The Young Sharpshooter at Antietam Page 4

  CHAPTER III

  INTERCEPTED

  In spite of the strict orders which had been issued for preventingforaging, either the memory of the feast for which the pig that Dennishad secured had provided the main course, or the restlessness due to themonotony of camp life, caused the practice to be renewed by some of themore restless spirits. Among these was Dennis O'Hara.

  A few days afterward Dennis said to Noel, "Come on, lad, we'll take awalk over these hills."

  "What for?" inquired Noel suspiciously.

  "Shure, and 'tis to see the scenery."

  "I want the walk," said Noel promptly, "and if you'll promise to behaveyourself and not get either of us into trouble with any of your pranks,I'll go with you."

  Accordingly, early in the afternoon leave was obtained and the two youngsoldiers departed from the camp at Harper's Ferry.

  As yet they had no fear of an immediate approach of the Confederates. Itwas well known that General Lee, after his success in preventingGeneral McClellan and his great army from advancing up the Peninsula totake Richmond, and his success in the second battle of Bull Run, orManassas, had decided to cross the Potomac into Maryland. General Popehad been relieved of his command and General McClellan had beenreinstated as the leader of the Northern armies.

  The action of General Lee in deciding to invade the North produced aconsternation that was followed almost by a panic. There wereexpectations that if he was successful he might not only takeWashington, the capital of the nation, but also that he might moveagainst Philadelphia and other Northern cities.

  The soldiers of the Southern army were following Lee with a devotion andenthusiasm that at the time were without a parallel in the armies of theNorth. General McClellan doubtless was a more able engineer than GeneralLee, but his lack of prompt decision and quick action was known to hisopponent, for both were graduates of West Point. Either his knowledge ofthe lack of decision on the part of General McClellan, or his desire forthe armies of the North to withdraw from the vicinity of Richmond,because its defenders might not be able to withstand a well-directed andconcerted attack, or both reasons, may have influenced him in hisdaring, not to say dangerous, attempt.

  It was not until later in the war that a man was developed who commandedthe confidence of the North and the enthusiastic loyalty of the Northerntroops.

  At this time, in 1862, there were divisions and jealousies among the menand almost a total lack of preparation among the bodies of troops.

  With McClellan in command again there was a prompter action on his partthan had been manifest throughout his Peninsula campaign. It was acritical time for his army and himself, and a time of peril for thecities of the North not far from the border.

  Early in the preceding spring Noel and Frank Curtis, twin brothers,whose home had been on the shores of the far-away St. Lawrence, hadenlisted, and had been assigned to the army of McClellan. Since they hadbeen little fellows they had been familiar with the use of the rifle andhad acquired such skill that both, soon after they had joined the army,were assigned to the sharpshooters.

  In the battle of Malvern Hill, Noel had been wounded and sent home for atime. His brother Frank also had been home on a furlough. At thebeginning of the fall campaign, Noel, now having recovered from hiswound, and Frank were both ordered to rejoin the army.

  For some reason, which Noel did not fully understand, his brother hadbeen assigned to a different corps, while he, together with eightthousand of his comrades, had been assigned to the holding of Harper'sFerry. Another small division had been stationed at Martinsburg and atWinchester.

  It was not known among these garrisons that General Lee had expected,upon his advance into Maryland, that these troops would quickly bewithdrawn. It is now understood that General McClellan had writtenGeneral Halleck to recall these men and attach them to the Army of thePotomac; but Halleck had decided to retain the garrisons in the Valley,and his decision has been sharply criticized on the ground that heviolated every principle of sound strategy.

  Among the friends that Frank and Noel had made there was young DennisO'Hara, a bright, happy young Irishman, about twenty years of age, justtwo years older than the twin brothers.

  The friendship had been strengthened and the intimacy increased afterthe brothers had been separated. Dennis and Noel now were not onlytent-mates, but almost inseparable companions.

  As yet there had been slight call for their labors at Harper's Ferry. Itwas not known that the Confederate army was near, and in their sense ofsecurity most of the men were becoming somewhat careless in theobservance of their duties.

  "There's one place," said Dennis, when the two young soldiers had gone amile or more from their quarters, "where I don't want to go to-day."

  "Where's that?"

  "'T is where that fat nager woman lives."

  "But she said she was one of the best friends you had."

  "'Friends'!" snapped Dennis. "'Friends'! I think she's the first cousin,and maybe she's the sister, of ould Satan himself. You don't catch megoin' anywhere near that place again. If she thinks I came down here toset such nagers as she free, she's very much mistaken. No, sor! Niveragain! If she should run after me any more, she'll only reach methrough me dead body."

  "But suppose, Dennis," laughed Noel, "that you found another pigsomewhere. Which would you do, drop the pig or keep off the fat darky?"

  "I'd keep off the darky, anyway, though I don't think I should let go mepig. 'T was good of you, Noel, to give me your word that you would nivertell anybody in the camp about it."

  "About what?" inquired Noel innocently.

  "About what took place the other day when that nager woman chased me."

  "When did I promise?"

  "Shure, you promised right there where we were whin I got away fromher," said Dennis, as he stopped abruptly and looked into the face ofhis companion.

  "But I don't remember making any such promise," said Noel slowly.

  "Indade, an' you did," declared Dennis. "You gave me your word, and yourword is better nor your bond. You haven't breathed a word of it to alivin' soul."

  "How do you know I haven't?"

  "Because if you had whispered it even to the sutler 't would have beenall over the camp in no time. I knew I could rely on you, me boy."

  "But I tell you," protested Noel, "I don't remember making any suchpromise."

  "You shure did, and if you didn't you'll give it to me now."

  "How do you know I will?" protested Noel, whose opportunities of teasinghis joke-loving tent-mate were not numerous.

  If there was any mischief in the camp every one by common consentdeclared that Dennis O'Hara had a share in it, if he was not the primemover. But like all practical jokers, Dennis, so fond of playing pranksupon others, was usually easily angered when he himself was made thevictim of the pranks.

  "Shure, Noel," he begged, "you'll give me your promise now? Just thinkwhat it would mane for me. Ugh!" he added, as he closed his eyes andshuddered at the recollection of the "attack" of the huge field-hand.

  "But, Dennis," protested Noel, "she was simply trying to show her lovefor you. She said she had been waiting years for you to come down here.Indeed, she declared that with you here the year of Jubilee had nothingto offer."

  "She didn't!" spoke up Dennis promptly. "Indade, an' she said nothin'of the kind! If you won't mind, Noel," he added, "I think I'll make adeetour about that cabin yonder," as a little log cabin in the distancewas seen.

  "What's the matter now, Dennis?" laughed Noel. "You aren't afraid therewill be more field-hands there?"

  "I don't feel like takin' great chances. I tell you, Noel, one suchchase is enough to last a man a lifetime."

  "I don't know, Dennis, whether or not we had better go much farther,"said Noel, hesitating as he stood on the hillside and looked anxiouslyabout him. "We must be five or six miles from camp now and we ought toget back long before sunset."

  "What's scarin' ye, Noel?" demanded Dennis.

  "Nothing is scaring
me," answered Noel; "but I don't want to get areprimand for being late in the camp. We wouldn't get leave to be awayagain very soon if we did."

  "There are no Johnnies around here, anyway."

  "You don't know that," said Noel positively.

  "We haven't seen any."

  "That doesn't mean that General Lee has not sent some division overthis way. He has a trick of doing that, you know, and making his menshow up where they aren't always expected."

  "I don't mind the Johnnies," said Dennis boldly, "if we can only keepaway from the nagers. Did you mind, lad, the cockle-burrs that were inthe wool of that ould field-hand that tried--"

  Dennis stopped abruptly, and turning sharply listened to the soundswhich had apparently come from the valley below them.

  "What's that?" he whispered.

  "That sounded like a rifle shot," said Noel seriously. "I tell you,Dennis, we must get back to camp. I don't want to take any chances ofbeing cut off, and it would be mighty easy for some Johnnie to getbetween us and the picket. I don't like the sound of that shot."

  "No more do I," agreed Dennis. "I'm with you, lad, we'll start for thecamp."

  More anxious than either of the young soldiers was willing to admit tohis companion, Noel and Dennis started hastily down the hillside, ontheir way back to the garrison at Harper's Ferry.

  Even thoughts of foraging apparently were ignored or forgotten byDennis. Success had not crowned their efforts that day. Not a pig hadbeen seen, and if there were any chickens in the region they had beensuccessfully hidden by their owners. A few withered beets and a bunch ofonions comprised the entire stock which Dennis had secured with all hisefforts.

  "Look yonder, will ye!" exclaimed the excited young Irishman in a loudwhisper, pointing as he spoke to a small body of men in gray who couldbe seen not far away in the road before them.

  "We'll have to hide," whispered Noel. "It may be that they have seen usalready, but if they haven't we might stand a chance of getting pastthem. Come on!" he added as he seized his companion by the arm and drewhim to the roadside.

  The discovery which the two young soldiers had made was doublythreatening because the road now was not near any woods.

  The partly cleared fields were inclosed by rude fences of rails. Hastilyleaping over the fence, Noel and Dennis crouched on the ground behindthe rails.

  Before they had taken their position Dennis whispered hoarsely, "Theyhave seen us, lad. There must be twinty men in that band. If we try forthe woods yonder, they'll get us both."

  "We'll have to stay right where we are, Dennis, and do the best we canto defend ourselves."

  "The odds are only tin to one," said Dennis, chuckling as if the factwas more of a joke than a peril. "They're comin', too," he added as hepointed toward a small body of men who could be seen advancing up theside of the hill.