The Guns of Bull Run

May to attend the special session of the Legislature called by Governor Magoffin. Although the skirmishing had taken place already along the edge of highland and lowland, the st

thers, equally ardent, had turned northward to join forces that would oppose those below. Harry, young a

ut forty miles from the capital, and they found it crowded with public men going from Louisville to Frankfort. It was the oldest railroad west of the Alleghanies, and among the first ever built. T

fly, despite the swinging and swaying of the train, rose

n Mexico and the West, but it is likely now that we shall fight other battles on this own soil of

not so under the circumstances of time and place. Colonel Ken

arry. Harry, this is Major John Warren of Mason County and the regular army of the United States; he does not think as we do, but even at West Point he was a stubborn idiot. H

ed and sat down b

takes his opinions from his father, which is a great mistake. I think

ng of a fortress or calculating the range of a gun. But it won't do for the actions of men. Yo

y or a book of s

ut I can't explain it well. Well, maybe it will all blow o

ren shook

me, and many things for which you and I care, George, will be blown away by it. Wh

olonel Kenton, clapping his friend on the shoulder. "You'v

ouse and you and your friends? The

ws taking advantage of

red to the country through which they were passing. Spring was now deep and green in Kentucky. They were running through a land of deep, rich soil, with an outcrop of white limesto

t rough range of hills, entered a gorge and stopped in Frank

ad seen in Nashville and Charleston, with an important difference. There it was all Southern, or

er and Judge Kendrick had a room together across the hall from theirs, and next to them four red hot sympathizers with the Union slept on cots in one apartment. Further down the hall Harvey Whitridge, a state senator,

everybody else. In a state affected little by immigration families were more or less related. If

d Bertrand, the South Carolinian, dark of complexion, volatile and wonderfully neat in apparel. He seemed at once to Harry to be a messenger from that Charleston w

y! What a glorious deed! And I had to be here in your cold state, trying to make these descendants of stubb

trand?" asked Colonel Kenton,

shoulders and his face

te. I have worked, I have talked, I have used all the arguments of our illustrious President, Mr. Davis, and of the other great men who have charge of South

Colonel Kenton was not distu

k on the trigger, but we are conservative in big things. This is going to be a great war, a mighty great war, a

ooded and impati

must have this state. Virginia has gone out! Kentuck

, and I can understand how the people here feel. I'm going with my people and I'm going to fire on the old flag, under which I've fought so

ssive. His youthful temperament was sensitive to atmosphere. In Charleston he shared the fire, zeal and enthusiasm of an impressionable people. They saw

nd so is my boy's. I thought that Kentucky would go out of the Union without a fight, but since there is

the custom which still preserved the amenities they did not speak. Bertrand gave them a look of defiance. It seemed to Harry that he wanted to speak, but he pressed his lips fi

e in?" Whit

over the boy's shoulder. "Both of

them chairs. Whitridge's creaked

nd I know it. All's square and above board, but why do you bring here that South Carolina Frenchman to meddle in the affairs of the good old state of Kentucky? Is it any business of his or of the other people down there? Can't we decide it ourselves? We're a big family here in Kentucky, and we oughtn't to bring strangers into the f

d humor, "but I didn't bring Bertrand here; he came of his own accord. Besides, while I'm str

aid Whitridge. "You army men never do know much about

here for that purpose?"

. Harry listened attentively, but as soon as it was over and Whitri

ts, where the first person he met was his own cousin and schoolmate, Dick Mason. The two boys started, looked first at each other with hostile glances, which ch

ry, "I thought you had gon

y, where the forces of the Kentuckians who favor the Union are gathering. General Nelson commands us. I suppose

rry. "Now, what are you doing in Frank

swer," replied Dick. "I'm here to scotch you rebels. You do

, Dick, let's not talk about such things any more for a while.

mptly. "Come on. I've been here tw

the Capitol fir

t, as soon as the doors were open, they went inside and entered with respect the room in which the great men of their state, the Clays, the Marshalls, the Breckinridges, the Crittendens, the Hardins, and so many others had begun their careers. They were gre

great stoves, but they were not needed now, as the windows were open and the fresh breeze of a grass-scented May morning blew in and tumbled the hair of t

it was not heavy and languorous here. It did not have the lazy perfumes of the breezes that floated up from the warm shores of the Gulf. It was

ucky would be fighting against Kentucky, that

and he stood for a while in the aisle, looking curiously about him. Harry saw the man before the stranger saw him and with an instin

t spoils, like that of a buccaneer who finds his profit in troubled times, preying upon friend and foe alike. Presently he caught sight of the two boys. Bu

nel Kenton's

me whom you tried to murder on the way to Winton, the same who

leaped to his very eyes. But he choked down his pa

an' wrongs of it, but I want to tell you that all the people of the mountains are up for the Union. With them fr

if he were in the presence of a creeping panther, and he would have nothing more to say to him. Skelly looked at him for a few minutes longer, drew

n," said Harry. "I hop

ur side. You're likely to have men just as bad on yours. I heard about the attack he made upon Uncle George's house,

you know how long

ee days ago, and I suppose he has taken the first

a of looting

lau

y," he said. "It's goi

s well as on the greater field of the countr

ng back tomorrow to

ith that fellow Skelly, even if

ry, have no f

reat affection, and made him sit by him until he had finished his breakfast. While he was drinking his c

tch him,"

y in the state there was no violence here, except of speech. All the members of the House and Senate were gathered, and so far as Harry could observe the

"This state which we need so much will b

uarded in his opinion, or at

be a mighty hot

in the upper lobby of the House. Harry looked for Skelly, but not seeing him he inferr

is hand over and over again as he departed. The feeling between the cousins

mounted his horse. "The big things

y would meet again. Like Colonel Leonidas Talbot he felt n

en and where they would meet again it might never occur at all. He found his father and his friends holding a close conference in his room at the hotel. Senator Culver, Mr. Bracken,

read them one by one to the twenty men who were crowded into the room. They were appealing, insistent, urgent. Their tone might vary, but the tenor was the same. They must take Kentucky out of the Union and take her out at once. In the West the line of attack upon the Sout

t was one thing for the Southern leaders to ask, but it was another thing for the Kentuckians to deliver. He saw all about him the signs

rnness. Friends of a lifetime used but cold words to each other and saw widening between then, a gulf which none could cross. Supporters of either cause poured into the little capital. Tremendous pressure was brought to bear upon House and Senate. Members were compelled to strive with every kind of emotion or appeal, love of the Union, cool judgment in the midst of alar

rrayed against each other. The Southern volunteers, full of ardor and fire, continued to pour to their standards. The North, larger and heavier, moved more slowly, but it moved

r, written from Richmond, urging him, if he could, to get an assignment to the E

y and I see Colonel Talbot and Major St. Hilaire every day. We are going to the front soon,

joined, she is with us heart and soul. Troops are pouring in all the time. Cannon and wagons loaded with ammunition and supplies are hurrying to the front. The Yankees are not threatening Richmond; we are threatening Washingt

with pleasure. He felt now the pull of opposing magnets. He wanted to remain in Frankfort with his father and see the issue,

the battle of Buena Vista. The pull of the East was gradually growing the stronger. He did not see what he c

d the landscape that he looked upon was soft and beautiful. The green of spring was deep and tender. Everything rough or ugly was smoothed away by the first mellow touch of the

nd impersonal. There is something pure and noble about a boy who comes out of a good home, something lofty to whi

ines, by the side of which Harry sat, seemed to grow whiter, despite the veil of dusk that was drooping s

arkness. The chill of evening was coming on, and rising, he shook himself a little. Then he followed a path down the steep hill and alo

of the border, was strong upon him. The Kentucky was to him the most romantic of all rivers, clustered thick with the facts and legends of the great days, when the first of the pioneers came and built homes along its banks. It flo

and his mood, and presently he knew it. It was some mountaineer on a raft singing a plaintive song of his own distant hills. Huge rafts launched on the headwaters of the stream in the mountains in

But the raft came very slowly, only as fast as the current of the river. He thought he would see a light as the

ting down the river. The spell was upon him. His imagination became so vivid that it was not a mountaineer singing. He had gone back into another century. It was one of the great b

t he turned. It was perhaps the instinct inherited from his great ancestor, who was said to have had a sixth sense. Whatever it may have been, he faced su

rom Skelly's hands. The next instant he was struggling for his life. Harry was a powerful youth, much stronger than many men, and, at that instant, the spirit and strength of his great ancestor were pou

was the larger and the stronger, but the sudden leap upon him gave his younger and smaller antagonist an advantage. He had a pistol in his belt, but with that throttling grip up

's youthful but powerful arms were pouring strength into the hands that grasped the man's throat. The mountaineer choked and gasped, and, changing his aim from the head, struck Harry again and again in th

to him. He continued to press savagely upon Skelly's throat, while the mountaineer rained blows upon his chest, blows that would have killed him had Skelly been able to get full purchase for his arms. He heard the

a fierce pain shot through his whole body. A bloody foam rose to his lips. The savage pounding upon his chest was telling. He still retained his g

t fast and with savage unction. Harry felt himself weakening, and he made another mighty effort to retain his hold

, tripping at the same time with all his might. The two fell, rolled over in their struggling, and then Harry felt himself dropping from a height. The next moment the d