“‘Down from the hill the maiden4 pass’d,
At the wild show of war aghast,—
O gay, yet fearful to behold5,
Flashing with steel and rough with gold,
And bristled6 o’er with swords and spears,
With plumes7 and pennons waving fair,
Was that bright battle-front——’”
“My lan’, Missie Berry!” exclaimed the admiring Lily, “does yo’ reckon we’s gwine ter see all dat?”
And at Lily’s question Berry quickly remembered170 that she should be off to Shiloh and keep watch. The little girl realized from her father’s anxious face, and from what he said of the probable advance of Confederate troops, that any hour might see them on the march.
“I don’t know, Lily,” she responded gravely, “but I’m sure we ought to keep watch all the time; and I’m going up the ridge8 now.”
“I bin3 a projectin’, Missie Berry, ’bout yo’ Ma tellin’ me to stay clus in dis cabin in de mawnin’s. Co’rse I mus’ min’ her,” said Lily, “so I jes’ wonner if I hadn’ better keep a watch out at night. Dar ain’ no reason w’y dose sojers wouldn’ come a-creepin’ fru de woods at night!” And Lily rolled her eyes and nodded her head solemnly.
“Oh, Lily! Of course! I forgot all about nights!” Berry responded eagerly. “But how can you keep awake?”
“I reckon I kin9,” declared Lily.
“Well, we’ll begin to keep a steady watch from to-day. I’ll be on guard days and you can watch nights,” said Berry. “If you hear or see anything, Lily, you must let me know as quickly as you can!”
“Yas, Missie Berry, I kin swarm10 up dat oak171 tree side yo’ winder an’ tells yo’, if I hears sojers or sees armies,” promised Lily, and returned to her work, while Berry put on her red cap and started off for another look along the roads leading to Corinth.
It was the twenty-eighth day of March, 1862, and on that very day General Halleck, of the union army, had informed General Buell that Grant would attack the enemy “as soon as the roads are passable.” It was to be a deliberate forward movement on Corinth from Pittsburg Landing, to be undertaken some days later; for the union forces had no idea of the Confederates’ plan to surprise them by an attack on Pittsburg Landing.
The river banks at the Landing rise eighty feet above the river, but are cloven by a series of ravines, through one of which runs the main road to Corinth. Beyond the crest11 of the acclivity stretches a rough tableland. On this plateau five divisions of General Grant’s Army of West Tennessee were camped, feeling themselves absolutely secure from any hostile visit, and unsuspicious of any shock of battle, and little imagining that a small Yankee girl was to be the means of saving them from capture.
172
As Berry ran along through the forest she could hear the cheerful songs of cardinals12 and robins13. Squirrels scolded at her as they clung to the trunks of the tall oaks; and the air was full of the springtime fragrance14. The silver chain and whistle hung about her neck, and Berry gave them a little loving touch, thinking of the absent brother who had given them to her. As she came out on the high plateau and stood looking toward the Tennessee River there was no sound except the songs of birds and the chattering15 of squirrels to break the stillness. Berry’s keen glance scanned the distant road, but there was no moving form to be seen. She turned and looked toward Shiloh woods; the woods where Confederate troops would lay on their arms on the night before the Battle of Shiloh were now quiet in the spring sunshine.
Berry perched herself on the stump16 of an old tree and began to wish that she had asked Mollie to be her companion.
“Mollie would not imagine why I wanted to climb up here; and we could play our old games,” thought Berry, recalling the previous autumn when she and Mollie had made families of dolls out of sticks and twigs17 with moss18 for hair and173 with gowns of oak-leaves and vines. They had made playhouses among the ledges19 or at the roots of some big tree, where, happy and undisturbed, they would play for hours. Berry wondered if they would ever again play together on that pleasant hillside.
She had only been resting a few moments when she heard the crashing of underbrush on the slope beneath her. Berry quickly concealed20 herself behind a tree; and in a moment the sound of loud voices, the jingle21 of arms and the noise of approaching feet made her whisper, “Soldiers!” And it was not long before half a dozen men, in the blue uniform of the Northern army, came out into the open space on top of the ridge. They were evidently tired from their climb up the ravine, and, to Berry’s surprise, they apparently22 had no notion of concealing23 themselves—they were talking and laughing together as if they had no thought of war.
Berry was near enough to the newcomers to see them distinctly, and to hear every word they said. She heard them speak of the army in camp at Pittsburg Landing, and gave a little gasp24 of surprise, wondering if her father knew that Grant’s troops were so near.
174
“There ought to be outposts stationed all along here,” she heard one of the younger soldiers declare; and another laughingly responded, “Oh, Colonel Peabody, the Confederates won’t march over these roads and gullies. It’s the union soldiers who will go after them at Corinth.”
“That may be, but it would do no harm to guard the roads,” responded the young officer gravely.
Berry waited to hear no more. It seemed to the little girl that there must be marching soldiers in every direction, and she crept noiselessly away into the shelter of the forest and ran toward home eager to tell her father of what she had seen and heard.
Half-way down the ravine she met her father, who was on his way home from a visit to the Braggs’ cabin.
“Father! Father! There are soldiers at Shiloh church! I saw them! And Grant’s army is at Pittsburg Landing!” Berry exclaimed, clasping her father’s hand as if she expected an army instantly to seize him.
“Yes, my dear. And you must now stay closely at home. The main roads to Corinth will175 be guarded by soldiers; but our cabin is too far from the highways for us to see them,” Mr. Arnold quietly replied.
“Do you suppose we will see General Grant?” asked Berry; and her father smiled down at the little girl’s eager face.
“He will probably march on to Corinth in a few days,” he responded, and then added, “The flare25 of his camp-fires can be seen from Shiloh; their outposts are not more than a mile from the main line. If the Confederates surprise them it will be a terrible struggle.”
“But they mustn’t surprise them!” the little girl exclaimed earnestly; and again resolved that she would watch more closely than ever for any sign of the approaching enemy.
When they reached the cabin Mrs. Arnold was on the outlook for them. She and Mr. Arnold spoke26 of Mollie and her mother, and Mrs. Arnold declared that Mrs. Bragg was sure that Len might appear any day.
“Their cabin is so far in from the highway that I think they will be safe,” Mr. Arnold said thoughtfully. And both Berry and her mother understood that he was thinking that it might be possible, before many days passed, that Northern176 and Southern troops would meet in deadly conflict along those peaceful country roads.
That night Berry followed Lily when the colored girl started toward the barn. “Lily, I’m going to take turns watching at night!” she said. “General Grant’s army is at Pittsburg Landing, and if the Confederates surprise them my father says they might capture the union army.”
Lily gazed at her young mistress a little fearfully. “My lan’, Missie Berry! Yo’ don’ reckon we cud stop a army, does yo’?” she said, waving the milk pail as if it were a banner; “how does yo’ reckon we gwine ter do sich a thing?”
“We can do it by letting General Grant know that the Confederates mean to attack his camp!” declared Berry.
“We shu’ kin do dat, Missie Berry; pervided we sees ’um fust! I reckons we’ll hev ter watch out sharp!” Lily responded soberly.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
relentless
|
|
| adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
foes
|
|
| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
bin
|
|
| n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
maiden
|
|
| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
behold
|
|
| v.看，注视，看到 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
bristled
|
|
| adj. 直立的，多刺毛的 动词bristle的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
plumes
|
|
| 羽毛( plume的名词复数 )； 羽毛饰； 羽毛状物； 升上空中的羽状物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
ridge
|
|
| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
kin
|
|
| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
swarm
|
|
| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
crest
|
|
| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
cardinals
|
|
| 红衣主教( cardinal的名词复数 )； 红衣凤头鸟（见于北美，雄鸟为鲜红色）； 基数 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
robins
|
|
| n.知更鸟，鸫( robin的名词复数 )；（签名者不分先后，以避免受责的）圆形签名抗议书（或请愿书） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
fragrance
|
|
| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
chattering
|
|
| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
stump
|
|
| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
twigs
|
|
| 细枝，嫩枝( twig的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
moss
|
|
| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
ledges
|
|
| n.（墙壁，悬崖等）突出的狭长部分( ledge的名词复数 )；（平窄的）壁架；横档；（尤指）窗台 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
concealed
|
|
| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
jingle
|
|
| n.叮当声，韵律简单的诗句；v.使叮当作响，叮当响，押韵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
concealing
|
|
| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
gasp
|
|
| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
flare
|
|
| v.闪耀，闪烁；n.潮红；突发 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |