II.
The bright lights of the day flashed into the old house when the captainangrily kicked open the door. He was aware of a wide hallway carpetedwith matting and extending deep into the dwelling. There was also an oldwalnut hatrack and a little marble-topped table with a vase and twobooks upon it. Farther back was a great, venerable fireplace containingdreary ashes.
But directly in front of the captain was a young girl. The flying openof the door had obviously been an utter astonishment to her, and sheremained transfixed there in the middle of the floor, staring at thecaptain with wide eyes.
She was like a child caught at the time of a raid upon the cake. Shewavered to and fro upon her feet, and held her hands behind her. Therewere two little points of terror in her eyes, as she gazed up at theyoung captain in dusty blue, with his reddish, bronze complexion, hisyellow hair, his bright sabre held threateningly.
These two remained motionless and silent, simply staring at each otherfor some moments.
The captain felt his rage fade out of him and leave his mind limp. Hehad been violently angry, because this house had made him feel hesitant,wary. He did not like to be wary. He liked to feel confident, sure. Sohe had kicked the door open, and had been prepared to march in like asoldier of wrath.
But now he began, for one thing, to wonder if his uniform was so dustyand old in appearance. Moreover, he had a feeling that his face wascovered with a compound of dust, grime, and perspiration. He took a stepforward and said, "I didn't mean to frighten you." But his voice wascoarse from his battle-howling. It seemed to him to have hempen fibresin it.
The girl's breath came in little, quick gasps, and she looked at him asshe would have looked at a serpent.
"I didn't mean to frighten you," he said again.
The girl, still with her hands behind her, began to back away.
"Is there any one else in the house?" he went on, while slowly followingher. "I don't wish to disturb you, but we had a fight with some rebelskirmishers in the woods, and I thought maybe some of them might havecome in here. In fact, I was pretty sure of it. Are there any of themhere?"
The girl looked at him and said, "No!" He wondered why extreme agitationmade the eyes of some women so limpid and bright.
"Who is here besides yourself?"
By this time his pursuit had driven her to the end of the hall, and sheremained there with her back to the wall and her hands still behind her.When she answered this question, she did not look at him but down at thefloor. She cleared her voice and then said, "There is no one here."
"No one?"
She lifted her eyes to him in that appeal that the human being must makeeven to falling trees, crashing bowlders, the sea in a storm, and said,"No, no, there is no one here." He could plainly see her tremble.
Of a sudden he bethought him that she continually kept her hands behindher. As he recalled her air when first discovered, he remembered sheappeared precisely as a child detected at one of the crimes ofchildhood. Moreover, she had always backed away from him. He thought nowthat she was concealing something which was an evidence of the presenceof the enemy in the house.
"What are you holding behind you?" he said suddenly.
She gave a little quick moan, as if some grim hand had throttled her.
"What are you holding behind you?"
"Oh, nothing--please. I am not holding anything behind me; indeed I'mnot."
"Very well. Hold your hands out in front of you, then."
"Oh, indeed, I'm not holding anything behind me. Indeed, I'm not."
"Well," he began. Then he paused, and remained for a moment dubious.Finally, he laughed. "Well, I shall have my men search the house,anyhow. I'm sorry to trouble you, but I feel sure that there is some onehere whom we want." He turned to the corporal, who with the other menwas gaping quietly in at the door, and said, "Jones, go through thehouse."
As for himself, he remained planted in front of the girl, for sheevidently did not dare to move and allow him to see what she held socarefully behind her back. So she was his prisoner.
The men rummaged around on the ground floor of the house. Sometimes thecaptain called to them, "Try that closet," "Is there any cellar?" Butthey found no one, and at last they went trooping toward the stairswhich led to the second floor.
But at this movement on the part of the men the girl uttered a cry--acry of such fright and appeal that the men paused. "Oh, don't go upthere! Please don't go up there!--ple--ease! There is no one there!Indeed--indeed there is not! Oh, ple--ease!"
"Go on, Jones," said the captain calmly.
The obedient corporal made a preliminary step, and the girl boundedtoward the stairs with another cry.
As she passed him, the captain caught sight of that which she hadconcealed behind her back, and which she had forgotten in this suprememoment. It was a pistol.
She ran to the first step, and standing there, faced the men, one handextended with perpendicular palm, and the other holding the pistol ather side. "Oh, please, don't go up there! Nobody is there--indeed, thereis not! P-l-e-a-s-e!" Then suddenly she sank swiftly down upon the step,and, huddling forlornly, began to weep in the agony and with theconvulsive tremors of an infant. The pistol fell from her fingers andrattled down to the floor.
The astonished troopers looked at their astonished captain. There was ashort silence.
Finally, the captain stooped and picked up the pistol. It was a heavyweapon of the army pattern. He ascertained that it was empty.
He leaned toward the shaking girl, and said gently, "Will you tell mewhat you were going to do with this pistol?"
He had to repeat the question a number of times, but at last a muffledvoice said, "Nothing."
"Nothing!" He insisted quietly upon a further answer. At the tendertones of the captain's voice, the phlegmatic corporal turned and winkedgravely at the man next to him.
"Won't you tell me?"
The girl shook her head.
"Please tell me!"
The silent privates were moving their feet uneasily and wondering howlong they were to wait.
The captain said, "Please won't you tell me?"
Then this girl's voice began in stricken tones half coherent, and amidviolent sobbing: "It was grandpa's. He--he--he said he was going toshoot anybody who came in here--he didn't care if there were thousandsof 'em. And--and I know he would, and I was afraid they'd kill him. Andso--and--so I stole away his pistol--and I was going to hide it whenyou--you--you kicked open the door."
The men straightened up and looked at each other. The girl began to weepagain.
The captain mopped his brow. He peered down at the girl. He mopped hisbrow again. Suddenly he said, "Ah, don't cry like that."
He moved restlessly and looked down at his boots. He mopped his browagain.
Then he gripped the corporal by the arm and dragged him some yards backfrom the others. "Jones," he said, in an intensely earnest voice, "willyou tell me what in the devil I am going to do?"
The corporal's countenance became illuminated with satisfaction at beingthus requested to advise his superior officer. He adopted an air ofgreat thought, and finally said: "Well, of course, the feller with thegray sleeve must be upstairs, and we must get past the girl and up theresomehow. Suppose I take her by the arm and lead her----"
"What!" interrupted the captain from between his clinched teeth. As heturned away from the corporal, he said fiercely over his shoulder, "Youtouch that girl and I'll split your skull!"
The Little Regiment, and Other Episodes of the American Civil War Page 18
