my soldier, and, although it was in haste, I had my
wedding-dress, my snowy veil; lace and gauze were not needed at the
hospitals! But we went without the wedding-cake this time, and my satin
slippers were made at home, looking very like a pair of white moccasins
when finished.

"In the middle of the ceremony there was an alarm; the slaves had risen
at Latto's down the river, and were coming to the village armed with
clubs, and, worse still, infuriated with liquor they had found. Even our
good old rector paused. There were but few white men at home. It seemed
indeed a time for pausing. But Rafe said, quietly,'Go on!' and,
unsheathing his sword, he laid it ready on the chancel-rail. 'To have
and to hold, from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for
poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us
do part,' repeated Rafe, holding my hand in his firm clasp, and looking
down into my frightened face so tenderly that I forgot my
alarm--everything, indeed, save his love. But when the last word was
spoken, and the blessing pronounced over our bowed heads, the shining
sword seeming a silent witness, Rafe left me like a flash. The little
church was empty when I rose from my knees; the women had hurried home
with blanched faces to bar their doors and barricade their windows, and
the men had gone for their horses and guns; only my old father waited to
give me his blessing, and then we, too, hastened homeward. Our little
band of defenders assembled in the main street, and rode gallantly out
to meet the negroes, who were as fifty to their one. Rafe was the
leader, by virtue of his uniform, and he waved his hand to me as he
rode by. 'Cheer up, Judith,' he cried; 'I will soon return.'

"I never saw him again.

"They dispersed the negroes without much difficulty; Latto's slaves had
been badly treated for months, they had not the strength to fight long.
But Rafe rode to the next town with the prisoners under his charge, and
there he met an imploring summons to the coast; the Federal ships had
appeared unexpectedly off the harbor, and the little coast-city lay
exposed and helpless at the mouth of the river. All good men and true
within reach were summoned to the defense. So my soldier went, sending
back word to me a second time, 'I will soon return.' But the siege was
long, long--one of those bitterly contested little sieges of minor
importance, with but small forces engaged on each side, which we