VIII
Making a great effort to climb from the gully into which I had fallen,my foot slipped, and I fell again, and continued to fall till I knew nomore. When I came to life again I was not in a gully at all, butstretched out on a bed, with my boots on, and this fact fretted me tosuch an extent that I threw back the covering and rose to a sittingposture. My head was throbbing somewhat wildly, and I soon found thatthe cause of the pain was a towel that had been too tightly boundaround my forehead. The towel changed into a bandage under my fingers,and I found that I could not compass the intricacies of the fastenings.I remembered that I had disposed safely of the papers I had found inthe chair-arm. One was a passport signed by one of the biggest men inthe country, authorizing Francis Leroy to pass in and out of the Unionlines at any time, day or night, and the other--there were but two--wassome useless information with respect to the movements of the Federalforces between Murfreesborough and Memphis.
As I came more and more to my senses, I knew that these papers had beenthe cause of my undoing; I could see in it, as plain as day, the handof Jane Ryder, and I was truly sorry. I thought I had been around theworld and back again, and I should have been very wise, but the bandageand Jane Ryder were too much for me. How did she know that I hadsecured the papers? And why did she permit the soldiers to attack me. Iwas feeling very foolish and childish.
Then I observed that a large man was sitting in front of the smallfireplace, and his long legs were stretched completely across thehearth. His head was thrown back, his mouth was open, and he was soundasleep. There was half a handful of some kind of medicine in a sauceron the table, and I judged that the man would be better off for a doseof it. I suppose it was common table salt, but, whatever it was, thenotion remained with me that it would be a help to the man. It was afantastic notion, but it persisted, and finally I lifted the saucer,emptied the medicine in my palm, and transferred it to the open mouthof the man. It failed to arouse him; he merely closed his jaws on thedose and slept on.
I enjoyed the man's discomfiture before it occurred; I knew what aterrible splutter there would be when the stuff began to melt and rundown his windpipe. I should have laughed aloud, but the bandage washurting me terribly. With a vague hope of getting some relief frompain, I opened the door as softly as I could, went out and closed itbehind me. Another door was open directly in front of me, and throughthis I went. In the room a woman was sitting at a window, her head inher hands. She looked up when she heard the slight noise I made, and Iwas surprised to find myself face to face with Jane Ryder. Her eyeswere red and swollen with weeping, and her hands were all of a tremble.
"Will you please, ma'am, take this off?" I said, pointing to thebandage.
She placed her finger on her lip. "Sh-sh!" she whispered, and then,whipping around me, closed the door with no more noise than the wing ofa night-bird might make. "In there, and don't move on your life."
She pointed to a closet, but I shook my head.
"Not if I can help myself," I said. "I have just come out of a deep,deep ditch, and I want to hear the splutter." I was whispering, too,such was the woman's influence. She looked at me in amazement; shetried to understand me; but she must have thought me out of my head,for her lips were twitching pitifully and her hands trembling. "It'sthe man in the next room," I whispered with a grin. "I put a handful ofmedicine in his mouth. Wait! you'll hear him directly."
"Oh, I am so sorry for you," she cried, wringing her hands. "I am assorry for you as I am for myself."
"Then please take this bandage off and have my horse brought round."
"I can't! I can't! You're wounded. Go in the closet there."
"I'll go where you go, and I'll stay where you stay," I said; and Imust have been talking too loud, for she placed her hand on mylips--and what should I do but hold it there and kiss it, the poorlittle trembling hand!
And then there came from the next room the famous splutter for which Ihad been waiting. The soldier made a noise as if he were drowning. Hegasped and coughed, and tried to catch his breath; he strangled andlost it, and, when he caught it again, made a sound as if he had aviolent case of the whooping-cough. And all this time I was laughingsilently, and I came near strangling myself.
Jane Ryder was far from laughter. She was as cool as a cucumber. Withone quick movement, and with surprising strength, she had shoved meinto the closet. Then she flung the door wide open. As she did so theguard cried out at the top of his voice that the prisoner had escaped.And if ever a man was berated it was that big soldier who had fallenasleep at the post of duty. "You drunken wretch!" she cried; "I knewhow it would be; I knew it!" He tried to make an explanation, but shewould not hear it. "Oh, I'll make you pay for this! Go--go and findhim, and if you fail take your cut-throats away from here and never letme see them again. Report to my brother, and tell him how you carriedout your orders. You were to take them all without a struggle, but youtook only one, and you bring him here more dead than alive. He iswandering about in the woods now, out of his head."
"But he shot one of my men. Haven't you any feeling for the man that'llbe cold and stiff by sun-up?"
"For the man, yes. You should have been the one to pay for yourblundering. You failed to carry out your orders, and you had a dozenagainst three, and one of the three a negro."
The man started away, but his lagging footsteps showed that he hadsomething on his mind, and in a few moments I heard him coming back."'Tain't no use to hunt for the man in the dark, and by sun-up hisfriends'll be buzzin' around here worse'n a nest of hornets. We aregoing back--going back," he repeated, "and you may report what youplease."
Then the man went away, mumbling and mouthing to himself. As for me, Ishould have preferred to go with him. Pretty much everything is fair inwar, and Jane Ryder was on the Union side. She knew of the ambuscadeand had not told me; it was her duty not to tell. She would have madeno sign if we had been going to our deaths. I have never felt moredepressed in my life than I did at that moment. Something had slippedfrom under me, and I had nothing to stand on. I came out of the closetboth angry and sorry. "I shall be obliged to you if you will find myhat," I said.
I tried hard to hide my real feelings, and with anyone else the effortwould have been successful; but she knew. She came and stood by me andcaught me by the arm. "Where would you go?" There was a baffled look inher eyes, and her voice was uneasy.
"Call your man," I said; "I will go with him; it is not his fault thathe cannot find me; it is not his fault that I am hiding here in awoman's closet. Nor shall he be punished for it."
"Your hat is not here," she declared. "It must be where you fell. Doyou know," she cried, "that you have killed a man? Do you know that?"Her tone was almost triumphant.
"Well, what of that?" I asked. "You set them on us, and the poor fellowtook his chance with the rest. Gladly would I take his place." My headwas hurting and I was horribly depressed.
She had turned away from me, but now she flashed around with surprisingquickness. "You are the cause of it all--yes, you! And, oh, if I couldtell you how I hate you! If I could only show you what a contempt Ihave for you!" She was almost beside herself with anger, passion--Iknow not what. She shrank back from me, drew in a long breath, and fellupon the floor as if a gust of wind had blown her over; and then Ibegan to have a dim conception of the power that moved and breathed inthe personality of this woman. She fell, gave a long, shivering sigh,and, to all appearance, lay before me dead.
In an instant I was wild with remorse and grief. I seized a chair andsent it crashing into the hallway to attract attention. To this noise Iadded my voice, and yelled for help with lungs that had aroused theechoes on many a hunting-field. There were whisperings below, andapparently a hurried consultation, and then a young woman came mincingup the stairs. I must have presented a strange and terrifying spectaclewith my head bandaged and my wild manner, for the woman, with a shriek,turned and ran down the stairs again. I cried again for someone to cometo the aid of the lady, and presently someone called up th
e stairs toknow what the trouble was.
I was wild with remorse and grief.]
"Come and see," I cried. "The lady has fainted, and she may be dead."
I went into the room again, and, taking Jane Ryder in my arms, carriedher into the next room and laid her on the bed. There was a pitcher ofwater handy, and I sprinkled her face and began to chafe her coldhands. After what seemed an age, the landlord came cautiously along thehall. "Call the woman," I commanded; "call the woman, and tell her tocome in a hurry."
This he did, and then peeped in the room, taking care not to comeinside the door. "What is the matter?" he said uneasily.
"Can't you see that the lady is ill?" I answered.
The woman--two women, indeed--came running in response to his summons."Go in there and see what the trouble is. See if he has killed her. Itold her he was dangerous. You shall pay for this," he said, shaking athreatening hand at me, though he came no farther than the door. "Youthink she has no friends and that you may use her as you please. But Itell you she has friends, and you will have to answer to them."
"Why talk like a fool?" said the elder of the two women--the woman withwhom I had talked in the inner room of the tavern. "You know as well asI do that this man has not hurt her. If it were some other man I'dbelieve you. She has only fainted."
"But fainting is something new to her. He has hurt her, and he shallpay for it," the man insisted.
"And I tell you," the woman repeated, "that he has not harmed a hair ofher head. If he had do you think I'd be standing here denying it? Don'tyou know what I'd be doing?"
"If I am wrong I am quite ready to apologize. I was excited--was besidemyself."
"I want none of your apologies," I said to the man. "I have a crow topick with you, and I'll furnish a basket to hold the feathers."
"It is better to bear no malice," remarked the younger woman, calmly."The Bible will tell you so."
"It is better to tell me the cause of the trouble," interrupted herelder.
"Why, I hardly know. I asked for my hat, and from one word to anotherwe went till she flamed out at me, and said she hated me, and had agreat contempt for me; and then she fell on the floor in a faint. Ithought she was dead, but when I laid her on the bed there I saw hereyelids twitching."
The two women eyed each other in a way that displeased me greatly. "Itold you so," said one. "It's the world's wonder," replied the other.And then Jane Ryder opened her eyes. It was natural that they shouldfall on me. She closed them again with a little shiver and then thenatural color returned to her face. "I thought you were gone," shewhispered.
"Did you think I would go and leave you like this? Do you really thinkI am a brute--that I have no feeling?" She closed her eyes again, as ifreflecting.
"But I told you I hated you. Didn't you hear me? Couldn't youunderstand?"
"Perfectly," I replied. "I knew it before you told me; but, even so,could I go and leave you as you were just now? Consider, madam. Putyourself in my place--I who have never done you the slightest injuryunder the blue sky----" I was going on at I know not what rate, but sherefused to listen.
"Oh, don't! don't! Oh, please go away!" she cried, holding her arms outtoward me in supplicating fashion. It was an appeal not to be resisted,least of all by me. I looked at her--I gave her one glance, as theelderly woman took me by the arm.
"Come with me," she said; "you shall have a hat, though I hardly thinkit will fit you with the bandage round your head."
She led me downstairs, and, after some searching, she fished out a hatfrom an old closet, and it did as well as another. She asked me manyquestions as she searched. How long had I known the poor lady upstairs?and where did I meet her? She would have made a famous cross-questioner.I answered her with such frankness that she seemed to take a fancy tome.
"Some say that the poor lady upstairs is demented," she volunteered.
"Whoever says so lies," I replied. "She has more sense than nine-tenthsof the people you meet."
"And then, again, some say she can mesmerize folks." Then, seeing thatthe information failed to interest me, "What do you think of them--themesmerizers?"
"I think nothing of them. If they could mesmerize me, I should like tosee them do it."
"Oh, would you, you poor young man," she said, with a strange smile."How would you know that you were mesmerized, and how would you helpyourself?"
I know not what reply I made. A fit of dejection had seized me, and Icould think of nothing but Jane Ryder. "You mustn't think of that younglady upstairs as hating you," said the woman, after she had brushed thehat and had asked me if I felt strong enough to walk a mile or more."All she means is that she hates your principles. She hates secession,and she hates Secessionists. But something has upset her of late; sheis not herself at all. I'm telling you the truth."
"She hates me; you may depend on that; but her hate makes no differenceto me. I love her, and I'd love her if she were to cut my throat."
"Is that true? Are you honest? May I tell her so some time--notnow--but some time when you are far away?"
"To what end?" I asked. "She would tear her hair out if she knew it;she would never be happy again."
"You don't happen to love her well enough to join her side, do you?"This question was put hesitatingly, and, as I thought, with some shyhope that it would receive consideration.
"Madam, you have tried to be kind to me in your way, and therefore Iwill say nothing to wound your feelings; but if a man were to ask methat question he would receive an answer that would prevent him fromrepeating it in this world."
"Humpty-dumpty jumped over the wall!" exclaimed the woman with a laugh."I knew what you'd say, but I had my reasons for asking the question;you must go now; and bear in mind," she went on with a sudden displayof feeling, "that the war has made such devil's hags of the women, andsuch devil's imps of the men, that everything is in a tangle. You'llknow where you are when you go in the next room. And you must forgiveme. I am Jane Ryder's mother."
And, sure enough, I was in the tavern in the woods, and sitting by thehearth was Whistling Jim. To say that he was glad to see me wouldhardly describe the outward manifestation of his feelings. Someone inthe camp, he didn't know who, had sent him word that he'd find me atthis house, and he had been waiting for more than an hour, the lasthalf of it with many misgivings. He and Harry had escaped without anytrouble, and my horse had followed them so closely that they thought Iwas on his back. But when they saw that he was riderless, they thoughtthat I had either been captured or killed. Once at camp, Harry Herndondrummed up as many of the Independents as would volunteer, and they hadgone in search of me; Whistling Jim heard them riding along the road ashe was coming to the tavern.
The faithful negro had a hundred questions to ask, but I answered himin my own way. I was determined that none but those directly concernedshould ever know that I had been held a prisoner or that Miss Ryder hada hand in the night's work; and I wished a thousand times over that Ihad not known it myself. The old saying, worn to a frazzle withrepetition, came to me with new force, and I was sadly alive to thefact that where ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise.
The night was now far advanced, and once at my quarters I flung myselfon the rude bed that had been provided for me, and all the troubles andtangles in this world dissolved and disappeared in dreamless slumber.When morning broke I felt better. My head was sore, but the surgeonremoved the bandage, clipped the hair about the wound, took a stitch ortwo that hurt worse than the original blow, and in an hour I hadforgotten the sabre-cut.
Singular uneasiness pervaded my thoughts. More than once I caughtmyself standing still as if expecting to hear something. I tried invain to shake off the feeling, and at last I pretended to trace it tofeverishness resulting from the wound in the scalp; but I knew this wasnot so--I knew that one of the great things of life was behind it all;I knew that I had come to the hour that young men hope for and oldermen dread; I knew that for good or evil my future was wrapped in themystery and tangle of which Jan
e Ryder was the centre. My common-sensetried to picture her forth as the spider waiting in the centre of herweb for victims, but my heart resented this and told me that sheherself had been caught in the web and found it impossible to get away.
I wandered about the camp and through the town with a convalescent'scertificate in my pocket and the desperation of a lover in my heart;and at the very last, when night was falling, it was Jasper Goodrum, ofthe Independents, who gave me the news I had been looking for all day.
"You'd better pick up and go with us, Shannon; our company is going toraid the tavern to-night, and to-morrow we take the road. Oh, you arenot hurt bad," he said, trying to interpret the expression on my face;"you can go and I think I can promise you a little fun. They say a spyis housed there, and we propose to smoke him out to-night. Get yourhorse; we start in half an hour."
He went off down the street, leaving me staring at him open-mouthed.When he was out of sight I turned and ran toward the camp as if my lifedepended on it.