Spake As a Dragon (52 page)

Finally, the excitement subsided
somewhat and they all learned that Robert had arrived early this
morning and by chance met Mark at the Mill. Mark had explained the
day’s events when Robert got the idea to surprise them with his
appearance during the ‘hanging’ on this special day.

Everyone is milling about. No one is
now sure what is to happen next. Malinda senses the anxiety in the
crowd and climbs upon the mayor’s wagon – “Good friends and
neighbors, things did not go as planned,” She said looking at
Robert and smiling, “The return of my husband Robert is wonderful,”
there is a roar of applause, “but the day’s activities are not over
yet. Everyone get some more drink and refreshment and let me speak
for a moment with my husband then we will have the dedication of
the monument under the oak tree.”

“
Robert,” Malinda asks as
they sit at one of the tables about the Mill’s grounds. “Why did
you never post me a letter during all the time you were
gone?”

Robert was aghast. He could not
believe what his wife was saying; she had never received any of his
letters. This has to be a mistake, “Malinda, I posted you a letter
every chance I had. Sometimes I could not due to the lack of
writing material, but I must have sent you at least one letter a
month, you should have received dozens and dozens of letters. You
know, that is strange I never received any posts from you either;
however, I always just believed you had no way of knowing where I
was and there in the end I knew you did not know I was in a
prisoner of war camp at Point Lookout.”

He went on to tell how disheartening
it was to see other prisoner’s receiving mail from their loved
ones. He said he would stand eagerly by the man distributing the
mail just waiting for his name to be called. Month after month he
followed the same routine, but he never heard his name. He said he
hoped and prayed for some word from his family. He wondered in they
were still in Alabama, had something happened to them, were they
alive? These questions gnawed at him constantly. The uncertainty of
it all weighed heavier on him than the misery he suffered in the
prison.

Malinda sat, not drinking just
listening to the words Robert spoke. She said she had much to tell
him too, but the folks gathered for the celebration wanted to
complete the day with the unveiling of the monument to Robert’s
grandfather and his uncles. She thought since now that Robert was
home, it should be his honor to unveil the plaque.

“
Attention! Attention
everyone. Let us all gather at the old oak and we will conclude the
festivities for the day.”

Malinda and Robert stood in the midst
of the crowd next to the sheet-covered monument. Robert stepped
forward; this once six-foot, 185-pound, black haired man was almost
unrecognizable. He barely weighed more than 120; his beard and hair
were almost white he struggled with his speech. All standing around
could see the evidence of the past few years of War on his
body.

He grasped the corner of the white
coverlet and looked at the crowd, “Folks,” he said trying to
recognize those gathered around him, “Hey there Hack, good to see
ya, oh, how do you do Mrs. Hunt, them dumplings of yours was still
as good as I remembered,” tipping the brim of his hat, “Howdy
Abner, good to see you. I’d heard you got hit at Shiloh, you doing
okay?”

From within the crowd, “Doin’ good
Robert, good to see you too.”

“
I’m just glad to be home
and I’ll get around to seeing you all as soon as I can, but right
now Malinda has something planned that I’m not quite sure what it
is. She told me to say a few words and then pull this sheet off
this rock, well here goes...”

Once the covering is removed everyone
squeezes in close trying to see what is chiseled on the face of it.
Robert steps up and holds his hands into the air, “Friends, I know
everyone cannot get up to the front to read these words so I will
read what is written for you.” He then in a loud voice read the
words:

IN HONOUR AND IN
RECOGNITION OF

JOHN SCARBURG

WILLIAM SCARBURG

ISAAC SCARBURG

FOR HUMANE AND LIFE SAVING
CARE

RENDERED TO FRIEND AND FOE
ALIKE

ON THIS PLACE

IN APRIL 1781

The crowd was silent...suddenly the
fife, drum and bugle broke out into a rousing rendition of “Dixie”,
one of the few tunes they knew. When the tune ended the cannon in
front of Masonic Hall Number One fired. Its blast reverberated
through the trees. Everyone cheered and men threw their hats into
the air, Robert raised his hands, “Folks, as most of you know this
stone is for my grandfather and my uncles. As I lay dying on the
field of battle at Gettysburg, the events of that fateful day
during the Revolutionary War in April 1781 flashed before my eyes.
Some have said right before you die your life will flash before
you, well I can’t rightly say I saw my whole life, from beginning
to that very moment, but I did see Pappy, my grandfather. Along
with Pappy I saw my uncles William and Isaac standing on this very
bench underneath this same beautiful old oak. I tell you it was as
plain as if I am seeing you now. I saw my father Thomas, just a
small lad, run to my grandfather, climb upon this bench and they
whispered something to each other. To this day I know not what,”
Laughing, he said, “That wasn’t flashed to me! The reason, I
believe, I saw that vision was at that time we as Americans were
fighting the British to become a free and independent nation, and
eventually, although my Grandfather John Scarburg and my two Uncles
William and Isaac would never see it, the budding thirteen colonies
would blossom into what would became the United States of
America.

I left home over three years ago
fighting against that very flag that mine and your relatives fought
and died for. At the time I enlisted, we had reason to be
displeased with those that ran the Government of these United
States and we decided to fight for what we believed was right, just
like the Patriots of old did, but we did not win our fight. We had
the guts and gumption but not the manpower and war
materiel.

Now the fight is over, my body and the
scars on many of the bodies standing here today will attest to that
fact, but we are once again the United States of America. We had
our say, spilled our blood and buried our dead, now I stand before
this monument which commemorates those earlier sacrifices and say
to you, our Civil War is over, we must now work together to heal
not only the South but the country as a whole. This is our country
now, both North and South together. If anyone could hate, it would
be I...nearly two years in a Yankee prisoner of war camp can make a
man hate, but hate eats at your soul and destroys the spirit from
within. The days ahead are going to be hard, for to the victor goes
the spoils, but just remember we have seen hard times, the future
ahead has got to be better. I thank you all for coming today – may
God bless you one and all.”

THE BIBLE

Later that evening the whole family
gets together on the front porch of the guesthouse. They are eager
to hear of Robert’s experience in the War; however, before he will
talk he is still troubled by the mail or absence thereof. Why he
asks did their letters not get to him and moreover why did his not
reach them? He reasoned their letters might have gotten lost,
delivered to the wrong place or simply just thrown away by some
low-down, lazy mail clerk in the Army. But he emphasized that in
three years he would have had at least one low-down lazy mail clerk
that wouldn’t have all thrown
all
his mail away! And to add
to the mystery, why did his letters never get delivered to his
family?

Malinda sat listening to Robert
complain when she suddenly remembered, “Robert, in Alabama we had
trouble with a half-breed name Simeon LaPree. He was Captain of the
Home Guard.” She explained the running trouble she had with him.
“Robert we could not pay the land taxes. We had gotten two years
behind and owed $25.00. That rascal LaPree told me he was going to
own our farm and a month or so later when they posted the eviction
notice I then owed $52.26. LaPree and the carpetbagger county judge
kept raising the amount. LaPree was determined to get our place in
revenge for me keeping William and Isaac hid from him. All along he
wanted them for conscription into the army and I wouldn’t give them
up. I believe if I could have raised the $52.26 the judge would
have raised the amount when I tried to pay.” She conveniently
omitted the part where LaPree tried to clandestinely force his
attention upon her.

“
Do you think he had any
influence with the mail service at Albertville?”

“
Robert, I’ll tell you
this much - Simeon LaPree and his cohorts had control of everything
in the county, including, I’m sure, the mail. Now that you mention
it every time I went into the postal office the mail clerk took my
letter and said he would make sure it got into the outgoing mailbag
personally.”

She further explained that they tried
to sell Blaze to Doctor Crawford, but they still could not raise
the tax money. Finally, being desperate, she told Robert the only
choice they had was for her to take the family and move back to
Scarlettsville. She told about loading the two wagons with most of
their belongings threw all the children aboard and made sure Sary
had the huge family bible and they headed east to South Carolina.
She told how William and Lizzie fell overboard crossing the
Tallulah River and how they camped for nearly a month beside the
river hoping against hope that the two children would show up. She
explained how sad the remaining trip was knowing William and Lizzie
had drown, but how thrilled they were to find both waiting for them
at Scarlett when they arrived. William held on to a limb and
floated downstream until he got ashore, Lizzie held onto the wooden
box, which carried Robert’s grandfather’s old family Bible until
she reached William. Both caught a ride on a river barge to
Scarlettsville.

“
Wait a minute! Did you
say Lizzie was holding onto grandfather’s old Bible in the
river?”

“
Yes, well actually she
held onto the wooden box which contained the Bible.”

“
You know today while I
was talking at the dedication of his stone in front of the Mill I
said while I was dying in the Devil’s Den I had a vision. I saw
Pappy, Matthew and Isaac being hanged back in April of 1781.
Remember I also said my father climbed upon the bench and spoke
with grandfather, now here is what is important: I said I did not
know what my father and Pappy said to each other, when you
mentioned that big old family Bible it all came back to me, I did
remember.

In my vision, I heard what Pappy said
to Thomas my father. Father said, “Yes, Pa, I hear you, but I don’t
understand, is it the big Bible?”

Grandfather answered, “Yes, but don’t
worry my son, someday it will make sense to you. Promise me you
will never forget. Keep the black ostrich plume to remember me by,
and someday you will find it will be most valuable.”

“
Robert, that black
ostrich plume was in the Bible. I gave it to Matthew the day you
all went to enlist in the Army. Had it not been for that black
feather Luke and I would never have found him working with Mark
Holmes at Gettysburg.”

“
The feather? How...?
What...” Robert was confused.

From a chair on the porch Kelly spoke,
“That’s right, I met Malinda and Luke on the Emmitsburg Road,
almost at the very spot where Matt was shot in the leg. Malinda was
searching for any information about her soldier son. I had seen
hundreds of dead, dying or wounded soldiers those awful days and
her son was but one of thousands, but when Malinda mentioned the
black ostrich plume I knew she was speaking of Matt. I had seen him
and his feather on the day of Pickett’s Charge. I carried her and
Luke to see him and my Pa at the workshop.”

“
Oh my, thank you so much
my dear. Luke and I had just come from that dreadful place called
Devil’s Den. We were looking for anyone or anything that might give
us a clue to your fate. We did not know whether you had lived or
died, all we found was the rock where Luke said he last saw you. I
saw the blood stains on the rock and on the ground and the
scratches you had made on the stone where you must have leaned
against.”

“
Scratches? Scratches
Malinda, what do you mean? I remember no scratches. What did they
look like?”

“
I’m sorry Robert, but it
was a while ago and I can’t seem to recall exactly what was
scribbled there.”

Luke spoke up, “I do Mother, I
remember precisely what was written on the stone.”

“
Speak son, tell me what
was there,” said his father.

“
Father it was a letter
and some numbers. I remember they read:

2K168

“
Father, what did that
letter and those numbers mean?”

“
Luke, I’m not quite sure,
but in my vision, I heard Pappy give those numbers to my father and
I believe I might have an answer to this mystery. Our old family
Bible belonged to Pappy my grandfather John Scarburg, when I
returned from the Indian Wars all that was left of Scarlett were
the four fireplaces on either end of the burnt remains and one
other thing – grandfather’s big Bible. Malinda and Granny had saved
it from the flames after the Indian attack.”