When we had ridden forward, he saluted us with
great cordiality and good humor, as if forsooth, instead of being
within an ace of murdering us all, he had but been trying us with a
jest.
"'I see,' said he to the general, 'that your fellows like not the look
of my artillery, and I blame them not, for it will be a nasty business
in that narrow lane if we have to let drive, as assuredly we shall do
if you come another foot further. But it may be we can settle our
difference without bloodshed. My men have fled together to me to be
protected from arrest and prosecution, for what they have heretofore
done, not because they intend further to attack the government. I will
agree that they shall disperse and go quietly to their homes, provided
you give me your word that they shall not be arrested or injured by
your men, and will promise to use your utmost influence to secure them
from any arrest hereafter, and that at any rate they shall have trial
before a jury of their neighbors.'
"The General is a shrewd bargainer, I make no doubt, for though I knew
he was delighted out of measure to find any honorable escape from the
predicament in which we were, he pulled a long face, and after some
thought, said that he would grant the conditions, provided the rebels
also surrendered their arms, and took the oath of allegiance to the
state.
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