All, however, were strange, until at last he came upon
Mr. Grey. Carefully assisting him to reach an old cabin which stood
near, he made the suffering man as comfortable as possible, then,
without loss of time, set out to convey the news to Mrs. Grey. Now, it
would seem that the very easiest thing would have been to carry the
wounded soldier at once to the house of his wife's mother to be nursed
and _cared_ for, but it must be remembered that the Federal army had
been shown in many ways that they were considered as invaders by the
people of Maryland, and that their presence was obnoxious and hateful.
They, on the other hand, considered all Southern sympathizers as
traitors to their flag and their country. Every open expression of
such feelings was severely punished. Had it been known that any
Confederate soldier was harbored or concealed in any house within the
Federal lines, the owners would have been arrested together with the
soldier they had hidden, their house would probably have been burned.
So it was necessary in the case of Mr. Grey to observe great secrecy
and to plan carefully his removal.
My readers will remember that Nelly was suddenly sent off to stay at
the farm-house.
Pages:
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387