‘String them up, I say,’ roared the colonel, more incensed than ever at this defiance. ‘String them up, and be sharp about it. I ‘ll let you know,’ he ground out at Lucius, ‘how the gentlemen of the North treat the gentlemen of the South when they catch them acting as pestilential spies.’
‘I should think it’s precious little you know of gentlemen anywhere,’ Lucius answered boldly back. ‘I’ve seen a good many Northerners, and they are brave men, if they are fighting an unjust war. But what you were before they let you put on a uniform, I don’t know; though it wouldn’t be hard to guess from the look of you. Why, your men are ashamed of you.’
Two of the men moved slowly towards the balloon. The boy’s courage appealed to them. They were soldiers, and brave soldiers too, though they were smitten with a panic now and then as brave soldiers have been before and since. They were willing enough to fight, but not to soil their hands with such a horrid deed as this. Therefore they moved slowly and reluctantly, hoping for a reversal of the order. But Ephraim changed his tone.
‘See hyar,’ he said submissively, ‘I didn’t orter hev spoke ez I did. I beg your pardon. Jest ye hear me a moment.’
But the colonel would hear nothing. He was beside himself with wrath, and could not listen to reason. The men had stopped when Ephraim began to speak, and now their commander turned furiously upon them.
‘Why don’t you obey orders?’ he shouted at them. ‘I’ll have you shot for mutiny if you stand gaping there much longer. Up with them, I say.’
‘Cunnel!’ shrieked Ephraim in an agony of unselfish fear. ‘Cunnel, don’t do it. As ye’re a Christian man, don’t do it. Ye may string me up, and willin’. I’m a outrageous rebel. I’m a spy. I’m whatever you like. I came ter make observations. I’m a spy, I tell ye. Hang me up. But don’t you tech Luce. He ain’t done nuthin’. He on’y came because I told him I wuz goin’ fer a trip. He knows nuthin’—he’s done nuthin’. Let him go! Let him go!’
‘Pah!’ ejaculated the colonel. ‘Do you suppose I don’t see your game? You can’t take me in with your heroics, you filthy cur, you.’ And he spurned Ephraim with his foot.
A mist swam before Luce’s eyes. His blood boiled over, and, regardless of the consequences, he rushed forward.
‘You lie!’ he shouted. ‘It is for me he wants to die. This is the second time to-day. Take that!’ and before the astonished colonel could comprehend or step aside, the infuriated boy struck him twice sharply in the face.