“Do you think your father would come up here after that?”
“Of course he would. We have done nothing but think and talk about what you fellows are doing here ever since we have been in the army. There was a distinct understanding between my father and myself that whoever escaped first should bring my mother here.”
“Well, Mr.— Mr.—,” began Leon.
“Dawson is my name,” said the rebel.
“If you turn out to be all right I will go with you,” said Leon.
“Will you?” exclaimed the rebel, so highly excited that he could hardly speak plainly. “I know we will succeed, for you have been in fights enough to know what it means.”
“I don’t understand you,” said Leon. “This is as near as I have come to being in a fight.”
“What! Capturing our wagon-train? You don’t tell me! Well, I have seen men who had been in three or four battles that showed more nervousness than you did. You were not excited a bit.”
Leon very wisely concluded that he would not say anything more on this subject just then. He never was more excited in his life than when he rode along the line and demanded the rebel’s weapons. If Dawson thought he wasn’t excited, so much the better for him.
“I certainly thought you had been where you had seen men knocked down by the cart-load,” said Dawson, looking at Leon to see what he was made of. “I have been where I have seen a whole platoon laid out at one fire, but I never go into action without feeling afraid. After this trouble is all over I would like to compare notes with you.”