“Neither,” replied Somers, thereby consenting to the plan proposed by the guerilla.
CHAPTER XXVI.
SUPPER FOR SEVEN.
WHATEVER the merits of the plan in which Somers was compelled to take a part, he did not relish the idea of being made a cat’s paw in the hands of such unmitigated villains as the guerillas. It involved no sacrifice of principle, and did not require him to give “aid and comfort to the enemy;” otherwise he would have taken his chances in an encounter with the whole squad. It was one portion of the enemy feeding on another portion; and if the planter, who was himself a rebel, objected to the forced contribution, he had only to thank himself for the state of things he had assisted in bringing about.
“I am ready,” said Somers, when Turkin had fully explained his plan.
“We’re all half starved, and I cal’late we’re ready too.”
“But do you think I shall look much like an officer, when I go in without any coat or boots?”
“May be we mought lend you a coat,” replied Turkin, struck with the force of the suggestion.
By his order, Somers’s coat was restored to him, with the remark that he would not want it after supper; which led him to believe that he was to be shot when the wretches had no further use for him.