“Is your father at home?”
“No,” the other boy replied, evidently eager to impart information as well as his brother; “he has gone to Oswego to see Colonel St. Leger. He’s going to show him the way down here so he can lick the rebels.”
“I understand,” the tall scout said grimly. “Who is at home?”
“Ma and Grandmother, Lucy, Jane, Hiram, and me,” the lad explained.
“And Grandpa,” added the younger boy quickly.
“Yea, and Grandpa,” was the prompt assent. “I forgot him, he’s away so much.”
It would have been well for the questioner if he had asked more about “grandpa,” but another matter seemed more important just then.
“I wonder if we could get some old clothes down there?” he asked.
“And something to eat?” Joe added, perhaps because he thought that was fully as important.
“I reckon so,” both boys replied. “Ma’s awful good to the poor.”