“To see how many times I am afraid?” asked Leon. “I don’t care to compare notes with you on that, for I know I shall feel afraid all the time. I’ve got one chum here who won’t haul in his shingle one inch to please anybody, and we’ll ask him to go with us.”
“Two men are all we want,” said Dawson. “By the way, there was a friend of mine deserted the camp night before last, and he stole the wagon-master’s horse to help him along. I don’t suppose you have seen anything of him, have you?”
“We have a rebel up to Ellisville, and he says that was the way he got away. But his horse and weapons have been taken from him.”
“That’s all right. You wanted him to prove to you that he was true-blue before you let him have his fire-arms. But he’s all hunky-dory. He told you about this wagon-train? I never saw him in a fight with Federals when he pretended to show any vim about it, but you give him rebels to shoot at and you’ll hear something drop. He hasn’t got the smallest sympathy for a Confederate. Why, they had him with a rope around his neck, and were going to hang him.”
“He never said anything to us about that,” said Leon, in surprise.
“It happened on the very morning that father and I went down to enlist,” said Dawson, “and the way they acted made us believe that when they got through with him they were coming to see us. We rushed into his house and did some good talking to save the man’s neck, and when they let him go he got onto his horse and went down to the county-seat with us. But didn’t he give the rebels a good blessing!”
“He could say what he had a mind to in your presence, I suppose?”
“Yes, sir; and he laid down the law in good shape, I tell you. There are six men he wants to find, and they are the men who had the rope around his neck. What are you going to do with the prisoners you capture in battle?”
“I am sure I don’t know,” said Leon, with a laugh. “We haven’t got any yet.”
“You haven’t been in a fight yet? How many men have you?”