k noticed that the tone was not unkind--it was not the custom to
treat prisoners ill in this great war. He rubbed his left shoulder on
which he had fallen and which still pained him a little.

"I didn't stop," he said, "because I didn't know that you would be able
to hit either me or my horse in the dusk."

"I s'pose from your way of lookin' at it you was right to take the
chance, but you've learned now that we Southern men are tol'able good
sharpshooters."

"I knew it long ago, but what are you doing here, right in the jaws of
our army? They might close on you any minute with a snap. You ought to
be with your own army at Corinth."

Dick noticed that the men looked at one another, and there was silence
for a moment or two.

"Young fellow," resumed the spokesman, "you was comin' from the
direction of Columbia, an' your hoss, which I am sorry we had to kill,
looked as if he was cleaned tuckered out. I judge that you was bearin' a
message from Buell's army to Grant's."

"You mustn't hold me responsible for your judgment, good or bad."

"No, I reckon not, but say, young fellow, do you happen to have a chaw
of terbacker in your clothes?"

"If I had any I'd offer it to you, but I never chew."

The man sighed.

"Well, mebbe it's a bad habit," he said, "but it's powerful grippin'.
I'd give a heap for a good twist of old Kentucky. Now we're goin' to
search you an' it ain't wuth while to resist, 'cause we've got you
where we want you, as the dog said to the 'coon when he took him by the
throat. We're lookin' for letters an' dispatches, 'cause we're shore you
come from Buell, but if we should run across any terbacker we'll have to
he'p ourselves to it. We ain't no robbers, 'cause in times like these it
ain't no robbery to take terbacker."

Dick noticed that while they talked one of the men never ceased to cover
him with a rifle. They were good-humored and kindly, but he knew they
would not relax an inch from their duty.

"All right," he said, "go ahead. I'll give you a good legal title to
everything you may find."

He knew that the letter was lying in the bushes within ten feet of them
and he had a strong temptation to look in that direction and see if it
were as securely hidden as he had thought, but he resisted the impulse.

Two of the men searched him rapidly and dexterously, and much to their
disappointment found no dispatch.

"You ain't got any writin' on you, that's shore," said the spokesman.
"I'd expecte