"And you're going to preach me a sermon on temperance, you confounded old moonshining distilling sinner!"
"Ye mustn't git drunk," observed Dan seriously.
"But, didn't you bring me the whiskey?"
"Not to git drunk on. I brought it as a compliment. My whiskey's pure mountain dew, life restorer—it's medicine."
"It's good whiskey, I'll say that," said John. "Even if you don't pay taxes on it. You brought the men?"
"Yes, but Chief, I'm oneasy."
"What about?"
"Don't like the looks er them dam Yankees. I'm a member er the church an' a law abidin' citizen."
"Yet I hear that a revenue officer passed away in your township last fall."
"Rattlesnakes and Revenue officers don't count—they ain't human."
"I see!" laughed John.
"Say," Dan whispered, "you ain't calculatin' ter make a raid ter-night with them thousand bluecoats paradin' round this town, are ye?"
"That's my business, Dan," was John's smiling answer. "It's your business as a faithful nighthawk of the Empire to obey orders. Are you ready?"
