The Ordeal of Colonel Johns

by George H. Smith

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 weren't thinking of going back—of leaving the fighting?" Mrs. Johns-Hayes demanded.

The Colonel shifted his wad of tobacco and looked at the woman carefully as though he couldn't quite believe the evidence of his eyes. "No, ma'am, I don't reckon I am. I don't exactly look on it the same as the other boys do. I kind of feel like if we're ever going to have a country, it's worth fighting for."