The Courier of the OzarksDunn, Byron A. (Byron Archibald)
History
The Courier of the Ozarks
Dunn, Byron A. (Byron Archibald)
Missouri -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Juvenile fiction
At the sound of the shot and the fall of their comrade, the other
guerrillas sat as if stunned for a moment; then with cries of terror
they rushed from the house, thinking a Yankee force was on them; but a
single shot, and excited cries from the sentinel, were all that they
heard.
Before the attack, the sentinel had seen or heard nothing, but
afterwards he had caught a glimpse of a dim figure fleeing up the road.
He had fired, but there was no response to his shot.
When told what the voice had said, he turned pale and trembled. "My
God!" he exclaimed, "it must have been Jack Harwood, Tom Harwood's son.
There were six of us who put a quietus on that old Abolitionist. I heard
the boy took a terrible oath he would never rest until he got the whole
six. After that we lay for the boy, but he gave us the slip and went in
the Yankee army. So, poor Ben is done for. He was one of the six. My
being on guard is all that saved me. But whar did the boy come from? How
did he know we' uns was heah?"
This question greatly puzzled the guerrillas, until one of them spoke:
"I reckon them seven fellers we' uns met was Yanks. That Harwood boy
must have been one of them. He saw you two fellers, and follered we' uns
heah, and got poor Ben."
"Boys, I'll never feel easy as long as Jack Harwood lives," said the one
who had escaped. "That boy is a devil. That's nine of us--only seven of
them. Let's turn back and take them by surprise. We' uns can shoot them
up."
It was agreed to, and so the guerrillas turned back.
After the return of Jack, Harry had lain down for a time, but could not
sleep. He knew something had happened, but could not imagine what it
was. Surely, Jack had not engaged the guerrillas single-handed. But he
would have to wait until morning to know. Just as he was sinking into
sleep, Bruno caught him by the shoulder and shook him. He was on his
feet in a second.
Everything seemed quiet, and the guard said he had heard nothing, but
Bruno showed by his actions everything was not right.
"Arouse the boys," said Harry; "something is in the wind."
The scouts were aroused, but nothing could be discovered. Everything
seemed quiet and asleep.
"Jeffreys," said Harry to one of the men, "creep down towards the house
and see if any mischief is going on down there. Be careful; keep in the
shadow of the fence, and get back as quickly as possible."
Jeffreys was gone nearly half an hour and Harry was beginning to get
alarmed, when he came back. He had a startling story to tell. He had
crept up nearly to the house and found the yard full of men and horses.
The nine guerrillas had come back and stopped at the house to make
inquiries.
"The villain who lives there," continued Jeffreys, "told them all about
where we were camped and the best way to surprise us. They were making
arrangements to creep up on us when I thought it time to come back. I
heard them talk of some one of our number who had killed one of their
men. What did they mean?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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