"There!" she cried as she tore it into shreds. "There, Aunt Clarisse! He cannot sign it now."

"How dare you?" cried Madame, stamping her foot. "I will have you whipped."

But as she started to call the servants a sharp peal of the door bell rang through the house. Instantly a most remarkable transformation took place in the lady. Her rage disappeared as if by magic, and, as one of the darkies opened the door to announce. "Colonel Peyton," she presented a serene and smiling countenance to the gentleman.

"Colonel Peyton," she exclaimed, sweeping forward gracefully, "this is indeed an honor. To what good fortune am I indebted for such a favor?"

"The exigencies of war, Madame," answered the Colonel, bowing over her hand with courtly grace. "I am accompanied by some of my men. May I ask that they be permitted to enter?"

"Certainly," a.s.sented Madame sweetly, but there was a trace of uneasiness in her manner.

Into the room filed a squad of soldiers and with them, Jeanne could scarcely repress a cry of joy at sight of him, came Mr. Huntsworth.

"Madame," said Colonel Peyton, pulling a paper from his pocket.

"General Pemberton has sent a written order for a young man--a Federal prisoner--who was put in your charge to be taken care of until he should have recovered from his wound. As some time has elapsed he is convinced that he has sufficiently recovered to be turned over to us.

I have come to take him and also the young girl who accompanied him. They are prisoners of war, you understand."

Madame Vance bowed but her eyes glittered balefully.

"The girl is here, take her," she said. "But the boy--ah, mon Colonel, you must not take him yet. He is not able to go. Besides, let me but have him a short time longer and who knows but that a full fledged Confederate may be the result? He is not able to go. Leave him with me, Colonel, I beseech you. I will see the General myself."

"No; take him," interposed Jeanne who feared that the Colonel might succ.u.mb to the lady"s blandishments. "She wants to force him to her wish, and you don"t want such soldiers, Colonel Peyton."

"No," said the Colonel sternly. "We want no recruits made in such a manner, Madame Vance. Men, take your prisoner."

"Minx," shrieked Madame, flying at Jeanne in a pa.s.sion. "Is it thus you repay my kindness? Oh, I could kill you!"

"She is our prisoner," said Colonel Peyton stepping before her. "You must not touch the girl, Madame."

"I will report this indignity," cried Madame. "I will see General Pemberton. I do not lack influence, sir. You shall repent this."

"As you like, Madame." The Colonel bowed gravely and, like the brave soldier that he was, remained with the lady while the men carried d.i.c.k out, followed by Jeanne and Mr. Huntsworth who had his arm around the girl protectingly.

"Oh," cried the girl as they proceeded down the hill away from the place.

"I am so glad that you came when you did. I fear that I could not have held out much longer."

"Tell us what happened," suggested Mr. Huntsworth, and Jeanne did so.

"I think I never saw such a tiger cat," remarked the old gentleman when she had finished. "There was a time there when I thought that she was going to tear you to pieces. I fear that you are not through with her, my little friend."

"I will see General Pemberton," declared Colonel Peyton, "and prepare him for Madame"s onslaught. Meantime, I have his permission for you and your brother to stay at sister Sally"s until your brother fully recovers. But he is not at liberty, Jeanne, because he is a prisoner, you know."

"Yes, I know," said Jeanne, "and I will not say a word against it. Better a prisoner of the Confederates than to be in the hands of such a woman.

There will at least be some chance to exchange him. You don"t dislike me any more, do you, Colonel Peyton? You won"t care if Bob and I are friends, will you?"

"No; you poor child! I have been sorry that I was so unkind to you. After all I was glad that you girls saved Frank. It would have broken my heart had he been shot. Ah!----"

There was a rushing, whizzing sound and a huge mortar sh.e.l.l pa.s.sed over them, and, burying itself in the side of the hill beyond, exploded with a great report.

"What is it?" cried Jeanne affrightedly clinging to Mr. Huntsworth.

"The Federals have begun to sh.e.l.l the city," said the Colonel calmly.

"Their fleet has been gathering for several days. We have been expecting it."

CHAPTER XXVIII

THE SIEGE BEGINS

"Then we are safe, safe," cried Jeanne, forgetful of the presence of the soldiers. "Oh, Mr. Huntsworth, the Federals will soon have the city!"

"I wouldn"t be too sure of that, my little lady," remarked Colonel Peyton dryly. "Vicksburg is impregnable, and I fear that it will be a waste of ammunition on the part of the Federals."

"I did not mean to be impolite, Colonel," said the girl contritely. "It wasn"t very nice of me to make such a remark. I should be sorry for you if our men did take the city."

"You are a good little girl," said Colonel Peyton warmly. "I like a generous hearted foe."

"You must be careful not to express your feelings too openly," advised Mr. Huntsworth in a low tone. "These people are rebels but they are going to be our hosts and the Colonel has certainly interested himself in your behalf."

"He has," said Jeanne gratefully, "and I will be careful not to offend them."

Bob, rather pale and agitated on account of the sh.e.l.ls, met them at the door.

"Dad, what will we do if they sh.e.l.l the city?" she cried before greeting Jeanne.

"I reckon we can"t do anything," drawled the Colonel. "I thought you were a soldier, Bob? Soldiers don"t mind a few sh.e.l.ls."

"I suppose not," and Bob strove to regain her composure. "So you got Jeanne and her brother? Come in and tell me what else that woman has done. Here is Aunt Sally! Aunty, this is Jeanne and her brother, d.i.c.k Vance. They"re Yankees but they are real nice anyway."

"I am glad to see you, my dear," said the lady, kissing Jeanne. "Any friend of Bob"s is welcome be she Yankee or Confederate. And this is your brother? How pale he is! We must get him right to bed."

She bustled about d.i.c.k in a motherly fashion, her sympathies fully enlisted on his behalf by his illness. d.i.c.k was in truth much exhausted by his journey and sank into slumber as soon as his head touched the pillow.

Jeanne sat by him and told Bob and her aunt how Madame had tried to make him sign the paper.

"Rest and quiet are what he needs," observed Mr. Huntsworth. "He will come out of this all right, I think, now that he is removed from your aunt"s ministrations. What a creature she is! She reminds me of the middle ages. Vindictive, pa.s.sionate and cruel beyond measure as were the women of those times!"

The slow sh.e.l.ling of Vicksburg went on. The people gradually became indifferent and resumed their daily avocations. General Pemberton issued an order for all non-combatants to leave the city, but Bob and her aunt refused to pay any heed to it.

"Where could we go?" asked Bob when her father tried to combat her decision to stay. "You say the country is overrun with soldiers, and where is there a place safer than Vicksburg? The Yankees can never take it!"

"No; they cannot," returned the Colonel. "I don"t know but that you are right, Bob. I will have a cave dug in the hill back of the house to-morrow, and you can retire to it when the sh.e.l.ling becomes too bad."

And so it was arranged. Men began work the next day and soon dug a cave in the hillside back of them. Cave residence had become quite the thing since the sh.e.l.ling of the city had begun, and the hillsides were so honey-combed with excavations that the streets looked like avenues in a cemetery.

Bob and Jeanne settled themselves into a happy and quiet existence. They sewed in the morning and sometimes took excursions to Sky Parlor Hill to view the Federal fleet that lay on the river, and to look through a gla.s.s at the Federal encampment near the head of the abandoned ca.n.a.l.

Rumors were rife in the city of the advance of the Federal troops. One night heavy cannonading was heard for an hour or two, ceasing and then commencing again early in the morning. All day the noise continued. That night the sky in the South was crimsoned by the light of a large fire.