“You can serve your men best by going. The bravest general always knows when to retreat.”
“I’ll stand my ground.”
“You must go. I can fight for you better with a thousand miles between us. I’ll play a trick on my Yankee friends this time. I’m going to send you North into the enemy’s country—to college.”
Billy was trembling now with a new excitement. His heart was set on a college career and he hadn’t as yet hoped to find the way.
“How will you do it?” he asked eagerly.
“Old Nickaroshinski will take my note. I’ll borrow the money.”
The boy smiled for the first time in a month.
“Oh! John, you’ve taken a load off my soul.”
John’s hand crushed the letter from Stella, which he was unconsciously grasping in his pocket.
“And you’ve piled one on my soul under which I’ll stagger to the grave,” he cried within, outwardly answering with a smile and warm grip of the hand as he said: