Chapter II

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 8, 19 February 1903, Page 23

Chapter II

1 T had arrived at a little village — they would have called it a city in Nebraska— one night on the borders of Alabama, and having retired to rest in a barn — the place was full of wounded, and they really could afford mo no better accommodation — was rather painfully revolv ing all these queries in my mind, until I fell asleep.

' It was .rather a perplexing and disturbed slumber, full of unpleasant dreams, and I awoke in a fright. Something) or another had disturbed me ; what it was I could not recollect. But I was all alive with unknown, terrifying feelings and anticipations.

' The dawn was streaming in through the windowless openings above my head.

' I lay still, trying to remember what it was that occasioned me this unusual annoyance, but in vain. I could not remember it. It had vanished completely from my waking thoughts. Suddenly a vague sound, that seemed somehow to be unconsciously present to me for a long time, began to draw my attention towards it. What was it ? All at once I knew what it was.

'It was the rumbling of heavy artillery along the corduroy roads that gridironed Alabama '

I leaped from my bed and looked out through the windows.

' Tho road ran some distance away, skirting the village in the direction of Tuscumbia and, truly enough, along it, as far as the eye could see, the Southern forces were moving northward.

' The bright morning sun fell on regiments of uplifted bayonets, on horsemen's swords, on the pennons of lancers ; but, above all, on the boys in grey sitting astride their horses, whip in hand, guiding forward the long lines of guns. The long lines of guns, with the attendant tumbrils and caissons, once more ready to commence the devilish work.

' And with what speed they went forward — northwards. They were going by forced marches, and tho noon, or the early afternoon, would again hear the thunders of murderous warfare in the land. Our people would be taken by surprise !

' The Northern forces would be fallen upon as they had been many a time before and struck" with a violence and suddenness of a thunderbolt !

' For a moment my eye grew dim, and 1 couldn't see. What would become of me ? What would become of the Union troops thus struck at suddenly and taken by surprise ? What a messenger they had sent southwards — me! me !— caught napping thus, and hundreds, thousands of lives in jeopardy ? ' The Southern generals had caught up Napoleon's maxim and acted upon it, ' Frappe yite et foitement.' What was to bo done? The very point this moAcmpnt was directed at was that penetrating angle in which the division containing my brother's regiment was stationed That division was surely doomed as any force well could be.

' Poor fellow ' He was never likely to hear of his mother's illness in this world, and he only 22 '

' I watched in a state of paralysed suspense the long array of forces wind their way over and around the curving hill to my right; sa.w the grey banners stream over it and disappear ; noted the glint of the sun on the last of the forest of bayonets, beheld the multitudious teams of horses drag the guns up the steep — and, dear me ' at what rate they rushed them up ! and vanished behind it — and then the morning was quiet and calm, and the glorious sun shone down as if there were nothing at all amiss.

' What was to be done? Warning must be gi\en somehow. A gallant cause and precious lnes were imperilled. ' But circumspection was absolutely needed : and so I sat down to think it out. They would striLe at Tecum..schville , they were moving swiftly on it; To i ulc there was out of question — as well seek to ride to the moon. E\ery approach thereto was crowded with the advancing rebels. Calahoma, the nearest railway station, was an miles away The railway service had not long been finite susYjendc.fl e\cn though devastating war was in the land but it was intermittent ; still, if I got there the tram might perchance take me to headquarters in time— if one were running. Tt was but a poor chance, but any chance is better than none. Yet, how to get there without detection or suspicion ? ' The only plan that presented itself was— to feign illness. ' And that I did. I scarred the inside of my gums and the under portion of my tongue to produce sudden spitting up of blood I was apparently in a apiv bad way. There was much sympathy for me , but no medical" relief. Southern medical men were all away at the front serving with the banners, or at the hospitals of the cities, where most of the wounded were congregated The nearest one, if one were at all obtainable, would be at Calahoma. ' What a kindly people they were ! If never a cause for sorrow and mourning were in tho land, they could not have been more interested in me or manifested more commiseration And when, in my anxiety to obtain medical aid. I intimated my intention to ride to Calahoma, I warrant \on there were more good wishes and prayers offered that my life might be sa\ed than would be said in— well, the next 12 months, anyway, lor any good cause in New York, even with Wall street and tho Bowery thrown in. So being provided with a mount T set out. 'In four hours of desperate riding and breathless expectancy I reached Calahoma. Most of the time T had ridden through the huge pine woods that cover the land, and in some cases T lost my way. But I knew the general direction ; and good hick, too, I suppose, aided me for I struck, the station, or depot as they call it, just as surely as if I were a messenger-pigeon. ' I turned my horse loose to gra?c in the woods— T was never likely to see him again : the train came creeping slowly in the distance, and I entered the station.

' Very slowly indeed the train came, winding round the hillside to the south. It was extremely necessary to be cautious. At any moment the engine might come on a piece of torn-up rail and be wrecked. The Federal troops were around, the beaten Southerners were fierce and resentful, and either party might think the train an enemy and better out ai that ; and a dozen yards of twisted metals or a few torn-up sleepers would effect the object readily enough. The driver, carrying his life in his hand, was, therefore, pretty well inclined to be cautious and circumspect. There were no such things as milcsmen or warners on the line — men were an article far too scarce artd valuable in the South now to be used in sucht peaceful occupations, and the driver and fireman had to look themselves after the safety of the mail. ' 'Thinking over these things I lit a cigar and waited patiently until the train came slowly up at almost a walking pace. Calahoma had been a very important station before the war ; it still was imposing in extent and appearance. Most of all was it magnificent in its refreshment bars, resplendent with plate glass and gold, and served by some of the prettiest girls I ever laid my eyes on. Poor things ! they had not much to do now, for the travellers were not a hundredth part of those that used to travel ; and as for the young sparks — the ' jeunese dloree, of the Southern plantations — who formerly spent with lavish liberality the golden dollars there, they were in the armies, the hospitals, or under the dismal moulds on the battlefields of Wilderness, Manasses, Atetiam, or Gettysburg. ' I did not care to go in there, girls' eyes are so dangerously sharp and discriminating, the more particularly when the want of other occupation leaves their minds quite free. They might see under my disguise, and spot me readily. And as they and everyone around Yuie labid secessionists, T concluded it was bstter to keep away. So from a glassless window ,1 watched the train creep in ; and 1 was not sorry for the precaution, for as soon as my eyes fell on the driver I knew him at once as one whom I had some difficulty in keeping my men from shooting some days before as a dangerous secessioner. ' And now a word as to the driver. 'He had come as a boy from Ireland to the Southern States ; he had grown up to manhood there, and to thatl spirit of carelessness and courage- that maiks his countrynion at home had added tho recklessness and fire-water spmt of the Mississippian race, until he had become a poi feet incarnation of reckless courage and devil-may-c a i eism. ' Unlike most of his countrymen, he had adopted .Southern ideas and secessionist procln ities, and was a staunch defender of the grey banners as any of those who hailed Jefferson Davis for countryman. He had carried a legiment of Georgian Rifles within half-a-nnle of our outposts on the day of Chattanooga, who had done fearfid execution, until Colonel Walton's artillery had swept them down, and our men were disposed to execute summary vengeance on him. T saved him, for I believed he might have considered he was only doing his duty. ' The fellow would have known me at once if his eye routed on me* ond 1 nolio\ed the fact of my having saved Ins life would not interfere with his disposition to state who T was. if it came into his head that my presence here were dangerous to the Southern cause. ' Wherefore, I sheltered myself at the glassless window aforesaid, and .smoked in quite obscurity until such tune as the passengers had lcfieshed themselves, and tho tiam prepared to stai t again. ' Tt was close upon midday, and the .sun was hot and sultry ' The sun had grown somewhat obscured, but the heat! seemed to have grown only the more suffocating for that. It was excessi\ely oppressive and as I was tired after my sleepless night, my long ride, and the want of refreshment, I found myself growing quite drowsy; my cigar failed to keep alight, and my forehead bobbed involuntarily against the" wooden framing of the window. Finally, I dropped completely asleep ' Out of which I awoke — startled to my feet, in fact — by a terrific scream from the engine. ' I had barely time to run to the door to see what was up, when it was followed by a second that made me put my hands to mv ears ; and immediately by a third ! ' T could see all the passengers running across tho platform as fast as they could, and the railway porters carrying the waitresses, whom they appeared to have dragged forcibly from their positions, and bundling them like bales of goods into the \ a nous compartments of the train. ' In a mom out there was not a soul on the platform, and, whilst T looked in bewilderment, the doors closed, and the train moved ' This stirred me There was not a second to be lost T ran out, and. as the only available place, leaped up on the engine beside the driver. ' He gave a quick, recognising glance at me, as if to say, "What the de\il brings you here*? " and then another oquallv quick at something oa cr mv head and behind my back, turned round without .speaking and put on steam. ' My eye involuntarily followed his, and this is what I saw : ' A black cloud in the sou-west hanging from tho sky seemed to have sent down p shoot that touched tho earth Tt was not at all unlike the huge tundish or inverted cone Whilst vet I looked tie lower portion separated itself from the mother cloud, and commenced whirling round and round, and advancing in our direction. ' I knew well what it was ; so did the driver ; so did every porter and passenger.

ALSO WITH

'It was a cyclone ! It was bearing on in the direction of the railway, in a parallel line with it, if not in the same track ; and if it once overtook us— well, the train would share in the fate that awaited all other things in its dreadful path. There was no more chance of escape than there were if one were caught in the midst of a prairie fire. ' Would it catch us ? ' The fireman piled the furnace high with blazing logs ; the smoke stack hisses a shower of sparks thereout ; the driver threw half open the valve, and the engine wheels for a second or two spun round almost without catching. 'Presently they got a purchase on the rails, and the engine new forward. ' Whilst we were trying to get our breaths and keeping ourselves from the falling sparks, and watching, not without some affright, at least so far as I was concerned, the train forging faster and faster forward, a tremendous sound, like a huge moan, made us lools around. It was as if the earth had given a great sigh. Behind us, in a straight line, was a hill covered with pine trees. It had been a landmark and guide for me in my morning fide. The whirling cloud just touched it, and in an instant — in less than any conceivable space of time — the hill was as if never a tree had grown there. It was as if a gigantic brush, wielded by one of the ancient Titans, had swept it cleanly down. The black tundish parted at its lower extremity into two, as if divided by contact with the hill ; re-united agmn ; «tnd came whirling faster and faster in our direction ! ' I looked from it to the driver. His eyes rested on it a second or so longer than mine did ; but in that second I could see that, though his eyes remained clear and undisturbed, his face "wsibly whitened, and the veins of his temples stood «out. ' '• We must race for it," he said coolly. " I guess we may as well die on the injin as in that darned spout ! Here goes ! Let her rip.j ' " Let her rip," 1 may explain, was a phrase much in vogue among the New York firemen, racing their engines against one another at a great city conflagration to see who would reach it first. Before the war, before firemen shouldered muskets, and went to die on the Virginia swamps, these contests used to be of a fierce description ; and the expression above quoted meant : " Let her do her best ; " " out with every inch of power in her ! " ' The engine was already pacing a t a tremendous rate ; and, as he spoke, the driver threw the throttle valve wide open. Like an untamed steed, the locomotive gave a wild snort and leap forward. ' To this moment, I believe I saw her stoop, as a Texan hunter does, before she gave the first spring. Then — but it is difficult further to describe it — she paced forward at her dead best, like a frightened living thing ! ' Woods rushed past us like visions ; hills stood out in the distance, ran like greyhounds up to us, and were presently disappearing behind ; hills to our right were presently on our left, and seemed to be dancing a mad revel as the curling railway swept round their sides ; and meantime, the tall column of sparks flew upwards and trailed behind like a bright red meteor. A circle of electric light apparently sprang round the wheels, as steel ground on steel evolving fire ; and in panting encrgv, the straining engine flew gallantly on ! ' Steady, as if e\ery nerve and muscle were made, not of flesh and blood, but of finest steel, the driver stood at his post and looked calmly ahead. Of course it was mere habit made him do it, for he might as well have shut his eyes and let the engine go blindly on ; it was pnst human power to avoid or prevent danger if it stood in the way. We might fear it, or anticipate it as far as power of thinking was left us ; but not else. If a fallen rock lay in the way, a twisted rail, a broken sleeper — well ! ' One time only he lifted his hand ; it was to sound the whistle — once, twice, thrice ! ' Gracious ' how these unearthly screams still seem to ring in my ears, when I think of them. We were flying—running'or sweeping would not express it — across a deep valley, along a trestle hridge, from one hillside to the other : the next moment we were midway on the side of the latter A workman's village was below us, immediately under and running parallel with the line. Men's faces appeared ut the windows ; women's too. Driver jerked his thumb over his shoulder ; eyes glanced back, faces whitened ; in an instant all had disappeared, and the thick wood was running past us at either side liko a thing possessed ' ' With all the noise we could hear the greater sound behind us, as everything went down before the pursuing ■whirlwind. We could feel the first promptings of its breath on our oars. ' Faster ! Faster ! For dear life ! Oh ! driver, let her go ! Faster, man ; faster ! ' There was a howl and a moan bohind us, indiscnbable in its solemnity and power ; there was a tearing grind under us. as if the wheels were rending the rails ; there was a whirl of dust everywhere, and a darkness that seemed more than Egyptian ; when presently wo slowed up and ran into Chattanooga station. We were safe. The cyclone had deflected from the line half a mile bohind, and struck into the country. We could see its track in the whirling houses and general upturning of everything ; but we were safe ! ' " I guess that was making tracks," was the cool remark of the driver as he descended to the platform, not a tremble in his voice, though his face was still deadly white* and the muscles of his forehead stood out like whipcord. " I guess that injin mcd tracks."

Surely it did. We had come the ten miles in eight minutes. The cyclone travelled at the rate of 120 miles an hour, and we at the rate of 75 ; but it had not had time to overtake us. ' There was not a stick or a stone of the station at Calahoma left ; it was swept as clean away as if it never existed. There was not a dwelling left standing, in that village to which we had sent our shrill and screaming warning ; there was not an upright telegraph pole all the way by which we had come ; the line itself was wreck and ruin. The cyclone struck the country and left the track which it had pursued with surprising, persistency, just at the precise moment for our safety. ' I hurried to headquarters, made my report, and saw a brigade detached just in time to prevent the surprise of the Union army and to save my brother's life ; or to prevent what would have been as bad or worse for hum, interment in the tobacco warehouses of Andersonvllle. 'Aa I was leaving the headquarters of General Rosencranz the engine driver passed by, going home unconcernedly to his dinner. He fixed his eye on me, divined my business at once, and gave me a significant nod, aa who should say, " I guess if I knew what game you were up to, you'd hey remained in Calahoma, and passed on. ' I never saw him again.'— 'lrish Weekly.'