Rodney The Partisan

by Harry Castlemon

  CHAPTER X.

  COMPARING NOTES.

  Rodney Gray held his breath and listened, and then he stepped close tothe side of the stable and looked through a crack between the logs. Itwas almost dark by this time, but still there was light enough for himto count the men who were riding by, and he made out that there were aneven dozen of them. They knew enough to move two abreast but not enoughto carry their guns, which were held over their shoulders at all angles,and pointed in almost every direction.

  "Are they guerrillas?" he asked, at length.

  "Ger--which?" whispered the farmer. "Them's Thompson's men, and I don'tlike to see 'em pointing t'wards the swamp the way they be."

  "What's down there?" inquired Rodney.

  "Why, he's down there," replied Merrick, in a surprised tone. "TomPercival, I mean."

  "Anybody with, him?" continued Rodney.

  "Half a dozen or so Union men, who had to clear out or be hung byThompson's men," replied the farmer. "If you knowed just how thingsstand here in Missoury, and how sot every man is agin his nearestneighbor, I don't reckon you'd ever tried to ride to Springfield."

  "I am quite sure I wouldn't," answered Rodney. "How do Thompson's menhappen to know that Percival is hiding down there in the swamp?"

  "I reckon Swanson must a told 'em; and he's the meanest man that wasever let live, as you would say if you could have one look at hisface."

  "I met him to-day while I was riding in company with Mr. Westall and hisfriends," replied Rodney. "They made him believe I was a good rebel, andtold him to look out for a boy in his stocking feet who was mounted on aroan colt."

  "And that's just what he done. I reckon he must a ketched a glimpse ofPercival just before I fetched him into the house, for I had barely timeto hide the roan colt and get the boy into the kitchen before I seenSwanson riding by. He didn't once look toward the house but that didn'tfool me, and I lost no time in taking Percival into the swamp where themUnion friends of mine is hid. Swanson went right on past, leaving wordat all the houses of the 'Mergency men that there was a Yankeehorse-thief loose in the kentry, and they've went out to ketch him. Theyknow where he is, and think to surround him and the rest of the Unionfellers and take 'em in in a lump; but they'll get fooled. There's somesharp men in that party, and they won't allow themselves to besurrounded."

  The farmer did not tell this story in a connected way as he would ifthere had been no danger near. He kept moving from one side of thestable to another, listening and peeping at all the cracks, and talkedonly when he stopped to take the horse by the nose to prevent him fromcalling to those that were passing along the road; but he said enough tomake Rodney very uneasy. Tom Percival had done him a great favor bytelling Merrick who he was, describing him and his horse so minutelythat the man knew them the instant he saw them, and Rodney was verygrateful to him for it; but that sort of thing must not on any accountbe repeated. It must be stopped then and there if there was any way inwhich it could be done. It would never do to let Tom keep ahead of him,spreading a description of himself and his horse among the farmers wholived along the old post-road, for he might, without knowing it, take aConfederate into his confidence; and suppose Rodney should afterwardfall in with that same Confederate and show him the letter addressed toMr. Percival, and which was intended for the eyes of Union men only? TheConfederate would at once accuse him of sailing under false colors, andtrying to pass himself off for one of Price's soldiers when he was inreality a Lincolnite. The boy shivered when he thought of theconsequences of such a mistake.

  "I'll tell you what's a fact," he said, to himself, stamping about thestable with rather more noise than he ought to have made, seeing thatthe guerrillas had barely had time to get out of hearing. "The farther Igo toward Springfield, the deeper I seem to get into trouble. I musteither find Tom and ride the rest of the way with him, or else I mustget ahead of him. If I don't do one or the other he will put me into ascrape that I can't work out of."

  "Now you stay here and I will go out and snoop around a bit," saidMerrick, when the sound of the hoof-beats could be no longer heard."What I am afraid of is that they will leave some of their men to watchthe house."

  "Do your neighbors know that you are a Union man?" asked Rodney, as hestepped up and took the horse by the bits.

  "They know I'm neutral, and that's just about as bad as though they knewI was Union," was the reply. "They aint done nothing to me yet but Iknow I'm watched, and so I have to mind what I am about. If the men whojust went by knew how I feel, I wouldn't dast to lift a hand to helpyou. They'd have me hung to one of my shade trees before morning."

  As Merrick spoke he glided out into the darkness, and Rodney was leftalone to think over the situation; but Merrick had not been gone morethan five minutes when the horse indicated by his actions that there wassome one approaching the stable. Presently a twig snapped, a hand waspassed along the wall outside and a figure appeared in the doorway. Itwasn't tall enough for Merrick, and besides it had a coat on. Believingthat it was one of Thompson's men who had been left behind to watch thehouse, Rodney drew his revolver from his boot leg and cocked it as heraised it to a level with his eyes and covered the figure's head.

  "Don't shoot, Merrick," said the intruder, who had probably heard theclick of the hammer. "What's the good of helping a fellow one hour ifyou are going to shoot him the next?"

  "Tom Percival!" exclaimed Rodney, in guarded tones.

  In an instant the figure sprang into the stable and seized Rodney in hisarms.

  "Did anybody ever hear of such luck?" said Tom, who was the first torecover his power of speech. "Where are you going and what business haveyou got up here in my State, you red-hot rebel?"

  "I never expected to be on such terms with a Yankee horse-thief,"answered Rodney, letting down the hammer of his revolver and putting theweapon back in its place.

  "I knew just how much faith you would put in that outrageous story,"said Tom. "It was got up against me on purpose to induce the planters inmy uncle's settlement to run me out."

  "To hang you, you mean," corrected Rodney. "That's what they would havedone with you before to-morrow morning."

  "If it hadn't been for you," added Tom; and he did not talk like a boywho had so narrowly escaped with his life. "I heard your story downthere in Jeff's cabin, and knew that you kept your promise and enlistedwithin twenty-four hours after you reached home. And I know, too, thatyour company didn't want to join the Confederate army or leave theState. What did they want to do then? They're a pretty lot of soldiers.Well, it's a good thing for them that they stayed at home, for yourebels are going to get such a licking--"

  "Have you licked Dick Graham back into a proper frame of mind yet?"interrupted Rodney.

  "No. Haven't had the chance. He helped raise the first company ofpartisans that left the southwestern part of the Slate to join Price,and I have scarcely heard of him since. I had a lively time dodgingPrice's men when I went up to St. Louis to offer the services of mycompany to Lyon, and when I heard you tell Westall that you were goingto undertake the same kind of a journey, I felt sorry for you. I amoverjoyed to see and have a chance to speak to you, Rodney, but I don'tknow whether we ought to stick together or not. Of course Merrick tookyou for a Union man," added Tom, in a suppressed whisper.

  "Certainly. I didn't have much to say to him until I found out who hethought I was. Did you go it blind when you addressed him as a Unionman?"

  "Oh, no. I know the name of every man it will do to trust for twentymiles ahead," replied Tom. "But I've got his name in my head. I haven'ta scrap of writing about me, and I am sorry to know that you have. Takemy advice and stick everything in the shape of a letter you have in yourpockets into the tire the first good chance you get."

  "I have been thinking about that all the afternoon. What if I shouldfall in with a party strong enough to search me? I've got a letteraddressed to Erastus Percival."

  "Where in the world did you get it?" demande
d Tom, who was greatlyastonished. "Man alive, he's my father."

  "So I supposed. It was given to me by Captain Howard whose acquaintanceI made aboard the _Mollie Able_, and he got it from a friend of his."

  "My limited knowledge of the English language will not permit me to dothis subject justice," declared Tom. He looked around for something tosit down on, and then leaned against the wall for support. "My fatherhas heard of you and would have helped you at the risk of his life. Hewouldn't go back on a Barrington boy any more than I would; but if youshould be searched by rebels anywhere between here and Springfield, thatletter would hang you. Burn it before you take the road to-morrow."

  "If your father is so well known, I don't see why his neighbors haven'thung him before this time," said Rodney.

  "It's safer to try the bushwhacking game, and he has been shot at threetimes already. He doesn't expect to live to see the end of thesetroubles, but he is like your cousin Marcy Gray--he doesn't haul in hisshingle one inch. Burn that letter, I tell you."

  "I didn't intend to present it unless I had to," replied Rodney. "Now,then, what brought you here? I thought you were hidden in the swampalong with some other refugees."

  "So I was; but I came back on purpose to see if Merrick had heardanything from you. I was on my way to the house when I thought I wouldstop and look in here. I was hidden in the bushes when those Emergencymen rode down the road. Of course they are going to the swamp, and Idon't know whether I can get back there to-night or not. I wonder howthey got on to my track so quick."

  Rodney said that Merrick thought it was through old man Swanson. Tomreplied that he had never heard of such a man, and Rodney went on totell of his accidental meeting with him at the cross-roads, adding:

  "Mr. Westall told him that I and my horse were all right, and not to beinterfered with, and that he would make something by keeping a brightlookout for a boy without any boots on, and a roan colt. One of theparty also told him that you were unarmed, but Swanson didn't take muchstock in that. He declared that there were plenty of people in thecountry who would be mean enough to give you clothes and weapons for theasking, and I reckon he was about right. I gave you a revolver and I seesome one else has furnished you with a pair of boots. Now, didn't youknow, when you ran off with my horse, leaving yours for me to ride, thatevery man I met would take me for you?"

  "That's a fact," replied Tom, "but I never thought of it before. But Icouldn't get my horse out of the yard without scaring the others, and soI had to do the best I could. Now that I think of it, perhaps we hadbetter let the trade stand a little while longer."

  "Oh, do you?" exclaimed Rodney. "You have good cheek I must say."

  "It isn't cheek at all, but a desire to keep you out of trouble as longas I can," answered Tom.

  "Making me ride a horse that has been advertised all through the countryas stolen property is a good way to keep me out of trouble, isn't itnow?" said Rodney. "I never should have thought of it if you hadn'tmentioned it."

  "Hold on a bit," replied Tom. "No one in this section is looking for younow. You can take the road and keep it, and the horse you ride will notbring you into trouble; but if that roan colt shows his nose whereanybody can see it, he'll be nabbed quicker'n a flash, and his ridertoo. See? As I am a little more experienced in dodging about in thebushes than you are, you had better let me take the risk."

  "I never could look a white man in the face again if I should do that,"answered Rodney. "Don't you know what will be done with you if you arecaught?"

  "I shan't run anymore risk than you did when you helped me get out ofthat corncrib," said Tom, reaching for his schoolmate's hand in the darkand giving it a hearty squeeze. "Don't you know what would be done to_you_ if you were caught with that roan colt in your possession? Youwould be taken back to Mr. Westall's settlement, and when he saw thatyou were riding the same horse you rode when you came to Cedar Blufflanding, wouldn't he want to know where you got him? Can you think ofany answers you could give that would satisfy him? I'll trade revolvers,if you want yours back (I know you've got one, for I heard you cock itwhen I came to the door), but I really think you had better let me keepyour horse a little while longer. I hear somebody coming," he added,stepping to the nearest crack and looking out. "It's Merrick. I can seehis white shirt."

  A moment later the owner of the stable came in, and was not a littlesurprised when he heard himself addressed by the boy whom he supposed tobe snugly hidden in the deepest and darkest nook of the swamp. Tom toldhim why he had come back instead of keeping out of sight, and asked whathad become of the squad of men he saw riding along the road a whilebefore.

  "They kept on as far as I could hear 'em," replied the farmer, "and ifthey left any one behind to watch the house, they were so sly about itthat I never seen it."

  "Of course it was broad daylight when Tom came to your house," saidRodney. "Well, how do you know but that man Swanson saw him when he wentin?"

  "I don't know it," replied Merrick. "But even if he did see Percival goin, these 'Mergency men won't never say a word to me about it, kase theyknow well enough that if they should hurt a hair of my head, some of myfriends would bushwhack 'em to pay for it. They would send word overinto the next county, and some fellers from there would ride over somedark night and set my buildings a-going, or pop me over as quick as theywould a squirrel, if they could get a chance at me. That's the way we dobusiness nowadays, and that's the reason we don't never go to the doorwhen somebody rides up and hails the house after dark."

  "Why, I wouldn't live in such a country," said Rodney.

  "What would you do, if everything you had in the world was right hereand you couldn't sell it and get out?" replied the farmer. "You'd stayand look out for it, I reckon, and make it as hot as you could for anyone who tried to drive you away. But driving is a game two can play at,"added Merrick, with a low chuckle; and Rodney noticed that he ceasedspeaking once in a while and turned his head on one side as if he werelistening for suspicious sounds. "I don't say I have rode around ofnights myself and I don't say I aint; but I do say for a fact that ifyou go over into the next county, you won't find so many men there whomake a business of shooting Union folks as there used to be. Some partsof the kentry t'other side the ridge looks as though they had beenstruck by a harrycane that had blew away all the men and big boys."

  This was what Captain Howard must have meant when he warned Rodney thatevery little community in the Southern part of the State was dividedinto two hostile camps. This was partisan warfare, and Rodney wanted tobe a partisan.

  "Is that the sort of partisan you are, Tom?" he inquired, when Merrickwent out again to see if it would be safe for them to go into thekitchen and get supper. "I wish I had had sense enough to stay athome."

  "I wish to goodness you had," said Tom honestly. "Not but that you'vegot as much sense as most boys of your age, but you know as well as I dothat the Barrington fellows used to say you didn't always know what youwere about. Why, when I heard you telling your story to Mr. Westall downthere in Jeff's shanty, it was all I could do to keep from saying, rightout loud, that such a piece of foolishness had never come under mynotice before."

  "Where would you be at this moment if I hadn't been in Jeff's cabin lastnight?" retorted Rodney.

  "Well, that's a fact," said Tom thoughtfully. "About the time I feltthat stick and revolver in my hands, I was mighty glad you were around;but as soon as I had used them, I wished from the bottom of my heartthat you were safe back in your own State. But since you are here, I amgoing to do my level best for you; and that's the reason I am going tokeep your horse a little longer. If I don't give him back to you someday, you can keep mine to remember me by."

  "And every time I look at him, I shall be reminded that I have beentaken for a horse-thief," added Rodney.

  "You are no more of a horse-thief than I am. Let that thought comfortyou. How is it, Merrick?" he went on, addressing himself to the farmerwho at that moment glided into the stable with noiseless footstep. "Canwe go in and get sup
per, or will it be safer for you to bring it out tous?"

  "You are to come right in," was the farmer's welcome reply. "It'll besafe, for I have cleared the kitchen of everybody except the old woman.She's Secesh the very worst kind, but that needn't bother you none. Sheknows how to get up a good supper."

  "That is a matter that has a deeper interest for us just now than herpolitics," said Tom. "But what shall we do with the horse?"

  "As soon as I have showed you the way to the table I'll come back andstay with him so't he won't whinny," answered Merrick. "If them'Mergency men heard him calling they might think it was one of my owncritters and then agin they mightn't; so it's best to be on the safeside."

  That the farmer was very much afraid that the horse might betray hispresence to the guerrillas was evident from the way he acted. He tooklong, quick steps when he started for the house, gave the two boys ahurried introduction to his wife, saw them seated at the table and thenran out again. Mrs. Merrick remained in the room to wait upon them, andthat was an arrangement that Tom Percival did not like; for although sheproved to be a pleasant and agreeable hostess and never said a wordabout politics, Tom did not think it safe to talk too freely in herpresence, and took the first opportunity that was offered to give Rodneya friendly warning.

  "After you have been in this country a while, you will find that thewomen are worse rebels than the men," said he, in an undertone. "I don'tsuppose she would lead the Emergency men on to us, for that would getMerrick into trouble; but such things have been done in the settlementwhere I live. We can't do any more talking at present. Have anotherpiece of the toast?"

  "If I had passed through as many dangers as you have and had as narrowan escape, I don't think I could eat as you do," said Rodney, who tooknote of the fact that his friend had not lost any of his appetite sincehe left Barrington.

  "I've had three good meals to-day, and a hearty lunch in the swamp; butI don't know when I have been so hungry," replied Tom; and then seeingthat Rodney cast occasional glances toward the kitchen stove in which abright fire was burning, he continued, in an earnest whisper, "This isas good a chance as you will have. Chuck 'em in, and you'll not regretit; but if you have no objections, I should like to read them before youdo it. I'll keep mum."

  Rodney knew that, and forthwith produced the letters, which had been asource of anxiety to him ever since they came into his possession, andalso Mr. Graham's last telegram. Tom said he did not know either of themen whose names were signed to the letters that came through CaptainHoward, but he was better acquainted with Mr. Westall and his fourcompanions than he cared to be.

  "The man who wrote this letter to Erastus Percival, my father, must besome one down the river who has had business dealings with him; but Idon't know the gentleman," said he, after he had run his eye over thevarious documents. "Put the whole business right into the stove. Youdon't want any such papers about you, for you don't know whom you aregoing to meet on the road. Trust to luck; stare Fate in the face, andyour heart will be aisy if it's in the right place."

  If Mrs. Merrick was surprised or suspected anything when Rodney put theletters into her stove and stood over them long enough to see themreduced to ashes, she made no remark. As he was about to return to hisseat at the table there came a sound that arrested his steps, andbrought Tom Percival out of his chair in a twinkling. The doors andwindows were all closed (the curtains were pulled down as well, so thatno one on the outside could see into the room), but the words, whichwere uttered in a muffled voice, came distinctly to their ears:

  "Hallo, the house!"

  "There they are," whispered Tom, thrusting his hand into his breastpocket and glancing toward Rodney as if to assure himself that thelatter could be depended on in an emergency.

  "Sit down and keep perfectly quiet," said Mrs. Merrick, in a calm tone."They are ready to shoot, and you mustn't move about for fear ofthrowing your shadow upon one of the window curtains."

  MRS. MERRICK STANDS GUARD.]

  "Are they looking for your husband?" Rodney managed to ask.

  "I suppose they are," answered the woman, who did not even change color."I will go to the door and find out."

  "You mustn't," protested Rodney. "Mr. Merrick said he didn't take anynotice of hails after dark."

  "He doesn't, but I do," replied the wife. "Somebody must answer, or wecouldn't live in this country a day longer."

  "Do you recognize the voice?"

  "Of course not," said Tom Percival. "They are strangers from some othercounty."

  "Why can't we go with her and return their fire," exclaimed Rodney, asMrs. Merrick left the room and moved along the wide hall toward thefront door. "I'll not stay here like a bump on a log and let her be shotat, now I--"

  "Come back here. Sit down and behave yourself or you'll play smash,"said Tom, earnestly. "They'll not harm her. It's her husband they areafter. Now listen."

  Rodney sat down in the nearest chair, rested the hand that held hisrevolver on the table, and waited and listened with as much patience ashe could command.