‘Whatever does this mean?’ he began. ‘Are you Federal soldiers, or’——But Colonel Spriggs, rising from the ground, advanced with a face that was absolutely contorted with rage. ‘Hold your tongue, sir!’ he shouted rudely to the captain. ‘I don’t know who you are, nor what you want here.—As for you, you scoundrel,’ he foamed at Ephraim. ‘You filthy rebel, you; I’ll teach you! You’ve played your last prank.’ Then, maddened by the quiet smile upon the Grizzly’s face, he raised his arm and thrust his fist, guarded by the heavy hilt of his sword, violently in the lad’s mouth. ‘Take that, you dog,’ he cried. ‘What do you mean by grinning at me?’ Lucius uttered a cry of rage, and struggled violently with the men who held him on either side; but Ephraim, spitting out a mouthful of blood, coolly replied: ‘’Twould hev made a cat laugh ter see ye sprawlin’ thar. I on’y wish it had broken yer neck, ye or’nery skunk.’ ‘Colonel!’ exclaimed the young captain, stepping to the front. Then, seeing that his superior was temporarily out of his senses with wrath, and fearful of some dire catastrophe, he turned sharply upon the crowd of soldiers, and ordered them to fall in. The men, drilled to prompt obedience, obeyed at once; even those who were holding the balloon loosing their grasp and joining their comrades, the colonel’s men in one group, the captain’s in another. Instantly the balloon rose in the air, and the grapnel having been freed in the commotion, soared higher and higher, till at last, caught by a current of wind, it floated over the tree tops towards the south. An hour later it astonished Jackson’s rearguard by descending suddenly among them, a collapsed and miserable wreck. The colonel was striding up and down, muttering furiously to himself. Now, when he looked up and saw the balloon drifting away, his wrath broke out afresh. ‘What did you let that balloon away for, you fools?’ he shouted. ‘Now we have no ropes to hang these dogs with. What did you do it for?’ He glared at the men, who naturally made no reply. ‘It was by a mistake, colonel,’ the young officer hastened to explain. ‘It was my fault. I gave the order to fall in.’ ‘And who are you, sir, to give your orders while I am on the ground?’ stormed the colonel. ‘I addressed my own men,’ replied the officer respectfully; ‘I understand that I command my own company. Your men heard the order, and obeyed it at the same time. Hence the escape of the balloon.’ ‘Who are you, sir?’ repeated the colonel. ‘Who are you with your “I command my own company?” You won’t command it much longer if you presume to take so much upon yourself in the presence of your superior officer. I tell you I won’t be answered back. I believe you let that balloon away on purpose.’