an, sir?" asked a very pretty young woman, not more
than twenty years old, as she stopped in the open field in front of
Sergeant Life Knox of the Riverlawn Cavalry, as it was generally
called, though the squadron belonged to a numbered regiment in
Kentucky.

The non-commissioned officer was a tall Kentuckian, over six feet high,
lank and raw-boned. He looked at the young woman, and a smile lighted
up his thin face.

"I reckon I am, Miss; I never robbed a bank, or stole a poor woman's
last dollar," he replied, thinking it was a queer question if the lady
proposed to trust him on his own recommendation.

"Are you a Confederate soldier, for I see that you wear a uniform?"
continued the young woman, looking behind her with a timid glance.

"I am not!" protested Life with earnestness enough to prove that he
meant all that he said. "Don't you see that I wear the uniform of the
United States army? and, Hail Columby! if I ain't a Union man from the
smallest nail in the heel of my boot to the top hair on my Kentucky
skull!"

"You won't rob me if I tell you the truth, will you?" asked she very
simply, and evidently agitated by painful doubts.

"No, indeed, Missy! I wouldn't do that even if you didn't tell me the
truth; not if you lied to me till you was black in the face," replied
the sergeant warmly. "But what difference does it make to you whether I
am honest or not? I am forty-two, and I reckon you don't think of
marrying me without my mother's consent."

"I am very serious, sir, and I hope you will not make fun of me,"
pleaded the young woman with a deep blush on her face, as she looked
behind her and listened.

"I wouldn't say a sassy thing to you for half a Kentucky county; but
you asked me a queer question. I'll do anything I kin for you. I reckon
I'm an honest man; and I don't reckon you kin find anybody in my county
that would say I'm not honest."

"That's enough; you look like an honest man, and I believe you," added
the fair woman, as she took from under her clothing a hard-wood box
about eight inches long by four in width and depth.

From the effort it required for her to handle it, Life judged that it
was quite heavy. It was bound with straps of brass, screwed to the
wood; and the sight of it was enough to convince the sergeant that it
contained something valuable. Her strange question seemed to be
explained by this supposition.

"What is your name, Missy?" asked Life, becoming very sedate all at
once;