“I choked her into silence, you bet,” replied the corporal, who then stated that the firing began when the Confederates rose to their feet and tried to capture Marcy’s friends. They got more bullets than captives, however, and the captain had four less men under his command now than he had when the fight commenced.
“You have wagons on the place, I suppose?” said the captain to Marcy, when the corporal intimated by a salute that his report was ended. “Very well. We’ll have to borrow one of them to take the bodies to Williamston. I did intend to visit two other houses to-night, but I shouldn’t make anything by it now, for of course the whole settlement has been alarmed by the firing. Go and see about that wagon, corporal.”
As the non-commissioned officer disappeared through one door Marcy’s mother came in at another, carrying a well-filled valise in her hand. It was not locked, and she opened and presented it for the captain’s inspection.
“There is nothing in it except a few articles which I know will be useful to my boy while he is in the army,” said she.
“That assurance is sufficient,” replied the captain. “Now, as soon as the corporal reports that wagon ready, we will rid your house of our unwelcome presence. I am sorry indeed that I had this work to do, but the Yankees are to blame for it. If they hadn’t shot me almost to death in the last battle I was in, I should now be at the front where I belong. I wish your son might have got away, but I was ordered to take him and I was obliged to do it.”
“We have seen enough of this war to know that a soldier’s business is to do as he is told, no matter who gets hurt by it,” said Marcy, speaking for his mother, who seated herself on the sofa by his side and looked at him as though she never expected to see him again. “I don’t mind telling you, captain, that if I could have had my own way, I should have been fighting under the Old Flag long ago.”
“So I have heard; and there are a good many men in our army who think as much of the Union as Abe Lincoln does,” answered the captain truthfully. “But don’t say that again unless you know who you are talking to.”
“Have you any idea where Marcy will be sent?” asked Mrs. Gray, speaking with an effort.
“Of course I don’t know for certain, but my impression is that he will have to do guard duty somewhere. The authorities used to send conscripts from this State to fill out North Carolina regiments in the field, but they don’t trouble themselves to do it now. They put them on guard duty wherever they want them, and send volunteers to the front.”
“Let that ease your mind, mother,” said Marcy, with an attempt at cheerfulness. “If I am to stay in the rear I shan’t have such a very hard time of it.”