第68章
The slave who bears this will give you from me a treasure of six hundred dollars.I desire that you pay the tavern and whatever creditors of mine you find.To owe debts does not comport with the honor of a cavalier, and I propose to silence all base clamors on that head.I remain, most venerated sir, Yours to command, Jefferson Sterett.
"'That's the last we-all hears of my sens'tive an' high-sperited brother ontil after Mister Lee surrenders.It's one mornin' when Jeff comes home, an' the manner of his return shorely displays his nobility of soul, that a-way, as ondiscouraged an' ondimmed.No one's lookin' for Jeff partic'lar, when I hears a steamboat whistle for our landin'.I, bein' as I am full of the ontamed cur'osity of yooth, goes curvin' out to see what's up.I hears the pilot give the engineer the bells to set her back.on the sta'board wheel, an' then on both.The boat comes driftin' in.A stagin' is let down, an with the tread of a conqueror who should come ashore but my brother Jeff!
Thar's nothin' in his hands; he ain't got nothin' with him that he ain't wearin'.An' all he has on is a old wool hat, a hick'ry shirt, gray trousers, an' a pair of copper-rivet shoes as red as a bay hoss.As he strikes the bank, Jeff turns an' sweeps the scene with the eye of a eagle.Then takin' a bogus silver watch outen his pocket, he w'irls her over his head by the leather string an' lets her go out into the river, ker-chunk!
"'"Which I enters into this yere rebellion," says Jeff, flashin' a proud, high glance on me where I stands wonderin', "without nothin', an' I proposes to return with honor ontarnished, an' as pore as Igoes in."
"'As me an' Jeff reepairs up to the house, I notes the most renegade-lookin' nigger followin' behind.
"'"Whoever's dis yere nigger?" I asks.
"'"He's my valet," says Jeff.
"'My arm's a heap too slight,' goes on Colonel Sterett, followin' a small libation, 'to strike a blow for the confed'racy, but my soul is shorely in the cause.I does try to j'ine, final, an' is only saved tharfrom, an' from what would, ondoubted, have been my certain death, by a reb gen'ral named Wheeler.He don't mean to do it; she's inadvertent so far as he's concerned; but he saves me jest the same.
An' settin' yere as I be, enjoyin' the friendship an' esteem of you-all citizens of Wolfville, I feels more an' more the debt of gratitoode I owes that gallant officer an' man.'
"'However does this Gen'ral Wheeler save you?' asks Dan Boggs.
'Which I'm shore eager to hear.'
"'The tale is simple,' responds the Colonel, 'an' it's a triboote to that brave commander which I'm allers ready to pay.It's in the middle years of the war, an' I'm goin' to school in a village which lies back from the river, an' is about twenty miles from my ancestral home.Thar's a stockade in the place which some invadin'
Yanks has built, an' thar's about twenty of 'em inside, sort o'
givin' orders to the village an' makin' its patriotic inhabitants either march or mark time, whichever chances to be their Yankee caprices.
"'As a troo Southern yooth, who feels for his strugglin' country, Iloathes them Yankees to the limit, an' has no more use for 'em than Huggins has for a temp'rance lecturer.
"'One day a troop of reb cavalry jumps into the village, an'
stampedes these yere invaders plumb off the scene.We gets the news up to the school, an' adjourns in a bunch to come down town an'
cel'brate the success of the Southern arms.As I arrives at the field of carnage, a reb cavalryman is swingin' outen the saddle.He throws the bridle of his hoss to me.
"'" See yere, Bud," he says, "hold my hoss a minute while I sees if I can't burn this stockade.""'I stands thar while the reb fusses away with some pine splinters an' lightwood, strugglin' to inaug'rate a holycaust.He can't make the landin'; them timbers is too green, that a-way.
"'While I'm standin' thar, lendin' myse'f to this yere conflagratory enterprise, I happens to cast my eyes over on the hills a mile back from the village, an' I'm shocked a whole lot to observe them eminences an' summits is bloo with Yankees comin'.Now I'm a mighty careful boy, an' I don't allow none to let a ragin' clanjamfrey of them Lincoln hirelings caper up on me while I'm holdin' a reb boss.
So I calls to this yere incendiary trooper where he's blowin' an'
experimentin' an' still failin' with them flames.
"'" Secesh!" I shouts; "oh, you-all secesh! You'd a mighty sight better come get your hoss, or them Yanks who's bulgin' along over yonder'll spread your hide on the fence.""'This reb takes a look at the Yanks, an' then comes an' gets his hoss.As he gathers up the bridle rein an' swings into the saddle, a mad thirst to fight, die an' bleed for my country seizes me, an' Igrabs the reb's hoss by the bits an' detains him.
"'"Say, Mister," I pleads, "why can't you-all take me with you?""'" Which you're a lot too young, son," says the reb, takin' another size-up of the Yanks.
"'" I ain't so young as I looks," I argues; "I'm jest small of my age.""'" Now, I reckons that's so," says the reb, beamin' on me approvin', "an' you're likewise mighty peart.But I'll tell you, Bud, you ain't got no hoss.""'"That's nothin'," I responds; "which if you-all will only get me a gun, I can steal a hoss, that a-way, in the first mile.""'Seein' me so ready with them argyments, an' so dead pertinacious to go, this yere trooper begins to act oneasy, like his resolootion gets shook some.At last he gridds his teeth together like his mind's made up.
"'" Look yere, boy," he says, "do you know who our Gen'ral is?""'"No," I says, "I don't."
"'"Well," says the reb, as he shoves his feet deep in the stirrups, an' settles in his saddle like he's goin' to make some time; "well, he's a ragin' an' onfettered maverick, named Wheeler; an' from the way he goes skallyhootin' 'round, he's goin' to get us all killed or captured before ever we gets back, an' I don't want no chil'en on my hands." "'With that this yere soldier yanks the bridle outen my grasp, claps the steel into his hoss's flanks, an' leaves me like a bullet from a gun.For my part, I stands thar saved; saved, as Isays, by that Gen'ral Wheeler's repootation with his men.'"