The Quaker and the Rebel Read Online Free PDF Page B

second-in-command to enter the passenger compartment while he directed maneuvers from outside the train. If his unwelcome notoriety grew any larger, the Yankees would move him up their list of priorities. And that would only hamper their cause.
    “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I am Captain Nathan Smith of the Army of Northern Virginia. This train will be delayed for a brief interval. Please sit quietly, and you’ll still be alive when the train pulls into the station.” Although the dapper young officer tipped his hat upon entering and smiled during his introduction, his two Colt revolvers left no doubt regarding his intentions. Rangers at the other end of the car leveled their Enfield rifles with the same silent threat.
    Well-dressed businessmen, traveling from Washington and points east, looked with contempt upon the intrusion, yet no one twitched a whisker. Their wives and daughters weren’t quite as composed. Several sobbed into lace handkerchiefs, and more than one began to pray.
    “What do you want with us, sir?” asked a white-haired matron with plenty of courage as the captain made his way down the aisle. She pulled her heavy reticule from the floor to her lap. “Will you take our cash and jewelry?”
    “No, madam, I assure you.” Captain Smith swept off his hat and bowed. “We’re only interested in the provisions on their way to Yankee camps.” His smile revealed perfectly straight teeth. “You are in thesovereign state of Virginia, part of the Confederate States of America. You are not home any longer. But I assure you, the colonel has no desire for civilian property.” He pointed to the window with a flourish of his hand. A tall man, clothed in a black cloak with a plumed hat pulled low, sat astride a majestic white horse. Fog swirled around horse and rider, increasing the aura of intrigue.
    Leaning toward the glass, the elderly woman gasped. “Is that the Gray Wraith? He doesn’t appear mortal. I read about him in the papers.”
    “I assure you, madam, he is flesh and blood.” Captain Smith replaced his hat and strode from the car, leaving his men to guard against would-be heroes.
    The rangers quickly overpowered a dozen Union soldiers, stripping them of their weapons and leaving them tied up in an empty train car. Along the tracks, the colonel directed the train’s unloading with well-honed efficiency. True to the captain’s word, the passengers were soon on their way. In less than thirty minutes, the rangers unloaded food, medicine, guns, and ammunition into wagons hidden in the woods. In the last two boxcars they found fifty fine horses with saddles and tack stacked along the wall, plus the unexpected bounty of a Union payroll. After tethering the horses into groups of five, they galloped off before the sun rose high enough to burn off the mist.
    “Those boxes contain repeating rifles, Colonel,” shouted Captain Smith as they rode out of town. “Woolen socks, buckskin gloves, leather boots, engraved saddles, halters, bridles—this shipment must have been headed to a cavalry brigade, sir.”
    The colonel glanced at Smith with amusement. Seldom had plunder so excited the man. “That’s right, Captain.” He slowed his horse on the narrow path, pulled off his hat and ran a hand through his hair. “This bounty will be for Jeb Stuart, not for General Jackson as we had planned. Sheridan’s loss will be Stuart’s gain,” he added, scratching his stubbly chin. He never would get used to the bristly beard he grew prior to a raid. “And Jeff Davis will appreciate that Union payroll, thirty thousand dollars by my estimate.”
    “To another successful raid and the diminishing of the Mr. Lincoln’s Treasury, sir.” Smith pulled a silver flask from his pocket and offered a toast to his superior officer.
    The colonel stared at the flask momentarily before downing a hearty swig. “I’m just glad we were able to serve our Glorious Cause without killing any of those fool Yankees in the