within
the enemy lines, they were granted permission and were even now
preparing to move out.

Drew, who had held off from committing himself to the expedition until
he had the final verdict on Boyd, knew that Kirby was eager to go. And
Drew felt that old restlessness, which gripped him whenever he thought
of spending days in camp. He could do nothing for Boyd, but they might
be able to accomplish something in Tennessee.

"All right." He saw Kirby grin at his answer. The plan was one after the
Texan's heart, and Drew knew what it had meant to him to hold back from
it.

"You tell the kid?"

"Dr. Fairfax did." At least he had not had to deliver that blow, a small
relief which did not, however, lighten his sense of responsibility.

"How'd he take it?"

"Quiet--on the surface."

The Boyd who once would have fought stubbornly to get his own way, the
Boyd who would have pulled himself out of that big rocker and announced
fiercely that he was riding home whether the doctor said Yes or No--that
Boyd was gone. Perhaps this new acceptance of hard facts was a matter of
growing up. Drew clung to that. There was little he could do, except not
go home without him.

"The kid's gonna be all right?"

"Doc hopes so, if he takes it easy."

"Ever feel like this heah war's runnin' down?"

"I don't see how we can keep on much longer."

"Some of the boys are talkin' Texas. Git us down theah an' we can go
off--be a republic again. Wouldn't be the first time the Tejanos stood
up all by themselves. Supposin' this fightin' heah stops ... you ridin'
for Texas?"

"I might."

Kirby slapped his hand on the horn of his Mexican saddle. "Now that's
what an hombre wants to hear. You change pasture on a good colt, makes
him even fatter! Come blue bellies all ovah this heah territory, we jus'
shift range. An' nobody gonna take Texas! Even the horny toads would
spit straight in a Yankee's eye--"

"How 'bout it, Sarge?" They were at the cluster of rail-walled huts
where the scouts had established a temporary headquarters. Webb hailed
them from the door of one of those dwellings where he was rolling up the
rubber cloth laid over corn husks to form the floor. "You Kaintuck
bound?"

"No. Ridin' with you boys. Doc thinks Boyd can't try it."

"Good enough, Sarge. We're pullin' out soon as Injun draws us some
travelin' rations. Jus' enough to get us theah. We can eat off the
Yankees later."

Since 1861 the clothing of the Confederate Army