NIGHT WATCHES.
The four Brownie maidens were once more together in their own quarters.
There was little said for a long time. The meeting between Sophia and
her lover had awakened tender and anxious thoughts in the hearts of all.
Agatha was following in imagination the agile form of Lieutenant
MacWhirlie, as he went the grand rounds of his pickets. The thoughts of
Faith were with Adjutant Blythe who, somewhere in camp or field, served
at the Captain's side, his faithful squire and counsellor. Grace's
musings were of the gallant and stalwart Ensign of the Corps, Sergeant
Lawe.
It would be too much to say that the Nurses had no anxiety about the
safety of their lovers. But then, they had been bred in the midst of
war's alarms. They knew that their fathers, kindred, and friends were
brave, experienced, skillful, and devoted to one another. They had
learned to regard war risks as matters of ordinary life and business,
and were rarely troubled about them. There was special reason why they
should be even more light hearted than usual that night. Yet, so
strangely run the currents of one's thoughts, that these maidens were
all sad.
There was some reason, indeed, why Agatha and Faith should feel thus,
for the old saying fell true in their case about the course of true love
not running smooth. Captain Bruce refused consent to the marriage of
Agatha and MacWhirlie. The two had waited long, patiently, devotedly;
yes, and hopefully, although they had often known that "hope deferred"
which "maketh the heart sick." Every one thought the Captain's conduct
strange. But he never gave any reason, except that Agatha was too grave,
and MacWhirlie too gay for a well balanced marriage. As obedience to
parents is one of the unchanging laws of Brownieland, no one could
oppose.
Now, it so happened that Commodore Rodney had taken up a like notion
concerning his daughter and Adjutant Blythe. "Blythe is too jovial, and
Faith is too serious," said the Commodore. "They could never sail
smoothly in the same ship on a whole life's course." An odd feature of
this trouble was that each of the fathers pooh-hooed the objection of
the other, and each uncle was highly pleased with his niece's choice!
The best of Brownies, like other people, have their whimsies. Grace and
Sophia had no such sorrows to vex them, and were looking forward to
their wedding on the next Thanksgiving Day.
Enough for the present of these disappointments and hopes. The night
watch in the Hospital has just been changed, as have also the outer
sentinels. Blythe, for it is he who attends to this latter duty, has
sounded a soft note on the whistle that hangs against the rear door of
the Sanitary Tent. It is the signal that the Nurses are wanted in the
Hospital. Night duty is divided between them, two of them always
watching in the Hospital, while the others sleep in the marquee. Agatha
and Grace have the first watch to-night, and pass into the Hospital. But
Faith knows whose lips had sounded the call, and comes in to exchange a
few words with her lover.
"Good-bye!"
Why should she, too, have come back with a tear upon her cheek?
The light is turned down low in the fox-fire lantern. The yellow
hospital flag flaps lazily against the staff. The full moon hangs over
Hillside. The tramp, tramp of the sentinel grows dim and clear by turns
as he recedes from or nears the door. The noises of the camp have died
away and silence reigns at last over plain, fort and field. Both
Brownies and Pixies are weary with the day's battling and sleep well.
Faith and Sophia, too, after a long talk about their trials and their
loves, their hopes, fears and joys, have fallen asleep in each other's
arms.
The stars that mark the midnight hour are fast hastening into the
zenith. The sentinels walk their beats with weary pace. The relief
guards will soon be on the rounds. Faith and Sophia stir in their sleep
uneasily as though dimly conscious that the whistle will soon call them
to duty. There is a soft touch, as the touch of an angel's finger, upon
their cheeks. It seems to rest upon their eyes, their lips. It is
pressed against their nostrils. It stays their breathing. They turn
restlessly on their couch. They toss their arms, but the soft touch is
on them, too. Cannot they awake?
Yes, their eyes are open now. Is it a dream? Is it the vision of a
nightmare? Two forms, the terrible forms of their foes, the Pixies, are
bending over them, wrapping them around in the silken folds of their
snares!
Alas! it is no dream. The most dreaded of all their enemies, Spite the
Spy, chief of the Pixies, and Hide the son of Shame, are crouching at
their bedside. The maidens start from their pillows, but fall back again
hopeless. They are bound hand and foot as with grave-clothes. They are
wrapped in a winding sheet of gossamer; enshrouded alive.[Z]
Spite reckoned truly that the next impulse of the Nurses would be to
scream. He thrust his hairy face close against their cheeks, and hissed
from between his lips, "Utter one sound and you die! Keep still and you
shall not be harmed."
[Illustration: THE BOY'S ILLUSTRATION.
FIG. 42.--Spite and Hide Carry off the Nurses.]
Sophia swooned quite away. Faith closed her eyes and waited in an agony
of fear. She felt Spite's strong arms placed around her. She was lifted
from her couch; was borne through the tent. She was in the open air, and
the breeze blowing upon her cheeks revived her. She opened her eyes. In
the clear moonlight she could see Hide pushing through the side of the
covered gangway, close by the rear door of the marquee, carrying Sophia
in his arms. With an instinct of hope that no terror could check she
lifted her voice and screamed with the energy of despair. She felt the
Pixie's hot breath upon her cheek; an awful oath sounded in her ear,
and a rude hand smote upon her mouth. She fell back unconscious.
Let us follow backward the thread of our story into the Pixie's camp
where we left Spite keeping his solitary watch, that we may account for
this sudden appearance in the heart of the Brownie encampment. Spite
could not sleep. Anger, mortification, hate, disappointed ambition, all
the evil passions were ablaze within him, as he thought of what the
Brownies had already gained, and of their assured victory on the morrow.
His troops discouraged, provisions cut off, Madam Breeze (for aught he
knew) ready to side again with the Brownies,--his utter defeat, the loss
of the fort, and the massacre of his people seemed certain.
"If we could abandon the fort," he muttered; "if we could quietly steal
out and leave the enemy watching an empty camp? That would be our
salvation! But we can't; those troopers of MacWhirlie's are patrolling
the plain, and the woods in the rear are swarming with pickets. But--I
don't know?--"
He sprang to his feet, crossed over to Hide's quarters in Fort
Tegenaria, bade him join him, and walked hastily to the line of
breastworks on the lake front. He stopped under a bush that stood within
the entrenchment. The night was cloudless, and by the moonlight
streaming through the leaves, the two Pixies saw stretched among the
upper branches a round, vertical web. It was the inner abutment of a
bridge that once extended from Fort Spinder to Lakeside, but had been
long in disuse.
"Do you know the condition of the Old Bridge?" asked Spite. "It has been
a long time since I crossed it."
"I know little, except that I have heard some of my boys say that the
piers on this end are in pretty good condition, and that some of the
cables are still up."
[Illustration: FIG. 43.--"A Round, Vertical Web"--p. 86.]
"Very well," said Spite, after musing a few moments, "let us explore a
little. You always used to be ready for a scout, Hide, and I suppose
have not forgotten your old cunning. The Brownie sentinels are just
beyond us, there. Yon big fellow's beat runs under the middle of the
second span."
Hide was quite as ready for the adventure as Spite. Without more words
the two swung themselves into the bushes, climbed up the sides of the
abutment wall, and were presently at the top.
"Here are the cables, at any rate," said Hide. "Only two of them,
however. The rest are broken off. They hang down the sides of the
abutment, and over the ends of the branches."
"Pull on the one next you," cried Spite, who had himself laid hold of
one of the sound cables, and was pushing down upon it with all his
might. "Mine holds. It is fast to the second pier in yonder bush, I am
sure. How with yours?"
"It is all right," answered Hide, "I am willing to venture on it."
Nearly fifteen hundred millimetres distant was another and taller bush
in which pier No. 1 of the bridge was built. The Pixies could not see
this since the darkness of the night and the shadow of the leaves hid
the white outlines of the web-wall. But they knew that it must be there,
and therefore crept upon the silken ropes each upon one, and began their
journey.[AA]
Three thousand millimetres above the ground, for the whole distance from
bush to bush over that single coil of rope those two creatures crawled.
The cables shook, swayed and bent down, but neither parted, and the
adventurous Pixies landed safely on top of the pier.
The next pier was in a clump of bushes thirty-five hundred millimetres
away, not in a direct course, but angling slightly across the field. The
architects of the Old Bridge had taken advantage of the brushwood
between the hill and lake. But as the shrubs grew at irregular distances
from each other, and in various lines of direction, the course of the
bridge was somewhat broken from the right line. Only one cable remained
of those that had united pier No. 1 and pier No. 2. The scouts must
therefore cross singly. To add to the danger a Brownie sentinel was
stationed underneath the cable, about midway between the piers.
[Illustration: FIG. 44.--A Cobweb Bridge Across a Path.]
"What say you, Hide?" asked the chief, "shall we go on?"
"What have you to gain by it, Cap'n? That's the question with me. Tell
me what you intend by exploring this old suspension bridge, and I'll
say whether it seems worth the risk."
"Certainly," said Spite. "My plan is to repair these cables by bracing
the old ones, and putting up new ones, so that we can abandon the fort
secretly, if we are pressed too hard. We could pass the whole force
across the bridge by night, embark in our vessels, and cross the lake to
the other shore, or to the island. The point I want to settle is,
whether the cables are so far good that we can make a good roadway in
the time at our command. We must do night work, repairing as well as
crossing; and if we are hard pushed by the Brownies, we shall have to do
some rapid engineering. That's the plan; what say you?"
"Good," cried Hide, "very good! It will be a fine stroke to slip away
and leave the enemy to watch bare walls. Ha, ha! I fancy I see their
solemn faces, on the discovery of our flight." Hide grew quite merry
over his conceit.
"Very well then, that settles it. Here goes!" So saying, Spite stepped
upon the single cable and began the passage. He moved slowly at first,
until he found that the line was strong enough to bear him; then he
increased his gait, and soon landed upon the top of pier No. 2.
Hide perceived that Spite had reached the pier, for the cable had ceased
to vibrate under his movement, and accordingly began his voyage. Midway
between piers he saw the Brownie sentinel approach. He passed underneath
the cable humming some pretty ditty as he paced his beat.
Overhead just above him hung the black form of the Pixie. Hide paused
and peered downward upon the unconscious Brownie. His eyes swelled with
hate; his breath escaped with a hissing sound, he bowed his back in
readiness to spring down upon the sentinel.
[Illustration: FIG. 45. Unseen Dangers. Pixie Hide Threatens the Brownie
Sentinel.]
"Fool!" he muttered at last, "would you risk the discovery of all for
the sake of one miserable Brownie more or less in the world? Ha! it was
a great temptation; and I was mighty near yielding to it. Might have
broken my neck, too! I don't know, though;" and he followed the
sentinel's retreating form with gloating eyes; "I believe I could have
dropped right down upon the rascal, and throttled him ere he could have
piped a note. I'm sorry now that I didn't do it! But, no matter; I'll
get him some other time."
The sentinel, meanwhile, with steady gait passed onward under the cable
and out of sight behind the bushes. He never knew how nearly he had
escaped death that night, nor even suspected that peril threatened him.
Hide hurried over the remainder of the cable, and joined his comrade on
the pier.
"Well," whispered Spite, "my heart was beating a tattoo of terror lest
you might be rash enough to pounce upon that fellow. Really, I expected
to see you take the leap. It was lucky that you controlled yourself. It
would uncover all were we to start the Brownies' suspicions in this
direction. We must keep all quiet on this side the fort. Now for the
next pier! How does it look on your side?"
"There are a half dozen perfect lines here."
"Good. There are three here in prime order. Where is the next pier?"
"Over in that oak sapling to the right. The span is the longest in the
bridge, about five thousand millimetres."
"Jolly, jolly!" exclaimed Spite in great glee. "We are now sure of most
of the way. This long span needs little repairing. The first two we can
fix up, I am quite sure. Now for the last."
They were not long in running across the third span; but when they
reached pier No. 3, they found no traces of the cables which once united
it to the lakeside abutment.
"Bad!" said the Pixie chief. "It will have to be built anew, that's all.
It's lucky, too, that the worst break is on the last span, for we can
repair here with less risk than elsewhere."
"Moreover," said Hide, "we have a double chance for escape, the river as
well as the bridge."
"True; and now let us finish our observation by finding out the
condition of yonder abutment." The pair descended to the ground, crossed
to the willow in which the last pier had been fixed, and found it in
quite as good repair as the others.
"All right!" exclaimed Hide.
Spite said "Jolly!" one of his favorite slang expletives, which he
thought particularly good since he had lately borrowed it from one of
his English cousins.
[Illustration: FIG. 46.--Spite and Hide View the Brownie Camp.]
Highly pleased with what they had learned, the Pixies turned their faces
homeward. As they crossed the space between the shore and pier No. 4,
they had full view of the Brownie encampment from a vine covered old
stump. There the line of cavalry guards stretched along the plain,
encircling the fort. Beyond, the camp fires of the main army glimmered
amid the grass, weeds and bushes. A profound silence hung over the whole
scene. Both camp and fort were locked in the deep repose of midnight.
"Captain!" said Hide. He stopped and looked steadfastly toward the camp.
"Say on, comrade."
"I followed your venture," continued Hide, "will you risk mine?"
"That depends," answered the chief. "What is it?"
"Just to make a private visit to the headquarters yonder and pay our
respects to the Brownie Captain. We are now inside the picket line. We
can make a circuit around here by the lake and come up in the rear of
the tents. The sentinels will not be numerous there, nor very watchful.
It's a chance if there are any at all. There is little risk in the
matter, just enough to give it spice. And--who knows? there might be a
chance to end the campaign by putting my dagger into Murray Bruce's
heart; or, failing that, you might bag that little fairy flame of yours,
and carry her off to the fort. That would be 'jolly' indeed! Come, what
say you?"
Spite hesitated. The plan seemed plausible. Hide was a prudent fellow,
and not apt to take unusual risks. But then, there _was_ the risk that
he and his second in command might be taken, or cut off. And what would
become of the Pixie cause in that case? It was not a prudent act. But
then, again, it was a strong temptation. Assassinate Bruce? or, seize
Faith?
"Lead on," he cried, "I'm with you."
The yellow flags of the hospital and sanitary tent were their guide.
Hide's theory about the sentinels they found correct. They stole through
the camp, passed the rear of the hospital, and paused before the marquee
of the Sanitary Corps, which they took to be the officers' headquarters.
A peep through the flap of the tent showed them their mistake, and
revealed the sleeping forms of Faith and Sophia.
"We stop here!" said Spite, pushing aside the door. What followed has
been told.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote Z: Appendix, Note A.]
[Footnote AA: Appendix, Note B.]