The Children of Blood

N \¦fr.» /¦¦¦St r»t* r»* é—FFF* WUg^ ?? Jnz ????a?e? ofJdLood Lry !Betty ¿¿a??e? SABINA Chapter IV Synopsis:"The Children of Blood" is a novel of the Civil War with a setting in the outer fringes of the Kentucky Mountains in the Danville-Berea-Lancaster area. The story is told alternately by Andrew (younger brother) and Sabina Kincaid—who with their grandfather (Grumpa) and two loyal slaves have been left to care for their beloved home and land as best they can. When the Kincaids try to save their home from being burned by a Yankee party sent to burn all the homes in the area in reprisal for the killing of a Yankee picket, they find themselves involved in a fracas in which all of the Yankee party are killed except one young Yankee 60 soldier and he is seriously wounded—a far different outcome than they had expected from a situation they had hoped to settle peacefully. It is obvious now that matters are worse than before. Still Sabina insists on caring for the Yankee soldier whose injury she caused. They cover up all the traces of the conflict possible and send for a booze-ridden doctor (the only one available now) to operate on the Yankee soldier. Andrew relates the first episode and Sabina the second. (The two earlier chapters appeared in "Appalachian Heritage", Winter and Spring 1981). In the November 1982 issue, Andrew (Chapter III) relates the efforts taken to escape reprisal, to hide the evidence, all to no avail. "Major Adams," he said, without dismounting from his horse. It was a good stallion, from a good blood line, and there was something familiar about its head, about the markings. "Of the 109th Ohio. And you are?" I felt his eyes, and looked at him again, touching the stallion's face, keeping my hand steady. "Miss Kincaid ," I said, hoping that Zella had finished making the beds in Hazlitt's room. "Won't you dismount, Major?" "Kincaid." He was smiling. Not a pleasant smile, and he kept staring down at me. "The name has a familiar ring." "And your horse has a familiar air about it," I told him. "I seem to recognize the markings." "It's the Briarle stock." His men sat mounted behind him, silent, their faces blank. I found difficulty in forcing myself to look at them, at their impassiveness . "From over near Lexington." "Stock?" I said. "Most assuredly, Major Adams, the Colemans would resent a word like that. They pride themselves on breeding thoroughbreds." "I place it now," he said. "Kincaid. I was at Centre. Centre College?" "Oh yes." Then I said, "Won't you dismount, Major?" Emphasizing the invitation this time, for I felt at a disadvantage while he sat slouched on horseback above me. He smiled again, or perhaps it was a continuation of the same smile. When he swung down from the horse, I turned up the steps onto the verandah. "If your men would like a drink of cold water? The well is there beyond the elm tree. You can see it from here." Behind me, I heard him give the order to dismount, and their equipment rattled and clanked as they unhorsed. I held myself very erect and spoke without turning to him. "Would you come in, Major? Or sit on the verandah if you wish. It may be cooler here, out of doors, with the breeze." Through the shadowed door, down the length of the hallway, I could see Zella standing in the kitchen passageway. Apprehensive , caught in a momentary immobility , as though she waited frozen where the sound ofhis voice had stopped her. "Are you alone here, Miss Kincaid?" "Alone? At present, there is only my grandfather, who is ill, and Zella who assists me in caring for him." "There is no one else?" "At Geatland?" I said. "Our people 61 left before the first planting. With most of the livestock." "Unfortunate." He lingered on the steps. "But I see that you have a good growth ofcorn. Do you have help?" Smiling, I turned to him with my hands lifted before me, grateful for the first time that there were callouses and blisters...