"Poor fellow, I don't doubt that you are. Sarah, bring water and fresh linen. My own hands shall dress your wounds!"
"No, no, dear Mrs. Juniper, I would not permit a delicate lady to look upon the rude gashes of war. If you will permit me, I will retire and dress my wounds." He tried hard to convulse his features with pain.
"I will not allow that," said the widow. "These wounds were received in defending my country against the cruel Northern invader, and I shall dress them with my own hands."
"No; oh! no, dear lady, you can not know how a soldier, rough and used only to the roar of cannon and clash of steel, must shrink from inflicting on a lady such needless pain."
"Then I will have a surgeon brought," persisted kind-hearted Mrs. Juniper.
"Quite unnecessary, my dear lady, as they are only flesh wounds—what we soldiers call mere scratches."
Mrs. Juniper had his breakfast brought to the parlor and insisted on his reclining on the sofa. She asked a thousand questions, which Mr. Diggs answered in his extravagant manner. The day passed, and rumor after rumor, almost as wild and extravagant as Corporal Diggs' report, came from the battle-field, confirming the defeat, at least, if not the utter annihilation, of the army.
As bodies of Union men were scouring the country, picking up stragglers from the Confederate army, who were fleeing in every direction, Mrs. Juniper suggested that Corporal Diggs had better have a bed prepared and sleep in the cellar, as her house might be entered and searched. The Corporal although asserting that, if armed, he would not be in the least afraid of half a hundred of the cowardly Yankees, consented, merely out of regard for the lady's feelings. Such scenes of carnage and bloodshed as must ensue, if an attempt should be made to capture him, would be too terrible for a delicate lady to witness. The corporal had no arms, all had been taken from him as he lay unconscious on the field, but Mrs. Juniper sent out among the hands and confiscated three guns, two old horse-pistols, and a long trooper's sword, which she had conveyed to the "brave soldier" in her cellar.
A horse had that morning been found with saddle and bridle on, looking hungrily at the barn and trying to make the acquaintance of the sleek, well-fed equines, who answered his neighs from its windows. The negro, who found the horse, had put him in the barn and given him all the oats and corn he desired, which was a considerable amount. The corporal, hearing of the horse, went to see him, and at once recognized in that tall, raw-boned creature his noble January. The meeting of knight and steed was of course very touching, as the wealthy, handsome widow was present to witness it.