There is no doubt that both were partly right and partly wrong.
While the parade was at first intended simply as a display, it came to be the occasion of preparation for an expected attack, and as the rumors grew more wild and absurd, so did each side grow more earnest and sincere. The colored men determined to exercise their rights openly and boldly, and the white men were as fully determined that at any exhibition of "impudence" on the part of the "n.i.g.g.e.rs"
they would teach them a lesson they would not soon forget.
None of this came to the ears of Mollie Ainslie. Nevertheless she had a sort of indefinite foreboding of evil to come out of it, and wished that she had exerted her influence to prevent the parade.
On the morning of the election day a motley crowd collected at an early hour at Red Wing. It was noticeable that every one carried a heavy stick, though there was no other show of arms among them.
Some of them, no doubt, had pistols, but there were no guns in the crowd. They seemed excited and alarmed. A few notes from the fife, however, banished all irresolution, and before eight o"clock two hundred men gathered from the country round marched away toward Melton, with a national flag heading the column, in front of which rode Eliab Hill in the carryall belonging to Nimbus. With them went a crowd of women and children, numbering as many more, all anxious to witness the first exercise of elective power by their race, only just delivered from the bonds of slavery. The fife screeched, the drum rattled; laughter and jests and high cheer prevailed among them all. As they marched on, now and then a white man rode past them, silent and sullen, evidently enraged at the display which was being made by the new voters. As they drew nearer to the town it became evident that the air was surcharged with trouble. Nimbus sent back Miss Ainslie"s horse, saying that he was afraid it might get hurt. The boy that took it innocently repeated this remark to his teacher.
Within the town there was great excitement. A young man who had pa.s.sed Red Wing while the men were a.s.sembling had spurred into Melton and reported with great excitement that the "n.i.g.g.e.rs" were collecting at the church and Nimbus was giving out arms and ammunition; that they were boasting of what they would do if any of their votes were refused; that they had all their plans laid to meet negroes from other localities at Melton, get up a row, kill all the white men, burn the town, and then ravish the white women. This formula of horrors is one so familiar to the Southern tongue that it runs off quite unconsciously whenever there is any excitement in the air about the "sa.s.sy n.i.g.g.e.rs." It is the "form of sound words," which is never forgotten. Its effect upon the Southern white man is magical. It moves him as the red rag does a mad bull. It takes away all sense and leaves only an abiding desire to kill.
So this rumor awakened great excitement as it flew from lip to lip.
Few questioned its verity, and most of those who heard felt bound in conscience to add somewhat to it as they pa.s.sed it on to the next listener. Each one that came in afterward was questioned eagerly upon the hypothesis of a negro insurrection having already taken shape. "How many are there?" "Who is at the head of it?"
"How are they armed?" "What did they say?" were some of the queries which overwhelmed every new comer. It never seemed to strike any one as strange that if the colored men had any hostile intent they should let these solitary hors.e.m.e.n pa.s.s them unmolested. The fever spread. Revolvers were flourished and shot-guns loaded; excited crowds gathered here and there, and nearly everybody in the town sauntered carelessly toward the bridge across which Nimbus"
gayly-decked column must enter the town. A few young men rode out to reconnoitre, and every few minutes one would come dashing back upon a reeking steed, revolver in hand, his mouth full of strange oaths and his eyes flaming with excitement.
It was one of these that precipitated the result. The flag which waved over the head of the advancing column had been visible from the town for some time as now and then it pa.s.sed over the successive ridges to the eastward. The sound of fife and drum had become more and more distinct, and a great portion of the white male population, together with those who had come in to the election from the surrounding country, had gathered about the bridge spanning the swift river which flowed between Melton and the hosts of the barbarous and bloodthirsty "n.i.g.g.e.rs" of the Red Wing country. Several of the young scouts had ridden close up to the column with tantalizing shouts and insulting gestures and then dashed back to recount their own audacity; until, just as the Stars and Stripes began to show over the last gullied hill, one of them, desirous of outdoing his comrades in bravado, drew his revolver, flourished it over his head, and cast a shower of insulting epithets upon the colored pilgrims to the shrine of ballatorial power. He was answered from the dusky crowd with words as foul as his own. Such insult was not to be endured. Instantly his pistol was raised, there was a flash, a puff of fleecy smoke, a shriek from amid the crowd.
At once all was confusion. Oaths, cries, pistol-shots, and a shower of rocks filled the air as the young man turned and spurred back to the town. In a moment the long covered-bridge was manned by a well-armed crowd, while others were seen running toward it. The town was in an uproar.
The officers of election had left the polls, and in front of the bridge could be seen Hesden Le Moyne and the burly sheriff striving to keep back the angry crowd of white men. On the hill the colored men, for a moment struck with amazement, were now arming with stones, in dead earnest, uttering loud cries of vengeance for one of their number who, wounded and affrighted, lay groaning and writhing by the roadside. They outnumbered the whites very greatly, but the latter excelled them in arms, in training, and in position. Still, such was their exasperation at what seemed to them a wanton and unprovoked attack, that they were preparing to charge upon the bridge without delay. Nimbus especially was frantic with rage.
"It"s the flag!" he shouted; "the d.a.m.ned rebels are firing on the flag!" He strode back and forth, waving an old cavalry sabre which he had brought to mark his importance as marshal of the day, and calling on his followers to stand by him and they would "clean out the murderous crowd." A few pistol shots which were fired from about the bridge but fell far short, added to their excitement and desperation.
Just as they were about to rush down the hillside, Mollie Ainslie, with a white set face, mounted on her black horse, dashed in front of them, and cried,
"Halt!"
Eliab Hill had long been imploring them with upraised hands to be calm and listen to reason, but his voice was unheeded or unheard in the wild uproar. The sight of the woman, however, whom all of them regarded so highly, reining in her restive horse and commanding silence, arrested the action of all. But Nimbus, now raging like a mad lion, strode up to her, waving his sword and cursing fearfully in his wild wrath, and said hoa.r.s.ely:
"You git out o" de way, Miss Mollie! We all tinks a heap ob you, but yer hain"t got no place h"yer! De time"s come for _men_ now, an" dis is men"s wuk, an" we"s gwine ter du it, too! D"yer see dat man dar, a-bleedin" an" a-groanin"? Blood"s been shed! We"s been fired into kase we wuz gwine ter exercise our rights like men under de flag ob our kentry, peaceable, an" quiet, an" disturbin"
n.o.body! "Fore G.o.d, Miss Mollie, ef we"s men an" fit ter hev enny rights, we won"t stan" dat! We"ll hev blood fer blood! Dat"s what we means! You jes git outen de way!" he added imperiously. "We"ll settle dis yer matter ourselves!" He reached out his hand as he spoke to take her horse by the bit.
"Stand back!" cried the brave girl. "Don"t you touch him, sir!" She urged her horse forward, and Nimbus, awed by her intensity, slowly retreated before her, until she was but a pace or two in front of the line which stretched across the road. Then leaning forward, she said,
"Nimbus, give me your sword!"
"What you wants ob dat, Miss Mollie?" he asked in surprise.
"No matter; hand it to me!"
He took it by the blade, and held the heavy basket-hilt toward her.
She clasped her small white fingers around the rough, shark-skin handle and raised it over her head as naturally as a veteran leader desiring to command attention, and said:
"Now, Nimbus, and the rest of you, you all know that I am your friend. My brother was a soldier, and fought for your liberty on this very horse. I have never advised you except for your good, and you know I never will. If it is right and best for you to right now, I will not hinder you. Nay, I will say G.o.d-speed, and for aught I know fight with you. I am no coward, if I am a woman. You know what I have risked already for your good. Now tell me what has happened, and what this means."
There was a cheer at this, and fifty excited voices began the story.
"Stop! stop!"" she cried. "Keep silent, all of you, and let Mr.
Hill tell it alone. He was here in front and saw it all."
Thereupon she rode up beside the carry-all, which was now in the middle of the throng, and listened gravely while Eliab told the whole story of the march from Red Wing, There was a buzz when he had ended, which she stilled by a word and a wave of the hand, and then turning to Nimbus she said:
"Nimbus, I appoint you to keep order in this crowd until my return.
Do not let any man, woman, or child move forward or back, whatever may occur. Do you understand?"
"Yes, ma"am, I hears; but whar you gwine, Miss Mollie?"
"Into the town."
"No yer don"t, Miss Mollie," said he, stepping before her. "Dey"ll kill you, sh.o.r.e."
"No matter. I am going. You provoked this affray by your foolish love of display, and it must be settled now, or it will be a matter of constant trouble hereafter."
"But, Miss Mollie--"
"Not a word! You have been a soldier and should obey orders. Here is your sword. Take it, and keep order here. Examine that poor fellow"s wound, and I will go and get a doctor for him."
She handed Nimbus his sword and turned her horse toward the bridge.
Then a wail of distress arose from the crowd. The women begged her not to go, with tears. She turned in her saddle, shook her head, and raised her hand to show her displeasure at this. Then she took a handkerchief from her pocket and half waving it as she proceeded, went toward the bridge.
"Well, I swear," said the sheriff; "if that are gal ain"t coming in with a flag of truce. She"s pluck, anyhow. You ought to give her three cheers, boys."
The scene which had been enacted on the hill had been closely watched from the bridge and the town, and Mollie"s conduct had been pretty well interpreted though her words could not be heard. The nerve which she had exhibited had excited universal comment, and it needed no second invitation to bring off every hat and send up, in her honor, the shrill yell with which our soldiers became familiar during the war.
Recognizing this, her pale face became suffused with blushes, and she put her handkerchief to her lips to hide their tremulousness as she came nearer. She ran her eyes quickly along the line of strange faces, until they fell upon the sheriff, by whom stood Hesden Le Moyne. She rode straight to them and said,
"Oh, Mr. Sheriff--"
Then she broke down, and dropping the rein on her horse"s neck, she pressed her handkerchief to her face and wept. Her slight frame shook with sobs. The men looked at her with surprise and pity.
There was even a huskiness in the sheriff"s voice as he said,
"Miss Ainslie--I--I beg your pardon, ma"am-but--"
She removed the handkerchief, but the tears were still running down her face as she said, glancing round the circle of sympathizing faces:
"Do stop this, gentlemen. It"s all a mistake. I know it must be a mistake!"
"We couldn"t help it, ma"am," said one impulsive youth, putting in before the elders had time to speak; "the n.i.g.g.e.rs was marching on the town here. Did you suppose we was going to sit still and let them burn and ravage without opposition? Oh, we haven"t got so low as that, if the Yankees did outnumber us. Not yet!"
There was a sneering tone in his voice which did more than sympathy could, to restore her equanimity. So she said, with a hint of a smile on her yet tearful face,
"The worst thing those poor fellows meant to do, gentlemen, was to make a parade over their new-found privileges--march up to the polls, vote, and march home again. They are just like a crowd of boys over a drum and fife, as you know. They carefully excluded from the line all who were not voters, and I had them arranged so that their names would come alphabetically, thinking it might be handier for the officers; though I don"t know anything about how an election is conducted," she added, with an ingenuous blush. "It"s all my fault, gentlemen! I did not think any trouble could come of it, or I would not have allowed it for a moment. I thought it would be better for them to come in order, vote, and go home than to have them scattered about the town and perhaps getting into trouble."
"So "twould," said the sheriff. "Been a first-rate thing if we"d all understood it--first-rate."
"Oh, I"m so sorry, gentlemen--so sorry, and I"m afraid one man is killed. Would one of you be kind enough to go for a doctor?"
"Here is one," said several voices, as a young man stepped forward and raised his hat respectfully.