When they reached the cabin Mrs. Arnold was on the outlook for them. She and Mr. Arnold spoke of Mollie and her mother, and Mrs. Arnold declared that Mrs. Bragg was sure that Len might appear any day.
“Their cabin is so far in from the highway that I think they will be safe,” Mr. Arnold said thoughtfully. And both Berry and her mother understood that he was thinking that it might be possible, before many days passed, that Northern and Southern troops would meet in deadly conflict along those peaceful country roads.
That night Berry followed Lily when the colored girl started toward the barn. “Lily, I’m going to take turns watching at night!” she said. “General Grant’s army is at Pittsburg Landing, and if the Confederates surprise them my father says they might capture the Union army.”
Lily gazed at her young mistress a little fearfully. “My lan’, Missie Berry! Yo’ don’ reckon we cud stop a army, does yo’?” she said, waving the milk pail as if it were a banner; “how does yo’ reckon we gwine ter do sich a thing?”
“We can do it by letting General Grant know that the Confederates mean to attack his camp!” declared Berry.
“We shu’ kin do dat, Missie Berry; pervided we sees ’um fust! I reckons we’ll hev ter watch out sharp!” Lily responded soberly.
CHAPTER XVI
BERRY IS TAKEN PRISONER
Berry’s morning lessons with her father were now for a time discontinued. The little household in the mountain cabin realized that the encampment of Union soldiers at Pittsburg Landing meant that a battle was near at hand; and Berry’s thoughts, as well as those of her mother and father, were absorbed in what General Grant’s next movement might be.
Mollie Bragg came nearly every morning to practise her lessons in writing, and apparently had quite forgotten Berry’s thoughtless unkindness. Berry presented the slate and pencil to the little girl so that she might use it at home; and this gift made Mollie sure that Berry had not meant to be unkind. Mrs. Arnold had again fitted Mollie out with a neat dress of stout gingham. Mrs. Bragg had made the poor cabin neat and livable, and had planted the rough garden plot with early vegetables. Every day she and Mollie kept a sharp outlook for Len. But General Beauregard was doing his best to get his forces at Corinth ready for a march on the enemy and no absences were permitted. But Len was to see his mother and sister, nevertheless, much earlier than he then imagined.
Lily’s first night of “guard duty,” as Berry called it, passed without her seeing or hearing anything to awaken her fears. The colored girl, however, had slept for several hours as she crouched against a mossy log near Shiloh church. But Lily was sure that she would have awakened at the slightest sound. On her way home, in the gray light of the early morning, she had stopped at the red-buds and found a sealed letter under the rock at the roots of the tree.