Yankee Belles in Dixie Read Online Free PDF Page A

the work—Jeff Majors.”
    Major Bates nodded to Jeff. “Glad to have you.” Then he turned and walked away.
    â€œHe’s a pretty good officer but a little brash, they say,” Mr. Carter remarked. “Well, let’s get the wagon set up and the tent.”
    Thirty minutes later, Jeff, Leah, and her father had put up the large tent that would serve as sleeping quarters for the Carters. Jeff’s own bunk was either under the wagon when the weather was nice or inside when it rained.
    The sky was growing dark now, and Leah asked him to build a fire. When he had a good one going,she brought out the pots and pans, and soon the smell of cooking meat was in the air.
    They sat down after a while and ate steak and beans. It all tasted wonderful to Jeff. Mr. Carter ate hardly anything, merely picking at his food.
    They were almost finished when a voice called out, “Hey!” and Jeff looked up to see a short corporal in a blue uniform approaching them rapidly.
    â€œWhy, Ira, it’s you!” Leah said.
    She got up, putting her hand out, and the short soldier took it, grinning broadly. He had brown eyes and hair and seemed to Jeff to be more friendly than he should.
    â€œWell, maybe I can get some letters written around here now—to that girlfriend of mine.”
    Leah laughed. “You forgot you told me you made up that girlfriend—Rosie—just to get me to write letters for you. What did you do with all those letters anyway?”
    â€œStill got ’em.” Ira grinned. He glanced over at Jeff and when he was introduced said, “Glad to have you, Jeff. Where you from?”
    Jeff hesitated. He almost said that he came from Richmond, but he was saved when Mr. Carter said, “Why, he grew up just a whoop and a holler past our house. His family and ours have been close ever since these two were born.”
    â€œThat so?” Ira Pickens nodded. “Well, that’s good. Good to grow up knowing people. You two went to school together, I guess.”
    â€œYes, and hunted wild birds’ eggs, and went trot lining, and just about everything else.”
    â€œI guess we’ll have plenty of time to get acquainted,” Ira said. “After that licking we took back at Bull Run, looks like we ain’t never going nowhere again.”
    Jeff filed that away for future reference and said nothing.
    But Leah said, “Is the army pretty down and out, Ira?”
    â€œOh, I don’t reckon so. We got us a new general—General McClellan. They call him ‘Little Mac’ behind his back. He’s a whizzer though—knows how to make a fellow feel like a real winner! I guess we’ll be ready to meet the Rebs pretty soon.”
    â€œSit down and have some of this steak,” Mr. Carter said.
    The young soldier sat down and chatted amiably. After he had gone and Jeff was leaving to go to the wagon, he said, “He a pretty good friend of yours?”
    â€œYes, he is,” Leah said. “He was wounded at Bull Run, and I helped take care of him. He’s a nice young man. I hope nothing happens to him.”
    â€œGood night,” Jeff said. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
    He went to bed. The weather was hot, so he simply lay down on his blanket, listening to the sounds of the camp. Finally, he went to sleep, thinking,
I’ve got to see Pa—I’ve just got to!
    * * *
    Â Â Â â€œI tell you, you can’t see him. Not without a pass.”
    The speaker was a short, cocky lieutenant named Simpkins. He had scarcely been civil when Mr. Carter asked for permission to visit the Old Capitol Prison, and now he shook his head vehemently. “I’m telling you, nobody’s going into theprison without a pass from the War Department.” He glared at the three who stood before him.
    They had driven up to the Old Capitol Prison, which actually had been the Capitol building of the country for a few days at one