"If our hosses would only stand fire we'd be all right." "They won't stand, eh?" "Not for shucks. I say, captain, I'd think it a favor if you and your men would put your saddles on our hosses, and give our lads a little idea of a cavalry drill. They say you're prime at that." "Why, certainly; anything to accommodate. I think we can show you some useful evolutions." Little time was lost in changing the saddles from the tired to the fresh horses, the hoosier boys aiding in the work, and soon the Confederates, delighted with the exchange, were in their saddles and ready for the word. Morgan rode up and down the column, then moved to the front, took off his hat, and said,-- "All right now, captain. If you and your men will form a double line along the road and watch us, we will try to show you a movement you have never seen." The captain gave the necessary order to his men, who drew up in line. "Are you ready?" asked Morgan. "All right, Wolford." "Forward!" shouted Morgan, and the column shot ahead at a rattling pace, soon leaving nothing in sight but a cloud of dust. When the news became whispered among the astonished hoosiers that the polite visitor was Morgan instead of Wolford, there was gnashing of teeth in that town, despite the fact that each man had been left a horse in exchange for his own. As Morgan rode on he continued his polite method of levying a tax from the mill-owners instead of burning their property. At Salem, the next place after leaving Corydon, he collected three thousand dollars from three mill-owners. Capturing, at another time, Washington De Pauw, a man of large wealth, he said to him,-- "Sir, do you consider your flour-mill worth two thousand dollars?" De Pauw thought it was worth that. "Very well; you can save it for that much money." De Pauw promptly paid the cash. "Now," said Morgan, "do you think your woollen-mill worth three thousand dollars?" "Yes," said De Pauw, with more hesitation. "You can buy it from us for that sum." The three thousand dollars was paid over less willingly, and the mill-owner was heartily glad that he had no other mills to redeem. Another threat to burn did not meet with as much success. Colonel Craven, of Ripley, who was taken prisoner, talked in so caustic a tone that Morgan asked where the colonel lived. "At Osgood," was the answer. "That little town on the railroad?" "Yes," said the colonel. "All right; I shall send a detachment there to burn the town." "Burn and be hanged!" said the colonel; "it isn't much of a town, anyhow." Morgan laughed heartily at the answer. "I like the way you talk, old fellow," he said, "and I guess your town can stand."