XII
_UNDER ESCORT_
No sooner had Agatha Ronald determined to enter upon a career of verydangerous service to her cause and country, than she set herselfdiligently to the work of perfecting plans which were at first vague andundefined. It was no part of her purpose to fail if by any forethoughtand thoroughness of preparation she might avert the danger of failure.She determined to do nothing until every point and possibility, so faras conditions could be foreseen, should be considered and provided for.
First of all, she entered into perfect confidence with her maid, Martha,telling the trusty negro woman as she meant to tell no other person nearher, except her grandfather, precisely what she intended to do, and how.Martha had a shrewd intelligence likely to be useful in emergencies, andher devotion to her mistress was as absolute as that of any devotee toan object of worship. This mistress had been hers to care for by nightand by day ever since Agatha had been four years of age. All of loyalty,all of affection, all of self-sacrificing devotion of which the negrocharacter in its best estate is capable, she gave to Agatha, neverdoubting her due or questioning her right to such service of the heartand soul. She knew no other love than this, no other life than that ofunceasing, all-embracing care for her mistress.
It was with no shadow of doubt or hesitation, therefore, that Agatharevealed her purposes to Martha, and asked for her aid in carrying themout. And Martha received the somewhat startling confidence as calmly asif her mistress had been telling her of an intended afternoon drive.
When matters had settled down into apathetic idleness after the battleof Manassas, Agatha made occasion to visit the army. Officers at FairfaxCourt-house had their wives and daughters with them at theirheadquarters then, and many of these were Agatha's intimates, whom shemight visit without formal invitation.
At their quarters, she received visits from such of her friends asbelonged to the cavalry forces stationed thereabouts. In her intercoursewith these, she steadily maintained the innocent little fiction that shewas there solely for social purposes, and to see the splendid army thathad so recently won an astonishing victory.
One day, she learned that the picturesque cavalier, General J. E. B.Stuart, had boldly pushed his outposts to Mason's and Munson's Hills,and established his headquarters under a tree, within easy sight ofWashington. She instantly developed an intense desire to visit himthere. It happened that she knew Stuart and his family personally, andhad often dined in the great cavalry leader's company at her own andother homes. So she said one day, to a young cavalry officer, who wascalling upon her:
"I want you to do me a very great service. I want you to ask GeneralStuart to let me visit him at the outposts. He'll offer to come here tocall upon me instead, for he is always gallant, but you are to tell himI will not permit that. The service needs him at the front, and I wantto visit him there. Besides, I particularly want to take a peep atWashington City in its new guise as a foreign capital which we arebesieging."
The young man remonstrated. He protested that there was very greatdanger in the attempt--that raids from the picket-lines were of dailyoccurrence, that the firing was often severe--and all the rest of it,wherefore General Stuart would almost certainly forbid the young lady'sproposed enterprise.
The girl calmly looked the young man in the eyes--he was an old friendwhom she had known from her childhood--and said, very solemnly:
"Charlie, I am no more afraid of bullets than you are. My heart is setupon this visit, and you _must_ arrange it for me. As for GeneralStuart, I'll manage him, if you'll carry a note to him for me."
That young man had once begun to make love to Agatha, and she hadchecked him gently and affectionately in time to spare his pride, and tomake of him her willing knight for all time to come. So he answeredpromptly:
"I'll carry your note, of course, and if Stuart gives permission, I'llbeg to be myself your escort. Then, if anybody bothers you with bulletsor anything else, it'll be a good deal the worse for him."
The girl thanked him in a way that would have made a hero of him in herdefence had occasion served, and presently she scribbled a little noteand placed it in the young cavalryman's hands for delivery. It wassimple enough, but it was so worded as to make sure that Stuart wouldpromptly grant its request. It ran as follows:
"MY DEAR GENERAL STUART:--I very much want to see you for half an hour out where you are, at Mason's or Munson's Hill, and not here at Fairfax Court-house. My visit will be absolutely and entirely in the public interest, though to all others than yourself I am pretending that it is prompted solely by the whim of a romantic young girl. Please send a permit at once, and please permit Lieutenant Fauntleroy, who bears this, to be my escort."
The note was unsealed, of course, except by the honour of the gentlemanwho bore it. Stuart's response was prompt, as every act of hisenthusiastic life was sure to be. He read the note, held a corner ofthe sheet in the blaze of his camp-fire, and retained his hold upon thefarther corner of it until it was quite consumed. Then he dropped thecharred sheets into the coals, and turning to Lieutenant Fauntleroy,commanded:
"Return at once to Fairfax Court-house, detail an escort of half a dozengood men under your own personal command, and escort Miss Ronald to myheadquarters. Be very careful not to place the young lady under fire ifyou can avoid it. Ride in the woods, or under other cover, wherever youcan. Remember, you will have a lady in charge, and must take no risks."
"At what time shall I report with Miss Ronald?"
"At her time--at whatever time she shall fix upon as most pleasing toher."
Thus it came about that before noon of the next day, in the midst of apouring rain-storm, General Stuart lifted Agatha Ronald from her saddle,taking her by the waist for that purpose. He welcomed her with a kissupon her brow, as the daughter of a house whose hospitality he had oftenenjoyed. He quickly escorted her to a little brush shelter which he hadmade his men hastily construct as a defence for her against the rain,and ordered the sentries posted full fifty yards away, in order that theconversation might by no chance be overheard.
"It is a splendid service," he said, when the girl had finished tellinghim of her plans. "But it will be attended by extraordinary danger to ayoung woman like you."
"I have considered all that, General," she replied, very seriously. "Ido not shrink from the danger."
"Of course not. You are a woman, a Virginian, and a Ronald,--threesufficient guarantees of courage. But I'm afraid for you. It is aterrible risk you are going to take--immeasurably greater in the case ofa woman than in that of a man."
"I have my wits, General,--and this," showing him a tiny revolver. "Withthat a woman can always defend her honour."
"You mean by suicide?"
"Yes--if necessity compels." Stuart looked at the gentle girl, gazinginto her fawn-like brown eyes as if trying to read her soul in theirdepths. Presently he said:
"God bless you and keep you, dear! I'm going to ride back to FairfaxCourt-house with you. Make yourself as comfortable as you can here forhalf an hour, while I ride out to the pickets. I'll be with you soon,and then we'll have dinner, for you are my guest to-day."
When the dinner was served, it consisted of some ears of corn, pluckedfrom a neighbouring field, and roasted with husks unremoved, among thelive coals of the cavalier's camp-fire. Stuart made no apology for thelack of variety in the meal, for he sincerely accepted the doctrinewhich he often preached to his men, that "anything edible makes a goodenough dinner if you are hungry, and the simpler it is, the better.There's nothing more troublesome in a campaign than cooking utensils andunnecessary things generally. If armies would move without them, there'dbe more and better fighting done. The chief thing in war is to start atonce and get there without delay."
The meal over, Stuart held out his hand as a step, from which Agathalightly sprang into her saddle. Then he mounted the superb gray, whichhe always rode when battle was on, or when he had a gentlewoman underhis charge. For there was a touch of the boyish
dandy in Stuart, and agood deal more than a touch of that gallantry which prompts every trueman of warm blood to honour womanhood with every possible attention.
The horse was fit for his rider, and that is saying quite all that canbe said in praise of a horse. Mounted upon him, Stuart was the bodilypresentment of all that painters and sculptors have imagined the typicalcavalier to be or to seem. Stalwart of figure, erect in carriage, hismuscles showing themselves in graceful strength with every movement ofhis body, his head carried like that of a boy or a young bull, his beardclosely clipped, his moustache standing out straight at the ends, andresembling that of Virginia's earliest knight errant, Captain JohnSmith, of Jamestown, Stuart was a picture to look upon, which theonlooker did not soon forget. His many-gabled slouch hat was decoratedwith streaming plumes, that helped to make of him a target for theenemy's sharpest sharpshooters whenever battle was on. Full of vigour,full of health, and full to the very lips of a boyish enthusiasm oflife, he seemed never to know what weariness might signify, and neverfor one moment to abate the intensity of his purpose. He did all thingsas if all had been part of a great game in which he was playing for achampionship.
On this occasion, however, his manner was subdued, and his conversationserious in a degree unusual to one of his effervescent spirits. He wasriding with Agatha Ronald for the very serious purpose of talking withher about details that must be carefully arranged with a view to hersafety in the dangerous undertaking upon which she was about to enter. Aword or two to Lieutenant Fauntleroy sent that officer with his escortsquad to the front, while Stuart and his charge rode in rear.
"Now, one thing more is necessary, Miss Agatha," he said. "You ought toreenter our country far to the west, if you can, where there are noarmies, and only small detachments. Still, I don't know so well aboutthat. Here we keep the Yankees too busy at the front to attend tomatters in the rear, while over in the valley they'll have nothingbetter to do than look out for wandering women like you. Anyhow, you mayfind it necessary or advisable to enter my lines. In that case, you mustbe arrested immediately and brought to my headquarters. That isnecessary on all accounts--to prevent the nature of your mission frombeing discovered, and--well, to prevent you from having to report toanybody but me. I shall want to see you, and hear all about yourresults. So I'm going to give orders every day that will put everypicket-officer on watch for you, and impress every one of them with theidea that you are a peculiarly dangerous person, in league with traitorson our side, and trying to put yourself into communication with such. Icannot give you any sort of paper, you see, for papers are alwaysdangerous. But I'll give you six words that will answer the purpose.Whenever you speak the right one of these words with emphasis, thepicket-officer will understand that you are the very dangerous spy whoseentrance into our lines I anticipate, and whose arrest I particularlydesire to secure. I'll give out one of the six words each day,particularly charging officers of the pickets that any woman enteringour lines by any means, and using that word with emphasis, is the spy Iwant,--that her use of it will be intended for the purpose of findingtraitorous friends, and that any such woman, no matter upon what pretextshe enters the lines, is to be arrested as soon as she uses the word.Only one of these words will be given out each day, but you will knowthem all, and use them in succession until you use the right one and arearrested. The words will be such as you can embody in an ordinarysentence without exciting the suspicion of any of the men who may bestanding by,--for, of course, only officers will be commissioned toarrest you. You can use the words in different sentences, until you usethe right one. Then you will be arrested and brought to my headquarters,where I hope to have a better dinner than that of to-day to offer you."
Just at that moment, the road along which they were riding passedbetween two abandoned fields, each of which was skirted by woodlands onits farther side. Stuart raised his head like a startled deer, and said:
"We must quit the road here, and put ourselves behind that skirt oftimber over on the left. Your horse will take the fence easily."
With that the pair pushed their animals over the rail fence on the left,and at a gallop rode across the field toward a little strip of youngchestnut woodland that lay beyond. But just as they reached the centreof the field there came the zip, zip, zip of bullets striking the earth,the whiz of bullets passing their ears, and the weird whistle of bulletspassing over them, one of which, now and then, turned somersaults in itscourse, and produced the peculiar sound that only bullets so misbehavingare capable of producing. At the same moment, the escort underLieutenant Fauntleroy, who had been in front, fell back to protect itscharge, as it was its duty to do. Stuart hurriedly said to the girl:
"Ride for your life to the chestnut-trees, and hide yourself there,while I take care of those fellows. I'll come to you when it's over."
With that he turned about, placed himself at the head of the littleescort squad, and, swinging his sabre, as he always did in action, ledthem at a furious pace, over a fence and into the thicket from which thefire was coming. The few men who were lurking there were quicklyscattered, and abandoning their arms, they ran with all their might tothe strong picket-post from which they had been thrown out to intercepthim.
This done, all danger of further trouble was at an end, or would havebeen, had Stuart willed it so. But the scent of battle was always in hisnostrils. His men were accustomed to say that he was always "looking fortrouble," whenever there was the smallest chance of finding it. Soinstead of contenting himself with having dispersed the assailing party,he wheeled about to the right, and led his squad with the fury ofMameluke against the strong picket-post itself. Amid a hailstorm ofbullets he charged through the half-company there posted, and then,turning about, charged back again, completing the work of destructionand dispersal.
It was not until this was over, and he had given the command, "Trot,"that he saw Agatha by his side, her pistol in hand and empty of itscharges, her hair loosened and falling in tangled masses over hershoulders, her face aglow, and her lithe form as erect as that of anytrooper among them all.
"But my dear Miss Ronald," Stuart ejaculated, "what are you doing here?"
"Riding under gallant escort, General, that is all."
"'_Riding under gallant escort_'"]
"But I ordered you to take refuge in the timber."
"Yes, I know," she answered, with a laughing challenge in her eyes, "butas I have never been mustered in, I'm not subject to your orders. Youcan't court-martial me, can you, General?"
Stuart looked at her before answering--his eyes full of an admirationthat was dimmed by glad tears. At last he leaned over, kissed her againupon the forehead, and said, impressively:
"What a wife you'll make for a soldier some day!"