Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1878-04-11

mature QuSSClOH. 1ne uecessIty iol oo''on
has not yet arrived, and may not arrive for
some time to come. shall not leave home
in rash haste, or 60 farther off from it than |
can help; but if the attack is brought near, l
shall certainly not shrink from meeting it.
Mosslands, 1 fancy, will be safe enough
place to stay at. 1t is so retired, the enemy
will scarcely seek it out
"But I could not stay here alone, you
know" said Mary.
"Of course not. I should make suitable
provision for that"
"And Oh! if you went into the army, you
might be shot-only think of it" cried Mary,
clasping her pretty white hands with dis
tressed look.
1T may be the fate of many better man
than I" said the Colonel.
"How horrible" said Mary, shuddering.
And then a silence fell upon them both.
Presently, the Colonel said gently, and with
out looking in her face
"Would you shed few tears, Mary, if l
should be sbot?"
"Please don't talk about such thing" cried
Mary, more piteously than ever. "You
won't have to fight at all, hope All this
talk about war may blow over, and every
thing be nice and peaceful again"
"Too late to expect that now," said the
Colonel. "The storm has been brewing for
long time, and it will soon burst over our
heads"
He was right. In few weeks more, troops
we're being organized, and active preparations
set on foot in every quarter, as one by one the
"rebel' States dropped out. The Colonel
joined militia company in the neighborhood,
in the hope of being drafted into action before
very long. For the present, as everything
around them was still tranquil, he made no
change in his domestic arrangements. He
had made up his mind, however, that if he
we're summoned away, he would send for a
certain widowed matron-a connection of his
own-who resided in Savannah, to come and
take up her abode at Mosslands, where, he
believed, with faithful negroes around them,
she and Mary might remain without any
cause for alarm.
Meantime, Mr. Maurice Cleveland, fred
with military ardor, Joined regiment bound
for Virginia, and having paid brief farewell
visit to Messlands, set off in high spirits
with his regiment for the shores of the Old
Dominion. To him, this general upturning
and commotion was not unwelcome. 1t
brought complete change into his somewhat
monotonous life and released him from SUM-
dry difficulties, pecuniary and otherwise, in
which he was disagreeably entangled. He was
brave enough to make good soldier, and re-
joiced, as many others did, especially in the
first ardent flush of enterprise, in the oppor.
tunities opening to him of winning laurels on
the field of glory.
Mosslands and its vicinity remained tran.
quill and undisturbed, and but for the news
paper accounts which daily reached them, its
inmates would have found it hard to realize
that dangers were rife in other quarters. 1t
came home to them, however, in this way at
last Maurice Cleveland was dangerously
wounded, and telegram was dispatched to
Colonel Dacre to expect him shortly at Moss
lands, whittier he had desired to be sent. The
Colonel was full of anxiety and alarm. He
would gladly have gone on himself to bring
the sufferer, but it was impossible for him to
leave Mary, on such short notice, without
protector, and he had been informed, besides,
that Maurice would, in company with several
others who had been injured, have every pos
sible care taken of him on the journey, by
some ladies travelling southwark on the same
route, who had kindly constituted themselves
nurses to the party. Nothing was to be done,
therefore, but to prepare for his reception !;
and in due time be arrived, looking des
perately ill and weak, but with the actual
danger past, though it would be long ere he
would be fit for service again.
Mary did kindle into a little glow of en-
thusasm, as she obtained her first sight of a
"wounded solder,"-an actual, tangible evi
dence of the mingled glories and perils of the
battlefield. She thrilled with womanly pity,
too, at the sight of his white, worn face, and of
his utter helplessness, and forgot her former
prejudice against him, in her sympathy for
his suferings. She saw but little of him for
the first few days after his arrival, for in ad-
dition to his wound, the fatigue of the jour
ney had quite knocked him up, and he was
confined entirely to his bed, and forced to re-
main in absolute seclusion and quiet. After
that he could be wheeled on couch from
his chamber into the sitting-room, or out on
the porch, and would lie there looking very
interesting, with his large eyes, quite hollow
from illness, watching the movements of 9th
ers in the room or about him. By degrees
he began to recover appetite and strength,
and though his wounded side threatened to
trouble him for many long day to come, his
health otherwise visibly improved.
He had been under his Cousins roof for
about six weeks, when one evening Colonel
Dacre came into the library, where he was
lying, with flushed and excited face.
II am going to have my share Of the game
at last, Maurice" he exclaimed. "'The Craig
Rifles are to be taken into regular service,
and we expect to be off for Virginia before
long"
"Is that so ?" rejoined Maurice with inter-
est. II congratulate you, sir-and envy you.
It's frightfully tiresome, staying here idle in
this way"
"Well, you have done your part already,