Show HOW POLLY SAVED TII SCOUT 8 She Yearned For Adventure From Much Novel Reading and Was Ready When the Opportunity Came BY MRS MOSES P HANDY Polly Cunningham living in a quiet country neighborhood and nourished an Walter Scotts stories from the time she could read had always longed for jxcitement and adventures now she a a great deal more of them than she wanted Her home in Culpepper county Virginia was near the very center of the battleground between the Union and confederate armies so near the Brandy station that the roar of the cannon echoed through the house and the smoke of the battle was plainly to be seen Her father and her brothers were n the southern army But she and her mother remained in the old homestead i home-stead A few of their old slaves still lung to them notably Pollys mammy my and her husband who trusted tad confidential house servants had never felt the yoke of slavery a gall ng What they could have done with Jut mammy Polly never dared to think She came Into thf dining room where POly was washing the dishes after the frugal dinner a meal which her mother suffering with an acute attack at-tack of neuralgia was too III to share Well honey she said Yo ma pears to be easy now I give her a hot foot bath an a mustard plarster rn she went to sleep so I put the I ell whar she could tech i an crep I ut I reckon I mout as well take my tile man his dinner Mammy went to the window and looked out craning her neck to catch a glimpse of the drive leading to the front of the house Great Marster she said Heres a Yankee officer ridin up to the do You Ieep still chile while I go an sees what he wants In a moment she was back smiling followed by a young man in the uniform uni-form of a United States lieutenant hose Hello Polly startled her so at she dropped the cup Ve was wlp i r on the floor She looked at it rue I lly then her face lit up Why Frank she exclaimed here did you come from Stuarts headquarters of course I g b ff iir L I 1 I i I pIoJJit ki I I I POLLY BIG FRANK want to find out what Sheridan Is idoing Ive a letter for your mother from the major Can you get me a mouthful to eat I I wont be much more said Polly a she set out the remains of the dinner din-ner a quickly as possible Mamma has one of her bad attacks of neuralgia neural-gia Oh Fank how are papa and brother Ned and JackAl Jack-Al well and flourishing two days > igo why this does famously Polly and he set to work at bread and butter but-ter beef and potatoes with the hearty 1elish of a hungry traveler Mammy had taken the letter up ptairs sure that no other medicine VOUld do Mrs Cunningham so much JTOod Now she rushed back ashy i vith fright For de Lawds sake lars Frank run out dp back do Here comes a whole troop of Yankees I No Frank said Polly who had own to the back window a he start lid up and seizing hat and overcoat made for the door They are coming that way too Quick here up stairs I can hide you I The rear of the house was one and a naif stories high with sloping roof and where the newer twostoried front joined it on either side were closets In the wall They had been wainscoted Instead of plastered and me of them ha been given to Poly in her babyhood baby-hood for a doll house After reaching Woodstock Polly had begged her father for a sliding panel in this closet opening open-ing Into the cuddy under the eaves of o the old house MrsCunningham had protested saying say-ing it would only be a rat hole and do Polly no good but her husband had laughed and yielded hI was a gocd I a any other toy he said and under Poly supervision a country carpenter carpen-ter had done the job so cleverly that no one not in the secret would have suspected the existence of the panel or 1 found the spot looking like a knot in the wood which concealed the spring i Frank visitingthe house as a boy had often teased little Poly about her secret chamber and like her brothers had begged vainly to be shown the spring but it had passed from his mind until now when opening the closet she pressed back the panel and showed him the cuddy as a place of refuge A moment more and the panel shot back into place the closet door was shut and he heard her quick footsteps foot-steps flying downstairs The cuddy was as dark as a pocket but larger than he had imagined and the smell of provisions visions gave token that It was used a a place of storage in view of frequent foraging parties from both sides Poly found two United States offi ers in the hal downstairs talking to mammy who was barefacedly declaring declar-ing that there was no one In the house but her mistress her young mistress and herself I i As Poly entced the lieutenant in command of the squad turned to her Good morning Missy We havd rea ron to believe that the notorious scout Snd spy Twyneman Is in this hou < = eWe e-We captured his horse down there in the bushes and we must search the house Poly paled but she answered steadily stead-ily Of course you can do so if you rhoose but you will find nobody here ilay I ask you to make no unnecessary unneces-sary noise my mother is III and I dont want her frightened Mammy go stay with her plqase But Mammy stood her ground No i f > 4 t < chile I tole her day was comin an she tole me to stay wid you The seaching party indoors looked in every room in wardrobes closets un der beds everywhere that a cat might hide while outside their comrades kept guard over doors and windows Pollys closet was opened wide among the others but the presence of the panel j was not suspected andshe kept her 1 face as immovable as that of the sphinx Once she flared up This Is a j outrage sir she said when she found that her mothers room was to be searched Our orders a imperative answered the lieutenant calmly Boys stay outside Excuse me madam but we are looking for Twyneman and cannot leave any possible hiding place unsearched Very well answered Mrs Cunningham Cun-ningham rising to her feet In spite of the blinding pain When you are sure that he is not on the lounge I should like to lie down again Be quiet Poly pont you know they are only doing < their duty and so the soldiers with 1 j drew baffled and baied ad disappointed I He has got off somehow boys but I believe he was in the house all the same Hes at slippery a a eel I that fellow said the lieutenant as they walked to their horses But they rode away going in two or three dif ferent directions as though to pursue I the fugitive j I When they were out of sight Polly sIght I I released the imprisoned scout and led him to her mothers room where Mrs Cunningham in spite of her aching I nerves insisted upon seeing him auJ hearing in person all he could tell of her loved ones They were still talking together and Polly was writing a letter to her father when Mrs Cunninghams ears sharp ened by pain heard horses feet and voices outside Hark she said and anl almost on the instant the soldiers were inside the house There was no time to get to the closet whether or no the searching party had left one of their nusifcT behind be-hind who had noiselessly oumlttej them they never knew but i was plain that the soldiers were coming up stairs Twyneman took a package I from his pocket and was handing it to Polly Dispatches he whispered No no she breathed quick my room back there the roof I He understood her It was the old part of the house and the roof of the veranda came up under the eaves of the sloping roof There was a wooden I trough at the edge which did duty asa as-a gutter and eaves and gutter together extended out for perhaps twelve inches He had used it as a hiding place many a time in games of hide and seek He was slender and it was dusk now anyway any-way the chance was worth trying and in less time than it takes to tell it I he had darted across the hall into I i Pollys room and out of the window j i before the enemy had reached the head i j I of the staircase luckily the front one Mammy was heard protesting as they I came up Dat Frank Twyneman Yes sah I don like him nohow I never did an I wish you could ketch him so I does but he ala here a I I knows on deed he aint Polly met them as they came up candle In hand holding the light so I that her shadow fell darkly along the 1 hall and stood directly in front of them Well she asked sharply I We must search this house again One of OU men saw Twyneman enter I and he ca not have escaped I I As you please He is not in the I house however she answered Como on and once more she went with them I through every room while they ex j I plored every nook and corner Her I heart came into her mouth when the lieutenant raised the window in her room and leaned out looking on the I veranda roof The wind blew fresh and I she held her hand to shade the candle so contriving that its feeble I ray made the outside darkness blacker No he isnt here where in the has he gone I They kept watch on the house all night and Poly in her mothers Chamber had but little sleep In the first gray dawn she stole to peep at Franks hiding place but he was gone and though they heard that he had made his escape > was not until many weeks afterward that she learned how he had slid down the rain spout within ten feet of a sentinel and stolen away in the darkness |