ave the boat, and the new-made friends who had done so much to
cheer him up since they found out who and what he was, and set out alone
on a journey of nearly two hundred and fifty miles.

"Being a born Southerner you are accustomed to the saddle, and the ride
itself would be nothing but a pleasure trip; but there are the people
you are likely to meet on the way," said Captain Howard, seating himself
by Rodney's side as the _Mollie Able_ rounded the point. "Are you
armed?"

The boy replied that he had a revolver.

"You may need it," continued the captain. "You see the pro-slavery men
and abolitionists are scattered all over the State, and I don't believe
you can find a town or village in it that is not divided into two
hostile camps. That's where I am afraid you are going to have trouble,
and you must be all things to all men until you find out who you are
talking to. Now here are two letters of introduction that one of my
friends gave me for you this morning, and they are addressed to parties
living near Springfield, one of whom is a Union man and the other a
Confederate. You must use them--"

"Must I ask favors of a Union man and then turn about and fight him?"
exclaimed Rodney.

The captain shrugged his shoulders.

"You want to get through, don't you?" said he. "All's fair in war times,
and if I were in your place, and a reference to this Springfield Union
man would take me in safety through a community of Yankee sympathizers,
I should not hesitate to use his name. If you fall in with some of our
own people and they suspect your loyalty, why then you can use the name
of the Confederate. It's all right."

The captain was called away at that moment, and Rodney, glancing at the
envelopes he held in his hand, was somewhat startled to find that one of
them was addressed to Erastus Percival.

"I wonder if that can be Tom Percival's father," said he. "If I thought
it was, I wouldn't present this letter to him for all the money there is
in Missouri. He would turn me over to the Yankees at once."

We have had occasion to speak of Tom Percival just once, and that was
during the sham fight which was started in the lower hall of the
Barrington Academy to give Dick Graham a chance to steal the Union flag
from the colonel's room. We then referred to the fact that Tom's father
had cast his vote against secession with one hand while holding a cocked
revolver in the other. Rodney, of course, was not sure that this letter
o