Charlotte's whisper came to me: "Richard!" Standing by Ferry's pillow
she spoke for him. "If they start upstairs come and stand like me, on
the other side."
I nodded and slyly opened the door enough to pass half-way out. Some man
was parleying with Miss Harper. "Now, madam, you know you haven't locked
up your parlor to maintain an abstract right; you've locked it up
because you've got the man in there that I've come for."
"Whom have you come for, sir?"
"Lieutenant O'Brien, of the rebel army. Shall I order this man to kick
that door in? Answer quickly."
"Sir, there is no Lieutenant O'Brien in there, nor elsewhere in this
house; there never has been."
"Stand aside, madam."
"Stop, sir! I command you! There is no Lieutenant of any name on this
place!"
"Oh, yes there is; he goes by various names, but one of them is Ned
Ferry. Sergeant, we'll kick together; now!"--Bang!
I leaned back into the room to say "It's all right! Oh, but that sweet
woman's a 'coon! Let them batter!" As I thrust my head out again Miss
Harper was exclaiming "Oh, sirs, don't do that!"--Bang!--"For the honor
of your calling and your flag--" Bang!
"There's no Lieutenant in there." Bang!
"Corporal, go find an axe or something."
"Oh, you need not, sirs, I'll unlock the door."
"Well, be quick about it, and then stand clear; we don't want any woman
hurt." The key rattled at the keyhole and then dropped to the floor.
"You did that by intention! Give me that key!" He tried the lock. "We've
jammed it, corporal, but another good kick will fetch it;
now!"--Bang!--crash!--open flew the door.
"Well, I will be damned!" said the officer.
"Sir," said Miss Harper, "you give me no occasion to doubt it." She
followed the men upstairs. "Estelle, go back to your sister and cousin;
and if you, my dear,"--to our hostess--"will kindly go also, and stay
with them--"
I closed the door. It had no key, but there was a small catch to the
knob and I turned it on while the men were looking into the adjacent
rooms. When they reached ours Miss Harper was again at their front.
Inside, the three of us silently noted our strategic advantages: we were
in the darkest part of the room, the bed's covering was a dull red,
Ferry had on his shirt of black silk, the white pillows were hidden at
his back, Charlotte and I were darkly clad, the light from our west
window would be in our assailants' faces as they entered, and they would
be silhouetted against a similar light from the hall's front. We
noiselessly cocked our weapons and Charlotte and I each sank to one
knee. "The door is very thin," murmured Ferry, "we can fire before they
enter; they will get, anyhow, our smoke, and if they fire as they rush
in we can aim under their flash."
It was only then that I observed that Charlotte was armed. But the fact
made her seem only the more a true woman, since I knew that only for her
honor or his life would she ever take deadly aim. Her weapon was the
slender revolver she had carried ever since the day which had made her
Charlotte Oliver, the thing without which she never could have reached
this hour of blissful extremity.
"In here there is a lady, ill," we heard Miss Harper say.
"Is she alone?"
Ferry prompted in a whisper, the three of us cried "Yes!" and he added
"Pass one side from the door, Miss Harper, we are going to shoot
through it."
"Hello, in there! Lieutenant Ferry, of Ferry's scouts,"--
"_Captain_ Ferry," retorted Miss Harper, and I echoed the amendment.
"Damn the difference; I give you one half-minute, Captain Ferry, to say
you surrender! If you weren't wounded I wouldn't give you that.
Corporal, go get a log out of that fireplace downstairs."
"Oh, shame!" wailed Miss Harper, half-way down the hall.
"Captain," called Ferry, "I give you one quarter-minute to get away from
that door." He whispered to Charlotte, pointing to a panel of it higher
than any one's head.
"Oh, sirs," we again heard Miss Harper cry, "withhold! Captain Ferry,
they have called in four more men!" We heard the four downstairs coming
at a run. "Oh, sir--"
"Go away, madam!" bellowed the officer as his men thundered into the
upper hall. "Now, Captain Ferry, there are six of us here and three
under each of your windows. Do you--?"
"Oh, sir, the lady! the sick lady!"
"That's his look-out, madam. If the sick lady isn't Charlotte Oli'--"
"And if she is?" called Ferry, depressing Charlotte's weapon to an aim
barely breast high.
"Then throwing away your life won't save hers! Do you surren'--?"
Ferry made a quick gesture for her to shoot low, but she solemnly shook
her head and fired through the top of the uppermost panel, and the
assault came.
The log burst the door in at a blow, Ferry and I fired, and our foes
sprang in. Certainly they were brave; the doorway let them in only by
twos, and the fire-log, falling under foot, became a stumbling-block;
yet in an instant the room was ringing and roaring with the fray and
benighted with its smoke. Their first ball bit the top of my shoulder
and buried itself in the wall--no, not their first, but the first save
one; for the bureau mirror stood in dim shade, and the Federal leader
made the easy mistake of firing right into it. The error sealed his
fate; Ferry fired under his flash and sent him reeling into the arms of
his followers. They replied hotly but blindly, and in a moment the room
was void of assailants. Ferry started to spring from the bed, but
Charlotte threw her arms about him, and as she pressed her head hard
down on his breast I could not help but hear "No, my treasure, my
heart's whole treasure, no!"