Chapter 10

CHAPTER X - GENERAL ALISON AND DORCAS

"Too much company for her, Marse Tom. Betwixt you, and Shekels,
the Colonel's wife, and the Cid - "

"The Cid? Oh, I remember - the raven."

" - and Mrs. Captain Marsh and Famine and Pestilence the baby
COYOTES, and Sour-Mash and her pups, and Sardanapalus and her
kittens - hang these names she gives the creatures, they warp my
jaw - and Potter: you - all sitting around in the house, and
Soldier Boy at the window the entire time, it's a wonder to me she
comes along as well as she does. She - "

"You want her all to yourself, you stingy old thing!"

"Marse Tom, you know better. It's too much company. And then the
idea of her receiving reports all the time from her officers, and
acting upon them, and giving orders, the same as if she was well!
It ain't good for her, and the surgeon don't like it, and tried to
persuade her not to and couldn't; and when he ORDERED her, she was
that outraged and indignant, and was very severe on him, and
accused him of insubordination, and said it didn't become him to
give orders to an officer of her rank. Well, he saw he had excited
her more and done more harm than all the rest put together, so he
was vexed at himself and wished he had kept still. Doctors DON'T
know much, and that's a fact. She's too much interested in things
- she ought to rest more. She's all the time sending messages to
BB, and to soldiers and Injuns and whatnot, and to the animals."

"To the animals?"

"Yes, sir."

"Who carries them?"

"Sometimes Potter, but mostly it's Shekels."

"Now come! who can find fault with such pretty make-believe as
that?"

"But it ain't make-believe, Marse Tom. She does send them."

"Yes, I don't doubt that part of it."

"Do you doubt they get them, sir?"

"Certainly. Don't you?"

"No, sir. Animals talk to one another. I know it perfectly well,
Marse Tom, and I ain't saying it by guess."

"What a curious superstition!"

"It ain't a superstition, Marse Tom. Look at that Shekels - look
at him, NOW. Is he listening, or ain't he? NOW you see! he's
turned his head away. It's because he was caught - caught in the
act. I'll ask you - could a Christian look any more ashamed than
what he looks now? - LAY DOWN! You see? he was going to sneak out.
Don't tell ME, Marse Tom! If animals don't talk, I miss MY guess.
And Shekels is the worst. He goes and tells the animals everything
that happens in the officers' quarters; and if he's short of facts,
he invents them. He hasn't any more principle than a blue jay; and
as for morals, he's empty. Look at him now; look at him grovel.
He knows what I am saying, and he knows it's the truth. You see,