Sweet Glory by Lisa Y. Potocar

Author:Lisa Y. Potocar [Potocar, Lisa Y.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: A novel of the American Civil War
Publisher: Lisa Y. Potocar
Published: 2017-08-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Jana squinted through the dark and sleet now pelting her eyes and spied a flicker of light between the bouncing tree limbs. She remembered a farm right about here from their previous outings, and she led her friends to a small, two-story frame house.

Noticing smoke curling up from the house’s central chimney, Leanne drew her handkerchief away from her nose and whiffed the air. “Ain’t no cakes bakin’ here, only hickory burnin’.”

“Right now, I’d settle for a hunk of hickory,” Charlie said, rubbing his stomach.

Jana shivered. If she had to choose right now, she’d take a warm seat in front of a fireplace over a piece of cake.

“Before we pay the homesteaders a visit, lads, we might want to scout the property for Rebel cavalry. If we’re riding on a night like this, they’re sure to be too. Why don’t we pair up and make a wide sweep around the house in opposite directions?” Keeley said. “Keep yar pistols handy to give a warning shot if ye run into trouble.”

“Look for fresh tracks in the snow too,” Jana said.

“Ya come with me, Charlie,” Leanne said and reined her horse to the right.

Spurring his mare on, Charlie kept close behind the swinging tail of Leanne’s horse.

“Stick to me flank, Johnnie,” Keeley said, urging his horse to the left.

A short distance from the house, Jana and Keeley found a barn large enough to hold about twenty animals. No tracks led up to it, and there was no sign of light seeping through the crack between the latched door panels. All was quiet, except for the sleet bouncing off the barn’s tin roof and the bleat of a sheep inside. Pressing onward, they passed an emptied corral that enclosed about two acres of flat land behind the barn.

Jana admired the small farms dotting Virginia’s countryside. They reminded her of home with their charm and coziness that the sprawling, flamboyant plantations lacked. And most of them got along without slaves, confirming for Jana that wealthy Southern men had instigated the war, using the argument of states’ rights to decide on matters over the federal government just so they could keep their slaves. If you took slavery out of the equation, she trusted no other heated issue existed to bring brothers to war against each other. However, she realized that the North was at fault too; they wanted to force the abolition of slavery without a plan to help their brothers continue their way of life without it.

Halfway around the property, Jana and Keeley met up with Leanne and Charlie, who reported that all was quiet around the barren crop fields, chicken coop, and smokehouse. All together they retraced Jana’s and Keeley’s tracks back around to the front of the house.

Charlie started out of his saddle to go knock on the door while the others covered his back with their drawn pistols. His foot barely left its stirrup before the front door thrust open and sledge-hammered the outside wall.

Light from inside formed a halo

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