“Did yer?”
“Sartin I did; saw him drop when I fired.”
“Then, stranger, yer kin make up yer mind to die like a hog within ten days. I tell yer, Yank, there ain’t bolts and bars enough in Yankee land to keep me away from yer. You kin shoot me if yer like now, and that’s all the way yer kin save yerself.”
“Well, reb, you are great at blowing; but I’ve seen a good many jest sich fellers as you be. I’ve fit with ’em, and fit agin’ ’em; and I tell you, your uncle can take keer of just as many of you as can stand up between here and sundown. Put that in your hopper, reb; and the sooner you dry up, the sooner you’ll come to your milk. We’ll take keer on you like a Christian, though you ain’t nothin’ but a heathen. Here, boys, make a stretcher, and kerry him along. Take that jack-knife out of his hand fust, and keep one eye on him all the time.”
Having thus delivered himself, Sergeant Hapgood hastened to the spot where Somers had seated himself on the ground to recover his wind and rest his weary limbs. The terrible excitement of the last hour seemed to fatigue him more than the previous labors of the whole day; and he was hardly in condition to march to the division headquarters, where he was to report the success of his mission.
“Oh, Tom—I mean Lieutenant Somers—I’m glad to see you!” exclaimed the veteran as he grasped both the hands of the young soldier.
“Thank you, uncle; I’m just as glad to see you as you can be to see me,” replied Somers.
“You’re all tuckered out, Somers.”
“I had to run for some distance, with the odds against me; but I shall get rested in a little while.”
The sergeant began to ask questions; and, as soon as he had recovered his breath, Somers gave him a brief sketch of his adventures, dwelling mainly on the last and most thrilling event of the day.