XI
The men came in treading on one another's heels. The leader was athick-set, heavily built fellow, and he had an evil-looking eye. He wasevidently a soldier, or had been one, for he had the air and bearingthat is unmistakable in a man who has seen service. He had a heavy jaw,and I noticed that his hair was cropped close to his head. The othersappeared to be civilians, plain honest men, but ready, as were many menin Tennessee in those days, to help the Union cause in a quiet way.
The leader ... had an evil-looking eye.]
"You said thar was only one," remarked one of them to the short-hairedman.
"I only told you what Captain Leroy said," replied the leader.
"Well, you better had 'a' fetched Leroy along," commented the man, andI judged that he had small stomach for the work before him.
I realized that the time had come for me to speak up. "State yourbusiness," said I. "What do you want with me?"
"We want you to go with us," replied the short-haired man; "and we'llget our wants, too."
"Where am I to go?"
"You'll know when you get there," was the answer.
"By which road?" I asked. "I am very careful about the roads I travel."
"We'll look after the roads all right," he replied. "Will you gopeaceable or not?"
"Just for the looks of the thing," I replied, "I'd rather have it saidthat I surrendered only after a struggle." Glancing at the three menthe ruffian had brought with him, I was confirmed in my impression thatthe affair was by no means to their taste. If they had made a rush alltogether it would have been the easiest matter in the world tooverpower me, but somehow they hung back.
"Come on," the man cried to his companions, making as if he would leadthem. They hesitated, and it was then that I gave them my views of thesituation.
"Gentlemen," I said, "I take you for honest, fair-minded men, and Iwould advise you to have no hand in this business. This man's ordersare from no competent authority, and I give you fair warning that youwill bitterly regret your part in this night's work if you live throughit."
I could see anxiety, not fear, creep into their faces, and a wholesomedoubt of their leader's good faith. I was satisfied that my words hadtaken the edge off their eagerness, and this was all I hoped to do. Ithink the ruffian must have felt that his companions were weakening,for he paused and turned toward them, with his hand under his coat, asif in the act of drawing a weapon. What he intended to say I neverknew, for, as he turned toward them, still watching me out of thecorner of his evil eye, Whistling Jim was upon him.
Seizing the man in his arms, he whirled him around until he could getsufficient impetus, and then threw him against the wall as if he hadbeen fired from a catapult. If you have never witnessed the fury ofgenuine fright it is to be hoped you never will, for there is somethinghideous about it. The ruffian had hardly hit the wall before the negrowas upon him again, making a noise in his throat like some wild animal,his face distorted and the muscles of his arms and body standing out asprominently as if he were covered with huge wens or tumors.
The man had not been so badly stunned by his collision with the wallbut that he could turn over, and by the time the negro reached him hehad drawn his pistol half-way from his pocket; but that was all.Whistling Jim seized the hand and held it, and, using his head as abattering-ram, jammed it into the man's stomach and into his face. Thenhe dragged the limp body toward the fireplace, crying, "Git out de way,Marse Cally. I'm gwine ter put 'im whar he can't pester nobody else. EfI don't he sho will shoot me, kaze I done seed his pistol."
While the negro was thus engaged with the most dangerous of the men, itis not to be supposed that I was idle. The three companions of theruffian started to his aid when Whistling Jim began operations--theirhesitation suddenly turning into indignation when they beheld thespectacle of a negro assaulting a white man. The foremost went downunder the chair with which I struck him, the second one tripped overthe fallen body and also went down with my assistance. The third mansuddenly found the frame of the well-made chair fitting around his necklike the yoke of an ox. I did my best to pull his head off in order torecover my weapon, but his neck was tougher than the joints of whiteoak, and the two long legs that went to make up the back of the chaircame off in my hand, thus giving me a bludgeon very much to my taste.
It was at this juncture that the negro came dragging the body of theruffian and declaring his intention of giving him a foretaste oftorment. My anger was of such a blind and unreasoning sort that I hadno objections to the horrible proceeding, and if there had been nosudden diversion I should, in all probability, have aided him incarrying out his purpose. But there came a tremendous knocking at thedoor, and I could hear someone rapping and kicking at the panels tryingto force an entrance. So I laid a restraining hand on the negro andbade him drop the almost lifeless body.
Giving him one of the chair-legs, and bidding him keep an eye on thethree men, who evidently had had enough of the rough things of life, Iwent to the door. The key was in a position to reflect the light, and Ihad the door open in a moment; but whoever had rapped to get in seemedto have changed his mind. No one came in and no one made an effort toenter, but in another moment I heard the voice of Jane Ryder. "Run!run!" she cried. "Run, if you want to escape! The back yard is full ofUnion soldiers!"
But I thought that this was only a ruse on the part of the little ladyto get rid of me, and, instead of getting away, as I should have done,I stepped out into the hallway. The sight that I saw filled me withindignation, for there stood Jane Ryder, leaning against her mother,and rigged out in the toggery of a man.
I took her by the arm, and I must have gripped it roughly, for shewinced. "If you know what is good for you," I said, very sternly, "youwill get yourself out of this wretched garb and throw it in the fire.Will you go?"
"How can I go when you are holding me?" she asked piteously. I releasedher and she went up the stairway sobbing.
Half-way up the stairs, she turned to me. "You will be sorry you didn'tgo when I told you. You couldn't go now if you wanted to," and withthat she disappeared.
I could have cracked my silly pate at the sight of her weeping. I felta hand on my arm, and found her mother standing at my side, laughingsoftly. Seeing that I regarded her with unfeigned astonishment, shelaughed the louder. "You are the first that has ever mastered her. Sheis beyond me. When I married my second husband she declared that I hadsold my interest in her for a pair of side-whiskers."
The mother said this so pathetically that I could but laugh, seeingthat there was so much incongruity between the remark and the situationall about us. My laughter must have jarred her, for she said with someasperity, "You are laughing now, but in a minute you will be laughingon the other side of your mouth!"
And it was even as she said. A file of soldiers entered from the rear,and before I had time to move or raise a hand they had me surrounded.Their leader was a man full of laughter and good-humor. "Consideryourself a prisoner," he said to me. "How are you, mother? You arelooking well. Where is sister? Upstairs? Well, get her down, for wemust be moving away from here. What is all this?" He looked into theroom out of which I had come, and saw there the evidences of astruggle, as well as the victims thereof.
He bustled about with an alertness that seemed to be prepared foranything that might happen. I saw at once that he was a West Pointer. Ihad seen not more than a dozen graduates of the great military academy,but enough to recognize the characteristics that marked them all. Thesecharacteristics are wellnigh indescribable, but they are all includedin the terms "soldier and gentleman."
"The bruiser has been bruised," he laughed. "You are looking well,mother; keep it up for the sake of the children. Tell sister to hurryup; we are in a tight place here."
As he spoke, there was the noise of another scuffle in the room. Iturned just in time to see Whistling Jim fling himself upon the man,who had risen to a sitting position and was making an effort to drawhis pistol. The negro wrenched the weapon from him, threw it out ofreac
h, seized the hand that had held it and crunched it between histeeth with such savage ferocity that the ruffian howled with pain.
"Oh, come!" cried the officer. "This won't do, you know; this won't doat all. I won't put up with it."
"Ef I hadn't er ketched him when I did he'd er shot me daid," WhistlingJim explained; "me er Marse Cally one. You don't know dat man, suh. Hebeen follerin' atter we-all fer de longest."
"I know him well enough," remarked the officer. "Still----" He pausedas if listening. The noise he heard was Jane Ryder coming from above.He met her half-way up the stairs. "My dear old sis!" he exclaimed ashe clasped her in his arms. She said nothing, but sobbed on hisshoulder in a hysterical way that was a surprise to me. "Brace up, deargirl," he said, trying to soothe her.
"They were always like that," said the mother in her placid way. "Ithink it is so nice for brother and sister to be fond of each other.Don't forget that she gave you fair warning." Her attitude and the toneof her voice were so out of tune with all my thoughts and surroundingsthat I regarded her with amazement. She paid no attention to the look,however, but folded her hands across her ample bosom and smiled at herchildren in a motherly way.
These children, I knew, were speaking of me, though I could not hearall they said, for the officer--he was Colonel Ryder--laughed and said,"Oh, he'll be in good company. I picked up another fellow in the woods.He says his name is Jasper Goodrum." Then she said something in a lowtone, something that caused her brother to regard me with considerableinterest.
"Is that so?" he exclaimed. "You must tell me the particulars later; Ihave no time to hear them now. We must get away from here."