The evacuation of Norfolk by the British practically ended the war for a
time in Virginia, and Dunmore soon sailed away never to return.
In a couple of weeks I was on my feet again, very little the worse for
the wound Harrison had given me.
Will had been with me all the time and Barron and the Major spent nearly
all their spare hours in the hospital.
The companies had now begun to disband, that is all except those who
volunteered to join Washington's army at the north.
Colonel Woodford gave over his command to Colonel Howe, of North
Carolina, and after that he did little else than receive the praise he
had so well earned. Everywhere he was feted and applauded, until even
the tories began to come over to his way of thinking.
My company broke up and the men either went home or joined other
commands, and I was given indefinite leave on account of my wound. Will,
who held no commission, made ready to go with me to Judkins' Hall.
Now that the fighting was over, Major Bullbeggor appeared to suffer
acutely, and I made up my mind that the only thing that would save the
old soldier's life would be for him to join the army in the north.
"It's no use, Dick, my boy," said he, the day before I left him. "I
have these pains a'shooting all through me and a vertigris in the skull.
Why, I wouldn't be able to stand anything in that cold climate. This
twitching of the nerves and numbing of the bones certainly means
disintegration, sir; yes, sir, it certainly does mean something. Go and
get married, Dick, and try to get Will to join the army in the north. He
will make a splendid soldier, for there's nothing so desperate and
dangerous in a fight as a man crossed in love."
"But, Major," I said, "you know the army needs just such men as you to
guide them in military affairs. It's your duty to go where your country
calls for you when you are a soldier."
"I have a wife and six young children, Dick, all of them mostly ailing.
I've tried Miranda Jones' spring medicine, and all of them have had Dr.
McGuire bleed them until they could stand it no longer, but it didn't do
any good. They are all dependent on me. Who would pay for their
medicines if I should happen to fall ill and die?"
"They would probably be much better off if such an accident did happen
to you," I answered, laughing. "It's about time you let them alone. I
certainly think you ought to volunteer, or better still, raise a company
with Will and myself in it. Then, with Sam and Snake to look out for us,
we might operate to some advantage."
"I'll think of it, Dick. I'll think of it, but I must go now to
headquarters. Good-bye!" And his lean hand closed upon mine with a
hearty grip. Then he took the bridle of his mare from Snake and vaulted
lightly into the saddle. In a moment he and his servant had disappeared
around the corner of the street.
I wended my way to the house where Will and I were stopping and made
ready for our journey.
The next day about dusk we landed at the Hall.
Of course it is needless for me to say much about our welcome, but my
poor mother's joy at seeing us again was nothing to her sorrow when Will
had told the painful details of my affair with Harrison. After Miss
Carter heard the details of the fight she appeared to regard me with
secret horror for a few days, but then I knew all women were much set
against violence.
"But where is Mary now?" my mother asked of Will, after she had regained
herself.
"Nothing could induce her to remain in sight of Dick," said Will, "so
she sailed for England on one of Dunmore's vessels the day we entered
Norfolk." And that was the last time I ever heard him mention my
sister's name for years.
Rose was not a very joyous bride a couple of weeks later, but her
tenderness and thoughtfulness made up for the lack of passionate love,
which I felt sure she would develop as the years went by, and the
memory of Harrison faded from her mind.
One day, about a month after we were married, I went to the stables to
see about my horses getting their salt properly. As I stood at the
stable window, looking out towards the slave quarters, I saw Will Byrd
standing at the curve of the carriage drive, gazing steadily at a slave
woman who held a shining black pickaninny in her arms. The slave woman
sat under a tree and dangled some plaything over the child's face and
crooned to it. The day was cold, and I thought it strange that the woman
should sit there with the child, even though the little thing was
carefully wrapped up in a shawl.
Will was evidently to my way of thinking, for he gazed steadily at the
child, and that strange look of deep sadness came over his face like I
had noticed before in the hospital at Norfolk. Then he turned and walked
slowly away, with his eyes cast upon the ground in front of him. Rose,
who always looks after the people, then came out of the house and went
straight toward the slave woman. She was evidently much upset at her
carelessness in exposing the child so long to the weather, for she bent
tenderly over it and kissed it, and then sent the woman away.
Ten minutes later, while I was walking through the grounds, attending to
some necessary repairs, I saw the woman again, sitting now on the low
stone fence that separated mine from the now deserted Harrison
plantation. I walked up to her and reproved her sharply for keeping a
year old child out so long in such cold weather.
"What is its name?" I asked.
"Marse Berk Harrison," she answered.
"Let me see him," I said, and I took hold of the child's arm to see if
he was good and fat. It was a common practice to name slave children
after the families to whom they belonged. Then I pinched the child's fat
cheeks and a lot of black stuff, like burnt cork, came off on my hand,
showing a white skin beneath it.
"Is he white?" I asked in astonishment.
"Oh, yes, Marse Judkins, he's white, but we keeps him black, 'cause I
has to take him so much with me to the quarters at the Hall."
"Who is his mother?"
"'Deed I don't know, Marse Judkins. Poor Miss Jude Berry over to the
forks, I believe, but she's daid now this year gone--no two, last
month--but her folks give him to me to raise, 'cause I lives at his
uncles, an' they tole me to keep him black till he able to shift for
hisself."
"Don't bring him to my quarters again," I said, and I handed her two
pieces of gold. That is all. Perhaps it is enough. The whole horrible
truth dawned upon me and I staggered away.
A week later Will insisted that he had stayed out his visit at the
Hall, and would join the army for the campaign against the British on
Long Island, near New York. The same day Major Bullbeggor sent me an
express that he would stop at the Hall and get Will and myself to help
organize a company for Washington's army. He and Barron rode in a little
later, accompanied by Snake in the Grass. The Major's face was most
peculiarity marked and tattooed by the explosion of the grenadier's
musket at the Great Bridge fight, and my mother hardly recognized him.
We made our preparations for departure within a few hours, and,
accompanied by Sam and Snake, rode away from the Hall.
All the field hands were grouped at the end of the carriage drive to
wish us good-bye, while my sweet wife Rose and poor mother stood on the
verandah and bade us a tearful farewell. God knows how my heart went out
to that dear wife, as I saw her standing there with the sunshine playing
on her hair and her eyes moist. But she smiled bravely and waved her
handkerchief to us, and Snake nodded furiously in return until we rode
slowly out of sight.
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|Transcriber's note: |
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|Obvious typographic errors have been corrected. |
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