“Blessed if I know,” I replied.
In truth, I did not. He was in citizens’ clothes, and he had been lurking inside our lines for at least a day or so. If I gave him up to our army, as my duty bade me to do, he might be shot, which would be unpleasant to me as well as to him for various reasons. If I let him go he might ruin us.
“Suppose you think it over while I rest,” he said. “A man can’t run a mile and then fight a big fellow like you without getting pretty tired.”
In a few minutes I made up my mind. It was not a way out of the matter, but it was the only thing I could think of for the present.
“Get up, Albert,” I said.
He rose obediently.
“You came out of that house unseen,” I resumed, “and I want you to go back into it unseen. Do exactly as I say. I’m thinking of you as well as of myself.”
He seemed to appreciate the consideration and followed close behind me as I took my way toward the house. I had no fear that he would attempt escape. Albert was always a fellow of honor, though I could never account for the perversion of his political opinions.