by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER XXIV
A BROKEN BARGAIN
Somers was entirely satisfied with himself when he stood in the presenceof the farmer and his son; and, so far as they were concerned, he had nofears for the future. The redoubtable Tom retired to one corner of theroom, and, full of terror, awaited the issue. The father was the braverof the two, and stood in the middle of the floor, confronting thepestilent Yankee who had thus so unceremoniously invaded his house.
"Who be you?" demanded the old man.
"No matter who I am," replied Somers, with the pistol still in his hand."I propose to spend the day with you, and will pay for everything Ihave."
"Perhaps yer will stay here, and perhaps yer won't," replied the farmerdoggedly.
"There's no perhaps about it; I intend to stay here."
"I s'pose yer don't keer whether I'm willing or not."
"On the contrary, I do care. I had much rather stay with your consentthan without."
"Well, then, yer won't stay with my consent."
"Then I shall stay without it," answered Somers, with a degree ofdecision which was exceedingly annoying to his involuntary host.
"No, yer won't," growled the farmer.
"I will pay you well for the use of this room, and for all that I eat anddrink," said Somers, wishing to be fully understood.
"Yer can't stay here."
"No, yer can't," added Tom.
"I have made you a fair offer, and am willing to do what is right; and,as I said before, I intend to stay here till to-night, whether you arewilling or not."
"Yer kin put up your pistol; I ain't afeerd on it."
"I have no desire to use the pistol to your injury, and shall not do sounless in self-defense. You know that I am a fugitive."
"A nigger, by gracious!" exclaimed the farmer, whose vocabulary was verylimited, and who had no idea that the word "fugitive" could mean anythingbut a runaway negro.
"You know that the soldiers are after me, and it will not be safe for meto leave this house before dark. I'm not a nigger; and it makes nodifference to you what I am."
"You are a dirty Yankee; and I'd rather hev a hundred niggers in my housethan one Yankee."
"That's a matter of taste. If you are fond of negroes, I don't interferewith you for that."
"Shet up!" snarled the farmer, highly displeased with the answer of thefugitive. "I won't hev a Yankee in my house a single hour."
"Very well; we won't argue the matter. You can do anything you pleaseabout it," replied Somers with perfect indifference as he seated himselfin a chair.
"Then yer kin leave."
"I shall not leave; on the contrary, I shall remain here till night."
"I reckon we'll see about that. I'll jest go down and call up two orthree of them soldiers, and let 'em know you're a Yankee. I calkilatethey'll tote you out of this rather sudden."
"Go ahead!" replied Somers coolly.
"I reckon ye'll tell another story by the time they git here."
"I reckon your son Tom will too," added the unwelcome guest.
"See here, dad; that won't work, nohow," interposed the hopeful son."They'll ketch me if yer do."
"Exactly so," added Somers, who, of course, had depended upon thesituation of the rebel deserter for his own safety.
The farmer looked at his intractable guest, and then upon his dutifulson; and the idea tardily passed through his dull brain that the soldierswould be just as dangerous to the welfare of the son as to the visitor.Probably he had intended, when the military force came, to send Tom upthe chimney, as he had done a dozen times before; but the secret was nolonger in the keeping of the family alone.
"I see you understand the case perfectly," said Somers, as hecontemplated with intense satisfaction the blank dismay of both fatherand son. "If you had the wisdom of Solomon, you couldn't comprehend itany better."
"I reckon ye're about right, stranger," replied the farmer.
"You can see now it is for your interest as well as mine that we makefriends. Tom's safety and mine are both the same thing. The best you cando is to take good care of me to-day, and at night help me to make my wayover to the other side of the river."
"Then yer be a Yank?"
"I didn't say so. Tom can go with me if he likes. He will be safer therethan here."
"Tom?"
"If he is a deserter from the rebel army, he will be caught sooner orlater, and be shot. He will be safe on the other side of the river."
"Go over to the Yanks! He hates 'em wurs'n pizin. Don't yer, Tom?"
"Bet yer life I do, dad," replied the hopeful son. "I won't go over thar,nohow."
"Just as he pleases about that. I only wanted to do him a friendly act."
"Well, stranger, I don't mind keepin' yer to-day; but Tom can't go withyer."
"Very well; then I will stay in this room; and, if the soldiers come, Ican go up the chimney with Tom," replied Somers. "I'm tired and sleepy.Didn't sleep a wink last night. I will take a nap on the floor. You willwake me, Tom, if there's any danger; won't you?"
"Yes, I'll wake yer," replied the deserter with a broad grin.
"We'll see that you don't git caught; kase, if yer do, of course, Tom'llgit caught too," added the farmer.
There was something in his manner which Somers did not like. Though hewas a man of dull mind, there was a kind of low cunning visible in hislook and manner which warned Somers to be cautious. He stretched himselfon the floor; and the farmer and his son left the room, closing the doorbehind them.
Our scout was, as he had before declared, both tired and sleepy; but restand sleep were luxuries in which he could not permit himself to indulgein the midst of so much peril and so many enemies. As soon as the doorclosed behind the sire and the son, he rose from his reclining posture,and hastened to reconnoiter the position. The enemy--for such he wasfully assured his host was--passed through the entry and out the door atthe back of the house, as Somers discovered from the noise of theirretreating footsteps.
There was a window in the rear of the room, which commanded a full viewof them as they paused near the door to consider the situation. Somersraised the sash a little, so that he could hear what they said, notdoubting that his own case would be the subject of the conversation.
"Don't you do it, dad," protested Tom in answer to some proposition whichthe farmer had made before the listener came within hearing distance ofthem.
"Don't yer be skeert, Tom. The feller's gone ter sleep in there, and thesoldiers kin hurry him off afore he wakes up. Don't yer see, Tom? Ireckon the Yank's an officer, and they'll give me suthin handsome furketchin him."
"Yes; but, dad, they'll get suthin handsome fur ketchin me too."
"You kin hide, as yer allers does when they comes."
"But the Yank will blow on me."
"What if he does?"
"He'll tell 'em I'm up chimley, and then they'll look fur me."
"Tom, ye're a bigger fool'n yer father!" said the farmer petulantly."Can't yer hide in t'other place down suller?"
"It looks kinder skeery, dad," replied the doubtful son.
"Yer used ter hide down suller more'n yer did up chimley. But don't yersee, Tom, arter I've called in the soldiers, and give up the Yank,they'll think I'm a patriot, and won't b'leeve nothin' a dirty Yank cansay agin' me."
"Well, dad, I hate the Yank as bad as you do; but yer must be keerful."
"Now go and see that the feller don't wake up and run off, and I'll godown arter a sergeant and half a dozen men. When yer hear us comin', juststep down suller'n crawl inter the drean. Git the feller's pistol out ofhis pocket, if yer kin, while he's asleep."
"What a precious old scoundrel that man is!" thought Somers, as heretreated from the window, and threw himself on the floor where thefarmer had left him.
He almost regretted that he had not used his pistol on the treacherousold villain, who had made a fair bargain with him, and agreed to theterms of the contract. The wretch had actually gone after the soldiers toentrap him, and To
m was to remain and keep watch of him in the meantime.Taking the revolver from his pocket, he thrust it under his blouse; stillkeeping his hand upon it, so as to make sure that the deserter did notcarry out his part of the programme. Thus prepared for the conflict whichmight ensue, or for any other event, he closed his eyes, and pretended tobe asleep.
Presently the door softly opened, and Tom crept into the room. He hadtaken off his shoes, that his step on the uncarpeted floor might notdisturb his prey, and stole towards him. After approaching as near to theprostrate form as he dared, he bent over him to determine in which pocketthe pistol had been placed. Somers was tempted to grapple him by thethroat, as he listened to the young villain's subdued breathing; but hefeared that he would scream if he did so, and it was necessary to achievehis conquest in a more gentle manner.
He moved his body a little, as if his slumbers were disturbed byunpleasant dreams; and added a noise like a snore to complete thedelusion. Tom retired for a moment till his victim should again becomposed; but Somers, instead of subsiding into the slumber of a sleepyand tired man, gradually opened his eyes and waked up. Slowly rising intoa sitting posture, he looked around him; and apparently, as if entirelyby accident, he discerned Tom.
"Can't yer sleep?" asked Tom, with extraordinary good nature for a personof his saturnine disposition.
"I've been asleep these two hours, I believe," gaped Somers. "What timeis it, Tom?"
"'Tain't eight o'clock yet. Yer hain't been asleep more'n fifteenminutes."
"Haven't I?"
"Not more'n that. Better lay down, and finish yer nap; kase I s'pose yerwon't git much sleep to-night, if ye're gwine over the river."
"I feel better than I did, at any rate. I think I'll get up. It'stremendous hot here. Don't you ever open your windows?"
"I reckon we do. I was just thinkin' o' that."
And it was quite probable he was thinking of it; for he certainly wantedthe earliest information of the approach of the soldiers. He opened thewindow in the front of the house, and Somers opened that in the rear. Thelatter then went to the door, and took a careful survey of the entry, inorder to determine the way which the deserter must take to reach thecellar, where he was to conceal himself when the soldiers came. Theprudent son of the master of the house had opened the door leading to thecellar, from which he was to enter his subterranean retreat.
For more than an hour, Tom nervously watched the wakeful Yankee, andseveral times suggested to him that he could sleep just as well as not,promising to wake him up if there was any danger; but Somers was mostprovokingly lively for a man who had been up all the preceding night, andresolutely refused to take a hint or to adopt a suggestion. Both of themwere fearfully anxious for the result that was pending, and each had hisplan for overreaching the other. It was a long hour; but at last Tombroke the spell which seemed to rest on both of them by declaring that hewas "clean choked up," and must go and get a drink of water. At the samemoment, Somers heard the tramp of the soldiers in the road as theyapproached the house, and understood why his companion had suddenlybecome so thirsty.
"No," said Somers, placing himself between the deserter and the door,with the revolver in his hand. "I don't want to be left alone. Somebodyis coming to the house--half a dozen men. They are soldiers!" heexclaimed, glancing out at the window.
"Run right up chimley thar, and you'll be as safe as if you was t'otherside of the river."
"But they'll catch you too! Come, Tom, up chimney with you, and I'llfollow. If any one attempts to follow us, I'll shoot him with my pistol.Be in a hurry, Tom! We have no time to spare," urged Somers, driving thecoward before him towards the fire-place.
"You go up fust," pleaded Tom, in mortal terror of the revolver.
"Up with you, or I'll blow your brains out!" added Somers in a low,fierce tone, which frightened his companion half out of his wits.
"Don't fire, and I will," replied the wretch, as he stepped into thefire-place, and commenced the ascent of the chimney.
"Up with you!" repeated Somers. "Now, if you attempt to come down, I'llshoot you."
The voice of the farmer, leading the soldiers to their prey, was nowheard close to the house; and Somers deemed it prudent no longer toremain in the room. Darting out into the entry, he made his way to thecellar, closing the door behind him just as the rebels were about toenter.
"Where is he?" demanded the sergeant, who belonged to the battery at theworks near the house.
"In this room," replied the farmer, putting his hand on the door of theapartment where he had seen the victim lie down to sleep an hour before."But yer must be keerful with him. He had a pistol, and mebbe he moughtshoot some on us."
"We aren't afraid of all the Yankees this side of the north pole," addedthe sergeant, as he pushed the door open and entered the room, followedby his squad of soldiers. "Where is he? There aren't no Yankee here."
"Well, he was here an hour ago," said the farmer.
"See here, old man, if you've been makin' a fool of us this hot day, I'llspit you on my bayonet. We heard that a deserter and a Yankee had beentaken, and that the cavalry lost one of them."
"That was the Yankee. They lost him, and I found him ag'in."
"Where is he, then?"
"He aren't far from here," said the farmer, walking up to the fire-place,and pointing up the chimney, where he had no doubt the victim had retiredwhen he heard the soldiers approaching.
"Up there?"
"That's where the feller hid when the troopers was lookin' fur him; andyer kin be sure he's up there now. But yer must be keerful; fur he's gota pistol, and is a mighty savage fellow."
"We'll soon bring him down," added the sergeant as he stepped into thefire-place, and looked up the chimney. "I see him; but he's half way upto the top. I reckon we can smoke him out best. Come, old man, take someof this pitch-wood, that will make a big smoke, and kindle a fire."
"We'll soon have him," said the farmer as he obeyed the order.
"I say, Yank!" shouted the sergeant up the chimney; "if you don't want tobe smoked out, come down."
No answer came to this polite suggestion; and then one of the soldiersproposed to fire his musket up the chimney; which so terrified theoccupant thereof, that he begged for mercy.
"Don't shoot, and I'll come down!" groaned the wretch.
"The cowardly Yank! He's like all the rest of them. Come down quick,then!"
The farmer, who had stepped out for more wood, returned; and at the samemoment, Tom the deserter, begrimed with soot, dropped down on the hearth,and stepped out into the room.
