The Guns of Bull Run

ace and he showed his white teeth. Colonel Leonidas Talbot regarded the white flag with feelings in which triumph and

sprung up, and it was very grateful to Harry, who for hours had breathed the heavy odors of smoke and burned gunpowder. The smoke itself, which had formed

n to Harry. "That white flag and those boats going out mean that Sumter i

ruins, was given up, and the Star and Bars, taking the place of the Stars and Stripes, gaily snapped defi

r way back to the North. Peace, but now the peace of triumph, settled again over Charleston, and throughout the South went the joyous tidings that Sumter had been taken. The great state

m and they urged the men to go to the front. With the full consent of the lower South the capital was to be moved from Montgomery to Richmond, the capital of Virginia, on the very border of the Confederacy, to look defiantly, as it were, acros

Men gave freely and without asking to the new government. An extraordinary wave of emotion swept over the South, carrying everybody with it. Charleston shouted anew as the newspapers announced the news of distinguished officers who had gone out wit

ter had fallen and Charleston was safe, he wished his son to rejoin him in Pendleton, whence they would proceed together to Frankfort, and help the Southern party. His persona

Beauregard, finding him at the Charleston Hotel with Governor Pickens and officers of

ed Kentucky and I understand that a very little more may bring the state to us. Go with your fat

once to Madame Delaunay's, where he had left his baggage. He intended to leav

Colonel Leonidas Talbot, "and the first battle line will

e. "May you come back some day to this beautiful Char

on," said Arthur St. Clair, "and

on," said Tom Langdon, "and I'll give you the

ood friends of his, and he sincerely hoped that he would meet them again. Madame Delaunay spoke to him almost as if he had be

erself neutral ground, warning the armies of both North and South to keep off her sacred soil, and he did not wish to invite undue attention.

ore himself more like a man. His manner was much more considered and grave. He had seen great thi

s sharply sweet with grassy flavors. The very triumph and joy of living penetrated his soul. Youth swept aside the terrors of war. He was going home after victory. He soon left Charle

entered his own state. He learned from casual talk on the trains that affairs in Kentucky were very hot. The special session of the Legislature, called by Governor

mosphere of Kentucky, like that of South Carolina, was surcharged with intensity and passion, but it had a difference. All the winds blew in the s

they were more prone to look at the two sides of a question. The air, too, was unlike that of South Ca

and agility. His saddle bags over his arm, he went at once to the liveryman with whom he had left his horse on his journey to Charleston, and asked

e! It's made a mighty stir in these parts! There were never before such times in old Kentucky! Yes, Harry, I'll give you the best horse I'v

out fo

em that think harder an' work harder an' make more than themselves. Bill Skelly is the worst man in the mountains an' he has gathered about him a big gang of toughs. They're carin' mighty little about the U

m Pendleton to Winton. "I am armed, Mr. Collins, and I have seen

merely as an assurance to the liveryma

u shoot," said Collins. "Things are shorely mighty tr

thing of my father?

ad a meetin', but couldn't make things go as they wanted 'em to go, an' so he

tic liveryman, rode away. He had little fear. He carried a pair of heavy double-barreled pistols in holsters, and a smaller wea

iness of the road. In the two hours before sundown he met less than half a dozen persons. All were men, and with a mere nod they went on quickly, regarding him w

come before. But he saw nothing that moved there. No signal lights twinkled. The intervening space was a mass of heavy green foliage, which the eye, now that the twilight

But he depended more upon his keenness of ear. He did not believe the stirring of any large force in the thickets could pas

came a swish of cold rain. Harry was not able to see more than a few yards to right or left, when the road ran

fifteen minutes more, and he would see the solid red brick house rising among the clipped pines. But as he passed the junction of a small road coming d

le land, of which raiding bands would take full advantage, and, despite the risk, he wished to know what was on foot. He was almost invisible under the boughs of a great oak which hung over the road

a view of them. There was no moonlight, but his eyes had grown so well used to the darkness that he was able to recognize Skelly, who was in advance, an old army rifle across his

rate stronghold, Pendleton. War was on, and here was their chance to take revenge upon the mor

t take the house of that rebel and traitor, Colonel Kenton. It'll be helpin' the cause if we burn

stly moonshiners and fugitives from justice, they cared far more for revenge and spoil than for the Union. He shuddered

eard his hoofbeats, as there was no sound of pursuit, and, three or four hundred yards further, he changed from a walk to a gallop. Careless of the dark and of all ris

ped pines, and he was in time! Now his horse's feet thundered on the brief stretch of road that was left, and in another min

"Skelly and his crowd are only a mile b

y led the horse inside the gate, turned him loose and ran forward. Colonel Kenton was alread

d Harry. "You and I alone can't hold them off. Skel

why you see me with this rifle. I'd have sent you a telegram to stop at Winton, but couldn't reach you in time. Come int

but fifteen men, all armed with rifles, stood there. He saw among them Steve Allison, the constable, Bracken the farmer, Senator Culver, and even old Judge Ken

said Colonel Kenton. "After your l

boy. "But let me have a rifle. Skelly a

e Kendri

he said, "that your son has n

ime he drank a cup of hot coffee, brought by a trembling black boy

ear 'em ye

ey're likely to leave their horses at the edge of the wood and

ront portico, where they stood for a few moments waiting. They could neither see nor hear anything ho

posed his men deftly in order to meet the foe at any point. The stone pillars would afford

t. Impressionable, and with a horror of injustice, his heart was filled with rage. It was merely a band of outlaws who were coming to plunder and

tle distance to the south. He waited unt

e whispered to his fat

to surprise the house. I fancy the surprise will be theirs, not ours. When you shoot, Harry, shoot t

is father's orders well in mind, crouched a little lower and waited. Presently he heard a slight rustling, and he knew that Skelly's men were am

you want?" called Colone

ling ceased. Harry heard nothing

the colonel once

at a chill ran along his spine. There was a patter of lead on every side of the house, but most of the shots came from the front lawn. It wa

eturned. He began to peer around the edge of the pillar, and se

p a little closer presently and

re too high in battle. He heard once more the rustling among the pines, and he knew that Skelly's men w

dusky figure beside a pine not thirty feet away, and he instantly pulled trigger upon it. His father's own rifle cracked at the same time, and

f the house showed that the defende

en shot in. Harry's blood now grew feverishly hot and his anger mounted with it. It was intolerable that these outlaws should attack people in their own homes. Lying almost flat on the floor of the portico he reloaded his rifle and pistols. As he r

hen followed a period of long and intensely anxious waiting. Harry thought that if the night would only lighten they could get a clean sweep of the lawn and drive away the mountaineers, but it grew darker instead and the

e dip beyond the forest, and he knew that it shone

hey would hear of the battle on such a night. Then an idea came to him, and creeping to his father he made his proposition. Colonel Kenton opposed it vigorously, but Har

ged by so many, they needed help and the boy was the one to bring it. Then Colonel Kent

he heard the sound of sobbing. It was the colored servants crying with terror. He found th

k. "Bad blood is boiling now. Some of Skelly's men have been h

ve his rifle to the senator, and taking the heavy pistols from the holsters, thrust them in the pockets of his coat. T

nry Ware, had been a renowned borderer and Indian fighter, one of the most famous in all the annals of Kentucky, gifted with almost preternatural power, surpassing the Indians themselves in the lore and craft of forest and trail. It was sa

many years to watch and fight poured in a full tide through his veins. His bearing became sharper, his eyes saw through the dark

es, clipped into cones, grew as on the front lawn. The grass, helped by a wet spring, had grown already to a height of several inches, and Harry was surprised at the ease with which he drew his body through i

oneysuckle bush, walk forward, and stand in a group talking about ten feet behind him. Although they were not visible from the house he saw them clearly enough. One

set it on fire. If the final resort was fire, they could easily shoot Colonel Kenton and his friends as they ran out. It was Skelly who spoke of this hideous plan, laughing as he spoke, and

tell the others. Harry rose a little, and crept ra

hing of the grass as he passed. As he approached the garden he saw two more men, rifles in hand, walki

ee at the bottom. Then he slipped through and into the garden. Here were long rows of grapevines, fastened on sticks, and, for a few moments, he lay flat behind one of the rows. He knew that he was not yet entirely safe, as the mountaineers were keen of eye and ear, and an outer guard of skirmishe

, leaped over the fence and continued his rapid flight toward Pendleton, where the single light still burned. He surmised that his

tor, and he beat heavily upon the door. Gardner himself opened it, and he started back in a

ame, who are y

have ridden down from the mountains and are besieging us in our house, intending to rob and kill! The constab

, tense manner that ever

a rather unusual time in a rather unusual manner, and you have the most tho

even those who held other views did not wholly relish an attack upon one of its prominent men by a band of unclassified mountaineer

and the thin edge of the moon appeared between clouds. There was a little light. The relieving party advanced swiftly and without noise. They were all accustomed

d before them, running between the rows of vines. The Pendleton men fired at them, and then raised a great shout, as th

men lay stiff and cold behind the dwarf pines. Harry shuddered. He was seeing for the first time the terrible fruits of civil war. It was not merely the pit

at the defenders of the Kenton house had shot well. But by the next morning Skelly's men had made good their flight far int

Frankfort, where the choice of the state must soon be made, and whither Raymond Bertrand, the South Carolinian, had gone already. Colonel Kenton fe