And this was agreed upon. They were soon on the edge of the deep gully which, on one side, protected the spot from all approach. They scrambled down its steep side and began to creep along, peeping over its other edge from time to time, to see if they could discover the clearing which marked the little green spot on top of the hill, where once had stood an old cabin. The base of the ruined chimney, with its immense fire-place, const.i.tuted the boys" "cave." They were close to it, now, and felt themselves to be in imminent danger of a sweeping fusillade. They had just crept up to the top of the ravine and were consulting, when some one immediately behind them, not twenty feet away, called out:
"h.e.l.lo! What are you boys doing here? Are you trying to capture us?"
They jumped at the unexpected voice. The General broke into a laugh.
He had been sitting on the ground on the other side of the declivity, and had been watching their manoeuvres for some time.
He brought them to the house-spot where Hugh was asleep on the ground; he had been on watch all the morning, and, during the General"s turn, was making up for his lost sleep. He was soon wide awake enough, and he and the General, with appet.i.tes bearing witness to their long fast, were without delay engaged in disposing of the provisions which the boys had brought.
The boys were delighted with the mystery of their surroundings. Each in turn took the General aside and held a long interview with him, and gave him all their Cousin Belle"s messages. No one had ever treated them with such consideration as the General showed them. The two men asked the boys all about the dispositions of the enemy, but the boys had little to tell.
"They are after us pretty hotly," said the General. "I think they are going away shortly. It"s nothing but a raid, and they are moving on.
We must get back to camp to-night."
"How are you going?" asked the boys. "You haven"t any horses."
"We are going to get some of their horses," said the officer. "They have taken ours--now they must furnish us with others."
It was about time for the boys to start for home. The General took each of them aside, and talked for a long time. He was speaking to w.i.l.l.y, on the edge of the clearing, when there was a crack of a twig in the pines. In a second he had laid the boy on his back in the soft gra.s.s and whipped out a pistol. Then, with a low, quick call to Hugh, he sprang swiftly into the pines toward the sound.
"Crawl down into the ravine, boys," called Hugh, following his companion. The boys rolled down over the bank like little ground-hogs; but in a second they heard a familiar drawling voice call out in a subdued tone:
"Hold on, Cunnel! it"s n.o.body but me; don"t you know me?" And, in a moment, they heard the General"s astonished and somewhat stern reply:
"Mills, what are you doing here? Who"s with you? What do you want?"
"Well," said the new-comer, slowly, "I "lowed I"d come to see if I could be o" any use to you. I heard the Yankees had run you "way from Oakland last night, and was sort o" huntin" for you. Fact is, they"s been up my way, and I sort o" "lowed I"d come an" see ef I could help you git back to camp."
"Where have you been all this time? I wonder you are not ashamed to look me in the face!"
The General"s voice was still stern. He had turned around and walked back to the cleared s.p.a.ce.
The deserter scratched his head in perplexity.
"I needn" "a" come," he said, doggedly. "Where"s them boys? I don"
want the boys hurted. I seen "em comin" here, an" I jes" followed "em to see they didn"t get in no trouble. But----"
This speech about the boys effected what the offer of personal service to the General himself had failed to bring about.
"Sit down and let me talk to you," said the General, throwing himself on the gra.s.s.
Mills seated himself cross-legged near the officer, with his gun across his knees, and began to bite a straw which he pulled from a tuft by his side.
The boys had come up out of their retreat, and taken places on each side of the General.
"You all take to gra.s.s like young partridges," said the hunter. The boys were flattered, for they considered any notice from him a compliment.
"What made you fool us, and send us to catch that conscript-guard?"
Frank asked.
"Well, you ketched him, didn"t you? You"re the only ones ever been able to ketch him," he said, with a low chuckle.
"Now, Mills, you know how things stand," said the General. "It"s a shame for you to have been acting this way. You know what people say about you. But if you come back to camp and do your duty, I"ll have it all straightened out. If you don"t, I"ll have you shot."
His voice was as calm and his manner as composed as if he were promising the man opposite him a reward for good conduct. He looked Mills steadily in the eyes all the time. The boys felt as if their friend were about to be executed. The General seemed an immeasurable distance above them.
The deserter blinked twice or thrice, slowly bit his shred of straw, looked casually first toward one boy and then toward the other, but without the slightest change of expression in his face.
"Cun"l," he said, at length, "I ain"t no deserter. I ain"t feared of bein" shot. Ef I was, I wouldn" "a" come here now. I"m gwine wid you, an" I"m gwine back to my company; an" I"m gwine fight, ef Yankees gits in my way; but ef I gits tired, I"s comin" home; an" "tain"t no use to tell you I ain"t, "cause I _is_,--an" ef anybody flings up to me that I"s a-runnin" away, I"m gwine to kill "em!"
He rose to his feet in the intensity of his feeling, and his eyes, usually so dull, were like live coals.
The General looked at him quietly a few seconds, then himself arose and laid his hand on Tim Mills" shoulder.
"All right," he said.
"I got a little snack M"lindy put up," said Mills, pulling a substantial bundle out of his game-bag. "I "lowed maybe you might be sort o" hongry. Jes" two or three squirrels I shot," he said, apologetically.
"You boys better git "long home, I reckon," said Mills to w.i.l.l.y. "You ain" "fraid, is you? "Cause if you is, I"ll go with you."
His voice had resumed its customary drawl.
"Oh, no," said both boys, eagerly. "We aren"t afraid."
"An" tell your ma I ain" let n.o.body tetch nothin" on the Oakland plantation; not sence that day you all went huntin" deserters; not if I knowed "bout it."
"Yes, sir."
"An" tell her I"m gwine take good keer o" Hugh an" the Cunnel.
Good-bye!--now run along!"
"All right, sir,--good-bye."
"An" ef you hear anybody say Tim Mills is a d"serter, tell "em it"s a lie, an" you know it. Good-bye." He turned away as if relieved.
The boys said good-bye to all three, and started in the direction of home.
CHAPTER XVI.
After crossing the gully, and walking on through the woods for what they thought a safe distance, they turned into the path.
They were talking very merrily about the General and Hugh and their friend Mills, and were discussing some romantic plan for the recapture of their horses from the enemy, when they came out of the path into the road, and found themselves within twenty yards of a group of Federal soldiers, quietly sitting on their horses, evidently guarding the road.
The sight of the blue-coats made the boys jump. They would have crept back, but it was too late--they caught the eye of the man nearest them. They ceased talking as suddenly as birds in the trees stop chirruping when the hawk sails over; and when one Yankee called to them, in a stern tone, "Halt there!" and started to come toward them, their hearts were in their mouths.
"Where are you boys going?" he asked, as he came up to them.