Caton shook his head.
"My dear fellow, it is not that. Sheridan is hasty himself, and his temper often leads him to rash language. No, I am sure he bears you no malice for what you said. But Brennan has his ear, and has whispered something to him in confidence--what, I have been unable to ascertain-- which has convinced him that you are deserving of death under martial law."
"Without trial?"
"The opportunity of furnishing the information desired will be again offered you; but, as near as I can learn, the charge preferred against you is of such a private nature that it is deemed best not to make it matter for camp talk. Whatever it may be, Sheridan evidently feels justified in taking the case out from the usual channels, and in using most drastic measures. I am sorry to bring you such news, especially as I believe the charges are largely concocted in the brain of him who makes them, and have but the thinnest circ.u.mstantial evidence to sustain them. Yet Sheridan is thoroughly convinced, and will brook no interference. The discussion of the case has already led to his using extremely harsh words to his chief of staff."
"I am to be shot, then?"
His hand closed warmly over mine. "While there is life there is always hope," he answered. "Surely it must be in your power to prove the nature of your mission within our lines, and the delay thus gained will enable us to learn and meet these more serious allegations."
"If I but had time to communicate with General Lee."
"But now--is there no one, no way by which such representation can be given this very day? If not full proof of your innocence, then sufficient, at least, to cause the necessary delay?"
I shook my head. "I know of nothing other than my own unsupported word," I answered shortly, "and that is evidently of no value as against Major Brennan"s secret insinuations. When is the hour set?"
"I am not positive that final decision has yet been reached, but I heard daybreak to-morrow mentioned. The probability of an early movement of our troops is the excuse urged for such unseemly haste."
I remained silent for a moment, conscious only of his kindly eyes reading my face.
"Mrs. Brennan," I asked finally, recurring to the one thought in which I retained deep interest,--"does she still remain in the camp?"
"She was with the Major at headquarters this morning. I believe they breakfasted with the General, but I was on duty so late last night that I overslept, and thus missed the pleasure of meeting her again."
We talked for some time longer, and he continued to urge me for some further word, but I could give him none, and finally the kindly fellow departed, promising to see me again within a few hours. Greatly as I now valued his friendship, it was, nevertheless, a relief to be alone with my thoughts once more.
CHAPTER XIII
A STRANGE WAY OUT
Caton came in once more about the middle of the afternoon, bringing me some blankets; but he had no news, and his boyish face was a picture of pathos as he wrung my hand good-bye. Sheridan, he said, had gone down the lines, and both Brennan and himself were under orders to follow in another hour. What instructions, if any, had been left regarding my case he could not say, but he feared the worst from the unusual secrecy. Sheridan expected to return to his headquarters that same evening, as the officers of his staff were to give a grand ball.
I felt no inclination to partake of the rude supper left me, and just before dark I was lying upon the bench idly wondering if that was to prove the last vestige of daylight I should ever behold in this world, when, without slightest warning, the heavy iron grating in the wall directly above me fell suddenly, striking the edge of the bench, and clattered noisily to the floor. The fall was so unexpected, and my escape from injury so narrow, that I lay almost stunned, staring up helplessly at the dark hole thus left bare. As I gazed, a face framed itself in this narrow opening, and two wary eyes peered cautiously down at me. There was no mistaking that countenance even in the fast waning light, and I instantly sat up with an exclamation of surprise, "Jed Bungay, as I live!"
The puzzled face broke into a grin of delight.
"Holy smoke, Cap," he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, with a deep sigh of relief, ""s thet you, suah? I wus so durned skeered I"d made a mess o" it whin thet thar iron drapped thet I near died. "He crossed the threshold--and a clang of angry steel that instant rang.""
He peered around cautiously, s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g up his little eyes as though transforming them into miniature telescopes.
""If thou wouldst view fair Melrose aright, go visit it by the pale moonlight." Be ye all alone, Cap?"
"With the exception of a few rats, yes."
"Whut be they a goin" ter dew with ye?"
"I have every reason to believe it is their purpose to shoot me at daybreak to-morrow."
"Shoot?--h.e.l.l!" He stared at me as if he had just heard his own death sentence p.r.o.nounced, and his little peaked face looked ghastly in the dim light. "Shoot ye? Good Lord, Cap, whut fer? Ye ain"t done nothin"
as I knows on, "cept ter sc.r.a.p a bit with thet blasted Yank, an" sure thet"s no shootin" matter, er else I"d a bin a goner long ago."
"That "Yank" has seen fit to charge me with being a spy; and as I was foolish enough to insult General Sheridan last night, my fate is probably sealed."
This somewhat complex statement seemed to be too much for Jed to grasp promptly.
"Gosh, ye don"t say!" he muttered. "Then, durn it, I"m in luck, fer all they"ve got agin me is pot-shootin" at a n.i.g.g.e.r soger up in ther mountings; en thet ain"t much, "cause I didn"t hit ther durned cuss.
Blame sorry tew, fer "Who spills the foremost foeman"s life, his party conquers in the strife." Thet"s Scott agin, Cap. Dew ye ever read Sir Walter? I tell ye, he"s a poet, suah."
Without pausing for a reply, or even noting that none had been given, Jed was carefully covering every inch of exposed wall with his little shrewd, glinting eyes.
"Ain"t much show ter work out o" yere, is thar, Cap?" he asked at last reflectively; "leastwise I don"t see none, "less them thar dark corners hes got holes in "em."
"The wall is entirely solid."
"So I sorter reckoned. But if ye"ll crawl through yere inter my boodour, thar"s a place whar I reckon ther tew of us tergether mought make a try fer it. It"s too durn high up fer me ter git at alone."
I rose to my feet slowly, wondering at the strange la.s.situde which made me so indifferent to that life I had always before so highly valued.
Bungay noticed my hopelessness.
"Durned if prison life don"t take all the sand out o" a feller," he said cheerfully. "Blame me, but ye move as if ye wus "bout half dead.
But I reckon, Cap, if ye cud manage ter git out o" yere ternight, an"
take some news ter Lee thet I"ve picked up, he"d "bout make both of us ginerals. "Speed, Malise, speed! The dun deer"s hide on fleeter foot was never tied.""
These words brought back to me in an instantaneous flash the old dominant military spirit. For Lee! Yes, for Lee I would yet take chances, undergo fatigue, brave death. If life must be given up, let it be yielded gallantly in the open, and on behalf of my distant comrades.
"News for Lee?" I exclaimed, staring eagerly at him through the now darkened room. "Do you mean it? What news?"
"Thought maybe thet wud wake ye up," he chuckled.
""Speed on the signal, clansman, speed!" Stan" up on ther bench, Cap, an" put yer ear up yere an" I"LL tell ye. This yere"s gospel truth: Sheridan hes started his infantry on a half-circle march fer Minersville. Ther first division left et three o"clock, an" thar won"t be nary Yank loafin" en ther valley by noon termorrow. An" more," he added rapidly, his eyes dancing wildly with suppressed excitement,-- "Hanc.o.c.k is a swingin" of his corps west ter meet "em thar, an" I reckon, as how thar"ll be h.e.l.l fer sartain up ther Shenandoah in less ner a week--es Scott ses, "the wild sounds of border war.""
"But how do you know all this?" I questioned incredulously, as the whole scene and its dread possibilities unrolled before my mental vision.
"Ther n.i.g.g.e.r I held up hed a despatch fer Heintzelman over on ther left, an" then Mariar she sorter pumped a young fule staff officer fer ther rest o" it," he replied promptly. "Oh, it"s a sure go, Cap, an" I reckon as how maybe Lee"s whole army hangs on one of us gittin" out o"
yere ternight.
""Where, where was Roderick then?
One blast upon his bugle horn Were worth a thousand men.""
That he meant every word he spoke I felt convinced, and his enthusiasm was contagious. My blood leaped within me at this call to action; all lethargy fled, and with it every deadening thought of her who had so suddenly woven about me the meshes of her power. False or true, maid, wife, or widow, my duty as a soldier to my commander and the army to which I belonged, blotted out all else. Even as this new rush of determination swept over me, above us there sounded clearly the dashing music of a military band in the strains of a Strauss"s waltz, and we could distinguish the m.u.f.fled shuffling of many feet on the oaken floor overhead. Caton"s chance remark about the great ball to be given that evening by officers of the headquarters staff recurred to my memory.
"That dancing up there will help us, Jed," I said quickly, my mind now active to grasp every detail. "You say there is a chance for escape from your cell? Then give me your hand, and help me to crawl through that hole."