“Howdy, Dawson,” said the President, nodding his head, “So you are coming over to side with us, are you?”
“Yes, sir,” said Dawson. “I was obliged to go into the rebel ranks to escape being hung.”
“He wants his horse and his weapons, too,” added Leon. “Father says he is all right.”
“Let him have them,” said the President.
Leon promptly handed over the carbine. “He wants to go home to-night to get his mother,” said he. “There are two of us, myself and Tom Howe, going with him.”
“I heard all about it from your father,” said Mr. Knight. “Now, be careful of yourself, Leon. If you should get captured it would drive the first colonel I have got crazy.”
The boy promised that he would look out for himself, and, with a salute from Dawson, they opened the door and went down the stairs. They saw that Mr. Sprague had already hitched the mules to the wagons and hauled them down in front of the hotel where they could be examined by all the principal men of the county. Before they had taken many steps they saw Newman walk up to the Secretary of War and accost him.
CHAPTER VIII.
REBELS IN THE REAR.
“What did I tell you?” said Leon, turning to his companion. “Newman is going to strike father for one of those mules. Let us go up and see how he comes out.”
“I don’t think I ought to give you a mule, Newman,” said Mr. Sprague, as Leon and Dawson approached within hearing distance. “You were not with us at all, yesterday.”