"Yes!" Tom almost shouted.
"All right," said the Captain, rising from his chair. "You _are_ going."
Tom wanted to thank him, but he was speechless. "You will hold yourself in
readiness for orders." The Captain had become the quiet, stern military man
again. "You will let it be known that you are here to visit your cousin,
and when you leave camp you will say that you are returning home."
"Yes, sir."
"In the meantime, provide yourself with some rough clothes at Shelbyville,
and some heavy shoes. I will provide you with a revolver. That will be all
now."
"Yes, sir."
Tom hurried back to his cousin's tent in a daze.
The next afternoon at the general store in Shelbyville he bought a rough
suit, and a heavy pair of shoes. "Just wrap the suit up," he told the
clerk, "I'll be in for it tomorrow, or the next day. I'll wear the shoes."
He tramped back to Murfreesboro, displayed his pass to the Sentry, and went
to Bert's tent.
"The doctor has been in again," Bert told him. "He says that my ankle will
be well in a week or so."
"Good!" exclaimed Tom. "Look at my pretty little shoes." He displayed the
heavy, rough boots he had bought at Shelbyville.
"You ought not to start in those things," advised Bert. "New shoes will
cripple you. Here, we'll trade." He produced a pair which had been worn
soft in miles of marching. "And here's a waterproof cape for you."
"No, I don't want to take your things."
But Bert insisted. "I know this sort of life. You take 'em and don't
argue."
Bert had told him all that he knew of the raid, but, as he remarked,
"that's little enough." None of the men who had volunteered knew the
details of the expedition: they knew only that they were to accept orders
from an unknown man, follow him blindly and willingly into whatever he
might lead them. It was to be a raid of great importance, a raid that might
change the course of the war if it proved successful. So great was the
secrecy that no man knew who his companions were to be. All of them, as
Tom, were waiting for orders to be given without knowing when the orders
would come, nor what they would be. Tom spent hours, when his cousin's
tentmates were away, studying the map, memorizing minute details of it.
Orders came on his third day at camp. He was clearing away the tin plates
and cups from which they had been eating dinner, when the Captain's orderly
appeared at the door of the tent. "Cap'n wants to see you immediately."
Tom and Bert exchanged a glance; then Tom followed the messenger to the
Captain's tent.
When the messenger had been stationed to keep intruders away, the Captain
said: "You will leave tonight. Take the Wartrace road out of Shelbyville
and walk about a mile and a quarter. When you come to a fork in the road go
into the trees and wait until you're picked up. You should be there at
eight o'clock. You understand?"
"Yes, sir."
"Repeat my instructions."
Tom repeated them without fault.
"Good! Wait here for a moment." The Captain left the tent. He returned
presently with the Major of the battalion and another Captain. From the box
where the documents of Company B were kept, he produced enlistment papers.
For several minutes, while Tom stood tense and erect, the Captain wrote.
The other two officers talked in an undertone.
"Sign here," said the Captain. Tom signed. The Major picked up the paper
and glanced through it.
"Hold up your right hand," said the Major. Then Tom heard the oath which
bound him to serve the United States of America honorably as a soldier.
"I do," he replied, and let his hand drop to his side again.
The two officers signed the papers, shook hands with him, nodded to Captain
Moffat and left the tent. It all happened so quickly that Tom could
scarcely realize that he was now a soldier. When he had entered the tent he
was a civilian, bound merely by promises of service; now he was a soldier,
without a uniform, to be sure, but none the less a soldier. His eyes dimmed
and he looked away from the Captain.
Captain Moffat folded the paper, returned it to the box, and faced Tom. He
looked at him thoughtfully for a few seconds; then placed his hands upon
his shoulders.
"Private Tom Burns," he said softly. "Good luck to you. It will be Second
Lieutenant Tom Burns if this expedition is a success. Good luck, my boy,
and may God be with you." He took Tom's hand and shook it.
And then Tom found himself walking down the street of Company B--a soldier
of Company B--and he scarcely knew that his feet were treading ground.
There were two men in the tent, talking with Bert, and Tom waited
impatiently for them to leave.
"Tonight," he said shortly, as the tent flap dropped behind them.
"Tonight?"
"Yes."
They sat silently until Bert exclaimed, "I envy you! You're the luckiest
boy in the world, walking right into such a chance as this."
"I wish you were going."
"So do I."
Silence overcame them again.
"I'd better write a letter home," Tom said presently. "I'll say that I've
enlisted and let it go at that."
It was shortly before six o' clock when Tom left camp. He went to the store
in Shelbyville, claimed the suit he purchased two days before, and induced
the proprietor to let him make the change in the back room of the store. He
made a bundle of the clothes he had discarded, left them at the store
saying that he would call for them in a few days, then went out on the one
street of the village. It was deserted; the good citizens of Shelbyville
were at dinner, and a few soldiers who had come to the village to make
purchases were hurrying back to camp to be there when mess call sounded. In
the excitement of his departure Tom had forgotten that he must eat, but,
with a half-hour to spare before starting for the meeting place, he
returned to the store and stuffed his pockets with food. Then, with a hunk
of cold meat in one hand and a slice of bread in the other, he walked down
the village road, eating his supper as he went. Near the edge of the
village he saw two men ahead of him, and he wondered if they too were
members of the expedition. They stopped, leaning against a fence, and eyed
him as he went by.
Dusk came, and then darkness. The sky was overcast, but occasionally the
moonlight flashed through a break in the clouds, showing the road before
him. Walking was difficult, for the half-dried mud was slippery, and the
broad wheels of wagons had made deep ruts. Several times he stumbled, and
once he wrenched his ankle. He made his way more carefully after that,
sometimes feeling out the ground with the toes of his boots before he
placed his weight forward. The thought of being disabled before he had
really started on the adventure, of going back to camp to commiserate with
Bert over sprained ankles, filled him with dread. The deepest ruts turned
away from the main road to a farm house: a dog barked, and Tom hurried
forward. Several hundred yards further along the road, he thought he saw a
man who moved behind a tree and hid. He did not stop to investigate.
Tom paused for a moment at the fork of the road; then went forward
breathlessly. Between the bushes which lined the edge of the fork stood
several tall trees, with their trunks lost in black, ragged undergrowth. In
the darkness he made out a trail. Again he paused, straining for the
slightest sound. As he took a step forward he heard someone say:
"Hello, there!"
He stopped short. "Hello," he gasped; then, when he had overcome his
surprise, "Where are you?"
"Just four feet ahead of you."
"Who are you?"
"Brown, Company F, Twenty-first Ohio."
"Oh,"--this with relief in his voice--"I'm Burns, Company B, of the Second.
Are there any others here?" He went forward and they tried to make out each
other's faces in the dark.
"No. There was to be a third man with us, Andrews said," answered Brown.
"He hasn't come yet."
"And who's Andrews?" asked Tom.
Brown laughed. "Why, he's the man who's leading us. The one who's going to
take us in."
"I didn't know," answered Tom. "They didn't tell me much--except that I was
going. That was enough."
"That's about as much as most of the men know," remarked Brown. "Knight and
I were the only ones who talked with Andrews. We are the engineers."
"The engineers?" asked Tom. "What sort of engineers?" He heard Brown
chuckle.
"Well, they _didn't_ tell you much, did they? Locomotive engineers, of
course. We're going to steal a railroad train."
"Steal a railroad train!" exclaimed Tom.
"Yep! That's what we're going to do."
Tom gave a low whistle.
Brown continued: "We're going to take a train on the Georgia State
Railroad. Knight and I are to run it, and the rest of you...."
From down the road came a mumble of voices. Brown clutched Tom's arm and
they listened. "That's them!" exclaimed Brown in a whisper.
One man of the approaching group stepped off the road into the fork, while
the others waited.
"Brown," he called.
"Right here, sir." Brown stepped forward, and Tom followed.
"How many are with you?" asked the man.
"Just one--Burns. The third hasn't come yet."
"How are you, Burns? I'm Andrews." He groped for Tom's hand in the
darkness, shook it. "I wonder where the other man is. Well, it makes no
difference. We won't wait for him. Come on."
They followed him, out to where the others were standing.
"This way, men," said Andrews, starting up the road on the left. Brown and
Tom fell in beside him. "The rest of you straggle out so that you can get
off the road quickly if anyone comes." Then, to Brown and Tom: "Perhaps
he's lost, or perhaps he's changed his mind. Three others weren't where I
told them to be, but we'll get along just as well without them. I arranged
it this way so that if any of you did decide at the last minute that you
didn't want to go...." He did not finish the sentence. Presently he said:
"I want no men who aren't anxious to be with me."
Tom could not see Andrews' face, but he liked his calm, pleasant voice.
Conversation stopped, except for Brown's remark, "It looks like rain," and
Andrews' answering, "Hm-m-m." For several minutes they plodded along the
road, hidden even from the intermittent light of the moon by the trees that
grew beside the road.
"Here we are," said Andrews presently. They stopped and waited for the
others; then turned off the road into a small opening in the woods. Andrews
went ahead of them, and called back, "Come over here."
They found him with two men. There came a rumble of thunder, so remote that
it seemed like an echo, but to the ears of Andrews' men it was a sharp
reminder of the troubles that might lay ahead of them.
"Hm-m-m! Perhaps you were right, Brown," said Andrews.
Thunder sounded again, this time nearer.
"Let's count heads," said Andrews. "Get in a semi-circle, just as close
together as possible."
The men groped about, arranging themselves. Tom found himself shoulder to
shoulder between two of them. Presently they were quiet. Andrews' calm,
authoritative voice came again: "Starting at this end, give your names and
your organizations."
Then: "Bensinger, Company G, Twenty-first Ohio"--"Dorsey, Company H,
Thirty-third"--"Brown, Company G, Twenty-first"--"Pittenger, Company G,
Second".... There were twenty of them, not including Andrews. Tom found
himself between Wilson, Company C, of the Twenty-first Ohio, and Shadrack,
Company K, of the Second Ohio.
The thunder sounded again and a few drops of rain pattered down. A murmer
arose from the men. More thunder, and a flash of lightning. Another crash,
and more rain splashed about them.
"It looks as though we're in for bad weather, men," said Andrews. "Gather
about me so that you can all hear what I'm going to tell you." A streak of
lightning illuminated the scene as they moved forward. Tom caught a glimpse
of Andrews: a tall man, heavily built, with a long black beard. The rain
was falling steadily. Tom unslung the cape which Bert had given him and put
it on. There was a general rustle of capes and coats: then silence. Andrews
continued: "I want all of you to understand that any man who wishes to
change his mind may do so, and return to camp when we leave here. I want
only those men who are willing and anxious to see this thing through, to
follow me to the end"--he paused--"and that end may well be disaster. You
have three days and three nights in which to reach Marietta, and you may
travel as you see fit. Avoid forming groups of more than four. The course
is east into the Cumberland Mountains, then south to the Tennessee River.
Cross the river and travel by train, from whatever station you come to,
through Chattanooga to Marietta. I will follow the same general course. Be
at the hotel in Marietta not later than Thursday evening, ready to start
the next morning. Have you any questions to ask about the route?"
There were questions, many of them. Over and over again he traced the
course they were to follow; told them what they might find at certain
points, what to avoid.
"I will supply you with all the Confederate money you will need. Carry none
of our money with you."
"And if we are questioned?" asked Brown. Tom recognized his voice; then, in
another flash of lightning he caught a glimpse of his face. That one
glimpse was to change the course of Tom's adventures.
"I am coming to that presently," answered Andrews. "Buy whatever you need,
and hire any sort of conveyance that you may think safe. But don't be
lavish with the money I'm giving you--it may have to last a long time. It
should be more than enough, but we can't tell what will happen. And now
about being questioned: If you have to answer questions, say that you come
from Fleming County, Kentucky; that you are on your way to join the
Southern troops. I happen to know that no men from Fleming County are in
the Southern army, and so there will be little risk of meeting anyone from
there. And if you are asked why you don't enlist immediately, say that you
want to join a regiment in Atlanta."
"And if we're completely cornered?" asked one of the men.
"Then enlist."
"In the Southern army?"
"Surely. Remember, men, that you are playing a bigger game than your own
personal likes and dislikes. The idea of enlisting in the Southern army may
seem terrible, but it isn't so terrible as being captured and tried as a
spy. You can desert at the first chance. And remember this: upon every one
of you depends the success or failure of this venture."
There was a murmer of approval, then silence.
Andrews continued:
"Tomorrow morning General Mitchel starts on a forced march. He will
surprise and capture Huntsville on Friday. Our work is to capture the train
that same day, destroy communications from Atlanta and join him with all
possible speed. We will try to reach him with our train. Failing that, we
will desert the train and join him as best we can."
Mitchel would move the next morning! Huntsville! Chattanooga! For a moment
the men were silent; then came a sharp "Ah!" The long winter campaign was
ended; now for action!
"We will start at once," said Andrews. A crash of thunder drowned his
words. "From Marietta onwards we will fight it out together."
He began to distribute money to them. Several groups disappeared into the
night.
"Shall we go together?" asked a man at Tom's right. "My name's Shadrack."
"Yes. Mine's Burns."
"Mine's Wilson," said another man. "Let's make it three."
"Good!"
They filed past Andrews, took the handful of Confederate money he held out,
and started toward the road. The rain ceased for a few seconds; then came a
flash of lightning, a burst of thunder, and the rain came swirling down. In
an instant, Tom and his two companions were utterly alone in the black
night, headed for the Southern lines.