Thar's a bell, sah, if yo' want anythin'."
"I wonder," said Hamilton half aloud, as the door closed behind his
host, "if that isn't a whole lot more likely to be true than the
alarmist stories you read in magazines."
The following morning, after Hamilton had almost finished covering one
side of the street in collecting the census statistics, he heard the
trot of horses' hoofs, and looking up, saw a tall, stern-visaged
soldierly-looking gentleman, with iron-gray hair, riding a powerful
iron-gray horse. Beside him rode a young fellow, evidently his son. Both
reined up when they saw Hamilton. Seeing that he was expected to
introduce himself, he stepped forward.
"My name is Hamilton Noble," he said; "I'm the census enumerator for
this district. I presume you are Colonel Egerius?"
"Yes, Mr. Noble," the old Confederate leader replied. "Ephraim sent me
word that you were here, and I received a letter a week ago from the
supervisor, whom I have known for some time, telling me that you were a
friend of his. I wanted to bid you welcome, sir, and to express the hope
that we shall have the pleasure of seeing you at dinner with us
to-night.
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