“That’s past and forgotten,” Levi, snarling, snapped back. “There’s no use to talk about bygones. It’s now I am concerned with. I guess I am at your mercy. It’s your move. Do whatever you plan, and that yellow streak running up your back won’t let you do anything drastically.”
“Yes, you are at my mercy,” I agreed. “A man that’s a real man will not take unfair advantage simply because he can. You can label it yellow or whatever, but a man would not use such an advantage to even the score, regardless of how dastardly it may have been. I could have killed you last evening when you rode out there with General Jackson. He too would have been killed if I had not recognized him and ordered my men to cease firing. I gave the order under full realization that the loss of General Jackson would be a devastating blow to the South. We want to win, but not in that fashion. I admire Jackson, even knowing he ordered me shot. If I had not ordered my men to cease fire, you would have been killed in the onslaught. An—and I could not think about killing you, Levi. You are Molly’s brother. I know she loves you, and I would not kill something she loves. I’m sincere when I tell you I love Molly. Surely you are convinced now that I love Molly and that I would make any sacrifice just to be—”
Levi sprang up off the rock where he was sitting, waving his hands back and forth in front of his face, signaling for Andy to quit speaking. “Stop! Stop, damn you!” he commanded. “Don’t ever speak to me of your love for my sister. Don’t ever talk of your sincerity. Do you think I am a fool? You slipped into her life like the slimy, filthy, lowdown snake that you are! You deceived her—you ruined her, you stole her horse, you deserted her and—and may God mete out justice to you as only He can. Let me inform you that I would kill you showing less mercy than I would for a rattlesnake as I crush his head. I would want you to die agonizing over the hurt you have brought to Molly.”
I rose slowly from my seated position, looked Levi squarely in the eye, and asked, “What other reason would I have for saving your life? Tell me what—”
“Hell, it’s only your word. There is no way you can convince me that you have done this. Yankees are not down here on a lifesaving mission. Hell no! You’re here to kill and destroy. I’ve heard your Yankee lies before. Do you think I will ever forget that map we found in your sock? Why should I believe anything you tell me? Why should I trust you?” shouted the lieutenant.
“Lieutenant!” I shouted. “You have admitted you came here to kill me and you would have killed me that night at Culpepper if General Lee hadn’t interfered. Can’t you understand that I am doing everything within my power to save you? I am doing this only because of my unlimited love for Molly and you’re my brother-in-law.”
“You’re my what?” hissed Levi. “Don’t ever speak to me of your love for my sister. Your hellish thirst for sex has not been satisfied, and you continue to lust for her beautiful body. May the god of heaven give me strength to kill you this day so you will never—no, never go back to her.”
Molly, with this outburst, he grabbed me by the throat, and with the strength of a demon, his fingers were closing off my breathing. I punched him in his midsection, breaking his grip on my throat. He countered with a left to my jaw that took me to my knees. There he planted his knee directly in my face, knocking me backward. Then he lunged on me as I lay on my back. In an instant we had clenched, and each of us was tearing at the other’s throat or any vulnerable part of the body. Being heavier and a little stronger, I finally pinned Levi’s arms under each of my knees, and my fingers fully gripped around his throat.
I was choking him and yelling at the same time, “Tell me, Levi! Tell me, where is Molly? Tell me! Tell me! Tell, or I will break your damn neck.”
The tremendous earnestness in his face showed courage, and I knew that he wasn’t going to reveal your whereabouts.
“Never, damn you. Never. Never—never,” he hissed through closed teeth.
For an instant I relaxed, allowing him to free his right hand. With a powerful blow, he struck me full in the face. I tasted blood and tightened my grip on his throat and began yelling again, “Where is Molly? Is she in Richmond? Have you been taking care of her? Is she safe? Tell me, you damn hardheaded Rebel, or I’ll choke your damn tongue out until it is only good for ant food.”
Molly, I was a savage, when suddenly I came to my senses and realized I was killing him. I relaxed my hold, and Levi freed his other arm. Locking his hands together, he swung from the ground upward, catching me across the bridge of my nose, sending me backward. We clenched again before I could regain my feet. The force knocked me backward, winding me as I fell across a flat large stone. He quickly lunged on top of me. As I lay underneath, he drew a knife from his belt and raised it for the fatal blow. With superhuman strength I hurled him upward and away from me in such a way that he lost the weapon.
We were on our feet again, clenched and fighting with all the fury and strength left in either of us. He placed his thumbs in my eyes and began forcing them into my eye sockets. We stumbled, crashed backward, and rolled down the steep embankment into the ditch that paralleled the highway. We hit the bottom of the ditch with terrific force. Instantly he released his hold on me. I regained my feet. Looking downward, I saw his limp body lying motionless. Instantly I saw there was blood spurting from a cut in his forehead between his ear and right eye.
I knelt beside him, wiped the blood away, and I knew by the depression that his skull was fractured. My first thoughts were that I killed your brother. I called to my men.
When they came across the road I blurted out, “I have killed my wife’s brother.”
One of the men examined his pulse and found it to be strong. They suggested we take him to our field hospital. “No,” I said. “We’ll take him to the Confederate lines and let them put him in one of their field hospitals.”
They resented the idea, but with me being in command, they accepted the order. We unbuttoned Levi’s coat and found an enlistment card in his pocket. It supplied all the needed information: home address, enlistment record, and instructions in case of accident or death. As I replaced the card, I discovered a letter in another pocket postmarked Richmond. My heart missed a beat and my eyes blurred when I thought it was from you. I did not read the letter then because of the haste to get Levi back to the Confederate line. I secured one of the men’s white handkerchiefs, tied it to a stick, making a white flag of truce, dismissed the men, and rode forward toward the Confederate encampment, leading Levi’s horse, with him strapped across its back.
I was soon challenged by a young Confederate officer whom I convinced to take me to a field hospital. I delivered him to the attending surgeon and explained, “Lieutenant Campbell is a friend of mine. I picked him up some distance out the turnpike and felt I should bring him to his people rather than one of our stations. I would be obliged if there would be no pains spared to save his life. Here is the last money I have, sir. Take it, and if there are more expenses, I will gladly share in them to my last dollar.”
They removed Levi from his mount and placed him on a cot. The surgeon knelt beside the bed. A few moments later he arose to his feet, looked at me, and said, “I’m sorry, Captain. He is dead. We cannot return his body to Western Virginia as he requested on his card. We will send it to Richmond since that was his next request.”
The young Confederate officer escorted me back through the Confederate camp and beyond their line of encampment. I was so dazed and bewildered that I remained silent as the Rebel officer talked.