With all the armies gatherin' in the south an' west of the state it stands to reason that them dispatches mean a lot.

Now, we've got to get 'em an' get the full worth of 'em from them to whom they're worth the most." "He's got a pistol," said the elder Leffingwell, "I seed it in his belt.
If he wakes before we grab him he'll shoot." The man Kerins laughed.
"He'll never get a chance to shoot," he said.

"Why, after all he went through today, he'll sleep like a log till mornin'." "That's so," said one of the young Leffingwells, "an' Kerins is right.
We ought to grab them dispatches.

Likely in one way or another we kin git a heap fur 'em." "Shut up, Jim, you fool," said his mother sharply.

"Do you want murder on your hands?
Stealin' hosses is bad enough, but if that boy has got the big dispatches you say he has, an' he's missin', don't you think that sojers will come after him?
An' they'll trace him to this house, an' I tell you that in war trials don't last long.