why should he not end it? He gave
the usual authority, and I gave the
usual answer. Religion aside, if we did
not know that we were here for some
purpose, we did not know that we were
not; and here we were anyway, and
our duty was plain. Desertion was the
act of a coward, and that Grayson could
not deny.

That autumn the crash of '91 came
across the water from England, and
Grayson gave up. He went to
Richmond, and came back with money
enough to pay off his notes, and I
think it took nearly all he had. Still,
he played poker steadily now--for poker
had been resumed when it was no longer
possible to gamble in lots--he drank
a good deal, and he began just at this
time to take a singular interest in our
volunteer police guard. He had always
been on hand when there was trouble,
and I sha'n't soon forget him the day
Senator Mahone spoke, when we were
punching a crowd of mountaineers back
with cocked Winchesters. He had lost
his hat in a struggle with one giant; he
looked half crazy with anger, and yet
he was white and perfectly cool, and I