At last they reached the head of the stairs. From the kitchen came the ba.s.s humming of the kettle and frequent sputterings and cracklings from the fire. These sounds were sinister. The mother and the girl stood incapable of movement. "There"s somebody down there!" whispered the elder woman.
Finally, the girl made a gesture of resolution. She twisted her arm from her mother"s hands and went two steps downward. She addressed the kitchen: "Who"s there?" Her tone was intended to be dauntless. It rang so dramatically in the silence that a sudden new panic seized them as if the suspected presence in the kitchen had cried out to them. But the girl ventured again: "Is there anybody there?" No reply was made save by the kettle and the fire.
With a stealthy tread the girl continued her journey. As she neared the last step the fire crackled explosively and the girl screamed. But the mystic presence had not swept around the corner to grab her, so she dropped to a seat on the step and laughed. "It was--was only the--the fire," she said, stammering hysterically.
Then she arose with sudden fort.i.tude and cried: "Why, there isn"t anybody there! I know there isn"t." She marched down into the kitchen.
In her face was dread, as if she half expected to confront something, but the room was empty. She cried joyously: "There"s n.o.body here! Come on down, ma." She ran to the kitchen door and locked it.
The mother came down to the kitchen. "Oh, dear, what a fright I"ve had!
It"s given me the sick headache. I know it has."
"Oh, ma," said the girl.
"I know it has--I know it. Oh, if your father was only here! He"d settle those Yankees mighty quick--he"d settle "em! Two poor helpless women----"
"Why, ma, what makes you act so? The Yankees haven"t----"
"Oh, they"ll be back--they"ll be back. Two poor helpless women! Your father and your uncle Asa and Bill off galavanting around and fighting when they ought to be protecting their home! That"s the kind of men they are. Didn"t I say to your father just before he left----"
"Ma," said the girl, coming suddenly from the window, "the barn door is open. I wonder if they took old Santo?"
"Oh, of course they have--of course----Mary, I don"t see what we are going to do--I don"t see what we are going to do."
The girl said, "Ma, I"m going to see if they took old Santo."
"Mary," cried the mother, "don"t you dare!"
"But think of poor old Sant, ma."
"Never you mind old Santo. We"re lucky to be safe ourselves, I tell you.
Never mind old Santo. Don"t you dare to go out there, Mary--Mary!"
The girl had unlocked the door and stepped out upon the porch. The mother cried in despair, "Mary!"
"Why, there isn"t anybody out here," the girl called in response. She stood for a moment with a curious smile upon her face as of gleeful satisfaction at her daring.
The breeze was waving the boughs of the apple trees. A rooster with an air importantly courteous was conducting three hens upon a foraging tour. On the hillside at the rear of the gray old barn the red leaves of a creeper flamed amid the summer foliage. High in the sky clouds rolled toward the north. The girl swung impulsively from the little stoop and ran toward the barn.
The great door was open, and the carved peg which usually performed the office of a catch lay on the ground. The girl could not see into the barn because of the heavy shadows. She paused in a listening att.i.tude and heard a horse munching placidly. She gave a cry of delight and sprang across the threshold. Then she suddenly shrank back and gasped.
She had confronted three men in gray seated upon the floor with their legs stretched out and their backs against Santo"s manger. Their dust-covered countenances were expanded in grins.
II.
As Mary sprang backward and screamed, one of the calm men in gray, still grinning, announced, "I knowed you"d holler." Sitting there comfortably the three surveyed her with amus.e.m.e.nt.
Mary caught her breath, throwing her hand up to her throat. "Oh!" she said, "you--you frightened me!"
"We"re sorry, lady, but couldn"t help it no way," cheerfully responded another. "I knowed you"d holler when I seen you coming yere, but I raikoned we couldn"t help it no way. We hain"t a-troubling this yere barn, I don"t guess. We been doing some mighty tall sleeping yere. We done woke when them Yanks loped past."
"Where did you come from? Did--did you escape from the--the Yankees?"
The girl still stammered and trembled. The three soldiers laughed. "No, m"m. No, m"m. They never cotch us. We was in a muss down the road yere about two mile. And Bill yere they gin it to him in the arm, kehplunk.
And they pasted me thar, too. Curious. And Sim yere, he didn"t get nothing, but they chased us all quite a little piece, and we done lose track of our boys."
"Was it--was it those who pa.s.sed here just now? Did they chase you?"
The men in gray laughed again. "What--them? No, indeedee! There was a mighty big swarm of Yanks and a mighty big swarm of our boys, too.
What--that little pa.s.sel? No, m"m."
She became calm enough to scan them more attentively. They were much begrimed and very dusty. Their gray clothes were tattered. Splashed mud had dried upon them in reddish spots. It appeared, too, that the men had not shaved in many days. In the hats there was a singular diversity. One soldier wore the little blue cap of the Northern infantry, with corps emblem and regimental number; one wore a great slouch hat with a wide hole in the crown; and the other wore no hat at all. The left sleeve of one man and the right sleeve of another had been slit and the arms were neatly bandaged with clean cloth. "These hain"t no more than two little cuts," explained one. "We stopped up yere to Mis" Leavitts--she said her name was--and she bind them for us. Bill yere, he had the thirst come on him. And the fever too. We----"
"Did you ever see my father in the army?" asked Mary. "John Hinckson--his name is."
The three soldiers grinned again, but they replied kindly: "No, m"m. No, m"m, we hain"t never. What is he--in the cavalry?"
"No," said the girl. "He and my uncle Asa and my cousin--his name is Bill Parker--they are all with Longstreet--they call him."
"Oh," said the soldiers. "Longstreet? Oh, they"re a good smart ways from yere. "Way off up nawtheast. There hain"t nothing but cavalry down yere.
They"re in the infantry, probably."
"We haven"t heard anything from them for days and days," said Mary.
"Oh, they"re all right in the infantry," said one man, to be consoling.
"The infantry don"t do much fighting. They go bellering out in a big swarm and only a few of "em get hurt. But if they was in the cavalry--the cavalry----"
Mary interrupted him without intention. "Are you hungry?" she asked.
The soldiers looked at each other, struck by some sudden and singular shame. They hung their heads. "No, m"m," replied one at last.
Santo, in his stall, was tranquilly chewing and chewing. Sometimes he looked benevolently over at them. He was an old horse and there was something about his eyes and his forelock which created the impression that he wore spectacles. Mary went and patted his nose. "Well, if you are hungry, I can get you something," she told the men. "Or you might come to the house."
"We wouldn"t dast go to the house," said one. "That pa.s.sel of Yanks was only a scouting crowd, most like. Just an advance. More coming, likely."
"Well, I can bring you something," cried the girl eagerly. "Won"t you let me bring you something?"
"Well," said a soldier with embarra.s.sment, "we hain"t had much. If you could bring us a little snack-like--just a snack--we"d----"
Without waiting for him to cease, the girl turned toward the door. But before she had reached it she stopped abruptly. "Listen!" she whispered.
Her form was bent forward, her head turned and lowered, her hand extended toward the men in a command for silence.
They could faintly hear the thudding of many hoofs, the clank of arms, and frequent calling voices.
"By cracky, it"s the Yanks!" The soldiers scrambled to their feet and came toward the door. "I knowed that first crowd was only an advance."
The girl and the three men peered from the shadows of the barn. The view of the road was intersected by tree trunks and a little henhouse.