could do
it, and we'll whip bigger odds than that, if they keep forcing war upon
us. Don't you know that the man who looks for a fight generally gets
more than he wants? Forward! Trot!"

Never before had Rodney Gray been thrown into the company of so wild a
set of men. If such a thing were possible, they were wilder than those
his Cousin Marcy found on his train when he boarded it at Barrington on
his way home. The first rational thought that came into his mind was:
What a lucky thing that Tom Percival was well out of the way when this
news came! Tom would have betrayed himself sure, for he never could have
pulled off his hat and shouted and whooped with any enthusiasm when he
heard that the cause in which he believed, and for which he was willing
to risk his life, had met with disaster. At length the captain, who
appeared to have been awed into silence, said slowly:

"I, too, would like to see a later paper than this. If it is true that
the Federals were utterly routed and thrown into such confusion that
their officers could do nothing with them, our victorious troops must
have followed them into Washington, and I shouldn't wonder if they were
there at this moment, dictating terms of peace to the Lincoln
government."

The paper that had been given him, proved to be a copy of the _Mobile
Register_. As the captain talked he ran his eye rapidly over its
columns, and finally found an editorial containing a piece of news that
caused him to halt his squad and face his horse about.

"Here's something I want to read to you," said he. "Come up close on all
sides so that you can hear every word of it. You know that our governor
proposed that Missouri should remain neutral, and that a conference was
held at the Planter's House in St. Louis to talk the matter over. This
is what General Lyon said in reply to the governor's proposition, Now
listen, so that you may know who is to blame for the troubles that have
come upon us:

"'Rather than concede to the State of Missouri the right to demand that
government shall not enlist troops within her limits, or bring troops
into the State whenever it please, or move its troops at its own will, I
would see every man, woman and child in the State dead and buried. This
means war.'

"What do you boys say to that?" continued the captain.

"I say that if the Yankees want war we'll give them more than they'll
care to have," answered one of the squad; and all his comrades yelled
their appro