CHAPTER XXVI
THE TEST
The sufferings of Noel and Dennis were increased by the feeling ofsuspense which followed the departure of the chaplain. Rumor had beenbusy in the camp and had reached even the men in the guard-houseconcerning the execution of the deserters and the penalty which nowmight be visited upon the men who were still under guard.
The feeling in the heart of Dennis was more one of anger than of alarm.With Noel, however, uncertainty and fear combined to make the youngsoldier much cast down. When Dennis occasionally tried to arouse hisspirits, the effort of the young Irishman was so manifest that theeffect sometimes was the exact reverse of what he had intended.
More and more Noel became alarmed as the hours passed. When the chaplainreturned, as he did a few hours later, not even his cheery words coulddisguise the fact that as yet he had not received any informationconcerning the two young sharpshooters which would justify the colonelin making an exception of their cases.
When Noel awoke early the following morning he was surprised to findDennis already busily engaged in writing a letter. And such a letter!
When Noel drew near, he saw that Dennis had taken sheets of foolscap,cutting them lengthwise and had pasted the half-sheets together so thathe had a continuous roll that must have been at least thirty feet inlength.
"What are you doing?" demanded Noel in surprise.
"Shure, lad, and I'm writin' a letter."
"But to whom are you writing such a letter as that? Do you write on bothsides of the paper? It would take more money than you have saved in amonth to pay the postage. What are you trying to do, anyway, Dennis?"
"Shure, lad," said Dennis quietly, "I had a letter from me sister inwhich she says as how I have niglicted the family and niver write aword, so I'm goin' to sind her one letter that she can't say is tooshort. I'm gettin' near the end of it, though. If you'll wait a minute,lad, I'll read to you the last sintence."
Before Noel could protest Dennis began glibly, "And now, me dearBridget, I can tell you that I am very happy because the assurance isdawning upon me mind that I am gettin' near the end of my paper. I haveonly to say that after I have been through the regular number ofpitched-battles and hair-breadth escapes and have walked a few hundredmiles and chased the Johnnies up and down the hills, perhaps by thattime I shall have come really to the ind of this letter and be able tosign me name. If you still think that I'm not writin' long enoughletters to you and to mother and the girls, I'll come home just as soonas our business at the front is finished, and from the appearances atthe prisent time somethin' is going to happen before I shall have achance to sign my name."
Dennis looked up from his paper and said, "There, lad, I'm notexplainin' to thim what it is that may happen. It'll be time enough forthim to find out that when they have to. But what do you think of meepistle, anyway?"
"Very good."
"What there is of it," replied Dennis, smiling in spite of the fearswhich held him.
"It's a sort of last will I'm writin', too," added Dennis. "I niver havewritten a will whin I was goin' into battle the way some o' th' boysdo, but whin I have to face the sintence of bein' shot as a desarter,which I niver was, and if the Saints will presarve me, I niver shallbe--"
"I heard of a woman back here," broke in Noel, "who made a will and lefther shoestrings to her sister."
"Bedad," said Dennis, "I niver thought o' that. 'Tis a good suggestion!I'm goin' to leave mine to Levi Kadoff. There ought to be enough of themto hang him with. Faith, and if I had him here now--"
The conversation of the two young soldiers was interrupted once more bythe return of the chaplain. Still he had not received any informationand the messenger, who he assured the boys had been dispatched, had notas yet returned.
In spite of the desire of the good man to encourage the boys, and hisapparently unshaken confidence that in the end all would be well, thefeeling of uncertainty and injustice still possessed both Noel andDennis. They had been forgotten, they assured themselves, by the men whoknew them best and at such a time as this could bring them aid. Of whatgood was it that they had been selected for positions of danger and hadbeen among the sharpshooters, doing their part in holding back theenemy around Williamsburg and at Malvern Hill?
Even if the desire had been in the minds of the young soldiers, theopportunity to escape was gone. The guard was changed every hour now,and there was no question that the muskets of the marching soldiers wereloaded. There was no blank cartridge here.
Noel's strong desire was to receive word from those who knew him. Butjust where that division of the army now was located he did not know,nor was he positive that there would be an opportunity in the presenceof threatening events for an investigation to be made which wouldrelieve him from the charge which was hanging over him.
A third visit from the chaplain still failed to bring the desired news.The depression of the boys was so manifest that the chaplain apparentlymade a special effort to cheer them.
"There was a little fellow back here near the colonel's tent who somehowmade me think of you two boys. You have told me about the little sutler.Let me see, what did you say his name is?"
"Levi. Levi Kadoff," answered Noel.
"Well, this little fellow by the colonel's tent may be the same one. Hewas a little Jew, who had been shot. A ball had just grazed the tips oftwo of his fingers and he was howling so loudly that I think you mighthave heard him here, if you had listened."
"Was he yelling with pain?"
"Oh, no!" laughed the chaplain. "He was crying for a pension. In fact,he was screaming for one. Yes, he wanted two pensions. When I saw him hewas holding up the two fingers that had been scratched, and was whining,'Oh, Scheneral! Oh, Scheneral! how much pensions I gets for heem? I dinkI gets two pensions, maybe. One for each finger vat I lose.' A lot ofthe boys had gathered around the little fellow and they were having agood time as they listened to his complaints."
"Did he say where he was when he was shot?"
"No, I didn't hear anything about that."
"Maybe he is Levi. If he is, and you'll bring him here, Dennis and Isoon can tell. Did he have shining black eyes?"
"Yes."
"And curly black hair?"
"Yes."
"And did he weigh about ninety pounds?"
"Not more than that."
"Well, that's Levi; that's Levi, all right," broke in Dennis. "Justbring him here to me, and I'll make him forgit his fingers and hispinsions."
"You may make him forget his fingers, but you never can make him forgethis pensions," laughed the chaplain. "That seemed to be the chief thingin his mind. I think I'll try to find out if his name is Levi Kadoff."
"If it is," suggested Noel, "bring the fellow here, but don't tell himwhat you are bringing him for or that we are here."
"I'll see what I can do," said the chaplain, and a moment later hedeparted from the tent.
The fact that the kind-hearted officer had made three visits that day tothe boys showed his interest in their welfare, but somehow Noel wasunable to shake off his conviction that their friend was powerless toaid them. Accordingly he was surprised when an hour afterward thechaplain returned.
"No word yet," he said quietly, as he smiled and shook his head, "but Ihave some other good news for you. You understand there is nothing toback up the statement which you have made that you were sharpshootersin the Peninsula campaign. Personally, I believe what you tell me. Ihave at last secured permission for you both to go with an orderly andfour men to a place outside the camp where you may show what skill youpossess."
"That's the way to talk," spoke up Dennis quickly. His hope had nowreturned with full force. Indeed, as he afterward explained, he lookedupon their discharge as already having been accomplished.
To Noel, however, the privilege was not one which was unmixed withanxiety. In his own skill, in his quiet way, he felt confident, but tomake such skill a test of the truth of what he had spoken was anothermatter. A gun with which he was unfamil
iar would be thrust into hishands and the very excitement of the test of itself might be sufficientto prevent him from doing himself full justice.
The chaplain, aware of what was passing in the mind of the youngsoldier, smiled encouragingly and did not speak.
Dennis, whose joy rapidly increased, had now arrived at a point wherehis enthusiasm seemed to pass all bounds.
"I'll tell you what to do, yer Riverence," he said to the chaplain."Just put Noel and me tin yards apart. Let one of us fire and then theother and you'll find Noel's bullet lodged in the barrel of my gun andmy bullet in his. That is, if we don't fire at the same time. If weshould fire at the same minute the bullets would meet midway and youwouldn't find anything but two flattened pieces of lead."
"Do you often have an experience like that?" inquired the chaplain witha smile.
"Oh, yis, very oftin," answered Dennis solemnly. "Sometimes Noel says tome,' Dennis, me boy, I'm a bit tired this mornin'. Just put a bullet inmy gun, please'; and it's easier to shoot one in than it is to have togo through the whole process o' loadin'."
The chaplain said no more, but at once conducted the two young soldiersto the guard which was waiting outside the tent.
No word was spoken as the little band fell in, and at the word of theorderly started in the direction which to Noel's surprise led over theway by which he had come when he had been brought to the camp. As yet hehad not been able to obtain from Dennis a connected story of the mishapsof the young Irish soldier, nor of the way by which he had avoided hisenemies and at last had been taken as a deserter and confined in theguard-tent.
Noel somehow believed that not even Dennis would have been able toescape from the well in which he had been hidden unless he had receivedhelp from outside. But to all inquiries Dennis made evasive replies, andNoel was still unable to understand the mystery with which he hadshrouded his doings.
The little band now was on the borders of the place where the divisionwas encamped. The entire region was unfamiliar to Noel, but as heglanced at a low house on the side of the road over which they werepassing he was startled when he beheld Levi standing by the littlecabin. The little sutler's fingers were bandaged, and as Noel recalledthe story which the chaplain related to him and the pleadings of thelittle Jew for two pensions because he had received a wound in the tipsof two fingers, he smiled in spite of the seriousness of the errand uponwhich he and his companion were going.
Suddenly Levi recognized the two young soldiers in the midst of thelittle band, and with a scream of rage instantly started toward them.