The Deserter, and Other Stories: A Book of Two WarsFrederic, Harold
History
The Deserter, and Other Stories: A Book of Two Wars
Frederic, Harold
Great Britain -- History -- Wars of the Roses, 1455-1485 -- Fiction; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Fiction
_Presented to
Lieut. Lyman Hornbeck,
January 22, 1864,
by his friends and admirers
Of St. Mark's Church,
Cleveland._
"Say, Foldeen," Lafe burst forth, "I bet that's a relation of mine.
I've got an uncle----"
"So everybody has got some ungles," put in the musician.
"No, but look here," the boy insisted. "That says 'Lyman Hornbeck.'
Well, my father's brother was Lyman Hornbeck. I've heard talk about my
Uncle Lyme ever since I could remember. He left home years ago, before
I was born. They always said he was out West, somewhere. I bet it's the
same man. At any rate, I'm going to take a look around. You fix up the
pole and the white flag outside here, and bring out the shovels. I'll
be back again and help."
Lafe's eyes sparkled with a new excitement as he made his way across
the pasture to the bank of the creek, noting as he strode along that
all the lifeless forms on the grass wore the uniforms of privates.
He walked along the shelving edge of this bank from one end of the
clearing to the other, to make sure that the winding bed of the stream
below did not hold what he sought for. There was no sign, anywhere in
the open, of an officer.
He remembered now that Red Pete had spoken of the other side of the
creek, which lay so much lower than the bank on which he stood that it
could not have been raked by the fire from the breastwork. It was
swampy ground, covered heavily with high, bushing willows and rank
growths of tall marsh grass. No path leading into it was discernible,
perhaps because the wind blew the reeds and flags so stiffly sidewise.
With a running jump Lafe cleared the bed of the stream, and pushed his
way into the morass. It was not so wet underfoot as he had expected,
but the tangle of vines and undergrowth made his progress slow and
troublesome. It was easy enough to see that no portion of the brigade
had passed this way; there were no indications that wild nature here
had ever been disturbed. The boy pressed on until, finding the
swamp-jungle getting worse with every yard, and the shadows deepening
about him, it was clearly useless to go farther.
Turning, he fancied he knew from which direction he had advanced into
this maze. There was no use in merely retracing his steps. He settled
his bearings as well as might be, and struck off to the left, to work
his way diagonally out to the clearing.
When he had floundered on over what seemed twice the distance of his
first direct line, and halted, hot, tired, and out of breath, he could
detect no open space ahead. The wind was blowing hard from up above,
and the noise of its impact upon the wilderness was in itself enough to
confuse the senses. It was undoubtedly growing dark.
"Hello--Hornbeck!" Lafe shouted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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