kee horse-thief,"
answered Rodney, letting down the hammer of his revolver and putting the
weapon back in its place.

"I knew just how much faith you would put in that outrageous story,"
said Tom. "It was got up against me on purpose to induce the planters in
my uncle's settlement to run me out."

"To hang you, you mean," corrected Rodney. "That's what they would have
done with you before to-morrow morning."

"If it hadn't been for you," added Tom; and he did not talk like a boy
who had so narrowly escaped with his life. "I heard your story down
there in Jeff's cabin, and knew that you kept your promise and enlisted
within twenty-four hours after you reached home. And I know, too, that
your company didn't want to join the Confederate army or leave the
State. What did they want to do then? They're a pretty lot of soldiers.
Well, it's a good thing for them that they stayed at home, for you
rebels are going to get such a licking--"

"Have you licked Dick Graham back into a proper frame of mind yet?"
interrupted Rodney.

"No. Haven't had the chance. He helped raise the first company of
partisans that left the southwestern part of the Slate to join Price,
and I have scarcely heard of him since. I had a lively time dodging
Price's men when I went up to St. Louis to offer the services of my
company to Lyon, and when I heard you tell Westall that you were going
to undertake the same kind of a journey, I felt sorry for you. I am
overjoyed to see and have a chance to speak to you, Rodney, but I don't
know whether we ought to stick together or not. Of course Merrick took
you for a Union man," added Tom, in a suppressed whisper.

"Certainly. I didn't have much to say to him until I found out who he
thought I was. Did you go it blind when you addressed him as a Union
man?"

"Oh, no. I know the name of every man it will do to trust for twenty
miles ahead," replied Tom. "But I've got his name in my head. I haven't
a scrap of writing about me, and I am sorry to know that you have. Take
my advice and stick everything in the shape of a letter you have in your
pockets into the tire the first good chance you get."

"I have been thinking about that all the afternoon. What if I should
fall in with a party strong enough to search me? I've got a letter
addressed to Erastus Percival."

"Where in the world did you get it?" demanded Tom, who was greatly
astonished. "Man alive, he's my father."

"So I supposed. It was given to me by C