Tom had never made so long a speech in all his life or one inspired by so much of earnestness.
The lieutenant sat silent for a while, thinking the matter over. Presently he arose, took Tom's hand and said:
"I believe you are right, Tom. At any rate you are right on the point of honor that controls your own course in this matter. We are taught at West Point that whenever there is the least or the greatest doubt as to a point of honor, it is an honorable man's duty to give honor the benefit of the doubt. We'll make no raids except under the warrants of the revenue officers. We'll live on meat till the caravan comes up the mountain."
CHAPTER XXXI
Corporal Jenkins's March
But the caravan did not come. A thaw had set in, reinforced by a rain, and all the mountain streams were torrents again—utterly impassable.
When Tom explained the case the lieutenant said:
"Nevertheless Corporal Jenkins will get here with the supplies. He may be much longer in coming than we hoped for, but he will come. He is a man of resource and he never gives up."
In the meantime Corporal Jenkins was in a very bad way half way up the mountain side. He had passed one torrent while yet it was only half full, and now it was so full that he could not even retreat with his mule caravan. In front was another torrent that it would have been sheer insanity to attempt to cross—a stream fifty feet wide, rushing down through a gorge with a violence that carried great stones with it, some of them weighing many tons, while the water was almost completely filled with a tangled mass of whirling trees that had been torn up by the roots by the on rush of the waters.