Free Manly Wade Wellman - Novel 1954 by Rebel Mail Runner (v1.1)

was shaking hands warmly with his
comrade.
                 “I’m
not here for a reunion only,” said Grimes at last, sitting on the table beside
the bundle of letters. “You’ve done well alone so far. How would you like to
move the mail the rest of the way to Vicksburg ?”
                 “You
mean, without you?”
                 “Without
me, yes,” said Grimes. “I’ve something else to do, something big. No, no
questions. It’s not only big, it’s dangerous.”
                 “Take
me along,” begged Barry, but Grimes shook his head.
                 “Can’t
think of anybody who’d be better in a tight place, Barry, but I can’t risk both
of us. In fact, I wouldn’t have taken this job if I hadn’t known you could do
the mail work if something happened to me.” He gestured away another question.
“I’ll do my work, you do yours. I’ll help start you. Yonder and the buggy are
waiting to take you out of Memphis . Better go by way of Senatobia. When you get to Yazoo City , wait for Bob Louden. He got in and out of Vicksburg the way we did, and should be about due for
another trip. The two of you can work your way in together.” He paused, and
eyed Barry thoughtfully. “For that matter, maybe I’ll see you both in Vicksburg . We might even have a good dinner together
there.”
                 “In Vicksburg ?” echoed Barry. “They must be really short
on food, by now.”
                 “Maybe
now, but maybe not later,” said Grimes cryptically. “Now, suppose we change the
subject. Your father’s with Shelby ’s cavalry in Arkansas , didn’t you say?”
                 “Yes,
he is.”
                 “No
mail has gone there for quite a while. Part of what you’ll take as far as Yazoo City is for Shelby ’s command. After a trip to Vicksburg , maybe you’d like to take Shelby ’s mail and visit your father.”
                 “I’ll
say!” said Barry eagerly.
                 “All
right, but the Vicksburg trip comes first.” Grimes left, and Barry slept that night above the
boat shop. He wakened at dawn, to a storm of shouting and cheering outside,
punctuated by the reports of guns.
                A Fourth of July
celebration? But that would have been day before yesterday. He dressed
and hurried downstairs.
                 Both
soldiers and civilians jammed the wharf, and every man of them was leaping,
dancing, waving his hat or cap, yelling his contribution to a sky-shaking
chorus of noise. Barry stared uncomprehendingly. Frank Keaton, also coming out
of the shop, pointed silently to a steamer just coming in to the wharf.
                 Along
its railing fluttered a great length of canvas, painted in big black letters:
     
                 VICKSBURG SURRENDERED JULY 4!
     
                 Barry
felt like a stuffed doll, with the sawdust leaking out. He sat down on a bench.
Someone came and sat beside him.
                 “Too
late,” murmured Absalom Grimes wretchedly. “Too late.”
                 “Yes,”
Barry agreed dolefully.
                 “Everything
was fixed,” Grimes told him. “The steamer Luminary ,
at the dock south of here, is loaded to the guards with supplies and
ammunition. The pilot and chief mate are Southerners. I’d put two dozen men
aboard as deck hands and passengers. We were going to pull out tonight,
overpower the armed guard, and run the blockade, pretending to be a Yankee
transport. We hoped to dock in Vicksburg with food and powder for that hungry
garrison.” He bowed his head in his hands.
                 Before noon , more bad news came. The papers carried
word of a tremendous battle at Gettysburg , Pennsylvania , where Lee’s army had been fought to a standstill and had been forced
to fall back to Virginia . And at Port Hudson, Arkansas, the