"I know all about it," replied Captain Roach, an expression of anxiety settling on his face. "But they were not Yankee sympathizers, for men of that stamp would not dare open their heads in this community. They were as good Confederates as you or I."
"Don't you believe any such stuff," exclaimed Tom. "There isn't a word of truth in it. I know that Rodney Gray is a lowdown private in our army (he isn't considered worthy of a commission), but his father's loyalty has always been suspected, and last night he proposed that his gang of blackguards should whip me and hang Lambert. Now I tell you that a man who talks that way about me——"
"Somebody has told you what isn't so," interrupted Captain Roach. "Such a proposition was made last night, but Mr. Gray would not hear to it. He and a few others talked it down on the spot."
"Well, it's a good thing for old Gray that he did, and if he knows when he is watching his own interests he will take pains to keep it talked down," said Captain Tom fiercely. "I was ready for him, and if you hadn't told me what you have he would have lost some of his buildings this very night."
The enrolling officer had seldom been so surprised and startled. He looked fixedly at Tom to see if he was in earnest, and then cried out in alarm:
"Do you know what you are saying? Are you crazy?"
"I know what I am saying and I am not crazy," was Tom's answer. "I have been threatened with a nigger's punishment, and I never will rest easy until the man who proposed the thing suffers for it."
"But you don't know who proposed it and neither do I."
"No matter. I'll make it my business to find out."