‘Tell me, what does it mean?’ asked Lucius eagerly.
‘I reckon it means thet the admire-able civilian, as the ginrul called him, is a pesky spy,’ replied Ephraim.
‘As Colonel Spriggs said you and I were,’ laughed Lucius.
‘Ezackly! On’y this yer’s the real article, wharas we war on’y imitashuns. Anyway, this is the way I put it up. The civilian thar—who most likely ain’t a civilian at all—hes got a pocketful er despatches fer Ginrul Frémont. Likewise, he hes got a boat somewhar over thar under the river bank. Likewise, he perposes to row across above our pickets and hand ’em ter Frémont. Likewise, his intention is, the orn’ery skunk, ter take a stroll down ter Stonewall’s camp, and find out all he kin. Likewise’——
‘Likewise,’ interrupted Lucius, ‘you’ve got an idea into your head that those despatches would be better in General Jackson’s hands than in General Frémont’s, and you are wondering if we couldn’t somehow manage to get hold of them.’
Grizzly made a step forward and caught Lucius by the hand. ‘Right ye air, Luce!’ he cried, beaming upon his friend. ‘Ye hev struck it. Thet war my idee, on’y I don’t ezackly see how it’s gwine ter be done.’ He paused to put on his considering cap.
‘I’d like to have a try for it,’ said Lucius with a grimace. ‘You see, I’ve been thinking a good deal what an awful row there’ll be when I get home—that is, if I ever do get home; but if we could show that we’d done some real service to them, why, they wouldn’t have so much to say,’ he finished, having become rather mixed in his pronouns. ‘Why shouldn’t we make for the river and head him off, Grizzly?’ he continued, after a pause. ‘We’ve got guns and ammunition now. I believe we could do it.’
‘Ef we on’y knew ezackly when he’d start, and how fur away his boat is,’ said Ephraim dubiously.
‘Well,’ said Lucius, who had gone to the door, ‘there is a civilian walking towards the river now. See, he has just come round the bend of the woods from the camp. Of course, I don’t know whether it’s your admirable civilian or not, for I didn’t see him, but’——
‘By time! It’s him, shore enuff,’ broke in the Grizzly excitedly. ‘Now, Luce, ef we’re goin’ ter do ennythin’, we must do it sharp and quick. We carn’t foller straight in his tracks, thet much is cl’ar. He’s got a start, and we must allow him a leetle more. What we got ter do is, to go down the woods a space, and then make a bee-line fer the river. We kin steal up the bank through the belt er trees thet fringes it, and ef we carn’t head him orf, maybe we kin stop him before he gits across.’ He tapped his rifle significantly.