Instead of answering this question, Joe Burnap raised his eyes from the ground, and fixed his gaze intently upon Tom. He stared at him for a moment in doubt and silence, and then resumed his former attitude.
"You don't want to fight for the south," added Tom; "so I suppose you don't believe in the Southern Confederacy."
"I don't want to fight for nuther of 'em," replied Joe, after a moment of further consideration. "If they'll only let me alone, I don't keer which beats."
His position was certainly an independent one, and he appeared to be entirely impartial. The newspapers on either side would not have disturbed him. Patriotism--love of country--had not found a resting place in his soul. Tom had not, from the beginning, entertained a very high respect for the man; but now he despised him, and thought that a rebel was a gentleman compared with such a character. How a man could live in the United States, and not feel an interest in the stirring events which were transpiring around him, was beyond his comprehension. In one word, he so thoroughly despised Joe Burnap, that he resolved, at the first convenient opportunity, to get rid of him, for he did not feel safe in the company of such a person.
"Now which side do you fight fur?" asked Joe, after a long period of silence.
"For the Union side," replied Tom, promptly.
"I was in the battle below, and was taken prisoner, got away, and I want to get to Washington."
"I reckon this ain't the way to git thar," added Joe.
"I doubt whether I can get there any other way."
Just then, Tom would have given all the money he had in the world, and all that the government owed him, for a good map of Virginia--or even for a knowledge of geography which would have enabled him to find his way by the safest route to Washington. But he had been a diligent scholar in school, and had faithfully improved the limited opportunities which had been afforded him. His mind could recall the map of Virginia which he had studied in school, but the picture was too faint to be of much practical benefit to him.
He had treasured up some information, derived from the newspapers, in regard to the Manassas Gap Railroad. He knew that it passed through the Blue Ridge, at the western base of which flowed the Shenandoah River: this emptied into the Potomac, which would certainly conduct him to Washington. In following these two rivers, he should have to describe nearly a circle, which was not an encouraging fact to a boy on foot, with no resources, and in an enemy's country.