I wish I could tell you how pretty her voice was when she said things
like that, as if she cared that I'd had a strenuous day and was a little
tired.

"'How do you know I'm going to Falmouth? How do you know how far I've
ridden?' I asked her, astonished again.

"'I'm a witch,' she said. 'I find out everything about you-all by magic,
and then I tell our officers. They know it's so if I tell them. Ask
Stonewall Jackson how he discovered the road to take his cavalry around
for the attack on Howard. I reckon I helped a lot at Chancellorsville.'

"'Do you reckon you're helping now?' I asked, throwing my saddle over
Zero's back. 'Strikes me you're giving aid and comfort to the enemy hand
over fist.'

"That girl surprised me whatever she did, and the reason was--I figured
it out afterward--that she let herself be what few people let themselves
be--absolutely straightforward. She had the gentlest ways, but she
always hit straight from the shoulder, and that's likely to surprise
people. This time she took three steps to where I stood by Zero and
caught my finger in the middle of pulling up the cinch and held to it.

"'I'm not a traitor,' she threw at me. 'I'm loyal to my people, and
you're my enemy--and I'm saving you from them. But it's you--it's you,'
she whispered, looking up at me. It was getting dark by now, but I could
see her eyes. 'When you put your hand over mine this morning it was like
somebody'd telegraphed that the one man was coming; and then I looked at
you, and I knew he'd got there. I've never bothered about men--mostly
they're not worth while, when there are horses--but ever since I've been
grown I've known that you'd come some time, and that I'd know you when
you came. Do you think I'm going to let you be taken--shot, maybe? Not
much--I'll guard your life with every breath of mine--and I'll keep it
safe, too.'

"Now, wasn't that a strange way for a girl to talk? Did you ever hear of
another woman who could talk that way, and live up to it?" he demanded
of me unexpectedly.

I was afraid to say the wrong thing and I spoke timidly. "What did you
do then?"

He gave me a glance smouldering with mischief. "I didn't do it. I tried
to, but she wouldn't let me.

"'Hurry, hurry,' said she, in a panic all of a sudden. 'They'll be
coming. Zero's fast, but you ought to get a good start.'

"And she hustled me on the horse. And just as I was off, as I bent from
the saddle to catch her hand for the last time, she