Page:War; or, What happens when one loves one's enemy, John Luther Long, 1913.djvu/146

WAR "So are we. And we are going to close the incident. Call out your whole family."

"There's no one here but me," I says.

They seemed mad about that.

"Mr. Vonner," says the officer, with his finger on me like a loaded gun, "there have been traitorous doings in this vicinity for a long time! Information goes south from here regularly of all our movements! Such bulky things as horses, provisions and recruits slip through the lines from here! Somewhere near the Knights of the Golden Circle meet! Now, then, do you mean to persist in saying that you live in this hotbed of treason and know nothing of any of these things?"

"Not a thing," laughs I. "You're fooled, Lieutenant. It ain't so."

"Well, let me tell you, sir, that the United States government is not so easily fooled. And its eyes are right on this place, just now—and on you! Take care. You may be as dull as you seem. You may not. Though all about 130