Captain Horace Read online

  CHAPTER II.

  CAMPING OUT.

  "What is the matter with my little son?" said Mr. Clifford, one morningat breakfast; for Horace sat up very stiffly in his chair, and refusedboth eggs and muffins, choosing instead a slice of dry toast and a glassof water.

  "Are you sick, Horace?" asked his mother, tenderly.

  "No, ma'am," replied the boy, blushing; "but I want to get to be asoldier!"

  Mr. Clifford and his wife looked at each other across the table, andsmiled.

  "O, papa," said Grace, "I shouldn't want to be a soldier if I couldn'thave anything nice to eat. Can't they get pies and canned peaches andthings? Will they go without buckwheat cakes and sirup in the winter?"

  "Ah! my little daughter, men who love their country are willing to makegreater sacrifices than merely nice food."

  Horace put on one of his lofty looks, for he somehow felt that hisfather was praising _him_.

  "Pa," said Grace, "please tell me what's a sacrifice, anyhow?"

  "A sacrifice, my daughter, is the giving up of a dear or pleasant thingfor the sake of duty: that is very nearly what it means. For instance,if your mamma consents to let me go to the war, because she thinks Iought to go, she will make what is called a sacrifice."

  "Do not let us speak of it now, Henry," said Mrs. Clifford, lookingquite pale.

  "O, my dear papa," cried Grace, bursting into tears, "we couldn't liveif you went to the war!"

  Horace looked at the acorn on the lid of the coffee-urn, but saidnothing. It cost his little heart a pang even to think of parting fromhis beloved father; but then wouldn't it be a glorious thing to hear himcalled General Clifford? And if he should really go away, wasn't itlikely that the oldest boy, Horace, would take his place at the head ofthe table?

  Yes, they should miss papa terribly; but he would only stay away till he"got a general;" and for that little while it would be pleasant forHorace to sit in the arm-chair and help the others to the butter, thetoast, and the meat.

  "Horace," said Mr. Clifford, smiling, "it will be some years before youcan be a soldier: why do you begin now to eat dry bread?"

  "I want to get used to it, sir."

  "That indeed!" said Mr. Clifford, with a good-natured laugh, which madeHorace wince a little. "But the eating of dry bread is only a small partof the soldier's tough times, my boy. Soldiers have to sleep on the hardground, with knapsacks for pillows; they have to march, through wet anddry, with heavy muskets, which make their arms ache."

  "Look here, Barby," said Horace, that evening; "I want a knapsack, tolearn to be a soldier with. If I have 'tough times' now, I'll get usedto it. Can't you find my carpet-bag, Barby?"

  "Carpet-bag? And what for a thing is that?" said Barbara, rousing from anap, and beginning to click her knitting-needles. "Here I was asleepagain. Now, if I did keep working in the kitchen, I could sit up justwhat time I wants to; but when I sits down, I goes to sleep right off."

  And Barbara went on knitting, putting the yarn over the needle with herleft hand, after the German fashion.

  "But the carpet-bag, Barby: there's a black one 'some place,' in thetrunk-closet or up-attic. Now, Barby, you know I helped pick thosequails yesterday."

  "Yes, yes, dear, when I gets my eyes open."

  "I would sleep out doors, but ma says I'd get cold; so I'll lie on thefloor in the bathing-room. O, Barby, I'll sleep like a trooper!"

  But Horace was a little mistaken. A hard, unyielding floor makes a poorbed; and when, at the same time, one's neck is almost put out of jointby a carpet-bag stuffed with newspaper, it is not easy to go to sleep.

  In a short time the little boy began to feel tired of "camping out;" andI am sorry to say that he employed some of the moon-light hours instudying the workmanship of his mother's watch, which had been left, byaccident, hanging on a nail in the bathing-room.

  He felt very guilty all the while; and when, at last, a _chirr-chirr_from the watch told that mischief had been done, his heart gave a quickthrob of fright, and he stole off to his chamber, undressed, and went tobed in the dark.

  Next morning he did not awake as early as usual, and, to his greatdismay, came very near being late to breakfast.

  "Good morning, little buzzard-lark," said his sister, coming into hisroom just as he was thrusting his arms into his jacket.

  "Ho, Gracie! why didn't you wake me up?"

  "I spoke to you seven times, Horace."

  "Well, why didn't you pinch me, or shake me awake, or something?"

  "Why, Horace, then you'd have been cross, and said, 'Gracie Clifford,let me alone!' You know you would, Horace."

  The little boy stood by the looking-glass finishing his toilet, and madeno reply.

  "Don't you mean to behave?" said he, talking to his hair. "There, now,you've parted in the middle! Do you 'spose I'm going to look like agirl? Part the way you ought to, and lie down smooth! We'll see whichwill beat!"

  "Why, what in the world is this?" exclaimed Grace, as something heavydropped at her feet.

  It was her mother's watch, which had fallen out of Horace's pocket.

  "Where did you get this watch?"

  No answer.

  "Why, Horace, it doesn't tick: have you been playing with it?"

  Still no answer.

  "Now, that's just like you, Horace, to shut your mouth right up tight,and not speak a word when you're spoken to. I never saw such a boy! I'mgoing down stairs, this very minute, to tell my mother you've beenhurting her beautiful gold watch!"

  "Stop!" cried the boy, suddenly finding his voice; "I reckon I can fixit! I was meaning to tell ma! I only wanted to see that little thinginside that ticks. I'll bet I'll fix it. I didn't go to hurt it, Grace!"

  "O, yes, you feel like you could mend watches, and fire guns, and besoldiers and generals," said Grace, shaking her ringlets; "but I'm goingright down to tell ma!"

  Horace's lips curled with scorn.

  "That's right, Gracie; run and _tell_!"

  "But, Horace, I ought to tell," said Grace, meekly; "it's my duty! Isn'tthere a little voice at your heart, and don't it say, you've donewicked?"

  "There's a voice there," replied the boy, pertly; "but it don't say whatyou think it does. It says, 'If your pa finds out about the watch, won'tyou catch it?'"

  To do Horace justice, he did mean to tell his mother. He had been taughtto speak the truth, and the whole truth, cost what it might. He knewthat his parents could forgive almost anything sooner than a falsehood,or a cowardly concealment. Words cannot tell how Mr. Clifford hateddeceit.

  "When a _lie_ tempts you, Horace," said he, "scorn it, if it looks everso white! Put your foot on it, and crush it like a snake!"

  Horace ate dry toast again this morning, but no one seemed to notice it.If he had dared look up, he would have seen that his father and motherwore sorrowful faces.

  After breakfast, Mr. Clifford called him into the library. In the firstplace, he took to pieces the mangled watch, and showed him how it hadbeen injured.

  "Have you any right to meddle with things which belong to other people,my son?"

  Horace's chin snuggled down into the hollow place in his neck, and hemade no reply.

  "Answer me, Horace."

  "No, sir."

  "It will cost several dollars to pay for repairing this watch: don'tyou think the little boy who did the mischief should give part of themoney?"

  Horace looked distressed; his face began to twist itself out of shape.

  "This very boy has a good many pieces of silver which were given him tobuy fire-crackers. So you see, if he is truly sorry for his fault, heknows the way to atone for it."

  Horace's conscience told him, by a twinge, that it would be no more thanjust for him to pay what he could for mending the watch.

  "Have you nothing to say to me, my child?"

  For, instead of speaking, the boy was working his features into as manyshapes as if they had been made of gutta percha. This was a bad habit ofhis, though, when he was doing it, he had no idea of
"making up faces."

  His father told him he would let him have the whole day to decidewhether he ought to give up any of his money. A tear trembled in each ofHorace's eyes, but, before they could fall, he caught them on his thumband forefinger.

  "Now," continued Mr. Clifford, "I have something to tell you. I decidedlast night to enter the army."

  "O, pa," cried Horace, springing up, eagerly; "mayn't I go, too?"

  "You, my little son?"

  "Yes, pa," replied Horace, clinging to his father's knee. "Boys go towait on the generals and things! I can wait on you. I can comb yourhair, and bring your slippers. If I could be a waiter, I'd go aflyin'."

  "Poor child," laughed Mr. Clifford, stroking Horace's head, "you're sucha very little boy, only eight years old!"

  "I'm going on nine. I'll be nine next New Year's Gift-day," stammeredHorace, the bright flush dying out of his cheeks. "O, pa, I don't wantyou to go, if I can't go too!"

  Mr. Clifford's lips trembled. He took the little boy on his knee, andtold him how the country was in danger, and needed all its brave men.

  "I should feel a great deal easier about leaving my dear little family,"said he, "if Horace never disobeyed his mother; if he did not so oftenfall into mischief; if he was always sure to _remember_."

  The boy's neck was twisted around till his father could only see theback of his head.

  "Look here, pa," said he, at last, throwing out the words one at a time,as if every one weighed a whole pound; "I'll give ma that money; I'll doit to-day."

  "That's right, my boy! that's honest! You have given me pleasure.Remember, when you injure the property of another, you should alwaysmake amends for it as well as you can. If you do not, you're unjust anddishonest."

  I will not repeat all that Mr. Clifford said to his little son. Horacethought then he should never forget his father's good advice, nor hisown promises. We shall see whether he did or not.

  He was a restless, often a very naughty boy; but when you looked at hisbroad forehead and truthful eyes, you felt that, back of all his faults,there was nobleness in his boyish soul. His father often said, "He willeither make something or nothing;" and his mother answered, "Yes, therenever will be any half-way place for Horace."

  MR. CLIFFORD AND HIS SON. _Page 27._]

  Now that Mr. Clifford had really enlisted, everybody looked sad. Gracewas often in tears, and said,--

  "We can't any of us live, if pa goes to the war."

  But when Horace could not help crying, he always said it was because he"had the earache," and perhaps he thought it was.

  Mrs. Clifford tried to be cheerful, for she was a patriotic woman; butshe could not trust her voice to talk a great deal, or sing much to thebaby.

  As for Barbara Kinckle, she scrubbed the floors, and scoured the tins,harder than ever, looking all the while as if every one of her friendswas dead and buried. The family were to break up housekeeping, andBarbara was very sorry. Now she would have to go to her home, a littleway back in the country, and work in the fields, as many German girls doevery summer.

  "O, my heart is sore," said she, "every time I thinks of it. They willin the cars go off, and whenever again I'll see the kliny (little)childers I knows not."

  It was a sad day when Mr. Clifford bade good by to his family. His lastwords to Horace were these: "Always obey your mother, my boy, andremember that God sees all you do."

  He was now "Captain Clifford," and went away at the head of his company,looking like, what he really was, a brave and noble gentleman.

  Grace wondered if he ever thought of the bright new buttons on his coat;and Horace walked about among his school-fellows with quite an air,very proud of being the son of a man who either was now, or was going tobe, the greatest officer in Indiana!

  If any body else had shown as much self-esteem as Horace did, the boyswould have said he had "the _big_ head." When Yankee children think aplaymate conceited, they call him "stuck up;" but Hoosier children sayhe has "the _big_ head." No one spoke in this way of Horace, however,for there was something about him which made everybody like him, inspite of his faults.

  He loved his play-fellows, and they loved him, and were sorry enough tohave him go away; though, perhaps, they did not shed so many tears asGrace's little mates, who said, "they never'd have any more good times:they didn't mean to try."

  Mrs. Clifford, too, left many warm friends, and it is safe to say, thaton the morning the family started for the east, there were a great manypeople "crying their hearts out of their eyes." Still, I believe no onesorrowed more sincerely than faithful Barbara Kinckle.