‘I do, I do!’ cried Lucius. ‘Why should I not? Twice or thrice already to-day he would have given his life to save mine. How can I desert him now? It would be too base.’ The utter simplicity of the thing carried its own conviction with it. No professional trickster would delude himself into the belief that, coming from the Federal lines, he would be at once allowed to return there on the strength of his own story. The genuine emotion of the young man, as he supposed him to be, went straight to Jackson’s warm heart. ‘Do not distress yourself, my young friend,’ he said kindly; ‘I believe you. But as regards your comrade, what do you imagine you can effect by going back?’ ‘This,’ answered Lucius, as the recollection of the hut in the forest came to him like an inspiration: ‘if he has not been taken, and has not been able to break through their line, I know where he will go to look for me. I will go there. I can find out that way whether he is dead or a prisoner, or alive and free.’ ‘No,’ answered Jackson; ‘for he might reach our lines just while you were looking for him. You could do no good, and for your own sake, if for no other reason, I cannot allow you to return. I do not suspect your honesty,’ as Lucius made a passionate gesture; ‘but it would serve no useful purpose. To-morrow, if God blesses our arms as He has hitherto done, we shall sweep Shields from the field, and your comrade, if he has not managed to escape, may be recovered in the struggle. At the worst he will be sent north with other prisoners, and exchanged in due course.’ ‘Oh, but you are forgetting that he is a civilian,’ urged Lucius, ‘and that if they find out that he took the despatch, they will kill him for it.’ His voice trembled so that he could hardly enunciate the words. ‘They would serve you the same way if they got hold of you,’ answered Jackson. ‘But they shall not get hold of me, General,’ said Lucius. ‘I know their word, I wear their uniform, and I know the way. Once I get to the wood I shall be all right. Besides,’ he added cunningly, ‘as soon as I have found out what has become of him, I will return and give you fresh information about the troops—all I can collect.’ ‘My scouts are out already,’ answered Jackson, ‘and there is little likelihood that you would be able to accomplish more than they will with their trained powers of observation.’ ‘Have they brought you a despatch like that?’ asked Lucius, with a certain pride in his voice. ‘A fair hit,’ returned Jackson, smiling. ‘No; but I may tell you that the information I have received through them tallies exactly with the contents of the despatch, which is perhaps fortunate for you. So you see that you have but confirmed the knowledge I already possess. In saying that, I do not wish to underrate the value of the service you have performed. If you were a soldier, I should know how to reward you. As it is’——