“What do you want?” they asked him, seeing how cool he was.
“Don’t you want a guide?” he asked, drawlingly.
“Who are you?” inquired the corporal in charge. He paused.
“Some calls me a d’serter,” he said, slowly.
The men all looked at him curiously.
“Well, what do you want?”
“I thought maybe as you wanted a guide,” he said, quietly.
“We don’t want you. We’ve got all the guide we want,” answered the corporal, roughly, “and we don’t want any spies around here either, you understand?”
“Does he know the way? All the creeks is up now, an’ it’s sort o’ hard to git erlong through down yonder way if you don’t know the way toller’ble well?”
“Yes, he knows the way too—every foot of it—and a good deal more than you’ll see of it if you don’t look out.”