Soldier Boy's Discovery, page 11
“Yes, you can say anything in front of these two.”
“Very well. The young man says he is afraid of being taken prisoner by the Federal Army. He asked if thee will help him get to his home.”
A silence fell for a moment, and then Dan said, “Well, we’ll do all we can, of course. He’s a good friend of ours.”
“I don’t know,” Golden said slowly. “He’s in bad shape …”
“I understand, but God will make a way.”
At that Golden smiled. “Thee is a Christian man. That’s good.” He hesitated, then said, “I fear the Federals will begin searching the houses for escaped Confederates. Already they’ve questioned my neighbors. If they come, I wouldn’t be able to lie to them.”
Leah said, “We’ve got to get him, Father. We can’t let him go to prison. He’d die there!”
“That’s right,” Ezra said quickly. “I don’t reckon our Yankee prisons are any better than the one I was in in Virginia. We’ll have to get him.”
Dan Carter thought for a moment. But he was so weak that it seemed he couldn’t think clearly, and he said, “You two will have to handle it. I can’t help, but I can pray.” Then he turned to the big man, saying, “I thank you, sir, for your kindness. God will bless you for it.”
Golden nodded. “I will pray that God will give thee strength, friend Carter. What does thee wish me to do?”
“Can we drive the wagon right up to your house?” Leah asked.
“Why, yes. That would be no trouble at all. I will show thee the way. It isn’t far.”
Ezra said, “It will take about half an hour to get ready and break camp. I’ll hitch the team, Leah. You just throw everything we’ve got into the wagon. We’ve got to move fast.”
Leah did move fast, and by the time Ezra had the team hitched, she had all their belongings in the wagon. She hurriedly scribbled a good-bye note to Royal and tacked it to the tree their wagon had been hitched under. They had already said their farewells earlier in the day, since Royal’s army duties would have prevented him from seeing them off in the morning.
“I’m ready,” she said. “If you’ll show us the way, Mr. Golden.”
“This way, lass.”
Jeff was asleep, but as soon as he heard a voice he opened his eyes. “Jeff?” the familiar voice said, and when he was able to focus, he whispered, “Leah, it’s you.”
Leah bent over him. “Yes.” She put her hand on his forehead and said, “You’re burning up with fever.”
“I know, but I’ve got to get out of here.” He shifted his head and saw Ezra coming into the room, followed by Amos Golden. “Ezra, help me.”
“Why, sure I will, Jeff. Me and Leah, we’ll get you out of this.” He turned to Golden. “I reckon we’d better take him right now.”
“If the patrol stops thee, thee may have trouble. Maybe all would be held and tried as spies.”
“We’ve been in trouble before, the three of us.” Ezra grinned and winked at Jeff. “Get ready for a little trip,” he said.
“Let me put on my clothes,” Jeff pleaded. “I can’t go in this nightgown!”
“Thy clothes are too ragged to wear,” Golden protested. “And mine are too big for thee.”
“You can wear some of mine, Jeff,” Ezra said. “I’ll go get them.”
Jeff was so weak he hardly knew what was going on. He was aware that Ezra had taken over and had sent Leah from the room with the women. He tried to help with the clothes, but he was so frail he could do little.
But soon Ezra had him fully dressed. “Can you stand up to walk?”
“We can take him,” Golden said. “I carried thee in my arms once—now I will do it again.” Without further ado, he stooped over and in his mighty arms picked the boy up. Jeff’s head bobbed as the big man carried him outside and laid him on the pallet of soft blankets Leah had made in the wagon, next to the cot that held her father.
Dan Carter greeted him warmly. “Jeff,” he said in a sick man’s voice, “looks like the two of us are going to make a hospital. But we’ll make it all right.”
The Goldens came into the yard, and Jeff thanked them all.
Then Amos said, “Thee had better stick to the back roads for a while.”
Leah climbed up on the seat beside Ezra and cried out, “Thank you. Thank you so much, all of you.”
“Thee is welcome, daughter. We will pray for the young man and thy father.”
Soon the wagon was trundling down a rough road.
The air was silent, but Leah and Ezra were tense.
“The cavalry sometimes sends out patrols on roads like this to pick up deserters. Sure would hate to meet any,” Ezra said.
However, they were fortunate, and two or three hours later Ezra drew up the team, and the two of them climbed into the wagon.
“You all right, Jeff?” Ezra asked.
Jeff nodded weakly. “Just get me home.”
Leah said, “Pa, I don’t know what to do. You need to get home to Kentucky. Jeff needs to go to Virginia. We can’t do both.”
Dan Carter was lying still on his bunk. The rough road had shaken him, and he must have felt almost as bad as Jeff. However, he lifted his head and smiled. “I’ve been wanting to see my Uncle Silas for a long time—and it looks like the time has come for me to do it. Take us to Virginia, Ezra.”
Ezra looked at the two sick men and nodded. “Yes, sir. I’ll sure do that. Just lie there and take it easy. With God’s help, we’ll make it fine!”
13
Ezra Earns His Keep
The journey from Sharpsburg was difficult for the travelers. The countryside swarmed with Federal patrols, for many Confederates were still trapped on the east side of the Potomac. Some had been too badly wounded to make the journey across the river, while others had gotten separated from their units. As the wagon was driven down the back roads, Ezra kept a lookout for Union patrols. Several times he spotted them coming by the dust clouds their horses kicked up, and he managed to pull off into the shelter of the thickets. Early on the second day, however, he was taken by surprise. “Look! There’s a Federal patrol coming.”
Leah looked ahead to where Ezra pointed. A troop of some fifteen cavalry had rounded the bend ahead of them.
“What do we do, Ezra? It’s too late to hide.”
“Let me do the talking,” Ezra said quickly. He leaned back and said loudly enough for the two sick men to hear him, “Federal cavalry ahead. You fellows just keep your heads down, and we’ll be all right.”
Leah watched with apprehension as the lieutenant in charge of the troop threw up his hand and brought the patrol to a stop. The horses chuffed and pawed the dust, and the lieutenant eyed them sharply. He was a small man with a bushy cavalry mustache and tawny hair that fell over his shoulders in a very unmilitary manner. Leah thought he must have been influenced by the Union general George Armstrong Custer, who—she had heard—wore his hair in such an outlandish fashion.
“What’s your business?” the lieutenant snapped in a high-pitched tone. He rode a large black horse and pulled back cruelly on the bit as the animal tried to buck.
“That’s a spirited horse you’ve got there, Lieutenant,” Ezra said quickly. “Ain’t never seen a finer one.”
The lieutenant seemed pleased by Ezra’s remark. “There’s not any better,” he said. “Finest cavalry mount in the whole United States Army.” He relaxed in his saddle and stared at Leah, who was wearing a pair of men’s overalls for the journey.
She also wore a white shirt, and her blonde hair caught the sunlight. “Is the battle all over, Lieutenant?” she asked innocently.
“Sure is, miss. We whupped the daylights out of the Rebs! Run them clean back to Richmond,” he announced proudly. Then he cleared his throat and assumed a more businesslike expression. “You’re headed straight for Rebel territory, you know. What’s your business?”
“Well, Lieutenant,” Ezra said. “We’ve got a couple of sick men in here. They got the fever. They could use a doctor.”
The lieutenant studied Ezra, then said, “I’ll have to take a look in that wagon. Got lots of Rebs trying to make their way back South.”
“Oh, that’ll be fine, Lieutenant,” Leah said at once. “Come along.”
The lieutenant dismounted and handed the reins to a grizzled sergeant, then advanced to the rear of the wagon.
Leah jumped to the ground and walked beside him.
He was a small man, no taller than she, and he straightened as though to make himself appear taller.
Leah drew back the cover of the wagon and said, “Pa, are you awake?”
Dan Carter raised himself to a sitting position on the cot that Ezra had fastened firmly to the floor. “Yes, I’m awake, daughter.” He looked over at Jeff. “Son, you awake?”
Jeff still had a high fever and had been awakened by the stopping of the wagon. Now he lifted himself on one elbow and peered drearily at the end of the wagon, where Leah stood with the cavalry officer. “Yeah, I’m awake,” he mumbled. “What is it?”
The lieutenant stared at the two men, bent over to assure himself that there were no other inhabitants, then said brusquely, “Checking for Rebs, mister. Sorry to have disturbed you. I think there is a doctor on up at Jessieville. Looks like you best get there as quick as you can.” He stepped back from the wagon, probably breathing a sigh of relief that he hadn’t gotten close to the infected men, and Leah closed the canvas covering. “Sorry to be a bother, miss,” he said.
Leah smiled at him, her green eyes taking him in fully. “Oh, that’s all right, Lieutenant. I know you’re just doing your job, but we are worried about my folks.”
The lieutenant twirled his mustache. He was somewhat of a dandy, no more than eighteen years old. “Maybe I’ll check in later at Jessieville just to see how your folks are doing,” he suggested.
Leah thought quickly and said, “That’ll be fine, Lieutenant. We’ll all be glad to see you.”
The lieutenant grinned, went back to his horse, and swung into his saddle. “Forward!” he shouted as if he were leading a charge across the battlefield.
Leah and Ezra watched the patrol thunder down the road, and Ezra turned to grin at her. “Well, that was kind of fun, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, it was,” she said slowly. “But I don’t think I want to have many more adventures like that.”
Leah climbed back up into the wagon seat, Ezra said, “Giddap,” and the horses started plodding along.
“That lieutenant might check with the doctor in Jessieville,” she said. “That might be a little dangerous.”
“I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe it’d be best to stop. It wouldn’t hurt to have the doctor look at them anyway. Neither one of them is doing too well.”
They hurried on and did manage to find the doctor. He was busy with wounded men, but, after looking Dan and Jeff over, had both good news and bad. He was a middle-aged man, short and spare, with a pair of light blue eyes. “I don’t know what it is they’ve got,” he said. “Not cholera and not scarlet fever. Looks like trail fever.”
“What’s that?” Ezra demanded.
“Well, nobody knows exactly, but when the folks take the trail to California they just get fever. Nobody knows what it is.”
“Can you give them anything for it?” Leah asked.
“No, just bed rest, water, and lots of prayer.”
“We’ll do that.” Leah smiled. She reached into her purse and paid the doctor’s fee, and then they went back to the wagon.
When they were on their way again, she said, “Well, if that lieutenant checks, he’ll know we stopped here anyway.”
“Reckon that’s right. But I’m going to get off this main road. Don’t want to be stopped again if we can help it.”
They traveled slowly for the next three days, making no more than ten or fifteen miles a day. Each afternoon Ezra would find a creek and pull the wagon off the road out of sight. He usually disappeared then and came back bearing a chicken or a turkey. Once he came back with an armload of sausage and pigs’ feet.
“Pigs’ feet!” Leah turned up her nose. “I wouldn’t eat those things!”
“Why, they’re the best part of a pig,” Ezra said as his eyes glinted with humor. “Except for the lips, that is. I couldn’t get any of those; they were already gone. The good parts always go first.”
Leah stared at him. “Pig lips!” She shuddered. “I’d just as soon eat snails!”
“I heard those Frenchmen eat snails and like them real good,” he teased.
Leah sniffed. “Well, you know those foreigners—they’ll eat anything.” She took the sausage and said, “We’ll eat this and the eggs we have left. Maybe that’ll do till we get something better.”
That night Mr. Carter seemed to feel better, but Jeff had not improved. He got out of the wagon, though, aided by Ezra, and sat with his back against a wheel. Ezra built up a small fire and made coffee. Jeff drank a cup, saying nothing.
Dan Carter looked across the fire and said, “Feeling a little peaked, are you, son?”
“I’ll be all right,” Jeff said. His voice was thin and weak, and his cheeks were sunken in, as were his eyes. He’d never been sick to speak of in his life, and now his physical illness seemed to have dragged him down emotionally as well.
Ezra kept the talk going around the campfire. He was a cheerful young man. From time to time, though, Jeff was able to trace some of the hardships Ezra had endured as a child. He’d never complained about them, but Jeff knew it had been terrible.
“I’ve been thinking about clearing those ten acres over by Bolton’s creek, Mr. Carter,” he said, tipping his coffee cup to his mouth to drain the last drops. “That’s good land down there.”
“That land would be hard. Those walnut trees are a hundred years old, I guess, Ezra.”
“I know. We could sell them off and burn the stumps, and when we get them pulled out that would be a good place to grow sorghum. Maybe we could do that like your Uncle Silas.”
“I don’t think sorghum grows well in the North,” Dan said. “But we could sure put some winter wheat in there, or maybe feed for the cows.” The two men went on talking about the farm, and Leah sat down beside Jeff.
“I’m sorry you feel so bad,” she said.
Jeff nodded. He tried to think of something to say, but he’d never been able to get over the way he’d treated Leah when he left. He knew that he ought to simply say he was sorry, but somehow he couldn’t. Now he made some remark about how he’d be glad to get back home.
Leah got up and began to prepare for bed.
The next day they crossed over into Virginia territory.
“Almost home now,” Ezra said. “Guess you’ll be ready, won’t you, Jeff?”
“Sure will.” Jeff had insisted on sitting beside Ezra on the wagon seat. He had to hang on, for the road was rutted and he felt lightheaded as well.
Leah was in the back with her father, and Ezra leaned back and said, “In Virginia now, Leah. Mr. Carter, we’ll be seeing your uncle pretty soon.”
Ten minutes later, they were surprised to see a troop of Confederate infantry marching toward them.
A major on horseback was at the head, and he threw up his hand, stopping the soldiers.
Ezra pulled the horses up short. “Howdy, Major.”
The major looked them over carefully and said, “You coming from Sharpsburg?” Jeff immediately spoke up. “I got sick and couldn’t get away with the rest of General Lee’s men.”
“What’s your outfit, boy?”
“Stonewall Brigade. My father is Captain Nelson Majors of Company A.”
At once the officer grew more relaxed. “Any more with you, Private?”
“No, sir, just me. These folks are taking me all the way back to Richmond where I hope to find my father. My brother, Tom—he’s in the company too.”
“Well, it was a bad fight. You go on now.” He spoke to his men, and they began marching forward.
Ezra slapped the horses with the lines and soon the sound of marching feet faded.
“Well, I guess we’re home sure enough if we can see Confederates marching like that,” Jeff said.
“Looks pretty good to you, I reckon,” Ezra commented.
Jeff hesitated, then said, “Ezra, I have something to tell you.”
“Let’s have it, Jeff.”
Jeff hesitated, then blurted out, “Well, the truth is, I’ve treated you right bad, Ezra. I was suspicious from the time I saw you there hiding in Silas’s barn.”
“No reason why you shouldn’t be. I was an enemy soldier,” Ezra said in a kindly fashion.
“I know, but that wasn’t all of it.” Jeff bit his lip and let the silence run on for a moment. “Well, hang it all, to tell the truth … I guess I’ve been … I hate to say it, Ezra …”
“Well, what is it?”
“You see, Leah and me, we’ve been friends for a long time.” Jeff ducked his head, refusing to look at Ezra. “The truth is, it made me a little bit jealous when you and her went hunting birds’ eggs. That’s always been what me and her have done together.”
“Why, you shouldn’t feel that way, Jeff,” Ezra said. “Leah thinks more of you than she does anybody. She’s told me so many times.”
“She has?” Jeff brightened and glanced back involuntarily. Some of the tension left his face, and he looked at Ezra. The sun was shining on the boy’s curly brown hair. He looked lean and able, his hands big and strong. “Now, that’s good of you to say so, Ezra.” Awkwardly he stuck his hand over and said, “I’m asking you to forget the way I acted, all right?”
Ezra at once shifted the line to his left hand and shook Jeff’s hand cheerfully in a hard grip. “Why, sure. There’s no reason me and you can’t be friends, is there, Jeff, now that I’m not a Yankee soldier no more?”
“No reason at all.”
The wagon trundled down the rutted road, and somehow Jeff felt good—good in the way he’d felt good when he apologized to Lucy. At least, he thought finally, I’m OK with Ezra. Now I’ve got to tell Leah what a rat I’ve been—and how much I think of her.
