The Littlest Rebel | Page 8

you've been Blue Beard, have you, Sally Ann?--then I must have the pleasure of cutting you into ribbons." Herbert Cary's shining saber flashed half out of its scabbard and then, laughing, he slapped it back with a clank.
"Sally Ann," he announced, "I'm going to turn you into Sister Anne for a while. You run up to Miss Hallie's room and sit by the window where you can watch the road and woods. If you see anything--soldiers, I mean--"
"Oh, Herbert!" cried his wife in anguish.
"S-s-sh!" he whispered. "Go along, Sally Ann. If you see anyone at all report to me at once. Understand? Off with you!"
Uncle Billy now came forward in an effort to make his master's clothes more presentable.
"Heh, Mars' Cary, lemme brush you off, seh. You's fyar kivered."
"Look out, you old rascal," Cary laughed, as his wife backed away coughing before the cloud of fine white dust that rose under Uncle Billy's vigorous hands. "You're choking your mistress to death. Never mind the dust. I'll get it back in ten minutes."
Mrs. Cary clasped her hands together at her breast with a look of entreaty.
"Herbert! Must you go so soon?"
Her husband looked back at her with eyes dark with regret.
"Yes," he said briefly. "I'm on my way to Richmond. How many horses are there in the stable?"
"Two--only two," was the broken response, as his wife sank down disconsolate on a bench. "Belle and Lightfoot--we sold the others--I had to do it."
"Yes, I know, little woman. It couldn't be helped. Here, Billy! Take my horse and get Belle out of the stable. Lead them down to the swamp and hide them in the cedars. Then saddle Lightfoot--bring him here and give him some water and a measure of corn. Look sharp, Billy! Lively!"
In the face of danger to his master Uncle Billy's response was instant. "Yes, seh. Right away, seh," and he took Cary's lathered animal and made off for the stables at top speed.
Mrs. Cary looked up at her husband with a great fear written on her face.
"Why, Herbert dear. You--you don't mean to say that the Yankees are in the neighborhood?"
Immediately Cary was on the bench beside her with his arm around her, while Virgie climbed up on the other side.
"Now, come," he murmured, "be a brave little woman and don't be alarmed. It may be nothing after all. Only--there are several foraging parties--small ones, a few miles down the river. I've been dodging them all morning. If they come at all they won't trouble either you or Virgie."
"But _I'm_ not afraid of them, Daddy-man," cried the small daughter, and she doubled up her fist ferociously. "Look at that."
"Aha! There's a brave little Rebel," her father cried as he swept her up in a hearty hug. "_You're_ not afraid of them,--nor you either, God bless you," and his lips rested for a moment on his wife's soft cheek. "Only, you are apt to be a little too haughty. If they search the house for arms or stragglers, make no resistance. It's best."
"Yes, yes, I know," his wife cried out, "but you, dear, _you_! Why are you here? Why aren't you with your company?"
Cary looked away for a moment across the fields and down the slope towards the shimmering river. They were very beautiful--he wondered why he had not fully realized all that wife and child and home meant to him when he volunteered recently for a certain hazardous duty. He knew, too, how quickly his dear wife would know the full extent of the peril with which he felt himself surrounded. And so his reply was short and seemingly gruff, as many another man's has been under too heavy circumstances.
"Scouting duty. I've been on it for the past two months."
Mrs. Cary's hand went to her heart.
"A _scout_, Herbert! But, darling, why? It's so dangerous--so horrible--so--"
He put up his hand, with a forced smile, to check her, and broke in gayly.
"Ah, but think of the fun in it. It's like playing hide-and-go-seek with Virgie."
But his wife was not to be put off so lightly and she put her impelling hands on his arm.
Gary changed his tone. His voice deepened.
"They need me, dear," he said earnestly. "What does danger to one man mean when Dixie calls us all? And I'm doing work--good work. I've already given one battle to General Lee and now I have information that will give him another and a bigger one. Two nights ago I came through the Union lines. I ..."
Mrs. Cary rose unsteadily to her feet.
"Through the Yankee lines! Oh, Herbert. _Not as a spy!_"
"A spy? Of course not. I hid in the woods all day, then climbed a tall pine tree and got the lay of their camp--the number of their guns--the disposition of forces and their lines of attack. Yesterday I had the