two flat stones. "It's mighty considerate of my
boys to leave us all these things. We'll call it the raid of Black Gum
Spring.

"And here comes the little lady with the coffee pot filled just right.
Now watch me pour in the good old coffee--_real_ coffee, Virgie
dear--not made from aco'ns." He settled the pot on the fire and sat back
with a grin. "Oh, oh! Don't watch it," he cried, in well feigned alarm
as Virgie, unwilling to believe the sight, stooped over to feast her
eyes on the rich brown powder sinking into the black gulf of the pot.
"If you do that it will never, _never_ boil!"

"All right," the child agreed pathetically, and she sank wearily down
against her father's knee. "I'll just pray for it to hurry up."

The two men exchanged quiet smiles and Cary murmured something in his
daughter's ear.

"Oh, no, I won't," she answered, and then looked up at Morrison with a
roguish light in her dark eyes. "He's only afraid I'll pray so terribly
hard that the old coffee pot will boil over an' put out the fire."

Morrison, chuckling, now began to drag something out of a rear pocket.
Presently, he uncorked it and held it up--a _flask_!

"Here, Cary," he said, holding out a cup. "Join me, won't you? Of
course, you understand--in case a snake should bite us."

"Colonel Morrison," responded the Southerner, "you are certainly a man
of ideas."

He waited for his foe to fill his own cup, then raised his in a toast:

"I drink to the health, sir, of you and yours. Here's hoping that some
day I may take _you_ prisoner!"

At the quizzical look of surprise in the other's face Cary's voice
almost broke.

"I mean, sir, it's the only way I could ever hope to show you how much I
appreciate--"

He stopped and covered his face with his hands, not a little to his
daughter's alarm.

"Come, come, old chap," the Northerner said bluffly, tapping him on the
shoulder. "Brace up. It's the fortunes of war, you know. One side or the
other is bound to win. Perhaps--who knows--it may be _your_ turn
to-morrow. Well, sir--here goes. May it soon be over--in the way that's
best and wisest for us all.

"Now, Virgie," he went on, when the toast had been drunk, "while I wash
these cups suppose you go on another voyage of discovery through the
magic knapsack for some sugar for the coffee."

He watched her fling herself impetuously on the knapsack. "If you find
any Yankee spoons--put them under arrest. They haven't any pass like
yours."