urned to go out of the parlor, he was confronted
by Jesse with the shotgun. "Oh, go put her up, Jess," he said
apologetically; "go put her up, boy. I wanted to blaze away at a dog out
there trying to scratch under the palings; but the dog's done gone. Go
put her up, Jess."

When Jess carried the gun back, he remarked casually to his mistress:

"Miss Sa'h, you better keep yo' eye on Marse Maje. He talkin' mighty
funny, en he doin' mighty quare."

Thereafter, for many a long day, the genial major sat in his cool
veranda, and thought of Jack Walthall and the boys in Virginia.
Sometimes between dozes he would make his way to Perdue's Corner, and
discuss the various campaigns. How many desperate campaigns were fought
on that Corner! All the older citizens, who found it convenient or
necessary to stay at home, had in them the instinct and emotions of
great commanders. They knew how victory could be wrung from defeat, and
how success could be made more overwhelming. At Perdue's Corner,
Washington City was taken not less than a dozen times a week, and
occasionally both New York and Boston were captured and sacked. Of all
the generals who fought their battles at the Corner, Major Jimmy Bass
was the most energetic, the most daring, and the most skilful. As a
strategist he had no superior. He had a way of illustrating the
feasibility of his plans by drawing them in the sand with his cane. Fat
as he was, the major had a way of "surroundering" the enemy so that no
avenue was left for his escape. At Perdue's Corner he captured Scott,
and McClellan, and Joe Hooker, and John Pope, and held their entire
forces as prisoners of war.

In spite of all this, however, the war went on. Sometimes word would
come that one of the Hillsborough boys had been shot to death. Now and
then one would come home with an arm or a leg missing; so that, before
many months had passed, even the generals conducting their campaigns at
Perdue's Corner managed to discover that war was a very serious
business.

It happened that one day in July, Captain Jack Walthall and his men,
together with quite an imposing array of comrades, were called upon to
breast the sultry thunder of Gettysburg. They bore themselves like men;
they went forward with a shout and a rush, facing the deadly slaughter
of the guns; they ran up the hill and to the rock wall. With others,
Captain Walthall leaped over the wall. They were met by a murderous
fire that mowed down the men like gr