. Do you
know of any one likely to do such a deed? Tell the truth, or it will be
the worse for you."

The old man shook his head. "The men be all gone in one army or de other,"
he answered.

"Are you Union or Confederate?" asked Calhoun.

"The wah is nuthin' to we-uns," he drawled; "we-uns own no niggers."

"That's no answer," fiercely replied Calhoun, "I have a mind to hang you
up like a dog. A little stretching of the neck might loosen your tongue."

At the word "hang" a strange look came into the old man's eyes, a look as
of mortal hatred, but it was gone in a moment, and the drawling answer
came, "We-uns knows nuthin'; thar may be strange men hidin' in the
mountin. We-uns don't know."

"Have you a family?"

"A gal."

"Where is she?"

"Done gone over the mountin to see the Jimson gals."

"You have no son?"

At the word "son," again that deadly glint came in the old man's eye.
Again it was gone in a moment, and the answer came, "No."

The cabin was searched--the mountaineer and his wife apparently perfectly
unconcerned as to what was going on--but nothing suspicious was found, and
Calhoun had to confess himself baffled. But after Morgan's column had
passed, a tall, lank girl with unkempt hair might have been seen coming
down the mountainside, carrying a long rifle in her hand. Swiftly and
surely as a deer she leaped from rock to rock, and soon neared the cabin.
Carefully concealing her rifle beneath a huge rock, she came slowly up to
the door of the cabin, where the old man sat smoking. He looked up at her,
inquiringly, but did not say a word.

"We-uns got one, dad," she said, as she passed in. Not another word was
spoken, but the old man sat and smoked and watched the sun as it slowly
sunk to rest behind the mountain.

If Calhoun had known that Nichol's only son had been hanged the winter
before by the Confederate authorities for bridge-burning, and that his
sister had sworn revenge, he would not have been at a loss as to who had
fired the deadly shot, for every mountain girl can use a rifle.

From Sparta Morgan made a rapid march to Selina, where he forded the
Cumberland River. At Selina he learned that there was a Federal force at
Tompkinsville, which is just over the line in Kentucky. By a swift advance
he hoped to surprise and capture this force. As the command crossed the
line from Tennessee into Kentucky, the enthusiasm of the men knew no
bounds. They sang "My Old Kentucky Home," and cheered