Yankee Girl at Fort Sumter | Page 9

know when the
schooner was towed out into the channel, nor when the sails were
hoisted and they went sailing down the bay.
For Captain Carleton had entirely forgotten his little guest. When he
hurried back to the wharf he discovered a little group of Charleston
citizens, one of whom was Elinor Mayhew's father, disputing the right
of the United States officers to take guns from the Charleston Arsenal
to Fort Sumter; and when the matter was settled he had hurried the
departure of the vessel. Not until they were ready to land at the fort did
he remember his little friend. He went down to the cabin, and found
Sylvia fast asleep.
"Poor little Yankee! I wonder what will happen to her if South Carolina
really leaves the Union," he thought, and then his face grew troubled as
he remembered that Mr. and Mrs. Fulton must be in great trouble and
anxiety over the disappearance of their little daughter. But first of all he

must see the schooner's cargo safely unloaded at Fort Sumter, and send
his men back to Fort Moultrie; then he would take Sylvia home, or find
some way to notify her parents that she was safe and well cared for.
CHAPTER IV
AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
When Sylvia did not come in with the other girls Miss Patten sent a
maid in search of her. But she did not search very carefully. She called
Sylvia's name a few times, sauntered about the garden, and then
reported: "Can't find Missy Sylvia."
She was then told to go straight to Mrs. Fulton's house on the East
Battery and see if Miss Sylvia had reached home. Miss Patten did not
feel anxious. She thought it probable that the little northern girl did not
realize the rules of the school, had become tired, and so started for
home.
"Did Miss Sylvia say anything to any of you young ladies about leaving
the grounds?" she questioned the pupils. But they all declared that they
knew nothing of her whereabouts.
"She was on the path behind us when the bell rang," volunteered May
Bailey.
Elinor's face was unusually flushed, and she kept her eyes on her book.
Probably the "little Yankee," as she called Sylvia even in her thoughts,
had run home to tell her mother of the trouble.
By the time Miss Patten's messenger had reached the Fulton house
Sylvia was in the cabin of the little schooner. The girl gave her message
to Mrs. Fulton in so indefinite a manner that at first Sylvia's mother
hardly understood whether Sylvia was in the garden of the school, or
had started for home. Estralla was standing near the steps and began
whimpering: "Oh, Missy Sylvia los'! That w'at she say. She lost!"
"Nonsense, Estralla! Sylvia could not be lost in Miss Patten's garden,"

said Mrs. Fulton; but she decided to return to the school with the maid.
As they went down the street Estralla followed close behind. Her bare
feet made no noise, but now and then she choked back a despairing
little wail. For the little colored girl was sure that some harm had
befallen her new friend.
When Mrs. Fulton appeared at the school-room door Miss Patten was
greatly alarmed. Elinor Mayhew and May Bailey exchanged a look of
surprised apprehension. They felt sure that Sylvia had hurried home
and told her mother just what had happened. If she had, and Mrs.
Fulton had come to inform Miss Patten, they knew there would be
unpleasant things in store for them.
In a short time a thorough search for the lost girl was in progress.
Servants were sent along the streets, and Mrs. Fulton hastened home
thinking it possible that Sylvia might be in her own room.
No one paid any attention to the little colored girl in the faded blue
cotton gown who wandered about the paths and around the
summer-house. Estralla noticed two of the older girls talking together,
and heard the taller one say: "Well, wherever she is, she needn't think
we will ever take back one word. She IS a Yankee!"
"They'se done somethin' to my missy," decided Estralla. "They'se scairt
her." She ran down the path toward the wall at the end of the garden,
and stopped suddenly; for right in front of her, caught on the jessamine
vine which grew over the wall, she saw a fluttering blue ribbon. "Dat's
off'n Missy Sylvia's hair, dat ribbon is," she whispered, reaching up for
it. Holding it fast in her hands she looked closely at the mass of heavy
vines, and nodded her little woolly head. "Dat's w'at she done. She
dumb right up here, to git away frum those imps o' Satan w'at was a
plaguein' her," decided Estralla, and in an instant she was going up the