The orderly had placed a blanket over each patient. Perry carefully edged toward the huge elm, knowing its shadow lay across Hunter.
Within a few feet from where she had left him, Perry glanced up from the path to observe a man kneeling over Hunter's body. He was a large black man with one arm in a sling. Light played across his face from the fire a few feet away. The firelight also reflected the gold disk he turned in his fingers. Hunter's disk. Perry's emotions exploded as she realized Hunter was about to be robbed of his only possession.
In one animallike spring she threw her body full force into the bulk of the black man, throwing him backward into the brush. Catching him off-guard, Perry plunged her arms and legs into his mass on the ground. She fought wildly. The man groaned in pain and shielded himself with his good arm.
'You filthy Yankee. Stealin' from a dying man. May your soul rot in hell. You scum.' Perry spit out the words as she continued to rain blows on him.
Slowly one huge arm encircled her small waist and pulled her down. Using a leg to still her kicks, the black man pinned her to the ground. 'Stop. Enough,' he said in an educated voice that shocked her.
Perry stopped. He could break her back with a little more pressure.
'I don't know who you are, or what Hunter is to you, but I assure you, I wasn't stealing from him. I was only trying to make sure of his identity in the darkness, without forcing his face to the light. He's my commanding officer and my friend.' With this the black man released her legs and pulled her into a sitting position. He studied her quietly for a moment as Perry quickly stuffed loose strands of hair back up under her hat. 'The orderly said a dirty kid came into camp with Hunter. Said the boy nursed him all afternoon.' The emphasis he put on the word
Perry stared directly into his eyes. She might as well use her own name; it was a boy's, anyway. 'I'm Perry, and I found this here Yankee almost dead.'
'Pleased to meet you, Perry. I'm Abram Johnson. I thank you for helping my friend. I owe my life many times over to him.' Abram spoke as an equal to Hunter, not as a slave.
Suddenly his name registered in her memory. 'Abram. That's the name Hunter kept saying, 'Hold on Abram.' You must be the one he keeps calling for.''
Abram nodded. She saw kindness in his smile as he looked toward Hunter's sleeping form. 'We were separated during a storm. We're balloon surveyors. We were up, just over into Confederate territory, when the storm broke. The cable holding us snapped, then the wire whipped into us mightily and tore Hunter's shoulder wide open. I was thrown out and Hunter tried to pull me back in the basket, but with his shoulder hurt, it's a wonder he held himself in. I landed safe enough in a muddy field, but Hunter drifted another few miles with our balloon, the
Both were silent for a moment as understanding passed between them. Both knew the other desperately wanted Hunter to live. Abram had been impressed by the small woman's fire as she'd fought for Hunter, and Perry could almost see the intensity of Abram's feelings toward his friend.
Abram offered his hand. 'Thank you for helping Hunter. Let me know if I can return the favor.''
Raising her hand slowly, she looked past Abram and noticed Luke's form moving toward them. Quickly she leaned close to Abram and whispered, 'There's the soldier who found us and brought us here. I sent him after a doctor in the prisoner camp.'
Both turned to watch Luke's approach. Perry's tears reflected the firelight in the warm brown depths of her eyes. Luke was alone! She knew without asking that no doctor was coming. Her hope for Hunter dimmed. Abram, watching her out of the corner of his eye, saw the pain she felt.
'You want Hunter to live very badly, don't you?' Abram whispered.
Before Perry could answer, Luke waved toward them. Abram stood to address him. 'The kid said you were bringing a doctor.'
Luke frowned. 'Wouldn't come, said he had all he could handle with what we shot up of his men.'
Perry's heart sank as he continued, 'Don't know as it would do any good to try and push him. Might end your friend's sufferin' earlier. Besides, the redheaded bastard hates Yankees. He took great delight in tellin' me where to go for just suggestin' he leave his men and come doctor one of us.'
Perry's heart quickened for a moment. The doctor was redheaded. Could her brother be the Confederate doctor Luke had talked with? She hadn't seen Andrew for so long, but she'd heard he was near. Could he be this close?
'Sorry about him, boy.' Luke shook his head and moved away.
Perry stepped forward, timidly reaching to touch Luke's arm. 'Did ya get the doctor's name, sir?'
'Nope, didn't see it mattered none, anyway,' Luke replied with a wave of his mighty hand.
As soon as Luke was out of sight, Perry turned to Abram, her face filled with hope. 'I may know the doctor. Abram, he'd come if he knew I was here. You've got to get to him and ask him to help.' Perry realized how desperate she sounded to this huge black man. All Perry knew of Abram was that he called Hunter his friend. Her only prayer lay in a hope that he cared a great deal about Hunter's life.
Abram backed off, skeptical of her plot. 'First I need a few answers before I get in league with the likes of you. You're no boy, but I guess I can understand why you'd want to hide that. Also, your speech goes from being illiterate to refined. You give me some answers and I'll decide whether to trust you.'
Perry plopped in an unladylike manner beside Hunter's sleeping form and waited for Abram to join her. She had no choice but to trust Abram. He knew too much already, so why not?
Softly she began her story of the past three days. She described to him how she had burned her fields to keep the Yankees from getting her crops. In so doing, she'd marked herself for hanging as a traitor. When she told of walking for a day and night before finding the barn and discovering Hunter, Perry omitted Noma from her story. She might have to trust this man, but Noma could remain unknown. In this small way Perry felt she was protecting Noma. She ended by telling him the redheaded doctor might be her brother, Andrew.
Unshed tears floated in her brown eyes as she whispered, 'You have to swear to tell no one who I am or that I'm a woman. If the doctor is Andrew, I know he'll come when he finds out I'm here.'
Both were silent for several minutes before Abram spoke. 'I'll keep your secret. Don't want to do you any more harm than this war has already done you. Appears to me you're in need of a friend, and I do owe you something. But for God's sake, don't go jumping on anyone else; one feel of you gives you away as a girl.'
Perry blushed as Abram continued. 'I'll go have a talk with the doctor, and if he's your brother, maybe I can convince him to take a look at Hunter.' With this resolution Abram stood and dusted his blue uniform. 'Don't know what Captain Williams would have to say about this if he got wind of it.''
Perry's heart turned to ice inside her breast. 'Captain Williams?'
Abram nodded. 'He's the officer here, though he spends most of his time chasing traitors.' His last words were a whisper as he looked into Perry's frightened face. 'He's the one after you, isn't he?'
There was no need for Perry to answer. Abram was making a statement, not asking a question.
'Stay with Hunter, boy.' Again he placed the emphasis on the word
Perry tried to curl into the darkness behind Hunter. Every muscle in her body was tense, ready to run. Somehow she'd walked right into Williams's hands. He'd never seen her, and she wasn't sure she'd know him if he walked up. All she knew about him was from what she'd heard, and it was all bad. She'd been told he was handsome enough, except for a small scar over one eye and a love for hanging Southerners.
The evening grew cooler as the hours passed. She spread out on the ground a foot from Hunter, longing for the privacy they'd had in the loft. Tired and frightened, she longed to move nearer and feel Hunter's touch along her flesh. As her eyelids grew heavy, Perry placed a protective arm over Hunter's undamaged shoulder.
Finally sleep covered her, and she became oblivious to everything around her. She no longer heard the moans of the wounded or the soft hoof falls of horses against the muddy ground as the camp's officers arrived.
Chapter 3
