This was another thought that troubled him, and if there had been a branch road that Tom could have turned into he would have taken it rather than meet the two civilians he saw riding toward him. But there was no escape and so he kept on his way; and as he drew nearer to them his eyes began to open wider and an expression of amazement came to his face. He recognized the horses they rode and the clothes they wore, and finally it dawned upon him that the tanned and weather-beaten countenance of one was familiar, though the boy to whom it belonged had grown wonderfully tall and broad-shouldered since he last saw him—so much so, in fact, that his clothes were too small for him. If there was any doubt in Captain Randolph's mind it vanished when a cheery voice called out:
"Hallo, Tom—ee!"
Tom knew the voice and the odious name by which he had been addressed. It was the one with which his mother used to summon him into the house in the days gone by—with a shrill rising inflection on the last syllable. His first thought was to take no notice of the greeting or to make an angry rejoinder; but he remembered in time that he had stood in fear of this same boy when he was several pounds lighter than he was now. He looked quite formidable as he sat on his horse, and no doubt during his fifteen months in the army had come in contact with some rough characters, and gained experience and skill in no end of rough and tumble fights; so Tom thought it wise to be civil.
"Rodney," he exclaimed, extending his hand with a great show of cordiality. "You don't know how glad I am to see you back safe and sound. How long have you been at home?"
"Just three days," answered Rodney Gray, for it was he. "And this is my old schoolmate, Dick Graham, who lives in Missouri when he lives anywhere. But at present he is just staying wherever night overtakes him."
Dick and Tom shook hands, and the latter continued:
"How do you like soldiering? I suppose you have seen some pretty rough times in the army."
"Oh, yes; but nothing compared with what some have seen. Dick and I have brought our usual number of legs and arms back with us, but many of our comrades were not so lucky. Doing anything for your country these days?"
Tom's common-sense, if he had any, ought to have told him that it would not do for him to exaggerate his achievements in the presence of Rodney Gray, who knew him of old, and had seen so much more service than he had, but he counted a good deal on Rodney's ignorance and Dick's. They had done all their campaigning in the interior, had never seen the Mississippi River during their term of service except when they crossed from Arkansas to Tennessee to join the Army of the Centre, and perhaps had not had a chance to read a newspaper for six months, and so he thought he could say what he pleased and they would believe it; but he reckoned without his host.
"I have been very busy since I took command of the Home Guards," he said, in answer to Rodney's question. "I don't suppose I have smelled quite as much powder as you have, but I have been in some pretty hard battles all the same."