A Little Traitor to the South | Page 7

"Rhett," said the other man, stretching out his hand, "the woman I love

has this day honored me, but by heaven I believe you have honored me
more. I did think it was a low-down trick for you to go to Miss Glen,
but I know why you did it, and you were right. It's too late. I can never
be anything different. My father and grandfather both died in drunken
sprees--it's in my blood. I can't help it. I've had a chance or two to do
something a little out of the ordinary in this war, thank God for it, but I
suppose the reason I was able to carry it through was that I cared little
whether I lived or died. No, that isn't true. I'd rather die than live, but I
would like to go out of existence doing something fine and noble.
I--I--might get a better chance on the other side, then, you know. Life is
nothing to me, and there are no possibilities in it."
He spoke bitterly. It was rare that any one saw him in that mood.
"I tell you I'm cursed! I wouldn't take that girl if she did accept me. I
only wanted to trouble you. Well, no, not exactly that, either. I love her,
God knows, but the devil's got me in his grip and--"
"I can't understand it," said Sempland, vaguely.
"Of course you can't. You're so strong and so self-contained--such as
you never can understand such as I. But to be a drunkard, and a
gambler, and a--"
He stopped and threw up his hands, and then dropped them heavily by
his side.
"It's in my blood, I tell you! It is not all my fault. Yet there is good in
me, enough good to make me go mad if I stop to think of it. I want
some way to get out of this life with honor. I leave the field for you."
"She doesn't love--"
"You're a fool, Sempland--forgive me--about that woman. I know
women better than you. Not so much the good as the bad, but in some
things women are alike, a woman is a woman whatever she does. That
girl loves the ground you walk on."

"Nonsense! It's you."
"Pshaw! She is fascinated by what she's heard on one hand, and she
shuts her eyes to what she has heard on the other. The war is young.
We'll be beaten, of course, but not without some hard, desperate
fighting. Your chance will come, and when it does--"
"I will master it or die!"
"Of course, but don't die. Master it. Leave dying to me. I've sought
ways for it, and now one is at hand."
"What is it?"
"I am going to take out the David to-night."
"What!"
"Yes. It's a dead secret, but I can tell you. There are three
blockade-runners ready to sail. The Wabash lies off the Main Ship
Channel. Of course, all the others are blockaded, too, but General
Beauregard thinks that if we can torpedo the flagship the others will
hurry to her assistance and the blockade-runners can get out through the
Swash Channel. Our magazines are running low, and we must have
arms, powder, everything. There are two or three shiploads at Nassau.
This is an attempt to get to them. If we can blow up Admiral Vernon's
flagship, perhaps we can raise the blockade. At any rate it's the only
chance for the blockade-runners to get out."
"Did the general order you to do this?"
"Certainly not. I suggested it to him. They don't order any one to the
David, you know."
"I should say not," returned Sempland. "She's been down five times,
hasn't she?"
"Yes, and every time with all of her crew."

"How many, all told, has she carried to death?"
"Some thirty or more, I believe."
"And she has never done any damage to the enemy?"
"She scraped the paint off the New Ironsides one night and scared her
people to death, I reckon, but that's all."
"Lacy!" cried Sempland, suddenly, "I have no right to ask favors of you,
but--"
"That's all right. Ask."
"Let me go to-night."
"What's the use? One officer is enough, and you could not do any good
by going along. I should be in command--"
"Let me go in your place!"
"Nonsense! It's almost certain death."
"I don't care. It's my chance. I can run the thing as well as you."
"Oh, anybody can run the thing, for that matter."
"My life is of no more value to the South or to me than yours. Come!
You have had your chances, and improved them; give this to me."
Lacy hesitated.
"Sempland, you're a fool, as I said before. You're running away from
the woman who loves you. You're risking your