as twice his age, but who addressed him as
great-great-great-great-grandfather. Then he turned to MacCulloch who
stood beside him. "Are you sure you have the right man?" he asked.
"Oh yes! Perfectly, perfectly! You're Colonel Peter Johns of Pamworth,
Pennsylvania, and this is your great-great-great-great-granddaughter,
Rebecca Johns-Hayes."
"Rebecca? You mean she's named after Becky Sayles?" The Colonel rubbed
a hand across his several days' growth of beard.
"That's right, dear great-great-great-great-grandfather. I'm named
after great-great-great-great-grandmother," Mrs. Johns-Hayes
announced.
"Then I married Becky Sayles?" the Colonel asked.
"Why, of course! Aren't you planning on getting married in a few
days?" Clark Decker asked.
The Colonel was embarrassed but he grinned, "Well, I don't rightly
know. Miss Sayles and I have been courtin' for some months but there's
little Jennie Taylor down in Trenton.... To tell the truth, I haven't
quite made up my mind."
"Well! Of all things! What would the family think! What would great
Aunt Mary Hayes say?" Mrs. Johns-Hayes puffed out even farther than
usual.
"Well, we can ease your mind on that subject, Colonel. The history
books say that you married Miss Sayles--and here is Mrs. Johns-Hayes
to prove it."
The Colonel scratched his chin again as he looked at Mrs. Johns-Hayes.
"Is that so? Is that so? What's all this about history books? You mean
I got in history because I married Becky Sayles?"
The Professor laughed. "Well, not exactly. It was because of your
heroism in the defeat of Burgoyne's army. If you hadn't blocked
Captain Fenwick's flanking move at Temple Farm, the American army
under General Gates might have been defeated and the Colonies might
even have lost the war."
"Well, I'll be.... Me? I did all that? I didn't even know there was
going to be a battle. Did I end up a live hero or a dead one?" The
Colonel was beginning to feel a bit more easy in his surroundings,
and, to the horror of Mrs. Johns-Hayes, took a plug of tobacco out of
his pocket and bit off a piece and began to chew it.
"You came through the battle with only a slight wound and lived to a
ripe old age surrounded by grandchildren," the Professor told him.
"Then I reckon I won't go back to Pennsylvania with the other boys.
They figure that since their enlistments are up, it's time to get back
to the farm and let them New Yorkers do some of their own fighting."
"Oh no! You
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