THE SHADOW OF AN EAST TENNESSEE VENDETTA.
THE long roll turned out to be occasioned by the burning of a Union
Tennesseean's house by a squad of revengeful guerrillas, but the
regiment had to stay under arms until a party of cavalry went out and
made an investigation. The men stacked their arms, and lay around on the
ground to get what sleep was possible, and which was a good deal, for
the night was pleasant, and there are worse beds than the mossy hillside
on a July night.
"Too bad that your weddin' night had to be broken up so," said Si
sympathetically, as he and Shorty and the bridegroom sat together on a
knoll and watched the distant flames. "But you needn't 've come with us
this time; nobody expected you to."
"Why, I s'posed this wuz part o' the regler thing," answered Nate in
amazement. "I s'posed that wuz the way yo'uns allers married folkses in
the army. Allers something happens at weddin's down hyah. Mos'
ginerully hit's a free fout betwixt the young fellers o' the bride's an'
bridegroom's famblies, from 'sputin' which fambly's made the best match.
When Brother Wils married Becky Barnstable we Hartburn boys said that
Wils mout-ve looked higher. The Barnstable boys done tuk hit up, an'
said the Barnstables wuz ez good ez the Hartburns ary day in the
week, an' at the weddin' Nels Barnstable had his eye gouged out, Ike
Barnstable wuz knocked down with a flail, an' had what the doctor
called discussion o' the brain, and ole Sandy Barnstable cut off Pete
Hartburn's ear with a bowie. They-uns reopened the argyment at the
infair, an' laid out two o' the Hartburns with ox-gads. I don't think
they orter used ox-gads. Tain't gentlemanly. D'ye think so? Knives,
an' pistols, an' guns, an' even flails an' axes, is all right, when you
can't git nothin' better, but I think ox-gads is low an' onery."
Si and Shorty looked at the gentle, drawling, mild-eyed young
Tennesseean with amazement. A young girl could not have seemed softer or
more pliant, yet he quietly talked of savage fighting as one of the most
casual things in life.
"Well," said Shorty, "if that's the way you celebrat weddin's and
in-fairs down here in Tennessee, I don't wonder that you welcome a
battle for a change. I think I'd prefer a debate with guns to one with
axes and flails and anything that'd come handy. It's more reg'ler to
have umpires and referees, and the thing conducted accordin' to the
rules of the P. R. Then when you git through you know for sure who's
licked."
"Jist 'cordin' t' how one's raised," remarked Nate philosophically.
"I've allers done seed a big furse o' some kind at a weddin'. Don't all
yo'uns have none at yo'uns's weddin's?"
"Nothin' worse'n gittin' the girl's dad to consent," answered Shorty,
"and scratchin' 'round to git the money to git married on to buy a
new suit o' clothes, fee the preacher, pay for the license, and start
housekeepin'. That's enough for one lifetime."
"Well, mam an' the gals made Wils's weddin' cloze," said Nate
reflectively. "He had his own sheep, which he sheared in the Spring.
They'uns carded, spun, dyed, an' wove the wool themselves, an' made him
the purtiest suit o' cloze ever seed on the mountings."
"Your mother and sisters goin' to make your weddin' suit, Si?" asked
Shorty. "What'd he have to pay for the license?"
"License? What's that?" asked Nate.
"License? Why, a license," explained Si, "is something you git from the
County Clerk. It's leave to git married, and published in the County
paper."
"Don't have t' have no leave from nobody down here t' git married. Hit's
nobody's business but the man's an' the gal's, an' they'uns's famblies.
Some times other folkses tries t' stick their noses in, but they'uns git
sot down upon."
"What'd he pay the preacher?" asked Shorty.
"Why, mam gin his wife a hank o' fine stockin' yarn, an' dad gin him a
couple sides o' bacon."
"At present prices o' pork in Injianny," remarked Si, after a little
mental figuring, "that wasn't such a bad fee."
"If you speak to the Captain," suggested Si, "he'll let you go back
home to your wife. I don't believe there's goin' to be anything special
to-night. The cavalry don't seem to be stirrin' up nothin out there."
"I don't keer t'," said Nate, in his sweet, girlish drawl. "Ruther
stay with yo'all. Mout somethin' happen. Biff Perkins an' his gang
o' gorillers is out thar somewhar, not fur off, huntin' a chance fur
deviltry. I'd like mouty t' git a whack at they'uns. Nance'll keep.
She's mine now, fast an' good, for ever, an'll wait fur me. Afore we wuz
spliced I wuz afeered Zach Barnstable mout work some contrivance t' git
her, but now she belongs t' me."
The boys took him to their hearts more than ever.
At the coming of the early dawn the regiment was aroused and marched
back to camp, there to meet orders to move forward at once, as soon
as breakfast was prepared and eaten. Away it marched for the Tennessee
River, behind which Bragg was supposed to be gathering his forces for
the defense of Chattanooga.
As Co. Q went by the cabin, Grandfather Onslow was seated in a
rocking-chair on the porch, smoking a cob pipe, while Mrs. Nancy Onslow
Hartburn, with her finger bashfully in her mouth, peeped around the
corner. Co. Q gave her a cheer, at which she turned and fled out of
sight, as if it was some raillery on her newly-married state, and Nate
hung down his head, as if he, too, felt the boys were poking fun at him.
"Good-by, boys. Lick the life outen Ole Bragg," quavered Grandfather
Onslow, waving his hand after them.
"That's what we're goin' to do," shouted the boys in reply.
"Well," said Si, "I bet if ever I'm married I'll kiss my wife before I
go away."
"Me, too," echoed Shorty, very soulfully.
Shorty and Si considered Nate Hartburn their special protege, and were
deeply anxious to transform him into a complete soldier in the shortest
possible time. He was so young, alert, and seemingly pliable, that it
appeared there would be no difficulty in quickly making him a model
soldier. But they found that while he at once responded to any
suggestion of a raid or a fight, drill, discipline and camp routine
were bores that he could be induced to take only a languid interest in.
Neither Si nor Shorty were any too punctilious in these matters, but
they were careful to keep all the time within easy conversational
distance of the regulations and tactics. Naturally, also, they wanted
their pupil to do better than they did. But no lecturing would prevent
young Hartburn from slouching around camp with his hands in his pockets
and his head bent. He would not or could not keep step in the ranks, nor
mark time. While Si was teaching him he would make a listless attempt
to go through the manual of arms, but he would make no attempt to handle
his gun the prescribed way after the lesson was ended. Si was duly
mindful of the sore time he himself had in learning the drill, and tried
to be very considerate with him, but his patience was sorely tried at
times.
"For goodness' sake, Nate," Si would say irritably, "try to keep step.
You're throwin' everybody out."
"'Tain't my fault, Si," Nate would reply with a soft drawl. "Hit's
theirs. I'm walkin' all right, but they'uns hain't. Jaw them. What's
the sense o' walkin' so' close together, anyway? Yo' don't git thar no
sooner."
Then again:
"Great jumpin' Jehosephat, Nate, will you never learn the right way to
hold your gun when you present arms? You must turn the trigger outside,
not the hammer."
"O, Jeminy, what difference does hit make? I never kin recollect hit,
an' what's the use o' tryin'? Can't see no sense in holdin' a gun
straight up an' down that-a-way, anyway, an' if yo' do, hain't one side
jest as good as t'other?"
He was so obdurate that the boys would some times be provoked to sharp
words to him, but his gentle speech would quickly disarm them again, and
make them feel penitent.
At last the 200th Ind. came out upon the crest of Waldron's Ridge,
overlooking the Tennessee River, which wound and turned amid the
towering mountains like a band of bright silver traversing the giant
billows of green. Everyone caught his breath at the sight, for beyond
the stream were rebel camps, and moving trains and long, lines of
marching men. Was all of Bragg's army gathered over there to dispute the
passage or was a part still this side of the river, ready to pounce on
our heads of columns as they meandered down the mountain?
The brigade was closed up, information sent to the Division Commander,
and the 200th Ind. pushed to the front to develop whatever might be
there. Si with Shorty and some others were sent ahead to feel for the
enemy.
"Take him along?" asked Si of Shorty in a low tone, with a nod toward
Nate, as they were making up the squad.
"Don't know," answered Shorty. "If ever in the world, we want men with
us to-day who don't git rattled, and make a holy show o' theirselves
before the regiment, but'll keep cool, watch their chances, and obey
orders. Guess we'd better leave him behind."
"Seems to me," said Si, trying vaguely to recall his Scriptual readings,
"that the Bible says some thing agin takin' a newly-married man right
into battle just after he's married."
He looked around again, saw Nate taking his place along with the other
men selected, and called out:
"Here, Nate, fall back to the company. You can't go along."
"Please, Mister Si, le' me go along," begged Nate, in the soft tones of
a girl asking for a flower. "I'll be good. I'll hold my gun straight,
an' try t' keep step."
"No, you can't go., This 's partickler business, and we want only
experienced men with us. Better fall back to the company."
"Go ahead, there, Corporal," commanded the Adjutant. "Time's passing.
We must move."
Si deployed his men and entered the dense woods which curtained the view
and shrouded the enemy. It was one of those deeply anxious moments in
war, when the enemy is in ambush, and the next instant, the next step
may develop him in deadly activity.
Si was on the right of his line and Shorty on the left, and they were
pushing forward slowly, cautiously, and with every sense strained to the
extremity of alertness.
So dense was the foliage overhead that it was almost a twilight in the
forest depths they were penetrating, and Si's eyes were strained to
keep track of the men moving on his left, and at the same time watch the
developments in front. He had noticed that he was approaching a little
opening some distance ahead, and that beyond it was a dense thicket of
tall laurels. Then he thought he heard a low whistle from Shorty, and
looked far to the left, while continuing to walk forward.
Suddenly he was startled by a shot a little to his rear and left. Then a
shot answered from the laurel thicket, he saw the bushes over there stir
violently, and he heard Nate's voice say:
"He wuz layin' for yo', Si, an' come nigh a-gittin' yo', but I think I
must've at least creased him, from the wild way he shot back. Le's go
forrard an' see."
"I thought I told you to stay back," said Si, more intent on military
discipline than his escape.
"I know yo' did done hit, but I couldn't mind, an' tagged 'long arter
yo'."
"How'd you know he wuz there?"
"I done seed the bushes move over his head. I knowed jest how he wuz
a-layin' for yo'. Le's go forrard an' git him."
Si and Nate ran across the open space to the laurels, and found a little
ways in a bushwhacker staggering from pain and loss of blood from a
wound in his hip, and making labored efforts to escape.
"I done hit him; I done fetched him; I done knowed jist whar he wuz,"
exclaimed Nate with boyish exultation.
At the sound of his voice the bushwhacker turned around upon him an
ugly, brutal face, full of savage hatred.
"Why, hit's bad ole Wash Barnstable, what burnt daddy's stable with two
horses, an' shot brother Wils through the arm. I'll jist job him in the
heart with my bayonet," screamed the boy as he recognized the face.
His own features became transfigured with rage, and he began fixing his
bayonet. Si pushed forward and caught the bushwhacker by the shoulder
and tore the gun from his hand. Nate came springing up, with his bayonet
pointed directly at the man's heart. Si saw it in time to thrust it
aside, saying in wrathful astonishment:
"Nate, you little scoundrel, what do you mean? Would you kill a wounded
man?"
"Suttenly I'll done kill him," screamed the boy in a a frenzy of rage.
"Why not? He desarves hit, the hell-hound. All of us Hartburns 've said
we'd done kill him the minnit we laid eyes on him. Now that I've got him
I'm gwine t' finish him."
He made another vicious lunge at the man with his bayonet.
"Indeed you're not," said Si, releasing his hold on the prisoner
and catching Nate's gun. "You mustn't kill a wounded man, you young
wildcat."
[Illustration: "YOU MUST'NT KILL A WOUNDED MAN 143]
"Why not?" shouted the boy, beside himself with rage. "He's done killed
lots o' men. He'll kill more if yo' let him go. He wuz layin' t' kill
yo'. Air yo' gwine t' gin him another chance to down yo'?"
Si wrested the gun from him. Two or three other boys who had been
attracted by the shot came up at this moment. Si gave the prisoner into
the charge of one of them, with instructions to take him to the rear.
Nate released his hold on his gun and made a jump for the one which the
other boy had stood against a tree when he started to take hold of the
prisoner. Again Si was too quick for him. He was by this time so angry
that he was in the mood to give Nate a severe lesson, but the Adjutant,
had ridden forward, called out:
"Go ahead, there, Corporal. We're just behind you."
"Pick up your gun, there, Nate, and come along with me, if you kin
behave yourself. There's work much more important than killin' wounded
bushwhackers. Come along, this minute."
Nate hesitated a moment, then picked up his gun with a vengeful look at
the prisoner.
"I'll kill him yit. Mebbe I'll git a chance this evenin' yit," said he,
and followed Si.