s. Handsome Captain Shotwell, sitting in civil dress,
a sword belted on him and lying across his lap, explained to the Judge.

"Why, you know, Judge, how ow young men ah; always up to some ridiculous
praank, jest in mere plaay, you know, seh. Yeste'd'y some of 'em taken a
boyish notion to put some maasks on an' ride through Leggettstown in
'slo-ow p'ocession, with a sawt o' banneh marked, 'SEE YOU AGAIN
TO-NIGHT.' They had guns--mo' f'om fo'ce o' habit, I reckon, than
anything else--you know how ow young men ah, seh--one of 'em carry a gun
a yeah, an' nevah so much as hahm a floweh, you know. Well, seh,
unfawtunately, the niggehs had no mo' sense than to take it all in dead
earnest. They put they women an' child'en into the church an' ahmed
theyse'ves, some thirty of 'em, with shotguns an' old muskets--yondeh's
some of 'em in the cawneh. Then they taken up a position in the road
just this side the village, an' sent to Sherman an' Libbetyville fo'
reinfo'cements.

"Well, of co'se, you know, seh, what was jes' boun' to happm. Some of ow
ve'y best young men mounted an' moved to dislodge an' scatteh them befo'
they could gatheh numbehs enough to take the offensive an' begin they
fiendish work. Well, seh, about daay-break, while sawt o' reconnoiterin'
in fo'ce, they come suddenly upon the niggehs' position, an' the
niggehs, without the slightes' p'ovocation, up an' fi-ud!
P'ovidentially, they shot too high, an' only one man was inju'ed--by
fallin' from his hawss. Well, seh, ow boys fi-ud an' cha'ged, an' the
niggehs, of co'se, run, leavin' three dead an' fo' wounded; aw,
accawdin' to latest accounts, seven dead an' no wounded. The niggehs
taken shelteh in the church, ow boys fallen back fo' reinfo'cements, an'
about a' hour by sun comes word that the niggehs, frenzied with raage
an' liquo', a-comin' this way to the numbeh o' three hund'ed, an'
increasin' as they come.--No, seh, I don't know that it is unfawtunate.
It's just as well faw this thing to happm, an' to happm now. It'll teach
both sides, as Garnet said awhile ago addressin' the crowd, that the
gov'ment o' Dixie's simply got to paass, this time, away f'om a raace
that can't p'eserve awdeh, an' be undividedly transfehed oveh to the
raace God-A'mighty appointed to gov'n!"

Judge March's voice was full of meek distress. "Captain Shotwell, where
is Major Garnet, sir?"

"Garnet? Oh, he's over in the Courier office, consultin' with Haggard
an' Jeff-Jack."

"Do you k