Page:War; or, What happens when one loves one's enemy, John Luther Long, 1913.djvu/210

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WAR

Before he can even think Jon has him by the throat and his gun in his hand, and jerks up his face so that I thought his head would fly off.

With some help from Jon I managed to get the other one.

"I'll know you hereafter!" says Jon. "Now march out—in front. We're going where you meant to take us. But it's not right for two officers to follow two privates. March!"

Well, I tell you, I'd have marched as straight as they did if Jon'd been about a foot behind me with a bayonet!

We marches 'em right back to Kratz.

"I wish to God I had the authority," says Kratz to them; "I'd shoot you right here. It's men like you who are making the most trouble on the border—just as you have made it for these men. I don't know whether or not these two Union officers have the right to arrest you while on duty. I suppose not. They're not mustered in yet. I wish they had. I'd keep you tight enough, with my hundred boys."

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