"All right, just as you say—hannup, Woman! Baby!"
He kept silent until we reached the creek, when I made a remark about its beauty, then Joshua broke out:
"Fresh from the throne of glory
Bright in its crystal stream."
At the first verse the sternness vanished from the Major's face; he could not resist the inclination to laugh; the laugh was contagious; Joshua turned in his seat with a look of inquiry, and halting in his song, joined us.
"How d'you know the name of the creek, Major?"
"I have been here before, Mr. Miles."
"Oh! How long you lived in this country, Major?"
"Thirty years, next spring."
"No? Then you're a mossback sure enough——
'Tell me the old, old story,
Of unseen things above'".