CHAPTER XXXIV. CAPTURED AGAIN--HOW JACK “PLAYED CRAZY.”
|Their new captors proved to belong to the band through whose handsthey had passed, as already described, and after another examination, inwhich their pockets were again turned inside out, they were allowed toproceed. As they rode on Jack suggested a new idea for their actionsthe next time they were stopped, as he was fearful they might encountersomebody from “Forsyth way,” and thus it would be discovered that theywere not telling the truth.
“I tell you what,” said Jack, “the next time they stop us, if they don’tcome on us too suddenly, I ‘ll play crazy.”
“How ‘ll you do it?” Harry asked.
“Why, I ‘ll act crazy or idiotic enough, and you can say you’re mybrother taking me home. We live somewhere in the western part ofMissouri, and have been away from home a long time; or perhaps you canlocate us in Kansas, near Fort Scott.
“All right,” responded Harry, “we ‘ll try it on and see how it works.”
They did n’t have any occasion for trying it that day, as theyencountered no other roving bands. They stopped at two or three housesalong the road, partly to ask the way and partly to keep up theirassumed characters by asking if anything had been seen of some HomeGuards with two horses, one a dark gray with a short tail and one earnotched, and the other a roan that carried his head very high and hada white patch on the side of his nose. The white horse was calledIronsides, Harry explained, and the roan one Tatters. The people wereevidently suspicious of strangers, and did not welcome them with a showof delight, but they gave them the directions they wanted about theroads. They were careful not to ask for Fort Scott, or any otherplace in Kansas, but confined their inquiries within the boundaries ofMissouri. Night overtook them at a deserted house, and they at firstthought they would sleep there, but after some deliberation concludedit would not be altogether safe. By good luck they found concealed amongthe trees a small haystack, which not only gave them a sleeping-place,but all the feed they wanted for their horses. They made a supper fromtheir bread and bacon, and then picketed their animals securely, andwhile one of them watched the other slept. They feared to be surprisedduring the night or early morning by the owner of the haystack, or someone who knew of its existence, and they naturally wished to have time toget away if possible, by discovering the approach of strangers.
They were not disturbed, and in good time in the morning they took tothe road again in the direction of Fort Scott. The direct route wouldhave carried them through Granby and Carthage, but they prudentlyavoided both these places by taking roads that led around them.
About ten in the forenoon they came to a house where there were signs ofhabitation, and Harry suggested that it would be a good place for Jackto experiment in “playing crazy.” So they rode up to the house and weremet by an old man and two or three women, who came to the door as theywere seen approaching.
Jack sprang from his horse and rushed at the man as though he were anold and intimate friend. The man drew back in alarm.
“Don’t mind him,” said Harry. “He’s crazy, and thinks every old man hesees is his father who died ten years ago.”
“How de do, father?” said Jack, taking the cue from Harry; “so glad tosee you, father, after all this time. Where’ve you been so long?”
The man thought it best to humor the boy, and said he had n’t been faraway; only down to the next town.
“He’s my brother,” said Harry, “and the doctors say the only thing tocure him is to take him home. We’ve been down South, in Arkansas, andwe’re going home to Bourbon county, Kansas, where mother lives.”
“Say, father, I’m real hungry, and thought you’d have breakfast ready,” said Jack. “You know, you’ve always had breakfast ready long before thistime.”
There was method in Jack’s madness that might have roused suspicion, butthe very boldness of the suggestion was calculated to disarm it.
“That’s the first sensible thing he’s said to-day,” remarked Harry; “forI’m sure the poor boy must be hungry, as he has n’t eaten anything sinceyesterday. The doctor told me he’d come to his senses some time when hewanted anything real bad.”
The women had crowded around the group and were joined by half-a-dozentow-headed children, that one after another put in an appearance frominner rooms or the rear of the house. Great sympathy was shown for thepoor crazy boy, and a breakfast of corn-bread and bacon, the best thatcould be offered, and very acceptable it was, was set before them.
Jack, while they were preparing breakfast, had gone about the housecriticising everything and commenting freely on the appearance of itsoccupants. He was shrewd enough to make his comments of a flatteringcharacter; he praised the beauty of the unkempt children; thought one ofthe women looked like the governor’s wife at Little Rock, and was sureshe was his sister. When she denied the relationship Jack assumedanger, and Harry whispered to her that she had better humor him, as shecertainly did resemble the governor’s wife enough to put the idea in theboy’s head.
Jack insisted that the governor’s wife was the charmingest lady inArkansas, and as Harry echoed the sentiment he found it was not receivedunkindly. Instead of eating their corn-bread dry they had molasses onit, a small jug of that precious article being brought out from someplace of concealment by the woman who resembled the heroine of thegubernatorial mansion of the capital of Arkansas.
The boys could not pay for their breakfast, as they had nothing to paywith. At a signal from Harry, Jack assumed an air of somnolence, whilethe sane brother told the news from Arkansas and answered all questionsabout the Yankee soldiers down near the frontier. He explained that hehad no difficulty in coming right through the Yankee lines, as theytook pity on his poor crazy brother, but they would not let them stopanywhere in the camp nor look around to see what they had there.
Soon after they had finished breakfast they continued their journey,accepting with many thanks a goodly parcel of the bacon and bread whichhad been left over from the meal and would form an excellent supper.Until long after they were out of sight of the house Jack continuedto wear the idiotic expression of countenance by which he had sosuccessfully carried out his deception.
“I was half ashamed of myself, in fact a good deal more than half,” saidhe, “when I found how kindly they treated us. They took pity on me andgave us a good breakfast, which we sadly needed, and they could n’t havebeen more sympathetic if we’d been of their own kith and kin.”
“And to think I flattered that woman into believing she looked like thewife of the governor of Arkansas, whom I’ve never seen, and don’t knowhow she looks. Well, anyway, she had a good, pleasant face, and if thegovernor’s wife has as kind a heart His Excellency may be proud of her.”
“We ‘ll get even with them and make a return for their kindness one ofthese days,” said Harry; “and perhaps we ‘ll do it very soon. But itwill never do to let them know how they were imposed upon, as it wouldbe a reflection on their discernment.”
Nothing of consequence happened to the youths until late in theafternoon, when they were suddenly confronted by ten or twelverough-looking fellows, armed with shotguns and squirrel-rifles, afterthe usual style of the scouting parties they had already seen. But ifthere was any difference between this party and its predecessors, it wasin favor of the earlier ones, as the crowd they were now facing seemedto be decidedly a worse lot. With their weapons aimed at the heads ofthe youths they ordered them down from their horses, threatening toshoot them if they did n’t get down at once.
“Now I’ll do the crazy, idiotic trick,” whispered Jack.
Harry got down from his horse, but Jack sat still and stared vacantlyand with open mouth at the rangers.
“Get off that horse!” said one of the men, “and be quick about it.”
“Don’t mind him!” exclaimed Harry; “he’s my crazy brother, and I’mtaking him home. He don’t know what he’s doing.”
This seemed to amuse the strangers, and they drew down their weapons
andwaited to see what the lunatic would do next.
Jack continued to hold his mouth open and look as foolish as possible.He stared at the strangers for two or three minutes, shifting his gazefrom one to another. Finally, pointing to one of the men, he said:
“That’s General Price; I know ‘tis.”
The men laughed heartily at this suggestion, and not the mildest ofthe laughers was the individual who had been thus designated. It is notalways that the victim of a joke can enjoy it as well as do those abouthim.
The newly-commissioned “general” was mounted on a fine horse (which wasnot branded with his initials), and suddenly Jack took a fancy to theanimal and proposed a trade. The general declined, and Jack insisted. Toprove his earnestness he descended from his own steed and tried topull the general down from the horse that he coveted; but it is fairto presume that he did not pull very hard, as the general retained hisplace.
All this time the men laughed heartily at the antics of the supposedlunatic, and they continued to laugh when Jack asked one of them toshoot the general because he would n’t swap horses. As the man wouldn’t comply with his wish, Jack begged for a gun, that he might dothe shooting himself, and when that was refused he threatened to findsomebody who would lend him a cannon, or a whole dozen of them, and hewould come around and shoot everybody that tried to stop him.
Harry begged the men not to oppose Jack, as it only made him worse. ThenJack proposed to go along with them, so that he could get the general’shorse whenever he got off; a suggestion that did not meet with approval.But Jack insisted to such an extent that the general lost his temper,and began to swear roundly at both the youths, till he was stopped bythe one who appeared to be the leader.
Jack’s ruse worked to a charm, as the rangers were now quite as desirousof getting rid of the boys as they had previously been to make theiracquaintance. They assisted Harry to get Jack on his horse again, andtold him they would stay where they were till the youths were outof sight. Harry mounted once more, and with considerable apparentdifficulty persuaded Jack to accompany him. He only succeeded in doingso by exacting a promise from “General Price” that he would follow themat once and trade horses when they went into camp that evening.
With this understanding they rode off, and as they went over the crestof the ridge Harry peered over his shoulder and had the satisfaction ofseeing their late acquaintances riding the other way along the road ata smart pace. They were greatly relieved when they saw the last of thejayhawkers, and devoutly hoped they would not encounter them again.
To make sure of being out of their reach, they rode at a good speed fortwo hours and more. The sun was about setting when they came to a vacanthouse. While they were looking through it and its outbuildings, insearch of feed for their steeds, and possibly for something they couldput into their own mouths, a squad of horsemen dashed up to the door,and they found themselves prisoners once more.
Things were getting lively, but they felt easy this time, as they sawthat the uniform of their captors was the union blue. The squad wasquickly followed by another and then by another, until not less thanfifty mounted men were assembled. They were under the command of acaptain, who proceeded to interrogate the young prisoners.
Harry was inclined to be suspicious, as he had been told that a bandof thieves wearing the federal uniform was scouring the country andcommitting atrocities such as the worst of the secession bands hadrarely been accused of. So he answered by telling the old story ofhaving come from the neighborhood of Forsyth, and being in pursuit ofsome horse-thieves. He again described the missing horses, and asked ifthe depredating Home Guards had been seen by the captain or his men.
His course was a prudent one, as we can easily see. In case his captorswere really union cavalrymen he knew that no harm was likely to come toJack or himself. He was ready to declare who and what they were as soonas he was satisfied of the genuineness of the apparent unionists; but,if on the other hand, they should prove to be the band of murderers ofwhich he had heard, the fate of both the youths would have been sealed,and their lives forfeited if they had avowed their real characters.
Harry and Jack endured very well the searching investigation of thecaptain; stuck to the original story and did not reveal their truecharacters, and were finally turned over to the care of the guard, whotreated them kindly, though without giving them the least chance forgetting away. This was an indication in the right direction, and Harryproceeded to follow it up.
Finding that the sentinel who had them in charge was inclined to betalkative, he engaged him in conversation, and soon learned enough toconvince him that he was among friends. Then he asked to be taken beforethe captain again, as he had something to say that he had hithertoconcealed.
His request was conveyed to the captain, and he soon followedthe request. When he came into the officer’s presence, the latterimpatiently said:
“Well, young fellow, what is it now?”
“I want to say,” responded Harry, “that we haven’t told you the truth.”
“That’s nothing surprising,” was the reply; “very few people tell itnowadays in this part of the country.”
“We’ve told you we were secesh,” explained Harry, “and we’re nothing ofthe sort.”
“That’s too thin,” exclaimed the captain; “if you think you’re going toplay union on me you’re mistaken.”
He looked the youth straight in the eye as he said this. Harry met hisglance firmly, and after a moment’s pause answered:
“We don’t propose to play anything on you now, since we’re satisfiedyou’re union soldiers. We were afraid you might be guerrillas indisguise, and so told the horse-stealing story that we’d made up for ourprotection.”
“Well, what are you, anyway, and where are you going?”
“We’re from General Curtis’s army, and are going to Fort Scott as soonas we can get there.”
Instantly the captain’s manner changed. He arose from his seat and saidhe thought they were the very boys he wanted to find.
“Anyway,” he continued, “we ‘ll accommodate you by taking you to FortScott. If you’ve told the truth it will be all right, and if you’ve liedand are the secesh you first made yourselves out to be you ‘ll have ataste of the guard-house that ‘ll cure you of a habit of wandering fromthe truth.”
Then the captain gave orders that the youths should be carefully lookedafter and not have a chance of escaping, but at the same time theyshould be permitted to ride their own horses and have every privilegeconsistent with being carefully guarded. “They are probably all right,but they may be all wrong, and so we won’t take any chances on them,” the captain remarked to his lieutenant, as the youths disappeared incharge of their guard.
Bright and early the next morning the whole party was on the road towardFort Scott, where they arrived safely, but not without a slight brushwith a small band of guerrillas whom they encountered about a mile fromtheir camping place. A few shots were exchanged, but at such long rangethat it is doubtful if anybody was hurt. Certainly nobody was injured onthe union side, though several bullets whistled very near.
The party which captured our young friends had been sent from Fort Scottfor the double purpose of looking for messengers from General Curtis,and also to ascertain the whereabouts of any guerrilla bands thatmight be infesting the country. Having no proof of their character, thecaptain was naturally disinclined to believe their second story. He hadsupposed they were lying when they were first brought before him, and,therefore, was not inclined to accept without a great deal of reservethe subsequent explanation.
But all doubt was cleared up when the scouting party reached Fort Scottand handed its captives over to the commandant of the post. ColonelHinton, the officer who then held that position, questioned the youthsbriefly and learned when and how they were sent away. When satisfied onthis point he asked for their dispatches.
“We have n’t any,” Harry answered. Then he told the circumstancesattending their departure.
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sp; “But I’m sure you have brought them, as General Curtis was to send amessenger about this time, and that was one of the objects for which Isent out the scouting party.”
Harry repeated his assurance that they had brought no dispatches; thenthe colonel laughed and called his adjutant, and the latter, at thecolonel’s suggestion, proceeded to rip off some of the patches on thebutternut garments of the boys. The first and second of the patchesrevealed nothing, but the third yielded a letter written on thin paper,and inclosed in oiled silk. Another patch brought forth another letter,and by the time the garments had been restored to their originalunpatched condition, no less than three dispatches had been brought tolight.
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Harry and Jack stood speechless with astonishment. Here they had beencarrying dispatches without knowing it; the mystery of their havingnothing further to do than report to the commander of the post wasexplained.
“This is nothing new,” said the colonel, as he silently regarded theyouths. “It is n’t the first time a man has served as messenger withoutbeing aware of it; but your case is n’t equal to that of a man inKentucky that I heard of not long ago. He was a rebel spy, who passedfrequently inside our lines. One of our spies who was with the rebelarmy used to conceal dispatches in the lining of this man’s overcoatwhenever he saw indications that he was about to go away, and when hegot into our lines an officer who knew his real character used to getpossession of the papers, the efficient carrier being entirely ignorantof the fact that he was thus being used. He was allowed to come and go,as his services to the Union were much greater than to the Confederacy,though he was no friend of ours.”
The colonel then gave orders that the boys should be well fed and caredfor, and told them they could rest a day before setting out on theirreturn. “And when you go back,” said the colonel, “you will not run asmuch risk as you have just been through.”
They had their day’s rest as proposed, and on the second morning aftertheir arrival at Fort Scott they started on the return journey. ColonelHinton assigned a company of cavalry to accompany them, and kept goodhis promise that they should not run the same risk as in their tripupward from the army.
Harry and Jack were not forgetful of the family who fed and cared forthem on the occasion when the latter “played crazy.” A well-wrappedpackage containing a pound of tea, and another of coffee, was fastenedbehind Harry’s saddle, and while on the way Harry told the captain ofthe escort all about their adventure. At Harry’s suggestion the boys didnot show themselves at the house, as he did not wish the people to knowthat they had been deceived as to their character. The escort divided alittle while before reaching the house, and while one squad went thereand delivered the parcel, which was supposed to have been sent by theboys, the other went by at a trot, the youths riding so that they werescreened by some of the men.
The boys were of service to the escort in showing the way to thehaystack which they discovered in the forest, as already mentioned. Whenthey reached it they had a skirmish with a party of guerrillas who hadalready found it, and were camping there comfortably with their saddlesstripped from their horses, and evidently under the belief that nobodybut themselves knew where it was. Our men had the guerrillas at adisadvantage, and the fight resulted badly for the rebels; two of themwere killed and three wounded, while on our side only one man was hurt,and he but slightly. Ten horses were captured and taken away in triumph;some of the guerrillas escaped with their steeds, while the rest fled onfoot. A sharp watch was kept through the night lest they should returnand renew the fight, but they did not put in an appearance.
Just as they were starting the next morning Harry called attention toa cloud of dust in the road they intended following, and it wasimmediately surmised that an enemy was in the neighborhood. Very quicklythe order to mount was given and the column moved in the direction ofthe suspicious dust. Hardly had they reached the road before a crowdof horsemen was seen approaching, and then both sides made ready for afight.
There was a good deal of maneuvering for the advantage, and bothparties advanced with great caution. A few shots were exchanged at longdistances, where they could not possibly do any harm, but simply on theChinese principle of letting the other side know that warm work could beexpected. As the columns drew closer together the strangers were foundto be dressed in blue, and as they made a similar discovery concerningour own party the shooting ceased. A flag of truce was then sentforward, accompanied by Harry, to meet a similar flag from the otherside. The flags met half-way between the lines, and it was quicklyascertained that the supposed enemy was a scouting party sent out byGeneral Curtis. Harry recognized the bearers of the flag, and there wasa vigorous hand-shaking followed by a signal for both sides to put offthe idea of fighting for the present unless they could find somebodyelse to fight with.
On their arrival in camp Harry and Jack reported immediately to GeneralVandever, and then to General Curtis, to whom they delivered thedispatches they had brought from Fort Scott. The general questioned themclosely in regard to their experiences, and laughed heartily when heheard of Jack’s exploit in playing crazy. He thought it an admirableruse, but said it could not be tried on very often, as it was sure toleak out. Then he praised the boys for the admirable manner in whichthey had performed their difficult task, and said he might have occasionto call on them again.
“I’m not at all sure,” said Harry, as soon as the boys were bythemselves once more, “I’m not sure that I’m in a hurry to go on anotherscouting expedition; are you?”
“As to that,” answered Jack, “I’d like a little rest and a chance tothink it over. But after I’ve rested I shall be ready to try it on oncemore, but not through the same country.”
“I don’t suppose General Curtis would send us that way again,” was thereply, “as he would know that it would be doubly dangerous for us, sincewe’ve been seen with the cavalry and would be known to be on the unionside. We could n’t make anybody believe our story about hunting forstolen horses from Forsyth way.”
On the day of their return to camp orders were issued for the army to beready to move on the following morning. The boys wondered if the advanceupon Little Rock was about to commence, and also whether the dispatchesthey brought had anything to do with the orders to march.
But the development of events did not indicate that they were going inthe direction of the Arkansas capital, nor yet to Fort Scott or anywherenear it. The army moved to Forsyth, in Taney county, Missouri, on thebanks of the White river, and nearly due east from Keitsville, wherethe camp had been. For some part of the way the principal road followsthe bank of the river and gives pretty glimpses of the wooded valley andthe meandering stream. Like most of the southwestern rivers, the Whitehas a very tortuous course, and consequently the road rather touchedupon than followed the stream; to have done the latter would make itneedlessly long.
There was no enemy of consequence along the line of march, and thereforeno opposition was expected or offered. Here and there half-a-dozenhorsemen were seen, but they were not considered worthy of attention.Forsyth was occupied until the army received a supply of stores andammunition, which was sent from Springfield by a somewhat difficult roadthrough the Ozark mountains.
Our young friends went with dispatches to the post commander atSpringfield, but as the road was well guarded and no rebels orguerrillas were supposed to be in the neighborhood, they did notconsider the journey of any serious moment, and did not disguisethemselves. The distance is about fifty miles, and they took a partof two days for the ride, spending the night at Ozark, which is abouthalf-way between the opposite ends of the route. There was so muchup and down hill to the road that they did not find it an easy one totravel in a hurry, and besides, they were carrying out the orders of thegeneral in spending the night at Ozark, where there was temporarily agarrison of fifteen or twenty men.
“It is a very pretty mountain country,” said Harry afterwards, whenspeaking of the journey, “and I wished I could make sketches of someof the landscape
s along the road. In some places you look down a longdistance in the valleys, and in others you are completely shut in andwonder how you will ever get out of there. An interesting feature of thecountry is the large springs that abound all through it; they are likethe great springs we saw at Cross Hollows in Arkansas, and doubtlesshave the same sort of origin. There is one spring near the villageof Ozark which forms the head of a good-sized brook, just as does thespring at the head of Sugar Creek.”
At Springfield they found very little change in the state of affairssince they passed through the town on their way to Sugar Creek and PeaRidge. The garrison had thrown up earthworks to protect themselvesin case of an attack by the rebels, as it was thought possible that acolumn of cavalry, or possibly some marauding expeditious like thoseof Quantrell and Todd, might take a notion to pay a brief visit to theplace, and the commandant did n’t propose to be caught napping. Thesupplies for General Curtis were being pushed forward as fast aspossible, but the bad condition of the roads and the scarcity of draftanimals greatly hindered the work. Mules and horses were in greatdemand, and considering the great numbers of these animals that had beencompletely worn out and used up in the arduous service of transportationin the southwest, the great wonder is that supplies could be sentforward at all.
They remained two days in Springfield and then started on their returnto Forsyth. Not dreaming of any danger, they did not deem it worth theirwhile to so time the journey as to spend the night under the protectionof the guard at Ozark; instead of doing so, they passed through thattown and lodged in a house several miles beyond, where they had anexciting adventure, as the sequel will show.