"I am at home," he added generously. "I can command what I want, and if you need anything, I can supply you—"
"Thank you, General," Reagan responded heartily.
Toombs hesitated a moment, and then asked suddenly:
"Has President Davis money?"
"No, but I have enough to take us both across the Mississippi."
"Is Mr. Davis well mounted?"
"He has his fine bay, 'Kentucky,' and General Lee sent him at Greensboro by his son Robert, his gray war horse 'Traveler,' as a present. He has two first class horses."
Again Toombs was silent.
"Mr. Davis and I," he went on thoughtfully, "have had our quarrels. We have none now. I want you to say to him that my men are around me here, and if he desires it I will call them together and see him safely across the Chattahoochee River at the risk of my life—"
"I'll tell him, General Toombs," Reagan cordially responded. "And I appreciate your noble offer. It differs from others who have pretended to be his best friends. They are getting away from him as fast as they can. Some are base enough to malign him to curry favor with the enemy. I've known Jefferson Davis intimately for ten years. The past four years of war I've been with him daily under every condition of victory and defeat, and I swear to you that he's the truest, gentlest, bravest, tenderest, manliest man I have ever known—"