jack's unique position, and Dick's attitude of the half- 
 acknowledged fiance of an Atterbury, broke down bars that 
 even Mrs. Gannat's far-reaching sagacity might not have 
 been able to cope with in certainty. The night chosen for 
 the escape was fatefully propitious. The President was en- 
 tertaining the newly arrived French delegate and the min- 
 isters Mason and Slidell, just appointed to the courts of St. 
 James and the Tuileries. Everybody that was anybody was 
 of the splendid company. 
 
 Jack, however, was tortured by a doubt of Dick's con- 
 stancy when it came to an abrupt quitting of his sweetheart. 
 Poor lad, he fought the battle bravely, making no sign ; and 
 when Rosa, the picture of demure loveliness, in her girlish 
 finery, asked him maliciously as the carriage drove toward 
 the Executive Mansion . 
 
 " Don't you feel like a traitor, you sly Yankee ? " Dick 
 gave a great groan and said : 
 
 " O Rosa, Rosa, I can't go ! I do feel like a traitor. I am 
 a ti'aitor." 
 
 Jack, luckily, was sitting beside him, and brought his
 
 266 TUB IKON GAME. 
 
 heel down on the lad's toes with such emphasis that he 
 uttered a cry of pain. Rosa was all solicitude at this. 
 
 " What is it, Richard ; have I wounded you ? Don't mind 
 my chatter ; I only do it to tease you. He shall he a Yan- 
 kee; he shall make nutmegs; he shall abuse the chivalrous 
 South; he shall be what he likes; he sha'n't be teased" 
 and she wound her bare arms about his neck, quite indiffer- 
 ent to the reproving nudges of mamma and the sad mirth- 
 fulness of Jack. 
 
 Dick found means in the noise of the chariot, and tbe 
 crush they presently came into, for saying something that 
 seemed to lessen the self -reproachful tone of the penitent, 
 and, when they entered the modest portals of the presidency, 
 Rosa was radiant and Dick equable, but not in his usual 
 chattering volubility. 
 
 " You are sure you do not repent ? You can stay if you 
 choose," Jack said, as they entered the dressing-room. 
 
 "Where you go, I go; what you say is right I know is 
 right, and I will do it." Dick looked away confusedly as he 
 said this. They were surrounded by young officers, all of 
 whom the two young men knew. 
 
 "Ah, ha, Mr. Perley ! I have stolen a march on you; I 
 have secured the first waltz from Miss Rosa," a young man 
 at the mirror cried, as Dick adjusted his gloves. 
 
 " Then, Captain Warrick, I'm likely to be a wall-flower, 
 for the second, third, and fourth were promised yesterday." 
 
 " Fortunes of war, my dear fellow fortunes of war. 
 You must lay siege to another fortress." 
 
 "Dick," Jack whispered, " it's an omen. It will give us 
 time to slip out and .change our garments without the dan- 
 ger of excuses, for, though nothing is suspected, any incau- 
 tious phrase may destroy us." 
 
 " Don't fear for me. I shall be prudent as a confessor. 
 We can't go, however, just yet. I must have a little talk 
 with Rosa. I may never see her again. If you were in 
 love and going from the light of her eye, perhaps never to 
 see her again, you wouldn't be so cool. We must, anyway, 
 take the ladies to the host and hostess for presentation ; then
 
 ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR. 267 
 
 a few words and I am ready." Dick was trembling visibly 
 and blushing like a school-girl at first facing a class-day 
 crowd. Jack's heart went out to the lad, and he thought 
 the chances about even that when the moment of trial came 
 the boy's resolution would give way. The ladies were wait- 
 ing for them when they emerged into the corridors Rosa 
 began, prettily, to rally Dick on his tardiness. It took time 
 to thread the constantly increasing crowd in the hallways, 
 the corridors, and on the stairs, but they finally reached the 
 group in which Mrs. Davis was receiving the confused salu- 
 tations of the throng at the drawing-room door. As soon 
 as this formality was ended, Rosa whisked Dick in one 
 direction while Mrs. Atterbury asked Jack to take her to 
 the library. Here, by a happy chance, she came upon a 
 group of dowagers friends of her youth from other towns 
 brought to the capital by the event, or their husbands' 
 official duties in the new government. Jack bowed low as 
 he relinquished the good lady's arm, feeling as if he were 
 embarking on some odious treason, in view of her persistent 
 and generous treatment of him and his. 
 
 " Now that you are among the friends of your youth, I 
 will leave you ; who knows whether I shall see you again ? ; ' 
 he faltered, as she turned an affectionate glance upon 
 him. 
 
 " Oh, you needn't think that you can take cong6 for good, 
 Jack. I may want to dance during the night. If I do I 
 shall certainly lay my commands upon you. You may de- 
 vote yourself to the young people now, but I warn you I am 
 not to be thrown over so easily. Besides, I want to present 
 you to a dozen friends that you have not yet met at my 
 house. " 
 
 " You will always know where to find me ; but I am not 
 so sure that I shall be as able, as I am willing, to come to 
 you," Jack said, trembling at the double meaning of his 
 words. 
 
 " Oh, I know you're dying to get to the dancers." 
 
 " I can go to no one that it will give me more happiness 
 to please than you. Indeed, I'm going into danger when I
 
 288 THE IRON" GAME. 
 
 quit you. Give me your blessing, as if it were Vincent go- 
 ing to the wars. " 
 
 She had turned from the throng of ladies, who were dis- 
 cussing a political secret, and her eyes melted tenderly as 
 Vincent's name passed Jack's lips. She touched his bowed 
 head gently, saying: 
 
 " Why, how serious you are ! One would think beauty a 
 battery, and you on the way to charge." 
 
 " You are right. It is a murderous ambush." 
 
 "Well, if you regard it so seriously God bless you 
 in it." 
 
 Her gentle eyes rested tenderly on him; he seized the 
 kind hand, and, raising it to his lips in the gallant Southern 
 fashion, turned and hurried away among the guests. 
 
 " Ah, Mrs. Atterbury, conquests at your age, from hand 
 to lip, there's but short interval," and the President held up 
 a warning finger as he came closer to the lady. 
 
 " Oh, no, age makes a long route between hand and lip 
 thirty years ago you kissed my hand, and you never reached 
 the lip." 
 
 " It wasn't my fault that I didn't." 
 
 "Nor your misfortune either," and Mrs. Atterbury 
 glanced archly at her rival, Mi's. Davis, the mature beauty 
 of the scene. 
 
 Dick, meanwhile, not so dexterous in expedients or ready 
 in speech as his mentor, became wedged in an eddy, just 
 outside the main stream, pouring drawing-roomward, so that, 
 returning to the spot where they had separated, Jack did 
 not, for the moment, discover him. 
 
 Rosa's gayety and delight deepened the depression that 
 made Dick so unlike himself. At first, in the exuberance 
 of the scene, the girl did not heed this. She knew every- 
 body, and, though in daily contact with most of them, there 
 were no end of whispered confidences to exchange and 
 tender reassurances in ratification of some new compact. 
 Then there were solemn notes of comparison as to the fit 
 and form of gowns, or the -fit of a furbelow, exhaustively 
 discussed, perhaps that very afternoon. Keen eyes, merry
 
 ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR. 209 
 
 and tantalizing, were lifted to Dick's sulky face during this 
 pretty by-play, but all the gayety of the comedy was lost to 
 him. When he could contain himself no longer, with an- 
 other bevy of cronies in sight coming down the stairs, he 
 cried out, desperately : 
 
 '' For Heaven's sake, Rosa, don't wait here like the statue 
 in St. Peter's, to be kissed by everybody on the way to the 
 pope ; it's simply sickening to stand here like a shrine to be 
 slopped by girls that you see every day. Come away ; I want 
 to say something to you." 
 
 Rosa turned her astonished eyes upon the railer, and, 
 with a comic movement of immense dignity, drew her arm 
 from his sheltering elbow, and, in tones of freezing hauteur, 
 retorted : 
 
 '' And since when, sir, are you master of my conduct? I 
 am my own mistress, I believe. I shall kiss whom I please. " 
 
 " O Rosa, Rosa, I didn't mean that ; I don't know what 
 I meant. I O Rosa, don't be fretful with me now ! I can't 
 bear it. I am ill I mean I am tired. Come and sit with 
 me." 
 
 Several on the outer edge of the flowing current turned 
 curiously as this sharp cry of boyish pleading rose above the 
 noisy clamor. It was impossible, however, to push back- 
 ward, but in an instant the lovers were sheltered in an 
 alcove near the doorway. Rosa had taken his rejected arm 
 again in a panic of guilty repentance, and, looking at his 
 half-suffused eyes, cried, piteously: 
 
 ''Oh, forgive me, Richard, forgive me I did not mean 
 it! I forgot you were ill. Ah, please, please forgive me! 
 You know I I " 
 
 But Dick, now conscious that inquiring eyes were fast- 
 ened upon them, curious ears listening, seized her arm, and, 
 by main force, reached the hall doorway, now nearly de- 
 serted. 
 
 " Rosa, I am not wellthat is, I have a headache, or heart- 
 ache it's the same thing. I didn't mean to tell you, for I 
 didn't want to destroy your pleasure, and you have looked 
 forward so long to this ; but I I can not dance. Jack and
 
 270 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 I are going to walk a little while, and then we we shall be 
 more ourselves." 
 
 Poor Dick had only the slightest idea what he was say- 
 ing, and Rosa listened with wide-open eyes and little appeal- 
 ing caresses, not quite certain what the distracted lover did 
 mean. 
 
 "All your dances are taken up. Youug Warrick just 
 told me he had the first. You gave Gayo Brotherton two 
 yesterday, so you will have no need of me for hours yet." 
 
 " But I will cut them if you say so. Only you know that 
 it is our way here to give the first who ask." 
 
 "Yes, yes; that's right. I I couldn't dance now. I 
 shall be all right, presently, if if I see you happy. Ah, 
 Rosa, if if I should die if I should be carried away, would 
 you always love me would you always believe in me?" 
 
 "Why, Dick, you are really ill; let me feel your wrist." 
 Rosa seized Dick's hand and began a convulsive squeezing. 
 " Yes, you certainly have a fever. You must go home. I 
 shall go with you. It is your wound. It has broken out 
 again I know it has. You shall go home this instant. I 
 will send for the carriage. Come straight up-stairs, you 
 Avicked boy ! To let me come here when you are so ill ! I 
 shall never forgive myself never ! " 
 
 " A large vow for a small maid. " 
 
 " O Mr. Jack ! " for the voice was Jack's" Dick is very 
 ill, and he must go home at once. Will you not get the car- 
 riage and take us ? " 
 
 " I will not take you. I am very experienced in Dick's 
 ailments, and I have already summoned a physician, who is 
 waiting for us. But he can not attend his patient if you are 
 present." 
 
 " Yes, Rosa, Jack is right. I will leave you now, and 
 when you see me again you will see that I am not ill 
 that I-I-" 
 
 " I will stop for you at the door, Dick. You know the 
 physician can not be kept waiting, so make your parting 
 brief. Short shrift is the easiest in love and war." 
 
 " A doctor is as dreadful to me as a battle, Rosa. Kiss
 
 ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR. 271 
 
 me as if I were going to the field," Dick whispered as Jack's 
 back was turned. A minute later he had joined his mentor, 
 and the two hurried through the square and down toward 
 the river. 
 
 ' I can't do it, Jack," Dick suddenly broke out, as they 
 hurried through the dark street. " I must leave Rosa a line 
 telling her my motive. What will she think of me sneak- 
 ing away like this without a word ? Now, you go on to 
 Blake's cabin and change your clothes. I will get an old 
 suit of Tint's. It will really make no difference in the time, 
 and it will be safer for us to reach the prison separately than 
 together." 
 
 " No, Dick, be a man. Every line you write will add to 
 our pei'il. She will, of course, show it to her mother. Our 
 flight will be known in the morning. Mrs. Atterbury is too 
 loyal to the Confederacy to conceal anything. You will 
 thus give the authorities the very clew they need. No, Dick, 
 you must be guided by me in this ; besides, you can send 
 Rosa letters through Vincent at headquarters as soon as we 
 reach Washington." 
 
 " I can't help it. I know you are right, but I must do it. 
 I will be with you in less than an hour. I'm off." 
 
 " Listen ! Good God, he's gone ! " Jack ejaculated as Dick, 
 taking advantage of a cross-street, shot off into the darkness. 
 Jack halted. To call would be dangerous ; to run after him 
 excite comment, perhaps pursuit and discovery. There was 
 nothing to be done but wait at the rendezvous. He would 
 come back Jack tried to make himself believe that he could 
 depend on that. When, after a circuitous walk of half an 
 hour, he reached the cabin of Blake, the colored agent of 
 Mrs. Gannat, he found a note from his patroness warning 
 him that the prison authorities had become alert. A rumor 
 of a plot to escape had penetrated the War Department, and 
 orders had been given to increase the precaution of the 
 guards. The reception at the President's was a stroke of 
 good fortune for the prisoners, as all the higher officials 
 would be detained there until morning. Perhaps, in view 
 of the chance, it would be better to anticipate the hour of 
 18
 
 272 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 flight, as, unfortunately, the horses that had been got to- 
 gether for the fugitives were in use for the Davis guests, 
 and on such short notice others could not be provided with- 
 out exciting suspicion or pointing to the agency by which 
 the liberation had been brought about. 
 
 "Ah, if Dick were only here," Jack groaned, "we could 
 go to the square and lead away enough staff or orderly 
 horses to serve the purpose. The little wretch ! It would 
 serve him properly to leave him here mooning over his 
 sweetheart." Then his heart took up a little tremor of protest. 
 He sighed gently. He, too, had loitered wien his heart 
 pleaded. Why should Dick be firmer than he ? It was 
 after midnight when he reached the sheltering, broken 
 ground along the river. The provost prison fronted the 
 water. It had been a tobacco warehouse, built long before, 
 and hastily transformed into its present military purpose. 
 It was set in what was called a " cut " in the heavy clay 
 bank, thus bringing the lower windows below the level of 
 the surrounding land. There were sentries stationed in front 
 and rear, who walked at regular intervals from corner to 
 corner. The sentinel on the high level to the rear could not 
 see the ground along the wall, and it was this fact which 
 Jack calculated upon to enable him to help the prisoners to 
 remove the debris of the wall through which they were to 
 presently emerge. The night was pitchy dark. This had 
 been taken into consideration long before. Heavy clouds 
 hung over the river, throwing the prison and its environs 
 into still more security for Jack's purpose. He reconnoitred 
 every available point, searched eveiy corner of possible dan- 
 ger, and as the time passed he began to rage with impatience 
 against Dick, whose delay was now periling the success of 
 the enterprise. 
 
 It was twelve o'clock and after. He dared wait no longer. 
 Dick must shift for himself. Perhaps he had lost his way. 
 In any event it was safer to set the general prisoners free, as 
 they were only carelessly guarded. Lamps glimmered fit- 
 fully in the 1 guard-room, throwing fantastic banners of light 
 almost to the water's edge. He made a final tour about the
 
 ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR. 273 
 
 broken ground, but there was no sound or suspicion of Dick. 
 He knew every inch of the ground. Dick and he had sur- 
 veyed and resurveyed it for days. The coast was clear. No 
 one was on guard at the vital point, but still he lingered, his 
 breath coming and going painfully, as a break in the clouds 
 cast a moving shape over the undulating ground. Should 
 he give the boy another half-hour's grace ? He makes a 
 circuit in the direction Dick must approach by and waits. 
 He will count a hundred very slowly, then wait no longer. 
 He counts up to fifty, hears a coming step, and waits alertly. 
 No it passes on. He begins again counts one hundred, 
 two hundred. No sign. " Pah ! it is madness to delay for 
 him. The young poltroon has lost his resolution in his love- 
 sick fever. Very likely he has been unable to run the risk 
 of Eosa's anger her mother's indignation the possibility 
 of never seeing the girl again." Well, he had given him 
 ample grace. He had endangered his own and other lives 
 to humor a boyish whim. Now he must act, and swiftly. 
 
 The plan was too far gone in execution to be changed. 
 He must carry out the final measures alone. Now, one of 
 these details required some one to slip down on the ground 
 and crawl to the point between the windows where the pris- 
 oners were working and aid them to remove the thin shell 
 of brick. If it fell outward, the guard at the corner would 
 hear the noise, and might come down to see what it was 
 that made it. The removal of this wall released all confined 
 in the main prison. These he saw stealing out in groups of 
 ten or more. They had guides waiting on the bank of the 
 river. Jack gave them final orders. The most difficult 
 work was the getting out Jones and Barney, for they had 
 special cells. Jack was to guard Jones's exit and Dick Bar- 
 ney's, but now all the work would deyolve upon him. It 
 was two o'clock, and he dared wait no longer. Raising 
 himself from the low wall where he had been crouching, he 
 started toward the corner of the prison farthest from the 
 guard-room. At the wall of the building he dropped flat on 
 his face and began to crawl forward, sheltered by the low 
 ground that formed a sort of dry ditch about the basement
 
 274: THE IRON GAME. 
 
 of the prison. He had barely stretched himself at full 
 length when a bright light was flashed on him from a deep 
 doorway just beyond him, and a voice, mocking and tri- 
 umphant, exclaimed: 
 
 " This is a bad place to swim, my friend ! There ain't 
 enough water to drown you, but if you stir you'll run 
 against a bullet." 
 
 Jack lay quite still and raised his eyes. Above him stood 
 a trooper, with a revolver leveled at and within ten feet of 
 him. Figure to yourself any predicament in life in which 
 vital stakes hang on the issue ; figure to yourself the ship- 
 wrecked seizing ice where he had hoped for timber ; the con- 
 demned criminal walking into the jailer's toils where he had 
 laboriously dug through solid walls ; the captain of an army^ 
 leaving the field victor, to find his legions rushing upon him 
 in rout; figure any monstrous overturn in well-laid schemes, 
 and you have but a faint reflex of poor Jack's heart-breaking 
 anguish when this jocular fate stood above him, with the five 
 gaping barrels pointed at his miserable head. Oh, if Dick 
 had only been there ! His quick eye and keen activity would 
 have discovered this lurking devil ; perhaps, between them, 
 they would have averted the disaster. Where could Dick 
 be?
 
 BOOK III. 
 THE DESERTERS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 BETWEEN THE LINES. 
 
 ON quitting Jack, Dick had but one thought in mind to 
 make his departure less abrupt for Rosa. If he left her 
 without a word, what would she think ? Then, with an offi- 
 cer's uniform, he could be of much moi-e help to Jack and 
 the party than in the rough civilian homespun furnished at 
 the cabin. Besides, he knew of certain blank headquarter 
 passes lying on Vincent's desk. He would get a few of 
 these ; they might extricate the party in the event of a sur- 
 prise. 
 
 He tore over the solemn roadway, under the spectral 
 foliage, and in twenty minutes he was in his room in the 
 Atterburys'. Vincent's old uniform he had often noticed in 
 a spare closet adjoining his own sleeping-room. In an in- 
 stant he was in it, and, though it was not a fit, he soon put it 
 in order to pass casual inspection. The line for Rosa was 
 the next delay. What should he say ? He had had his 
 mind full for days of the most tender sentiments and pret- 
 tily turned phrases, but the turmoil of the last hour, the 
 vital value of every moment to Jack's plans, left him 
 no time to compose the proem he had meditated so long. 
 Rosa's own pretty desk was open, and on a sheet of her own 
 paper he wrote, in a scrawling, school-boy hand : 
 
 "DARLING ROSA: You've often said that you would dis- 
 own Vincent if he were not true to the South. Think of
 
 276 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 Vincent in my place dawdling in Acredale or Washington 
 while battles were going on. You would not hold him less 
 contemptible that he was in love ; that he let his love, or his 
 life, for you are both to me, stand as a barrier to his duty. 
 You can't love where you can't honor, and you can't hate 
 where you know conscience rules. I go to my duty, that in 
 the end I may come to you without shame. I ask no pledge 
 other than comes to your heart when you read this ; but 
 whatever you may say, whatever you may decide, I am now 
 and always shall be your devoted 
 
 RICHARD." 
 
 He sighed, casting a woe-begone glance into the mirror, 
 dimly conscious that he was a very heroic young person. 
 He kissed various objects dear to the little maid, and then, 
 in lugubrious unrest, sallied out and mounted. 
 
 Again under the calm sky again the fleet limbs of the 
 horse almost keeping time to his own inward impatience. 
 He holds to the soft, unpaved, outlying streets, that his pace 
 may not attract remark. He passes horsemen, like himself 
 spurring fleetly in the darkness. He is near the river at 
 last dismounts and reconnoitres. He easily finds a place 
 to tie the horse, and, familiar with every inch of the outly- 
 ing ground about the prison, crawls close to the wall, listen- 
 ing intently. He can hear no sound save the weary clank 
 of the sentry on the wooden walk. He reaches the wall 
 where the prisoners Jones and Barney were to emei'ge. 
 There is no sign of a break ! Where can Jack be ? Some 
 disaster must have overtaken him, for it is past the hour set 
 and soon it will be dawn, and then all action will be impos- 
 sible. Perhaps Jack has been caught reconnoitring ? Per- 
 haps he has gone with the main body, not venturing to try 
 for Jones and Dick without help ? No, that was not like 
 Jack. This was his special part in the plan if it were not 
 done, Jack was still about. He can find out readily thanks 
 to the countersign. He steals back over the low hillock, 
 mounts the horse, and by a dtour reaches the sentry guard- 
 ?ng the river front of the prison. He is challenged, but,
 
 BETWEEN THE LINES. 277 
 
 possessed of the countersign, finds no difficulty in riding up 
 to the guard-room doorway. 
 
 " Has Lieutenant Hawkins been here within an hour, 
 sentry ? " he asks, in apparent haste. 
 
 " No, sir, I think he has been sent for leastwise, the ser- 
 geant went away about an hour ago to report the taking of 
 a deserter, found prowling about the side of the prison." 
 
 " A deserter ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir. He had a brand-new uniform on and 110 com- 
 pany mark, nor no equipments." 
 
 " What has been done with him ? " Dick asked, breath- 
 lessly, dismounting. '' I wonder if he isn't one of ray com- 
 pany from Fort Lee ? He went off on a drunk yesterday, 
 though he was sent here on a commissary errand." 
 
 " I dunno, sir. He's in the lockup there. He was very 
 violent, and the sergeant bound him with straps." 
 
 " I will go in and examine him; he may be one of my 
 men, and, as our brigade moves in the morning, I should 
 like to know." 
 
 "Very well, sir; the officer of the day is asleep in the 
 room beyond the first door. One of the men will call him." 
 
 " Oh, no need to disturb him until I have seen the pris- 
 oner. Here, my man" addressing a soldier asleep on. a 
 settee "show me to the deserter brought in to-night " 
 
 " Yes, sir," the man cried, starting up with confused alac- 
 rity; then, noticing the insignia of major on Dick's gray 
 collar, he saluted respectfully, and, pointing to a double 
 doorway, waited for his superior to lead the way. Dick, 
 who had been in the prison before, knew his whereabouts 
 very well, and it was not until the soldier reached the room 
 in which the deserter was detained that he seemed to remem- 
 ber that there were no lights. 
 
 " Here are the man's quarters, sir; but I'm out of matches. 
 If you'll wait a minute I'll bring a candle." 
 
 " All right," Dick responded, in a loud voice ; " I'll stand 
 here until you come back." 
 
 The quest of the candle would take the guide to the closet 
 in the guard-room, and, risking little to learn much, Dick
 
 278 THE IROX GAME. 
 
 struck a match and peered into the stuffy little room, more 
 like a corn-crib than a prison-cell. 
 
 " Hist, Jack! is it you? " he called. 
 
 There was an exclamation from the farther end of the 
 room, and then a fervent 
 
 "Heavens, Dick! is it really you?" 
 
 "Sh , sh !" 
 
 The soldier's returning footfalls sounded in the passage- 
 way ; but, as he re-entered the hall where Dick stood shad- 
 ing the flickering light, he could not see the hastily extin- 
 guished match in Dick's hand. As the man came slowly 
 along the winding passage-way, Dick whispered: 
 
 "You are a recruit in Eickett's legion; you were drunk 
 and lost your way, and I am your major ; you are stationed 
 at Fort Lee, near Mechanicsville, and you belong to Com- 
 pany G." 
 
 Jack pretended to be sound asleep when the soldier and 
 Dick entered. He rubbed his eyes sleepily, and looked up 
 in a vacant, tipsy way, leering knowingly at the soldier, 
 who had caught him by the shoulder. 
 
 "What are you doing here, Tarpey? Why aren't you 
 with your company? You'll get ball and chain for this lark, 
 or my name's not James Braine." 
 
 " But, major, it it wasn't my fault. My cousin, Joe Tar- 
 pey, came down from Staunton with a barrel of so'gum 
 whisky, and and ' 
 
 " You drank too much and was caught where you had no 
 business to be. However," Dick added, sternly, " the regi- 
 ment marches in the morning you must get out of here. 
 Soldier, show me to Captain Payne's quarters. Say to him 
 that Major Braine, of Rickett's Legion, desires to speak with 
 him a moment." But he had no sooner said this than he 
 realized the danger he was running. 
 
 The captain might know Braine, and then how could he 
 extricate himself from the dilemma ? Luckily the captain 
 was not in his quarters, and Dick, with calm effrontery, sat 
 down and wrote out a statement of the case, where he was 
 to be found, and his reasons for carrying the prisoner away.
 
 BETWEEN THE LINES. 279 
 
 The sergeant, having read this, made no objection to re- 
 leasing the alleged deserter, since there had been no orders 
 concerning him, and, without more ado, Jack walked away 
 with his captain, the picture of abashed valor and repentant 
 tipsiness. 
 
 " Now, Dick, there's no time to ask the meaning of your 
 miraculous doings. We've still time to let our friends out 
 and get away before daylight ; but we mustn't lose a second. 
 Sh ! stand still, what's that? Troopers ! Good heavens, they 
 can't have found out your trick so soon ! Ah, no ! They 
 are floundering about looking for quarters," he added, in 
 immeasurable relief, as the voices of the riders sounded 
 through the darkness, cursing luck, the road, and every- 
 thing else. " O Dick, if we only had the countersign I could 
 play a brilliant trick on these greenhorns ! Perhaps I can 
 as it is." 
 
 "I have the countersign. How do you suppose I could 
 have managed to get to you if I hadn't? It is ' Lafayette.' " 
 
 " Glory ! Now make all the clatter you can after I chal- 
 
 They had by this time reached a row of tumble-down 
 stables directly in the rear of the prison, and shut out from 
 the open ground by a decrepit fence, broken here and there 
 by negroes too lazy to pass out into the street to reach the 
 river. The horsemen had turned into this lane-like high- 
 way evidently misdirected. When within a few feet, Jack 
 gave a sudden whack on the board and cried, sternly: 
 
 " Halt ! Who comes there ? " 
 
 There was a sudden clash of steel as the group halted in 
 a heap, and then a weary voice replied : 
 
 " We have no countersign. We should have been at our 
 destination long before sundown, but were misdirected ten 
 miles out of our course on the Manchester pike." 
 
 "Very well. Dismount and come forward one man at a 
 time," Jack answered, briefly. This the spokesman did with 
 some alacrity. As he came up, Dick took the precaution of 
 getting between him and his three companions, and then 
 Jack said : " I suppose you are all right ; but my orders are
 
 280 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 to arrest all mounted men, detain their horses here in these, 
 the provost stables," and Jack pointed to Dick's horse dimly 
 outlined against the sky. '* I will give you a receipt for 
 him, and you can get him back in the morning when you 
 state your case to the provost marshal. Stephen," he turned 
 to Dick, " take that horse and put him with the others." He 
 then made out a receipt, handed it to the astonished trooper, 
 and, directing him where to go, carried out the same short 
 shrift with the other three. The troopers were glad enough 
 to be relieved of their beasts. This they did not attempt to 
 deny, for they had seen a public-house in the street below, 
 where they could procure much-needed refreshment, relieved 
 as they now were from the necessity of reporting to their 
 commander, whose whereabouts were far down the Rocett 
 road. 
 
 " By George, Jack, what a crafty plotter you are ! Now 
 we have a mount for the party, and I needn't take poor 
 Warick's crack stallion." 
 
 "Yes; we've doubled the chances of escape by this little 
 stratagem ; but we have lost time. Come. Have you tied 
 the horses? " 
 
 "Yes. Lead on." 
 
 Over the turfy hillside, now moist and sticky with the 
 heavy dew, they stole, half crouching, half crawling, until 
 they were on a level with the prison basement. The sentry 
 in front was no longer pacing his beat, and there was no 
 sign of the man in the rear. In a few minutes the two 
 crawling figures were at the preconcerted places in the wall. 
 In response to their light taps, a square of brick-work large 
 enough to leave a space for a man to crawl through crum- 
 bled upon Jack and Dick, Avho held their bodies closely 
 pressed against the debris to prevent too loud a noise. There 
 was no time to wait probabilities of discovery, and an instant 
 later Barney and Jones emerged, panting and half smothered. 
 
 " I thought it was all up with me hopes, as Glory McNab 
 said when her sweetheart ran away with the cobbler's daugh- 
 ter," Barney whispered, hugging Jack rapturously. 
 
 " Sh ! Down on your stomachs. Move that way until
 
 BETWEEN THE LINES. 281 
 
 you see me rise. Come." And Jack squirmed ahead as if 
 lie had been accustomed to the locomotion of snakes all his 
 life. In ten minutes they were in the improvised stables. 
 Dick had taken the precaution to place the horses where 
 they could feed on a heap of fodder stacked in the yard, and 
 when they mounted the beasts appeared refreshed as well as 
 rested. Dick loosing Warick's horse so that he might make 
 his way back to his master, the fugitives rode cautiously out 
 of the lane, into the open fields, and, though it was not their 
 shortest way, pushed along the river road to mislead pursuit. 
 Jack's sti-atagem had resulted in better luck even than the 
 possession of the horses. It not only secured a mount for 
 the four, but, what was equally and perhaps, in view of un- 
 foreseen contingencies, more important disguises for the two 
 prisoners. 
 
 They found an extra coat strapped to each saddle, and 
 with these Barney and Jones were easily transformed into 
 something like Confederate soldiers. Both Jack and Jones 
 knew every inch of the suburbs, having made the topography 
 a study. They struck for the less traveled thoroughfares un- 
 til they reached the northeastern limits, then following the 
 old Cold Harbor road they pushed decisively toward the 
 Williamsburg pike. But, instead of following it, they trav- 
 ersed on by lanes and bridle-paths during the day. This was 
 to divide pursuit, as the larger party had taken the river 
 route where Butler's troops were waiting in boats for them. 
 The saddle-bags proved a windfall, for in them were orders 
 to proceed to Yorktown and report to General Magruder. 
 With these Jack felt no difficulty in passing several awk- 
 ward points, where there was no escaping the cavalry pa- 
 trols, owing to miles of swamp and impenetrable forest. 
 
 They kept clear, however, of such places as the telegraph 
 reached, though at one point they found a post in a great 
 state of excitement over news brought from a neighboring 
 wire, announcing the escape of two prisoners who had been 
 traced to the York road. But with such papers as Jack pre- 
 sented and the number of the party double that described in 
 the dispatch, the adventurers easily evaded suspicion. The
 
 282 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 great danger, however, was in quitting the Confederate lines 
 to pass into Butler's. They chose the night for this, as the 
 camp-fires would warn them of the vicinity of outposts, 
 Union or rebel. They had purposely avoided highways and 
 habitations, and, as a result, were limited in food to such 
 corn-cribs as they found far from human abodes, or the 
 autumn aftermath of vegetables sometimes found in the 
 shadow of the woods. All were good shots, however, and a 
 fat rabbit and partridge were cooked by Dick with such ad- 
 dress, that the party were eager to take more time in halting 
 since they need not starve, no matter how long the journey 
 lasted. 
 
 Jack, by tacit consent, was considered commander of the 
 squad, Barney remarking humorously that they would not 
 ask to see his commission until they were in a country where 
 a title meant authority. The commander ordered his small 
 army very judiciously. They were to ride as far apart as 
 the roads or woods or natural obstructions would admit. 
 They thus moved forward in the shape of a triangle, the 
 apex to the rear. Exchanges of position were made every 
 six hours. They were at the'end of the second day, toward 
 sunset, approaching what they supposed was Warrick Creek, 
 nearly half-way to Fort Monroe, when they suddenly emerged 
 on an open plateau from which they could see a mile or two 
 before them a tranquil waste of crimson water. 
 
 " Why, this can't be the creek ! " exclaimed Jones, ex- 
 citedly. " The creek isn't half a mile at its broadest." 
 
 " What can it be ? " Jack asked, who had been the right 
 wing to Jones's left. " It's, certainly not the James, for the 
 sun is setting at our back ! " 
 
 " Blest if I can tell. It looks very much like the Chesa- 
 peake, only the Chesapeake is wider." 
 
 By this time Barney and Dick had ridden up, and began 
 to admire the expanse of water spreading from the land be- 
 fore them to a green wilderness in the distance. 
 
 " I'm afraid we are in a fix," Jones said, resignedly. " If 
 I'm not very much mistaken, the red line yonder, that looks 
 like a roadway, is a breastwork, and behind that what looks
 
 BETWEEN THE LINES. 283 
 
 like a plowed field is earthworks. My boys, we are before 
 Yorktown and farther from our lines than we were yester- 
 day. The nigger that showed us the way in the woods was 
 either ignorant or deceiving us. We are now inside the out- 
 posts of the rebels, and we shall have to crawl on our hands 
 and knees to escape them." 
 
 " I don't see what better off we'll be on our hands and 
 knees than we are in our saddles," Barney cried, guilelessly 
 " Sure we can go faster on the bastes than we can on our 
 hands, and, as for me knees, 'tis only in prayer that I ever 
 use them." 
 
 " Not in love, Barney ? " Dick asked, innocently. 
 
 " No, me darlin'. The gurls I love think more of me 
 arms than me knees, and I do all of me pleadin' with me 
 lips." 
 
 " I should think they could hold their own," Jones re- 
 marked, dryly. 
 
 " Indeed, they can that, and a good deal more, as me best 
 gurl'll tell you if shell tell the truth, and no fear of her do- 
 ing that, I'll go bail." 
 
 " Fie ! Barney, if she won't tell the truth you should have 
 none of her," Dick cried in stage tones. 
 
 " Indeed, it's little I have of her, for she's that set on 
 Teddy Redmund that she leaves me to her mother, when 
 Teddy comes to the porch of an evening." 
 
 " Well, friends, your loves are, no doubt, adorable, and 
 it is a pleasant thing to talk over, but just now what we 
 want is a way out of this trap " ; and Jack, saying this, 
 slipped from his horse and led him into the shelter of a 
 thick growth of scrub-pines. The rest followed his exam- 
 ple. They tied their animals and held a council of war. It 
 was resolved that Jack and Jones should make a reconnais- 
 sance to find out the route toward the Warrick ; that Dick 
 and Barney should secrete and guard the horses and do 
 what they could to obtain some food. This decision was 
 barely agreed upon, when the shrill call of a bugle sounded 
 almost among the refugees, and they sprang to their horses, 
 waiting in silence the next demonstration. Other bugles
 
 284 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 sounded farther away ; a great cloud of dust arose in the 
 direction of the water, and then Jack whispered : 
 
 " Remain here. I will climh one of these trees and see 
 what it means." 
 
 He was in the leafy boughs of a spreading pine in a few 
 minutes, and could descry a broad plain, with tents scattered 
 here and there ; still farther on the broad uplands frame 
 buildings with a red and white flag floating to the wind 
 could be seen. Back of all this he could make out a broad 
 expanse of water and a few ungainly craft, lazily moving to 
 the current in the Yorktown roadstead. 
 
 " Yes, this certainly must be Yorktown. Why have they 
 such a force here ? No one is threatening it," Jack mur- 
 mured, his eyes arrested by a long line of cavalry in un- 
 dress, leading their horses up a circuitous and hitherto con- 
 cealed road to the plateau. Ha ! they go down there for 
 water. Let me see. That is to the southeastward ; that is 
 our point of direction. I think we may venture to push on 
 now." He hastily descended from his survey, and making 
 known what he had seen, added : " We must proceed with 
 the greatest caution. There is no time to think of food un- 
 til we get away from this dangerous neighborhood. We 
 must keep well spread out, and move only over turfy ground 
 or in the deep shade of the wood. In case of disaster, the 
 cry of the night owl, as agreed upon, will be a warning." 
 
 The four had practiced the melancholy cry of the owl, as 
 heard in the Southern woods both day and night, and they 
 could all imitate it sufficiently well to pass muster if the 
 hearer were not on guard against the trick, and yet so clever 
 an imitation that none of the four could mistake it. So soon 
 as they quit the plateau, seeking a way east by south, they 
 plunged immediately into a dreary swamp, where progress 
 was slow and difficult. The mosquitoes beset them in 
 swarms, plaguing even the poor animals with their lusty 
 sting. Hour after hour, until the woods became a hideous 
 chaos of darkness and unseemly sounds, the four panting 
 fugitives pushed on, fainting with hunger, worn out by the 
 incessant battle with the corded foliage, the dense marshes,
 
 BETWEEN THE LINES. 285 
 
 and quagmires through which their path to safety lay. But 
 at midnight Jones gasped and gave up the fight. 
 
 " Go on ; leave me here. I am of no use at best. I should 
 only be a drag on you. Perhaps you may find some darkey 
 and send him back to give me a mouthful to eat. That 
 would pick me up ; nothing else can." 
 
 The four gathered together for counsel. The horses, 
 faring better than their masters, for they found abundance 
 to allay hunger in the lush, dank grass of the morass, were 
 corraled in a clump of white ash, and the jaded men, groping 
 about, clambered upon the gnarled roots of the trees to catch 
 breath. They had been battling steadily for five hours 
 against all the forces of Nature. Their clothes were torn, 
 their flesh abraded, their strength exhausted. They could 
 have slept, but the ground offered no place, for wherever 
 the foot rested an instant the weight of the body pushed it 
 down into the oozy soil until water gushed in over the shoe- 
 tops. Jones had found the struggle hardest because he had 
 not the youth of the others nor their light frames. The 
 striplings were spared many of his hardships and were still 
 able to endure the ordeal, if the end were sure relief. Jack 
 struck a match, and with this lighted a pine knot. He sur- 
 veyed the gloomy brake carefully, and at last, finding a 
 mound where a thick growth of underbrush gave assurance 
 of less treacherous soil, he called to Barney to aid him. The 
 little hillock was made into a couch by means of the saddles, 
 and the groaning veteran carefully laid upon the by no 
 means uncomfortable refuge. As Jack held the light above 
 him, Jones's eyes closed and he sank into a lethargic sleep. 
 
 " He will be in a high fever when he awakes," Jack said, 
 looking at Barney. " We must see that he has food, or the 
 fever will be his death. Here is what I propose: you and I 
 shall sally out from here, blazing the path as we go. We 
 must find some sign of life within a circuit of five miles. 
 That will take us say till daylight to go and come. We will 
 leave Dick here to guard Jones, and if we do not return by 
 noon to-morrow Dick will know that he must shift for him- 
 self."
 
 286 THE IROX GAME. 
 
 "You command, Jack dear. What you say I'll do, as 
 Molly Meginniss said to the priest when he told her to re- 
 pent of her sins." 
 
 "Dick, my boy, do you think you are equal to a vigil ? 
 You must stay here with Jones. If he wakes and wants 
 water, press the moisture of these leaves to his lips, it's sassa- 
 fras; and, stay here is a sort of plantain, filled with little 
 globules of dew ; pour these into his mouth, and at a pinch 
 give him a handful from the pool. In case of great danger 
 fire two shots, but if any one should come toward you or 
 discover you it will be better to surrender. In that event, 
 you can make up a story to suit the case, which may enable 
 you to finally escape. This man's life is in your hands. 
 Remember that it is as glorious a deed as fighting in line. 
 Keep up a stout heart. We will soon be back, or you may 
 take it for granted all is up with us." 
 
 " Ah ! Jack ! Jack ! To start so well and end so misera- 
 bly. I can't bear it I can't stay here. You stay and let 
 me go." 
 
 "No, Dick, it can't be; you are already so worn out that 
 we should have been obliged to halt for you if Jones hadn't 
 broken down. It can't be that you would think of leaving 
 a fellow-soldier in such extremity as this, Dick ? I know you 
 better." 
 
 "But I don't know him. I have no interest in him. 
 With you I'll face any danger I'll die without a word ; but 
 to stay here in this awful place, with the black pools of water, 
 like great dead eyes, glaring in their hideous light " (the pine- 
 torch flaring in the wind filled the glade with vast ogreish 
 shadows, as the clustering bushes were swayed in the night 
 air) " and these hideous night-cries O Jack, I can't I can't 
 I must go !" 
 
 "But the horses and the need of some one that can come 
 back in case anything befalls me. I am disappointed in you, 
 Dick. I am shocked ; you are not the man of courage and 
 honor I thought you." 
 
 " O my God, go go I will stay ; but, Jack, if you find 
 me dead, tell tell Rosa that that " He gasped and
 
 PHANTASMAGORIA. 287 
 
 sank down sobbing against the gnarled tree that crossed the 
 mound above Jones's head. 
 
 " I will tell Rosa that you were the man she believed you 
 were when the trial came," and with this Jack and Barney, 
 with a flaming torch, set forward hastily through the fan- 
 tastic curtain of foliage and night, which shut in the glim- 
 mering vista of specters, dark, sinister, and menacing. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 PHANTASMAGORIA. 
 
 To say that night is a time of terror is a commonplace. 
 Night is not terrible of itself. It is like the ocean peace 
 and repose if there be no storm. But of all terrors there 
 are none, outside a guilty mind, so benumbing as night in 
 the unknown. It does not lessen the horror of darkness 
 that fear makes use of the imagination for its agencies. 
 Fancy, intuition, and the train that follows the inner vision, 
 these make of night a phantasmagoria, compared to which 
 Milton's inferno is a place of comparative repose. 
 
 If you would realize the wondrous necromancy of the 
 sun, pass a night in some primeval forest, untouched by the 
 hand of man. Until he stands in the awful silence of the 
 midnight wood, or upon some vast waste of nature, no man 
 can figure to himself the varied shapes the mind can give to 
 terrors based upon the mysterious noises of nature, and the 
 goblin motions of inanimate things. The lover thinking of 
 his lass welcomes the night and the rapturous walks among 
 well-known scenes and kindly objects. With glimmering 
 lamps in the foliage and the not distant sounds of daily 
 life, even the woods have nothing fearful to the meditative 
 or the distraught. But in flight, with fear as a garment 
 that can not be laid aside, the somber forms of the forest 
 are more terrible than an army with banners, as a haunted 
 19
 
 288 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 house is a more unnerving dread than burglars or any form 
 of night marauders. It was at night that the mutinous sail- 
 ors of Columbus broke into decisive revolt ; it was at night 
 that the iron band of Cortes lost heart, and were routed on 
 the lakes of Mexico ; it was at night that the resolution of 
 Brutus failed before the disaster at Philippi. 
 
 That two-o'clock-in-the-morning courage, which is the 
 secret of soldierly success, comes only from companionship. 
 The night-wood is a world by itself, filled with its own at- 
 mosphere, as oppressive to valor as the electric reefs that 
 drew the nails from the ships of Sindbad. Among familiar 
 scenes and well-known shapes, it is all the delight the poets 
 sing so tranquillizing, inspiring, fecund, that in comparison 
 the thought of day brings up garish hues, flaunting figures 
 the hardness, harshness and unlovely in life. But night in 
 the goblin-land, where Dick found himself suddenly deserted, 
 with fantastic forms swaying in the lazy wind, would have 
 had terrors for the most constant mind ; terrors such as filled 
 the soul of Macbeth, when Birnam wood came marching to 
 Dunsinane. In an instant, as it seemed to Dick's exalted and 
 painfully impressionable sense, every separate leaf, branch, 
 brier, copse, and jungle, was endowed with a voice of its 
 own hateful, irritating, mocking. Swarms of peering eyes 
 hovered in the air, glowering uncanny menace into the boy's 
 wild, dilating vision. 
 
 Brave, even to recklessness, Dick was, as you have seen ; 
 but no sooner had the glimmer of Jack's torch flickered and 
 fluttered into the black distance, making place for the mon- 
 strous shapes, the luring shadows, and threatening forms 
 encompassing him, than Dick threw himself, with a wailing 
 shriek, into the morass in a wild attempt to follow. 
 
 In an instant he was up to his middle in mud and water. 
 He seized the prickly branches coiling about and above him ; 
 he gasped in prayerful pleading, the home teaching still 
 strong in him ; but there was no answer, save the crooning 
 night-birds and the croaking frogs. Slimy things touched 
 his torn flesh; whirring birds shot past him, disturbed in 
 their night perches. The deadly odor, pungent and nause-
 
 PHANTASMAGORIA. 289 
 
 ous, of a thousand exhaling herbs, filled his nostrils. The 
 darkness grew, instinct with threatening forms. He gasped, 
 struggled, and in a fervent outburst of thanksgiving re- 
 gained the dank mound. Ah, there was life on that ! human 
 life. Jones slept, the stertorous sleep of delirium. He mur- 
 mured brokenly. Dick was too terrified to distinguish what 
 he said. The blaze of the pine knot flared from side to side 
 as the sighing breeze arose from the brackish pools, protest- 
 ing the vitality of even this moribund hades. Ah ! if he 
 could but lie down and bury his face. The horses ? They 
 were feeding tranquilly yonder, standing up to their knees 
 in mosses and water. The lines that tied them were long. 
 They could move about. This was some comfort. They 
 were more human than the dreadful specters that filled the 
 place. 
 
 Ah ! the blessed, blessed light that flamed out from the 
 merry pine-torch ; he didn't wonder that half the Eastern 
 world worshiped fire. He adored it blessed, blessed fire 
 the sign of God, the beacon of the human. Hark ! What 
 half-human or rather wholly inhuman sounds are these 
 that alternate in unearthly measure ? Surely animal nature 
 has no voice so strident, vengeful, odious. Can it be animals 
 of prey ? No. The Virginia forests are dangerous only in 
 snakes. Snakes ? Ah, yes ! He shrinks into shadow against 
 the oak at this suggestion ; snakes ? the deadly moccasin, 
 that prowls as well by night as day. Ugh ! what's this at 
 his feet soft, clammy, shining in the flaring light ? He 
 leaps upon the smooth tree-trunk, growing slantwise in- 
 stead of perpendicular. What if the torch and the odor of 
 flesh should draw the snakes to the sleeper ? The flame 
 flares in wide, lurid curves, revealing the outlines of the 
 sleeping man. Heavens, what a terrible face ! He moves in 
 spasmodic contortions. He is smothering. The veins of his 
 neck will break if he is not awakened. 
 
 " O my God ! my God ! have mercy ! " Dick buries his 
 face in his hands, as he clings desperately to the smooth 
 white-oak trunk. A strange, wild strain, like a detached 
 chord of a vesper melody, sounds above him ! It is the whip-
 
 290 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 poor will steadily, continuously, entrancingly the dulcet 
 measure is taken up and echoed, until the slough of despond 
 ssems transformed into a varying diapason of melancholy 
 minstrelsy. He dares not raise his head. It will vanish if 
 he moves. He crouches, panting, almost exultant, in the 
 sense of recovered faculties, or rather the suspension of 
 numbing fear. How long will it last ? He must move ; his 
 limbs are cramped and aching. He raises his head. Mortal 
 powers ! the torch is nickering into ashes ! Another instant 
 and he will be in the dark. Dare he move ? Dare he seek 
 the distant pine, between him and which the black surface 
 of the murky sheet shines, dotted with uncanny growth and 
 reptilian things ? Yes ; anything is better than the hideous 
 darkness of this hideous place. 
 
 The horse he rode has broken his leash and comes to him 
 with a gentle whinny, as if asking why the delay in such a 
 place. " Blessed, blessed God, that made a beast so human ! " 
 He caresses it, he clings to its neck and calls to it piteously. 
 Ah, yes ; the dying light. He must renew it. He slips down 
 upon the bare back and urges the patient beast across the 
 brackish morass. Ah, this is life again ! He is not alone. 
 This noble beast is human. It crops the tender leaves con- 
 fidingly, and swings its head as much as to say : " Don't fear, 
 Dick ; I'm here. I'll stand by you ; I don't forget the pains 
 you took to get me water, and that particularly toothsome 
 measure of oats you cribbed in the rebel barn near "Williams- 
 burg ! " 
 
 But the pine knot that will burn is not so easily found. 
 Dick was forced to go a long way before he came upon the 
 resinous sort. He brought back a supply, having taken the 
 precaution to provide matches in order to secure his way 
 back. The quest had to some extent lessened the morbid or 
 supernatural forms of his terrors. They all returned, how- 
 ever, when, having dismounted, he forgot to tie the horse, 
 and it wandered off in search of herbage. He called, but 
 the beast made no sign of returning. Alone again. Alone 
 in the night ; spectral forms about him ; the sleeping man 
 adding to the ghostliness of the scene by his incoherent
 
 PHANTASMAGORIA. 291 
 
 mutterings, his hideous, gulping hreath, his ghastly, blood- 
 curdling outcries. Then through the gloom the shining 
 outlines of the white oak, like shreds of shrouds hung on 
 funeral foliage. Ah ! he would go mad he must hreak the 
 brutish sleep of the sick man. 
 
 " Mr. Jones," he wails and his own voice the comical- 
 ly commonplace name, " Mr. Jones," even in the agony of 
 his terror, the humor of the conjuncture glimmered in the 
 boy's crazed intelligence, and he laughed a wild, maniacal 
 laugh. But the laugh died out in a pulseless horror. The 
 sick man uprose on his elbow. Dick, above him on the 
 white-oak trunk, could see his very eyes bloodshot and wan- 
 dering. He uprose, almost sitting. He passed his hand 
 over his staring eyes, and began to murmur: 
 
 " Did you bring me here to do murder, Elisha Boone ? 
 You have bought my body, but you never bought my soul. 
 No, no ! I will not. I say I will not. Do you hear ? I will 
 not ! " 
 
 He glared wildly ; then, his eyes meeting the full flame 
 of the torch, he laughed, a dreadful, marrow-freezing laugh, 
 and broke out again in clearer tones: "I am yours, Elisha 
 Boone, but my boy is not yours. He was born in my shape, 
 but he has his mother's soul. He will be a man ; he will be 
 your vengeance ; he will undo all his father has done. 
 You've robbed me; you've made me rob others. But if you 
 touch, if you look at my boy, my first-born, you might as 
 well hold a pistol at your head. I'm no longer mad. You 
 must treat with him. Ah ! yes ; I'll do your bidding with 
 the others. I'll make young Jack as much trouble as you 
 ask, but you must make a path of gold for my boy. You 
 must give him what you have robbed from me. Felon ? 
 I'm no felon. It was you who plotted it. It was you that 
 put the means in mad hands. I can face my family. I have 
 no shame but that I was a coward. My son ! He is no cow- 
 ard. He is a soldier. He is the pride of the Caribees. He 
 is the beloved of of " 
 
 The gibbering maniac, exhausted in body, still incoher- 
 ently raving, sank back in piteous collapse, a terrifying
 
 292 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 gurgle breaking from his throat, while his tongue absolutely 
 protruded from his jaws. 
 
 Dick, his terrors all forgotten in a new and overmaster- 
 ing horror, bethought him of Jack's admonition about the 
 water. He slipped down from the tree, gathered the large 
 moist leaves that clustered near the pool and held them to 
 the burning lips. Jones swallowed the drops with a hideous 
 gurgling avidity, clutching the boy's hand ravenously to se- 
 cure a more copious flow. There was a tin cup in the holster 
 under the invalid's head. Taking this, Dick dipped up water 
 from the black pool between the green leaves ; the hot lips 
 sucked it in at one dreadful gulp. 
 
 " More, more ; for Grod's sake, more ! " 
 
 Dick filled it again, and again it was emptied. 
 
 " More more I'm burning more ! " 
 
 The boy was cruelly perplexed. He remembered vaguely 
 hearing that fever should be starved ; that the thing craved 
 was the dangerous thing ; and he moved away in a sort of 
 compunctious terror. 
 
 " More more ! Oh, in the name of God, more ! " 
 
 The words came gaspingly. Dick thought of the death- 
 rattle he had heard in Acredale when old man Nagle, the 
 madman, died. He dared not give more water, but he 
 gathered leaves from the aromatic bushes and pressed them 
 to the fevered lips. Before he could withdraw them, the 
 eager jaws closed upon the balsamic shrub. They answered 
 the purpose better than the most scientific remedy in the 
 pharmacopoeia, for the patient called for no further drink, 
 and presently fell into profound and undisturbed sleep. 
 Again the boy was alone with the daunting forces of the 
 dark in its grimmest and most terrifying mood. Alone! 
 No ; his mind was now taken from all thought of self. He 
 was with a fellow-townsman. The man had mentioned 
 Boone; had referred to deeds that he had heard all his life 
 associated with the father he had never seen. A wild thought 
 flashed upon him. Was the collapsed body at his feet his 
 father's ? He could not see any resemblance in the dark, 
 handsome face to the portrait at home, though all through
 
 PHANTASMAGORIA. 293 
 
 the flight from Richmond something in the man's manner 
 had seemed like a memory. He strove to recall the image 
 his young mind had cherished, the personality he had heard 
 whispered about in the gossiping groups of Acredale. This 
 was not the gay, the brilliant, the fascinating bon viveur 
 who had been the life of society f rom Warchester to Buceph- 
 olo, from Pentica to New York. Ah ! what were the mystic 
 terrors of the night, what the oppressive surroundings of 
 this charnel-house of Nature, to the awful spectacle of this 
 unmanned mind, this delirious echo of past guilt, past cow- 
 ardice, past shame ? 
 
 To lessen the somber gloom, Dick had lighted many 
 torches and set them about the high mound where the sleep- 
 er lay in a huddle. Taking little heed of where he set them, 
 some of them, as the wind arose, flared out until their flames 
 licked the decayed branches of the fallen white oak. As the 
 boy crouched, pensive and distraught, he was suddenly 
 aroused by a vivacious cracking. He looked up. Lines of 
 fire were darting thither and yon, where dry wood, the debris 
 of years of decay, had been caught in the thick clumps of 
 underbrush and among the limbs of the trees. The fire had 
 pushed briskly, and the uncanny glade was now an amphi- 
 theatre of crawling flames, stretching in many-colored ban- 
 ners in a vast circle about the point of refuge. Dick gazed 
 fascinated, with no thought of danger. His spirits rose. It 
 was something like life this gorgeous decoration of fire. 
 How beautiful it was ! How it brought out the shining lines 
 of the white oak, the glistening green of the cypress ! Why 
 hadn't he thought of this before ? Then, as the curling 
 waves of fire pushed farther and farther up the stems of the 
 trees, and farther and farther endlessly^ into the under- 
 growth, an unearthly outcry and stir began. Birds, blinded 
 by the light, whirred and fluttered into the open space above 
 the water, falling helplessly so near Dick that he could have 
 caught and killed a score to surprise Jack with a game break- 
 fast, when he returned. Then ugh ! horror ! great, coiling 
 masses detached themselves from the tufts of sward, and 
 splashed noisily into the putrid water, wriggling and con-
 
 294 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 vulsed. The invalid still slept but, dreadful sight! the 
 coiling monsters, upheaving themselves from, the water, 
 glided, dull-eyed and sluggish, upon the mossy island, about 
 the unconscious figure. 
 
 Dick, fascinated and inert, watched the snaky mass, 
 squirming in hideous folds almost on the recumbent body. 
 Then, aroused to the horror of their nearness, he seized a 
 torch and made at the slimy heap. The fire conquered 
 them. They slid off the ground, with forked tongues dart- 
 ing out in. impotent malice. But others, squirming through 
 the water, wriggled up ; and the boy, maddened by the dan- 
 ger, stood his ground, torch in hand, defending the sleeper. 
 
 But now the fire has widened its swath, and is enveloping 
 the tiny island. The serpents, hedged in from the outer line, 
 uprear in blood-curdling masses, their dull eyes gleaming, 
 and their tongues phosphorescent, darting out in their 
 agony. Dick doesn't mind them now, for he has, for the 
 first time, begun to realize that his illumination has destruc- 
 tion as the sequel of its delight. Great clouds of smoke settle 
 a moment on the water and then rise, impelled by the cold 
 surface. Even the green verdure begins to roll back where 
 the crackling flames play into the more compact wall of in- 
 combustible timber. The sleeper murmurs in his dreams. 
 Dick casts about despairingly. He hears the horses they 
 have broken then* tethers he can hear them whinnying, up- 
 braidingly, far off. Wherever he casts his eye, volumes of 
 fire dart and sway, always coming inward, first scorching the 
 green limbs, then fastening on the tender stems and turning 
 them to glowing lines of cordage ; only the great sheet of 
 water, inky, terrible, and threatening a few hours before, 
 protects him and his charge. The hissing snakes have sunk 
 into it. 
 
 Bevies of birds, supernaturally keen of sight, have dropped 
 upon the twigs that lie on the glittering bosom of the water. 
 Dick, in all the agonized uncertainty of that night of peril, 
 thinks with wonder on the mysterious resources Nature 
 provides its helpless outcasts. The hideous shallows, black, 
 glistening, are now a belt of safety, not only for himself and
 
 PHANTASMAGORIA. 295 
 
 the sleeper, but a refuge for all manner of whirring birds 
 and crawling things, intimidated and harmless in the stifling 
 breath of the fire. The flame, leaping from sedge to sedge, 
 from trunk to trunk, seems to seek, with a human instinct, and 
 more than human pertinacity, food for its ravening hunger ; 
 far upward, where festoons of moss hung from the sycamores 
 in the day, airy banners of starry sparks, swayed, coiled, and 
 flamed among the branches. But Dick was soon reminded 
 that the scene was not for enjoyment, however fantastically 
 fascinating. 
 
 The smoke, at first rising from the burning brakes, lodged 
 among the tree-tops; then, meeting the humid night-air in 
 the matted leaves, descended slowly. Dick found himself 
 nearly smothered when he had partly recovered from the 
 spell-bound wonder of the demoniac fete. The ground under 
 his feet f el t gratefully cool. He bent down, and shudderingly 
 laved his burning face in the inky water. The sick man had 
 slept more peacefully during the last half-hour. He no 
 longer breathed in gasping efforts ; his sleep was unbroken 
 by muttering or outcry. But now he must be aroused. He 
 must be taken out of the circle of fire, for, sooner or later, 
 the curling waves would lick downward from the dry vines 
 above and scorch the mound. How to get away ? The 
 horses were long since gone. They might be miles from 
 the spot ! Dick touched the sleeping man, filled with a new 
 suspense. He breathed so softly, or did he breathe at all ? 
 
 " For God's sake, Mr. Jones, wake up ! We must go from 
 here ; the swamp is burning ! " 
 
 " Eh who is it ? Where am I ? Was I dreaming ? I 
 thought my boy was with me, and we were in the old home 
 at Acredale." 
 
 He lay quite still, staring upward with unseeing eyes. 
 Dick's heart gave a great throb of grateful, devout thanks- 
 giving. The madness and fever were gone. 
 
 " You remember you were too worn out to go on, and 
 Jack has gone to get food. But the swamp has caught fire, 
 and we must move away." 
 
 Jones had risen to his elbow; then, with an exclamation
 
 298 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 that sounded like an oath, to his feet, gazing on the flaming 
 specters rising and falling, enlarging and shrinking, among 
 the black tracery of limbs and trunks. 
 
 " You ought to have waked me before," Jones said, when 
 he had swept the scene, with sane realization in his eye. 
 "I'm afraid we can never break through the tire. It reaches 
 a mile or more all about us, and I I am in no condition to 
 move. I feel as if I had been down months with illness." 
 
 " But if you could eat something you would be able to 
 move," Dick ventured, cruelly hurt at the implied delin- 
 quency. 
 
 " Eat ! " Jones held up one of the luckless torches that 
 Dick had lighted in a circle about the mound, and began to 
 examine the ground. " What is there to eat ? Stay ! By 
 Heaven, I have it! The bushes are filled with fluttering 
 game. There, see that ! and that, and that ! " As he spoke 
 he had thrust the burning torch into a thick clump of 
 bushes, dense and glistening as laurels, that looked like wild 
 huckleberry. The branches were laden with birds, and in a 
 moment he had seized three or four partridges. 
 
 " What better do we need ? We have salt, water, and 
 fire. I'll prepare them. Do you keep your face well bathed, 
 and heap up embers at the foot of that ash." 
 
 Sure enough, sometimes hidden by billows of smoke, ris- 
 ing lazily among the burning bushes, Jones stripped the 
 bii-ds, spitted them on his bayonet, and, holding them in the 
 hot coals, soon presented a well-browned portion to his com- 
 panion. 
 
 " I have had a good deal worse fare than this, my young 
 friend. I have been in the West, when fire, Indians, and 
 hunger besieged us at the same time. But we should have 
 a poor chance here if it were not for the wet grass and the 
 everlasting water. If we can manage to keep clear of the 
 smoke, we shall be all right, but the smoke seems to grow 
 denser. Where can it come from ? " 
 
 "Great Heavens! do you hear that? Shots one two! 
 That's Jack's signal. He he is near. He is in danger. I 
 must go to him." Dick cried. "Listen; more shots. No,
 
 PHANTASMAGORIA. 297 
 
 that can't be the signal. There, do you hear that ? A vol- 
 ley. The rebels are after them, or we are near the outposts, 
 and the two armies are skirmishing." 
 
 Yes ; the shots now sounded more frequently, but they 
 seemed to be fired not far away. 
 
 " It is Jack. I know it is Jack, and he is in peril. I 
 must go to him. I can not stay here. Surely there is no 
 danger in pushing toward the firing ? " 
 
 "There is every danger. In the first place, the smoke 
 will smother us. Then suppose we reached the spot ? We 
 might be nearer the rebels than our friends. They know 
 where we are. If they are not taken, they will come back 
 for us. If they are taken, we must do our best to get to our 
 lines and send out a scouting party. Be guided by me, 
 youngster. I am an older hand in business of this sort than 
 you are." 
 
 The boy stood irresolute. Both listened intently. The 
 firing had stopped. A great sough of rising storm came 
 from the northwest, carrying a hot, blinding mass of smoke 
 and flame into the little retreat. They flung themselves on 
 the damp ferns to keep their breath. Still the breeze rose, 
 until it became a wind a spasm of hurricane. It was mad- 
 ness to linger, for the flames now licked the ground, driven 
 down anew by the blast. Then Jones spoke decisively: 
 "Strap a pine torch to your body. I will do the same. 
 Take all you can carry and follow in my wake." Jones, as 
 he spoke, seized a torch, extinguished it, and handed it to 
 Dick. Equipped as he had directed, they set out, half crawl- 
 ing, half swimming, to avoid the volumes of smoke hovering 
 in the thick, cactus-like leaves of the wild laurel. Presently 
 they emerged, after toil and misery, that excitement alone 
 enabled the boy to support, into what seemed a cleared space. 
 But as soon as their eyes could distinguish clearly, they 
 found themselves on the edge of a wide pond. The fire was 
 now behind them. They could stand erect and breathe the 
 pure, cool air. 
 
 " Ah, now we are in luck ! " Jones whispered. " We will 
 walk to the right, on the edge of this lake, and keep it be-
 
 298 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 tween us and the fire. We have got out of that purgatory ; 
 now if we could only signal our friends." 
 
 " Hist ! " whispered Dick, " I hear some one moving be- 
 hind us. " 
 
 They crouched down in the thick reeds and waited. The 
 sky above was darkly overcast; an occasional burst of light- 
 ning revealed the dimensions of the pond, and they could 
 see high ground on the eastern shore, covered by enormous 
 pines. 
 
 " If we can only reach the pines we shall be all right. 
 There the ground will bo dry and soft and you can get some 
 rest. I'm afraid, my boy, it will go hard with you if you 
 don't." 
 
 " I don't mind what happens if we can only come up 
 with Jack. There, do you hear that ? " 
 
 Yes, both could plainly hear voices ahead of them on the 
 margin of the pond. They were talking in low tones, and 
 the words were undistinguishable. 
 
 " We must crawl back toward the bush, and get as near 
 these folks as we can," Jones whispered. They made their 
 way easily into the high bushes and stole forward in the di- 
 rection of the voices. But as they had to guard against 
 breaking twigs or hurtling branches, which would have be- 
 trayed them, their advance was slow. When they reached 
 the vicinity where they had fancied the voices to be, all was 
 silent. 
 
 " Sound the call ; perhaps that will lead to something," 
 Jones whispered in Dick's ear. 
 
 But, unnerved by the trying experience of the night, or 
 worn out by fatigue, Dick's call was far from the significant 
 signal he had practiced with Jack. He repeated it several 
 times, but there was no response. There was, however, 
 something more startling. A few rods beyond them a flame 
 suddenly shot up, lighting a group of cavalry patrols stand- 
 ing beside a fire just kindled. 
 
 " Rebels ! " Jones whispered. " Now we must be slippery 
 as snakes. If they have no dogs, we are all right. If you 
 hear the whimper of a hound, follow me like lightning and
 
 PHANTASMAGORIA. 299 
 
 plunge into the water. That'll break the trail. Stay here 
 and let me reconnoitre a bit. Have no fear. I'll go in no 
 danger." 
 
 Jones crept away, leaving Dick by no means easy in his 
 mind, but he no longer felt the terror that numbed him in 
 the deep wood. Here there was companionship. By push- 
 ing the branches aside he could see the figures lounging 
 about the fire ; he could see the dark vault of the sky, and 
 was not oppressed by the hideous shapes and shadows of the 
 dense jungle. Jones meanwhile had pushed within earshot 
 of the group. He flattened his body against a friendly pine 
 and listened. 
 
 " I reckon they ain't the Westover niggers, for they were 
 traced to the Pamunkey ; these rascals are most likely from 
 the south side " 
 
 " If Jim gets here with the dogs in an hour, we can be 
 back to the barracks for breakfast." 
 
 " Ef it hadn't been for that blamed fire in the swamp, we 
 should have had them before this. The rascal that fired at 
 Tom wasn't a musket-shot from me when the smoke poured 
 out and hid him." 
 
 " They've gone into the swamp. The dogs'll soon tree 
 them. I'm going to turn in till the dogs come. One of you 
 stay awake and keep a sharp eye toward the creek." 
 
 " All right, sergeant. You won't have more'n a cat-nap. 
 Bilcox's dogs are over at the ford, I know, for they were 
 brought there's soon as the news of the Yankee escape came." 
 
 " I hope they are ; but I'm afraid they are not. If they 
 are, we shall soon hear them." 
 
 Jones had heard enough. Hastening back to Dick, he 
 asked : 
 
 "Can you swim?" 
 
 " Yes, I'm a good swimmer." 
 
 "Very well; throw away everything no, stay that 
 would betray us. When we reach the water bury all you 
 can't carry in the sand and then follow me." 
 
 They were forced to retrace their painful way through 
 the bushes to reach a place as distant from the point of pur-
 
 300 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 suit as possible. A half-mile or more from their starting- 
 place they found themselves in a running stream. Jones 
 examined it in both directions, and bade Dick enter it 
 and follow in the water, pushing upward in the bed, waist- 
 deep, a hundred yards. Then, climbing to the bank, he 
 groped about until he found a slender white oak. Climbing 
 this as high as he could get, he slowly swung off, and, the 
 tree bending down to the very stream, he dropped back into 
 the water and rejoined Dick. Both waded in the middle of 
 the stream until they reached the pond, and then struck out 
 toward the pine clump the lightning had revealed a little 
 while before. There was no need of swimming, and, find- 
 ing it possible to wade, Jones decided to retain the pistols 
 and ammunition which he had at first resolved to tury as 
 impeding the flight. The bottom appeared to be hard sand, 
 a condition often found in Southern ponds near the inflow 
 of the sea. They had gone a mile or more, keeping just far 
 enough from the bank to remain undistinguishable, when 
 the appalling baying of a hound sounded from the farther 
 end of the pond, where the patrol fire gleamed faintly among 
 the trees. 
 
 " Now, youngster, we must keep all our wits at work. 
 The dogs will push on to where we hid. They will follow 
 to the stream, and I think I have given them the slip there. 
 Then they will beat about and follow our trail into the cy- 
 press swamp. There the horses will mislead them, and if 
 you can only hold out, so soon as daylight comes we can 
 strike into the pines and make for the Union lines." 
 
 " I-I think I can-ah !-" 
 
 Dick reeled helplessly and would have sunk under the 
 water, if Jones had not caught him. 
 
 " Courage, my boy, courage ! Don't give up now, just as 
 we are near rescue ! " 
 
 But Dick was unconscious, the strain of the early part of 
 the night, the desperate fight through the brakes, all had 
 told on the slight frame, and Jones stood up to his middle 
 in the dark water, holding the fainting boy.
 
 IN THE UNION LINES. 301 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 IN THE UNION LINES. 
 
 IF there is reason as well as rhyme in the old song that 
 danger's a soldier's delight and a storm the sailor's joy, Jack 
 and his comrade were in for all the delights that ever glad- 
 dened soldier or sailor boy. When they left Dick and Jones, 
 the eager couriers tore through the marshy lowlands, the 
 stubbly thickets and treacherous quagmires, poor Barney, 
 panting and groaning in his docile desire to keep up with 
 his leader, as he had done often in boyish bravado. 
 
 " There'll not be a rag on me body nor a whole bone in 
 me skin when we get out of this ! " he gasped, as they reached 
 high ground between two spreading deeps of mingled weeds 
 and water. " The sight of us'd frighten the whole rebel 
 army, if AVC don't come on them aisy loike, as the fox said 
 when he whisked into the hen-house." 
 
 " He was a very considerate fox, Barney. Most of the 
 personages you select to illustrate your notions seem to me 
 to be gifted with little touches of thoughtfulness. Barney, 
 you ought to write a sequel to JSsojf There never was out 
 of his list of animal friends such wise beasts, birds, and what 
 not as you seem to have known." 
 
 " Jack, dear, if a man lived on roses would the bees feed 
 on him? If he ate honeysuckle instead of hard-tack would 
 he be squeezed for his scents to fill ladies' smelling-bottles ? " 
 
 " I don't know that sense is always a recommendation to 
 women," Jack shifts his burden to say tentatively, as Bar- 
 ney, involved in a more than commonly obstinate brier, 
 loses the thread of this jocose induction. 
 
 " Ah, Jack, dear, ye're weak in ye're mind when you fall 
 to play on words like that." 
 
 "You mean my sense is small?" 
 
 " Not that at all. Sure, it's a hero's mind ye show when 
 you can find heart to make merry at a time like this ! " 
 
 " Yes ' he jests at love who never felt a throb.' " 
 
 " Then you've a hard heart and I know I lie when I say
 
 302 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 it, as Father Mike McCune said to himself when he tuk the 
 oath to King George in '98 if ye're heart never throbbed in 
 Acredale beyant, for there's many a merry one cast down 
 entirely that handsome Jack's gone." 
 
 " Come, come, Barney ; it's dark, and I can't see the grin 
 that saves this from fulsome blarney." 
 
 " Indeed, then" 
 
 "Hark!" 
 
 Through the monotonous noises of the night the clank- 
 ing of steel and the neighing of horses could be heard just 
 ahead. 
 
 " We must move cautiously now, Barney. Try to put a 
 curb on your tongue, and let your reflections mature in your 
 busy brain." 
 
 " Put me tongue in bonds to keep the peace, as Lawyer 
 Donigan cautioned Biddy Gavan when the doctor said she 
 was driving the parish mad with her prate." 
 
 " Sh ! sh ! you noisy brawl ; we shall have a platoon of 
 cavalry upon us. Even the birds have stopped crooning to 
 catch your delicate brogue ! " 
 
 " 'Tis only the ill-mannered owl that makes game of me 
 if " 
 
 " Sh ! Come on. Bend low. Do as I do if you can see 
 me. If not, keep touch on my arm." 
 
 " As the wolf said to the lamb when he bid him take a 
 walk in the wather." 
 
 They had now emerged on the reedy margin of the dark 
 pool discovered by Dick and Jones later. All was silent. 
 The sky was full of stars so full that, even in the absence 
 of the moon, there was a transparent clarity in the air that 
 enabled Jack to take definite bearings. 
 
 " This must be an outlet of the York Eiver, the stream 
 we saw this afternoon. If it be, then we are not far from 
 our own outposts. The troopers we heard just now may be 
 Union soldiers. We must wait patiently to let them dis- 
 cover themselves. Keep abreast of me, and don't, as you 
 value your life, speak above a whisper better not to speak 
 at all."
 
 IX THE UNION LINES. 303 
 
 " That's what the priest said to Randy Maloney's third 
 wife when she complained that he bate her." 
 
 " Barney, I'll throttle you if you don't keep that mill you 
 call your tongue still." 
 
 " Ah, I'll hold it in me fist, as Mag Gleason held her jaw, 
 for fear her tooth would lep out to get more room to ache." 
 
 Jack laughed. " If we're caught it will be through your 
 jokes, for bad as they are I must laugh at some of them." 
 
 " Dear, oh dear no ; you may save the laugh till a con- 
 venient time, as Hugh McGowen kept his penances, until his 
 head was clear, and there was no whisky in the jar." 
 
 They had heen pushing on rapidly noiselessly, during 
 this whispered dispute, and now found themselves at the 
 reedy margin of a wide inlet, where, from the swift motion 
 of the water and the musical gurgling, they could tell they 
 were by the side of a main channel. 
 
 " We must push on southward, and see if there is a cross- 
 ing. If we come to one, that will tell us where we are, for 
 it will be guarded, you may be sure," said Jack, buoyantly. 
 
 " Yes, but I'd rather find a hill of potatoes and a drop 
 than all the soldiers in the two armiH." 
 
 " You are not logical, Barney. If we find soldiers, we'll 
 find rations ; though I have my doubts about the sort of 
 'drop' you'll be apt to find down here." 
 
 " There was enough corn in the field beyant to keep a still 
 at work for a winter," Barney lamented with a sigh, recall- 
 ing fields of grain they had passed near Williamsburg, which 
 he vaguely alluded to as "beyant." 
 
 " I wish some of the ' still ' were on the end of your 
 tongue at this moment." 
 
 " With all me heart 'twould do yer sowl good to see the 
 work it'd give me tongue to do to hould itself," Barney gasped, 
 trying to keep abreast of his ra viler. " Be the dark eyes of 
 Pharaoh's daughter there's a field beyant yes, and a she- 
 been ; d'ye see that ? " 
 
 They had suddenly emerged in a cleared place. Against 
 the horizon they could distinctly distinguish the outlines of 
 a cabin, the " shebeen " Barney alluded to. 
 20
 
 304 THE IROX GAME. 
 
 " Yes, we're in luck. It's a negro shanty. We shall find 
 friends there, if we find anybody. Now, do be silent.'' 
 
 " If the field was full of girruls, with ears as big as sun- 
 flowers, they wouldn't hear me breathe, so have no fear. A 
 hill of potatoes all eyes couldn't see us in such darkness as 
 this." 
 
 For dense clouds had swiftly come up from the west, 
 covering the horizon. After careful reconnoitring, requir- 
 ing a circuit of the clearing, Jack ventured to make directly 
 for the dark outlines of the cabin. War had obviously not 
 visited the place, for as they passed a low outhouse the startled 
 cackle of chickens sounded toothsomely, and Barney came 
 to a delighted halt. 
 
 " Sure we'd better get a bite to ate while we may, as th' 
 ass said when he passed th' market car, for who knows what'll 
 happen if we stop to ask by your lave ? " 
 
 For answer Jack gave him a sharp push, and the discom- 
 fited plunderer hurried on with a good-humored grunt. All 
 was silent in the cabin. The windows were slatted, without 
 glass, and the door was unfastened. Jack pushed in boldly, 
 leaving Barney to gu tkd the rear. Peaceful snoring came 
 from one corner, and Jack, shading a lighted match with his 
 hand, looked about him. In the hurried glimpse he caught 
 sight of an old negro on a husk mattress, and the heads of 
 young boys just beyond. They were sleeping so soundly 
 that the striking of the match never aroused them. Jack 
 had to shake the man violently before the profound sleep 
 was broken. 
 
 " I say, wake up ! or can you wake ? " 
 
 " What dat ? Who's dar you, Gabe ? What you 
 'bout ? " 
 
 The old man shuffled to a sitting posture, and Jack, re- 
 newing his match, held it in the negro's blinking eyes. 
 
 " Have you any food ? We are Yankees, and want some- 
 thing for companions in the swamp. Are we in danger 
 here ? We heard cavalry-men on the other side of the pond ; 
 are they rebel or Yankee ? " 
 
 At this volley of questions the bewildered man turned
 
 IN THE UNION LINES. 305 
 
 piteously to the sleepers, and then stared at Jack in per- 
 plexity. 
 
 " 'Deed, marsa captain, I don no noffin 'tall. I I hain't 
 been to de crick fo' a monf. I'se fo'bid to go da I " 
 
 " Well, well, have you any food ? Get that first, and then 
 talk," Jack cried, impatiently. 
 
 But now the boys were awake, and Jack had to give them 
 warning to make no noise. Yes, there was food, plenty. 
 Cooked bacon, hoe-cake, and cold chicken, boiled eggs, and, 
 to Barney's immeasurable joy, sorghum whisky. The hun- 
 ger of the invaders satisfied, each provided himself with a 
 sack to feed the waiting comrades ; and while this was going 
 on they extracted from the now reassured negroes that the 
 spot was just behind Warick Creek, near Lee's Mills ; that 
 parties of rebels from the fort at Yorktown had been at work 
 building lines of earthworks, and that every now and then 
 Yankees came across and skirmished in the woods a mile or 
 two up, in the direction whence Jack had come. The cabin 
 was only a step from the main road, upon which the rebels 
 were encamped a regiment or more. Some Yankee pris- 
 oners had been captured early in the morning, and were in 
 the block-house, a short distance up the road. 
 
 " Can you lead us near the block-house ? " Jack asked. 
 
 " I reckon I can ; but ef I do they'll shu'ah' find it out, 
 and den I'se don, 'cos Marsa Hinton he's in de cavalry 
 he'll guess dat it was me dat tuk you 'uns dar." 
 
 " Do you want to be free ? Do you want to go into the 
 Union lines ? " 
 
 " Free ! oh, de Lor', free ! O marsa captain, don't fool 
 a ole man. Free ! I'd rudder be free dan dan go to Jesus 
 almost." 
 
 " Have you a wife are these your children ?" 
 
 " My ole woman is up at Marsa Hinton's ; she's de nuss 
 gal. Dese is my boys; yes, sah." 
 
 " Very well ; we're going into the Union lines. You 
 know the country hereabouts. Help us to find our friends 
 in the swamp, and we will take you all with us," Jack said ; 
 but feeling a good deal of compunction, as he was not so sure
 
 306 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 that the freedom bestowed upon these guileless friends might 
 not, for a time at least, be more of a hardship than their 
 happy-go-lucky servitude. Meanwhile, in the expansion of 
 renewed hopes and full stomachs, no watch had been kept 
 on the outside ; a tallow dip had been lighted, and the whole 
 party busied in getting together such necessaries as could 
 be carried. One of the boys, passing the door, uttered a 
 stifled cry : 
 
 "Somebody comin' from de road." 
 
 " Where can we hide? Don't put out the light ; that will 
 look suspicious ! " Jack whispered, making for the window 
 in the rear. " Is there a cellar, or can we get on the roof I " 
 But the dark group were too terrified to speak. They ran in 
 a mob to the doorway, luckily the most adroit manoeuvre 
 they could hit upon, for with the dip flaring in the current 
 of air, the room was left in darkness. Jack and Barney 
 slipped through the low lattice, and by means of a narrow 
 shed reached the low roof. They could hear the tramp of 
 horses, how many they could not judge, and then a gruff 
 voice demanding: 
 
 " You, Eafe, what ye up to ? "What ye got a light burnin' 
 this time o' night fo' ?" 
 
 " 'Deed, marsa, it's nuffin' fo' God. marsa ! I was gittin'' 
 de stomach bottle fo' Gabe he eat some jelly root fo' supper 
 and he's been powerful sick frow his insides out I' 
 
 " Leave your horses, boys. Rafe's got some of Hinton's 
 best sorghum whisky you, there, nigger, get us a jug and 
 some cups." 
 
 How many dismounted Jack couldn't make out, but pres- 
 ently there was a heavy tramping in the cabin and then a 
 ferocious oath. 
 
 " What does this mean ; why have you got all these traps 
 packed ? Going to cut to the Yankees ! Don't lie, now 
 you'll get more lashes for it." 
 
 Jack listened breathlessly. Would the quavering slaves 
 have presence of mind to divert suspicion ? There was a 
 pause, and then the old man cried, pleadingly : 
 
 " We'se gwine to lebe dis place ; we's gwine up to de house
 
 IN THE UNION LINES. 307 
 
 in de mornin'. My ole woman can't come down heah now, 
 case de sojers is always firm', and Mars' Hiuton told us to 
 come to de quarters, sah." 
 
 "I don't believe a word of it, you old rascal. I'll see 
 whether Hinton has ordered you to leave here. Likely 
 story, indeed; leave one of his best fields with no one to 
 care for it. Git the whisky and stop your mumbling. You, 
 there, you young imps, step about lively do you heah ? " 
 
 There was the sound of a sharp stroke, then a howl of 
 pain and a boisterous laugh. 
 
 " You keep an eye on the rear and I will see how many 
 horses there are," Jack's lips murmured in Barney's ear. 
 He slid cautiously down the slanting roof until he came to 
 the corner where he saw the dark group of horses. There 
 were three tied to the peach-trees. He made his way back 
 to Barney and whispered: 
 
 " There are but three horses. If you are up to an advent- 
 ure I think we can make this turn to our profit." 
 
 " I'm up to anything, as the cat said when Biddy Hiks's 
 plug ran her up the crab-tree." 
 
 "Very well. Come after me." 
 
 The sorghum, meanwhile, had been handed to the raid- 
 ers in the cabin, and the men could be heard making merry. 
 
 " You, Gabe, go out and mind the horses ; see that they 
 don't twist the bridles about their legs." 
 
 Gabe sallied out and one of his brothers with him. As 
 they neared the horses Jack came upon them, and taking 
 the elder, Gabe, in the shadow of the house, he whispered: 
 
 " Have the soldiers' pistols ? " 
 
 "Yes, sah." 
 
 " Where are they ? " 
 
 " De put dem on de stool, neah de doah." 
 
 " Good. How many ? " 
 
 "Free." 
 
 " Have they swords ? " 
 
 "Yes, sah." 
 
 "Where are they?" 
 
 " On de stool, too."
 
 308 TJIE IRON GAME. 
 
 " That will do ; keep with the horses, and don't be fright 
 ened if you hear anything. We'll give you freedom yet, if 
 you'll be prudent." 
 
 He could hear the men grumbling because the food was 
 not enough to go around. The liquor had begun to work 
 in their systems, drinking so lavishly, and without nour- 
 ishment to absorb its fiery quality. Jack let enough time 
 pass to give this ally full play hi disabling the troopers, then 
 taking Barney to the rear of the cabin, whispered : 
 
 " I will dash in at the door, seize the weapons, and de- 
 mand surrender. You make a great ado here; give com- 
 mand, as if there were a squad. The boys will make a loud 
 clatter with the horses, and we shall bag the game withqut 
 a. blow. Now, be prudent, Barney, and we will go into the 
 Union lines in triumph." 
 
 Inside the men were laughing uproariously, mingling 
 accounts of love and war in a confused medley how a 
 sweetheart in Petersburg was only waiting for the stars on 
 her lover's collar to make him happy; how the Yankees 
 would be wiped out of the Peninsula as soon as Jack Ma- 
 gruder got his nails pared for fight ; how three Yankees 
 had been gobbled that day, and how others were in the net 
 to be taken in the morning. The bacchanal was at its high- 
 est when Jack, dashing into the open doorway, placed him- 
 self between the drinkers and their arms, and cried, sternly, 
 as he pointed his pistol at the group : 
 
 "Surrender, men ! You are surrounded !" 
 
 " Close up, there ! Keep your guns on a line with the 
 windows; don't fire till I give the order !" Barney could be 
 heard at the window in suppressed tones, as he, too, covered 
 the maudlin company. Gabe and his brother added to the 
 effect of numbers by clattering the stirrups of the horses, so 
 that the clearing seemed alive with armed men. 
 
 The troopers, sobered and astonished, half rose, and then 
 as these sounds of superior force emphasized the menace of 
 Jack's pistol in front and Barney's in the rear, they sank 
 back in their seats, the spokesman saying, tipsily : 
 
 " I don't see as we've much choice."
 
 IN THE UNION LINES. 309 
 
 "No, you have no choice. Sergeant, bring in the cords," 
 Jack ordered. 
 
 Barney at this came in with a clothes-line Jack had pre- 
 pared from the negroes' posts. The arms of the three men 
 were bound behind them, and then Jack retired with his aide 
 to hold a council of war. Without the negro they could 
 never retrace their way to Dick. But how could they carry 
 the prisoners with them ? Manifestly it could not be done. It 
 was then agreed that Barney should take the prisoners, the 
 horses, and the old man, with the younger boys, and make 
 for the Union lines, not a mile distant. Jack, meanwhile, 
 with little Gabe, would go to the rescue of Dick. If firing 
 were heard later, Barney would understand that his friends 
 were in peril, and, if the Union outposts were in sufficient 
 strength, they could come to the rescue, and, perhaps, add 
 to the captures of the night. Barney was now serious 
 enough. He was reminded of no joke by the present 
 dilemma, and remained very solemn, as Jack enlarged on 
 the glories of the proposed campaign. How all Acredale 
 would applaud the intrepidity of its townsmen snatching 
 glory from peril ! Barney consented to leave him with re- 
 luctance, suggesting that the " ould nagur " could take the 
 prisoners "beyant." 
 
 " Gabe has shown sense and courage, and I shall be much 
 more likely to reach Dick and extricate him and Jones, alone, 
 than if I had this cavalcade at my heels." 
 
 Jack and Barney were forced to laugh at the big-eyed 
 wonder in old Rafe's eyes when he was informed of the im- 
 posing part he was to play in the warlike comedy. To be 
 guard over " white folks," to dare to look them in the face 
 without fear of a blow, in all his sixty years Rafael Hinton 
 had never dreamed such a mission for a man of color. The 
 troopers, too tipsy and subdued to remark the sudden paucity 
 of the force that had overcome them, were tied upon their 
 own steeds, Barney in front of the leader, and Rafe and his 
 son in charge of the two others. 
 
 Rafe led the way in trembling triumph. He knew the 
 ford, indeed, every foot of the country, and had no misgiv-
 
 310 . THE IRON GAME. 
 
 ings about reaching the Union lines. Jack watched the 
 squad until it disappeared in the fringe of trees, and then, 
 turning to the tearful Gabe, said, encouragingly : 
 
 '' Now, we must do as well when we go among the Union 
 soldiers. You know the point in the swamp I have told 
 about. How long will it take us to reach that the shortest 
 way ? " 
 
 " Ef we had dad's dugout we could save right smart." 
 
 " You mean we could get there by water ? " 
 
 "Yes, sah. We ken go all froo de swamp in a boat." 
 
 " Then I'm afraid it is not the place I mean, for we found 
 as much land as water." 
 
 ''Dey ain't no odder swamp neah heah, sah." 
 
 " Well, we'll try my route first. If that misleads us, we 
 shall try the boat. Can you find it ? " 
 
 "Suah." 
 
 " Where is it ? " 
 
 "Ober neah the blockhouse. De sogei*s done tuk it to 
 fish." 
 
 " Ah, yes, the blockhouse ! I must look into that ! Now, 
 we must hurry. Skirt the edge of the water and make no 
 noise." 
 
 This was a needless warning to the boy, who, barefooted 
 and scantily clad, gave Jack as much as he could do to keep 
 up with him. They had left the cabin a mile or more behind 
 them to the southeastward, and were somewhere near the 
 spot Jack had emerged from the cypress swamp, when both 
 were brought to a halt by shifting clouds of smoke pouring 
 out from the underwood. 
 
 " Where does that come from ? " Jack asked, throwing 
 himself flat to catch his breath. 
 
 " Dunno, sah. Most 'likely de sojers sot de brush on 
 fiah." 
 
 When Jack was able to look again he saw far in among 
 the trees a moving wave of light now and then, as the heavy 
 curtain of smoke was lifted by the wind. 
 
 "Good heavens !" he ejaculated; "it was in there I left 
 my friends. Can we get to them ? "
 
 IN THE UNIOX LINES. 311 
 
 " No, sah; der ain't no crick dab." 
 
 " Then ! " Jack thought, " have I sacrificed Dick and 
 Jones in my seal to be adventurous ? Ten minutes sooner, 
 and we could have gone in and brought them out. But I 
 will find a way in, if I have to clamber over the tree- 
 tops." 
 
 The noise of whirring wings, the rush of startled animals, 
 now drowned all other sounds, until, through the tumult 
 from the copse far hi front of them, they heard the clatter 
 of swords, and then gigantic figures breaking toward them, 
 along the edge of the pond. 
 
 " Down, down ; hug the ground ! '' Jack cried, pushing 
 the boy down into the reeds. Almost as they sank, a group 
 of troopers dashed by, talking excitedly. 
 
 " Fire at random, men ; that will force them into cover ! 
 If we can keep them in ambush till daylight, the dogs will 
 be here, and we shall nab them," Jack heard a voice say as 
 the men rode past. 
 
 How could they have heard of the affair so quickly, for 
 Jack took it for granted that it was his exploit that the 
 troopers were afoot to balk ? Still another group passed, 
 and they were talking of the dogs that were expected. 
 
 " You may depend upon it, they are in the swamp. They 
 are making off that way and hope to mislead us by firing the 
 place. We must keep our eyes peeled on the swamp. The 
 creek will stop them down yonder, and we must watch this 
 break in the brush. As soon as the dogs come we shall have 
 no trouble. They'll run 'em down in no time. " 
 
 Jack had heard enough to warn him that it was useless 
 to try to penetrate the swamp. With half of his usual wit, 
 Dick would have been en route long before this, for the fiery 
 glow in the woods showed that the flames had been raging 
 some time. Unless Jones's illness had handicapped him, 
 Dick would be on his way, following Jack's route as closely 
 as the darkness would permit. But now he must seek means 
 to evade the dogs. This could be done only by reaching the 
 water and getting into it far from the point where they pro- 
 posed to leave it.
 
 312 THE IROX GAME. 
 
 " Can you find the boat ? " he asked Gabe, who chattered 
 between his teeth. 
 
 "I fink so, sah." 
 
 * " Very well ; we must find a small stream running into 
 the pond, and then lead me to the boat." 
 
 " Moccasin Brook is close yonder, sah. Shall I go dah ? " 
 
 "Yes, like lightning." 
 
 In a few minutes they were in a sluggish current, run- 
 ning between masses of reeds and spreading lily -leaves, into 
 the pond. Here Jack repeated Jones's manoeuvre, except 
 that he was not wise enough in woodcraft to make use of 
 a tree to get into the water, and thus leave the dogs at the 
 end of the trail at a point far removed from his real en- 
 trance into it. When they had reached the pond, Jack bade 
 the boy lead to the boat. This they found moored under a 
 bluff, and Gabe, pointing upward, said the blockhouse was 
 there. 
 
 " Very well, you stay here in the boat and wait for me. 
 Don't stir, don't speak, no matter what you see or hear. 
 Will you do this ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, sah ; 'deed, 'deed I will, sah ! " 
 
 Jack crawled up the bank, keeping in the shadow of the 
 uneven ground, until he reached a point whence he could 
 make out the blockhouse. It was a half -finished structure 
 of rough logs, and, from the stakes and other signs of en- 
 gineering preliminaries, he saw that it was intended as the 
 guard-house of a fortification. He could hear the drawl of 
 languid, half-sleepy voices, and, as he pushed farther to the 
 eastward, saw a group of troopers lounging about a dying 
 fire. A sentry sat before the doorway, which had no door. 
 He was dozing on his post, though now and then he aroused 
 himself to listen to the comments of the men at the fire. 
 While Jack waited, irresolute what to do, a volley sounded 
 across the pond, evidently the fellows whom he had seen, 
 keeping up the fusillade to distract the fugitives. 
 
 " They've wasted enough lead to fight a battle," he heard 
 one of the men say, scornfully. 
 
 " Well, that's what lead's for," a philosopher remarked,
 
 IN THE UNION LINES. 313 
 
 stirring the embers. " So it don't get under my skin, I don't 
 care a cuss what they do with it." 
 
 " Oh, your skin's safe enough, Ned. You may adorn a 
 gallows yet." 
 
 '' If I do, you'll be at one end of the string and I ain't 
 a-saying which end, neither," the other retorted, taking a 
 square segment of what looked like bark, but was really to- 
 bacco, and worrying out a circle with his teeth, until he had 
 detached a large mouthful. This affording his jaws all the 
 present occupation they seemed capable of undertaking, the 
 other resumed when the haw-haw that met the sally had 
 subsided : 
 
 " Yes, it takes two to make a hangin', just like it takes two 
 to make a weddin', and you can't allus say just sartin which 
 one has the lucky end.'" 
 
 This facetious epigram was duly relished, and the sage 
 was turning his toasted side from the fire to present the 
 other, when the clatter of a horse coming up the hillside 
 sent the group scouring toward their guns, stacked near the 
 unfinished walls. 
 
 '' Sergeant Bland, the captain orders you to take four men 
 and station them along the north shore of the pond. The 
 rascals are in the cypress swamp, and are making their 
 way out toward Moccasin Creek. One man can watch the 
 block-house, and the rest come with me. Guard, we shall 
 be within a hundred yards of you. A shot will bring a 
 dozen men to your assistance; but it isn't likely an enemy 
 can reach this point. The whole regiment is deployed in 
 the woods." 
 
 This was said to the sentry as the group, detailed for Moc- 
 casin Creek, filed off at a double-quick down the hill. In a 
 few moments the blockhouse was deserted, save by the sen- 
 try, who had now risen and was vigorously pacing before 
 the doorway. Now was Jack's time, if ever. If he could 
 only whisper to one of the prisoners to call the sentry. But 
 how ? He had nothing to fear in approaching the rear, and 
 in a few moments he had examined the walls. There was no 
 opening where he could get speech with those inside. What
 
 314: THE IROX GAME. 
 
 could he do ? To boldly fall upon the sentry was risky, for 
 the slightest noise would bring rescue from the front of the 
 bluff. At the base of the wall, where the log-joists rested 
 upon a huge bowlder, his quick eye detected an air-hole. He 
 examined it hurriedly. It was evidently below the flooring. 
 So much the better. Putting his mouth to this, he called out 
 in a piteous tone : 
 
 " For God's sake, sentry, give me some water ! I'm chok- 
 ing oh oh water ! water ! " 
 
 He waited to see if the sentry would heed the call. He 
 knew that the men inside could not betray him, for, if they 
 were not asleep, they could not be sure that the voice was 
 not from among themselves. Sure enough, the sentry's step 
 ceased. Was he near the door ? Jack crept to the corner. 
 Yes, he had halted at the aperture. Would he enter ? Jack 
 stepped back to his post, as the guard called out: 
 
 " Where are you ? Which of you wants water ? Sing 
 out ! " 
 
 "Here!" Jack cried. ''Here!" Then darting back to 
 the corner, he was just in time to see the man lean his gun 
 against the door-post, and disappear in the hut. In an in- 
 stant the gun was in Jack's possession, and he was behind 
 the Samaritan in quest of the suffering victim. It was 
 dark as a tunnel. Jack's victim still gave him the aid he 
 needed, for, as he groped along the wall, he said, good- 
 humoredly : 
 
 " Sing out again, my friend; I haven't got cat's eyes." 
 
 Jack's grasp was on his throat and Jack's mouth was at 
 his ear. 
 
 " One sound, one word, and this knife goes to the hilt in 
 your heart ! " 
 
 The astounded man half reeled at this awful apparition 
 in the black darkness, and he limply yielded to his captor 
 under the impression that the prisoners were loose and upon 
 him. Jack tied the man's unresisting hands with his own 
 canteen-straps ; then seated him near the wall and lighted a 
 match. Four men, undisturbed by this swift and noiseless 
 coup, were stretched on the board floor, breathing the heavy,
 
 IN THE UNION LINES. 315 
 
 deep sleep of exhaustion. Jack aroused them with the 
 greatest difficulty, and found it still harder to make them 
 understand that, with courage and resolution, they would be 
 back in their own lines by daylight. When this became 
 clear to them they were as eager and energetic as their res- 
 cuer. The men were to remain near the blockhouse, but 
 not in it, until Jack returned for the negro, and then under 
 the lad's guidance they could find their way to the Union 
 outposts. Just as this was decided, a blood-curdling baying 
 of bloodhounds echoed across the pond from the distant 
 cabin. Jack trembled, his mind at once on Dick, so near 
 and yet so far from him now, in this new danger. There 
 was not a moment to be lost. Perhaps even now all the 
 night's hard-won victories were to be turned to worse than 
 defeat prison, death ; for the liberation of slaves was at 
 that time punishable by hanging in the rebel military 
 code. 
 
 " Courage," he said to himself, grimly ; " courage, a dog's 
 no worse than a man. We've overcome them to-night, we 
 ought to be able to tackle the dogs." This new danger 
 changed his plan slightly. Instead of leaving all the men, 
 he took one of the rescued four, Tom Denby by name, with 
 him, and set out for the water. But here another check 
 met him. He suddenly recalled that the guard at the block- 
 house had been scattered along the shore to watch the de- 
 bouch from the swamp. This enforced a wide detour, bring- 
 ing him out in the rear of the boat and nearer the point 
 where Moccasin Creek emptied into the pond. They reached 
 it finally, and skirting along the shore kept a keen eye on 
 the water for the boat. They had skurried along half-way 
 back toward the bluff, listening for a sound on the water and 
 peering into the black surface, when Denby suddenly touched 
 Jack's arm. 
 
 " There's a horse or cow standing in the water yonder. 
 I've seen it move ; there, look ! " 
 
 Yes, outlined against the low horizon, a monstrous shape 
 could be plainly seen. The yelp of the hounds suddenly 
 broke through the air back of them toward the creek. The
 
 316 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 monstrous figure started, moved heavily forward, then 
 seemed as if coming toward them. Both waited, wonder- 
 ing, curious, terrified. It was within a rod of them, stagger- 
 ing, gasping. 
 
 " Oh, God help us ! I can go no farther ; better be taken 
 than both drown together." 
 
 Jack could hardly repress a cry : 
 
 " Jones Dick ! Is it you ? " 
 
 But whoever it was or whatever it was had no speech to 
 answer this eager inquiry. They would have sunk in the 
 shallow water if Jack and Denby had not caught them. 
 Jack had food with him, and, better than all, the bottle of 
 sorghum whisky. With this restorative, both were soon 
 able to sit upon the ground and eat. Jack left Denby to 
 feed them, while he went in search of the boat. He found 
 it just where he had left it, and in a few minutes, at the head 
 of his little band, he was back at the blockhouse. The food 
 and Jack's hastily told news had restored Dick to something 
 like his old f riskiness. 
 
 "Jericho!" he cried, as the released prisoners, having 
 held back warily until the color of the new-comers was 
 known, ran forward. " The whole army is here. I feel as 
 if I were in the Union lines." 
 
 " Well, you ain't, by a long shot," Denby cried. " We've 
 got a good hour's march, and if you're wise, Captain Sprague, 
 you won't waste time for any frills." 
 
 "No time shall be wasted. Jones, you and Dick take 
 the rear. I, with Denby, will skirmish ; and you, Corporal 
 Kane, shall command the center. No firing, remember, 
 unless superior force assails us. Gabe, stick to the water- 
 side as closely as you can, but make the shortest cut to the 
 bridge." 
 
 Gabe was the most delighted darkey in all Virginia for 
 the next hour. He led them swiftly and surely, and why 
 shouldn't he ? He had passed all his life in the vicinity, 
 and with the first beams of the sun he pointed to a narrow 
 wooden bridge. 
 
 " Dar's whar de pickets fire across."
 
 "THE ABSENT ARE ALWAYS IN THE WRONG." 31 J 
 
 As they passed the bridge a loud sound of rushing horses 
 could be heard in the distance. 
 
 " Dick, you take two men and hurry down the road to 
 assure our pickets that we are friends. We'll take up the 
 planks to give them time ! " Jack shouted, and Dick, with two 
 of the rescued prisoners, dashed away. Many hands and 
 high hope made short work of the light timbers. As the 
 pursuing cavalry turned the bend in the road, in sight of 
 the bridge, Jack's squad gave them a volley and then dashed 
 into cover. The fire was returned. Dick, coming back at a 
 run, with a dozen dismounted men, heard the bullets whis- 
 tling over his head and saw Jack's posse dispersing to the 
 right and left in the bushes. All were forced into the woods, 
 as the rebels commanded the highway. 
 
 " Where is Jack ? " Dick asked, rushing among the 
 men. No one had noticed him in the panic. He was 
 not in the huddle that cowered in the reeds to escape the 
 balls, still hurtling viciously over the open. With a cry 
 of rage and despair, Dick flew into the road, and there, 
 not a hundred yards from the bridge, he saw {he well- 
 known figure prone on the red earth motionless dead ? 
 Heedless of the warning cries of the others, Dick tore mad- 
 ly to the body, and with a wild cry fell upon the lifeless 
 figure, weltering in blood. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 "THE ABSENT ARE ALWAYS IN THE WRONG." 
 
 UNDER Vincent's ardent escort Mrs. Sprague and Merry 
 traveled from Richmond northward in something like haste 
 and with as much comfort as was possible to the limited 
 means of transportation at the command of the Confederate 
 commissary. Even in those early days of the war, the rail- 
 way system of the South was worn out and inadequate.
 
 318 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 Such a luxury as a parlor-car was unknown. The trains 
 were filled with military personages on their way to the 
 field. Mrs. Sprague and Merry were the only women in the 
 car in which they passed from Richmond to Fredericksburg. 
 The route brought them through a land covered with ham- 
 lets of camps, drilling squadrons, and the panoply of war. 
 While the elder lady gave a divided mind to the strange 
 panorama, Merry watched everything eagerly, amused and 
 interested by this spectacle of preparation. Such soldiers as 
 she could see distinctly looked like farmers in holiday home- 
 spun ; the cavalry like nondescript companies of backwoods 
 lu.nters. There seemed to be no uniformity in infantry 
 equipment or cavalry accoutrements, and the discipline 
 struck her as in keeping with this diversity of dress and 
 ornament. The men could be seen hurrying in boyish glee 
 toward the t/ain as it drew near the temporary station, 
 where mail-bags were thrown out and sometimes supplies of 
 food or munitions of war. Jocular remarks were passed 
 between the soldiery at the windows when the wistful groups 
 gathered along the railway line. 
 
 " I say, North Cal'ina, you'n's goin' straight through to 
 Yankee land ? " a man in the throng shouts to some one on 
 the train. 
 
 " Straight." 
 
 " Send us a lock o' Lincoln's hair to poison blind adders, 
 will you ? " 
 
 " No promised his scalp to my sweetheart to cover the 
 rocking-chair. " 
 
 Then, as the laugh that met this sally died away, another 
 humorist piped out : 
 
 " Tell Uncle Joe Johnston we're just rustin' down here 
 for a fight ; ef he don't hurry up we'll go ahead ourselves. 
 We're drilled down so fine now that we can't think 'cept by 
 the rule o' tactics." 
 
 "Jest you never mind, boys. Uncle Joe'll do enough 
 thinkin' fur ye when he gets ready to tackle the Yanks." 
 
 " Hurrah for Uncle Joe ! " And as the cheery cry swelled 
 farther and farther, the train drew out everybody looking
 
 "THE ABSENT ARE ALWAYS IN THE WRONG." 319 
 
 from the windows as the patient soldiery straggled back 
 camp ward. 
 
 " Your soldiers seem very gay, Vincent. One would 
 think that war, the dreadful uncertainty of their move- 
 ments, absence of friends, and lack of good food would 
 sidden them," Mrs. Sprague said wistfully at one of the 
 stations when raillery like this had been even more pointed 
 and boisterous. 
 
 " A wise commander will do all he can to keep his men 
 gay i if they were not jovial they'd go mad. Think of it ! 
 Day after day, week after week, who knows but year after 
 year, the wearisome monotony of camp and march ! Where 
 the men are educated, or at least readers, they make better 
 soldiers, because they brood less. Brooding saps the best 
 fiber of the army. Your Northern men ought to have an 
 advantage there, for education is moi*e general with you 
 than it is with us. It is not bravery that makes a man 
 eager for the campaign, it is unrest. As a rule, the best 
 soldiers in action are those who have a mortal dread of 
 battle." 
 
 " That surprises me." 
 
 " It is true. I always distrust men that clamor to be led 
 on ; they are the first to break when the brush comes. Jack 
 will tell you that, for we are agreed on it." 
 
 " Jack himself was eager for battle," Mrs. Sprague said, 
 sighing. 
 
 " No, Jack was eager for the field. When the battle 
 comes he meets it coolly, but he has no hunger for it, nor 
 have I. General Johnston is as brave a man as ever headed 
 an army, yet he has often told us that his blood freezes when 
 the guns open. I'm sure no one would ever suspect it, for 
 he is as calm and confident as if he were in a quadrille when 
 he rides to the field." 
 
 " We in the North have heard more of Beauregard than 
 Johnston, yet I never hear you mention him. Wasn't it he 
 who commanded at Bull Run ? " 
 
 " Yes and no. General Beauregard is a superb soldier. 
 He is, it has been agreed among us, better for a desperate 
 21
 
 320 THE IRON G^ME. 
 
 charge, or some sudden inspiration in an emergency, than 
 the' complicated strategy that half wins a battle before it is 
 begun. For example, at Manassas he would have been de- 
 feated, our whole army captured, if fortune had not exposed 
 General McDowell's plans before they were completed. As 
 it was, we should have been driven from the field if General 
 Johnston had not come up in time and rearranged the Con- 
 federate lines." 
 
 " Yes, Jack has described that. Battles, after all, are de- 
 cided by luck." 
 
 " And genius." 
 
 " Luck won Waterloo. " 
 
 " Partly, but genius, too, for Wellington and BKicher 
 practiced one of Napoleon's most perfect maxims, and won 
 because he despised them both so much that he didn't 
 dream them capable of even imitating him. Nor, left to 
 themselves, would they have been equal to it. But rene- 
 gade Frenchmen, taught under Napoleon's eye, prompted 
 them." 
 
 " General Johnston was very considerate to us when we 
 came down. I wish you would make him know how grate- 
 ful we are." 
 
 " Oh, he couldn't be anything else ; he is the ideal of a 
 chivalrous knight." 
 
 " Yes, I believe you claim chivalry as your strong point 
 in the South, and accuse us of being a race of sordid money- 
 getters." 
 
 " I don't, for I know better, but our people do. They will 
 learn better in time. Men who fought as your army fought 
 at Manassas must be more than mere sordid hucksters. " 
 
 " And yet it is curious," Mrs. Sprague continued, musing- 
 ly, " it is we who are warring for an idea and you are war- 
 ring for property." 
 
 " How do you mean ? " Vincent said, quickly. 
 
 " You are fighting to continue slavery, to extend it ; we 
 to abolish it or limit it. But even I can see that slavery is 
 doomed. No Northern party would ever venture to give it 
 toleration after this."
 
 "THE ABSENT AKE ALWAYS IN THE WRONG." 321 
 
 " But if Ave succeed, it will exist in our union at least." 
 
 " Ah, Vincent, can't you see that such a people as ours 
 may be checked, beaten even, but they will never give 
 up the Union ? Why, much as I love Jack, I would never 
 let him leave the colors while there was an army in the 
 field. Don't you know every Northern mother has the 
 same feeling ? " 
 
 "And every Southern mother, too.'' 
 
 " Yes, I believe that, but there's this difference : Your 
 Southern mothers are counting on what doesn't exist a 
 higher physical courage a prowess in battle, I may call 
 it, that you must know the Southern soldier has not, as dis- 
 tinguished from the Northern. As time goes on and the 
 war does not end ; as our armies become disciplined, the 
 confidence that supports your side will die, and then the 
 struggle, though it may be prolonged, will end in our 
 triumph." 
 
 " I don't think it. I can't think it. But don't let us talk 
 about it. We, at least, are as much friends as though Jack 
 and I were under one flag, and if it depends on me it shall 
 be always so." 
 
 "If it depends on us, it shall never be otherwise." She 
 gave the young man a kind, scrutinizing glance, which 
 made his heart beat joyously and his handsome cheeks 
 mount color. At Fairfax Court-House they said farewell, 
 the ladies continuing the journey in an ambulance under 
 Federal guard. 
 
 They passed over the long bridge three days after the 
 famous night at Rosedale, of whose exciting sequel they 
 were profoundly ignorant. In her husband's time Mrs. 
 Sprague had lived in hotels in the capital, as the sessions 
 were short ; she had never remained in the city when the 
 warm weather set in, no matter how long the term lasted. 
 But on her arrival at the old hotel now, she was a good deal 
 disturbed to learn that she could not be accommodated in 
 her former quarters. The military crowded not only this but 
 every hotel in the city, and it was only after long search 
 that a habitable apartment was found in Georgetown. On
 
 322 THE IROX GAME. 
 
 the whole, the necessity that drove her thither was not an 
 unmitigated adversity, for Georgetown then was far more 
 desirable for residence than Washington. Nothing could 
 be more depressing than the city at that epoch. Every visi- 
 ble object in the vast circumference of its spreading limits 
 was then naked unkempt. Even the trees, that ranged 
 themselves irregularly in the straggling squares and wide 
 street areas, stretched out a draggled and piebald plumage, 
 as if uncertain whether beauty or ugliness were their func- 
 tion in the ensemble, 
 
 The photographic realism of the later newspaper corre- 
 spondent had not come into play in these earlier years of the 
 war, and, as a consequence, the thousands who poured down 
 to the Army of the Potomac beheld the city with something 
 of the incredulous scorn with which the effeminate Byzan- 
 tines regarded the capital of the Goths, when the corrupt de- 
 scendant of Constantino made the savage Dacians his allies, 
 rather than fight them. Patriotism, however, not pride, 
 marked the common mold of the men of the civil war. It 
 may have been that many an honest plowman, marching 
 through the muddy quagmires of Pennsylvania Avenue, 
 bethought himself that such a capital was hardly worth 
 while marching so far to protect more emphatically so 
 when the enemy was really to be found on lines far north 
 of it ! Sentiment is the heart and soul of war ; if it were 
 not, there would be no war, for war never gained as much 
 as it loses ; never settled as much as it unsettles ; never 
 left victor or vanquished better when the last gun was 
 fired ! In old times the capture of a nation's capital meant 
 the end of the war, but we have seen capitals captured and 
 the war not modified a bit by it. Washington was seized 
 and burned by the British in 1814, and the war went on ; 
 Paris was held by the Germans for half a year, and the war 
 went on. 
 
 Our civil war would have been three campaigns shorter 
 Burnside's, Hooker's, and the stupid massacre of Pope 
 to say nothing of the saving of untold treasure, had the 
 political authorities abandoned a capital which must be de-
 
 "THE ABSENT ARE ALWAYS IN THE WRONG." 323 
 
 fended for a secure seat like New York or Philadelphia. The 
 sagacious Lincoln, whose action in army matters was para- 
 lyzed by cliques, in the end saw through sham with an in- 
 spired clarity of vision, and proposed the measure, but the 
 backwoods Mazarin, Seward, prepared such voluminous 
 " considerations " in opposition that the good-natured Presi- 
 dent withdrew his suggestion, and, as a consequence, the dis- 
 mal Ilium on the Potomac became the bone of a four years' 
 contention, whose vicissitudes exceed the incidents of the 
 Iliad. Great armies, created by an inspired commander, 
 were wasted upon the defense of a capital that no one would 
 have lamented had it been again burned, and of which to- 
 day there is scarcely a remnant, save in the public build- 
 ings and the topographical charts. A new race entered 
 the sleepy city. The astute, far-seeing Yankee divined the 
 possibilities of the future, where the indolent, sentimental 
 Southerner had never taken thought of a nation's growth 
 and a people's pride! The thrifty and shifty patriots sent 
 from the North at once took a stake in the city, and thence- 
 forward there was growth, if not grace, in the capital. 
 
 Lincoln's Washington was to the capital of to-day what 
 the Rome of Numa was to the imperial city of Augustus. 
 Never, in its best days, more imposing than a wild Western 
 metropolis of to-day, the sudden inrush of armies and the 
 wherewithal to supply and house them, soon gave the vast 
 spaces laid out for the capital the uncouthness and incom- 
 pleteness of an exaggerated mining town or series of towns. 
 Contrasted even with its rival on the James, Washington 
 was raw, chaotic, squalid. 
 
 Long tenure of estates and little change in the people had 
 given Richmond the venerableness we associate with age. 
 Many of her picturesque seven hills were transformed into 
 blooming fields or umbrageous groves, under which vast 
 villa-like edifices clustered in Grecian repose. Save in the 
 bustling main streets none of the edifices were new or raw, 
 or wholly unlovely in design or fabric. In Washington 
 nothing of this could be seen. Staring brick walls, build- 
 ings of unequal height and fatiguingly ugly designs, uprose
 
 32i THE IRON GAME. 
 
 here and there in morasses of mud that were meant for 
 streets. Disproportionate outline, sharp conjunctures of 
 affluence and squalor, accented the disheartening hideous- 
 ness of the scene. 
 
 But upon th is uncouth stage a great drama was going on ; 
 great figures were in action ; momentous events were hourly 
 taking form and consequence ; men and women at their best 
 and worst were working out the awful ends of Fate. In 
 the large mansion yonder, the wisest, greatest, simplest of 
 mankind by times Diogenes and Cromwell, Lafayette and 
 Eobespierre was, in jest and joke, mirth and sadness, 
 working out his own and a people's sublime destiny. It 
 was to this curiously unequal personage that Mrs. Sprague, 
 after fruitless pleading with her husband's friends, came 
 finally to secure action on behalf of her son. There was 
 little of the ceremonial needed to gain access to the Chief 
 Magistrate which is now the fashion. 
 
 She found a care-worn man, deeply harassed, standing in 
 the low-ceiled room, in which the Cabinet had met a few 
 moments before. A sweet, wan smile the instinctive, in- 
 born sensitiveness of a noble nature nickered over the rug- 
 ged lines of the face as the usher, retiring, said: 
 
 " Mr. President, this is Mrs. Sprague, whom you ordered 
 to be admitted." 
 
 " I am both glad and sorry to meet you, madam. I knew 
 your husband, the Senator, in other and happier times. I 
 wish that it were in my power to do for him or his what he 
 was always doing for the unhappy or distressed." 
 
 " Ah ! how kind you are ! How " 
 
 She was going to say different from what she expected, 
 but bethought herself of the ungraciousness of this form, 
 since at that time Mr. Lincoln was the object of almost uni- 
 versal misreport and caricature. 
 
 " How can I say what a mother should say ? " 
 
 While she spoke he began pacing the apartment, each 
 time, as he came to the double window near which she sat, 
 peering out with a yearning, far-away look toward the river 
 and the red lines of the hills beyond it. Then turning back,
 
 "THE ABSENT ARE ALWAYS IN THE WRONG." 325 
 
 he strode the length of the long baize-covered table, sometimes 
 absently picking up a document, until, facing her again as she 
 narrated the story of Jack's misfortunes, he would fling it 
 hastily on the scattered heaps and fix his mild eye upon her. 
 
 " I know all this already, dear madam. It has come to 
 me from the boy's friends, and" he hesitated a second 
 "and from his or from those who are not his friends." 
 
 " Not his friends ? " the mother cried, half rising. " Why, 
 Mr. President, Jack hasn't an enemy in the world! " 
 
 " You came through from Richmond last week ? Have 
 you heard nothing f i'om your son since you saw him ? " 
 
 " Nothing. Oh, is there anything about him ? " 
 
 "You have not even read the newspapers, I see." 
 
 " No, no ; I have been so uncertain, so agitated, so con- 
 stantly in attendance upon our members, that I have had no 
 time to read or even talk. But, pray tell me ! Your manner 
 indicates that something has happened. O Mr. President, 
 think of my anxiety ! My only son ! " 
 
 " Ah, Mrs. Sprague ! It is I that should be pitied here. 
 You came to me for comfort. You came in reliance on my 
 power to restore your son, and I I have the burden of tell- 
 ing you very grievous news. No, no, your son is not dead, 
 have no fear of that, if in the end it prove a comfort. Last 
 night your townsman, Elisha Boone, came to me with his 
 heart-broken daughter, demanding vengeance for his son's 
 death, whom your boy had slain the very night you left him 
 on the James. He shot Captain Boone in the house you vis- 
 ited, and defeated a well-arranged plan to capture the rebel 
 chief, Davis. Not only this, but he endangered the escape 
 of a number of sorely-worn prisoners who had succeeded in 
 reaching the Rosedale place and halted only to make Davis's 
 capture certain." 
 
 " My son shot Wesley ! oh no, no ; it can not be ; or, if he 
 did, it was because his own life was in peril. Ah ! no, no, 
 Mr. President, do not believe this. I know my son. I know 
 the misery he endured in Wesley's company ; endured like 
 a hero ; endured like a Sprague. He must have been in 
 peril of his life."
 
 326 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 " Dear madam, I feel for you. I feel with you, but these 
 facts are all in the possession of the Secretary of War. Mr. 
 Boone will no doubt give you all the details. If it can be 
 made to seem as you say, have no fear that I will wink at 
 mere revenge, or make the machinery of justice an instru- 
 ment of family feuds. Get your lawyer; have the matter 
 investigated, and rely upon me for every proper clemency 
 and aid in your hard lot." 
 
 She had arisen long before, and, recognizing this as a dis- 
 missal, she bowed, unable to speak, and, with blinded eyes, 
 staggered toward the two steps leading upward from the 
 room. She would have fallen had the ready arm of the 
 President not been near to support her. In the anteroom 
 he said, huskily : 
 
 " Captain, send an orderly to accompany this lady to her 
 carriage. " 
 
 Merry was in the carriage. One glance at Mrs. Sprague's 
 face told that dire news had been heard. She did not ask a 
 question, but, embracing and supporting the sobbing mother, 
 awaited patiently for the dreaded revelation. When at 
 length the miserable story came in gaspings and sobs, the 
 spinster exhibited an unexpected firmness. 
 
 " I don't believe a word of it. If Jack shot Wesley, it 
 was because he was in some sort of treacherous business. 
 You may depend upon it. that, when we get the true story, 
 Jack's part will prove him in the right. I am going this 
 instant to Boone to learn his source of information. He can 
 have nothing but rumors." 
 
 " I will go. It is better for me to see Mr. Boone. He 
 will not venture to misrepresent to me." 
 
 At Willard's, where Boone was stopping, the ladies 
 were obliged to wait a long time, and, in the end, it was 
 Kate who appeared before them in deep black, with a half- 
 yearning, half-defiant expression in the sadly worn face. 
 They would never have recognized her, and, as it was, 
 Merry started with a slight scream as the dark figure stopped 
 before them. 
 
 " Papa begs to be excused. He supposes that you want
 
 "THE ABSENT ARE ALWAYS IN THE WRONG." 327 
 
 to hear the particulars of the the affair at Rosedale, and 
 bids me tell you." 
 
 " O Kate, Kate, it is not true ! it can not be true. Oh, 
 you who knew Jack so well, you know that he never could 
 have have ' 
 
 Kate had seized a chair and drawn it before the two who 
 sat on one of the long sofas that filled without adorning the 
 vast hotel parlor, dim even at noonday in its semi-subterra- 
 nean light. 
 
 "Yes, Mrs. Sprague, your son shot Wesley deliberately; 
 shot him as deliberately as if I should draw a pistol and take 
 your life now and here." 
 
 " And and killed him ? " 
 
 " He never spoke again. He he ah ! I can not, I can 
 not ! We brought him here. His body is in the cemetery, 
 waiting the military formalities." 
 
 " But tell us how it happened, Kate," Merry sobbed, en- 
 treatingly. " We know nothing but what you have told us. 
 Tell us all. It is so startling, so awful, that we can not 
 comprehend such a thing happening where we left every- 
 body in the most friendly spirit. " 
 
 Kate, struggling with her tears, told the story so far as 
 she knew it, but of course she knew little beyond the mere 
 fact that Wesley had come to his death in Mrs. Atterbury's 
 room; that Jack stood over him with the smoking pistol, 
 and owned that he had fired in the darkness. She told the 
 tale as gently as might be, her own heart secretly pleading 
 for everything of extenuation that might lessen Jack's guilt, 
 but she had insensibly taken the darker view her father had 
 instantly adopted, that Jack's enmity had led him to seize the 
 chance to rid himself of a rival and enemy under cover of 
 defending the Atterburys. She did not hint this to the 
 mother, but Merry, knowing Boone, at once saw what the 
 President's words meant. Boone had charged Jack with 
 deliberate murder. Dreading the realization of this by Mrs. 
 Sprague at this time, Merry made a sign to Kate, who, com- 
 prehending at once, arose and begged to go back to her fa- 
 ther, who was in need of her.
 
 328 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 "Oh, if Olympia were here! she has so much self-con- 
 trol ! she would advise so well what should be done ! " the 
 mother moaned, ar> she passed down through the long, bar- 
 rack-like parlor. 
 
 " But, dear Mrs. Sprague, Olympia is just where her good 
 sense is most needed. She is near Jack. He needs comfort 
 and counsel. You can have your lawyer, and you shall see 
 the case isn't so bad. as we have heard. You must remem- 
 ber that the Boones are not likely to take an impartial view. 
 It is only human nature that they should think the worst of 
 the the death of son and brother. Wait till we hear 
 Jack's story, and you will see that it puts a different face 
 on the matter." 
 
 " But it's Jack's disgrace and death they want. That was 
 what the President meant. I didn't understand it then ; I do 
 understand it now. They shall not murder him ! I shall com- 
 mand him to remain in Richmond. I shall command him 
 to join Vincent. The North is unworthy of such men as 
 my son. He is too pure, too innocent, too high-minded to 
 be understood by the coarse natures that have come to power 
 in the country. I shall not let this odious Boone destroy 
 him as he ruined your brother." 
 
 "O Mrs. Sprague, think what you are saying! Think 
 how fatal such words would be, if Jack were brought to 
 trial ! You see every day in the press how all are suspected 
 of treason who were Democrats in the old days. I know 
 very well that you do not mean this. Much as I love Jack, 
 I would rather see him in his grave with the Union flag 
 over him than in the rebel lines, a soldier of that bad cause. 
 As to my poor brother, Boone was only an accident in his 
 ruin. If it had not been Boone, it would have been some 
 one else. Put the whole matter in the hands of Simon Bro- 
 die. He is almost a Sprague. He will see that the son of 
 his old patron has justice." 
 
 Simon Brodie, of Warchester, was the chief advocate of 
 the three counties. He had studied law with the late Sena- 
 tor Sprague, and, at his death, from partner succeeded to his 
 lucrative law practice. He came at once to Washington at
 
 "TUB ABSENT ARE ALWAYS IN THE WRONG." 329 
 
 Mrs. Sprague's summons, and set about learning the status 
 of the case. The affair was no easy matter to trace, but, after 
 inconceivable delays and persistent misleading, he found 
 that Jack was in the military archives charged with deser- 
 tion, murder, and treason : desertion in quitting his company 
 and regiment without orders, treason in consorting with 
 armed rebels, and murder in joining with the enemies of 
 the country to take the life of his commanding officer. 
 Meanwhile, Mrs. Sprague and Merry had returned to Acre- 
 dale, and the lawyer sent letters to Richmond setting forth 
 the case to Jack letters which, by some mysterious jug- 
 glery, never reached their address, as we have seen. Noth- 
 ing could be done until Jack was either exchanged or until 
 his advocate had made out a documentary case that could 
 be presented to the military authorities. As he surmised, 
 every one in authority had been prejudiced against Jack. 
 The Congressman from Warchester dared not work against 
 Boone, who was potent as a Cabinet minister in the councils 
 of the Government. One of Senator Sprague's old fi'iends, 
 still in the Senate, advised Brodie to let Jack remain at 
 Richmond till the peace came, " for," said he, " no Democrat 
 nor any one identified with that party can hope for impar r 
 tial justice here." 
 
 " But what am I to do ? I can get no assistance here. 
 Every bureau containing documents bearing on the poor 
 boy's case is either closed to me, or the officials so hostile that 
 I can not work with or through them." 
 
 " You must go about the affair as if it were a State mat- 
 ter. You must go to McClellan. He is a young man of the 
 most spotless honor, the most generous sympathies. He is 
 as rigid as a Prussian in discipline, but his methods are en- 
 lightened and above board. He is the only man in authority 
 that has any real conception of the magnitude of the strug- 
 gle the North has entered upon. He is, however, miserably 
 hampered. The new rulers have come down to Washing- 
 ton very much in the spirit of the Goths when they capt- 
 ured Rome. Every one is on the make. The contract sys- 
 tem is something beyond the wildest excesses I ever read of
 
 330 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 in pillage and chicanery. Shoes by the million have been 
 accepted that melt as soon as they are wet; garments are 
 stacked mountain-high in the storehouses that blow into 
 rags so soon as the air goes through them. Food, moldy, 
 filthy, is accumulated on the wharves of Washington, Balti- 
 more, and Alexandria that would be forbidden as infectious 
 in any carefully guarded port in the world. Contracts for 
 vessels have been signed where steamships are called for, and 
 the contractor sends canal-boats. Lines of ships are paid for 
 to run to ports not known in navigation ; and the chief men 
 in the great departments share the money with the rings " 
 
 " But why don't you expose it ? " 
 
 " Expose it ? A word in the Senate against these villain- 
 ies is set down as disloyalty. All that a rascal needs to gain 
 any scope he pleases, is to say ' rebel sympathizer,' and Fort 
 Warren or Lafayette is held up as a menace." 
 
 Among the confidential aides of McClellan Brodie knew 
 intimately a young officer, the son of a distinguished lady, 
 whose writings delighted cultivated people fifty years ago. 
 This young man, Captain Churchland, had often been a 
 guest at the Spragues, and to him Brodie went for advice. 
 Inheriting a great deal of his mother's intellect, with a droll 
 sense of humor, not then so well understood as the lighter 
 school of writers have since made it, Churchland was the de- 
 light of the headquarters. He listened to the melancholy 
 story of Jack's compromising plight. 
 
 " It's a bad fix no mistake," he said, gravely ; " but I sug- 
 gest that your fiery young friend come home and shoot the 
 father, marry the daughter, and, as a wife can't testify against 
 the husband, your client is secure." 
 
 " Ah, captain, it's not a matter for joking. Think of his 
 wretched mother." 
 
 " That's just what I do think of murder's no joke, though 
 it's more of a fine art than it was when De Quincey wrote. 
 I'm perfectly serious. 1 would shoot the scoundrel Boone. 
 Why, do you know the man has cleared a million dollars on 
 rotten blankets since he came here ? McClellan ordered a 
 report made out showing his rascalities a few weeks ago.
 
 THE WORLD WENT VERY ILL THEN. 331 
 
 It was disapproved at the War Office, and the condemned 
 blankets have gone to Halleck's army. Doesn't that deserve 
 shooting ? Napoleon directed all the army contractors to be 
 hanged. I say shoot them. For every one put out of the 
 way a thousand soldiers' lives will be saved." 
 
 "Well, well, let Boone go. It's Sprague I'm inter- 
 ested in." 
 
 " So am I. It is Sprague that Boone seems to be inter- 
 ested in, too, for he has filled the new Secretary with, what 
 he himself would call, righteous wrath against the poor boy 
 and his friends. But make your mind easy. The exchange 
 of prisoners will soon begin. Sprague's turn will come 
 among the first, and then I will keep track of the affair. 
 Beyond that I can promise nothing. You may be sure, so 
 far as purely military men have to do with the business, 
 there will be impartial justice. When the politicians take 
 hold, I can give no assurance." 
 
 And with this cold comfort the disheartened lawyer be- 
 took himself to Acredale, where his report, guardedly given, 
 brought no very strong hope to the anxious mother. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 THE WORLD WENT VERY ILL THEN. 
 
 ACREDALE was not the sleepy, sylvan scene we first saw 
 it, when Mrs. Sprague and Merry drove through the wide 
 main street from the station, four months after they had 
 quitted it in search of their soldier boys. The stately elms 
 still arched the highway to Warchester, but here and there 
 rough gaps were seen in the trim hedge-rows. Staring new 
 edifices jutted through these breaks upon the grassy walks, 
 and building material lay heaped in confusion all along 
 the graveled walks. Merry railed at these evidences of 
 commercial invasion, wondering who had come to the vil-
 
 332 THE IROX GAME. 
 
 lage to transform it into city hideousness. Mrs. Sprague did 
 not erive much heed to her companion's speculations. Her 
 mind was far away on the James, wondering where her 
 boy was. It was very hard to settle down to the common- 
 places of home life ; but, even in all her distraction, Mrs. 
 Sprague saw that a change had come upon the people as well 
 as the place. With the war and its desolating sights fresh 
 in her memory, she saw, w T ith sorrow and aversion, that social 
 life was gayer than it had ever been, that the rush for wealth 
 had become a fever, and that the simple ways and homely 
 joys of the past were now remitted to the very elderly. The 
 story of Dick's mad pursuit of Jack and the Caribees, after 
 the disaster at Bull Run, was soon known in every home in 
 the county. Friends came from far and near to hear the 
 exciting adventure; and the younger boys, who had been the 
 lad's classmates in the academy, at once made up a company 
 of youngsters, adorned by the name of the " Perley Rangers," 
 to be in readiness for the hero's command when he should 
 return. 
 
 The feud between the adherents of the houses of Sprague 
 and Boone had become acrimoniously embittered by the point 
 of view from which each side saw the conduct of Jack. 
 Among the Boonc feudatories he was set down as a traitor, 
 a spy, a murderer. The first malignant rumors that reached 
 the village after the battle were still maintained stoutly by 
 the Boone lictors. Jack had ingloriously shirked his part in 
 the battle with the Caribees ; he had skulked in the bushes 
 until the issue was decided, and then had followed the sym- 
 pathies of his secession family ; he had gone to the Atter- 
 burys, well known for their hatred to the North. It was to 
 prove his sincerity in the Southern cause that he had wormed 
 himself into the confidence of Wesley Boone's comrades, and 
 in order that he might be chief agent in the frustration of 
 the plan of escape. 
 
 He had won high regard in the Confederacy by saving 
 Davis from capture. He had, with his own hand, shot Wes- 
 ley Boone when the plan of capture was on the verge of suc- 
 cess. Could anything be clearer than his odious. treason?
 
 THE WORLD WENT VERY ILL THEN. 333 
 
 Hadn't he, of all the unfortunates of the battle, found favor 
 and luxurious quarters in Richmond ? Hadn't he cunningly 
 cajoled the Boones into the visit to the rebel household, in 
 order to wrest the secrets of the Union rescue from them ? 
 It was in vain that the Perleys and others set forth the real 
 case. " Very likely, indeed," the Boone side cried, " that 
 rebels like the Atterburys would receive true Unionists into 
 their house, and treat them as friends! A real Unionist 
 would have refused hospitality from the enemies of his 
 country." There was talk among the more zealous patriots 
 of having the Sprague family expelled from Acredale. Loyal 
 zealots looked up the law on expatriation and attainder, and 
 complained bitterly that no applicable provisions were found 
 in the statutes. Stirring addresses were sent to the member 
 from Warchester, imploring him to have laws enacted that 
 would enable the patriots to deal summarily with covert 
 treason. It was true that the Spragues had contributed 
 many thousand dollars toward the equipment of the Cari- 
 bees, had endowed twenty beds in one of the city hospitals 
 for the wounded but this was when Jack expected high 
 command in the regiment. Failing in that ignoble self- 
 seeking, he had gone where his heart was, while the family, 
 to retain their property, remained among the loyal, to insult 
 their woe and gloat over their misfortunes. 
 
 At a great " war meeting " in the town-hall, over which 
 Boone presided, one thrilling orator hinted that fire, if not 
 the law, could " relieve a loyal community of the Copper- 
 head's nest ! " " It was an insult, as well as a menace, to have 
 the patrician palace of disloyalty flaunting its grandeurs 
 among a people loyal and devoted, whose sons and brothers 
 were battling for the Union. Every rebel sympathizer driven 
 from the North would strengthen the Union cause; ashes 
 and salt sowed on the ground their insolent homes had dese- 
 crated, would be a holy reminder to the loyal, a warning to 
 the secret foes of the Union." 
 
 There were loud expressions of approval, and a solemn 
 '' Amen " to this intrepid plan of campaign. Lawyer Brodie, 
 who was present, arose under a thunder of discordant notes
 
 334 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 "Copperhead!" "Traitor!" "Dough-face!" "We don't 
 want to hear from rebel sympathizers ! Out with him ! " and 
 Other more opprobrious taunts. Now, Brodie was Boone's 
 counsel, and had been identified with him in some very dif- 
 ficult litigation. It would not do to have him discredited. 
 The chairman rapped loudly for order. 
 
 "I can vouch, my friends, for Mr. Brodie's patriotism. 
 He is a Democrat, it is true ; but he loves the Union. I know 
 that to be a fact. You can do the Union no better service 
 than listening to what he has to say." 
 
 Brodie, who had held his place, calmly smiled as Boone 
 sat down, and, surveying the audience from side to side, 
 began : 
 
 " Free speech was one of the cries that aroused the North 
 in the late campaign. I believe in free speech. I have done 
 my share toward securing it, but I never was refused ft be- 
 fore. I look among the men here and see among you neigh- 
 bors whom I have known since boyhood, neighbors who have 
 known me since boyhood, and when I arise here to take a 
 citizen's part, in a meeting called to aid and comfort the 
 cause of the Union, I am permitted to speak only by the 
 personal request of one man. If that is your idea of free 
 speech, if that is your notion of aiding the Union cause, and 
 strengthening the hands of the Administration, I don't need 
 to be in the confidence of the rebel authorities to tell you 
 that they could ask no more powerful allies than you! 
 [Sensation.] 
 
 " There are three hundred men in this hall. The light in 
 good, and my eyesight is not impaired ; but I can not see 
 a man among you who was not a Democrat a year or two 
 ago. There are not fifty men among you that voted for 
 Abraham Lincoln. [Murmurs.] Are the two hundred and 
 fifty, then, traitors ? Are they rebel sympathizers ? Are they 
 Copperheads ? One thousand men marched under the Cari- 
 bee flag ; not a man of them voted for Lincoln. Are they 
 Copperheads ? This township, by its vote at the last election, 
 was five to one Democratic. Is this a Copperhead commu- 
 nity ? Nearly a half-million dollars have been subscribed
 
 THE WORLD WENT VERY ILL THEN. 335 
 
 for bounties and war measures; the tax-payers, almost to 
 a man, are Democrats. Is it possible, then, that the Copper- 
 heads are supplying the money to carry on the war ? You 
 propose to burn the mansion of my old partner, Senator 
 Sprague ! Why ? Because his estate has given more to the 
 Union cause than any other family in the township ? " 
 
 " The son has gone over to the rebels," a voice cried. 
 
 " Thank you. There I'm glad you have given me the 
 chance to crush that cowardly calumny the invention of 
 some envious malefactor. Jack Sprague has gone over to 
 the rebels, just as Anderson and his men went over at Sum- 
 ter; just as fifteen hundred of his comrades went over at 
 Bull Run; just as some of our sons and brothers here in 
 Acredale went over; just as my friend, Boone's son, went 
 over because he was surrounded and wounded." 
 
 " Stop a moment, if you please, friend Brodie ; I protest 
 against your making anything in common between my son 
 and this young man. The matter is to be investigated, and 
 then we can tell better." 
 
 Boone spoke in great excitement, and the audience, now 
 feverishly wrought up, urged the lawyer to say his say out. 
 He continued in the trained, impassive tones of the advo- 
 cate: 
 
 " Every one in this room knows the two young men. It 
 would be waste of time for me -to strive to make anything 
 in common between John Sprague and Wesley Boone. 
 Here, where they both grew up, that is quite unnecessary." 
 
 " I I referred to their conduct as soldiers," Boone cried, 
 hoarsely. " My son lost his life in the service of his coun- 
 try, r can't have his name coupled with a murderer's 
 with a traitor's." 
 
 "Ah, my friend, when hate draws your portrait it is 
 bound to be black. When prejudice holds the pen, your 
 virtues stand in the shade of vice. I will tell John Sprague's 
 story from the day he quit Acredale to the unhappy hour his 
 comrade was killed in the dark, in the sleeping-room of the 
 mother and daughter who had nursed him from the very 
 jaws of death. He was in that house by his father's urgent 
 22
 
 336 THE IROX GAME. 
 
 request, though it would have needed none to open its doors 
 to any one in want of succor. Nor," he added, significantly, 
 " can it be told who killed Wesley Boone until all the shots 
 fired in Mrs. Atterbury's chamber are accounted for." 
 
 Then he narrated rapidly, but tellingly, the substance of 
 what has been already set down in this history the facts 
 taken from Jack's letters and attested by the corroboration 
 of Barney, Dick, and the company's officers. There was a 
 visible revulsion in the larger part of the audience as the tale 
 went on ; and when the lawyer wound up with the story of 
 Mrs. Sprague's baffled efforts in Washington to have her boy 
 brought North, there was an outburst of applause and a faint 
 cheer from the younger men for " glorious old Jack." 
 
 The factions shifted a good deal after this official render- 
 ing of the affair. There was no longer any talk of burning 
 the Sprague property, and opinion was about evenly divided 
 as to Jack's conduct. December had come, and the township 
 was busy packing boxes to send to the army. No news 
 had come North from Richmond. Active movements were 
 looked for every day, and in the momentous expectation 
 such lesser incidents as exchange were forgotten or ignored. 
 The daily journals were filled with details of contemplated 
 expeditions, and one morning Mrs. Sprague read with beat- 
 ing heart this paragraph in the Herald : 
 
 '' A score or more of the men who escaped from the Rich- 
 mond prison a few weeks ago, arrived at Washington to-day 
 from Fort Monroe. The party endured untold privations in 
 the swamps between Williamsburg and our line on the War- 
 wick, but all came in safely, except two men who died from 
 the results of their wounds. The expedition was planned 
 and carried out by an agent of General Butler, who has been 
 in Virginia since the unfortunate attempt to rescue Captain 
 Boone of the ' Caribee ' regiment. At the moment the 
 party reached the Union outpost, one of the most daring of 
 the Union men, Sergeant Jacques of the Caribees, was, it is 
 thought, mortally wounded." 
 
 Merry, too, had seen the story, and came over to show it 
 to Mi-s. Sprague.
 
 THE WORLD WENT VERY ILL TliEX. 337 
 
 "I have seen it, I have seen it. Who of the Caribees 
 can these be ? Who is Jacques ? I never heard that name 
 here." 
 
 " Ah ! he must be one of the town recruits. It's a French 
 name." 
 
 " Yes, it is part of a rather famous French name," Mrs. 
 Sprague replied, half smiling at Merry's innocence. " Some- 
 thing must be done to get into communication with these 
 escaped men. Some of them must have seen Jack. If there 
 are Caribees among them, you may be sure they have mes- 
 sages from our boys. I think I shall set out for Washing- 
 ton, or ask Mr. Brodie to go." 
 
 '' That's better. Mr. Brodie can get at the men and you 
 couldn't. I shall be in a fever until we have heard from 
 them." 
 
 Brodie agreed with the ladies when, later, they discussed 
 the matter with him, and that evening he set out for Wash- 
 ington. Mrs. Sprague at the tea-table with Merry, who 
 made it a point to give the lonely mother as much of her 
 time as she could spare, was still pondering the paragraph 
 when the sound of carriage-wheels came in through the 
 closed curtains. Then the front door opened without knock- 
 ing, and there was a rustle in the hallway, and then, with a 
 simultaneous scream, three agitated females, to wit, Mrs. 
 Sprague, Merry, and Olympia, in a confused mass. 
 
 " my child ! my child ! " 
 
 " Mamma ! " 
 
 " Dearest, dearest Olympia," Merry splutters, wildly em- 
 bracing both. 
 
 " Oh, how delightful to be here, to see you, mamma as 
 peaceful and serene as in the old days! I thought I should 
 never get home. I left Richmond three weeks ago. I was 
 held at Fredericksburg for ten days. Then I had to turn 
 back when we got to Manassas, through some red tape lack- 
 ing there. But here I am. Here I am at home ugh ! I 
 shall never quit it again never." 
 
 " But, my child. Tell us Jack ! " 
 
 " Jack ? Haven't you heard from him ? He escaped
 
 338 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 three weeks ago. It was lie who got the men out of the 
 prison. Dick was with him. Surely you have heard of 
 that?" and Olympia sank into the nearest chair, all the 
 gayety gone from her face, her eyes questioning the two 
 wretched women. Neither could for the moment control 
 her agitation; neither was capable of thinking. All that 
 was in their minds was this dire specter of a month's 
 silence. Alive, Jack or Dick would have found means to 
 relieve their anxiety. 
 
 " Surely you heard that a party had escaped from Libby 
 and made their way to Fort Monroe ? " Olympia cried, des- 
 perately. 
 
 " Tort Monroe ? " Mrs. Sprague echoed mechanically. 
 " Yes, ah, yes. Merry, where's the paper ? " 
 
 Olympia devoured the meager scrap and then dropped 
 the journal on her knees. Her mind was in a whirl. In 
 Richmond the escape had been announced, then the news 
 that the party had been surrounded in the swamp, then day 
 by day details of the taking of straggling negroes and one 
 or two soldiers, but no name that even resembled Jack's. 
 The Atterburys, after the first painful sensation, had given 
 their approval of Jack's going, and used all means in their 
 power to get such facts as would comfort Olympia. They as- 
 sured her that Jack had reached the Union lines, and then 
 she had set out northward, expecting to find him at home 
 or in communication with his family. No word from Dick ? 
 No word from Jack ? They were dead, and she she had 
 urged them to the mad adventure I She had given Jack no 
 peace, had fired Dick to the fatal enterprise. She dared not 
 look in the tearless eyes of her mother. She dared not face 
 the ghastly questioning in Merry's meek eye. Brodie had 
 gone down to see the escaped men. Perhaps he would dis- 
 cover something. This was the small comfort left the 
 three when, near midnight, they ended the woful confer- 
 enc3. 
 
 The next day Olympia was visited by a representative of 
 the Crossbow, the chief journal of Warchester, and urged to 
 write a narrative of her adventures in the rebel capital.
 
 A WOMAN'S REASON. 339 
 
 UntO her friends made her see how much effect it would 
 have in clearing Jack's reputation she shrank from the pub- 
 licity, but with that end in view Jack's honor she wrote, 
 and wrote with strength and clearness, the moving incidents 
 of her brother's capture, captivity, and escape or his bold 
 effort to escape. This she told so simply, so directly, so viv- 
 idly, that the truth of it at once struck the most prejudiced 
 reader, who had no cause to continue in his prepossession. 
 After the publication in the Warchester paper scores who 
 had sided with the Boone faction either called or wrote to 
 confess their error. Even the Acredale Monitor, a weekly 
 sheet notoriously in the interest of Boone, felt constrained to 
 copy parts of the account and publish with it a shambling 
 retraction of previous criticism, based on imperfect knowl- 
 edge, that it had printed concerning Sergeant Sprague. 
 " Death," it declared, " has obliterated all feeling that ex- 
 isted against our young townsman, whose conduct, though 
 open to grievous doubt in the early part of his military ca- 
 reer, has been amply atoned for in the intrepid enterprise in 
 which he seems to have lost his life." 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 A WOMAN'S REASON. 
 
 THE still, small voice that makes itself a force in the 
 heart, which the poets call our mentor and the moralists 
 conscience, had been painfully garrulous in Kate Boone's 
 breast since the angry parting with Jack at Rosedale. At 
 first, in the wild grief of Wesley's death, she had hugged 
 hatred of Jack to her heart as a sublime revenge for the 
 murder. But with the hot partisanship allayed in the long 
 weeks of reflection preceding the rumor of Jack's own 
 death, she began dimly to admit of palliation in her lover's 
 fatal act. Her father, the Boone faction, all who had ac-
 
 340 THE IROX GAME. 
 
 cess to her, held the shooting to be a craftily planned mur- 
 der, calculated to bring advantage to the assassin. To 
 check the sacrilegious love she felt in her heart, she too 
 had been forced to believe, to admit the worst. But when 
 the image of Jack came to her mind, as it did day and 
 night, it was as the gay, frank, chivalrous Hotspur, as 
 unlike a murderer as Golgotha to Hesperides. She had 
 never dared to confide to her father that vows had been 
 exchanged between them that they were, in fact, affianced 
 lovers. He, never suspecting, talked with her day after 
 day of the signal vengeance in store for the miscreant; how 
 he had enlisted the aid of the most powerful in Washing- 
 ton ; how he had instructed the emissaries sent to Rich- 
 mond to effect Wesley's release, to direct all their energies 
 to entrapping the murderer into the ranks of the escaping 
 prisoners. 
 
 She had often been startled by her father's far-seeing, 
 malignantly planned vengeances, and, now that the rumor 
 of Jack's death began to settle into belief, she was appalled 
 by a sudden sense of complicity in a murderous plot. Not 
 fiat she believed her father capa'ble of murder or its pro- 
 curation, but, knowing his potency with the authorities, she 
 saw that there were many ways in which Jack might be 
 sacrificed in the natural course of military duties. She had 
 heard things of the sort discussed how inconvenient men 
 had been sent into pitfalls and never heard of again. 
 
 She began dimly to see that, at worst, Jack's act was not 
 the calculated murder her father held it to be. In her own 
 tortured mind there had been at first but one clear process 
 of reasoning. That process, whenever she began to gather 
 the shreds, had led her mind straight to the conviction that 
 Jack's shot had been premeditated, that the chance had been 
 prearranged with the enemies of her brother. At first her 
 only distinct thought was that the hapless Wesley had been 
 lured to his death. The hand of the man she loved had 
 sent the fatal shot into the poor boy's body. Had it been in 
 self-defense even in the heat of uncontrollable anger she 
 could have found mitigation for Jack ; but there was nei-
 
 A WOMAN'S REASON. 341 
 
 ther the justification of self-defense nor the plausible pretext 
 of anger. One word of warning, which Jack could have 
 spoken, would have saved Wesley from the rash, the das- 
 tardly attempt upon the Eosedale household. The plot, in 
 all its details, must have been known to Jack or Dick, else 
 how explain their presence in the chamber, armed and ready 
 for the murder ? 
 
 It had been a conspiracy of delusive kindness from the 
 day Wesley entered Rosedale. The f rankness and kindliness 
 of the Atterburys had been assumed to lure him to his fatal 
 adventure. Boone himself believed that Jack's ignoble am- 
 bition and envy had been the main motives in the murder. 
 To this Kate, from the first, opposed a resolute incredulity. 
 
 " You don't know the fellow, I tell you," Boone doggedly 
 argued. " He's as like his father as two snakes in a hole. 
 Old man Sprague never let a man stand in his way. Jack's 
 the same. He thought Wes' kept him from the shoulder- 
 straps, and he got him out of the way. Wasn't he always 
 snooping 'round in the regiment trying to undermine your 
 brother ? Wasn't he always trying to be popular ? Ah, I 
 know the Spragues. But I'll give them a wrench that'll 
 twist their damned pride out of them. I'll have that cold- 
 blooded young villain shot in a hollow square, and I'll have 
 it done in this very district, that the whole county may 
 know the disgrace of the high and mighty Spragues." 
 
 "No, father." Kate had heard all this before, but she, 
 for the first time, resolved upon setting her father right. 
 " No, Jack hasn't a particle of the feeling you ascribe to him. 
 I don't think he liked poor Wesley. They were totally un- 
 like in nature, and I think that Jack felt deeply that he had 
 been wronged by Wesley's appointment. But it was not in 
 his nature to seek revenge. He would have fought Wesley 
 openly, but he would never be ono of a gang of murderers. 
 I think I can see how Jack was led into the part he played. 
 It does not lessen the guilt, but it relieves him of the odious 
 suspicions I first felt." 
 
 Then Boone, in irritable impatience, reminded her of 
 her own earlier utterances ; how from his first coming
 
 342 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 Wesley had been treated with studied distrust ; how he had 
 been denied the boyish intimacy that existed between Jack 
 and Dick ; how he was insensibly made to feel that he was 
 in the house under a different cartel from that of Jack and 
 Dick ; that he was a prisoner on parole, and his word was 
 doubted. Nothing could make him believe, he declared, 
 getting up moodily, but that the whole lot of them had set 
 out to drive Wesley into a corner and then kill him, as they 
 had done. 
 
 Kate sighed wearily as her father left the room. If she 
 could only be as well assured as her strong words implied ! 
 Ah ! if she could fetch back her lover by getting at the 
 truth, how willingly she would fly to Rosedale and learn all ! 
 But she dared not question, lest questioning should confirm, 
 where she now at least had the miserable solace of doubt. 
 Could it be true ? Could Jack be the base schemer her father 
 depicted him ? Then her mind ran back to Eosedale. She 
 lived again all the enchanting days of that earthly paradise. 
 She saw Wesley's furtive starts, his strange disappearances, 
 his growing melancholy, his moody reticence when she 
 questioned him. Ah ! if he had but confided to her ! If 
 she had but dreamed of the desperate purpose born of the 
 loneliness he lived in ! If Jack had been loyal to him, loyal 
 to her, Wesley would have been warned that eager eyes 
 were upon him, ready wits reading his purposes, and revenge- 
 ful hatred ready to slaughter him. 
 
 When the news came that Jack had lost his life in the 
 very enterprise Wesley had contemplated, Kate collapsed 
 under the shock. Now, when it was too late, she convinced 
 herself that he was innocent. If she could have recalled 
 him to life, she cried in self-reproach, she would not ask 
 whether he was all her first impulse had painted him. She 
 had borne up with something like composure when Wesley's 
 death came upon her ; but now, tortured by a sense of re- 
 sponsibility in Jack's fate, she gave way to the grief she had 
 so long repressed. If she had not upbraided him, if she had 
 not accused him, in so many words, of murder, he would 
 never have embarked on the mad plot of escape.
 
 A WOMAN'S REASON. 343 
 
 She had driven him to his death. She had sat silent 
 while Acredale rang with calumnies against him. It was 
 not too late yet to make reparation. She would proclaim 
 publicly that her brother had rashly courted his own death ; 
 that Jack had unknowingly shot him down, as many a man 
 does, in battle, shoot his best friend. She resolved on the 
 instant to go to the stricken family and make such expiation 
 there as was in her power. But was there any certainty 
 that the report of Jack's death was true ? Grievous mistakes 
 of the same sort had been made repeatedly in the public 
 journals. She was not able to formulate any plan at first. 
 Her father was more morose than ever. He seemed in his 
 way to deplore the young man's death, but not in pity, as 
 she soon learned. Death had robbed him of a cruelly medi- 
 tated revenge. She wisely made no comment when this 
 brutal feeling betrayed itself ; but for the first time in her 
 life the girl shuddered at the sight of her father. The vague 
 rumors of years, that had been whispered about him ru- 
 mors which of old had fired her soul with hot indignation, 
 came back insidiously. She shuddered. Was she to lose 
 all brother, lover, father in this unnatural strife ? She had 
 been so loyal to her father. She had been so proud of him 
 when others reviled. She had felt so serenely confident of 
 the nobleness of his heart, the generosity of his impulses. 
 She had always been able to mold him, as she thought. 
 Could it be possible that he was human to her, inhuman to 
 the rest of the world ? Then her mind, tortured by newly 
 awakened doubts, ran back over the events leading to the 
 rupture with the Spragues. She groaned at the retrospect. 
 It was injustice that had displaced Jack in the command of 
 the company. It was injustice that had marked her father's 
 conduct in the Perley feud. 
 
 Grief is a logician of very direct methods. Its clari- 
 fying processes work like light in darkness. Kate saw the 
 past in her father's conduct with terrifying vividness. She 
 realized that it was her father's harsh purpose that had 
 arrayed Acredale against him. It was his pride and arro- 
 gant obstinacy that had brought about the loss of all she
 
 344 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 loved. The fates had immolated the helpless ; were the 
 fates preparing a still bitterer expiation '{ Life had very 
 little left for her now, but she resolved that she would 
 no longer be isolated by her father's enmities. The great 
 house had been gloomy enough for father and daughter 
 during the last miserable months, but he still fled to her 
 for comfort. It was one evening when he came in, appar- 
 ently in better spirits than he had shown since Wesley's 
 death, that she told him what had been filling her mind 
 since Jack's death. 
 
 " O father, I think I see that our lives have been un- 
 worthy, if not altogether wrong. Surely such neighbors as 
 ours could not all take sides against you, if you were in the 
 right in all the feuds that have divided us as a family from 
 the people of Acredalc." 
 
 Then, in an almost imploring tone of reproach, she re- 
 traced the harsh episodes in the father's dealings with the 
 Perleys, with the community, and, finally, the quarrel with 
 the Spragues, involving in it the lives of Wesley and Jack. 
 Her voice softened into tremulousness. She arose, and in 
 her old pleading way pulled the shaggy head down on her 
 breast, pressing her lips on the high, bare forehead. 
 
 " Dear father, all this is unchristian ; you have in reality 
 been waging war against women and children. Jack was a 
 mere boy. Eichard is a boy. I don't go into other enmi- 
 ties, where you have used the enormous power of wealth to 
 crush the helpless. If you had not alienated the Spragues 
 and encouraged Wesley in overbearing Jack, my brother 
 would be alive to-day. My sweetheart yes, Jack was dearer 
 than all the world to me he would not be dead to-day. 
 Ah ! father, father, what good comes of anger what joy of 
 revenge ? You have brought about the death of these two 
 boys. Is it not time to look at life with a new heart with 
 clear-seeing eyes ? " 
 
 Elisha Boone sat quite still. He had listened at first 
 with a flush of anger, which deepened as the girl pleaded, 
 until it died away and left his face very pale. He pushed 
 himself away from the clinging figure, as if the better to see
 
 A WOMAN'S REASON. 345 
 
 her face. Then his head drooped. He sighed heavily, rose 
 and without a word left the room. Kate heard him ascend- 
 ing the stairs, then the sound of his room door softly clos- 
 ing. Had the hateful fires of vengeance been quenched ? It 
 was her father's way, when resolutely opposed, to quit the 
 scene and without confessing himself in the wrong, do as 
 Kate urged. The next morning he was gone before she 
 reached the breakfast-table. There was a note on her plate 
 in his handwriting. She read with a sinking heart : 
 
 " MY DAUGHTER: If what you said last night is true, you 
 can not be the daughter to me that you have been. I am 
 going to Washington, and when I come back you will know 
 that your brother was deliberately murdered, and that his 
 murderer, even in the grave, is held guilty before all men 
 of the crime." 
 
 The servant confirmed the tidings. Her father had 
 arisen early and departed on the first train. What could 
 it mean ? Had he some evidence that she had not heard ? 
 Had Jack left papers incriminating him ? Ah! why carry 
 the hideous feud further ? Why blast the melancholy re- 
 pose of the living, by fastening this stain upon the dead ? 
 But they could not. She knew it. She could herself refute 
 any proof brought forward. She would tell all. She would 
 reveal their tender relationship, and surely then any one, 
 knowing the young man's nature, would scout the assertion 
 of his willfully shooting Wesley. But surely Olympia and 
 Mrs. Sprague must be able to tell, and tell decisively, the 
 circumstances in the tragedy. She would go to them. She 
 owed this to the living; she owed it still more imperatively 
 to the dead. She had not seen Olympia since her return. 
 Mrs. Sprague had been too infirm to see her when she called. 
 But she would not heed rebuffs now. In such a cause, on 
 such a mission, she would have stood at the Sprague door a 
 suppliant until even the obstinacy of her father would have 
 relented. On her way across the square she saw Meriy com- 
 ing from the post. She turned out of her way, and hurrying 
 to the near-sighted spinster held out her hand, saying, softly :
 
 346 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 " Ah, Miss Merry, I'rn so glad to see you ! I have been 
 meaning to call on you ever since I heard of your return, 
 but, what with sorrow and illness, I have put it off, and now 
 I want you to take me home with you. Will you not ? " 
 
 The pleading tone, the caressing clasp of the hand, the 
 sadly changed face, the somber black weeds, made the voice 
 and figure so much unlike the old Kate, that Merry stood 
 for an instant confused and blushing as she stammered : 
 
 " Bless me, Miss Kate, I I shouldn't have known you. 
 Ah, I am very glad to see you ; sisters will be very glad to 
 see you, too. Do, do come right along with me. I'm afraid 
 the parlor won't be very sightly, but you won't mind, will 
 you ? " 
 
 Kate squeezed the hand still resting in her own, and 
 drawing the long veil back over face, she walked silently 
 with the puzzled spinster, unable to broach the theme she 
 had at heart. Merry spared her the torture of going at it 
 obliquely. 
 
 " I have just been at the Spragues. Poor dears, they are 
 in dreadful distress. Mrs. Sprague is preparing to go in 
 search of the body, but Olympia won't give in that Jack is 
 killed. She says that if he had been she certainly would 
 have known it in Richmond, for there are couriers twice a 
 day from the rebel outposts to the capital ; that the Atter- 
 burys had taken special measures to learn the fate of tlie es- 
 caped prisoners; that, besides this, several young men in 
 Richmond, who knew Jack well, had been sent down the 
 peninsula with the prisoners, to befriend him in case he 
 were retaken." 
 
 " And Olympia believes that Jack is alive ? " 
 
 "Yes, firmly." 
 
 " Where does she think he is ? " 
 
 " She believes that he is among a squad separated from 
 the rest of the prisoners, near the Union lines. It was as- 
 serted in Richmond that many had crossed the James River, 
 and were making for the Dismal Swamp, or into Burnside's 
 lines in North Carolina." 
 
 "Dear Miss Merry, I I think I won't go in now," Kate
 
 A WOMAN'S REASON. 347 
 
 said, tremblingly. "I must see Olympia. Perhaps I can 
 help them in the search for Jack, and you know there is no 
 time to lose. I shall come and see you all soon." 
 
 She squeezed the astonished Merry's hand convulsively, 
 and shot off, leaving the bewildered lady quite speechless, so 
 speechless that, when she reached the stately presence of 
 Aunt Pliny, she forgot the commissions she had been sent 
 to execute, and was at once reviled by the parrot as " a no- 
 account dawdler." 
 
 Meanwhile, Kate, with wild, throbbing hope in her heart 
 that kindled color in her pale cheeks and light in her weary 
 eyes, sped away to the Spragues. There was no tremor in 
 the hand that raised the dragon-headed knocker, nor hesi- 
 tancy in the voice that bade the servant say that ''Miss 
 Boone requested a few moments' conversation with Miss 
 Sprague." 
 
 Olympia came presently into the reception-room, and the 
 girls met with a warm embrace. 
 
 " Ah, Olympia, I have been made so so glad by what 
 Merry tells me ! You do not believe that your brother is 
 dead ? " Her voice faltered, and Olympia, gazing at her 
 fixedly, said: 
 
 " No, I shall not believe Jack is dead until I see his body. 
 Poor mother, who believes the worst whenever we are out 
 of her sight, has given up all but the faintest hope. I shall 
 not. I know Jack so well. I know that it would take a 
 good deal to kill him, young and strong as he is. Besides 
 that, I know that the Atterburys would find means to let us 
 know, if there were any certainty as to his fate. Poor Jack ! 
 It would be an unendurable calamity if he were to die before 
 the monstrous calumnies that have been published about him 
 are proved lies." 
 
 " Dear Olympia, that is one reason of my coming. In my 
 horror at Rosedale, I, too, believed that John had been in a 
 plot to entrap Wesley; but I I know better now, and I 
 have come to tell you that it is no less my duty than my 
 right to see that your brother's memory is made as spotless 
 as his life."
 
 34:8 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 " I knew it ; I knew you would do it ; I told Jack so in 
 Richmond, almost the last words I said before he set out on 
 this miserable adventure. I told him you were not the girl 
 I took you for if you could believe him to be such a dastard, 
 when you had time to get over the shock of poor Wesley's 
 death. You never heard the whole story of that dreadful 
 night. I must tell it to you as he would if he were here, 
 and I know you would believe him.'' The two girls sat 
 down, hand in hand, and Olympia told the tale as it has 
 been set down in these pages. 
 
 Kate was sobbing when the story ended. She flung her 
 arms about Olympia's neck, and for a time the two sat silent, 
 tearful. 
 
 " Oh, why didn't he tell me this at the time ? It was not 
 Jack's bullet that entered poor Wesley's body. Jack was at 
 his right, at the side of the bed. Wesley's wound was on 
 the left side, and the shot must have come from Jones's 
 pistol!" 
 
 " I remember that ; but Jack's remorse put all thought of 
 everything else out of my head. I recall, perfectly, that the 
 wound was in Wesley's left side. Oh, if I could only get 
 that word to Jack ! If" 
 
 " I'll get it to him if he's alive. I, or mine, have been his 
 undoing! I shall make amends. Ah, Olympia, I I am 
 ashamed to feel so full of joy forgive me." 
 
 " It isn't your fault, dear, that you didn't know Jack as 
 we do," Olympia said, tenderly. 
 
 " What are your plans ? " Kate asked, presently. 
 
 " Mother insists upon going to the peninsula and exam- 
 ining the ground, questioning all who took part in the pur- 
 suit, and seeing with her own eyes every wounded man in 
 the neighborhood. I don't know whether we can get passes, 
 but we shall set out at once and do our best." 
 
 " Olympia, I must I must go with you ! I shall die if 
 I remain here doing nothing helpless! Let me go. lean 
 aid you much. I can surely get all the passports required. 
 I can do many things that you couldn't do, for my father r 
 
 She stopped and colored. Her father! What was she
 
 A WOMAN'S REASOX. 349 
 
 rashly promising for him ? Dead, he was bent on Jack's 
 dishonor ; living, he would never rest until Jack's life was 
 condemned. 
 
 "Ah, yes that's true. Your father is potent at head- 
 quarters. I can answer for mamma. We shall be delighted 
 and comforted to have you. I shall need you as much as 
 mamma needs me. We are only waiting for Mr. Brodie's 
 report. I don't expect much from his researches. It is only 
 a woman's heart that upholds one in such trials as this search 
 
 The plans were agreed upon at once and the two girls 
 separated, knit together by the same bond in more senses 
 than one, for, while Olympia set out to rescue her brother, 
 she secretly hoped that the search would bring her near 
 some one else ; and so, as soon as Kate had gone, she sat 
 down and wrote Vincent of Jack's disappearance, asking his 
 aid in finding such traces as might be in the rebel lines. 
 She merely alluded to their projected plan, adding, in a post- 
 script, that she would write him as soon as the party ap- 
 proached the outposts. Kate wrote at once to her father, at 
 his Washington address, narrating her visit to the Spragues, 
 telling him of the new hope that had come to her, and be- 
 seeching him to lend his whole heart to the distressed mother 
 and sister. He should see her in Washington within a few 
 days, and she counted on his sympathy with her to help to 
 restore the lost son and brother if alive, to co-operate in giv- 
 ing the body honorable burial if he were dead. These let- 
 ters dispatched, the party waited only to hear from Brodie. 
 He came a day or two later, but he could give them no hope. 
 He had been repelled from all sources of information, in- 
 sulted in the War Office, and denied access to the President. 
 He was convinced that there were secret influences at work 
 to obscure the true facts in the case of the escaped prisoners, 
 but what the agencies were he could not guess. When 
 Olympia told this to Kate, she was surprised at her look and 
 response. 
 
 "I know the influences, I think, and I can discover the 
 agencies. Take comfort. I believe Jack is alive. I prom-
 
 350 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 ise you that I shall never rest until he is found, alive or 
 dead." 
 
 "O Kate, what an impulsive ally we have gained! I 
 wish Jack could have heard that speech ; it would have put 
 power in his arm, as poor Barney used to say." 
 
 Twenty-four hours later the three women were in Wash- 
 ington, Kate remaining with her friends, instead of joining 
 her father at Willard's. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 A GAME OF CHANCE. 
 
 IT was the end of January, 1862, when Olympia and her 
 mother found themselves in Washington for the second 
 time in quest of the missing soldier. They took lodgings in 
 the same quiet house, not far from Lafayette Square Kate 
 with them. Kate counted upon her father's aid, active or 
 passive ; but when her messenger returned from Willard's 
 with word that Mr. Boone had gone from the hotel several 
 days before, she was numb with a dreadful foreboding. He 
 was avoiding her deliberately. She drove at once to the 
 hotel. The clerk summoned to her aid could only inform 
 her that her father had given up his room and had left the 
 hotel late at night. She could get no further clew. She tele- 
 graphed at once to Acredale and returned to the Spragues, 
 not daring to breathe her apprehensions. Yes, her father 
 was plainly keeping away from her. He meant to persist 
 in his savage vengeance. What had he learned ? Was 
 Jack indeed dead, and was his good name the object of her 
 father's hatred ? Whither should she turn ? Why had she 
 not thought of this her fathers passivity or even opposi- 
 tion ? How could she reveal her terrors to the mother and 
 sister ? How make known to them the unworthy side of 
 her father's character ? If in the morning no telegram came
 
 A GAME OF CHANCE. 351 
 
 from Acredale, it would be proof that her father was bent, 
 implacably in his purpose to undo Jack, living or dead. 
 When she reached the lodging, Olympia was dressed for the 
 street. 
 
 " You are just in time. I have matured my plans. First, 
 we must find out at the proper quarter the names of all the 
 wounded brought here from Fort Monroe. Then we must 
 trace the report in the Herald down to its origin. Then we 
 must visit every hospital in and near Washington to find 
 out from actual sight of each man whether Jack or Dick, or 
 any one we know, is in the city. As we go on, we shall 
 learn a good deal which may modify this plan, or perhaps 
 make the search less difficult." 
 
 Olympia said this with composure and a certain confi- 
 dence in herself that struck Kate with admiration. She felt 
 ashamed of herself. Here was Olympia, unconscious of 
 Jack's real peril if living, the menace to his reputation if 
 dead, planning as composedly as if it were an every-day 
 thing to have a brother lost in the appalling mazes of war; 
 and she had been weakly depending upon her father, Jack's 
 most persevering enemy ! She recoiled from herself in a 
 shiver of self-reproach as she said: 
 
 " Olympia, you have the good sense of a man in an emer- 
 gency. I am ashamed of myself. I, who ought to do the 
 thinking for you, am as helpless as a kitchen-maid set to 
 playing lady in the parlor. I can at least help you; I can 
 make my body follow you, if I haven't sense enough to 
 suggest." 
 
 '* Dear Kate, it isn't sense, or insight, or any fine quality 
 of mind that is needed here. All I ask is, that you won't 
 get dispirited, or, if you do, don't let mamma see you are. 
 Poor mamma ! She is as easily influenced as a baby. Jack 
 is her darling, remember. All the world is a small affair 
 to her compared with our poor boy. I fancy, if we were as 
 much wrapped up in him as she is, we should make poor 
 pioneers in the wilderness before us." 
 
 But Kate could stand no more of this. With a choking 
 sob she turned and fled up the stairway, crying as she 
 23
 
 352 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 disappeared : " Wait wait a moment ; I must get my 
 purse." 
 
 When she reappeared, the heavy mourning-veil was 
 drawn down, and Olympia, with a reassured glance, opened 
 the door. 
 
 " You must affect confidence, if you have it not even 
 gayety. I warn you not to be shocked at my conduct. I 
 must keep up mamma's spirits, and to do it I must play in- 
 difference or confidence, and you must be careful to say 
 nothing, to do nothing, to excite her suspicions." 
 
 Kate's cab had driven off, and the two girls walked 
 through Lafayette Square into Pennsylvania Avenue to get 
 another. The wide streets were filled, as of old, with skur- 
 rying orderlies, groups of lounging officers, and lumbering 
 army wagons. But even the untrained eyes of Olympia 
 soon took account of the better discipline, the more business- 
 like celerity of the men on duty as well as the flying couri- 
 ers. The White House was gay with bunting, and salutes 
 from the distant forts were signalizing the news that had 
 just come of Union successes at Mill Spring and Roanoke 
 Island. The girls, procuring a hack, were driven to the 
 provost-general's office. Here, after an interminable delay 
 they were admitted to the presence of a complacent young 
 coxcomb in spotless regimentals, who, so soon as he saw 
 Olympia's face and bearing, threw off the listlessness of 
 routine, and, rising deferentially, asked her pleasure. She 
 told her story simply, and asked his advice as to the course 
 to be followed. When the extract from the Herald was 
 shown to him, he examined an enormous folio, and then 
 rang a bell. 
 
 "It is more than likely that these names are wrong. 
 This happens constantly. The operators are raw and some 
 of them can barely read. The names are given hurriedly, 
 and if not written plainly they make wretched work of 
 them. The newspapers make many a fool famous, while 
 neglecting many a hero who deserves fame, simply through 
 the blundering or carelessness of the writers or operators. 
 Here is an orderly who will take you to the surgeon-gen-
 
 A GAME OF CHANCE. 353 
 
 eral. You will find in his books the names of all the wound- 
 ed in hospital in the Eastern armies. But if your brother 
 was wounded or brought in wounded at Fort Monroe, his 
 name will be on the books of the Army of the Potomac or 
 the Department of Eastern Virginia." 
 
 They were treated with the same deferential gallantry at 
 the surgeon-general's office; the young doctors, indeed, be- 
 came almost obtrusive in their eagerness to spare the young 
 women the drudgery of scrutinizing the long lists of inva- 
 lids. But, after two days' careful search, no names resem- 
 bling Sprague or Perley could be found. 
 
 " I wonder who this can be ? " Kate said, returning to an 
 entry made a month before: " Jones, Warch ester ; Caribee 
 Regiment." 
 
 " I know no one of that name," Olympia said, " but per- 
 haps he might know something of Jack. Let us go to him. 
 It will do no harm to find out who he is." 
 
 The surgeon's clerk readily gave them Jones's address, 
 reminding them that the hospital was in Georgetown, and 
 that they would be too late to obtain entrance to the patient 
 that day. Next morning Mrs. Sprague was too ill to rise 
 from her bed, and Olympia could not leave her alone. Kate 
 undertook the investigation into the Jones affair alone. 
 When she reached the hospital there was some delay before 
 she could see the personage intrusted with the admission of 
 guests. She was shown into an office on the ground-floor 
 and given a seat. As she sat, distraught and eager, she 
 heard her own name in the next room, the door of which 
 stood open : 
 
 " It's at Boone's risk. He would have him moved, and 
 the surgeon-general gave him carte blanche with the pa- 
 tient." 
 
 " Well, it will cost the man his life. I'll stake my diplo- 
 ma on that. Why, the journey to Warchester alone is 
 enough to down the most vigorous convalescent." 
 
 Kate trembled. What did this mean ? What was 'she 
 hearing ? Boone Warchester ? Whom had her father been 
 taking from the hospital Jack ? Her heart gave a wild
 
 354 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 leap. Yes Jack. Who else did her father know in the 
 army ? She arose trembling 1 , fainting, but resolute. She 
 reached the open door, but tried for a moment in vain to 
 ask: 
 
 " If you please, tell me, tell me " But she could say no 
 more. The occupants of the room, in undress uniform, 
 turned upon her at first in hostile surprise, but, as she threw 
 her veil farther back in alarm, the elder of the two said : 
 
 " Pray, madam, what is it ; are you ill ? " 
 
 " No ; may I sit down, please ? Thank you. I am come 
 to, to " What should she say ? How expose the doubt of 
 her father ? How find out for certain who had been re- 
 moved to Warchester abducted was the word her agitated 
 thoughts shaped. Oh, if Olyrnpia, intrepid, self-possessed, 
 were only with her ! but no, not Olympia ; no one must 
 ever know the unutterable crime she suspected her father 
 of. She must be brave. She must be resolute. Oh, where 
 were her arts now, when she most needed them ? She tried 
 to speak. A hoarse gasping came in her throat and died 
 there. 
 
 " Ah ah some water ! I I am faint. " 
 
 In an instant a goblet of cool water was at her lips. She 
 drank slowly, deliberating all the time to recover her senses ; 
 the surgeons both young men, mere lads waiting respect- 
 fully, inferring much from the melancholy robes. The 
 water cooled her head, and she began to be able to think 
 coherently. 
 
 " I have the surgeon-general's permit to visit a patient in 
 your fever ward Jones, the name is. Can I see him ? " 
 
 " Pray, let me see the permit, madam ? " He glanced at 
 it, looked significantly at his comrade, and said: 
 
 " This man was removed three days ago." 
 
 "Whereto?" 
 
 "Warchester." 
 
 " Ah! " Kate's veil, by an imperceptible gesture, fell over 
 part of her face. A great trembling came upon her again. 
 The young surgeons exchanged glances. 
 
 "Who who did who asked for his removal ?"
 
 A GAME OF CHANCE. 355 
 
 " A Mr. Boone, also of Warchester." 
 
 "Thank you I am too late I wanted to to ask this 
 Mr. Jones some questions concerning a dear friend in his 
 regiment. But I can write, if you will kindly give me the 
 address." 
 
 " I am very sorry beyond Warchester we have no record 
 here of his whereabouts. If he had been officially trans- 
 ferred to another government hospital, we should have 
 all the facts. But the removal was a personal favor to 
 Mr. Boone. He is well known both here and in Warches- 
 ter, and you can have no difficulty in communicating with 
 him." 
 
 {k Ah, true; I had forgotten that." 
 
 "If we can be of any service to you, Miss Sprague," the 
 young man said, handing Kate back the permit, made out 
 in Olympia's name, which Kate had never thought of, " you 
 can always reach us through the surgeon-general's office." 
 He handed her a card with his own and his comrade's name 
 in pencil. 
 
 Thanking the young man with as much self-possession as 
 she could summon, Kate reached the carriage in a whirl of 
 wild imaginings, more terrifying as she strove to reduce 
 them to definite shape. Who was this Jones ? Why remove 
 him to Warchester ? If it were not Jack, what interest could 
 her father have in his removal ? But. first, what could she 
 say to Olympia ? She could say she did not know Jones, 
 but Olympia would surely ask what questions she had put 
 to him. What should she say ? That he had been taken 
 away from the hospital ? She knew Olympia well enough 
 to know that this vague story would only incite her to 
 further inquiry. She would find out the father's handiwork 
 in the affair, and she, too, would be set on the rack of sus- 
 picion. 
 
 When the carriage reached the door, Kate dared not 
 enter. She dismissed the man and set out toward the green 
 fields below the rounded slope of Meridian Hill. Here she 
 could breathe freely. " I can think clearly now," she panted, 
 with a gush of warm tears. If she could only remain calm,
 
 356 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 she could look into the black abyss with the eye of reason, 
 rather than terror. Calmness came soothingly as she walked, 
 and she began at the beginning, weighing probabilities. All 
 seemed dark and hopeless, until she came back to the record 
 in the surgeon-general's office. Jones, sent from Hampton 
 Hospital, December 13th. This was about the time Jack had 
 reached the Union lines. He had left Richmond late in 
 November. All Brodie's inquiries at Fort Monroe had been 
 fruitless in finding the whereabouts of the fugitives that 
 came through the lines at that tune. Dick had been one of 
 them. If Jones were not Jack himself, he must have been 
 one of the group that escaped with Jack. It all led back to 
 the first frightful conjecture. Her father was abducting a 
 witness who could divulge Jack's whereabouts, or he was 
 secreting Jack until he could work him harm. The walk 
 began to revive Kate's courage as well as her faculties. She 
 must act with energy. The hardest part of the problem was 
 to get clear of Olympia, for Kate at once made up her mind 
 to quit Washington that very night for home. She must 
 evade Olympia's inquiries as best she could, and make some 
 excuse for journeying thither. 
 
 When she reached home, fortune had intervened to save 
 her conscience from the falsehoods she feared she would 
 have to employ. The landlady met her in the hallway with 
 a white face. 
 
 " O Miss Boone, Mrs. Sprague is taken very bad. The 
 doctor's with her now. I think it is typhoid fever." 
 
 Up-stairs misfortune gave her a further release. Olympia 
 came into Kate's room, agitated and in tears. 
 
 "Ah, Kate, mamma is suffering pitiably. The doctor 
 thinks it is typhoid, and he ordered me to remain away 
 from her. You must leave the house. It won't do for all 
 of us to be ill together. I may not be able to see you for 
 days, until the crisis is past, But you must continue the 
 search, and you must let me know, from day to day, what 
 you learn. There are letters for you I hear mamma. I 
 will be back in a moment." 
 
 Kate fairly hated herself for the passing thrill of relief
 
 A GAME OF CHAXCE. 357 
 
 over the timely illness that had intervened to expedite her 
 mission. She glanced over the letters. There was one in 
 hai- father's hand, postmarked Acredale. It contained no 
 clew to his purpose^, but she read tremblingly: 
 
 ''MY DAUGHTER: You are doing a foolish thing. The 
 search you propose can lead to nothing. All that can be done 
 has been done by his friends. They have found no trace of 
 him. Women can not hope to succeed where so keen a man 
 as Brodie has failed. I have every confidence that in good 
 time the matter will be cleared up, but you must remember 
 that the Government and its agents have all they can do to 
 manage and keep track of the millions of soldiers in the 
 field, and they can not be expected to take much interest in 
 the fate of the wounded or dead. Always affectionately, 
 
 "YOUR FATHER." 
 
 All doubt of her father's sinister intervention ha Jack's 
 disappearance now took the form of certainty in the girl's 
 mind. When Olympia came back, a few moments later, 
 Kate said, tenderly : 
 
 " I have news from home. I must go back at once. It 
 is less of a grief to me, since I should be banished from you 
 if I were here. I shall not be gone long. I shall certainly 
 be back as soon as you can receive me. In the mean while, 
 don't despair. I have been put on a new trail that I can 
 not explain to you now. But I can say this much, when 
 you see me again you shall know whether Jack is alive or 
 dead." 
 
 Olympia, who had been so strong, cheery, and masterful 
 when it had been a question of reassuring her mother, was 
 now the stricken spirit. She looked at Kate through swim- 
 ming eyes, and her voice was lost in sobs as she tried to 
 speak. The girls held each other in a tearful silence, neither 
 able to say what was in the minds of both. Even the un- 
 certainty had a sort of solace compared with the dreadful 
 possibility of the worst. 
 
 " Remember, dear, you have your mother. What is our
 
 358 THE IRON CAME. 
 
 poor grief to hers ; what is our loss to hers ? It ought to 
 comfort you to know that whatever human thought, cour- 
 age, love can do to recover Jack, I shall do, just as you 
 would in my place. I am very strong and resolute now, and 
 I am filled with hope so filled that I can not talk to you. I 
 dare not let you see how much I hope, lest if it be not ful- 
 filled you will hate me for inspiring you with it." 
 
 "I will hope. I do believe you will do better than I 
 should. The loving are the daring you will find Jack. I 
 know it." 
 
 "Ah, God bless you, Olympia! That removes a curse 
 from me I I mean that fills me with a courage that is not 
 my own. I have learned yours or stolen it. But you will 
 forgive me, for I mean to use it all in your behalf." 
 
 Olympia smiled sadly, and the two parted. By the night 
 express Kate left the city, and, the next afternoon, reached 
 Acredale. As she anticipated, her father was not at home. 
 He had only been an hour or two in the house since his re- 
 turn. The servants had no idea where he was. His letters 
 were forwarded to him under cover of his lawyers in War- 
 chester. If, as she fearfully surmised, her father were en- 
 gaged in some cruel scheme to the hurt of Jack, her best 
 way with him would be perfect frankness. She had never 
 yet failed in swerving him from his most headstrong im- 
 pulses when she could talk with him. She must have him 
 now to herself. Her best plan, therefore, would be to write. 
 Yet she hardly knew how to frame the note, reflecting bit- 
 terly, as she sat twirling her pen, on the monstrous state of 
 things that made writing to her own father almost a du- 
 plicity. At length she wrote : 
 
 " DEAREST PAPA: I am come all the way from Washing- 
 ton, leaving poor Mrs. Sprague very low with fever, and her 
 daughter tormented and ill with anxiety. I feel, I know, 
 that you can relieve the distress of this miserable mother 
 and devoted sister. I must see you. I felt sure of seeing 
 you in Washington, and you can imagine my surprise and 
 grief when they told me at the hotel that you had gone. Do
 
 A GAME OF CHANCE. 359 
 
 come to me, or let me come to you. Your daughter's place 
 is with you or near you now. We have only each other 
 in this world ; pray, dear father, let nothing come between 
 us ; let nothing make you doubt the constant love of your 
 daughter. KATE." 
 
 The note dispatched, she went immediately to the Per- 
 leys. Perhaps they had news that might be of help. No. 
 The three ladies met her with agitated volubility. Had she 
 heard from their nephew ? Had Dick escaped with Jack ? 
 Olympia had assured them that he had quitted Eichmond 
 with her brother. They had written to the Caribee regi- 
 ment, and received word that no trace of him could be 
 found. The regiment, or what was left of it, was home re- 
 filling its ranks. The officers, indeed, knew nothing of such 
 a person as Richard Perley. McGoyle, who was now colonel, 
 did vaguely recall the lad at Washington, but had no idea 
 what became of him. Kate found a new grief in the misery 
 of the helpless ladies. But she could give them no comfort, 
 and returned home to to await her father's coming. In the 
 evening a messenger brought her a note. It was in the 
 straight, emphatic hand of her father. He wrote : 
 
 "DEAR DAUGHTER: I am just now engaged in very im- 
 portant matters that require me to move about considera- 
 bly. I shall not be home for some days. I am glad you 
 have come home. That's the place for you. You had bet- 
 ter let the matter you speak of alone. The mother and sis- 
 ter are enough in the business. I don't see how it concerns 
 you or me. If the man is dead it will be known as soon as 
 the commissioners of exchange hand in their lists. If he is 
 not dead, it is certainly no business of yours or mine to bring 
 him home. I will write you soon again. Love your father. 
 Keep the house well till I come." 
 
 That was all. More than evasive. Subtly calculated to 
 make her believe that he had dismissed all thought of Jack 
 and was immersed in his own affairs. She sat staring and
 
 360 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 helpless, a cold horror creeping into her heart and a name- 
 less terror taking outline in her senses. Hideous alterna- 
 tive. To be coherent she must suspect, nay, accuse, her 
 father of a dreadful duplicity. He was deceiving her; else 
 why no mention of his mission to Washington his abduc- 
 tion of Jones ? Jones ! Who was he ? Oh, blind and sense- 
 less that she had been ! Why had she not asked the young 
 men at Georgetown to describe Jones ? That would have 
 revealed all she needed to know. Was it too late to write 
 them ? Yes ; but could she throw suspicion upon her 
 father by writing to strangers, and of necessity exposing 
 the sinister secrecy of her father's action. But she could 
 hurry back to Washington, and, without letting the young 
 men know, get a descriptive list. This she resolved to do. 
 Twenty-four hours later she was in Washington. The 
 journey was thrown away. The descriptive list had been 
 sent by the hospital steward with the invalid. He could be 
 found in the military hospital in Warchester. His name 
 was Leander Elkins. This was something gained. Two 
 days later she was at the hospital in Warchester. The stew- 
 ard, Elkins, came to her in the waiting-room. He was a 
 young giant in stature, with light flaxen hair, a merry blue 
 eye, and so bashful in the presence of a woman that he col- 
 ored rosily as Kate asked him if he was the person she had 
 sent for. 
 
 " Yes'm, I'm Lee Elkins," he stammered, very much per- 
 plexed to find ease for his large hands and ample feet. 
 
 " Are you is Mr. Jones, who came from the Georgetown 
 Hospital, in your care ? " Kate had thought out her course 
 in advance, and had decided that the direct way was the 
 best. Unless the man had been charged to conceal facts, 
 an apparent knowledge of Jones's movements would be the 
 surest way of eliciting his whereabouts. 
 
 " Oh no, miss, Jones wa'nt brought here ; he was took to 
 a private place. I don't rightly know where, but I calcu- 
 late I ken find eout ef ye want to know." 
 
 "Yes, I should like very much to know. I am deeply in- 
 terested in him. Did you have charge of him ? "
 
 A GAME OF CHANCE. 361 
 
 " I can't say I did. I was sent from Washington in the 
 same train, but the old chap that got Jones removed did all 
 the nussing. I only got a sight of him as he was lifted into 
 the carriage." 
 
 " Should you know him again if you saw him ? " 
 
 " Think I should. Yes'm, think I should. His head was 
 about as big as a pumpkin." 
 
 " He had been wounded ? " 
 
 " Well, I should say so." 
 
 "Have you seen the gentleman that brought him on 
 from Washington lately ? " 
 
 " Not here, mum ; I did see him in the street the other 
 day. He was in a wagon leastwise, it looked mighty like 
 him." 
 
 Kate began to breathe more freely. Her father had, at 
 least, avoided any collusion with inferiors. His handiwork 
 had been natural, involving no conspiracy or bribing of 
 menials. 
 
 " Do you think you could find out for me where Mr. Jones 
 is?" 
 
 "Wall, I reckon it could be done. It may take some 
 days, as I must trust to the luck of running upon old Do- 
 funny again." 
 
 Kate started. " Old Dofunny " the unsuspecting humor- 
 ist meant her father by this jocular nom de guerr'e, and she 
 dared not resent it. How should she gain her end and yet 
 save herself from the humiliation of seeming to spy upon 
 her father ? It wouldn't do for Elkins to go to him, for he 
 would at once suspect, inquire, and learn that she had come 
 upon his tracks. If she could only see him face to face, she 
 would be spared all this odious complotting. But she dared 
 not reject the means Providence had put in her hands. And 
 yet, how use them, and avoid throwing suspicion upon her 
 father in cautioning Elkins not to approach him ? She was 
 not equal to the invention of a plan on the moment, and 
 said in a doubting, reflective way: 
 
 " Never mind. I may be able to learn from some of his 
 friends where he is. The gentleman you speak of does not
 
 362 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 live in this city, and you would hai'dly be able to find him. 
 If I could find him I could find Mr. Jones." 
 
 " Ah, yes ; jes' so. Wall, I think I can find him in 
 another way. I remember the carriage that took him from 
 the station. I can find out from the driver. 'T'wan't no 
 mystery, I reckon." 
 
 Kate looked into the innocent blue eyes as the young fel- 
 low scratched his tow head, wondering whether he was as 
 simple-minded as he seemed. He stood the scrutiny with 
 blushing restiveness, in which there was nothing of the 
 malign, and she resolved that he was to be trusted. 
 
 " Very well," she said, indifferently, " that does seem the 
 shortest way to find out the poor fellow's whereabouts. Get 
 the facts, and you shall be well paid for your trouble." 
 
 " 'Tain't no trouble, miss, if it's a service to you. It would 
 make me powerful glad to do anything for a comrade or his 
 
 Kate smiled at the astute mingling of sly fun and ques- 
 tioning implied in the gently rising inflection in this query. 
 
 "Yes," she said, "you will be relieving the anxious heart 
 of a sister if you find what I am seeking." 
 
 " Nuff said, miss. Just as soon as I get my relief I'm off 
 like a shot. Where shall you be ? " 
 
 " Ah, yes ; you can come to me at the Alburn House. 
 Here is my card, and you will doubtless be at some expense. 
 Here is money to pay spare no expense." 
 
 The big eyes opened in wonder as Kate handed him three 
 new ten-dollar greenbacks, just then something of a novelty 
 to soldiers especially, who got their pay infrequently. It 
 was a bold stroke to intrust her name to this unconscious 
 agent of her father, for, if he were really playing a part, his 
 first act would be to reveal her visit and thus set her father 
 on his guard. But she trusted him implicitly. His wide- 
 open blue eyes, the artless admiration mingling with his 
 bashful diffidence, all were proof that he could not be de- 
 ceiving her. She took rooms at the Alburn House, which 
 was not the chief hotel, as being better adapted for her pur- 
 pose of seclusion. At the big hotel she was known, and if
 
 A GAME OF CHANCE. 363 
 
 her father were in town she would be under his espionage 
 without the solace of writing him. Late in the evening her 
 agent came in radiant. He had found the man. 
 
 "Easy as rolling off a log." The hackman had taken 
 him to the house where Jones was lying. It was on the 
 outskirts of the city toward Acredale. He described the 
 house. Kate knew it very well. It was the property of her 
 father. 
 
 " Did you see the patient ? " 
 
 " No, indeed. You didn't tell me to, and I had nothing to 
 see him for. Ef you had told me that you wanted I should 
 see him, I'd have seen him as easy as greased lightning." 
 
 " Thank you. I am relieved of a great burden through 
 your kindness. You must permit me to give you something 
 to show my gratitude. Here, use this money for some one 
 who needs it, if you do not need it yourself." 
 
 " But I don't need it. Here is what you gave me this 
 morning, 'cept a half-dollar I spent in treating John. I 
 couldn't think of taking so much money. I'ts more'n Uncle 
 Sam allows me for five months' pay." 
 
 " No, I shall feel distressed if you do not accept it. You 
 can find use for it. It will bring you luck, for it is the re- 
 ward of a very important sei'vice. Perhaps some time we 
 may meet again, and then you shall know how important." 
 
 The tow hair stood up in wild dismay, and the blue eyes 
 were perfect saucepans, as Kate gently forced the money 
 into the big palm. 
 
 " Wall, I vum, miss, I feel like I was a-robbing you, but 
 ef yeou deu want I should take it, why I will, and send it to 
 my old mother, who will find plenty o' use for it. Good-by, 
 miss. Ef you should want me again. I'm at the hospital. 
 I shall be mitey tickled to do anything for yeou or your 
 brother."
 
 361 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 TWO BLADES OF THE SAME STEEL. 
 
 IT was too late to follow up the discovery that night. 
 Kate, after a feverish rest, set out early in the morning. 
 She went first to Acredale, where she could get her own 
 equipage and driver. The tenants of the house did not 
 know her. She rang boldly at the door, and when a maid 
 answered, quite taken aback by the girlish figure in deep 
 black, Kate asked, confidently : 
 
 " I want to see the sick man, Mr. Jones." 
 
 "Yes'm. Come right in. This way, please, ma'am." 
 The girl led the way up a flight of stairs, but if she had 
 been part of the balustrade Kate could not have been more 
 immovable. Whom was she about to see ? Jack, wan, ema- 
 ciated, on the verge of the grave ? They had said in Wash- 
 ington that the journey would kill him ; was it to that end 
 her relentless father had persisted in the removal ? Was 
 she about to see the dying brought to death's door by her 
 own flesh and blood ? She reeled against the stair-post and 
 brought her veil over her face. The girl had turned above 
 and was waiting in wonder. With a desperate gathering 
 together of her relaxed forces, she mounted the stairway. 
 In the corridor the girl turned to a closed doorway and 
 knocked lightly. There was no sound within ; but the door 
 swung open, and Elisha Boone stood on the threshold. He 
 did not in the dim light observe the figure in black, but, 
 looking at the maid, said, softly: 
 
 "What's wanted, Sarah ?" 
 
 " A young lady to see Mr. Jones, sir," and, stepping slight- 
 ly aside for Kate to enter, the father recognized the visitor. 
 
 " You here, Kate ? What does this mean ? " 
 
 With a great throb of joy she flung herself into his arms ; 
 too happy, too relieved to take into consideration the defeat 
 of her purpose involved in the meeting. For an instant she 
 lost all thought of anything but that her estranged parent 
 was in her arms, that she would not let him quit her sight
 
 TWO BLADES OF THE SAME STEEL. 365 
 
 again, that her pleading would keep him from any act that 
 could cause her or any one else unhappiness. 
 
 "Ah, father, I'm so relieved, so glad! I was miserable, 
 and did not know where you were. I I will not let you 
 leave me again." 
 
 " But my child, you must not be here ; this is a house of 
 sickness; there is dangerous illness here." 
 
 " It's no more dangerous for me than for you. I know 
 who is here." She looked archly at him, as he started in 
 surprise. "I will help nurse Mr. Jones." She said this 
 with immense knovviiigness in her manner as she squeezed 
 the astonished man to her heart. The maid meanwhile had 
 retreated to a safe distance, where she lurked in covert to 
 make report of the extraordinary goings on. 
 
 " Impossible, Kate ; you must not be here. I will not 
 have it ; you must go. " His voice grew stern. " You must 
 go, I say, Kate ; you must go down-stairs this instant." 
 
 "Come, Bodne, I say, this isn't fair; let the lady come in 
 if she wants to see valor laid low." Boone, who had been 
 insensibly moving Kate from the open doorway, caught her 
 eye fixed on the room, and looking over his shoulder at 
 these jocular words he saw Jones leaning against the post, a 
 wan smile on his face. Boone turned, almost flinging Kate 
 from him, and, fairly lifting the invalid, carried him back 
 into the room. 
 
 "This is madness; you are in no condition to rise. I 
 won't be responsible for your life if you persist in this 
 course." 
 
 " So much trouble off your hands, old man. I'll be more 
 use to you dead than living. Better let me blow my own 
 flame out. It won't burn long at best or worst." 
 
 In the overwhelming revulsion of feeling brought about 
 by the actual sight of Jones, Kate stood, interdicted, in the 
 corridor, uncertain what to do. She heard the man's words 
 and shuddered at the bantering levity with which he spoke 
 of his own death. Who could it be ? It was not Jack, as 
 she had feared and hoped. But he must know something of 
 Jack. She must speak with him. How ? It would not do
 
 366 T * IE IRON GAME - 
 
 to irritate her father. She caught Boone's almost whispered 
 words : 
 
 " I tell you, Jones, you shall be brought about, but you 
 know the danger of seeing any Acredale people. My daugh- 
 ter knows you knows the Perleys. I should think that 
 would be reason enough why you should not be seen by 
 her." 
 
 " Oh, I don't mind ; the sight of a pretty girl is the best 
 medicine I know of. I'd risk all Acredale for that." 
 
 Kate turned softly and waited at the foot of the stairs for 
 her father. He came presently, looking worried and em- 
 barrassed. 
 
 " Now don't go to imagining mysteries here. This is a 
 man who has been 011 my hands a good many years. He 
 is an irreclaimable spendthrift. He was in other days a 
 man of repute and station. I am interested in him, through 
 old ties, since the days we were boys." 
 
 "The carriage is here, papa; won't you come home with 
 me?" 
 
 "Yes; you get into the carriage." 
 
 He reappeared presently, the face of a strange woman, 
 that Kate had not seen, peering over his shoulder into the 
 carriage as he came down the steps. Kate instantly divined 
 that he had been warning the landlady against admitting 
 strangers to the sick man's room. During the drive home 
 Kate strove to reassert her old dominion over the moody 
 figure at her side. It was useless. As the carriage stopped 
 at the door he turned toward her and said, not unkindly : 
 
 " Daughter, there are some things I know better how to 
 manage than you do. You have been spying on your father. 
 This is another count in the long score of grudges I owe the 
 Sprague tribe and their scoundrel son. Understand me clear- 
 ly, my child; you must not speak of this matter again. The 
 whole business will soon be at an end ; that end is in my 
 hands, and no power this side the grave can alter a fact in 
 the outcome. You are very dear to me ; you are all I have 
 loft in the world ; you must trust me, and you must believe 
 that I am doing everything for the best. Try to think that
 
 TWO BLADES OF THE SAME STEEL. 367 
 
 the world is not coming to an end because I insist on hav- 
 ing my own way' for once." 
 
 Nothing but the sense of having giving hostages to good 
 behavior rather than honor upheld Kate in the line she had 
 marked out for herself. She was not, in the modern sense 
 of the word, a strong-minded young woman, this sorely be- 
 set champion of the overborne. She hadn't even the per- 
 versity of the sex in love. Chivalrously as she loved the 
 lost soldier, she loved her father with that old-fashioned 
 veneration which made her see all that he did with the 
 moral indistinctness, without which there could not be the 
 perfect filial devotion that makes the family a union in good 
 report and evil. She had not even that, by no means repel- 
 lent, secondary egoism which upholds us in doing ungrate- 
 ful things that abstract good may follow. Opposition, which 
 becomes delightful when we can call it persecution, had no 
 charm for her. If her father had suddenly adopted the 
 r6 7 e of the stern parent in novels and ordered her to her 
 chamber, Kate would have regarded it as a joke, and felt 
 rather relieved that she could thus escape the pledge given 
 to the Spragues. But, as it was, she felt morally bound by 
 her promise to Olympia ; and, though she realized dimly that 
 her instrumentality was slowly involving her father in a 
 coil of unloveliness, she resolutely braced herself for the 
 worst, In spite of herself she had believed in conquering 
 her father's severity and changing his mind. She had res- 
 cued him from revenges quite as dear to him as this, at least 
 so far as she understood it, forgetting that her father be- 
 lieved himself to be pursuing the deliberate murderer of his 
 son. When we have achieved a victory over our own less 
 noble impulses and put the sophistries that misled us behind 
 us, it is impossible to realize that others have not the same 
 vision, the same mind as our own. Kate had accused Jack 
 of cold-blooded murder. She had reasoned herself out of 
 that hateful spirit, and, forgetting that her father had not 
 the vital force of love to act as a fulcrum, she could not 
 quite comprehend how difficult it was to shift the wrathful 
 burden in his mind. She had gone too far to recede now 
 24
 
 368 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 with honor. Olympia had trusted her, had indeed given 
 over into her hands the active work of finding the strangely 
 lost clew of Jack's whereabouts. Perhaps for her father's 
 sake it was better that she should be the instrument. She 
 might be able to dissemble his intervention, shield him from 
 obloquy if, as she feared, he was responsible for anything 
 doubtful. 
 
 She knew her father too well to suppose that he would 
 flinch from any measure he had proposed to himself. She 
 knew that she need not count any further upon her accus- 
 tomed powers of persuasion. His own words were final on 
 that score. If she could only learn his intentions ! If she 
 could be sure that he was ulteriorly shaping events against 
 Jack was acquainted with his whereabouts she would 
 have known exactly what to do. But, pilloried in doubt, 
 shackled by the dread of exposing him in some hateful 
 malevolence which would forever disgrace him in the com- 
 munity, she hardly dared stir, though she felt that every 
 hour's delay was a new peril to Jack in some way. The 
 more she thought of the scene of the morning, the surer she 
 felt that Jones or Mr. Dick, as her father sometimes called 
 him was in some way an instrument in the paternal scheme. 
 If she could but see Jones ten minutes ! Her father, she well 
 knew, had guarded against that. Whom could she send in 
 her place ? Ah ! there was the double check. She couldn't 
 expose her father to a stranger; yet if her apprehensions 
 were grounded on anything more substantial than fear, 
 strangers must in time know all. Could Merry be made 
 use of ? No that would not do. The libertine tone of the 
 invalid, his impudent allusion to herself, convinced Kate 
 that a man must be her agent, if any one were to be. But 
 what man did she know ? If she sent any of the servants, 
 her father would recognize them, and the attempt fail. She 
 had trusted Elkins. He seemed an honest, incurious lad, 
 just the one to be trusted in the business. She could in- 
 vent a fable which would satisfy his ready credulity without 
 compromising her father. It was plain that he was the only 
 resource. She dressed at once and returned to the Alburn.
 
 TWO BLADES OF THE SAME STEEL. 369 
 
 Thence she dispatched a note to Elkins, begging him to call 
 at his earliest leisure. While waiting his return, she wrote 
 a letter to be handed to Jones. This was a work of no little 
 ingenuity, forced as she was to avoid all allusion to her father 
 and the scene of the morning. When completed, this stroke 
 of the conspiracy ran : 
 
 " DEAR SIR: A mother and sister who have exhausted all 
 official sources in vain to get trace of a lost son and brother, 
 John Sprague of the Caribees, have reason to believe that 
 you can give them a clew to his whereabouts. Will you 
 therefore kindly confide in the bearer of this letter, giving 
 him by word of mouth such facts as will enable John 
 Sprague's relatives to work intelligently in the search for 
 him, living or dead ? 
 
 " Very truly yours, 
 
 KATHERINE BOONE." 
 
 It was hardly written when Elkins himself appeared, 
 radiant with satisfaction and blushing like a peony under 
 lamplight. 
 
 " Yeour note came just in th' nick o' time. I have leave 
 of absence for twenty-four hours, and was just goin' inter 
 teown." 
 
 " If you can spare me the day, I have a very important 
 matter I think you can attend to for me. I want you to go 
 to the sick man Jones. You must see before entering wheth- 
 er he is alone or not. I don't know how you can find out, 
 but you can invent some way. If you see the man who 
 brought him from Washington, you are not to enter. But 
 if you find that he is not in the house, ask boldly for Jones, 
 and when you reach him hand him this note. He will give 
 you an answer, and you must be careful not to lose a word, 
 for life depends on the accuracy of your report. I fancy 
 that your regimentals and hospital badge can gain you ad- 
 mission, if, as I have reason to believe, there are orders to 
 refuse strangers admission. I depend on you to overcome 
 any difficulty you may meet. If you knew how much de-
 
 370 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 pends upon it, I'm sure you would not be baffled by any- 
 thing less than force." 
 
 The big blue eyes were fairly bulging, like two monster 
 morning-glories, as Elkins, putting the note carefully in his 
 jacket pocket, said, softly: 
 
 " Ef I don't get thet 'ere letter into Jones's hands, you 
 may have me drummed out o' camp by the mule-drivers." 
 
 " I believe you, and trust you. I shall be here to-morrow 
 morning early, and shall hope to hear something from you. 
 Good-by." 
 
 "Good-by, miss. Just you make up your mind I am 
 goin' to do what you command." 
 
 When she reached home she found her father in the 
 library. He looked at her inquiringly as she came over and 
 kissed him. 
 
 " I have been in town all day, and am run out." 
 
 " Still plotting ? " 
 
 "Yes, still plotting." 
 
 "You're wasting your time, my dear. You'll know all 
 you care to soon enough, if you'll just keep quiet." 
 
 " Yes ; but I can't. I want to know all you know, and I 
 want to know it now." 
 
 "All I know wouldn't be much, according to the 
 Spragues, who gave me my status in this town, long ago, as 
 an ignoramus." 
 
 " Perhaps you were then, papa." 
 
 " Yes ; I hadn't been schooled fifteen years by my accom- 
 plished daughter." 
 
 "A lie is truth to those who only tell the truth." 
 
 " What does that mean ? " 
 
 "It's simple enough a home-made epigram. People 
 who tell nothing but the truth are easiest made to believe 
 a lie. The Spragues had heard of you as ignorant, and be- 
 lieved it. You can't blame them for that." 
 
 " I don't blame them because it was a lie. I blame them 
 because it was the truth. I don't care a straw how many 
 lies are told about me it's the ill-natured truth I ob- 
 ject to."
 
 TWO BLADES OF THE SAME STEEL. 371 
 
 " I'm afraid that you will have a hard time in life if you 
 like lies better than the truth." 
 
 "I didn't say that." 
 
 " Then I don't understand English." 
 
 " You don't understand me." 
 
 "Ah, yes I do, papa. I do understand you. I know 
 that at this moment you are doing something that you are 
 ashamed of something that later you will bitterly repent. 
 You are carrying on now through pride what you began in 
 wrath. Stop where you are. The dead can not be avenged. 
 That's a barbarous code. Remember, in all the petty irrita- 
 tions of the past, when you have been hurt by your neigh- 
 bors, you were never so triumphant as when you surprised 
 those who injured you by a magnanimous return " 
 
 " There, I made an agreement with you that we should 
 not speak of these things. I mean it. I find that you take 
 advantage of me. I shall be banished from the house if you 
 do not keep to your bargain." 
 
 Kate sighed. She had hoped that the early banter was 
 paving the way for a reconciliation. She took up some 
 work and tried to busy her hands. 
 
 " Suppose you read me something ? You haven't read in 
 an age." 
 
 " What shall it be ? " 
 
 "Oh, something from Dickens anything you like." 
 
 "Very well, I shall show you a counterfeit presentment 
 of yourself," and, with an arch-smile, she began to read from 
 The Chimes. 
 
 He listened soberly until the last page w r as turned, and 
 then, rising, said abstractedly: 
 
 " I sha'n't see you for a few days. I wish you would re- 
 main at home as much as possible. Get some of the neigh- 
 bors' girls to keep you company, if you're lonesome." 
 
 " Oh, I shall not be lonesome. I shall have too much to 
 do too much to think about." 
 
 He laughed. "You are enough like your father, my 
 girl, to pass for him. Very well, you'll be penitent enough 
 when I come back."
 
 372 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 He was gone in the morning, as he had said, and she was 
 free to keep her appointment with Elkins. He was waiting 
 for her when she reached the hotel. 
 
 " Well ? " she cried, breathlessly. 
 
 " I saw him." 
 
 She seized the blushing lad's two hands. "Ah, you 
 splendid fellow ! And then ? " 
 
 " He wrote this note for you," and he handed her an en- 
 velope with her own name written on it in an uneven, un- 
 certain scrawl. She tore it open and read : 
 
 " DEAR MADAM : I can not understand why there should 
 be any difficulty in finding what became of Sprague and his 
 party. We all reached the lines together, but, as I was hit 
 by a bullet in the head at the moment of rescue, I knew 
 nothing of their movements after reaching the Union lines. 
 I, too, am interested in the young man. I should like to see 
 you or some of his friends at once, as I suspect foul play of 
 some sort. Obediently yours, JONES." 
 
 " Did you get to him without trouble ? " Kate asked, 
 keenly, disappointed by the result of all this strategy. 
 
 ''I made them believe I was on hospital business. I 
 showed them a large official envelope, and they let me go 
 up. Jones told me to tell you that he would see you there 
 in the parlor if you would come ; that he is unable to leave 
 the house, or he would come to see you." 
 
 " Can you take me there now ? " 
 
 " I have four hours of my leave still. It does not expire 
 until two o'clock." 
 
 " Then we will go at once. Will you call a carriage ? " 
 
 While he was gone, Kate read the note again. She was 
 more puzzled than ever. The man wrote as if he had no 
 idea that Jack was not easily traceable, yet all the Spragues' 
 money and influence had been spent in vain. He expected 
 her. Where could her father be ? He wrote as though he 
 had no idea that he had been virtually a prisoner. When 
 she reached the house, the servant made no difficulty in
 
 TWO BLADES OF THE SAME STEEL. 373 
 
 admitting her. Elkins remained outside in the vehicle, 
 with an admonition from Kate to remain unseen unless 
 she called him. Jones, the shadow of the burly soldier we 
 saw in the famous escape, was seated in a deep, reclining 
 chair, and, as Kate entered, rose feebly. 
 
 " Pray, don't rise, don't disturb yourself in the least. I 
 will sit here near you, and we can talk, if it won't make you 
 ill." 
 
 " No. It isn't talking that troubles me but never mind 
 that, Your note has pulled me down a good deal. I was 
 given to understand that the boys were home and all right." 
 
 " The boys ? " 
 
 " Jack and young Per ley." 
 
 " Who gave you who told you that ? " 
 
 " Your father. He is the only person I have talked with 
 since I got my wits back." 
 
 Kate drew back with a shuddering horror. 
 
 '' Are you quite sure, Mr. Mr. Jones that my father told 
 you that ? " 
 
 "Perfectly certain. Do you suppose that I would not 
 have taken measures to find out where my own I mean 
 where friends were ? These boys saved me from prison 
 once and from a death nearly as dreadful as Libby. Could 
 I be indifferent to them ? " 
 
 "But why should papa* tell you they were safe, when 
 when our hearts have been tortured ? Ah ! I see. He wanted 
 to spare you the anxiety. Ah ! yes. He knew that you would 
 fret and worry, and that you could not recover under the 
 strain." Kate's heart swelled with a triumphant revulsion. 
 She had vilely suspected without cause. She must now do 
 justice. Jones eyed her pensively, holding his head with 
 both his hands. 
 
 " Nothing has been heard of the boys since when ? " 
 
 "Nothing directly since the escape from Richmond. Miss 
 Sprague brought that news, and about the same time a para- 
 graph in the Herald announced that prisoners from Rich- 
 mond had reached the Union lines on the Warrick." 
 
 " When was that ? "
 
 374: THE IRON GAME. 
 
 " Late in November." 
 
 " Yes, I was one of them. I escaped from Richmond. 
 Jack and young Perley got me out of the tobacco warehouse. 
 We reached the Warrick after a hard week of marching and 
 hiding, and the boys were alive and well when we reached the 
 Union outpost. I was last to cross the bridge, and as I plunged 
 into the thick bushes a bullet struck me. I knew no more 
 until I found myself here. I had agents at Fort Monroe 
 waiting for me. They probably forwarded me at once. But 
 I don't understand how there can be any difficulty in trac- 
 ing the two boys. Haven't they written ? " 
 
 " Not a line, not a word concerning them has been heard. 
 Mrs. Sprague sent agents so soon as the Herald paragraph 
 was shown to Olympia. They are in Washington now on 
 the quest. It was there we got track of you before you 
 were sent here." 
 
 " Why was I sent here ? " 
 
 Kate was about to speak. Again the shadow of her first 
 fear again the dread of some malevolent purpose on her 
 father's part choked her speech. 
 
 " I I don't know," she faltered. 
 
 " Who came with me ? " 
 
 " My father." 
 
 ' Ah ! " Jones's eyes were penetrating her now. She felt 
 tha questioning in them, and turned her face to the clinging 
 folds of the veil. 
 
 " Miss Boone, you seem to be deeply interested in these 
 boys. Are you really their friend ?" 
 
 " Ah, believe me, I am heart and soul their friend ! " 
 
 " Does your father know it ? " 
 
 " Yes; he knows that I am seeking them." 
 
 " Does he approve your search ? " 
 
 "No, he does not." 
 
 "Good. Now listen. We have short time to work in. 
 You have a carriage outside. Your father will be here any 
 moment. I could never keep from him my indignation and 
 even distrust. I shall get into that carriage with you, and 
 you must conceal me somewhere and give me time to set the
 
 TWO BLADES OF THE SAME STEEL. 375 
 
 proper machinery in motion to find these boys. There is no 
 other way. Your father has some reason for keeping their 
 whereabouts eoncealed. I may know the purpose and I may 
 not. The boys may have been killed in the volley that 
 struck me. It will require a mere telegram to find out. I 
 know whom to address, but I must be where I can use' 
 trusted agents. I have no money. You can, I hope, pro- 
 vide me with that, or the Spragues if you can't." 
 
 He spoke with a flush deepening on his face, and arose 
 with something like vigor. 
 
 'Ample means you shall have any sum you need," 
 Kate said, handing him a well-filled purse. 
 
 " Good I have one or two articles in my room. I will 
 fetch them and follow you to the carriage." 
 
 Ten minutes later the carriage was whirling over the 
 broad road to Warchester. By Jones's advice it was stopped 
 at the hospital. Here he proposed remaining for the night, 
 to mislead suspicion if any one had taken the precaution to 
 follow. 
 
 " I will remain with our friend Elkins to-night, as you 
 suggest," Jones said; "to-morrow I will send you word of 
 my whereabouts, and you may expect to have news of the 
 boys within the week. " 
 
 " My address will be in Washington," Kate said. " I 
 shall go at once to the Spragues. They have been there, as 
 I told you, to seek every possible source of information. I 
 left them to follow you, hoping that through you I should 
 find the missing." 
 
 "You made no mistake. I shall find them. You can 
 tell your friends that," and he added, with a gleam of savage 
 malice, " God help the man that has raised the weight of a 
 feather against them, for he has put a heavy hurt on me if 
 he has harmed them ! " 
 
 Kate shuddered. Was she never to emerge from this 
 hideous circle of vengeful hatred this condition of passion- 
 ate vendetta where men were seeking each other's harm ? 
 On reaching home she addressed a note to her father ex 
 plaining frankly that she had entered into communication
 
 376 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 with Jones; that she had been pained by all that she had 
 heard; that the inquiry had now passed out of her hands 
 and was in that of the authorities, and begging him to drop 
 any participation he might have meditated. In a late letter 
 Olympia had given good news of her mother, saying that 
 Kate could return with safety, and, informing her father of 
 this, Kate bade him good-by for a time. 
 
 When Kate reached Washington she found Mrs. Sprague 
 convalescent, but painfully feeble. The poor mother re- 
 proached herself for the interruption of the search, and im- 
 plored the two girls to begin again without a moment's de- 
 lay. Kate gave her as much hope as she dared. She hinted 
 something of the outlines of what she had done and the new 
 agent in the field. With this Mrs. Sprague was greatly 
 comforted, but begged them to remit no efforts of their own. 
 It was after three days' fruitless searching among the records 
 of the department and among the men of the Caribee regi- 
 ment, now returned to Washington en route to the front, that 
 Kate bethought herself of her father's probable presence in 
 the city. She got out of the carriage and entered the long 
 reception-room of Willard's to make inquiry. The boy who 
 came at her call said, as soon as she asked for Mr. Boone : 
 
 '" Why, I just saw him at the desk, paying his bill. He 
 is probably there still. Wait here until I see." 
 
 But Kate, fearing that he might be gone before she could 
 reach him, followed the boy. There was no sign of her 
 father at the desk, and, turning hastily out of the main cor- 
 ridor, filled with officers and the clank of swords almost 
 stunning her, she reached the porch just as a cab set out to- 
 ward the station. She caught aglimpse of her father's face 
 in it. He was leaving the city. She must see him. The 
 inspiration of the instant suggested by a cabman was fol- 
 io wod. She hastily entered the vehicle and bade the driver 
 keep in sight of the one her father was in until it came to a 
 stop. The driver whipped up his horses, but there wasn't 
 much sp'eed in them. Kate dared not look out of the win- 
 dow, and sat in feverish anxiety while she was whirled along 
 Pennsylvania Avenue, almost to the Baltimore Station, then
 
 TWO BLADES OF TEE SAME STEEL. 3f7 
 
 the only one in the city connecting 1 with the North. To her 
 surprise, the driver stopped near the curb a block or more 
 short of the railway. She looked out, arid as she did so the 
 driver pointed to her father's carriage halted just ahead. 
 She took out her purse, but was delayed a moment in get- 
 ting the fare, keeping her eye, however, on her father as he 
 hurried from the cab to a building before which a sentry 
 was lazily pacing. She was not two minutes in reaching 
 the doorway, but he had disappeared. 
 
 The soldier asked her no questions, and of course she 
 could ask- none, as probably her father was unknown to the 
 military filling the place. She must follow on until she 
 overtook him. There were clerks busy at long desks, mili- 
 tary officials moving about with files of documents. The 
 presence of a few women in widow's weeds reassured Kate, 
 and as no one molested her she persisted in her design. He 
 was not on the lower floor, and, coming back, she ascended 
 a broad stairway. The hall was wide, and filled with people 
 all in uniform. She could hear a monotonous voice reading 
 in front, where the crowd clustered thickest. She looked 
 about helplessly, and tried to push forward. Suddenly she 
 heard the words : " Guilty of taking the life of the same 
 Wesley Boone. Specification third : And that the said 
 John Sprague is guilty of the crime of spying inside the 
 lines of the armies of the United States." For a moment 
 Kate stood stupefied rooted to the floor. Jack was un- 
 dergoing an ignominious trial for murder for desertion ! 
 All fear, all timidity, all sense of the unfitness of femi- 
 nine evidence in such a place fled from her. She pushed 
 her way through the astonished throng which fell aside as 
 they saw her black dress and flowing drapery. She reached 
 the last range of benches, where men were seated, some 
 writing, some consulting documents, while the clerk read 
 the charges. Her eye fell upon her father seated near the 
 place of the presiding officer. She grew confident and con- 
 firmed by the sight : it was a signal to the daring that fired 
 her. " Stop ! " she said, in a clear voice. " I don't know what 
 this place is; I don't know what meaning these proceedings
 
 378 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 have. I heard a charge that is not true. It is false that 
 John Sprague murdered Wesley Boone. Wesley Boone 
 was my brother, and he was killed in the dark by one of 
 several shots fired at the same instant. Furthermore, my 
 brother was armed and in the sleeping-room of the mistress 
 of the house at the dead of night. If John Sprague's bullet 
 killed him it was shot in self-defense and in the safeguard- 
 ing of two terrified women. He had no more idea of whom 
 he was struggling with than than the soldier who fires in 
 battle. Furthermore, he is no spy. He risked his life to 
 rescue prisoners. He saved the life of one of them, who can 
 be brought here to testify. He " 
 
 But here Kate broke down. She had spoken with a pas- 
 sionate, resentful vehemence, her mind all the time seething 
 with the fear and shame of her father's responsibility for 
 this hideous attack upon the absent. She stretched out her 
 hand exhaustedly for support. A young officer near her 
 pushed up a chair and helped her into it. Boone had 
 turned in speechless amazement as the first words of the 
 voice sounded in his ears. His back was toward the door, 
 and he had not seen Kate. He turned as she broke into 
 this fervid apostrophe. Whether from surprise, prudence, 
 or anger he sat silent, uninterrupting till she tottered into 
 the seat placed for her by a stranger. Then he arose and 
 went to her side, in nowise angry or discomposed so far as 
 his outward demeanor betrayed him. The presiding offi- 
 cer of the court-martial had attempted to silence Kate by a 
 gesture, but with eyes fixed steadily upon him she had disre- 
 garded his command. Now, however, he spoke: 
 
 " Madame, you must know this is highly disorderly and 
 indecorous. The court can take no cognizance of this sort 
 of testimony. Do you desire to be heard by counsel ? If you 
 do, the judge-advocate will give you all lawful assistance." 
 
 u If the court please, this lady is my daughter. She is 
 somewhat excited. I will take the necessary measures in 
 the matter," Boone began. 
 
 Kate pushed her father from before her and again ad- 
 dressed the president.
 
 TWO BLADES OF THE SAME STEEL. 379 
 
 <: I refuse my father's aid in this case. I don't know 
 what is necessary, but I ask this court, if it has anything to 
 do with John Sprague, to give his friends an opportunity to 
 present his story truthfully and without prejudice." 
 
 "The judge-advocate will give you all necessary infor- 
 mation. Meanwhile, the case will be adjourned until to- 
 morrow. " 
 
 Elisha Boone stood beside his daughter, a figure of per- 
 plexity and chagrin. He dared not remonstrate openly. 
 He was forced to hear the judge-advocate question this 
 extraordinary witness, and instruct her on the steps ne- 
 cessary to be taken ; worse than all, hear him inform Kate 
 that the citations to John Sprague had been regularly issued, 
 and that the evidence of his desertion rested wholly on the 
 fact that he had put in no answer to the charges promul- 
 gated against him by his commanding officer; that the trial 
 was proceeding on the ground that Sprague had deserted to 
 the enemy, and refused to answer within the time allowed 
 by law. 
 
 " But he has never heard of the charges," Kate cried, in- 
 dignantly. "He has not been heard of since he escaped 
 from Richmond." 
 
 "As we understand it, he reached the Union lines 
 merely to ambuscade our outposts, and then returned to 
 Richmond." 
 
 " His sister left Richmond ten days after his flight, and 
 he had then passed into our lines, as she had the surest 
 means of knowing." 
 
 " There is some extraordinary error in all this. If 
 Sprague can be produced before the term fixed by the regu- 
 lations, he can vindicate himself by establishing the facts 
 you have told me. If not, we have no alternative but to 
 condemn him to death as a spy and deserter. The testimony 
 on these specifications is uncontradicted. The murder we 
 may not be able to establish, though we have witnesses of 
 the shooting." 
 
 It was arranged that Sprague' s counsel should see the 
 judge-advocate at once, Kate giving him the address in case
 
 380 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 by any accident she should be prevented from seeing the 
 Spragues. As she left the room, under a fusillade of admir- 
 ing glances, she leaned on her father's arm, trembling but 
 resolute. She now knew the worst, and she had no further 
 terror. As they reached the door, her father asked : 
 
 " Where are you going ? I suppose I need not tell you 
 that I was on my way home when I came here, for I sup- 
 pose you have been spying on my movements." 
 
 " Never. I feared you were acting unwisely, but I never 
 dreamed of watching you. Providence has put your plans 
 in my hands at nearly every step, but I was so ignorant that, 
 of myself, the information would have done but little service 
 to poor Jack. I came into the court by the merest chance. 
 I saw you get into the cab at Willard's, and as I had only 
 reached Washington, I wanted to see you before you went 
 away. I drove after you followed without the slightest 
 suspicion of the place or your purpose in it." 
 
 "Well, all your running about is useless. He will be 
 sentenced to death and the family disgraced. Nothing can 
 now prevent that." 
 
 " Yes, Jack can prevent it ! I can prevent it 1 " 
 
 "How?" 
 
 " Jack will be found. Surely they dare not commit such 
 a monstrous crime against the absent, the undefended ! " 
 
 " Well, we won't talk of it. I suppose you are with the 
 Spragues ? " 
 
 " Yes; I shall remain with them until this is ended." 
 
 " What if I should tell you to come home with me ? " 
 
 " I should, of course, obey you if you commanded me. 
 But before doing so I should have to put my statement in 
 legal shape that is, swear to it, and give my address to the 
 court that I might be regularly summoned." 
 
 " You know something of law, too, I see. I sha'n't ask 
 you to go home, nor shall I go myself. I shall remain to 
 see how this affair turns out." 
 
 They were driving down Pennsylvania Avenue now. 
 Kate, recalling her departure, asked, " You did not get the 
 letter I left for you at home I "
 
 TWO BLADES OF THE SAME STEEL. 381 
 
 "No, I did not know you were gone." 
 
 "I left a few lines to tell you that I had seen Jones." 
 She watched him as she said this. He did not start, as she 
 expected. His lips were suddenly compressed and his eye 
 grew dark; then he smiled grimly. 
 
 "I hope you felt repaid for your trouble." 
 
 "Yes. I felt amply repaid. Jones has undertaken to 
 find out what became of Jack after his arrival at the Union 
 outposts. " 
 
 " Did you discuss the whole affair with him ? " 
 
 " Yes. I was greatly relieved by what I learned. I was 
 afraid you had some sinister purpose in secreting him as the 
 only link between Jack and his friends. It gave me new 
 life to find that you had been so tender and thoughtful to 
 Jones, for, as the event proved, he no sooner learned that 
 there were apprehensions as to Jack's safety, than he set 
 about his discovery. " 
 
 " Did Jones share your grateful sentiment ? " 
 
 " I think he did. To spai-e you agitation, he set out at 
 once alone, in order that you might be relieved of all re- 
 sponsibility." 
 
 " Ah ! '' And Elisha Boone sank far back in the cushion. 
 The carriage stopped in front of Willard's; then he said: " I 
 shall remain here now. I will order the driver to take you 
 home. Come to me as often as you can." He kissed her in 
 the old friendly way and hurried into the hotel. 
 
 " On reaching her lodgings she found a telegram waiting 
 her. It read: "Jones gone South. He will advise you of 
 his movements. ELKINS."
 
 382 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 THE LOST CARIBEES. 
 
 MEANWHILE war, in one of its grim humors, had pre- 
 pared a comedy when the stage was set in tragic trappings. 
 In the withdrawal of Johnston's army from Manassas sig- 
 nalized in history as the Quaker campaign, because our army 
 found wooden guns in the deserted works that ardent 
 young Hotspur, Vincent Atterbury, ran upon a disagreeable 
 end to a very charming adventure. In chivalric bravado, 
 to emphasize the fact that the withdrawal of the Confeder- 
 ates was merely strategic, not forced, the young man, with a 
 lively company of horsemen, hungering for excitement, 
 formed themselves into a defiant rear-guard. The Union 
 outposts, never suspecting that Johnston's army was not be- 
 hind the enterprising cavalry, withdrew prudently to the 
 main forces. 
 
 Then, when they were convinced that the little band was 
 merely on an audacious lark, forces were sent out on either 
 flank, while the main body feigned the disorder of retreat. 
 The result was, that Vincent's squadron was handsomely en- 
 trapped, and in the savage contest that ensued the intrepid 
 major was hustled from his horse with a dislocated shoulder 
 and broken wrist. He was brought, with a half-dozen more 
 of his dare-devil comrades, into the Union lines, and in the 
 course of time found himself in the hideous shambles allot- 
 ted rebel prisoners at Point Lookout, Maryland. Too weak 
 at first, or too confused, to bethink himself of his Northern 
 friends, Vincent shared the hard usage of his companions and 
 resigned himself patiently to the slow procedure of exchange, 
 which was now going on regularly, since the Union victo- 
 ries in the West and South had given the Northern authori- 
 ties ten prisoners to the Southerners' one. The prospect of 
 his own release was, under these circumstances, rather dis- 
 tant, as without special intervention he would have to await 
 his turn, the rule being that those first captured were first 
 exchanged. He knew that his family's influence and his
 
 THE LOST CARIBEES. 383 
 
 own intimacy with General Johnston would probably hasten 
 the release, but he could not count upon an immediate re- 
 turn to his duties, and in view of this he was not very re- 
 luctant to undergo convalescence in the North. 
 
 Jack's influence, he counted, would soon relieve him 
 from the hardships of confinement, and then he should see 
 Olympia that, at least, was recompense for his misfortune. 
 His mother and Rosa would immediately learn of his capt- 
 ure, and he might count upon hearing from them, as very 
 generous latitude was allowed in such cases by the authori- 
 ties on both sides. He caused a letter to be written to Jack, 
 addressing it to his regiment, in care of the War Depart- 
 ment, and waited patiently the response. His disappoint- 
 ment and anxiety, as days passed and he got no answer, be- 
 gan to tell on his health, already weakened by his wounds. 
 Thus, one day, when a young lady was shown to his bedside 
 who fell upon him with a glad cry, and held his head to 
 her breast he was too far gone in delirium to distinguish 
 his sister. 
 
 " My darling ! O Olympia, I knew you would come," 
 he murmured, and Rosa, terrified, but composed, soothed 
 the fevered lover as best she might. He grew worse in 
 spite of all her devotion. The physicians, burdened with 
 patients far in excess of their powers, assured her that her 
 brother would require the most patient care and enlight- 
 ened nursing ; that medicine would do him but slight good, 
 and that she must make up her mind to a prolonged ill- 
 ness. Rosa was alone in the vast hospital, save for the pres- 
 ence of her maid Linda, who had come through the lines 
 with her and was, of course, under the Northern laws, free. 
 Worse than all, she was poorly provided with money, and 
 this need, rather than Vincent's love-lorn babbling about 
 Olympia, reminded Rosa to call upon the Spragues for help. 
 She wrote at once to Olympia, telling the distressing story, 
 and then set about bettering Vincent's surroundings. 
 
 Point Lookout had been selected for its natural prison- 
 like safeguards. A rank bog surrounded the place on three 
 sides, and thus but few troops were needed to guard the
 
 381 THE IROX GAME. 
 
 great mass of rebel prisoners lodged in wooden barracks and 
 long lines of tents. Vincent's case seemed to have grown 
 stationary after her coming. He slept a fitful, troubled sleep 
 half the day. At night he grew delirious and restless. 
 Rosa and Linda divided the hours into watches, and admin- 
 istered the draughts prepared by the stewards. Through 
 the humanity of the physician in charge, the invalid had 
 been transferred to an A tent, where Rosa could remain day 
 and night unmolested with her maid. Vincent thus cared 
 for, Rosa began to think of the other poor fellows in her 
 brother's squadron, and set about a systematic search for 
 them. Many of them she found in the general wards of the 
 hospital. It was on this kindly mission one day that she 
 heard her brother's name mentioned by a civilian, who was 
 talking with an official in uniform. 
 
 " Major Atterbury ? Oh, yes ; he was removed to division 
 D. You will find him in a separate tent. He has a woman 
 nurse. I will send an orderly with you." 
 
 Rosa did not recognize the civilian at first, but as he 
 turned to accompany the soldier she remembered where she 
 had seen him before. He was the prisoner Jack had spoken 
 with in Richmond the day the party visited the tobacco 
 warehouse. She hastened her step, and, as she came up with 
 the men, she said, tremulously : 
 
 " I am Major Atterbury 's sister. My brother is uncon- 
 scious. Can I attend to the business you have with him ? " 
 
 Jones turned and stopped, glancing in surprise at the 
 girl. 
 
 " I'm sorry to learn that your brother's so low. But you 
 can do all that I hoped from him. Here is a letter addressed 
 to John Sprague. It was received at his regiment three days 
 ago. I happened to be there making inquiries for him, and 
 the colonel handed it to me. Under the circumstances I 
 felt justified in reading it, and it turns out that I did well." 
 
 " John Sprague is missing ? " Rosa cried, her mind, in- 
 stantly at work in alarm for some one else. 
 
 Jones, dismissing the orderly, told her the facts as we 
 have already followed them. Leaving out all mention of
 
 THE LOST CARIBEES. 385 
 
 Kate, he told her how he had hurried down to Newport 
 News, and thence to the outposts on the Warrick. 
 
 There he had learned that Jack and Dick had been 
 wounded, fatally the story went, in the final volley fired by 
 the pursuers. They had been carried to the hospital at 
 Hampton. But there all trace had been lost. The steward 
 who received them and the surgeon who had taken their de- 
 scriptive list had been transferred to St. Louis. There was, 
 however, no record of their deaths, and upon that he based 
 the hope that they were either in hospital, or had been, 
 through some strange confusion, assigned among rebel 
 wounded, a thing that had frequently happened in the 
 hurry of transporting large numbers of wounded men. 
 
 u And does Mrs. Sprague know all this ? " Rosa cried, un- 
 derstanding now why Vincent's letter and her own had not 
 brought a response. 
 
 " Partly, I think. Mrs. Sprague and her daughter are in 
 Washington, in the state of mind you may imagine, and ex- 
 hausting bales of red tape to reach the lost boys." 
 
 Poor Rosa! She had thought her grief and terror too 
 much to endure before. Now how trivial Vincent's fever in 
 comparison with this appalling disappearance of Dick and 
 Jack ! She walked on over the sparse herbage, over her shoes 
 in the soft sand, when Linda came running from the tent in 
 joyous excitement. 
 
 " De good Lord, Miss Rosa, she's here ; she's done come ! " 
 
 "Who is here who is come ? " Rosa cried, impatiently; 
 " not mamma ? " 
 
 " 'Deed no, Miss Rosa; Miss Limpy." 
 
 " What ? " 
 
 " Yes, indeedy ; and, oh, bress de Lord, Massa Vint knows 
 her, and is talkin' like a sweet dove 1 " 
 
 It was true. Miss u Limpy," blushing very red, was sur- 
 prised by Rosa in a very motherly attitude by the patient's 
 cot. The two girls melted in a delirious hug, mingled with 
 spasmodic smacks of the lips and a soft, gurgling crescendo 
 of exclamation, not very intelligible to Jones and Linda, 
 who discreetly remained near the door on the outside.
 
 386 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 Vincent's eyes were fixed on Olympia. For the first 
 time in ten days they shone with the light of reason. He 
 smiled softly at the scene and murmured lightly to himself. 
 Warned not to tax the feeble powers of the invalid, Rosa 
 and Jones withdrew, leaving Olympia to recover from the 
 fatigues of her journey in the tent with Vincent. 
 
 " Now, you're not to talk, you know," Olympia said, with 
 matronly decision. " I shall remain here to mesmerize you 
 into repose. You know I am a magnetic person. Be per- 
 fectly quiet, and keep your eyes off me. They make me 
 nervous." 
 
 " I can only keep my eyes away on condition you put 
 your hand in mine. Then the magnetic current can have 
 full play." 
 
 " My impression is that you have not been ill at all. I 
 believe you have been shamming, to escape the harder lines 
 of the prison. Very well, you needn't answer. I'll take 
 that shake of the head as denial and proof for want of bet- 
 ter. Now, I will give you the history of our doings since I 
 saw you at Fairfax Court-House in January. I got home 
 safe. I found mamma in painful excitement." 
 
 He moved impatiently, and said, beseechingly : 
 
 " But tell me how you got here so soon. How did you 
 learn I was here ? Jack told you when he got my letter ? " 
 
 " O Vincent, that was what I was coming to ! Jack has 
 never been seen or heard from since he escaped from your 
 troops near the Warrick. I did not know you had written. 
 I got a letter from Rosa yesterday morning and went at once 
 to the War Department, where we have a good friend " 
 
 " I can't understand it. All these things are done with 
 system in an army like yours. Men can't disappear like 
 this, leaving no record. I'll stake my head there's foul 
 play, if the boys can't be found. Have you made inquiry 
 in the company on duty where Jack and his companions 
 got into your lines ? " 
 
 She explained all the efforts that had been made how 
 Brodie had been baffled, and how letters had been sent to the 
 commanding officer at Fort Monroe.
 
 TIIE LOST CARIBEES. 387 
 
 " We had begun to think that Jack had been recaptured ; 
 but surely, if he were, you would have known of it." 
 
 " Of course I should." 
 
 " Then that confines the search to our own lines. I can 
 not make myself believe that Jack is dead, though mamma 
 has nearly made up her mind to it. The mysterious part 
 of the affair is, that we can not find one of the men who 
 escaped with Jack, though it was announced in the papers 
 weeks ago that a party of them had arrived at Fort Mon- 
 roe." 
 
 " And young ' Perley ' ? " 
 
 " He, too, we can get 110 ttace of." 
 
 "Good heavens! I'm glad Rosa doesn't know that; 
 she'd be in every camp and hospital in the North until 
 she had found her sweetheart." 
 
 " That sounds something like a reflection on us mamma 
 and me." 
 
 "Ah! never. What I mean is, that Rosa is such an 
 impulsive, silly child, she would do all sorts of imprudent 
 things. How could you do such a thing ? Preposterous ! " 
 
 " Well, I began it yesterday morning. As I said, so soon 
 as I read Rosa's letter, I went to headquarters, where we 
 have a good friend, and gave my word for your safe keep- 
 ing. You are to be our prisoner ; but if you escape you will 
 get us into trouble, for we are none too well considered by 
 the folks in power." 
 
 "God forgive me, Olympia! escape is the last thing I 
 think of now, when I am near you. I was going to say I 
 should never care to go back, but I know you wouldn't 
 think the better of me for that." 
 
 " I don't know. Why should you go back ? The South 
 is sure to be beaten. We are conquering territory every 
 day, from the armies at Donelson to the forts at New Orleans. 
 We shall beat you in Virginia so soon as General McClellan 
 gives the word." 
 
 " Even if that were the case, my duty and my honor would 
 point to but one course to return to the natural course of 
 exchange."
 
 388 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 " Honor ? Vincent, it is a vague term under such circum- 
 stances' 
 
 " I could not love you, dear, so much, loved I not honor 
 more. You know you gave me that for a motto." 
 
 " Poetic rubbish, Mr. Soldier ; but I must leave you now. 
 You will insist on talking, and, as I shall be held respon- 
 sible to your mother and Rosa, I must be firm not another 
 syllable ! Besides, the imprudence will keep you here long- 
 er, and if you are to be carried away you must get well at 
 once. I can't leave mamma alone in Washington with such 
 grief preying upon her." 
 
 He answered with a glance of pitying pleading. He 
 looked so helpless so woe-begone that she bent over near 
 his face to smooth his disordered bandages. When she 
 withdrew she was blushing very pretitly, and Vincent was 
 smiling in triumph. " On these terms," the smile seemed to 
 say, " I will be mute for an age." 
 
 What an adroit ally war is to love ! Here was the self- 
 contained Olympia so confident of herself fond and yield- 
 ing as Eosa; when war rushed in, infirmity came to the res- 
 cue of Vincent's despairing passion. 
 
 Meanwhile, Jones began a systematic search among the 
 prisoners for the missing Caribees. Rosa joined with impatient 
 ardor. There were three thousand inmates of the improvised 
 city, but no one resembling Jack or Dick could be found. 
 Linda, ministering to some of Vincent's comrades, was pite- 
 ously besought to ask her mistress's good offices for an orderly 
 in the small-pox ward. This was a tent far off from the main 
 barracks on the beach, attended only by a single surgeon and 
 a corps of rather indifferent nurses. Two of Vincent's men 
 were in this lazar, shut off from the world, for the soldier, 
 reckless in battle, has a shuddering horror of this loathsome 
 disease. Rosa instantly resolved that she would herself 
 nurse the plague-smitten rebels. She had no fear of the 
 disease, the truth being that she had only the vaguest idea 
 of what it was. With great difficulty she obtained per- 
 mission to visit the outcast colony. She was forced to en- 
 ter the noisome purlieu alone, even the maid's devotion
 
 THE LOST CARIBEES. 389 
 
 rebelling against the nsmeless horror small-pox has for the 
 African. 
 
 Once within the long marquee, however, Rosa was re- 
 lieved to find that the casual spectacle was not different from 
 that of the other seriously sick- wards. A melancholy silence 
 seemed to signalize the despair of the twoscore patients, each 
 occupying a cot screened from the rest by thin canvas cur- 
 tains. Double lines of sentries guarded each opening of the 
 marquee, so that no one could pass in or out without the rig- 
 idly vised order of the surgeon-in-chief. Braziers of char- 
 coal burned at the foot of each bed, while the atmosphere 
 was heavy with a strong solution of carbolic acid, then just 
 beginning to be recognized as a sovereign preventive of ma- 
 larious vapors, and an antiseptic against the germs of disease. 
 Rosa inquired for the proteges she was seeking. They were 
 pointed out, on one side of the tent, the steward accompany- 
 ing her to each cot. 
 
 " All have the small-pox ? " she inquired, shuddering, as 
 she glanced at the white screens, behind which an occasional 
 plaintive groan could be heard. 
 
 " Oh, no ! there are some here that have no more small- 
 pox than I have." 
 
 " Then why do you keep them here ? " Rosa asked, indig- 
 nantly. 
 
 " Oh, red tape, miss. There's two men that were brought 
 here three months ago. They'd no more small-pox than you 
 have, miss ; but they were assigned here, and I have given up 
 trying to get them taken to the convalescent camp. The 
 truth, is the surgeon in charge is afraid to show up here. The 
 others make by the number they have in charge, for we are 
 allowed extra pay and an extra ration for every case on hand. " 
 
 " Why, this is infamous ! " Rosa cried. " It is murder. 
 Why don't you write to the the head man ? " 
 
 " And get myself in the guard-house for my trouble ? No, 
 thank you, miss. I wouldn't have spoken to you if it hadn't 
 been for the sympathy you showed coming in, and to sort o' 
 show you that you are not running so much danger as folks 
 try to make you believe."
 
 390 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 Rosa had a basket on her arm filled with such comforting 
 delicacies as the surgeon, had advised. She set about admin- 
 istering them to her brother's orderly, when a feeble voice 
 in a cot a few feet away fell upon her ear. She started. 
 Though almost a whisper, there was a strange familiarity in 
 the low tone. She turned to the steward 
 
 " Who is in the third cot from here ? " 
 
 " Let me see. Oh, yes, number seven ; that's a man named 
 Paling. 
 
 "And the next?" 
 
 " Number eight ; that's a man named Jake, or Jakes, I'm 
 blessed if I am certain. They've been out of their head since 
 they come. They're the two I spoke of who ain't no more 
 small-pox than I have." 
 
 " May I see them ? " 
 
 " Certainly. I'll see that they're in shape for inspection, 
 and call you." 
 
 He disappeared behind the curtain and could be heard in 
 a kindly, jovial tone : 
 
 " There, sonny, keep kivered ; the lady is coming to bring 
 you something better than the doctor's gruel, so lie still." 
 
 Beckoning to Rosa, he made way for her to enter the 
 narrow aisle of number seven, but he nearly fell over the 
 man across the bed, when Rosa, with a shriek, fell upon the 
 body of number seven, crying: 
 
 " 0, my darling, my darling, I hcive found you ! " 
 
 It would have required the eyes of maternal love of Rosa's 
 to recognize our jaunty Dick in the emaciated, fleshless face 
 that lay imbedded in the disarray of the cot. Dick's blue 
 eyes were sunken and dim, his lips chalky and parched. He 
 made no sign of recognition when Rosa drew back with her 
 arm under his head to scrutinize the disease-worn face. 
 
 " Sometimes, miss, he is in his right mind but he goes 
 off again like this. Is the other man his brother ? They 
 seem to understand each other when they are at the worst. 
 Once when we separated them they fought like maniacs uii 
 til we were forced to let them be near again." 
 
 "Oh, yes the other." Rosa started and hastened to the
 
 THE LOST CARIBEES. 391 
 
 next cot. Yes, it was Jack or a piteous ghost of him. He 
 was sleeping, and she withdrew gently. 
 
 " Please distribute the contents of the basket to the men 
 I named. I will be back presently." 
 
 With this she darted out, running at the top of her speed, 
 heedless even of the peremptory challenge of the sentries, 
 who thought her mad or stricken with the plague, and made 
 no attempt to molest her. She ran straight to Jones's quar- 
 ters. He was writing, and started hi surprise as she entered 
 panting and breathless. 
 
 '' Ah ! I have found them ; I have found them ! " She 
 could say no more. Jones helped her to a seat and held a 
 glass of water to her lips. Then she regained breath. 
 
 " They are in the small-pox ward, but they haven't the 
 disease. Ah ! they are there, they are there. Come at once 
 and take them away. Ah! take them away this minute." 
 
 " By ' they ' do you mean Perley and Sprague ? " Jones 
 asked, breathlessly. 
 
 "Yes, ah, yes. Thank G-od! thank God! Ah! I could 
 say prayers from now until my dying day. But, oh, Mr. 
 Jones, do, do hurry ; because they may die if we do not get 
 them away from that dreadful pest-house." 
 
 " It will take some time to get the order for the removal. 
 Meanwhile, they will need good nursing. If you hope to 
 help them you must be calm ; you must keep well. Now go 
 to your brother. It is just as well that Miss Sprague went 
 away this morning. Before she comes back, her brother will 
 be in a place she can visit with safety. You can not go back 
 there. You must remain patient now until I get them away 
 from that dangerous place." 
 
 It was not until the next day that the red tape of the estab- 
 lishment was so far cut as to warrant the surgeon in charge 
 in making a personal inspection of the two invalids. He at 
 once, and in indignant astonishment, pronounced the two 
 untouched by the disease set against their names in their 
 papers of admission. Early in the afternoon they were car- 
 ried on a stretcher to a clean, fresh tent on the sandy beach, 
 where the laurel bushes almost ran into the water. Letters
 
 392 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 had been dispatched to Olympia informing her that Jack 
 was found, and urging her to come on at once. The next 
 evening the three ladies arrived Mrs. Sprague, Olympia, 
 and Kate. With them they brought a renowned physician 
 who had been uniformly successful in treating maladies of 
 the sort the lads were described as suffering. 
 
 Days of painful anxiety followed. Once, all hope of Dick 
 was abandoned, and his aunts were telegraphed for. But, 
 in the end, he opened his big blue eyes, sane and convales- 
 cent. There was rapid mending after this, you may be sure. 
 Kate had, through Olympia's unobtrusive manoeuvring, 
 been forced to bear the burden of Jack's nursing, and, some- 
 how, when that impatient warrior mingled amorous plead- 
 ings with his early consciousness, she forgot upon which 
 side the burden of repentance and forgiving lay. She list- 
 ened with gentle serenity to his protestations, checking him 
 only by the threat to quit the place and return to her father. 
 
 During all this, Rosa was divided in her mind. She re- 
 sented the assiduity of Jones in the recovery of Dick. That 
 reticent person had installed himself in Dick's tent and 
 never quitted the lad, day or night, unless to relinquish him 
 to Rosa's arbitrary hand. When, one day, Pliny and Merry 
 Perley entered the tent, Jones changed color. The two 
 ladies, not heeding the stranger, fell upon the convalescent 
 on the cot, and Jones slipped away. Thereafter Rosa had 
 her invalid to herself, Jones only reappearing at night, to 
 keep the vigils of the dark. A month later, the invalids 
 were strong enough to be removed. An inquiry had been 
 set on foot to account for the presence of the two Union 
 soldiers among the rebel prisoner. The result was confus- 
 ing, however. The facts seemed to point out design in the 
 original entry of the young men's names at Hampton, where 
 they had been taken when brought in by the outposts. 
 
 The dispersion of the rest of their companions from Rich- 
 mond was accounted for by furloughs granted them so soon 
 as they reached the provost-marshal's office. Just before 
 leaving Point Lookout Jack received a much-directed letter 
 that gave signs of having been in every mail-bag in the
 
 THE LOST CARIBEES. 393 
 
 Army of the Potomac. It was from Barney Moore, bristling 
 with wonder and turgid with vvoful lamentation at Jack's 
 coldness in not writing him. He had been sent by mistake 
 to Ship Island, near New Orleans, to join his regiment, and 
 had only at the writing of the letter reached Washington, 
 where the Caribees were expected every day to move to the 
 Peninsula in McClellan's new campaign. 
 
 So soon as he was sufficiently recovered to write, Jack 
 reported by letter to the regiment. He had received no re- 
 ply. The explanation was awaiting him so soon as he 
 reached Washington. While seated with his mother in 
 Willard's, a heavy knock came on the door. It was thrown 
 open before the maid could reach it. A provost corporal 
 stood on the threshold, a file of men behind him: 
 
 " I have an order for the arrest of Sergeant John Sprague. " 
 
 " I am John Sprague. Of what am I accused? " 
 
 " I have no orders to tell you. My orders are to deliver 
 you at the provost prison. You will hear the charges there." 
 
 " But I am still under the doctor's charge. I am on the 
 hospital list." 
 
 '' I don't know what condition you are in. My orders 
 are to arrest you, and you know I have no option. All can 
 be remedied at the provost's office." 
 
 " I will go with you, my son," Mrs. Sprague said, trying 
 to look untroubled. "It is some error which can be ex- 
 plained." 
 
 " No, mamma, you can't come. Send word to the coun 
 sel you engaged in the search. I fancy it is some mistake ; 
 but I wish it hadn't occurred just now. I wouldn't write 
 Olympia about it." Olympia had gone on to Acredale with 
 Kate, to set the house in order for a season of festivity. 
 Jack, Vincent, Dick, and the rest, were to join them so soon 
 as the invalid had taken rest in Washington. 
 
 The guard indulged Jack in a carriage to headquarters. 
 Here he was handed over to a lieutenant in charge, and con- 
 ducted to a prison-like apartment in the rear. 
 
 " What is the charge against me ? " Jack asked, as the 
 officer touched a bell.
 
 394 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 " I am not acquainted with the papers in your case. My 
 instructions are to hold you until called for. Sergeant," he 
 added, as a soldier in uniform entered, " the prisoner is to be 
 confined in close quarters, and is not to be lost sight of night 
 or day." 
 
 The soldier saluted and motioned Jack to follow him, 
 two other soldiers closing in behind him as he set out. At 
 the end of a short hallway the sergeant stopped, took a key 
 from a bunch at his belt, unlocked a heavily-barred door 
 and motioned Jack to enter. It was useless to protest, use- 
 less to parley. He knew military procedure too well to 
 think of it, but his heart swelled with bitter rage. This was 
 the reward of an almost idolatrous patriotism this was the 
 patrie's way of cherishing her defenders. He flung him- 
 self on the cot in a wild passion of tears and rebellious 
 scorn. But his humiliation was not yet ended ; while he sat 
 with his face covered by his hands, he felt hands upon his 
 legs, and the sharp click of a lock. He moved his left leg. 
 Great God ! it was chained to an enormous iron bolt. He 
 started to rise; the sharp links of the chain cut his ankle as 
 the great ball rolled away from him. With a cry of mad- 
 ness he flung himself on the harsh pine pallet, groaning his 
 heart out in bitter anguish and maledictions. In time food 
 was brought him, but he sat supine, staring ghastly at the 
 dull-eyed orderly, silent, unquestioning. Dim banners of 
 light fell across the corridor. They were broken at regular 
 intervals by the passing figure of a sentry. The night wore 
 on. There was a lull in the monotonous tramp. Steps 
 came toward Jack's cell stopped; the key grated in the 
 lock; some one touched him on the shoulder. He never 
 stirred. 
 
 " Cheer up, Sprague; it's all a mistake." It was the voice 
 of the lawyer. 
 
 At this Jack started, his eyes gleaming wildly. " Ah, I 
 thought so. I knew I could never have been disgraced like 
 this in earnest. They have discovered the wrong done me ? " 
 
 " No, no ; not exactly that, Jack, but we shall show them 
 the mistake, I make no doubt."
 
 FATHER ABRAHAM'S JOKE. 395 
 
 " Why am I dishonored ? Of what am I accused ? Why 
 am I here ? " Jack cried, shivering under the revulsion from 
 despair to hope, and from hope back to horror. 
 
 " You are dishonored, my poor young friend, because a 
 court-martial has found you guilty of murder, desertion, and 
 treason against the articles of war, and you are here because 
 you are sentenced to be shot one week from Friday, in the 
 center of a hollow square, seated on your own coffin." 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIH. 
 FATHER ABRAHAM'S JOKE. 
 
 IN her own mind, as the train rolled toward Acredale 
 from Washington, Kate was enjoying in anticipation the 
 victory she had to announce to her father. He had written 
 her regularly from Warchester, where he was engaged in an 
 important suit. She had written more frequently than he, 
 but she had made no allusion to the happy ending of her 
 troubles. It was partly dread that the knowledge of Jack's 
 restoration might bring on more active hostility, as well as 
 a whimsical feminine caprice to spring the great event upon 
 him when all danger was over. She watched Dick and 
 Rosa in the seat near her, for they, too, were of the advance 
 guard to Acredale, where, when Olympia had arranged the 
 house, Vincent and Jack were to come for final restoration 
 to health. When the party arrived at the little Acredale 
 Station there was a great crowd gathered. 
 
 A company of the Caribees was just setting out for the 
 front. Some of the old members recognized Dick, and then 
 straightway went up a cheer that brought all the corner 
 loiterers to the spot to learn the goings on. It was in con- 
 sequence rather a triumphal procession that followed the 
 carriage to the Sprague gateway, and even followed up the 
 sanded road to the broad piazza. Rosa remained with Olym-
 
 ^96 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 pia, while Kate carried Dick off to commit him to the aunts 
 waiting on the porch to welcome the prodigal. Kate had 
 telegraphed her coming, and her father was at the door to 
 meet her. He was plainly relieved and delighted to have 
 her with him again, for he held her long and close in his 
 arms. " Then all's forgiven ; we're friends again," she said, 
 laughing and crying together. 
 
 " There is nothing to forgive. It may be a matter of re- 
 gret that you are a Boone in blood rather than an Ovid, and 
 that you imitate the Booties in obstinacy. But justice has 
 been done, and there's no need to quarrel about strangers." 
 
 She didn't understand in the least what he meant about 
 justice being done. Remembering that all was well, she 
 smiled as they entered the library, and when she had re- 
 moved her wraps, said, in repressed triumph: "You need 
 never attempt the role of Shylock again. I play Portia bet- 
 ter than you play the Jew. You have lost your pound of 
 flesh." 
 
 '' Well, be magnanimous. Don't abuse your victory. I 
 shouldn't, in your place ; but women are never merciful to 
 the fallen." 
 
 " I am to you. For, see, I kiss you as gayly as when I 
 believed you all heart and goodness." 
 
 " Now you believe me no heart and badness ? " 
 
 " I didn't say that. I say you are given over to sinful 
 hates, and I must correct you." 
 
 "Well, I'm willing now to be corrected." 
 
 "But the correction will be a severe one; you must pre- 
 pare for a very grievous penance." 
 
 " Knowing you, I can foresee that you won't spare the 
 rod. Very well, I'll try to get used to it." 
 
 At this moment a servant came to the door. 
 
 " A note for Miss Kate," she said. Kate tore it open and 
 read: 
 
 "Come to me at once. I have frightful news from 
 Washington. As it concerns Jack you ought to know it. 
 
 "OLYMPIA."
 
 FATHER ABRAHAM'S JOKE. 397 
 
 She read the lines twice before she could seize the mean- 
 ing. Frightful news concerning Jack ! Had he suffered a 
 relapse ? Had he been accidentally hurt ? No ; if it had 
 been news of that sort, Olympia would have come herself. 
 A gleam of prescience shot through her brain. The court 
 the charges against Jack ! That was it. That was the se- 
 cret of her father' s equanimity under her raillery. She 
 turned with a rush into the library. The bad blood of the 
 Boones was all up in her soul now. She walked straight at, 
 not to her father, and, holding Olympia's note before him, 
 said in bitter scorn : 
 
 " Tell me what this means. I know that you know." 
 
 He took the paper with leisurely unconcern, affecting not 
 to remark Kate's flashing wrath : he read the lines, handed 
 the paper back, or held it toward Kate, who put her hands 
 behind her. 
 
 " Since it concerns you, my child, suppose you go over 
 and ask Miss Sprague. How should I know the affairs of 
 such superior people ? " 
 
 " Could nothing soften you? humanize you, I was going 
 to say. Could nothing satisfy you but the death of this in- 
 jured family? for this blow will kill them. Kill them? 
 Why should they care to live when that noble fellow has 
 been dishonored by your cruel acts ? Ah, I know what you 
 have done ! You have brought the court to disgrace Jack 
 to make him appear a deserter. You it was who, in some 
 mysterious way, caused him to be abducted into the small-pox 
 ward among the rebel prisoners. But it shall all be made 
 known. I shall myself go on the stand and testify to your 
 handiwork. Yes, I am a Boone in this. I will follow the 
 lesson you have set me. I will avenge the innocent and 
 save him by exposing the guilty." 
 
 " On second thought, daughter, you are not in a frame of 
 rnind to see strangers to-night. You will remain home this 
 evening. To-morrow you can see your friend and advise 
 her in her sorrow, whatever it is. " He went to the door and 
 called the servant. " Go to Miss Sprague with my compli- 
 ments, and tell her my daughter is not able to leave the
 
 398 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 house this evening." As the man closed the outer door, Kate 
 made a step forward, crying : 
 
 "You never mean to say that I am a prisoner in my own 
 father's house ? " 
 
 " Certainly not. We're not play-actors. I think it best 
 that you should not go to the neighbors to-night, and you, 
 as a dutiful daughter, obey without murmur, because I have 
 always been an indulgent parent and gratified every whim 
 of yours, even to letting you consort with my bitterest ene- 
 mies for months." As he spoke, there was a ring at the door- 
 bell. Presently the servant entered the room and announced 
 "Mr. Jones." Before Boone could direct him to be shown 
 into another room Jones entered the library, fairly pushing 
 the astonished menial aside. Boone held up his hand with 
 a warning gesture, and nodded toward Kate; but, without 
 halting, Jones advanced to Boone's chair, and, seizing him 
 by the shoulder, held up a copy of the afternoon paper. 
 
 " Eead that ? What does it mean ? " 
 
 Boone's eyes rested a moment on the paragraphs pointed 
 out. Then, throwing the paper aside, he asked, coldly : 
 
 " Why should you ask me what it means ? If you are 
 interested in the affair, you might find out by writing to 
 the court." 
 
 At this, Jones, looking around the room, marked the two 
 doors, one leading to the hall, the other to the drawing-room. 
 He deliberately went to each, and, locking it, slipped the key 
 in his pocket. He glanced reassuringly at Kate, as she sat 
 dumfounded waiting the issue of this singular scene. He 
 confronted Boone, leaning against the mantel. 
 
 " It's just as well that we have a witness to this final settle- 
 ment, Elisha Boone. Twenty years ago, Miss Boone, I was 
 a citizen of this town. I was the owner of these acres. I 
 am Richard Perley. In those days I was a wild fellow I 
 thought then, a wicked one ; but I have learned since that I 
 was not, for folly is not crime. In those days I was barely 
 twenty-five your father had a hard ground to till in his 
 way of life. I became his patron, and from that I became 
 his slave. I never exactly knew how it came about, but
 
 FATHER ABRAHAM'S JOKE. 399 
 
 within a few years most of my property was mortgaged to 
 Elisha Boone. I won't accuse him, as the world does, of 
 inciting me to drink and gambling. God knows he has 
 enough to answer for without that ! In the end I was driven 
 to a deed that imperiled my liberty, and Elisha Boone put the 
 temptation and the means to do it within my reach. Detec- 
 tion followed, and the detection came about through Elisha 
 Boone. All my property in his hands, my name a scorn, 
 and my person subject to the law, Elisha Boone had no fur- 
 ther fear of me, and thenceforth doled me out an income 
 sufficient to supply my modest wants. I strove to turn the 
 new leaf that recommends itself to men who have exhausted 
 the so-called pleasures of life. I was living in honesty and 
 seclusion in Richmond, when Boone, who had never lost 
 sight of me, came with a mission for me to perform. I was 
 engaged as an agent of the detective force of the United 
 States, with the special duty of rescuing Wesley Boone from 
 captivity. 
 
 *' I was further commissioned to get evidence against John 
 Sprague, fixing upon him the crime of betraying his colors 
 and aiding the Confederacy. In the attempt to rescue Cap- 
 tain Boone at Rosedale circumstances pointed to the guilt of 
 young Sprague, but that was all dissipated a few weeks after, 
 when, at the peril of his own life, not once, but a score of 
 times, he rashly liberated a score or two of prisoners, and 
 personally led them through an entire rebel army to the 
 Union lines. I, who would have been abandoned by a less 
 noble nature, for I was weakened by captivity and bad fare, 
 broke down, but Sprague and and young Dick my son, 
 clung to me with such devotion as few sons would exhibit un- 
 der such trials, and brought me safe to the outposts. Here, 
 by some mysterious means, we were all dispersed. When I 
 found my senses I was under Elisha Boone's Samaritan care 
 in the house where you saw me at first. The two boys, 
 Sprague and Perley, spirited away from the hospital at 
 Hampton, where they had been entered under assumed 
 names, Jacques and Paling, were by some curious instru- 
 mentality hidden in the small-pox ward of the rebel prison 
 26
 
 400 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 at Point Lookout. While they lay- there, and while some 
 one in Washington knew that they were there, a court-mar- 
 tial in that city hurriedly convened, found John Sprague 
 guilty of murder, desertion, and treason, and the evening 
 dispatches from Washington state that John Sprague is to 
 be shot a week from Friday in a hollow square, in which a 
 company of the Caribees is to do the shooting. 
 
 " Miss Boone, you worked faithfully to rescue the life of 
 this young man, but your father has brought that work to 
 ruin. Worse, the death you dreaded when you gave heart 
 and soul to the rescue of the lost -was a mercy compared to 
 that in store 'for him. He is to be shot by a file of his own 
 company, seated upon a rough board coffin, ready to receive 
 his mangled remains. You will " 
 
 But Kate, at this hideous detail, fell with a low, wailing 
 cry to the floor, happily dead to the woful consciousness of 
 the scene and its meaning. Jones ran to the door, and, un- 
 locking it, shouted for the servants. When they came, she 
 was carried to her room and the physician summoned. Al- 
 most at the same time Olympia, in her traveling-dress, drove 
 up. She was informed by the servants of Kate's state, and, 
 without stopping to ask permission, ran up to the sick-room. 
 Kate was now conscious, but at sight of Olympia she covered 
 her face, shuddering. 
 
 " Ah, Kate ! Kate ! what is it ? Have you learned the 
 dreadful news ? I am going to take the train back this 
 evening." 
 
 " I, too, will go with you. Stay with me ; don't leave 
 me!" 
 
 She stopped, put out her hand, as if to make sure of 
 Olympia, then broke into low but convulsive sobs. Her 
 father, with the doctor, entered the room ; -but at the sight 
 Kate turned her head to the wall, crying, piteously : 
 
 " No, no not here, not here ! I can't see him now ! Oh, 
 spare me ! I I " 
 
 " Do your duty, doctor," Boone said, in a quick, gasping 
 tone, and with an uncertain step quit the chamber. Olympia 
 explained to the physician that Kate had heard painful news
 
 FATHER ABRAHAM'S JOKE. 401 
 
 from an unexpected quarter, and that her illness was more 
 nervous than physical. 
 
 "I don't know about that," the doctor said, decisively. 
 He felt her pulse, then with a quick start of surprise raised 
 her head and examined the tongue and lining of the pal- 
 ate. A still graver look settled on his face as he tested 
 the breath and action of the heart. When he had appar- 
 ently satisfied himself he turned to Olympia with a per- 
 turbed air, and, beckoning her into the dressing - room, 
 said: 
 
 " Miss Sprague, this is no place for you. Miss Boone has 
 every symptom of typhoid fever. She has evidently been 
 exposed to a malarial air. Her complaint may be even 
 worse than typhoid I can't quite make out certain whitish 
 blotches on her skin. I should suspect small-pox or vario- 
 loid, but that there has not been a case reported here for 
 years. Where has she been of late ? " 
 
 Olympia turned ghastly white with horror. 
 
 "O doctor, she has been nursing Jack, who was for 
 weeks in the small-pox ward at Point Lookout ! " 
 
 " Good God! Fly, fly the house at once! I wondered if 
 I could be deceived in the symptoms. I must insist on your 
 leaving at once. " 
 
 " But the poor girl must have some one of her own sex 
 with her. Whom can she get if not a friend ? " 
 
 " She can get a professional nurse, and that is worth a 
 dozen friends. Indeed, friends will be only a drawback for 
 the next ten days." 
 
 He took her gently by the shoulders and pushed her out 
 of the room. He was an old friend of the family, and she 
 was accustomed to his tyrannical ways. He held her stern- 
 ly under way until the front door closed and shut her out. 
 Then, turning into the library, he saw that the host was 
 alone. Closing the door, he said : 
 
 " Mr. Boone, your daughter has been exposed to a great 
 danger. We may be able to save her, but it will require 
 great patience." 
 
 " Danger, doctor ! What do you mean ? "
 
 402 THE IRON GAME. 
 
 "Your daughter has caught the most hideous of all dis- 
 eases small-pox ! " 
 
 Elisha Boone started to his feet. "Great God! where 
 could she catch small-pox ? " 
 
 " She caught it nursing young Sprague. I thought you 
 knew of that;" and the doctor regarded the incredulous, 
 terror-stricken face of the father with bewildered fixity. 
 Well he might. The first rod of the moral law had just 
 struck him. The vengeance he had so subtly planned had 
 turned into retributive justice. He had refused Kate's 
 prayer; he had driven her to this mad search and the con- 
 tagion now periling her life, or, if it were spared, leaving 
 her a hideous specter of herself. This passed through his 
 shattered mind as the doctor stood regarding him. 
 
 " What do you propose doing ? " he finally asked, to get 
 his thoughts from the torturing grip of conscience. 
 
 "I propose to install two trained nurses in the house. 
 You are not to let a soul know what your daughter is suffer- 
 ing from. I hope to be able to check the evil in the blood, 
 but I must be secure against any form of meddling. You 
 must avoid your daughter's chamber indeed, it would be 
 better if you could quit Acredale for a few days. You would 
 be less embarrassed by intrusive neighbors and keep your 
 conscience clear of evasions." 
 
 So it was settled that Boone should take up his quarters 
 in Warchester, coming out late every night for news. 
 
 Meanwhile, Acredale had read with amazement, first, of 
 the finding of Jack Sprague among the rebels at Point Look- 
 out, then, the extraordinary story of the court-martial and 
 death-sentence. Every one called at the Sprague mansion, 
 but it was in the hands of the servants, Olympia and her 
 guest having returned to Washington so soon as the story 
 of her brother's peril reached her. Dick, too, had flown to 
 his adored Jack, and Acredale, confounded by the swift alter- 
 nations in the young soldier's fortunes, settled down to wait 
 the outcome with a tender sorrow for the bright young life 
 eclipsed in disgrace so awful, death so ignominious. 
 
 We have looked on while most of the people in this his-
 
 FATHER ABRAHAM'S JOKE. 4Q3 
 
 tory worked through night to lig'ht in the moral perplexities 
 besetting them. We have seen warriors in love and danger 
 gallantly extricating themselves and plucking the bloom of 
 safety from the dragon path of danger. We have seen a 
 moral combat iu the minds of most of the people who have 
 had to do with our luckless Jack. But all herein set down 
 has been the merest November melancholy compared to the 
 charnel-house of dead hopes and baffled purposes that tor- 
 tured Elisha Boone. Unlovely as Boone has seemed to us, 
 he had one of the prime conditions of human goodness he 
 loved. He had loved very fondly his son Wesley. He loved 
 very tenderly his daughter Kate. 
 
 With this love came the sanctiflcation that must abide 
 where love is. I don't think he had much of what may be 
 called the second condition of human goodness reverence. 
 If he had, we should never have seen him push revenge to 
 the verge of crime. Richard Perley, it is true, accuses him 
 of a turpitude that makes a man shudder and abhor ; but al- 
 lowances must be made for the exaggeration of a careless 
 spendthrift a " good fellow," than whom I can conceive of 
 nothing so useless and mischievous in the human economy. 
 For my part, I think I could endure the frank heartlessness 
 of a man like Boone more philosophically than the false 
 good-nature of the creature men call a good fellow. 
 
 Obviously, Boone did not take Dick Perley's estimate of 
 him very seriously. He, too, could have told a tale not with- 
 out its strong features of a shiftless set, constantly borrow- 
 ing, constantly squandering, constantly provoking the thrifty 
 to accumulate unguarded properties. All this, however, had 
 faded from the old -man's mind now. He had avenged him- 
 self upon the life-long scorners of his name and fame ; but 
 the blow that shattered their pride had sent a dart to his 
 own heart. His beautiful Kate, his big-hearted, high-spir- 
 ited, man-witted girl ! she would bear a leper-taint for life, 
 and his hand had put the virus on her perfect flesh ! 
 
 In a few days the black in his hair withered to an ashen 
 white. His flesh fell away. H,e could neither eat nor sleep. 
 He shambled through the obscure streets of Warchester, or
 
 404: THE IRON GAME. 
 
 lingered wistfully in the beech woods behind his own pala- 
 tial home in Acredale, staring at the window of his daugh- 
 ter's chamber. The week passed in such mental torture as 
 tries the strong when confronted by the major force of con- 
 science. Then the doctor told him that he had balked the 
 plague; that Kate was recovering from varioloid; that be- 
 yond a transparency of skin, which would add to her beauty 
 rather than impair it, there would be no sign of the attack. 
 
 Elisha Boone slept in his own home that night, and, for 
 the first time in forty years, he fell upon his knees upon 
 his knees! Indeed, the doctor found him so at midnight, 
 when he came with a request from his daughter to come to 
 her room. The doctor, with a word of warning against agi- 
 tating the sufferer, wisely retired from the solemn recon- 
 ciliation which, without knowing the circumstances, he 
 knew was to take place between father and child. She was 
 propped up upon pillows whose texture her flesh rivaled in 
 whiteness. She opened her arms as the specter of what had 
 been her father flew to her with a stifled cry. 
 
 " O father, we have both been wicked ! we have both 
 been punished! Help me to do my part; help me to bear 
 my burden." 
 
 It was hope, mercy, and peace the meeting brought. The 
 next day Elisha Boone bade Kate a tender farewell. She 
 did not ask him where he was going. She knew, and the 
 light in her eye shone brighter as he rode in the darkness 
 over the bare fields and through the sleeping towns to 
 the capital, where Jack's fate was hanging in the balance. 
 With Boone's influence to aid them, Jack's friends found a 
 surprising change in the demeanor of the officials, hitherto 
 captious and indifferent. Boone himself laid the case be- 
 fore the President, omitting certain details not essential to 
 the showing of the monstrous injustice done a brave soldier. 
 The President listened attentively, and with the expression, 
 half sad and half droll, with which he softened the asperi- 
 ties of official life, said, humorously : 
 
 " I wish by such simple means as courts-martial we could 
 find out more such soldiers as this ; we need all of that sort
 
 FATHER ABRAHAM'S JOKE. 405 
 
 we can get." He touched a bell, and, when a clerk appeared 
 in response, he said, "Ask General McClellan to come in 
 for a moment before he leaves." 
 
 What need to go into the details? The court recon- 
 vened, and traversed the charges, which were disproved or 
 withdrawn. John Sprague was pronounced guiltless on 
 every specification, and, on General McClellan's recom- 
 mendation, was promoted to a captaincy and assigned to the 
 headquarters staff. I might go on and tell of Jack's daring 
 on the Peninsula and his immeasurable usefulness to Mc- 
 Clellan in the Williamsburg contest and the final wondrous 
 change of base from the Chickahominy to the James ; how 
 his services were recognized by promotion to a colonelcy on 
 the battle-field of Malvern ; and how, when McClellan was 
 wronged by Stanton, and removed from the army, Jack 
 broke his sword and swore that he would never serve again. 
 But, thinking better of it, he applied for a place in Han- 
 cock's corps, and was by his side from Fredericksburg to 
 Gettysburg. You have seen from the very first what was 
 going to happen. The marriages all took place, just as you 
 have guessed from the beginning. Young Dick was too 
 impatient and too skeptical to wait until the end of the war, 
 and, to the amazement of his aunts and the amusement of 
 Acredale, he carried Rosa off, one day, and was secretly 
 married in the rector's study at Warchester, so that his first 
 son was born under the Stars and Bars in Richmond, while 
 Dick was beleaguering the walls at Fort Walthall, four 
 miles away. The other young people waited rationally 
 until a month or two after the peace, and while they were 
 still entitled to wear the blue, and then they were wedded. 
 It was said that Kate made the most beautiful bride ever 
 seen in Warchester, for it was there they were married. 
 
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 66. A Sensitive Plant. By E. and D. GERARD. 
 
 67. Dona Lvz. By JUAN VALERA. Translated by Mrs. MARY J. SERRANO. 
 
 68. Pepita Ximenez. By JUAN VALERA. Translated by Mrs. MARY J. SERRANO. 
 
 69. The Primes and their Neighbors. By RICHARD MALCOLM JOHNSTON. 
 
 70. The Iron Game. By HENBY F. KEEN AN. 
 
 71. Stories of Old New Spain. By THOMAS A. JANVIER. 
 
 72. The Maid of Honor. By Hon. LEWIS WINGFIELD. 
 
 73. In the Heart of the Storm. By MAXWELL GRAY. 
 
 74. Consequences. By EGERTON CASTLE. 
 
 75. The Three Miss Kings. By ADA CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 76. A Matter of Skill. By BEATRICE WHITBY. 
 
 77. Maid Marian, arid Other Stories. By MOLLY ELLIOT SEA WELL. 
 
 78. One Woman's Way. By EDMUND PENDLETON. 
 
 79. A Merciful Divorce. By F. W. MAUDE. 
 
 80. Stephen Ellicott's Daughter. By Mrs. J. H. NEEDELL. 
 
 81. One Reason Why. By BEATRICE WHITBY. 
 
 82. The Tragedy of Ida Noble. By W. CLARK RUPSELL. 
 
 83. The Johnstown Stage, and other Stories. By ROBKRT H. FLETCHER. 
 
 84. A Widower Indeed. By RHODA BROUGHTON and ELIZABETH BISLAND. 
 
 85. The flight of a Shadow. By GEORGE MACDONALD. 
 
 86. Love or Money. By KATHARINE LEE. 
 
 87. Not All in Vain. By ADA CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 88. It Happened Yesterday. By FREDERICK MARSHALL. 
 
 89. My Guardian. By ADA CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 90. The Story of Philip Methuen. By Mrs. J. H. NEEDELL. 
 
 91. Amethyst : The Story of a Beauty. By CHRISTABEL R. COLEBIDGB- 
 
 92. Don Braulio. By JUAN VALERA. Translated by CLARA BELL. 
 
 93. The Chronicles of Mr. Mil )1 illiams. By RICHARD MALCOLM JOHNSTON. 
 
 94. A Queen of Curds and Cream. By DOROTHEA GERARD. 
 
 95. " La Bella " and Others. By EGERTON CASTLE. 
 
 96. " December Roses." By Mrs. CAMPBELL PRAEE. 
 
 97. Jean de Kerdren. By JEANNE SCHULTZ. 
 
 98. Etelka's Vow. By DOROTHEA GERARD. 
 
 99. Cross Currents. By MARY A. DICKENS. 
 
 100. His Life's Magnet. By THEODORA ELMBLIE. 
 
 101. Passing the Love of Women. By Mrs. J. H. NEEDELL. 
 
 102. In Old St. Stephen's. By JEANIE DRAKE. 
 
 103. The Berkeleys and their Neighbors. By MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWBLL. 
 
 104. Nona Maclean, Medical Student. By GRAHAM TRAVHRS. 
 
 105. Mrs. Bligh. By RHODA BROUGHTON. 
 
 106. A Stumble on the Threshold. By JAMES PAYN. 
 
 107. Hanging Moss. By PAUL LINDAU. 
 
 106. A Comedy of Elopement. By CHRISTIAN REID. 
 
 109. In the Suntime of her Youth. By BEATRICE WHITBY. 
 
 110. Stories in Black'and White. By THOMAS HARDY and Others. 
 110J. An Englishman in Paris. Notes and Recollections. 
 
 111. Commander Mendoza. By JUAN VALERA. 
 
 112. Dr. Paull's Theory. By Mrs. A. M. DIEHL. 
 
 113. Children of Destiny. By MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL. 
 114 A Little Minx. By ADA CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 115. Capt'n Davy's Honeymoon. By HALL CAINE. 
 
 116. The Voice of a Flower. By E. GERARD. 
 
 117. Singularly Deluded. By SARAH GRAND. 
 
 118. Suspected. By LOUISA STRATENUS. 
 
 119. Lucia, Hugh, and Another. By Mrs. J. H. NEEDBLL, 
 WO. The Tutor's Secret. By VICTOR CHERBULIEZ.
 
 APPLETONS' TOWN AND COUNTRY LIBRARY .-(Continued.) 
 
 121. From the Five Rivers. By Mrs. F. A. STEEL. 
 
 122. An Innocent Impostor, and Other Stories. By MAXWELL GBAT. 
 
 123. Ideala. By SARAH GBANI>. 
 
 124. A Comedy of Masks. By ERNEST DOWSON and ABTHUR MOORE. 
 
 125. Relics. By CHANCES MACRAE. 
 
 126. Dodo : A Detail of the Day. By E. F. BENSON. 
 
 127. A Woman of Forty. By ESME STUART. 
 
 1:28. Diana Tempest. By MAKT CHOLMONDELEY. 
 
 129. The Reciptfor Diamonds. By C. J. CUTCLIPPE HYNB. 
 
 130. Christina Chard. By Mrs. CAMPBELL-PRAED. 
 
 131. A Gray Eye or So. By FRANK FRANKFORT MOOBB. 
 
 132. Earlscourt. By ALEXANDER ALLARDTCE. 
 
 133. A Marriage Ceremony. By ADA CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 134. A Ward in Chancery. By Mrs. ALEXANDER. 
 
 135. Lot 13. By DOROTHEA GERARD. 
 
 136. Our Manifold Nature. By SARAH GRAND. 
 
 137. A Costly Freak. By MAXWELL GRAY. 
 1138. A Beginner. By KHODA BROUGHTON. 
 
 139. A Yellow Aster. By Mrs. MANNINGTON CAFFYN (" IOTA"). 
 
 140. The Rubicon. By E. F. BENSON. 
 
 141. The Trespasser. By GILBERT PARKER. 
 
 142. The Rich Miss Kiddell. By DOROTHEA GEKARD. 
 
 143. Mary Fenicick's Duuqhttr. By EEATRICE WHITBY. 
 
 144. Red Diamonds. By JUSTIN MCCARTHY. 
 
 145. A Daughter of Music. By G. COLJIORE. 
 
 143. Outlaw and Lawmaker. By Mrs. CAMPBELL-PBAED. 
 
 147. Dr. Janet of Harley street. By ARABELLA KENEALY. 
 
 148. George Mandeville^s Husband. By C. E. RAIMOND. 
 
 149. Vashti and Esther. 
 
 150. Timor's Two Worlds. By M. JOKAI. 
 
 151. A Victim of Good Luck. By W. E. NORRIS. 
 
 152. The Trail of the Sword. By GILBERT PARKER. 
 
 153. A Mild Barbarian. By EDGAR FAWCETT. 
 
 154. The God in the Car. By ANTHONY HOPE. 
 
 155. Children of Circumstance. By Mrs. M. CAFPYN. 
 
 156. At the Gate of Samaria. By WILLIAM J. LOCKE. 
 
 157. The Justification of Andrew Lebrun. By FBANK BARRETT. 
 
 158. Dust and Laurels. By MARY L. TENDERED. 
 
 159. The Good Ship Mohock. By W. CLARK RUSSELL. 
 
 160. Noemi. By 8. BARING-GOULD. 
 
 161. The Honour of Savelli. By S. LEVETT YEATS. 
 
 162. Kitty's Engagement. By FLORENCE WARDEN. 
 
 163. The Mermaid. By L. DOUGALL. 
 
 164. An Arranged Marriage. By DOROTHEA GERARD. 
 
 165. Eve's Ransom. By GEORGE GISSINO. 
 
 166. The Marriage of Esther. By GUY BOOTHBY. 
 
 167. Fidelia. By ADA CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 168. Into the Highways and Hedges. By F. F. MONTRESOB. 
 
 169. The Vengeance of James Vansittart. By Mrs. J. H. NEEDELL. 
 
 170. A Study in Prejudices. By GEORGE PASTON. 
 
 171. The. Mistress of Q'Mst. By ADELINE SERGEANT. 
 
 172. In the Year of Jubilee. By GEORGE GISSING. 
 
 173. In Old New England. By HEZEKIAH BUTTERWOBTH. 
 
 174. Mrs. Musgraveand Her Husband. By R. MABSH. 
 
 175. Not Counting the Cost. By TASMA. 
 
 176. Out of Due Season. By ADELINE SERGEANT. 
 
 177. Scylla or Charybdis ? By RHODA BROUGHTON. 
 
 178. In Defiance of the King. By C. C. HOTCHK.ISS. 
 
 179. A Bid for Fortune. By GUY BOOTHBY. 
 
 180. The King of Andaman. By J. MACLAREN COBBAN. 
 
 181. Mrs. Tregaskixs. By Mrs. CAMPBELL-PRAED. 
 
 182. The Desire of the Moth. By CAPEL VANE. 
 
 183. A Self-Denying Ordinance. By M. HAMILTON. 
 
 184. Successors to the Title. By Mrs. L. B. WALFOBD.
 
 APPLETONS' TOWN AND COUNTRY LIBRARY. -(Continued.) 
 
 185. The Lost Stradivarius. By J. MEADE FALKNER. 
 
 186. The Wrong Man. By DOROTHEA GERARD. 
 
 187. In the Day of Adversity. By J. BLOUNDELLE-BURTON. 
 
 188. Mistress Dorothy Marvin. By J. C. SNAITH. 
 
 189. A Flash of Summer. By Mrs. W. K. CLIFFORD. 
 
 190. The Dancer in Yellow. By W. E. NOBRIS. 
 
 191. The Chronicles of Martin Hewitt. By AKTHUB MORRISON. 
 
 192. A Winning Hazard. By Mrs. ALEXANDER. 
 
 193 The Picture of Las Cruces. By CHRISTIAN REID. 
 
 194. The Madonna of a Day. By L. DOUGALL. 
 
 195. The Kiddle Ring. By JUSTIN MCCARTHY. 
 136. A Humble Enterprise. By ADA CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 197. Dr. Nikola. By Gcr BOOTHBT. 
 
 198. An Outcast of the Islands. By JOSEPH CONRAD. 
 
 199. The King's Revenge. By CLAUDE BRAT. 
 
 200. Denounced. By f. BLOUNDELLE-BURTON. 
 
 201. A Court Intrigue. By BASIL THOMPSON. 
 
 202. The Idol-Maker. By ADELINE SERGEANT. 
 208. The Intriguers. By JOHN D. BARBY. 
 
 204. Matter Ardick, Buccaneer. By F. H. COSTELLO. 
 
 203. With Fortune Made. By VICTOR CHKRBULIEZ. 
 
 206. Fellow Travellers. By GRAHAM TRAVERS. 
 
 207. McLeodofthe Camerons. By M. HAMILTON. 
 
 208. The Career of Candida. By GEORGE PASTON. 
 
 209. Arrested. By ESME STUART. 
 
 210. Tatterley. By T. GALLON. 
 
 211. A Pinchbeck Goddess. By Mrs. J. M. FLEMING (Alice M. Kipling). 
 
 212. Perfection City. By Mrs. ORPEN. 
 
 213. A Spotless Reputation. By DOROTHEA GERARD. 
 
 214. A Galahad of the Creeks. By 8. LEVETT YEATS. 
 
 215. The Beautiful White Devil. By GUT BOOTHBT. 
 21(5. The Sun of Saratoga. By JOSEPH A. ALTSHELER. 
 
 217. Fierceheart, the Soldier. By J. C. SNAITH. 
 
 218. Marietta's Marriage. By W. E. NOBRIS. 
 
 219. Dear Faustina. By RHODA BROUGHTON. 
 
 220. Nulma. By Mrs. CAMPBELL-PRAED. 
 
 221. The Folly of Pen Harrington. By JULIAN STURGIS. 
 
 222. A Colonial' Free- Lance. "By C. C. HOTCHKISS. 
 
 223. His Majesty's fir^it-xt Subject. By S. 8. THORBUBN. 
 
 224. Mifanwy: A Welsh Singer. By ALLEN RAINE. 
 
 225. A Soldier of Manhattan. By JOSEPH A. ALTSHELEB, 
 
 226. Fortune's Footballs.. By G. B. BURGIN. 
 
 227. The Clash of Anns. By J. BLOUNDELLE-BURTON. 
 223. God's Foundling. By A. J. DAWSON. 
 
 229. Miss Providence. By DOROTHEA GERARD. 
 
 230. The Freedom of Hf-nry Mertdyth. By M. HAMILTON. 
 
 231. Sweethearts and Friends. By MAXWELL GRAT. 
 
 232. Sunset. By BEATRICE WHITBT. 
 
 233. John of Klrathbourne. By R. D. CHETWODE. 
 
 Each, 12mo, paper cover, 50 cents) cloth, $1.00. 
 
 For sale by all booksellers ; or sent by mail on receipt of price by (he publishers, 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.
 
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 COLONIAL FREE-LANCE. By CHAUNCEY C. 
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