by three other large negroes, ran across the road to the carriage. An officer shouted,
«Get back in line, you fellows! Get back, I tell you! Why it’s Mrs. Hamilton. Good morning, Ma’m, and you, too, sir».
«Oh, Captain Randall, don’t scold them! They are our people. This is Big Sam our foreman, and Elijah and Apostle and Prophet from Tara. How are you, boys? What are you boys doing so far from Tara?»
«They came and took us», answered Big Sam. «Because we are the biggest and the strongest men at Tara». His white teeth showed proudly.
«Oh, turn the horse around. I’m going home, back home to Tara, right away. You know the Yankees will never get to Atlanta».
«I’ll bet you they will be here within the month. I’ll bet you a box of bonbons against a kiss».
«I’d better kiss a pig», she said coolly. «Captain Butler, I wish to go back to the hospital».
«Do you indeed, my angel?»
He turned the horse’s head and they started back toward Five Points.
«I’m waiting», he said, «when you grow up a little more. I don’t like to kiss children. The memory of the estimable Ashley Wilkes is going to fade».
At the mention of Ashley’s name, sudden pain went through her, sudden hot tears stung her lids. Fade? The memory of Ashley will never fade. She was too angry to speak and they rode along in silence for some while.
«I understand practically everything about you and Ashley, now», Rhett resumed. «You still cherish a romantic schoolgirl passion for him. And Mrs. Wilkes knows nothing».
«Go to hell!» she said tensely. «And let me out of this carriage. I don’t want to speak to you».
He stopped the carriage. She sprang down.
Chapter XIII
The cannon at Kennesaw Mountain could be heard faintly, far away. Occasionally it was loud enough to be heard even above the rattle of traffic at noon. People tried not to listen to it, tried to talk, to laugh, to carry on their business, but always ears were strained for the sound. Will General Johnston hold the Yankees this time? Will he?
Panic lay just beneath the surface. Sherman was at the very doors of Atlanta. Another retreat will bring the Confederates into the town. Give us a general who won’t retreat! Give us a man who will stand and fight!
Scarlett and Maybelle Merriwether Picard were given permission to leave the hospital and watch the men go out. Scarlett felt cold as she watched the motley ranks. Desperate rabble of bombproofers, old men and little boys! There were some young men in the lines, but there were so many old men and young boys! The sight of them made her heart contract with pity and with fear. Many of the men were totally unarmed, for the Confederacy had neither rifles nor ammunition. Johnston had lost around ten thousand men in his retreat. He needed ten thousand more fresh troops.
As the artillery rumbled by, a negro on a mule caught her eye. Scarlett saw him she cried: «It’s Mose! Ashley’s Mose! What is he doing here? Mose! Stop!»
A sergeant, riding behind him, called: «Stay on that mule, boy, or I’ll light a fire under you!»
«Oh, just a minute, Sergeant!” Scarlett said. “Don’t get down, Mose. What are you doing here?»
«Off to the war, again, Miss Scarlett. This time with Mister John instead of Mister Ashley».
«Mr. Wilkes!» Scarlett was stunned. Mr. Wilkes was nearly seventy. «Where is he?»
«Back there, Miss Scarlett!»
«Sorry, lady. Move on, boy!» said the sergeant.
Scarlett stood for a moment. Oh, no! She thought. It can’t be. Mr. Wilkes is too old. And he doesn’t like war any more than Ashley did!
When he saw her standing in the mud, Mr. Wilkes drew rein with a smile of pleasure and came toward her.
«I hoped to see you, Scarlett. But there was no time».
«Oh, Mr. Wilkes», she cried desperately. «Don’t go! Why must you go?»
«Ah, so you think I’m too old!» he smiled, and it was Ashley’s smile in an older face. «Perhaps I am too old to march but not to ride and shoot. Your mother and father and the girls are well and they sent you their love. Your father wanted to join us».
«Oh, not Pa!» cried Scarlett in terror. «Not Pa! He isn’t going to the war, is he?»
«No, but he was. Of course, he can’t walk far with his stiff knee. You need have no shame about it. After all, someone must stay home and raise crops for the army. I’ve sent India and Honey to Macon to stay with the Burrs and Mr. O’Hara is looking after Twelve Oaks as well as Tara. I must go, my dear. Let me kiss your pretty face».
Scarlett was fond of Mr. Wilkes. Once, long ago, she had hoped to be his daughter-in-law.
«How is Melanie?»
«She is well».
«Ah!» His eyes looked at her but through her. «I want to see my first grandchild. Good-bye, my dear».
The retreat from Dalton to Kennesaw Mountain had taken from early May to mid-June. Atlanta was crowded with visitors, refugees, families of wounded men in the hospitals, wives and mothers of soldiers. In addition, bevies of belles from the country districts descended upon the town[17]. Scarlett did not like these sixteen-year-olds. A widow with a child was at a disadvantage with these pretty minxes, she thought. But between hospital duties in the day time and parties at night, she hardly ever saw Wade. Sometimes she actually forgot that she had a child.
Fight and retreat! Fight and retreat! And every retreat was bringing the Yankees closer to the town. Peachtree Creek was only five miles away! What was the General thinking about?
But the Yankees were coming closer and closer.
Scarlett and many other ladies sat on the roofs of stores, and watched the fighting on the day of the battle of Atlanta. But soon they fled to the cellars, and that night the exodus of women, children and old people from the city began. Mrs. Merriwether and Mrs. Elsing refused to leave. They were needed at the hospital, they said proudly, they weren’t afraid of the Yankees. But Mrs. Whiting went and many other ladies of Scarlett’s circle. Aunt Pitty was among the first to pack her trunks. Her nerves, she said, were delicate and she could not endure noises. She will go to Macon and stay with her cousin, old Mrs. Burr, and the girls should come with her.
Scarlett did not want to go to Macon. No, she told Aunt Pitty, I’ll go home to Tara and Melly can go to Macon with you.
At this Melanie began to cry:
«Dear, don’t go to Tara and leave me! I’ll be so lonely without you. Oh, Scarlett, I’ll just die if you aren’t with me! Yes… Yes, I know Aunt Pitty is sweet. But after all, she’s never had a baby, and sometimes she makes me nervous. Don’t desert me, darling. You’ve been just like a sister to me, and besides», she smiled wanly, «you promised Ashley to take care of me. He told me he was going to ask you».
Scarlett looked at her in wonderment. How could Melly love her so? How could Melly be so stupid as not to guess the secret of her love of Ashley? Yes, she had promised Ashley to take care of Melanie. Oh, Ashley! Ashley! you must be dead, dead these many months!
«Well», she said shortly, «I did promise him that. But I won’t go to Macon and stay with that old cat… I’m going home to Tara and you can come with me».
«Oh, I’d like that! Your mother is so sweet!»
Dr. Meade arrived.
«It’s out of the question for you to go to Macon, Miss Melly. The trains are crowded. In your condition…»
«But I want to go to Tara with Scarlett».
«No. The train to Tara is the train to Macon and the same conditions prevail. Moreover, no one knows just where the Yankees are now, they are everywhere. It’s no trip for a woman