But that wasn’t the principal reason why Dan did not want to go back. Some of the men at the bridge would be certain to recognize him, and if he escaped the bullets which they would send after him he would not dare go home.
“We’ll take care of him,” said the colonel. “The son of the Secretary of War is too valuable to lose.”
“What do you reckon you will do with him, Colonel?”
“Hang him, probably.”
Leon heard the words, and looked around at Dan and Cale. Dan smiled upon him as if he had just heard a glorious piece of news, but Cale was grinning with delight. He said to himself: “If Leon is going to be hung I’ll have his horse.”
“Adjutant, pick out a good, trusty man to march this fellow to Mobile,” said the colonel. “A faithful fellow, mind you.”
“Captain Cullom, have you such a man in your company?” said the adjutant, turning to the officer who commanded the advance of the line.
“Yes, sir. Ballard, step out here!”
The man referred to, who was one of the leading fours of his company, urged his horse to the front and brought his hand to his hat with a military salute. Then he slung his carbine upon his shoulder and drew his revolver from his belt. Leon looked at him, and he told himself that if he had been a rebel he would have trusted that man with his life. He was young, not more than twenty-four, but he was from Texas, and had been a cowboy all his life; consequently he was a little better clad than the majority of his comrades.
“Ballard, you take this man before General Lowery and tell him that I sent him,” said the colonel. “Tell him that he is the son of a high-up man of Jones county, and let him do what he pleases with him.”