Frank Before Vicksburg Part 6

"Why, bless you, no, sir. Who says you did, sir?" inquired one of the crew.

"But tell me one thing, Jack," said Frank, his face still covered with his hands, "Am I a coward?"

"No, sir," answered the mate, indignantly; "'cause if you was, you wouldn't have held on to them guns as long as you did, and you would not have pitched into that rebel atween the lines, as you did about a year ago, at this very place. In course you ain't no coward."

This was some consolation. The men whom he commanded, and who had always cheerfully followed where he had dared to lead, thought very differently from the man who had retreated almost before the fight had commenced, and who, to screen himself, had brought those charges against one whose conduct had always been above reproach.

"Yes, as you say, it is a hard case, Jack," said Frank, uncovering his face, and glancing toward the rebels who thronged the levee. "It is a hard case, indeed, but I will come out at the top of the heap yet."

"What's the matter, sir?" inquired the mate. "Any one been wrongin' you, sir? He'd better not show his ugly figure-head when what's left of the first division has sh.o.r.e liberty. We'll douse his top-lights for him."

By this time the cutter had reached the sh.o.r.e, and Frank, taking the flag of truce, sprang out, and walked up the bank to where a group of officers was standing.

"Wal, Yank, what do you want now?" inquired a man dressed in the uniform of a colonel.

How Frank started when he heard that voice. Could he be mistaken? He had certainly heard it before, and he remembered the time when it had given an order which still rang in his ears: "Stiles, you stay here until this man dies." He looked at the men, some of whom were lying on the ground about the levee, and others standing at a little distance, waiting to hear what was going to be the result of the interview, and what had at first appeared a vague suspicion, now forced itself upon Frank as a dread reality. He was in the presence of _Colonel Harrison and the Louisiana Wild-cats_. Nothing but a bold front could save him, for he knew that these men paid very little respect to a flag of truce, unless it was likely to further their own interests; and if he should be recognized, his recapture was certain, and then, what would be his fate?

Would not summary vengeance be taken upon him, in retaliation for the manner in which he had treated the sentinel on the night of his escape, and the way he had served the man who had overtaken him in the woods?

Brave as Frank was, and accustomed as he had become to look danger in the face, he could not but regard his situation as critical in the extreme.

"What did you say your business was, Yank?" inquired the colonel again.

"I wish to see the commanding officer," said Frank, steadily meeting the rebel's searching glance. "I wish permission to bury our dead."

"Well, that's a fair request," said the colonel, carelessly. "I don't know as I have any objection to it. Want your prisoners also?"

"Yes, sir," answered Frank, with a smile. "I should like to take them back to the s.h.i.+p with me. But you know that I have none to exchange for them."

"That's what I thought. I couldn't afford to give your men back for nothing."

"I didn't suppose you would. But have we your permission to come ash.o.r.e and bury our dead?" inquired Frank, who was anxious to bring the interview to an end.

"Yes," answered the colonel, "and we will leave the field in your possession. You will send that message by one of your men, for I don't think, youngster, that you can go back. If I am not very much mistaken, I've got a better right to you than any one else."

"Yes, colonel," shouted one of the men, "I'll be dog-gone if I didn't think he was the chap that give us the slip at Shreveport."

"I didn't think I could be mistaken," said the colonel. "So, youngster, just consider yourself a prisoner."

"What do you mean, sir? You have no claim whatever upon me, and never had!" exclaimed Frank, indignantly. "I am acting in obedience to orders, and am under the protection of this flag of truce."

"Very well spoken. But what do you suppose we care for that dish-rag?

Besides, I say we _have_ a good claim upon you, for you have never been exchanged. Here, Jim!" he shouted to one of his men, "put this little Yank with the rest, and don't give him a chance to get away this time."

The man advanced to obey the order, and when he came up to the place where Frank was standing, he seized him by the hair and shook him until every tooth in his head rattled.

"Avast heavin' there, you land-lubber!" shouted the mate, who until this time had remained in the boat with the crew; and, springing ash.o.r.e, he ran up the bank, and with one blow of his fist felled the rebel to the ground.

"Here we have it," said the colonel, who, instead of defending Frank, seemed to consider the manner in which he was treated a good joke.

"Boys, secure this blue-jacket also."

"No you don't, Johnny!" exclaimed the mate, as one of the men sprang forward to seize him. "If you think that one of you is as good as five Yankee sailors, now is your chance to try it on. It'll take more'n one of you to put the bracelets on me;" and, as he spoke, he planted another of his tremendous blows in the face of the advancing rebel, which lifted him completely off his feet. But before he had time to repeat it, he was overpowered by half a dozen rebels, who had run to the a.s.sistance of their comrade. After a hard struggle, he was secured, and his hands were bound behind his back.

"Now, you fellows," said the colonel, addressing himself to the men in the boat, "get back to your vessel; tell the captain how matters stand, and also that he may come ash.o.r.e and bury his dead as soon as he chooses."

"Tell the first division," said the mate, "that the next time they go into action they must give one shot for Jack Waters. If you fellers don't pay for this," he continued, turning to the rebels, "then blast my to'-gallant top-lights."

"Tell the captain," chimed in Frank, "that he had better not trust these men again, for they are not sufficiently civilized to know what a flag of truce is."

"You are very complimentary, young man, to say the least," said a rebel, who was standing near the colonel.

"I am telling the plain truth," answered Frank, "and you will find that your barbarous mode of warfare will never succeed; and that the crew of that vessel will never allow the mean action of which you have been guilty to pa.s.s unnoticed."

"Douse my top-lights but that's the truth," said the mate, making an effort with his confined hands to salute his officer.

"See that these prisoners are well secured," said the colonel, "and be sure and take special care of that youngster, for if you allow him the least chance, he'll escape," and the colonel turned on his heel and walked away.

In obedience to these instructions, Frank and the mate were delivered into the charge of a sergeant, who at once conducted them toward the place where the prisoners which had been taken during the fight were confined under guard. As they pa.s.sed along through the rebels, they were insulted at every step, and finally a man drew his ramrod out of his gun, and seizing Frank by the collar, proceeded to give him a severe thras.h.i.+ng. Frank immediately appealed to the sergeant, who, instead of offering to defend him, stood at a little distance, watching the operation, as if not at all concerned. The mate was fairly beside himself with rage, and struggled desperately to free his hands, all the while venting his anger by "dousing" his "top-lights" and "s.h.i.+vering"

his own "timbers." The rebel continued his punishment amid the cheers of his companions, and at every stroke of his ramrod he exclaimed: "Shot the best blood-hound in Louisiana, did ye! Stick a bayonet into young Davis, won't ye!" until Frank, smarting with the pain, determined to defend himself.

"Unhand me, you scoundrel!" he shouted; "I've had just about enough of this." Turning fiercely upon his persecutor, he s.n.a.t.c.hed the ramrod from his hand, and commenced laying it over his head and shoulders. The rebel, after trying in vain to defend himself, retreated precipitately, amid the jeers of his comrades, and shouts of derision from the mate.

The sergeant here thought it time to interfere, and Frank and the mate were not again molested.

CHAPTER VI.

An Old Acquaintance.

They found that the rebels had captured nearly twenty of their men, several of them badly wounded, and, as there was no surgeon with the enemy, the poor fellows were suffering intensely. Frank shuddered when he thought of the inhuman treatment to which his wounded companions had been subjected by the very men in whose power they now were, on the march from Vicksburg to Shreveport; and he knew, from the scenes through which he had just pa.s.sed, that the Wild-cats had not grown more lenient in their treatment of those who were so unfortunate as to fall into their power. As soon as they were placed under guard, Jack's hands were unbound, and he seated himself on the ground beside his officer, in no very amiable mood.

"It isn't for myself that I care, sir," said he; "but I am afraid that the treatment you will receive will be a heap worse nor keel-haulin' on a cold winter's mornin'."

"Don't talk so loud, Jack," whispered Frank, glancing toward the guard, who was walking his beat but a short distance from them. "I've been in just such sc.r.a.pes as this before, and I'm not going to be strung up. If they give me the least chance for life, I'm going to take advantage of it."

"There comes a boat from the s.h.i.+p, sir," said the mate. "If we could only give them the slip now."

"No, sit still; we are watched too closely; wait until to-night."

In a short time the cutter reached the sh.o.r.e, and an officer, whom they recognized as the gunner, sprang out with a flag of truce in his hand.

He walked straight up to Colonel Harrison. After a short conversation with that individual, he handed him a letter, and, accompanied by a rebel officer, approached the place where Frank was sitting.

"Well, old fellow," he said, as he came up, "I'm sorry to see you in this fix. But I've got good news for you. The colonel has given me permission to inform you that you will be well treated as long as you remain a prisoner. You see, we happen to have a prisoner who belongs to this regiment on board the flag-s.h.i.+p, and the captain is going to ask the admiral to exchange him for you. So keep a stiff upper lip. Don't think of trying to escape, and we shall see you on board of the s.h.i.+p again in less than a week. Good-by."

Frank and the mate shook hands with the gunner, who walked back to the place where he had left his men, and set them to work collecting and burying the dead.

After considerable trouble, an agreement was entered into between Captain Wilson and the colonel, and all the prisoners, with the exception of Frank and the mate, were paroled and allowed to return on board the vessel, after which the Wild-cats mounted their horses and commenced marching back into the country. While the fight had been raging, their horses were safely hidden in the woods, out of range of the Ticonderoga's guns; and when they were brought out, Frank, although he had not seen either a dead or wounded rebel, was able to judge pretty accurately of the number that had been disabled in the struggle, by counting the empty saddles. What had been done with the dead and wounded he could not ascertain; but the probability was, that the latter had been carried on in advance of the main body of the regiment, and the former hastily buried on the field. The prisoners were each given a horse, and Frank was a good deal surprised to find that although the mate was closely watched, scarcely any attention was paid to himself; his captors, no doubt, thinking that he would prefer waiting to be exchanged, rather than run the risk of the punishment that had been threatened in case he was detected in any attempt at escape. He was given to understand that it was useless to think of flight, for he would certainly be recaptured, even if he succeeded in getting outside of the pickets, and that he would be shot down without mercy. But Frank, who well knew that the rebels would not willingly lose an opportunity of regaining one of their officers, was not at all intimidated by these threats; and, as he had not bound himself to remain a pa.s.sive prisoner, he commenced laying his plans for escape, intending to put them into operation at the very first opportunity which offered.

Just before dark the column halted in front of a plantation, and commenced making its camp on each side of the road. While the men were making their preparations for the night, the colonel, who evidently preferred more comfortable quarters than could be found in the open air, repaired to the house, where he was cordially greeted by its inmates.