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Last Rebel

<h2 id="VII">CHAPTER VII. BESIEGERS AND BESIEGED.</h2></div> The doctor compelled to return, I took the flag and advanced with it. But the colonel hated a Yankee spy as much as a traitor, and warned me off in short order. We gave the flag to one of the soldiers, whom the colonel allowed to approach a little closer. They held a brief dialogue, and then our messenger came back to us, announcing that the colonel regarded all his men as traitors or deserters and would parley no further with them. They might besiege him if they would, but he meant to make a last stand for the Confederacy. "Was he well?" I asked the man. "I didn't see him at all," he replied,[169] "for he talked through a chink in the wall, but his voice was mighty high and had a crack in it." This confirmed me in my belief that privation and excitement had mastered the colonel. Nevertheless we must sit down to a siege of the last rebel. We arranged our forces in such manner that he could not leave the hut and escape unseen into the further mountains. We waited an hour; then, as the colonel in his castle made no sign, I and a soldier went back for Grace. We found her in the hut, waiting impatiently to hear from us, and she did not show much surprise when I told her that her father had fortified himself against us. She came at once with us, and we sent her to the colonel's castle. She returned in a quarter of an hour much cast down, and told us he was in a fever, with wild eyes and flushed face. He refused to come out, and nothing she said could move him. He even spoke[170] harsh words to her, saying she had joined his enemies. We sent her back with a couple of blankets and some provisions, and then she returned to us again. The colonel would allow no second person in his defensive works. It looked like a long siege, and we prepared for it. We soon found Crothers and his party, and we built another shack in the woods, bringing from it the furs and other useful articles in the hut. It was well that we did the work quickly, for Grace fell quite ill with hardships and excitement, and soon was in a fever and talking a bit wildly. We put her in the shack on a bed of furs, and Dr. Ambrose, who did not have the title of doctor in vain, attended her, and said she would be all right in a day or so. But her illness was a misfortune, for she was the only one who could be considered a strict neutral and could carry messages between our little army and the colonel. [171] We were sufficient in number to form a picket around Fort Hetherill, for so I named the colonel's shack, but we were very careful not to come within range of its defender's rifle. One of the men, a good fellow named Kimball, went a little closer than the rest of us, and the prompt discharge of the rifle from Fort Hetherill showed that the colonel was watching. The bullet skipped across the ice fifty feet short of its mark. Kimball moved farther away. Having posted the men, I made a round and cautioned each to watch faithfully. But the caution was scarcely necessary. Every man there was under heavy obligations to the colonel for something or other, and all meant to take him alive. It was cold work there on the ice, but we had brought provisions with us, and that supply, coupled with what was stored in the hut, prepared us amply for a siege in form. We made some coffee[172] and served it to the men on picket duty, following it up a little later with a nip of whiskey for each, and they felt quite warm and comfortable. The colonel, after his rifle-shot, rested on his arms and maybe looked to his defences. The piece of old stove-pipe which projected through the roof began to smoke, showing that he had firewood and that he too was able to keep warm. It looked like a long siege. The general commanding, who was myself, and Crothers, the second in command, held a council of war and decided to postpone operations until nightfall, when Crothers thought he would be able under cover of the darkness to steal upon the colonel and take him. Then we waited for the slow afternoon to limp away. The sun was of a dazzling brightness, but there was no warmth in it. The ice-fields glittered under the rays, but did not melt. The light was reflected, and with half-shut eyes we[173] watched the peaks and the coated trees. Sometimes faint blue, purple, and green tints showed through the white glare. "Crothers," said I, "if ever I go on another winter campaign like this, I will not forget a pair of green goggles, largest size." "I wish I had them now," said Crothers. The glow on the ice-fields turned to gold as the sun began to set behind the highest peak, from gold shifted to a blood-red, and as the sun went out of sight faded and left the pale green of a wan twilight. "These sheets of ice are in our way in more ways than one," said Crothers. "They light up the night so much that I could put a bullet in a silver quarter at twenty paces." "Do you think the colonel could do as well?" I asked, somewhat anxiously. We thought it well to wait until past midnight, when the night would be[174] darkest. So we served supper and hot coffee, relieved the pickets, and waited. The colonel in his fortress seemed to be content: at least he gave no sign. Dr. Ambrose reported that Miss Hetherill was much better and would be on her feet again in the morning. The night limped as painfully as the day, and had the added demerit of being colder. A wind came down from the northeast, and there was a raw sharp edge to it. I shivered and my bones creaked with cold inside the heavy overcoat Crothers had given me. May the good Lord deliver me from any more winter campaigns! The moon, pale and icy, rose, and its chilly rays were reflected from the more chilly ice. Pieces of ice blown from the crusted boughs rattled dryly as they fell. As Crothers had foretold, the white glare of the earth lighted up the night until objects were almost as distinct as by daylight. The outlines of Fort Hether[175]ill were clear. I could even trace the ridges in the bark. Any of us advancing would make a most beautiful target, and we stuck to our determination to wait for further darkness. The column of smoke from the colonel's hut increased, as if he too felt the growing cold and would ward it off. Midnight came, and shortly afterward the heavens began to darken. The outlines of Fort Hetherill grew dimmer. I could no longer trace the ridges in the bark; then the hut itself became an indistinct mass, seeming to wave in the wind, which still came down from the mountain-tops and presented bayonet-points to us. The time seemed favorable for an advance upon the enemy's fortifications. Our plan was very simple; we formed a circle around the hut, intending to contract this circle until we reached the house itself, when we would rush in and seize the garrison. The difficult part of it was to steal up so[176] silently that the garrison would not hear us coming: to do it we would be compelled to creep along, taking advantage of every elevation that would shelter us. Crothers and I started from adjacent points in the little wood, and set out upon our hazardous advance. The ground was broken and rough, and I soon lost sight of him, but, despite his efforts to be noiseless, I could hear his heavy-soled boots scraping over the ice, and his breath puffy like that of a man who was working hard. I dare say I was interrupting the atmosphere in a similar manner; but then I was criticising Crothers, not myself. I got along pretty well, and was half-way to Fort Hetherill. I ceased to hear Crothers for two or three minutes, and then I heard him scraping along and puffing as before. As we had come half the distance without trouble or resistance, I thought I would go over to him and hold another conference. It[177] seemed to me that we needed at least one more council of war before attacking the hut, if we were to follow strictly the mode of procedure prescribed in the military manuals. Turning about, I crept and slid toward him until a little ridge not more than half a foot high divided us. I could see his figure stretched out on the ice, and I reached out to touch him. But I was anticipated, for he reached up and grasped me by the throat with two very strong hands. Then I saw that instead of stalking Colonel Hetherill, he had stalked me, the stalker was stalked, and I recognized in it a fact as painful as it was alarming. The colonel seemed to me to be prodigiously strong for the sick man the soldier had reported him to be. His hands compressed my throat so tightly that I could not cry out, and my limbs were paralyzed; an unpleasant situation for an invading army, I willingly admit.[178] The colonel's eyes were angry, and his face was very red, which could be the result both of fever and of wrath. Both, I think, added to the strength of his arms. He sat up on the ice and held me out at arm's length like a big doll. I knew that Crothers was near, and I wanted to cry out instantly and wanted to do it very badly; but for the life of me I could not, with that old Confederate's iron fingers on my throat. I had no doubt that Crothers and the men would continue to creep upon the hut, rush into it, and find nobody there. Meanwhile, I would be turning into a cold corpse on the ice. The colonel released his hold upon my throat so suddenly that I fell upon my back and gasped, which, however, was much better than not breathing at all. "Why did you do that?" I asked, feeling injured in the spirit as well as in the flesh. [179] "It was my intention to kill you," he said, "but I've changed my mind." "Thank heaven!" I exclaimed, devoutly. "I couldn't do it; it was too easy," he said. If that was the reason, I was not so thankful. But I considered it good policy not to explain my views just then. Although the colonel had released me, he kept his hand on the butt of a very large pistol in his belt. I thought it wise to withdraw. "Good-evening, colonel," I said, giving the military salute as well as I could in my undignified position. "Good-evening," he said. "This is a sortie of mine, understand, and if I have chosen to spare your life, it is for reasons of my own. I am going back into my house, and you would better notify your friends that I am awake and on guard. It may save them much hard work and a little loss of blood." [180] He slipped back over the ice toward the fort with an agility marvellous in an old and ill man. Despite his calm manner, I had no doubt that fever was still in his veins. Being so nervous and excitable when well, it was natural that he should be calm when ill, especially in certain stages. I could see him for at least twenty feet, and then he disappeared in the darkness that now clothed the hut like a mask on a man's face. I felt no doubt that he was inside, ready to shoot down the first man who attempted to enter after him. In this emergency I thought it best to find Crothers, notify him that the attack had failed, and withdraw our forces. I believe a prudent general always withdraws when things go wrong. Moreover, I was getting very cold. Embracing the earth when it has an inch coat of ice on its bosom is no such delightful proceeding. [181] Putting my ear to the ice, I heard the scraping of Crothers's hobnails not fifteen feet away. I was sure that I was making no mistake this time, and I speedily overhauled him, to find that it was the real Crothers. He coincided with my view that it would be better to withdraw, like the King of France of the ancient rhyme, and try again. He gave a whistle which may have been a part of the Confederate set of signals, though I don't know, and in a few minutes our entire army had retreated and reassembled at our own hut, casualties none, and the enemy still in possession of his defences. As we had satisfactory proof that the colonel was vigilant, we decided to end the military operations for that night and devote what was left of it to keeping warm. The hut was occupied by Miss Hetherill, whom the doctor reported to be in a sound slumber and doing well. As all the space under shelter was neces[182]sarily reserved for the lady, we decided to build a big fire near the hut and sit around it until morning. It was a hard task, owing to the icy condition of the firewood, but we got it to going at last, and the cheerful, crackling blaze put heart in us all. We had no fear that the colonel would come out and shoot at us in the light. He was not that kind of a soldier, and, besides, his plan, as far as we could divine it, was to escape from us, not to inflict any special injury upon us. Dr. Ambrose was somewhat cast down at our failure to seize the colonel at the first attempt, but his spirits were revived presently, and when I asked him to tell me about some of the old battles in which he and the colonel and the others present except myself had fought, he became animated and time ceased to limp. An hour of this, and the doctor broke off abruptly. As Crothers and I had[183] been in the thick of the campaign all the time, he suggested that we roll ourselves in our blankets and try to get a little sleep by the fire. We followed his advice, and in five minutes I was dead to the world and its vanities. But presently I was dragged back out of infinite depths and told to sit up and open my eyes. "Why, I have just closed them, and it was at your suggestion," I said to Crothers. "You've been asleep for the last three hours. Wake up and look at the weather." I thought the weather a trifling pretext to awake a man from such pleasant slumbers, but when I looked about I saw better. The air had turned much warmer. There was a smack of wet in it, which to an experienced man was certain proof of snow to come, and more of it, too, than the thin skim of the day before. Even in the skies, naturally dark from[184] the night, we could see heavy masses of clouds rolling. "It will begin inside of a half-hour," said Dr. Ambrose. "And a snow-storm in the mountains is no light matter, doctor," I said. "Certainly not." A deep snow would be sure to put a great check upon our military operations; it might even make our own situation precarious, for one must have food and keep warm. We bestirred ourselves with the utmost vigor, gathering firewood, and soon had a huge heap of it beside the hut. But the snow came inside the doctor's predicted half-hour, and with ten minutes to spare. The clouds opened, and it just dropped down. The skim of ice was soon covered, which was an advantage, saving us some falls and bruises, but it impeded the work on our new house. It was perfectly obvious to us all that we must have shelter[185] from such a snow-fall. We were trying to make a sort of rude shed with sticks and brushwood in the lee of a cliff. My comrades were old hands at the business, and it was marvellous how expert they were: with some sticks and brushwood, two or three blankets to help out on the roof, and even the snow itself, which they banked up in ridges at the sides, they made a comfortable place. I was busy on this rude structure and trying to keep the snow out of my eyes, when some one tapped me on the shoulder and said,— "You are a promising architect, Mr. West." I looked around in the greatest surprise, and beheld Grace Hetherill, pale, but otherwise showing no traces of illness. The heavy dark cloak which she wore when we started was buttoned high up around her throat, and a neat dark fur cap enclosed her hair. She looked very handsome and picturesque. [186] "I congratulate you, Miss Hetherill, on your speedy recovery," I said. "It was merely nervousness and excitement," she replied. "A draught of something very bitter that Dr. Ambrose gave me, and a good sleep, have restored me." "Very well," I said, thinking to cheer her up: "then there is no reason why you should not help in the making of the camp, and show that you are a better architect than I am." "I am mountain-bred in part at least," she said, "and I know hardships. What may I do?" "Take hold of the end of that pole," I said, "and lift." She seized it and with strong young muscles lifted it up. I was at the other end, and together we swung it into place. "That does pretty well for a rebel lass," I said. "Here, you are the rebel," she said,[187] "for this is our territory and you are our prisoner." "What's this? what's this?" cried Dr. Ambrose. His back had been turned toward us, and he had not seen the approach of Miss Hetherill. "Just up from a fever and out here in the snow! Go back in the hut." There was sound sense in his command, and I added my advice to it, but she would not go until we assured her that Colonel Hetherill was safe in his own hut and pointed to the curl of smoke which still came from his stovepipe. On second thought we took our own little hut and moved it bodily to the shed, deeming it best that all our forces should keep as close together as possible. Then, our main task finished, we took breakfast, and watched the snow, casting an occasional glance toward Fort Hetherill. We were glad on the whole now that the snow had come, for if we should be[188] snowed up the colonel would be treated likewise, and perhaps it would induce him to hoist the white flag. The day had come, but it was a very dark and dreary pattern of a day. I have seen some people who imagine that Kentucky has a warm climate. It may have in summer, and so, for the matter of that, has Manitoba, but for real deep snows or piercing cold that goes right through your bones and comes out on the other side, I will match the Kentucky mountains against anything this side of the Arctic circle. The snow that morning seemed bent upon making a record. Some of the flakes looked like big white goose feathers. Nor was there any nonsense about them. They came straight down and took their appointed place on the earth; others immediately fell and covered them up, and in turn were served the same way. There was no wind at all. The clouds were drawn like a huge dirty[189] blanket across the sky, and gave to everything except the snow itself a muddy, grayish-brown tint. Presently we heard a sharp report in the adjacent forest, and then another, followed speedily by another and many others, until they blended often together like a rolling rifle-fire. A dreaming veteran might have thought he was back in the wars, but none of us stirred, for each knew that it was the boughs of the trees breaking with a snap under the weight of new snow. "That might scare a man who was never in the woods in big-snow time," said Crothers, who had lighted a pipe and was taking things calmly. The snow deepened faster than I had ever seen it before. I could mark it by the way the surface lines crept up the side of our rude shed. A few hours of such industrious clouds and the mountains would be past travelling. The skies made promise of nothing else. There was no break in the dun expanse. [190] The defiant curl of smoke from the colonel's little fort still rose. I devoutly hoped that he would remember soon to come out and join us. Then we could go back together to Fort Defiance, and make merry behind stout walls that cared nothing for snow and cold. But his hut remained tightly closed, and the snow was deepening as fast as ever. Since the colonel would make no sign, it became evident to me that we must. I called again my council of officers, the doctor and Crothers. "There is nothing for us to do," I said, "but send Miss Hetherill to the hut and see if she cannot persuade her father to join us." "He has said that he would not admit her a second time," said the doctor. "She must push her way in," I said. "The door to that hut is not strong, and a father would not fire upon his own daughter." They agreed that my plan was the[191] only thing feasible, and we called Miss Hetherill. She was eager to undertake the mission. She had been waiting to propose it, but held back, expecting us to act first. She started at once toward the hut, which was only two or three hundred yards away, but her progress was slow. The snow, which had now attained a great depth, blocked the way. We watched her breaking her path through it toward the hut, where the colonel was silent and invisible. The little building seemed almost crushed under its weight of snow, but the languid coil of smoke still curled from the mouth of the pipe. Miss Hetherill was within twenty feet of the door. "The colonel hasn't taken notice yet," said the doctor. "It would be funny if she should find him sound asleep and in our power for hours, if we had only thought to take him." I watched with eager interest as the[192] twenty feet between Miss Hetherill and the door diminished. She reached the door and knocked. As she stood there and waited, I guessed that she received no answer. She knocked a second time, waited a minute or so, and then pushed the door open and entered. She ran out again in a moment, uttering a cry and turning a dismayed face toward us. We ran to the hut as fast as we could, plunging through the snow. I was the first to arrive: when I thrust my head in at the open door, I saw that the place was empty. Some coals still smoldered upon the flat stone which served for a rude fireplace; a dressed deer-skin lay in the corner; but the colonel was gone beyond a doubt. One large man would nearly fill the place. "He's taken his rifle and ammunition with him," said Crothers, "so he's all right." I was glad that he had called attention to the fact so promptly, for it seemed to[193] indicate deliberation and not delirium on the colonel's part. There was no need to ask what next from the men about me. Their obligations to the colonel would never permit them to abandon the search for him as long as one hope that he was alive existed. But the great snow was a formidable obstacle to any expedition. "How shall we go about it?" I asked, hopelessly, of Dr. Ambrose. "There is no trail," he replied; "the falling snow covers up his footsteps a half-minute after he makes them; but he must have gone up that slash through the hills there. It is the easiest route from here, and the one a man with no fixed idea in his head would most likely take." There was a general agreement with the doctor's opinion, and we planned our pursuit at once. Four men would remain at the camp and protect it, and relieve us should we return exhausted and without the fugitive. Miss Hetherill[194] would remain with them. She made some demur, saying she was a good mountaineer and citing proof, but she yielded to the obvious fact that a woman could make but little progress through the deep snow. "We will be sure to bring him back," I said to her when we started. "Take care of yourself too," she said. "For my sake only?" I asked. "For all our sakes," she replied. But she blushed a little, despite the anxiety which was foremost in her mind. We passed up the defile, and then our party spread out like a fan. I was convinced that the colonel could not have gone far. The snow was an added obstacle to the naturally difficult character of the mountains. It was still pouring down, half blinding us, and compelling us to scrutinize every inch of the way lest the loosening drifts should carry us in an avalanche to the bottom of some precipice, which would be highly disagreeable. <hr class="chap" /> [195] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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