‘Yew see,’ drawled Ephraim. ‘I guess I didn’t come down in the last shower of green mud.’
‘Confound you!’ said the captain, laughing in spite of his evident vexation. ‘You are too smart. I see that I shall have to tell you everything. Pay attention to what I say now, and hold your tongue about it when you get back to camp.—By the way,’ he broke off, ‘why didn’t you run in with the rest of them just now, when there was that scare?’
‘Ef I war to go runnin’ fer the camp every time thar war a skeer ter-day, I’d never be done,’ answered Ephraim. ‘My post is hyar, and hyar I mean tew stay. What’s this yew want tew tell me?’
‘Simply this,’ replied the captain. ‘Mind now, hold your tongue. I am the bearer of despatches from General Shields to General Frémont.’
Ephraim’s face was a study. He shouldered arms at once, and gasped out: ‘What! Then why in thunder didn’t yew say so before?’
‘For very good reasons,’ smiled the captain. ‘Come, now, I’ve put off time enough already. My boat is waiting there, and’——
Down came Ephraim’s rifle to the charge again. ‘Boat!’ he echoed. ‘Yew hev a boat?’
‘Certainly,’ said the captain. ‘You didn’t suppose I was going to walk across the river, did you?’
‘Back with yew!’ cried Ephraim, feinting to lunge. ‘Good land! yew nearly fooled me, Mister Secesh. So yew thort yew war going tew git in yewr boat ez easy ez that, and jine yewr friends the Rebs.’
‘Frankly,’ said the captain, ‘your idea of duty is an extreme one; but I suppose, in these days of slipshod soldiers, you ought to be commended for it. Look here,’ he unbuttoned his coat, ‘I’ll show you the despatch, and may be that will convince you.’ He pulled out a large envelope, sealed, and addressed to General Frémont. ‘There,’ he said. ‘Now, are you satisfied?’