hat it would be a physical impossibility
to drag the tired lad very far.

Finally Watson started away towards the distant light.

"Stay here till I get back," he said to George; "I'm going to explore."

In less than an hour he had returned to the river's bank.

"We're in luck," he said joyously. "I stole across to where that light is,
and found it came from a little stone house. I crept into the garden on my
hands and knees--there was no dog there, thank heaven--and managed to get
a glimpse into the parlor through a half-closed blind. There sat a
sweet-faced, white-haired old gentleman, evidently a minister of the
gospel, reading a chapter from the scriptures to an elderly lady and two
girls--his wife and children I suppose. He can't have heard anything about
our business yet--for I heard him ask one of the girls, after he stopped
reading, what all the blowing of locomotive whistles meant this
afternoon--and she didn't know. So we can drop in on them to-night, ask
for supper and a bed, and be off at daybreak to-morrow before the old
fellow has gotten wind of anything."

Soon they were off, Watson, George and Waggie, and covered the fields
leading to the house in unusually quick time for such tired wanderers.
When they reached the gate of the little garden in front of the place
George asked: "What story are we to tell?"

"The usual yarn, I suppose," answered Watson. "Fleming County,
Kentucky--anxious to join the Confederate forces--_et cetera_. Bah! I
loathe all this subterfuge and deceit. I wish I were back fighting the
enemy in the open day!"

They walked boldly up to the door of the house and knocked. The old
gentleman whom Watson had seen soon stood before them. The lamp which he
held above him shone upon a face full of benignity and peacefulness. His
features were handsome; his eyes twinkled genially, as if he loved all his
fellow-men.

Watson told his Kentucky story, and asked food and lodgings for George and
himself until the early morning.

"Come in," said the old man, simply but cordially, "any friend of the
South is a friend of mine."

The minister (for he proved to be a country preacher who rode from church
to church "on circuit"), ushered the two Northerners and the dog into his
cozy sitting-room and introduced them to his wife and two daughters. The
wife seemed as kindly as her husband; the daughters were pretty girls just
growing into womanhood.

"Here, children," said the old man, "get these p