"That is something I do not pretend to understand," was the answer. "But
there must be some sort of an arrangement between you, for one is riding
the other's horse. Now perhaps you had better go. I will put up a bite
for you to eat during the night, and will try to get a breakfast to you
in the morning. I shall have to let you out of a side door, for you
would be seen if you went out of this well-lighted room; and if I were
to put out the lamp, it would arouse the suspicious of any one who may
happen to be on the watch."

"This reminds me of the days I have read of, when the women fought side
by side with their husbands and sons in the block-houses," thought
Rodney, as he shoved his revolver into his boot leg and waited for the
lunch to be put up. "What a scout she would make."

Mrs. Merrick probably knew that the boys would not devote much time to
sleeping that night, for the "bite" she put up for them was equal in
quantity to the hearty supper they had just eaten. She was aware, too,
that they would have to "lie out," and anxious to know if they had any
blankets to keep them warm. It might not be quite safe for them to build
a camp fire, and consequently they would need plenty of covering. There
was the lunch, and Tom needn't be so profuse in his thanks, for while
she believed in fighting the Lincoln government, since it was bound to
force a war upon the South, she did not believe in starving Union boys
on account of their principles. She hoped Tom would reach home in
safety, and advised him when he got there to turn over a new leaf and go
with his State.

"Do you remember what that British colonel said to his commanding
officer, after he had visited General Marion in his camp and dined with
him on sweet potatoes?" inquired Rodney, after the two had been let out
at the side door and were stealing along the fence toward the cow-stable
where Mr. Merrick was patiently waiting for them. "The colonel said,
'You can't conquer such people;' and he was so impressed with the fact
that he threw up his commission and went home to England. That is what I
say to you, Tom Percival. The North can't conquer the South while we
have such women as Mrs. Merrick in it."

"Now listen at you," replied Tom. "The North doesn't want to conquer the
South, and you don't show your usual common sense in hinting at such a
thing. The people--and when I say that, I mean the Union men both North
and South--say that you secessionists shall not b