unmercifully; so that, then and
there, a little interchange of powder-and-ball civilities followed; and
thus, on the very first day, Daniel Dean smelled the one and heard the
other whistle right harmlessly and merrily. Straightway, more guards
were called out; cannon were planted to sweep the principal streets,
and from that hour the old town was under the rule of a Northern or
Southern sword for the four years' reign of the war.

Meanwhile, Chad Buford was giving a strange journey to Dixie. Whenever
he dismounted, she would turn her head toward the Bluegrass, as though
it surely were time they were starting for home. When they reached the
end of the turnpike, she lifted her feet daintily along the muddy road,
and leaped pools of water like a cat. Climbing the first foot-hills,
she turned her beautiful head to right and left, and with pointed ears
snorted now and then at the strange dark woods on either side and the
tumbling water-falls. The red of her wide nostrils was showing when she
reached the top of the first mountain, and from that high point of
vantage she turned her wondering eyes over the wide rolling stretch
that waved homeward, and whinnied with distinct uneasiness when Chad
started her down into the wilderness beyond. Distinctly that road was
no path for a lady to tread, but Dixie was to know it better in the
coming war.

Within ten miles of the Turners', Chad met the first man that he
knew--Hence Sturgill from Kingdom Come. He was driving a wagon.

"Howdye, Hence!" said Chad, reining in.

"Whoa!" said Hence, pulling in and staring at Chad's horse and at Chad
from hat to spur.

"Don't you know me, Hence?"

"Well, God--I--may--die, if it ain't Chad! How air ye, Chad? Goin' up
to ole Joel's?"

"Yes. How are things on Kingdom Come?"

Hence spat on the ground and raised one hand high over his head:

"God--I--may--die, if thar hain't hell to pay on Kingdom Come. You
better keep offo' Kingdom Come," and then he stopped with an expression
of quick alarm, looked around him into the bushes and dropped his voice
to a whisper:

"But I hain't sayin' a word--rickollect now--not a word!"

Chad laughed aloud. "What's the matter with you, Hence?"

Hence put one finger on one side of his nose--still speaking in a low
tone:

"Whut'd I say, Chad? D'I say one word?" He gathered up his reins. "You
rickollect Jake and Jerry Dillon?" Chad nodded. "You know Jerry was
al'ays a-runnin' over Jake 'cause Jake' didn't