“I reckons I’ll let Missie Berry see dis fus’,” she resolved, and followed Berry’s plan of reaching her chamber by the help of the old oak; so that Berry was suddenly awakened, just at daybreak, by a gentle touch on her curly hair and a whispered word:
“Missie Berry, Missie Berry, de letter’s cum,” said Lily.
For a moment Berry believed herself dreaming, and rubbed her eyes sleepily. Then instantly she was wide awake, and seized the letter. It was enclosed in a brown paper, and tied with a coarse string. In the dim morning light Berry read: “For General Johnston, at Corinth,” and beneath it in large letters, “RUN!”
The two girls stared at each other with sober faces.
“W’ot yo’ gwine ter do, Missie Berry? Yo’ gwine ter gib dis letter to yo’ pa?” questioned Lily.
Berry shook her head. “I don’t know yet. If I give it to Father I would have to tell him about my going to the witch-tree at midnight,” she whispered. “I’ll have to think what I will do.” And Lily nodded and made her way noiselessly to the kitchen.
Berry turned the letter over in her hand. To open a letter addressed to another person did not occur to her. But this was a spy’s letter; it must contain news of the Union army, secretly obtained, and Berry knew that it would be of value to the enemy and that it would be a service if she could give it to a Union officer.
“I’ll carry it to the Pittsburg camp,” she resolved.
The moment breakfast was over Berry sauntered out to the porch and instantly disappeared. She scrambled down the rough slope of the ravine, and followed a path just above the Corinth road. It was a day of early April, and a damp mist lay over the river and drifted in little clouds along the hills. Berry had to make her way with some caution, as recent rains had made the path boggy and uncertain; but within an hour she was in sight of the rows of white tents that dotted the rough plateau facing the Tennessee River. Not a single spadeful of earth had been thrown up for entrenchments; no horseman patrolled the encampment. As Berry stood for a moment looking at what seemed to her so wonderful a sight, she heard the sound of laughter, and a moment later a group of soldiers came from a tent very near to where she was standing.
“What’s this?” exclaimed one of the men, as he discovered a slight boyish figure in a well-worn flannel blouse and knickerbockers, and wearing a red tam-o’-shanter cap, standing directly in front of him.