Within The Enemy's Lines Part 1

Within The Enemy's Lines.

by Oliver Optic.

PREFACE

"WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES" is the second volume of "The Blue and the Gray Series." Like its predecessor, of course, its scenes are connected with the war of the Rebellion; and perhaps the writer ought to be thankful that he is not required in such a work to rise to the dignity of history, but he believes that all his events were possible, and that every one of them has had its parallel in the actual occurrences of the historic period of which he writes. In fact, some of the experiences of the actors in the terrible drama of a quarter of a century ago would pa.s.s more readily for fiction than for reality, and detailed on the pages of a story would be deemed impossible by the conservative reader.

The nation has pa.s.sed out of its ordeal of fire, and an excellent spirit on the part of both parties to the great strife is still growing and strengthening, in spite of an occasional exhibition of folly on both sides on the part of those who have not outlived the bitterness of the past, and who probably will not outlive it. The time will certainly come when the memories of the conflict, the repet.i.tion of the stories of the war, and even the partisan praise bestowed upon the heroes of both sides, will excite no more ill feeling than does an allusion to the War of the Roses in England.

In this country the advocate of either side will tell his story, relate his history, and jingle his verse in his own way, and from his own standpoint. Those upon the other side will be magnanimous enough to tolerate him, at least in silence. Histories, romances, poems, and plays relating to the war, are produced in greater numbers as the gap between the days of battle and the days of peace widens; but the old fires are not rekindled, the old bitterness still slumbers, and the Great United Nation still lives on in perfect peace.

The author hopes he has done nothing on these pages to impair the growing harmony between the two sections which have happily become one, or to impregnate the minds of those who have been born since the strife ended with any of its bitterness. He has endeavored to make as high-toned men on the one side as the other, with the same moral sentiment in the one party as the other, and to exhibit their only difference in the one great question of Union or Disunion.

Dorchester, May 2, 1889.

CHAPTER I

AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR

"Cornelius!" exclaimed Captain Pa.s.sford, as a young man of nineteen was shown into the library of the magnificent dwelling of the millionnaire at Bonnydale, on the Hudson.

"Cornelius Pa.s.sford, Uncle Horatio," replied the young man, as the captain rushed to him and extended his hand.

"I think there can be no mistake about it; and I should have been no more surprised if Mr. Jefferson Davis had been ushered into my library at this moment," continued Captain Pa.s.sford, still retaining the hand of his nephew. "I understood that you were a soldier in the Confederate army."

"I was a soldier; but I am not one just now," replied the visitor, with some embarra.s.sment in his manner, though the circ.u.mstances were strange enough to account for it.

"How are your father and mother and Miss Gerty, Corny?" asked the uncle of the visitor, giving the young man the name by which he was generally called both at home and in the family of his uncle.

"They were all very well when I left them," replied Corny, looking on the floor, as though he was not altogether satisfied with himself.

"Of course, you brought letters from your father and Gerty?"

"No, sir; I brought no letters," replied Corny, and, more than before, he looked as though he was not enjoying his present visit.

"No letters!" exclaimed Captain Pa.s.sford, evidently surprised beyond measure at the apparent want of kindly feeling on the part of members of his brother's family in the South.

"Not a letter, Uncle Horatio," answered Corny, bracing himself up, as though he realized that he was not presenting a demeanor such as he thought the occasion required of him.

"This is very strange," added Captain Pa.s.sford, with a cloud playing on his fine features.

"It is war between the North and the South, Uncle Horatio, and I suppose my father did not feel like writing any letters. Gerty never writes any letters if she can help it," Corny explained.

"But Gerty used to write to Florry about once a week."

"Did she? I didn't know it. She never would write to me when I was away from home," said Corny, who seemed to be very anxious not to say anything that was not consistent with the present situation, whatever it was.

"When I parted with my brother on board of the Bellevite, both of us shed tears as we realized that war made enemies of us; but each of us promised to do all he could for the other in case of need. I am very sure that there was not the slightest unkind feeling between us. Of course, I did not expect him to write me the war news, but I think he could have written a few lines without any allusion to the war," said Captain Pa.s.sford, pained at this want of filial affection on the part of his brother.

At that moment the bell for tea rang, and the captain invited his nephew to the table with him. The host was saddened by the absence of news from his brother, of any kindly expression from one who was of the same blood as himself. He was not quite satisfied with Corny's manner, or with the little he seemed to be willing to say about the rest of the family. It was certainly very strange that the young man should be there at all, and his awkwardness and confusion made the visit seem still more singular.

It was possible that the young man had just arrived and was fatigued by the trials and perils of his trip, for he must have come by some roundabout way; and very likely he felt nervous and uneasy in the midst of people who were loyal to the government and the Union. Captain Pa.s.sford decided to say nothing more to his nephew at present as to the occasion and the manner of his visit to Bonnydale, and during the evening meal he avoided all allusion to the war, so far as it was possible to do so. Mrs. Pa.s.sford and Florry received him very kindly, but following the example of the head of the family, they spoke only of domestic affairs, and of the relations of the two families as they had been before the war.

Between the brothers Homer and Horatio Pa.s.sford, even from their early boyhood, a remarkably strong fraternal affection had subsisted. Both of them were high-toned men, and both of them had always been faithful in the discharge of every duty to G.o.d and man. Each of them had a wife, a son and a daughter, and two happier families could not have been found on the face of the earth. They were not only devoted to each other, each within its own circle, but the two families were as nearly one as it was possible to be.

Captain Horatio had formerly been a shipmaster, and had acc.u.mulated an immense fortune. Homer was less fortunate in this respect, and his tastes were somewhat different from those of his brother. He wanted to be a planter, and with the financial a.s.sistance of his brother, he went into the business of raising cotton near Mobile, in Alabama. But years before the war, he had paid off every dollar of his indebtedness to Horatio, and had made a comfortable fortune besides. The two families had visited each other as much an possible, and the captain, with his little family, had been almost to the plantation in the Bellevite, the magnificent steam-yacht of the Northerner.

During the preceding winter, Captain Pa.s.sford, his wife and son, had visited most of the islands of the Atlantic; but the health of Miss Florry was considerably impaired, and the doctors would not permit her to make this sea-voyage, but recommended her to keep quiet in some southern locality. She had therefore pa.s.sed the winter at Glenfield, which was the name of Homer Pa.s.sford's plantation. On his return from this long cruise, the owner of the Bellevite obtained his first news that war existed between the North and the South from the pilot. The three members of the family on board of the steamer were greatly distressed over the fact that Florry was still at the home of her uncle in Alabama, within the enemy's lines.

Without going on sh.o.r.e, Captain Pa.s.sford decided to arm his yacht, which was large enough for a man-of-war, and hasten to Mobile Bay to bring back his daughter. He was in doubt with regard to the political feeling of Homer, but believed that he would still adhere to the government and the Union. It was a part of his mission to bring his brother and his family to his own home at Bonnydale. Mrs. Pa.s.sford was sent on sh.o.r.e in a tug, and Christy, the son, was to go with her; but the young man, just entering his seventeenth year, protested against being left at home, and as the captain believed that a patriotic citizen ought to be willing to give his all, even his sons, to his country, the young man went with his father. The mother was as devoted to her country as the father, and terrible as was the ordeal, she consented to part with him for such a duty.

By an event fortunate for him, Captain Pa.s.sford succeeded in obtaining an armament for his vessel, as well as an abundant supply of ammunition; and the vessel was refitted for the perilous service in which she was to be engaged. At Na.s.sau, Christy made the acquaintance of a young man who proved to be of great service to the expedition, and the Bellevite reached her destination in safety, though not without some rather exciting incidents.

Captain Pa.s.sford found that his brother was sincerely and devotedly attached to the Southern cause. They discussed the great question for hours upon hours, each striving to convert the other to his own views, but with no success on the part of either. Homer Pa.s.sford was a religious man, conscientious in the discharge of every duty, and nothing less could be said of his Northern brother. In a short time the owner of the Bellevite found that he had fallen into a "hornet's nest," for the planter did not believe that he ought to allow the steam-yacht to be taken to New York to become a part of the navy of the Union. He declared his convictions to his brother, who was compelled to regard the planter as an enemy in spite of the relations subsisting between them. Both of them placed their duty to their own country above every other consideration.

Captain Pa.s.sford was obliged to get his daughter out of his brother's house by stealth, and to make his escape with the Bellevite as best he could.

Major Lindley Pierson, in command of Fort Gaines, at the entrance to Mobile Bay, had permitted the steamer to pa.s.s, having been deceived by his younger brother. He had been a frequent visitor at the mansion of Homer Pa.s.sford, attracted there, it appeared, by the lovely daughter of the planter's brother, remaining there for the winter. Perhaps on her account, perhaps with the fear that the Bellevite was not what she had appeared to be, he had gone to the vicinity of Glenfield to inquire into the mission of the steamer.

Homer Pa.s.sford, acting upon his convictions, gave information which resulted in an attempt to capture the Bellevite. Christy, not informed in regard to the plans of his father to depart at once in the steamer, was "Taken by the Enemy," and had some very stirring adventures in the bay. But the steamer escaped from the numerous enemies that awaited her, and Christy got on board of her at the last minute. The Bellevite ran the gantlet of the forts in a dense fog, and brought Miss Florry in safety to her home at Bonnydale.

Corny Pa.s.sford, whose unexpected arrival at Bonnydale had excited the astonishment of his uncle, was a year older than Christy, and had enlisted in the Confederate service at the instance of Major Pierson.

Without knowing anything in particular about the matter, his uncle believed, at his visit to Glenfield, that Corny was as earnestly devoted to the Southern cause as his father, judging entirely from the fact that he had enlisted as a soldier.

Corny had a good appet.i.te, and a good supper was set before him. He ate like a hungry boy, and the fact that he was within the enemy's lines did not seem to have any influence upon him. His aunt helped him till he seemed to be filled to repletion, for she thought he must have been accustomed of late only to the most indifferent fare. After supper, he followed his uncle back to the library; but he seemed less embarra.s.sed than before.

"Where is Christy, Uncle Horatio?" asked Corny, as he seated himself in the library. "I have not seen him yet; and as I was away at the fort when you went to Glenfield, I did not see him then."

"I don't know where he is just now, though he is in or about the house most of the time," replied the captain. "Are you still in the army, Corny?"

"No, sir, I am here. I did not like the service very well, and I thought I should like the navy better. The reason why I did not like it as well as at first was because I was no longer in Major Pierson's battalion,"

replied Corny, looking at his uncle as though he expected a question from him.

"Then Major Pierson is no longer in the army?" added the captain.

"Oh, yes, he is; but I think he was the maddest man in the army soon after you left."

"Indeed! Why was he so mad?"

"Because he was removed from command of Fort Gaines for letting you pa.s.s it in your steamer."

"Then he is still in the service?" asked Captain Pa.s.sford.