g his words, "an' they do
nothin'."

"You think they ought to take Tennessee out right away?"

"No, I'm ag'in it. I don't want to bust up this here Union. But I
reckon Tennessee is goin' out, an' most all the other Southern states
will go out, too. I 'low the South will get whipped like all tarnation,
but if she does I'm a Southerner myself, an' I'll have to git whipped
along with her. But talkin' don't do no good fur nobody. If the South
goes out, it's hittin' that'll count, an' them that hits fastest,
hardest, truest an' longest will win."

The man was rough in appearance and illiterate in speech, but his
manner impressed Harry in an extraordinary manner. It was direct and
wonderfully convincing. The boy recognized at once a mind that would
steer straight through things toward its goal.

"My name is Harry Kenton," he said politely. "I'm from Kentucky,
and my father used to be a colonel in the army."

"Mine," said the mountaineer, "is Nat Forrest, Nathan Bedford Forrest
for full and long. I'm a trader in live stock, an' I thought I'd look
in here at Nashville an' see what the smart folks was doin'. I'd tell
'em not to let Tennessee go out of the Union, but they wouldn't pay any
'tention to a hoss-tradin' mountaineer, who his neighbors say can't
write his name."

"I'm glad to meet you, Mr. Forrest," said Harry, "but I'm afraid we're
on different sides of the question."

"Mebbe we are 'til things come to a head," said the mountaineer,
laughing, "but, as I said, if Tennessee goes out, I reckon I'll go with
her. It's hard to go ag'in your own gang. Leastways, 't ain't in me
to do it. Now I've had enough of this gab, an' I'm goin' to skip out.
Good-bye, young feller. I wish you well."

Bringing his whip once more, and sharply this time, across the tops of
his own boots, he strode out of the hotel. His walk was like his talk,
straight and decisive. Harry saw Shepard in the lobby making friends,
but, imitating his older comrade, he avoided him, and late that
afternoon Colonel Talbot and he left for Charleston.

CHAPTER III

THE HEART OF REBELLION

Harry, with his friend Colonel Leonidas Talbot, approached Charleston
on Christmas morning. It was a most momentous day to him. As he came
nearer, the place looked greater and greater. He had read much about
it in the books in his father's house--old tales of the Revolution and
stories of its famous families--and now its name was in the mouths