Read Ebook: The Blue Balloon: A Tale of the Shenandoah Valley by Horsley Reginald Stacey W S Walter S Illustrator

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Ebook has 1663 lines and 73674 words, and 34 pages

'A heap, I reckon,' said Ephraim, eyeing him along the gun-stock he was planing. 'But no matter for that, Luce. Yer par would never let ye go.'

'Maybe then I'd go without asking him,' muttered Lucius rebelliously.

Ephraim laid down the gun-stock and approached him. 'See hyar, Luce,' he said anxiously, 'ye ain't got no idees in yer head, hev ye?'

Lucius burst out laughing. 'Well, you have a way of putting things,' he cried. 'I believe I have just one, and that is, I am going to be a soldier.'

Ephraim considered a moment. 'Waal,' he said at last, 'ef thet's so, I believe I'll hev to volunteer ter look after ye.'

Lucius roared afresh at this. 'A pretty soldier you would make, Grizzly,' he shouted. 'I fancy I see you ambling along with a gun over your shoulder. Why, I believe you'd be scared to death the moment you let it off.'

'Maybe I would,' admitted Ephraim candidly. 'I 'low I han't been used to shootin'. But anyway, Luce, whar ye kin lead, I reckon I'll do my best ter foller.'

The months rolled on, the battle of Manassas had been fought and won, and the Federals, driven back upon Washington in hopeless rout, with the immediate result that thousands of volunteers left the Confederate service and returned to their homes and their ordinary vocations, thinking that an enemy so easily whipped could be as easily finished off without their further help. Many officers, too, who had hastened to the front at the first call of the trumpet, leaving their plantations or their businesses to look after themselves, gladly took advantage of the temporary lull to snatch a short furlough. Among these latter was Major Markham, who since the first sudden rush upon Harper's Ferry in April had never once left the field. Now, however, a wound received at Bull Run incapacitating him from further service for the present, he rejoined his wife and son at Markham Hall.

The picturesque descriptions which his father gave him of the leading features of the battle, along with many incidents of personal adventure and heroism, so fired Lucius's already ardent spirit, that from that time onwards he lived in imagination the life of a soldier. He begged, he prayed, he implored, he even went on his knees to his father to allow him to join the army as a drummer-boy, as a bugler, as a mule-driver, as anything at all, in any capacity whatsoever. Major Markham laughed at his son at first, but when he realised how absolutely in earnest Lucius was, he bade him, with what show of sternness he could muster--for he could not but admire the boy's high spirit--never to mention the subject again.

Thwarted at home, Lucius sought consolation from his friend Ephraim, and so worked upon his slower nature with tales of deeds of daring, drawn almost entirely from his own perfervid imagination, that even Grizzly was stirred to enthusiasm, and flourished his long arms over his head as he declared his intention of annihilating whole regiments of Yankees at one fell blow, by means of some devastating compound, the first idea of which was germinating in his fertile brain.

At the same time, Ephraim's common sense stood both him and Lucius in good stead, and held the younger boy back more effectually than the commands of his father or the pleadings of his mother. But when Major Markham rejoined his regiment in December, to take part in the terrible expedition to Romney, Lucius could bear the restraint no longer, and one cold, snowy night he astonished Ephraim by suddenly appearing and boldly proposing that they should run away together.

'Whar ye gwine ter run ter?' inquired common-sense Ephraim, looking up from the calculations on which he was engaged.

'How do I know?' flashed Lucius the fervid. 'We'll just go on until we come to one of our armies. They'll be mighty glad to let us join.'

'A stark lighter sech ez ye would be!' said Ephraim with beaming admiration, and without the least trace of irony.

'Sho!' interrupted Ephraim. 'Don't ye count on me. I warn ye.'

'What!' exclaimed Lucius, in a voice of mingled surprise and grief. 'Do you mean to say that, after all I have told you, you will let me go alone?'

'I ain't gwine ter let ye go at all, Luce,' returned Ephraim, placing a long, hairy arm affectionately round the boy's neck. 'See hyar, now,' he went on, as Lucius shook himself angrily free, 'thar ain't nuthin' ter call fightin' goin' on jest now. Nothin' but marchin' round and round, and up and down in the snow and the slush. Now, thar ain't no fun in thet, I reckon.'

'Well, no,' admitted Lucius reluctantly. He thought for a moment or two, and then burst out: 'Look here, Grizzly, the real fighting is sure to begin again in spring. If I promise to wait, will you promise to come with me then?'

'I 'low we'll wait till spring comes along,' answered Ephraim oracularly. 'Ef ye're ez sot upon it then ez ye air now, I'll see what I kin do.'

'That's a bargain, then,' said Lucius. 'I just long to see a real good battle. Mind, if you go back on me now, I'll call you a coward and start without you.'

'I ain't any coward,' answered Ephraim quietly, though his pale face flushed slightly; 'leastways ez fur ez goin' along with ye is consarned. Ye don't imagine I'd go fer ter lose sight of ye, Luce?' he finished, with a catch in his voice.

'Oh no,' said Lucius, mollified. 'Only I thought that maybe you couldn't understand my feelings. You're a dear old thing, Grizzly; but you're a rough bit of stick, you know, and you haven't so much at stake as people like us.' And the young aristocrat drew himself proudly up.

'Thet's a fact,' nodded Ephraim; 'though I ain't heard ez the fust families hez been doin' all the fightin'.' There was a subdued grin on his face as he spoke.

'Of course not,' said Lucius hastily. 'Our fellows are stark fighters all round; but it's men like my father and Jackson and the rest who lead the way. You know that well enough.'

Ephraim stretched out his brown hairy paw and drew Lucius towards him. 'I only know I'd die fer ye glad and willin' ef ye war ahead, Luce,' he said tenderly.

'Shucks!' exclaimed Lucius impatiently; 'who said anything about dying? Now it's all settled, and you'll come.'

'I'll be on time,' said Ephraim. He was silent for a moment, during which he thought deeply. Finally he said,'Ye air jest sot ter see a battle, ain't ye, Luce?'

'Yes,' answered Lucius. 'Didn't I tell you so?'

'Waal,' resumed Ephraim, 'wouldn't ye be content jest ter see wan, without arskin' ter take a hand in the fightin'?'

'Whatever do you mean by that?' queried Lucius. 'I don't understand you.'

'Waal, it don't matter,' said Ephraim, 'fer I reckon I han't got no very cl'ar idee of what I mean myself ez yet. Anyway thar's heaps of time. We're on'y beginnin' December now, and thar'll be nuthin' this long while. Ef ye're still sot in spring, why, we'll see.'

'See what?' demanded Lucius impatiently. 'Can't you explain?'

But Ephraim either could not or would not, and presently Lucius took his departure in high dudgeon.

Ephraim sat thinking to himself for a long while, and finally he took down a volume from his shelves and buried himself in it, until the voice of the old woman in the next room disturbed him by querulously demanding 'Ef he warn't never goin' to bed.'

'Thet's the only way ter do it,' he muttered, passing the coins backwards and forwards through his fingers. 'Thar's not much more than enough thar, if thar is enough. Imagine! Only that little lot in five long years. Seems a pity, jest fer a whim. But it's fer Luce. It's ter pleasure Luce. He's that sot on it, and he nat'ally looks ter me. No matter, I guess I'll work it up again.'

He stood looking into the box with eyes that did not see, for he was far away in spirit in the little Massachusetts town, where stood the famous college he so ardently desired to enter.

Splash! A great tear fell into the box of dollars.

He broke off suddenly, snapped the lid of the box, and threw it back into the trunk.

He choked over the words, a rain of tears gushed from his eyes, and with a low cry he flung himself sobbing upon his bed.

The year came to an end, and plague and worry him as he would, Lucius could extract nothing from Ephraim to throw light on the mysterious remark. Indeed Grizzly was now seldom or never to be found in his workshop; nor could Aunty Chris explain his absence, or disclose his whereabouts, for, as she frankly confessed, she knew nothing whatever about him. Lucius, of course, whenever he could waylay him, questioned and cross-questioned him as to what he was engaged upon in his spare time and where; but Grizzly invariably replied with a wag of his head: 'Ye'll git thar in time, Luce. On'y ye'll hev ter hang on till the time comes.' With which Delphic utterance Lucius was obliged to be content.

Meantime the war was not standing still. Manassas had, after all, not crumpled up the North, and early in '62 the people of the valley were rudely awakened to the fact by the appearance among them of no less than three Federal generals, with an aggregate force of sixty-four thousand men. And to these Stonewall Jackson could oppose but thirteen thousand! But though the excitement was great, there was little anxiety; for the reputation which Jackson and his brigade had won at Manassas, and their stern and soldierly endurance of the terrible hardships of the severe winter just ended, inspired a confidence in their prowess, which would scarcely have been shaken had all the armies of the North been combined against them.

What were men's feelings then, when the astounding news spread like wildfire from town to town: 'Jackson has deserted us in our extremity. He has fled through the gaps to the east side of the Blue Ridge!'

The report was not unfounded. It certainly was true that Jackson had disappeared from the valley. Only Colonel Ashby, the famous cavalry leader, remained behind with a thousand sabres at his back.

Men laughed bitterly. What was this little force to do for their protection against an army so gigantic? But Ashby with scattered troops was here, there, and everywhere. Now at McDowell, now at Strasburg, now at Franklin, yesterday at Front Royal, to-morrow at Luray. But what he learned in his reconnaissances, and where he sent the information which he acquired, no man knew, no man had the heart to ask. In Staunton itself the wildest confusion reigned; for no sooner had the news of Jackson's flight been conveyed to the Federal generals, than they set their masses in motion, and began to advance along converging lines upon the little town. That it was to be occupied was regarded as certain, and in the universal terror much that was valuable in the way of military stores was removed or destroyed; while General Johnson with six regiments retired from his strong position on the Shenandoah Mountain, intent only on saving his small force by effecting a junction with the vanished Jackson wherever he might find him.

Then came the day when Staunton, abandoned and defenceless, lay sullenly awaiting its fate, with Milroy and twelve thousand Federals not two-and-twenty miles away, and Fr?mont coming on with thirty thousand more.

It was a Sunday, and the churches were full of devout worshippers, praying doubtless that the chastening rod held over them might be averted in its descent. Suddenly a strange and terrible sound arose--a noise of trampling thousands, the clink of steel against steel as scabbard and stirrup jangled together, the clatter of squadrons upon the road, the hoarse rumble and grumble of artillery wagons. People looked at one another in dismay. Despite their supplications the blow had fallen: they were in the hands of the enemy.

Slowly, with mournful hearts and dejected mien, they filed out of church, their downcast eyes refusing to look at the bitter sight. Then, as one head after another was lifted, exclamations of deep surprise broke forth here and there.

What a shout of joy went up from the multitude: 'Confederates! Confederates! They are our own boys back again! Old Stonewall is here! Thank God! Hurrah! Hurrah!'

The excitement was tremendous. Nerves were strung to highest tension; emotions touched the breaking point. Men leaped and danced for very joy. Women flung themselves into each other's arms and wept for sheer happiness. And through it all the gray hosts rolled steadily on.

Then, as suddenly as it had arisen, the hubbub subsided. Apprehension reigned once more, and the eager questions passed from lip to lip: 'What are they doing here? Have they been routed? Are they only in retreat?'

No, the soldiers answered, they were not running away. They had not seen or heard of the enemy for days. What were they doing here, then? Again they did not know. Nobody knew except old Stonewall. He knew of course. It was one of his tricks. He had got something under his hat.

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