"I'll not change her name," said Chad, quietly.
"What!" shouted the officer. "How dare you—" Chad's eyes looked ominous.
"Don't you give any orders to me—not yet. You haven't the right; and when you have, you can save your breath by not giving that one. This horse comes from Kentucky, and so do I; her name will stay Dixie as long as I straddle her, and I propose to straddle her until one of us dies, or,"—he smiled and nodded across the river—"somebody over there gets her who won't object to her name as much as you do."
The astonished captain's lips opened, but a quiet voice behind interrupted him:
"Never mind, Captain." Chad turned and saw a short, thick-set man with a stubbly brown beard, whose eyes were twinkling, though his face was grave. "A boy who wants to fight for the Union, and insists on calling his horse Dixie, must be all right. Come with me, my lad."
As Chad followed, he heard the man saluted as Colonel Grant, but he paid no heed. Few people at that time did pay heed to the name of Ulysses Grant.
CHAPTER 22.
MORGAN'S MEN
Boots and saddles at daybreak!