‘Thet’s so,’ acquiesced Ephraim, rising to his feet.—‘By time! thet’s a good idee,’ he suddenly ejaculated. ‘I tell ye what it is, Luce. Ye air right when ye say we can’t do them no good, pore men; but I reckon it won’t do ’em enny harm nuther, ef we make use of ’em fer our own benefit.’
‘Why, what do you mean?’ inquired Lucius, bewildered. ‘How can we make use of them?’
‘See their clothes?’ answered Ephraim. ‘Ef we git inside ’em, it’ll be ez good ez a free pass ter us anywhar about the Yankee lines. Come now, Luce,’ as the boy made a gesture of horror, ‘this ain’t no time fer bein’ squeamish. We’re in a muss, and we’re bound to git out of it the best way we kin. Besides, it can’t hurt them, remember.’
‘It’s too awful!’ gasped Lucius. ‘It’s robbing the dead.’
‘It ain’t nuthin’ of the kind,’ retorted Ephraim. ‘It’s on’y their coats and trousers we want, and their caps. I reckon Uncle Sam paid fer thet lot. And we’ll cover ’em up with our own. Come now, Luce, do be reasonable.’
He knelt down again and with no irreverent touch began to remove the outer garments from one of the fallen men. ‘This one’s not much taller than ye air yourself, Luce,’ he said, throwing the coat and trousers towards the reluctant Lucius. ‘Ye kin take this lot. The other man’s about my height. Not so lanky, maybe; but it’ll do, I reckon. Ah! now, Luce, make up yer mind and put ’em on. We han’t got so much time ez all thet.’
He threw off his own clothes and assumed the uniform he had chosen, and in a moment or two Lucius, bowing to the stronger will, did likewise.
‘Feel in the pockets. Luce,’ suggested Ephraim. ‘Ef thar’s ennything they set store by, I reckon we don’t want to take it away from ’em.’ But search revealed nothing. The dead Federals had evidently been both poor and friendless. Probably they had enlisted as substitutes, or as bounty men, no one caring where they went to or what became of them. Arms and accoutrements they had none, for these had been flung away for lightness’ sake when they started on their last sad march. Quietly and carefully Ephraim laid the clothes they had discarded over the corpses, and then, turning to Lucius, who still remained distressfully silent, took him by the arm and led him away from the dismal spot.
‘I wish we’d got their guns,’ said the Grizzly, a few moments later. ‘I’d hev felt safer thet way; but I reckon they throwed ’em off somewhar. No matter, we’ve found so much already thet we may run up against some in good time.’
‘I hope we shall not run up against any more dead men,’ said Lucius dismally.