Then, chiefly, this particular business involved the
buying up of I do not know who among the Rebels there in
Texas, and among their allies on the other side the Rio
Grande. This old Spaniard, whom mamma remembers, and
whom I just remember, he was the chief captain among the
turncoats, and there were two or three others, F. F. men
in their places,--"First Family men," that means, you
know; but after they did this work they did not stay in
their places long. No! papa says he was mighty careful;
that he had three of the scoundrels sworn before
notaries, or rather before one notary, and had their
receipts and acknowledgments stamped with his notary's
seal. Still, it did not do to have a word said in public
then. And after everything succeeded so perfectly, after
the troops landed without a shot, and found all the base
ready for them, corn and pork just where they wanted
it,--why, then everybody was too gratified to think of
imagining, as they do now, that papa had stolen that
money that bought the pork and the corn."
"I wish they were only half as grateful now," he
said, after a pause.
"Tom," said Matty, eagerly, "who was that notary?"
"I thought of that, too," said Tom. "There is no
doubt who it was. It was old Gilbert; you must remember
his sign, just below Faulkner's on the avenue. But in
the first place, Gilbert died just after our taking
Richmond.
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