Shorty and Si considered Nate Hartburn their special protege, and were deeply anxious to transform him into a complete soldier in the shortest possible time. He was so young, alert, and seemingly pliable, that it appeared there would be no difficulty in quickly making him a model soldier. But they found that while he at once responded to any suggestion of a raid or a fight, drill, discipline and camp routine were bores that he could be induced to take only a languid interest in.
Neither Si nor Shorty were any too punctilious in these matters, but they were careful to keep all the time within easy conversational distance of the regulations and tactics. Naturally, also, they wanted their pupil to do better than they did. But no lecturing would prevent young Hartburn from slouching around camp with his hands in his pockets and his head bent. He would not or could not keep step in the ranks, nor mark time. While Si was teaching him he would make a listless attempt to go through the manual of arms, but he would make no attempt to handle his gun the prescribed way after the lesson was ended. Si was duly mindful of the sore time he himself had in learning the drill, and tried to be very considerate with him, but his patience was sorely tried at times.
"For goodness" sake, Nate," Si would say irritably, "try to keep step.
You"re throwin" everybody out."
""Tain"t my fault, Si," Nate would reply with a soft drawl. "Hit"s theirs. I"m walkin" all right, but they"uns hain"t. Jaw them. What"s the sense o" walkin" so" close together, anyway? Yo" don"t git thar no sooner."
Then again:
"Great jumpin" Jehosephat, Nate, will you never learn the right way to hold your gun when you present arms? You must turn the trigger outside, not the hammer."
"O, Jeminy, what difference does. .h.i.t make? I never kin recollect hit, an" what"s the use o" tryin"? Can"t see no sense in holdin" a gun straight up an" down that-a-way, anyway, an" if yo" do, hain"t one side jest as good as t"other?"
He was so obdurate that the boys would some times be provoked to sharp words to him, but his gentle speech would quickly disarm them again, and make them feel penitent.
At last the 200th Ind. came out upon the crest of Waldron"s Ridge, overlooking the Tennessee River, which wound and turned amid the towering mountains like a band of bright silver traversing the giant billows of green. Everyone caught his breath at the sight, for beyond the stream were rebel camps, and moving trains and long, lines of marching men. Was all of Bragg"s army gathered over there to dispute the pa.s.sage or was a part still this side of the river, ready to pounce on our heads of columns as they meandered down the mountain?
The brigade was closed up, information sent to the Division Commander, and the 200th Ind. pushed to the front to develop whatever might be there. Si with Shorty and some others were sent ahead to feel for the enemy.
"Take him along?" asked Si of Shorty in a low tone, with a nod toward Nate, as they were making up the squad.
"Don"t know," answered Shorty. "If ever in the world, we want men with us to-day who don"t git rattled, and make a holy show o" theirselves before the regiment, but"ll keep cool, watch their chances, and obey orders. Guess we"d better leave him behind."
"Seems to me," said Si, trying vaguely to recall his Scriptual readings, "that the Bible says some thing agin takin" a newly-married man right into battle just after he"s married."
He looked around again, saw Nate taking his place along with the other men selected, and called out:
"Here, Nate, fall back to the company. You can"t go along."
"Please, Mister Si, le" me go along," begged Nate, in the soft tones of a girl asking for a flower. "I"ll be good. I"ll hold my gun straight, an" try t" keep step."
"No, you can"t go., This "s partickler business, and we want only experienced men with us. Better fall back to the company."
"Go ahead, there, Corporal," commanded the Adjutant. "Time"s pa.s.sing.
We must move."
Si deployed his men and entered the dense woods which curtained the view and shrouded the enemy. It was one of those deeply anxious moments in war, when the enemy is in ambush, and the next instant, the next step may develop him in deadly activity.
Si was on the right of his line and Shorty on the left, and they were pushing forward slowly, cautiously, and with every sense strained to the extremity of alertness.
So dense was the foliage overhead that it was almost a twilight in the forest depths they were penetrating, and Si"s eyes were strained to keep track of the men moving on his left, and at the same time watch the developments in front. He had noticed that he was approaching a little opening some distance ahead, and that beyond it was a dense thicket of tall laurels. Then he thought he heard a low whistle from Shorty, and looked far to the left, while continuing to walk forward.
Suddenly he was startled by a shot a little to his rear and left. Then a shot answered from the laurel thicket, he saw the bushes over there stir violently, and he heard Nate"s voice say:
"He wuz layin" for yo", Si, an" come nigh a-gittin" yo", but I think I must"ve at least creased him, from the wild way he shot back. Le"s go forrard an" see."
"I thought I told you to stay back," said Si, more intent on military discipline than his escape.
"I know yo" did done hit, but I couldn"t mind, an" tagged "long arter yo"."
"How"d you know he wuz there?"
"I done seed the bushes move over his head. I knowed jest how he wuz a-layin" for yo". Le"s go forrard an" git him."
Si and Nate ran across the open s.p.a.ce to the laurels, and found a little ways in a bushwhacker staggering from pain and loss of blood from a wound in his hip, and making labored efforts to escape.
"I done hit him; I done fetched him; I done knowed jist whar he wuz,"
exclaimed Nate with boyish exultation.
At the sound of his voice the bushwhacker turned around upon him an ugly, brutal face, full of savage hatred.
"Why, hit"s bad ole Wash Barnstable, what burnt daddy"s stable with two horses, an" shot brother Wils through the arm. I"ll jist job him in the heart with my bayonet," screamed the boy as he recognized the face.
His own features became transfigured with rage, and he began fixing his bayonet. Si pushed forward and caught the bushwhacker by the shoulder and tore the gun from his hand. Nate came springing up, with his bayonet pointed directly at the man"s heart. Si saw it in time to thrust it aside, saying in wrathful astonishment:
"Nate, you little scoundrel, what do you mean? Would you kill a wounded man?"
"Suttenly I"ll done kill him," screamed the boy in a a frenzy of rage.
"Why not? He desarves. .h.i.t, the h.e.l.l-hound. All of us Hartburns "ve said we"d done kill him the minnit we laid eyes on him. Now that I"ve got him I"m gwine t" finish him."
He made another vicious lunge at the man with his bayonet.
"Indeed you"re not," said Si, releasing his hold on the prisoner and catching Nate"s gun. "You mustn"t kill a wounded man, you young wildcat."
[Ill.u.s.tration: "YOU MUST"NT KILL A WOUNDED MAN 143]
"Why not?" shouted the boy, beside himself with rage. "He"s done killed lots o" men. He"ll kill more if yo" let him go. He wuz layin" t" kill yo". Air yo" gwine t" gin him another chance to down yo"?"
Si wrested the gun from him. Two or three other boys who had been attracted by the shot came up at this moment. Si gave the prisoner into the charge of one of them, with instructions to take him to the rear.
Nate released his hold on his gun and made a jump for the one which the other boy had stood against a tree when he started to take hold of the prisoner. Again Si was too quick for him. He was by this time so angry that he was in the mood to give Nate a severe lesson, but the Adjutant, had ridden forward, called out:
"Go ahead, there, Corporal. We"re just behind you."
"Pick up your gun, there, Nate, and come along with me, if you kin behave yourself. There"s work much more important than killin" wounded bushwhackers. Come along, this minute."
Nate hesitated a moment, then picked up his gun with a vengeful look at the prisoner.
"I"ll kill him yit. Mebbe I"ll git a chance this evenin" yit," said he, and followed Si.
CHAPTER XII. SI AND SHORTY IN LUCK
THEY MAKE A BRIEF VISIT TO "G.o.d"S COUNTRY."
THE shot fired by Nate Hartburn was the only one that interrupted the progress of the 200th Ind. to the banks of the Tennessee River. Its cautious advance at last brought it out on the crest of a hill, at the foot of which, 200 feet below, flowed the clear current of the mountain-fed stream. The rebels were all on the other side. Their pickets could be plainly seen, and they held the further pier of the burned railroad bridge. To our right rose three strong forts, built the year previous.
As soon as it was determined that all the enemy were beyond the river, the 200th Ind. went into camp for the afternoon and night upon a cleared spot which had been used for that purpose before our troops had been flanked out of that country by Bragg"s raid into Kentucky just a year before.
A dress parade was ordered at 6 o"clock, and when the Adjutant came to "publish the orders," the regiment was astonished and Si electrified to hear: