you ever hear a fellow go on as Ben Hawkins did?" whispered Tom,
who had not yet recovered from his fright.

"It's just awful to hear a Confederate soldier talk treason like that,"
replied Mark. "I declare, things are getting worse every day. I thought
that when our soldiers came home they would hunt the Unionists out of
the country, and burn everything they've got; but, by gracious! they are
Unionists themselves, or traitors to the flag, which amounts to the same
thing. I tell you, Tom, you came mighty near getting yourself into
serious trouble by calling Hawkins a coward. If ever fire came from a
man's eyes it came from his. What in the world made you do it?"

"I called him a coward when he declared that he wouldn't fight the
Yankees any more, because I thought he was one," replied Tom. "And I
still think so. There were several other soldiers in there, and I
supposed of course they would stand by me. They all know my father, and
some of them are under obligations to him; but instead of backing me in
my efforts to make Hawkins ashamed of himself, they stood by and let him
talk as he pleased. I was glad to hear him say what he did about
Beardsley."

"Do you think he told the truth?" asked Mark.

"I am sure of it; for if Beardsley didn't say something to him, how
would Hawkins know that there was a big pile of money in Mrs. Gray's
house? I'm free to confess that I am getting scared, and if I knew any
safe place around here I would go to it."

"Here, too," exclaimed Mark. "But, Tom, this state of affairs can't last
long. Unless we are whipped already, and I never will believe that till
I have to, these places will all be taken from the enemy, and then there
can be something done toward driving from the country such fellows as
Hawkins and----"

"And such fellows as this one coming," added Tom, with a slight nod
toward Marcy Gray, who just then came out of the post-office.

"Won't he hold his head in the air now?" exclaimed Mark, in disgust. "If
he doesn't know by this time that he is the biggest toad in this puddle,
it isn't Hawkins's fault. Doesn't it beat the world how some people can
hold their own with a whole settlement against them?"

Marcy Gray did not look as though he thought himself better than anybody
else, but he did look astonished and perplexed. The scene he had just
witnessed, and the words to which he had listened, almost dazed him. If
any one had told him that such sentiments could be littered in a