Reb I didn't know. Anyhow we were willing enough to see them pass on out o' sight. They looked and talked as though they were spoiling for a fight."
"How many?"
"Thirty, or forty—a right smart crowd. There was only two come up, and rode round the church—a big fellow with a red beard, and a little weasened-faced fox he called Kelly."
"Yes, I know them; they were hunting after us. Did they go on east?"
"They did. So has everyone else we've seen to-day. That's what puzzled us, as to just what might be up. I reckon you must be some popular to create such a furore. Why, an hour after sun-up a whole blame company of blue-coats went by, riding like mad, their horses dripping, and a young fellow spurring them on. He'd lost his hat, and they never so much as took a side-look at this shebang. They were in some hurry, my friend."
"And neither party has returned?"
"Not a sign of them."
"What force have you here?"
"Twenty-eight enlisted men."
"You have pickets out?"
"One man each way, a mile down the road, concealed. The tower up there commands the country in both directions."
