Brother Against Brother; or, The Tompkins Mystery. Read online

  CHAPTER XIII.

  UNCLE DAN MEANS BUSINESS.

  Colonel Scrabble found his forces, when the attacking party had retired,somewhat scattered. With Lieutenant Whimple he had sought safety in ahollow tree, whence, after waiting four hours, he issued orders to thelieutenant to go forth and see if the Federal troops had retreated. Thelieutenant took a circuitous route, walking on tiptoe, lest he shoulddisturb the slumbers of the dead, until he reached the camp, which theUnion soldiers had just left.

  Lieutenant Whimple then started to return, meeting on his way CaptainFogg. One by one they picked up men, behind logs, in tree-tops, andthick cluster of bushes, until they arrived twenty in number at thecolonel's head-quarters, in the hollow tree. Here a council of war washeld, and it was decided to send runners through the woods to notifytheir scattered forces that the enemy was gone; by night one hundredand fifty men had assembled around the hollow tree. They talked, in lowdetermined tones, and all swore to avenge their lost comrades.

  Lieutenant Whimple and a score of resolute men were still scouring thewoods in search of fugitives. They had approached very near the bank ofthe creek when the foremost man started back, saying:

  "My God! Just look at that!"

  "Where?" asked a dozen voices, peeping through the underbush, expectingto behold a masked battery at the least. The sun was low in the Westernhorizon, and our soldiers could not see the object at first.

  "There," said the first speaker, "sittin' right on the bank of thecreek, is the devil come out to sun himself."

  They could now describe an object that might be a huge mud turtle, ormight be almost any thing a lively fancy could suggest. A closerexamination, however, showed it to be a little man somewhat larger thanan apple dumpling, but so plastered from his head to his heels with mudthat one could hardly tell whether he was black or white.

  The men drew nearer the strange object and finally rushed from theirconcealment. The poor fellow went down on his knees and threw up hishands imploringly. He was covered with the very blackest of Virginiamud, except great, white rings around the eyes and mouth, which gave a amost horrible expression to the features.

  "Oh! have mercy, mercy--hem, hem!--have mercy!" he gasped, clasping hishands and closing his eyes, "and I will quit this unholy cause."

  "Why, hallo, Corporal Diggs?" cried Lieutenant Whimple. At sound of thatfamiliar voice, Mr. Diggs bounded to his feet, smeared as he was, threwhis arms round the speaker's neck and wept for joy.

  "Oh! Whimple, Whimple, Whimple! I never expected to behold your faceagain. Oh! my dear, dear Whimple, you're not killed, are you? Tell methat you are not dead!"

  Whimple assured him that not only was he alive but in good health; afterallowing the corporal time to recover, they picked up a few more men inthe woods, also about forty horses, and returned.

  Lieutenant Tompkins, who had been out in search of scattered men, nowreturned with the sergeant's squad, the Sergeant's head bandaged.

  A hundred curious eyes were turned toward Whimple's squad as they camein; but it was not so much the numbers of the squad that attracted theirattention, as the mud covered object that walked in their midst, inregard to which various conjectures were hazarded.

  About three hundred and seventy-five men were gathered around theColonel's head-quarters, the hollow tree, before nightfall. Somethingmust be done, all agreed. There were several men in the country, theColonel said, who must either take the oath of allegiance to theSouthern cause or suffer death for their disloyalty. Several names werementioned, among them that of Dan Martin.

  "The hunter of Twin Mountains?" asked Oleah Tompkins.

  "Yes," said Lieutenant Whimple, who had suggested the name.

  "He is an old friend of mine," said Oleah.

  "Well, but, Lieutenant Tompkins, we can't afford to screen all yourfriends," said the Colonel.

  "Of course, no one can blame you for saving your father, but you can'texpect all your Abolition friends will be left unmolested. LieutenantWhimple, take twenty men and wait on old Dan Martin to-morrow."

  When morning came, nearly all the horses were needed for the work ofcollecting the balance of the scattered forces, foraging for provisionsand for arms and horses.

  Corporal Diggs was second in command of Whimple's force, and, as hemounted his tall horse, he heard Seth Williams making audible commentson his appearance.

  The mounted force galloped away toward the foot of Twin Mountains, whereUncle Dan lived, a distance of about ten miles from the camp.

  It was near the middle of the forenoon when Uncle Dan, who was sittingin his door-yard, saw a cavalcade approaching. Crazy Joe was in thehouse drawing a map of Egypt, showing by lines how far the famine hadextended.

  Uncle Dan's fierce mastiff and his hounds seemed to scent comingdanger, the latter sending up mournful howls and the former utteringlow, fierce howls of anger.

  "By hokey, I don't like the looks o' that," said the old man, as heobserved the armed band approaching his lonely cabin. "Seems like theyain't honest. They're secesh, sure as gun's made o' iron, for there isJake Whimple leading 'em, and right here, too. Guess it won't do anyharm to keep old 'Broken Ribs' handy, in case they should be ugly."

  As the old man concluded he entered the house, and, taking his riflefrom the rack over the door, leaned it against the wall while he tookhis seat in the door-way, his gun within easy reach. He had also placeda large navy revolver by his side.

  The horsemen had now caught sight of him, and, with exultant yells,galloped up the slight elevation from the creek toward the cabin.

  "Say, I reckin you'd better stop now and let a fellow know what yewant," cried Uncle Dan, snatching his rifle, and bringing it to a poise.

  The cavalcade halted, the men looking apprehensively at the unerringrifle and then at one another. Finally, by common consent, all eyes wereturned on Lieutenant Whimple.

  "What do ye want, Jake Whimple?" demanded Uncle Dan in sharp, imperativetones.

  "We have come to administer the oath of allegiance to you," saidWhimple, riding a little nearer, his comrades following close behind.

  "Then stop," cried the old hunter, "or I will make it hot for you, for Iwon't take no oath of allegiance from any one to the SouthernConfederacy, 'specially such a sorry cuss as you."

  "Then I shall take you a prisoner and bring you to camp," saidLieutenant Whimple, trying to throw some sternness in his voice.

  "I'll drop some o' you fellars afore ye do that. Now jist advance onestep further and see if I don't."

  Although they were fifty yards away, they could distinctly hear theominous click of that rifle which never failed.

  "I've lost something down here," muttered Corporal Diggs, striving invain to keep his teeth from chattering, "and I believe I'll go back andsee if I can't find it."

  The Corporal wheeled his big horse around, and galloped down the hillfor about one hundred yards, and, dismounting, set about examining veryintently the ground behind a large oak tree.

  "Whoa, January," he said shivering, perhaps from cold, as thethermometer was only 65 deg. above in the shade.

  "If you don't come along peaceably with us we shall have to use force,"said Lieutenant Whimple, in a tone of as much severity as he couldcommand.

  The old man sprang to his feet and brought his gun to his face, "Now,turn about and git from here, or I'll drop some of ye where ye stand,"he shouted.

  Lieutenant Whimple spurred his horse, which reared, and wheeled and ashe turned he fired his pistol at the hunter. The ball passed high overthe old man's house, missing its aim by ten feet.

  "Shoot the old rascal!" he frantically cried, as he saw the fatal rifleaimed at himself. The discharge of the pistol had frightened the horses;they had broken ranks and were now rearing and plunging in everydirection.

  "Crack!" went Uncle Dan's rifle, and a bullet went through theLieutenant's hat, knocking it from his head.

  With a wild cry, the Lieutenant threw up his hands, and fell forward onhis horse's neck, believi
ng, as did the others, that he was killed. Thehorse tore down the hill, followed by the entire company.

  Uncle Dan's blood was up and snatching his revolver he fired three moreshots at the retreating cavalcade. At the last shot he saw the dustarise from the back of one man's coat and heard a wild cry.

  "Take me by force," said Uncle Dan, "May be," and re-entering the househe reloaded his weapons, to be ready for another assault.

  Corporal Diggs was still searching for the treasure he had lost, when heheard the shots, and, looking from behind the tree, he saw the wholetroop come tearing down the hill, retreating, as it seemed to him, inthe midst of a storm of shot fired from a six pounder.

  The Corporal made a spring for his saddle (as he afterward declared), torally his men, seeing that the Lieutenant was wounded, but he could onlysucceed in grasping the horn of his saddle. Thus clinging, he managed toslip one foot into the stirrup, when the flying horsemen thundered by.The Corporal's long-legged horse gave one snort and started at headlongspeed.

  "Whoa, January! whoa, January! _whoa January!_" frantically cried theCorporal, clinging to the side of the tall horse, able neither to get onor off, while the excited beast seemed to be trying to outstrip thewind.

  "Whoa, January," cried the Corporal, trying to stop his flying steed,but unable to touch the bridle.

  "Whoa, January," his arms and legs extended, and his short coat-tailflying, made him look like a spider on a circular saw. "Whoa January! OhLordy, won't no one stop this horse? I'll--hem, hem--be killed against atree! Help, help! Whoa January."

  January by this time had passed the foremost horse in the fleeingcavalcade, and his rider presented such a ludicrous appearance that themen, badly frightened as they were, roared with laughter.

  Lieutenant Whimple, after swaying for some time in the saddle, plungedoff in a helpless heap on the side of the road. Three or four of the menpaused to pick him up. The man who had been wounded in the back, faintedand fell from his horse, when another halt was made.

  But on thundered January, his rider still clinging to his side andcrying vigorously for help. The creek was reached, and January, by onetremendous leap, cleared the ford. The stirrup broke, so did CorporalDiggs' hold. There was a great splash, and those nearest saw a pair ofshort legs disappear beneath the surface of the water.

  When the party came up, they beheld a mud-stained, water-soakedindividual crawling up the opposite bank, sputtering and groaning, andswearing he would quit such an unholy cause.

  The Lieutenant soon recovered, though he acted for hours like a mandazed. The severely wounded private was carried to the nearest house,where he was left and medical aid sent for. Corporal Diggs rode behindone of the soldiers until they came upon the fractious January nibblingthe fresh grass in a piece of bottom-land. He then mounted his own steedand took command of the company, which he led straight back to camp.

  No sooner had the Confederates left Uncle Dan's residence than thelatter packed up his few valuables, and, telling Crazy Joe to go to Mr.Tompkins, turned loose his dogs and set out through the woods to theJunction. Uncle Dan surmised the rebels would return in force and burnhis dwelling to the earth.