The “silly-hoot” was examined with interest, and carefully stowed away again in the old brown wallet which was settled in its place with a satisfied slap, then Flint said briskly,—­

“Naouw, Phil, yeou close this interestin’ and instructive meeting; and be spry, fer time’s most up.”

“I haven’t much to tell, but must begin with a confession which I have often longed but never dared to make before, because I am a coward.”

“Sho! who’s goan to b’leeve that o’ a man who fit like a wild cat, wuz offered fer permotion on the field, and wuz reported tew headquarters arfter his fust scrimmage.  Try ag’in, Phil.”

“Physical courage is as plentiful as brass buttons, nowadays, but moral courage is a rarer virtue; and I’m lacking in it, as I’ll prove.  You think me a Virginian; I’m an Alabamian by birth, and was a reb three months ago.”

This confession startled his hearers, as he knew it would, for he had kept his secret well.  Thorn laid his hand involuntarily upon his rifle, Dick drew off a little, and Flint illustrated one of his own expressions, for he “gawped.”  Phil laughed that musical laugh of his, and looked up at them with his dark face waking into sudden life as he went on:—­

“There’s no treason in the camp, for I’m as fierce a Federalist as any of you now, and you may thank a woman for it.  When Lee made his raid into Pennsylvania, I was a lieutenant in the—­well, never mind what regiment, it hasn’t signalized itself since, and I’d rather not hit my old neighbors when they are down.  In one of the skirmishes during our retreat, I got a wound and was left for dead.  A kind old Quaker found and took me home; but though I was too weak to talk, I had my senses by that time, and knew what went on about me.  Everything was in confusion, even in that well-ordered place; no surgeon could be got at first, and a flock of frightened women thee’d and thou’d one another over me, but hadn’t wit enough to see that I was bleeding to death.  Among the faces that danced before my dizzy eyes was one that seemed familiar, probably because no cap surrounded it.  I was glad to have it bending over me, to hear a steady voice say, ‘Give me a bandage, quick!’ and when none was instantly forthcoming to me, the young lady stripped up a little white apron she wore, and stanched the wound in my shoulder.  I was not as badly hurt as I supposed, but so worn-out, and faint from loss of blood, they believed me to be dying, and so did I, when the old man took off his hat and said,—­

“’Friend, if thee has anything to say, thee had better say it, for thee probably has not long to live.’

“I thought of my little sister, far away in Alabama, fancied she came to me, and muttered, ‘Amy, kiss me, good-by.’  The women sobbed at that; but the girl bent her sweet compassionate face to mine, and kissed me on the forehead.  That was my wife.”

“So you seceded from Secession right away, to pay for that lip-service, hey?”