Page:The youth of Washington (1910).djvu/252

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

I remained standing. As for the captain, he said not so much as a word, but waited, looking steadily at the general, who asked me a question concerning the roads, and then said to me, "Let the man wait; I will see about him in a day or two." Then he asked what pay they wanted, to which Captain Jack said, "No pay, nothing."

I tried to make the general understand the great service we might expect in the woods from such men, but he replied impatiently that these men could not be drilled, and that he had experienced troopers on whom he could rely for any service he might require. He was going on to give orders as to where the men should camp, when Captain Jack turned and went out without further words. The general damned him roundly for an ill-bred cur, and I made after him in haste. When I had overtaken him, he said very quietly: "Good-by, Colonel Washington; when you have a separate command send for me." I made a vain effort to induce him to remain. In half an hour he called his men together, and they went away into the woods Indian fashion, one after the other, and we saw him no more. Captain Croghan told me