AN UNEXPECTED PREDICAMENT
"What about the Tenth Georgia?"
"They take up the march at midnight, guarding Coyne's Battery."
"The hell! Then that means a hard ride for both Dad and me with little enough time to spare. But dismount, Calvert, and come up to the house. Here, let Joe take care of your horse, and find out what troubles him—got a stone in his hoof most likely."
The boy had his hand on my pommel, the negro still standing directly in front of the horse's head. What action to escape could I take? It seemed at that moment far easier to permit Fate to decide the play than to take it into my own hands. It was not in my heart to shoot down these unsuspecting men in cold blood, and yet there was no other way of getting clear. 1 slipped a revolver from the left saddle holster into the side pocket of my cavalry jacket, and swung reluctantly to the ground, determining to chance another act in this strange melodrama. As he clasped my arm the lad felt the Colt bulging out the close-fitting jacket.
"Travelling loaded, I see."
"Certainly; I am likely to be beyond the lines before morning."
"That's right, old boy," his voice suggestive of a laugh. "Not exactly the kind of a bridal tour that most people would seek, but needs must when the devil drives."
The entire unpleasantness of the situation dawned upon me with a shock at his words. In the excitement of swiftly succeeding events I had entirely forgotten that particular errand which had brought Lieutenant Dunn to this
[ 45 ]
