Mrs. S. Did you and Bev go to the mill?

Fair.  Yes, to get the meal; and ’twas such fun!  I rode on Tony.  And if you could have seen old Cupid when we got back; he thought of course we’d take old Jack.

[She laughs.

Col.  S. Dear little girl, what would we do without you?  It’s hard for us to see you do the work meant for the slaves.  You go to mill and help them cook and work and sew; and if you and Charlotte ever grieve or worry—­why, we don’t find it out.

Fair.  Oh, you’re praising us too much.  We girls can’t fight; I sometimes wish we could.  But we can work, and when that work’s for General Morgan, there’s nothing that’s too hard for us to do.

Mrs. S. We seem to give so little to the cause; we have so little left, only our work.  That’s such a comfort to feel we can do something.  When the fighting’s near, and all night long we hear the musketry and cannon, and when the thought comes that you and George are going to the front, it seems more than we can bear.  I fix a light out there on the front porch, and wonder how the fighting’s going on.  Bev always stands out by the gate and listens for the sound of firing coming near.  ’Tis hard to keep him then, he wants so terribly to fight with you and George.  But through those nights that come so often to us now we have our work, and all night long we sit and sew and knit and listen.  Oh, then the work’s a comfort to feel and know we’re doing it for you.

Col.  S. And we out there, who fight, are called the heroes.

Fair.  Father, must you go to-morrow?  The wound can’t quite be well.  Stay for a few more days.  Why, I feel as though I’d hardly seen you for a moment.

Mrs. S. (who has quietly taken his hand in both her own during Fair’s last speech).  To-morrow, dear, and we should thank God he can go.  But let’s think of to-night; to-morrow’s not here yet, and we have still to-night.

Fair (rising, starts to the house).  I’ll go and look for Bev and Charlotte and bring them here.

[Exit into house.

Mrs. S. (softly, with a great effort).  To-morrow—­it must be then!

Col.  S. To-morrow. (A pause).  Yes, then I must go.  Word came to us that Morgan’s camp was moving on this way, and as we fight in battles there, so must you here.  Perhaps before so very long I’ll come again, and bring the boys home, too.  Why, George is Morgan’s right hand man.  They say when Morgan wants a man of special courage, he always calls on George.  When you think of all the trust that Morgan puts in him, it ought to make us glad we have our boy to give him.

Mrs. S. Yes, glad; I am glad, Phillip.  I’m proud of every way we help the South.  And what of Gordon Cabell and Carter Hillary?  Are they with Morgan, too?

Col.  S. They’re Morgan’s scouts.  They, with five other men, have saved the army more than once.  They know the roads for miles and miles.  Sometimes they are away for weeks, and then they turn up with some news that means the life of Morgan’s army.