The Return of the Freedom Thief by Sadil Mikki

Author:Sadil, Mikki [Sadil, Mikki]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Books We Love Ltd.
Published: 2016-12-10T05:00:00+00:00

When Ben heard about the Confederate victory at Manassas, he was bitterly disappointed. Being young and untried, his first thoughts were that he failed in his very first attempt at being a newsboy spy. He and Puck had run a few “errands” for the Major, carrying information about the Confederates to other Union camps, but now he was sad and disillusioned about the whole thing. He informed Puck that he was returning to Miss Fenaway’s in Kentucky.

“It’s bad for me to go back there, Ben. You just trying to get rid of me? If you are, just say so, and quit pussy-footing around with me.”

Ben sighed. “I’m not trying to get rid of you, Puck. But if we go back there, she can help us decide what to do from there. Right now, I feel like…”

“Ben! There you are, I’ve been looking for you.” The Major walked up to him and clapped him on the shoulder. “I want you to get up to a town called Buckley. There’s a big encampment of Confederates there, and we don’t know why. I want you to use your standing as a newsboy to mingle with the soldiers, stick around the camp for a few days and see what you can find out. We need to know why these boys are there, who their commander is, how many troops, and…you know, just what the hell they are up to. When you’ve gotten all you think you can, then you’ll go to this address…” he held out a piece of paper to Ben, “…and the man there will tell you what to do next. If you don’t feel safe for some reason when you see him, ask him for the password. It will be ‘dingleberry.’”

Ben looked at him quizzically. “’Dingleberry’? What’s that?”

Major Murphy replied, “It doesn’t matter what it is, or what it means. It’s the password. Either you ask him for it, or he asks you. Simple as that. Now, do you understand what you are to do? I want you to leave within the hour.”

Puck tapped him on the arm. “Excuse me, but what am I supposed to do? Just follow Ben around like I’ve been doing?”

“I don’t care, little girl, what you do. Just don’t get in Ben’s way, understand? The result could be painful for you. Both of you. Now, I’ve more important business to take care of than mollycoddle you two. Get your gear together, and get on your way.” He turned away and strode briskly off to his office.

Ben shook his head. “I don’t see how we can pretend to be newsboys when we don’t have any more newspapers.”

He stood staring off into space for a minute. Finally, he said, “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. We’ll go back to Broomville and look around. I didn’t see a newspaper office when we were there, but I wasn’t looking for one. We’ll ask around, and see if they have one, then…”

“But Ben, that’s where you got beat up. What

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