Page:Randall Parrish--My Lady of the South.djvu/309

AGAIN THE WOMAN Theilen's, an" thin agin I came over here wid Lieutenant Dunn. Divil a bit o' difference it makes so I belong to some other outfit than the fellow I'm talkin' to. It's an illigant liar I am, begorra, an' that's how I hold the job."

"Yes, but how do you come here? What sre you up to?"

"Up to gittin' away as soon as the noight comes, sor," in a whisper. "Sure thim divils shot the horse undher me, an' I came down in in a bit of bush, so shook up I did n't know me own name for an hour. Thin there was no gittin' away, an' I lay there studyin' it all out, an' watchin' thim Rebs lavin'. The way they had fixed me, I could n't see how I was iver goin' to git shut of thim except by bein' a Reb myself for a whoile. So I shtole a coat—this beauty I've got on, sor—an' a hat; an', afther the most of thim had marched away, I came out an' reported to the Sergeant. He talked to me loike hell, sor, till the girl took me part, an' since thin he's bin civil enough."

"Miss Denslow took your part?" I questioned in surprise. "What did she say?"

The Irish eyes twinkled merrily.

"Bedad, she said she knew me; that I was wan of Liftenant Dunn's cavalrymen."

"She said that?"

"Begorra she did, sor, an' I stood lookin' at her purty face wid my mouth open. It was a beautiful loi, sor, an she niver cracked a smoile while she was givin' it to him. She'd a' fooled a betther man than that sergeant [ 291 ]