THE UNIVERSITY OF
NORTH CAROLINA
LIBRARY
THE WILMER COLLECTION
OF CIVIL WAR NOVELS
PRESENTED BY
RICHARD H. WILMER, JR.
^iLWi^
FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY
Br Dr. GOEDON STABLES.
Westward with Columbus. With 8 page Illustrations by Al-
fred Pearse. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 5s.
"Our author treats hia subject in a dignified, historical fashion which
well becomes it, and we must place Westward with Coluinbus among those
books that all boys ought to read." — The Spectator.
'Twixt School and College : A Tale of Self-reliance. With 8
page Illustrations by W. Parkinson. Crown 8vo, cloth ele-
gant, olivine edges, 5s.
" One of the best of a prolific writer's books for boys, being full of practical
instructions as to keeping pets, from white mice upwards, and inculcates in
a way which a little recalls Miss Edgeworth's 'Frank' the virtue of self-
reliance, though the local colouring of the home of the Aberdeenshire boy
is a good deal more picturesque."— .4 Wicnipuni.
The Hermit Hunter of the Wilds. With i page Illustrations.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 2s. 6d.
"Pirates and pumas, mutiny and merriment, a castaway and a cat,
furnish the materials for a tale that will gladden the heart of many a bright
hoy."— Methodist Recorder.
London: BLACKIE & SON, Limited, 50 Old Bailev, E.G.
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2010 with funding from
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
http://www.archive.org/details/forlifelibertystOOstab
VUU ARE A TKLE SlELlMEN UF THE BKITISII MAN,"
SAID GENERAL STONEWALL JACKSON.
FOE LIFE AND LIBERTY
A STORY OF
BATTLE BY LAND AND SEA
BY
GORDON STABLES, M.D., RN.
Author of "To Greenland and the Pole", '"Twixt School and College"
"Westward with Columbus", &c.
WITH EIQHT ILLUSTRATIONS BY SIDNEY PAGET
AND A MAP
LONDON
BLACKIE & SON, Limited, 50 OLD BAILEY, E.G.
GLASGOW AND DUBLIN
1896
CONTENTS.
BOOK I.
THE GATHERING CLOUDS.
Chap. Page
I. Reverie and Romance, 9
II. Written on the Field of Battle, 20
III. Fort Sumter palls, 28
IV. A Brave but Ragged Regiment, 37
V. The Battle of Bull Run, 47
VI. Osmond determines to make for America, .... 56
VII. Afloat on the Wide Atlantic, 66
VIII. Mutiny on Board the Blockade-runner, .... 78
IX. Chased by a Northern Cruiser, 91
X. The Fight with the "Delaware", 101
BOOK II.
THE BURSTING OF THE STORM.
I. On the Long March Northward, 115
II. Fighting the Forest Fire, 126
III. At the Old Plantation, 138
IV. The Federal Fleet and the Forts, 150
V. War by Sea and Land, 164
VI. The Story of the "Merrimao", 174
VII. Harry in the Enemy's Camp, 187
VIII. A Tussle with Road-agents, 199
IX. The Battle of Malvern Hill, 213
X. The Great Struggle on the Potomac, 228
XI. The Death of Captain William Bloodwoeth, . . 239
603253
VI CONTENTS.
BOOK III.
TO THE BITTER END.
Chap. Page
I. Lincoln Pkoclaims Freedom to the Slaves, . . . 245
II. Where was Fighting Joe? 256
III. A Tragedy in Five Acts 265
IV. Wild Life at Sea — The "Alabama", 276
Y. A Dangerous Undertaking, 285
YI. Condemned to Die, 295
YII. At the Old Plantation once again, 306
YIII. Lee's Last Stand at Richmond, 317
IX. For Plunder and Revenge, 328
X. When the Cruel War was Over, 343
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Page
"You AEE A TKUE SPECIMEN OP THE BRITISH MAN," SAID
General Stonewall Jackson, Frontis. 233
Osmond gives Eva the first News op the War, ... 19
"I re-baptize this good ship the Mosquito" said Lucy,
AND dashed the Bottle ON Deck, 75
"You must die at daybreak," said Captain Stuart;
"take him away, corporal," 121
"On and on they dash at a break-neck gallop through
the forest fire," 137
"Suddenly Harry, who was riding on ahead, cried
'Halt!'" 201
Captain Trouville turns upon Harry, and reads him a
Lesson, 288
The victorious Federals are welcomed by the AYomen
OP Richmond, . 327
Map to illustrate the Civil War in America, 1861-65. ... 29
FOE LIFE AND LIBERTY.
BOOK I.
THE GATHEEING CLOUDS.
CHAPTER I.
REVERIE AND ROMANCE.
HERE is a thread of romance in the warp or
weft of nearly every boy's life. I should
not care to have a boy as a companion in
my summer rambles who did not have that blue vein
of " romauticness " winding and curving through all
his nature, like the blue line that runs through the
best ship's canvas.
Well, I may be wrong, but it has long been my
opinion that there can be no true bravery without a
little dash of poetry, just to fire the blood. Even
savages, in every land in which it has been my lot
and luck to travel or sojourn — notably, perhaps, the
Indians of the western wilds of America — possess
10 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
that quality, and this it is which gives dash and elan
to their battle charges, and lends a kind of music to
their voices as, spear in hand, they rush yelling on to
meet their enemies.
Well, if this romance be not present in a boy's life
when he is quite young, it will not develop as he gets
older, and he will never become a true soldier, that is,
a leader of men. There is another species of courage
which I have found to be very common among the
tribes in Eastern Africa, a courage that is born of a
kind of dreamy inditference to life. They fight as fights
the bull or the walrus, with a sort of stern stolidity
that often leads to victory from its very doggedness.
This kind of pluck is not unknown among the rank
and file of the British army, especially the English
portion of it; the Celtic divisions, as represented by
the Irish and Highland Scottish, having probably more
poetical fervour and dash, though, as records can prove,
not less staying power. But it is the very composite
character of our army which, in my opinion, renders
it the best that ever faced a foe or fixed a bayonet.
It is an army, too, that has its traditions, and its long
and glorious history to cheer it on and steel its heart
for action; an army that, well-generalled and properly
handled by its officers, is to all intents and purposes
invincible.
But now my hero comes upon the boards, and you
m
REVERIE AND ROMANCE. 11
will find him no exception to the general rule, for
Osmond did possess romance, and a spice of poetry too.
Mind you this, though, my hero's romance did not lead
him to do anything very ridiculous. He never had
any hankering after knight-errantry. It never oc-
curred to him to sally forth from his father's house or
hall for the purpose of rescuing distressed damsels
from the power of their would-be captors, nor to live
all alone, as I knew a boy do once, for a whole week
in a ruined castle. Nor did Osmond's poetry find a
safety-valve in deluging the table of unhaj)py editors
with silly and unwholesome verses. No, his poetry
and romance took quite another turn, and led him to
lonsr for travel and adventure.
You will not think this very strange when I tell
you where he lived. Imagine to yourself, then, a
bonnie glen or valley in the south-west of Yorkshire,
with a bi'awling rivulet winding down through the
centre of it, spanned here and there with strong old-
fashioned Gothic bridges. Fields at each side sur-
rounded with lordly trees, the black-budded ash, the
sturdy oak, the broad-leaved sycamore, and the noble
horse-chestnut whose splendid flowers of pink and
white seemed to turn all the bees crazy in the merry
month of May. Imagine these fields rising up and up,
higher and higher, as they get further away from the
stream till they end in a ridge of wooded hills.
12 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
This sounds romantic, does it not? So does the
mention of sturdy old English mansions with chimneys
peeping through the trees, that may be seen here and
there on the brow of the glen. But low down, and
near to the middle of the valley, stands a long row of
brick houses. Well, they do not look so bad at a dis-
tance, and are quite in keeping with the scenery, but
if you enter and walk through this village, romance
and poetry take to themselves wings and fly away.
The buildings, it is true, are strong and substantial,
but the street itself is rutty and black, the pavements
are sadly out of repair, and at every doorway or in
the gutters play bare-legged, naked-armed children,
whose faces do not appear to have been washed nor
their "tousled" hair combed for a month of Bank
holidays. But here and there in this long street you
cannot help noticing "palaces" about which the less
we say the better, for they are devoted to the worship
of Bacchus, and the men and women around their
corner doors are far indeed from wholesome -look-
ing.
Supposing the season to be summer, we should
naturally expect to find the trees all smiling and
green in the glad sunshine, and many a lusty trout
leaping up here and there in the streamlet. Well,
time was when such a state of aflairs really existed,
but it is not now, because for almost every mansion
RE"\T;RrE AND ROMANCE. 13
there is a mill, and the smoke from the chimneys
of these covers all the landscape with a sooty, black
veil, while their effluxions poison the once clear stream
so that ne'er a trout or minnow can live therein. So
the trees, instead of being green and fresh, are grimy
and almost brown, and even the grass itself looks
dry and harsh.
All these mills may certainly serve to represent a
portion of the wealth and riches of old England. I
grant you they do, but nevertheless it is not in such
a country as this that the goddess Poesy loves to
linger.
Yet it was here where our hero Osmond lived at
the time our story opens. Up yonder at the Mir-
fields he had spent most of his life, except just
latterly when the greater portion of the year had
been devoted to study in the classic old halls of
Eton.
Was it any wonder, I ask you, that young Osmond,
now in his eighteenth year, and reared among such
surroundinpfs, lono-ed at times for travel and wild ad-
venture? These longings were fed by the books he
read in his father's well-stored library.
Mirfields stood (and still stands) well up among the
rolling woods, higher up indeed than any other house
in the valley, and seated at one of the broad windows
of the library that ovei'looked all the wide glen,
14 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
Osmond oftentimes of a summer evening, while the
sun sank livid or red through the western haze, would
indulge in reveries or dreams that were very far from
being unpleasant.
Sometimes his little sister Eva would steal in and
seat herself quietly on a cushion at his feet. On the
thick, old-fashioned carpet her footsteps would not be
heard, and her presence for a time, at all events, ap-
peared to be scarcely noticed by her brother.
Far, far beyond the Yorkshire hills — thus at times
did Osmond's reverie run — there were oceans and
seas on which his gaze had never yet alighted, sleep-
ing blue and peaceful under cloudless skies, or, when
wild winds blew, raised into billows, foam-topped and
furious, and raced before the tempest's blast. Yet
loud though the stormy winds might roar, the breath
of the ocean was ever sweet and pure, so that the
sea-birds screamed with delight as they were caught
up and whirled from wave to wave.
And the countries beyond the seas, what delightful
possibilities did they not present to this romantic
boy!
The time at which my story begins is after the
quelling of the terrible mutiny in India, and in the
autumn of the year 1861. In those days there were
fewer writers of boys' books than there are now; but
on his father's shelves, nevertheless, Osmond found
REVERIE AND ROMANCE. 15
many a story of travel and adventure that delighted
and thrilled him, with the authors of which he went
wandering away to far-off lands. He visited regions
of lakes and streams and primeval forests in the very
centre of Africa, and many an escapade he had among
the dark-skinned and implacable savages, while lions
not a few fell before the fire of his rifle by woodland
and stream. In imagination he chased the fleet girafle
and stalked the lordly elephant through the dells and
dingles of sunny Africa. He even engaged in deadly
struggles with terrible pythons, and had his frail
canoe upset by a huge ungainly hippopotamus in a
river pool that was literally alive with horrid croco-
diles.
0, a fine thing is a good imagination, I can assure
you, reader! And Osmond could enjoy all the fun of
a fight with Patagonian savages or with the cannibal
canoe Indians of Tierra del Fuego without going a
step beyond his father's library.
Yet with all his longing to see life — real life — and
partake of wild adventure in foreign lands, Osmond
was not a very tall nor even a very resolute lad to
look at. For my own part I rather like to have tall
and rather handsome heroes in all my stories — men,
for instance, like Roualeyn, Gordon Gumming, the lion
hunter, or stalwart Donald Dinnie, the athlete. I like
such men, and yet I cannot forget that very many
16 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
of the world's greatest generals and conquerors have
been men of medium stature. Said the poet: —
" Were I as tall as reach the pole,
Or grasp the ocean with my span,
I must be measured by my soul;
The mind's the standard of the man."
No, Osmond was barely of medium height, but he had
a clear complexion of his own, dark blue Yorkshire
eyes, and a fearless open and intellectual countenance.
Perhaps Osmond was his mother's favourite, and he
spent much of his time in her society. Dick, on the
other hand, who was older than Osmond, and his only
brother, just as little Eva was his only sister, was
always with his father in mine or mill, at church or
market, or in the smithy itself. Two " buirdly "
chiels they were, and " Yorkshire " all over. People
who looked after them, as they strode homewards
together of an evening, used to say that they looked
more like brothers than like father and son.
When I tell you that Mrs. Lloyd herself was a
pretty but fragile-like little woman, and that Eva was
just a juvenile edition of her mother, I have introduced
the whole family to your notice.
Stay a moment, tliough ; there is one other who
deserves a passing word, namely Wolf, a splendid
specimen of the true-bred British mastiff, grand and
beautiful to a degree. Like a true-born Englishman,
( M 132 )
REVERIE AND ROMANCE. 17
V7ol£ was gentleness and kindness personified where
women or children were concerned, but a very demon
in fight, and a dog that would be faithful unto death
in protecting his master's property or safeguarding
his interests.
Eva was very fond and very proud, too, of her
clever brother Osmond. Clever to her he undoubtedly
seemed. Had he not gained honours at Eton? Could
anything be more glorious than that? Then he could
write fairy stories and verses also — poetry, Eva called
them — which, though they were never published, he
used to recite to her in the calm summer's gloaming,
causing her to cry one minute, only to burst into peals
of merry laughter the next.
Of course Eva loved Dick, her big, big brother also,
despite the fact that he always treated her like a child;
for when she ran down the avenue of an evening to
meet him, he used to pick her up and seat her right
on top of his left shoulder and thus march singing to
the house with her.
Osmond, on the other hand, treated her as a com-
panion and an equal. In his long walks through the
woodlands in summer she was always at one side of
him, and Wolf the stately at the other.
It is seldom that mastiffs take to retrievers' or
Newfoundlands' work, but Wolf could not only swim
well and powerfully, but fetch and carry also. Every
- / ( M 132 ) B
18 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
morning after breakfast, when the postman opened the
gate at the foot of the lawn, Wolf went bounding off
with gladsome sonorous bark to meet him. Then he
received the bag, and came trotting back to the house
with it. Nor would he deliver it up to anyone except
his master — Osmond. So the young man always had
the pleasure of sorting out the letters. There gene-
rally was one or two for his mother, and a whole
batch for his father and for Dick, but occasionally
there was one for himself also.
Now, young Osmond had cousins in America —
cousins on the Southern side of the great struggle that
was just then commencing, and cousins on the Northern
side as well.
These cousins, let me tell you, were not much to
Dick. He simply owned them, that was all, and if
the coming civil war was to affect him in any way, it
would be merely from a business standpoint.
But with Osmond, and even with Eva, it was totally
different. They constantly corresponded with their
cousins far beyond the sea, and the long letters they
received almost every month were couched in language
casting quite a halo of romance around the land of the
greatest republic the world has ever seen.
And so, when one morning Wolf came bounding in
as usual with the letter-bag and Osmond found therein
a very thick letter with American postage-stamps on
OSMOND GIVES EVA THE FIRST NEWS OF THE WAR.
REVERIE AND ROMANCE. 19
it, his face positively glowed with joy and excite-
ment.
He somewhat unceremoniously threw all the other
letters on the table in front of his brother Dick, and
with a meaning glance to Eva, who immediately fol-
lowed him, ran off at once to the library.
"Why," he cried; "why, Eva, what do you think?"
He had read a portion of the letter to himself.
" I don't know — do tell me."
" No, guess."
" I can't and won't. Don't keep me in suspense, Os.
I know from your face the letter contains good news."
"O, it isn't only good news; it is glorious news!
Glorious! Lie down, Wolf; what do you know about
it?
"First and foremost. Cousin William and Cousin
Harry have both become soldiers, and neither of them
is much older than I am, you know, if any."
"0, stop, Os, stop, I don't want you to tell me
what is in the letter. That's not the proper way to do.
Just read it out, and Wolf and I will listen."
" Well, here goes," said Osmond.
Then he commenced to read.
20 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
CHAPTER II.
WRITTEN ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE,
HURRAH! Hurrah! Hurrah!'" commenced Osmond,
his eyes on his cousin's letter.
But Eva laughingly interrupted him.
" Why, Os," she cried, " the letter doesn't begin like
that, I'm sure."
" Oh, but it does. The three words are written in
large letters, and in one line right at the beginning.
See for yourself."
" So they are," said Eva, laughing.
" ' Hurrah ! Hurrah ! Hurrah !
" ' My dearest Osmond, likewise Eva, whom I am
coming across the herring-pond to marry some of
these days after we have finished whipping the
Northerns. This is written on the field of battle and
on the evening of a great victory. Stay, I declare that
I have forgotten to write down the date. It is the
21st of July, 1861, then, a day that will henceforth be
known as the glorious 21st.
" ' Every now and then as I write, the joyous shouts
of my brother soldiers come pealing on ray ear, and
I have to leave off for a minute or two just to join
them.
"'Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!
WRITTEN ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 21
" ' The wonder is that you haven't heard our shouts
of victory, our pceans of triumph, even right away in
the middle of dull and drowsy old England.
"*N.B. The above, dear Osmond, is a joke; for out
here in the sunny south of what was once the one
great Republic, but is now virtually two, we all love
England. And we sincerely hope and expect that
before many weeks are over Great Britain, as you love
to be called, will recognize the Confederates as a bel-
ligerent power, and who knows but that, after we have
whipped the North, and become ourselves a nation,
Britain and our new Republic may enter into an alli-
ance, offensive and defensive. Then, Osmond, with
you at one side of the Atlantic and us at the other,
won't we make the world sit up, just!
" (' No, thank you ; I don't want any supper. I've
had my fill of fighting and glory; but look here,
Nathaniel, you may bring me about a quart of cofiee.
Just set it on the drum yonder. There is a bullet-hole
right through the head, so we may as well make a
table of it, for it will never sound the assembly
again.')
" ' The above sentence, dear cousins, is spoken to Nat,
my soldier-in-attendance — I myself am an oflScer, and
so you'd soon be too, if you were out here. Why don't
you come and join us? For honour and glory, you
know. We have more than one soldier of fortune
22 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
among us who hails from England or Scotland. When
I look up I see one now — a right good fellow. He has
fought all over the globe, and I believe he bears a
charmed life. Oh, can't he fight, just! And so coolly
too ! To-day, on the plateau, while the battle raged its
fiercest, while cannon roared, while rifle volleys seemed
to tear the very clouds into tatters, I happened for a
second only to glance towards bold M'Clellan's corps.
This corps was standing by to resist Keyes' charge up
the slope. M'Clellan was standing on its right. He
had tucked his drawn sword, which had already drank
blood, under his left arm, as if it had been an old
umbrella, and was quietly lighting a cigar. But next
minute, nay, in less time than that, my Osmond, that
sword was once more pointed aloft, and in the direction
of the foe.
" ' Give it to 'em, boys,' he shouted. ' Give 'em fits.
Hurrah!'
" 'And Keyes was hurled backwards down the slope,
bravely though he and his men had sought to gain the
brow of that blood-stained plateau.
" ' And this brave fellow is now making coffee not far
from where I write — making good coffee and frying-
pan hagglety; and it was he who sent to ask me to
come to dinner.
" ' My dear cousins, Osmond and Eva, you will, I am
sure, forgive me if I write in a somewhat rambling and
WRITTEN ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 23
disjointed manner in this letter. There is such a din
all round me, and I haven't much light either. But
I have far more to tell you than ever I could get into
one single letter.
" ' William, who is captain of a company, is not far
from me at this moment. His men, strangely enough,
are nearly all Irishmen. In the field of battle none
are more daring, none more steady. Your great poet
says, they
' Move to death with military glee'.
But to see them now, sitting or lying around the camp-
fire, or cooking their rations, talking, laughing, singing
as merrily as match-girls, you wouldn't think that not
many hours ago they were hand to hand in fight with
a desperate foe. I'm not sure either, Osmond, that
there aren't what you'd call Irish rebels in that merry
corps. Now, for instance, that song which yonder half-
clad soldier is trolling forth, with manly voice and
plenty of brogue, was never written for this war: —
' Step together, boldly tread.
Firm each foot, erect each head ;
Fixed in front be every eye,
Forward at the word
Advance!'"
Just at this portion of the letter Osmond lifted up
his eyes. They were sparkling with excitement, and
24 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
in strange contrast to those of his sister Eva. There
was a look in hers that spoke of wonder as well as
sorrow. Eva, you must know, was barely fifteen, very
pretty and very merry at most times, but a perfect
little woman nevertheless, as most girls are who have
no sisters and are the constant companions of their
elders. Details of fio-htinsf and stories of war had not
the same interest for her, therefore, as for her roman-
tic brother. She was of a somewhat practical turn of
mind too, so when Osmond now exclaimed with a con-
siderable degree of animation: —
" Oh, Eva, wouldn't I like to be there, just, fighting
side by side with cousin Harry in the glorious cause!"
Eva made answer, " But what is the glorious cause ?
What are they fighting for?"
"Eh! what?" replied Osmond, somewhat taken
aback. "Ahem! the cause, did you say? Well, we
haven't come to that yet. But you may be sure the
cause is glorious, else Harry and Will wouldn't fight
for it. I'll read on. Let me see, where was I?"
"'Forward at the word Advance!'" said Eva,
prompting him.
" Oh, yes, to be sure. Ahem!
" ' I daresay, Osmond,' the letter ran on, ' you are
like me. You don't care a very great deal about poli-
tics. Politics is a fine thing, I don't doubt, but I guess
it's got to take a back seat as soon as the sword is
WRITTEN ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 2o
drawn, which it very courageously does; for most of
the long-jawed buffers you hear shouting at Washing-
ton are said to be the biggest cowards out in the smoke
of battle, unless they are allowed to get in behind a
barricade, and lie face downwards ! But, nevertheless,
I daresay you would like to know how we, the Con-
federates, came to draw swords against the Union, and
how my brother and I have donned the bonnie gray
uniform, and drawn the sword; and how even my dear
father, your uncle, though long past sixty, holds a com-
mand somewhere in Virginia.
" ' Well, Cousin Osmond, as far as I can make it out,
we are fighting because the Northerners are trying to
force upon us such laws as no one with the feelings of
a gentleman would consider himself justified in obey-
ing.
" ' Mind you this, cousin, none of us Southerners wish
to uphold slavery in the very worst sense of the word.
You may roam through almost all our fair land, and
see or hear absolutely nothing of the misery, the
moaning, the groaning, the clank of chains, and re-
volver-like crack of the lash, that Mrs. Harriet Beecher
Stowe makes so much of in her milksop story of
Uncle Tom's Cabin.' "
" Oh!" cried Eva, interrupting him, with tears in her
eyes; "I love it, Os, I love it, I love it. He mustn't
write so about dear Uncle Tom."
26 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
" So do I, Eva; but let me read on.
" ' All that is moonshine, and even our ministers out
here, cousin, tell us, and try to prove it too, that negroes
were made and meant to be servants to white men.
And they like to serve us too, I can assure you. Oh,
dear Osmond, there wasn't a happier race of blacks in
all the States than ours were just before the outbreak
of this cruel war. Massa, my father, was all the world
to them, and so were the young folks — my brother
Will, my sisters, and I. Dear old Auntie Lee, as we
called her, and white-haired Uncle Neile, they nursed
us when we were mere pickaninnies. We romped and
played with their black children ; rolled with them on
the grass by the old cabin door; fished with them in
the runs; hunted the woods with them and the dogs
for the 'possums, and helped to eat the 'possums too
in the cabin where old Uncle Neile had cooked them.
Dear days that are gone, days of auld lang syne!
Just because we are a little older, and the war has
broken out. Only that and nothing else. But
* We hunt no more for the 'possum and the coon
By the meadow, the stream, and the shore.
We dance no more by the glimmer of the moon,
Near the bench by the old cottage door.
The day goes by like a shadow o'er the heart,
With sorrow where all was delight ;
For the time has come when the darkies have to part,
Then my old Kentucky home, good-night.'
WRITTEN ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 27
" ' But, cousin mine, the darkies are not going to part
yet. You bet ! But even were the tables to be turned,
and were the Federals to whip us instead of our whip-
ping them, and were President Lincoln to declare their
emancipation, I feel sure we would be none the worse
off, for not a black man, woman, or child would leave
our plantation.
" ' But it does seem hard that a Southern gentleman
should not be allowed to travel with his servants
through the Northern States. We all felt the injus-
tice of the laws they have been trying to force on us.
We all feel it now, dear Osmond, and that is why we
have left the old plantation. We have Davis — dear
Jeff we call him — for our President, and we are going
to fight for him and freedom as long as there is a shot
in the locker or a cartridge left in our belts.
" ' Having drawn the sword, we have thrown away
the scabbard, and I guess that means biz. It is sad for
those we leave behind on the old plantation, sad for
mother and sisters, I mean; but dear mum is, I think,
a bit of a Spartan at heart, and although her tears
may flow, she would rather we were here on the war-
path than living at home in ease and luxury.
" ' The very last song I heard my youngest sister
sing, Osmond, was that old Jacobite one with its sad,
sweet, but brave air, ' He's ower the hills that I lo'e
weel', and one verse I thought was so appropriate to
28 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
our cause and to our family, I do not wonder that dear
Looie's eyes were moist as she sang it.
' My father's gane to fight for him,
My brithers wiuna bide at hame.
My mither greets ^ aud prays for them ;
But 'deed she thinks they're no to blame.'
" ' Well, Osmond, this is the eve of our first real
battle, but not of our first fight; and before I tell you
what I know of Bull Run, I must tell you something
about Fort Sumter, because the doings there really
commenced the war.
" ' Now, I think the capture of this fort was just a
real plucky thing. But mind you this, Osmond, we
mean to take all the forts and all the coast defences,
and we mean to take the completest possession of the
Mississippi River, and we mean to capture Washing-
ton, ay, and to hold it too, and to dictate our terms of
peace to the Federals from the capital itself. You'll
see. But now about Fort Sumter.' "
E
CHAPTER III.
FORT SUMTER FALLS.
VA crept a little closer to the side of her favourite
brother, so that she could lean one arm on his
1 Weeps.
FORT SUMTER FALLS. 29
knee and look up into his face as he read the rest of
Cousin Henry's letter.
Wolf, too, appeared to be interested, for he sat at
Osmond's left side, and rested his enormous head on
his other knee. Thus encouraged, Os read on.
" ' I am sure, my dear cousin, that you don't know a
great deal about the geography of the American
States. If you do you must be a great exception to
the general run of young fellows of your age. There-
fore, I beseech you to possess yourself of a good
skeleton map as soon as you can. Because you will
then be able to follow the fighting^. I say a skeleton
map, because most of what are called maps are so
stuffed with unimportant villages and towns that look-
ing for the place you want is just like searching for a
bit of orange-peel in a well-made and rich Christmas
pudding.'
" Give me that big atlas," said Osmond to his sister.
Eva rose and found it, and staggered back to the
window with it, and Os opened it at North America,
supporting its weight on Wolf's great head.
Wolf didn't seem to care a bit.
•' ' Now, Os,' the letter continued, ' I shall sup-
pose that you have a map before you. Well, you will
easily find New York Bay. If, then, your eye goes
1 The author has done his best to supply the reader with a map of this
sort, in which he places onhj the towns, rivers, &c., that are needed to
explain the narrative, and nothing that may tend to confuse the eye.
30 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
southward past Sandy Hook and Monmouth, you will
soon come to the great Bay of Delaware, Southwards
still, and you will round Cape Charles and find your-
self in the wonderful Bay of Chesapeake. You will
note that it goes stretching away almost directly north
ever so far. Towards its head you will find the City
of Baltimore, and you will be surprised to discover
that Chesapeake here lies inland from the Bay of
Delaware, the State of that name lying between lower
down — south, I mean. You will please observe that
the Potomac river branches off" to the left, going on-
wards up to Washington itself, (The word Potomac
has the accent on the second o, not the first. It isn't
pronounced Potomac, as you Britishers call the famous
river, but Po^oAmac.) Well, Osmond, dear coz, if
you look in through the State of Virginia on the east
— and you may as well do so now as at any other
time — ^you can't fail to find Richmond. Spot that,
please, because that is the Confederate capital. There
is Fredericksburg also on the Rappahannock, and the
Shenandoah River and the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Better keep those in mind, because if ever the Federals
get that way they're going to find some fighting in
front of them; and I guess they'll leave their scalps
lying about in these districts,
"'But bring your gaze seawards again past Fortress
Monroe and Cape Henry, and south away past Albe-
FORT SUMTER FALLS. 31
marie Sound, Wilmington, in South Carolina, and then
Charleston Bay or harbour.
" ' What a long way south from Washington,' you
will naturally observe. ' What right had the Northern
States with a fort down there anyhow?' Well, that is
what I want to know.
'" South Carolina, you must know, Osmond, has been
called the Game-cock State because it seceded so boldly
in the month of December, and by its courageous con-
duct forced the other and wavering States to follow
its example.
'"Well, the State of South Carolina having 'seceshed',
as the Feds term it, the 'seceshers' naturally expected
that the Northern forces would clear out of the forts
bag and baggage, to prevent a collision with the
Southern troops.
" ' But they were disappointed.
" ' You see Major Anderson was commander of the
Federal forces at Charleston, and had had his head-
quarters at Fort Moultrie, but he now transferred
his soldiers and his command to Fort Sumter, which
he rightly considered a far stronger place.
"'Well, the South Carolina folks, through their
Governor, remonstrated with the Northern Govern-
ment at Washington — Buchanan then being President
— but in vain.
" ' By and by Lincoln came into power, and once
32 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
more delegates went to Washington, asking for a
peaceable separation of the seceding States, and the
removal of Federal garrisons from Fort Sumter and
Fort Pickens in Florida. These two places of all the
strongholds on the Confederate sea-board alone dis-
played the stars and stripes.
" ' Lincoln did not see his way to accede to the pro-
posal, but the matter hung fire for a time, and the
Carolinians had to subsist upon hope: not a very
satisfying dish, I may tell you.
" ' Meanwhile, somewhat suh rosa, an expedition was
being fitted out for the relief of Fort Sumter.
'"You may wonder how I found all this out, Osmond.
Well, it is only lately I have done so, and the birdie
who told me may have been one of our prisoners, or I
may have gained the information in a letter from our
cousins Tom, John, and Charlie, who are fighting on
the Federal side, you know. I am not going to tell
you, Os, but if you ever come out here you will
know all and more. As early as January a steamer
called the Star of the West, under command of Captain
John M'Gowan, had been despatched with provisions
and men to relieve the garrison of Fort Sumter, but
the batteries of the Confederates opened upon him,
and he was obliged to retire.
"'But now, on the 1st of April, President Lincoln
determined to succour the fort at all hazards. Charles-
FORT SUMTER FALLS, 33
ton should no longer be a menace to the States of the
Union. So he commissioned the big: f rio-ate Powhattan
for service. She was then lying at New York.
Captain Fox, a thorough navy sailor, was to have
charge of the relief, and besides, was to command
several other craft. They were a nondescript kind of
lot, all of different sizes, and, singularly enough, they
didn't all sail at the same time for the rendezvous.
The Powhattan started about the 6th, and the others
followed day after day up to the 10th, Captain Fox
himself taking passage in the Bristol.
" ' Now the failure of this expedition and the con-
sequent loss to the Federals of Fort Sumter seems to
have been owing to treachery, or to some stupid mis-
take. A heavy gale of wind arose, but even this
would hardly have prevented the relief of the fort
and its half-starving garrison had the Powhattan
arrived in time with the men or stores, and para-
phernalia generally.
"'All honour be given to a brave enemy, and I must
say that Captain Fox did all in his power to assist
the garrison, but when he arrived and got the rest of
his fleet together he found that the battle was already
begun.
" ' The facts are these, dear cousin, the President —
Davis, I mean, that is our dear king, you know — got
an inkling that Fox's expedition was on the wing and
( M 132 ) C
34 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
hurrying south to the garrison's reKef, so he at once
sent General Beauregard, a well-known engineer, to
take command of the batteries of Charleston.
"'Finding them strong enough for anything, this brave
soldier at once sent a message to Major Anderson, de-
manding his surrender. This was on the 11th of April,
and the invitation to give up the fort was promptly
but politely declined. At midnight an ultimatum was
despatched, but this was also refused, and so at day-
dawn of April 12th the shore forts opened fire on
Sumter.
" ' Many a time the windows of Charleston had
rattled to the fire of mimic warfare, but all was now
deadly earnest, for the muttering thunder of those
great guns proclaimed the outbreak of the terrible
storm of civil war, that has now burst in such fury
over our dear native land.
" ' The fort replied on both sides to the guns of the
Confederate batteries, and shot and shells burst, and
screamed, and roared over the water, the battle being
described as furious.
'"It was a bad time for the Federals in that fort,
Osmond, for more than once it was seen to be on fire,
and it turned out afterwards that although the garrison
were short of ammunition, they were so afraid of an
explosion, that they threw much of what they had into
the water.
FORT SUMTER FALLS. 35
"'Well, all that day the battle raged, and though peace
reigned when darkness fell, the bombardment was re-
commenced at daybreak with redoubled fury.
"'All this could only have one ending; and so, having
done his duty, like the brave soldier he undoubtedly
was, Major Anderson surrendered. But not before the
stars and stripes were actually shot away amidst a
perfect storm of shot and shell.
" ' Several times, I am told. Captain Fox, who must
have spent a terribly anxious time, attempted to come
in upon the 13th, but a heavy sea ran, the fog was
rather thick, and the forts were all enveloped in a
cloud of dense smoke. Moreover, without the Pow-
hattan frigate he could do absolutely nothing.
" ' So on the 14th, the day after the surrender, Major
Anderson and his garrison embarked on board the
Baltic and sailed away to the north, while our fine
fellows took possession of the fort, the first-fruits of
victoxy in what is going to be a glorious though
terrible war.
" ' So fell Fort Sumter, Cousin Osmond, and having
told you so much, I shall re-trim my lamp and drink
my coffee.
" ' That coffee was good, Cousin. Ah, there is no-
thing like war and the excitement of battle for giving
one an appetite!
36 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
" ' Well, Os, as soon as the news of the fall of the fort
got up north, I am told that the furore it excited was
simply immense. War! war! war! was the cry. War
to the knife! War to avenge the insult to the brave
old flag that had been so ruthlessly dragged in the
dust!
" ' War, yes; and they are going to have it too, more
than they may care for. But I was told also that the
enthusiasm of the Federals was now really very great,
and that each Northern state vied with the other as
to which should send the largest number of recruits,
and send them most quickly. President Lincoln, it is
said, only called for seventy-five thousand, but over
one hundred and ten thousand presented themselves
for enrolment!
" ' Probably the next bloodshed in this war — though
it could not be called a battle — took place in Baltimore.
" ' This happened only six days after the fall of Fort
Sumter. The first division of volunteers was hurrying
from Massachusetts in the far north to the Federal
capital, and were marching through Baltimore streets
towards the station for Washington, when they were
attacked by a furious mob. They fired, and then the
riot became a terrible pandemonium. The Federals
had to fight their way to the station, and even after
they had embarked they fired upon the mob on the
platform from the carriage windows. The mob replied
A BRAVE BUT RAGGED REGIMENT. 37
with pluck and determination, riddling the carriages
with bullets, and killing or wounding not a few of the
Federal volunteers. But the train got steam up at
last, and comparative peace succeeded her departure.
" 'Baltimore, you know, Osmond, or will know if you
glance at your map, is a charming city in Maryland,
and it was thought for a time that it would join with us.
" ' Kentucky, you will note, lies to the west and a
trifle to the south of Virginia, part of which country
is on the sea-board, so to speak. The governor of
Kentucky has done a very foolish thing, as you should
know. In this state the younger men are wild for
war, but the older and more sedate prefer to remain in
the union. And so the governor has declared the
state neutral, and warns us that we must not fiorht in
his sacred territory. Just as if any state so situated
could be neutral in a great struggle such as this is
going to be.
" ' But we shall soon see.'
CHAPTER IV.
A BRAVE BUT RAGGED REGIMENT.
"ITTELL, Osmond,' the letter went on, 'calling for
' ' recruits is a game that two can play at, and
our brave and kindly Jefl" Davis has not been behind-
38 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
hand. He, too, called for recruits, and so quickly was
he answered, that very soon indeed this President had
an army fit to cope against any force the Northerners
were likely to bring.
" ' I'll never forget the excitement in the little town
that lay not far from our plantation on the north-
western borders of South Carolina, ay, and the enthu-
siasm on the plantation itself, when the order for
recruiting reached us. I believe that father, Will, and
I were among the very first to join. Yes, we would
have to leave our dear old home behind us, leave
mother and sisters in sorrow and tears, but we were
going to fight for our native state, fight for our free-
dom, and, indeed, for our very lives, and the lives of
all that were dear to us. We would not be away long,
we told those dear ones. Victory would soon be ours,
for against us no enemy could possibly make a long
stand.
" 'The slaves, we knew, would remain loyal whatever
happened, and there was big, brawny John M'Donald,
our manager, whom they looked up to as a kind of
second master.
" ' I'll be a father to them all,' he told us as he shook
hands. ' And I only wish,' he added, ' I could gang wi'
ye mysel'. Man, boys! my very fingers are itchin' to
get a grip o' some o' they Feds.'
"'And so we left. I say nothing more about the
A BRAVE BUT RAGGED REGIMENT. 39
parting, the kisses, the prayers, the tears. It is all
too recent, and tends to unman one.
" ' The streets of our town, when we reached it, were
filled with the populace, and they seemed to have
taken leave of their senses.
" ' They were shouting, singing, waving their arms
aloft, shaking hands, ay, and weeping in their very
excitement. But, Osmond, I am proud and happy to
tell you that I scarcely saw a single young fellow
under the influence of drink.
' " It was night when we joined the depot. We knew
the commandant, and he did all he could for our
comfort. Our beds were not beds of down, however,
nor have they been since, nor will they be until we
whip the Federals finally, and make peace in Wash-
ington.
" ' We were paraded next day, and drill was com-
menced in earnest. Well, it was somewhat of a rough
parade. Accustomed as you are, my dear cousin, to
your faultlessly dressed regiments, with snowy belts,
glittering accoutrements, and coats of scarlet, you
would have stood aghast on first beholding our parade.
" ' We had arms served out to us that first day, but
it was more for fashion's sake than anything else. It
would have been better to serve out jackets, shirts,
hats, or shoes. But then there weren't any, you know ;
and most unkempt, uncouth tatterdemalions some of
40 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
US were. But one thing would have pleased you — the
look of determination and defiance on every face.
" ' After we had been put through our preliminary
facings, the commandant, a gray-bearded old soldier,
made a kind of a speech, as he puffed away at a big
cigar.
" ' Boys,' he said, ' I guess we ain't a great deal to
look at, just yet. But such as we are. President Jeff
Davis is welcome to us. We ain't much to look at,
but we'll trim down, you bet. We've got to march in
a few days' time to the north and the east, and by and
by we've got to meet the Yankees. They call us Rebs.
Wall, I guess we'll show 'em what Rebs can do. We've
got to beat 'em, we've got to lick 'em, we've got to
whip 'em into teetotal skirrie-mush, and if there's a
single man in this here regiment that feels he hasn't
the heart to take part in the whipping-match, why, let
him fall out. What! nobody falls out? Boys, we're
all going to fight. Hurrah!'
"'The commandant waved his cap aloft, and such a
wild cheer rent the sky as I never heard before, and
haven't since. The street urchins joined in, and the
girls too, yes, and the very babies in arms waved their
wee red chubby fists, and joined the wild shout and
laughed and crowed, as if it were the best fun imagin-
able.
" ' Well, to make a long story short, father and Will
A BRAVE BUT RAGGED REGIMENT. 41
and I got each the rank of officer, and in a few days'
time we were en route for the neighbourhood of
Richmond.
" ' Our ranks were swollen as we marched onwards,
and very soon we were a very respectable little army
— in numbers, that is, and, I may add, in spirit and in
daring as well.
" ' I do not mean to say, Osmond, that every man
among us was imbued with a purely patriotic spirit.
Far from it. There were in our ranks both good and
bad. There were spirit-drinking ne'er-do-weels who
had joined the service by way of a change, or because
they were stone-broke and hadn't a cent wherewith to
bless themselves; there were tramps by the dozen, the
wretched and idle castaways of the world, who had
joined us as a mere matter of business and speculation,
that is, with a lively eye to booty; there were men
who had quarrelled with their wives — poor fellows! —
and boys who had been jilted by their sweethearts —
these last were fond of meandering around the camp
alone after nightfall and quoting poetry by the fur-
long — and last, if not least, there were desperadoes
from Texas, from Mexico, and the far south generally,
swaggerers as a rule these were, but fond of fighting,
even for fighting's sake.
'"On the whole, however, I think that in our regiment
the good prevailed.
42 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
" ' I must sa}^ that we all set ourselves heart and soul
to learn the drill, and all the outs and ins of camp -life
as soon as we possibly could, and the first time we
were inspected by a real live general he expressed
himself very pleased with our appearance and, as he
phrased it, ' our soldierly bearing '. I know that
these last words made our rank and file proud. I
looked along my company as the general uttered
them, and I was proud to see — yes, proud is the word,
my boy— to see every man, mechanically, as it were,
brace himself up more squarely, while every eye grew
brighter and every brow was lowered, as if each man
had registered a vow there and then to do or die in
the glorious cause.
" 'We had not been a week on the road before strag-
glers began to drop in from the north. Mostly deserters
these were from the Federal ranks. Now deserters as
a rule receive no very gushing welcome from the
regiments they honour with a visit. But these men
were not ordinary deserters. They really were Southern-
ers at heart, who had enlisted in Federal regiments,
but had taken the earliest opportunity of getting away.
" ' But they brought with them some ugly stories of
the Northern soldiery, which I am sorry to say,
Osmond, were greedily listened to and unhesitatingly
credited.
" ' The Federals, they said, looked forward to victory.
A BRAVE BUT RAGGED REGIMENT. 43
They believed that we could never fight, never stand
before them; that we possessed no more courage than
as many boarding-school girls; that we were mere
butter-and-bread soldiers, and would fly before the
Northern army. And, said the new-comers, the
determination of the Northern soldiers, officers as well
as men, is to plunder, to slay, to sack, and to burn.
They had only one motto, and that was: —
'Booty and Beauty!'
"'This is horrible, but I for one do not believe it,
neither does Will ; and, besides, I am sure that our dear
cousins in Northern Ohio, Tom and John and Charlie,
would never fight side by side with men who had such
a dreadful motto as that.
" ' But oh, dear Osmond, does not civil war seem to
be a terrible thing, when one has to draw the sword
against one's own flesh and blood? Soon may it end,
I say. That is, you know, the sooner we beat the
Feds out of their skins the better.
" ' Well, dear boy, if I have given you to believe that
to-day's battle is the first real fight, I think I am
right, but more than a month ago the deserters told
us that success had already crowned the arms of our
foes.
" ' This is the news they brought.
" ' Our people have been obliged to abandon the
44 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
attempt they at first considered feasible, — that is, of
marching right into, and seizing Washington.
'"Secondly, on the south bank of the Potomac, and
about fifty miles north-west of Washington, lies, or
rather stood, the arsenal of Harper's Ferr}'-. The
Virginians — our fellows — attacked this place, and the
officer in charge set fire to it; but after despoiling it,
the Southerners abandoned it to the Federals. Folly!
" ' Thirdly, although the Virginians seized the great
navy yard of Gosport near Norfolk they, curiously
enough, left Fortress Monroe on Chesapeake Bay in
the possession of the enemy. This fortress would
have been, if held by us, of the greatest advantage,
strategically considered. N.B. — You will note, my
cousin, that I am quite a soldier already. No one but
a soldier could use such a scientific phrase as that last
— ' strategically considered '.
" ' But, joking apart, Os, the capture of the navy yard
is something immense. It contains foundries, docks,
ship-building yards, and a huge arsenal. About a
million pounds of gunpowder have fallen into our
hands, five hundred Dahlgren guns, and any quantity
of shot and shell. Hurrah! for our brave Virginians.
"'Fourthly, if the deserters are to be believed,
General M'Dowell, the commander-in-chief of the
Federal forces, has been driving our troops like as
many sheep right before him down south.
A BRAVE BUT RAGGED REGIMENT. 45
" ' The last news brought by a runaway would have
been funny if it had not been quite so sad. I give it
to you for what it is worth, Osmond, and I myself am
willing to believe just half of it — the second half, mind
you. But first I want you to write three names upon
the tablets of your memory, because you'll hear of the
men again —
General M'Clellan.
General Rosecrans.
General Butler.
"'Well, the first half of the story is this: — The Generals
M'Clellan and Rosecrans, about the first week in July,
defeated the Confederates, that is our side, at Rich
Mountain, killed two hundred, and captured seven
guns, and a thousand prisoners. But the deserter
who told us this, and said that he himself was in the
fight, told us also that the Federal forces were as ten
to one, so the North has not much to boast of, even if
it be true.
'"The second half of the story is the one generally
credited by us, and it is just here where the fun comes
in. For there was lying within ten miles of Hampton
— the headquarters of the Federals — a Confederate
camp of about a thousand men. On the 9th of June,
bold General Butler determined to attack this camp.
So he issued from Fortress Monroe at night in two
strong divisions. These two took different routes in
46 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
order to sui-prise the ' Rebs ' from two directions, and
so confuse and confound them.
" ' As ill-luck (for Butler) would have it, neither of
the two divisions found the ' Rebs '. But they found
each other, and, forgetting the watchword, naturally
supposed they had met the foe. So at it they went,
hammer and tongs, and many were killed on either
side before the mistake was discovered. The pity is,
Osmond, they did not annihilate one another like the
Kilkenny cats.
" ' After the mistake was discovered they combined,
and, coming upon the position of the Confederate
camp, attacked in force, but the Federal Major Win-
throp, while gallantly leading the charge, was shot
dead by a Confederate drummer-boy, and soon after
this the Federals were in full flight back to their
fortress, badly beaten and wholly demoralized.
"'And now, Osmond, we come right away to the
battle at Bull Run. And I am just going to tell you
all I know about it straight away. But this, mind
you, isn't a very great deal, because no one can be in
two places at the same time, and one can't describe
much more than one actually sees.
" ' But before beginning this I happened to saunter
towards our General Beauregard's headquarters. He
was writing a despatch on the top of a drum, but gave
THE BATTLE OF BULL RUN. 47
me a kindly welcome, and told quite a deal that I
didn't know, and this information I am now going to
impart to you.'"
CHAPTER V.
THE BATTLE OF BULL RUN.
WAIT a moment, Osmond," cried Eva, her eyes
sparkling with a kind of merry mischief.
She rose as she spoke, and going to the sofa, picked
up a newspaper, with which she returned to her seat
by her brother's knee.
" Can this be true?" she said, smilinof.
" Read it, Eva, and I'll tell you."
" It is printed in the Daily Tickler, anyhow, and is
headed: — 'The Battle of Bull Run', and runs as
follows: — 'This terrific fight between the almighty
Federal forces and the tatterdemalion legions of the
sunny South might better have been called the battle
of cows' run. At first both armies appeared equally
surprised that they had met at all. Then it seemed
to occur to them that they had met to fight. So they
went for each other with all the vim and pluck of a
pair of pug dogs. By all accounts the fighting was
awful, for they kept on from morn till dewy eve, with
the splendid result that no less than five were killed
48 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
and nine wounded. But for the presence of some
Scotch and Irish, it is stated that no one would have
been either killed or wounded. At sunset, both armies
were in full retreat in opposite directions. The conse-
quence is that both claim the victory, and both are
welcome to it; but at this rate the Civil 'War' must
last for a thousand years at least, then the millennium
will come.' "
" Well," said Osmond, laughing, " the Daily TicJder
goes in for being a funny pennyworth, and no doubt
an occasional joke improves a paper of this sort; but
let me read more of Harry's letter."
" Go on, then," said Eva.
" ' I fear,' continues Cousin Harry, ' that you are
already heartily tired of my long letter, but I'll be as
brief as I can. One's first battle, you know, must
always be considered an event in one's life, like a girl's
first ball.
" ' I daresay, Osmond, I must tell you the meaning of
the name 'Bull Run'. A 'run' is American for a
smallish river, and Bull Bun, rising among the moun-
tains away west and Shenandoah way, and receiving
several tributaries in its flow, falls into the wide part
of the Potomac below Washington and Alexandria.
" ' The course of the stream Bull Bun is about from
north-west to south-east, and latterly due east. It
receives from directly north the Cub Bun, and this
THE BATTLE OF BULL RUN. 49
flows past the village of Centerville, then held by
Federals.
"'Our position before the battle was on the south
side of the Bull Run, with the railway bridge on our
right, and a stone or turnpike bridge on our left.
" ' Right athwart our rear ran the railway from
Shenandoah Valley through the Gap to Manassas
Junction. Now Johnston, one of our generals, had
been sent to the Shenandoah to defend it against a
supposed advance of the Federals in that direction, the
Federal general, Patterson, being opposed to him; but
finding it was only a feint, he made haste to get back
on to Manassas Junction with the troops, to assist
General Beauregard of Sumter fame, who there had an
army of 20,000 men, with his right stretching towards
Alexandria and the Potomac.
'"The Federal general M'Dowell had nearly 25,000
men in front of Washington, extending from the Chain
Bridge to Alexandria. As early as the 16th, M'Dowell
had received orders to attack Beauregard, and he
advanced with 25,000 with this intention. We are
told by prisoners that on his way to Centerville, which
we had fallen back from, the weather was terribly hot,
and the army, which was little better than a mob in
gay uniform, moved on singing and joking, sometimes
even stopping and scrambling for blackberries by the
wayside.
(M132) D
50 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
'"M'Dowell's game seemed to be to turn the Con-
federate left with all the power he could command,
and thus strike at the railway, and prevent Johnston
from getting up. Many of his troops, however, who
had been only enlisted for three months, discovered
that their time was up, and took French leave. Fight-
ing was not to their taste.
'" However, it appears that M'Dowell did all a brave
man could under the circumstances. His two generals,
Tyler and Hunter, were perhaps a little slow in their
movements. Had they been able to come to the scratch
on the 19th, or even the 20th, matters might have
ended somewhat differently; at any rate, the Federals
would have had a better chance. But on the 20th
Johnston had already joined Beauregard, a fact of
which M'Dowell was not cognisant.
"'Well, Osmond, our left flank extended up the
stream past the stone bridge towards the ford called
Sudley's Spring, and you see the plan was this : — Tyler,
and M'Dowell's other generals, Hunter and Heinetzel-
man, were to be on the move on Sunday morning, the
21st, by two o'clock: Tyler was to march upon the
stone bridge, and hover about there as if making
ready to cross, but in reality only feinting, and wait-
ing till the other Federal generals, with a strong force,
should get up and cross the stream at Sudley's Spring.
He would then commence to cross in reality, just as
l-HE BATTLE OF BULL RUN. 51
Hunter and Co. 'came down like a wolf on the fold',
attacking us in left flank and rear.
" ' It was prettily arranged. But we were not going
to be idle, for we knew that as soon as Federal
General Patterson, who had been keeping Johnston in
check in the Shenandoah Valley, missed him, he would
hurry down to join M'Dowell. Our plan, then, was
to try to smash M'Dowell first.
" ' But we were not quite in time to take the initia-
tive.
'" I think you must know, Osmond, that some of our
fighting ancestors, Scotch and English, would have
pushed on over the stream that very night — it was
moonlight, and there were several fords. However,
they lay still in camp.
'"Both Will and I knew that a great battle was to
take place next morning. About ten last night I met
my dear brother, and all by ourselves we went for a
stroll in the moonlight. We knew the pass-word, so
of course there was no danger.
" 'We passed quietly through a portion of the great
camp. The men sat or lay here, and there, and anyhow,
mostly smoking and yarning. A few, I believe, were
praying. But the men, as a whole, gave us the im-
pression of being unusually hilarious. Laughing,
joking, and singing were heard on all sides.
" ' Mostly blufiy brother Will said to me quietly.
52 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
' They are trying to hide their anxiety and fears for
the morrow.'
" ' I said nothing^, and presently we climbed a little
eminence and sat down on a stone. I looked upwards.
The sky was mostly clear and starry, but ever and
anon a cloud passed over the moon's clear disc. Before
us was the valley of the stream, with a yellow haze
lying close over the water; behind us the forests
around Manassas, and away to the west, and but
dimly seen, the everlasting hills.
'"But for the murmur uprising from the camp the
silence would have been striking, for not a leaf or
blade of grass stirred in the air.
"'Mostly bluff, brother!' Will repeated.
" ' Don't you feel afraid. Will?' I asked.
" ' Henry, I know you do. Nay, I shall not call it
fear, but only anxiety, and though older than you, I
do not wish to die to-morrow. I am not ready. Nor
do I wish to leave my sisters and mother.'
" ' I was silent.
" ' Harry,' he said presently, ' let us kneel down
beside this stone and pray. We needn't pray aloud.'
" ' We did not pray aloud, Osmond, but you know
that God, who heareth in secret, can openly reward.
" ' After we sat up we sang a simple psalm. It was
not one of those that invoke the God of Bethel to
pour down destruction and vials of wrath upon our
THE BATTLE OF BULL RUN. 53
enemies. Our enemies, after all, were our country-
men and our brothers. And tliere, last night, beneath
the moon and holy stars, we could not help feeling
this.
" ' What shall we sing?' I said.
"'Be 7)ierciful,' answered Will laconically. 'Tune
Martyrdoim' he added.
" 'And so we lifted up our voices and sang:
" ' Be merciful to me, O God;
Thy mercy unto me
Do Thou extend ; because my soul
Doth put her trust in Thee :
" ' Yea, in the shadow of Thy wings
My refuge I will place,
Until these sad calamities
Do wholly overpass.
" ' O Lord, exalted be Thy name
Above the heavens to stand ;
Do Thou Thy glory far advance
Above both sea and land.'
" ' Tlie last notes had hardly died away w^hen we
were conscious that we were not alone. A footstep
ailvancing was heard behind us. We grasped our
revolvers, and stood on the qui vive.
" ' No need, Osmond, no need. It was Father!
"'Dear boys,' he said, 'and so I have found you?'
" ' I don't know, dear cousin, what came over me just
54 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
then, but I grasped the hand he extended to me, and
burst into tears.
" ' But I must do myself the credit of saying, Os,
that I did not weep to-day. Many there may have
been who shed tears last night as well as myself, but
in the battle of to-day I saw nothing but deeds of
valour all around.
'"Well, although Tyler did not get to the Stone
Bridge so soon as he expected, nor Hunter and Co. to
Sudley's Spring, they reached these points quite early
enough for us. A feint had been made at Beauregard's
right, which might, however, have developed into a
battle-centre had he weakened his force at this point
to come to our assistance. Though he soon discovered
that the main attack was to be on our left, he feared
to help us.
" ' So by mid-day our flank was turned, and we were
being thrust back before one o'clock. It was at this
critical moment that our brave Jackson, who was in
reserve, was ordered up.
" ' He took possession of a pine-covered ridge or
plateau betwixt our main army and Sudley's Spring,
where we were being discomfited. Up the slope to-
wards this plateau came the stragglers from our left,
fleeing — I fear that is the right word — before
M'Dowell's furious Federals. Bee, one of our generals,
addressed Jackson,
THE BATTLE OF BULL RUN. 55
" ' They are beating us, general,' he cried.
" ' Then we'll give them the bayonet,' answered
Jackson.
" ' The words inspired General Bee. Sword in hand,
he now rallied his men.
" ' Yonder,' he cried, ' stands Jackson like a stone
wall.'
" ' Hurrah for Stonewall Jackson!' shouted the men.
" ' This turned the tide of battle, and when at last
sturdy ' Stonewall Jackson', as the men are going to
call him, was reinforced by Kirby Smith with 2000
fresh soldiers, and Beauregard ordered a general
advance, the battle for a time became furious.
" ' But soon the Federals appeared cowed and panic-
stricken, and began to retreat. That retreat ended in
a rout, Osmond. Oh, we were wild, wild now, my
cousin. Our swords and bayonets had drank blood.
All fear was banished ; in its place was wild enthu-
siasm or exultation.
" ' How the cannons thundered ! How deadly was
the song of the rifles, and the zip-zip-ziping of the
bullets. Just then, Osmond, war seemed to me the
most natural thing in creation, and certainly the most
glorious.
" ' But our victory was soon assured.
" ' Our cavalry put the fear of death upon the enemy,
and they fled for dear life. We pursued them towards
56 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
Leesburg and Centerville till the darkness of night hid
them from our view, capturing arms and field batteries
and standards.
" ' I must now close my letter, dear cousin, for the
night is far spent, and none of us knows what the
morrow may have in store for us.
" ' Our loss did you say? About 400 killed and 1500
wounded. The enemy lost more. But, oh, Osmond, I
thank the dear Lord to whom we sang last night that
Father and Will are safe and sound.
" ' God bless you, Os, my boy, and my sweet little
cousin Eva.
"'Good-l)yo, good-bye! Hurrah, hurrah!'"
So ended this heroic letter.
If it seems in some degree bomliastic, the reader
must remember that the writer was little more than a
bov.
CHAPTER VI.
OSMOND DETERMINES TO MAKE FOR AMERICA.
TT was the middle of August when Eva and Osmond
-*- received that long, bold letter from their cousin
Henry, and Osmond soon after began to make pre-
parations for entering Oxford. At least he was sup-
posed to be doing so. Indeed, he ought to have been
studying all summer
OSMOND DETERMINES TO MAKE FOR AMERICA. 57
I fear, however, that study was not very much in
Osmond's way. The weather, he told his mother,
oppressed him very much, and he seemed to be always
under it. When it was hot and sultry he could not
read. It was so much better and more delightful to
take his stick in his hand and, with great Wolf by his
side, journey far aw^ay over the hills to another glen,
where there was no smoke and plenty of wild birds
and wild flowers. He generally took a botanical case
over his shoulder, thus making himself and other
people believe that he was studying botany. The
botanical case was full when he started, for it con-
tained his own and Wolf's luncheon, but I fear it was
empty when he returned. Well, after all, hot weather
does make one sleepy, and books of science appear
doubly dull when one feels thus.
When it rained Osmond gave up all thoughts of
work, and preferred remaining in a room ironically
called his study. lie just lay on the sofa and read
books of adventure or Walter Scott's novels or poems.
Nice preparation this for entering the university
in October, you will say. Perhaps, but between you
and me and the binnacle, when the end of August
came, Osmond had no idea of entering the university
at all.
The truth is, that since he had read that letter of
Henry's, the desire to cross the Atlantic and to become
58 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
a soldier in the Southern cause had become almost too
strong for his reason. He fought and struggled against
it, but all to no purpose. Even in his dreams he was
fighting side by side with his American cousin and
gallantly leading on a company of " the boys " to
death or victory.
One autumn day he sat poring over a book of higher
mathematics until his senses began to reel. I question
very much if he understood anything of what he had
been reading. Anyhow he shut the book with a bang
at last, and then flung it right to the other end of the
room.
Wolf got up with rather a sad expression of coun-
tenance, and, after retrieving the book, laid it solemnly
on his master's knee.
" Look here. Wolf," said Os, " I tell you I won't and
can't. I am going to be a soldier — I am bound to be a
soldier. There is no use fighting against fate any
longer. What think you, Wolf?"
Wolf wagged his tail.
" My father and mother won't consent to my going
over to help Cousin Henry, I know. They want me
to enter one of the learned professions. They have
given me my choice. But what care I for learned
professions. The law is too harsh and dry. Medicine
is too sloppy, and as for tlie Church — why, I'm not
good enough. So there! And," he v/ent on, laying
OSMOND DETERMINES TO MAKE FOR AMERICA. 59
his hand on his great dog's head, "you remember,
Wolf — of course you do — these lines in Shakespeare's
Julius Ccesar:
" ' There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune :
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.' "
Again Wolf wagged his tail as if the matter were
as plain to him as a pikestaff.
" I'm going straight away over the herring pond,
Wolf. I don't know yet how I'm going to get there.
I only know I am going, and you can come too, if
you're a good dog."
Wolf jumped up, put a paw on each of Osmond's
shoulders, and licked his cheek.
" Very well. Wolf — a bargain's a bargain. Now,
here is a letter from Kenneth Reid, a very dear Eton
friend of mine, inviting me to Liverpool to spend a
few days with him. Wolf, I'm going there, and after
that we'll trust to something turning up."
Osmond's parents had no objection to his Liverpool
trip, though little Eva was very sad.
He packed his traps that day.
Ah! little did his mother think when she kissed
him good-bye next morning, that long eventful years
must elapse before she would see her boy again, if ever
she did.
60 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
But as for Eva, coming events seemed to cast their
shadows before, and she threw her arms around his
neck and melted into an agony of tears when he came
to say farewell.
" 0," she wept, " I shall never, never see my brave
brother again. I know where you are going, Os — 0,
I know, I know."
" Hush, hush, Eva. O, pray don't breathe a word of
what you think to father, mother, or Dick."
Her grief almost unmanned Osmond, but he managed
to tear himself away at last, with a terribly big lump
in his throat, and more moisture in his eyes than he
considered it right that a soldier of fortune should
show.
Kenneth Reid was at the station to meet him, and
a carriage was w^aiting to drive the two of them away
to Kenneth's home in the suburbs.
His welcome here was a very warm one. Kenneth
was about Osmond's age, but he had many younger
brothers and sisters, and all were rejoiced to see one
whom they had heard so much about.
That very night in their bedroom, Osmond made a
confidant of Kenneth.
He commenced by reading to him the whole of
Henry's heroic letter.
Then he painted a soldier's life while on the war-
OSMOND DETERMINES TO MAKE FOR AMERICA. 61
path, until Kenneth's eyes sparkled and his face glowed
with excitement. Osmond tired his best shot last.
"And I'm going out to join, Harry!" he said.
" You, Osmond, — you, old fellow ! " cried Kenneth.
" Yes, me," said Os, in beautiful defiance of grammar,
" me and Wolf there."
" Have you money? And how will you go, and will
your parents permit you?"
" I haven't much money, Kenn. But I have £13,
12.S. Qd. saved from pocket money. I have a good kit.
I'll go in the cheapest way I can. I don't care if I
have to work my passage out. I'll write to my parents
just before the ship sails, and ask their forgiveness."
After this and till long past twelve o'clock, Osmond
continued to tell his friend all about the honour and
glory attached to a soldier's life.
"Are you asleep, Kenn?" he said at last.
" No, old man, only thinking."
Then Kenneth got up out of his own bed, and ap-
proached that of Osmonds.
" Osmond," he said, and he looked very serious as he
held out his hand, which his friend took in his.
" Yes, Kenn."
" Osmond, you're not going alone."
" No, I'm taking honest Wolf there."
"Yes, and you're taking me!"
62 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
That night I believe both those boys — well, they
were little else — slept only to dream of
battles, sieges, fortunes,
of most disastrous cbauces.
Of nioviijg accidents by flood and field,
Of hair-breadth 'scapes i' the imminent deadly breach.
Yet, strange to say, when they awoke next morn-
ing, instead of the sunlight banishing all their ro-
mances and resolves, it appeared but to confirm them.
It is due to myself to say, and to say in this very
place, that I am but the historian of Osmond and his
friend Kenneth, and that I by no means approve of
their determination to go abroad in search of adven-
tures without the consent of their parents. Yet such
things have been done before, and I greatly fear they
may be done again. I have only one thing to say on
their behalf — namely, that the American Civil War
took great effect on the minds of juvenile Britain. I
was a boy in those days myself, and well remember it.
Now, just three days after they had made their
romantic resolve, Os and Kenn had a kind of an
adventure down at the docks, where they had taken to
wander, in order to look at the ships and build castles
in the air.
One very large and handsome steamer, lying a little
way off, and evidently taking in cargo and preparing
for sea, particularly attracted their attention. She
OSMOND DETERMINES TO MAKE FOR AMERICA. G3
was a screw, and was well rigged with tallish iron
masts, and evidently meant to do a good bit of sailing
when wind and weather permitted.
"Look!" said Kenn, who was more of a sailor than
Osmond. "She has already hoisted the Blue Peter,
which means, you know, that she will soon sail."
" That's so," said Osmond.
" And this is a boat coming from her," continued
Kenn. " Evidently the captain's. That is he sitting,
tiller-ropes in hand, in the stern-sheets."
Presently the boat — a very prettily painted one
and almost new — rasped alongside of the steps, and
the officer sprang on shore. He was a tall, powerful-
looking man of apparently fifty years of age, with a
sprinkling of gray in his pointed beard.
" Hullo ! young fellows," he said, as soon as he
came up the steps. " Excuse me addressing you, but
I couldn't pass that dog without a word. May I pat
him? He won't scupper me, will he?"
" No," said Osmond proudly. " Wolf is very kind,
but when there is any reason to fight, why he goes at
it like a steam ram."
"Ha! ha! ha! Just like an Englishman. Well
spoken, boy. I like the looks of you as well as your
dog. Wish I had a score of young fellows like you on
board the saucy Kathleen O'Mara yonder."
A sudden thought occurred to Osmond like a flash.
64 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
"Are you going to the States, sir?" he said.
The olhcer didn't replj^ but he looked Osmond up
and down.
" Why do you ask, boy?"
" We're not boys — we're young men, and I w^ant
to go to the Southern States to be a soklier, because I
have cousins there, and Kenneth here is my friend, and
is coming along for company's sake."
"Is that true? No tricks? No kid?"
Osmond's face Hushed with anger.
" We are gentlemen's sons," he answered, " and we
would not tell a mean lie to save our lives."
" Forgive me, boys — forgive me. I am going to my
lodgings not far from here. Come with me and we'll
talk it over."
They were soon all seated together in a cosy room,
the captain of the Kathleen O'Mara indulging in a
weed.
" Well, now," he said, " I don't like taking you,
but if I don't some one less respectable may. And I
would be kind to you. Yonder is my ship — a Britisher,
and bound, cleared in fact, or nearly so, for the East
Indies. But if you come with me, not forgetting that
lovely dog, you shall walk the decks of a ship bound
for Charleston in less than a fortnight. When can
you be ready?"
" When must we?"
OSMOND DETERMINES TO MAKE I'OK AMERICA. 65
" To-morrow night."
" We'll be here."
"Bravo! You're true Britishers. Shake hands with
Captain Brewer, of the Kathleen O'Mara — and, look
here, say nothing about this interview to any one."
Then they talked for half an hour on different sub-
jects, after which they parted.
"I say, aren't we lucky?" were the first words that
Osmond spoke to his friend when once more on the
street.
" That we are. And now we have only to prepare.
I have £15."
"0!" cried Osmond, "I do believe, Kenn, we never
asked Captain Brewer what our passage money would
be."
" Well, really no. How stupid! But with one thing
and another I quite forgot."
" Never mind," said Osmond, " we'll meet the cap-
tain and chance it. He seems a decent fellow. We
will just tell him all, and if he turns us back, why, it
can't be helped."
That night they quietly packed their boxes. They
also wrote letters — long ones — to their parents. Os-
mond wrote to Eva also.
Next morning at breakfast they announced their
intention of running over to spend a few days with a
friend near New Brighton.
( M lS-2 ) E
66 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
Alas! that heroes of mine should ever tell a fib —
even a little white one. Just for the time being I am
a trifle ashamed of them.
But the letters they wrote went some way towards
making amends, and I hope their future conduct as
soldiers of fortune will not be such as shall cast a slur
upon the proud name of Englishman.
CHAPTEE VII.
AFLOAT ON THE WIDE ATLANTIC.
IT was late before Osmond and his friend Kenneth
got on board, but soon afterwards the Kathleen
O'Mara slipped away from her moorings and began
working seaward.
The night was beautifully clear, with a bit of a
breeze blowing straight in from the west, and a bright,
round moon fio-htino- aloft with little clouds that ever
and anon tried to obscure her silvery disc, but seemed
to melt away as they touched her.
Osmond and Kenneth were both on the quarter-
deck, and the captain was on the bridge, but as soon
as he had put things a bit straight, and had finished
piping orders down to the engine-room, he came below.
He approached the young men — as they chose to be
considered — laughing and rubbing his hands
AFLOAT ON THE WIDE ATLANTIC. 67
"Look here, lads," he said, "you're enjoying the
moonshine, I reckon."
" It really is a goodly sight, as Byron would have
said," This from Osmond. "That moon, sir, sailing
through the snow-white clouds."
"O, bother the moon!" interrupted Captain Brewer.
" She's a fraud. You must know that I always under-
stood she was made of green cheese. Well, young sir,
being at Greenwich last summer, I had the chance of a
peep through a big Observatory spy-glass, 'Shall I
turn her on to Jupiter or Sirius?' said the boss-in-
waiting. ' Jupiter and Sirius be blowed!' says I; 'turn
her on to the moon; I want to see for myself if she is
made of green cheese.' Well, young friends, I had a
look accordingly,"
"And was it green cheese?" said Osmond laughing,
" No, sir, not a bit of it. It was Gruyere, right
enough, I saw the holes ^ as plain as you please, sure
as I'm a living soul and my name's Ben Brewer.
" But come, lads," he continued, " I didn't drop down
from the bridge to teach you astronomy, but to warn
you to turn in, Osmond, I know you are a poet by
the build o' your figure-head, nevertheless I assure
you that Father Neptune doesn't respect even poetry
and romance. Soon's we open out a sea-way, and that
1 The surface of the moon is indented with what appears to be the open-
ings of extinct volcanoes.
68 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
won't be long with this wind, it'll be a bit choppy, and
then — well, you had better turn in. I'll give you half
an hour to chat with my wife and little daughter;
you'll find them below, then you'll bunk up. Hear?"
" Yes," said Osmond, " but I had no idea there were
ladies on board. And we haven't any dress clothes,
have we, Kenn?"
"Never a stitch!"
"Ha, ha!" laughed the jolly skipper. "I knew I'd
take the wind out of your trysails, and bring your
square sails all a-shiver. But keep your minds easy,
boys. We don't dress for dinner on board the bold
Kathleen O'Mara. Down below with you. Off you
rip."
The saloon was a very beautiful room indeed,
though by no means large, and most tastefully fur-
nished with mirrors, flowers in vases, and curtains; it
looked as much like a lady's boudoir as anything else.
Mrs. Brewer, book in hand, was reclining on a sofa,
but she raised herself and gave the boys, who looked
a little shy, a smiling and kindly welcome.
Osmond noticed that she was beautiful, with soft
dark eyes, red full lips, and teeth like pearls. Not at
all old looking, although, strange to say, her hair was
as white as snow or nearly so.
"Mrs. Brewer, I — " began Osmond, and then stuck
fast.
AFLOAT ON THE WIDE ATLANTIC. 09
" Mrs. Brewer, I — " began Kenneth, but he stuck
fast also, and blushed a little, as innocent boys will
sometimes.
Mrs. Brewer laucrhecl a silvery laugh.
"You didn't expect to meet ladies on board?" she
said.
" No, really I— I— 1_"
" Let me introduce you to my daughter, an^'how."
She waved her hand as she spoke.
The boys looked round.
Sitting on a big easy rocking-chair, with her legs
drawn up like a kangaroo's, was a very pretty child
some twelve summers' old. Yes, I must say summers;
winters could have had nothing to do with Lucy
Brewer's life, surely.
Her long hair — very long and straight it was —
hung carelessly on her shoulders, and her eyelashes
swept her cheeks as she looked down to carefully fold
a leaf in her book before she shut it. Then she turned
lier large Spanish-like eyes first on Osmond, then on
Kenneth, — so coolly too!
" Boys," she said, and she looked as wise as a little
old woman — " boys, you don't look over happy, either
of you. Now just take stools right away and sit down
as close to the fire and me as you can get without
fighting about us. I can make you both feel at home
in less than no time. Dr. Peter Podophyllon has got
70 rOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
to murder old Miss Wanlaoe before Mother moves off
that sofa. So she won't he in the ring to-night."
" Murder?" said Osmond. " I don't understand."
" O, you funny boy ! But, there, don't look so
scared. It's in the story-book she is reading."
" Now I understand."
Osmond was about to sit down when with one
bound Lucy sprang off the chair, leaving it swinging
to and fro. She darted past the boys, and next
moment was kneeling beside great Wolf, — who had
just looked in, — with both her arms around his neck
and her cheek to his ear.
"Oh, what a darling!" she cried. "I declare the
tears have come to my eyes. This is the dog Father
told me about. 0, Mother, look!
"Now, boys, make room for Wolf on the bear's
skin. I hereby install him as first favourite on board
the brave ship Kathleen O'Mara."
And so this strange child rattled on for fully five
minutes in a way that would have astonished, perhaps
even shocked, the British Mrs. Grundy. But never-
theless, both Osmond and Kenneth soon found them-
selves perfectly at home. The time flew very quickly
by.
The black steward came in all too soon, Osmond
thought, to say that the lamp was lit in their state-
room.
AFLOAT ON THE WIDE ATLANTIC. 7l
So they took the hint, said good-night somewhat
reluctantly and retired, Wolf following close at their
heels.
Fires were banked, and the Kathleen O'Mara went
staggering down the Irish Channel on a beam wind.
The sea was choppy or lumpy, and the breeze so high
that it quite blew the wave tops off, and sent them
flying inboard like spray from a cataract, as high as
the top of the funnel itself.
Osmond and Kenneth had not forgotten to bring
oilskins with them, and natty little sou- westers. They
were on deck next morning, before breakfast, with
Wolf, but, truth to tell, neither had very much appetite.
They determined to fight Mr. Mai de Mer ^, however,
and this is really the only way to get clear of tlie
gentleman. Just bounce him, and he'll be bounced.
Give in to him, and he'll stick to you like a thistle-
burr to a Highland plaid. Wolf didn't know what to
make of the situation; he went flopping and walloping
about in the most uncouth and wondrous fashion, but
when the sailors laughed at him, Wolf laughed too,
and he had a splendid big mouth. When he smiled
the smile seemed to extend all the way down to his
tail. This was more apparent than real.
By and by Lucy came up. She was arrayed in a
very pretty ulster and sailor's hat, and as she looked
1 Sea-sickness.
72 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
a little subdued Osmond thought the child must
be ill.
He lifted his hat and hoped she was not. As he did
so the ship gave a lurch that landed him on all-fours
in the lee scuppers. Then Lucy laughed, till the
binnacle seemed to ring.
" Oh, no," she answered, " I'm not ill. I'm a regular
old sailor. But, poor boys, you both look pale. Oh,
I know what will make us all happy."
"What?"
"Breakfast."
The black steward came up just then and rang a
big bell, and the quarter-deck people went below at once.
Wolf went too.
But for the fact that the cups and saucers and delf
generally were rather fidgetty, the breakfast was a
most comfortable one, and everybody seemed to do
justice to it. When it was over. Captain Brewer lit
his cigar, and beckoned Osmond and Kenneth to
follow him. He led the way into an after cabin or
office, where a tall, raw-boned man was seated with a
slate on his knee working out a sum of some sort. So
thought Osmond, but it really was the reckoning.
" My mate," said Captain Brewer, and the mate re-
turned the boys' salute.
" Be seated, lads, and we'll talk. Osmond, I know
you want to ask soine questions."
AFLOAT ON THE WIDE ATLANTIC. t6
" Yes, I do," said Os promptly.
" Well, heave round."
" We want to know how much our passage money
will be. We are poor, and should like to work it."
"Passage money? Eh? Why, boys, I and the
Southern States will be in your debt very much in-
deed. So consider yourselves our guests."
" A thousand thanks. Kenneth, aren't we in luck ? "
" That we are," said Kenn.
" Now, sir, one other question. We shall indeed be
sorry to leave this ship, but we should like to know
where and when we are to meet the Confederate
vessel."
" Look h6re, lad, this is the Kathleen O'Mara, and
she is loaded with the munitions of war. We touch
first at Nassau, and there you will soon find yourselves
on board the good ship Mosquito, bound across the
herring-pond for Charleston harbour, where we hope
to land you safe and sound. Meanwhile, keep your
mind easy about parting. We like you; and, beli-eve
me, lads, the we includes my wife and Lucy both.
Ah ! there isn't much to beat an Englishman, after all.
But how do you like the looks of our crew?"
" I'd rather not say."
The mate looked up and laughed.
" Well," said Os, " with a few exceptions they're
a cut-throat looking lot,"
74 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
" Never mind ; they are only twenty-two. We were
obliged to take Spaniards, Italians, and Finns, just
dock refuse; only, among them there are three good
Englishmen and one brave and brawny Scot."
In good time the steamer made the port of Nassau,
and here additional cargo, in the shape of rifles, was
taken on board. Quite a large consignment of
cases.
Osmond looked in vain for the Mosquito. But on
the third day, and a short time before sailing, all
hands were called aft.
"Is steam up?" said Captain Brewer, addressing the
assistant engineer.
" Yes, sir."
" Then go ahead."
The vessel under the mate's pilotage began at once
to forge ahead.
"They'd have fleet steeds that would follow," said
Brewer, waving his hand shorewards.
Almost at the same moment up from the saloon
came Lucy herself. She was dressed all in white,
with flowers in her hair, and looked, as Kenneth after-
wards told Osmond, as pretty as a pantomime.
She bowed to all with perfect sang froid, then, with
her father's assistance, she mounted on top of the sky-
light, while her mother handed her a little bottle of
wine.
I RE-BAPTIZE THIS GOOD SHIP THE MOSQUITO,'" SAID LUCY,
AND DASHED THE BOTTLE ON DECK.
AFLOAT ON THE WIDE ATLANTIC. 75
She lifted this high in the air, while in her childish
treble she spoke as follows: —
"/ re-baptize this good ship the Mosquito" here she
dashed the bottle on deck. It was port, and the stream
that flowed leeward from the centre of the deck
Osmond could not help thinking was very like blood.
Little did he think, however, that the snowy whiteness
of those timbers was before long to be stained with
real blood.
" Men," continued the child, raising her voice, " you
are now in the service of the Confederate States of
America, and we trust you will serve your new
country right loyally and faithfully. Up with the
bonnie blue flag. Hurray!"
Up went the flag in a ball that broke prettily at the
gaff and went floating out in the breeze, while at the
same time a gun was fired. Everybody joined that
cheer, repeating it again and again.
Then Lucy leapt down, and Osmond hastened to
congratulate her, telling her how charmingly she had
spoken, and how pretty she looked.
Lucy did not seem to pay much attention, but went
ofl" romping along the deck with Wolf.
It is needless to say that Captain Brewer at once
ordered the black steward to splice the main brace.
That very afternoon the Mosquito showed her teeth,
for two Dahlgren guns were mounted on the quarter-
76 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
deck and a very large pivot gun forward. Aininuni-
tion too was got up, and it was evident to our heroes
that if any Northern privateer ventured to chase them
the Mosquito might run away, but even while running
she would sing a song that would considerably startle
the Yankees, or at all events astonish them.
The good ship Mosquito — the name was already
painted on her bows, and on her boats and life-buoys
— now stood straight away across the Atlantic, keep-
ing well to the south, however, for the captain had
no wish to meet many ships, whatever they might
be.
Even the Confederate flag, having done its duty and
asserted itself, was once more furled, and everybody
on board appeared to settle down to the ordinary
quiet routine of ship life. A good look-out, however,
was kept both night and day, and whenever a strange
sail was seen, she was scrutinized most anxiously, and
if she looked at all suspicious, orders were given to
give her a wide berth.
Meanwhile, our young soldiers of fortune found life
on board very pleasant indeed. Lucy made no secret
of her partiality for Osmond and Wolf. She was
altogether very innocent and naive, this child of the
Southern States; and yet she had the queerest ways
with her and said very droll things at times. It has
always appeared to me that an American girl of only
AFLOAT ON THE WIDE ATLANTIC. 77
seven knows as much and is quite as clever as an
English or Scotch lassie of fifteen.
After a spell of silence, quite unusual for Lucy, she
one day said to Osmond, who was reading The Lady
of the Lake to her on the quarter-deck:
" I should like so much to know Eva, your sister."
"Why, Lucy?"
"Because I envy her so. Oh, shouldn't I like to
have you for a brother! You are so handsome, and
I'm sure you're brave. Only," she added after a pause,
while a far-away dreamy kind of look came into her
eyes, "who knows, but that when I grow up you
may take it into your head to marry me; and I'm sure
a husband is "even nicer than a big brother. But read
on, Osmond, where were you? Oh, yes, I remember,
and I'm sure so does Wolf —
" ' Oh ! still I've worn
This little tress of yellow hair,
Thi'o' danger, frenzy and despair !
It once was bright and clear as thine,
But blood and tears have dimmed its shine.'
" Read on, Osmond. Read on."
78 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
CHAPTER VIII.
MUTINY ON BOARD THE BLOCKADE-RUNNER.
T^OR a whole week the voyage of the Mosquito was
-*- quite idyllic.
So, at all events, our romantic Osmond considered
it; while Kenneth himself appeared to be almost as
happy as the day was long. Wolf spent most of his
time romping up and down the deck, and retrieving
belaying-pins thrown for him by some of the hands,
or sunning himself on the weather-side of the quarter-
deck.
Strangely enough. Wolf had his favourites among
the men, and they were chiefly the men whom Osmond
himself liked and felt he could trust. Dogs are indeed
readers of character, and they seldom if ever make a
mistake.
The weather continued to be all that a sailor's heart
could desire. Hitherto it had been unnecessary to get
up steam since the day the good ship left Nassau. A
spanking breeze blew some points abaft the beam, the
sky was clear and blue, and the sunshine laughed in
every rippling wave.
It would be wrong to say that Osmond and Kenneth
did not let thoughts of home intervene at times to mar
their happiness. They often spoke of those they had left
MUTINY ON BOARD THE BLOCKADE-RUNNER. 79
behind, and who perhaps still movirned their strange
departure. But they assured themselves, and told each
other it was all for the best, and it would all come
right in the long run.
Youth, you see, is ever hopeful.
One night, about eight days after the Mosquito had
lost sight of land, and shortly after Lucy and her
maid — a faithful little black lass — had gone to their
cabin, Osmond was coming along the main deck from
forward. He was threading his way through a dimly-
lighted passage between the ship's side and the boxed-
up engines, and got midships, when he heard his name
called, the voice coming from above his head.
Here was a cabin, Lucy's in fact, though Os had
never known of its whereabouts before.
He looked up, and lo! there was Lucy herself lean-
ing head and shoulders over a kind of port, that
opened into the passage. She was in her night-dress,
and laughing right merrily.
"This is my cabin and nursie's, you know. She
sleeps in the bunk right below me.
" I cannot ask you in," she continued, with innocent
politeness, "because I'm in bed, you know; but oh,
Osmond! wouldn't it be jolly to do Romeo and Juliet
just here. The balcony scene, you know. I remember
most of it, don't you?"
80
FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
" A little, I think," said Osmond, smiling.
" Well, I'm Juliet, and I've just called you back like
this:"
Juliet.
Romeo.
Juliet.
Romeo.
Juliet.
Romeo.
Juliet.
Romeo.
Juliet.
Rovtieo.
Eomeo !
(Osmozid.) My dear !
I have forgot why I did call thee back.
Let me stand here till thou remember it.
I shall forget, to have thee still stand tliere,
Remembering how I love thy company.
And I'll still stay, to have thee still forget,
Forgetting any other home but this.
'Tis almost morning ; I would have thee gone : —
And yet no farther than a child's pet bird,
Who lets it hop a little from her hand,
And with a silk thread plucks it back again.
So loving-jealous of his liberty.
I would I were thy bird.
Sweet, so would I :
Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing ;
Good-night, good-night ! Parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good-night till it be morrow.
Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast !
How much more Osmond might have said may
never be known, for within Lucy's cabin a voice was
now heard uttering words that I have never read in
any edition of Shakespeare.
" You naughty chile ! Lie down and sleep this
momen', else I go plenty quick dileckly and tell you
raodder! Lie down, chile!"
Lucy disappeared so speedily that it amounted to a
MUTINY ON BOARD THE BLOCKADE-RUNNER. 81
sudden withdrawal of the play, and so the scene
ended.
Rovieo and Juliet is a love drama, but an actual
tragedy was to be enacted on board ere morning light
— woe in my heart that I should have to speak of it!
When a boy, on reading of massacres and mutinies
which had taken place long ago, I have sometimes
asked my tutor, " Could these things happen now-
adays, sir?"
" Oh, no!" he used to reply, "the world is far better
and far wiser in our day."
But many a time and oft since then have I come to
the conclusion that though our laws are more numer-
ous and more stringent, the human heart is quite the
same, and human passions only require to be let loose
to make many murders possible, and that massacres
and atrocities on a far greater scale, and even more
devilishly cruel than any that have ever occurred in
the middle ages may take place, even in this year of
grace, eighteen hundred and ninety-five.
Now there is, it seems to me, a Providence that
watches over tliose who trust therein. At all events,
men, whatever they may propose, appear to be under
the dispensation of God. 'Tis He who fixes our
destiny.
Osmond had reached his own cabin, and found that
( M lu2 ) F
82 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
Kenneth had ah^eady turned in. He had nearly un-
dressed when he found that he had dropped a small
trinket from the end of his watch-chain. It was of
no great worth, but he valued it very much, because it
had been Eva's gift to him on his last birthday.
He told Kenn of the loss, adding —
" I remember playing with it as I talked the balcony
scene with Lucy. I'll run back and see if I can't find
it. I shall put on my coat of darkness and my shoes
of silence," he added lauMiinof, as he drew on a brown
dressing-gown and a pair of list slippers.
He walked very gently and softly, lest he should
disturb Lucy. He soon arrived beneath the balcony,
as he called it in his own mind, and, bending down,
felt around, for the light was now extinguished in the
passage.
Yes, here it was, all safe and whole. How lucky!
he thought, and was just about to retire when the
sound of low voices fell upon his ear. They came from
two figures he scarce could see, and who were standing
well forward ; but as the speakers were well known to
him as two of the worst men in the ship, one a Finn,
the other a hulking black-browed Italian, he thought
himself justified in trying to listen.
He crept nearer to them, hugging the bulkhead of
the passage as he did so.
Their backs were towards him, and this was fortun-
MUTINY ON BOARD THE BLOCKADE-RUNNER. 83
ate, for doubtless the fellows were armed, and the knife
between his ribs would have been Osmond's portion
had he been discovered.
" Der iz no time like de prizent." It was the Finn
who spoke. " Ha, Antonio, if faint-hearted you iz, I
zay — bah!"
" And it is ol ready you are ? " said the Italian.
"Reddy? Yez, we iz all reddy. We iz vivteen
(fifteen) men to seven. Ha, ha, victory iz ours, zure
enough."
" Den I veel come too. It ees not murder."
" No, we takes ze ship from our enemies. We takes
her in ze name of ze Federal navy. Ha, ha! We kills
men, p'raps. • Bah! again I zay it iz but in fight. No,
Antonio, it iz not murder, it iz war.
" First," he added, " we kills ze tree Englishmans
and ze ugly Scot."
"Bravo! And de time and place?"
" Four bells, ze middle watch. Voxle head."
Osmond started.
How nearly that start was to being his last!
He dropped Eva's charm.
He dared not stoop after it, but hugged the bulk-
head more closely, and stood there trembling.
" Hark ! I heard von zound."
" No, no," said Antonio, " it was but de little one
stirring in bed. She you veel not slay?"
Si FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
" Bah ! Come, Antonio. Come, in two hour we go
on ze deck. Let uz sleep."
"Wretches!" thought Osmond, "who can go quietly
to sleep and awake but to commit foul murder."
He waited until the coast was clear, then glided
silently aft once more, not, however, before he had
stooped again and picked up his little sister's keep-
sake, which he would ever more look upon as indeed
a charm.
He dropped into his own cabin first, and in whispers
told Kenneth about his discovery and the projected
mutiny.
He next sought out the captain. Luckily he had
not yet turned in, but sat in the saloon smok-
ing.
"The cut-throat villains!" said Captain Brewer.
" It is easy to see what they mean. They want to
seize the ship and take her as a prize to New York,
hoping to receive a great reward. I will hang them
at the yard-arm!"
"We will have to catch them first, won't we, sir?"
said Osmond quietly.
"Yes, and catch them in the act. Thank God, we
shall be prepared."
At first Captain Brewer thought it would be best
to make the Finn and Antonio prisoners at once, but
this plan was given up as unpractical. They thought
MUTINY ON BOARD THE BLOCKADE-RUNNER. 85
of another, and this other was carried out to the
letter.
By and by, therefore, Osmond bade the captain
good-night, and retired to his own cabin. He put out
the light, and soon after Brewer himself rang for the
steward. While telling him quietly to extinguish the
lights, he managed at the same time to give him an
inkling of the state of affairs, and hinted also where
he would find revolvers and cartridges.
Soon after the middle watch — in which were the
principal mutineers — was called, all was silent on deck
save the steady tramp, tramp of the men on duty.
The three Englishmen and the Scotchman had
turned in. As they were respectable, faithful fellows,
the captain had given them a cabin to themselves, for
they did not care to mix with the common herd.
And now Brewer went creeping forward himself, and
entered Lucy's cabin. He was successful in waking
the nurse without frightening her.
He quickly told her of the coming mutiny, and bade
her follow him. He lifted Lucy up and bore her aft,
placing her in the cabin beside her mother. The poor
child did not once awake.
The next thing was to arouse and bring aft the
Britishers.
This the steward — big Sambo — undertook to do.
Meanwhile, fully armed and prepared for either battle
8G FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
or siege, the captain, with Osmond and Kenneth,
waited anxiously in the dark saloon. If they spoke
at all, it was but in whispers.
But how very anxiously they listened now, near the
doorway, for Sambo's signal.
Luckily it had come on to blow a little, and the
watch on deck were shortening sail. Yet, doubtless,
a watch was being kept below, and, if in awakening
the Englishmen the slightest noise was made, matters
would doubtless be precipitated with a terribly fatal
result.
What a long, long time Sambo seemed absent!
Would he never, never come ! Hark ! though, there is
a gentle tapping with nails on the saloon door, a pass-
word is whispered, and Sambo enters.
" Yes, sah," he whispers, " all heali, sah, and de two
injuneers too, Massa."
"Good, Sambo; I won't forget you."
They were now twelve in all, including the mate,
and the mutineers, with two stowaways and the cook,
would number about twenty.
The odds were heavy, for those cut-throat fellows
were desperadoes of the worst water. They would be
fighting, too, with the rope around their necks, and
doubtless it would be a hard and hand-to-hand tussle,
a fight to the very knife's hilt.
It wanted still an hour to the time of rendezvous,
MUTINY ON BOARD THE BLOCKADE-RUNNER. 87
and to facilitate their plans the mutineers had evi-
dently made the ship very snug by taking in all
necessary sail.
It had just gone two bells.
"Another weary hour to wait!" whispered Osmond
to Kenneth. "My heart is beating muffled drums.
Are you afraid?"
" Yes, I am anxious."
Hardly had he spoken before a wild shout arose
near to the fo'c's'le-head. It was evident that the
fellows had missed the Englishmen, and thus found
out that their plans were discovered.
The noise and the shouting came aft and aft and
aft. Now footsteps are heard running overhead and
descending the saloon companion.
"Surrender! Bail up!"
That is the command as the butt-ends of rifles
thunder at the barricaded door.
A volley aimed at the door by those within changes
the aspect of matters somewhat. One man is heard
to fall. The others, with terrible threats and curses,
draw off.
The saloon has at each side of it a doorway. One
is the first mate's cabin — the second mate is a
mutineer — the other is the office, and a third door
leads to the store-room. The captain quickly passes
the word to take possession of these rooms.
88 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
None too soon. For a volley is quickly fired in
through the skylight, which has been hastily thrown
open; a most unlucky thing for the mutineers, for the
moon has arisen, and their heads can be seen.
No one below is hurt, and they need no command
to cause them to return the fire. Rack-rack-rack-rack
ffo the revolvers, like the noise a rent and riven
mainsail makes in a gale of wind.
More than one mutineer is killed, and, horrible to
relate, hangs dead over the skylight.
The silence that follows is broken only by the
groans of the wounded on deck, and by the patter of
blood on the saloon table coming from the corpses
hansino- above.
What would have been the next move of the
mutineers I cannot pretend to say, for something now
occurred which was altogether unlooked for.
The boys' cabin or state-room was just outside the
saloon and forward from the mates', with only a bulk-
head between, and it would seem that some of the
would-be murderers had intended entering this in
order to fire through the bulk-head.
Little did they know how it was guarded. For
brave Wolf had been forgotten, and was the sole occu-
pant of the state-room.
As soon as Osmond heard the wild and frightened
shouts of the men and awful "habberino;" noise of
MUTINY ON BOARD THE BLOCKADE-RUNNER. 89
Wolf, who had evidently seized a man by the throat,
" Oh, my dog, my dog!" he cried.
" Kill him! kill the beast!" shouted the mutineers.
There was now the sharp ringing of revolvers, but
Wolf's "habbering" still went on, though in the midst
of it the poor dog had uttered a half-smothered cry
of pain.
" They're killing my dog!" cried Osmond now. " I'll
save Wolf or die ! " He seized a lantern that had been
darkened, turned the light on the door, undid the
fastenino's, and, sword in hand, rushed out.
All this took but a few seconds.
"Hurrah, men!" shouted the captain. "Now for
the charge! Sambo, hold up the other light!"
Sambo did as he was told, and so determined was
the rush now made that the mutineers broke at once,
and fled on deck, pursued by the captain and his
followers.
The foe rushed forward, but stopped when about
midships and fired a volley.
Alas! the head engineer dropped dead at Brewer's
feet, and Osmond himself fell, shot through the
body.
The volley was returned with good-will neverthe-
less, and the shrieks forward told that it had taken
effect.
Next moment big Sambo with a capstan-bar was
90 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
laying around him like a giant, and more than one
man fell beneath his blows.
"We surrender! We surrender!" This was now
their cry.
" Lay down your arms then. Ill hang the first man
that dares to move a muscle after I say one, two,
three."
" One, two, three."
Rifles and revolvers fell rattling on the deck, and
in ten minutes' time all the mutineers not killed or
wounded were securely bound hand and foot.
When daylight appeared, a census was taken, and
it was found that no less than five of the enemy,
including the second engineer, were killed, and three
wounded.
The engineer was the only one killed among the de-
fenders, but one Englishman was so seriously wounded
that he died before night. The two other Englishmen,
with Sambo and poor Osmond, to say nothing of
honest Wolf, who had a bullet wound in his leg, made
up the list.
The unwounded prisoners were set free as far as
their legs were concerned, and led aft.
" Now, men," said Captain Brewer sternly, " you can
see that your game is up."
" We do. We do."
"Well, you can have your choice. I will either
CHASED BY A NORTHERN CRUISER. 91
permit you to return to duty, and give you up when
we reach Charleston, or hang you now, one and all."
" Let us go to duty. Let us go to duty."
" Yez," cried the Finn, " zat iz bezt."
Captain Brewer promised furthermore that if they
were faithful and obeyed every command, they should
be leniently dealt with by the Confederates at Charles-
ton.
"And now," he continued sternly, as he turned to
the first mate — the second mate was dead — " the ship
will not be safe while those two men are alive."
He pointed to the Finn and the Italian as he spoke.
" Let the others free and let them at once reeve
block and tackle to the main-yard arm and hang these
villains."
In spite of their pleading cries for mercy, in less
than twenty minutes' time the unhappy wretches
were swinging dead in the cool morning air.
CHAPTER IX.
CHASED BY A NORTHERN CRUISER.
OSMOND'S wound, though a very painful one, was
not dangerous.
It threw him on his beam-ends for a time, however.
92 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
Yet many a young fellow, I believe, would go through
as much to be so tenderly nursed and cared for as he
was, both by Mrs. Brewer and gentle Lucy.
And Lucy had another patient, namely Wolf. The
captain had managed to extract the bullet from his
thigh, an operation to which he had submitted quietly.
Steam was now got up, for the ship, owing to the
deaths in the mutiny, was somewhat short-handed for
sailing.
Kenneth volunteered to do what he could, and a
very able assistant engineer he made.
There was no attempt to renew the mutiny, and so,
fine weather continuing, in due time they found them-
selves within a measurable distance of Charleston.
They had to be doubly on their guard now, for
Yankee cruisers were plentiful enough in these waters,
watching the connnerce of the Southern States.
When not in his friend Osmond's state-room, Kenneth
Reid was very frequently with Captain Brewer, either
walking the bridge or on the quarter-deck, and very
much indeed did the lad enjoy his conversation and the
yarns he used to spin. Brew^er was exceedingly good-
natured and kind-hearted, and had taken a great fancy
for Kenneth and Osmond, as well as for Wolf.
Wolf reciprocated the skipper's affection, and seemed
to be quite content to walk steadily alongside of him
for a whole hour at a time. Bie-, brave men are often
CHASED BY A NORTHERN CRUISER. 93
quite childish in some little matters, and AYolf's
evident attachment to Captain Brewer pleased the
latter very much.
More than once he stooped down — he had not very-
far to stoop — to pat the dog's great head, and with
moisture in his eyes said to Kenneth:
" The poor fellow does love me, you see, and I can
assure you it will be a sad day for me when I have to
part with him."
Brewer told Kenneth among other things about all
his escapades with the Yankee cruisers and his running
the blockade.
Although I have called them yarns,^ I must tell you
that all the captain's stories were from the life. Sailors,
as a rule, if they have been long at sea have no need
to fall back upon fiction. They have only to describe
the adventures they have taken part in, and these will
take them long, long years to tell.
" Well, sir," said Kenneth one day, about a week
after the fearful mutiny, " do you think you will run
much danger or risk in getting into Charleston?"
" To tell you the truth, dear boy, I am not going to
take much risk. Not that I should mind it a great
deal, but my orders are to avoid danger, because, j'ou
1 The word " Yarn " is generally supposed, by landsmen and " long-shore
lubbers" to mean a fictitious tale. It is not necessarily so; indeed, when
sailors at sea are "yarning" they usually are but describing events in
their lives just as they hn})pened.
94 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
see, our cargo is so precious that i£ captured the loss to
my side and the gain to the Federals would be almost
immeasurable."
" But, sir, if I am to believe what I read in our
English newspapers, the Federals have no fleet at all
worth a cent."
" Then you'd better not believe your English news-
papers. I wouldn't of course discredit a statement
simply because I found it in a newspaper, but in this
case they've gone a little astray.
" When the war broke out, or sometime before it,
the Federals had no home navy at all, unless you con-
sider that the steamer Brooldyn, of twenty-five guns'
and a store ship or two, constituted a navy. But, my
young friend, you never know what you can do till
you try. Stand and look at the wheel and you'll
never alter the ship's head a single point; put your
shoulder to the wheel, and round she goes, and round
goes the ship's head as well. I cannot tell you exactly
how many ships the Northerners had, or were supposed
to have, when war actually commenced, — perhaps forty;
but all in foreign parts. I'll give the Yankees their
due, however. They are a smart people, and have set
to work with a will, so that now they must have a
navy of at least a hundred and twenty ships afloat."
"Already?"
" Yes, lad, already. And they are going to blockade
CHASED BY A NORTHERN CRUISER, 95
all our ports in the South, so that they may starve us
- — they never can lick us."
" Well, I should be sorry," said Kenneth.
"I know you would. You and your brave com-
panion, whom may God soon restore to health, have
thrown in your lots with us, and I know you will
fight with vim for the country of your adoption."
" Below there!"
It was a shout from the main-mast cross-trees.
" A sail in soight, sorr."
The captain grasped the bridge railing and looked
up.
" What do you make of her, Paddy?"
" Sorra a bit av me knows, sorr."
"What does she look like, anyhow?"
" Sure I can't tell at all, at all, for though she's in
soight, sorr, she ain't visible."
" Then how in all the world," roared Captain Brewer,
" do you know there is a ship there at all?"
" A long line of durty smoke along the blue say,
sorr."
The captain went aloft himself now.
In twenty minutes he came below and gave orders
for the course to be altered at once. So instead of
being steered west, the Mosquito was soon heading
away south-south-west.
"Could you make her out, sir?" ventured Kenneth.
9G FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
" Eh! Wliat, my boy — make her out, did you say?"
There was a dark cloud on Captain Brewer's brow.
" Yes, indeed, I've been chased by her before. She is
the Delaware frigate of thirty guns, and can steam
two knots an hour more than we can. Ay, and she'll
make it three knots more, if she burns all the pork
she has on board."
"You think, sir, — you tliink she'll capture us?"
" I think it is all up with our chance of Charleston.
I shall now make for Port Pickens in Florida. But if
it doesn't come on to blow, I guess we'll see New York
first. If I see I am to be taken, I'll pitch every gun
overboard first, even if they hang me afterwards."
Kenneth went below now to the engine-room, to see
if he could be of service.
" No, min," said the Scotch engineer, " I'll keep the
watches mysel' till the cruise is a' ower. Thank ye,
though, a' the same."
Then Kenneth went to Osmond's state-room.
His friend was pale, but made no complaint, and the
cliild Lucy sat on a chair near the port reading aloud
to him, with Wolf at her feet on a skin.
" Shall I leave the room?" she asked.
" No, my dear, no. I only came to tell Osmond the
wonderful news. We're bound for the south, Os, my
boy. There will be no Charleston, but there maj^
be a New York. We'i-e l)eing chased by tlie frigate
CHASP^D BY A NORTHERN CRUISER, 97
Delaivare. I hope I haven't frightened your patient,
Lucy?"
Osmond made answer.
"I'm not much worth at frightening," he said, smiling,
" but your news is stirring. Oh, shouldn't I like to get
on deck, just!"
" But don't think of it."
" Oh," said Lucy, with the air of quite an elderly
person, "I should require to be consulted first!"
" Well," said Kenneth, " I shouldn't mind having a
bullet skate all round ray ribs to have such a pretty
and careful nurse. By- bye; I'll report from time to
time. Don't be scared if you hear a gun or two."
And off went Kenneth.
The excitement fore and aft was now intense, for in
less than an hour it was pretty evident to everyone on
board that the Delaware was coming up hand over
hand.
There wasn't a cloud in the sky that afternoon. The
sun blazed from a dry, hot, milk-white sky, and there
was an oily gloss on the calm, heaving sea that told
Brewer plainly there was little chance of wind. He
would have thanked God, as he looked around him,
could he have seen the smallest catspaw on that leaden
ocean surface. But not a breath blew, and the smoke
from the funnel lay low on the waves, as if it had been
a huge coil of rope laid there and left.
( M 132 ) G
98 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
Kenneth had returned to the bridge; Captain Brewer
was pacing to and fro, still with lowered brows and an
expression of anxiety on his face.
Kenneth did not dare to address him.
Presently, however, the captain stopped abruptly,
and took firm hold of Kenn's arm. He was smiling,
but somewhat grimly.
" It is very good of you not to speak to me," he said,
"although I know you are burning to ask me if I
mean to fight. The answer is 'Yes'; I'll fight when
I've finished running away. But listen; I have another
cause of anxiety."
"And that is, sir?"
" The mutineers, or the men who were mutineers,
and may be again when the push comes. You see it
would be far more satisfactory for them to fall into
the hands of the Federals than the Confederates."
"True, sir, true."
" Yes; well, I have reasoned out the whole matter in
my own mind, and I mean to have a turn at diplomacy.
The safety of the ship compels me."
"Call all hands!" he shouted to the officer on
duty.
As soon as all the men had come on deck, Captain
Brewer took a note- book from his pocket, and leaning
over the rail of the bridge told them to lay aft.
Then he addressed them in that very straight style
CHASED BY A NORTHERN CRUISER. 99
of language for which I have always given the Ameri-
cans the greatest praise.
" Men," he said, " I have in this note-book the names
of seven of you who were taken red-handed in the ter-
rible mutiny on board this ship. I had meant to give
them up to justice when I reached a southern port, with,
however, a recommendation to mercy. But I cannot
forget that, since the mutiny, they have returned to duty
and done their duty well. I am, therefore, inclined to
forgive them, and not give them up at all. We are
now being chased by a Yankee frigate, and very likely
to be captured, but I'm going to fight after I've done
running away. It is my duty to resist, though I don't
expect to reap any advantage from it. I'm making
you this speech because I have not a doubt the men
whose names are here inscribed imagine they would
be more leniently dealt with for their participation in
the mutiny by the Feds than the Confeds. They
would not be — I could see to it they wouldn't. Now,
I offer them terms. If they work with a will till the
chase or battle ends either way, I shall never mention
mutiny to them again. They shall go scot-free whether
we win or lose; but, on the other hand, any man or
men I find attempting to hamper the movements of
the ship, or remiss in duty, shall be shot through both
shoulders and thrown overboard to feed Brer Shark.
Now choose!"
100 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
One man only stepped out.
" Sir," he said sternly, " may I come upon the
bridge for one minute?"
The captain looked at him narrowly.
" Yes, you may come," he replied.
He was a bold and daring-looking man, very tall,
and rather handsome than otherwise.
He scrambled up the ladder and advanced with
a defiant swing to the place where Captain Brewer
stood.
Kenneth was behind the captain, and his hand stole
round to his revolver pocket. But Brewer never
moved a finger.
And now the two men stood within a yard of each
other, eye to eye and foot to foot.
Thus they stood for ten long seconds at least.
" I'm Jim Jackson," said the giant. " I never told a
cowardly lie even to screen a pal, and I never went
back on my word. I'm here. Captain Brewer, with
the consent of my mates, to tell you that we respects
you, and that we'll run from the Feds, or we'll fight
them, but that we are with you, sir, heart and soul."
Here he stuck out a hand nearly as big and hard as
the capstan head.
"There is Jim Jackson's hand," he said, "will you
shake it?"
" I will, my good fellow," cried the captain, with
THE FIGHT WITH THE "DELAWARE". 101
moisture in his eyes. "And now," he added, " I forgive
you all."
" Hurrah ! Hurrah ! "
It was a shout, that, floating over the still, grey sea,
must have been heard even on board the Delaware
frigate.
" Now, lads," cried Captain Brewer, " load the
Dahlsfrens, and we'll show these Federal fellows that
mosquitoes can bite, and even draw blood!"
CHAPTER X.
THE FIGHT WITH THE "DELAWARE".
THE sun was still high in the heavens, and there was
no more sign of wind than ever, saving one black
cloud, but little larger than a house, that had lately
risen rock-like on the western horizon.
The men had been busy for hours getting up the
stores which the captain had determined to throw
overboard, and still they worked with a will.
But by this time the Delaiva.re was hardly three
miles astern, and still coining up hand over hand.
Now I should tell you that both Osmond and Ken-
neth had been in the Volunteers since the movement —
then but a young one — had commenced; Os in the
rifles, Kenn in the artillery. With somewhat of par-
102 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
donable pride the latter had told the captain that he
was considered the best shot in his corps, and that he
should like very much to try his hand at peppering
the Delaware.
" By all means," returned Captain Brewer, " for we
haven't a decent shot in the ship."
Kenn was indeed overjoyed then, and he must needs
run down below to tell Osmond about his promotion.
Osmond was as pleased about it as his friend.
" I'm so glad!" he cried, his cheeks flushing with joy.
" Hit straight, Kenn, hit straight."
"I'll try, my boy; but now I'm off."
" Oh, wait — do wait one minute!" cried Lucy, running
out of the state-room.
She was back in a brace of shakes. In her hand
she held a bonnie blue rosette. This she pinned to
Kenneth's coat.
" You are my hero," she said dramatically. " Go
forth to battle. Come back with your shield or on it."
Kenn laughed and ran off.
The guns were being loaded and run out.
Presently a puff of white smoke with a point of
flame in its centre told those on board the Mosquito
that the Federals had commenced the battle. The
boom of the gun came angrily over the water; then a
shot that fell far, far short of the stern, ricochetted
about a hundred yards and sank.
THE FIGHT WITH THE "DELAWARE". 103
There was no more firing for half an hour; then
the Delaware was seen to slue round. She fired a
broadside. Shot flew everywhere about the Mosquito.
Some were very close, but none struck her. The
Delaware lost time, however, and it was unlikely she
would repeat the experiment.
On she came again. Flames as well as smoke issued
from her funnel.
"She's burning pork," cried Captain Brewer.
"Stand by, Mr. Kenneth Reid, and give her black
pepper."
Presently the roar of a great Dahlgren gun shook
the ship from stem to stern.
Poor Lucy seemed quite like a little mother to
Osmond. She rose from her seat by the port, and
stole gently to his side, placing one tiny hand on his
brow.
" Don't be afraid, dear," she said, in a low voice; "it
will soon be over. Then you'll have a nice sleep."
Osmond made the child's hand a prisoner for a short
time.
" I couldn't be afraid," he answered, " with you
there, Lucy dear."
B-r-r-r-ang !
That was another shot. The smoke of it as it rolled
past quite darkened the state-room. But after this,
Lucy and her patient heard something that hadn't
104 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
followed the first shot, namely, a wild and exultant
cheer.
It had been a glorious shot that. It had gone
smashing through the Delaivare s funnel, and carried
away the mizzen mast almost by the board. Two
shots were returned from the enemy's bow-chasers,
but without doing any injury to the Mosquito.
"Bravo, Kenneth Reid!" cried the captain.
Then down the communicating pipe he shouted:
"Do you think you could put another knot into it?"
Half a minute after the engineer himself, all black,
greasy, and grimy, appeared on the bridge. He was
wet and steaming with perspiration.
He touched his cap.
" Yes, sir, I can," he said ; " if you give me a few
sides of bacon."
" I give you a free hand ; do as you please."
That Scotch engineer took the captain at his word.
He ordered big Sambo, who was standing at the
pantry door, with his arm in a sling and his skin
looking rather loose around his eyes, to send him
down two sides of the fattest bacon, " right off the
reel", as he phrased it.
Sambo's eyes grew bigger.
" I tink, sah, you go mad," said Sambo.
" No, no, Sambo, niver a mad. It's to cut up and
put under the biler. D'ye see?"
THE FIGHT "WITH THE "DELAWARE". 105
" I see now, sah ; plenty mooch."
" Noo, lads," cried the Scot, when the bacon came
down; "cut it up and feed the fire. I mean to make
her rip. Sambo, you're doing nothing," he continued,
looking up to the doorway where the steward was
standing staring wonderingly down. " Sambo, you're
doing nothing, and you're heavy and broad in the
beam. Just come along here and sit on the safety
valve."
"An' s'pose de injin she bust, sah, where pore Sambo
be den, sah ? Tell me dat. No, tank you, I want to
go to hebben vely much, but I no like to go in dat
fashion."
And off went Sambo.
B-r-r-T-ang ! One more shot, and presently another,
and then cheering asrain.
The Yankee was catching it; for the Delaivay^es
bowsprit was splintered and hung in pieces around the
bows, quite impeding her way.
" Now, lads," shouted Captain Brewer, " up with the
bonnie blue flag, for here comes a breeze at last. Give
them one more cheer, and we'll show them a clean
pair of heels. Hurrah!"
Once more the Delaware slued round, and a broad-
side was fired, half the shot of which never reached
the ship, while the other half played harmlessly around
the Mosquito.
106 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
" Shall I try a shell or two, sir?"
" That you may."
But Kenneth was less successful with shells.
Meanwhile the sun was going down, and wind and
sea were rising.
"Thank God," said Captain Brewer, "we have
shaken her off at last!"
It was a very dark night that followed, and almost
a stormy one; but southwards over the sea the good
ship ploughed her way, with never a light showing
on deck, and with tarpaulins over hatches and sky
lights.
When the sun rose and shone red over the wind-
tossed ocean, there was never a sail in sight.
But Captain Brewer determined now to give up all
thoughts of Charleston, and make the best of his way
to Pensacola Bay, in the Mexican Gulf, and extreme
end of Florida.
Here, it is true, was Port Pickens, but lately revic-
tualled and regarrisoned by the Federals. It was not
forts, however, that Captain Brewer feared, but ships;
and he rightly guessed there would be far fewer
Federal cruisers hovering around in the south than
in the north.
The weather began to get sensibly hotter now, a,nd
before the good ship reached the beautiful Bahama
Islands, the wounded were nearly all well. Though
THE FIGHT WITH THE "DELAWARE". 107
very weak as yet, Osmond, still ministered to by his
little nurse Lucy, was able to come on deck every
day.
As the wind had gone down, steam was once more
in force, and sea and sky, both noon and night, were
beautiful in the extreme. The sun would rise in
crimson glory, shining over the sea in a triangular
track of dazzling blood-red light, a triangle that had
its broad base in the far-off horizon, its apex near the
ship. If there was any morning haze it soon cleared
off, and when the awning was spread across the quarter-
deck Osmond could recline on his chair, and with
dreamy half-closed eyes gaze on an ocean whose beauty
of colour, — its pinks, its opals, its greens and greys, —
was more lovely than pen can describe. Sometimes
away on bow or beam a green island would be descried,
seeming to hang on the horizon, or be suspended in
the air itself like a veritable fairy land.
The sunsets likewise were inexpressibly beautiful.
There was a new moon now, and when that glimmered
like a golden scimitar, and the stars were all aglitter
in a sky of dark and deepest blue, the scene was not
only tranquil but even holy.
Captain Brewer, in order to avoid even the chance
of another chase or another battle, kept away to the
east of the Bahamas, but he doubled Andros at last,
then skirting; the northern shores of Cuba he bore
108 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
boldly up through the Gulf of Mexico for Pensacola
Bay.
Before daylight in the morning he made an attempt
to run the blockade, but finding this was impos.sil)le,
and that he would only succeed in drawing a fire from
fort and ships that would sink him, Captain Brewer
withdrew — luckily without being perceived — and
made off to sea again.
It came on to blow high and hard from the south
towards sunset. Well, it is an ill wind tliat blows
nobody good. Captain Brewer was a very excellent
sailor, and knew the Bay and channels of Mobile well.
So, banking fires, he made straight for tlie eastern
opening. The Federals, he reckoned, if any ships were
there, would hardly venture out on such a night, and
if they sighted him, would scarcely dare to give chase
for fear of running on shore.
The city lies at the top of the Bay to the left, and
although the Mosquito would be welcome there, any
Federal ship daring to follow would have it hot.
There were Federal vessels in the Bay, however,
and more than one.
Captain Brewer could have wished a darker night,
for the moon shone all too brilliantly. Never mind, it
was to be life or death. So on he went. I think his
very courage was his safety. Fortune favours the
brave.
THE FIGHT WITH THE "DELAWARE". 109
When he got within range of the ships at anchor,
they opened fire. One shot made a lovely hole in the
funnel, another smashed a boat.
Captain Brewer made no reply, but went dashing
on.
The danger soon seemed past and gone. Clouds
had banked up in the East and obscured the moon,
and it was now almost dark. The Captain had his
after-guns double shotted and run out in case of
need.
This proved to be a wise precaution, for in an hour's
time a perky little gun-boat seemed to drop out of the
sky, so suddenly did she appear.
" What ship is that?" was the hail.
" The Confederate cruiser Brunswick, twenty guns.
Who are you?"
There was no reply, but the little vessel went away
on another tack and seemed to fly across the water
like a Mother Gary's chicken.
" Give her a touch, Kenneth," cried Captain Brewer,
and a few moments after the Dahlgren gave voice and
a shot flew over the water.
It was but a chance shot, but terrible in its effect.
In a few seconds, then, the roar of an explosion was
heard on board the gun-boat, rays of fire and rolls of
white smoke rose heavenwards, with broken spars and
timbers and — all too visible to those on board the
110 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
Mosquito — dark masses that could only be the bodies
or limbs of men.
Kenneth put his hand to his brow and eyes. He
was horrified at the results of that shot, and felt he
could have shed tears. He was very young, you
know, and as yet had seen but very little of the
horrors of war.
"Haul the main yard aback!"
It was Captain Brewer's voice.
" All hands on deck ! Call away the whalers to
save life!"
Two boats were quickly lowered, Brewer himself
going in one, Kenneth in the other.
The sea was rough, the waves were houses high,
and broke in seething masses of foam at the top,
which were caught up by the wind and carried in
sheets across the boats; yet boldly and manfully were
these rowed.
They reached the scene of the catastrophe in time
to save no less than seven of the crew, two of whom
were officers.
At last they prepared to return. But just at that
moment the rattle of oars in rowlocks was heard, and
the moon, suddenly escaping from behind a cloud,
revealed the presence of no less than three Federal
man-o'-war boats.
"Would they, could they, or should they fight?"
THE FIGHT WITH THE "DELAWARE". Ill
Captain Brewer asked himself. " Nay, nay, all are
brothers in a scene like this."
He now hailed the advancing boats.
" We sank your gun-boat," he cried, " and we have
lowered boats and picked up all that have not dis-
appeared."
" Thank you," was the reply. " Can you transfer,
or do you wish to take those you have saved as
prisoners?"
" Prisoners ? No, no, sir. But the sea is too rough
to transfer here. Come with us to my ship."
In less than half an hour the Mosquito's boats were
drawn up, the half-drowned men were being seen to
on board; the Federal boats lay on the lee side, and
the Federal officers were down below partaking of
hospitality in the saloon.
The lieutenant in command was but a young man,
but handsome and bold-looking. He extended his
hand with a smile to Captain Brewer.
" You are one of the bravest and most generous
men," he said, " I have ever met. I trust to God, who
rules all things, that I may some day have an oppor-
tunity of repaying you for your kindness to our poor
fellows. Many a ship's commander would have gone
on and left them to their fate."
" I hope," replied Brewer laughing, " you never may
have the chance of repaying me for what after all was
112 . FOR LIFE AND LIBKRTY.
a duty. But come, you will stay to supper. By the
time we have discussed that your men's clothes will
be dry."
" Supper, Captain — er — er — ."
" Brewer, at your service."
" Thanks, we'll gladly stay for supper."
In the deshabille of borrowed dressing-gowns and
slippers the two officers picked up from the gun-boat
joined the mess, while their rescued shipmates made
merry round the galley iire where their clothes were
steaming.
" Sambo," cried the captain, " splice the main brace
forward. Don't foro-et the men in the boats alon&side.
Hand them down pork and biscuits also."
The officers remained on board the Mosquito for
three hours, but never a word about the war was
spoken. Tales were told and songs were sung, and
the lieutenant in command took Lucy on his knee as
if she had been his own child.
And yet these men hob-nobbing and smoking so
happily are sworn enemies. Who could believe it?
"Oh dear! Oh dear!" said Captain Brewer, as the
Northerners rose to depart. " How sad it is that
brothers such as we are cannot agree!"
"Alas! The pity of it!" answered the lieutenant.
" To-nifjht we're o-ood friends and hand in hand, to-
morrow mortal foes, at daggers drawn.
THE FIGHT WITH THE "DELAWARE". 113
"Good night, little sweetheart!" he said, laying his
hand on Lucy's head. " Don't forget Lieutenant Sellar.
Who knows but we may meet again in happier times!
Mrs. Brewer, good-night! Thank you for the music!
I've spent such a jolly evening, and all so unexpectedly!
Captain Brewer, you're every inch a sailor. May God
reward you! Adios!"
And over the side they went, receiving a cheer as
they pulled off, and returning three times three.
Next morning, after her long cruise and strange and
terrible adventures, the Mosquito was safely anchored
off Mobile.
( JI 132 )
BOOK IL
THE BUESTING OF THE STOEM.
CHAPTER I.
ON THE LONG MAECH NOETHWARD.
TWO months have passed by since the arrival of
the Mosquito with munitions of war at Mobile.
Osmond and Kenneth have bidden their good friends
the Brewers farewell, .with many a heartfelt hope that
they would all meet again in happier times.
Both our young heroes were burning now to get on
to the front. Before leaving England, Osmond had
written to his cousin Harry telling of his determina-
tion to come out and to join the war as a free lance or
soldier of fortune, and also of the good luck he and
his friend Kenneth had met with, in getting berths on
board the Kathleen O'Mara and the promise of a Con-
federate ship to convey them to Charleston.
He could not be certain, however, that this letter
would ever reach his cousin.
116 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
It did SO, however, and Hany, after a month, had
been in daily expectation of hearing from Charleston.
He was astonished, therefore, when he received a letter
one day from the city of Mobile, in which Osmond
enlarged on all his adventures.
" My wound is almost well now, however," he said,
" thanks to the tender nursing I received on board from
Mrs. Brewer, but more particularly from her charming
little daughter Lucy. Oh, she is only a child, Harry," he
continued, " or, I declare to you, I should be heels over
head in love with her! Stay, though, cousin mine, I
must be candid with you. I must ask myself the
question, is it possible for a young fellow of eighteen,
of the poetic temperament and romantic — whimsical,
my dear brother Dick used to call it — to fall in love
with a young lady who won't be in her teens for
another month? I know you are laughing at me,
Harry, but really my heart is strangely touched by
this child's tenderness and affection. And she is not
like other children. To me she seems ever so much
older, and I have often found myself talking to her
and asking her advice on subjects quite serious. What
a silly I must be! Was that what you said, Harry?
" But oh, cousin, our parting was the saddest on
earth ! I was taken to a lovely villa in Mobile belong-
ing to a friend of good Captain Brewer, and I believe
half the good people in the city called on me and
ON THE LONG MARCH NORTHWARD. 117
Kenneth. It was so good of us, everyone said, and so
gallant to come out from England to fight for the free-
dom of the Southern States. At first I wasn't able to
go out at all, but there was scarcely an evening Kenn
wasn't at a ball or party. I think you will love Kenn,
though he isn't so romantic as I. But every night he
came back with the same story, ' Fallen in love again,
Os.' And it was with a different lady each time.
" But no one has been able to prevail upon Lucy to
go anywhere. She wouldn't go to ball or party, she
said, but preferred to nurse her brother. That's me.
Never mind grammar. ' That's I ' would be more
correct, I know, but it sounds so stilted and stuck up.
" Poor Lucy ! when she came to say good-bye at last
she fairly broke down. She hung around Wolf's neck,
and wept. She was quite the child then. So I lifted
her off* Wolf and soothed and kissed her, and told her
I should never, never forget her. Well, well, well — it's
all over now. And next comes the war and fighting.
They say — that is, some poet said:
' The paths of glory lead but to the grave.'
" Well, I declare to you, Harry, that if I thought I
was never, never going to meet gentle Lucy again I
should follow the path of glory to the grave, and wel-
come the rest. Good-bye till we meet."
In about two weeks' time the good ship Mosquito
118 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
left Mobile. She would have to run the gauntlet of
the Federal cruisers once again, and Osmond prayed
for her and all that were in her day and night.
There would be little fear, however, of another
mutiny. Captain Brewer, of course, kept his promise
to the cutthroat portion of his crew and did not give
them up to justice, but he did not again ask them to
go back with him on his new cruise to England.
Osmond and Kenneth had plenty of invitations to
join regiments preparing to go to the front. They
were even offered commissions. But as they were
determined to join the corps in which Harry and Will
were fighting they steadfastly refused. However, they
journeyed up north with a regiment, and a wild and
strange march it was. They learned a deal about
camp-life, however, and sleeping as they did every
night within tents that hardly kept out the weather,
they both got as brown as half-ripe bramble-berries,
and about as hard in muscle as the main-stay of a jolly
old frigate.
Tlie men they had to chum with on this march were
rather a rough lot, but hearty and jolly withal. For
the first time in his life Osmond realized the real mean-
ing of the term "Republicanism". Why, when off
duty in this bold squad, Tommy was as good as his
master; the private, indeed, was sometimes much more
of a gentleman than the officer, and smoked and drank
ON THE LONG MARCH NORTHWARD. 119
coffee witli him on equal terms. But on the line of
march, or at any time when ordered to fall in, the men
were most obedient.
Through woods and wilds, through valley and glen,
over morass and moorland and prairie, across stream
and through many a dismal swamp, they journeyed on
right cheerily day after day, northward, ever north-
ward.
The men were somewhat unkempt, and certainly
spent but small time at their toilet, but Osmond
noticed that they were exceedingly careful of their
clothes, especially their boots and shoes, which, during
the day, most of them slung over their shoulders.^
Both Osmond and Kenneth followed their example,
though they had each a bag or kit slung to the side
of pack-mules. They had been offered the use of
horses, but refused. They wanted, if the truth must
be told, to show that Englishmen were quite as hardy
and fit to stay when on the war-path as even Ameri-
cans, And I believe they quite succeeded.
Our young soldiers of fortune were, on the whole,
somewhat hazy and uncertain as to their future. This
question occurred to them more than once. Were they
right in giving their services to the Confederate army ?
Or were they thus committing some breach of neu-
^ Many of the privates preferred to wear tweed jackets and slouch hats
to uniform, and when a Federal or many Federals were kiUed they were
quickly divested of their boots.
120 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
trality, for which, if made prisoners by the Federals,
they were liable to be shot?
Osmond one night, while seated by the camp-fire,
put this same question to the captain of the company,
under whose protection they were travelling.
He was a tall, raw-boned, brown -skinned soldier,
with long hair, and a very broad sombrero sort of a
hat.
He was sitting with his back to a form, and now
and then throwing a handful of withered needles on
the fire to make it blaze up.
He took two or three whiifs of his huge cigar before
he replied:
" Wall," he said, " I guess it's like this, young 'uns.
Es long's you keep with us you're mighty safe; but if
the yellow-skinned Yanks cotches ye, yer backs against
a wall and half a dozen cartridges will put ye out o'
yer misery. But, bless yer souls, it's the quickest and
easiest death out. Have a drink."
He handed them a bottle as he spoke.
" It's the best old rye," he explained.
The young fellows shook their heads, but thanked
him all the same.
So he had a long pull and a strong pull himself, then
lit a fresh cigar.
One night something occurred that showed Osmond
and Kenneth how lightly life was valued by men like
"YOU MUST DIE AT DAYBREAK, " SAID CAPTAIN STUART;
"TAKE HIM AWAY, CORPORAL."
ON THE LONG MARCH NORTHWARD. 121
these. They and the commandant — Stuart was his
name — were being made much of at a farmer's eosy
fireside. Osmond had just been asked for a song, and
was commencing, when a loud knocking was heard at
the door.
The farmer's buxom black-eyed daughter opened it,
and two armed men came in. They dragged after
them a handsome young dark-bearded man, whose
arms were firmly bound to his chest with pieces of
stout rope.
"Sergeant Simpson, isn't it?" said Captain Stuart,
without taking his pipe from his mouth.
" That's my name, sir," said Simpson, boldly.
"What's the charge?"
" Found him two miles from camp, sir, planning an
attack on us at midnight. We shot the two Federals,
and took the traitor alive."
"You lie," shouted Simpson; "I'm no traitor. I'm
a Federal, and true to my government, even if I have
followed you rebels."
" Then I guess you're a mean cur of a spy."
" Call me so, sir, if you like."
" No blufif; ye know you are, and you must die at
daybreak. Take him away. Corporal. Stop, have you
any favour to ask, prisoner?"
" None from you, old Reb. But if that young fellow
here" — he looked at Osmond — " will put his hand in
122 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
my pocket, he'll find a letter to my young wife in
Richmond. Maybe, being an Englishman, he'll have
the goodness to deliver it."
Osmond glanced at Captain Stuart, and received a
nod of acquiescence.
As he was taking the letter out, the unfortunate
man half- whispered in his ear, "Tell my wife when
you get to Richmond that I died like a man, and kiss
my child for me."
There was moisture in his eyes as he spoke, and a
sad look in his face, the only evidence of weakness he
evinced.
"Now then, Mr. Osmond Lloyd," said Captain
Stuart, when the prisoner and his guards had gone;
" now for your song."
But there was no more singing in Osmond that night.
At no great distance from the camp stood a large
oak, and across a limb of this, at early dawn, a long
rope was thrown. Soon after sunrise the spy was led
out. They had given him a cigar, which he was
quietly smoking. He was somewhat pale, but other-
wise resolute and firm.
" Boys," he said quietly, as he stood under the
branch, with the ugly bight of rope round his bare
white neck, "long live the Union! Now, lads, catch
a hold; you stick to your end o' the rope, and I guess
I'll stick to mine. Good-bye; see you later on."
ON THE LONG MARCH NORTHWARD. 123
Osmond and Kenneth were inexpressibly horrified
at the whole proceeding; but far more so when next
moment the rope broke, and the wretched man came
to the ground with a dull thud. He was coolly raised
to the sitting position till a fresh rope should be bent,
and presently opened his eyes and gazed around him
dazedly.
" This can't be heaven," he muttered, with a faint
smile. " Too many rascally Rebs around me."
The next attempt was successful, but the death was
a cruel one; and for long minutes the body was con-
vulsed, while dark blood trickled from mouth and ears.
Ah! war is a terrible thing, and civil war is the
very worst kind!
It was a lovely morning when the corps resumed its
march to the music of the band; the sun had been up
some time, and a kind of purple mist hung all over the
woods and the distant hills.
As they passed the fatal tree Osmond looked up.
The corpse, to his astonishment, was still swinging
there, moving to and fro in the breeze.
Captain Stuart noticed the young fellow's look of
astonishment.
" We never hardly buries 'em," he said, smiling.
" Just leaves 'em a-swinging. Ah ! you'll get used to
it all by and by."
124 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
In a few days' time, the little army, which now
numbered quite a thousand, reached a rather wild
forest land, but a land of hills and streams also, on
the borders of Tennessee.
Beautiful though it was, the population was limited ;
but the people seemed comfortably off and well-
to-do.
In this district Captain Stuart assured Osmond he
felt sure of finding a great many recruits.
" I guess," he said, " I'll quite swell my little army
out o' here."
Well, it was evident enough, at all events, that no
one had as yet gone from this forest land to swell
either the ranks of Federals or Confederates.
The niggers appeared to be a little lazy, and per-
fectly contented with their lots.
" Bress de Lawd," one old white-haired slave said to
Osmond, " we dunno nuffin about de wah down heah.
We jes mos happy to lib wid Massa and the young
white folks, and when we dies we done go to Jesus."
Osmond had met the old man coming from the
woods up through the large clearing, in the middle
of which stood a beautiful log-house, with verandahs
on two sides; and although it was the beginning of
December, flowers were still trailing over it. In this
clearing Stuart's troops were encamped for the night.
The nigger was leading a little black girl.
ON THE LONG SIARCH NORTHWARD. 125
" Dis piccaniny am my gran'cliile," he told Osmond.
" She happy too."
" You happy, sah 1 " he continued, suddenly turning
questioner. " I go down on my knees and pray foh
you, sah?"
Osmond hastened to tell him there really was no
occasion.
" Den," he said, " we march along togedder to de ole
log-house, and I sings to you all de time."
Osmond couldn't object to that. So on they went
together. The negro's song began somewhat as follows,
but I forget how it ended: —
" Der is a land ob pure delight,
Where saints immortal reign ;
Infinite day succeeds the night,
Au' pleasures banish pain."
Near to the garden that surrounded the old log-
house, a neatly - dressed white child of fairy -like
beauty came bounding to meet the negro, her arms
outstretched and her yellow hair floating on the wind.
"Uncle Tucker, Uncle Tucker!" she cried, "I's so
glad you've dot back. Such a lot of pretty soldier
men, and boo'ful swords and guns, have comed. Run,
Uncle, run and see them."
Uncle Tucker didn't run. He stopped, though, and
placed his huge black spade of a hand on the child's
head.
126 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY,
" Bress de Lawd, my chile, foh all His goodness, but
dese men am all goin' to fight and spill specious blood!
Come, we will sing to His praise, Miss Lizzie."
And once more Uncle Tucker commenced his song.
But he had taken Miss Lizzie up in his arms, and as
he marched along her soft peach cheek was leaned
lovingly against his snow-white head, and her long
hair fell over the nigger's shoulder.
It was a pretty picture.
Osmond's welcome by the host and hostess of this
log mansion was very hearty and sincere. Captain
Stuart was there too, of course, with two of his lieuten-
ants and Kenneth.
Before he retired, the commandant, much to his joy,
had succeeded in rousing the warlike spirit in two of
the planter's sons. To-morrow they would be certain,
he thought, to join the ranks.
That night, however, he and his men had an enemy
to fight they little dreamed of encountering.
CHAPTER IL
FIGHTING THE FOREST FIRE.
IT must not be supposed that all the Confederate or
seceding States were made up wholly of people
unfriendly to the Union. No, quite the reverse; and
FIGHTING THE FOREST FIRE. 127
throughout all this long march, especially as they got
farther to the North, Captain Stuart and his men had
to look out for foes and for treachery even in his
own camp.
His corps now, however, was big enough to defend
itself against any open attack either by night or day^
or against roving bands that appeared now and again,
and kept up a kind of guerilla warfare.
Still, for the catastrophe that occurred this particular
night, Stuart was no doubt right in blaming Federal
foes.
All had turned in; and sleep reigned among the
footsore and weary soldiers, who had put in a very
long day's march. Only the sentries and pickets were
very much on the alert indeed. The last thing that
Osmond remembered as he covered himself with his
rug and lay down, was the bright and holy stars shin-
ing in through the door of the tent.
He dropped off almost as soon as his head touched
his pillow of grass, and was dreaming of his home
far away in Merry England. Eva was in that dream,
and they sat together as they used to sit in the dear
days that now seemed so long gone by. They sat in
the old library with Wolf by their feet. Suddenly
it grew very dark, he thought, and Wolf began to
whine and press his great head under his arm. He
felt suffocating too, and so he suddenly awoke. He
128 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
awoke coughing. Sure enough, Wolf was by his
side.
The tent was filled with smoke.
As he rubbed his eyes and tried to think he could
hear a wild shout of —
" Fire ! Fire ! The forest on fire ! "
Next minute the drum beat to arms, and the bugle
sounded the assembly,
Osmond and Kenneth dressed hurriedly and rushed
out. For a few moments they could see nothing, as
the smoke was everywhere, but soon a red glare was
visible far away to the west, rising in sheets, higher
and higher, till it reached the zenith, then dying down
once more only to rise again in a minute's time redder
than before, as if the fire beneath was increasing in
fury.
Osmond found himself beside Captain Stuart. He
was busy enough giving orders, but did not hesitate to
answer the question put to him.
" Is there danger?" Osmond had ventured to inquire.
"Danger! Yes; lots of danger It is the work of
incendiaries, and if they only succeed in firing the
forest in front as well as behind us, we will be
hemmed in and burned or smoked like rats in a blazing
stack-yard."
" Can we be of any service, my friend and I V
Captain Stuart replied quickly enough:
FIGHTING THE FOREST FIRE. 129
"Yes, you can. I am despatching men under the
command of two sergeants to the right and to the left
to try and find the incendiaries before they set fire to
our front. Go with them, boys, one of you to each
party. The sergeants are old scouts, and as clever on
the war-path as Sioux Indians."
" We are ready. Which is my party ? "
" That yonder. And this is yours, Kenneth. My
orders to you are, if the incendiaries be caught they
are to be tied to trees that the fire they have raised
may reach them and their fat go to feed it. The
cowardly villains!"
This was an order, however, that Osmond had no
intention of obeying, should they succeed in trapping
the fire-raisers. But there was no time for argument.
Fire, when it succeeds in getting the upper hand, is
indeed a terrible thing. But no one who has not seen
a forest or a prairie on fire can judge of its fury
and its merciless power. In summer-time or in early
autumn it is more frequent in the wooded districts of
Western America than in winter, and may even rise
spontaneously, probably from the rubbing of one
branch of a tree against another in a breeze of wind.
In early winter the trees are leafless and bare. The
forest, for instance, which Osmond and his party now
entered was composed for the most part of pine trees,
oaks, chestnuts, and beeches with a rank growth of
(M132) I
130 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
underwood, and in such a forest at such a season of
the year, fire could hardly originate spontaneously,
scarcely even accidentally. It must have been the
work of men, whom Stuart could hardly have been
blamed for calling fiends incarnate.
Many of the trees, moreover, were old and covered
with withered lichens; and in the more open spaces
among the pine trees, the ground was thickly covered
with the needles that had fallen from above, season
after season, for many years.
Captain Stuart had now only one thought, namely,
how to escape with his little army, and to save at the
same time the people at the log mansion where, but a
few hours before, he had been so kindly welcomed and
entertained.
There was no time to lose, therefore, so the camp
was struck at once and the heavy baggage loaded on
the pack-mules. These mules were less sensitive and
less timid in the presence of the awful danger than
many of the horses, that were snorting and rearing
and plunging in deadly terror. One or two had
already escaped and dashed wildly away to the
woods.
When a forest fire, like that which was now raging
and spreading every moment, i% fairly alit, it rushes
onwards with terrible speed, at fast at times as even
a horse can gallop. It heats the air, too, far in front
FIGHTING THE FOREST FIRE. 131
of it, SO that by the time the fire reaches the trees,
they are dry, hot, and ready to blaze.
The party that Osmond accompanied was soon swal-
lowed up in the black depths of the forest.
It was a mystery to our hero how the sergeant scout
managed to steer in the right direction. He had but
the glare of the fire to the west, and now and then the
gleam of a star in the east, to guide him. Yet on he
went, his men following, silently, in Indian file.
Nor was the sergeant trusting to blind chance. He
had his plan of action. He was crossing the forest,
and his object was to find a trail — the trail of the
incendiaries. In his left hand was a tiny bull's-eye
lantern, which he opened now and then, turning its
light earthwards or on the bushes around.
"Ugh!" he said at last. The slight exclamation
caused his men to close up around him. He was
standing in a little glade and pointing downwards.
There, sure enough, on the moss, were footprints, and
a little way farther on were some broken twigs
where bushes had been pulled roughly aside. " Now,
boys," he cried, "may the Lord guide us, and we'll
soon have our hands on the throats of the murdering
villains!"
A strange kind of prayer, thought Osmond.
" Follow in silence, but we'll have to run," continued
the sergeant.
133 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
In two hours' time, — and what a long weary two
hours it was, — they came up with those they were in
search of. Seven or eight of them there were, but so
busily engaged raising a pile of half-dry brushwood
and trying to light it, that they did not hear the
approach of the sergeant's party until they wei'e quite
surrounded.
The fire had already begun to blaze, and its ruddy
liofht shone in the face of the startled incendiaries and
on the stern, set countenances of the determined Con-
federates.
"Time's up!" shouted the sergeant. "Resistance
ain't in it. Up with your hands, or we fire!"
" Surrender to rebels ! Never! Charge, boys!"
The melee that followed was sharp and terrible. It
was soon over, however, for the sergeant's party was
three to one. Rifles rang out. The sharp crack of
revolvers followed, and then the fight was finished
with knives.
It was well, perhaps, that in the excitement of the
terrible "tulzie" the commandant's order to catch them
alive and tie them to trees had been forgotten.
Not a man was left alive. Dreadful to say, however,
the breath could not have been out of some before
they were tossed into the fire.
The action of one powerful negro who had come
with the party was something that Osmond could
FIGHTING THE FOREST FIRE. 133
never forget. He seized the man that had last fallen
beneath his blows, and swinging him round his head,
commenced to extinguish the flames with him. He
had clutched him by the legs, the wretched man's arms
flew loosely round as if he were alive, which it is to be
hoped he was not; while the gigantic negro, thus
fighting the fire, looked like the very incarnation of
evil.
In a few minutes it was all over; so far, the danger
was past.
As they returned — it was now nearly daylight
though the sun could not be seen — they struck the
main road that led from the planter's farm. It was
evident that the corps had pressed on, so they rode
after and soon overtook them.
Osmond was astonished to hear that the planter
himself had determined to brave out the fire-storm.
" He is a gone coon," said Stuart. " We did all we
could to induce him to come along, but he wouldn't
budge, and his niggers remain with him."
Let us now revert for a moment to Kenneth and
his party.
They searched the wood for hours in vain for a
trail, and then returned towards the plantation to
report. Finding that the regiment had gone, bag and
baggage, they made their way as well as they could to
the planter's house. It was getting darker and darker
134 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
every minute with the rolHng clouds of smoke, though
now well on in the day.
At the farm-steading they found that all was con-
fusion and excitement, Kenneth met the planter's
wife and younger children at the door of the house.
They seemed almost distracted with fear.
They would be burned alive, she said. She had
seen forest fires before, but never anything like this.
Mr. Stallworthy, her husband, had trusted to the
stream that ran through the woods to stay the pro-
gress of the fire, but it had leapt over that barrier,
and was now rapidly approaching the plantation and
farm-steading.
Kenneth found Stallworthy himself at last. He
was making hasty preparations for flight, angry with
himself now that he had not done so sooner, and
accompanied the soldiers in their hurried march.
Kenneth and the men under the sergeant helped
to harness the frightened horses to the wagons,
and to hold them after they were put to. This
last was the more difficult part of the business, for
the poor brutes were trembling and perspiring with
terror.
"I am a ruined man," said the planter; "I can save
no property, but shall thank Heaven on high if I can
but save the life of my wife, my children, and my dear
old mother."
FIGHTING THE FOREST FIRE. 135
The fire was now making rapid progress, and so
dark had it become with the smoke, that when Kenneth
and three men left the out-buildings to assist Mrs.
Stallworthy and children to reach the wagons, for a
time they could not find the way.
They succeeded at last, however. The mother was
bed-ridden and had to be carried out wrapped up in a
blanket.
It was terrible to hear the moaning of the frightened
cattle, that doubtless thought they were to be aban-
doned to their awful fate.
The negroes of the plantation, while preparations
for flight were being made, worked like heroes, not
only in helping to pack the few valuables that an
attempt was being made to save, but in fighting the
fire. Yes, it had come so near now, that flaming balls
and fiery, glowing pieces of bark were falling all
around, and these the niggers actually jumped upon
and extinguished with their naked feet. All this, too,
mind you, amidst a gloom and darkness that was
almost like that of midnight.
At last the wagons are ready, and the women and
children on board.
But the cattle, they must be released now. The
sergeant and Kenneth with a few negroes volunteer
for this service. As they rush towards the out-houses,
to Kenn's surprise they came across old Uncle Tucker.
136 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
He was on his knees praying aloud to God to avert
the dread calamity, and save the old plantation, " pore
ole Massa's propetty ".
" Come with us! Come with us!" cried the sergeant.
"You'll be burned alive. You must work as well as
pray."
Thus adjured, and after being actually lifted to his
feet, the old negro consented to come along.
At the first byre or cow-house they came to, a fear-
ful fate nearly befell three of the slaves who had gone
in to let loose the poor, frightened cattle. For the
first few set free closed the door on themselves, and no
strength that those who were outside could bring to
bear on it, could force it open.
"An axe! an axe!" cries the sergeant. Yes, but
who knows where to find one.
The roof, too, of an adjoining barn is already in
flames, and that of the cow-house covered with flying,
fiery cinders.
At last, and only just in time, they find a fallen
tree, and with this they dash the door in pieces, and
both men and cattle are saved.
No sooner are the beasts free, than they madly
stampede away towards the eastern forest, and Kenneth
and party, with innocent old Uncle Tucker, have now
to fly for their lives.
Oh, indeed it is a race for life! They have retained
■•ON AND UX THLV DAall Al A UREAK-.NECK GALLOP
THROUGH THE FOREST FIRE."
FIGHTING THE FOREST FIRE. 137
one wagon, and in this, with two horses driven by
Kenneth, off they dash.
It seems impossible, however, that they can escape.
They have found the road, it is true, but what a road
it is! Bumpy, rutty, — terrible. And the woods at each
side have caught fire, the branches of the pine trees
blaze like gigantic torches, their stems are like molten
gold, the underwood is a sea of flame, and on the high,
gusty wind sparks and fiery cinders are blown along
on the rolling clouds of smoke, as thick as snow-flakes
in a wintry storm. On and on they dash at a break-
neck gallop, trees falling on each side and the roar of
the flames drowning the rattle of the wheels. No
danger could be more extreme, yet our young hero
Kenneth seems to rise to it, and with it. He sits
firmly on his seat, firmly does he grasp the reins, and
firmly feel his horses' mouths; for well he knows that
if one stumbles and falls, the forest fire will win the
race, and their blood will be licked up by the awful
heat, and their bodies turned into cinders even before
the fire can reach them.
On, on, and on.
On and on for one lono' hour. And at length the
horses have won, and all is saved! But the danger
Kenneth and his new friends have come through is one
they will never on earth forget.
138 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
CHAPTER III.
AT THE OLD PLANTATION.
/^SMOND'S arrival at the old plantation, as
^ Cousin Harry called his home, was as sudden as
it was unlooked for by those upon the place.
It was as much a surprise for Osmond as for any-
one else. He had had no idea he was so near to it.
He and Kenneth had fallen some distance to the rear,
for the scenery all round was beautiful in the ex-
treme. The two friends, after the mid-day halt, had
climbed a hill to enjoy the view, while Captain
Stuart and his men rested and smoked.
An old negro whom they found fishing in a stream
volunteered his services as guide.
"What a charming country!" cried Osmond, after
they had gained the summit of the hill. " Who
would not live in such a land as this? Who would
not fight for it, die for it? Why, Kenneth, I had
expected to find the country about here all prairie
land, or partly prairie, partly swamp. But oh, look,
Kenn, look! Look at the rolling woodlands, the
mighty stretches of forest land, the grand old river
meandering through the wide and well-cultivated
valley, and broadening out as it reaches the far-off
lake. We have no such lakes in our country, we have
AT THE OLD PLANTATION. 139
no such rivers, no such still, green rolling forest. And
look, too, at these mountains away in the west yonder,
raising their purple summits in the blue ethereal sky.
Kenneth, don't you feel inspired?"
" Os, old man, haul your foreyard aback. Come off
your high horse and talk plain English. I wouldn't
give London, nay, nor Liverpool itself, for all I yet
have seen in America. We may not have hills like
these, nor such forests either. But we have forests
that are better far — we have forests of masts. Ay,
and we have hills too with which, lovely as they are,
these we see here can but ill compare, for every wave
that rolls around our island home is but one of a
watery chain of mountains that protects the pride and
honour of dear old England."
"Bravo, Kenn! Bravo!" cried Osmond. "That is
good; good — er — for you."
Kenneth laughed and turned to talk to the negro.
" And you live not far from here. Uncle Tom, don't
you?" he said.
"I lib not fah from heah, sah, for true; but, sah,
my name am Uncle Neile, not Uncle Tom. You see
dat beautiful plantation, sah, not fah from de green
wood. You see de verandahs all aroun'. Wid de
glass you see de white missies play in de garden.
Dat am my proud home, sah. I'se gettin' ole an' stiff
now, and my hair is bery white, but de ole massa's
UO FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
cliil'en dey lub poor Uncle Neile, and Uncle Neile he
nebber leave dem now. No, sah, no.
" S'pose," he added, " de Yanks come and dey 'man-
cerpate us, all de same I lib wid massa and de chil'en.
But pore massa, with Harry and Will, they done gone
fight de Federal sodgers."
Osmond now pricked up his ears, figuratively
speaking.
" An' oh, young gemlems, it am bery, bery sad; dere
am no one lef at 'ome but Massa M'Donald to — "
" Uncle Neile, is it possible," cried Osmond, " that I
am near to my cousins' plantation? ^yhat is your
master's name, the owner of that beautiful farm?"
" Massa Bloodworth, sah, foh true."
" Kenneth, Kenneth!" shouted Osmond. "Hurrah,
Kenn, why, we're home at last! Shake hands, Uncle,
shake hands, old man. I am the cousin of Harry and
Will. I have come out all the way from England to
fight side by side with your young masters."
Old Uncle Neile was speechless for a moment, but
the tears rolled down his cheeks.
"Bress de Lawd! Bress de good Lawd!" he cried.
" It was de Lawd, sah, who sent you heah."
There were no more thoughts of scenery now in
Osmond's head. With the old negro the two young
men hurried back to camp and told Captain Stuart of
their discovery.
AT THE OLD PLANTATION. 141
" I guess you must wait here for a day or two
then," said Stuart. " Give my love to all at the plan-
tation. No, no, 'twouldn't do for me to wait. My
country needs my men, and any day or hour now we
may have to fight. Off with you ! Come on to Rich-
mond as soon as you can. Bye-bye! Ah! we're
bound to meet again."
So farewells were said, and in less than an hour
Osmond was sitting in the cheerful drawing-room of
Brookland Manor, with his aunt and cousins around
him. It is needless to say that Kenneth was there also.
Everything in and around the Manor looked tho-
roughly English, even the dresses of his girl cousins.
They were all young — the five of them, the eldest
being but sixteen — and all pretty.
And how much like being at home it all seemed!
The children were at first a little shy with Kenneth,
but Osmond was a cousin, and they treated him like a
brother from the very first.
Wolf too was an object not only of love, but almost
adoration, and the honest dog seemed to know he was
among friends, and behaved accordingly.
" 0, you must not go to-morrow!" cried sweet Katie
the eldest.
" Nor for a week," said another.
" Oo must stop a whole monfi" with us, oo must,"
said the youngest little cousin.
142 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
Osmond laughed.
" Kenneth," he said, " war or not war, I think we
must stay for just a week."
" War or not war, we will," consented Kenneth.
What a happy evening that was, and how tho-
roughly the young folks, and even Mrs. Bloodworth,
enjoyed the company of the strangers!
"And still," she said, " you don't seem like strangers.
Osmond, dear, your name is a household word with
my poor boys, and it seems as if we had known Kenneth
all his hfe."
And songs were sung and tales were told and
games were played, and when the silver-toned clock
on the marble mantel-piece at last chimed the hour
of twelve, nobody would believe it, and it was
unanimously agreed that they should stay up another
hour. What did time signify on such a night as
this!
But before they retired, late though it was, a hjann
was sung and a prayer was read, then away to their
room marched Osmond and Kenneth, Mrs. Bloodworth
herself showing them the way, in quite a motherly
fashion, to make sure that everything was comfort-
able.
As soon as she had said good-night and retired, the
boys drew their rockers close up to the cheerful fire
that burned on the low hearth. To be sure, the beds,
AT THE OLD PLANTATION. 143
with their snow-white curtains and drapery, looked
very inviting, but Osmond had a letter to read that
had been sent from Harry at the seat of war to await
his coming.
" Listen now," said Osmond. " Listen, Kenn, and
you, too. Wolf. We must read this before turning in,
mustn't we?"
" I should think so, indeed."
Wolf knocked his erreat tail ao-ainst the floor
three times. It was as long and as thick as half a
flail.
That was Wolf's way of saying "Yes".
" ' Camp, near Manassas,
" ' November, 1861.
"'My dear old cousin Os, — You'll receive this at
Brooklands. And what a welcome you'll have! Oh,
wouldn't I like to be there to meet you! But, dear
Os, we haven't whipped the Federals half enough yet.
So make haste to help us. Why, I often say to Will,
and he quite assents, that if we but saw you among
us it would give us extra courage and go. Now, don't
let my sisters detain you! You know what girls are.
Every day is precious. Father has written to Rich-
mond headquarters, and he has got two of our best
generals to add a postscript. You are sure of com-
missions, both of you. We are half sorry that your
friend Kenneth has determined to join our navy or
144 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
light only in forts — (this part of the letter referred
to a communication Kenn had made to Osmond's
cousins) — but as he is so good a shot with great guns,
it is doubtless all for the best.
" ' And now I am going to tell you a little about how
things have gone since you left England.
" ' Mind you, we haven't been victorious all along the
line, but there is no repelling our advance, and in six
months' time you'll tind that the remains of the
Federal army will be flying for their lives back to
Brooklyn and New York city.
" ' There are many things you will have heard that I
need only mention in this short letter, and I'll tell you
more when we meet.
" ' Have you heard of the battle at Wilson's Creek ?
That is over Missouri way, you know. A great state
is Missouri, and if you consult your war map you'll
find St. Louis, and away north of it, in Illinois, lies
Springfield. Now, General Lyon commanded the
Federals about there, and was one of the bravest
generals the enemy had. All honour to the brave, Os,
even if they do belong to the foe. Colonel Sigel was
another officer. Well, the two of them combined to
attack our forces that were then pouring northwards
over Missouri. The two armies met at Wilson's Creek,
and the fight was hot and desperate. It is said that
the Feds had 13,000 men, and that our side iium-
AT THE OLD PLANTATION. 145
bered 8000. But, Osmond, this is but a Yankee
version of the story of this fight.^
"'Anyhow, Osmond' — are you listening, Kenneth:'"
" Of course," said Kenn. " I'm hstening."
" But," said Osmond, " it was Harry who spoke. The
words are here in the letter."
" ' Anyhow, Os, we thrashed them, and they fled in
disorder, leaving 1200 dead and wounded. Our losses
were little over 1000.
" ' But poor Lyon, the brave Federal, fell sword in
hand. Though wounded, he was leading his troops
bravely on when a ball struck him dead from his
horse. Remember what your Macaulay says. Cousin
Os,—
" ' But how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his gods?'
" ' Yes, my boy, even the Confederates seemed to
mourn the untimely death of brave Lyon, for, mind
you, lad, we are real soldiers now, and we already
know something of
. . . ' The stern joy that warriors feel
In foemen worthy of their steel.'
" ' I will now come nearer home, and describe in a
1 Allowance must be made for Harry's enthusiasm. I doubt if the Federals
numbered over 6000.
(M132) K
146 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
few brief sentences a fight in which Father, Will, and
I took part.
" ' The city of Lexington — high up on the Missouri
Eiver — was laid siege to by our fellows, and for a time
gallantly defended by the Federal Colonel Mulligan,
but on the 20th of September he was obliged to give
up his sword to our bold Price, who, like the gentle-
man he is, returned it to him as a well-merited testimony
of his valour.
" ' Then came the battle of Ball's Bluff on October
21st. This Bluff lies on the southern side of the
Potomac, 'twixt Washington and Harper's Ferry.
" ' I am sure we thought we were safe from attack
that night in camp. It was on the 20th of October,
and bitterly cold. Harry and I sat long that evening
by the fire, for the boys were merry. Songs were
sung, and yarns spun, as your sailor friend Kenneth
would say, and we drank unlimited coffee to stimulate
ourselves, but nothing stronger, I assure you.
" ' At last we turned in, Will and I. Whenever we
have a chance we sleep in the same tent and the same
rugs keep both of us warm. Dear Father belongs to
another corps, and so we seldom see him, but every
night we pray for him, and for you too, Os, and all at
home.
" ' Now, this battle speaks well for our courage and
our elan, for next morning the enemy was on us
AT THE OLD PLANTATION. 147
before we had cleared up breakfast. They advanced
across the fields.
"'We, on the other hand, took possession of the
woods, and our fire was fierce and furious. It was no
part of our intention, however, to remain concealed,
so while the enemy's artillery fire filled the air like
iron hail, while shells burst around us on every side,
while war's thunders roared and clouds of smoke
rolled over wood and field, we dashed upon the foe.
" ' Never yet have I seen so spirited a charge ! Our
yells spelt victory long before we crossed sword or
bayonet with the Feds, and in a very short time we
carried everything before us, and the routed enemy
was hurled down the bluff into the river. It is here
where, the Feds tells us, the tragedy came in. They say
we massacred them, that we swamped or sunk the
boats in which they strove in vain to escape, and
shot them like seals in the water.
"'Ah, me, Osmond! there may be some truth in
this.^ But our men saw red, they were for the time
being battle-mad, and so — it is best to draw a veil
over this part of the fight.
"'It is true, however, that the Feds lost 894
killed and wounded, and that their rout need not have
been so complete had they fought more like men and
less like boys
1 There was, I te&r.— Author.
148 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
" ' The next thing I have to report to you is one
that will interest your friend Kenneth. If you will
glance at your map, then, cousin mine — and I am sure
you never go about without one — and allow your
eagle eye to sweep down the Atlantic coast past
Charleston in South Carolina, before it reaches
Savannah it will strike Port Royal.
" ' This is a port of no small importance — I'm not
making a pun, cousin — to the enemy, for alas! the
enemy has occupied it in spite of all we could do. The
fact is, Osmond, that although we have the best army,
the Federals have the best navy, and it is getting
greater and stronger every month, so I am told. Well,
with their navy they will blockade all our ports as
completely as they can. On the other hand, we are
not going to be idle, even at sea. So we are getting
ready fast cruisers. Several of these will be built in
America, and several — whisper it, Osmond — in Great
Britain. So it will be a kind of double game. The
Federals will try to keep us poor and starve us witli
their blockade, but we shall try our level best to
sweep their commerce off the seas.
" ' However, as to Port Royal, you must know that I
wasn't there myself, only a birdie who was on board
the Wabash has written to tell me. If I were perfectly
sure that this letter would reach you safely I would
let you know who the birdie is, but we are never sure
AT THE OLD PLANTATION. 149
into whose hands letters may fall, even when they
pass through friendly lines.
" ' As to getting communications from the enemy's
fleet and army, I can assure you that it is not half so
difficult as some may suppose.
" ' But let the birdie speak for himself.
" ' Dear old chum, I don't know how often I may
have a chance of writing you, but the mere fact of our
being enemies is not going to prevent us from remain-
ing fast friends. I'm not going to give away any
secrets, however. Just you bet your bottom dollar on
that. So I shall only speak of the past, and let you
know as occasion offers what we have done, not what
we mean to do.
" ' Well, Chummy, you know by this time all about
the blockade we are instituting all along your coasts.
We are going to keep the rebels in their holes. So
our good President Lincoln — God bless his homely
face! — determined to have a great central long-shore
depot midway on the coast for the storage of every-
thing our blockading fleet might need, not only
powder shot and shell, but grub and grog and ice, to
say nothing of coal, surgical stores, and nasty-nasties
in the shape of quinine, salts, senna leaves, and mustard
plasters. So old Abe thought that Port Royal would
suit right down to the heel. And then, lad, he fitted
out a monster fleet in Hampton Roads. It was just
150 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
about the biggest thing in fleets the world has ever
seen. If we had been at war with the all-fired
Britishers, and had encountered them with a fleet
like this, I figure and calculate that we'd have sent
their ships all to the locker of Davie Jones, Esq., in
the twinkling of a binnacle lamp; and you know
we Yankees never boast.
" ' Well, first there was the grand and invincible
frigate Wabash — that's my ship — and then we had
fifteen fighting gun-boats, five-and-thirty steamers with
guns, and five-and-twenty sailing ships. The whole
show was run by Admiral Dupont, and our chief soldier
is a man who is going to give you fellows fits before
many months are over. His name — don't you forget
it — is General William Tecumseh Sherman, and he
had 20,000 troops under his command.
" ' Well, Chummy, if your Southern prejudices can
stand it, I'll tell you more.' "
CHAPTER IV.
THE FEDERAL FLEET AND THE FORTS.
T'VE been often told, Osmond," said Kenneth Eeid,
-L drawing his chair a little nearer to the cosy fire,
" that the Northerners weren't given to drawing the
THE FEDERAL FLEET AND THE FORTS. 151
long bow, and that letter of Birdie's is proof positive
they don't boast."
"Shall I read on, then, or are you getting sleepy?"
" Sleepy ? No. Heave round, lad,"
" ' Well, Chummy mine,' Birdie's letter went on, ' we
got up anchor and tracked away from Hampton
Boads. Now, middies on board a man-o'-war are
expected to be all eyes but no ears; I couldn't help,
though, listening to what the admiral said to the
captain when he came on the quarter-deck that first
afternoon. It was my watch, and I had business
aft.
" ' The admiral had a squint round with his glass
first.
"'Keeping well together, are we?' he remarked.
" ' The captain gave a little light sort of a laugh.
" ' Well, yes, Admiral, I'm not sure that at present
we aren't a trifle too close together. I hope this isn't
going to be a kind of a Spanish Armada on a small
scale.'
"'Eh? What? Spanish Armada! What are you
getting at ? ' said the admiral, looking somewhat
uneasily around him at sea and sky.
"'Only this, sir. The glass is going tumbling-
down, and every now and then we have bits of puffs
of wind. They ain't what you'd call squalls, they
don't raise white horses, but they're just what we'd
152 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
expect to precede a gale. And note, sir, how red and
angry-looking the sun goes down.'
" ' Well, well, well,' said the admiral, ' you're right
to be careful. So make the signal to shorten and
trim sail.'
" ' The Wabash set the example, and in half an hour's
time every ship in our great fleet was as snug as a
bran-new hammock.
" ' But the captain was right, old man, and when I
turned out to keep the middle watch I was glad to
get into oil-skins and sou'- wester. It was blowing a
sneezer, and no mistake.
" ' We were close-reefed and as close-hauled as we
could be. The orders to the whole fleet had been to
keep a good offing, and it seemed to me the old Wabash
was going tack and half tack out to sea. But the
Wabash, mind you, is a beautiful creature, and can
walk to windward of about anything with a keel
to it.
" ' My beautiful eyes. Bill and Harry, but it did blow
just. I had a green sea fair in the teeth when I got
first on deck, but I staggered bravely on to the
quarter-deck and received my orders. Speaking-
trumpets that night were a necessity of life, lad, for
what with the row and turmoil of the dashing waves,
the flapping of canvas, the tumbling of the ship and
groans of her timbers, to say nothing of the rattle of
THE FEDERAL FLEET AND THE FORTS. 153
rudder chains and wild howling of the wind through
rigging and shroud, no man's voice could have been
heard half a fathom's length from his lips.
" ' I don't think we made much way, and we didn't
want to. We didn't want to walk away from the rest
of the fleet, you know.
" ' I'm a good sailor, Chummy, but I can tell you this,
I wasn't sorry when eight bells were struck and the
other watch was called.
" ' Didn't I sleep sound, though, after it, but lo and
behold! when I went on deck next morning it wasn't
blowing quite so much, yet there was hardly a ship of
all our fleet in sight. It had been a sad night for
some of them, for several transports were run on
shore or dashed to pieces on the rocks.
"'Well, Chummy, that was the storm; now for the
battle.
" ' The Wabash was off Hilton Head, on the south
side of the entrance to Port Royal, on the 4th of
November, and soon after we bumped over the bar.
Yes, bumped is the right word, lad, for we touched
ground more than once, and with such force too, that
even the guns seemed to jump sky-high, and men on
deck were thrown on their faces.
" ' With the exception of our four lost transports,
we had now got all together again, and a brave array
we made. It made my heart beat kind of proudly,
154 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
I can assure you, to look around me and behold so
gallant a fleet. Ah ! Chummy, when the Northern
States alone can make so brave a show at sea, what is
it that North and South combined could not do? But
this is what it has got to come to.
" ' Now, my chum, at Hilton Head was a mighty
earthwork (Fort Walker) with iive-and-twenty huge
guns, capable, if well-manned, of doing thundering
execution, and right across here on the northern side,
about two miles away, was Fort Beauregard. We had
to smash these two forts, and off Parry Island, higher
up, was your Confederate fleet of seven ships of war.
"'Eight hundred of your plucky South Carolina
soldiers manned these forts when the fight began.
" ' My station was on the foretop, and my duty to
see and report everything going on in your lines. I
daresay your gun-boats wanted to come out, but they
couldn't. We sent enough of our ships to scare
them.
" ' It was as pretty a sight as ever I wish to behold.
We sailed right up the centre, firing at both forts;
then put about and came thundering down in line
past Fort Walker, giving them fits ship by ship, first
our pivot-guns and then our broadsides; then we put
about again, and repassing Fort Walker at a closer
range, so as to confuse the beggars, gave them first
pivot and then port.
THE FEDERAL FLEET AND THE FORTS. 155
" ' Our ships, you see, thus described an ellipse, and
soon caused an eclipse, lad, for that fort, by the time
we had come round on the third tack, was knocked
into smoorach, the guns anyhow, and the gunners —
dead, wounded, or flying for their lives.
"'Then we went to settle our score with Fort
Beauregard. But the Fort Beauregardians — pretty
guardians they were! — hardly waited to fire a shot,
and so they got away with their scalps all on and no
holes in their skins.
" ' Don't imagine that this was a bloodless battle.
We had over fifty killed and wounded — in the whole
fleet, I mean. One cannon-shot knocked our port bow
to skirrimush, another deluged our quarter-deck with
gore, and I saw them hauling dead men to one side,
and the surgeon, all smothered in blood, and with his
coat off, putting tourniquets on the wounded. I had
besfun to think that the battle had come to an end,
and was thanking my stars I was in so safe a position
when a beggarly old shot, that seemed to have lost its
way, came along humming a song to itself. It made
straight for the foretop, and carried away part of it.
My eyes ! Chummy, if I hadn't been a Federal, wouldn't
I have been frightened, just!
" ' The admiral himself, seeing me pitched out of the
top, and thrown half-way down the rigging, to which I
clung like feathers to tar, looked up.
156 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
'"Are you killed, Mr. Midshipman?' he said.
" ' No, thank you, sir,' I replied, ' not very much.
" ' The admiral laughed, and the battle raged on.
" ' Well, Chummy, I now finish off this letter by tell-
ing you that the Rebs lost five times as many in killed
and wounded as we did.' "
This was all the extract that Harry gave from his
friend's letter, and his own said little more, simply
ending by praying Osmond and Kenneth to be good
boys and hurry up to the front.
It was late next day — that is, it was nine o'clock —
before Osmond and Kenn got down to breakfast.
The family were all there, and so was big brawny
Scotch M'Donald.
" Ah, boys," he remarked, " j^ou're going to the front
to fight the foe. May Providence protect you. But
I'll be happy when this awful war is over. O, sirs,
it's a fearful thing when brother draws knife on
brother. D'ye mind what the Psalmist David says,
and ye know, boys, he was the sweet singer of Israel
— in my mind, he ranks far above Shakespeare and
Milton, and next to Burns himself —
" ' Behold, how good a thing it is,
And how becoming well,
Together, such as brethren are,
In unity to dwell ! ' "
THE FEDERAL FLEET AND THE FORTS. 157
" Will you ask a blessing, Mr. M'Donald, for I'm sure
the boys are hungry ? "
Thus adjured by Mrs. Bloodworth, the manager
pulled a very solemn face, and, with his great broad
Scotch bonnet in front of his broad Scotch face, asked
a blessing as long as an evening prayer.
The boys listened reverently, however, but I am
bound to say that they ate almost ravenously when it
was done.
For five days Osmond and his friend remained on
the beautiful plantation, and many a delightful picnic
and ramble they had with the girls, and, let me add,
the dogs, by meadow and lake and stream and through
the great forest itself.
The dogs were of all sorts and sizes, but chiefly
terriers.
At times a fishing expedition was got up on the
lake, and if they didn't catch many fish they enjoyed
the rowing, and returned home, happy and hungry, to
dinner and to spend a long and pleasant evening in the
drawing-room.
It was a jolly time, but, O, so brief ! Somehow,
happy though he was, Osmond could not help feeling
that he was doing wrong by staj'ing so long. His
place was at the front.
Since their arrival in America many a long, long
158 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
letter had both lads written home to parents and
friends. From the former they had already received
replies, and, O, gladsome news! they were forgiven!
One day Kenneth found Osmond very earnestly
and energetically engaged with needle and thread and
a patch. It was in the bedroom that Osmond sat, and
close to the window.
Kenneth burst out laughing.
" 0," he cried, " could you not have got some of the
black maids to do your sewing. Old Aunt Neile has
put on a whole lot of buttons for me."
Os didn't laugh.
" This is something no one but I can do," he replied.
" There, you see, it is nearly finished."
" Why, it's a pocket on the under and left side of
your waistcoat!"
"Yes; and do you know what I'm going to stow
away therein?"
"Your pocket-book?"
" No, old man, but mother's last letter and Eva's."
" Nobody else's ? Come, out with it, you old humbug.
You're blushing like a tramp at a twopenny roll."
"Well — yes, a dear wee childish letter from little
Lucy Brewer."
"O, by the way," said Kenneth, sitting down by
his friend's side, "talking about being in love, you
know — "
THE FEDERAL FLEET AND THE FORTS. 159
"But who was talking about being in love?"
" Don't be silly, Os, but listen. Now, do you know
your Cousin Katherine is about the nicest girl that
ever I have met during all my long and eventful
career?"
" Long and eventful fiddlesticks, Kenn. You'll tell
me next you're in love with her."
" Yes, and truth it is. But I wouldn't say so to her
for all the world."
"Ha! ha! How absurd!"
"And how about sweet Lucy Brewer — is that
absurd?"
"A child. Come, old man, we'll change the subject."
" Changed it is, then. Uncle Neile is going to take
you and me to a 'possum hunt this afternoon."
"Hurrah! But I daresay it will be rough on the
'possum!"
" Maybe, but they were given to the darkies for
food, and they will hunt them."
At seven o'clock — a bright moon shining in the
south — Uncle Neile, with Os and Kenn, and the dogs,
started for the forest.
It was pretty evident that the dogs had been there
before, and knew the lay of the land. Anyhow, they
speedily treed a 'possum. That was got down and
killed — poor beastie! and then another. After this, I
160 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
think Uncle Neile was about the happiest old nigger
in all the Southern States.
" Makes me most laugh to tink ob it," he said. " Now,
3'^ou, and two tree ob de leetle missies, you come down
to-night to ole Uncle Neile's cot, and you jes' toast
'possum foil de fust time, and you nebber, nebber
fo'get it."
" We'll be there, Uncle," cried the boys cheerfully.
"Nine o'clock? All right, we sha'n't forget"
Nor did they. There was Osmond himself and
Kenn, and the three eldest cousins, and as they
marched away in the moonlight towards Uncle Neile's
little cottage, singing and laughing, they seemed as
happy a little crew as one could wish to see.
Even Wolf thought so, for after running on a little
ahead he would come trotting back and bark at them
most gleefully.
Then he would cock his great head and listen; for
an echo — only it was an Irish one — sounded from
every part of the plantation, beagles, terriers, and
collies were barking in response.
Uncle Neile had lit a few extra candles that night,
and fastened them in candlesticks round the walls;
these candlesticks were simplicity itself, for they were
fashioned out of pieces of dried pumpkin. But there
was a bright and cheerful lire burning on the hearth,
and a real table-cloth on the table, which was beauti-
THE FEDERAL FLEET AND THE FORTS. 161
fully laid out with real knives and real forks and a
few horn spoons. There was real cider too, and seats
for all. Auntie Neile herself presided. But old Uncle
had been the cook.
Well, really, I must say that the smell of that 'possum
was very appetizing, and there was pork as well as
'possum, and big dishes flanked the banquet containing
vegetables, greens and floury, sweet potatoes, and
pumpkin pie.
Before serving out the dainties, Uncle Neile said
grace. But it wasn't a long one like M'Donald's. I
have met many niggers, good and holy, but I never
yet knew one who spent a long time in asking a bless-
ing when there was a dish of steaming 'possum right
beneath his nose.
" Bress de gibber ob all good. Bress His holy name.
Amen, Amen, ATnen."
That was Uncle's grace.
" Now, chil'en," he said, seizing the knife and fork,
" I'se goin' to serve he out. Dis pore 'possum nebber
climb de trees no more. Mammy, you serves out de
pork, and your turn for 'possum'll come soon's de
chil'en all served. Bress de gibber ob every good
thing."
The "chil'en" being served, Uncle Neile helped
Auntie and finally himself most liberally. For a time
he was silent, and so was Auntie also, but it was
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162 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
evident they were thoroughly enjoying themselves,
nevertheless,
" Dis am a feast ob fat things," he said at last, but
in a reverential tone of voice. " When de prophet he
speak ob a feast ob fat things, what he mean, Mammy ?
He mean pork and 'possum. Dis am what his mind
am a running on, pork and 'possum. Chil'en, put you'
plates all roun' a secon' time. Den arter dat de pore
big dog he eat up de fragments."
But Wolf had already come in for a good share of
tit-bits, so had Cousin Katie's Scotch terrier, and Uncle
Neile's cat.
Well, on the whole, it must be allowed the young
folks did make a hearty supper.
After this old Uncle must sing a hymn, which I
believe would have been almost beautiful had not
Auntie joined in with cracked and quavering voice all
out of tune.
It would have done your heart good, reader, if you
are at all fond of dogs, to see the satisfaction displayed
on Wolf's great honest face after he had eaten every
'possum bone and licked the plates.
Uncle Neile looked down, with a critical eye, at
these dishes.
" Well, Mammy," he said, " de dishes won't hardly
need no washin'. Bress de gibber ob ebery good
thing.
THE FEDERAL FLEET AND THE FORTS. 163
" And now," he added, " the chil'en will dance."
He took down his old fiddle as he spoke, and screwed
it into tune, and started a plantation jig forthwith.
Wolf took the hint and got out of the way, and
there were two hours of just as hearty fun as any one
could wish to see.
" Now," cried Kenn, " I too can play a jig. Give me
the fiddle, for, Uncle Neile, I won't be happy unless I
see you dance with old Mammy."
"Come erlong then," cried the old man. "Dere is
life in dis old darkie yet. Come along, Mammy."
" You mustn't stop till the music stops," cried Kenn.
Then he struck up a rattling Irish jig, and at it the
old couple went.
Such a jig it was too. Osmond confessed the whole
scene was better than a pantomime, and I fear Kenn
played longer than he ought to have done, for the
ancient couple were obliged to sink at last exhausted
into their rocking-chairs.
Well, by and by " Auld Lang Syne " was sung, then
good-nights were said, and so the parting came.
John M'Donald had come to see them home.
" On the whole," he said, " what d'ye think, boys, of
our plantation and our slaves?"
" I think," said Osmond, " your slaves are ten times
more happy than our Yorkshire mill-hands."
164 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
The moon had sunk behind the western hills before
Os and Kenn retired that night. But they were up
betimes next morning, nevertheless.
It was their last morning at the old plantation, for
a time at least, for a party of volunteers passed that
day for the front, and our heroes joined them
After they were a long way on the road they looked
back, and there in the verandah were all Osmond's
cousins waving their handkerchiefs.
Then a wood shut out the view, and they saw them
no more.
CHAPTER V.
WAR BY SEA AND LAND.
MANY months have gone by since Osmond and
Kenneth ate 'possum in Uncle Neile's cot at the
old plantation.
It is June once more — June, 1862. Osmond has
had the exceeding good luck to be appointed lieuten-
ant in the corps in which his two cousins, Harry and
Will, are serving as captains. He purposely joined
this regiment as a private, and remained so for over
three months. He did so rather than take a commis-
sion in another regiment that would have deprived
him of the company of those he so loved and respected.
Besides, he wanted to see service in every phase.
WAR BY SEA AND LAND. 165
Very eventful months these had been in more ways
than one.
The Federals, by this time, had well recognized the
fact that if they were to beat the Southerns at all,
the victory would not be a mere walk-over. It was
going to cost them deep and dear in blood as well as
in money.
Well, if the North and South now hated each other
more than ever, they had likewise begun to respect
each other. There was far less boasting now than
when the war began.
If the Federals lost a battle, they did not deny it.
" We were well whipped," they would have told
you, " but we're going to win next time. You watch
and see. And," they would have added, " we're going
to win in the long run too — never mind what it costs
us — and when the cruel war is over we'll take the
South by the hand again and say right heartily,
'Brothers yet!'"
The New Year of 1862 may be said to have begun
well for the North, for although they had to give up
Messrs. Mason and Slidell, whom they had taken off a
British ship, they won the battle of Mill Springs on
the 19th day of January.
The immortal General Grant, whom Scotland right-
fully claims as a son of her soil, had come upon the
stage, and the fight for the Mississippi had begun.
166 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
There wasn't much, apparently, that was going to
stand long in the way of the great Ulysses S. Grant.
The fight, I say, for the Mississippi had commenced.
" That river is going to be ours," said the North.
" Not if we know it," said the South.
I would like the reader to take a glance at this
mighty river from its source right away up to nearly
its mouth. A capital exercise in geography, I can
assure you.
Well, as far back as the 7th of November, 1861,
Ulysses S. Grant had got down nearly to Belmont.
Here he encountered a force of Confederates, much
smaller than his own, and had made up his mind to
utterly annihilate them, when up dashed brave Ex-
bishop Polk, and the Federals had to retire. Grant as
well.
Ah! but Grant was the man to make sure and
certain. He was a canny as well as a daring Scot.
Well, the Confederates now got together a big army
in Tennessee, and they also fortified Fort Henry on
the Tennessee and Fort Donelson on the Cumber-
land river. They also strengthened and garrisoned
Fort Pillow and Island No. 10.
And now the next move of the Confederates was a
bold dash upon the Federals near to Mill Springs, in
the south of Kentucky.
As usual the rush and charge made by the "Rebs",
WAR BY SEA AND LAND. 167
as the Federals usually called them, was bold and
spirited in the extreme. The fight took place early
on a cold wintry morning, the 19th of January, 1862,
the movements of the Southern army of about 6000
having been entirely concealed by the thick white mist
that lay over all the land.
Perhaps the Northern army, under General Thomas,
heard their enemies before they saw them, for the
latter advanced at the double — I might almost say the
triple — like the Highlanders of old, with yells and
wild slogans.
The Federals could not withstand so terrible a
charge, and fled in disorder. Not all, however. There
were brave Western men there from Illinois and Iowa,
who stood shoulder to shoulder against all the South
could do. General ZollicofFer, who bravely led the
"Rebs", fell dead from his horse, but again and again
they hurled themselves against the sturdy backwoods-
men. In vain, in vain! and so they fell back at last,
tired, disheartened, utterly defeated.
They lost over 400 killed and wounded, and their
retreat to their entrenchments was very like a rout.
Here they were shelled, and the Federals, in course of
the day being greatly enforced, determined on an
attempt to surround and capture the whole force, but
during the darkness of the night that followed, the
Confederates succeeded in escaping.
168 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
Perhaps they had been too sure of victory. Elan
and dash are grand factors in a fight, and have won
many and many a battle, but staying power is of even
greater importance, and the backwoodsmen of Iowa
possessed this. In fact they did not know what it was
to be beaten. They had come there to fight; very
well, they stood there and did fight. That was all.
Fort Henry was next captured by Grant on the 6th
of February, and the other fort, Donelson, surrendered
ten days afterwards to the same general.
Next came the capture of Nashville, the capital of
Tennessee itself.
I must, however, say a word or two about Donelson
Fort, because its capture was really a great victory for
the North.
Soon after the fall of Fort Henry the Confederates
had increased the garrison in Donelson until it is said
to have numbered about 20,000 men.
It was found impossible to reduce the work until it
was first and foremost bombarded by Admiral Foote's
gallant little gun-boats.
Grant had an army of 27,000^ before the fort,
and he relied upon Foote doing quite a deal to assist
him, but his gun-boats did very little damage indeed to
the stronghold, and they were so badly battered, that
for a time they were obliged to lie off.
■* Some authorities give his strength as nearly double this.
WAR BY SEA AND LAND. 169
The Confederates had done many a phicky thing,
but they were soon to learn that even pluck becomes
foolhardiness when not tempered with common sense.
Grant invested the place now; laid siege to it, in
fact. He was all the more anxious to capture the
whole army within it, because one of the generals
within was Floyd, who had left the Washington
Cabinet branded as a traitor.
Grant wanted to talk a little to this man; perhaps
he meditated hoisting him to some handy tree. How-
ever that may be, he wanted him.
But little did Grant know, even then, of the despe-
rate courage of these Southerners. They made a sortie
just one hour before sunrise on the 15th of Febru-
ary.
And for a time they succeeded all too well for the
comfort of Grant and his merry men. They pene-
trated into the very centre of the camp of the enemy,
driving regiment after regiment before them in the
direst confusion, and covering the ground with dead
and wounded.
Meanwhile the gun-boats had got the range, and
played hard and heavy on the Confederate squadrons,
while Grant, the undaunted, rallied his men, fighting
as only he could fight, and finally driving back the
Southerners yard by yard into the fori
In a day or two after this, seeing that only death
170 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
by starvation would be their doom, the Confederates
surrendered.
Could they have held out longer? The answer, I
think, is "Yes". Think of Plevna and many another
notable siege besides.
Floyd escaped. He fled. Flying was his strong
point. Ulysses S. Grant is said to have lowered his
brows when he heard the news, and bit his lips till
the blood came. I don't believe, however, that any-
body does that sort of thing except in books.
Well, this capture or surrender of Fort Donelson
caused deleterious changes in the location of the
Southerns.
As I have already said, Nashville was evacuated,
and Generals Beauregard and Johnston had to fall
back through Tennessee to the very borders of Mis-
sissippi and Arkansas.
The next fight of any importance in the war was
the battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas. It was really a
three-day fight, and here fell the brave Confederate
General M'Culloch.
It was indeed a terrible tulzie, but ended in the
retreat, and therefore in the defeat, of the Southerners.
But victory had cost the Northerners over 1000 men.
Still more furious and terrible fighting was soon to
follow, and did follow on the 4th of April.
Before, however, saying a word about the clash of
■WAR BY SEA AND LAND, 171
arms at Pittsburg Landing, I must tell you the story
of the Merrimac.
Kenneth Reid had joined the Confederate navy,
after having been stationed for some time in a coast
port. He joined with the rank of lieutenant. Nowa-
days he would be dubbed gunnery-lieutenant in my
own service — the Royal Navy — and he really was an
excellent gunnery man.
My information concerning the doings of the
Merrimac are culled from letters that now lie before
me from Kenneth to his friends. No portion of any
of these letters has ever yet been published, but I am
under no restrictions to suppress anything they con-
tain, and indeed most of their contents belongs to
history itself.
The letter is dated May 15th, 1862.
" Dear Boys Three, — At long last I have found time
to write you. Twenty times, if once, I have before
now begun a letter to you and assured myself it was
going to be a long one, but, alas! it never advanced
farther than a few lines.
"Well, while you are still 'in camp and tented
field' I am afloat in a gun-boat. Yes, a gun-boat,
boys. Terrible down-come you will say from life in
the brave, big, though ugly Merrimac, with which we
had determined to humble the pride of the North at
sea. But heigh-ho! I sigh to her memory. The Mer-
172 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
riTYiac is the pride of our hearts no longer. She is
gone, and I and my brave messmates are like the
children in Mrs. Hemans' poems, you know —
" ' Severed far and wide
By mount and stream and sea '.
I daresay that you have already heard of some of our
bold doings in and with the Merrimac, but my version
may be more home-like.
" Well, boys, it appears that the Federals have been
for a long time labouring under the impression —
delusion I call it, and I think I am not far out — that
they have just as many friends in the South as in the
North. They evidently quite made up their minds
about North Carolina. If they could but succeed,
they thought, in landing an army there, the people
would welcome them right and left, and flock around
their standard.
"And so, you see. General Burnside — and a right
brave fellow I believe him to be, albeit an enemy to
our cause — was despatched from Maryland early in
February with a perfect armada and an army of
20,000 men. They sailed south and away along the
coast till they came to Roanoake Island, and round
this they steered to land in Albemarle Bay by the
Croatan Sound, the strip of water 'twixt the island
and the mainland. They had, however, our forces by
WAR BY SEA AND LAND. 173
land and sea to reckon with. We had three forts on
Roanoake and a fleet of gun-boats behind a long line of
piles and sunken ships. Instead of coming on to fight
us by sea, the Federal armada contented itself with
bombarding our forts from sea, one of which they set
on fire. So the desultory fight went on all day long,
and in the afternoon some of Burnside's troops at-
tempted a landing under the protection of the guns of
the ships. It was a plucky thing to attempt, for just
where they struck land was a dismal swamp, while
the shore was mud. There was but little resistance
offered by our few soldiers, who depended more on
the forts and gun-boats.
" A dark and dismal night closed in shortly after
sunset. The rain came down in torrents, but still the
disembarkation was continued until nearly 10,000
troops were in the marsh.
" I suppose General Burnside thought that anything
would be a pleasant change to the gloom and discom-
fort of so awful a night, so the order to advance on the
fort was given. They marched in three divisions,
one along the road, preceded by a howitzer battery,
the other two through the swampy woods on each
side.
"Let an evil story be soon told, boys. The Con-
federates, under a heavy fire, rushed boldly forth to
attack the centre of the attacking force, and fought
174 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
for a time without perceiving that they were out-
flanked on both sides by the right and left divisions.
" Victory soon declared itself now on the side of the
enemy, and we were driven to the mainland. But
Burnside, in the capture of Roanoake, had made him-
self possessor of five or six forts, with all their guns
and small arras, and no less than 2000 prisoners.
" This was a very good beginning to a winter's
morning. The Federals made themselves as snug as
possible now for a few weeks, and I don't blame them.
" By and by they landed on the mainland, and near
Newbery encountered us once again. Our positions
were well entrenched, but though we fought like wild
cats for three hours and a half we were whipped
again.
"Heigh-ho! it sounds as if it were all whipping,
doesn't it, soldiers?
" But wait a bit till I tell you about the Merrimac."
CHAPTER VI.
THE STORY OF THE " MERRIMAC ".
rriHE Merrhnac, you must know, then, boys, was a
-*- resurrection ship, to begin with. Don't you
understand? Well, the fact is, that at the time the
THE STORY OF THE "MERRIMAC". 175
navy dockyards at Norfolk came into the possession of
the Confederates, this very ship, then a powerful frigate,
was sunk. But she was raised again by our clever
engineer, and converted into a splendid ironclad, with
guns of extra power, and sides so slanting that the
enemy's shot would glance oflf her like rain off a duck's
back.
" I can tell you, lads, I was a precious proud young
fellow when I found myself appointed to this iron
ship of war. My commander was Captain Buchanan,
a thorough sailor, and a dashing, dare-devil fellow.
No one could have been better suited for the work.
" It took quite a long time to get all ready, but on
the 8th of March we came down the river Elizabeth,
accompanied by two steam tenders, and made for the
mouth of the James River, where, at Hampton Roads,
were anchored the Northern navy ships Congress and
Cumberland.
" As we came down the river and made for the open
water, people who saw us rubbed their eyes and
stared — rubbed them and stared again. Well, we
certainly looked a grim and awful spectre. Never
mind; we were going to fight, and not a heart on
board was there that did not beat high with hope and
expectation.
"The Merrimac as yet, remember, was but an ex-
periment. How could we tell that the broadsides of
176 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
the enemy would not tip the plates from off one side,
and cast us on our beam ends, or cause us to turn
turtle and sink like a stone?
" It was well on in the afternoon before we got
round to Hampton Roads.
******
" That little line of stars, boys, is put down there
by way of giving me breathing time. I call them
stars; printers, I think, call them asterisks; girls call
them kisses. This is a joke; but ah! friends, friends,
when I think of that terrible fight in Hampton Roads,
there is little joking in my head. Till that afternoon,
when we steamed up to and past the Congress, I had
known but little of what the horrors of naval warfare
could amount to.
" I shudder, boys !
" Was it murder ? Again and again do I ask myself
that question.
" Is war after all but legalized murder ? Who
legalized it? Not God, oh surely not God, Osmond!
But listen.
" We cared but little — nothing, in fact — for the
broadside of the sailing ship Congress. The shot fell
around us, they struck on hull and sides, they glanced
from off our armour like peas from a boy's pea-shooter.
" The Cumberland was our first quarry.
" We were the hawk ; she the helpless bird.
THE STORY OF THE " MERRIMAC ". 177
"'Go ahead at full speed!'
" Buchanan's eyes seemed to flash tire as we bore
rapidly down on that doomed sloop of war.
" We were received with a fire that would have
sunk a wooden ship or riddled her fore and aft. The
Gwmberland was a vessel with five-and-twenty guns,
and nearly four hundred men all told.
"And now a cheer rises from the bold and daring
fellows that form our crew. It is half-smothered,
because we are nearly all below, but even the men in
the engine-room know what is coming, and grasp at
the nearest supports.
" Then our guns ring and roar. Every piece of ord-
nance we can get to bear upon the enemy we fire. We
rake her from stem to stern. Then the Merrimacs
head is turned a few points — next moment — crash!
our ram has struck her beneath the water-line, the
blazing coals fly out from under the boilers, our stokers
and engineers are nearly smothered, but, wrapping
their heads in wet cloths, bravely do they stick to
their work. We back off" now; our awful work is
finished, yet still our great guns roar, and the Cum-
berland reels backwards and forwards under the force
of our iron hail.
" Those on board the Congress look on aghast, as do
the officers of other ships. That, they think, is no
ship — it is a fury from regions infernal.
( yi 132 ) M
178 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
"Yet all honour to brave Captain Morris, who
fought the Cumberland so well, and to the last. Ah!
but see, she is sinking now, and now she is down; yet,
strange to say, the water has not quite engulfed the
topmasts, and the stars and stripes are left fluttering
bravely out in the breeze.
"Is that a bad omen for the Southern cause, I
wonder ?
"But oh, the pity of it, boys! for the sick and the
wounded sink with the living on board that doomed
sloop of war.
" Meanwhile the Congress has been run on shore, but
though this saves her from our terrible ram, it does
not shield her from the fury of our guns. She is soon
on fire in several places, and in the confusion and
darkling of the night more than half her crew of well-
nigh 500 men perish, are killed or drowned, or —
horrible ! — roasted alive.
"At midnight she blows up. But long before this,
one by one her guns, as they become heated, had gone
off. There was something solemn in the sound. It
was like a death-knell for the departed heroes.
Would you believe it, Osmond, there are tears in my
eyes as I pen these lines ? If it were you, my romantic
friend, this would be something not altogether marvel-
lous. But for me — plain, matter-of-fact Kenn Reid —
But there, I'll tell you what has brought those tears to
THE STORY OF THE "MERRIMAO". 179
my eyelashes. It was by reading a poem by Longfellow
on the ill-fated Cumberland.
" I know not whether it is yet published ; I have it
here in manuscript. Shall I write it for you?
" Oh, you dear old stupid Os, I know you answer
'yes'.
"At anchor in Hampton Roads we lay-
On board of the Cumberland, sloop of war;
And at times from the fortress across the bay,
The alarum of drums swept past,
Or a bugle blast
From the camp on the shore.
" Then far away to the south uprose
A little feather of snow-white smoke :
And we knew that the iron ship of our foes
Was steadily steering its course,
To try the force
Of our ribs of oak.
" Down upon us heavily runs,
Silent and sullen, the floating fort ,
Then comes a puff of smoke from her guus.
And leaps the terrible death,
With fiery breath.
From each open port.
" We are not idle, but send her straight
Defiance back in a full broadside !
As hail rebounds from a roof of slate,
Rebounds our heavier hail
From each iron scale
Of the monster's side.
180 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
"'Strike your flag!' the rebel cries,
In his arrogant olil ])lantation fitrjiin.
' Never !' our gallant Morris replies ;
'It is better to sink than to yield 1'
And the whole air pealed
With the cheers of our men.
"Then, like a kraken huge and black,
She crushed our ribs in her iron grasp !
Down went the Cumberland, all a-wrack,
With a sudden shudder of death,
, And the cannon's breath.
For her dying gasp.
" Next morn, as the sun rose over the ba}',
Still floated our flag at tlie mainmast head.
Lord ! how beautiful was Thy day !
Every waft of the air,
Was a whisper of prayer,
Or a dirge for the dead.
" IIo ! brave hearts that went down in the seas I
Ye are at peace in the troubled stream.
Ho ! brave laud ! with hearts like these,
Thy flag, that is rent in twain,
Shall be one again,
And without a seam !
" Well, boys, on board the Merrimac, we were as
happy as school-boys, or as happy, Osmond, as old
Uncle Neile at his 'possum-feast — Oh, don't you re-
member the old man's face, Osmond, and the delicious
savoury steam of the 'possum? Wasn't it just too
awfully lovely for anything ?
THE STORY OF THE " MERRIMAC ". 181
" But bad luck was in store for us.
" Our intention was now to capture the Minnesota.
She, however, had got aground while passing up a
channel, so we could not get near enough to board her,
although her tenders were crowded with troops for this
purpose.
" Little did we know what we had to encounter. For
a turret-ship suddenly slid ghost-like into view, and
another vessel, called the Ericson, also came up to do
battle with us.
" Brave Buchanan, my captain, had not hesitated to
expose himself on the night before, and consequently
he was wounded. So I myself, Osmond, was second in
command.
" The turret-ship was the Monitor, and she seemed
perfectly invulnerable.
"Again and again we tried to ram this terrible
vessel. Again and again our object was defeated,
while the shots we poured into or on her did little
harm. They glanced off her decks or off her turrets,
just as Longfellow expresses it, like hail off slates.
"My new captain, in lieu of poor Buchanan, was the
first lieutenant, Catesby Jones, and surely never did
man fight better. We were really engaging three at
one time. The odds were too much, and after doing
unquestionable damage to all the ships, and killing and
wounding not a few men — though we ourselves had
182 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
two killed and twenty wounded — we were obliged to
retire.
" We got to Craney Island sadly down by the stern,
and expecting every minute to sink.
" If we have done more good, Osmond, than sink-
ing the Congress and Cumberland it is seen in the fact
that the Federal Commander-in-Chief M'Clellan will
hardly now venture to make his way to Richmond by
the river.
" Meanwhile I am without a ship proper, for we had
after all to blow up the dear old ram after M'Clellan's
success at Yorktown.
" Not even on paper must I tell you yet, dear Os-
mond, and boys all, where my gun-boat is bound to.
But as soon as I can you will hear more.
" Thine, dear lads,
" Old Kenn.
"P.S. — By the way, Osmond, I have heard from
the old plantation, from Mrs. Bloodworth herself, and
inside was the shortest and sweetest little note you
ever read from Katie. I believe, Osmond, I shall
adopt your plan, and go in for an inner pocket on the
left side of my waistcoat.
" Kiss Wolf's great head for me. May the Lord
keep and guard us all, and change our bad luck, for
THE STORY OF THE " MERRIMAC ". 183
really, Osmond, for the time being our cause seems to
be under a cloud."
A cloud had indeed fallen over the fortunes of the
Confederates.
The Mississippi was lost to them.
I want you to bear this in mind, reader, and just
consider for a moment what a loss this was to the
brave Southerners !
I beg of you to bear it in mind. I think my friends
— and every reader of mine is a very dear friend in-
deed — I think, I was going to say, that my friends
will give me the credit of not being a mere matter-of-
fact, dry-as-dust teacher of history. I want to tell my
story as I go on, and show what brave young fellows
like Osmond, his friend, and Osmond's cousins can do
in a cause they consider righteous and good. But the
whole story of the American Civil War is a mighty
romance, and a tragic poem from beginning to end.
Hurrah ! Then on we go down the Mississippi with
the Southerners. I told you about the fall of Fort
Donelson and about the three days' fighting at Pea
Ridge, which cost the Federals so much of the blood of
their very bravest men.
Well, Beauregard, our old friend, took command in
the West. He was cautious enough to restrain himself
until he had thoroughly reorganized his force. He
184 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
said that he had come for the express purpose of
bringing the Federals to book for the reverses they had
caused to the South.
General Albert Sidney Johnston was put in supreme
command of the army of the Mississippi, and with hiui
were Generals Polk and Hardee.
Those names are difficult to stow away in one's
memory if one is a Britisher, but we must try, because
they may pop up again now and then when least ex-
pected.
And now came a little ray of light through the dark
cloud that was hovering over the Confederate fortunes.
Grant, after recruiting till his army was well-nigh
50,000 strong, crossed the Tennessee, and established
himself at Pittsburg Landing.
" The enemy is not so powerful," he told one of his
generals, " as to attempt to attack us."
" No," was the reply; " they are not such fools."
As it turned out, it was good for the Confederates
that Grant was of this opinion.
But at dawn of day on April the 6th the Southerners,
under brave Beauregard, came up, and fell like an
avalanche upon the astonished Federals.
It may be observed that the Confederates were fond
of an early morning attack. In this respect General
Beauregard resembled Bonnie Prince Charlie when he
went to interview Johnnie Cope at Prestonpans. The
THE STORY OF THE " MERRIMAG ". 185
Highlanders were down upon Johnnie before he had
time to rub his eyes, so he at once made his feet his
friends and ran.
But Grant himself belonged to an old Highland clan,
and there wasn't much run about him. To use an
Americanism, " he didn't scare worth a cent ".
Yet so sudden and terrible was the onslaught that
there was not only no time to strike tents and form
into battle array, but these were actually riddled
with bullets, and officers were shot in their beds, the
wounded lying helpless and glued to the ground with
their blood, through all the fearful two- days' fight.
Federal General Sherman — who hasn't heard of this
hero? — was worth an army in himself. It was his
corps that had to withstand the first and most awful
shock of battle, but on his horse he was here, there,
and everywhere. He was wounded at last, however,
and then his shattered regiments retired in con-
fusion.
In this hot battle, and in the centre of it, was bold
young Osmond Lloyd, and not far off' were his cousins
Harry and Will.
Osmond's sword had already been drawn on the
field of strife, but this was in reality his baptism of
fire and blood.
What a day that was! The battle had lasted for
twelve long hours, and Grant and his Federals were
186 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
utterly routed. He had lost his artillery, and over
3000 prisoners were taken.
What a day! Yes, and a sad one too, for the
Southerners had their head General, Albert Sidney
Johnston, killed in the fight. Sword in hand fell he
towards the close of the battle.
And the boy-soldiers, Harry and Will, had to sit
that night beside the prostrate form of their dear
father. He had been shot through the thigh while
bravely leading a charge, and surgeons had amputated
the limb on the ground where he lixy.
The Confederates slept on the field of fight, Beaure-
gard, who had now assumed the chief command, having
determined utterly to annihilate Grant and his forces
next day.
Beauregard swore he would.
Alas! man but proposes; it is God who disposes.
During the night, while the Confederates lay asleep
among their dead and wounded, Grant received the
reinforcements he had been waiting for, and thus the
Southern general had next morning to fight a fresh
army.
He was forced, therefore, to retreat to Corinth,
whence he had come.
The Confederates retired slowly, and in good
order. There was no rout, no Bull Run business,
but, on the whole, the two days' terrible fighting
HARRY IN THE ENEIMY's CAMP. 187
can only be looked upon as a disaster to the Southern
cause.
If you cast your eye on the map, reader, well up the
Mississippi, about the place where Kentucky, Missouri,
and Tennessee meet, it will alight on the city of Madrid,
and near it at an elbow of the great river is Island
No. 10. That isle was so strongly fortified that it was
termed the Key of the Mississippi. It was given up
by the Confederates, after a lengthened bombardment,
about the same time as the great battle was raging be-
twixt Grant and Beauregard.
The Federal gun-boats on the Mississippi were quite
a feature in the American Civil War. It was chiefly
owing to them that the key to the river had to be
given up, though between ourselves, and in my poor
judgment, it might have been defended for an in-
definite period.
CHAPTER VII.
HARRY IN THE ENEMY'S CAMP.
WHEN the Confederates retreated once more to
strongly fortified Corinth, which, from its
position, was considered one of the strategic points of
I'^S FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
the Mississippi campaign, they meant to hold it ag-aiust
all the power that could be brought against them.
So said Beauregard.
Most, if not all, the wounded were borne back to
Corinth. Their comrades nursed them as tenderly as
if they had been children. But deaths from the fear-
ful nature of the wounds occurred every day.
Seeing the anxiety of Harry and Will for their poor
father, the young surgeon, who amid the roar and din
of the battle had so skilfully amputated the limb, was
kindness itself to them.
But Major Bloodworth's case seemed for many days
to be almost hopeless. He had not only lost much
blood to begin with, but had lain long on the battle-
field before it was possible to move him.
Few, indeed, can imagine the sufferings that wounded
men left unattended on the field of battle undergo.
They are struck down suddenly, they fall as a rule in
a heap, or outstretched, with arms extended, and pro-
bably face downwards. If they are insensible their
chance of life is small indeed, for they are oftentimes
supposed to be dead because motionless, and may then
be trodden under foot by advancing men or horses.
But supposing even that their regiment passes on and
leaves them in the rear, it may be quite a long time
before the ambulance company finds and bears them
away. And during the time they lie there their
HARRY IN THE ENEMY's CAMP, 189
physical sufferings may be acute and even extreme.
They may writhe, and groan, and bleed, sometimes
biting even their own hands to the bone in their
agonies, while thirst is sometimes so great that they
will suck their very jackets in their vain efforts to
assuage it. The cry of the severely wounded is nearly
always:
" Oh, water! water! water!"
Some poor wretch not far off may have a canteen,
and if he can crawl towards another wounded brother
he never fails to do so, and holds the vessel to his head
that he may drink.
Wounded men who cannot be immediately attended
to will sometimes try to assist each other to the extent
of binding a handkerchief around a wound, or putting
on a rude tourniquet with a pocket-handkerchief and
a piece of wood.
So much for physical pain, but mental suffering is
nearly always great, anxiety at times extreme — that
is, among those who are sensible. Others rave about
their far-off homes and relatives — their wives, their
sisters, or their sweethearts; while others again are
past all that, and on the battle-field it is not an un-
common thing to hear ravings that are almost, if not
quite, maniacal, or wild bursts of laughter alternating,
in the same individual, with sobs of hysterical grief
and tears.
190 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
I do not think that the sufferings of the wounded
on a great battle-field ever could be graphically told;
but were this possible, few who read such a narrative
would long for their country to go to war with a
foreign power.
Would Major Blood worth die?
Over and over again did both Harry and Will put
that question to the surgeon. He only shook his head.
Doctors are not omniscient. He would rather not
venture on an ojDinion. Their father's age, however,
he told them, was somewhat against him.
Either Harry, Will, or Osmond sat in his tent all
night with the poor major. He was never insensible,
even from the first. He knew his sons, knew Osmond,
and knew even big Wolf, who, singular to say, had
never left the wounded major's side for half an hour
at a time, night or day.
One evening, while Osmond sat quietly reading by
the light of a lantern. Major Bloodworth awoke. He
had been dozing uneasily.
" I'm very cold," he said. " Is it you, Harry?"
" No, it is Osmond."
He feebly stretched out his right hand, which
Osmond took in his.
It was as cold and hard as marble.
" Os," he said, in a voice so low that our hero could
scarcely hear him, "you are good and brave. May
HARRY IN THE ENEMY's CAMP. 191
God bless you, boy, and help our bleeding country — I
— feel I am dying."
" Would you like to see the doctor, dear uncle?"
" No— the boys. Go."
Osmond, with sorrow and fear at his heart, rose
and silently left the tent.
It was a beautiful night, a half-moon shimmering
white and low in a rift of darkest blue near the
horizon; away to the south and the east the stars
shining as brightly as ever he had seen them.
It was mild and warm too, and the few trees about
were dressed already in garments of silken green.
But this was no time to stay to admire scenery. He
must haste to his cousins' tent. Both were sound
asleep as usual beneath the same wraps and rugs.
He must wake them to grief and sorrow.
"Boys! Cousins!"
They started up at once.
" Your father, I fear, is — is not so well."
" He is dying!" cried Will at once.
Harry had burst into tears,
"Oh, Father! oh. Father!" he wailed, "and must we
lose the dearest dad on earth?"
" That you won't."
It was the voice of someone right behind Osmond,
and next moment the doctor's cheerful face looked
in.
192 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
"Come if you like, boys," he said; "but I've just
been at the major's tent, and he has taken a change."
"He will die?"
" On the contrary, with care he will live."
" The Great Father bless you, doctor."
The boys hurried on their topcoats now, and back
all four went to the tent.
Major Blood worth had fallen into a kind of a doze,
but when Harry put his finger on his wrist he opened
his eyes.
He was quite sensible now.
" It was foolish and selfish of me to take you from
your rest," he began.
" No, no, no, dear Father," from both boys.
" And," Harry added, " we sha'n't leave you to-night.
No, Osmond, you can finish your vigil; but after we
have talked to Father for a little we shall both bunk
up on your floor, and I guess that is the correct thing
to do."
"You feel a little better. Father?"
" Not so cold, boy, not so cold. If I die you will
see to the old plantation when this wicked war is
over, and to mother and your sisters. Oh, Harry, I
would give all I possess to be at home just for one
brief hour."
"For one brief hour. Father?" said Will. "I move
that we talk of home, and it will be almost the same."
HARRY IN THE ENEMY's CAMP. 193
And so they did.
But this was the turning point in the wounded
major's sad case. Every day now he got stronger,
and some days before Corinth fell, which it did on the
30th day of May, he was well enough to be moved.
But whither? This was determined by Harry him-
self, with the sanction of his general.
Corinth was not much over 200 miles from the old
plantation. Why, thought Harry, should he not be
taken home.
An orderly entered General Halleck's tent one morn-
ing with a strange report. The general, I may mention,
was chief in command of the Federal army, that, after
the great battle of Pittsburg Landing had crept slowly,
on to Corinth after the Confederates. Grant had been
placed second in command, having incurred Halleck's
displeasure. Halleck blamed his foolhardiness for
bringing about the great two-days' fight. Had he
but waited for his reinforcements, the Southerners,
said Halleck, would not have gained the first day's
battle. Probably they would not have attacked at all.
Halleck was right, I believe, but nevertheless he
himself would have been none the worse for just a
little spice of Grant's fire and impulsiveness. Had he
possessed this, instead of crawling to Corinth he could
have dashed on it and captured it easily, for though
the battlements extended out and in for about fifteen
( M 132 ) N
194 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
miles, the place was not so strong as it looked, and
many of the guns were what is called " quakers ".
Quakers at their meetings only speak when the spirit
moves them. Well, no spirit would ever move these
guns to talk, for they were wooden dummies.
"A Confederate officer with a flag of truce?" said
Halleck, looking up from his writing. "Show him in;
he may be a spy. Better take every precaution, ser-
geant."
" That's so, General."
Next minute Harry entered boldly and made his
bow.
The general seemed pleased.
" You are very young to be fighting against your
country," he said.
" For my country," answered Harry, smiling.
" We'll waive that. Your business, boy? Has your
general made up his mind to surrender?"
" General Beauregard doesn't surrender worth a cent,
sir. No, I have presumed to come here on business of
my own.'
"You are brave!"
" Fairly, I think."
" And how do I know you are not a spy?"
" General, you are a student of character, and you
know I am not."
Harry then told his story, simply but pathetically.
HARRY IN THE ENEMY's CAMP. 196
He wanted a pass that would take him with a few
men as escort through the Federal lines with his
wounded father.
General Halleck laughed heartily, but not unfeel-
ingly.
" Sit down, boy, sit down. There are cigars and
brandy. What, you touch neither? Well, I admire
your filial devotion and also your courage. You have
indeed put your head into the lion's mouth. Had I
doubted you, I'd have had you shot at sunrise. Yes
you can have the pass. Heigh-ho!" he sighed, as he
began to write, " pity such brave young fellows as you
should ever be lost to the Union."
The pass was written, and with a happy heart now
Harry thanked the general over and over again and
took his leave.
The pass was worded to take him and his escort to
his father's home, and on thence to his regiment when-
ever that might be, for he and Osmond had been but
lent to Beauregard.
Osmond was the first to meet him on his return,
and Wolf greeted him most effusively. The great dog-
had evidently known from instinct that Harry had
gone on a dangerous expedition, so his joy at his return
knew no bounds.
" You'll let me choose your escort, Harry," said Os-
mond; "won't you?"
196 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
" Certainly, Os, if you wish to."
When, therefore, the spring cart with its sturdy
horse, in which the wounded major was to travel, drew
up at the tent door, and with Will and Harry's assist-
ance their father was laid tenderly within it, only three
of the escort presented themselves.
But the other came immediately after.
It was Osmond himself, dressed in sergeant's uniform.
" I could not help it," he said. " I've got a leave,
and felt I must come with you."
" Well," said Harry, " wonders will never cease."
There were more wonders to come, for after they
had got fully three miles eastwards and away from
the Federal lines, just at a place where the road took
a dip into a wood, and a clear, purling spring of water
came laughing and singing and gurgling with seeming
delight from a crevice in a rock, they found an old
white-haired nigger quenching his thirst, while near
him on the mossy bank was a negress that looked like
his wife.
Osmond, Harry, and two of the escort were riding,
the other man driving the cart. But now the whole
cavalcade reined up.
Harry leapt from his horse at once and extended
both hands to the negro.
"Why, Uncle Neile," he cried, "this is a joyful sur-
prise ' "
HARRY IN THE ENEMY's CAMP. 197
"Eh! What? Is it Massa Henry? My ole eyes not
done gone deceive me? Auntie, Mammy, look, look!
Heah am young massa, and heah in de cart am ole
massa too. Bress de Giver ob ebery good thing.
Bress— "
Old Uncle Neile could say no more. He just burst
into a flood of joyful tears.
Then he seemed to recover himself all at once.
" Jes' one moment, Massa Henry," he said, " till I
'gage in prayer."
And down he knelt by the spring to engage in
prayer. He was up again in a very short time.
" I jes' done go thank de good Lawd briefly," he ex-
plained. " By and by I thank him mo' and mo'."
Mammy was as happy as Uncle, and hardly could
she take her eyes ofl" Harry except now and then to
have a look at Osmond.
"Boys, you does grow, for sartain!" she said at last.
After Uncle Neile and Auntie Mammy had talked
for a short time to Major Blood worth, who had begged
of Harry to raise him up that he might feast his eyes
on the old couple, they condescended to briefly account
for their presence.
Mrs. Bloodworth's grief on receipt of the intelli-
gence concerning her husband's dangerous condition
had been very great.
" Oh, my poor husband!" she had wailed. " Could I
198 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
be but near him. I would walk the distance on bare
feet but to look on his face once more!"
Then, when more composed, she had sat down to
write.
" This letter may never reach him," she mourned,
as she sealed it up,
" An' den," said Uncle, addressing Harry, " I jes'
step fo'ward. At fust she think she no let me go. I
die on de road. I too ole. De snakes kill me, and
oder things kill me. I die in many different ways.
All de same, she let me come, and heah we are. Fust
I want to come all by mysel', but Mammy she not
heah ob such a thing. ' No, no,' she cry, ' w'ere you
goes, I go. De dangers ob de road am not suited fo' a
pore ole nigger like you wit'out your Mammy.' So
Mammy come erlong. Ah! I not know what I do
but for Mammy!"
Then Uncle Neile opened his two coats — winter or
summer the old man always wore two, and sometimes
three — and took therefrom letters for the Major, for
Harry, and also for Os.
" Oh, I tell you what I propose," cried the latter.
"Don't read your letter now, Uncle, till we halt for
the forenoon."
"Good idea, boy, good idea!" said the Major, and
the letters were kept.
But Mammy was now accommodated with a seat
A TUSSLE WITH ROAD-AGENTS. 199
beside her invalid master. Very tired the poor old
woman was, though she was too spirited to own it.
But their long and tedious, not to say dangerous,
journey, proves, I think, that in those days even
slaves could spare love for a master and mistress who
treated them kindly.
And yet the foundation on which slavery was built
was one of blood and tears. There is, I think, no gain-
saying that fact.
T
CHAPTER VIII.
A TUSSLE WITH EOAD-AGENTS.
HERE was far more danger to Osmond and his
-■- party on this strange and adventurous journey
than there had been to old Uncle and Mammy. The
woods in some parts were known to be infested with
road -agents, alias filibustering robbers. Their real
home was in the Far West, but vultures ever hover
round where blood is spilt. The roughest highway-
man, however, that ever rode would hardly have
harmed the old negro and his companion. Their very
innocence was their best protection. But now, as
Uncle trotted along beside Osmond and Harry, he
kept them very much interested indeed with a rela-
tion of his adventures.
200 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
" Nobody ever refuse Mammy aud dis chile a good
supper," he said. " Den we always find a bed, mos'ly
wi' odder niggers, sometimes in a farmer's barn. Oh,
eberybody good to us, bress His name."
" And even the road-agents didn't molest you ? "
" Oh, no, not edzactly moles', you know ; on'y one
night we bery, bery late, and de road bery, bery
lonely. I think dat night we had to sleep on de road-
side among de snakes. But by 'n by we see a light
in de wood. Fust we a leetle 'flaid, but all de same
we bery hungry. So we enter de wood hand in hand,
jus' like two chil'en. Yes, dey were ribbers right 'nutf,
and dey all sit roun' de big fire and laugh and talk and
drink. Dey laugh much mo' when dey see us, But
dey kind 'nuff" all same. Dey Call us de darkie patri-
archs, den dey make us eat and drink, too much wine
p'laps, 'cause arter dat dey make us sing. I try one
hymn, but dey not like he, so I sing ' De Ole Planta-
tion Home', and Mammy she sing too. Den eberybody
laugh. Dey gib us mo' wine, and make Mammy
dance. Oh, Mammy did dance! and de robbers tumble
up their heels, dey laugh so much. Den — "
"Well," said Harry laughing, "what next?"
" Oh, nufiin next. Somehow it come mo'nin' all at
one, and de fire out and de robbers gone, but dey hab
leab us plenty to eat. Bress de Giver ob ebery good
thinfj."
SUDDENLY HARRY, WHO WAS RIDING ON AHEAD, CRIED 'HALT!
A TUSSLE WITH KOAD-AGENTS. 201
■»
The sun was shining very brightly from a sky of
ethereal blue, the ferns and flowers nodded in the
woods, and the birds filled every glen and dell with
their wild sweet music. It was a day to make the
saddest heart rejoice, a day that bi'ought one nearer
to Nature and into closer union with Nature's God.
Perhaps it was some feeling of the kind that kept
Osmond silent now for quite a long spell.
Suddenly Hany, w^ho was riding on a little way
ahead, cried "Halt!" and the cavalcade drew up under
the welcome shadow of a huge clump of trees. What a
tanglement of beauty it was, to be sure, for a cluster
of pines grew side by side with oaks and chestnuts,
and over all ran gigantic wistaria, adorning even their
topmost branches with huge bunches of lavender-
coloured flowers.
As they were dining in this delightful sylvan shade
a party of Federal soldiers on foot suddenly swept
round the bend of the road.
Harry made no movement, satisfied in his own
mind that they would respect the little white flag
that fluttered from the cart.
And so they did. The captain of the party, after
looking at Harry's pass, throwing himself down and
talking both pleasantly and friendly while he smoked
a cigar.
" Wall," he said, with somewhat of a Yankee drawl,
202 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
" I guess there's errors on both sides. Pity ever we
should have drawn the sword! But have you heard
the latest?"
" I don't know what you may call the 'latest'," said
Harry.
" Oh, there's lots of latest. 'Way dov*^n South, you
know. Admiral Farragut has given your navy fits,
smashed and burned every one of them, and he's cap-
tured New Orleans. He, I mean, and Butler and
Porter.
" Well, Farragut is on his way up-stream to Vicks-
burg. That's going to come down by the run."
" Query," said Harry.
"Never a query, captain; and your Fort Pillow in
Tennessee falls too in a few days, and Memphis goes
next. Oh, I 'low Vicksburg is going to take a bit of
potting, but it's going to be ours. Then we'll have
captured the whole Mississippi."
"Any more news?"
" Oh, lots. Just listen. I'm betraying no confidences,
ye know; only relating accomplished facts. Wa-al,
then, I 'low you've got a good man in your Stonewall
Jackson and a brave, and he's been doing all a brave
man can do in the Shenandoah Valley. Ah! there'll
be more fun there yet. But your Stonewall had to
retreat when he tried to cross swords with us near
Winchester — not at Winchester; I'm coming to that.
A TUSSLE WITH ROAD-AGENTS. 203
"Meanwhile," continued the Northerner, "our
M'Clellan is proving himself a hot one. Your Merri-
mac iron ram spoiled him from getting up the James
River or to Richmond. Here it is." The Northerner
was drawing a rough plan — "Washington, the Poto-
mac, Richmond — Manassas, all as plain as your big
dog's head. And here you see is the Peninsula be-
tween York and James Rivers.
" Well, with the army of the Potomac our M'Clellan
comes straight on to Manassas. He thought to find
your fellows there. But you had fled."
"Retreated, eh?"
" Wall, I guess that is a trifle more polite. But
with his whole army Mac now sailed down the Poto-
mac here to the Peninsula there; and there he landed
60,000 strons;, and soon he was nearer 80,000. A
glance at my map here'U show you he had only to
clear the rebels — ahem! — pardon me, the Confederates
out of the Peninsula to march eastward across to your
capital.'
"That was all," said Harry, smiling. "Not much,
was it?"
" Ah, well, there were 15,000 of your fellows to bar
the way, and I must say that your Magruder, who
commanded them, was worth about 10,000 more.
" Now, sir, here was your Magruder's trick, and he
played it prettily. Wa-al, as you don't seem to like
204 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
the word trick, we'll call it strategy. He extended
his army across the Peninsula in sucli a way that
M'Clellan was too cautious and canny to assault. He
trusted to siege. So Magruder played him as it were,
while an army was being got together for the defence
of your City of Richmond — soon to be ours."
Even the invalid Major laughed at this.
" Wa-al, I guess it is, but never mind. When Ma-
gruder had played his cards he quietly retreated.
" After this our M'Clellan seized Yorktown on the
edge of the Peninsula, and then on the 5th of May
we met — yes, I was there under Fighting Joe^ — a
whole legion of Reb — er — Confeds at Williamsburg,
led on by your General Joseph Johnstone — your brave
Albert Sidney Johnston fell in battle, you know, at
Pittsburg Landing."
"Where poor Father there was so fearfully wounded."
" Well, General Joseph fought like a panther, and I
guess you know, if we hadn't been reinforced 'twould
have gone hard against us. But he retreated after
dark, and our M'Clellan followed him up toward
Richmond.
" And that's all the news of importance," continued
the captain, "and now I'm off. My name's Spott,
with two t's, and if ever we meet again, why, we'll
know we've met before. Au revoir. So long."
1 General Hooker,
A TUSSLE WITH ROAD-AGENTS. 205
He lifted his hat, his men sprang up, and in a few
minutes all had disappeared.
Letters were now read, and for a time there was
silence in the little wayside camp.
One of Osmond's was from his mother, the other
from Eva, and there "vvas also a brief business-like
epistle from big, honest Dick. I need hardly tell you
what Eva's and Mrs. Lloyd's were like, loving and
longing, as such letters always are. Oh, what would
life be worth to the soldier, sailor, or wanderer, were
there no dear ones at home, no old-fashioned fireside
to look back to wherever one is, in African wilds or
Indian shores, or far away in the wild, wild north, or
in regions of ice and snow.
" My dear boy," said Dick, "you were always an im-
pulsive young rascal, and fonder of the greenwood tree
than your books. Ah! well, anyhow, your dear daddie
and I are glad you are safe and doing so well. Think
of us often, and don't forget to pray. You'll return
some day to the old home, and won't we welcome you
just. But, boy, business is slack with us now. The
dust you are raising out in Yankeeland is smothering
ijs here, and if things don't take a turn, we'll have to
close the grand old mill. You would look astonished,
wouldn't you, if you saw your brother Dick march
into your camp some day? Well, well, we hope for
the best. Father sends his love. There was damp-
206 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
ness on the old man's eyelashes, lad, as there nearly
always is when he speaks of you. Ah! how he loves
you. Your mother says I am to tell you to keep out
of danger — just like a mother, ain't it? — I told her
that I'd give you the message, and that you'll be cer-
tain to hide in a tree on fighting days till the battle
is over. Good-bye, boy. Come back when you can."
When he looked up, he found that Harry was
gone.
" Got bad news," his father said, and the poor Major
himself looked sad.
He pointed to the wood as he spoke, and Wolf and
Osmond went to look for him. Wolf took his master
straight to the tree at the foot of which his poor
cousin sat.
He had been crying, and even now, though there
was a smile on his lips, he looked as if a single word
of sympathy would cause the tears to flow afresh.
"Poor Charlie and John!" he said, as he handed
Osmond the letter.
" Nay, I cannot read it." Osmond's own eyes were
swimming now. " Are they — ?"
"Dead! Yes, both fell fighting together back to
back in the thickest of the battle. Oh, the bitter-
ness of this cruel war! But our cousins fell as men,
Os, and as Englishmen. For they were true Blood-
worths."
A TUSSLE WITH ROAD-AGENTS. 207
Osmond stood up now erect and manly. He brushed
his hand across his eyes.
"We have our duty to do, Os," he said; "let us
not think of grief till — till night. Our cousins died a
soldier's death and are now far beyond the reach of
woe. I for one would not seek to recall them."
" Nor I," said Os. Then the cousins shook hands,
and as their eyes met they felt nearer to each other
now than ever.
It was at the battle of Winchester that their cousins
had fallen.
" Thank God we were not there to fight against
them," said Osmond.
"Amen!" said Harry.
The fact is that on the 18th of May the immortal
Stonewall Jackson had won a great battle at the
place mentioned.
The movements of this spirited soldier were daring
in the extreme. He had been keeping at bay four
armies — M'Dowell who commanded at Fredericksburg,
Sigel at Manassas, Milroy on his left-hand side, i.e.
west among the mountains, and Banks in the Shen-
andoah Valley in front of him.
Now, readers, just think of the dilemma this warrior
was in. If he went north up the glen to fight Banks,
Milroy from the left would close in on the rear, and
if defeated he would be caught like a rat in a sack;
208 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
and if he retreated then Banks and Milroy wonld
join and he should lose the valley which he had de-
termined to keep at any price.
So he resorted to a stratagem worthy of the great-
est general that ever lived.
He pretended to retreat eastwards through a gap.
"Ha!" cried Banks to one of his generals next
day, "so Stonewall Jackson has gone, bag and bag-
gage!"
" Yes, he's off, sir. We will follow him to Rich-
mond ? "
" That we will," said Banks, " as soon as Milroy tails
on. Now we'll give the Rebs Jericho!"
Stonewall Jackson, however, described an ellipse,
and surprised Milroy on his march to join Banks.
"'Mercy! how they fought and struggled and bled!
It was here' — I am quoting from Osmond's cousin
Tom's letter — ' where my dear brothers fell, and here
where they lie buried near a great oak-tree on which
I have blazed a cross and their initials.
"'Well, Stonewall Jackson smashed Milroy, and
afterwards Banks himself — first one part of the army,
then the other, and larger.' "
" So," said Osmond, " we are not so much beaten
as Captain Spott with two t's would have us to
believe."
" Perhaps," said Harry charitably, " he had heard
A TUSSLE WITH ROAD-AGENTS. 209
nothing of all this. But Banks's whole army of 15,000
is all but totally annihilated, and all the stores and
ammunition fell into our hands."
I must add as historian that in Turner Ashby
Stonewall Jackson had an officer who has well been
designated the bravest of the brave. But he exposed
himself all too freely, hardly realizing the value of
his own life to the army.
He was here, there, and everywhere, sword and
revolver in hands, wherever the fight raged most
fiercely.
And so he fell near the very spot at which Charlie
and John were cut down.
After the total defeat of Banks, Stonewall Jackson
went to prayers. " After battle, prayers." That was
one of Stonewall Jackson's mottoes. He was a Puritan
of the good old school. A soldier every inch, but a
Christian. He was in some ways like our own brave
Gordon, in other respects like Cromwell.
He had a " way " with him, people said, and the
following verses from an old newspaper will describe
that way: —
BEAVE AND GOOD STONEWALL JACKSON.
'■ We see him now — his old felt hat
Cocked o'er his eyes askew;
His shrewd dry smile, his speech so pat,
So calm, so blunt, so true.
( M 132 ) O
210 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
The ' Blue Light Elder ' knows us well;
Says he, ' That's Banks — he's fond o' shell,
Loi'd save his soul ! We'll give him — ahem.' Well,
That's Stonewall Jackson's way.
" ' Silence ! Ground arms ! Kneel all ! Caps off!
Old Blue Light's going to pray.
Let ne'er a man, now, dare to scoff.
Attention ! ' It's just his way.
Appealing from his native sod
In forma pauperis, to God,
' Lay bare Thine arm, Lord, stretch forth Thy rod,'
Amen!
That's Stonewall's way.
"Ah! maiden, wait and watch and yearn
For news of Stonewall's band.
Ah! widow, read with eyes that burn
That ring upon thy hand ;
Ah! wife, pray on, sew on, hope on.
Thy life shall not be all forlorn.
The foe had better ne'er been born
That stands in Stonewall's way."
Onward and eastward day after day marched Harry
and his little cavalcade. Everywhere they met with
civility and courtesy, even from the Federals, and
very seldom indeed had they to camp out all night.
But one adventure which they had is worth relating.
Luckily some of old Uncle Neile's experiences prepared
them for meeting it.
They were in a very lonely part of the country and
were passing through a deep, wooded ravine.
A TUSSLE WITH ROAD-AGENTS. 211
Just near to the place where a roaming stream is
spanned by a wooden bridge, and at a turn of the road,
the old slave negro addressed Harry.
" Now, Massa Henry, you keep you hand on you'
revolver, sah. Jes' 'bout heah — "
He never finished that sentence.
Seven men in slouched hats sprang suddenly from
under the trees.
"Hands up!" was the shout, and rifles were levelled
at Harry's and Osmond's heads.
Rack — rack — rack — rack went the revolvers in
reply.
But for Wolf, however, either Osmond or his cousin
would have been a dead man.
In the faithful dog the Road-agents had met a foe
they had little reckoned on.
He " downed " the leader, cutting him fearfully in
the jaws, then sprang on the others.
"Bress de Giver ob ebery good thing!" shouted the
sturdy old nigger.
Next moment he leapt from the cart.
" You do de prayin', ole Mammy, I do de fightin' foh
true," he cried.
A blow from the butt-end of a rifle he had wrenched
from the leader of the gang emphasized the last words,
and another robber fell.
Then on came Osmond and the others.
212 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
Flight was almost the only thing now that these
cowardly highwaymen could think of. They left
behind one man dead and two wounded, while Wolf
pursued the others, and returned at last with his chops
dripping gore.
No battle with highwaymen was probably ever more
speedily decided.
The dead man was dragged off the road and left,
the wounds of the prisoners were seen to, and they
were handed over, bound, to justice that very after-
noon.
The joy of Mrs. Blood worth and her daughters on
seeing husband and father once again is something I
shall not attempt to paint. I should be certain to
make a mess of it, and some scenes are far better left
to the reader's imagination.
But when the slaves gathered round " ole Massa "
to shake his hand, the poor major could not keep the
tears back. It was impossible.
The slaves found relief to their feelings, however,
by shouldering Mammy and Uncle, and carrying them
right away down to the little hut among the bushes.
And that evening a great 'possum hunt and feast
were given in the old man's honour. Osmond and
Harry, with his sisters, were there, you may be sure,
and it was twelve o'clock, and the stars shining high
THE BATTLB: of MALVERN HILL. 213
and bright, before the young folks all got back to the
cosy sitting-room, and long hours after that before
the boys said good-night and retired.
There was so much to speak of, so much to tell.
CHAPTER IX.
THE BATTLE OF MALVERN HILL.
Tj^AIN would I dwell for a time w^ith my young
J- heroes in the peace that reigned at the old plan-
tation. But events centre for a time around Richmond.
Richmond, you will remember, with Charleston on
the Atlantic and Vicksburg on the Mississippi, were
the three pillars of the Southern States from the
Federal point of view. It is no wonder, therefore,
that fierce and terrible fighting took place to capture
or to keep these cities.
From all directions President Jeff Davis was hurry-
ing up troops for the support of Richmond, while after
the retreat of the Confederates from the Peninsula
M'Clellan advanced towards Richmond. He encoun-
tered General Johnstone at Fair Oaks or Seven Pines.
The first day's fighting, that of May 30th, was all in
Johnstone's favour. He whipped the Federals, and
next day meant to annihilate M'Clellan. But General
214 rOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
Sumner got to the front, and things were altered. At
all events the Southerners withdrew, and poor John-
stone was desperately wounded.
He had, therefore, to give up command. And now
the redoubtable General Robert E. Lee steps upon the
stage.
Johnstone had made his mark, however, for in this
battle of Fair Oaks the Federals are said to have
lost no fewer than 6000 men and the Confederates
8000.
Stuart's strange wild ride round the army of
M'Clellan with 1500 cavaliers is a matter of history.
These brave fellows positively swept like a tornado
round the Federals. They never, we are told, quitted
saddle for two days and more, namely, from the morn-
ing of June 14th till noon of the 16th. In this ride
they defeated a Federal regiment, burned 200 wagons,
sank transports and captured horses, stores and am-
munition, and nearly 200 prisoners.
. Verily there was plenty of romance as well as cour-
age on the Confederate side.
M'Clellan, still advancing on Richmond, made a kind
of semi-investment of the place on the north as well as
on the east.
Now, never dreaming that in the event of his defeat
M'Clellan would retreat south on the James River,
the Confederates who lay betwixt him and Richmond
THE BATTLE OF JMALVERN HILL. 215
determined to strike him on the north, and thus cut
off his retreat to the York River.
Meanwhile where are Osmond and Harry? This is
a question easily answered. Much though they would
have liked to have tarried a little longer at the old
plantation, impatience to be once more in action and
to join their old regiment and comrades made it im-
possible for them to stay.
They hurried on, therefore, to the north and east.
Old Mammy was in tears at their departure, and so
were Harry's sisters. When would they meet again,
and how would it fare with poor Will, by this time in
full retreat with Beauregard from Corinth?
But bah! such questions are unworthy of soldiers.
War permits no sentiment to interfere with her awful
course. Her march is ever onward, through fire,
through blood, through tears.
After innumerable adventures our heroes found
themselves among Jackson's pickets. Strangely enough,
the first ofiicer they met was one they knew well, for
they had fought by his side on more than one blood-
drenched field.
It was about the 22nd of June, and Stonewall Jack-
son was hurrying back from his glorious campaign in
the Shenandoah to assist A. P. Hill.
Meanwhile, the latter general made a terrible on-
slaught on the portion of M'CIellan's army here
216 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
stationed. It was a fearful fight from the first, and
finally the Federals retreated or withdrew to Gaines
Mill, farther to the east. Here, on June 27th, another
terrible battle began. The struggle was the most
ghastly of any yet fought 'twixt North and South.
Osmond and Harry, each at the head of a company,
fought almost side by side, though they hardly knew
it.
But so bravely did the Federals defend themselves,
that the Confederates began at las^ to yield.
I have to record here — and it is with pleasure I do
so — an exploit of my hero Osmond. He was rushing
forward with his company, at the head of which
already three officers had been slain. Honest Wolf
was by his side, and this made him all the more con-
spicuous. The dog was covered with blood from head
to tail, showing how well a British mastiff can do his
duty on the field of fight.
Perhaps Osmond had never looked better than he
did at that moment, with his gore -stained sword
pointing onwards, and his head half-turned to where
his fellows were rushing forward for a bayonet
charge.
But on top of a small hill he encountered a portion
of the Confederate army that had lost hea^rt, and were
being pursued to the ridge by the Feds.
• "Back, men, back!" cried Osmond, still waving his
THE BATTLE OF MALVERN HILL. 217
sword. He felt the fire of Stonewall Jackson in his
veins just then. It was his gestures more than any-
thing else that stemmed the tide of flight.
The Confeds turned, and though scores and scores
fell dead and wounded on that ridge, every attack of
the enemy was bravely repelled, and many were hurled
down the bluflf with terrible slaughter.
But Osmond's ranks are getting sadly thinned. Can
he hold out? But little longer, I fear. He himself is
faint and tired and hoarse. Shall he retire? Shall
he retreat? And the same brave words that once
were uttered by a far greater man than he came to
his mind as a reply to the question, " What tuould
they say in England if we are beaten?" Now, back-
wards down the hill again must be hurled the pride of
the Noxth.
Osmond seems to find voice once more.
"On, men, on! Down with them ! Hurrah!"
Wolf utters a sound that is half a bark and half a
yell, and dashes at a man in front who had levelled
his revolver straight at our hero's head.
The " gun ", as the Americans call a pistol, dropped
from his hands as he fell to the ground in a death
grapple with the now half-mad dog.
But hark ! that cheer away to the left. It is repeated
again and again, followed by the rattle of rifle-firing
and the deeper bass of artillery.
218 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
"It is Jackson! Stonewall Jackson. Hurrah!
Hurrah!"
I confess, reader, I have often envied even as I
joined in the tliunders of applause that welcomed the
appearance of some great actor upon the stage. But
tenfold more do I envy the honour and glory accorded
to the hero that wild cheers herald, as he is seen riding,
sword in hand, to a blood-stained battle-field.
And that very name, and he who bore it, was
worth ten thousand men. It rallied the battle-
weary braves, it stirred the blood in the faintest
heart, and everyone felt and knew that victory was
now assured.
The hero had come!
" Stonewall Jackson ! Stonewall for ever! Hurrah!"
The victor of Shenandoah has not even to speak.
He but smiles grimly, and with gleaming sword points
to the Federals' right.
Now the fighting is indeed fearful. But backward,
and still backward are borne the serried ranks of the
Federals. They stumble, they stagger, they fight, and
in fighting fly. And soon it is all confusion, all a mad
rush to the rear, and victory belongs to the Southern
flag.
Victory, yet not pursuit.
For a brigade of brave Irishmen prevented that, as
they stood 'twixt the victors and the fleeing foe,
THE BATTLE OF MALVERN HILL. 219
staunch, undaunted, true, else had Gaines Mill been
M'Clellan's Sadowa.
There is a river, reader, near where this battle was
fought called the Chickahominy. M'Clellan hastily
took his badly-beaten army across. But he had to
fight his pursuers again on the 28th.
Surely Osmond was having his fill of fighting now,
and in this fresh battle he proved himself no less a
hero than in the last. With his dog near him always,
as if he were a guardian spirit, he was conspicuous
wherever he went. Many a rifle was aimed at him
and his companion, but they seemed to bear charmed
lives.
Just once on this day of fearful slaughter, and
in the midst of a field, damp with recent rain, soaked
with the blood of the slain that lay about in every
conceivable posture amidst broken arms and accoutre-
ments, Osmond and Harry met.
Both were bespattered with blood and mud from
head to heel. Both looked hungry, gaunt, and gray.
There was barely time to shake hands and exchange
friendly courtesies.
" I would not have known you," said Harry, " but
for the dog. Dear old Wolf! He, too, has done his
share."
"God help us, Harry; we must all do that. But
how pleased I am to see you safe!"
220 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
" Meet me to-night if you can."
" If alive — yes. Good-bye."
" Harry!" cried Osmond. His cousin was already
moving- off.
" Yes, Os, old man."
" Ever heard of the Kilkenny cats?"
" This does indeed resemble it," said Harry.
Then, with a sudden impulse which under the cir-
cumstances was amusing, he added:
"There was nothing left but a bit of fluff, Os.
Never mind, it shall be our bit of fluft'. Hurrah!"
There was no meeting that night between Harry
and Osmond. I don't know when Harry slept, but
after finding a morsel of food for himself and Wolf,
Os lay down on the damp field under a bush, through
which the wind sighed dismally, and the faithful dog
served him for a pillow.
Surely he had not slept an hour. But it was day-
light, and the bugle was soundino;.
Now came the tug of war. It began with a fearful
artillery battle, and ended on the part of General A. P.
Hill — who on this occasion commanded the Confeder-
ates — with a wild bayonet charge. But at eventide
M'Clellan, though he could not score a victory, had
succeeded in holding together the shattered remains of
his army.
And he now tried to make good his retreat to Mai-
THE BATTLE OF MALVERN HILL. 221
vern Hill, that overlooked the James River, on which
he hoped, if he could but keep the enemy at bay, to
re- embark his army, or what was left of it.
" 111 fared it then with Eoderick Dhu
That on the ground his targe he threw."
I don't exactly know why these lines from Scott's
poem, descriptive of the fight 'twixt Fitzjames and
the Highland chief, should come to my mind at this
moment, unless it be that pride seems to have been at
the bottom of M'Clellan's seven days' disasters before
Richmond, just as contempt for his foe had instigated
the chieftain to throw away his targe. M'Clellan had
meant to sweep all before him in two-handed, High-
land claymore fashion.
Behold him now fleeing in despair to the one advan-
tageous point on which hope still burned beacon-like.
For there, on the river beneath him, were his own
gun-boats, and they could aid in supporting him.
The James River flows directly south from Rich-
mond — then goes winding in and out through woods
and swamps eastwards. At Malvern Hill it forms
quite an elbow. It had been flowing right north
before this, but the hill said, "No, you don't"; so the
stream broadened out, and back it goes again directly
south; then— much wider now at City Point — it goes
sweeping eastwards away past Harrison's Landing.
222 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY,
The gun-boats, remember, were stationed a little to
the west of Malvern Hill, on tlie river's elbow, and as
the Confederates come from the west as well as from
the north-north-west, these tubs of war could, if they
found the range, do considerable execution in their
ranks.
Let me tell you what Malvern Hill was like. I
must quote from a letter from Tom to his Cousin
Harry. How it reached him I never knew. It is
dated from Harrison's Landingf, and oives a full
account, from a Federal's point of view, of the battles
I have all too briefly described. Then it goes on to
describe the march — the Confederates called it a race
— for Malvern Hill, where the terrible light raged on
July 1st.
"Harrison's Landing.
" This hill, my dear old misguided Harry, lies, as
your troops know to their sorrow, on the northern
bend of James River. But I was there long before
your fellows. We were all there on the grand stand,
as it were, before you had a chance of showing front.
We waited for you — most of us smoking. I heard
many of our men thanking heaven there was a bit
of tobacco left to chew and smoke, for you know you
kept spoiling our dinner every day, and only sheer
fatigue could have enabled us to get any sleep at all.
" But, oh ! that awful march to Malvern Hill — all
THE BATTLE OF MALVERN HILL. 223
through the woods and swamps, by day, by night,
our poor fellows tottering as they walked, wan and
hungry, sick and sad, burned up by the summer's sun
or drenched by dews at night! Many a weary soldier
fell out and laid him down to die. We had to leave
them on moor or marsh and still press on.
" On and on for Malvern Hill. For here we should
make our last stand!
" Then down to Harrison's Landing. Could we but
reach the bend in the river our transports would save
us. Ah! right well we knew you wanted to capture
and to crush us. As weary and tired you must have
been as we ourselves. But then, dear Harry, you
were the victors. You had the thoughts of former
triumphs to stimulate you. We felt as if death itself
would be a blessing. Every day we had fought a
battle — every night, instead of rest, we had to push on
only to fight again when night was fled and the sun
that we almost hated re-summoned us to arms.
" And we knew, too, that all your bravest generals
had marshalled their forces to cut off our retreat to
Harrison's Landing. Your terrible Stonewall Jackson,
your Ewell, Lee, and Hill — and last, though not least,
your bold Magruder.
" On and on we push and scramble, the men as
brave as men can be, the officers doing all they can to
encourage them.
224 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
" While still miles from our grand stand that was to
be, I remember passing a house, to the door of which
ran several half-dressed pretty children to cheer us.
They knew not nor cared whether we were Feds or
Confeds. A woman came to take them in, but she too
must wave her hand. A pretty picture this of peace
in the midst of the demons of war.
"At last, at last! We are on Malvern Hill. To
rest? Ah, no! we must fortify it.
" The top of the mount was a broad and long plateau,
about two miles by one were its dimensions. The
sides next the river no soldier could climb for its steep-
ness. But the front towards Richmond was an inclined
plane, lawn-like and green; and behind these green
fields were pine - trees. Up this, from fields and
bush below, your troops would have to come, if come
they dared, or could, for we soon had it covered with
our guns that terraced the hill-sides and bristled on
its top. We could fire 300 cannon at you, and did so
when the terrible battle began.
" Not far down beneath, on the banks of a creek,
screened by bushes from the fields you would have
to cross, we had massed four brigades of our brave
fellows.
" We had worked all nioht lono^. How olad I was
in the gray dawn to be able to get a few hours' rest!
But I leapt to my feet at last. There was a kind of
THE BATTLE OF MALVERN HILL. 225
weight at my heart that for a minute or two I could
not banish. I think it was the sight of brave but war-
worn M'Clellan riding hither and thither on horseback
along the plateau that helped to cheer me.
" All the forenoon we could see your regiments de-
ploying, marching, or standing waiting in wood and
field. Oh! that awful waiting! how your true soldier
hates it. A little desultory firing had already taken
place to the left — our left — but this died away, and it
was evident that your generals were getting to learn
the work before them would indeed be awful.
"We now see a long line of your skirmishers advance
from among the pines, and commence to fire across
the fields towards the creek beneath the hill. Fain
would they learn what we had hidden for them in this
direction ; they run, they creep, and wriggle like centi-
pedes, till a volley from behind the bushes sent them
back to the shelter of the woods.
"All they can report is that they have left several
dead and wounded in that field, and that they could
count at least two hundred great guns, and see our
men in line waiting to do battle in earnest.
"And, at about one hour past noon, they felt the
whole force of those guns, for it was then that your
daring men — was it Magruder who led them?^made
a dash from the woods in a double line of battle. But
they had to cross that awful open space before they
( M 132 ) ? p
226 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
could reach and assault even our first line of de-
fence.
"For just a moment there was a death-like stillness.
We could see your flags flying, and your accoutrements
glittering in the glorious sunshine of this summer
day. Then all was thunder, smoke, and Are around
and beneath us. The shells tore through the air;
the very hill shook and quivered from end to end to
the explosive roar of our cannon. Shot and shell
crashed through your lines of battle, but the gaps
were speedily closed up and on and on you came,
leaving the shot-torn field behind you strewn thickly
with your motionless dead, and your writhing, tortured
wounded,
" When your lines were but a musket-shot distance
from the bush-hidden creek, where lay our brave
brigades, but not before, a line of fire belched forth
and whole regiments seemed swept away. We could
see only hundreds of the grays staggering back to the
pine wood from which thousands had just emerged.
"Again and again throughout the afternoon were
just such charges made. Again and again, Harry, we
saw you thrust back, nay, almost annihilated, and my
heart sank with dread as I thought that you, dear
cousin, or our English cousin Osmond, might be among
the slain, or what would be far worse, among those
writhing piles of wounded; for it was over them your
THE BATTLE UF MALVERN HILL. 227
fellows had to march in these charges, just over the
dead to almost certain death. The gun-boats all this
while were doing what they could to assist the work
of red-handed destruction.
" All the afternoon this desperate struggle went on,
but it was at six o'clock that you seemed to try to do
your best or your worst.
" Oh, then, who shall describe the furious pande-
monium? But it was all in vain. You had fought
like furies, almost like tiends, and darkness closed the
dreadful scene.
" And the darkness, dear Harry, saw us victorious,
yet in full retreat.
"And what a night that was! How wildly the
wind raved and how mercilessly fell the rain !
" There was no time for pity, Harry, nor for senti-
ment, and yet I could not help sorrowfully thinking
of the thousands of poor wounded wretches that all
night long, in anguish and agony, were left on the
fields and in the dismal woods, no help nigh, none to
ease an aching head till their very movements, in
many cases, caused arteries to gush out afresh, and
the sleep of death to steal over them.
" Our retreat to Harrison's Landing, though the
distance was but eight miles, was one long toilsome
suffering dream to me, and I am sure to most of us.
In the darkness of midnight, and all against the pelting
228 FUR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
of this pitiless storm, our war-worn soldiers tottered
or groped their way onwards,
"Victors we called ourselves! How bitter the title!
Here around me was the confusion of a routed and
beaten mob. And yet there were those among us who
cursed what they called the cowardice and folly of
M'Clellan for not, after all, staying to attack you next
day, conquering you as these men felt they could, and
then sweeping on to Richmond.
"Good-bye, good-bye! At present we are being
bundled and pitchforked on board the transports.
Good-bye!"
CHAPTER X.
THE GREAT STRUGGLE ON THE POTOMAC,
POPE, the Federal general in Missouri, was placed
in command of a new "Army of Virginia" and
the Northerners expected he would do " big licks ", as
they termed it. He himself said that he would ride
to Richmond easily, and that till he had secured that
city, his head-quarters should be in the saddle.
Jackson — old Blue Light — warmed him at Cedar
Mountain, anyhow, and caused him to fall back across
the Rappahannock. He hoped to be joined on the
THE GREAT STRUGGLE ON THE POTOIHAG. 229
other side of the river by M'Clellan, of Malvern Hill,
who had landed once more with his army.
But he had not counted on the tactics of Stone-
wall Jackson and of Longstreet and Lee.
Stonewall, by a forced march, out-manoeuvred him,
and occupied Manassas. Pope, in despair, turned
at bay, and thus another battle was fought at Bull
Run, which, despite a telegram that Pope sent to
Washington claiming victory, ended in his total rout
and discomfiture.
Things were certainly looking brighter now for the-
Southerners' cause, and so they determined to carry
the war to the very gates of Washington itself.
Lee advanced north, therefore, and cut the railway
'twixt Washington and Harper's Ferry, where a
Federal army still lay. He then crossed the Potomac.
Stonewall Jackson and General A. P. Hill were
next sent to do battle on Maryland Heights and
attack Harper's Ferry.
To the consternation of the whole of the North,
they were completely successful, for, after a terrific
bombardment, and against the wishes of the garrison,
the commander surrendered. Owing to this surrender
of Brigadier-general White, Stonewall Jackson cap-
tured 11,000 prisoners, 73 pieces of artillery, and
unlimited ammunition and stores.
230 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
By the end of September it may be said that the
Federals were everywhere losing.
But although M'Clellan had to return unsuc-
cessful from his ill-starred peninsular expedition and
campaign, President Lincoln neither degraded nor
deposed him. He knew the man's worth, and knew,
too, he was the only general he could really rely on to
defend Washinsfton.
He, therefore, made a call for more recruits, deter-
mined that he would defend the Stars and Stripes to
the last. No less than 300,000 men were asked for. It
is true that large bounties were offered to volunteers,
but, putting this on one side, I am of opinion that
patriotism had as much to do with the successful
raising of this fresh army as filthy lucre.
M'Clellan was put at the head of it, and it soon
began to swell to very large dimensions indeed, for
soon we find the general marching from the capital
with an army that, all told, could not have been much
under 100,000. He was going to fight General Lee,
and this good old soldier had an army of barely
70,000 to oppose M'Clellan.
Then, on September 14th, ensued the battle of
South Mountain, in which Fighting Joe Hooker suc-
ceeded in turning the Confederate left and gaining
a victory. The Southerners were commanded by
General D. H. Hill, and were in all not more than
THE GREAT STRUGGLE ON THE POTOIMAC. 231
10,000. He was not only out-flanked, but crushed by-
weight of numbers, so had to retreat upon the main
body under Lee. The fight was a fierce one while
it lasted. All fights were fierce and terrible now,
and nothing like the first battle of Bull Run.
General Garland, a Confederate, and General Reno,
a Federal, had been boys together at school. Both
fell in this battle, each fighting desperately for his
own side.
So sad a thing is civil war!
Next comes the fight at Antietam Creek. This
was one of the big battles of the war. Who would
win it? Would the Confederate successes continue,
or would M'Clellan have his revenge and hurl Lee and
his forces "off the face of the almighty universe", as
some of his generals averred they would?
Now, a good map will give you this Antietam
Creek or stream, on the west or west-south-west of
which Lee's great army was drawn up to await the
attack of M'Clellan. He had the river Potomac in his
rear, so that in this way his position was a risky one.
There are critics who would say that he ought to
have crossed back over the Potomac, made a sham
retreat, as it were, and then turned on M'Clellan with
the old dash and fire of the Southern soldiers.
But Lee's position seemed well chosen, and as he
did not decide to retire, he was right not to advance.
232 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
The creek in front was not very winding, and it was
crossed by three bridges, one in the centre, one well to
the left, and another to the right. Stonewall Jackson
had come from Harper's Ferry, and having crossed the
Potomac at William's Port, took up his position on the
high ground to Lee's left.
The cannon, too, were well posted, and every-
thing looked bright for the battle of next day (Sep-
tember 17th) as far as the Confederates were con-
cerned.
Fighting Joe Hooker had crossed the north bridge
on the 16th, and had a little skirmish with the Con-
federate left before sunset.
"That's nothing," said Fighting Joe to one of his
officers after dark — they were encamped that night
on the open field — "nothing, sir, nothing; only a kind
of preliminary sparring to test the enemy's guards.
But to-morrow, gentlemen, we'll fight the battle that
sliall decide the fate of this great Republic."
I may state here that the valour and dash of young
Osmond had come under the personal notice of Stone-
wall Jackson in more fights than one.
He had sent for him one evening, and the order
was that he was to bring Wolf with him.
The great general was in his tent, and his welcome
to Osmond was so cordial that the young fellow's
THE GREAT STRUGGLE ON THE POTOJIAC. 233
face crimsoned with delight. Wolf went shyly up to
Stonewall and licked his hand, receiving a loving pat
on the head for his reward.
Then Stonewall Jackson shook hands with our
Osmond.
" This," said the general, smiling, " is a true specimen
of the British mastiff, isn't he?"
"Yes, indeed," said Os brightly.
"And you are a true specimen of the British man!
Whatever possessed you to come out to us?"
Then Osmond found voice and said simply:
" I daresay, sir, it was first and foremost because I
have cousins in the army of the South; secondly
because I am somewhat of a romantic turn of mind;
and thirdly, because your cause is so just and true."
" Spoken like a man. Well, I .won't detain you.
I hope to see you again and often, and your noble
dog too, and may God protect and guard you both.
Lieutenant- colonel Lloyd ! "
" I am captain. General, not lieutenant-colonel."
Stonewall laughed.
"Hurry off," he said, "hurry off. You are pro-
moted, vice Plunkett, killed this day. Fear the Lord,
Colonel. Fear the Lord; fight and pray."
But his Cousin Harry was now a major, and to
Osmond's inexpressible delight both would be attached
to the same regiment, and thus fight side by side.
234 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
The night before the great battle of Antietam was
exceedingly beautiful, and Harry and Osmond sat
up longer than perhaps they ought to have done, con-
sidering the dangers and fatigues they would have to
come through next day.
When they turned in at last, hardly had they
been two hours asleep when the bugle call, resound-
ing all over the heights and wooded hollows, awoke
them.
The battle it seemed was already begun, and hardly
had our heroes time to eat a humble ration, washed
down with water, than it was time to fall in.
For yonder wa^ Fighting Joe advancing in force
against Stonewall Jackson.
Two great heroes had met, and the very earth shook
to the rattle and roar of their battalions.
"That fellow Hooker," Stonewall was heard to re-
mark, "is a madman. The Lord will deliver him into
our hands."
Fighting Joe, however, had considerable method in
his madness; for, finally, even the redoubtable Con-
federate hero had to give way before him and seek
the shelter of a wood. On to this pressed Joe, his
men wildly cheering as they rushed — to almost cer-
tain death. For those woods suddenly vomited forth
fire and a very hail of destruction. Then once more
Jackson charged, and but for the arrival of Federal
THE GREAT STRUGGLE ON THE POTOMAC. 235
General Sumner, Fighting Joe and his plucky fellows
would have been annihilated.
But Fighting Joe on his white horse became a mark
for showers of Confederate bullets, one of which at last
pierced his foot, and he had to retire, all his hopes of
capturing this wing of the Confederate army, or driv-
ing it into the Potomac, having failed.
This was the forenoon's fight on the Confederate
left, but after this the battle raged wilder and wilder.
The hosts on hosts of straggling men extended south-
wards and east for miles.
When Burnside crossed the southern bridge on his
army's left he was opposed by Hill and his gigantic
forces, and against fearful odds had to struggle on and
up a hill or eminence. He gained this. He could not
hold it, however, Backward borne now towards the
Creek, Burnside feared annihilation, and sent to beg
reinforcements from M'Clellan. M'Clellan could not
spare a man. The word brought back to Burnside
was that he should hold the bridge.
"The bridge! the bridge! If that is lost defeat is
ours. I pray you, hold the bridge."
And brave Burnside resolved to do so to the last
man, even should that man be himself, his own good
sword in hand. But oh, the butchery! the slaughter!
It is saddening to think or write of it.
Then fell night, and both armies sought repose.
236 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
Wlio would begin the morning's attack? Neither
army did. Neither army dared.
So Lee crossed quietly over the Potomac.
Poor Wolf had been wounded in the shoulder, his
master slightly in the wrist. Both wounds were ugly-
looking gashes, but when the surgeon dressed Osmond's
the latter declared that he would not go on the sick
list. So the left arm was put in a sling. Then the
doctor dressed Wolf's wound.
Wolf submitted patiently, frequently licking the
surgeon's hand.
" It's nothing," he seemed to say, speaking with his
eyes. "Yes, stitch it up, I won't bite; but if I could
only reach it with my tongue I'd soon have your
stitches out."
Meanwhile how fared it in the army in which
Harry's brother Will was serving after their repulse
from Corinth?
Certainly not over well.
The Confederates determined, in an evil moment it
would seem, to retake Corinth. Their General Price
had, after being once defeated by the Federal General
Rosecrans with the loss of nearly 200 men, managed
to unite with Van Don and with Lovell, and brought
their forces — a great army of well-nigh 50,000 men —
to bear upon Corinth on the 4th of October.
THE GREAT STRUGGLE ON THE POTOMAC. 237
That was a sad struggle and a terrible day of
slaughter and butchery for the Confederates; Rose-
crans disposed his guns right well in his trenches, and
as the Southerners came on like an avalanche they
were mown down in hundreds, nay, thousands, for
their numbers — killed and wounded — must have ex-
ceeded 5000. Never before perhaps had such piles and
heaps of slain been seen in front of an intrenched
position.
When the Confederates at last drew off in despair,
when the cannon's roar no longer mingled with the
yell of the charging foe, and the smoke of battle lifted
up and drifted away to leeward, it revealed a scene so
sickening and so dreadful that even brave men among
the Federals viewing it burst into tears.
At the battle of Perrysville, fought by General
Bragg shortly after this — October 8th — the Con-
federates once more suffered severe losses, though they
may have been said to gain a victory.
The poor Southerners were certainly to be pitied.
Just think of it, reader — Bragg's soldiers fought as
few men ever fought before, but they were hungry,
ragged, and tired, hardly shoes to cover their feet,
hardly a hat to keep the sun or weather from their
heads, hardly clothes to cover their nakedness.
" Emerging," says a writer, " from the shelter to
238 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
which they had retired after their first repulse from
this portion of the line, they advanced in heavy masses
towards our position. Their appearance as regiment
after regiment and mass after mass came forth from
beneath the woods and advanced down the slope of
the hills was imposing in the extreme. Distance con-
cealed the rags composing their uniform; the bright
sunbeams glancing from their bayonets flashed like
lightning over the field, and the blue flag with a
single star waved all along their lines. At their head
advanced a general mounted on a white horse and sur-
rounded by a numerous staff", all having horses of the
same colour."
Ah! reader, even as I sit here in my study writing,
I think I can see that grand though ragged array.
Yes, and I hear too their wild cries as they come
on at the double, and wonder not that before such
a charge the Federals were hurled back like chaff'
before the wind.
But Bragg was unable to sustain a orand combined
charge, and so fell wearily back and away.
They left one poor fellow behind them of whom I
must speak in my next chapter.
THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN WILLIAJVI BLOODWORTH. 239
CHAPTER XI.
THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN WILLIAM BLOODWORTH.
JUST as the hosts of the Confederates were emerg-
ing from the woods for their second grand charge,
and rifle bullets began to zip-zip and sing around them,
Captain William Bloodworth, who was rushing on,
sword in hand, at the head of his company, was struck,
threw up both arms, and fell heavily on his face.
He was dead, his fellows thought, — if indeed there
was time for thought. So they dashed on past him,
over him, some, I fear, even trampling upon him un-
wittingly.
Will was not dead, though.
In a few moments he sat up, sick and faint and
thirsty. He pulled aside his ragged coat and shirt, and
tried to staunch the flow of blood from his chest. In
this he was only partially successful, a fit of coughing
came on now, and the blood poured from his mouth.
He managed to reach his little canteen. There was
water in it. Then he crawled foot by foot, inch by inch,
back towards the wood. He sought shelter from the
blazing rays of the sun, now pouring down remorse-
lessly on his hatless head. What a distance away that
wood appeared to be, although he had bounded there-
240 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
from but a few minutes before, full of life and
elasticity!
Will he never, never be able to reach it? He feels,
or fears, he will die. Yet life never seemed more
desirable than it does at this moment. He, so young,
so lately full of health and vigour. So —
What was that sound?
" Water, water, water!"
A faint and weary cry; for here close to the wood
lies a wounded comrade. Will crawls towards him.
" I have a mouthful," he says, " I will share it with
you, comrade."
"Is it you — sir — you, captain? You are — wounded
too. We have fallen — we have — "
" Drink, poor fellow, drink."
He holds the canteen to the dying soldier's lips.
" God bless you — we'll meet — soon, we'll — "
He said no more. The head fell back, and Will
closed his eyes with blood-dripping lingers.
Then he painfully crawled away once more on hands
and knees. In under a darksome juniper bush he
crept. It was soft beneath this — soft and cool. He
drank the rest of the water — there was but a spoon-
ful — then the canteen slipped from his hand, and the
deep sleep of debility stole over his senses.
When he awoke again it was niglit.
Night, and the stars all shining. But silent now is
THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN WILLIAM BLOOD WORTH. 241
the cannon's roar; silent the shouts of his brave com-
panions; silent all; silent, dark, and cold. An owl
hoots mournfully in the wood behind, the wind sighs
sadly through the pines, and now and then faintly
borne along upon the breeze comes a sentry's call:
"All's well!"
Will tries to rise. It is impossible. He is glued to
the ground with his own very life's blood.
Oh, merciful sleep, that steals over him again, and
brings with it dreams of his mother, his father, and
sisters in their far-off old plantation home!
But once more he wakes.
There are voices near him now, and a lamp is flick-
ering from bush to bush like a fire-fly. Presently he
sees forms around him, but their coats are blue. He
tries to speak, but cannot. It is an ambulance man
that is bending over him now with kindly, pitying gaze.
" Here is another poor fellow," he says. " Lift him
gently, gently, comrades; I guess it is all up with him."
Again the wounded hero slumbers, and next moment
— so it seems to poor Will — he opens his eyes in a tent.
A Federal surgeon is holding water and wine to his
lips. He sips a little and now finds voice.
"Am I — am I dying?" he whispers.
The doctor turns away to hide a tear. Yes, even an
army-surgeon's heart may be as tender as a loving
child's.
(M132) Q
242 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
" You are a brave man," lie says. " Can you bear it?"
" Yes, yes."
" You are going, then, to a land where there will be
no war, no horrors, no bloodshed; where all will be
peace and joy and love."
The surgeon took from his pocket a little well-worn,
war-worn Bible, and while the lamp above swayed to
and fro with the gusty night wind, and the canvas
flapped dolefully ever and anon, this kindly medico
read passages of comfort from that sacred volume.
The words, however, that seemed to bring the
greatest comfort to dying Will were those, "Behold,
the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell
with them, and they shall be His people, and God
him^self shall be with them, and be their God. And
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and
there shall be no Tnore death, neither sorrow, nor
crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the
former things are passed away."
Alas! when the surgeon looked at the cot again, his
patient himself had passed away. But there was a
peaceful smile upon his face, that death itself had not
removed.
The kindly Federal doctor found a half-written
letter addressed to Harry and Osmond in poor Will's
pocket and took possession of it, also a fully addressed
letter to his mother at the old plantation.
THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN WILLIAM BLOODWORTH. 243
(Long, long months after this Dr. E.ae, for that was
his name, placed both epistles in the heart-broken and
weeping mother's hands.)
As Will had closed the dead soldier's eyes on the
field of battle near the wood, so did Dr. Rae now close
his.
"Poor fellow!" he said to himself. "So young, so
brave!"
*^?^3^S
:3-.
BOOK III.
TO THE BITTER END.
CHAPTER I.
LINCOLN PROCLAIMS FREEDOM TO THE SLAVES.
THE year 1862 wore slowly to a close without vic-
tory leaning very decidedly towards either North
or South. At the same time, the fortunes of the Federals,
it must be admitted, had fallen to rather a low ebb.
They had hearts like lions, however. They had
staying powers, they had munitions of war, money,
food, and clothing. The South was already impover-
ished. How then would it all end?
Colonel Osmond Lloyd's sword, it seems, had no
chance of rusting in its scabbard. General Lee,
as I have already said, drew quietly off across the
Potomac, but M'Clellan thought himself too weak to
follow up his victory. Some Pennsylvanian regiments,
however, did what they could to make it warm for
Stonewall Jackson, following him up and irritating
him beyond control.
246 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
Now Stonewall wasn't the man to stand being
followed or dodged.
" Colonel Lloyd," he said to Osmond one morning,
" let us put back and give these fellows fits."
"I'm ready," said Osmond eagerly, "and all my
boys too."
So turn they did. It was at Boteler's Mills, and
was indeed a bloody tussle while it lasted. A hand-
to-hand fight. But badly indeed did it end for the
brave Pennsylvanians. They fought to the last, and
their regiments were almost completely annihilated.
Stuart, who rode round the whole of M'Clellan's
army before, must have been a most daring fellow.
He made a raid one night right into the centre of
Pope's camp. So plucky a thing had seldom been done
before. What he meditated was to abduct the General,
to make him prisoner in his bed, and to carry him
back, in his shirt, to the Confederate camp.
" I'll have him, boys, right enough," he cried, as he
rode ofi".
But Pope succeeded in escaping, and brave Stuart
and his companions were disappointed. However, this
cool, courageous Scot determined to give "old Mac", as
he called M'Clellan, another turn.
" I'll ride round him again," he said, "just to astonish
his weak nerves a little bit more."
So he once more chose 1,500 brave cavaliers and a
small battery and crossed the Potomac into Maryland
where Stonewall Jackson had crossed it in cominsf to
LINCOLN PROCLAIMS FREEDOM TO THE SLAVES. 247
Antietam Creek, well to the west of Harper's Ferry,
It was a daring exploit, for Stuart crossed Penn-
sylvania past the right of Mac's army, then east to
Gettysburg and away to the rear of it, and back to
his own camp. He had ridden 120 miles without an
accident, broken up the Federal communications, and
captured as many horses and stores, &c., as would
suffice to mount and provision a regiment of foot or
horse.
It would seem that, on the whole, the Federals had
not much faith in any of their generals; for we find
now that in the Western Army, Rosecrans, who hurled
back the Confederates from Corinth, superseded Buell
in command, and that M'Clellan, on November 5th, was
superseded by Burnside, the man who so bravely held
the bridge at Antietam Creek.
Burnside determined to prove the truth of the old
adage which tells us that new brooms sweep clean.
He reorganized his army as soon as possible, and
dividing it into three, gave commands to Generals
Sumner, Franklin, and Fighting Joe Hooker. Its
base was well down the Potomac at Aquia Creek.
If you look on the map, reader, you cannot fail to
see Fredericksburg, on the south of Rappahannock and
away to the north of Richmond.
Now Burnside was a courageous and a fiery Federal.
But in giving battle to Lee, who, with 80,000 men
under Longstreet and Stonewall, was posted on the
248 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
heights behind Fredericksburg, he had reckoned with-
out his host.
After bombarding the pretty town, however, and
almost destroying it, the Federals got over the river,
and on the 18th of December attacked the heights.
It was a beautiful day for a fight, sunshiny and
warm; but woe is me for Burnside's hosts! Every
assault was repelled, and the carnage was fearful. Had
Burnside been able to thrash Lee, he meant to march
right away into Richmond.
He didn't. His repulse was complete, and his losses,
dreadful to say, must have been over 12,000.
I cannot help here quoting the words of an English
newspaper correspondent who was himself an eye-
witness of this monster battle. It is concerning the
splendid courage of General Meagher's Irish brigade
he is speaking, when he says: —
"Never, either at Fontenoy, Albuera, or Waterloo,
was more undoubted courage displayed by those sons
of Erin, than during those six frantic dashes they
made against the almost impregnable position of their
foe. There are stories that General Meagher harangued
his troops in impassioned language on the morning of
the battle, and plied them extensively with whisky
found in the cellars of Fredericksburg.^ But after
witnessing the gallantry and devotion exhibited by
his troops and viewing the hillside for acres strewn
with their corpses, the spectator can remember nothing
^ I refuse to believe this. Irishmen need no Dutch courage. — Author.
LINCOLN PROCLAIMS FREEDOM TO THE SLAVES. 249
but their desperate courage, and regret that it was
not exhibited in another cause. That any mortal man
could have carried the position before which they were
wantonly sacrificed, seems to me idle for a moment to
believe. But the bodies which lie in dense masses
within forty yards of the muzzles of the Confederate
guns are the best evidence what manner of men they
were, who pressed on to death with the dauntlessness
of a race which has gained glory on a thousand battle-
fields, and never more richly deserved it than at the
foot of Mary's heights on the 13th of December,
1862."
The most important city and bulwark on the Missis-
sippi — please note this, reader, and take a glance at
your map — was Vicksburg. Because if it could be
captured by the Federals under Farragut, with his
fleet that had come up the river, and Sherman, with
his army, railway communication would be severed
between, it and Richmond — the western from the
eastern portions of the Southern Confederacy.
Vicksburg lies between the Big Black River and
the Yazoo, two tributaries to the great Mississippi, and
it was up the Yazoo that Sherman steamed with his
forces with which he had dropped down stream from
Memphis. He landed his huge army in the rear of
the city of a hundred hills, and laid siege to it about
the latter end of December.
Here the land is very marshy. Sherman made four
250 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
determined attacks on the Confederate strongholds,
but all ended only in slaughter and defeat.
Two hundred miles down the great river below
Yicksburg lies the important stronghold of Port Hud-
son. By means of this the Confederates were in a
measure not so much affected by the blockade of their
ports, because, by way of Port Hudson, they could keep
open their commercial relations with the outer world
through Mexico.
General Butler had been superseded down south by
Banks, and the latter, with thousands of negroes in
his army, made a tremendous dash at Port Hudson.
It failed, however. They were beaten, especially the
blacks, against whom the Southerners were terribly
incensed. They closed with them, and while it is
said the emancipated slaves fought literally with
tooth and nail, the Confederates used their bowie-
knives, and covered the ground with their writhing
and dusky forms.
About the first of the new year, 1863, Rosecrans and
Bragg had a terrible fight at Murfreesboro', but the
Federal proved himself the more skilful soldier, and
Bragg had to retire. Murfreesboro' lies on the Stone
E-iver, and the railway between Nashville and Chat-
tanooga runs through it.
As if fortune wished in a measure to make up to
the Southerners for their great losses in this fight,
Magruder, down in the South of Texas now (though
LINCOLN PROCLAIMS FREEDOM TO THE SLAVES. 251
mind it is the same Magruder who more than deci-
mated his division in those splendid but foolhardy-
dashes against Malvern Hill held by M'Clellan's forces)
attacked Galveston. This was a battle both by land
and sea, but the place fell, January 2nd, and the port
was then declared open to commerce from every part
of the world.
On April 7th another terrible attack was made by
the Federal fleet against Charleston. It was a failure.
So this may well be scored a victory for the South.
Now nothing sickens a young man, with the active
and romantic disposition which our hero Colonel
Osmond Lloyd possessed, more than inactivity. Let
Osmond be in a fight every day, waving that slashing
old sword of his, and I don't think he would devote
much time to meditation as to the rights or wrongs of
the cause for which he was fighting. And, furthermore,
I am quite certain that so long as he could be at his
master's side, Wolf — faithful and true — would have
asked no questions.
But here, near to Fredericksburg, had Lee's army
been lying now for three long months, without doing
anything, and with the Federals just over the water.
Latterly, you must know, the Northerners had got
tired even of Burnside. M'Clellan had assured the
Cabinet in his day that he would march straight into
Richmond from the Peninsula. He was ignominiously
kicked out by his friend, the enemy. He got another
252 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
trial from another direction, but his overcanniness
now caused him to fail again. Then Burnside had
a trial, and we have seen how his over-rashness led
to his getting beaten and driven back from Fredericks-
burg. So Burnside had to give up command next, and
another new broom was tried. This was our old
friend Fio^htins: Joe Hooker.
Lee, though, could not maintain an army of 100,000
men behind Fredericksburg; besides, assistance was
wanted farther south, and so, during the first three
months of 1863, while Fighting Joe was busy reorgan-
izing his army, Lee's army had dwindled down to
50,000.
But Joe planned the march of another army from
the Peninsula to the east of Richmond under Keyes;
while Stoneman was also to make a dash behind Lee
— that is, between Richmond and that general — and
destroy his communications.
That was how things stood about the middle of
April.
Well, as to Osmond; he was one day writing a
long letter in his tent to Eva, far away in England,
and after he had finished it and sealed it, wondering
meanwhile if it could ever reach her, he put to him-
self this question; or rather, I should say, he put it to
Wolf:
"Have we been fighting in a just cause after all?"
You see Osmond had been thinking.
Wolf heaved a big sigh, and wagged his tail.
LINCOLN PROCLAIMS FREEDOM TO THE SLAVES. 253
'• I'm willing to fight anybody you fight, master,"
he seemed to say, "now that my shoulder is well
again; but between you and me and the tent pole I'd
rather be romping with my mistress, little Eva, on the
lawn in front of dear old Mirfields."
"Slavery is a fearful thing!" Osmond said aloud.
"Hullo! Hullo!" cried Harry, bursting into the
tent, "what was that I heard you say?"
" I said slavery was a fearful thing."
"But, Osmond," said Harry, "we can't go against
Scripture, my deaily beloved silly old cousin."
"Scripture?"
" Ay, Scripture, boy. Wasn't there always slavery
in Bible times. Doesn't God make some men for
honour and some for dishonour? The slave who does
his duty has a soul that will be saved and go to glory
just as sure as yours or mine will, Os. But Heaven
has set its seal upon him as far as this world is con-
cerned. It is the brand of Cain, the black skin!"
" A mere accident of birth, Harry."
" Never mind, there it is. Nothing is made in vain.
Society in this country is built of two different kinds
of stone, the lower is granite- — that is the slave; the
upper marble — that is the white man."
"Heigho!" sighed Osmond, speaking again to Wolf
apparently. " It does seem a terrible life a slave must
lead if he has an unkind master. It is a delightful
one on your dear old plantation, Cousin Harry, but
on others' the slave is as likely to be ill-treated as
254 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
the owner's ox or mule. His master owns him, body
and soul, can beat him, starve him, ay, or torture him
mentally or bodily, can take even his wife away or
the children he loves, and sell them. And now, I can-
not help somehow seeing the hand of God himself in
this proclamation of Lincoln, emancipating the negroes."
This proclamation came into force on the first of
January, 1863, and created intense disgust in the
Southern States. It was designated a gross violation
of the usaofes of civil warfare. It was an incentive
to insurrection of the most awful kind.
All sorts of terrible proposals were brought forward
by way of retaliation. Had they been adopted they
would have been as foolish as they were fiendish.
The "black flag" was to be unfurled, and a war a
Voutrance declared. No quarter on battle-field or
anywhere else was to be given or asked. No Federal
prisoners were to be taken, all were to be massacred,
and even the wounded on the fields of battle to be
knocked on the head.
"The hand of God, did you say, Osmond?" said
Harry sadly. " O cousin, retract that sentence."
" No, Harry, I will not, I cannot. Come, my boy,
don't misunderstand me, I'm not going to desert your
cause. No, no, no. And I hope to see this cause
triumphant, and the power of the North hurled back
and crushed ; but I shall live in the hope that when the
South and North are diff'erent nations — for together
they are far too large to be one — the Confederates,
LINCOLN PROCLAIMS FREEDOM TO THE SLAVES. 255
for whom I fight, will see their way to free their
slaves."
Harry was thoughtful for a moment, then he
stretched out his hand to Osmond, who grasped it
most cordially.
" Osmond," he said, " for a few minutes I did think
that a little cloud had arisen betwixt my brave Eng-
lish cousin and me. Thank goodness it has passed and
gone, and the sky from zenith to nadir is clear once
more. Now listen, dear boy. Of late I myself have
had my doubts about the justice of slavery, and when
I have a plantation in our own dear sunny southern
land, there will not be a slave in the place. Darkies,
Osmond, there will be by the score, because I have
been reared among them, and love their droll and
innocent ways, but they shall be paid for all they do.
Is that fair?"
"It is; may God bless you, dear cousin, for that
promise! Now you and I are better friends and more
loving relatives than ever. I have always loved you as
a cousin, Harry, now you are a brother. I shall live
in the hope of visiting your plantation in that future,
which I hope is not very far distant. Then, Harry
lad, I will expect to hear you say with Cowper the poet
" I would not have a slave to till my ground,
To carry me, to fan me while I sleep
And tremble when I wake, for all the wealth
That sinews bought or sold have ever earned."
256 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
CHAPTER 11.
WHERE WAS FIGHTING JOE?
WHERE is Chancellorsville?" said Osmond to
Harry next day. "How far from here?"
" Well," laughed Harry, " you're a pretty colonel
not to have all our towns and villages engraven on
your mind."
"0, bother them!" said Os impatiently, "I'd rather
fight your foes any day than be bothered remembering
your long, and for the most part stupid names. But
Hooker's intrenched at Chancellorsville, and we're
going to fight him there, I expect."
"Grand! we'll have some fun. Oh, the village is
only eleven miles to the west of us, and it is south of
the Rapidan, which flows into the Rappahannock, you
know. But who is going against Hooker?"
" Why, you and I, Wolf, and Stonewall Jackson."
" It is good of you to put me first, and Wolf before
Stonewall. But, I say, what will Fighting Joe do?
Scrunch us all up, eh? You know he has an army of
150,000, and we have but 50,000!"
" Never mind, we're going to try.
" It is really," he added, " General Lee's desire to
crush Hooker's right, and Stonewall is going to do it."
On the second of May, accordingly, Stonewall man-
aged to get into the rear of Fighting Joe's army, while
Lee engaged the front.
WHERE WAS FIGHTING JOE? 257
It was eventide when the o-allant Stonewall came
down on the astonished Federals. They were ex-
pecting no such attack, but were quietly preparing
their supper, when the wild slogans of the Southerners
rent the air in their rear.
Osmond, with Harry not far off, led a portion of
that grand bayonet charge, one of the most terrible
battles of the whole war.
After some hours' fighting, Hooker was beaten and
driven from his lines.
Alas! though, this victory cost the South dear, for
in the dusk of the evening, while riding some distance
from his men, reconnoitring the enemy, Stonewall
Jackson saw a body of Federals coming up, and rode
quickly back to give the alarm.
He was mistaken by outposts for one of the foe,
and fired upon. No sadder thing happened in all the
war. What made it still worse was that the Federals
charged, and the fight for some time raged around
Stonewall's fallen, bleeding body. He was twice shot
while on the ground, and when at last the enemy
retired, and poor, brave Stonewall was carried in, the
doctors shook their heads, for it was evident the hero
was doomed!
Lee next turned upon Sedgwick, who threatened
him. This general had been left near Fredericks-
burg with 30,000, and finally got possession of the
heights there. Lee sent Early to get him down.
Early got him down with a vengeance, and the
( M 132 ) B,
258 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
slaughter was fearful, Sedgwick losing about 5000
men.
Well, Hooker had to recross the Rappahannock;
Stonenian, who had intended to do such great things,
ran; and Keyes, who, as I said before, was to march
upon Richmond from the Peninsula, let off a few fire-
works, and then made his feet his friends as fast as he
could lift them.
Surely then, Lee had proved himself a great general,
thus beatiusf three Federal armies which together
numbered more than 125,000 well-fed, well -clothed
men: and all this with about 60,000 Confederates.
Osmond had become very much attached to his
great general, Stonewall Jackson, and when he heard
that he was unlikely to live he was so much affected
that he shed tears.
He was allowed to see the brave and redoubtable
hero, and, quietly where he lay, Stonewall thanked
him again for having come to fight for the Southern
cause, and gave him much good advice.
"Trust for ever in the Lord, dear Colonel," were
his last words to Osmond.
Our young hero dared not trust himself to reply,
for silently down his cheeks the tears of grief were
coursing, but he took his general's hand and kissed it,
then with bent head went sadly away.
He met Harry next day.
" So poor Stonewall Jackson is dead, Harry," he
WHERE WAS FIGHTING JOE? 259
said. " I feel an aching void in my heart that it seems
impossible ever to till. I don't think I'll ever fight
with such courae^e ao^ain."
" And I, too, am sad," answered Harry, " and not a
man is there in our corps that does not feel he has
lost a personal friend, nay more, a father."
" Poor Stonewall, he will be mourned by North as
well as by South — for even our enemies respected
him — yes, Harry, and, in England also, and all through-
out the world."
" My dear Osmond," said Harry Blood worth, " there
is, I note and have often noted, one particular fault
you have in common with nearly all your countrymen."
"Only one fault, cousin? I'm sure I have fifty.
But out with it, Harry.
" 0, I mean to, I assure you. I mean to let you
have it straight. Well, the fault is this: in speaking
of Britain you always call it England. You speak of
the English army and the English navy. There is no
English, only a British, army or navy. Is it fair, I put
it to you, is it chivalrous to that country of warriors
to which you are allied, wedded, amalgamated — put
it as you choose? There may be a spice of jealousy
in it. But why need there be? Although Scotland
was the enemy of England so long, and always fought
her one to five, sometimes even one to seven Saxons,
and often whipped her, still England as England need
be jealous of no people or land on the face of the
earth. England as England is a land of chivalry and
260 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
worth, but England, side by side with Scotland — ■
Britain, in other words — is the grandest nation, bar
America, the world has ever known.
" How would you like," continued Harry, " if the
Scotch were to talk of Britain as Scotland and of the
Scottish navy and Scottish army?"
" It would sound silly."
" It might sound silly, but Scotland, pardon me,
whom England never could conquer, fell heir to Eng-
land and its crown; the Scottish people therefore have
infinitely more right to give a name to Britain than
you English have."
Osmond was silent.
" Our best generals, Osmond, dear cousin, in the
North as well as in the South, are Scotch, the next best
are Irish."
And Thomas Jefferson Jackson (Stonewall Jackson),
reader mine, was both Scotch and Irish, and, as all the
world knows, in his character he evinced the very
best qualities of both these noble peoples! Stonewall
might be called a soldier-born, for at the early age of
nineteen he was a pupil in the Military Academy at
West Point. At this college studied the immortal
Grant, brave M'Clellan, Burnside, Foster, and others.
He afterwards went to the Mexican War as lieu-
tenant. His good conduct, courage, steadiness, and
daring soon led to his promotion. He was attached to
Magruder's battery, of which — strange how things
turn out! — Fighting Joe Hooker, who, at the date of
WHERE WAS FIGHTING JOE? 261
poor Stonewall's death, commanded the Potomac army,
was the adjutant.
Hear what Magruder said of him in Mexico:
" If industry, devotion, talent, and pluck are the
highest qualities of a soldier, then is he entitled to the
distinction which their possession confers."
After Stonewall returned from Mexico he became
Professor of Natural Philosophy at Lexington.
I am not writing Stonewall's life — though some day
I may tell you all his story — so must rein up by
saying that this true hero was a true Christian in
thought, in word, and in very deed.
Apart from the death of Stonewall Jackson, probably
the event of the month was General Grant's decisive
victory at Champion's Hill.
After Grant ordered Sherman to proceed up the
Yazoo to the north of Vicksburg and to attack Haines'
Bluff from water and land, he himself took the rest
of his army south for seventy miles, and near the
Black River crossed the Mississippi. It was a stroke
of genius, for while the Confederates at Vicksburg
were all eyes and ears watching Sherman, Grant swept
up north upon them, fighting battle after battle, and
being victorious in each. He threw himself on Port
Gibson, and captured it and one thousand prisoners.
He fought the Southerners at Raymond, twenty-
one miles south of Vicksburg, his bayonet charge being
one of the prettiest on record.
He had to fight a harder tussle at Champion's Hill,
262 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
but although Pemberton, the Confederate, with his
splendid artillery, fought like a lion, he was crushed and
routed at last, and all his guns fell into Grant's hands.
It is, meanwhile, with Lee we have most to do, and
with our heroes Osmond and Harry. Nearly every
hour the two young men could spare they spent in
each other's company, and many a night by the camp
fire, or apart from the noise and bustle of the camp,
under some green tree or high up on a hill-top, did
they sit and talk while moon and stars were shining.
They had, it is needless to say, plenty to speak
about. There was Osmond's home far away in Eng-
land, Osmond's loving, gentle mother and sister — he
had portraits of each — Osmond's steady matter-of-
fact but honest father, and his sturdy brother Dick.
"Ah! we'll see them all one of these days, Harry,
when the war is over, for home to England with me
you are bound to come."
" If I'm not killed."
"We're not going to be killed, Harry. I'm deter-
mined we shall not."
" And still you expose yourself wherever you fight>
more, I think, than is necessary."
" Nonsense! Besides, dear old Stonewall, my warrior
father, taught me."
Lee's army kept increasing now, for an invasion of
Northern territory was determined on.
WHERE WAS FIGHTING JOE? 263
This was a new campaign in reality. Stuart and
his gallant, dare-devil cavalry were sent to keep
Hooker back from the fords of the Rappahannock,
and Lee sent his Generals Ewell and Longstreet along
the south bank of the river to cross the Blue Ridge
Mountains and get into the historical Shenandoah
Valley. Milroy defended, but Ewell thrashed him
soundly, and, crossing the Potomac, advanced upon
Pennsylvania.
General Hooker followed Ewell, and so by and by
Lee got his whole army marched into Northern terri-
tory and encamped at Chambersburg.
No wonder the Northerners were now at fever-heat
with terror and excitement, for even Baltimore itself
— at which city Lee would have been welcomed by at
least half the population — was threatened.
Where was Fighting Joe? Had his right hand lost
its cunning? Well, these were questions that every-
body was asking up North. Everybody had trusted
so much to Joe; he had promised so well, he had so
much fire and dash and all the other good qualities,
that when he was appointed everybody made sure
that Lee would be smashed, and that Joe would soon
be drinking wine, or whatever his favourite tipple
was, in Richmond.
But now there seemed to be no Fighting Joe ; and so
the Federals grumbled and growled as Federals will.
Meanwhile President Lincoln called for 100,000
more recruits, and soon afterwards he deposed poor
264 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
Joe, and appointed General Meade — who was said to
be sombre, sober, meditative, and modest — in his
place.
Ever hear of Gettysburg, reader? No? Well, the
town lies in the south of Pennsylvania, and has so
many roads converging on it from all directions that
it has been likened to the hub of a cart-wheel.
And it was at this village, and on the heights near
it, that one of the most important battles of this great
war was fought, July 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, 1863.
To gain those heights both Meade's and Lee's armies
had a race.
Meade won the race.
Alas for the power and the pride of the South!
Meade also won the battle.
Oh, a terrible battle it was, reader, though I dismiss
it thus curtly.
Perhaps the hero of the awful fight was Pickett —
he had once been a free lance, yea, even a filibuster,
but here he led Longstreet's splendid corps. His divi-
sion was all but annihilated. It is said that no less
than fourteen field-ofiicers were struck down in
Pickett's division, and two- thirds of his whole force!
Was there rejoicing in the North after this? Need
we answer the question?
The Federals went wild, and when news came next
to Washington that Vicksburg itself had fallen their
cup of joy was indeed full.
A TRAGEDY IN FIVE ACTS. 265
Port Hudson, too, had fallen, having capitulated to
Banks on the 2nd of July.
The Confederate iron-clad Atlanta was captured by
the Weehawken. Morgan, the great free-lance cava-
lier, was made prisoner. Fort Sumter was destroyed
by the Federals, and Morris Island given up by the
Confederates.
No wonder the Yankees believed that now or very
speedily Kichmond itself would open her gates for
their triumphal entry.
Both Osmond and Harry had fought well and
determinedly at Gettysburg, to say nothing of Wolf.
However, our hero had not been in Pickett's division,
and this may account for him and his cousin coming
scot-free from that terrible fight.
CHAPTER III
A TRAGEDY IN FIVE ACTS.
OH, I say, Harry," cried Osmond one day, " what do
you think?"
"I'm sure I couldn't guess. We haven't won an-
other battle down South, have we?"
"No; but I've had letters, from whom? Just guess."
"I can easily guess by your face. Well, I've had
letters, too, from the old plantation, and Father is well,
and Mother and sisters, to say nothing of Uncle Neile,
266 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
and Mammy, who wants us to make haste and whip
the Yankees, and come home to eat 'possum and pump-
kin pie.
"Your letters are from the Brewers?" he added
"Am I not right?"
" You are. Well, here is Wolf, who wants a run. Let
us get away from the camp. The day is bright and
clear and warm for October. Look, how lovely the trees
are taking on their autumn tints, and see, there are
the flowers still in bloom ! Harry, I could write verses
to-day, though you know our recent check at Bristol
Station, by that dare-devil Meade, has almost knocked
all the poetry and romance clean out of my system."
"Well, anyhow, Os, we stopped the rascal from
trotting on to Richmond, at Mine Run. '
They soon reached high ground, with a view, stretch-
ing out far at their feet, of woods and wilds, and rolling
waters that, under the sunshine of this bright October
day, was beautiful in the extreme.
" First, then," said Osmond, " there is a letter from
Lucy herself."
" Lucy herself ! Ha! ha!"
It was really rude of Harry to laugh, but I dare-
say he couldn't help it.
" Well," said Os, bending down to pat Wolf, who
had thrown himself at his feet, "I suppose you wouldn't
care to hear that. It is, nevertheless, the sweetest
little thing in letters, and the most innocent I ever
read."
I
A TRAGEDY IN FIVE ACTS. 267
"Yes?"
" Yes; and all filled with good advice, and interlarded
with quotations from Shakespeare, and from Holy-
Writ."
" Poor innocent ! Doesn't read much like a love
letter, I should think?"
" Well, n-no, not exactly, perhaps. But it is very —
er — motherly, and all that. She tells me I must be
sure not to get my feet damp. Oh, Harry, look at my
boots, and my ragged nether garments!"
"And look at mine," said Harry, holding up his
feet. " I got these off a deceased Fed. Of course, he
had no farther use for them."
" Well, they are very much down at the heel, Major
Bloodworth, I must admit."
" Wait till we get to Washington. But, meanwhile,
go on."
" Oh, Mrs. Brewer writes a few lines. She says
that Lucy talks about me every day of her life."
"It is nice to be you, Osmond. Well?"
"Well, then comes Captain Brewer's letter. It is
just like himself — straightforward, bluff, and jolly."
"Let me see," said Harry; "where do the letters
hail from?"
" Oh, they come, of course, like yours, straight away
from the old plantation. I think it was a good idea
giving everybody your home, Harry, as my permanent
address."
"Ah! I wish it was going to be your permanent
268 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
address, my boy, and that we were never going to lose
you."
" But," said Osmond, " the Brewers are now at
Charleston."
" What, in the old Mosquito V
■'In the same old ship, and they safely ran the
blockade not so long ago. But let the captain speak
for himself.
" ' We are safe enough for the present, dear young
friend,' he says, ' but the blockade seems to get more
and more diflficult to run every time. We have been
five times chased since you left us, and sometimes I
used to wish that your friend Kenneth was on board,
just to give them a touch of our old soda-water
bottles, as he used to call them.^ But as he wasn't on
board, we did as little fighting as we could, and just
as much running away as tlie dear old ship could stand
up to.
" ' Oh, bother the Federals anyhow, Osmond, and yet
between you and me and the binnacle, this blockade
running has made a man of me. Terribly dangerous
work it is, I must own, but — well it is extremely
lucrative; and as soon as the war is over, and you
fellows have taken Washington, and dictated terms of
peace to the Northerners in their own capital — how
will they like it, I wonder? — I mean to settle down on
shore, and have a pretty house, and a nice garden, and
a lot of horses and dogs — oh, I tell you, Os, I have it
1 The dahlgren guns were something hke a soda-water bottle in shajie.
A TRAGEDY IN FIVE ACTS. 269
all mapped out. Often and often I think of it when
lying in my bunk, especially on stormy nights, rocked
in the cradle of the deep, you know.
'"Well, now listen; I sometimes think of something
else. I think that if, while running a blockade, a
Federal shell were to burst inside our poor ship, what
would become of us. I care little for my owm life,
young friend. We've all got to die, you know, and
the difference of a few years isn't much. But, though
I'm a sailor, I cannot bear the thought of my wife and
Lucy perishing before my eyes.
'"So, Osmond, I have made up my mind now to
leave them at Charleston till the war is over, though
they would rather be out farther west, in the cool
green country, I know, and I could run out to see them
after every cruise. However, I must bow to fate and
fortune, and I fear Charleston must be the home of my
darlings for a time."
At this moment, Harry clapped his hand on Osmond's
shoulder.
" Look here, Os."
" I'm looking."
" Then listen, as well as look. Charleston is not
going to be the home of Captain Brewer's darlings.
Not a bit of it."
Osmond was smiling now. Something told him
what his cousin Harry was going to propose.
" Write straight away to Charleston, and tell your
dear friend Brewer that he is to take his wife and
270 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
Lucy to Brooklands, our old plantation, that he will
there get the very heartiest of welcomes, and that
there his darlings must make their home till the wa,r
is over. I'll write to Mother at once."
"It is awfully good of you, Harry!"
" Not a bit, man."
"And I'll write at once, too, to the Brewers. I
sincerely hope my letter will reach before the old man
goes upon another trip.
"'Well,' the letter continues, 'I haven't very much
more to tell you. But one thing I must mention. My
wife and Lucy, and also myself, got tickets in the
middle of June last for a grand water picnic. It was
going to be just about the biggest thing out.
" ' We were going outside in two nice comfortable
steamboats in the wake of the Atlanta ironclad. And
where was the Atlanta going? you naturally ask.
Why, she was going to whip the Federal turret-ship
Weehawken.
"'We — that is the brave Atlanta — were going to
whip her all to pieces, and either sink her down, down
to Davy Jones' locker, or take her in tow into the
harbour. The captain of the Atlanta assured us he
would, and we had the utmost confidence in his word.
" ' We were all so happy and so merry, you wouldn't
believe! Nothing would suit Lucy, who was dressed
quite sailor-fashion and looked beautiful, but to get
right up into the rigging, with her glasses, to see the
turret-ship sunk,
A TRAGEDY IN FIVE ACTS. 271
"'We were all happy, and hob-nobbed with each
other, and the popping of champagne corks was for
all the world like platoon-firing.
" ' It was very, very early in the morning, but a
lovely day.
" ' Just outside the Sound the duel began. Alas !
and again alas! in less than half an hour after the
battle commenced the show was over. It had been a
tragedy in five acts, with a shot from the turret-ship
ending each.
"'Act I. Top of Atlanta's pilot-house blown off.
" ' Act II. The shutter of a port-hole smashed, and the crew
badly scared.
" ' Act III. Another big shot. One man of Atlanta killed and
fifteen wounded.
" ' Act IV. The Atlanta run on shore. Wild cheering from
the Monitor's crew, which, owing to their
being confined under iron hatches, sounds
like the humming of bees under an old tin
pail. Tiring continued.
" ' Act Y. The biggest shot of all. The A tlanta's ribs smashed.
Lowering of the Confederate flag.
"'Curtain.'"
" Well," said Harry, when Osmond had concluded
this letter, " your friend Captain Brewer doesn't seem
to take on much about it."
"Not he. Captain Brewer always was a philo-
sopher, I believe, and isn't the man to let fate crow
over him. But now comes the last letter of the batch,
and it is from Kenneth Reid."
" Well, I'm sure you are pleased."
272 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
" Yes, indeed I am, for you know I imagined he was
dead long, long ago; dead and buried in the bottom of
the deep blue sea; that the mermaids had sung his
dirge, and — "
" Come off," cried Harry. " I don't want poetry, but
fact."
" Yes, cousin, fact is a fine thing. Well, here goes.
I shan't read it all, because it is too long, but just
a few bits."
" Fire away, then. Can't you see I'm all impatience?
You are like the Highland piper, Osmond, who took
longer to tune his pipes than to play his tune."
" ' I.S.A. Alabama,
" ' Off the Cape of Good Hope, August, 1863.
" ' My dear old Osmond, — I owe you ten thousand
apologies for not writing you before. I'm not going
to make one, however, because if you are still alive
and not cut up into mince -meat long ago by the
Feds, I know you will forgive me as soon as you
look upon this scrawl of mine.
'"My word, Os, what times we've been having!
I've been just too busy for anything, lad, and where on
earth or ocean is it we haven't been, flashing meteor-
like across the waves, and sweeping the commerce of
the Northerns off the seas.
" ' Os, lad, when I was a boy going back and fore
to school in Liverpool, I dearly loved sea-yarns, but
stories of pirates best of all. Little did I imagine
A TRAGEDY IN FIVE ACTS, 273
that I myself would one day turn pirate or corsair;
but that is just what we are, and what I am.
" ' But let me tell you how I came to join her. First
and foremost then, I was stationed at Morris Island.
I didn't half like it. They sent me to Fort Sumter.
This was worse and worse, or, as the Scotch say,
'waur upon waur's back'. The commandant, however,
of this fort was a very jolly fellow, and so was one or
two of the other officers.
"'But, bless my eyes! being in Fort Sumter was
like being in prison and in bondage, so I told the com-
mandant I was going to do what the bad little school-
boy did — run away whenever the fine weather came.
" ' He laughed, but I told him I would. It was ter-
rible to be in the midst of the sea, yet never feel the
motion; to see ships sail past us day by day, yet never
to tread their decks; to hear by day and by night the
scream of the sea-gulls singing 'free-free-fre-er'; to
feel the glorious breeze blow in my face, yet not be
able to hoist a sail. And I, too, so fond of the sea!
Couldn't I say with Byron:
" ' And I have loved thee, Ocean ! and my joy
Of youthful sports was on thy breast to be
Borne, like thy bubbles, onward : from a boy
I wantoned with thy breakers'?
That was at Birkenhead, Osmond, or New Brighton,
where I did my wantoning with the breakers
" ' And trusted to thy billows, far and near,
And laid my hand upon thy mane — as I do here.'
(M132) S
274 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTT.
" ' No, as I couldn't do there. There was plenty of
the ocean's mane about Fort Sumter when it blew
about half a gale from the east, but you couldn't lay
your hand on it, though it sometimes leapt up and cut
you square in the teeth.
" ' Hark ! It is the rattle of the drum beating to
quarters. There is a ship in sight, my man tells me,
and it may be a foe! I'll finish this letter when I
come below.
" ' Dr. L — has just rushed past my cabin, looking
awfully solemn and business-like. He is going to
spread out his surgical tools and things in case he
may have a leg to lop off. Pirr-rr-rr-rr ! How that
old drum does rattle, to be sure, and I hear the manly
voice of Captain Semmes shouting orders from the
quarter-deck.
"'I'm down below again. It was a false alarm.
Nine out of every ten of our alarms are false ones.
The vessel that hove in sight this time was the British
gun-boat Penguin, and we hoisted flags and kissed
hands to each other as we steamed past.
"'Let me see, where was I? Oh, yes! When the
drum began to beat I was at Fort Sumter getting a
green sea in the teeth.
"'Well, one day a stern-looking but kindly -faced
sailor came off from Charleston to dine with our com-
mandant.
" ' We spent a very pleasant evening, and about nine
A TRAGEDY IN FIVE ACTS. 275
o'clock, while we all sat smoking under the light of
the newly-risen moon, the commandant pointed to me.
" ' See that young fellow there?' he said.
"'Umph!' grunted Semmes.
" ' There was no need for a longer reply, for I was
as plain as a door-knocker.
" ' Well, he's the best shot in the fort.'
" ' Glad to hear it I hope you like the fort, Mr.
Reid?'
"'Like it, sir?' I answered. 'Indeed, indeed, it is
all the other way. I hate it. I want more excite-
ment. My commandant himself says I am a good
shot, but, oh. Captain Semmes, what is the use of being
a good shot if you have nothing to fire at of tener than
once in a blue moon? I'm a sailor at heart, sir, and I
want to feel the deck move under me. The deck of
this old fort never does move.'
" ' Semmes laughed heartily at this explosion, as he
called it.
" ' Bravo, young fellow ! ' he said. ' You're an Eng-
lishman out and out, and I believe a plucky one too.
Well, I'll steal you from your commandant, if he'll let
me.'
"'I suppose I must,' said the latter; and I flatter
myself he sighed.
" ' I'm going across to Europe before long to take
charge of a little craft there. Mr. Reid, will you come
along? I'll show you fun, and fighting too.'
'"Captain Semmes,' I cried, jumping up, 'you have
276 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
made me the happiest young fellow on this side the
Atlantic'
" ' And nothing would suit me but to shake hands
right off the reel with my new captain. And that was
my first interview with Semmes, Osmond.
" ' Now read on if you're not tired.' "
CHAPTER IV.
WILD LIFE AT SEA — THE "ALABAMA".
I WAS now to be third lieutenant of the Alabama,'
continued Kenn's letter, 'though till I left Charles-
ton I had no idea what my ship was to be.
" ' But just before I started, whom do you think I
met on the street? Ah! I know you have guessed
already. Well, there she was all by herself, a perfect
little — not so very little now though — self-possessed
lady, looking neither to the right hand nor to the left.
How beautiful she was! Don't be jealous, Osmond.
Pretty and clever though she be, I would not give
Katie Bloodworth's little finger for the whole of her.
"'I just went quietly up behind and said 'Lucy!'
She started, then turned quickly round, and when she
saw me she positively crimsoned with pleasure. But
while she welcomed me with open — ahem! — well a
hearty and modest little hand-shake, I could see a
I
WILD LIFE AT SEA — THE "ALABAMA". 277
kind of far-away look steal into her eyes, and presently
she said:
" ' Where is dear old Wolf and Osmond?'
" ' I told her all I knew, and we walked home to-
gether to her father's hotel. How delighted both
Captain and Mrs. Brewer were to see me! We dined
together, and we talked together till midnight, and
then I said farewell,
" ' God bless yon, boy!' were the captain's last kindly
words. 'Be sure to write us and let us know where
you are.'
" ' Next day I started, and in a week's time Captain
Semmes and I were crossing the broad Atlantic.
"'Now about the Alabama. Just fancy! she was
built by the Lairds of Liverpool, my own dear old
shippy home, or at Birkenhead, and it is much the
same.
" ' Captain Semmes wasn't a bit communicative till
we had nearly reached across.
"'Well, we weren't going to join the Alabama at
Liverpool, of course. She was there though when I
arrived, and I had a look over her. The name of our
immortal craft then was merely The 290, and when I
saw her first I did not think a very great deal of her.
She was rather small to please me, and then, of course,
she was all in a litter, as ships are in harbour, you know.
" ' Well, I had not announced to my parents that I
was going to pay them a visit. I just walked quietly
in one day. I thought my dear mother would have
278 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
fainted, and I do believe she would have, had not a
flood of tears come to her relief.
" ' I don't think I ever appreciated my dear parents'
love fully before, Osmond. But at the end of a week
I had to tear myself away again.
" ' I wasn't going to leave England, however, till I
had paid a visit to your dear old home at Mirfield. I
wrote to Eva and told her I was coming, and your
brother Dick — what a giant he is, Osmond! — drove to
the station to meet me. I like him very much, though
he is altogether your antithesis. So is your sturdy
Yorkshire father. But you are like your mother, and
that sweetest of sisters, Eva. She has promised to be
my sister too, so that is all arranged.
" ' But your people really didn't know how much to
make of me, and I had to repeat all the story of our
wild adventures over and over again, and tell them all
about you and Wolf.
" ' Eva was shedding downright sisterly tears when
she bade me good-bye.
"'Another sad parting, you see! In heaven, they
tell me, there will be no more partings. Ah ! that will
indeed be joyful.
" ' Well, The 290 steamed away. (I only wonder the
British government allowed her to leave.) The 290
steamed away, and we (Captain Semmes and myself)
followed her in another ship. So did one other vessel,
and we all forgathered at Terceira.^ The other vessel
^An island in the Atlantic, one of the Azores,
WILD LIFE AT SEA — THE "ALABMIA". 279
contained her armament, and we soon had the guns on
board.
" 'A few days after we had steamed away from port
Captain Semmes appeared on the quarter-deck in the
full uniform of a navy captain of the Confederate
States of America, and lashed to his sword.
" ' With all due decorum and respect the British flag
was hauled down, and in its place was unfurled the
Confederate ensign. Captain Semmes now, in a short
speech to his assembled officers and men, declared the
vessel to be the Alabavia, and our mission to sink, to
burn, or bond every merchant ship belonging to the
Northern States that we could sight and come up
with. Guns now thundered forth a salute, and our
men shook the ship with a wild and thoroughly British
cheer.
" ' After this Captain Semmes shook hands with his
officers all round, and several of us dined with him that
night.
"' We were all very jolly, but we officers being every
one of us British, were not prepared for a proposal our
Captain made after dinner.
"'Gentlemen,' he said, 'I'm going to take you here,
there, and everywhere all over the world. Our very
safety will lie in our being ubiquitous. Our motto
must be a double one, Ubique et nusquam, — Every-
where, yet Nowhere. We shall be everywhere when
not wanted, but nowhere if we are likely to be caught
and blown sky-high by a Federal craft double our own
280 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
size. At the same time, if we meet a man-o'-war of
our own tonnage, or even half as big again, wliy, I'm
going to fight; and I think I can rely on the trusty
hearts that surround my little table to-night.'
"' Hurrah!' cried my messmates. 'You can. Captain
Semmes, you can.'
"'But now,' continued the captain, looking a little
more grave, ' I have one thing to propose, and that is
this: Let us put wine and spirits on one side entirely
while cruising. Let us never touch, taste, or handle
any stimulant that is not prescribed by our worthy
surgeon there. At sea we shall be always in danger
of meeting Federal cruisers, for, depend upon it, when
they hear of our doings — and with these doings the
world shall ring — they will do their very utmost to
capture, and probably hang us. You smile, officers;
but I tell you the Feds are capable of any atrocity in
creation. Let them never say, anyhow, we are wine-
bibbers; and if we never drink while at sea we shall
always be clear-headed and in fighting trim, even
should the enemy heave in sight just after dinner.
Gentlemen, I have made my poor little speech.'
"'Captain Semmes and messmates,' said the first
lieutenant, ' I for one agree to j^our proposal.'
"'AndL' 'AndL'
"'There wasn't a dissentient voice around the table.
'''The Alabama therefore is virtually a teetotal ship.
'"My dear old Oswald, I'm not going to pose as a
poet, I can assure you, unless it be in borrowed plumes,
WILD LIFE AT SEA — THE "ALABAMA", 281
but T can assure you, lad, when I found our ship
bounding o'er the waves like a thing of life, with the
glad sea sparkling around us in the bright autumnal
sunshine, our decks as white as ivory, our guns like
solid jet, our brasswork like burnished gold, and every
snow-white rope coiled and in its place, the words of
Byron's spirited and beautiful poem would keep crowd-
ing in my mind: —
'"O'er the glad waters of the dark bhie sea,
Our thoughts as boundless and our souls as free,
Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam,
Survey our empire, and behold our home !
These are our realms, no limit to their sway —
Our flag the sceptre all who meet obey.'
"' Yes, Osmond, and now the world was all before us
where to choose. And I for one was just as jolly as
a nigger boy in a sugar hogshead, or old Uncle Neile
eating 'possum and pumpkin pie. Bless his old black
face! Don't I long to see it once again, and Mammy's
too.
'"Well, lad, I don't think our brave sailors missed
their grog at all after a day or two, and I am sure
their yarns were just as pithy and the songs they sung
as heartfelt, for I used to listen to them after sunset
around the fo'c'sle head.
" But you know they had plenty of good tea, coffee,
and tobacco. And we should not fall short of either;
Captain Semmes would see to that.
'"Hark! that shout from the masthead!
282 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
"'Sail 0—0!'
"'Where away?' cries the officer of the watch.
"' What do we make of her? Why, a Northerner, Os.
It is the 5th of September, and a never-to-be-forgotten
day.
"' The captain himself comes up, and it hardly needs
the rattle of the drum to bring us all to quarters.
'" Yes, a Federal. We fire a blank shot, but she
keeps on.
" ' She walks the waters like a thing of life,
And seems to dare the elements to strife.'
"'Ah! we soon alter all that. A round shot goes
tearing through her rigging, and in five minutes or
less she has hauled her fore-yard aback, and soon we
are alongside,
" ' The first lieutenant's boat is lowered, and away
she darts across the water, and ere long is back, with
the skipper in the stern,
"'She is a prize! She is condemned! She will be
burned! It is Semmes himself who gives the order,
with a nod of apology to the skipper. He, however,
is taking it very coolly, and is smoking a very large
cigar.
" ' The crew and officers of the doomed ship are taken
on board of us, with their bags and valuables. Then
we do a little private looting under the rose, and by
and by rolling smoke and flames arise from the
captive, masts soon fall hissing into the sea, and down
WILD LIFE AT SEA — THE "ALABAIWA". 283
sinks her blackened hull with a plunge that can be
heard on the Alabama's decks, though we are nearly
a mile away.
' * The captured officers are admitted on parole, the
crew is made as comfortable as possible; but our own
safety demands certain restrictions.
"'Dear Osmond, that is our method, and in two
months' time we had made no fewer than twenty-one
captures !
"'From every vessel taken we brought away the
chronometer, just as hunters bring back with them
the tail of the poor fox that has been broken up by
the hounds.
" ' I am writing this off the Cape, Osmond, and at
this moment Captain Semmes has in his cabin sixty-
and-five foxes' tails; no, no, I mean chronometers.
" ' When I meet you next, Osmond, lad, I'll tell you
all our adventures, many of which you will find
romantic enough to please even you. For, mind you,
ladies both young and charming are often among our
prisoners, and have had to make quite long voyages
with us, and some of our fellows have fallen in
love.
" ' To ladies Captain Semmes is extremely chivalrous
and polite, and we officers have often given them and
the children the use of our cabins, while awnings have
been spread expressly for their comfort. But at first
when they come on board they look upon us as pirates
or cannibals. A day or two alters all that, and then
284 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
the Alabama is like a ship off for a picnic at sea; the
children playing about the decks, riding on the guns,
and having grand games of romps with the men on
board.
" ' Sometimes the ladies have pets, a parrot, a dog, or
even a cat, and these are treated, like themselves, with
the greatest courtesy. A lady, whom with others we
landed at Cape Town only the other day told me that
her adventure was one she wouldn't have missed for
anything, and she would ever remember the kindness
she had experienced on board the Alabama.
" ' We gave the Cape of Good Hope people a treat
one day not long ago. We had captured a I'ederal
not far off the shore, and we burned her that night
just outside the three-mile limit. It had got whispered
around that we were going to do so, and the hills were
crowded with sight-seers.
" ' Our life at Cape Town and Simon's Town, in the
charming and romantic bay of that name, has been
quite idyllic.
" ' The little Georgia and Florida have also been
anchored there, and the three of us formed quite a
dashing little fleet.
" ' Had we met the big Vanderbilt, who is in search
of us, it would indeed have been a bad day for her.
But single-handed we shall give her a wide berth.
" ' The officers of the navy ships here at Simon's
Town are exceedingly good to us, and many a long
drive and shooting expedition have we had together
A DANGEROUS UNDERTAKING. 285
among the gorgeous mountains that spread in crimson
and purple glory 'twixt there and Cape Town.
'"Good-bye, dear lad, my watch has just been called.' '
CHAPTER V.
A DANGEROUS UNDERTAKING.
HOW is it all going to end? Was that what you
said. Colonel Lloyds"
It was Captain Trouville who spoke. A man of
forty. An American by birth and a Southerner, a
handsome, daring, dark-haired officer who had lately
joined Osmond's command. Trouville was French by
extraction, with a dash of Scotch blood and a suspicion
of Spanish. A strange mixture of races, you may say.
True, and yet although great families in Britain put
their faith in old stock, I am not sure but that a little
dash of foreign blood does good. Is it not its inter-
mixture of nationalities that has made America what
it is, and Americans what they are?
When Osmond put the question, he with his cousin
Harry and this brave and handsome soldier of fortune
were lying on rugs close to the camp-fire sipping their
coffee. Trouville was rolling cigarette after cigarette,
and these disappeared one by one about two minutes
after he put them to his lips.
" Well," he added, " that is a question nobody could
286 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
answer just straight away. I myself, Colonel, keep
on fighting, you know, and leave thinking alone. I
guess it" I was general now I'd have to light and think
too. Thank goodness I ain't. I don't take any respon-
sibility, I don't, except just to see that my sword is
sharp and my revolvers clean. Well, I've fought
pretty much all over the universal earth, and fighting
has become a kind of second nature to me. Why, sir,
if an expedition was started to sail off to the planet
Mars to conquer that bit of a world I'd join to-morrow.
It would be a change, and I reckon we'd make the
Marites sit up. But about this war — and it is the
biggest thing by chalks ever I've been in — I don't
know for certain how it's going to end, any more than
this honest dog of yours, Colonel. 'Tween you and
me and the moon, though, I shouldn't wonder if we
get licked."
"Never!" cried Harry impetuously. "Never, while
there is a man left to wield a sword or bayonet in the
Southern States, shall we yield or rejoin ourselves to
the accursed North. Even were our armies defeated,
routed at every point of the compass, broken and dis-
integrated, for ten long years, ay, for a score, if need
should be, we'd carry on a guerrilla war against our
foes — a war so bitter, so harassing, that in time the
Feds would submit to separation, and the star of
Liberty should shine o'er all our darling native land."
"Well spoken. Major," said Trouville quietly; "but
spoken, pardon me, like a young man."
A DANGEROUS UNDERTAKING. 287
" I can't help being young."
Trouville held out his hand, which Harry took half-
reluctantly.
" Glory in it, sir. Glory in your youth, but never
deny that if a man walks through life with his eyes
open till he verges on forty, he gains experience, and
can afford to laugh at the will o' the wisp he used to
chase at twenty, and took for solid reality. A man
of my age. Major, who has fought everywhere, is going
to keep his eye on the balance when honour and glory
is put in the scale just to see how much they really
weigh. Again, a man at my age knows when he is
beaten, and takes it easy, and he doesn't hesitate to
accord honour to whom honour is due, even if it has
been gained by a foe.
"Now, friends, when last year closed things were
looking uncommonly bright for our cause. There
wasn't a Federal general we hadn't whipped, some of
them over and over again. But ah! boys, haven't the
tables been turned, or got twisted somehow? Just
remember, we have been worsted by Meade. Just
remember that Vicksburg and Port Hudson have been
taken, that Grant has whipped us at Chattanooga —
Jeff Davis himself has admitted that — ah ! boys, that is
a serious blow for the Confederacy, the thin end of
the wedge that may split us up. The two chief towns
in Mississippi and Arkansas the Feds have a firm
hold of, also of Tennessee and Louisiana. The great
father of waters, too, the Mississippi River, is theirs
288 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
from source to sea. We are beaten, boys, beaten on
land, beaten upon the ocean wave. And, mind you,
I have fought on both. And in February — it is now
the end of March (1864) — we find that Lincoln has
called for a new and terrible army of 500,000. Doesn't
that mean business, boys?"
" What about the battle of Olustee in Florida ? " said
Osmond laughing.
" Ah ! yes, the Federals got left there, and your old
friend Beauregard, marching straight from Charleston,
just whipped them prettily; but, ah! that is but a drop
in the great bucket, lads, and I tell you this, if the
Confederacy is to be saved, we've got to have more
luck, and do more furious fighting than ever we've
done before."
" I half believe," said Harry, somewhat haughtily
and huffily, "that you j^ourself, Captain Trouville,
have leanings towards the Federals."
Trouville quietly rolled another cigarette and lit it
before he answered.
" Fifteen years ago, Major, had any brother officer
made such a remark to me I should not have been
content till I had wiped it out in blood. To-day I am
older, wiser, but you may one day find that you are
mistaken ; then, as you are a good-hearted though
hot-headed lad, you'll be sorry."
Trouville had got up. He stooped down to pat the
dog, then bowing to Osmond, walked quietly away
into the outer o-loom of the niuht.
CAPTAIN TROUVILLE TURNS UPON HARRY, AND RF.ADS HIM A LESSON.
A DANGEROUS UNDERTAKING. 289
" I think you were wrong, Harry," said Osmond.
" Well, perhaps you're right. I feel rather sorry
now," said Harry. " I shall apologize when I see him
again."
"Alas!" said Osmond sorrowfully, "that may never
be. In a war like this one knows not what a day or
an hour may bring forth."
I am of opinion that when Lincoln appointed General
Grant commander-in-chief of all the forces of the
United States, which he did in the month of March,
1864, he had placed the right man in the right place
at last.
Henceforth and to the bitter end it would be Grant
and Lee — two of the greatest generals that the world
has ever seen. Grant versus Lee. Who shall win?
I should be sorry at present to even seem to give
either name the preference.
Well, Grant had made up his mind now to march
forth and cross swords with this truly great warrior,
who never had been beaten without inflicting greater
losses than he received, and from whom so many noted
Northern generals had fled in wild disorder. The
warrior was now on the Southern side of the river
Rapidan with his splendid army of nearly 80,000 sol-
diers. War-worn, weary, ragged, and not over-well
fed were they, yet the blood of the south leapt in every
vein, and in their hearts a deadly hatred of the North
and a determination such as the Scots had at the Held
( M 132 ) I
290 FOR LIIE AND LIBERTY.
of Bannockburn to " do or die ". But think of Lee's
danger and the terrible odds against which he would
have to fight. For on the opposite bank of the Rapidan
was Meade, whom he had already checked in his mad
rush on to Richmond. And Meade's army consisted
of no less than 95,000 real soldiers, good and true,
not raw recruits, but men that had fought, many of
them at all events, from the very commencement of
the great struggle.
Behind Lee was the " Wilderness ", a tangled forest
— a region of worn-out tobacco fields, covered with
scraggy oaks, sassafras, hazel bushes, and weird-look-
ing pines, the whole intersected with narrow roads
and deep ravines.
It was towards this wilderness to do battle with
Lee, with whom he had not yet crossed swords, that
Grant was advancing.
All this was well known to Lee, but no fear, no
doubt, was in his mind. Strategy, he knew, was half
success, and he determined that though he might be
outnumbered, he should not be outgeneralled or out-
manoeuvred.
That Captain Trouville was grievously hurt at the
innuendo thrown at him by hot-headed young Harry
Bloodworth had been evident enough. But it was
not on this account that the captain had volunteered
his services for outpost duty in the Wilderness. He
simply liked such duty, and considered himself — as
A DANGEROUS UNDERTAKING, 291
indeed he was — eminently fitted for it. So for a
whole week neither Harry nor Osmond saw anything
of him.
Meanwhile Osmond himself had volunteered for ser-
vice of quite a difterent and far more dangerous char-
acter. Lee required a trustworthy and reliable man
to reconnoitre. Unusual stir and bustle had been ob-
served in the camp of the enemy for some days. The
question Lee wanted to solve was this: Had Grant
crossed the Rapidan, or was he expected ? The general
had asked Osmond to recommend him a man.
"He must return to me, if not slain, within two
days," said General Lee.
Then the thought had at once occurred to Osmond
to undertake the duty himself. Here was a chance of
relief, and a romantic one too, from the dull monotony
of camp life.
" General Lee," he said boldly, " I will go on this
reconnoitring expedition."
" Do you know that you will be shot as a spy if
you are discovered. Besides, I am unwilling to risk
the life of so valuable an officer as you, Colonel
Lloyd."
But Osmond was bent on the adventure. He quickly
formed his plans, and at last General Lee consented.
Desertions to the enemy's forces were of everyday
occurrence, sad to say. The men who so deserted
were perhaps Federals at heart, or they were traitors.
At all events, in Meade's army they saw the prospect
292 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
of good food and better clothing, with a better chance
of life perhaps, and far fewer hardships.
Osmond laid his plans well. As he bade good-bye
to Harry late one night in early May he patted his
faithful dog.
"Take the utmost care of him, Harry. Be a good
dog, Wolf."
These were his last words. Then he passed out
alone, and made the best of his way to the river. He
exchanged signs and words with the sentries by the
banks, then plunged quietly into the stream.
Osmond was a strong swimmer, and there were the
lights of the camp fires on the other side to guide him.
By arrangement, his own sentries shouted and fired
at him, the bullets of course going very wide of the
mark. But they put those on Meade's side on the qui
vive, and presently they assisted in dragging from the
river a very wretched-looking figure indeed.
It was Osmond — Osmond in disguise — he was bare-
footed, bare-headed, and in rags, and shivering too, or
pretending to shiver.
He was dragged rather unceremoniously towards
the fire-light, and presently brought before the officer
on duty, who was writing in his tent. On looking up
he eyed Osmond for a few moments rather haughtily
and suspiciously.
" Who or what are you ? " he said.
" I'll tell you what I am first," replied Osmond,
quietly returning the other's gaze. " I'm precious cold
I
A DANGEROUS UNDERTAKING. 293
and precious liunoiy. If you have any kindness in
your soul you'll let me exchange these rebel rags for
something warmer by the camp fire yonder. When
I've had a bit to eat I'll tell you all you want to know,
and more."
"You are a bold young fellow," said the officer.
"Take him away," he added, turning to a couple of
soldiers who stood near his chair. " The poor devil's
teeth are chattering. He is dying of cold. See to his
comforts. He is either a deserter or a spy; bring him
back in an hour."
This order was obeyed, and when he again pre-
sented himself and stood at attention before the Federal
officer he looked a very different being.
" Now then, perhaps you'll be good enough to tell
me something of your antecedents and the circum-
stances to which we are indebted for your visit."
Just then, and before Osmond could speak, a ser-
geant stepped forward.
" We found this broken bracelet attached to one of
his wrists, sir," he said.
The bracelet was portion of a handcuff.
"Ah! young fellow, you've been a prisoner among
theRebs? Why?"
" Because I tried this game before."
"Desertion? Eh?"
"You may call it so; I don't. I am no rebel."
Osmond held up his head with pride and pretended
anger as he continued. " I am an Englishman, I have
294 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
been forced into the rebel army and compelled to fight
against my will."
" And now you want to fight on our side a bit? Eh ?"
"No, sir, I have no desire to do that either, but I
don't mind, if it will result in my being sent home, or
even as far as New York, where I have friends."
" Stay," said the officer, " can you give me any proof
of what you say? For aught we know, you may be
a spy."
" I can show you a letter from my sister. We belong
to a good family; but I ran away from home — like a
fool!"
As he spoke, he clapped his hand to his breast.
Then with an appearance of chagrin he turned quickly
to his escort.
" The letter is in the pocket of those rebel rags of
mine. I hope you haven't destroyed them."
The sergeant laughed. " We didn't keep them for
their value," he said, "but they were too wet to burn.
Here is the letter; I kept that. It's a bit damp, sir,"
he added, placing it on the little tent table.
It was Eva's letter. It had been addressed simply
to Mr. Osmond Lloyd, to the care of Mrs. Bloodworth,
&c. Before leaving his own side, however, Osmond
had changed the word Lloyd into Flogden.
The letter itself was one that nobody could have
forged. Truth and innocence breathed in every word
of it. The officer's eyes were really moist with tears
as he handed it back.
I
CONDEMNED TO DIE. 295
" I cannot help believing you after that," he said.
" What a gentle, loving sister you have! You shall
see General Hancock on parade to-morrow, and all
that is possible will be done for you. We shall expect
you to fight with us, however, for some time. Good
night!"
" Good night, sir! A thousand thanks!"
And Osmond went off with his new comrades.
But the real ordeal had yet to come.
CHAPTER VI
CONDEMNED TO DIE.
IT was late next afternoon before Osmond was
brought before General Hancock, who stood in
front of his tent. All the day he had been left pretty
free, although in reality watched, and many were the
observations he had made and stowed away in the
storehouse of his memory. For late that very night
he meant to make his escape, and swim back once
more to his own camp.
General Hancock was too busy to waste much time
over a deserter.
"You're quite sure. Captain Brown, he is a deserter?
Well, that is enough," he said.
Then he put several questions to Osmond as to the
strength of Lee's army, to all of which our hero
296 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
answered truthfully, for well he knew that Hancock
had long ere now obtained the information from other
sources.
" Take him away," said the General.
Osmond was congratulating himself inwardly on the
success of his adventure.
He saluted General Hancock, and was just turning
round, when, to his horror, he saw Wolf in the distance.
Next moment, the faithful animal was barking and
leaping around his master in the wildest exuberance
of delight.
Osmond had turned deadly pale. The game, he
feared, was lost. He was certain of this when, next
moment, an officer stepped up to the general.
" Pardon me," he said, " this man is a spy."
"A spy!"
" Yes, sir. I felt half sure before. Now, I am
cocksure. He fought against us, he and his dog, at
Malvern Hill, and in two battles before that."
"His name, then?"
" Lieu tenant- colonel Osmond Lloyd."
"Is this true, sir?"
" True in every word."
" And I am truly sorry for one so young. But duty
is duty. You die at sunrise."
" I am ready. And the dog, sir ? "
" Yes, the dog. He must die too."
" General Hancock," said Osmond, and his voice was
trembling somewhat now, " I have one favour to ask
CONDEMNED TO DIE. 297
nay, even two. I should like to write home, and like
that my dog and I should be together till sunset and
— together die."
''Granted!" And the General turned away.
Poor Osmond! He had been brave enough while
still in the presence of the general, and surrounded
by his foes, and not even till the shades of night
began to fall around the tent in which he was
ironed and confined, did his heart begin to sink.
He had written his last letters home, and hard in-
deed had he striven to make them consolatory, even
cheerful. It was to his dear mother he had written
principally, with notes for his father, for Dick, and
Eva. That loving and gentle sister of his! He felt
that he had never loved her before as he now did.
But he told them all that he was going to die the
death of a soldier, and prayed them for his sake not to
mourn too much; the thought, he said, that they would
obey this last request of his was all he had, save the
sweet consolations of religion, to keep him from despair.
He begged their forgiveness for having ever left home,
and concluded by assuring them that in a few short
years, — that would not seem long when they had passed
away, — they would all meet in the land where there
would be no sorrow, no pain, and where God the Lord
would wipe the tears from every eye. He wrote to
Harry a long, kind letter, and to General Lee a brave
one. His mission had failed. No one was to blame.
298 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
He — Osmond — had taken all the risk, and he now
gladly took the consequences. This letter ended with
the words:
" God save the Southern States ".
But to Lucy Brewer he wrote a letter of a different
character. A long one it was, and as he wrote it, all
the romance and poetry of his character seemed to
come uppermost, and I think, nay, I am sure, this
letter was sadly blurred with his falling tears. What
did he say in it? Oh, I could not tell you all, but
he told her only the truth. Since that night when
she and he had played the balcony scene from
Romeo and Juliet in the dear old ship Mosquito, he
had loved her. She was his ideal of all that was best
and most beautiful in her sex. It was no boy's love
his, and his dream had been ever since that night that
she would have — He broke off here and signed the
letter hurriedly.
Then a man entered and took the letters away.
So fell night and darkness, and to-morrow he must die.
Oh what a comfort it was, however, even in this
hour of sorrow and grief, to have honest Wolf by his
side! Poor fellow! Little did he know that his very
faithfulness was soon to cost his master his life, and
that he too would be shot at sunrise.
Osmond was confined in a tent that stood on high
ground, not far from the river, but away from his
camp some little distance. The night had closed in
CONDEMNED TO DIE. 299
dark and starless, and the wind ever and anon shook
the tent, causing the canvas to flap.
An armed sentry paced round it every two or three
minutes, and sometimes looked in. But the prisoner
was so heavily ironed that chance of escape was im-
possible. In two hours' time that sentry was relieved
by another, and shortly after, Osmond fell asleep, his
head pillowed on the dog's body, as many and many a
night he had slept before in the happy times for ever
gone.
It must have been long past midnight. Osmond
was dreaming that he was back at Mirfields in the old
library, with Eva by his side and Wolf by his feet,
when suddenly the dog growled low and ominously.
"Hist! hist!" said a voice. "Keep the dog quiet."
Osmond was for a few moments utterly bewildered.
Presently, however, a light was flashed along the iron
bar to which he was made fast. A minute more, and
both Wolf and he were free.
"Lead the dog. Grasp this cord, and I will lead
you. Follow silently."
He and his tall guide, who loomed before him like
a spectre, were soon threading the intricacies of a
dark forest. On and on they went for a whole hour,
Osmond never daring to break the silence.
At last they reached a bend in the river. Here he
could dimly see a skiff with a man in it.
"Good-bye!" said his guide. " You are safe. I must
hurry back before I am missed."
300 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
"God bless you, sir! But whom shall I thank?
Your name, that I may breathe it in my prayers?"
But the tall figure glided from his side without a
word.
Wolf and he now entered the little boat, and in ten
minutes' time were safely landed. But not until he
and his boatman reached the Confederate camp did
he know that the latter was none other than Captain
Trouville.
"How shall I thank you, Trouville?"
They were now at Osmond's tent. It was well lit
up, and Harry was waiting.
"Trouville," he said, as he welcomed Osmond and
Wolf with open arms, " whom I so grossly insulted,
did all this. He crossed the river and penetrated the
camp to our Cousin Tom's tent, and— and you know
the rest."
"And was the tall form who set us free really my
dear Cousin Tom?"
" No other. Sit down and eat."
Strangfe, indeed, are the changes that a few hours
can bring about in times of war.
But never before had Osmond or Harry enjoyed
so hearty and happy a midnight supper. Trouville,
too, confessed himself as happy as a king, and Wolf
certainly was far haj)pier than any king that ever was
born.
The information gained by Osmond's daring feat
CONDEMNED TO DIE. 301
was not lost npon General Lee. He knew now that
Grant would soon cross the Rapidan, and that an
attack might be expected almost any day or hour.
"When Greek meets Greek, then comes the tug of war."
And in Grant and Lee certainly Greek met Greek.
That week's awful fighting, after Meade — the Federal
generalissimo's right-hand man — crossed the Rapidan
is terrible even to contemplate.
Grant, you must bear in mind, dear reader, had so
laid his plans that at least three great armies were to
advance on Richmond almost at the same time.
Grant had sent off Sherman to confront and hold
in check the Confederates in Georgia, while he him-
self took in hand the Virginian campaign against
Lee. Meade's army was to cut Lee off from all sup-
lies, General Sigel was sent down the historic Shenan-
doah Valley to break communications with Richmond
from that direction, and to advance thence towards the
long -wished -for Confederate capital, while Butler's
army was to come up the James River from the
south.
The forces thus arrayed against Lee would amount
to 150,000 men all told. Surely terrible odds! It takes
a hero, brave and true, to stand calmly up against an
array like this. But Lee was that hero. He had
drawn the sword, and, having drawn it, had thrown
the scabbard far away.
The terrible slaughter that occurred in that wild
302 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
wilderness is a matter of history. How Grant and
]\Leade thundered on, how Lee resisted, and in resist-
ing rolled the forces of the enemy back, broken and
discomfited, is a story too long to tell here. Sufiice it
to say that Grant's repulse on the second day cost him
15,000 men, and Lee probably but few less. Yet the
latter wisely fell back two or three miles to Spott-
sylvania.
His short retreat was construed into a victory for
the Federals, and telegraphed from the Wilderness as
such, and far and near away in the North the waiting
Federals went wild with joy. Hancock, who had
smashed Longstreet at Gettysburg, tried to repeat his
success on the Sth of May, but was hurled backwards
in bleeding rout.
The fight raged on for days and days. On the 11th
Grant had victory almost secured, but Lee, with
Longstreet's gallant fellows, dashed up, and once
again the balance was equal.
Further defeats of the Federals took place not long
after this. General Sigel, whom Grant had sent to
the Shenandoah Valley, was defeated by Breckinridge,
and on the 3rd of June Grant himself was defeated
at Cold Harbor. Ten days after this we find
Grant trying to march upon Richmond from another
quarter. He had well rested his troops in the Penin-
sula, then skilfully feigning another forward attack,
drew them off", crossed the James River, joined
Butler's forces, and marched upon Petersburg. Could
CONDEMNED TO DIE. 303
he but take this city he would sever the connection
between the Southern capital and the sea.
But this town the Southerners meant to hold.
"It shall be defended," said the general in com-
mand, "on its outer walls, on its inner walls, at its
corporation bounds, in every street, and around every
temple of God and altar of man."
And Grant's designs, as far as Petersburg was con-
cerned, were doomed to be frustrated, for the present
at all events. He spent weeks in trying to undermine
the works. When the mine at last exploded, there
was a grand charge through the gap, and in this
attempt Grant was once more foiled, and lost over
4000 men.
The Northerners now began to lose heart once more
— Northern civilians, that is. But neither Grant nor
his men did so. It is true that he was draining the
best blood of the nation. But blood alone, he told his
officers, would win in the end. Such a general as Lee
was not to be conquered with rose-water.
One thing is certain, at this stage of the fearful
conflict, if Grant had not quite succeeded in under-
mining Petersburg his repeated blows were under-
mining the army of his brave antagonist.
South from Petersburg runs what is called the
Weldon Railway. Grant now attempted to capture
and destroy this line. Lee's isolation would then be
far more complete.
Terrible fighting took place for this railway, and
304: FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
never had the Confederates behaved with such
splendid valour before.
Alas! it was Colonel Osmond Lloyd's last battle.
It was on the last day of the fight for the line in
which Grant was — in a series of glorious charges in
which Osmond and Harry both took part — defeated,
and forced to retreat along the line with a loss of a
thousand killed and two thousand prisoners.
At the head of his brave regiment, and on horseback,
Osmond was leading a charge, when suddenly a strange
numbness seemed to seize him — no pain, however.
Then some one, he thought, in whom he was very little
interested, was falling. After this all was dark.
When Osmond recovered consciousness he was lying
in his tent, and somebody sat by his side.
" Water, water," he murmured, and a cooling drink
was placed to his lips.
" It is you, dear Harry. How am I here?"
" You are wounded. You must be very quiet."
" But just one question, Harry. Are we victorious?"
"Yes; victorious, dear cousin."
-Is— is— Wolf safe?"
"All safe. Wolf is near you now."
Hearing his name mentioned. Wolf got up and went
to his master's side and fondly licked his cheek.
But for this noble dog, poor Osmond might have
bled to death.
By his pitiful bowlings he had attracted the surgeon
of the regiment to the spot where Osmond fell, and a
CONDEMNED TO DIE. 305
tourniquet was immediately put upon his wounded
arm.
The hand had, while our hero was still unconscious,
been removed at the wrist, or rather a few inches
above it.
"Good Wolf, brave old dog! I'm happy now. I
feel—"
He did not conclude the sentence, but dropped off
into a gentle and peaceful sleep.
Things were going hard, hard against the Confeder-
ates now. Even their friends in England shook their
heads, and admitted that it was only a question of
time.
Sherman, one of Grant's greatest and cleverest
generals, had captured Atlanta. That was the big
event of September. Sheridan, also, a dashing young
Irishman and another well-chosen general, had twice
defeated the Confederate General Early. Grant had
ordered Sheridan to devastate the Shenandoah Valley,
and right well and terribly had he done so. After
destroying Early's army he spread his cavalry through-
out the valley, and in order to make it no longer habit-
able for the Southern foe, the whole country from
Blue Ridge to North Mountain was turned into a
howling wilderness. Two thousand barns filled with
wheat and hay and seventy mills filled with flour
were burned, and four thousand head of stock driven
before Sheridan's army out of the once lovely vale.
306 fOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
So complete was the desolation that it was said that
if a crow wanted to fly down the valley after Sheridan
left it, he would have to take his own provisions with
him.
But Early was reinforced, and returned intent on
revenge towards the valley.
Sheridan was then absent from his army, which
was posted at Cedar Creek, and this Early attacked.
Sheridan returned in time, however, to save it, and
turn what otherwise would have been a victory for
the South into a rout — into, I might say, utter annihi-
lation.
CHAPTER VII.
AT THE OLD PLANTATION ONCE AGAIN.
WE are back once more on the old plantation. The
group around the fire and in the cosiest room
in Brooklands one wild and stormy night towards the
close of March, 1865, was as strange an one as could
well be imagined.
Although war had raged around this plantation,
and many others had been laid in ashes by the enemy,
or by raiders — of whom there were many about —
singularly enough, Brooklands had escaped.
But let us see whom all we have here to-nig]it.
It is not a very merry meeting, you must understand.
The children, Harry's younger cousins, are romping
AT THE OLD PLANTATION ONCE AGAIN. 307
about, as children will, no matter what the grief or
sorrow may be, but their elders are talking in voices
that are subdued though not low. Yet at times words
are lost, if not whole sentences, in the roar of the
storm that goes howling around the old mansion,
rattling the window-sashes — howling like hungry-
wolves in the wide chimney.
In a large easy rocking-chair at one side of the
ingle is Mr. Bloodworth himself — nay, let me still call
him Major Bloodworth, no one more deserves that
military distinction. His wooden leg is stretched out
in front of him. It forms a support for the cat's
head as half -asleep she winks and blinks at the
fire of logs that burns so cheerily on the low hearth.
On a bearskin close to pussy sleeps honest Wolf. He
seems more at home here than on the battlefield.
Sitting by his father's chair is Harry, his arm rest-
ing affectionately on his old dad's shoulder.
Two ladies are in the opposite ingle-nook, and both
are dressed in deepest mourning, for one — Mrs. Blood-
worth — has lost a son, as we know, and the other, poor
Mrs. Brewer, has been deprived of a husband.
Yes, good old Captain Brewer sails the seas no
longer. What he feared would occur took place more
than a year ago. The Mosquito was sunk by a Federal
shell some miles to the east of Charleston Sound.
Only six of the crew were saved, for the vessel, which
was heavily laden, went down in five minutes from the
time the shell exploded.
308 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
Long before this, Mrs. Brewer and Lucy had
accepted Harry's invitation, and gone to live at
Brooklands.
Lucy and Katie are yonder now with the children,
and more like sisters do they appear than simply
friends ; but Lucy is tall now, and the promise of
beauty she gave when just entering on her teens has
not been belied. She is seventeen now — sweet seven-
teen — and there is one in the group around the fire to-
night whose gaze often turns in Lucy's direction, who
thinks her more beautiful far than she was when a
child romping with him on the decks of the old
Mosquito.
This is Osmond, as you can easily guess. His left
sleeve — at least the lower part of it — is empty and
tucked up, but otherwise he looks as hale and hand-
some as ever.
At this moment, during a lull in the conversation,
Osmond gazes thoughtfully into the lire. Is it an
extra gleam from those blazing crackling logs that
casts an additional glow over his face? No, reader; it
is the memory of that letter which he wi'ote to
Lucy in his prison tent while the shadow of death
was darkening over him. The letter — ah! well does
he remember it, and every event of that terrible night
— had been an impulsive one, but then he believed it
would be the last ever he should write to the girl.
And in it he had told her how he loved her.
But now he is telling himself sadly — things are
AT THE OLD PLANTATION ONCE AGAIN. 309
altered. He has been back here at the old plantation
for several months, but he has never dared nor cared
to breathe a word of love to Lucy. Not that his feel-
ings are altered. O, no, not in the very least! but
how can he — a maimed and wounded old soldier with
only one hand — talk of affection other than that of a
brotherly sort to the young and beautiful girl, the
most perfect and lovely in his eyes, of her kind? No,
to do so would, he feels, be to insult her, and, strange
to say, he has seemed rather to avoid Lucy than other-
wise since his return, very much to the girl's wonder-
ment and sorrow.
But return we to the group around the fire. There
is only one other person here to whom I have not
introduced the reader.
He is a tall and handsome man of probably seven-
and-twenty, with a bright laughing face of his own,
and as he takes the cigar from his lips, and looks
across at Major Blood worth, that face beams with
intelligence.
" I must say, Uncle," says Cousin Tom, for it is he,
" that you take a very reasonable view of the matter."
But stay, before we listen to the conversation, let us
see how Tom came here, and why Harry himself is
not still with General Lee, who is even now standing
like a lion at bay and preparing to make a last and
terrible stand for life and freedom.
And this takes us back many months to that
fearful and bloody fight for the Weldon Railway.
310 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
When Osmond came to his senses in the hospital
tent and found his Cousin Harry seated by the side of
his rude couch, little did he know that he too was
wounded. But so it was. Only a flesh wound, Harry
had told the surgeon who bandaged up his chest that
a bullet had torn open.
The surgeon shook his head.
"Flesh wounds," he said, "are dangerous at times;
you had better take to bed."
But Harry had refused.
"No," he said, "I will take my turn in nursing
Cousin Osmond till he is out of danger."
And so he had. But in a week's time he had
a cot in the same tent as Osmond, for alarming
symptoms had set in, and the surgeon positively
compelled him to keep in bed.
Youth and a hardy constitution, however, soon pulled
Harry well away from the precipice of danger, and by
and by the two cousins were able to talk to each
other about all their battles and adventures.
One day a skirmish took place between Lee's out-
posts and those of the foe. The latter were driven in,
and a sharp fight ensued, wdiich at the commence-
ment of the war would have been called a battle. It
resulted in victory for the Confederates, and tliey
marched back singing, with many wounded and a few
prisoners.
There was one officer among the latter, and he was
immediately put upon parole.
AT THE OLD PLANTATION ONCE AGAIN. 311
General Lee himself saw him, and when the pri-
soner told him that he was a cousin of Colonel Lloyd,
and had saved that officer from death when condemned
to be shot, Lee hardly knew how to thank him.
When, therefore, this stalwart cousin marched into
the hospital hut one day, and Osmond saw before him
the very figure that had guided him safely through
the woods from his prison tent to the darksome river,
he could scarcely believe his eyes.
" I'm Tom, Cousin Tom," the tall officer said, as soon
as he could find words.
"Oil," cried Osmond, "how can I ever thank you?"
The two shook hands.
" I hope," continued Osmond, " I may have a chance
of doing the same for you, or even more, some day."
Tom laughed till the medicine bottles and classes
all jingled and rang.
"Do the same for me? I hope you'll never have
the opportunity."
" But how on earth are you here, Tom?"
" Prisoner, that's all. Your ' Uncle Lee ' is a splendid
fellow, and has put me on parole. May I smoke?"
" Certainly, Tom."
Down Tom had sat between the two beds, and the
conversation became general.
Just a month after this Osmond and Harry were
invalided, and Tom, still on parole, was permitted to
accompany them home to the old plantation.
Nobody ever knew the terrible risk that Tom had
312 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
run in saving his Cousin Osmond's life, nor does any
one know even to this day how he managed it.
But to return to our group round the fire.
" Yes, Uncle," said Tom, " you take a reasonable and
common-sense view of the matter."
The major smiled sadly.
" Our cause is lost," he said. " Lee may fight another
battle or two, and then —
"I have only one regTet," he added, "and that is,
that the Feds did not whip us sooner. Your Pre-
sident Lincoln is a wise and a far-seeing man as well
as a good man, but had he taken a more serious view
of the matter at first, and called at the very com-
mencement for his huge levies of three hundred and
five hundred thousand men, what a lot of lives would
have been spared, and how much fewer grief-stricken
widows and orphans would there be now in our land!
As for slavery, God — I can see now — has ordained that
it shall cease in this land for evermore. I bow to His
will. Our slaves are free, and yet — " here the major
smiled — "you see, Tom, my boy, not one has left the
old plantation!"
The conversation now took another turn.
" What do you think, Tom," said Osmond, " was the
bravest deed of the war?"
Lucy and Katie had come to the fireside and sat
down in the inner circle, beside great Wolf, to listen.
Tom looked thoughtfully into the fire for a time
before he replied cautiously:
AT THE OLD PLANTATION ONCE AGAIN. 313
" Of course," he said, " you talk of individual acts
of courage. " Well, leaving such men as your dear
old Stonewall, and even Sherman and wild young
Sheridan and our Meade, and several more, out of
the question, I think the bravest deed was that done
by young Gushing, or that by young Eric Dahlgren."
" I have my man ready," said Osmond, " when you
are done. This letter from my dear friend Kenneth
Reid speaks of him, but you must go on first. Cousin
Tom."
" No, you, Os, you."
" No, but you," said Katie, touching big Tom's knee
with her fan. " Begin with Eric Dahlgren, he is
Lucy's hero!"
Osmond heaved a sigh, but nobody heard it.
" I'm not good at telling a story," said Tom, " but
we were in the army of the Potomac when the affair
occurred, and it wasn't very long after your General
Lee, Cousin Osmond, so completely checked our career
as we were dashing on to Richmond.
"Terrible stories of the bad treatment of our
prisoners in Richmond had reached our ears, and
though they angered all that believed in them, they
completely fired the blood of young Eric. He was
only twenty-one, and already a colonel in our service.
" ' Hurrah, boys ! ' he said one evening to his mess-
mates tjy the camp fire. ' Let us deliver those prisoners.'
" Nobody replied. The others thought young Eric
had been drinking.
314 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
" ' Men/ he said, ' we've got to die but once. I pro-
pose we do a deed that will make those Southerners
sit up, and rub their eyes, and stare. A deed of justice;
yes, and a deed of revenge!'
" Stripped of all romance, Eric's plan was to dash into
Richmond, seize the warehouse where they said our
poor fellows were kept in darkness and starvation,
and slaughter afterwards as many of the Confederate
Cabinet as the party could lay hands upon.
" Eric got plenty of volunteers, and on this daring
expedition he actually started. When it is remembered
that this brave young fellow was still suffering from
wounds which caused him great pain I cannot help
thinking that his was one of the bravest deeds of the
war."
"Did he succeed?" said Lucy.
"Alas! how could he? His corpse and those of his
brave companions were shortly afterwards being kicked
about by the rabble in the streets of Richmond!"
" Poor Eric!" sighed Katie. " But what about Gush-
ing? I love sailors best."
Katie blushed, and looked shyiy up to see if anyone
had noticed.
"Well," said Tom, "I myself am half inclined to give
the palm to the sailor.
" Away up the Roanoke River, then, last October,
and not long before we reached here, Katie, there lay
the Confederate ram Albemarle. She was a kind of
twin sister or brother of your terrible MerriTnac that
AT THE OLD PLANTATION ONCE AGAIN. 315
destroyed our Cumberland and Congress in Hampton
Roads, and which you afterwards blew up to prevent
her falling a prey to our Federal fingers. . I can tell
you, Harry, this awful ship of yours — the Albemarle
— was a terror to our gun-boats and cruisers, and when
young Willie Gushing one day coolly proposed to cut
her out, or rather to blow her sky-high, daring though
they knew him to be, his messmates only laughed at
him. But a man can live a long time after being
laughed at, and as the young fellow had already proved
in many a daring fight — while bullets flew around him
as thick as hail — that he bore a sort of charmed life,
he soon got many to listen to his hazardous pro-
posal.
" The whole of Cushing's early life is a romance, but
I'm not the man to paint it. Only, he was just twenty-
two years of age when he started on this expedition,
and a lieutenant in our navy.
" He got permission at last from his superior officers
to try his hand upon the ram, and soon he had thirteen
brave volunteers all eager and willing to do or die
with him."^
" What was my hero like?" said Katie. " Have you
seen him. Cousin Tom ? "
"Yes, frequently. He was very tall — well, nearly
my own height — but far better looking and not so
burly, Katie, as I am. Willie Gushing was slim and
1 By some accounts, volunteers were called for, and brave Gushing, out
of all those willing to undertake the adventure, was chosen. — Author.
316 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
spare, with a face as brown as the back of my fiddle,
and an eye like a hawk's.
" The little steam launch which Willie chose for his
desperate adventure was as slim and shapely as Willie
himself. Running out some distance from and over her
bows was a light spar that could be easily raised or
depressed by the hero himself. Attached to the end
of it was a torpedo filled with 200 pounds of gunpowder,
and this could be fired by a trigger and string that
went aft to the stern-sheets, and were in command of
Gushing himself.
" For days and nights before starting Willie and his
bold crew manoeuvred, no matter how bad the weather
might be, in and out among^ the Northern fleet, and
then, when he considered that the drill had made
everything and everyone ship-shape, he prepared for
his terrible adventure.
"On the 27th of October Willie Gushing shook
hands with his messmates and started off" in earnest."
Gousin Tom's cigar had gone out, and before going
further with his yarn he stooped to light it at a log.
All waited expectantly.
LEES LAST STAND AT RICHMOND. 317
CHAPTER VIII.
lee's last STAND AT RICHMOND.
IT was going to be do or die," said Cousin Tom
quietly. " But, Katie, I reckon you would hardly
have thought Willie much of a hero as he stood up
in the stern-sheets to raise his shabby cap to the
officers who stood looking down at the slim figure with
the well-worn coat buttoned up to his neck. No, he
wasn't a great beauty just then.
" Many a heartfelt prayer went after him as the
little launch faded from view in the shadow of the
trees, and the gathering gloom of the night.
" But on went Willie, and never a word was spoken.
"Unseen they passed the pickets and even guard-
boats below the town, and many another station.
"Here, Katie, is how my informant writes about
Willie's rush up the river: 'At one station, to banish
the chill air of this October night, a large pinewood-
fire had been kindled, and so close were they that they
could see the gleam of the men's rifles and even hear
them laughing and singing, as they discussed their
tankards of apple-jack. And the glare of that fire
glimmered red and rippling across the water, while
the background against which the men stood out was
like some weird scene in a pantomime, a dark and
tangled jungle, a mass of cloudy undergrowth, and
318 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
above were the solemn trees with ragged tufts of moss
swayed to and fro in the wind.'
" And now Willie began to approach the wharf near
to which lay the monster ram.
" In a low whisper he gave orders to ship the boom
and torpedo.
" This was done calmly and quietly by his well-
drilled and gallant crew, and the trigger-line placed
close to Willie's hand.
All was ready, but now came danger, ay, and diffi-
culty also, for lights were suddenly flashed from each
bank across the water, revealing the daring cutter's
advance, and at once the sailor hero was angrily chal-
lenged.
" ' Who goes there? Speak, or we fire!'
'"Yankees, you donkeys!' thundered Gushing in
reply, laughing loudly and jeeringly.
"Then, indeed, all was confusion. The launch's sides
were torn and split with the volley fired from the
banks. The guard on the wharf rushed blindly forth
in the dark. Bells and alarms clashed in every direc-
tion. Open were dashed the ports of the monster ram,
and her big bow gun seemed to be fired at random. It
did no harm, but good, for its flash revealed the over-
hang of the iron monster, and showed Willie where
the torpedo should be placed.
"But tlie terr^jle difiiculty lay in the fact that the
vessel was surrounded with at least twenty feet of
floating logs. Against this, at full speed, down came
lee's last stand at RICHMOND. 319
the launch, — Willie, tiller in hand, in the stern, standing
erect like the hero he was, the bullets whistling around
him and even rending his clothes.
" It was a terrible moment. I daresay Will could
never tell how he got over or past the logs. But he
did. The torpedo was quickly depressed, and al-
though at the same moment a cannon that smashed
the launch all to smithereens was fired from the ram,
it was the last shot the crew ever fired. For at the
same time Will had pulled the trigger, and Plymouth
itself shook with the roar of the explosion that
followed.
" Only four escaped of Willie's crew besides himself.
But the ram was sunk! The deed was done!
" After swimming for hours, it seemed, Willie found
himself among the reeds of a swamp, but so tired
that he could not even crawl to the dry land. But
next morning, as good luck would have it, he found a
skifi" belonging to the enemy, upon which he embarked,
and escaped to a friendly shore.
" Surely no braver deed was ever done either in
ancient or modern times!"
There was silence for a time after Tom had con-
cluded, then Lucy looked smilingly up at Osmond.
" Yes, it is your turn. Colonel," she said.
" Well," he replied, " I have had a letter from Ken-
neth. He tells me that we may expect him out here
any day, and he desci'ibes the last fight the Alabama
ever had.
320 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
This was the historic battle of the renowned cruiser
against the Yankee frigate Kearsarge, which protected
her sides with chain cables and sank the Alabama in
two hours.
" But my little story of heroism centres around
the brave — truly brave — surgeon of the Alabama,
Dr. L.—
" For this calm, courageous man went down with
the ship rather than hazard the lives of the wounded
men.
" ' The last boat,' says Kenneth, ' to leave the sink-
ing ship's side was laden and almost ' lip ' with the
water, and we shouted to L — ' Come on, doctor. Come
quick. Jump for your life. We'll make room for
you.'
" ' But gallant L — only shook his head. ' There
are more wounded still here' — I think he said — 'I
must stay and do my duty.'
'"And stay he did. We saw the ship heel over soon
after, and clinging to the bulwarks, but calm and self-
possessed, was the doctor. He lifted his hand as if
bidding us good-bye, then — 0, my dear old Osmond,
that sight I'll ne'er forget. And we all loved the
quiet and gentle L — so much! He had endeared
himself not only to Captain Semmes, but to every
man and youngster in the crew. Is it any won-
der then, that when we saw our brave ship take
her last and fearful plunge with the doctor on her
deck, that we lay on our oars gazing aghast and
lee's last stand at RICHMOND. 321
dumb? Yes, in that boat, Os, there were big strong
sailor men who clapped their hands to their faces and
wept aloud.' "
Osmond quietly folded the letter and put it away.
Then during the silence that ensued, Cousin Tom
stretched across and grasped Osmond by the hand.
" Your hero has it, cousin," he said. " Your hero
has it!"
And all seemed to agree.
Long before this wild March night, events had
happened, and were even then happening, that showed
to every one that the end was not far distant.
Sherman had been doing big things. His great
march through Georgia is one of the events of the
century, and it would hardly be wrong to say he was
the conquering hero.
Well, perhaps not always. The greatest and bravest
generals that the world knows or has known have
suffered defeat and discomfiture at times. But in
making Sherman one of his chief generals. Grant, I
think, proved that he was a far-seeing as well as a
clever and brave comn^ander.
After the battles of Averasboro' and Benton ville,
at which bold Johnston may have been said to fire
his last shot at Sherman, the latter entered Goldsboro'
and established communications with Grant.
About a month before this the city of Charleston
fell, and after it Wilmington capitulated.
( M 132 ) X
322 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
And now we return to Lee.
There was life in the old dog. Nay, let me rather
say in the lion. He was, indeed, the lion-hearted Lee.
Yes, there was life in the lion, and on March 25th,
only six days before the final convulsive struggle,
the lion made an attempt to burst his bars and dash
through the lines of gallant Grant.
That sortie from Richmond was a brilliant thing in
its way, and right well Lee's poor ragged and hungry
soldiers fought. They even captured a portion of the
earthworks, and for a time spread panic and confusion
throughout the monster camp. But such a sortie
could have but one ending, and so the brave fellows
were defeated and driven back pell-mell, and with
sickening slaughter.
Just as we see a fire that we think has burned it-
self out suddenly leap into newness of life in another
direction, in the same way did the Confederates spring
to life again, and on the 30th of March repulse the
daring young Irishman Sheridan.
After this dashing soldier had made "a final end"
as he called it, of Early's army, he speedily destroyed
the railway 'twixt Richmond and Lynchburg in the
west.
Then northwards went he, hurried at once to assist
Grant against Lee. He got to the east of Richmond,
crossed the James River, and, wheeling round, formed
into position on Grant's left.
Now Richmond, Petersburg, and Burkesville are the
lee's last stand at RICHMOND. 323
corners of a triancrle, its three sides being lines of
railway, and to take Burkesville would be to com-
pletely isolate Petersburg and Richmond, because the
line there formed a junction.
" This must be done," said Grant.
" Never while I can wave a sword," said Lee.
So the latter placed his army on the south-side line
'twixt Petersburg and Burkesville.
The Confederates were beautifully planted here with
well-posted artillery and earthworks, a rivulet in
front and woods behind.
Now listen to what occurred.
Sheridan's horse came wildly on, first west and then
northwards, with the intention of turning Lee's right
flank. He was well supported by Grant's left, but so
hot and fearful was the Confederate fire that Grant's
regiments were at first beaten and hurled back, all but
demoralized.
Soon afterwards, however, the Federals once more
pulled themselves together, and so fierce and furious
waxed the fighting, that, under the leadership of the
fiery Sheridan, not only were the ragged Confederates
sent reeling back to their earthworks, but some of
these were actually captured, and the defenders pitch-
forked out of them at the point of the bayonet.
Grant now placed Sheridan in command of the whole
of his left wing, and next day this gallant hero com-
menced the battle of Five Forks, the last great stand
of the Southerners under General Lee.
324 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
Pickett did all that mortal man could do to repel
the terrible assault.
The thunder of his guns was said to be incessant
and fearful, the rain of bullets as thick as hail. This
last is, of course, only a figure of speech, but this final
struggle was indeed an awful one. The ground was
thickly strewn with the dying and the dead, riderless
horses galloped wildly over the fields snuffing the air
and screaming in dread. Cheer after cheer, yell after
yell from the combatants rent the air, but nothing
could withstand that charge, and, assailed both on front
and rear, the Confederates fled at last, leaving guns,
artillery, everything in the hands of their victorious
foes.
The pursuit was kept up until darkness, more
merciful than the exultant foe, descended and hid the
poor Southerners from sight.
Grant attacked Petersburg that very night, and
brilliantly carried line after line.
The place fell.
Then Lee fled west, and made one last and final
eflbrt to get clear, but all was in vain. So, about a
week after this, the great general surrendered uncon-
ditionally to Grant, the conqueror.
SCENES IN EICHMOND.
It was Sunday (April 2nd, 1865) and the President
of the Confederate States — President now no more
lee's last stand at RICHMOND. 325
— was seated in church at Richmond, when slowly,
shyly up the aisle, with hat in hand, came a mes-
senger.
He handed Jefferson Davis a despatch, and this
fallen monarch — if so I may dare to call him —
knitted his brows as he read it, and, it is said, turned
as pale as death.
With weak and staggering steps he left almost at
once, and terror took possession of the hearts of the
worshippers.
" The city" ran the despatch, " tnust he abandoned
forthwith."
The panic that now ensued was terrible. The in-
habitants of the capital had hitherto been buoyed up
with false hopes. But now these were in a moment
ruthlessly kicked from under them, and despair took
their place.
An earthquake could not have caused greater terror.
What could they do, whither could they fly, where
hide themselves from the vengeful foes that soon must
crowd their streets?
Towards night, terror and tumult were increased
tenfold. A wild and disorderly mob took possession
of the streets, a mob more remorseless and cruel than
even the northern foe would have been.
Wine and spirits were seized and drank till men
were changed into maddened murderers, howling
fiends. Even when the rum and whisky were rolled
out and emptied in the streets, like the beasts they
326 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
were they drank it from the gutter, and many drink-
ing, died.
Windows and doors were smashed, robbery, violence,
plunder went on in every street, in every direction,
and now and then the shots fired and the knives
flourished told that murder too was stalking abroad.
Meanwhile, the military commandant, in order that
nothing should fall into the enemy's hands, foolishly
set on fire the storehouses and blew up the ships on
the river.
This was the commencement of a pandemonium
which neither pen nor pencil can describe. For in an
incredibly short time one-third of the whole city was
in a blaze. Amidst the crackling of the flames on this
awful night could be heard the drunken yells of the
plundering mob, shrieks of women, and cries of scared
and helpless children.
From afar General Weitzel, who held the Federal
lines north of the James River, saw the glare of light
in the sky, and even heard the roar of exploding
shells and magazines. Too well he guessed what had
happened, and at daybreak he rode in front of his
forces to take possession of the doomed capital, from
which long ere now both the President and Military
Commandant Ewell had fled in disguise.
Onward the Federals went through the now deserted
Southern lines. Only one sentry here still stuck to
his post, because he had not been relieved. Weitzel
made his way to the Capitol Square, and soon in the
THE VICTORIOUS FEDERALS ARE AVELCOMED BY THE
WOMEN OF RICHMOND.
lee's last stand at RICHMOND. 327
morning breeze the Stars and Stripes were fluttering
from the Capitol itself.
But what a scene was here in the square! The poor
women and children huddled together in the centre,
trying to screen themselves and their little ones from
the scorching heat by means of the few chattels and
household goods they had struggled hard to save. The
sick, the aged, infants, and the dying all crowded
together! It was a picture such as Dante himself
could scarce have imagined.
To make matters worse, the criminals of the State
Penitentiary had got loose, and ran amuck and wild.
They even cut the hose of the engines, which some
were trying to work that they might extinguish the
raging flames.
As quietly and calmly as possible General Weitzel
now set himself to fi^ht the flames. The whole of
Devon's division was marched into the city for this
purpose. Everyone who could be pressed into the
same service was sent to assist, and the now freed
slaves gladly gave all the help they could.
This then, reader, is one more scene from the great
Civil War. And it is the last.
It is due to the Federals to add that their presence
in Capitol Square, when the cavalry first went rattling
in there, instead of scaring the poor women, served to
give them heart and joy.
In their delight they even crowded round the
soldiers, kissing the very bridles and stirrup-leathers
328
FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
and hugging the horses' legs, while the tears rolled
down their cheeks.
In the midst of the great rejoicing caused by the
capture of Richmond and the surrender of Lee,
there fell an awful gloom on the Northern States,
for President Lincoln, the generous, kind, and
true, was shot in the theatre at Washington, by
the hands of the cowardly assassin, John Wilkes
Booth.
CHAPTEE- IX.
FOR PLUNDER AND REVENGE.
NEWS often travels slowly in war times, and what
with the destruction of railway lines and tele-
graph wires, when it does find its way to outlying
districts it is often sadly garbled.
Although Major Bloodworth was in almost daily
expectation of hearing of the fall of Richmond and
the end of the great Civil War, day after day went
by, and still the news came not. Yet now and then
there were rumours that Grant had been beaten. But
as this was deemed impossible, by not only Cousin
Tom, but even by Harry and Osmond, no attention
was paid to them.
FOR PLUNDER AND REVENGE, 329
Meanwhile, for a time at all events, life at the old
plantation was as quietly happy as if such terrible
scenes as those I have tried to portray had no exist-
ence in this world. Spring had come too, for it comes
right early in Southern States, and indeed it was
almost summer. The woods were musical with the
song of birds; the trees were draped in leaves of
softest green, through which the wind seemed to
whisper, and sing, and sigh; the fields with their wild
flowers were a sight to see, and the perfume of the
wistaria that adorned the darkling pines was sweet as
the scent of orange blossom. All over the porches and
verandahs of Brooklands were clustering flowers, and
in the gardens the beautiful kalmia was all in blossom.
Many a picnic did the cousins and Lucy now have
by stream, by lake, and in the wild woods; and if at
times sad thoughts of those that they should never
see again in this world took possession of their minds
it did but chasten and render holy their happiness,
without stealing it quite away.
Old Uncle Neile and Mammy gave another enter-
tainment, as the good old darkie grandly called it.
The first portion of the treat took place one moonlight
night in the forest. For the dogs treed the 'possum,
and finally he was caught and killed. Another and
another followed, and younger niggers than Uncle were
sent oflf post-haste with them to old Mammy's cottage.
Uncle Neile was in fine form that night. He was
bareheaded, having somehow lost his cap, and the
330 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
moonbeams glinted on his hair as if it had been a ball
of snow.
"Ah!" he told Osmond, " der am nuffin on earth to
beat de 'possum. 'Possum, pork, and pumpkin pie,
and dere you is set up for life. Ha! ha! Yes," he
continued, " de Lawd hisself sent de 'possum to make
glad de heart ob de pore black man. An' de 'possum
he am a curious critter too. No matter how of'en you
kills him, he shuah to come again, all de same anoder
time."
" What, the same 'possum?" said Osmond laughing.
" De same 'possum, foh true, jes de same ole 'possum,
bress de Giver ob ebery good thing."
Well, in memory of old times Uncle Neile took
down his fiddle, but he couldn't be prevailed upon to
play anything but slow music.
" W'en I plays a jig, shuah enufF, sah," he said to
Cousin Tom, " de> tears come plenty quick, cause I thinks
on dose dat we will neber, neber see again."
So that night, after songs were sung, Katie and Lucy
and the children, two of which Mammy must take on
her knee, sat round the fire, and Cousin Tom lit his
pipe. Then they talked about old times. A kind of
desultory conversation it was, but on the whole it was
very enjoyable.
In the midst of it, however. Uncle Neile's door was
suddenly thrown very widely open indeed, and in
dashed a breathless and excited nigger.
Wolf sprang up with a "habbering" growl, and
FOR PLUNDER AND REVENGE. 331
would have dashed at the young man, had not Osmond
seized him just in time.
Uncle Neile sprang to his feet.
" Young man," he said, " I'se de master ob dis enter-
tainment. We waits, sah, to hear de cause ob dis
unsightly obtrusion."
"Oil!" gasped the nigger, "I'se jes' fit to drop, I'se
gone dun fifteen mile. I'se 'scaped from de hands ob
murderers. Gib me some 'fleshmcnt. I'se ready to
faint."
" Young man," said Uncle Neile, " dere is de 'mains
ob de cold 'possum what Wolf can't eat. You may
hab dat soon's you tell de story."
The negro's story was soon told. He had been
miaking his way to the mansion-house to give an alarm
when he saw lio-hts in Uncle's cottao-e, and rushed in
there.
Concerning his escape from robbers and murderers
there seemed to be little doubt. He had been tied to
a tree, but had gnawed through his fastenings, while
the raiders — for such they were — were making their
evening meal. There were fifty of them at the very
least, and from what the nigger was able to learu they
were marching on to Brooklands to loot the place and
lay it in ashes. As this was to be done as much for
revenge as plunder, Osmond and Harry doubted not
for a moment that the leaders were a portion of the
gang with whom they had fought on the highway
while conveying home their wounded father.
332 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
So Uncle Neile's party was very unceremoniously
broken up indeed, and all haste was made back to the
mansion. It was cheering, at all events, to know that
they would not be taken unawares.
Long before this, in expectation of just such a raid
as that by which they were now threatened, an earth-
work with small corner forts was thrown up all round
the mansion-house and gardens.
And now inside this the slaves — now free men,
however — were hastily summoned and armed. Their
wives and little ones were made as cosy as possible in
the kitchens and outhouses.
Everything in three hours' time was made perfectly
ready to give battle or to stand a siege.
It may be remarked here, that among the ladies
there was no veiy intense excitement and terror, such
as we should find under the same circumstances in
countries not so accustomed to wars and rumours of
wars. Yet from the description given of him by the
young negro who brought the intelligence, Copperhead,
the road-agent, who would lead this raid, was one of the
most active and most dreaded in the country. He had
come from the Wild West, and used to boast that he
thought no more of taking life than cleaning his gun.
As he had journeyed eastward raiding and robbing he
had gathered around him a band of fully five hundred
characters, as desperate as himself. These were distri-
buted in gangs of fifty or a hundred here and there,
throughout that portion of the state to which he was
FOR PLUNDER AND REVENGE. 333
paying attention, and they had their regular rendez-
vous or nieeting-phxces, generally in the dark depths
of some wooded defile, where, on the edible and potable
portion of their plunder, they held high carnival.
But Copperhead had for some time attempted to
legalize his dark doings, after a fashion, by hoisting the
flag of the Northern States, the brave old Stars and
Stripes. In a sense he was not unlike the famous
Morgan, but then Morgan was a gentleman compared
to Copperhead.
This chief was a villain, though it must be confessed
that he was a handsome villain, and he seemed to know
it, for he was dressed to kill, in more ways than one.
He even assumed a certain gallantry of bearing towards
the fair sex, but his cruelties both to women and
children were well known, whatever he might pretend
or assume.
It was late before everything was ready to give
Copperhead and his band a warm reception, and yet
no one seemed inclined to go to sleep.
John M'Donald — honest John, as neighbouring
planters called him — lived in a house by himself on
the borders of the wood. But to-night he was brought
into the fort and placed in command of a detachment
of the freed slaves.
All the rifles and revolvers that could be mustered
did not exceed five-and-twenty of each. However,
the other negroes were well-armed with pikes, and
clubs, and bowie-knives.
334 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
That night wore slowly away, and the sun rose over
the woods and hills, giving a sheen like silver to the
broad bosom of the distant lake, and shimmering
brightly on the river, whereon a reach or bend showed
through the greenery of the Helds at the bottom of
the vale.
All night long darkie outposts had walked their
rounds on the verge of the plantation, to make sure
no spy was sent on in advance, and to give immediate
alarm if Copperhead and his men appeared.
Major Bloodworth permitted his negroes to go about
their usual avocations next day to prevent suspicion
of his preparedness. But they were ready to assemble
at the mansion immediately if summoned by whistle.
"Then came still evening on."
The moon rose round and red just as the sun had
gone down. By and by her radiance dimmed that of
every star save one, and clad the sylvan scenery with
a d)'eamy silvery haze that witched one's senses as one
gazed over the landscape.
Osmond and Harry, with Cousin Tom and the young
folks, lingered long in the verandah after dinner.
There were the voices of the night-birds to be heard
occasionally in forest and bush, and sweet they were.
But sweeter far were the notes of Katie's guitar with
the weird tremolo of Cousin Tom's violin.
Yet soon indeed was all this changed.
Lucy had just finished a song of the war, and all
FOR PLUNDER AND REVENGE. 335
were chatting pleasantly, when suddenly Wolf started
from his place at Osmond's feet and rushed down the
garden. He returned barking fiercely, as if to give an
alarm, every hair on his back straight on end and his
eyes gleaming like fire.
Almost immediately after, the two forest sentries
rushed breathlessly in.
"Dey come, dey come!" cried one. "Copperhead
he come hisself and de Stars and Stripes — "
The three cousins waited to hear no more, and
shortly after every man was at his post and windows
and doors securely shuttered and barricaded.
From loopholes in the wooden tower Harry could
now see the enemy approaching. Yes, they carried
the Stars and Stripes, a silken flag that fluttered out on
the light breeze as they came marching on in some-
thing like military step.
And there was Copperhead's tall form, the broad
hat, the broad belt, the handsome face, the "swagger
gait ".
He halted his men a little way ofi" and loudly sum-
moned the place to suiTender.
He was none too polite either.
" It's all up, you rebel dogs," he cried, " and we've
corne for your things. You shall have your clothes if
you're quiet and good, all else we confiscate in the name
of the United States and the Stars and Stripes. Open
gates and doors or we shall hop over the bank.
Quick's the word; sharp's the action."
336 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
" Stand back!" shouted the stentorian voice of John
M'Donald. " Draw off, you hulking scoundrel, or I'll
drop you where you stand."
The robber chief raised his arm.
Tick — tick — tick. It was the sharp sound of a tiny
revolver, but two bullets rent honest John's jacket
and grazed his skin, so well was it aimed.
John returned the fire quickly enough, and Copper-
head threw up his arms and fell to the ground.
Dead? No, not even scratched. It was but a ruse
to save his skin.
"Fire!" cried M'Donald.
Next moment a well-aimed volley tore through the
ranks of the enemy who were now rushing to the
earth- works, fully fifty strong.
That volley was well aimed, and thinned them a
little. Yet they came on with shout and yell.
A rattling fire from revolvers now dropped the
fellows right and left.
They began to waver.
But, sword in hand, Copperhead himself was now at
their head. Though bullets rang and pinged around him,
not one touched him. The robbers leap now upon the
earthwork. Copperhead is the first. Next moment
great Wolf has pinned him by the neck and hauled
him inside. He for one is a prisoner.
But among a band of daring raiders like this, the
loss of even the chief afiects a fight but little.
All along the ramparts the battle now rages, fierce
FOR PLUNDER AND REVENGE. 337
and grim. The negroes, with honest John and Cousin
Tom at their head, fight desperately, and Harry and
one-handed Osmond plant a shot wherever they can
do so with safety to their own men.
After a terrible struggle that litters the earthwork
with dead and wounded, both black men and white,
the raiders are beaten off.
Not routed, though!
They take shelter in every bush and begin a desul-
tory fire upon the house windows, and at the loopholes
of the bastions. This they seem soon to tire of, and
it is speedily evident that they are making preparations
for another charge! The firing now ceases for a time
on both sides.
Among the little garrison no one doubts that the
next charge must be a fearful one, and Major Blood-
worth trembles as he thinks of the ladies and chil-
dren waiting in fear and suspense for the result of this
unequal contest.
A whole hour passed away! From the loopholes 9
portion of the band had been seen to draw ofif towards
the forest, and some time afterwards they had returned
with withered brushwood. It was evident now that
their fiendish intention was to set fire to the buildings
in the rear of the mansion, while the main attack would
be made in front or on the flanks.
Another hour went by, and the pile of brushwood
in the rear grew higher and higher. The attack could
not be long delayed now. Copperhead himself, whom
(M132) Y
338 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
brave Wolf had so cleverly captured, was securely
roped and thrust unceremoniously into a cellar.
Osmond was returning from the rear of the mansion
all alone, and was just under the gable balcony when
he heard his name called. The moon shone very
brightly, but this portion of the balcony was in shadow.
Yet well did Osmond know that voice. It was
Lucy's.
And there she was herself. He could have touched
her hand had she held it down.
Somehow the events of that evening long ago on
board the Mosquito, when he and she played the bal-
cony scene from Romeo and Juliet, came into his mind
now. So vividly that he could not help — incongruous
as the question was — saying:
" Lucy, why are you here ? Is it to play Juliet to
my Romeo again?"
" 0, dear Osmond," she half whispered, " I am so
glad to see you. May I not come down and help to
fight? I can fire a gun well; Father taught me, but
I tremble with fear lest you should be killed."
"No, no, no, dearest!" — the word came out in spite
of him — " we are going to make a grand sortie from
the rear, and we will carry everything before uSc We
shall return victorious."
" Still, still, I tremble," she said. " 0, let me come
down to fight by your side! Nay, but I must and
shall come."
" Lucy, I command you to retire inside."
FOR PLUNDER AND REVENGE. 339
" One question, Osmond. I feel sure I shall never
see you alive again. The question may seem a bold
one, but I am not like English maidens. That letter
you wrote from your prison cell; was — was there
any truth in it?"
Osmond saw it all now. This innocent girl — but
little else then, and a child even yet in years, though
all so frank and winning — could love even a one-armed
soldier like him! How blind he had been, and how cruel !
This was a balcony scene from real life, and needed
not even the cunning and genius of Shakespeare to
make it natural.
" Oh, Osmond," she cried in alarm at last, "I can see
more armed men coming up from the forest!"
Almost at the same moment a yell from the front
told him that the raiders were once more advancing
to the charge. So he waved his hand in fond adieu,
disappeared, and was soon standing by, revolver in
hand, ready to repel boarders.
Old Uncle Neile with a dozen trusty darkies had
rushed out, with pikes in their hands, from a postern
in the rear, and their unexpected charge prevented a
fire from being lit that soon indeed would have laid
the beautiful mansion-house of Brooklands in ashes.
Alas! for poor Uncle Neile though! He was the first
to fall, with a bullet through his chest.
And in front this fight on the earthworks was fiercer
far than the last. For a time there were yells of
triumph, screams of defiance, the rattle of revolvers,
340 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
the clash of swords, and every now and then a dull
sickening thud and groan that told o£ death dealt at
close quarters.
But now, behold, the blacks are in panic. Well and
pluckily have they fought, but against such fearful
odds how can they stand?
They are borne backwards towards the verandah.
A charge is made by the raiders on the porch. This
taken, the door would be beaten in and the house with
all inside would then be at their mercy. But boldly
stand our own white heroes there, and not one inch
will they budge.
The raiders seem to have fallen short of ammunition,
for they rush onwards with bowie-knives gleaming in
the moonlight and stern determined faces.
Ring, ring, ring. It is the sound of a tiny revolver
close by Osmond's ear, a little white hand and arm
are uplifted close to his shoulder. It is his own little
American lass Lucy, and two of the robbers fall be-
neath her fire.
The rest never advanced. Had they done so their
success would have been certain. But just then a
triumphant yell ascends into the air, for a band of new
combatants are leaping over the earthworks.
The battle is soon over now, and all the raiders that
have not fallen are seeking safety in flight. Then all
is still for just a moment, except for the uneasy moan-
ing of the wounded and faint cries for water.
For just one moment only though, and the next
FOR PLUNDER AND REVENGE. 341
Kenneth Reid, for he is the foremost of the rescuers,
is shaking hands all round.
" I was hurrying to Brooklands," he said, " when I
fell in with twenty Northerners going the same way,
and, thank God, we've got here in time."
" North or South," said the Federal officer, advancing
and lifting his hat. " It's all the same now. The last
battle has been fought, Richmond has fallen, and the
Union restored.
"But don't you remember me?" he continued, turn-
ing his face up to the moonlight that Harry and
Osmond might see it.
" Why, I declare," cried Harry, holding out both
hands, " it is Captain Spott!"
" Yes, sir, Captain Spott with two t's, all alive and
lightsome."
Big John M'Donald and Cousin Tom were both
slightly wounded, but they would hardly admit it.
Lucy herself had received a flesh wound on the shoulder,
and gloried in it.
And no less than ten poor niggers lay dead around
the earthworks, and many more were wounded. They
had died fighting " for dear massa, and de missies, and
de ole plantation home ".
Everything that could be thought of to ameliorate
the sufferings of Uncle Neile was done. He was borne
tenderly in and placed near the fire, and after a time
he revived sufficiently to open his eyes and look around
him.
342 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
" We am sabed?" he asked, holding out his hand to
Harry, who was kneeling by his side.
" All saved."
"And de robbers gone?"
" All gone, dear Uncle."
" Good-bye, good-bye, Mammy ! Bress de Lord f oh
all His goodness; bress de Giver ob ebery good thing!"
He just wore away after this, with blessings on his
lips. Seemed to sleep away, and there was hardly a
dry eye in the room when he gave his last long-drawn
sigh.
The old plantation is as beautiful to-day as it was
then, and just on the borders of the forest and near to
a tall pine tree (whose dark nodding plumes are
covered in early spring with the lavender blooms of
the wandering wistaria) is a grave.
Against the tree is a cross bearing the simple in-
scription —
IN MEMORY OF
"UNCLE NEILE!"
1865.
WHEN THE CRUEL WAR WAS OVER. 343
CHAPTER X.
WHEN THE CRUEL WAR WAS OVER.
THE summer of 1865 was in its prime and glory
when a British steamer left New York home-
ward bound for Liverpool.
There was a gayer crowd than usual on the good
ship, for many a war-worn soldier was taking the
voyage to Europe to seek for the health he had lost
in the long and terrible struggle 'twixt North and
South.
With few of these have we anything to do. But
one group on the quarter-deck attracts our attention
as the vessel passes Sandy Hook and the Atlantic
opens dark and wide before her. It is not a very
large one — only four ladies and three gentlemen — and
we know them all well by this time. Here we have
Mrs. Brewer, Lucy, Katie, and Mrs. Bloodworth.
The gentlemen are our heroes Osmond, Kenneth,
and Harry. Ah! but tliere is one other gentleman
that I think the reader will agree with me deserves
at least to be mentioned. It is Wolf. He is walking
up and down the deck, and is being admired by
everybody, despite the fact that Katie has tied
around his neck a ribbon of blue with stare on it.
Katie says that, go where she will, never in life will
she forget the bonnie blue flag under which her
344 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
brother fell. And Lucy is quite of the same way of
thinking.
Kenneth Reid had brought Osmond news straight
from Mirtields, where he had spent many days before
coming out to the States. It was news of a very
disheartening kind, although Kenn had broken it to
him as gently as he could.
Still, more than once during this voyage homewards,
when Kenn and he were alone with Harry in the cabin
occupied by the three of them, Osmond would refer to it.
" Why," he said one evening, " I can hardly believe,
Kenn, lad, that it is four long years since you and I
crossed the ocean together. Ran away from home, in
fact, to search for romance and adventure."
" Well," laughed Kenn, " haven't we had enough of
both?"
"Almost too much," said Osmond, laughing in turn,
as he held up the stump of his left arm.
" Oh, that little bit ! " cried Harry. " Why, you left
that with us in Ole Virginny for a keepsake."
" I wonder," continued Osmond, " what my mother
will think of her one-armed boy?"
" She would have liked far better, I suppose, to see
you all complete; but, never mind, lad, better want a
hand than want a head."
"And you say, Kenn, that Mother and Eva are
looking well in spite of our sad losses?"
" Beautiful both."
WHEN THE CRUEL WAR WAS OVER. 345
"And the old man, my dear father?"
"Well, he mopes a little sometimes, to be sure; but
your big brother Dick is always with him, and cheers
him up. Dick isn't going to let down his heart, I can
assure you. Eva told me that there was much distress
at first among the operatives who depended upon the
great mill for their daily bread, and not a little dis-
content also; that, in fact, when mills stopped all over
the valley owing to the war, the discontent amounted
in some cases almost to riot. This annoyed Dick and
his father too. But it did not prevent them from being
as kind as kind could be to the poor fellows and their
families."
"Ah! Father himself is comparatively poor now."
" Well, of course, Osmond, he cannot be so wealthy
as before the glen became all silent. But dear Eva
and her mother went to the village every day, and I
know for certain that they never went to preach with-
out doing a little practice as well, and many a hungry
mouth their charity helped to fill, and many a tearful
eye, I'm certain, did Eva dry with her helpful words
and her beaming, hopeful face."
"But Father will be broken-hearted, Kenn?"
" Yes, certainly your father takes on a bit. Only a
day or two before I left I was admiring the beauty of
your glen and the greenery of the grand old trees.
"'Ah!' he said, with a sigh, 'they are far, far too
green. I remember — and it is but a short time ago —
when the trees were all a- blur with smoke, and the
346 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
hum of the mills was everywhere. Heigho! those
days are gone!'
" ' But they'll come again, Mr. Lloyd/ I said.
"'Never!' he answered sadly. 'Never, in my time,
dear boy.'"
"Poor Father! Poor Dick! Would that I could
help them!"
" Come, come, Os, don't you let down your heart.
You don't know what good fortune may be in store
for you.
" Anyhow, Os," he continued, " Lucy — "
"Hush, hush!" said Osmond, and so the conversa-
tion dropped.
A mild-faced gentlemanly man boarded the steamer
immediately on her arrival at Liverpool, and asked for
Osmond Lloyd. Osmond was pointed out to him.
"I'm a solicitor," he said, shaking hands with our
hero.
Osmond grew deadly pale.
"Oh, sir!" he cried, "tell me at once, is my father
dead?"
"Your father dead! Not that I know of, young
friend," replied Mr. Jones, smiling. " What put that
in your head? I've good news for you, and I want
you to come to my office — there is my card — as soon
as you are clear of the Customs."
" That will I, gladly, and I suppose I can bring my
friends here with me."
WHEN THE CRUEL WAR WAS OVER. 347
" Most certainly. One, I think, is concerned in what
I shall have to read to you. Good morning!"
"Hurrah!" cried Kenneth as soon as he was gone.
"I shouldn't wonder if you and I had come into a
small legacy. That is Captain Brewer's solicitor."
All three friends went to the solicitor's office that
very afternoon, and without much preliminary talking
Mr. Jones proceeded to read to them Captain Brewer's
last will and testament.
A document of this kind has but little interest for
the general reader. Indeed wills are excessively dry
reading — unless one happens to expect something.
And Osmond and Kenneth too could not help won-
dering, as they walked along the street, what they
could possibly have to do with this will of dear old
Captain Brewer.
" I suppose," said Os, " he has left you a gold watch
for defending the old Mosquito so well, and me a gold
ring because I found out about the mutiny."
" Well, we'll soon see," replied Kenneth, " but I'm a
bit more hopeful than you."
The solicitor read the Captain's will. After bequeath-
ing a handsome annuity to Mrs. Brewer, his wife, and
another to Lucy, to commence upon her wedding-day,
to our heroes' astonishment they found their names
mentioned — Osmond's first, for a legacy of £20,000,
and Kenneth's next for the sum of £9000!
The one looked at the other for a few moments.
348 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
with parted lips, but utterly speechless, till the grave-
looking solicitor broke the spell by getting up and
shaking hands with them,
I think Osmond and Kenneth hardly felt the pave-
ment under their feet, as they walked back to their
hotel that day.
They dined together — the whole four, which is
counting Wolf, you know — that evening most sump-
tuously, just as young fellows would on so auspicious
an occasion, and the solicitor was their guest.
" Now," said Osmond to Kenneth and Harry, a short
time before they retired, "I have a favour to ask you."
" Out with it, lad," said Harry.
" Heave round," cried Kenneth.
"It is this: you must not breathe a word of all this
— our good luck, I mean — to Father or to anybody till
I give you leave."
" Agreed," said his friends, both in one voice.
They all travelled next day north to Yorkshire.
Dick and Eva were there at the station to meet and
drive them through the glen to Mirfields. But I
have no intention of describing either the meeting at
the station, or that at the old mansion. Some portions
of a story are best left out. But I must say that
Osmond's father and mother were just about as
happy that night as they had been for twenty long
years.
And honest Wolf seemed thoroughly delighted to get
WHEN THE CRUEL WAR WAS OVER. 349
back to the old place, and knew and even kissed Eva's
old tom-cat.
Next day, Eva told Osmond that the 10th of August
— about two months thence — would be father's and
mother's silver-wedding day.
" Will it indeed?" said Os.
He seemed to take wonderful interest in this fact,
but Eva could not tell why.
A general tour through the Scottish Highlands was
arranged for, a week after the arrival of the party.
Just the same travellers started on this beautiful
journey as came across the Atlantic, but with two more
in addition, namely Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd. Kenneth and
Osmond took the whole management of the tour,
and made it just as pleasant as pleasant could be for
all hands.
Only Dick was left at home. Dick, you see, was in
Osmond's secret.
Well, there was hardly a place worth seeing that
the party did not visit, and really Mr. Lloyd was so
pleased and delighted with everything that he quite
forgot all his care, the silent valley of Mirfields, the
hushed mills, the over-green trees and the clear streams,
to which it was even said the fish had returned.
More than six weeks had passed away. And now
the travellers were back once more in
"Edina, Scotia's dai-liiig seat!"
and preparing for home; everyone as brown as a
350 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY.
huckleberry, with the suu, and as hard as the Highland
heather,
" We'll just be back m time, my dear," said Mrs.
Lloyd, "for our silver-wedding.
They were sitting by the fire in their private apart-
ments, as she spoke.
"How these twenty -five years have fled!" said Mr.
Lloyd, laying a kindly hand in her lap. " But time
hasn't altered our hearts, has it, love?"
Mrs. Lloyd did not reply.
She just clasped the hand she held a little more
tightly, but the pressure spoke volumes.
As the party alighted once more on the platform of
the station, and found two carriages ready to whirl
them off" up the glen to Mirfields, Mr. Lloyd thought
he noticed an unusual bustle about.
Soon they were in the village.
There were flags at every window, and strips of
them across the street.
Whatever could it mean?
Women and children, too, rushed out to cheer the
carriages as they rattled past.
Then, near Mr. Lloyd's own old mill, the horses, at
a hint from Osmond, were drawn up. Here a huge
arch of evergreens spanned the road, and on it, written
in roses red and white, were the words:
Welcome Ho7)ie. Joy to your Silver- Wedding Day !
Mr. Lloyd could hardly speak for astonishment.
WHEN THE CRUEL WAR WAS OVER. 351
"Why," he cried at last, "look, wife, look, the old
mill is going again! Look at the smoke! Listen to
the rattle of the machinery! Why, wonders will
never cease!"
Before he could say another word, a huge crowd
of kindly-looking workmen surrounded the carriage,
cheering and waving their caps.
Then out came the horses, and right up to the very
verandah and porch of Mirfields the vehicles were
drawn. Such a welcome home Mr. Lloyd had never
known before!
But after they liad got inside, the meaning of this
change was explained, and he was now told of
Osmond's legacy.
" Osmond, you young rascal ! " said his father, grasp-
ing him lovingly by the hand, "and it is you who
have done all this, and gladdened the heart of your
old father. May God bless you, boy! May God bless
you!"
Osmond Lloyd never went to the wars again.
Things took a prosperous turn in the Vale of Mirfield,
and soon there were more mills going than that of the
Lloyds. The woods were once again all a-blur with
smoke, and once more the stream that meandered
through the glen was far too dark for fishes. But it
was just as Mr. Lloyd liked to see it. It meant business.
Well, nothing could ever make Kenneth other than
he was, a sailor and a rover. In the course of a year
352 FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY,
or two he had a ship of his own. Then he married
Katie Bloodworfch. The happy pair sailed to Madeira
on their marriage tour, and with them went — can you
guess? — Osmond and Lucy, for they were married on
the very same day.
The ship was Kenneth's own, as I have said, and
you will not be surprised to learn that there was one
other passenger, who seemed just as happy as anyone
else on board — and that was honest Wolf, the mastiff.
THE END.
ir^^Xcj^.fe^jyL^ -^Mat&ij.^j &LM'-jj.i.^ i &^A^^^^
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English officer, who goes in search of his sister Edith, she having been cap-
tured by the redskins. Strange and terrible are his experiences ; for he is
wounded, taken prisoner, condemned to be burned, contrives to escape,
and is again captured. In all his adventures he finds a magic talisman in
the Totem of the Bear, which was tattooed on his arm in his childhood by
a friendly Indian; while in the end there is peace between Pontiac and
the English, and Donald marries the great chief's daughter. One dares not
skip a single page in this most enthralling tale.
The White Conquerors of Mexico : A Tale of Toitec and
Aztec. By Kirk Munroe. With 8 page Illustrations by W. S.
Stacey. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 5s.
"Mr. Munroe gives most vivid pictures of the religious and civil polity of the
Aztecs, and of everyday life, as he imagines it, in the streets and market-places
of the magnificent capital of Montezuma." — The Times.
Hig-hwayS and Hig'h Seas: Cyiil Harley's Ad\ eutnres on
both. By r. Frankfort Moore. With 8 page Illustrations by
Alfred Pearse. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 5s.
"This is one of the best stories Mr. Moore has written, perhaps the very best.
The exciting adventures are sure to attract boys." — Spectator.
" It is pleasant to come across such honest work as F. Frankfort Moore's IJiiih-
ways and High Seas. Captain Chink is a real achievement in characterization."
— Scots Observer.
A Fair Claimant: Being a Story for Girls. By Frances
Armstrong. With 8 page Illustrations by Gertrude D. Hammond.
Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 5s.
" As a gift-book for big girls it is among the best new books of the kind. The
story is interesting and natural, from first to last." — Westminster Gazette.
The Heiress of Courtleroy. By Anne Beale. With 8
page Illustrations by T. C. H. Castle. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant,
olivine edges, 5s.
"We can speak highly of the .grace with which Miss Beale relates how the
young 'Heiress of Courtleroy' had such good influence over her uncle as to win
him from his intensely selflsh ways." — Ouardian.
12 r.LACKlE & SON'S BOOKS FOR Y^OUNG PEOPLE.
BY GEORGE MAC DONALD.
A Roug-h Shaking". By George Mac Donald. With
12 page Illustrations by W. Parkinson. Crown Svo, cloth elegant,
olivine edgef?, 6s.
"One of the very best books for boys that lias been written. It is fnll of
initerial peculiarly well adapted for the yoims. containing in a marked degree
tlie elements of all that is necessary to make up a perfect boys' hook.'' —
Teachers' Aid.
At the Back of the North Wind. By Geo. Mac
Donald. With 75 Illustrations by Arthur Hughes. Crown Svo,
cloth elegant, olivine edges, 5s.
" The story is thoroughly original, full of fancy and pathos. . . . We stand
with one foot in fairyland and one on common eavth."— The Times.
Ranald Bannerman's Boyhood. By Geo. Mac Donald,
With .36 Illustrations by Arthur Hughes. Crown Svo, cloth
elegant, olivine edges, 5s.
"The sympathy with boy-nature in Panald Bannermans Boyhood is perfect.
It is a beautiful picture of childhood, teaching by its impressions and suggestions
all noble tilings." — British Quarterbj Review.
The Princess and the Goblin. By George Mac Donald.
\Vith 32 Illustrations. Crown Svo, cloth extra, .3s. 6f/.
" Little of what is written for children has the lightness of touch and jday of
fancy which are characteristic of George Mac Donald's fairy tales. Air Arthur
Hughes's illustrations are all that illustrations should he."—Mancheiiter Guardian..
The Princess and Curdie. By George Mac Donald.
With 8 page Illustrations. Crown Svo, cloth extra, 3s. 6c?.
" There is the finest and rarest genius in this brilliant story. Upgrown people
would do wisely occasionally to lay aside their ntw.siiaiiurs and magazines to
spend an hour with Curdie and the Princess." — Slic[Hrlil Independent.
BY HARRY COLLINGWOOD.
The Pirate Island: A story of the South Pacific. By
Harry Collingwood. With 8 page Pictures by C. J. Staniland
and J. R. Wells. Crown Svo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 5s.
" A capital story of the sea ; indeed in our opinion the author is superior in some
respects as a marine novelist to the better known Jlr. Clark Russell. "—77(c Times.
The Log- of the "Flying- Fish": a story of Aerial and
Submarine Adventurjs. V>y Harry Collingwood. With 6 page
Illustrations by Gordon Browne. Crown Svo, cloth elegant, 3s. Qd.
"The Flying Fish actually surpasses all Jules Verne's creations; with incred-
ible speed she flies through the air, skims over the surface of the water, and darts
along the ocean bed. We strongly reconunend our school-boy friends to possess
themselves of her \o%."—Athenceum.
* :^* For other Books by Harry Collingwood. see pages 21 and 23.
BLACKIE d! SON'S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. 13
BY GEORGE MANVILLE FENN.
■ Jlr. Feim stands in the foieinost rank of writers in this department." — Daily
Sews.
QuieksilveP: Or, A Boy with no Skid to liis Wheel. By
Geor(;e Manville Fenn. With 10 page lUustrations by Frank
Dadd. Ci'own 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 6s.
" Qnicksiloer is little short of an inspiration. In it that prince of story-writers
for boys— George ilanville Fenn— has surpassed liiniself. It is an ideal book for
a boy's MhVAry."— Practical Teacher.
Dick O' the Fens: A Romance of the Great East Swamp. By
G-. Manville Fenn. With 12 page Illustrations by Frank Dadd.
Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 6s.
"We conscientiously believe that boys will find it capital reading. It is full
of incident and mystery, and the mystery is kejjt up to the last mnmeiit. It is
rich in effective local colouring; and it has a historical interest." — Tiines.
Devon Boys: A Tale of the North Shore. By G. Manville
Fenn. With 12 page Illustrations by Gordon Browne. Crown
8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 6s.
"An admirable story, as remarkable for the individuality of its young heroes
as for the excellent descriptions of coast scenery and life in North Devon. It is
one of the best books we have seen this season." —Atheitceuiii.
The Golden Magnet: a Tale of the Land of the Incas. By
G. Manville Fenn. Illustrated by 12 page Pictures by Gordon
Browne. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 6s.
"There could be no more welcome present for a boy. There is not a dull page
in the book, and many will be read with breatliless interest. ' The Golden Mag-
net' is. of course, the same one that attracted Raleigh and the heroes of West-
icard Ho .'" — Journal of Education.
In the King-'S Name: Or, The Cruise of the A'es^reZ. By
G. Manville Fenn. Illustrated by 12 page Pictures by Gordon
Browne. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 6.s.
" The best of all Mr. Fenn's productions in this field. It has the great quality
of always ' moving on ', adventure following adventure in constant succession."—
Daily News.
Nat the Naturalist: A Boy's Adventures in tlie Eastern
Seas. By G. Manville Fenn. With 8 page Pictures. Crown 8vo,
cloth elegant, olivine edges, 5s.
"This sort of book encoinages independence of character, develops resource,
and teaches a boy to keep his eyes open." — Saturday Review.
Bunyip Land: The story of a Wild Journey in New Guinea.
By G. M.\nville Fenn. With 6 page Illustrations by Gordon
Browne. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, 4s.
" ;\Ir. Fenn deserves the thanks of everybody for Bunyip Land, and Ave may ven-
ture to promise that a quiet week maybe reckoned on wliilst the youngsters have
such fascinating literature provided for their evenings' amusement."— Spectato/-.
14 BLACKIE & SON'S BOORS FOR YOUHG PEOPLE.
^ — _
BY GEORGE MANVILLE FENN.
" Xo one cau find his way to tlie hearts of lads more readily tliau Mr. Fenn." —
Sottiiii/ha III Guardian.
BrOWnsmith's Boy: A Eomance in a Garden. By G.
M.\>^viLLE Fenn. With 6 page Illustrations. Crown 8vo, "cloth
elegant, 36-. 6d.
" Mr. Fenii's books are among tlie best, if not altogether the best, of the stories
for boys. Mr. Fenn is at his best in Brownsuiith's Buy."— Pictorial Woiid.
For other Books by G. Manville Fenn, see page 22.
BY ASCOTT R. HOPE.
Young" Travellers' Tales. By Ascott k. Hope. Witii
li lUusti-ations by H. J. Draper. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, 3s. 6(/.
"Possess a high value for instrnction as well as for entertainment His quiet,
level humour bubbles up on every pa'^e." —Daily Chronicle.
" E.xcitement and cheerful enjoyment run through the hook."— Book man.
The Seven Wise Scholars. By Ascott e. Hope. With
nearly 100 Illustrations by Gordon Browne. Cloth elegant, 5s.
"As full of fun as a volume of Punch; with illustr.ations, more laughter-
provoking tlian most we liave seen since Leech died. " — Sheffield Independent.
Stories of Old Renown: Tale.s of Knights and Heroes.
By A.SC0TT R Hope. With 100 Illustrations by Gordon Browne.
Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, 3s. 6d.
" A really fascinating book worthy of its telling title. There is, we venture to
say, not a dull page in the book, not a story wlncli will not bear a second read-
ing. " — Guardian.
Under False Colours: a story from Two Girls' Lives.
By Sarah Doudney. With 6 page Illustrations by G. G. Kil-
BURNE. Crown Svo, cloth elegant, 4s.
"Sarah Doudney has no superior as a writer of high-toned stories— jmre in
style and original in conception ; but we have seen nothing from her pen equal
in dramatic energy to this Ijook." — Christian Leader.
"This is a charming story, abounding in delicate touches of sentiment and
pathos. Its plot is skilfully contrived." — Scotsman.
The Universe : OrThe infinitely Great and the Infinitely Little.
A Sketch of Contrasts in Creation, and Marvels revealed and
explained by Natural Science. By F. A. Pouchet, M.D. With
272 Engravings on wood, of which 55 are full-page size, and 4
Coloured Illustrations. Twelfth Edition, medium Svo, cloth ele-
gant, gilt edges, 7s. 6r?.; also morocco antique, 16s.
" We can honestly commend Professor Pouchet's book, whicli is admirably, as
it is copiously illustratwl." — The Times.
"Scarcely any book in French or in English is so likely to stimulate in the
young an interest in the physical phenomena." — Fortnightly Beview.
BLACKIE wne. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 3s. &d.
"A gem of the first water, bearing upon every page the mark of genius. It is
indeed a Little Pilgrim's Progress. "—C/u'/'»((V(ji Leader.
18 BLACK IE & SON'S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE.
BY HUGH ST. LEGER.
Hallowe'en Ahoy! Or, Lost on the Crozet Islands. By
Hugh St. Legeh. With 6 Illustrations by H. J. Draper.
Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, 4s.
This is the strange history of the derelict llallotve'en, in which is set
forth : How she was found on tlie high-seas beyond the equator ; how it
befell that there was only a ghost on board ; how the ghost was captured ;
how the vessel was casst ashore on a desert island in the Southern Ocean ;
how the crew, being Englishmen, took the disaster cheerily; and how at
length, after many hardships and hairbreadth escapes, they floated their
.stout craft, bringing her back safe again to old England. And in this
wonderful tale there is such wealth of tine enchantment that it will warp
the hungry school-boy from remembrance of his dinner.
Sou'wester and Sword. By Hugh St. Leger. Witli 6
page Illustrations by Hal Hurst. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, 4.'?.
"As racy a tale of life at sea and war adventure as we have met with for some
time. . . . Altogether the sort of l)ook th;it boys will revel in." — Athenceum.
BY EDGAR PICKERING.
Two Gallant Rebels: a story of theCireat struggle in La
Vendee. By Edgar Pickering. With 6 Illustrations by W. H.
OvEREND, Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, 3s. 6f/.
These two rebels are two English youths who are shipwrecked and cast
ashore in La Vendue, a province of France. Here they are rescued by the
inhabitants, and in gratitude for this, assistance they join the Vendeans
in their revolt against the French Republic. The two yo\ing fellows main-
tain the English character for pluck in the various ambushes and battles
in which they take part; and even when captured and condemned to the
guillotine they contrive to escape by sheer reckless daring.
In Press-Gang" Days. By Edgar Pickering. With 6
Illustrations by W. S. Stacey. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, 3s. M.
"It is of Marr^at we think as we read this delightful story; for it is not
only a story of adventure with incidents well conceived and arranged, but the
cliaracters are interesting and well-distinguished."— ^catfcH);/.
An Old-Time Yarn: Wlieiein is set forth divers desperate
mischances which befell Antliony Ingram and his shipmates in the
West Indies and Mexico with Hawkins and Drake. ]'>y Edgar
PicKEKiNG. Illustrated with G page Pictures drawn by Alfred
Pearse. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, 3.?. Qd.
"And a very good yarn it is, with not a dull page from first to last. There is a
flavour of Weis.
"They are real living boys, with tlieir virtues and faults. The Cornish fisher-
men are drawn from life, and stand out from the jKijues in their jerseys and
sea-boots all sprinkled with silvery pilch;ud scales."— 5/>cc«((ftiy.
YuSSUf the Guide: or, Tlie Moinitain Bandits. A Story of
Strange Adventure in Asia Minor. By G. Manville Fknn. With
6 page Illustrations by J. Schonbekg. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 'is.
"Told witli such real freshness and vigour that the reader feels he is actually
one of the party, sharing in the fun and facing tlie dangers." — Pall Mall Gazette.
Robinson Crusoe. with lOO illustrations by Gordon
Browne. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, Ss.
"One of the best issues, if uot absolutely the best, of Defoe's work which has
ever appeared."— jTAc Standard.
Gulliver's Travels. With lOO illustrations by Gordon
Browne. Crown 8 vo, cloth extra, 3s.
" Mr. Gordon Browne is, to my thinking, inconip;u'ably the most artistic,
spirited, and brilliant of our illustrators of books for boys, and one of the most
humorous also, as his illustrations of 'Gulliver' amply testify."— jT/'itWt.
Patience Wins: or, War in the Works. By George Man-
ville Fenn. With 6 page Illustrations. Cr. 8vo, cloth extra, 3s.
" Mr. Fenn has never hit upon a happier plan than in writing this story of
Yorkshire factory life. The whole book is all aglow with life." — Pall Mall Gazette.
Mother Carey's Chicken: Her Voyage to the Unknown
Isle. By G. Manville Fenn. With 6 page Illustrations by A.
FoRESTlHR. Crown Svo, cloth e.xtra, 3s.
" l'ndoul)tedly one of the best Mr Fenn has written. Tlie incidents are of
tlniUini; interest, while the characters are drawn with a cai'e ajid completeness
rarely found in a boy's book. " — Literary World.
The Wig"wam and the War-path: stories of the Red
Indians. By Ascott B. Hope. With 6 page Illustrations. Crown
8vo, cloth elegant, 3s.
"Ts notably good It gives a very vivid picture of life among the Indians,
which will delight the heart of many a schoolboy." — Spectator.
DLACKIE ^ SON'S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PJblOl'LE. 2^
THREE-SHILLING SERIES— Continued.
The Missing" Merchantman. By Harby Collingwood.
With 6 page Illustrations by W. H. OvEREND. Cloth extra, 3s.
" One of tlie author's best sea stories, 'i'lie hero is as lieroic as any boy could
desire, and the eudiiig is extremely happy." — British Weekly.
The Rover's Secret : A Tale of the Pirate Cays and Lagoons
of Cuba. By Harry Collingwood. With 6 page Illustrations by
W. C. Symons. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, os.
" The Rover's Secret is by far the best sea story we have read for years, and is
certain to give unalloyed pleasure to hoys "—Saturday Review.
Perseverance Island: or, The Robinson Crusoe. of the 19th
Century. By Douglas Frazar. With 6 page Illustrations.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s.
"This is an interestinrc story, written with studied simplicity of style, much in
Defoe's yein of apparent sincerity and scrupulous veracity; while for practical
iiistiiiction it is even ))etter than Robinson Crusoe." — Illustrated London News.
Girl Neig'hbOUrS : or, The Old Fashion and the New. By
Sakah Tytlek. With 6 page Illustrations by C. T. Garland.
Crown Svo, cloth elegant, 3s.
" One of the most effective and quietly humorous of iliss Sarah Tytler's stories.
U is very healthy, very agreeable, and very well written." — The Spectator.
BLACKIE'S HALF-CROWN SERIES.
Illustrated bv eminent Artists. In crown 8vo, cloth eleaaut.
A Musical Genius. By the Author of the "Two Dorothys".
Illustrated by John H. Bacon.
Hugo Ricardo has a genius for the violin, and is adopted by a wealthy
musical amateur who has discovered his special gift. The lad studies
hfn-d, and fulfils the highest expectations of his new friend. But he never
quite forgets his humble, unselfish brother the conjurer ; and when he is
called upon to make choice between affection for his brother and a vvealthj"
home, he quickly chooses the former. The charm of this tale is in its
naturalness, and in the engaging self-sacrifice of the two noble brothers.
For the Sake of a Friend : A story of School Life. By
Margaret Parker. Illustrated by G. Demain Hammond.
Stories of school life are common enough, but this tale of a girls' school
in Melbourne is quite new. The vivacity of these Australian girls is not
less attractive than the home-like brightness and freedom of the school.
The heroine, Susie Snow, and her friend, Trixie Beresford, are the sweetest
and cleverest of girls, and although there are jealousie.*, mistake.^, and
misunderstandings among tlie pupils at Stormont House, yet all comes
right in the end.
21 BLACKIE ct- ^'O.V'^' WUli.-i FOR YOUSG J'EOI'LE.
HALF-CROWN SERIES Continued.
Under the Black Eag'le. By Andrkw Hilliaud. illus-
trated liy W. 15i)L('Hi;u.
Ernest Wentworth is an English lad resident in Russia, and bis great
chum is a student called Gregorieff. As this student has secret dealings
with Nihilists, the two friends become suspected of plots, and the final
result is that both are apprehended, and exiled to Siberia. On the journey
they contrive to leap from the convict-steamer, swim ashore in the .
cloth elegant, Is. 6il.
"We wish the winds woubl
tell us stories like these. It
would be worth while toclimlj
Primrose Hill, or even to the
giddy heights of Hampstead
Heath in a bitter east wind,
if we could only be sure of
hearing such a sweet, sad,
tender, and stirring story as
that of Hilda Brave Heart, or
even one that was half so
good." — ..•lc'rt(/e//(i/. Fruiii ■■ Tliiiiijn ivill Talc a Tmn". (Reduced)
Hal Hung-erford. By J. R. Hutchin.son, b.a.
"Altogether, Hal Hungerford is a distinct literary success."— Spectator.
The Secret of the Old House. By e. Everetx-Green.
■' Tim, the little Jacobite, is a charming ciea.t\r)n."— Academy.
The Golden Weathercock. By Julia Goddard.
'■ A cleverly conceived quaint story, ingeniously wv'Men."— Saturday Review.
White Lilac: or, The Queen of the May. By Amy Waltox.
'■ Every rural parish ought to add White Lilac to its library. "—^4 c(((/t'//(;/.
Miriam's Ambition. By Evelyn Everett-Green.
"Miss Green's children are real British boys and girU."- Liverpod Merciir'j.
The Brig "Audacious". ByALANCuLE.
"Fresh and wholesome as a breath of sea a.\\:"— Court Journal.
26 liLACKlE cfc SOLI'S BOOKS FOR YOUMbf PKOPLK.
HALF-CROWN SERIES-Continued.
The Saucy May. By Henry Frith.
" Mr. Fritli yives a new picture of life on tlie ocean wave." — Sheffield Independent.
Jasper's Conquest. By Elizabeth J. Ltsaght.
" One of the best boys' Ijooks of tlie season." — Schoolmaster.
Little Lady Clare. By Evelyn Everett-Greek.
" Keniiniis.us in itsquaintness of Mrs. Ewing's delightful tales." — LUei: World.
The Eversley Secrets. By Evelyn Everett-Green.
" Roy Eversley is a very tcmoliing picture of high principle." — Giutrdion.
The Hermit Hunter of the Wilds. By G. Stables, r.n.
■' Will LTladden the heart of many a bright boy." — Methodist Recorder.
Sturdy and Strong. By G. A. Henty.
" A her(j who stands as a j;()od instanceof chivalry in domestic life. " — The Empire.
Gutta Percha Willie. By George Mac Donald.
'■ Get it for your boys and girls to read for themselves." — Practical Teacher.
The War of the Axe : Or, Adventure.^ in South Africa. By
J. Pkkcy-Gkoves.
•■'rile story is well and Ijrilliantly U>h\."—Literarij World.
The Lads of Little Clayton. By e. Stead.
•■ A capital book for boys." — Sclioolinaster
Ten Boys wlio lived on the Road from Long Ago to Now.
13y Jane Andrews. With 20 Ilhistrations.
" The idea is a very happy one, and admirably carried out."— Practical Teacher.
A Waif of the Sea: Or,The Lost Found. By Kate Wood.
" Written with tenderness and grace." — Morniny Advertiser.
Winnie's Secret. By Kate Wood.
" One of the best story-books we have read." — Schoolmaster.
Miss WillOWburn'S Offer. By Sarah Doudney.
" Patience Willowburn is one of Miss Doudney's best cveaiions."— Spectator.
A Garland for Girls. By Louisa M. Alcott.
" These little tales are the beau ideal of girls' stories."— C/i?'iSiMi)i World.
Hetty Gray: Or, Nobody's Bairn. By Rosa Mulholland.
" Hetty is a delightful creature— piquant, tender, and true." — World.
Brothers in Arms: A story of the Cmsades. By F. Bay-
EOKD HaRRI.SON.
"Sure to prove interesting to young people of both sexes." — Guardian.
Miss Fenwick's Failures. By Esme Stuart.
"A girl true to real life, who will put no nonsense into young heads." — Graphic.
Gytha's Message. By Emma Leslie.
" This is the sort of book that all girls likti."— Journal oj Education.
BLACKIE 'eed. By Ismay
'J'HURN.
Tales of Daring and Dan-
ger. By G. A Henty.
The Seven Golden K^eys. By
JA.MES E. AKNOLI).
The Story of a Queen. By
AlARY C. RoWSKLL.
Edwy : Or, Was he a Coward?
By Annette Lyster.
The Battlefield Treasure.
By E. Bayfokii II ai:rison.
Joans Adventures at the
North Pole. By Alice
(■oi;kKAN,
Filled with Gold. By J. Per-
KETT.
Our General : A Story for
Girls. By ELIZABETH J.
Lysaght.
Aunt Hesba's Charge. By
Elizabeth J. Lysaght.
By Order of Queen Maude:
A story of Hume Life. By
Louisa Crow.
The Late Miss Hollingford.
By KosA jMulhiilland.
OurFrank By A jiy Walton.
A Terrible Coward. By
G. Manville Eenn.
Yarns on the Beach. By G. A.
Henty.
Tom Finch's Monkey. By J. C.
Hutcheson.
Miss Grantley.'s Girls, and the stories
she Told Tlieni. By Tnos. AucHER.
The Pedlar and his Dog. By Mary
C. Rowsell.
Town Mice in the Country. By
M E. Francis.
Phil and his Father. By Ismay
Thokn.
Prim's Story. By L. E, Tiddeman.
BLACKIE .0 SOirS BOOKS FOR TOUNQ PEOPLE.
3]
EIGHTEENPENNY SERIES— Continued.
Down and Up Again. By Gregson
Madge's Mistake. By Annie E.
AKMSTKaNli.
The Troubles and Triumphs of
Little Tim. By Gregson Guw.
The Happy Lad: A .Story of rea!;ai\t
Lilt 111 .v..iw..y. By B. Bjounson.
A Box of Stories. PHcked fui- Yciuii<;
K.ilk l)\ HuKACE Happyman.
The Patriot Martyr, ami other \ar-
nitives uf Female Heroism.
LIBRARY OF FAMOUS BOOKS FOR
BOYS AND GIRLS.
In Crown 8\'o. Illustrated. Clotli extra, l.«. did. each.
The Cruise of the Midge. M. Scott.
Lives and Voyages of Drake and
Cavendish
Edgeworth's Moral Tales.
Marryat's The Settlers in Canada
Michael Scott's Tom Cringle's Log.
White's Natural History of Sel-
borne.
Waterton's Wanderings in S.
America.
Anson's Voyage Round the World.
Autobiography of Franklin.
Lamb's Tales from Shakspeare.
Southey's Life of Nelson.
Miss Mitford's Our Village.
Tw:o Years Before the Mast.
Marryat's Children of the New
Forest.
Scott's The Talisman.
The Basket of Flowers.
Marryat's Masterman Ready.
Alcott's Little V/omen.
Cooper's Deerslayer.
The Lamplighter. By Miss Cum-
mins.
Cooper's Pathfinder.
The Vicar of Wakefield.
Plutarch's Lives of Greek Heroes.
Poe's Tales of Romance and Fan-
tasy.
Also a large selection of Reuards at a .^hilling, Ninepence, Sixpence.,
and Fourpence. A complete list viU he sent post free on appli-
cation to the Publishers.
The Best Book for Children.
Laug-h and Learn: The Easiest Beok of Nursery
Lessons and Nursery (xames. By Jennictt Humphreys.
Profusely lUnstrated. S'|nare 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. &d.
"One of the liest books of the kind iniafrinahle, full of practical teach-
ing in wnnl and pictiue, and helping; the little ones pleasantly along a
right royal road to learning."— G'cap^ic.
LONDON:
BLACKIE & SON, Limited, 50 OLD BAILEY, E.G.
rir. ACLAND says: —
"There ought to be in connection with every elementary school a
good library, in which you can lend children the best books which
are available to the richest children in the country "
BLACKIE'5
SCHOOL AND HOHE LIBRARY.
Under the above title the publishers liave arranged to issue, for
School Libraries and tlie Home Circle, a selection of the best and most
interesting books in the English language. The Library will include
lives of heroes, ancient and modern, records of travel and adventure by
sea and land, fiction of the highest class, historical romances, books of
natural history, and tales of domestic life.
The greatest cai'e will be devoted to the get-up of the Library. The
volumes will be clearly printed on good paper, and the binding made
specially durable, to withstand the wear and tear to which well-circu-
lated books are necessarily subjected.
Ill ir