_Washington--a Man with Human Passions_
Half an hour later, after the four travellers had taken some
refreshment, hasty steps were heard outside the door, followed by the
sentry's hail.
"Ah!" said the general, looking up eagerly from the book he had been
reading, "perhaps that is Mr. Martin with news from the enemy." Then
laying aside his book, he rose to his feet to meet the new-comer, who
proved to be the man he had expected. The young man stood at attention
and saluted, while the general addressed him sharply,--
"Well, sir, what have you learned?"
The young officer appeared extremely embarrassed. "I--well, the fact
is, sir, nothing at all," he stammered.
"Nothing!" said the general, loudly, with rising heat, "nothing, sir!
Did you not cross the river as I directed you?"
"No, sir. That is, I tried to, but there was so much floating ice, and
it was so difficult to manage a boat that I thought it would be hardly
worth while to attempt it, sir. In fact, the crossing is impracticable
for troops," he went on more confidently; but his face changed as he
looked up at his infuriated superior. The general was a picture of
wrath; the lines in his forehead standing out plainly, his mouth shut
more tightly and grimly than ever. It was evident that he was
furiously angry, and his face had in it something terrible from his
rage. The young officer stood before him now, white and frightened to
death.
"I saw him this way at Kip's Landing," whispered Hamilton to Seymour.
"Look! he has lost control of himself completely, there will be an
explosion sure."
The general struggled for a moment, and then broke away.
"Impracticable, sir! impracticable!" he roared out in a voice of
thunder. "How dare you say what this army can or can not do! And what
do you mean by not crossing the river and ascertaining the facts I
desire to know!" The next moment he stepped forward and, seizing a
heavy leaden inkstand from the table near him, threw it with all his
force full at the man, crying fiercely,--
"Damnation, sir! Be off and send me a _man_."
The officer dodged the missile, which struck the wall with a crash,
saluted, and ran out of the door as if his life depended on it; feeling
in his heart that he would face any danger rather than brave another
storm of wrath like that he had just sustained. The general continued
to pace up and down the room restlessly for a few moments, until he
recovered his composure.
"I depended upon that information, and I must have it," he
soliloquized. "If that man does not bring it back to us before we
cross the river, I 'll have him cashiered. Shall I send another man?
No, I 'll give him another chance."
Seymour picked up the book the general had been reading. It was the
Bible, and open at the twenty-second chapter of the Book of Joshua.
His eye fell full upon the twenty-second verse, which was marked. "The
Lord God of gods, the Lord God of gods, he knoweth, and Israel he shall
know; if; _it be_ in rebellion, or if in transgression against the
Lord, (save us not this day.)"
Just then the little daughter of Keith, the owner of the farmhouse at
which they were staying, entered the room. As the little miss came up
fearlessly to the general, he stopped and smiled down at her.
"Father and mother wish to know if you will want supper to-night, sir?"
"No, my little maid," he replied; "not here, at any rate. And which do
you like the better now, the Redcoats or the Continentals?"
"The Redcoats, sir, they have such pretty clothes," said the nascent
woman.
"Ah, my dear," he replied blithely, catching her up in his arms and
kissing her the while, "they look better, but they don't fight. The
ragged fellows are the boys for fighting."
"Singular man!" mused Seymour, contrasting the outbreak of wrath at the
recalcitrant officer, the open Bible he had been reading, and the last
merry, tender greeting to the child. But his musings were interrupted
by the general himself, speaking.
"General Greene, you would better ride over to the landing and place
the different brigades; take Hamilton with you, and perhaps General
Knox will go also to look out for the artillery. The brigades were to
start at three o'clock for McConkey's Ford, and the nearest of them
should be there now. We shall move in two divisions after we leave
Birmingham on the other side. I wish you to command the first one,
which will comprise the brigades of Sterling, Mercer, and De Fermoy,
with Hand's riflemen and Hausegger's Germans and Forest's battery. I
shall accompany your column. General Sullivan will take the second
division, with Sargeant's and St. Clair's brigades, and Glover's
Marblehead men, and Stark's New Hampshire riflemen. The two columns
will divide at Birmingham. You will take the east, or inland road, and
Sullivan that by the river. Have you that order I spoke of for the
troops, Mr. Hamilton? If so, you will give a copy of it to General
Greene, who will publish it to the troops as soon as they arrive.
Captain Morris, I think you would better go also. You will muster your
troop; the men will have returned from carrying my orders to the
different brigades, and can be assembled once more. I desire you to
attend my person to-night as our only cavalry. Talbot, you would
better go with General Greene; you also, marquis, so that you can be
with your friend Captain Hamilton. The rest of us will follow you
shortly."
The officers designated bowed, and in a few moments were on the road.
The officers left at the headquarters were speedily busy with their
necessary duties, and Seymour and his two companions, one of whom, the
boatswain, was most unfamiliar with and uncomfortable upon a horse,
were able to get a couple of hours of needed rest before starting out
upon what they felt would be an arduous journey. About half after six
o'clock the signal to mount was given, and the whole party, led by the
general himself, and followed by the ragged guard, was soon upon the
road.
It was intensely cold, and the night bade fair to be the severest of
the winter. The sky was cloudless, however, and there was a bright
moon.