"I did not put it that way."
"You suggested it, then."
"We will let it stand at that." Captain Brentford's face took on a sharp look. "What do you say to it?"
"I say, Captain Brentford, that you are a scoundrel to suggest such a thing to me."
"A scoundrel!"
"Yes, a scoundrel. Perhaps, were you placed as I am placed, you would barter your very soul to gain your liberty; I am made of different stuff—and I thank God for it!" answered Deck, with all the fervor of his patriotic heart.
"Don't get on a high horse, Major, it will do you no good."
"I mean what I say, and I shall stick to it. Try your best, you'll get no military information out of me."
"You forget that your very life is in my hands."
"I forget nothing," Deck replied, but a cold chill crept down his backbone, as he looked into those black eyes, now blazing like those of a snake. "I do not doubt but that you would kill me, as you killed that officer at General Rosecrans' headquarters, if you saw fit to do so."