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152 vexed, however, that he should have attempted to play such a trick upon me, and to have doubted my honor; and I did not receive his greeting with any great amount of cordiality, being resolved, in my own mind, to be even with him some day. On his return, General Polk explained the whole affair, and apologized very handsomely for having made such a test of my fidelity. I told him very plainly, however, that I did not like that sort of thing, and that I proposed to tender my resignation shortly, as I preferred service in the field to duty like this, where I had to be acting the part of a spy on the people all the time, while being myself subjected to the surveillance of my superiors in a manner that was far from agreeable. He attempted to discourage me from indulging in the idea of resigning; but although I did not care to argue the matter with him, my mind was fully made up to try my luck in some other line of duty. I was the more anxious to get away, as I had received an urgent letter from my friend, Captain Shankey, asking me to return to Virginia and enter the secret service. This would have suited me exactly, had I been certain of getting the kind of employment I wanted by complying with Captain Shankey's request. But having just come from Virginia, where I had been for a number of months waiting in vain for a fair chance to make myself useful in such a manner that I could take a genuine pride and interest in my work, I was disposed to wait a while and see something of military operations in the West before returning. This call to go East was, however, a good pretext for throwing up a position that was becoming unpleasant, and that promised to be abundantly annoying, without offering any corresponding advantages. It was an additional string to my bow, and I could, at least, consider it while making another effort to tempt Fortune, before putting in an appearance on my old campaign ground again.

It was really, however, my intention to go back to Virginia, so soon as I could get relieved from the duty I was engaged in, and had that object in my mind when I sent in my resignation, although circumstances occurred that induced me to change my plans. My resignation was accepted without much hesitation at headquarters, and once more, after three weeks,