A Dangerous Promise Read Free

not right now," Todd said.
    "You've talked about joining."
    "I know, and someday I will. But before my father left for Virginia, he told me the best thing I could do was work hard, study, and take care of my mother and sisters."
    Mike said, "Captain Taylor told me nearly the same thing. But we're not children. We can help the Union win the war."
    "You're serious, aren't you?"
    "Yes. I'm serious."
    Todd frowned as he thought. "There's not much I can do to take care of my mother," he said. "If you've noticed, the women seem to take care of each other."
    Mike nodded. "And because of the orderlies' help, we don't even have many chores."
    "So there's not much we're needed for around here."
    "You might even say we're in the way." Mike looked at the drum and then at Todd. "Captain Taylor didn't exactly forbid my joining up—at least, he didn't put it in those words. What about your father?"
    Todd scrunched up his forehead as if he were trying hard to remember. "When I said I wished I was old enough to join the army, my father told me he just hoped the war would be over before I had to make that decision."
    "So he didn't say, 'You can't become a drummer for the Union Army.' "

    "No," Todd said. "He didn't."
    As excitement began to shine in Todd's eyes, a slight twinge of guilt that had been pestering Mike dissolved.
    "I've heard the Rebs are tough fighters," Todd said. "The army needs all the help it can get."
    Mike grinned. "Sergeant Duncan said that under fire some of these Union volunteers get scared and run. I'd never run."
    "Me neither."
    "The army badly needs drummers and buglers. Jeb said so. We know how to beat the calls. It's a real waste if we don't do anything with what we know."
    "It's not only a waste. It's like working against the Union when we're needed and don't go."
    Mike's heart thumped rapidly, and his voice dropped to almost a whisper. "Then what do you say we make our way down to the Second Kansas Infantry in Kansas City and see if they can use us?"
    Todd's words came out in a hoarse growl. "You mean run
    away?'
    'Yes," Mike said. "Rim away."

    During the night Mike wasn't quite so sure. He thrashed back and forth in bed, both tormented and thrilled by the decision he'd made.
    The captain wouldn't approve my going.
    Who says he wouldn't? He's a career officer. He'll be proud that I want to serve the Union.
    He wants me to take care of Louisa.
    She's taking care of me. She doesn't need me to take care of her. And as Todd said, the women take care of each other.
    If the captain were here, what would he tell me? He's my father now. Captain Taylor was one of the finest, fairest men Mike ever had met, and he wished with all his heart that he truly could hear what the captain had to say.
    Suddenly, with a great surge of loneliness, Mike pictured his mother and father and his brothers and sisters in the small room they had once shared in New York City before Da had died, before Mike had been arrested as a copper

    stealer. Mike had only been trying to help feed his family— he'd never expected his theft to divide the Kellys.
    If only the earning of money just for food and a place to live hadn't been so hard, Mike thought. If only Da hadn't died.
    "Da," Mike whispered, as he pictured his father's kind face. "Oh, Da, what should I do? What would you have me do?"
    He held his breath, hoping for an answer, but all he heard was the rat-a-tat of an imaginary drum.
    / know the drum calls, Mike told himself, and that's what counts, because Jeb says the army badly needs drummers.
    As he listened to the bugle's call and saw the flag held high, he burned with eagerness. He had to join the army! He had to!
    Early the next morning, Mike sought out Todd, whose pale face and darkly circled eyes showed that he hadn't slept well either.
    While the boys hunkered down in the shade between two of the buildings in the officers' quarters, Todd pulled his pocket watch out of his jacket, fingered it, and shoved it back. Out and back, out and