A Rebellion in Dixie by Harry Castlemon (best books to read in life .TXT) 📕

class='pageno' id='Page_366'>366him, came into the parlor on all-fours. He didn’t apologize for his abrupt entrance, and neither did Leon for letting him into the room so suddenly, while Mr. Smith looked the disgust he could not express in words.

“If I were in that man’s place I should feel so ashamed of myself that I couldn’t look Mr. Smith in the face,” said Leon, as he bounded up the stairs that led to the President’s room. “But I suppose he has been caught in so many tricks that he isn’t ashamed of anything. Father,” he added, in a whisper, “this is what Mr. Smith wanted to see me about. This pocket-book has got his will in it, and tells us where to find his money. How much of it there is I don’t know; but he wanted me to give it into your hands, with instructions to look out for Leonard Smith.”

“Ah!” said Mr. Sprague, taking the pocket-book and slipping it inside his vest. “So Leonard has got onto it in some way or another, has he?”

“Yes; and it was all Mr. Smith could do to get him out of the parlor when he wanted 367to talk to me. He says don’t you let Leonard catch you off your guard one instant, for if you do he will cheat you out of it.”

“Why, if the money is made over to you I don’t see what Leonard can have to do with it.”

“But he will find out where the money is hidden, and go there and dig it up.”

“Well, I reckon Mr. Leonard won’t get it now,” said Mr. Sprague, buttoning his vest.

“No, I don’t think he will. Now, hadn’t you better go down and see Mr. Smith? He thinks he isn’t going to last much longer.”

“I will go down and see him now. I hope he will get well, so that he can have this money back again.”

Mr. Sprague laid down his pen and got upon his feet, and just then there was a rumble of wagons in front of the house, which told them that some of the wounded had arrived. Leon went down to assist them and to look for Ballard, whom he wanted to introduce to the President, while his father went on to the parlor. Leon found that there were four wagon-loads of wounded rebels there, 368and while he was looking around watching for a chance to lend a hand his father came to the door and beckoned to him.

“He has gone,” said he, when Leon approached within speaking distance.

“Is he dead?”

“Yes; and all his pockets are turned inside out.”

Leon followed his father into the parlor, and they found no one there except the doctor and Leonard Smith. The doctor shook his head and turned and went out, while Leonard stood in his accustomed place at the foot of the sofa, and did nothing but glare at the father and son. The pockets had evidently been searched, and Leonard did not have time to put them back again before the doctor came in. Leon drew a long breath of relief when he saw how mad Leonard was. He had arrived home just in the nick of time. If he had delayed his coming half an hour the pocket-book would now be in the possession of one whom Mr. Smith did not want to have it. But it was plain Leonard did not intend to give it up in this way. As Leon took hold of 369the sheet to spread it reverently over the dead man’s face, Leonard suddenly aroused himself and seemed determined to find out where the pocket-book was.

“I would thank you to give up what you got from him when I went out,” said he, and he was so angry that he could scarcely form the words into a sentence.

“What did I get?” inquired Leon, while his father straightened up and looked at him without speaking.

“You got a pocket-book, or something else, in which he kept his will,” said Leonard. “That pocket-book is mine, and I am bound to have it.”

“It’s safe,” replied Mr. Sprague. “I’ll tell you what I will do in order to find out whether it is in the possession of the one who ought to have it. As soon as these troubles are all over I will take out the will and read it in the presence of the men—”

“But I don’t intend to remain out of my money so long,” interrupted Leonard. “Some of these rebels might come here and dig down and find it. If I have it now it will be safe.”

370“How do you know it is in the ground?”

“Well, I just suppose it is. I don’t know any other place he could put it where it would bewould be equally safe.”

“I told you that I would read the will in the presence of the men and let them decide who owns the money. More than that I cannot promise.”

“Now, I will just tell you what’s the gospel truth,” said Leonard, leaving his place at the foot of the sofa and striding up and shaking both his clinched hands in Mr. Sprague’s face.

“Put down your hands or I will have you arrested in a minute!” said Mr. Sprague, not in the least alarmed by the other’s threatening manner.

“I will shake my fists in your face or in anybody else’s face who intends to rob me of my birthright!” exclaimed Leonard, at the same time allowing his hands to fall by his side. “I tell you that I will camp on that place every night, and woe be to the man or boy who comes there after that money. He will not get away with it.”

371“I hope you have said enough in the presence of this dead man—”

“He was my cousin; that is what he was,” shouted Leonard.

“—of this dead man to make you ashamed of yourself,” said Mr. Sprague. “Now, we will go out.”

“But I want you to understand what I said about camping on that place,” said Leonard. “The man or boy who gets that money don’t get away with it.”

Mr. Sprague and Leon went out without making any reply, the former going back to the President’s room to resume his work upon the paroles, and his son to wander aimlessly about, with no disposition to do any work, although he saw plenty of it before him. After awhile he found Tom Howe, and both his friends with him. They were tired of removing wounded rebels and were now going up to Tom’s camp for a good nap. Ballard was evidently much impressed with the sharp-shooting the Union men had done, and declared that he had never seen the beat.

“I don’t see how any of our fellows came 372out alive,” said he, and his astonishment was so great that he threw his arms about his head. “You Union men are dead shots!”

“Well, there are plenty of deer and bear loose in the swamps, and squirrels in abundance,” said Leon, “and you can’t expect that men who sometimes have to depend on them for a living will miss them every time.”

“Come on, Leon,” said Dawson. “You’ll have to go up to Tom’s camp, too. We haven’t heard your story yet.”

Leon began his story as they walked along, and as he did not have very much to tell, anyway, his companions knew all about it by the time they got to the place where Tom had left his mule. Tom was disgusted when Leon told him about his being captured by one man, and more than all by such a man as Dan Newman, but he was elated just as much when Leon told how Ballard had taken him into the woods and given him something to eat.

“Howdy, Mr. Ballard,” said Tom, walking up and shaking the Texas rebel by the hand. “I didn’t get a chance to shake hands with 373you before, but now I am glad to see you. That boy is a friend of mine, and if you do anything for him it is as though you did it for me. Now, we will take some supper and then go to bed.”

While Tom was kindling the fire Leon related to him the particulars of Mr. Smith’s death, and to say that Tom felt quite as badly as Leon did would be telling nothing but the truth. He did not say anything about the will which he had given into his father’s care, or about the trouble that Leonard Smith had threatened to make on account of it, for something told him that he had better keep that to himself. Thus far, he and Mr. Sprague were the only ones that knew anything about it. Of course, he would have been perfectly willing to have trusted Tom with his secret, but there were other men there, Ballard and Dawson, of whom he knew nothing. How did he know that they would not hunt for the money and make off with it? It was hidden in the ground somewhere. Leonard seemed to think that that was the place he would go to find it, and if he told everybody of it 374they would dig Mr. Smith’s farm full of holes but that they would find it.

“I don’t think I had better say anything about that,” said Leon to himself, after he had thought the matter over. “I will talk about it to father the first chance I get. These men will all be poor when this war is settled, and they may fight about the money as readily as they fired into that regiment of cavalry.”

During the week following there was nothing happened that would be of interest to you, although it was full of interest to the Union men of Jones county. In the first place, as soon as they had eaten breakfast, the prisoners who had been captured the day before were summoned to the hotel, and there signed their paroles. They did it, too, knowing full well what was to be expected if they didn’t keep them, for Mr. Knight was there, and he went over the same speech he had delivered to the captain in his room. There were a number of wagons, and the wounded were placed carefully in them, and they were to be taken away and delivered to their friends. There were also two hundred Union men with them who were 375to guard them as far as the bridge, and then they were to bid them good-bye and come back.

“I hope,” said Mr. Knight, after he had got through with his speech, “that you all have been treated right since you have been here.”

“Oh, yes, sir,” responded a dozen voices. “You have treated us like we were your own.”

“Then I hope that if you get any of my boys in the Confederate lines you will treat them in the same way. That’s all. Go on.”

Mr. Knight did not raise any objections when the men took off their hats and gave him a cheer. He simply bowed and went up the stairs that led to his room.

The next thing was taking Mr. Smith and Bach Noble, and several other men who had been killed and wounded during the fight with the cavalry, to their homes. It was done with rather more of solemnity than had yet been displayed, and a long line followed after each man who had given up his life in defence of the flag. Mr. Sprague and Leon went with the man who had bequeathed them all he had 376in this world to give, and saw a grave dug where he had always said he would wish to be laid, and when the ceremony was over they came back to the hotel very much depressed in spirits. And it was a long time before they got over thinking about Mr. Smith. He was so lively and full of fun that he was sadly missed, but it was not long before something else demanded their attention. There was one thing that Leon was glad to see. Leonard Smith was not present at the funeral. It was not the man he cared for—it was the money he thought he had laid away, and which he believed he was in duty bound to get, seeing that Mr. Smith had no one else to bestow it upon. But he saw that he was not likely to get it by fair means, and so he kept out of the way.

There was another thing that happened during the week that made the Union men draw a long breath of relief. The boats which that squad had been sent up to build were all done, and now it needed nothing but a strong force of Confederates, much too large to be handled by them, to send the last 377man of them over to the island, where they would be comparatively safe. They were now ready to fight, and they didn’t care how soon it was forced upon them.