They built a fine fire and cooked a bountiful meal, of which all, including the "Squire and children, partook heartily. A liberal portion, with big cups of strong coffee, were sent into the bridal couple. As bed-time drew near, they sent the "Squire and the children into the house, and divided themselves up into reliefs to watch during the night.
CHAPTER XVII. GATHERING INFORMATION
SI AND SHORTY WORK A TRAP AND LAND SOME PRISONERS.
THE boys were sitting around having another smoke before crawling into their blankets, spread under the shade of the scraggly locusts and mangy cedars, when the dogs raised an alarm.
"Get back under the shadow of the trees, boys, and keep quiet," said Si.
"h.e.l.lo, the house!" came out of the darkness at the foot of the hill.
"h.e.l.lo, thar" yourself," answered Shorty, imitating Mrs. Bolster"s voice.
"Hit"s me--Brad Tingle. Don"t yo" know my voice? Call off yer dogs.
They"ll eat me up."
"Hullo, Brad; is that yo"? Whar"d yo" come from? Git out, thar, Watch!
Lay down, Tige! Begone, Bones! Come on up, Brad."
Shorty"s imitations of Mrs. Bolster"s voice and manner were so good as to deceive even the dogs, who changed their att.i.tude of shrill defiance to one of fawning welcome.
"Whar"d yo" come from, Brad?" repeated Shorty as the newcomer made his way up the narrow, stony path.
"Jest from the Yankee camps," answered the newcomer. "Me an" Jim Wyatt"s bin over thar by that{236} Hoosier camp tryin" to git the drop on their Kurnel as he was gwine t" Brigade Headquarters. We a"most had him when a company o" Yankees that"d bin out in the country for something a"most run over us. They"uns wuz a-nigh on top o" we"uns afore we seed they"uns, an" then we"uns had t" scatter. Jim run one way an" me another. I come back here t" see ef yo" had any o" the boys here. I hearn tell that a pa.s.sel o" Yankee ossifers is at a dance over at the Widder Brewster"s an" I thought we"uns might done gether they"uns in ef we"uns went about it right."
"So you kin--so you kin," said Shorty, reaching out from behind the bushes and catching him by the collar. "And to show you how, I"ll jest gether you in."
A harsh, prolonged, sibilant, far-reaching hiss came from the door of the cabin, but came too late to warn Brad Tingle of the trap into which he was walking.
Shorty understood it at once. He jerked Tingle forward into Si"s strong clutch, and then walked toward the cabin, singing out angrily:
"Jeff Hackberry, I want you to make that wife o" your"n mind her own bisness, and let other people"s alone. You and her"ve got quite enough to do to tend to your honeymoon, without mixing into things that don"t concern you. Take her back to bed and keep her there."
He went back to where Si was disarming and searching Tingle. The prisoner had a United States musket, cartridge-box, canteen, and a new haversack, all of which excited Shorty"s ire.{237}
"You hound, you," he said, taking him by the throat with a fierce grasp, "you"ve bin bushwhacking, and got these things off some soldier you sneaked onto and killed. We ought to kill you right now, like we would a dog."
"No, Mister, I haint killed n.o.body; I swar t" G.o.d I haint," gurgled the prisoner, trying to release his throat from Shorty"s grip.
"Where"d you git these things?" demanded Shorty.
"Mrs. Bolster gi" me the gun an" cartridge-box; I done found the canteen in the road, an" the poke with the letters in hit the Yank had done laid down beside him when he stopped t" git a drink, an" me an" Jim crep" up on him an" ordered him to surrender. He jumped an" run, an" we wuz af eared to shoot least we bring the rest o" the Yanks down onto us."
At the mention of letters Si began eagerly examining the contents of the haversack. He held some of them down to the light of the fire, and then exclaimed excitedly:
"Why, boys, this is our mail. It was Will Gobright they were after."
A sudden change came over Shorty. He took the prisoner by the back of the neck and ran him up to the door of the house and flung him inside.
Then he hastened back to the fire and said:
"Le"s see them letters."
A pine-knot had been thrown on the fire to make a bright blaze, by the light of which Si was laboriously fumbling over the letters. Even by the flaring, uncertain glare it could be seen that a ruddy hue came into his face as he came across one with a gorgeous flag on one end of the envelope, and directed in a{238} pinched, labored hand on straight lines scratched by a pin. He tried to slip the letter unseen by the rest into his blouse pocket, but fumbled it so badly that he dropped the rest in a heap at the edge of the fire.
"Look out, Si," said Shorty crossly, and hastily s.n.a.t.c.hing the letters away from the fire. "You"ll burn up somebody"s letters, and then there"ll be no end o" trouble. You"re clumsier"n a foundered horse. Your fingers are all thumbs."
"Handle them yourself, if you think you kin do any better," said Si, who, having got all that he wanted, lost interest in the rest. If Si"s fingers were all thumbs. Shorty"s seemed all fists. Besides, his reading of handwriting was about as laborious as climbing a ladder. He tackled the lot bravely, though, and laboriously spelled out and guessed one address after another, until suddenly his eye was glued on a postmark that differed from the others. "Wis." first caught his glance, and he turned the envelope around until he had spelled out "Bad Ax" as the rest of the imprint. This was enough. n.o.body else in the regiment got letters from Bad Ax, Wis. He fumbled the letter into his blouse pocket, and in turn dropped the rest at the edge of the fire, arousing protests from the other boys.
"Well, if any o" you think you kin do better"n I kin, take "em up. There they are," said he. "You go over "em, Tom Welch. I must look around a little."
Shorty secretly caressed the precious envelope in his pocket with his great, strong fingers, and pondered as to how he was going to get an opportunity to read the letter before daylight. It was too sacred{239} and too sweet to be opened and read before the eyes of his unsympathetic, teasing comrades, and yet it seemed an eternity to wait till morning. He stole a glance out of the corner of his eye at Si, who was going through the same process, as he stood with abstracted air on the other side of the fire. The sudden clamor of the dogs recalled them to present duties.
"Hullo, the house!" came out of the darkness.
"Hullo, yourself!" replied Shorty, in Mrs. Bolster"s tones.
"It"s me--Groundhog. Call off yer dogs."
Si and Shorty looked startled, and exchanged significant glances.
"Needn"t "ve told it was him," said Shorty. "I could smell his breath even this far. Hullo, Groundhog," he continued in loud tones. "Come on up. Git out, Watch! Lay down, Tige! Begone, Bones! Come on up, Groundhog. What"s the news?"
A louder, longer, more penetrating hiss than ever sounded from the house. Shorty looked around angrily. Si made a break for the door.
"No, I can"t come up now," said Groundhog; "I jest come by to see if things wuz all right. A company went out o" camp this mornin" for some place that I couldn"t find out. I couldn"t git word t" you, an" I"ve bin anxious "bout whether it come this way."
"Never tetched us," answered Shorty, in perfect reproduction of Mrs.
Bolster"s accents. "We"uns is all right."
The hissing from the cabin became so loud that it seemed impossible for Groundhog not to hear it.{240}
"Blast it, Si, can"t you gag that old guinea-hen," said Shorty, in a savage undertone.
Si was in the meanwhile muttering all sorts of savage threats at Mrs.
Bolster, the least of which was to go in and choke the life out of her if she did not stop her signalling.
"Glad t" hear it," said Groundhog. "I was a leetle skeery all day about it, an" come out as soon"s I could. Have yo" seed Brad Tingle?"
"Yes; seen him to-day."
"D" yo" know whar he is? Kin yo" git word to him quick?"
"Yes, indeed; right off."
"Well, send word to him as soon as you kin, that I"ve got the mules ready for stampedin" an" runnin" off at any time, an" waitin" for him.
The sooner he kin jump the corral the better. To-night, if he kin, but suttinly not later"n to-morrer night. Be sure and git word to him by early to-morrer mornin" at the furthest."
"I"ll be sure t" git word t" him this very night," answered the fict.i.tious Mrs. Bolster.