Page:War; or, What happens when one loves one's enemy, John Luther Long, 1913.djvu/77

WHO WAS LUCAS MALLORY? house and home. Then a regiment of Federals does the same."

"You get your house eaten pretty often, Ben," says I.

"Some one rides off with a horse," Ben goes on, "leaving me a polite note to the U. S. A. or the C. S. A., to pay for 'em. I got twenty such notes! Well, do you think any of 'em is going to get paid? And there are other things keep me busy and poor," but he didn't tell me these.

"You got hard luck, Ben," says I, "and I'll send the hireland over to cut your trees into fire-wood and help anything else."

"No, you don't," says Ben, more angry than I could see any excuse for. "You mind your own business and keep to your own pasture and I'll do the same. I know where you stand. And, while we're about it, you might as well know that the neighbors think some of your family had better join something—or enlist in the army—one side or the other!"

"Suppose, Ben," says I, "you take your own 61