But Captain Delfield did not for a moment imagine that within a few days these very signals that Roxy described were to involve his little daughter in real danger.
CHAPTER XIII
SEPTEMBER SIXTH
Roxy was up as the first rays of the September sun came through her eastern window; but early as it was she found Dulcie busy in the kitchen, and could see Jacob starting off to the fields with the mule team.
“Yo’ gran’ma says ebery grain ob wheat and ebery ear ob co’n mus’ be out er de fields ’fore de marchin’ armies comes dis way,” said Dulcie solemnly, as she gave Roxy a plate of freshly baked corn bread, and bade her run to the dairy for a pitcher of milk.
“I want my lunch basket filled, please, Dulcie,” said Roxy. “I may be gone all day.”
“Don’ yo’ go near de roads, Missy Roxy,” warned Dulcie, “an’ yo’ tells Missy Polly Lawrence not ter go ridin’ off lik’ she does. ’Tain’ gwine ter be safe,” and the negro woman shook her head solemnly, as she started toward the pantry to fill the little covered basket.
Roxy put on the big straw hat that she always wore in her tramps about the pastures, and promising Dulcie to keep away from the roads she set forth. As she ran down the slope her thoughts were of the lookout she meant to keep from the top of the high ledge, and of the signals that should tell Polly that marching soldiers could be seen in the distance.
“I’ll have to fix a pole on the ledge,” she decided, “and Polly will give me some strips of white cloth.”
The early September morning was cool and pleasant, and the air was fragrant with ripening fruit and the scent of autumn flowers. Along the wall the grapes were turning purple, and Roxy noticed the yellow stubble of the wheat fields.
As she neared the brook she saw bunches of purple thistles growing among the silvery-like young willows on the borders of the stream, and the little girl lingered to admire the beauty spread before her.