Read A Dangerous Promise for Free Online

straggling line of marchers was instructed to make camp for the night.

    Mike still had to drum the calls to supper, then tattoo and taps. As soon as Mike had finished, Todd joined him, and the two of them found a patch of relatively smooth ground where they could spread out their rubber blankets. They beat the dust from their clothes, took off their shoes, and stretched out, rolling their woolen blankets up and over them.
    Todd yawned noisily and squirmed on his mat. "I'll tell you this much," he said. "This is nothing like the feather mattress on my bed at home."
    "Home ..." Mike repeated. But before he could finish the thought, he fell into a sound sleep.
    He awoke early in the morning, as light first streaked the sky. He scrambled to get dressed and took his place with his drum. The moment he heard the command, Mike woke the sleeping men in his company with the sharp beat of his drum.
    The march, with so many men and so much equipment to move, proceeded slowly. Mike could only guess at the reasons for the countless stops.
    The heat became almost unbearable, but even an occasional rain shower, welcome as it was, was a mixed blessing. Musty wet woolen clothing, steaming dry in the sunlight, only worsened the stench of men who couldn't remember when they'd last laid eyes on a bathtub. Mike crinkled his nose, eager for this exhausting, boring march to be over and the battle to begin.
    During the rest periods, the soldiers spoke of their loved ones, and some mournfully sang songs that reminded them of home. Mike, too, had pangs of longing for his family, but he worried most about Todd, who wore an expression of unrelieved sadness. As Billy reminisced about his wife and two small boys, a strangled sound, suspiciously like a sob, escaped from Todd.
    "I've got five sisters," Todd mumbled. "They're sweet

    little girls, all of them depending on me for protection ever since our father's company was sent off to Virginia."
    Harley was blunt. "Then why didn't you stay home with them? Why'd you sign up?"
    As Todd hesitated, Mike quickly spoke. "It won't do his sisters any good if those Confederate Rebels win the war. What might happen to our country then?" He clapped a firm hand on Todd's shoulder.
    Todd lifted his chin. "That's right," he said. "Mike and me —we heard the Federals were short of musicians. We knew the calls, so we were bound to serve."
    "It would be nothing short of pure selfishness to hide our talents," Mike added.
    Ben hooted at the bragging, but Mike insisted, "Out on the battlefield, you'll be mighty glad our bugle and drum are there to lead you on."
    Mike's exhaustion vanished. He grinned proudly at Todd, and Todd smiled back. But that night, after most of the men had gone to sleep and Mike lay awake imagining himself drumming bravely as he spurred the men in Captain Dawes's company to attack, he heard muffled sobbing from under Todd's blanket.
    Mike reached out a hand, wanting to comfort his friend, but he pulled back. He gave a couple of soft pretend snores, hoping Todd would think he was asleep, and lay very still. In just a few minutes Todd's sobs ended, gradually turning into a slow, measured breathing as he slept.
    Mike could well remember what it was like to shed secret tears. When he was adopted as a foster child by the stem, unkind Mr. Friedrich, he'd spent many sleepless nights crying for Ma and the rest of his family, grieving over the circimistances that had caused them to be separated. Megan had been taken by a couple who farmed on the Kansas prairie. His oldest sister, Frances Mary, and five-year-old Petey went with a childless couple from northeastern Kan-

    sas, and Danny and Peg had been chosen by a farmer and his wife who lived not too far from St. Joseph.
    It had been Danny who'd worked out a way for Ma to come west and join them, but only Peg lived with Ma and her new husband, John Murphy. A hearty Irishman, John might have been a loving father, but he couldn't financially support all Ma's