"Winter will soon be here," said Crothers, who sat on one side of me.
"Perhaps it's as well," said Colonel Hetherill. "It will make it the harder for any enemy to reach Fort Defiance."
A blast of wind struck me on the back of the neck and slipped down my collar like a stream of ice-water. I edged up within scorching distance of the fire.
"It is cold," said the colonel, replying to my thought as if I had spoken aloud. He too edged up to the fire, and all his men did likewise. No one regarded me with hostile eyes. For the moment the military laws of the Confederacy rested lightly. I don't understand how people can fight in the dark and when it's at zero.
Our faces were warm,—a little too warm, perhaps,—but our backs were cold. I suggested to the colonel that we build another fire a few yards off and sit between the two. He looked at me approvingly, and even said nothing when I helped to gather brushwood for the second fire, just as if I were one of the party and could go and come where I wished. While I was busy thus, I noticed that he was looking at me very intently and twisting his long white moustache as if he were in doubt. I guessed that he would have something to say to me soon; and I was not wrong. We lighted the second heap of wood, and the blaze sputtered and roared as if it would outdo its comrade ten yards away. We lolled in the heat for a few minutes, and then the colonel, as I had expected he would, beckoned to me.
We went on the far side of the second fire, where none of the men would hear us.
"What is it, colonel?" I asked, politely. "Can I help you in any way?"
"You can," he replied, "and in helping me you will help yourself at the same time."
"Then it ought to be easy for us to strike a bargain," I said.