Mark Twain

“ A desperate enterprise is on foot, that is plain enough. To-night is the time set for it, -- that, also, is plain. The exact nature of the enterprise -- I mean the manner of it -- is hidden away under those blind bunches of M's and F's, but the end and aim, I judge, is the surprise and capture of the post. We must move quick and sharp now. I think nothing can be gained by continuing our clandestine policy as regards Wicklow. ”

“ All this had a tendency to keep us awake, and knock the traditional dulness out of garrison life. Besides, ours was a recruiting station -- which is the same as saying we hadn't any time to waste in dozing, or dreaming, or fooling around. Why, with all our watchfulness, fifty per cent. of a day's recruits would leak out of our hands and give us the slip the same night. The bounties were so prodigious that a recruit could pay a sentinel three or four hundred dollars to let him escape, and still have enough of his bounty-money left to constitute a fortune for a poor man. ”

“ Nothing in the world was ever so sweet, so gracious, so tender, so holy, so moving. I made my stay very brief; I was beginning to experience emotions of a sort not proper to the commandant of a fortress.
Next day I issued orders which stopped the praying and singing. Then followed three or four days which were so full of bounty-jumping excitements and irritations that I never once thought of my drummer-boy. But now comes Sergeant Rayburn, one morning, and says, --
"That new boy acts mighty strange, sir."
" How?"
"Well, sir, he's all the time writing."
"Writing? What does he write -- letters?" ”

“ Same result. The boy gave a detailed history of each, without ever hesitating for a word or a fact; but all I could get out of either rascal was the indignant assertion that it was all a lie. They would confess nothing. I returned them to captivity, and brought out the rest of my prisoners, one by one. Wicklow told all about them -- what towns in the South they were from, and every detail of their connection with the conspiracy.
But they all denied his facts, and not one of them confessed a thing. The men raged, the women cried. ”

“ First, we've got a rebel spy in our midst, whom we know; secondly, we've got three more in our midst whom we don't know; thirdly, these spies have been introduced among us through the simple and easy process of enlisting as soldiers in the Union army -- and evidently two of them have got sold at it, and been shipped off to the front; fourthly, there are assistant spies 'outside' -- number indefinite; fifthly, Wicklow has very important matter which he is afraid to communicate by the 'present method' -- will 'try the other.' That is the case, as it now stands. ”

“ But he had given up at last; courage and hope were both gone. If he could enlist, nobody could be more thankful; if he could not get in as a soldier, couldn't he be a drummer-boy? Ah, he would work so hard to please, and would be so grateful!
Well, there's the history of young Wicklow, just as he told it to me, barring details. I said,--
"My boy, you are among friends, now, -- don't you be troubled any more." How his eyes glistened! I called in Sergeant John Rayburn, -- he was from Hartford; lives in Hartford yet; maybe you know him, -- and said, "Rayburn, quarter this boy with the musicians. ”

“ During the next two days, Rayburn reported to me several times. No success. The boy was still writing, but he always pocketed his paper with a careless air whenever Rayburn appeared in his vicinity. He had gone twice to an old deserted stable in the town, remained a minute or two, and come out again. One could not pooh-pooh these things -- they had an evil look. I was obliged to confess to myself that I was getting uneasy. I went into my private quarters and sent for my second in command -- an officer of intelligence and judgment, son of General James Watson Webb. ”

“ It was stirring times, that black and bitter night. Things had leaked out, and the whole garrison was on the alert. The sentinels were trebled, and nobody could move, outside or in, without being brought to a stand with a musket levelled at his head. However, Webb and I were less concerned now than we had previously been, because of the fact that the conspiracy must necessarily be in a pretty crippled condition, since so many of its principals were in our clutches.
I determined to be at No. 166 in good season, capture and gag B. B., and be on hand for the rest when they arrived. ”

“ Briefly, this was little Wicklow's history:--
When the war broke out, he and his invalid aunt and his father were living near Baton Rouge, on a great and rich plantation which had been in the family for fifty years. The father was a Union man. He was persecuted in all sorts of ways, but clung to his principles. At last, one night, masked men burned his mansion down, and the family had to fly for their lives. They were hunted from place to place, and learned all there was to know about poverty, hunger, and distress. The invalid aunt found relief at last: misery and exposure killed her ”

“ He was detained awhile, and meantime Sterne hurried off and concealed himself in the stable. By and by he saw Wicklow saunter in, look about him, then hide something under some rubbish in a corner, and take leisurely leave again. Sterne pounced upon the hidden article -- a letter -- and brought it to us. It had no superscription and no signature. It repeated what we had already read, and then went on to say:--
"We think it best to postpone till the two companies are gone. I mean the four inside think so; have not communicated with the others -- afraid of attracting attention. ”

“ In the first place, we decided to double the sentries and keep the strictest possible watch. Next, we thought of calling Wicklow in and making him divulge everything; but that did not seem wisest until other methods should fail. We must have some more of the writings; so we began to plan to that end. And now we had an idea: Wicklow never went to the post-office, -- perhaps the deserted stable was his post-office. We sent for my confidential clerk -- a young German named Sterne, who was a sort of natural detective -- and told him all about the case and ordered him to go to work on it. ”

“ But never mind about that. Here was business, -- business that required profound and immediate attention, too. Webb and I turned the subject over and over, and examined it all around. Webb said,--
"What a pity he was interrupted! Something is going to be postponed until -- when? And what is the something? Possibly he would have mentioned it, the pious little reptile!"
"Yes," I said, "we have missed a trick. And who is 'we,' in the letter? Is it conspirators inside the fort or outside?" ”

“ We fortified Sterne with pretty ample powers, and told him to use his best endeavors to find out Wicklow's "other method" of communication. We meant to play a bold game; and to this end we proposed to keep the spies in an unsuspecting state as long as possible. So we ordered Sterne to return to the stable immediately, and, if he found the coast clear, to conceal Wicklow's letter where it was before, and leave it there for the conspirators to get. ”

“ Why, bless you, sir, they want you to stop him from singin'."
"What an idea! You said his music was divine."
"That's just it. It's too divine. Mortal man can't stand it. It stirs a body up so; it turns a body inside out; it racks his feelin's all to rags; it makes him feel bad and wicked, and not fit for any place but perdition. It keeps a body in such an everlastin' state of repentin', that nothin' don't taste good and there ain't no comfort in life. And then the cryin', you see -- every mornin' they are ashamed to look one another in the face." ”

“ I always found them wide awake and watchful; evidently whispers of mysterious dangers had been floating about, and the doubling of the guards had been a kind of indorsement of those rumors. Once, toward morning, I encountered Webb, breasting his way against the bitter wind, and learned then that he, also, had been the rounds several times to see that all was going right.
Next day's events hurried things up somewhat. Wicklow wrote another letter; Sterne preceded him to the stable and saw him deposit it ”

“ They sing out, 'Oh, dry up!' 'Give us a rest!' 'Shoot him!' 'Oh, take a walk!' and all sorts of such things. But what of it? It don't phaze him. He don't mind it." After a pause: "Kind of a good little fool, too; gits up in the mornin' and carts all that stock of boots back, and sorts 'em out and sets each man's pair where they belong. And they've been thronged at him so much now, that he knows every boot in the band, -- can sort 'em out with his eyes shut." ”

“ He stood ready to invent anybody or anything whenever it was wanted. If I called for "outside" spies, he promptly described strangers whom he had seen at the hotel, and whose names he had happened to hear. ”

“ He is from New Orleans; was second mate of the coast-packet 'Capitol,' two years ago; is a desperate character, and has served two terms for manslaughter, -- one for killing a deck-hand named Hyde with a capstan-bar, and one for killing a roustabout for refusing to heave the lead, which is no part of a roustabout's business. ”

“ You see, on account of him we had fifteen or twenty people under arrest and confinement in the fort, with sentinels before their doors. A lot of the captives were soldiers and such, and to them I didn't have to apologize; but the rest were first-class citizens, from all over the country, and no amount of apologies was sufficient to satisfy them. ”

“ So this bit of string was Wicklow's "sign" to signify that the "Master's"commands had not miscarried. I ordered that every sentinel who had served near that gun during the past twenty-four hours be put in confinement at once and separately, and not allowed to communicate with any one without my privity and consent.
A telegram now came from the Secretary of War. It read as follows: --
"Suspend habeas corpus. Put town under martial law. Make necessary arrests. Act with vigor and promptness. Keep the Department informed." ”

“ They don't wish to ask too much; they would like powerful well to have the prayin' shut down on, or leastways trimmed off around the edges; but the main thing's the singin'. If they can only get the singin' choked off, they think they can stand the prayin', rough as it is to be bully-ragged so much that way."
I told the sergeant I would take the matter under consideration. That night I crept into the musicians' quarters and listened. ”