BEGINNING THE NIGHT ADVENTURE
The colonel of engineers did not delay me long, and, eager to be away, I
made my necessary questions as brief as possible. Riding back through
the encampment of troops, hampered more or less by the irregularity of
the different commands, I had ample time in which to outline the night's
adventure. I comprehended fully the danger of the mission, and that the
probability was strongly against success. Reckless audacity, coupled
with rare good fortune, might result in our return with the prisoner
sought, but it was far more likely that we would be the ones captured,
if we escaped with our lives. Yet this knowledge caused no hesitancy on
my part; I was trained to obedience, and deep down in my heart welcomed
the opportunity. The excitement appealed to me, and the knowledge that
this service was to be performed directly under the eye of the great
General of the West, was in itself an inspiration. If I lived to come
back it meant promotion, the praise of the army, a line on the page of
history--enough surely to arouse the ambition of youth.
It was early in the afternoon when I reached the position of my
regiment, and reported to the colonel, asking the privilege of selecting
a detail. Then, as I sat at mess, I studied my men, mentally picking
from among them those best adapted to the desperate task. I chose those
I had seen in action, young, unmarried fellows, and for "non-com,"
Sergeant Miles, a slender, silent man of thirty, in whom I had implicit
confidence. I checked the names over, satisfying myself I had made no
mistake. Leaving Miles to notify these fellows, and prepare them for
service, I crossed to the colonel's tent in search of the ex-slave. He
was easily found.
"Le Gaire," I began, choking a bit at the name, "do you remember a big
white house, on the right of the pike, the first beyond a log church,
south from the Three Corners?"
He looked up from his work with sparkling eyes.
"I suah does; I reckon I could find dat place in de dark."
"Well, that is exactly what I want you to do, my man. I have some work
to do there to-night."
"How yo' goin' to git dar?"
I explained about the ravine, the positions of the Confederate lines,
and where I understood the special guards were stationed. The boy
listened in silence, his fingers, clinching and unclinching, alone
evidencing excitement.
"Will that plan work?" I asked, "or can you suggest any better way?"
"I reckon it'll work," he admitted, "if yo' don't git cotched afore yo'
git dar. I knows a heap 'bout dat ravine; I'se hunted rabbits dar many a
time, an' it ain't goin' to be no easy job gittin' through dar in
de dark."
"Will you show us the way?"
"Well, I don't just know," scratching his head thoughtfully. "Maybe de
col'nel wouldn't let me."
"I can arrange that."
"Den I don't want fo' to go to dat house; dat's whar I run away from."
"But I thought you belonged to the Le Gaires of Louisiana?"
"Dat's what I did, sah; but I done tol' yo' I come up yere wid de army.
I was left dere till de captain come back; dose folks was friends
o' his."
"Oh, I see; well, will you go along as far as the end of the ravine?"
He looked out over the hills, and then back into my face, his eyes
narrowing, his lips setting firm over the white teeth. I little realized
what was taking place in the fellow's brain, what real motive
influenced his decision, or the issues involved.
"I reckon I will, sah, providin' de col'nel says so." There was, of
course, no difficulty in obtaining the consent of that officer, and by
nine o'clock we were ready to depart, ten picked men, young, vigorous
lads, though veterans in service, led by Miles, together with the negro
Le Gaire and myself. Taking a lesson from the guerillas we were armed
only with revolvers, intending to fight, if fight we must, at close
quarters; and the brass buttons, and all insignia of rank liable to
attract attention had been removed from our blouses. Upon our heads we
wore slouch hats. I had decided to make the attempt on foot, as we could
thus advance in greater silence. Without attracting attention, or
starting any camp rumor, we passed, two by two, out beyond the pickets,
and made rendezvous on the bank of the river. It was a dark night. As
soon as the sergeant reported all were present, I led the way up stream
for perhaps a mile until we came to the mouth of the ravine. Here I
called them around me, barely able to distinguish the dim figures,
although within arm's length, explained my plans and gave strict orders.
As I ceased speaking I could plainly hear their suppressed breathing, so
deathly still was the night.
"If any man has a question, ask it now."
No one spoke, although several moved uneasily, too nervous to remain
still.
"Le Gaire, here, will go first, as he knows the way, and I will follow
him; the rest drop in in single file, with the sergeant at the rear.
Keep close enough to distinguish the man in front, and be careful where
you put your feet. No noise, not a word spoken unless I pass back an
order; then give it to the next man in a whisper. Don't fire under any
conditions except by command." I paused, then added slowly: "You are all
intelligent enough to know the danger of our expedition, and the
necessity of striking quick and hard. Our success, our very lives,
depend on surprise. If each one of you does exactly as I order, we've
got a chance to come back; if not, then it means a bullet, or a prison,
for all of us. Are you ready?"
I heard the low responses, and counted them--ten, the negro not
answering.
"All right, men," then, my voice hardening into a threat: "Now go ahead,
Le Gaire, and remember I am next behind, and carry a revolver in my
hand. Make a wrong move, lad, and you'll never make another."
I could faintly discern the whites of his eyes, and heard one of the men
snicker nervously.
"Lead off! Fall in promptly, men."
It was a rocky cleft through the hills, perhaps a hundred yards wide
here where it opened on the river, with a little stream in its centre
fringed with low trees, but narrowing gradually, and becoming blocked
with underbrush as it penetrated deeper into the interior. For a mile or
more the course was not entirely unknown to me, although the darkness
obscured all familiar landmarks. The negro, however, apparently
possessed the instinct of an animal, or else had night eyes, for he
never hesitated, keeping close along the edge of the stream. The
tree-branches brushed our faces, but our feet pressed a well defined
path. Farther in, the shadows becoming more dense, this path wound about
crazily, seeking the level spots; yet Le Gaire moved steadily forward,
his head lowered, and I kept him within reach of my arm, barely able to
distinguish the cautious tread of feet behind. Clearly enough he knew
the way, and could follow it with all the certainty of a dog. Relieved
as to this, and confident the fellow dare not play us false, I could
take notice of other things, and permit my thoughts to wander. There was
little to be seen or heard; except for the musical tinkle of the stream,
all to the right was silence, but from the other side there arose an
occasional sound, borne faintly from a distance--a voice calling, the
blare of a far-off bugle, the echo of a hammer pounding on iron. Once
through the obscuring branches the fitful yellow of a camp-fire was
dimly visible, but the ravine twisted so that I could not determine
whether this was from Federal or Confederate lines. Anyhow no eye saw us
creep past, and no suspicious voice challenged. Indeed we had every
reason to believe the ravine unguarded, although pickets were
undoubtedly patrolling the east bank, and there were places we must go
close in under its shadow.
So intent had I been upon this adventure, my mind concentrated on
details, that the personal equation had been entirely forgotten. But now
I began to reflect along that line, yet never for a moment forgetting
our situation, or its peril. I was going down into the neighborhood
where Willifred Hardy lived--to which she had probably already returned.
I was going as an enemy to her cause, guided by an ex-slave of Le
Gaire's. It was rather an odd turn of Fate's wheel, and, while there was
no probability of our meeting, yet the conditions were suggestive. My
eyes were upon the dim form in advance, and I was strongly tempted to
ask if he knew where Major Hardy's plantation was. Beyond doubt he did,
but this was no time for dalliance with love, and I drove the temptation
sternly from me, endeavoring to concentrate my mind on present duty. But
in spite of all Billie would intervene, her blue-gray eyes challenging
me to forget, and the remembrance of her making my step light. I was
going to be near her again, at least, if only for an hour; perhaps,
whether I succeeded or failed, she would hear my name mentioned. Even
that would be better than forgetfulness, and she was one to appreciate a
deed like this. I should like to see her eyes when they told her--when
they spoke my name. I wondered where Captain Le Gaire was, and whether
he had been her escort back through the Confederate lines. Most probably
yes, and perhaps he had remained at the Hardy house, still incapacitated
from duty by the blow I had struck him--an interesting invalid. Even
this thought did not trouble me as it might have done otherwise, for I
believed Billie had already begun to see the real man behind the
fellow's handsome face; if so, then time and companionship would only
widen the breach between them--perhaps my memory also.
It was a hard three hours' travel, practically feeling a passage through
the darkness, for the narrow path extended but little beyond a mile,
after losing which we stumbled forward through a maze of rock and
underbrush. This finally became so dense that the negro veered to the
left, where there was a grassy ledge, along which we made more rapid
progress, although facing greater danger of discovery. However, the
night was black, and to any picket looking down from above the ravine
must have appeared a dark, impenetrable void, while our feet in the
grass scarcely made a sound. Once we saw a moving figure above us,
barely visible against the sky-line, and halted breathlessly, every eye
uplifted, until the apparition vanished; and once, warned by the
cracking of a twig, we lay flat on our faces while a spectral company
went past us on foot, heading at right-angles across our path. I counted
twenty men in the party, but could distinguish nothing as to uniform or
equipment. We waited motionless until the last straggler had
disappeared. By this time we were well behind the Confederate lines,
with troops probably on either side, for this gash in the surface had
both narrowed and veered sharply to the east. It still remained
sufficiently deep to conceal our movements, and, as we had circled the
picket lines, we could proceed with greater confidence. We were beyond
the vigilance of sentinels, and could be discovered now only through
some accidental encounter. I touched Le Gaire on the shoulder, and
whispered in his ear:
"How much farther is it?"
"'Bout half a mile, sah," staring about into what to me was impenetrable
darkness. "Yo' see de forked tree dar on de lef'?"
I was not sure, yet there was something in that direction which might
be what he described.
"I guess so--why?"
"I 'members dat tree, for dar's a spring just at de foot ob it."
"Is the rest of the way hard?"
"No, sah, not wid me goin' ahead of yo', for dar's a medium good path
from de spring up to de top o' de hill. I'se pow'ful feared though we
might run across some ob dem Confed sojers 'round yere."
I tried to look at him, but could see only the whites of his eyes, but
his voice somehow belied his words--to my mind there was no fear in the
fellow. I passed back word along the line, and found all the men
present. Not a sound came out of the night, and I ordered the ex-slave
to lead on.