"That's a matter you have nothing to do with, is it? Well, I reckon it is; and you don't get Sile Lambert into a furse with no such oily words as them. I know what you want mighty well, but I just aint a-going to do it. You can pester ole man Gray yourself if you feel like it, and when the job is done I'll tell him where to find the chap who done it. I'll learn you to keep my commission from me and pull a sword on me besides, the way you done this morning. By gum! If I wasn't afeared I'd go and make friends with the Yankees the way the Baton Rouge folks do. I'll risk it any way before I will let myself be conscripted."
Having weathered this storm without suffering very much damage except so far as his feelings were concerned, and quiet having been restored in the community, Captain Tom settled back into his old lazy way of passing the time, and waited for something exciting to happen. The first news out of the ordinary that came to his ears was that Baton Rouge had been occupied by Federal troops, much to the gratification of the citizens, both Union and Confederate, who experienced so delightful a sense of security when they saw the blue-coats on their streets that they forgot all about the Mooreville Home Guards, and never took the trouble to inquire whether they had been conscripted or not. But Captain Roach looked grave, and well he might. He had issued an order to the effect that those he had conscripted must report at his office at least once in every twenty-four hours to show that they were still on hand and ready to receive marching orders; but on the day the news came that the Yankees had garrisoned the city, only fifteen out of forty-five presented themselves. Two-thirds of their number had left home and friends behind and sought refuge in the city.
"This is a pretty state of affairs," exclaimed Tom, when Captain Roach told him of it. "Those men are not worthy to be called Southerners. Before I would show myself so cowardly I would go somewhere and hang myself. What will you do with them when they come back?"
"They'll not come back," replied the enrolling officer. "They will stay where they are safe, and no doubt desertions will be of daily occurrence as long as the Yankees remain in the city."
"Wouldn't it be a good plan for me to go down there and harass them by driving in their pickets now and then?" inquired Tom. He did not know exactly what was meant by driving in an enemy's pickets, but he had read in the papers that it was often done by the soldiers in both armies.
"What good would it do?" asked Captain Roach.
"Why, the enemy wouldn't stay where they were bushwhacked every time they showed themselves, would they? A few determined men could torment them as the buffalo gnats torment our stock."
"You must be a lunatic or take me for one," was what Captain Roach said in reply. "Why can't you be content to let the Yankees alone so long as they are willing to let us alone? If you should fire on their pickets they would send their cavalry all through the country about here, and there's no telling how much damage they would do."
"Do you think they have brought cavalry with them?" cried Tom, a most alarming thought suggesting itself to him at the moment.
"Why, of course. They want to know what is going on outside the city, don't they? And how are they to find out except through their cavalry? You may see blue-coats in Mooreville before sundown. You stay at home and mind your business, for I hope to have use for you presently."