In these bad times we cannot
afford to despise any man's aid."
He pulled out a chart of Virginia, and I marked for him our posts, and
indicated the line of my own journey.
"Have you ever been in the wars, Mr. Garvald?" he asked.
I told him no.
"Well, you have a very pretty natural gift for the military art. Your
men will screen the frontier line, and behind that screen I will get
our militia force in order, while meantime you are reconnoitring the
enemy. It's a very fair piece of strategy. But I am mortally certain
you yourself will never come back."
The odd thing was that at that moment I did not fear for myself. I had
lived so long with my scheme that I had come to look upon it almost
like a trading venture, in which one calculates risks and gains on
paper, and thinks no more of it. I had none of the black fright which I
had suffered before my meeting with Grey. Happily, though a young man's
thoughts may be long, his fancy takes short views. I was far more
concerned with what might happen in my absence in the Tidewater than
with our fate in the hills.
"It is a gamble," I said, "but the stakes are noble, and I have a
private pride in its success."
"Also the goad of certain bright eyes," he said, smiling.
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