"Yes," he replied, laughing a little ruefully, "up to date."
"Very well," she added, with an answering laugh, "let it be then to date. I shall not tell you that I feel like a sister without being as frank as one. I have never loved any one in the way--Oh, well, you know. I don"t believe these stern times are conducive to sentiment. Come, tell me your story."
"But you"ll give me an equal chance with the others," he pleaded.
She now laughed outright. "How do I know what I shall do?" she asked. "I may come to you some day for sympathy and help. According to the novels, people are stricken down as if by one of your hateful sh.e.l.ls and all broken up. I don"t know, but I"m inclined to believe that while a girl can withhold her love from an unworthy object, she cannot deliberately give it here or there as she chooses. Now am I not talking to you like a sister?"
"Yes, too much so--"
"Oh, come, I have favored you more highly than any one."
"Do not misunderstand me," he said, earnestly, "I"m more grateful than I can tell you, but--"
"But tell me your story. There is one thing I can give you at once,--the closest attention."
"Very well. I only wish you were like one of the enemy"s batteries, so I could take you by storm. I"d face all the guns that were at Gettysburg for the chance."
"Arthur, dear Arthur, I do know what you have faced from a simple sense of duty and patriotism. Blauvelt was a loyal, generous friend, and he has told us."
"You are wrong. "The girl I left behind me" was the corps-de-reserve from which I drew my strength. I believe the same was true of Blauvelt, and a better, braver fellow never drew breath. He would make a better officer than I, for he is cooler and has more brains."
"Now see here, Major Strahan," cried Marian, in mock dignity, "as your superior officer, I am capable of judging of the merits of you both, and neither of you can change my estimate. You are insubordinate, and I shall put you under arrest if you don"t tell me how you escaped at once. You have kept a woman"s curiosity in check almost as long as your brave regiment held the enemy, and that"s your greatest achievement thus far. Proceed. Captain Blauvelt has enabled me to keep an eye on you till you fell and the enemy charged over you. Now you know just where to begin."
"My prosaic story is soon told. Swords and pike-staffs! what a little martinet you are! Well, the enemy was almost on me. I could see their flushed, savage faces. Even in that moment I thought of you and whispered, "Good-by," and a prayer to G.o.d for your happiness flashed through my mind."
"Arthur, don"t talk that way. I can"t stand it;" and there was a rush of tears to her eyes.
"I"m beginning just where you told me to. The next second there was a sting in my right arm, then something knocked me over and I lost consciousness for a few moments. I am satisfied, also, that I was grazed by a bullet that tore my scabbard from my side. When I came to my senses, I crawled behind a rock so as not to be shot by our own men, and threw away my sword. I didn"t want to surrender it, you know. Soon after a rebel jerked me to my feet.
""Can you stand?" he asked.
""I will try," I answered.
""Join that squad of prisoners, then, and travel right smart."
"I staggered away, too dazed for many clear ideas, and with others was hurried about half a mile away to a place filled with the rebel wounded. Here a Union soldier, who happened to have some bandages with him, dressed my arm. The Confederate surgeons had more than they could do to look after their own men. Just before dark all the prisoners who were able to walk were led into a large field, and a strong guard was placed around us.
"Although my wound was painful, I obtained some sleep, and awoke the next morning with the glad consciousness that life with its chances was still mine. We had little enough to eat that day, and insufficient water to drink. This foretaste of the rebel commissariat was enough for me, and I resolved to escape if it were a possible thing."
"You wanted to see me a little, too, didn"t you? Nevertheless, you shall have a good lunch before long."
"Such is my fate. First rebel iron and now irony. I began to play the role of feebleness and exhaustion, and it did not require much effort. Of course we were all on the qui vive to see what would happen next, and took an intense interest in the fight of the 3d, which Blauvelt has described. The scene of the battle was hidden from us, but we gathered, from the expression of our guards" faces and the confusion around us, that all had not gone to the enemy"s mind, and so were hopeful. In the evening we were marched to the outskirts of Gettysburg and kept there till the afternoon of the 4th, when we started towards Virginia. I hung back and dragged myself along, and so was fortunately placed near the rear of the column, and we plodded away. I thanked Heaven that the night promised to be dark and stormy, and was as vigilant as an Indian, looking for my chance. It seemed long in coming, for at first the guards were very watchful. At one point I purposely stumbled and fell, hoping to crawl into the bushes, but a rebel was right on me and helped me up with his bayonet."
"O Arthur!"
"Yes, the risks were great, for we had been told that the first man who attempted to leave the line would be shot. I lagged behind as if I could not keep up, and so my vigilant guard got ahead of me, and I proposed to try it on with the next fellow. I did not dare look around, for my only chance was to give the impression that I fell from utter exhaustion. We were winding around a mountain-side and I saw some dark bushes just beyond me. I staggered towards them and fell just beside them, and lay as if I were dead.
"A minute pa.s.sed, then another, and then there was no other sound than the tramp and splash in the muddy road. I edged still farther and farther from this, my head down the steep bank, and soon found myself completely hidden. The comrade next to me either would not tell if he understood my ruse, or else was so weary that he had not noticed me. If the guard saw me, he concluded that I was done for and not worth further bother.
"After the column had pa.s.sed, I listened to hear if others were coming, then stumbled down the mountain, knowing that my best chance was to strike some stream and follow the current. It would take me into a valley where I would be apt to find houses. At last I became so weary that I lay down in a dense thicket and slept till morning. I awoke as hungry as a famished wolf, and saw nothing but a dense forest on every side. But the brook murmured that it would guide me, and I now made much better progress in the daylight.
At last I reached a little clearing and a wood-chopper"s cottage.
The man was away, but his wife received me kindly and said I was welcome to such poor fare and shelter as they had. She gave me a gla.s.s of milk and some fried bacon and corn-bread, and I then learned all about the nectar and ambrosia of the G.o.ds. In the evening her husband came home and said that Lee had been whipped by the Yanks, and that he was retreating rapidly, whereon I drank to the health of my host nearly all the milk given that night by his lean little cow. He was a good-natured, loutish sort of fellow, and promised to guide me in a day or two to the west of the line of retreat. He seemed very tearful of falling in with the rebels, and I certainly had seen all I wished of them for the present, so I was as patient as he desired. At last he kept his word and guided me to a village about six miles away. I learned that Confederate cavalry had been there within twenty-four hours, and, tired as I was, I hired a conveyance and was driven to another village farther to the northwest, for I now had a morbid horror of being recaptured.
After a night"s rest in a small hamlet, I was taken in a light wagon to the nearest railway station, and came on directly, arriving here about six this morning. Finding our house closed, I made a descent on Merwyn. I telegraphed mother last evening that I should be home this afternoon."
"You should have telegraphed me, also," said Marian, reproachfully.
"You would have saved me some very sad hours. I did not sleep much last night."
"Forgive me. I thoughtlessly wished to give you a surprise, and I could scarcely believe you cared so much."
"You will always believe it now, Arthur. Merciful Heaven! what risks you have had!"
"You have repaid me a thousand-fold. Friend, sister, or wife, you will always be to me my good genius."
"I wish the war was over," she said, sadly. "I have not heard from Captain Lane for weeks, and after the battle the first tidings from Blauvelt was that he was wounded and that you were wounded and missing. I can"t tell you how oppressed I was with fear and foreboding."
"How about Lane?" Strahan asked, with interest.
She told him briefly the story she had heard and of the silence which had followed.
"He leads us all," was his response. "If he survives the war, he will win you, Marian."
"You suggest a terrible "if" and there may be many others. I admit that he has kindled my imagination more than any man I ever saw, but you, Arthur, have touched my heart. I could not speak to him, had he returned, as I am now speaking to you. I have the odd feeling that you and I are too near of kin to be anything to each other except just what we are. You are so frank and true to me, that I can"t endure the thought of misleading you, even unintentionally."
"Very well, I"ll grow up some day, and as long as you remain free, I"ll not give up hope."
"Foolish boy! Grow up, indeed! Who mounted his horse in that storm of sh.e.l.ls and bullets in spite of friendly remonstrances, and said, "The men must see us to-day"? What more could any man do? I"m just as proud of you as if my own brother had spoken the words;" and she took his hand caressingly, then exclaimed, "You are feverish."
A second later her hand was on his brow, and she sprung up and said, earnestly, "You should have attention at once."
"I fancy the doctor was right after all," said Strahan, rising also. "I"ll take the one o"clock train and be at home in a couple of hours."
"I wish you would stay. You can"t imagine what a devoted nurse I"ll be."
"Please don"t tempt me. It wouldn"t be best. Mamma is counting the minutes before my return now, and it will please her if I come on an earlier train. Mountain air and rest will soon bring me around, and I can run down often. I think the fever proceeds simply from my wound, which hasn"t had the best care. I don"t feel seriously ill at all."
She ordered iced lemonade at once, lunch was hastened, and then she permitted him to depart, with the promise that he would write a line that very night.
CHAPTER x.x.xVIII.
A LITTLE REBEL.