f his left
arm, from which the sleeve was dangling. "I lost thet more 'n a y'ar
ago. I b'long ter the calvary,--Fust Alabama,--and bein' as I carn't
manage a nag now, they 's detailed me fur provost-duty."

"First Alabama? I know Captains Webb and Finnan of that regiment."

"Ye does? What! old man Webb, as lives down on Coosa?"

"Yes, at Gadsden, in Cherokee County. Streight burnt his house, and both
of his mills', on his big raid, and the old man has lost both of his
sons in the war. It has wellnigh done him up."

"I reckon. Stands ter natur' it sh'u'd. The Yankees is all-fired fiends.
The old man use' ter hate 'em loike----. I reckon he hates 'em wuss 'n
ever now."

"No, he don't. His troubles seem to have softened him. When he told me
of them, he cried like a child. He reckoned the Lord had brought them on
him because he'd fought against the Union."

"Wal, I doan't know. This war's a bad business, anyhow. When d'ye see
old Webb last?"

"About a year ago,--down in Tennessee, nigh to Tullahoma."

"Was he 'long o' the rigiment?"

That was a home question, for I had met Captain Webb while he was a
prisoner, in the Court-House at Murfreesboro'. However, I promptly
replied,--

"No,--he'd just left it."

"Wal, I doan't blame him. Pears loike, ef sech things sh'u'd come onter
me, I'd let the war and the kentry go ter the Devil tergether."

My acquaintance with Captain Webb naturally won me the confidence of the
soldier; and for nearly an hour, almost unquestioned, he poured into my
ear information that would have been of incalculable value to our
generals. Two days later I would have given my right hand for liberty to
whisper to General Grant some things that he said; but honor and honesty
forbade it.

A neighboring clock struck four when I rose to go. As I did so, I said
to the sentinel,--

"I saw no other sentry in the streets; why are you guarding this hotel?"

"Wal, ye knows old Brown's a-raisin' Cain down thar' in Georgy. Two o'
his men bes come up yere ter see Jeff, and things ha'n't quite
satisfactory, so we's orders ter keep 'em tighter 'n a bull's-eye in
fly-time."

So, not content with placing a guard in our very bedchamber, the
oily-tongued despot over the way had fastened a padlock over the
key-hole of our outside-door! What _would_ happen, if he should hear
that I had picked the padlock, and prowled about Richmond for an hour
after midnight! The very thought gave my throat a preliminary chok