How Sam Came There

As the storm grew blacker, it had seemed necessary for Colonel Tiffton
openly to avow his sentiments, and not "sneak between two fires, for
fear of being burned," as Harney wolfishly told him one day, taunting
him with being a "villainous Yankee," and hinting darkly of the
punishment preparing for all such.

The colonel was not cowardly, but as was natural he did lean to the
Confederacy. "Peaceful separation, if possible," was his creed; and
fully believing the South destined to triumph, he took that side at
last, greatly to the delight of his high-spirited Nell, who had been a
Rebel from the first. The inmates of Spring Bank, however, were not
forgotten by the colonel, and regularly each morning he rode over to see
if all were safe, sometimes sending there at night one or two of his own
field hands as body guard to Alice, whose courage and intrepidity in
defending her side of the question he greatly admired.

One night, near the middle of summer, Jake, a burly negro, came earlier
than usual, and seeking Alice, thrust into her hand a note from Colonel
Tiffton. It read as follows: "DEAR ALICE: I have a suspicion that the villainous scamps, headed
by Harney, mean to steal horses from Spring Bank to-night, hoping
by that means to engage you in a bit of a fight. In short, Harney
was heard to say, 'I'll have every horse from Spring Bank before
to-morrow morning; and if that Yankee miss appears to dispute my
claim, as I trust she will, I'll have her, too;' and then the bully
laid a wager that 'Major Alice,' as he called you, would be his
prisoner in less than forty-eight hours.