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About The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 13, 1896)
: .f..v--'f.., ComMCHT, iHt. av Basr Hasts. CHAPTEB V. ) In another inatant bugles were ringing through the camp, with the hurrying man of mounted officers and the tramp ing of forming men. The house itself waa almost deserted. Although that ingle cannon shot had been created to prove that it was not mere skirmishing of picket. Brant still did not believe In any serious attack of the enemy. His position, as in the previous engagement, had no strategic importance to them. They were no doubt only making a feint against his position to conceal some ad vance upon the center of Ute army a mile or two away. Satisfied that he was in easy supporting distance of the di vision commander, he extended his lines along the ridge ready to fall back in that direction while retarding the ad vance and masking the movements of his chief. He gave a few orders neces sary to the probable abandonment of the house, and then returned to it. Shot and shell were already dropping in the field below. A thin ridge of blue haze sheathed the line of skirmish fire. A small conical white cloud, like a burst ing cotton pod, revealed an opened bat tery in the willow-fringed meadow. Yet the pastoral peacefulness of the house was unchanged. The afternoon sun lay softly on its deep verandas; the pot pourri incense of fallen rose leaves haunted It still. He entered his room through the French window in the veranda, whan the door leading from the passage was suddenly flung open, and Miss Faulk ner swept quickly inside, closed the door behind her and leaned back heav ily against it panting and breathless. Clarence was startled, and for a mo ment shamed. He suddenly realized that in the excitement he had entirely forgotten her and the dangers to which she might be exposed. She had prob ably heard the firing, her womanly fears had been awakened ; she had come to him for protection. But as he turned toward her with a reassuring smile, he was shocked to see that her agitation and pallor were far beyond any physic al fear. She motioned him desperately to shut the window by which he had entered, and said with white lips: "I must speak with you alone!" "Certainly. But there is no immedi ate danger to you even here and I can soon put you beyond the reach of any possible harm. "Harm me! God! if it were only that!" He stared at her uneasily. "Listen," she said, gasping, "listen tome! Then hate, despise me kill me if you will. For you are betrayed and ruined cut off and surrounded! It has been helped on by me, but I swear to you the blow did not come from my hand! I would have saved you. God knows how it happened it was fate!" In an instant llrant saw its truth in stinctively and clearly. But with the revelation came that wonderful calm ness and perfect self-possession which never yet had failed him in any emer gency. With the sound of the increas the cannonade and its shifting position made clearer to his ears, the view of his whole threatened position spread out like a map before bis eyes, the swift calculation of the time of his men could bold the ridge, in his mind even the hurried estimate of the precious mo ments he could give to the wretched womau before him all this he was keenly alive to as he gravely, even gently, led her to a chair, and said in a critical and level voice: "This is not enough! Speak slowly, plainly. I must know everything. How and in whet way have you be trayed me?" She looked at him imploringly re aftmred, yet awed by his gentleness. "You won't believe me! You cannot believe me! But I do not even know; I hnve taken and exchanged letters whose contents I never saw between the confederates and a spy who comes to this house but who is far away by ili'm lime. I did il becmrae I thought yuu hated and despised me. because I thought it was my duty to help my en use,, ltecause you said it was 'war between us, but I have spied on you. I swear it!" "Tl.-n how do you know of this at tack?" , he said, calmly. , ; , She brightened, half timidly, half hopefully- "There is a window in the wing of this house thot overlooks the slopcjicor tliecoofederntelines. There v, us a signal placed in it not by mo fcut '.biattflgUlt tlNtWltWf l Mim fnlkmm md sskklr taaUs sat eloMtf IM dear ballad JMT. was there the plot, whatever it vias, vn imt ripe, and that no attacK wouta ut mnde on you as long as it was visible. That much I knew, that much the spy had to tell me, for we both had to guard that room in turns. I wanted to keeD this dreadful thing off until-un- til." her voice trembled "until," she added hurriedly, seeing his calm eyes were reading her very soul, "until I went away, and for that purpose 1 witn- held some of the letters that were given me. But this morning, while -1 was away from the house, I looked back and suw that the signal was no longer mere. Some one had changed it I run back, but I was too late, God help me, as you The truth flashed upon Brant It was his own hand that had precipitated the attack! But a larger truth came to him now, like a dazzling inspiration. If he had thus precipitated the attack before it was ripe, there was a chance that it was imperfect, and there was still hope. But there was no trace of this visible In his face, as h fixed his eyes calmly on hers, although his pulses were halting in expectancy as he said: "Then the spy had suspected you, nnd changed it." "0, no!" ehe said, eagerly, "for the py was with me and was frightened, mi. We both ran back together you '"member she was stopped by the pa id!" 8he checked herself suddenly, ..ut too late. Her cheeks biased, her Lead sank with the foolish disclosure into which her eagerness had betrayed Uer. But Brant appeared not to notice it, lie was, in fact, puzzling his brain to conceive what information the stupid mulatto woman could have obtained here. His strength, his position was in went to the enemy there was nothing io gain from him. She must have been, 1 ike the trembling, eager woman before him, a mere tool of others. "Did this woman live here?" he said, "No," she said. "She lived with the Manlvs. but had friends whom she visited at your general's headquarters, With difficulty Brant suppressed start. It was clear to him now. The information had been obtained at the division headquarters and passed through his camp as being nearest the confederate lines. But what was the information, and what movement bail he precipitated? It was clear that this woman did not know. He looked at her keenly. A sudden explosion shook the house, a drift of smoke passed the window a shell had burst in the gar den. She.had been gazing at him despair ingly, wistfully, but she did not blanch or start. An idea too possession of him. He approached her and took her cold hand, A half smile parted her pale lips. "You have courage you have devo tion," he said, gravely. "I believeyou regret the step yon have taken. If you cou Id undo ivhat vou have done, even at icril to yourself, dare you do it?" "Yes," she said, breathlessly. "You are known to the enemy. If am surrounded you could pass through the confederate lines unquestioned." "Yes," she said, eagerly. "A note from mc would pass you again through the pickets of our head. quarters. But you would bear a note to the general that noeyes but his must sec.' It would not implicate you or yours itwould be only a word of warn ing." "And you," she said, quickly, "would be saved! They would come to your assistance! You would not then be tukenr ne smiled gently. "Perhaps who knows?" He sat down and wrote hurriedly. "This," he said, handing her a slip of niiper, "is a pass. You will use it be yond your own lines. This note," he 1,'oiitinued, handing her a sealed envel ope, "is for the general. No one else must see it, or know of it not even vour lover should you meet him!" "My lover!" she said, indignantly, with a flash of her old savagery, "what do you mean ? I have no lover! " Brant glanced at her flushed face. "I thought," he said, quietly, "that there was some one you cared for in yonder lines some one you wrote to; it would have been an excuse" He stopped as her face paled again, and her hands dropped heavily at her side. "Good God! you thought that, too. You thought that I would sacri fice you for another man?" "Pardon me," said Brant, quickly, "I was foolish. But whether your lover is a man or a cause, you have shown a woman's devotion. And in re pairing your fault you are showing more than a woman s courage now. To his surprise the color bad again mounted to her pretty cheeks, and even a Hash of mischief shone in her blue eyes. "It would have been 'an excuse' -yes to save a man, surely. Well, I will go. I am ready." "One moment," be said, gravely. "Al though this pass and an escort insures vour safe conduct, there is an engage ment and some danger. Are you still ,-cady to face it?" -"I am," -she said, proudly, turning buck braid of her feller hair. Yet . moment she hesitated. Then she said, ii a lower voice: "Are you as ready to fnrgiveV" "In either case," be said, -touched by uw manner "and. Cud apeed, ywu." .- . j.a- :,l.u.m,. Ho ex tended hi haad and loft a lliriit pressure on her cM fingers. But they slipped quickly from hie grasp, and sl turned away vMh a, heightened color. He stepped to the door. One or two :. alds-oVcamp, withheld by hii order . igaiust Intrusion, were waiting eagerly with reports. The horse of a mounted field officer was pawing the garden turf. The officers stared at the young girl. Take Miss Faulkner with a flag to some safe point of the enemy's line. She is a non-combatant of their own, nd will receive their protection." He liad scarcely exchanged a dozen words with the aide-de-camp before the field officer hurriedly entered. Taking Brant aside he said quickly: Pardon me, general, but there is a strong feeling among the men that this attack is the result of some informa tion obtained by the enemy. The wom an you have just given a safeguard to is ssapeeted, and the men are indig nant," "The more reason why she should be conveyed beyond any consequences of their folly, major, said Brant, frigid I y, "and I look to you for her safe convoy. There is nothing In this attack to show that the enemy has received any in formation regarding us. But I would suggest that it would he better to see that my orders are carried out regard ing the slaves and men combatants who are passing our lines from division headquarters, where valuable informa tion may be obtained, than in the sur veillance of a testy and outspoken girl." An angrr flush covered the major s cheek as he saluted and fell back, and Brant turned to the aid-de-camp. The news was grave. A column of the ene my had moved against the ridge; it was no longer possible to bold it; and the brigade was cut off from its communi cation with the division headquarters, although as yet no combined movement was made against it Brant's secret fears that it was an intended impact ngsinst the center were confirmed. Would his communications to the di vision conrmender pass through the at tacking column in time? One thing puzzled him. Aa yet the enemy, after facing his line, had shown no disposition, even with their over whelming force, to turn aside to cover him. He could easily have fallen bock when it was possible to hold the ridge no longer, without pursuit. His Hank and rear were not threatened, as they might have been by a division of so large an attacking column, and bis re treat was still secure 1 It was this fact that seemed to show a failure or imper fection in the enemy s plan. It was pos sible thst his precipitation of the attack by the changed signal had been the cause of it. Doubtless some provision had been made to attack him in flank and rear, but in (he unexpected hurry of the outset it had to lie abandoned. He could still save himself, as his officers knew, but his conviction, that he might yet be able to support his division com mander by holding his position dogged ly, but coolly awaiting hisopportunity was strong. More than that, it was his temperament and instinct. Harrowing them in flank and rear, contesting the ground inch by inch, and holding his own against the artillery sent to dislodge him, or the, cavalry that curled around to ride through his open ranks, he saw his files melt away before this steady current without flinching. CHAPTEB VI. Yet all along that fateful ridge, now obscured and confused with thin cross ing smoke drifts from file firiDg, like partly rubbed out slate pencil marks, or else, when cleared of those drifts, jienetratiug only sn indistinguishable map of zig-zag lines of straggling wag ons and horses, unintelligible to any eye but his, the singular maguetiBm of the chief was felt everywhere. Whether it was shown in the quick closing In of resistance to some sharper onset of the enemy or the more dogged stand of in- uction under fire, bis power was al ways dominant. A word or two of comprehensive direction, sent through an aid-de-camp, or the sudden relief of his dark, watchful, composed face, up lifted above a line of bayonets, never failed in their magic. Like all born leaders, he seemed, in these emergen cies, to hold a charmed life, infecting his followers with a like disbelief in death. Men dropped to right and left of him with serene assurance in their ghastly faces or a cry of life and confidence in their last gasp. Stragglers fell in and closed up under his passing glance; a hopeless inextricable wranglearound an overturned caisson, at a turn of the road, resolved itself into an orderly, quiet, deliberate clearing away of the impediment, before tbeslgnlficantwalt ing of that dark, silent horseman. Yet under tbis imperturbable mask he was keenly conscious of everything; in that apparent concentration there was ( sharpening of all his senses and his impressibility; he saw the first trace of doubt or alarm in the face of a subaltern to whom he was giving an order; the first touch of sluggishness in a reforming line; the more sig nificant clumsiness of a I iv I ng evolution that he knew was clogged by the dead bodies of comrades; the ominous si lence of a breastwork; the awful inertia of some rigidly kneeling flics beyond, which still kept their form but never would move again; the melting away of skirmish points; the sudden pap', here and there; the sickening incurv ing of what a moment before had been a straight line all these he saw in all their fatal significance. But even at this moment, coming upon a hasty barricade of overset commissary wag ons, he stopped to glance at a famllicr figure he bad sees but an iiour ago, who now seemed to be commanding a group of collected stragglers nnd camp followers. ' Mounted oh a wheel; with a revolver in each hand and n bowie knife between his ucth the atrical even in this paroxysm of un doubted courageglared Jiai Hooker! Lvm.lhlMv of the field on his shou: that desnerat momeu? A himlel calling a vivid plctii. lf ctor HoOKW. personntins: t:i. ..lmnter of "Ked Dick" In "HoBiilir r,i. vr" u he had sen . ' , California theater five yer." before! It wanted atlll an hour of the am'--ueas that would probably close the Mr-.-ol that day. Could he hold out, kcepii f his offensive position so long? A lumr, counoll with his officers showed b!ni that the weakness of their position had nlresdy Infected them. They reminded him that his line of retreat wns st II open that In the course of the night the enemy, although still pr;sr,'ng to wards the division center, nrg'.it yet turn nnd outflank hltn-or that the1' stmngoly dclnyed supports might con up before morning. Brant s gum: however, remained fixed on the roui column still pursuing its wny nlor the ridge. It struck him sudden! however, that the steady current h stopped, spread out along the ovest t. both sides and was now at rigut ungu with Its previous course. There ha been a check! The next moment tli thunder of guns along the whole hori zon and the rising cloud of smoke re veulcd a line of battle. The divisio; center was engaged. The opportiinit lie had longed for bad come tne tier iemte chance to throw himself oi their rear and cut hin way throng' the division but it hsd come too Int; lie looked at his shattered scarce n regiment remained, l'v- n deuiunstrutlon the ottne1; v-iu.u gainst the enemy' anncrlov mm.. . Nothing clearly wns left to Him m but to reuiain where he wns w'.th suiiortinir distance, and iiwnit the i- sue of the fight beyond. t!e wns pu ting up his glass when the dull 1" uf cannon iu the extreme iveKU'i n i.. ot the horizon attracted his nttiu.u By the mil! gleaming sky li- could r , long gray line stealing up iron: t alley from thcdistnnt rcarof ih. !" 5 quarters to join theiunineoliit:'!!. T'i were Ue mis3iug support! V s n. : leuped! He held the key pi the now. The one imperfect detail , i enemy b plan was lie ore mm. j n. . . iiorts coining 'later from the west lu seen only the second sipnnl I ruu I window when Miss I anlUner liiui i placed the vase and had avoided I position. .It was impossible to In:., the eftectof thin blunder! If (he yum. girl who had thus Baved him ha reached the division commander wit. his message in time, he inifilll be fore warned, and even profit by It. disown position would be less precarious, ns the enemy already engaged in front would be unable to recover their posi tion in the rear, r.ud correct the blun der. The bulk of their column had al ready streamed past him. If defeated there was always the danger that it might be rolled back upon him but be conjectured that the division com mander would attempt to prevent the junction of the supports with the main column by breaking between them, crowding them from the ridge and join ing him. As the last stragglers of the rear guard swept by Brant's bugles were already recalling the skirmishers. He redoubled bis pickets, and resolved to watch and wait, , (To be continued.) The Exphess would like some bay on subscription. 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