But Captain Hallam had been impressed by this newcomer, and he wanted to talk with him.
He broke at once into a catechism.
"Why did you do that little fire-extinguishing act last night?"
He asked the question precisely as he might have done if he had resented the saving of his wealth of cotton.
"Oh, it was simple enough. The fire meant damage, and I was there. So, of course, I put it out."
"But why? The cotton wasn't yours, and you hadn't been hired to watch it."
"No, of course not. But when a gentle——I mean when any decent man sees property afire he doesn't ask whose it is before putting out the blaze."
"You're a Virginian, I should say, from your voice—late of the rebel army. What's your rank?"
"None now. I've put the war completely behind me. I'm beginning life anew."
"Good! I wish everybody, north and south, would do the same. But fools won't, and men are mostly fools, you know. When did you get to Cairo?"