Without much warning even to the negroes, who
appeared to have a sort of telegraphic communication throughout the
region, a Union column forced its way down the distant railroad and
made it a temporary line of communication. Mr. Baron suddenly woke
up to the fact that the nearest town was occupied by the Federals
and that his human property was in a ferment. A foraging party soon
appeared in the neighborhood and even visited him, but his statement
of what he had suffered and the evident impoverishment of the place
led the Union officer to seek more inviting fields.
Partly to satisfy her own mind as well as that of her niece, Mrs.
Whately asked after Scoville, but could obtain no information. The
troops in the vicinity were of a different organization, the leader
of the party a curt, grizzled veteran, bent only on obtaining
supplies. Miss Lou, sitting helplessly in her room, felt
instinctively that she did not wish even to speak to him.
To Chunk, this Union advance was a godsend. He immediately took his
horse to the railroad town, sold it for a small sum, and found
employment at the station, where his great strength secured him good
wages.
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