“True enough!” responded the man; “the stars and bars will cross this bridge before many months!”
“What is ‘stars and bars’?” asked Roxy.
“The flag of the Confederate States,” answered the man, and waving their hands in farewell they rode on. As they started one of the men began to sing, and the refrain of his song, “Maryland, My Maryland,” came drifting back to the little girl who stood looking after them.
“I suppose I’d better go home now,” thought Roxy. “I guess my mother will be surprised when I tell her about the soldiers. I suppose I will have to tell her about Polly, too,” and sighing deeply Roxy went on her way toward the narrow path that led to her Grandmother Miller’s. On a farther slope the vivid green of young wheat ran up to meet the darker green of forest trees; flowering dogwood and redbud grew along the stone walls, and the purple blossom of the papaw showed here and there, and Roxy looked at these blossoms admiringly, and wondered if they would grow in her garden in Newburyport.
She was only a short distance from the highway when she noticed something moving behind a thickly growing bush of dogwood. The branches bent forward, and Roxy stopped and gazed at it, half fearing that some wild animal was sheltered there that might spring out and seize her. As she stood ready to run the branches sprang back and a boyish figure crawled out and slowly rose to his feet.
He was bareheaded, and his brown hair was long and rough. He wore gray shirt and trousers, and his shoes were so worn that they hardly covered his feet. Roxy was too surprised to move, but as the young man gazed toward her with a half-frightened, pleading look, she lost all sense of fear.
“Oh, what is the matter?” she asked. “What is it?”
“I’m starving!” came the whispered answer, and the young man sank down close to the bushes. “I can’t go another step! Were those soldiers after me?”
“No! No! I don’t believe so. Come up to my grandma’s and you can have all you want to eat,” Roxy said eagerly.
The young man shook his head. “I must not let anyone see me. You won’t tell anyone about me. Promise!” he pleaded. “Promise not to tell a human being that you have seen me; and can’t you get me something to eat? I have a safe hiding-place near here.”