d to find a paper, an' I had a lingerin' hope, too, that we
might find a little terbacker on you 'spite of what you said."

"You don't think I'd lie about the tobacco, would you?"

"Sonny, it ain't no lyin' in a big war to say you ain't got no
terbacker, when them that's achin' for it are standin' by, ready to grab
it. If you had a big diamond hid about you, an' a robber was to ask you
if you had it, you'd tell him no, of course."

"I think," said Dick, "that you must be from Kentucky. You've got our
accent."

"I shorely am, an' I'm a longer way from it than I like. I noticed from
the first that you talked like me, which is powerful flatterin' to you.
Ain't you one of my brethren that the evil witches have made take up
with the Yankees?"

"I'm from the same state," replied Dick, who saw no reason to conceal
his identity. "My name is Richard Mason, and I'm an aide on the staff of
Colonel Arthur Winchester, who commands a Kentucky regiment in General
Grant's army."

"I've heard of Colonel Winchester. The same that got a part of his
regiment cut up so bad by Forrest."

"Yes, we did get cut up. I was there," confessed Dick a little
reluctantly.

"Don't feel bad about it. It's likely to happen to any of you when
Forrest is around. Now, since you've introduced yourself so nice I'll
introduce myself. I'm Sergeant Robertson, in the Orphan Brigade. It's a
Kentucky brigade, an' it gets its nickname 'cause it's made up of boys
so young that they call me gran'pa, though I'm only forty-four. These
other three are Bridge, Perkins, and Connor, just plain privates."

The three "just plain privates" grinned.

"What are you going to do with me?" asked Dick.

"We're goin' to give you a pleasant little ride. We killed your hoss,
for which I 'pologize again, but I've got a good one of my own, and
you'll jump up behind me."

A sudden spatter of rifle fire came from the direction of the Northern
pickets.

"Them sentinels of yours have funny habits," said Robertson grinning.
"Just bound to hear their guns go off. They're changin' the guard now."

"How do you know that?" asked Dick.

"Oh, I know a heap. I'm a terrible wise man, but bein' so wise I don't
tell all I know or how I happen to know it. Hop up, sonny."

"Don't you think I'll be a lot of trouble to you," said Dick, "riding
behind you thirty or forty miles to your camp?"

The four men exchanged glances, and no one answered. The boy felt a
sudden chill, and his hair