Berry quickly obeyed. This was a very different reception than the one she had imagined. She began to wish that she had followed Lily’s suggestion and given the letter to her father. Once or twice she started to speak, but one of the men promptly commanded her to “Shut up!” with so rough a voice that Berry did not dare to continue.
She realized that she was a prisoner in the camp of the Union army, and that no one would know where to look for her.
“If I had only told Lily what I meant to do,” she thought mournfully as the hours passed and her hope of a speedy release vanished. But she was resolved that in some way she must escape, and was on the alert for a possible chance to slip out of the tent. Once free from the camp she was sure she could outrun any pursuer.
The hour of noon came, and one of the soldiers sauntered out after his dinner. The other followed him to the entrance urging him to hurry. Berry was sure she would have no better opportunity to make an attempt to escape. In a moment she had slipped from the stool, and creeping behind the unsuspecting soldier, she gave him so sudden and unexpected a push that he stumbled, and she sped past him and was off, running her best toward the steep slope above which stood the camp.
With a yell the soldier was after her; and Berry dared not look backward. She was sure the whole army was in pursuit as she fled down the embankment.
CHAPTER XVII
THE EVENING BEFORE SHILOH
It was well on in the afternoon when Berry reached the cabin. As Mollie had not appeared that morning Mrs. Arnold supposed Berry was with her and had not been anxious. But Berry now told the story of her adventure, to which her mother and father listened in amazement.
“The soldiers did not give me a chance to tell them that I was a little Yankee girl,” Berry concluded resentfully.
“No pickets on guard; and General Grant at Savannah!” exclaimed Mr. Arnold, quite forgetting Berry’s experience with “witches” and spies, as Berry described the unguarded camp at Pittsburg Landing. “If Johnston and Beauregard discover these things they will attack at once!” he said thoughtfully.
“Perhaps that letter was to tell them,” said Berry, adding: “I’m so hungry!”