as ephraim saw their terrible enemy running towards them, followed by a number of soldiers, his heart, stout as it was, sank within him; for lucius, in the spasm of unreasoning terror which the mere sight of the balloon had induced in him, hung back, a dead-weight, and refused to move in response to either force or persuasion. it is said that a person in the grip of severe sea-sickness would, if informed that the ship was about to sink under him, calmly accept the fact, and welcome the change as a blessed relief from present suffering. if this be true, then lucius was in very much the same state of mind. the recollection of his balloon experiences filled him with a hideous, incapacitating fear. to ascend, he believed, meant death. death was behind him in another shape, but compared with the former it seemed absolutely enchanting. these were his thoughts, if he thought at all, and in answer to ephraim’s wild entreaty that he would hurry on, he did but hang back the more, while he muttered huskily words which fell in broken, meaningless syllables from his pale and trembling lips.
while this struggle was going on, the colonel and his men drew nearer and nearer. spriggs had not recognised the boys at first, but observing from his place of concealment two federal soldiers, as he supposed, entering the open, had fixed his attention somewhat idly upon them. it was not until the argument began, and he got a good, though distant, look at ephraim’s hairy face, that it was borne in upon him who these seeming federals really were. a fierce joy filled his cruel heart. he should not have to return to camp empty-handed after all. ‘don’t fire!’ he ordered his men. ‘run them down and take them alive.’
relaxing for a moment his efforts to drag lucius to the balloon, ephraim cast a glance over his shoulder. the colonel and his men were still a couple of hundred yards away, but coming on at top speed. thirty paces ahead was the balloon—a veritable city of refuge. one vigorous spurt, and they could reach it and be safe. life was very sweet, and ephraim could save his—if he went on alone.
but that was not the grizzly’s way. no such coward thought even entered his brain. stooping down in front of lucius, he drew the boy’s arms around his neck, humped him on to his back like a sack of potatoes, and staggering to his feet again, stumbled forward, his body bent almost double under the heavy weight and the effort to preserve the equilibrium of his well-nigh senseless burden.
‘throttle me round the neck, luce,’ he cried wildly. ‘twine yer legs around me. don’t give in, sonny! keep up yer sperrits, and i’ll git ye thar!’
scarcely conscious of what he was doing, lucius 259obeyed, and ephraim, straightening up under this better distribution of weight, rushed madly on with long, swinging strides.
on came the colonel. another hundred yards and they were lost; but gasping and groaning, ephraim had reached the car, and with scant ceremony tumbled lucius into its friendly shelter.
his eyes were bulging out of his head, and the sweat poured in big drops from off his face. his shoulder, too, was paining him terribly, and the tremendous exertion had caused the bandages to slip, and set the blood flowing again. but his nerves were steady and his wits clear, and he ran swiftly from side to side of the car, deftly unloosing the knots in the ropes that detained it.
ping! ping! two balls from the colonel’s revolver sang through the cordage, and passed clean through the balloon; but with a yell of triumph ephraim scrambled into the car, and having cast off the loosened ropes, began madly to fling out the bags of ballast.
out went the sand-bags, one after the other, till but one remained, and then, as if in response to ephraim’s frantic invocations, old blue bag put forth all her remaining strength, and though she rose but slowly, yet after all she rose. ephraim was wild with delight. he shouted and sang, without knowing in the least what he was doing, and regardless of the bullets, shook his fist at spriggs as he came panting along. then there was a slight jerk, and the shouts died away upon the grizzly’s lips, as the balloon stood still. the grapnel, which ephraim in his eager haste had only torn from its hold and flung to one side, had dragged again under the log, and now held fast.
ephraim sprang at the rope where it was attached to the car, and tore at the fastening; but the knot was stiff and badly tied, and in spite of all his efforts, it refused to come undone.
colonel spriggs took in the situation at a glance. ‘ha! ha!’ he laughed savagely; ‘i’ve got you this time. you don’t escape me again.—hurry up there!’ he called to his men. ‘a dozen of you haul down this confounded balloon. the rest stand ready, and if the rope gives, fire a volley through the car.’
a rush was made towards the balloon, in which a number of men, who had suddenly issued from the woods under the command of a young captain, took part. the remainder of the colonel’s forces halted, and a row of deadly, gleaming tubes was instantly levelled at the car, where ephraim, lost to all sense of personal danger in his anxiety to save lucius, tugged and strained at the knot till his nails were split, and blood oozed from the points of his fingers. in vain: it would not yield.
‘never mind,’ said a voice beside him. ‘we are as good as dead, anyway. better face them and have done with it.’
ephraim looked round, bewildered. lucius was standing by his side, pale, certainly, but with a look rather of relief than otherwise upon his face.
‘by time!’ cried the grizzly, losing patience for once. ‘i can’t onderstand ye, luce. one moment ye’re as limp ez a lump er jelly, and the next ye’re ez stiff ez the rammer er a gun. oh, ef i’d on’y kept jake summers’s knife!’
‘haul them down!’ shouted the colonel, grinning like an ugly imp.
he was standing immediately underneath the car, looking up at the boys. a wild storm of rage shook ephraim from head to foot, and desisting from his useless struggle with the knot, he stooped to the bottom of the car, and raising the one heavy bag of ballast that remained, sent it with unerring aim full down upon his mocking enemy.
the sand-bag struck the colonel between the neck and shoulder, and felled him like a log; but as he measured his length upon the ground, the car sank to earth; strong hands seized and held it fast, and the young captain, who had been looking on in bewilderment at the singular scene, stepped forward, and parting the ropes, ordered the boys, not unkindly, to get out.
‘whatever does this mean?’ he began. ‘are you federal soldiers, or’——but colonel spriggs, rising from the ground, advanced with a face that was absolutely contorted with rage.
‘hold your tongue, sir!’ he shouted rudely to the captain. ‘i don’t know who you are, nor what you want here.—as for you, you scoundrel,’ he foamed at ephraim. ‘you filthy rebel, you; i’ll teach you! you’ve played your last prank.’ then, maddened by the quiet smile upon the grizzly’s face, he raised his arm and thrust his fist, guarded by the heavy hilt of his sword, violently in the lad’s mouth.
‘take that, you dog,’ he cried. ‘what do you mean by grinning at me?’
lucius uttered a cry of rage, and struggled violently with the men who held him on either side; but ephraim, spitting out a mouthful of blood, coolly replied: ‘’twould hev made a cat laugh ter see ye 262sprawlin’ thar. i on’y wish it had broken yer neck, ye or’nery skunk.’
‘colonel!’ exclaimed the young captain, stepping to the front. then, seeing that his superior was temporarily out of his senses with wrath, and fearful of some dire catastrophe, he turned sharply upon the crowd of soldiers, and ordered them to fall in.
the men, drilled to prompt obedience, obeyed at once; even those who were holding the balloon loosing their grasp and joining their comrades, the colonel’s men in one group, the captain’s in another. instantly the balloon rose in the air, and the grapnel having been freed in the commotion, soared higher and higher, till at last, caught by a current of wind, it floated over the tree tops towards the south. an hour later it astonished jackson’s rearguard by descending suddenly among them, a collapsed and miserable wreck.
the colonel was striding up and down, muttering furiously to himself. now, when he looked up and saw the balloon drifting away, his wrath broke out afresh.
‘what did you let that balloon away for, you fools?’ he shouted. ‘now we have no ropes to hang these dogs with. what did you do it for?’ he glared at the men, who naturally made no reply.
‘it was by a mistake, colonel,’ the young officer hastened to explain. ‘it was my fault. i gave the order to fall in.’
‘and who are you, sir, to give your orders while i am on the ground?’ stormed the colonel.
‘i addressed my own men,’ replied the officer respectfully; ‘i understand that i command my own company. your men heard the order, and obeyed it at the same time. hence the escape of the balloon.’
‘who are you, sir?’ repeated the colonel. ‘who are you with your “i command my own company?” you won’t command it much longer if you presume to take so much upon yourself in the presence of your superior officer. i tell you i won’t be answered back. i believe you let that balloon away on purpose.’
the captain flushed deeply. ‘my name is peters, sir,’ he answered, ‘captain peters of the —— vermont. i received orders to make a detour of these woods, to feel for an advance of the enemy. the scene which has just passed has considerably surprised me. i know nothing of these people, though, from the presence of the balloon, and the fact that they are wearing federal uniforms, i am led to believe that they are those of whom all the camp is talking. i have no wish to hinder you in the execution of your duty. if you conceive it to be your duty to arrest these fellows, do so, by all means.’
‘i conceive it to be my duty,’ retorted the angry colonel, ‘to let you know that you are too free with your speech, young man. you don’t command anything or anybody while i am on the ground, and just you remember it.’
captain peters reddened again, but held his peace. he was a volunteer with little experience, and he really did not know whether he ought to be at the orders of a stray colonel, just because he was a colonel.
‘we’ve got a friend in the captain,’ whispered ephraim to lucius. ‘we won’t come to harm ef he kin git the whip hand.’ but this it did not seem that captain peters was likely to do.
‘he’ll kill us if he can,’ replied lucius. ‘look at his face.’
‘i reckon,’ returned ephraim simply. ‘the old blunderbuss is mad.’
the colonel resumed his march up and down, probably wrestling with himself; for brute though he was, what manhood there was left in him could not but recoil from the deed he contemplated. for several minutes there was silence, the men standing at ease, and the captain meditatively poking holes in the ground with the point of his sword, and ever and anon casting furtive glances at the two prisoners.
the stillness became oppressive. only the colonel’s hurried footsteps broke it irregularly, and the sound jarred so much upon ephraim’s tense nerves that he felt he must speak at whatever cost.
‘see hyar, cunnel,’ he called out. ‘it’s cruel ter keep us standing hyar. what ye goin’ ter do with us? remember we ain’t done ye any harm, ’ceptin’ thet whack i ketched ye jest now, and any wan would hev done ez much, makin’ a break fer freedom.—cunnel!’
captain peters made ephraim a swift sign to be silent; but the colonel, after one prolonged and malevolent stare, continued his march as though he had not heard a word.
‘the pesky critter!’ muttered ephraim. ‘hold up, luce. he dassn’t do nuthin’, and he knows it too, right well. thet’s what’s makin’ him so mad. he’d like ter chaw us up inter little bits, on’y he dassn’t.’
he stopped obedient to the captain’s signals, but the next moment his roving eye caught the gleam of gun-barrels in among the trees in the section of wood they had left when they ran for the balloon, and here and there a face peeped out and was rapidly withdrawn; 265so rapidly that the grizzly rubbed his eyes and asked himself whether they had not deceived him. ‘it looked like ’em,’ he said to himself; ‘but it can’t be. how can it be? oh, i reckon it’s some more yanks comin’ ter see the fun.’ he held his tongue, however, and, for want of something better to do, took a piece of string from his pocket, and twisted it nervously round and round his fingers, the while he kept his eyes steadfastly fixed upon the forest opposite. but if he had seen anything, there was nothing to be seen now. suddenly the colonel halted in his walk, turned, and approached them.
‘now it’s comin’,’ thought ephraim, twirling his string more rapidly than ever. lucius stood perfectly still and erect, his hands locked behind his back, and his eyes staring straight in front of him. whatever his feelings, they did not appear upon the surface.
the colonel’s swarthy face was deeply flushed, his black, deep-set eyes glittered menacingly under their bushy, overhanging brows, and he gnawed persistently at his long moustache. it was evident that in the struggle which had been going on in his mind, the evil had conquered the good.
captain peters drew himself up as the colonel neared him, and waited silently at attention.
‘captain peters,’ began spriggs, speaking rapidly in a husky voice, whether the result of shame or of his still blazing wrath it would be hard to say, ‘since you seem to have taken a more proper view of your position, i will condescend to explain matters to you. you were right in your surmise that these fellows are those who arrived yesterday in that balloon for the purpose of making observations of our position. they 266escaped, as you have doubtless heard, and they have been retaken, as you now see.’
captain peters bowed.
‘well, sir,’ went on the colonel, ‘i presume you know the punishment in these cases, though your experience is probably not very great.’
he sneered out the last words, and still captain peters did not reply, though his brown face became a shade paler.
‘we will take that for granted, then,’ pursued the colonel. ‘very well, sir, as, owing to your hasty assumption of the command, that punishment cannot be carried out in the usual manner, you will take a firing party fifty yards to the right, set these two rascals twenty paces in front, and—shoot them.’ the word came out with a snap as though the demon which possessed the man had forcibly expelled it.
‘colonel!’ ejaculated the astounded captain peters. ‘shoot them! why—why——has the charge been proved?’
‘your duty is to obey, sir, not to ask questions,’ said the colonel with a hang-dog look. ‘call your men forward at once.’
‘but, colonel,’ protested captain peters, ‘i beg your pardon, but i think i should be informed why i am ordered to do this. you have your own men, and’——
‘obey your orders, sir. it is just to teach you that lesson, and for nothing else,’ thundered the colonel, now more violently inflamed than ever, because of the captain’s evident reluctance. ‘obey your orders, and at once, or i’ll have you disrated. do you know who i am, sir?’
but captain peters held his ground like a man, and ventured on another protest.
‘one of them is a mere boy, colonel,’ he said.
‘boy or no boy,’ returned the colonel sullenly, ‘take him out, and shoot him along with that hairy-faced baboon there. he knew what he was doing when he turned spy, i’ll be bound.’
‘but i don’t see’——began captain peters.
‘never mind what you see, or what you don’t see, sir,’ vociferated the colonel. ‘i tell you that they are a couple of rascally spies. i had the proof of it in my hand.’
‘thet’s a lie,’ interjected ephraim most injudiciously at this point. ‘we came down here because we couldn’t help it, not because we wanted ter. he didn’t find any proof.’
captain peters looked hesitatingly at the colonel, who hastened to say: ‘from the pocket of that fellow was taken a paper covered with details of our movements. that of itself is proof enough.’
‘thet’s another,’ cried ephraim. ‘thar warn’t nuthin’ but stale news on thet paper. don’t ye listen ter him, captain. ye take the resk. we han’t had any trial. he dassn’t shoot us ’thout’n a trial.’
‘silence!’ commanded the colonel.—‘it may satisfy you, captain peters, since you require so much satisfying, that i have general shields’s express orders to deal summarily with these persons, when and wherever i might find them. now will you do your duty? i don’t choose to be kept waiting here all the morning.’
this was decisive, and though the captain turned a sympathetic eye upon the prisoners, he had no further objections to advance. ‘company! attention!’ he shouted; but lucius broke from the men who were standing on either side of him, and rushed forward.
‘captain,’ he cried, ‘that man is a liar. here is general shields’s own order.’ he thrust a paper into the captain’s hand.
‘bullee!’ chuckled ephraim. ‘so ye got thet, too, luce. by time! thet’ll upset him.’
captain peters took the paper and read aloud: ‘“colonel spriggs—if you come up with the two men who escaped from the balloon this morning, you will detain them as prisoners, and bring them before me without taking further action.”—this appears to be addressed to you, colonel,’ he finished, looking up.
spriggs advanced upon him, and simply tore the paper from his hand. ‘you impertinent puppy,’ he raved, ‘if it is addressed to me, what do you mean by reading it?’ he glanced over the paper and his countenance changed, but he recovered himself. ‘you greenhorn,’ he continued bitterly, ‘did it never occur to you to ask yourself how this precious document came into that rascal’s hands? are you familiar with general shields’s handwriting?’
‘no,’ answered the captain; ‘but’——
‘well, i am, sir, and i declare this thing to be an impudent forgery. pah! you call yourself a soldier, and allow yourself to be taken in by such a trick.’
‘it is not a forgery,’ cried lucius. ‘certainly, the general did not know that we were the escaped prisoners, but he gave my chum the paper, all the same. it’s the truth, upon my honour.’
captain peters looked puzzled, as well he might. ‘i don’t understand you,’ he began, when the colonel at a white heat broke in again.
‘captain peters,’ he roared, ‘do your duty.’
captain peters hesitated for the last time. he was very young, very sympathetic, and he did not know his position with regard to colonel spriggs. but he did know what would be the consequences to himself of disobedience on what was practically the field of battle. finally he said: ‘colonel, this appears to be a very curious and unusual case. would it not be better, if i may say so, to refer it back to the provost-marshal?’
for an instant the colonel paused. it appeared that one chance more was to be given him. then his good angel turned away and left him, and a black lie dropped from his lips. his voice became dangerously calm. ‘i do not know that i am bound to make explanations to you, captain peters,’ he said; ‘but i have done so out of consideration for your extreme youth and inexperience. it may be enough for you to know that i carry the provost-marshal’s order, countersigned by general shields, and dated 1 a.m. to-day, to hang these fellows as soon as possible after their capture, should i succeed in taking them; and that document, sir, is not bogus like the one you have just read. now, for the last time, will you obey orders?’
captain peters wheeled round and faced his men.
‘company!’ he cried. ‘attention! you will remain drawn up in line. your orders are to keep a sharp lookout for the enemy. you will take no part in this business, if you are men. that is my last word to you as your captain.’ he turned about and faced the infuriated colonel. ‘no, sir; i will not obey your orders,’ he said with flaming cheeks. ‘do your murderous work yourself, if you must do it. i am 270a soldier, not an executioner. there is my sword. i am prepared to take the consequences.’
‘bullee!’ burst from ephraim, while a low murmur of approval ran down the line of vermonters. but the colonel, livid with rage, said as he almost snatched the sword from the young officer’s hand: ‘very good, sir. fall back! i shall know how to deal with you when the time comes.—sergeant plowes!’ a low-browed, thick-set fellow stepped forward and saluted. ‘carry out the orders which captain peters has refused to execute, and be sharp about it.’
in every company of men there are some souls of the baser sort, ever ready to curry favour with those above them. the colonel had made a careful selection from his regiment, when he set out to hunt the fugitives down, and he knew that there was no fear of his orders being disobeyed, whatever their character. had not captain peters appeared upon the scene it would have been all over with ephraim and lucius long ago, but the presence of the junior officer had inspired colonel spriggs with the mean idea of forcing some one to share the responsibility of the execution with him. foiled in this, he fell back upon the men he had brought.
the sergeant also knew his men, and having named six, ordered them to step to the front. they did so. the remainder of the company stood at attention. their sympathies were with the prisoners, but the fear of the provost-marshal was before them, and as the colonel had absented himself from them for about an hour after midnight, they could not know that he had lied in saying that he had seen that dreaded functionary.
‘fall in between the second and third file,’ said the sergeant to the prisoners.
lucius stepped forward and took his place. his head was held proudly up, and on his pale lips was a set smile. his hands were still locked behind his back, so no one saw how convulsively his fingers were twined together.
‘now then, you,’ said plowes roughly to ephraim, catching him by the arm.
but the grizzly broke from his hold, and rushed up to the colonel. ‘cunnel!’ he cried, in heart-rending tones, ‘stop before ye do this bloody deed. i ain’t keerin’ what ye do ter me, ez i told ye before. but thet boy thar, thet luce, he’s ez innercent ez a lamb. i made the balloon jest fer ter pleasure him, and he didn’t want ter come; but i fetched him along. he’s done nuthin’. cunnel, ez god is above ye, don’t harm him.’ his voice rose to a shriek. ‘cunnel! cunnel! hold yer hand. don’t shoot him. he’s his mother’s only son. he’s my friend, and i love him. and i’ve brought him ter his death.’ he covered his face with his hands and sobbed.
‘take him away,’ said the colonel abruptly.
‘cunnel!’ screamed ephraim, struggling with the sergeant. ‘spare him! spare him! ef ye will, i’ll jine yer army and fight against my own side till i drop. ye’ll git one man more thet way.—oh, what am i sayin’? i don’t want ter git off myself. on’y let him go! on’y let him go!’
‘for shame, grizzly!’ called lucius. ‘don’t degrade yourself by talking to the ruffian.’
‘oh, luce, luce!’ wailed ephraim, suffering the sergeant to lead him away. ‘what shall i do? what 272shall i do? i brought it on ye. oh, fergive me! fergive me!’
‘files! ‘shun!’ cried plowes, shoving ephraim into his place. ‘right face! fifty paces to the front! quick—march!’
the melancholy procession started, lucius still holding his head high, and ephraim crying and whining like a child that has been whipped.
‘don’t cry, grizzly,’ said lucius, taking him by the arm. ‘they’ll think you’re a funk. i know better; but don’t give them the chance to say so. don’t worry over me. it’s not your fault. i ought to have remembered what my general said. it’s a big price to pay for being disobedient; but it’s my fault, not yours. oh, don’t cry so, dear old grizzly!’
their positions were curiously reversed. the soft, young southern voice was calm and clear, there was no shrinking in the bright blue eyes, and the quivering coward of half an hour before now marched to his death with a step as steady and bearing as firm as that of any of the cavaliers whose blood ran in his veins; while his comrade, all his steadfast courage gone, shuffled along, his gaunt frame seeming to shrivel in his clothes as he went, and his queer, old-looking face drawn with the agony of his fear and self-reproach. only there was this difference—lucius was thinking of himself, and that nerved him. ephraim was thinking of lucius, and that unmanned him.
‘files! halt! front! order—arms!’ shouted the sergeant, and the men stood still.
‘now then, you two,’ said plowes, ‘come with me.’ his rough heart was touched for once in his life by what he had just heard, and he muttered as they marched along: ‘i’ll make it thirty paces, and ye kin take yer chance.’ such a favour! and having said thus much, he placed them and went back without another word.
lucius straightened himself up and once more locked his fingers behind his back. ‘hold up, grizzly!’ he said. ‘don’t let them think that you’re afraid.’
ephraim bent his lank body and kissed lucius on the cheek.
‘good-bye, luce,’ he said. ‘maybe god’ll let me meet ye by-and-by.’
he raised his head, and swift as lightning a change came over his face, and a flame of joy sparkled in his eyes as he stared over the heads of the firing party at the woods beyond them.
plowes had reached his men. ‘‘shun!’ he called. ‘at thirty paces—prepare to fire a volley! ready!’
‘ef i kin on’y gain an ounce of time,’ muttered the grizzly, with a sob in his throat.—‘hold on!’ he shouted suddenly. ‘i can’t abear it. wait till i blind our eyes.’
‘blind ’em, then, and be quick about it,’ returned plowes sullenly; for he was getting heartily sick of the job he had taken in hand.
‘i’ll not have my eyes bound,’ declared lucius, pushing ephraim’s hand away.
‘it’s the last thing i’ll ever ask of ye,’ stammered ephraim, scarcely able to speak, and lucius submitted.
‘now then, sharp with your own,’ called plowes.
ephraim drew out his handkerchief and fumbled with it in his hands, but all the time he scanned the opposite woods. then the light died out of his eyes again, for save for the waving boughs that swept 274gently to and fro in the morning breeze, there was nothing to be seen.
‘now then,’ shouted plowes; and lucius muttered: ‘have you got your handkerchief on?’
‘yes, sonny,’ answered ephraim soothingly, as he glanced once more towards the woods. ‘thar they air, the boys in gray,’ he murmured. ‘why don’t they come out? am i dreaming? it’s too late! too late! one of us must go under. i reckon it’ll hev ter be me.’ then dashing the handkerchief to the ground beside him, he placed his right arm round luce’s shoulders and roared at the top of his voice: ‘fire, boys! fire!’
‘ready!’ called plowes, astonished at this mode of address, for he supposed it to be meant for him. ‘present!‘——
but ere the fatal word could cross the sergeant’s lips, ephraim swung suddenly round in front of lucius and clasped him in his arms. the grizzly’s broad back was turned to the platoon, and his body covered the friend he loved from the deadly volley.
but it never came. for before a trigger of the six rifles could be drawn, a line of flame spurted from the opposite woods, and a frightful roar of musketry swallowed up all other sounds. lucius felt a sharp agony of pain in his right ankle, and then, with a dead, heavy weight bearing him irresistibly backwards, fell fainting to the ground with the wild rebel yell ringing in his ears.
the battle of port republic had begun. for the second time lucius and ephraim had stood up to the fire of their own men, and this time they had gone down.
