Chapter 16, The Name on the Watch Summary

As Jeff walks sentry one night, David Gardner, also on sentry, asks Jeff to accompany him to the other side of the river and talk with the rebel pickets. Jeff thinks it's the craziest idea he's ever heard, but he thinks about Lucy and her brother, Lee. He wants to collect information, if he can, about Lee to tell Lucy. A swap of the Union coffee for the Confederate tobacco eases the tension among the enemies, as they later strip off their clothes to go swimming together in the river. Jeff inquires of Joe, a Waitie man, about Lee. Joe discloses that Lee never returned from a scouting mission, and their officers are afraid the Yanks captured him. Waitie tried to get Lee back on a prisoner exchange, but he has been unable...