The Young Lieutenant.

by Oliver Optic.

CHAPTER I

CAPTAIN DE BANYAN AND OTHERS

"I beg your pardon, sir; but I see, by the number on your cap, that we belong to the same regiment," said an officer with two bars on his shoulder-straps, as he halted in the aisle of the railroad-car, near where Lieutenant Thomas Somers was seated. "May I be permitted to inquire whom I have the honor of addressing?"

"Lieutenant Somers, of the ----th Ma.s.sachusetts," replied the young gentleman addressed, as he politely touched his cap in return for the salutation of the other.

"Ah! is it possible? I am rejoiced to meet you. I have heard of you before. Allow me to add in the most delicate manner, that you are a good fellow, a first-rate soldier, and as brave an officer as ever sported a pair of shoulder-straps. Permit me to offer you my hand; and allow me to add, that it is a hand which was never sullied by a dishonorable act."

"I am happy to make your acquaintance," replied Lieutenant Somers, as he accepted the offered hand. "Won't you take a seat, Captain----"

"Captain de Banyan, at your service," continued the officer, as he seated himself by the side of the young lieutenant, who was completely bewildered by the elegant and courtly speech of his new-found friend.

If Lieutenant Somers needs any further introduction to the reader, we may briefly add, that he was a native of Pinchbrook, a town near Boston, in the State of Ma.s.sachusetts. He was now entering his eighteenth year, and had enlisted in the great army of the Union as a private, with an earnest and patriotic desire to serve his imperiled country in her death-grapple with treason and traitors. He had won his warrant as a sergeant by bravery and address, and had subsequently been commissioned as a second lieutenant for good conduct on the b.l.o.o.d.y field of Williamsburg, where he had been wounded. The injury he had received, and the exhaustion consequent upon hard marching and the excitement of a terrible battle, had procured for him a furlough of thirty days. He had spent this brief period at home; and now, invigorated by rest and the care of loving friends, he was returning to the army to partic.i.p.ate in that stupendous campaign which culminated in the seven-days' battles before Richmond.

Inspired by the hope of honorable distinction, still more by the patriotic desire to serve the n.o.blest cause for which the soldier ever drew a sword, he was hastening to the post of danger and duty. As the train hurried him by smiling fields, and through cities and villages whose prosperity was mysteriously interlinked with the hallowed mission which called him from the bosom of home and friends, his thoughts were those which would naturally animate the soul of a young patriot, as he journeyed to the battle-fields of a nation's ruin or salvation. He thought of the b.l.o.o.d.y scenes before him, of the blessed home behind him.

Only the day before, he had made his parting visit to Lilian Ashford, who knit his "fighting socks," as he had called them since the eventful day when he had found her letter and her picture in them. Of course, he could not help thinking of her; and, as he had a thin stratum of sentiment in his composition, it is more than probable that the beautiful young lady monopolized more than her fair share of his thoughts; but I am sure it was not at all to the detriment of the affection he owed his mother and the other dear ones, who were shrined in the sanctuary of his heart.

Lieutenant Somers was an exceedingly good-looking young man, which, as it was no fault of his own, we do not object to mention. He was clothed in his new uniform, which was very creditable to the taste and skill of his tailor. On his upper lip, an incipient mustache had developed itself; and, though it presented nothing remarkable, it gave brilliant promise of soon becoming all that its ambitious owner could possibly desire, especially as he was a reasonable person, and had no taste for monstrosities. He had paid proper attention to this ornamental appendage, which is so indispensable to the making-up of a soldier; and the result, if not entirely satisfactory, was at least hopeful.

The subject of our remarks wore his sash and belt, and carried his sword in his hand, for the reason that he had no other convenient way of transporting them. Our natural pride, as his biographer, leads us to repeat that he was a fine-looking young man; and we will venture to say, that the young lady who occupied the seat on the opposite side of the car was of the same opinion. Of course, she did not stare at him; but she had two or three times cast a furtive glance at the young officer; though the operation had been so well managed, that he was entirely unconscious of the fact.

Inasmuch as this same young lady was herself quite pretty, it is not supposable that she had entirely escaped the observation of our gallant young son of Mars. We are compelled to say he had glanced in that direction two or three times, to keep within the limits of a modest calculation; but it is our duty to add that he was not captivated, and that there is not the least danger of our story degenerating into a love-tale. Lieutenant Somers thought she was nearly as pretty as Lilian Ashford; and this, we solemnly declare, was the entire length and breadth of the sentiment he expended upon the young lady, who was certainly worthy of a deeper homage.

She was in charge of an elderly, dignified gentleman, who had occupied the seat by her side until half an hour before the appearance of Captain de Banyan; but, being unfortunately addicted to the small vice of smoking, he had gone forward to the proper car to indulge his propensity.

Lieutenant Somers had studied the faces of all the pa.s.sengers near him, and had arrived at the conclusion that the lady's protector was a gentleman of consequence. He might be her father or her uncle; but he was a member of Congress, the governor of a State, or some high official, perhaps a major-general in "mufti." At any rate, our hero was interested in the pair, and had carried his speculations concerning them as far as theory can go without a few facts to substantiate it, when his reflections were disturbed by Captain de Banyan.

"Lieutenant Somers, I'm proud to know you, as I had occasion to remark before. I have heard of you. You distinguished yourself in the battle of Williamsburg," said Captain de Banyan.

"You speak very handsomely of me--much better than I deserve, sir."

"Not a particle, my boy. If there is a man in the army that can appreciate valor, that man is Captain de Banyan. You are modest, Lieutenant Somers--of course you are modest; all brave men are modest--and I forgive your blushes. I've seen service, my boy. Though not yet thirty-five, I served in the Crimea, in the Forty-seventh Royal Infantry; and was at the battles of Solferino, Magenta, Palestro, and others too numerous to mention."

"Indeed!" exclaimed Lieutenant Somers, filled with admiration by the magnificent record of the captain. "Then you are not an American?"

"Oh, yes, I am! I happened to be in England when the Russian war commenced. So, being fond of a stirring life, I entered as a private in the Forty-seventh. If the war had continued six months longer, I should have come out a brigadier-general, though. Promotion is not so rapid in the British army as in our own. I was at the storming of the Redan; I was one of the first to mount the breach. Just as I had raised my musket----"

"I thought you were an officer--a colonel at least," interposed Lieutenant Somers.

"My sword, I should have said. Just as I had raised my sword to cut down a Russian who threatened to bayonet me, a cannon-ball struck the b.u.t.t of my gun----"

"Your gun?"

"The handle of my sword, I should have said, and snapped it off like a pipe-stem."

"But didn't it snap your hand off too?" asked the lieutenant, rather bewildered by the captain's statements.

"Not at all; that is the most wonderful part of the story. It didn't even graze my skin."

"That was very remarkable," added Lieutenant Somers, who could not see, for the life of him, how a cannon-ball could hit the handle of the sword without injuring the hand which grasped it.

"It was very remarkable, indeed; but I was reminded of the circ.u.mstance by the remembrance that you were hit in the head by a bullet, which did not kill you. I shouldn't have mentioned the affair if I hadn't called to mind my own experience; for life yourself, Somers, I am a modest man; in fact, every brave man is necessarily a modest man."

"Were you ever wounded, Captain de Banyan?"

"Bless you, half a dozen times. At Magenta, the same bullet pa.s.sed twice through my body."

"The same bullet?"

"Yes, sir--the same bullet. I'll tell you how it happened. I was in the heavy artillery there. The bullet of the Russian--"

"The Russian! Why, I thought the battle of Magenta was fought between the Austrians and the French."

"You are right, my boy. The bullet of the Austrian, I should have said, pa.s.sed through my left lung, struck the cannon behind me, bounded back, and hitting me again, pa.s.sed through my right lung. When it came out, it hit my musket, and dropped upon the ground. I picked it up, and have it at home now."

"Whew!" added Lieutenant Somers in a low whisper. "It's quite warm to-day," he continued, trying to turn off the remark.

"Very warm, indeed."

"But didn't you fall after the ball had pa.s.sed through both your lungs?"

"Not at all. I walked five miles to the hospital. On my way, I met the Emperor Napoleon, who got off his horse, and thanked me for the valor I had displayed, and conferred on me the medal of the Legion of Honor. I keep the medal in the same bag with the bullet."

"Then you have actually shaken hands with the Emperor of France?" cried the amazed lieutenant.

"Yes; and King Victor Emmanuel called to see me in the hospital, where I was confined for five weeks. At Solferino, both their majesties shook hands with me, and thanked me again for my services. Being a modest man, I shouldn't want to say out loud that I saved the day for the French and Sardinians at Solferino. At any rate, their majesties did the handsome thing by me on that day."

"I thought you were in the hospital five weeks after Magenta."

"So I was; and well do I remember the little delicacies sent me by the King of Italy while I lay there on my back. Ah! that Victor Emmanuel is a n.o.ble fellow. At Solferino, he----"

"But how could you have been at Solferino, if you were in the hospital five weeks?"

"I did not die of my wounds, it is scarcely necessary for me to remark. I got well."

"But the battle of Solferino was fought on the 20th of June, and that of Magenta on the 4th of June. There were only twenty days between the battles."

"You are right, Somers. I have made some mistake in the dates. I never was good at remembering them. When I was in college, the professors used to laugh at me for forgetting the date of the Christian Era. By the way, do you smoke, Somers? Let's go into the smoking-car, and have a cigar."

"I thank you; I never smoke."

"Ah! you are worse than a hot potato. But I am dying for a smoke; and, if you will excuse me, I will go forward. I will see you again before we get to New York."