A Dangerous Promise by Joan Lowery Nixon Read Free Book Online

and Pansy and Redtop and—"
    Mike cringed. "Don't tell me their names!" He hated the idea of eating an animal with a pet name.
    Lettie's eyes widened hopefully and she chattered, "And Brownie, and our pigs are named Mr. Grump and—"
    Janie put a hand over her sister's mouth. "Take what you have to," she said to Mike, "but please don't take Lettie's pet."
    Mike handed the still-struggling hen to the little girl, who whispered a few soothing words to Miz Toozie.
    "Thank you," Janie said, and turned to leave the bam.
    Mike called after her, "Can you help me collect the other hens and show me where they nest?"
    The comers of Janie's mouth twisted. "Help you? Not for anything in the world! You're going to have to perform your highway robbery by yourself!"
    Mike knew how much his company needed the hens, but he took Janie's words to heart. "There may be others who'll come into your bam to look around," he told Lettie. "You'd better hide yourself and your hen someplace where they can't flnd you."
    "Out in the oatfield," Lettie whispered.
    "Don't tell me, either," Mike cautioned.
    Without a word, Lettie slipped out a narrow door in back of the bam, and Mike set about his task.
    The detachments returned with a haul of potatoes, squash, turnips, chickens, and eggs, as well as jars of preserved carrots, snap beans, and apple butter. Storing most

    of the food for future meals, the men prepared the perishable foods for a feast. They roasted plucked chickens on spits over the fires, buried potatoes in the ashes for slow baking, and tossed whole pale turnips and green pattipan squash into pots of boiling water.
    When the meal was ready, the soldiers ate hungrily, but Mike chewed his chicken with great difficulty. What if they were eating Brownie or Pansy or Redtop? He almost choked at the thought.
    Later, at tattoo, two of the volunteers in Captain Dawes's company—Amos Dailey and Ezra McNabb—failed to answer the roll call.
    "Does anyone know the whereabouts of either or both of these men?" Sergeant Gridley asked.
    Ben Doland stepped forward. "They set off for home. They didn't know this march was gonna take such an infernal long time, and they got to get ready for harvestin'."
    "Listen to me, men," Captain Dawes announced. "Those of you who are volunteers must remember that you're not free to leave whenever you wish. Each of you signed on to serve for ninety days. That's a contract you made with President Abraham Lincoln, the government of the United States, and the Union Army. Do you all understand?"
    No one said a word, but after the men had been dismissed, Mike heard Ben mutter, "Crops don't wait for no man, includin' the president himself. Can't say I blame Amos and Ezra one bit."
    "Don't you take it into your head to nm off," Harley told Ben. "That would make you a deserter, too."
    "Deserter? That's a hard word to use for a man whose wife took sick, like Amos's did."
    "He had a contract with the army," Harley insisted. "We need every man we can get if we're going to beat those Confederates."
    "Yeah? When's that gonna be?" Ben asked. "We ain't

    seen any fightin' so far. We just walk and walk, and my shoes are gonna fall apart soon."
    A few days later, Major Sturgis's battalion joined General Lyon's forces at Grand River, as the two Union forces had planned. Mike was eager to catch a glimpse of General Lyon. Harley, who'd known Nathaniel Lyon when they were both stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas, had described Lyon to Mike: "The general's known to be narrow-minded, with a temper that goes off like a rocket when things don't go the way he thinks they should."
    "I take it you don't like him," Mike had said.
    "I didn't say that," Harley countered. "The man's honest in all his dealings, and always truthful." He paused, then added, "Still, his discipline is often more strict than need be, and he's a hard taskmaster."
    "Well? What is it?" Mike asked. "Do you Uke him or don't you?"
    Harley's broad shoulders heaved in a mighty shrug.