Page:Harvey O'Higgins--Silent Sam and other stories.djvu/344

332 to Cincinnati with two prisoners," he ended triumphantly, "and reported my train."

"Well," the lieutenant said, in a voice of amused admiration of that domineering personality, "you would have made a great—"

"Here," he interrupted. "Here 's the ring. I kept it as a souvenir."

He drew it from his finger and passed it across the table. It was a heavy ring of soft gold, and the shield on which the seal had once been graven was now worn smooth. "Had to have it let out twice," he said.

The lieutenant turned it over. "But," he said, I thought—I understood you to say that General Morgan kept it."

"So he did. I 'll tell you. Wait till I have some soup."

He ate with gusto. "Been at board meetings—panic conferences—all day. Hungry as if I 'd been at work."

The daughter chatted with the lieutenant till her father put down his spoon. Then she turned to him expectantly.

He reached out his hand for the ring. "Morgan was captured. Too important a prisoner to keep in Camp Chase, so they shut him up in the penitentiary in Columbus. It was about three blocks from the railroad station. We used to run right under its walls.

"One night—one o'clock—four cattle drovers in long overcoats, with drovers' gads—hickory poles, six or seven feet long, about an inch thick—they used