"I received your letter. Are you going to New Orleans?"
"Not unless you send me."
"I suppose you know it is rather precarious business?"
"O, yes."
"Two of our correspondents have come home within the last week, after narrow escapes. We have six still in the South; and it would not surprise me, this very hour, to receive a telegram announcing the imprisonment or death of any one of them."
"I have thought about all that, and decided."
"Then we shall be very glad to have you go."
"When may I start?"
"To-day, if you like."
"What field shall I occupy?"