Mrs. Arnold gave Mollie a warm welcome, and when, late that afternoon, the little girl started for home, Lily, carrying a basket filled with food, went with her; and Berry promised to be at the brook, in the place where she and Mollie always planned to meet, by an early hour the next forenoon.
That evening Berry told her mother and father the story of the Braggs’ wanderings, and of the hardships Mollie and her mother had suffered. “Wouldn’t it be fine if Len could only come home and help them?” said Berry, as she finished the story.
“He may be here at any time, for his regiment is probably in Corinth,” Mr. Arnold responded gravely. “I do not believe the Confederates mean to wait for Grant’s army to attack them. The spies of General Johnston and General Beauregard will keep them informed each day of the advance of General Buell’s troops. Beauregard is used to winning; with the laurels of Fort Sumter and Manassas fresh in his mind he may decide to advance upon Grant’s forces at once. Len Bragg is with Beauregard’s army, and may find himself near home any day.”
“That will be splendid!” Berry declared, smiling happily at the thought of the pleasure of Mollie and Mrs. Bragg if Len should suddenly appear.
“Anything but that, Berry,” he replied. “If Beauregard’s army surprises the forces of Grant and Buell it might mean the capture of the Army of the Cumberland. The Confederate troops must be nearly equal in numbers to those of the Union forces. If Beauregard could take Grant by surprise it would indeed be a sad day for the Union cause.”
Berry listened soberly. She well knew that her brother Francis was fighting for the cause of the Union that slavery might cease to exist and the United States remain an undivided nation. She now began to realize that war might come very near her cabin home; that General Grant’s men, marching toward Corinth, might be surprised and captured by the daring and triumphant Beauregard. And that night Berry resolved to henceforth keep a sharp outlook for possible Confederate spies, or for any evidence of marching troops along the Corinth road.
“If I could let General Grant know that Confederates were on the march, then Beauregard could not surprise him,” thought Berry, remembering that she knew all the forest trails and woodland roads, and that, if she kept a sharp watch, no body of soldiers could reach Pittsburg Landing, where her father believed Grant would land his soldiers, over either of the Corinth roads without her seeing them. “And no one can run faster than I can. I could get to the Union camp long before the Confederates, and then General Grant would be ready,” she thought, not realizing any of the dangers in store for such a messenger just before an impending battle.