A Dangerous Promise (2 page)

Jebediah had produced two drumsticks and suddenly, magically, beat out a rat-a-tat-tat that made Mike's heart jump.

"Here," he said, thrusting the sticks into Todd's hands. "You try it. Hold them like this. No, this a-way."

Todd was quicker, but soon Mike got the feel of the drumsticks and picked up the rhythms. Ever since that day, the two boys had practiced the drumbeats whenever Jebediah had given permission.

Now, as Mike and Todd ran into the stables, Jeb met them. "You boys have been practicin' the calls for a good long while," he told them. "Now, suppose you show me what you can do,"

In the tack room Todd performed first. Then it was Mike's turn. He went through all ten calls, from reveille, a sharp rapid beat to wake up the soldiers, to taps, the solemn slow drumming that meant lights out and bedtime. Jeb had said that taps was a call new to this war. Trying not to think too much about the fact that taps was also drummed at funerals, Mike beat out the call, making only one mistake . . . well, maybe two or three.

But instead of praising the boys, Jeb grimaced, showing a mouth with more gaps than teeth. "Good thing you've got

years of practice ahead of you afore you're old enough to join up/' he said to Mike. "Those beats have got to come out smart and sharp enough to inspire the men. Do you think you can lead men into battle with a thud, thud, thud?"

Mike felt himself blush. "I guess I was concentrating too hard on the beat itself. I'll give it another try," he said.

"Maybe by the time you're sixteen, this war will be over," Jeb answered slyly, "and the army won't have much need of drummers."

Mike thought of Sergeant Duncan, who had laughed at his age and his size. "I may be short for being nearly thirteen, but I'll soon start growing fast," he said. "Won't be long before I can pass for at least a year older."

"I'm two years older than Mike and tall for my age," Todd said. "Anybody'd take me for sixteen. Besides, I've got my own bugle and know all the bugle calls. I've been thinking of joining up."

"So you been sayin'." Jeb glanced at Todd from the corners of his eyes. "I been hearin' that some of the companies bein' put together in such a hurry haven't got drummers or buglers and ain't fussy about ages. A boy close to the age to enlist, showin' up at the right place at the right time with a fine drum like this one or a shiny bugle, just might find himself a part of the Union Army."

"Where's this 'right place'?" Todd asked.

"Down south a-ways at Fort Scott, less'n ninety miles or so, they're mobilizin' a lot of foot soldiers, sendin' 'em out nearly as fast as they show up to enlist."

"Ninety miles? That's a long ways to walk," Mike blurted out.

Jeb's lips turned down in a sneer. "No use joinin' the army if you're afraid of a little walkin'. The fightin' never lasts long at a time. It's the walkin' what soldiers do most of." He chuckled. "Don't know if you can make it in just three days' time, but the Second Kansas Infantry, under Col-

onel Mitchell, will be leavin' Kansas City, headed into south-em Missouri."

"Kansas City isn't far!" Mike exclaimed.

Jeb struggled to his feet. "You can stay here and practice," he said. "I gotta tend the horses." But just before he reached the doorway, he turned to face Todd. "I was just a scrap of a youngster when I signed on because my country needed me," he said. "I know how you feel."

Hurt at being ignored by Jeb, Mike waited until Jeb was out of earshot and said, "The Union Army needs both of us."

"Maybe not right now," Todd said.

"You've talked about joining."

"I know, and someday I will. But before my father left for Virginia, he told me the best thing I could do was work hard, study, and take care of my mother and sisters."

Mike said, "Captain Taylor told me nearly the same thing. But we're not children. We can help the Union win the war."

"You're serious, aren't you?"

"Yes. I'm serious."

Todd frowned as he thought. "There's not much I can do to take care of my mother," he said. "If you've noticed, the women seem to take care of each other."

Mike nodded. "And because of the orderlies' help, we don't even have many chores."

"So there's not much we're needed for around here."

"You might even say we're in the way." Mike looked at the drum and then at Todd. "Captain Taylor didn't exactly forbid my joining up—at least, he didn't put it in those words. What about your father?"

Todd scrunched up his forehead as if he were trying hard to remember. "When I said I wished I was old enough to join the army, my father told me he just hoped the war would be over before I had to make that decision."

"So he didn't say, 'You can't become a drummer for the Union Army.' "

"No," Todd said. "He didn't."

As excitement began to shine in Todd's eyes, a slight twinge of guilt that had been pestering Mike dissolved.

"I've heard the Rebs are tough fighters," Todd said. "The army needs all the help it can get."

Mike grinned. "Sergeant Duncan said that under fire some of these Union volunteers get scared and run. I'd never run."

"Me neither."

"The army badly needs drummers and buglers. Jeb said so. We know how to beat the calls. It's a real waste if we don't do anything with what we know."

"It's not only a waste. It's like working against the Union when we're needed and don't go."

Mike's heart thumped rapidly, and his voice dropped to almost a whisper. "Then what do you say we make our way down to the Second Kansas Infantry in Kansas City and see if they can use us?"

Todd's words came out in a hoarse growl. "You mean run

away?'

'Yes," Mike said. "Rim away."

During the night Mike wasn't quite so sure. He thrashed back and forth in bed, both tormented and thrilled by the decision he'd made.

The captain wouldn't approve my going.

Who says he wouldn't? He's a career officer. He'll be proud that I want to serve the Union.

He wants me to take care of Louisa.

She's taking care of me. She doesn't need me to take care of her. And as Todd said, the women take care of each other.

If the captain were here, what would he tell me? He's my father now. Captain Taylor was one of the finest, fairest men Mike ever had met, and he wished with all his heart that he truly could hear what the captain had to say.

Suddenly, with a great surge of loneliness, Mike pictured his mother and father and his brothers and sisters in the small room they had once shared in New York City before Da had died, before Mike had been arrested as a copper

stealer. Mike had only been trying to help feed his family— he'd never expected his theft to divide the Kellys.

If only the earning of money just for food and a place to live hadn't been so hard, Mike thought. If only Da hadn't died.

"Da," Mike whispered, as he pictured his father's kind face. "Oh, Da, what should I do? What would you have me do?"

He held his breath, hoping for an answer, but all he heard was the rat-a-tat of an imaginary drum.

/ know the drum calls, Mike told himself, and that's what counts, because Jeb says the army badly needs drummers.

As he listened to the bugle's call and saw the flag held high, he burned with eagerness. He had to join the army! He had to!

Early the next morning, Mike sought out Todd, whose pale face and darkly circled eyes showed that he hadn't slept well either.

While the boys hunkered down in the shade between two of the buildings in the officers' quarters, Todd pulled his pocket watch out of his jacket, fingered it, and shoved it back. Out and back, out and back. Finally, he mumbled, "I've been thinking ..."

Mike's throat tightened as he waited for Todd to go on.

"Ma would be terrible angry if I joined up," Todd said. "There isn't anything about army life Ma likes. She wants me to have a different sort of life. She reminded me again this morning that she's got plans for me to go to college someday, like some of her cousins who live in Boston, so I can become a banker or a businessman. She's already teaching me and my sisters Latin verbs and making us read poetry every evening before we go to bed, and—"

A hard limip began to grow in Mike's chest. "You're backing out," he said. "I didn't take you for a quitter."

"I'm not a quitter," Todd insisted. "I was just telling you how Ma would feel if I ran off to join the army."

Through his disappointment Mike shrugged and mumbled, "Then I'll go by myself."

"You're not old enough."

"Neither are you. But age doesn't matter. The Union Army needs musicians to send orders to the troops in battle. We know the drum calls, and you know the bugle. We could help the Union win the war. You know we could."

"Yeah, I guess," Todd said. He glanced at Mike. "How's your mother going to take it?"

"I don't see why Louisa would get mad," Mike answered. "I heard her tell the captain how proud she was of him, before he rode off with his company. But, well, my own ma's different. She won't hke my joining the army—I can tell you that right now—and she'll start worrying about me the minute she gets the letter I'm going to write her."

Todd turned to stare at Mike and grinned. "You've got two women to worry about whether or not you're getting enough food to eat, or your socks are wet, or there's a Reb on your tail! That's twice as bad as one."

Mike made a face and pretended to groan. "It adds up to more than two," he bragged. "My sisters Frances and Megan will have something to say to me when they find out what I've done, and for all I know, my little sister Peg is old enough to speak her mind on the subject."

Todd chuckled, but Mike grew serious. "Danny now— he's but a year younger than me—Danny would understand. And Petey—he's too little to even think about war."

Once again, Mike was swallowed by a rush of homesickness for his family. He squeezed his eyes shut, seeing their smiling faces, and fought against the pain.

"They're all going to be proud of you," Todd said.

Mike opened his eyes and nodded. He could visualize himself standing tall in the uniform of a Union private, the round-crowned dark blue forage cap cocked so that its

black glazed-leather peak sloped down sharply over his eyes. Maybe there'd be a medal on his chest—maybe two or three.

"They're bound to be," he said with a grin. "I'll be the only soldier in the Kelly family."

After a few moments, Todd said, "I guess you're right, Mike. We're bound in duty to help out."

Mike sucked in his breath. "Does that mean you're in?"

"I'm in," Todd said. "When do we go?"

Mike shrugged. "I'm ready to leave now."

Todd shook his head. "No. It would be too easy to send somebody looking for us in the daylight hours. We'll have to leave after dark, probably after they think we're in bed and asleep."

"And have the sentries challenge us?" Mike shook his head. "I've got a better idea. We can leave with the sutlers in late afternoon. Their wagons will be near to empty, and one of them might give us a ride."

Todd pursed his lips as he thought. "A ride would save on shoe leather. It's a good thirty miles or more to Kansas City."

"That's right," Mike said. "And we'll have the drum and your bugle to carry, along with the rest of the things we'll have to take."

Todd looked surprised. "What else do we have to take?"

"Well, a change of clothing, I guess," Mike said, "and a blanket."

"The army issues blankets. Haven't you seen what they've handed out to the new recruits?"

"I guess I haven't paid much attention."

"Well, I have," Todd said. "We'll get a uniform, drawers and socks, shoes, a haversack to carry our rations, a wool-covered tin canteen, and a rubber blanket."

"A rubber blanket? What's that for?" Mike asked.

"Keeps everything dry. Sometimes the ground is wet,

and you can spread out the rubber blanket before you make up your bed."

"I've got only about two dollars in coin to call my own," Mike said. "How much have you got?"

Todd looked surprised. "Not much more than that. I guess we'd better take food with us, enough to last until we reach the Second Kansas Infantry and join up."

As he and Todd looked at each other, Mike's heart gave a jump. They were going to enlist. They were really going to do it!

The day passed slowly. That afternoon, companionably chattering to Mike about some of the latest news to reach the fort, Louisa set bread to rise, asking Mike's help in fetching wood for the stove. Mike volunteered to scrub the kitchen floor and sweep the front porch, hoping that if he stayed busy, Louisa wouldn't be able to read his thoughts.

Finally, Louisa said, "It's a very warm day for the end of June, and I'd benefit from a nap." She unbuttoned the high collar of her dress and fanned her neck. "As for you, Mike, I think you're more in need of exercise than study at this moment. We'll delay supper until after sundown, when it's cooler, and go over your lessons this evening. Just be back in time to eat."

Feeling too guilty to meet Louisa's eyes, Mike ducked his head, gave her a quick hug, and ran outside. He'd already set the plan in motion. He'd packed a bundle of clothing, wrapped tightly around letter-writing supplies; he'd lowered the bundle from his window, then tucked it out of sight under the stairway leading to the front porch. As soon as he was sure that Louisa had stretched out on her bed, Mike snatched up his bundle and raced to the bam.

Todd slipped through the door just as Mike was tucking his bundle next to the drum. Todd pointed toward the bale of hay. "I shoved my pack down behind it. I've got food for us, too. Did you get any?"

"I couldn't. Louisa would have been suspicious."

Todd shrugged. "Ma claims I eat all the time. If I wasn't into the food, she would have thought something was up."

"I wonder what they'll give us to eat in the army."

"Who cares? We're not joining for home cooking."

Mike laughed, a feverish excitement filling his chest. If all went well, he'd be an officially enlisted musician for the Union Army as soon as tomorrow.