Colonel Talbot, Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire and four other officers were in a deep alcove that had been dug just under the highest earthwork, where they were not likely to be interrupted in their deliberations by any fragment of an exploding shell. The only light was that of the stars and the early moon which had now come out, but it was sufficient to show faces oppressed by the utmost anxiety. Three other men also had been summoned to the council.
"We have chosen you six for an important errand," said Colonel Talbot, "but you are to go upon it singly, and not collectively. As you see, we are besieged here by a greatly superior force. Its assault has been repulsed, but it will not go away. It will bombard us incessantly, and, since we are not strong enough to break through their lines and have limited supplies of food and water, we must fall in a day or two, unless we get help. We want you to make your way over the hills tonight to General Beauregard's army and bring aid. Even should five be captured or slain the sixth may get through. Lieutenant Kenton, you will go first. You will recall that the horses of the officers were left on the crest of the mountain with a small guard. They may be there yet, and if you can secure a mount, so much the better. But the moment you leave this fort you must rely absolutely upon your own skill and judgment."Harry bowed. It was a great trust and he felt elation because he had been chosen first. He was again a courier, and he would do his best.
"I should advise you not to take either a rifle or a sword," said Colonel Talbot, "as they will be in the way of speed. But you'd better have two pistols. Now, go! I send you upon a dangerous errand, but Ihope that the son of George Kenton, my old friend, will succeed. Hark!
There is Carrington again! How strangely this war arrays comrades against one another!"A shell burst almost at the center of the fort, and, for a few moments, the air was full of earth and flying fragments of steel. But in another minute Harry made his preparations, dropped over the rear earthwork and crouched for a little while against it. Before him stretched an open space of several hundred yards and here he felt was his greatest danger.
The Northern sharpshooters might be lurking at the edge of the forest, and he ran great danger of being picked off as he fled. He looked up hopefully at the skies and saw a few clouds, but they did not promise much. Starshine and moonshine together gave enough light for a good sharpshooter.
Bending until he was half stooped, he took his chance and ran across the clearing. His flesh quivered, fearing the sudden impact of a bullet upon it, but no crack of a rifle came and he darted into the protecting shades of the forest. He lay a few minutes among the trees, until his lungs filled with fresh air. Then he rose and advanced cautiously up the slope, which lay to the south of the fort. The besieging force was massed on the northern side of the fort, but it was probable that they had outposts here also, to guard against such errands as the one upon which Harry himself was bent.
Yet he felt sure of getting through. One youth in a forest was hard to find. The clouds at which he had looked so hopefully were really growing a little heavier now. It would take good eyes to find him and swift feet to catch him. He paused again halfway up the slope, and saw a flash of flame from the Northern forest. Then came the thunderous roar of one of Carrington's guns, all the louder in the still night, and he saw the shell burst just over the fort.
He knew that these guns would play all night on the Southern recruits, allowing them but little rest and sleep and shaking their nerves still further.
But he must not pause for the guns. A hundred yards further and he sank quietly into a clump of bushes. Voices had warned him and he lay quite still while a Northern officer and twenty soldiers passed. They were so near that he heard them talking and they spoke of the recapture of the fort within two days at least. When they were lost among the trees he rose and advanced more rapidly than before.
He met no interruption until he reached the crest of the mountain, when he ran almost into the arms of a sentinel. The man in the darkness did not see the color of his uniform and hailed him for news.
"Nothing," replied Harry hastily, as he darted away. "I carry a message from our commander to a detachment stationed further on!"But the sentinel, catching sight of his uniform, and exclaiming: "AJohnny Reb!" threw up his rifle and fired. Luckily for Harry it was such a hurried shot that the bullet only made his flesh creep, and passed on, cutting the twigs. Then Harry lifted himself up and ran.
Lifting himself up describes it truly. He had all the motives which can make a boy run, pressing danger, love of life, devotion to his cause, and a burning desire to do his errand. Hence he lifted his feet, spurned the earth behind him and fled down the slope at amazing speed.
Several more shots were fired, but the bullets flew at random and did not come near him.
Harry did not stop until he was two or three miles from the fort, when he knew that he was safe from anything but a chance meeting with the Northern troops. Then he lay down under a big tree and panted.
But his breathing soon became easy, and, rising, he examined the region.
He always had a good idea of locality, and soon he found the road by which the Invincibles had come. No one could mistake the tracks made by the cannon wheels. He would retrace his steps on that road as fast as he could. He saw that it was useless now to look for the men with the horses. Fear of capture had compelled them to move long since, and a search would merely waste time.
