George Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney

“ He was determined to purchase his freedom, and a sculptor requires money more than any other artist.
Rodney had always looked upon Dublin as a place to escape from. He had always desired a country where there was sunshine and sculpture. The day his father took him to the School of Art he had left his father talking to the head-master, and had wandered away to look at a Florentine bust, and this first glimpse of Italy had convinced him that he must go to Italy and study Michael Angelo and Donatello. ”

“ He had suddenly remembered that the priest did not know that sculptors use models; that he did not know, at all events, that a nude model would be required to model a Virgin from, and he had replied ambiguously, making no promise to do this group before he left Ireland. "If I can get a model here I will do it," he had said to himself. "If not, the ecclesiastic will have to wait until I get to Italy."
Rodney no more believed in finding a good model in Dublin than he believed in Christianity. ”

“ You will find Rodney has taken some more ships. The unluckiness of his recal, I think, appears to increase in its ill effect; and people don't seem to fancy Pigott. Rolle has given notice that he will move on Thursday to know who advised His Majesty to recal Rodney; and out of doors the talk is the same. Charles gave Johnson, who had been very violent on this subject the other day, an excellent trimming; but there was a good deal of coy with the other.
The arming plan don't seem to take at all. We have not yet heard from Ireland since Burgoyne took them over a constitution. ”

“ He found himself in London with two pounds, but he had got work from a sculptor, a pupil of Dalous: "a clever man," Rodney said, "a good sculptor; it is a pity he died." At this time Garvier was in fairly good health and had plenty of orders, and besides Rodney he employed three Italian carvers, and from these Italians Rodney learned Italian, and he spent two years in London earning three pounds a week. ”

“ You know Rodney?"
"Yes, indeed."
"Carmady used to come to my studio. Many's the time we've had about the possibility of a neo-pagan Celtic renaissance. But I did not know you were in London. When did you arrive?"
"Yesterday. I'm going to South Africa. There's fighting going on there, and it is a brand new country."
"Three Irishmen meet," said Rodney; "one seeking a country with a future, one seeking a country with a past, and one thinking of going back to a country without past or future."
"Is Harding going back to Ireland?" said Carmady. ”

“ Rodney said to himself, as he watched her going up the mews. "But there are other girls just as good in Paris and in Rome." And he remembered one who had sat to him in Paris, and this gave him courage. "So it was two little boys," he said, "who wrecked my studio. Two stupid little boys; two little boys who have been taught their Catechism, and will one day aspire to the priesthood." And that it should be two stupid little boys who had broken his statue seemed significant. "Oh, the ignorance, the crass, the patent ignorance! I am going. This is no place for a sculptor to live in. ”

“ He was also further told to recollect that a great blow might shortly be expected to be struck in the West Indies, whither Admiral Rodney had sailed with a fleet of forty ships; that the reinforcements to De Grasse would probably be intercepted, and that a naval victory might settle a great deal. It does not appear that Shelburne shared in the violent dislike for Rodney which distinguished his colleagues, and led about this time to his recall. Rodney had caused great alarm by the wholesale confiscation of property, British as well as foreign, which had accompanied the capture of St. ”

“ He did not know that a man was standing before him, watching him, until he was startled by a voice:
"Why, my boy, what is the matter with you?"
He looked up, and saw a tall man in a sailor's dress standing near him.
"I want to get a place on a ship, sir, to go to sea," replied Rodney; "I can't find any place, and I have no money and no friends here." ”

“ I don't want to be ambushed."
"I don't think those men back there would do such a thing," replied Rodney. "They seemed very grateful to you for letting them off so easily."
"Ha!" exclaimed the captain. "They would do it in a minute if they thought they could escape the consequences. You don't know how bitter everybody is against everybody else who doesn't train with his crowd, and you'll have to live among us a while before you can understand it."
"When shall I have the pleasure of shaking Dick Graham by the hand?" inquired Rodney. "Does he stand up for State Rights as strongly as he used?" ”

“ Her eyes were alert, and she told him that she knew he was doing altars for Father McCabe, and Father McCabe was a cousin of hers, and her father had a cheese-monger's shop, and their back windows overlooked the mews in which Rodney had his studio.
"How late you work! Sometimes your light does not go out until twelve o'clock at night." ”

“ I never thought of such a thing."
"Because if you do, I want to tell you that you can't get it," continued Randolph. "Your father hasn't done half as much for the company as he might have done, and the boy's don't like the way he talks."
"Then let's see the boys help themselves," answered Rodney, as he placed his foot in the stirrup and swung himself into the saddle. "Time will show who is willing to do the most for the success of the Confederacy, your father or mine." ”

“ Gray went on, throwing open the door of a box stall and holding out an ear of corn to a glossy, well-conditioned steed which came up to take a bite at it. "While she is strong for secession and very patriotic where other folks are concerned, she don't want any of the members of her own family to go to war. She thinks they are sure to be killed."
"That isn't at all like the women and girls around Barrington," replied Rodney, stepping into the stall and beginning a critical inspection of his new horse. ”

“ England was a very powerful foe, feared throughout the world. Not all Americans were patriots. Some were Tories on principle, others for gain. Very many were selfish and not a few corrupt; but enough so loved their country and independence as to endure and struggle unto the glorious end.
194 CHAPTER XXII RODNEY’S SACRIFICE AND HIS MOTHER’S
One midsummer day Rodney Allison walked along the dusty road. He did not carry his head erect as usual but seemed to be pondering over some problem.
He was a “strapping,” fine looking lad, almost a man grown, and in experience already a man. ”

“ Rodney Gray and his father, as well as the roan colt and a goodly supply of hay and grain that had been provided for him, were on the levee waiting for the Mollie Able when she turned in for the landing, and Rodney did not fail to notice that in the crowd of lookers-on there was one young fellow who made it a point to keep pretty close to him, although he did not appear to do so intentionally. ”

“ If we are going to give our liberty up to a new government, we might as well have stayed under the old." And all the Rangers uttered a hearty "That's so."
"You'll see," replied Rodney, who was greatly amused by the look of astonishment his words had brought to the faces around him. "A general would look pretty accepting the services of a company he couldn't command, wouldn't he, now?"
"But he could command us," said everybody in the line; and Captain Hubbard added: "I'd promise that we would obey him as promptly and readily as any of his regular troops." ”

“ I must either find Tom and ride the rest of the way with him, or else I must get ahead of him. If I don't do one or the other he will put me into a scrape that I can't work out of."
"Now you stay here and I will go out and snoop around a bit," said
Merrick, when the sound of the hoof-beats could be no longer heard.
"What I am afraid of is that they will leave some of their men to watch
the house."
"Do your neighbors know that you are a Union man?" asked Rodney, as he stepped up and took the horse by the bits. ”

“ The captain of the Mollie Able said you was one of Price's men, and we took it for granted that you had been riding with him. But I am satisfied now."
"I am glad to hear it," answered Rodney "But, Mr. Westall, it can't be possible that you will stand by and see this young fellow punished, when you know him to be innocent of the crime with which you have charged him?"
"No; I don't reckon I'll stand by and see it because I have sorter taken a shine to him, even if he is a traitor," answered the Emergency man. "There'll be enough to attend to the business without any of my help." ”

“ You'll have to stop with me till morning, but you and the critter'll have to be hid in the bresh, kase Thompson's men aint gone away yet."
Here was one point settled, and it wasn't settled to the boy's satisfaction, either. The man on the other side of the fence, who now stopped and let down a pair of bars so that he could ride through into the barnyard, was a Union man; and, to make matters worse he took Rodney for the same. ”

“ I don't believe in making war on people who don't think as I do."
"I don't reckon there are any half-wild Unionists in your settlement," said the captain, with a smile.
"I know it. I am from Louisiana where Union men have to keep their tongues to themselves," replied Rodney; and then seeing that the captain looked surprised he hastened to add: "I came to Missouri to enlist under Price because I couldn't join a partisan company where I lived; and I was encouraged to come by a telegram I received from Dick Graham's father. Dick is one of Price's men and perhaps you know him." ”

“ But Bill told him that it was time to start and look up a ship, for he had only money enough to last another day. After breakfast they started, and inquired at every place which Bill knew, but without success; no men or boys were wanted.
In the afternoon, Rodney was terribly frightened at seeing his brother-in-law walking along the wharves. He knew in a moment that he had come to New York to search for him; and he darted [Pg 38] round a corner into an alley, and hid himself behind some barrels, till he had passed by. ”

“ There were no signs of Union men anywhere along the route, but the blackened ruins they passed now and then pointed out the sites of the dwellings in which some of them had formerly lived. Those ruins had been left there by some of Price's men scouting parties like the one with which he was now riding. Rodney had always thought he should like to be a scout, but if that was the sort of work scouts were expected to do, he decided that he would rather be a regular soldier. He wouldn't mind facing men who had weapons in their hands, because that was what soldiers enlisted for ”

“ I want nothing for myself, for I am not a military man. Hubbard will come in for captain without opposition. It's the place he ought to have, for he has done more for us than anybody else, and Odell and Percy will be the lieutenants. Put those in the box when the time comes."
Rodney took the ballots that were placed in his hand, and just then some one called out:
"Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes! All you Rangers fall in in single rank here in front of headquarters, and be ready to cast your votes for captain." ”

“ So was Tom, for if he wasn't already beyond the danger of betrayal, he certainly would be by the time daylight came.
"No; we shall not march all night," said the captain, in response to an inquiry from Rodney. "We have been in the saddle pretty steadily for the last week, and both men and horses are in need of rest. But I shall take good care to get out of this settlement before going into camp. ”

“ You were on your way to join Price, and your presence here proves that you found him. When you are relieved I want to see you."
"Very good, sir," replied Rodney, bringing his piece to a shoulder and resuming his walk. "If that man's word is worth anything," he added, mentally, when the general disappeared in his tent, "Dick Graham and I will be free men when our year and three months are up, and you just say that much to your folks and tell 'em it's confidential. ”

“ Westall went on to tell who Tom Percival was and where he lived, not forgetting to lay a good deal of stress on the statement that he was not only a strong Union man, but a horse-thief as well. This made Rodney angry, but of course he couldn't help himself.
"You want to keep a bright lookout for a young fellow in his stocking feet, riding a bareback roan colt," said the Emergency man, in conclusion. "If you fall in with such a chap, you will make something by bringing him to Pilot Knob settlement and asking for Mr. Westall." ”

“ Island No. 10, the stronghold that was to have kept the enemy from going down the Mississippi, has fallen, and the way is open to Memphis."
"But the Yankees will never get there," exclaimed Rodney. "When I came up the river on the Mollie Able, I heard a man say we had a fleet building there that would eventually take Cairo and St. Louis too."
"I certainly hope he was right, but things don't seem to point that way now," replied the captain.
"That is good news for us in one respect," Dick Graham remarked. "New Madrid must have fallen too, and if that is the case, we'll not be ordered there. ”

“ Nat, do you want to go home?”
Nat pawed the ground twice and whinnied vigorously.
“That’s his way of saying yes, isn’t it, Nat, boy?”
The colt’s answer was to thrust his velvety muzzle caressingly against the lad’s cheek, blinking his large purplish eyes the while.
He was truly a fine animal with breeding in every line, dark bay in colour, with a black stripe running from mane to tail.
Seeing an opportunity, Rodney said: “Mr. Jefferson, may I ask your advice?”
“Certainly you may.”
“I––I’m afraid father made a mistake when he bought our place of old––er Mr. Denham. ”