know me?" came from the guerrilla.

"Pete Gendron!" muttered the surgeon. "I never expected to see you
here."

"Nor did I calkerlate to see you, doc. But I'm mighty glad yer come. Ye
kin git me out o' this fix."

As he spoke, the guerrilla eyed Dr. Mackey sharply. On more than one
occasion he had been the doctor's tool, and now he thought it no more
than fair that the medical man should stand by him.

"Evidently you know this guerrilla," said Jack slowly.

"I do," answered the doctor slowly. He hardly knew how to proceed.

"I aint no guerrilla, an' Dr. Mackey kin prove it," cried Pete Gendron.
The coming of the medical man had raised his spirits wonderfully.

"You are a guerrilla."

"I aint. Dr. Mackey will prove my words. He's a friend o' mine. Aint ye,
doc?"

There was a peculiar emphasis to the guerrilla's words which made the
surgeon shift uneasily from one foot to the other.

"If I don't humor Gendron, he may expose me," thought the surgeon
dismally. "He knows too much to be made an enemy of."

"Is he your friend?" asked Jack.

"Not exactly my friend, Jack, but I know him pretty well," answered Dr.
Mackey slowly, as if trying to feel his way.

"I aint a guerrilla, am I?" put in Pete Gendron eagerly.

"N--no, he is not a--a guerrilla," stammered the surgeon. "There must be
some mistake."

"I want to be taken to the Confed'rate hospital," went on Pete Gendron.

"But he and his comrades were trying to steal our horses," said Jack
firmly.

"As I said before, my dear Jack, there must be some mistake," returned
the surgeon smoothly. Suddenly his face brightened. "Gendron, you made a
mistake by leaving the hospital so soon. Your fighting in to-day's
battle must have made you light-headed. You probably came here by
mistake."

The guerrilla was crafty enough to seize upon the cue thus given.

"Thet must be the size on it," he murmured. "My head has felt queer ever
since I got out in the sun. Reckon I aint accountable fer all my
actions, doc."

"He is a perfectly honest man," said Dr. Mackey to Jack. "I have seen
him fight most bravely in half a dozen battles."

Jack felt that the surgeon was falsifying, but how could he prove it?
Then he felt that there would be no use in keeping the guerrilla at the
plantation.

"Well, take him away, if you want to," he answered. "But I shall still
hold my opinion of the rascal."

"You are as insulting as ever, Jack," sneered the medical man. "I came
here, ho