“I see that you have the fire ready.”

“And jars of preserves, a half-dozen kinds at least, and all of ’em look as if two likely youngsters like Kenton and Dalton would be anxious to get at ’em.”

“You judge us rightly, General,” said Harry.  “We’ll show no mercy to such prisoners as we have here.”

“You wouldn’t be boys and you wouldn’t be human if you did,” rejoined Stuart, “would they, General?”

“They would not,” replied Lee.  “One of the principal recollections of my boyhood is that I was always hungry.  Our regular three meals a day were not enough for us, however much we ate at one time.  Virginia, like your own Kentucky, Harry, is full of forage, and we moved in groups.  Now, didn’t you find a lot of food in the woods and fields?”

“Oh, yes, sir,” rejoined Harry with animation.  “I was hungry all the time, too.  An hour after breakfast I was hungry again, and an hour after dinner, which we had in the middle of the day, I was hungry once more.”

“But you knew where to go for supplies.”

“Yes, sir; we had berries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, gooseberries, dewberries, cherries, all of them growing wild although some of them started tame.  And then we could forage for pears, peaches, plums, damsons, all kinds of apples, paw paws, and then later for the nuts, hickory nuts, walnuts, chestnuts, hazel nuts, chinquapins, and a lot more.  We could have almost lived in the woods and fields from early spring until late fall.”

“We did the same in Virginia,” said the commander-in-chief.  “I’ve often thought that our forest Indians did not develop a higher civilization, because it was so easy for them to live, save in the depths of a hard winter.  They had most of the berries and fruits and nuts that we white boys had.  The woods were full of game, and the lakes and rivers full of fish.  They were not driven by the hard necessity that creates civilization.”

“Dinner is ready, sir,” announced General Stuart, who had been directing the orderlies.  “I can offer you and the others nothing but boxes and kegs to sit on, but I can assure you that this Northern food, some of which comes in cans, is excellent.”

The two lads and General Stuart fell to work with energy.  General Lee ate more sparingly.  Stuart was a boy himself, talking much and running over with fun.

“Have you heard what happened to General Early, sir?” he asked the commander-in-chief.

“Not yet.”

“But you will, sir, to-morrow.  Early will be slow in sending you that dispatch.  He hasn’t had time to write it yet.  He’s not through swearing.”

“General Early is a valiant and able man, but I disapprove of his swearing.”

“Why, sir, ‘Old Jube’ can’t help it.  It’s a part of his breathing, and man cannot live without breath.  He sent one of his best aides with a dispatch to General Hill, who is posted some distance away.  Passing through a thick cedar wood the aide was suddenly set upon by a genuine stage villain, large, dark and powerful, who clubbed him over the head with the butt of a pistol, and then departed with his dispatch.”