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It felt like an ominous omen.
beaver lodge, you really should listen."
"Don't lag, men. Don't lag!"
Sergeant Spears's husky voice roared through
the frigid air. As I made my way across the
stream and down the hill, I saw him standing
statuesque in the morning fog, having staked out
the highest point of the earthworks to supervise
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A rifle shot cracked the air.
Jacob and the other men, who labored dutifully
Jacob hit the ground.
below.
Spears began to chuckle again. He had fired
Spears's rifle was propped against his shoul-
into the sky.
der. That was as it should have been, for I'd
"Spears!" I yelled.
ordered all men to carry arms on every detail.
He returned the gun to his shoulder. Jacob
But from my vantage point, Spears seemed to
staggered to his feet. The eyes of all the black
have his hand rather too close to the trigger.
men turned to me.
"They're lazy men, Lieutenant," Spears said,
"Yes, sir?" Spears answered.
far too loudly, as he saw me approaching. "If our
"Ride out to scout for the enemy. Take a few
men was out working, we'd have finished by
men with you."
now."
"Are you relieving me of this detail?"
"The problem as I see it, Spears, is that the
"I will stand in until your return."
earth is frozen hard as granite."
"Very well, sir."
"No, sir," Spears said, chuckling, his Scot-
Spears scampered down the earthworks and
tish accent lengthening his vowels in a most defi-
strode past me in silence. Though he was my
ant way. "The earth is soft as butter, ain't it,
subordinate, I couldn't very well question his be-
boys? Soft as creamy butter."
havior in front of the men. I had to back him.
Jacob looked up, saw me, and dropped his
"Back to work, men!" I yelled. "Jacob, ap-
proach!" I said sternly, and retained a posture of
shovel on the dirt.
severity until Spears was safely out of earshot.
"Lieutenant!" he called, waving an arm and
I sensed the reason Jacob wanted to speak to
pushing toward me over piles of upturned soil. "I
me. The placement of the entrenchments was all
want to speak to you about  "
wrong. I'd realized it, too. If we moved them back
"You!" Spears bellowed.
a hundred yards toward town, we could place
Jacob froze.
them behind the stream, a natural barrier to the
"Resume your position and your duty!"
Jacob hesitated. Rebs. A God-made moat.
"Lieutenant," he called to me. "It's about the
"Jacob," I said gently. "You have an opinion
placement of the  "
to share?"
BAM!
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He nodded.
Jacob's face grew hard and still. He did know
"Yes . . . Lieutenant. This ain't the best posi-
the name. But I would drive home the reality.
tion. Rebs coming up from down there. Make 'em
"Right here in Tennessee, just over those hills
come all the way up, close to town. That way, you
a few days, General Forrest's Confederate cavalry
have more chance to shoot 'em down. Then,
captured a Union-held fort on the Mississippi.
when they get to the stream, that slows them
The Negro soldiers inside surrendered. But For-
down some more."
rest didn't take them prisoner. He murdered
"I think you're right," I said.
them in cold blood. Jacob, it was a massacre."
Spears and three privates trampled down the
"I know, Lieutenant. If they take us, they'll
hill on horseback. When they reached the
most likely kill us, too."
stream, Spears's horse reared up and whinnied
His calm sent chills down my spine. He knew
loudly.
the truth, yet wanted to fight in spite of it.
"Bronco!" Spears cried.
"The townspeople won't allow it," I said,
The horse finally plunged into the water, step-
changing tacks. "Neither will many of my own
ping awkwardly over rocks and mud.
men. You know Spears. He won't fight beside
Jacob and I exchanged a glance of under-
you."
standing. The stream was the barrier we needed.
Jacob looked at me stubbornly.
"Start your men digging again," I said. "But
"You need men," he said, echoing his words
this time, according to your plan."
from the day before. "Here we are."
I waited for Jacob to accept the new orders.
I looked angrily at the camp and the town.
"How about rifles?" he said instead, hope
Didn't Jacob see it was an impossibility? Yes, we
flickering in his eyes.
were outnumbered. Yes, we needed his men. Yes,
"Why are you so set on fighting? Once you
it was suicide to turn him down.
prepare these entrenchments, you can melt back
"Give us a chance, Lieutenant."
into the hills and be safe. Haven't you heard
Wagons loaded with household treasures
what these same troopers did at Fort Pillow?
stood outside several houses in town. The white
Don't you know the name of Nathan Bedford For-
townspeople were loading their possessions and
rest?"
preparing to flee.
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I looked at Joe and Sally Miller's house. There
was no wagon there.
Clop-clop. Clop-clop. Clop-clop.
The pounding of hooves!
Spears's red and sweating face, flailing coat,
and screaming horse reared up before me.
"Lieutenant!" he cried. "They're not a mile
CHAPTER 13
from here!"
J a k e
J. put Ax in charge of the "dam expansion."
He had a clear sense of the mechanics of the
whole thing. Said something about how the nat-
ural curve of the beaver's dam was actually the
most efficient shape to hold back the water.
"Fluid mechanics was one of my specialties
as an aristh," Ax said. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]