"Morale good?"
"Extraordinarily so. That army is all right, sir."
"I wish," said Ewell plaintively, "that I knew what to make of General Jackson. What do you make of him, major?"
"I make a genius, sir."
Ewell raised his shoulder and ducked his head, his bright round eyes much like a robin's. "And he isn't crazy?"
"Not in the very least."
"Well, I've had my doubts. I am glad to hear you say that. I want to think mighty well of the man who leads me. That Romney trip now?—of course, I only heard Loring's side. He doesn't just wind in and out of mountains for the fun of doing it?"
"I think that, generally speaking, he has some other object in view, sir. I think that acquaintance with General Jackson will show you what I mean. It develops confidence in a very marked fashion."
Ewell listened bright-eyed. "I am glad to hear you say that, for damn me, confidence is what I want! I want, sir, to be world-without-end-sure that my commanding officer is forever and eternally right, and then I want to be let go ahead!—I want to be let feel just as though I were a captain of fifty dragoons, and nothing to do but to get back to post by the sunset gun and report the work done!—And so you think that when my force and old Jackson's force get together we'll do big things?"
"Fairly big, sir. It is fortunate to expect them. They will arrive the sooner."