The Courier of the Ozarks

by Byron A. Dunn

  CHAPTER XXIII

  INTO THE LION'S MOUTH

  For a few miles after leaving Grace, Mark rode as if pursued by anenemy. Wild thoughts rushed through his mind; but at length he becamecalmer.

  "No, no," he soliloquized, "I cannot leave Grace to the vengeance ofHobson, and I am sure he will seek vengeance as soon as he recovers fromhis wound. But am I not leaving her? Well do I realize the danger I amrunning. It is doubtful if I ever come back. An ignominious death mayawait me. I have put duty above love. But, Grace, if I live, my duty,after this, will be to guard and protect you. Unseen and unknown, I willbe near you. To see you from afar will be heaven."

  Mark soon halted by a pool of clear water, and undid the roll behind hissaddle, from which he took various articles. Soon no one would haveknown him as the young man who had ridden away from the La Belle. Helooked ten years older; the color of his hair was changed, and a finemustache adorned his upper lip.

  He studied his face for a while as he leaned over the clear water. "Itwill do," he said. "But what if I meet Colonel Clay?"

  For three days after that Mark rode without an adventure, but on thefourth day he was chased by a squad of Federal cavalry. A lucky shotkilled the horse of his foremost pursuer, and he escaped. Skirting theflank of the Federal army, he reached the headquarters of GeneralHindman at Van Buren, on the Arkansas River.

  Here, behind the Boston Mountains, Hindman had gathered an armyestimated at from twenty to thirty thousand men. Opposed to him wasGeneral Blunt, with an army of not over seven or eight thousand men.Hindman thought that by a swift movement he could crush Blunt before hecould be reinforced, and then, meeting any reinforcements which might bemarching to his relief, whip them in detail, thus wresting Missouri fromthe grasp of the Federals.

  He was now only waiting dispatches from Missouri informing him of thenumber and position of the Federal troops in the State, and the numberof recruits he could reasonably expect to join him, once in the State,and where.

  It was these dispatches that Mark Grafton was carrying. If captured withthem, Mark well knew what his fate would be. There were other reasons,known only to himself, which made it extremely perilous for him to enterthe Confederate lines.

  It was late in the afternoon when Mark was challenged by the outposts ofthe Confederate army. He stated that he was a courier from Missouri,with important dispatches for General Hindman, and demanded that he beconducted to headquarters at once. It was dark before headquarters werereached, but Mark was granted an immediate audience with the General.

  "What is your name?" asked the General, as Mark handed him thedispatches.

  "Grafton--Mark Grafton."

  "I was expecting dispatches, important ones, but from another source. Iwonder what these can be?"

  He opened them and, glancing at them, exclaimed: "Why, these are thevery dispatches I was looking for! I expected them to be delivered by aman named Dupont. How did you come by them?"

  "Dupont is dead," replied Mark, solemnly.

  "Dupont dead! Great God! How did he die? Was he captured?"

  "No." Mark told the full particulars of Dupont's death, and how in hisdying moments he had committed the dispatches to him.

  "Poor Dupont!" sighed Hindman. "He was my most trusted spy, and he diedin the discharge of his duty."

  Then, scrutinizing Mark closely, he said: "You have made good time incoming from Chittenden's. Have any trouble?"

  "Only once. I put one Yankee cavalryman out of commission."

  "Good! How would you like to take Dupont's place?" asked Hindman,abruptly.

  "General, I would make a poor spy. I could be identified too easily,"and Mark touched his crippled arm.

  "Where did you get that?"

  "In one of the little partisan battles in Missouri," answered Mark,without hesitation.

  "I am sorry," answered Hindman. "I wished to send some dispatches backwith you."

  "I can take them," promptly answered Mark. "And, if you wish, I can actas dispatch-bearer for you in Missouri. I am well acquainted in theState, and am known to most of the guerrilla leaders. It is through themI receive and deliver my dispatches. I am careful never to enter aFederal camp. I am at present staying at Chittenden's, and willcheerfully execute any commission you may send me. I have carrieddispatches for Colonel Clay several times."

  "Just the thing. Consider yourself engaged," cried the General. "Irecall now that I have heard Colonel Clay speak of you. I am sorry theColonel is away on special duty."

  Mark was not the least bit sorry, but his looks did not show it. Claywould not have known him in his disguise, and would have denounced himas an impostor.

  "General, one thing more," said Mark. "Mr. Chittenden, in looking overthe effects of Dupont, found several little trinkets that his familymight wish to have. There was also one hundred dollars in Federal moneyand two thousand dollars in Confederate money on his person. Here iseverything."

  "You can keep the Federal money. The Confederate will be of little useto you in Missouri. Here is another one hundred in Federal money, butremember this money is a sacred trust, and only to be used for expenseswhen on business for the Confederacy."

  "It will be so considered," said Mark as he took the money. "General,will it be possible for you to have your dispatches ready by morning.Mr. Chittenden wished me to get back as quickly as possible. He is introuble."

  "Trouble? What trouble?"

  "Why, haven't you heard? The valley of the La Belle has been raided by aforce of Federals, the provisions and forage he had gathered captured,and four or five hundred recruits coming from the central and northernpart of the State taken prisoners and paroled."

  "I had not heard of it," said the General, greatly excited. "When did ithappen?"

  "Only a few days before I left. But that is not all. Just as theFederals left, Major Powell came up from Arkansas with a train to getthe provisions and forage and escort the recruits. He pursued theFederals, but fell into an ambuscade and his command was cut to pieces."

  "Do you know who commanded the Federals?"

  "Yes, a Captain Lawrence Middleton."

  "The devil! He had much to do with frustrating our plans last summer."

  "Yes, and but a few weeks ago he almost annihilated the band of RedJerry. We are trying to lay plans to capture him."

  "Well, this is bad news, but we will try and turn the tables before manydays. I will have my dispatches ready by morning. Make yourselfcomfortable until then." With a wave of the hand the General dismissedhim.

  The next morning Mark called early for the dispatches and found theGeneral in close conversation with a thick, heavy-set man whose faceshowed both courage and determination. When Mark saw him he gave astart. "I know you, my friend," he thought, "and it will be anunfortunate thing for me if you recognize me."

  "Ah, Grafton, is that you?" said the General. "Glad to see you. Allow meto make you acquainted with Mr. Spencer. Spencer, this is the young manI was telling you about. Grafton, Spencer is now my most trusted spy,since Dupont is gone. He will ride part way with you."

  Mark extended his hand cordially, but there was no warmth or cordialityin the hand that Spencer gave him. Instead, he looked as if he wouldread the inmost thoughts of Mark's soul, but Mark met his gaze steadilyand coolly, as if he did not know his life was hanging in the balance.

  At length Spencer said, "Glad to meet you, Grafton. Excuse me forscrutinizing you so closely, but we are in the same business, and as Imay have you for a companion sometime, I like to measure my man before Itie to him."

  "Well, how do I measure?" asked Mark, with a smile.

  "I reckon you will do."

  "I trust so," rejoined Mark. "But you made a mistake in saying I was inthe same business. I don't believe I have nerve enough to be a spy. I amsimply a courier, and carry what others have gathered. It takes nerve topenetrate the enemy's camp. Nerve such as you have, Spencer."

  Spencer's face lit up with a smile. "You rate me too highly, Grafton,"he answered. "But I ce
rtainly have been in some tight places, and Ireckon you could relate some startling adventures if you would."

  Mark had been handed his dispatches, and was about to depart whenGeneral Frost was announced.

  "Hold on a minute," said Hindman. "General Frost may have some word hewould like to send."

  "Sending a courier into Missouri?" asked Frost.

  "Yes, the same young man who brought those dispatches last night, thatDupont should have brought. I am sorry to say Dupont is dead."

  "Dead! Dupont dead! Did the Yankees get him?"

  "No, he died of the fever. He arrived at Chittenden's in a dyingcondition and gave his dispatches to Grafton to bring on."

  "Grafton? I think I have heard that name from Colonel Clay. Happy tomeet you, Grafton. Let me hear the news from Missouri."

  Much against his will Mark was forced to remain and again rehearse hisstory. When he told of the capture of the train and the defeat ofPowell, Frost became very much excited.

  "What Federal officer did you say was in command?" he asked.

  "I didn't say, but I understood it was a Captain Middleton."

  Frost sprang to his feet, letting out a volley of oaths.

  "Where were you when this happened?" he then asked.

  "I was absent from the valley. I was helping Mr. Chittenden in gatheringsupplies, and was away seeing about some that had not yet arrived."

  Mark was now excused, but told to wait for Spencer. General Frost hadtaken him aside and they were engaged in earnest conversation. Every nowand then they would glance at Mark, and he was sure they were talkingabout him. If he had heard what they were saying he would have known hewas under suspicion.

  "It can't be he," Frost was saying, "but every now and then there issomething about him that makes me think of him. I hardly know what;certain motions, I think."

  "I knew him well," answered Spencer, "and so far I have not seenanything that would make me think Grafton was he. I am to ride with himnearly a day's journey, and if I see anything suspicious--well you knowwhat will happen."

  All being ready the two rode away together. They had not gone far whenMark noticed that Spencer was watching every move he made. Instantlyevery nerve of Mark's body became alert, but to all appearances he wastotally unsuspicious. To Spencer's request that he tell him something ofhis life, he responded that he did not have much to tell. He had been amember of a guerrilla band, was wounded and had found his way into theOzarks, where he had been with Mr. Chittenden, who took him in when hewas suffering with the fever. He had acted as courier for Colonel Clay,but had never met with many exciting adventures.

  "Now, Spencer," he said, "tell me something of yourself, for I know youhave faced a hundred dangers where I have faced one."

  Spencer refused to be interviewed, and maintained a rather moodysilence. At length they reached where they were to part and when theyshook hands Spencer, as if by accident, drew the sleeve of his coatacross Mark's face and his mustache came off.

  "Damn you! I know you now," shrieked Spencer as he reached for hisrevolver, but quick as a flash Mark snatched a revolver from his bosomand fired.

  Spencer's revolver went off half raised. He sank down in the saddle,then rolled from his horse, a motionless body.

  Mark was about to dismount to see if he was dead when he was startled bythe pounding of horses' hoofs and looking up saw a squad of Federalcavalry bearing down on him. Putting spurs to his horse and bending lowover his neck he escaped amid a shower of bullets.

  The only mark of the conflict that Mark could find was a bullet whichhad lodged in the back of his saddle.

  After riding several miles, Mark met half a dozen guerrillas who saidthey were on their way to join Hindman. He told them of meeting theYankee cavalry and that they would have to look out, and asked them totake a note to General Hindman for him. To this they readily assentedand this is what Mark wrote:

  GENERAL: I am sorry to say that just as Spencer and I were to part we ran into a squad of Yankee cavalry. Poor Spencer was killed and I only escaped by the fleetness of my horse. If Spencer had dispatches that will embarrass you, you can govern yourself accordingly, for they are now in the hands of the enemy.

  As for the dispatches you entrusted to me, they are safe, and if they are never delivered you will know I have suffered the fate of poor Spencer.

  MARK GRAFTON.

  After parting from the guerrillas Mark, instead of riding towards home,turned his horse westward. In due time General Hindman learned that thedispatches he had entrusted to Mark had been faithfully delivered, butthat Mark had disappeared. Mr. Chittenden looked for his return to theLa Belle in vain.

  General Hindman made anxious inquiries, for he had use for so faithful acourier as Mark had proved to be. But the weeks passed and nothing washeard, and it was thought he must have been killed, and he was numberedwith the unknown dead.

  Mr. Chittenden mourned him as such, but Grace maintained that he stilllived, and she had good cause for her belief. She had never told herfather of the love passage between Mark and herself, and how she hadrefused to bid him good-bye when he left. The memory of that parting wasa secret, she felt, only to be held in her own heart, for she was notsure she would ever see or hear from Mark again.

  One day a letter was placed in Grace's hands by a messenger who hurriedaway before she had time to thank him, much less question him. Much toher surprise and joy the letter was from Mark.

  "He lives! He lives!" she cried rapturously as she pressed it to herlips. Grace had forgotten all her resentment towards Mark, forgottenthat the secret that lay between them was still unsolved. She only knewthat she loved him. Eagerly she read the letter, which ran:

  GRACE: Lest you believe me dead, I write this. It was foolish in me to tell you of my love, but I had to do it. Now that you know, I am content. I ask nothing, deserve nothing, in return. Just the thought of loving you is like thinking of heaven. When I went away I rode as it were into the jaws of death, and escaped as by a miracle. Grace, it is best that I see you no more. Think of me only as one who takes joy in loving you. Only one thing will ever call me to your side, and that is if you are ever in grave danger. To defend you I would come from the ends of the earth.

  I think you have read Longfellow's Hiawatha, for I have seen it in your library. Do you remember that when Minnehaha lay dying she called for Hiawatha, and, although he was miles and miles away, that cry of anguish reached him. And so great is my love for you that I believe that if you should call me in a time of danger I would hear. Remember this if trouble comes, though I hope it never will.

  Farewell. MARK.

  Grace read and re-read the strange letter. Hiawatha had just beenpublished when she was at school in St. Louis, and it had been a greatfavorite of hers.

  What could Mark mean by intimating that some great peril might beimpending? She knew not. But Mark lived; he still loved her, wouldalways love her.

  She placed the letter in her bosom next her heart and there it rested.Her secret was her own; why tell it? If Mark never came back, no onewould ever know. But she believed he would come back, and her step grewlighter, her face brighter, her laugh merrier. In fact, she became herold self, and her father rejoiced, for he had noticed a change in hersince Mark went away.