Section 7 (pages 105-115) Summary

This section begins with John telling a lengthy story that he says was told to him by his father during the long, lonely, hungry days while they were searching for Grandfather in Kansas. The story goes that one night late in the Civil War John's father (who at this point is still a boy) discovers Confederate rebels taking refuge in Grandfather's church. He lets them go and is struggling to conceal the evidence of their presence, since Grandfather could be jailed by the United States Army for aiding the rebels, when he encounters a Union soldier. The soldier indicates that he knows about Grandfather's involvement, and that he is in trouble. As the story goes, the soldier goes off in search of the rebels but never comes back, and no more Union soldiers come looking for the rebels or...