"See here, Life, don't major me so much. You used to call me Deck. Perhaps I had better address you as captain in the future."
"Don't you do it, Deck," pleaded the Kentuckian. "I won't say major again, excepting when we are in the ranks."
"All right. Now, what do you think? I want your advice."
"Well, I reckon we want to capture the gun and the ammunition."
"That goes without saying."
"And we likewise want to take the fellows prisoners."
"Certainly, if it can be done—and I think it can."
"Then what more is there to say, Majo—, I mean Deck?"
"Something quite important. Shall we move against them at once, or wait until the gun and the ammunition are loaded on the raft?"
Life Knox stared at the speaker for a moment in perplexity. Then a grin overspread his good-natured face. "Reckon we'll let them do the work, seeing that the stuff will be better on the raft than off it. We can't do anything in the woods with such heavy luggage; but we might pole that raft to some safe place in the Union territory."