went back, in a few days, to see John Hall's daughter; but the
young lady declared she wouldn't marry any man who let two boys make
him wade through a creek; and a month or two later she married Tim
Mills.

To all the gibes he heard on the subject of his capture, and they were
many, Johnson made but one reply:

"Them boys's had parents in a a--sylum, _sure_!"

CHAPTER XIII.

It was now nearing the end of the third year of the war. Hugh was
seventeen, and was eager to go into the army. His mother would have
liked to keep him at home; but she felt that it was her duty not to
withhold anything, and Colonel Marshall offered Hugh a place with him.
So a horse was bought, and Hugh went to Richmond and came back with a
uniform and a sabre. The boys truly thought that General Lee himself
was not so imposing or so great a soldier as Hugh. They followed him
about like two pet dogs, and when he sat down they stood and gazed at
him adoringly.

When Hugh rode away to the army it was harder to part with him than
they had expected; and though he had left them his gun and dog, to
console them during his absence, it was difficult to keep from crying.
Everyone on the plantation was moved. Uncle Balla, who up to the last
moment had been very lively attending to the horse, as the young
soldier galloped away sank down on the end of the steps of the office,
and, dropping his hands on his knees, followed Hugh with his eyes
until he disappeared over the hill. The old driver said nothing, but
his face expressed a great deal.

The boys' mother cried a great deal, but it was generally when she was
by herself.

"She's afraid Hugh'll be kilt," Willy said to Uncle Balla, in
explanation of her tears,--the old servant having remarked that he
"b'lieved she cried more when Hugh went away, than she did when Marse
John and Marse William both went."

"Hi! warn't she 'fred they'll be kilt, too?" he asked in some scorn.

This was beyond Willy's logic, so he pondered over it.

"Yes, but she's afraid Hugh'll be kilt, as _well_ as them," he said
finally, as the best solution of the problem.

It did not seem to wholly satisfy Uncle Balla's mind, for when he
moved off he said, as though talking to himself:

"She sutn'ey is 'sot' on that boy. He'll be a gen'l hisself, the first
thing she know."

There was a bond of sympathy between Uncle Balla and his mistress
which did not exist so strongly between her and any of the other
servants. It w