76        LITERATURE   OF   LOUISIANA   TERRITORY.
none. So I took care to know all about the road, and the
country, and the place, before I left home."
'• And who told you all about it? "
" Suppose I should tell you," answered the young man,
" that Van Courtland had a map of the country made, and
gave it to me."
" I should say you were a traitor to him, or a spy upon
us," was the stern reply.
At the same moment, a startled hum was heard from
the crowd, and the press moved and swayed for an instant,
as if a sort of spasm had pervaded the whole mass.
" You are a good hand at questioning," said the youth,
with a smile, " but without asking a single question, I have
found out all I wanted to know."
" And what was that? " asked the other.
" Whether you were friends to the Yorkers and Yankees,
or to poor old Virginia."
" And which are we for? " added the laconic moun-
taineer.
" For old Virginia forever," replied tbe youth * » •
It was echoed in a shout, * * * their proud war-cry
of *' old Virginia forever."