Dick's step was light, but the colonel heard him and held up a finger.

The lad paused until Miss Woodville, finishing a long sentence, closed the book.

Then the colonel, raising a little the great white thatch of his eyebrows, said: "Young sir, you have returned again, and, personally, you are welcome, but I do not conceive how you can stand the company you keep.

My daughter informs me that the Yankees are in Vicksburg, and I have no reason to doubt the statement." He paused, and Dick said: "Yes, Colonel, it's true." "I suppose we must endure it.

I should have gone myself and have offered my sword to General Grant, but this confounded leg of mine is still weak." "At least, sir, we come with something besides arms.