“And my dogs?”
“General Sherman left them, at least.”
“Well, I’m glad of that—my mare all right?”
“Yes, but we had a time to save her—Jake hid her in the woods till the army passed.”
“Bully for Jake.”
“I don’t know what we should have done without him.”
“Old Aleck still at home and getting drunk as usual?”
“No, he ran away with the army and persuaded every negro on the Lenoir place to go, except his wife, Aunt Cindy.”
“The old rascal, when Mrs. Lenoir’s mother saved him from burning to death when he was a boy!”
“Yes, and he told the Yankees those fire scars were made with the lash, and led a squad to the house one night to burn the barns. Jake headed them off and told on him. The soldiers were so mad they strung him up and thrashed him nearly to death. We haven’t seen him since.”